Gardening Excetera Column 10/1/11

ZANE AND FAUST
Dana Prom Smith

When my friend, Loni Shapiro, asked me to speak at a memorial service for Zane, a therapy dog, I looked at my own personal therapy dog, Roxanne, to see what she thought about the invitation. A three-legged yellow lab, now white with age, speaks from her soul through her eyes, making it clear that I should speak for Zane. The word “therapy” comes from the Greek word “therapeia” which means “healing.” Zane was a healing dog. The service was held in the Olivia White Hospice Gardens where Zane had served many of the residents.

Now, many people think that dogs don’t have souls. They’re generally people who don’t love dogs and don’t have dogs for companions. Some dogs, just like human beings, don’t have souls, but some do. Their souls can be seen in their eyes which I’ve heard are the windows to the soul.

Some people have apparently traded their souls in for money and power, striking a Faustian bargain with the devil. Their eyes have no depth and are windows to nothing. They’re flat, resembling the eyes of snakes, cold, calculating, and predatory. Nowadays, our word for these flat-eyed people is sociopath. It’s always important to examine the eyes of the rich, famous, and powerful to find out whether or nor they are flat. They’re a lot of flat eyes. Their voices don’t match their eyes.

At any rate, getting back to Zane’s soul, the reason why some dogs heal is that they have souls and, thus, intraception, the late Harvard Professor H. A. Murray’s term for the ability to understand the emotional and cognitive experience of another person. Rollo May said: “It means entering the private perceptual world of the other and becoming thoroughly at home in it.” Without intraception people communicate with shadows, artifices, and appearances, but not someone else.

A therapy or healing dog isn’t burdened with all the internal toxins afflicting many human beings. Flat-eyes see only objects to be exploited. Dogs understand the other person because they don’t have to fool around with all the internal conflicts that clog most people’s perception of others. In other words, they’re simple, and simplicity is always the beginning of understanding because clarity requires simplicity. The mind has to be clear to understand someone else.

Now, gardens are a great place to begin leeching these psychic toxins. The act of paying attention to our physical sensations draws us away from our inner, psychic turmoil. It’s difficult to stew in our indignations while smelling a rose or eating a fresh tomato. We equate gardens with peace for good reason. They bring peace to the soul.

A healing dog in a garden, as at the Olivia White Gardens, can’t be beat because dog’s with souls have intraception. Dogs not only draw our attention away from our fascination with our own malaise as do roses and fresh berries, they also draw out the malaise because of their simple insight into our situation. A dog understands. As we run our hands along a dog’s back or hold its head in our hands, we can feel the tensions release. Dogs with souls are always happy to see us.

Zane died last Christmas Eve of lymphoma after working at the Olivia White Home for more than 6 years. The Pet Idol of Flagstaff for 2006, he was more than just a pretty face. Loni Shapiro remembers him “as kind, gentle, and comforting to all he met. He was playful or serious as the situation indicated.”

Zane was adopted by Dave and Terri Hill of Munds Park and Cottonwood from Rescue a Golden. Zane now has a replacement golden in Murphy. For more information, Dave and Terri can be reached at mthill2007@gmail.com. Terri said of Zane, “Dave and I learned a lot from Zane.” “Compassion and feeling is what we absorbed from his presence.”

Copyright © Dana Prom Smith 2011
Dana Prom Smith edits GARDENING ETCETERA, blogs at http://highcountrygardener@blogspot.com, and emails at stpauls@npgcable.com.