So why did Shiva walk the dog? A dog was considered to be an impure animal by many people back then, when the metaphor was originally conceived of.
What About Jesus?
One of Jesus’ teachings was to forgive your enemies and maybe even to love your enemies. To understand deeply where they are coming from, and be compassionate towards all.
So Shiva walking the dog was a similar teaching and still is. A dog could be considered an enemy.
So why did Shiva love this impure dog and take him or her as a companion? The dog is a beast, they would have said. Not holy. But impure and dirty.
Exactly the point. There is no holy scripture that can make all of life exist in “perfection” as a naive person would consider holy things to be.
This universe is actually a radical existence. The holistic and well-developed psyche understands that the universe is not always as one would hope it to be. It is beyond that. It exists in another dimension and it’s laws are not so.
The laws of the universe are divine in the realest meaning of the word. They are not to be understood if one remains in a state of arrogance towards laws of the world such as gravity. Can you imagine someone being arrogant towards the law of gravity? To think they are above it as an individual self? Yeah, you can see why one might go wrong that way.
Shiva’s Dog As A Metaphor
So Shiva actually in this way, is shown by the metaphor, to love the universe as it is. So he is coming from a higher place - from a place of God-Likeness, or holism. He actually understands himself as a cosmic force. Hence why Shiva is treated as a God. A force of nature, that lives from a state of curiousness, knowledge and mastery.
Just as Jesus said that he is the way to the Father. So it’s all about a greater understanding of Self-Hood and one’s place in the universe.
So Shiva actually loves a dog still, despite it being an imperfect animal. As a cat is too. They are not “holy” in the traditional sense.
But what is the universe if not holy? There is no duality ultimately between holiness and unholiness, the Tantrikas ultimately discovered. All of it is the Goddess.
So all of the Universe is in this view sacred. Even a dog, despite it’s weakness. Shiva thought that dogs are holy too. And I think that’s cool. And Jesus agreed.