https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=riRbb7v8x1s
There were a lot of dogs that lived in our neighborhood. And not only were there dogs that were at people’s homes who might run out into the street at the newspaper boy, but there were also, because we lived right next to a jungle, there were also wild dogs that lived in the jungles and would sometimes associate with the domesticated dogs. And they would run in packs. Most people in the modern Western world have never encountered a wild dog. But if you ever did, you might think almost that they were completely different species. Especially if you’re scared and if you’re a kid. Right. So I mean, I’m 12 years old. I mean, it’s horrifying, especially when there’s multiple of them running at you at the same time. And, you know, we eventually started carrying big poles that we could use to fend them off. You know, and so like in our in our own little preteen way, you know, we’d become dragon slayers. Right. But I’m not saying that a wild dog is a dragon, but there’s still something about, you know, there’s more to a dog than just its DNA. Of course. Right. A wild dog is a different creature in a very important sense than, you know, the little Yorkie that your neighbor has, you know, and that sits on his lap. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And the dog that runs after you to bite you, although he might have the same similar DNA than the dog you’re petting, that’s not the same dog. Right. In terms of an actual experience. And if you try to level those, then you’re going to get you’re going to get you’re going to get eaten by the dog. Like you can’t level those two things. Right. And it’s interesting, you know, when I was in when I was in seminary, the example was given and it was interesting because I had had this personal experience with wild dogs. You know, the example was given like, look at the way that dogs are in their natural state versus the way that they behave when they’re around human beings all the time. You know, dogs around human beings all the time tend to behave like humans. They tend to become like humans. I mean, they don’t stand up right. They don’t look like humans, whatever, you know, setting aside for the moment that some people like to put them in in clothes, you know, which is interesting to think about that as a phenomenon. No offense to all of you, you know, people out there that put clothing on your dog. It’s fine. Whatever you want to do. But, you know, and someone actually said so and this was being used as an analogy to human beings spending time with God and becoming more like God. So theosis, right? So someone came up with the term humanosis to refer to what happens to dogs when they’re with people. But it’s interesting to think about the difference between a dog and its natural state and a dog in its domesticated state, you know, the state of humanosis and think about human beings being with God. You know, there’s places in scripture where it talks about human beings becoming like angels or becoming even equal to the angels. And it’s not that they become a different species, but they become, you know, the encounter with a human becomes more like an encounter with an angel. Just as an encounter with a friendly domesticated dog is more like meeting a person. And again, if you’ve never met a wild dog, you don’t quite know what I mean. But you can guess, you can imagine, you know. But your interpretation of how meaning works and also the function of the place of kind of hierarchy of beings is powerful. It’s the right way to understand it. And it’s also the right way to understand our own passions and how our passions can also be closer to the logos or further away from the logos or even our own being, you could say, is similar to the way in which the difference between a tame dog that is your guardian and a dog that is coming to maul you. Yeah. Yeah. And I think one of the difficulties of the modern world is that it doesn’t tend to want to give any stock to knowledge that comes through participation. Yeah. Which is why a dog that is dead and dissected on your laboratory table is in many sense considered to be equivalent to the Yorkie on your lap. Right. You know, but they’re not. They’re just, you know, a carcass is not the same thing.