A Wise Insight From An Unexpected Source

A ball is randomly thrown in the path of a dog and you. What is the typical response of each? How will the dog respond? Most likely, it will “doggedly” pursue it. How will you respond? You will not likely chase the offending object because it is not in your nature to do so. Most likely you will pursue the cause of the object's presence.

This is due to the fact that you are much more aware than the dog. It could also be due to the fact that you (and likely other more aware creatures) have a must more distinct sense of the flow of time. What do I mean by this? Well, if a dog has little or no concept of the passage of time, might this explain why it does not investigate causality? Being, something happened only because something else must have happened previously.

It could be supposed that the dog will not look for a cause because it is only ever in the Present moment. I capitalized Present because I believe the Present moment is sacred. Why? Because there is much wisdom in embracing only the Present moment. Why? Because there only ever is the Present moment.

To a dog then, perhaps there is little or no sense of past and future. Therefore, what could causality ever mean to a dog? Hence the reason it finds little or no interest in the cause of an event. You can learn a lot from a dog.

Would Have, Could Have, Should Have!

Do animals, other than us, ever have regrets? Suppose they do not. In which case, this “thought experiment” just might shed some light on what we humans burden ourselves with so frequently.

 Would have, could have, should have! Certainly this type of thinking can be used to make wiser choices in the future, but how much of our regret is only ever used to make ourselves miserable?

In this sense, regret is nothing but a distraction from experiencing and enjoying the Present moment. Which in the grand scheme of things is all there ever is.