Follow The Way Of It
What a quote, a camera, and a pack of agile dogs taught me about life.
The Quote
To respect the way of it is to follow the simple directions. If you have the thought that the dishes need washing, wash them. That’s heaven. Hell is asking why. –Byron Katie
I was leaving the house one morning, going for a short visit with some friends, and the thought came: “Take the camera.” There were lots of reasons to argue with the thought at the time but, following the “simple directions,” I took the camera.
On the drive home I spied a gaggle of tents in the Tempe Sports Complex. “What’s that? Turn in and have a look.” I did, following the simple directions again. The Byron-Katie-in-my-head is becoming a nag.
What Was Happening In The Sports Complex
That’s right. It was a dog agility competition.
Two things I need to explain. First, I am re-acquainting myself with photography after a fifteen year hiatus from the hobby. I bought a new digital camera, took a refresher course, and snapped a lot of bad pictures. Second, when we rescued our dog from the Humane Society (a field-bred Springer Spaniel) I had the idea that she might like agility training. No luck there. Her impulse is to dart after any bird that dares enter her field of view; an impulse that makes her unreliable off lead. That was disappointing because I believed I would enjoy the agility training myself.
Add those two interests together, and stir in my obedience of simple directions, and this event was made for me. Heaven.
Devotion To God
I think that Byron Katie overstates, or maybe over-simplifies, the point a little. We do have to sort out directions which are destructive compulsions from those which are honorable and deserving of being followed. The former need to be ignored rather than followed.
On that day, however, following the simple directions paid off in a big way. I had a blast and captured some great images.
Here is how Katie summarized in her book, A Thousand Names For Joy:
If it comes to you to do something, just do it. All the unquestioned thoughts about that action are how you hurt yourself. Doing what’s next, without a mental argument, is devotion to God.
Tags: agility, Byron Katie, devotion, dog, intuition, Meeting The Friend, Photography
Well, sir, as you can imagine, this post immediately caught my attention, being a devoted Border Collie mother to some four BC’s now! And though I’ve been to many BC trials, none of them were agility trials. Boy! Do they look like they are having fun! (And so were you, obviously!) I’d say take your Gypsy girl to a couple of classes. She might surprise you? In any case, good listening!
This was a delight. In addition to the thought leadership musings, the dogs were and are wonderful. Thank you for sharing, Dick. I write a blog for Purina at scratchingsandsniffings.com and one area I am fascinated with is the agility trials for the Incredible Dog contests.
If we humans but pause now and then to view the workings of nature, in our fellow creatures actions, what wondrous things we may discover. One of the most important lessons, I think, is that… we are not alone on this earth. The creatures that share it with us as as important and vital as we are. How to learn from them is the challenge…don’t you think?
Oh man what a great post! There is a wonderful Eagles song (now there’s a parallel — the Eagles and Byron Katie) – on their new album called “Do Something.” I love the distinction between the destructive impulses and the heavenly divine instructions. We know the difference fairly easily. How often I get that “do this” thought, out of the blue, and ignore it because it requires a little extra effort (reality is probably my ego says “no, scary” or “no, not my idea.” I try to honor them, not great at it. but I try. It’s part of the push the envelope a tiny bit thing I try to do on a regular basis.
Love the happy, purposeful, “I have the best job in the world” dogs. You da man.