Titan - Part Two Titans enormous joie de vivre was particularly remarkable given the fact that he was in considerable pain for much of his life. Born with a spinal deformity, it appeared by the end of his first year that he would lose the use of his hind legs. Surgery was the only hope offered for what was repeatedly misdiagnosed as hip dysplasia. However, Bob and I cajoled and coerced that great genius of psychophysical functioning, Moshe Feldenkrais, to give us suggestions about how to remedy the defect. An Israeli who had no experience or liking of dogs, Moshe became fascinated with the case and determined a number of ways to retrain Titan in ways of walking. With this information as well as other methods that Bob was able to devise, Bob worked with Titan twice a day for a year, teaching him different ways of moving and walking. For many years he was able to move enough to get around, though never without some degree of pain, until his condition worsened irredeemably toward the end of his life. Even then, when walking had become very difficult, Titan’s joy and lovingness remained undiminished. I used to hold a salon of ideas for about sixty people on Sundays, and he would drag himself over to each person, look lovingly in their eyes, and kiss them. Even if someone tried to trick him by hiding, Titan would always pull himself along on his front paws until he found them so that they, too, could be greeted and kissed. Then he would sit in the middle of the group, looking around the circle of people and giving darshan, or deep seeing. People would come from all over just to be “seen by this dog, since he seemed to lift their cares and give them a sense of being unconditionally loved. But there was something else that occurred in these meetings—something quite remarkable and of a nature that I have experienced neither before nor since. In the presence of Titan, our minds soared and many came up with ideas and projects that seemed far more developed than anything we had considered before. Inspiration ran rife through these meetings, brainstorms were common, the veils that obscured were lifted, and we felt as if we were being nourished in a field of knowledge and love that belonged to a larger reality. Could it be that Titan in his bodhisattva state of light and loving carried this larger reality that evoked cosmic means, higher intelligence? People who attended these meetings began to call me up to ask whether they could have private sittings with my dog since his presence seemed to bring forth their finest thought. I will never forget the sight of an eminent bald philosopher sitting on the rug, holding hands with Titan while a tape recorder preserved the concepts inspired by this illumined canine. When I interrupted this communion for a moment to bring the philosopher a cup of tea, I asked him why he got so intellectually stimulated in the presence of Titan. He replied in some wonderment, “It’s as if there are two realities here: the existential one of this marvelous dog in front of me and an essential one that is on a continuum with the source mind of the universe.” Titan just thumped his huge tail and glowed. Titan was a natural rescuer, seeking out people who were in emotional distress and looking at them until they felt a great wave of peace come upon them. But he also went out and physically rescued people on a number of occasions. There was the time when he and I were walking in a forest, and I fell down the hill and badly sprained my ankle. Even though this was at a point in his life when Titan was walking only with the greatest of pain, he somehow managed to climb down the hill, nose me up with his huge head, and drag me up the hill. All the way home he kept his body close to mine for support, and I leaned on him in order to walk. Needless to say, from this exertion he was not himself able to walk for the next several weeks. Then there was the incident with Bobs mother, Kay Masters. She had had a laryngectomy and was only able to speak in a very strange and harsh tone using a voice machine. Oliver, my beloved Airedale, who had the most sensitive hearing, finally couldnt stand the sound of her voice any more and sprang for her as she was seated in a wheelchair. In that same instant, Titans huge golden body hurtled through the air, almost as if he had taken flight, and smashed Oliver to the floor, holding him down with his great paw until we could wheel Kay away. After that, as long as she visited with us, Titan stayed constantly at my mother-in-laws side, sleeping at night at the foot of her bed. The Airedale had leaped without any forewarning, we noticed, but Titan must have moved in exactly the same instant, or even just before, having picked up Olivers intention telepathically. This incident caused lasting trouble, since afterward Titan was determined to fight and perhaps kill Oliver, something he several times almost accomplished. They could never again be together for a moment, a fact that made life difficult for all as we always had to be on top of which dog was on what side of a door at every moment. One of the shadow sides of the mastiff is that in spite of their loving nature, once they have decided on someones (animal or human) moral character, they never forget it and seek to root out what they see as evil, should any occasion arise. (Of course, this can also be a characteristic of certain mystics—witness the crusty and irascible demeanor of certain enlightened monks.) Titan’s behavior as regards Oliver was curious given that in general his reverence for life was positively worthy of missionary physician Albert Schweitzer. If either Bob or I so much as swatted a fly, we would get a disapproving look from him, whereupon he would get up and leave the room. In experimenting to verify our observations of this behavior, we also observed on many occasions that he would get up and leave with a reproachful look if we even thought about such an action. And should he be out in the dog yard, Titan would get up and move to a far corner of the yard, facing away from us, when we decided to swat a fly. We demonstrated this often to others, and it seemed clear in this instance as in others that he received some images as they formed in our minds, as well as by other extrasensory means. Titan had many admirers, one of whom was the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who often came and stayed with us. A person of acute senses who noticed everything, she said, He has the most fragrant and pleasant breath that Ive ever experienced. To which my husband replied, The odor of sanctity is no mere metaphor, Margaret. Margaret used to like to creep up on Titan when he was asleep. She enjoyed, she said, his sonorous snores, which resembled the songs of the humpback whales. But mostly, Margaret, along with many others, liked to just sit in his company and be present to his deep seeing. It rests me, she said, being around this big dog. I am such a public person, and have so much stuff projected onto me, that it rests me to be seen so completely for who and what I truly am.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 02:06:12 +0000
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