On our morning walk we meet a gentle brown dog.
Celia greets him with a “Good Morning.”
The normally cheerful brown dog answers “There is nothing good about the morning.”
“Why?!” Celia asks surprised by the grumpy answer.
“Because I cannot find my friend” the brown dog answers morosely.
“If you let the goodness of the morning, it will help find your friend.” Tarun adds in.
“Don’t know.” Comes the unconvinced reply.
On our way back, we encounter the brown dog and greet it with a “Good Morning”, again.
The dog answers with a “Good Morning”.
“Why have you changed your reply?” Celia asks the dog.
“They told me to say Good Morning?” Said the dog.
Our animal spirits that trail around with us on our walk are fairly formidable creatures. And it turns out that they were appalled by the brown dog’s temerity at telling us it isn’t a good morning and had pounced on him. If he knew what was good for him, he’d answer our greeting enthusiastically. Or else.
We spend 15 minutes talking to him and cheering him up.
After that he says “I am feeling happy, but I still haven’t found my friend.”
Another few minutes of comforting him and he says, “I am truly happy.”
A few more minutes with him, and just as we are about to leave he asks plaintively “Is it ok If I am happy, though I still haven’t found my friend?”
Di-ding-dishhh. That’s the sound of our hearts breaking.
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The simple truth is that talking to animals can be such an enlightening experience. There is a rawness to their lives, an honesty, a complexity of innocence that can be so… so… so…
Another thing that misses many of us spiritualists is that we don’t often realize that over time we collect a great many entities. And sometimes those spirits do stuff which would horrify us, but probably keep us safe. So it’s wise to not let your rages get the better of you, for even if you do not raise your hand or heart, your helpers may bare psychic fangs…
The last moral of the story is obviously that while getting someone to smile, even if they don’t mean it is good, {as smiles trigger feel-good hormones that may actually do-good}. Just because someone replies Good Morning back doesn’t mean it is a Good Morning. Just because someone says they are happy, doesn’t mean it has penetrated deep enough.
Many humans think dogs are lesser than humans. They may be simpler, lower on IQ, less able to pick up a knife, but lesser? Nah! We are in a strangely equal world, where there are no lesser beings.
-- Celia & Tarun Cherian & The Gentle Brown Dog, Moozy.