That is why their lives are more meaningful than ours. Instead, Rowlands leans on the deep and dour philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre to answer those questions, and to decipher the unspoken wisdom dogs exhibit. He proffers that dogs have no capacity for reflection but they do have pre-reflection — knowing they exist relative to other objects in space, blissfully unaware that it may be anything more than a moving ball they are chasing. According to the author, Shadow has the ability to experience pleasure in the smallest acts — chasing sunbathing iguanas on the banks of a canal in Miami.
He never catches one but the big dog is willing to repeat the game every morning — the game Rowlands compares to the myth of Sisyphus in Greek mythology who was a devious tyrant punished in his afterlife and condemned to push a boulder up to the top of the hill only for it to endlessly roll back down.
Chasing but never catching the iguanas. Rowlands contends, resembles a Sisyphean task, but Shadow plays the game daily with great joy.
Meaning for us is a hard-won achievement, and one rarely attained. Rowlands contends that dogs are both actors and authors of their lives and not spectators, or critics, unlike humans, who are creatures of reflection and doubt that in time can possibly riddle one with cancer. The author interprets meaning in life as authentic happiness and that the lives of dogs are typically more meaningful and filled with more love than the lives of humans because they are not burdened by reflection and have only one life to live.
A dog only has one life, and of it he is actor and not spectator, author and not critic. Working out why this is so — is what this book is all about. Even her latest photo is getting attention for her interesting footwear choice. Lopez was wearing an all-white outfit that flattered her figure, featuring tailored pants and a collared shirt. She accessorized the look with a cropped jacket and a tan bel. Lopez, 55, stepped out on Saturday, February 1, in a blush-colored LaPointe halter gown featuring a low-cut neckline that almost reached her navel.
