Walking Wisdom: The Spirituality of Dogs

Gotham Chopra’s new book, “Walking Wisdom: Three Generations, Two Dogs, and the Search for a Happy Life,” highlights dog spirituality, telling the story of how his two rescue dogs taught him important life lessons and demonstrated elements of spirituality only found in man’s best friend.

Chopra blogged on Intent.com that he’s had two dogs in his life: “Our first, who died tragically only after two years with us, and our latest, Cleo, a rescue who’s now been with us for over a decade and is still going strong. Both of them have taught us amazing and long-lasting lessons, and I really do believe that kids that grow up with animals … evolve to be kinder, more compassionate, and aware people.”

Chopra wrote that growing up with “Mr. Spirituality,” his dad Deepak Chopra, led him to search for something more in his life. While on his quest to decode what spirituality meant to him, Chopra found that dogs exhibit the best features of spirituality every day. Chopra commented, “No matter what the title screams, the pages inside tell the real story. I wanted to call it ’Spirituality for Dogs’ because put through the crucible of a mutt like mine, I … [was] able to see the values and ethos of this vague and ineffable term spirituality in [its] most stark and basic form.”

He added, “Qualities like love and devotion, loyalty, forgiveness, present moment awareness, unboundedness and more — these are spiritual qualities that not only don’t require complex or quantum deconstructions, but that are also readily apparent in man’s best friends.”

Last week, Chopra told Larry King Live how he found the inspiration in his two dogs. “My family… is [always looking] to have answers for [every question]. And I think I got to a stage in my life where I started to examine some of these questions myself. The first person I went to was my father. But as I listened and learned certain things from him or reflected on them, Cleo, this dog we’ve had, has sort of lived many of those examples for many years … And the more I asked other people about things in their own lives and stories — you know people are very, very passionate about their pets – it became fun to hear what other people had to say and to hear their stories. So I wasn’t alone in feeling that there are certain qualities to be learned from our pets.”

In the process of writing his book, Chopra started partnerships with dog-friendly organizations, including Freekibble, which works hard to support rescue and shelter animals. To do his part, Chopra vowed that a portion of his book’s proceeds would go to Freekibble. He also started collaborating with Scribd.com, a website that has set up an ebook for users to upload their own stories, pictures and thoughts on the most important things they’ve learned from their dogs.

“Walking Wisdom” is available wherever books are sold.

PHOTO : larrykinglive.blogs.cnn.com

Amelia LeRutte

Amelia Lerutte is a public relations and social media expert, and a pack leader to a couple derpy Boston Terriers, a lovable Leonburger and a Keeshound. When not writing or promoting the i Love Dogs brand, Amelia is an avid NHL fan, ice hockey player and video gamer.