Week 10: Thich Nhat Hahn and My Dog

Recently I’ve come to the sudden realization that my dog, Jasper is 13 years old and that he’s not going to be by my side forever. Jasper is a small, crusty Maltese that constantly begs to be picked up when we’re out in public and refuses to sleep anywhere that doesn’t have a clean, fluffy blanket folded into a neat square. But he also knows whenever I don’t feel well and will always stick to my side no matter where I go.

I always spiral into a panic whenever I think about my dog’s mortality because I know I could never be prepared for him to leave me. However, while reading this week’s work by Hahn, I found a section that brought me some comfort. In his book, “The Art of Living”, Hahn’s section on pages 29–30 discusses the concept of death and how it is not scientific to believe that there is nothing after death due to the first law of thermodynamics. He states, "…we cannot assert that after death there is nothing. Something can never become nothing” (Hahn, 30).

I often found death unnerving because I believed there was a chance that after one’s passing there would be a blank slate like before one’s birth. But despite that, Hahn’s writing has resonated with me and I recognize now that I never came from nothing. I am the result of my ancestor’s successes and whenever I pass, I will continue to be something. Therefore, my dog will always be by my side in the world around me even if he’s not in his physical form.