Dogs, Water, and the Fulfillment of Mankind

The other day, I was taking a little bit more time in my already not-busy schedule to spend time with my sister, who shall remain unnamed, and my dog, Stella. As odd as it seems, she is a golden retriever who is scared of water. We warmed her up to the hose water, got her to drink some of it, and gradually began to hose her down. Because her fur coat is water resistant, though, we had to not only warm her up to being hosed down, but we had to drench her more than you normally would have to with any other dog. After several minutes of her being uncomfortable, she was able to stand being hosed down. Shortly thereafter, she seemed to actually enjoy her newfound state.

There are two parts of this event that I find interesting.

Firstly, why is it that a dog, who was bred to swim, retrieve the hunt, and dive, so afraid of that which she is meant to "enjoy" by virtue of her end? Her end, of course, being to retrieve, and retrieve in the water. Therefore one would think that it would not be necessary to have to train her in the moment to be content with being wet. In that moment, she could have either:

A. been completely comfortable with being wet, or

B. been uncomfortable with being wet and in need of being coaxed.

I think that this event is analogous to the state of mankind in several ways. I believe that there are many things that humans are very much meant to enjoy, and meant to feel fulfillment in but for whatever reason, similar to my golden retriever, are incredibly detached from how they are supposed to live, either by their own self-imposed ignorance or the fault of others in not passing down an essential understanding of "being."

That being said, my golden retriever was not raised on a river, nor was she raised hunting, nor did she ever catch any duck or bird besides the pet bird we have in our house. I think that this is important to understand because while she was never able to swim in a river or body of water, she was exposed to just one little pet bird, and her instinct kicked in.

Likewise with mankind, there are many things that we are meant to do, feel, or love, but we are so far removed from those things, whatever they may be, because of the rather inorganic industrial society we live in today, wherein previously distinct cultures have morphed into a more relative "pop" culture, or "mixed" culture, which is really no culture at all. However, we still see remnants of mankind's disposition in this watered-down society. People still recognize the value of marriage, but perhaps not for the right reasons. People still make love and attach emotion to it, they form relationships around it, but forget the inherent commitment thereof.

Even with societal aspects removed, we can see a glimmer of how mankind should have been, assuming they fell and their nature was corrupted. All people want to help other people. However, it tends to be the case that people help other people out of self-interest. This is, of course, better than there being no help at all in the world, but the mindset upon which "help" is based needs a very serious rework, especially as society becomes ever more individualistic, in which communities are not about the people as a whole, but the people who make up the community. Is that really a community, then?

I digress.

There are many things that animals can teach us. Often we forget that we are of this world. We were born of it, and we will die in it. Yes, we have reason and an intellect, but our mortal bodies keep us tied to the crust of the earth, and humble us among the animals of the earth. The arrogance of our greater minds tells us how much greater we are than the animals, but our bodies tell us how much there is to learn about what it means to be both mortal and rational, with the animals of the world living in much greater harmony among one another than we.

Secondly, as much of a stretch this might be, I find it interesting that we not only had to get the dog wet, but we had to drench her in order for her to "understand" (inasmuch as an animal can understand anything) that her being hosed down was a good thing, and in accord with her nature.

Likewise with mankind, there are many things which we could do, and should do, but do not. This is once again either due to our self-imposed ignorance, or the lack of the passing-on of knowledge from those who came before us. The latter is more abhorrent, I believe. However, some of our "elders" so to speak, or rather anybody who is wiser than we, know the importance of certain wisdom and understanding. But in our stubborn and inadequately watered mind, we often reject the wisdom of yore, arrogantly believing that we as a race have "progressed."

So said G.K. Chesterton:

"Each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most."

And so, the saint who contradicts the new generation must drench, as it were, those who are in error, or those who lack enough understanding to worthily succeed those who came before.

The greatest form of charity is consistency, along the generations and in your personal life. For greater wisdom comes from greater contemplation of that which those who came before us already knew well and, as the years pass by, years turning into centuries, generations of people thinking the same thing as those who lived a millennium before are not worshiping ashes, but rather are as one synchronous mind, continuously contemplating about, and drenching others in, what is true, good, and beautiful -- how we are meant to be.