Being Comfortable and Being Alive

A dog, it seems to me, likes to stay in his comfort zone. And, a dog gets used to certain routines, and sticks with those routines, if able. But, even a dog appears to like something new sometimes as well – so long as it is not too drastically new. But, most dogs (unless they live out in the country) are dependent on their humans to guide them in the routine and the new and different. A dog if left free about all the time, will develop its own routines. I had two dogs growing up and they could roam as they pleased, and they developed some pretty clear routines. Of course, I don’t know how often they ventured out for the new and different. Those times of going out for the new and different seemed to be reserved for times when they sensed some female dog was in heat (my dogs were both male). Then, they might end up who knows where, and of course, that might in turn expand their horizons (once the heat was over) and become part of their new routines.

Humans are more self-determining than most dogs are, and so this matter of routine and the new and different would seem to be more open-ended for humans than dogs. I might even venture to say that humans should be able to imagine more possibilities than dogs are able to imagine. But, sometimes it seems like humans are far too much like dogs only far less faithful.

A human, it seems to me, likes to stay in his or her comfort zone. And, a human gets used to certain routines, and sticks with those routines, if able. But, even a human appears to like something new sometimes as well – so long as it is not too drastically new. And, mostly everything else I wrote in the first paragraph about dogs applies to humans. Clearly, the human will risk all sorts of things new and different when “in heat” as well. I would like to think that there are also other passions in human life that might cause us to leave our comfort zone behind, discover new possibilities and expand our routines, so that our routines are not a closed stationary circle but more like a circle ever expanding with lots of ways in and out.

One thing that I think is different between dogs and humans is this: if a human stays too long in his or her comfort zone, it becomes very uncomfortable. There is something in us that has to venture out, take risks, be free or it gets sick and maybe even dies. Deep down, humans may be more like wild animals than domestic ones. That’s why we have so many prisons constructed both internally and externally to hold us. So long as you live afraid, you are dangerous. You must either lock yourself up or somebody else must lock you up. Those who live afraid either attack themselves constantly or attack others. Or, the less aggressive either monitor themselves constantly or monitor others continually.

But, to be free. Free from monitoring one’s self, free from monitoring others. Free from hatred of self, free from hatred of others. Free from internal prisons, free from external prisons. Free to live in one’s routines without being caged in by one’s routines. Free to dream about something, envision something, and then go about doing it. Free not to simply imagine engaging in life, but engaging in life. Free from fear of rejection. Free to laugh at one’s fears, when they get in the way of one’s dreams. Free to welcome each new day like a dog does. Free to meet your loved ones with joy like a dog does. Free to get excited about eating like a dog does. Free to lay down without a care in the world like a dog does. Free!

For a human to be free, for you and me to be free, we have to push out our walls or else they push in on us. I think a dog can probably stay in his comfort zone and still happily remain a dog. In the end, you either shake your fist at your fears and face them, or they shake their fist at you and you tremble. I think of the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” Our fears that control us are our false gods. Our fears that simply warn us of danger, and having done their job move on, are normal. Our fears that stay with us and continually warn and control us – well, those are false gods.

The First Commandment is probably the least understood of all the commandments. It seems to me that most religious people understand it as God stomping his feet and wanting everybody to applaud him. What it really is is God calling human beings out of their bondage: like when God called his people to leave the land of slavery and cross the Red Sea into a land of freedom – a land in which only God had ultimate authority (i.e., Pharoah is not God; I am!). Apparently, even when you come out from external bondage, it takes some time to shake off the shackles of internal bondage too. And, even the mighty Spirit of God seemed to have been much more successful in getting his people out of Egypt than getting Egypt out of his people.

The external idols are always easier to destroy than the internal ones. We can recognize that wooden idol as not being worthy of our allegiance or reverence, but we can’t seem to recognize the invisible and internal creations of our minds and hearts. They haunt our days and nights, commanding our obedience, and we bow down before them days without number. But, the liberating and resounding word comes within: “You shall have no other gods before me.” If you ever hear that internally as the battle cry of freedom (not just from others, but from your self as well!), you are on your way to the promised land – a land of freedom, a land where your routines provide a secure home base from which to launch a series of experiments that in turn expand your routes in life again and again. A dog and a human likes to stay in his or her comfort zone, but a human gets real uncomfortable when that comfort zone doesn’t expand regularly. It’s just part of being human: reaching for that wild tameness, or that tame wildness.