Spirituality According to Max, Chapter 1, Our First Meeting – Instinct Rules

“Whatever its [animal]  impulses and proclivities may be it has the liberty to gratify them; yet it is a captive of nature. It cannot deviate in the least degree from the road nature has established.”

Here is the link to the beginning:

Instincts Rule

Looking to adopt a small dog, my husband and I went to every kill-shelter in and out of our area. Most dogs were large or super-sized (except those who barked incessantly, growled or snapped as I approached).

Giving in we went to a no-kill shelter.

He’s alone in his own large caged enclosure near the shelter’s entrance. Hard not to notice his unmatched pairs  - stubby short front legs, normal-sized back legs; raked down from back to front.

        Quirky little fellow, I think, bending down to get a better look. He has exactly the same idea running to the front bars to get a look at me. And then quickly running to the back of his pen where there’s a wicker chair and a pillow. I have a fleeting question of why he has a wicker chair in his enclosure. (Remember this wicker chair, the plot will unfold)  The pillow is more obvious as he vigorously humps it before running back to me. Back and forth, back and forth he goes, torn between the curiosity of who I am and the self-sacrificing pillow.

Finding this a bit amusing, a bit unsettling and not a compliment to be on a par with the pillow I move on to look at the other dogs.

Overwhelmed by all the furry creatures with the imploring eyes I have to leave. And on the way out there he is again running back and forth between mere possibility and immediate pleasure.

“The pathway of nature is the pathway of the animal realm. The animal acts in accordance with the requirements of nature,  follows its own instincts and desires. Whatever its impulses and proclivities may be it has the liberty to gratify them; yet it is a captive of nature. It cannot deviate in the least degree from the road nature has established.  It is utterly minus spiritual susceptibilities, ignorant of divine religion and without knowledge of the kingdom of God. The animal possesses no power of ideation or conscious intelligence; it is a captive of the senses and deprived of that which lies beyond them. It is subject to what the eye sees, the ear hears, the nostrils sense, the taste detects and touch reveals.”

MAN AND NATURE  Bahá’í World Faith—Selected Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 

Stay tuned for solving the puzzle of the wicker chair . . .

Tags: adopting a dog, Bahá’í World Faith—Selected Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Man and Nature, Max, Natural Instincts. animals captive of nature. Baha'i, no-kill animal shelters, Our first Meeting, pillows and wicker chairs