Brian said (December 30, 2012):

I love the bumper sticker with the big paw print that says "who rescued who?"

I think dogs are angels of a sort whom we need more than they need us, in a spiritual sense that is. It's like on some level we summon them from their true spiritual realms because we are in such need of their lesson of unconditional love that they give so readily when we treat them with the respect all living things deserve.

So in a sense maybe they sacrifice themselves by coming to this troubled planet to help us poor humans to understand that believe it or not ,we are Divine creatures as they are. Difference is, they just know it without all the complications that we enter into so much of what we do.

John said (December 29, 2012):

Henry, I really draw a parallel to the "dog nature" of the goyim on the Capitol Hill. No matter how badly AIPAC treats them they are always loving, agreeable, and licking their feet.

--

John

Comparing dogs to congressmen is very disloyal to our most loyal companions.

henry

Corey said (September 13, 2010):

-His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

I am servant of God, this is my real occupation, but giving up my service to God, I am giving service to maya. Therefore I am servant of my senses, my family, my society, my country, my nation, and if you haven't got to serve anybody, then I'll keep one dog. I become a servant of the dog. Somebody was just telling me that in Japan the dog passes stool, and the master collects it and put it somewhere. Yes. You see? This is going on. Therefore the best thing is that instead of becoming at last the servant of a dog, just immediately become servant of God. That is your success of life. Many Europeans, Americans, they have no children, but they keep one cat, one dog, to serve. You see? But you have to serve because you are meant for that.

Mark said (September 10, 2010):

You're not kidding. I observe in America that feminists treat pets better than they treat a father, husband or sons. For example, a wife complains that she is a slave to her husband - cooking and cleaning and serving him. Yet after she divorces him , the woman gets a dog, picks up its poo, feeds and walks it daily, then spends money on it. In return the dog is unemployed, does no chores, and instead lies around the house all day.

Liberated wives are funny that way.

Taimur said (September 10, 2010):

Dogs are completely unselfish and loyal to a fault hence they make better substitutes for friends, family and colleagues who disappoint us on so many levels. You are right when you say submission to God is HARD, while devotion to a loving animal who poses no threat and yet possesses emotion, is very easy.
Allah or Al-Lah (The-God) is the same God referred to as El, Elah and even Alah in the OT and NT. Muslims, Christians and Jews will fight for Him, kill for Him and die for Him but they CANNOT submit to Him.

Ken said (September 7, 2010):

If He is so powerful, why does He let evil things happen?

The link below provides a very good answer, Ken:

http://www.wake-up.org/daystar/ds1999/AUG99A.htm

Jim said (September 7, 2010):

God, the Infinite Creator, is not a quality (good or bad). God is your "being", the formless and timeless existential core of you and all other Humans. This center of you, the essential and only immortal part of you, is neither good or bad.

Humans are composed of two realities, being and doing or God and Free Will. The qualities of good and bad are purely associated with Free Will, and have absolutely nothing to do with God. The Ten Commandments, and the two laws of Christianity (which are a mathematical reduction), were created by Humans in order to establish a stable society.

God imbued Humanity with Free Will in order for them to evolve or destroy themselves. It is all a f#&king experiment, because God has all the time in the World to play these games. How it ends up is irrelevant as far as God is concerned, because God cannot be concerned!

--

Thanks Jim

Good to hear from a Kabbalist.

h

Rhianna said (September 7, 2010):

The Egyptians worshiped the dog: i.e. the worship of Anubis and the idea of cynocephaly.
Society hasn't changed much in its habits of worship.

Hilf said (September 6, 2010):

Why do we have evil? If there were no evil then how would we understand good? Our existence is of opposites as we cannot know one without the other. People point to the evil in the world to disprove God; why not point to the good to prove His existence? Imagine an exam with no wrong answers, what would be the point? Our lives are exams, we choose the right (good) answers or pick the wrong (evil) ones, On the matter of God "evolving" or changing in some way, I don't believe that is possible as anything subject to change cannot be an infinite, almighty power. Thank you for the excellent articles. Hilf.

Omar said (September 6, 2010):

I have 3 BS degrees, all of which I completed in 3 years, from a very prestigious school.

I have a Law degree.

I have a Masters of Engeineering Degree

I am 4 months from obtaining my PhD.

I have countless journal and conference papers.

I've invented 2 novel mathematical theories.

And I'm sitting out today on a bench, in the middle of campus. A bird lands about 3 feet from me. And I'm looking at its foot.

THe precision, craftsmanship, complexity. The cellular mechanism which keep it alive. The optimized structure for pin-point accuracy.

All of my education, all of my work, all of my papers, all of my inventions, are not even 1/trillionth of the complexity, beauty, majesty, of
the birds leg.


We are mirrors in an conscious ether. Looking in at this majesty.

Worship, dedication, meditation ... millions of forms ... its the same thing, a celebration. God is a celebration of his own majesty. We celebrate that in every thing, and in every person.

In my humble opinion.

Charles said (September 6, 2010):

Worship = being more dog like?

Strong's Concordance definitions for Worship:

Greek G4352 προσκυνέω proskuneō pros-koo-neh'-o
From G4314 and probably a derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, that is, (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): - worship.

Hebrew H7812 shâchâh shaw-khaw'
A primitive root; to depress, that is, prostrate (especially reflexively in homage to royalty or God): - bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.

Ken said (September 6, 2010):

re: "why does He let evil things happen?"

Good question. Why does he?

Some say it's because earth is a classroom for souls. Hard to accept, though, unless one believes in reincarnation. Otherwise, I don't see the evil ones learning anything: they're just evil *all* the time.

Some say that God is perfect. Well, how can something perfect create something imperfect, i.e. us. And was God always perfect, or did God himself go through an evolutionary process to become perfect? And if God was always perfect, it proves that it's not necessary to go through an evolutionary process to become perfect. So why do *we* have to go through an evolutionary process to become perfect? Why didn't God just create *us* perfect?

Francois said (September 6, 2010):

One of the first concept is receiving in order to bestow. God or more precisely the Creator is all-giving and the creatures are all-receiving. The only way for a creature to approach the quality of the Creator is to give and it can only give what it receives. You can give to a dog.
God is not that hard to understand, searching for it is akin to the fish searching for the ocean.

Edward said (September 6, 2010):

Hello again, your words re- dogs/god are the best piece of common-sense I've read in a long time.

Usually, I equate and read (God/god/Gods) as "goodness", Thank you!

Harry said (September 6, 2010):

Great article. How do we know that dogs are not God's emissaries on earth? It's very easy to tell a persons character by how they treat their dog. People who love their dogs and treat them well usually turn out to be wonderful people.

Harry said (September 6, 2010):

Great article. How do we know that dogs are not God's emissaries on earth? It's very easy to tell a persons character by how they treat their dog. People who love their dogs and treat them well usually turn out to be wonderful people. Those who don't are usually no-good shits.

Jean said (September 6, 2010):

I`m in the same situation now but with cats. Have seven of these demonangelic creatures around me (fortunately with a very big garden) and am a happy servant :) Seriously, domestic animals give us love and also a sense that we are gods. I think that although we serve them, in their view WE are the gods and WE know that and WE like that :)

Joe said (September 6, 2010):

Enjoyed your article Henry. My two very best friends were dogs; Skipper and Bandit. Skipper was killed by a car in 1949 and Bandit was killed by a car in 1985. I still miss them. As all 'pet' owners know, the most meaningful conversations transpire between them and us (non-pet owners will think this is absurd of course ~ they just don't know).

The reason for this note though is not so much about pets as it is about a comment you made about your understanding of God. You said "As my readers know, I equate God with spiritual absolutes: Truth, Justice, Beauty, Goodness, Harmony and Love."

The words you use are quite interesting for several reasons but I will address just one.

When I believed in 'God' many years ago, it was a result of much study. Some say that I studied one minute too long because that was the minute I no longer believed in 'God'.

I came to believe that just one descriptor could be remotely equated with 'God' and that descriptor, oddly enough, is absent from your list.

I came to believe that 'happiness' was the closest descriptor I could remotely equate with any concept of God.

Here's why:

Happiness is not only what all babies, with a healthy mind, are born with; happiness is what all healthy babies are.

I'm not talking about joy, elation or even contentment (these are transient emotions) ~ I'm talking about plain old common, honest-to-goodness-brown-paper-wrapped happiness. Happiness is what drives people to do what people do, from climbing mountains to digging ditches (yes, some people are very happy digging ditches). There is no opposite to happiness nor can happiness initiate negative undertakings. Happiness is what all sentient creatures unconsciously compare with and against everything else. Happiness is the core principle of our very universe: without happiness our universe would not be in motion; it would be a dead snapshot of something having no chance of evolving. (By the way, it is unhappiness that causes people to initiate negative undertakings.)

If healthy babies are born happy, why is there so much unhappiness in the world?

Unhappiness is merely the layers of non-essentials we cover ourselves with. Some of us cover ourselves with a few layers of non-essentials while many of us cover ourselves with many layers.

It is impossible to destroy our own happiness ~ it cannot be taken from us and we cannot even give it away: The most we can do is cover it up with those pesky layers of non-essentials I just mentioned. Each of us knows what those non-essentials are.

How does one restore and bring back into memory that which we are?

Unlike an onion, there is a core to the human soul. An onion can be peeled one layer at a time and when all the layers are peeled off there is nothing left. The human soul, however, is happiness; the most precious thing about us. To restore what we truly are we must peel off all those layers of non-essentials that covered up our happiness. It is that simple and it is that difficult.

Yes, I can prove, in one sentence, that happiness is what makes everything in our universe worth while but first a short detour.

When we are in pain both physically and emotionally it is not because we are unhappy. We can be in pain and still be happy. We can be feeling sad, angry, hungry, passionate, compassionate, shame, remorse, rage and every other emotion and still be happy. In fact it is all of those feelings that test our own happiness: it is our happiness that finally neutralizes all physical and emotional trauma. Happiness is the very rudder that steers our ship of well being.

And now the proof:

If there was no happiness in our universe. nothing would be worthwhile and our universe would be as meaningless as a stage with no actors.

If there is a God then He needs only one attribute: Happiness. If Happiness is God then I believe in God....

Tat said (September 6, 2010):

often read your articles. They are really great. Specially the last one about people rather serving dog over god.

This is exactly what Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada told 30 years ago when he was on a preaching mission around the world. If you can, I highly recommend to check his books which he translated and commented on (Bhagavad Gita - As it is, Srimad Bhagavatam).

Keep on the good work.

Jan said (September 6, 2010):

How odd your article seems to me - I think my dog is one of the loveliest gifts that God has given me - I thank him all the time.