Eckhart TolleNYT Bestselling author of the Power of Now

Why dogs are happier than you

11 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief monologue, Eckhart Tolle observes that dogs (and cats) embody a natural, effortless joy that humans often lack. He attributes this difference to the absence of ego in animals; they simply sense and express the "joy of being" without self‑referential thinking. Tolle suggests that humans are drawn to dogs because they reveal the possibility of experiencing such pure joy, serving as living examples of a state that requires no external reason or effort.

Chapters

The dog is a lovely being that's much more at ease, cats too, much more at ease with life than humans, much more able to experience joy than a human being. This is why humans love their dogs, because the dogs can show them the possibility of being in that state of joy for seemingly almost no reason whatsoever. You just look at them and the tail starts wagging. It's the joy of life. Why are they so joyful if we just look at them? Because they don't have an ego. They just immediately, they sense the joy of being. The joy of being.