Dogs have tongues and noses and make good use of them. Temperature control and inquiry are just two of the important aids to survival that they confer upon dogs. Of course, some dogs take – or are given – the opportunity to specialise. We are familiar with dogs sniffing out drugs in a suspect’s car. We are familiar too, with the baying of dogs in a pack or as part of an extended team picking up a scent for their masters. The ability of bloodhounds to track the scent of a human, even after days have passed, is legendary. One of the most prominent of the breed was Nick Carter, born in 1900 and credited with successfully following a human trail 300 hours old.
Maybe it has crossed our minds that dogs do the best with what they have got. It cannot be easy to do practical things when there is no prehensile grip available. (Dolphins have the same problem.) It can, I suppose, be even more difficult to frame theories and test them with only tongue and nose to do what reading and writing can do.
In fact dogs are not well equipped to investigate the secrets of the universe or even the most obvious questions about our surroundings. And yet it may well be that in this aspect of their lives we have more in common with dogs than we might imagine. For all our sophistication and verbal wizardry we come up against a similar brick wall when we try to give our imaginations a run beyond the familiar dimensions in which we breathe, stand on our two feet and bow before our Creator.
The moral of all this is, I suppose, that we do well to recognise our limitations and make the best of them. We have fingers that can tie knots but cannot pick up jelly. We have minds that can measure and speculate on the emptiness of space but we find it hard to curb our basic instincts and live peaceably with our neighbours.
In what may be Rupert Brooke’s best poem ‘Heaven’ he has a fish pondering his ideal destination. It has a Maker, squamous, omnipotent and kind. ‘And in that Heaven of all their wish, There shall be no more land, say fish.’
Well did Paul say: ‘Scripture speaks of “things beyond our seeing, things beyond our hearing, things beyond our imagining, all prepared by God for those who love him…” ‘ ( 1 Corinthians 2.9)
BLAZING LIGHT
As far as magazine covers are concerned, St Peter’s church, Formby, Liverpool has no time for half-measures. The current issue has a cover featuring blazing light and soldiers. It marks Remembrance Day and is followed by 44 pages packed with news and features. A team of five, ed and ad, work to ensure that the church keeps in touch with parishioners. The Vicar is Anne Taylor.
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