Unlocking Joy and Presence: The Spiritual Gifts of Your Dog | Eckhart Tolle

You love in the dog that which has no form, their consciousness. And that can connect you with your own consciousness, that the consciousness is indestructible. The essence of the dog remains.

Hi, Eckhart. I wanted to ask you a question about my dog that we just had to put to sleep. And I know we're talking a lot about, you know, the human and dying and being already dead, but we just can't reconcile with taking her life, you know, and I wonder if you could talk a little bit about that.

So you were present when the dog.

Yeah, she took her very last breath.

And how was your state of consciousness while you were with the dog?

Really present? But it just. Her form just went so fast, and she wouldn't have never died. I mean, her will was so strong. I mean, she was just tremendous. And we were being encouraged just to not let her keep suffering. And I just. I mean, I think it's one thing to have your own life, but to take her life is just.

Yes, well, you wanted to spare her further suffering. That's the death. A body dissolving a form. Dissolving is painful, whether it's a human or an animal, because there's love there. Now, the love is on the one hand, yes, there is a form. Of course. You love to touch the dog, you love to hold the dog, to feel the dog's al. The softness of it. But what you really love in the dog, you can't see. And I'm just. We're talking about dogs now, but we could talk about any life form, including humans. But let's talk about dog. What is it when you look into the eyes of the dog and there is a. An inner response. An inner response which is love. And this is why people. It's easier for many people to look into the eyes of a dog and feel love than it is to look into the eyes of the human and feel love. There are millions of people who find it easier to feel love looking into the eyes of a dog. And that is because there is less in the way when they look at the dog, there is less that obstructs the dog's connectedness with the source, which is the one. In humans, there is the mind in the way. So many people find it harder to feel love when they look at a human being. Perhaps they may have one or two with whom they do feel it, but many don't even have that. Why? Because in the other human, there is a screen of concepts, and that activates your own screen of judgments and concepts, and that prevents the Flow and the realization of oneness from happening the moment you look at a human. Most humans are. We'll come back to dogs in a minute. But don't worry. Most humans are trapped in mental noise, continuous judgments in the mind, stories, judgments. So if you could free yourself from that, it requires enormous presence. And for your own soul structures not to become activated when you look into the eyes of a human being whose mind is very, very active. So it requires great presence. And not many people have that yet. So they love. There are millions of people in this world whose only. The only being for whom they can feel love is their dog. You could say, oh, that's tragic, isn't it? Well, it's not tragic. At least they can feel love there, at least. Of course, it would be wonderful if you could feel love for humans also a little bit more difficult, possible and necessary, ultimately. But we know now what the barriers are. Once we know why we can't feel the love for humans, then we can do something which is relinquish our judgments. But it remains for the time being that dogs provide an access for many humans into feeling the connectedness with being. That is why I call them sometimes guardians of being dogs. Because when you look into the eyes of a dog, you feel that the dog's connectedness with the source in a way, then you could say the dog or any animal really is closer to the source than humans, closer to God. Humans have gone further out into further differentiation and complexity. And there you have the dog. But there's enough consciousness in the dog to meet the human. The dog is already quite close to the human consciousness without having suffered yet the influx of conceptualization. So that's the beauty of it. So what you love in the dog is not ultimately the external form you love in the dog, that which has no form, their consciousness. And that can connect you with your own consciousness. The consciousness is indestructible. The essence of the dog remains. Where exactly it goes, I don't know. But it may go into the universal dog essence that underlies the divine idea of dog. Plato would have said something like that, or Socrates. It goes back to the Source, the dog Source. We know that the formless essence of life is indestructible. And so you can sense as you are with that what, although tears may be there, sadness may be there. You experience the dissolution of a life form. And the dissolution of a life form leaves, especially in the moment of death, and a little bit after leaves behind an open space in you. And that open space is the formless I sometimes describe it as, let's say, here's the texture or the tapestry of your life with all its ingredients, people that you know where you live. Imagine your life as a tapestry, intricate. And one aspect, important aspect of the tapestry is the dog. There it is. And the tapestry shows you petting the dog and feeling love for the dog. And suddenly you're looking at this tapestry and suddenly the dog begins to dissolve in the tapestry. What's happening to the. It's dissolving. There you were petting it, and suddenly there's a little empty space in that tapestry that's very painful. The empty space is left. The body has dissolved, form has dissolved. But what was the ultimate, what was it or what is it that gives life to this whole tapestry? What is it that makes it alive? What is it? And that is behind it, there is a light and that shines through all the forms. In fact, it gets obstructed by the forms, but it still can shine through somehow. And because the light shines through all the forms, it's alive. I'm continuing to use the analogy of tapestry. It feels, it has an aliveness for the simple reason that the aliveness is given to all the forms by a light that shines through it. Through the forms, gets somehow obstructed by the forms. But the obstruction of the forms creates a diversity. So ultimately, every life form obstructs the universal light. But that gives it its individuality. But some of the universal light still shines through for a moment. Let's use another analogy related to it, which is the cinema film. In the cinema projector, when you put a film is put in the projector, I don't know whether they still do it, but there's a film, there's a light behind the film, and the film runs through the projector. And that creates the images on the screen. Now, all the reality that these images on the screen ultimately have is the light behind the film. Without the light behind the film, there would be nothing happening there. Now imagine a character in that. Just taking this analogy a little bit further, almost too far, but let's do it. Let's imagine the characters in the film who are acting out their drama and conditioning. It may be a tragedy or comedy or mixture, but the characters are all acting out their script. Talking point. Let's say one of the characters suddenly becomes aware that what is my reality? There's a moment of cessation that he or she is not acting out the script. He stops for a moment and can suddenly feel that light shining through and say, oh, I'm really that light. I'm not ultimately that character. The light gives it. And so all the figures in the movie are ways of obscuring, to a greater or lesser extent, the light that comes through. But their likeness is the light. Without the light, it's nothing. Okay, let's go back to the tapestry. There we have a form has dissolved. Now, at first, if you concentrate on the lack of what was there that was so lovely, then you get stuck on that level where you equate the loveliness and the love with the form that has dissolved. But if you go look more deeply, then you see that where that form was, there's actually now more light shining through. And that happens when you completely surrender to the fact of death. Whether it's a human or a dog, any form of life. When you completely surrender to the fact of death, then you're not just sad because the form has dissolved, that may still be there, but you also sense a deepening in yourself because you sense that where the form was, the light now shines through more fully. So the empty space that's left behind. This is why death is ultimately, potentially always sacred. There are remnants of this when in ancient cultures, when people see a dead body. In our culture, of course you don't, because we hide them. When they see a dead body, they make a sign of respect, even if they dislike the person that just died. But when the coffin comes past and it's open, there's a dead body, they show respect because there's some obscure recognition of the sacredness of death. Why is death considered sacred? Because when the form dissolves, the formless can shine through more strongly. And then it can be transformative in you. But it requires surrender to the fact of death. And so it can be a transformative thing. Which doesn't mean you're not sad anymore. You're still sad because the form is dissolved. But if you go into complete acceptance of the fact of death, which is going to happen to you, this form, to this form and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this, each form is going to pop sooner or later. Some sooner, some later, and leave behind. If you saw that in a speeded up version of life over the next 70 years as we sit here, let's say we have a film camera that compresses. Let's see. We are not moving from here. Another strange analogy. I'm trying to get some to see something. That's why I'm doing all this. Just hang on now if we had a camera here, let's say we're staying here. And instead of going about our lives, we just dream our lives over the next 70 years. Let's say the camera stays here for 70 years. And instead of going about our daily life, we just dream that we are going about. Which is basically the same thing, by the way. Because in the end you die and say, okay, what was all that? So if you had that camera here, you would be amazed. Let's say it runs. It compresses 70 years into three minutes or five minutes. And you would then see the film. Then you would see bodies dissolving, one after the other. One here, one there, gone. All gone. It happens to all life forms. So we need to see that and face that fact of death. To some, it comes sooner than later. To some it seems premature. Sometimes it seems it's too soon. The dog was not ready. I'm sure the dog was ready. But you were not. You were not ready for the dog's death. The animal. For the animal, death is easier. The animal can surrender into it. Although there is a will to live. Yes, but the animal can surrender. Surrender is the key. Death is universal. It's all around you. Continuously. Everything is dying around you. And being born, dying and being born. We don't seem to see that very clearly. You may have to travel to India to get a true view of the fact of death. Because they burn the bodies out in the open and anybody can just sit there and meditate. And you would just go, wow, wow. First you'll cry, and then you cry a bit more. But then after a while you come to. Because we're talking about the realization of something in you that's beyond death. And that is what you loved in the dog and still love. And that cannot go away. So let it become this meditation for you and transformative experience. And let the tears still flow, if they flow. There's nothing wrong with that. But surrender to the fact of death and realize that only the form dies. That which gives life to the form is not subject to decay or death. You can sense that in yourself, and then you can sense it in the dog. And then the death of the dog is not as heavy as it would be if you were only identified. If you equate the essence of the dog with the form of the dog. So what you love in the dog is the dog's consciousness, which ultimately is one with your consciousness. It's life itself. An expression, a beautiful expression, temporary, of course, of the one life. And then you honor that and are grateful for that. You also are that.

So it's best to honor the process of taking her life as well. I mean, I think that's what bothers us the most.

That was a compassionate thing to do.

We feel so guilty.

Yes, but that's. Again, that requires surrender. And see that it came out of love for the dog, not any other reason, and it was therefore compassionate. Now, the mind will construct further thought processes out of that, but you don't need that.