Dog's Dream
By Chris Roth
Dog had a weird dream, and exploded into a thousand billion quadrillion pieces. Everything that came after has been a part of Dog. But Dog has assumed such diverse forms that some of these pieces not only forget that they are part of Dog, but fail to recognize the Dogness in anything.
Scientists are studying a planet in the outer arm of a vast spiral galaxy, also, of course, a part of Dog. Some of the parts of this part plant themselves in one place, and can't move too much on their own. Others move around quite a bit. They are all Dog. Sometimes, the Dogness of some of the parts shines through particularly brightly to other parts of Dog. When a rufous-colored cat befriends a young human child, when tall trees call out "we are here, we are alive, we are your kin" to a child grown older, when countless plants of all sizes fascinate a budding botanist with their complexity and practical intelligence, when birds, salmon, and deer reveal wisdom, awareness, and beauty that surpass what's found in any book, video, or other human-created artifact...then Dog is making a stand.
When any part of Dog thinks of itself as separate, not connected to every other part of Dog, Dogness is obscured. When the Dogness everywhere is not seen and celebrated, Dogness inside also withers. That can be a big problem for every part of Dog not honored, particularly on a local, sub-galactic level. But the good news is that Dogness is the immediate, underlying reality of everything. It can be accessed instantly.
This magazine is dedicated to Dogness, and to Dog.
Or do I have that backwards?
(If any of this is confusing to you, please don't give up. The rest of this issue may be far more understandable. But as Daffy has noted, words are of limited utility to Dog, who is often more comfortable chasing a paradox across a pond.)
Chris Roth edits Talking Leaves.
�2002 Talking Leaves
Winter 2003
Volume 12, Number 4
Animals, Earth
We welcome your letters!
For a sample copy of the Winter 2003 issue, "Animals, Earth," send $6 to
