A friend recently asked me if I had any suggestions for a novice to experience the way of Tao. I told him there are as many ways as there are beings. Still, he pressed me to give him an example. So, I told him to get a cat or a dog -- he got a dog -- and then to sit back to enjoy the ride.
Everyday I am reminded of the many valuable insights of the Taoist sages simply by watching my two dogs and one cat interact with each other and the world around them. While I can't say for sure that none of them possess anything like the human ego, that certainly is the way I lean!
While we humans play a lot of games to get what we want, the four-legged creatures in my house play games simply for the joy of playing games. They don't seem to get caught up in made-up worries. They don't seem to be anxious about the future nor regretful of the past.
Not only do they live in each moment, but they embrace it with an unbounded vigor! Whether experiencing happiness, contentment, fear or danger, they respond seamlessly with whatever stimuli confronts them. They react according to their internal nature and deal with the situation. Once it has passed, they don't dwell on it.
I often chuckle when people refer to the human as the master in the relationship. While it may be true in terms of human society, I believe they teach me far more than I teach them! I often feel like a feeble student around them. They have mastered going with the flow; I struggle just to identify it, much less to go WITH it.
Everyday I am reminded of the many valuable insights of the Taoist sages simply by watching my two dogs and one cat interact with each other and the world around them. While I can't say for sure that none of them possess anything like the human ego, that certainly is the way I lean!
While we humans play a lot of games to get what we want, the four-legged creatures in my house play games simply for the joy of playing games. They don't seem to get caught up in made-up worries. They don't seem to be anxious about the future nor regretful of the past.
Not only do they live in each moment, but they embrace it with an unbounded vigor! Whether experiencing happiness, contentment, fear or danger, they respond seamlessly with whatever stimuli confronts them. They react according to their internal nature and deal with the situation. Once it has passed, they don't dwell on it.
I often chuckle when people refer to the human as the master in the relationship. While it may be true in terms of human society, I believe they teach me far more than I teach them! I often feel like a feeble student around them. They have mastered going with the flow; I struggle just to identify it, much less to go WITH it.
If I were not human, I would certainly want to be one of my cats--indulged and well-fed, with soft warm dry bed, with sufficient vermin to entertain them (geckos and occasional roaches and spiders), no worries (in contrast to the feral cats in the neighborhood, they are more than anything, relaxed.) On the other hand, I don't keep a dog because we have established a situation (at least in urban areas) where dogs must be controlled--always on a string, even when defecating, never allowed to express their own wolfish-nature, never really free. It saddens me to see a dog out walking,--that is, being walked-- straining at his leash to enjoy the smells and sights. I have a friend who keeps dogs..her life revolves around their control. She is their master (not shifu), but really it is she who has been controlled. And the dogs are just plain neurotic.
ReplyDeleteYour dogs are clearly fortunate (though I was a little disappointed when you returned your cat to the shelter. I hope she has found the right home.)
But don't misinterpret me about the cat. I got a cat some years ago from a shelter, she was about 6 months old and had been returned because "she didn't get along with the family's children." She was a wonderful cat; I think the problem was probably the family's kids and not the cat.
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