​There is nothing certain in life apart from the ability of humans to come together in certain situations to offer assistance and support.  Usually reserved for a crisis event, that awakens awareness in each individual.  Or a moment of brutal and inescapable collective awareness which heralds a global realization, that we really are as pathetically vulnerable as everything else.  A time when separate connectivity would be a laughable concept if only the obvious blaring glaring imminent catastrophe remained the illusion it had previously just been.

There is absolutely no ego in pure equanimity, no residue of righteousness in crystal clear compassion and no judgement when faced with inescapable death and destruction.

​As emotional torment continues in the minds of those who call Gunung Agung home, it’s down to individuals like Pak Nyoman his family and community, to just be there, in readiness to offer unconditional support and love. 

If anything can bring us face to face with the stark reality that control is a complete and utter illusion, the prospect and mathematically inescapable surety that a volcanic eruption is imminent, most surely will.

Gunung Agung is about to decide how many lessons will be ejected down and upon Bali and her living beings.  The Gods have met and their decision to use Agung in this way is a sign that balance on Bali has tipped over the precipice.

There will be many human and animal casualties from this event.  After the ash has settled, when the lava flow cools and as renewal and rebirth begins, it will be the people and animals on Bali that will accept or reject what their Gods have created.  It is said that suffering can in actuality be the door to peace and happiness.

​We hope and pray for it to be.
 

Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where no Bali dogs exist, especially when they have existed for so long, living side by side with Bali people.

Dogs are human companions, growing and nurturing together, there is no doubt about that.  But with people and technology growing so rapidly, aligned with increasingly unreasonable fearful creations, dogs are cast aside, left adrift and afraid.   It’s too bad that people are not getting smarter with their smarter phones, just one click away from becoming mindful or one swipe away from being totally misinformed.   

Some lucky Bali dogs are living with even luckier people.  Some free spirited unions.  Dog’s fortunate to be running on beaches or mountains or village streets.  But some are taken for the delicacy of fueling adrenaline, others suffer with their breaking breath on the side of the road……….waiting.  Like the cycle of human life, they are having their moment.  It’s their journey.

Some of us are really fighting for them, appreciating their existence, acknowledging their sentience.  Preparing nice meals, giving warm snuggles, taking them off unkind streets, treating their wounds and keeping them as family.  Kind people do exist, but they are beyond the spotlight or hiding behind a curtain.  But there are generous amounts of them, growing and spreading around the island.

Some others are just being unreasonable; trying to dominate the world, thinking that they are kings, making decisions that create suffering. They treat Bali dogs as nothing more than rubbish, enjoying the killing spree, being gluttonous after their flesh.  These people are not many, but their misdeeds have been disseminated around the globe, making the whole island look nasty, all because of destructive human elements, dominant feelings and the fear of being killed by something so much weaker.  We have no idea how useless humans are without tools.  We cannot fight back with just our thumbs or dull teeth.

But Bali dogs have their own way. They continue to fight wholeheartedly, even after surviving so many trials of domination by humans.  They are killed and beaten and eaten but they hold on.  No matter how many are down, they are persistent in their pursuit to survive. This war will never end if we are still living with this unreasonable fear of them.

So let’s take the dominance into a whole other perspective.

​Being dominant over Bali dogs, meaning we are in charge of their well-being. With them being dependent on us, us dependent on them.  We nurture each other.  Take care of them and treat them well.  Protect them, promote them and preserve them.
 
They will just breathe, will just be.  In doing so, they will have succeeded in surviving human’s misinterpreted ego, in breaking the dominance in a non-dog world.