The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated" Mahatma Gandhi ...This was said by a man who would absent himself from a 'political' meeting at his Ashram to administer to a sick goat!! I always loved him...I have seen the film 8 times and am on the third reading of the book about his life plus in the distant past at boarding school, we were asked to write essays about 'Mr Gandhi'. This ..I may add.. was one of the few great pleasures in boarding school life!!
Yesterday, I was having lunch with a friend at 'the Café du Midi'....a 'workman's' style café in a small medieval village on the Cote d'Azur. This Café is a bit of a 'one off'!!!... run always by the same family with the same menu and the same uniquely French charm. It provides the sort of setting which seems to have the 'energy' to initiate interesting, provocative and philosophical conversations!! ...Always of course, with a good red wine flowing and plenty of background noise....not your usual rubbish 'music' mind!! but other people's enthusiastic sharing.
My friend voiced a question along the lines 'What is there to learn in this situation?' The question .... which actually related to a personal matter.....found me thinking of the Mahatma's statement. It seemed to be the word 'learn' which initiated a reversal in my thoughts and in our conversation. It struck me that we are expected to 'learn' from birth. As small children we are daily moulded by the perceptions of our parents and then teachers... in fact by the time we reach 8 years, our beautiful innocence and uniqueness is often mostly 'educated' out of us. How would it be if we began to consider 'Unlearning' some of the behaviours and attitudes we have taken for granted as 'right'??
Here was a man who ( except for an extremely short spell ) never entered politics, who had no personal wealth or property, who wore a loin cloth instead of a smart suit or armour, and whose 'weapons' were LOVE and COMPASSION!! These two beautiful and compelling expressions won the whole of India to a dedicated non violent campaign against the stubborn tyranny of British power and the eventual withdrawal of British Rule.
Gandhi had an innate sense of the 'connectedness' of all Life.... He knew and lived what Eastern religions have known and taught for thousands of years and which western physicists found to be true a relatively short time ago. That all Life is connected by a 'web of energy' (or Matrix as some people call it) which can be discerned by various scientific adventures.
Gandhi understood 'Resonance'....that 'a thought here' has a result in 'a thought or action over there' and that a gesture of Love here 'resonates' over there ( equally ...a thought of violence! )....He insisted on Truth in Thought!! What a responsibility we all have for the activity of our minds. Gandhi knew that the Mind is intended to be used as a Creative Tool. He used the Mantra 'Ra-ma' to bring his inherited egoic mind ( humanity's inheritance ) into his service... as opposed to being its slave.
To the Mahatma, a sick goat was as important as a sick child. it was precisely this reversal from what we think of as 'the normal order of things' that commanded the respect and love, not only of fellow Indians but of the whole world. ( see a film of his funeral on You Tube )
He was shot at close range in the chest on his way to a prayer meeting......(Love and Compassion can be very threatening to humans who are dominated by ego ), but his work was done and his example set!! At the time of his death, there was no doubt as to the Greatness of India and its phenomenal 'Moral Progress' as a result of his 'Unlearning'!
Yes, I have strayed a bit from the subject of dogs....or have I?? Thinking of our relationship to animals....how do you think we rate over here in the western world with our ('Whoops'!!!!! .. I was about to mention animal experimentation laboratories, and abattoirs there!!! Tut Tut!!!). How do you rate us....come on...be honest.....with our bulging refuges, daily euthanasia of healthy young and old unwanted stray dogs, wanton cruelty as in the case of dogs like Nanette......???? What can we 'Unlearn'?? I can make no claims personally but I do have aspirations which one can simply share....Gandhi stood back from 'Mind' and its endless domination, then 'Spirit' expressed Him.....Beautiful!! xx