Dogs are often thought of having the intelligence of a toddler, putting us owners on the other end of the spectrum to say we know better. But do we?

Mankind conquered the world with the help of teamwork and communication. The way we talk, learn, gather information like we gather food has made it possible to band together and fight our natural, and later perceived, enemies together.

But is that success? Is that knowing better? What about quality of life? Happiness? Or their yins, stress and worry?

In youth we learn; in age we understand – said Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, and I believe that when it comes to a life worth living, dogs know better. They’re the wise ones.

The same author wrote this short fable about a dog being faithful to his owner even when the owner sold him for a couple bottles of wine. The new owner treated the dog well, as part of the family, and still, when they met the drunkard again, the dog was happy to see him – breaking the new owner’s heart in the process.

Dogs don’t love as a business transaction. Their emotions are free, unquestioned, untainted. The more complex our human world has become, the more difficult it is to reach that level of zen that our companions so naturally possess.

They don’t worry whether they’re enough – whether you are enough. They don’t expect their puppies to fulfill some dream they couldn’t. They don’t ask themselves “am I happy? What’s my purpose here?”

We humans are forever immature because we keep learning but we don’t start knowing. We’re trying, often with the best intentions but we stop short.

As ChatGPT put it:

We humans may never truly reach a state of understanding because we are always learning but never fully knowing. While we may try our best, we often fall short due to our limited perspective and inability to live in the present moment. Therefore, the journey of learning and understanding is ongoing, and we must strive to continue growing and gaining wisdom throughout our lives.

Time to learn from the wise!

---

This post is part of the A to Z blogging challenge of April 2023.
Topic of this year is “The AI, the dog and the witchling”, real and fictional stories partially written/inspired by Artificial Intelligence, featuring Mia and Missy.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.

Prompt I used: write a short paragraph based on the above quote and this additional sentence “Based on this quote humans are forever immature because we keep learning but we don’t start knowing. We’re trying, often with the best intentions but we stop short.”