I love a good mystery.  Like trying to remember where I hid my favorite ball.  Like whether or not I'm going to get a walk on a given day.  Or like how dogs happen to be here, when it seems like it's against astronomical odds that the laws of nature are such that conscious beings like we dogs are here to witness a universe with ourselves in it.  Mystery is what makes the world an interesting place.  It's the fact that a dog doesn't know everything; that things occur randomly at times, but maybe, just maybe, he or she can determine the facts from the clues that can be unearthed.  A feeling of satisfaction is elicited as the theory of one's case is confirmed by events occurring as you predicted they would.  It's the scientific method at work.   

     Some cultures claim to have solved the mystery of existence by employing Supreme Beings who made the universe out of nothing.  Some maintain that the Supreme Being always existed, being eternal and all, and that humans and dog ancestors were created because the Being was lonely, or in need of entertainment.  I guess that's a possibility, although such a scenario takes the mystery out of things.  The Supreme Being is usually inscrutable, and is not keen on sharing his methodology for creation, or his rationale for inventing such things as DNA, dogs, and humans. It's fine to have a theory that a certain Supreme Being created the universe; it's when you stop wondering and become certain about such things that trouble often ensues. At least that's how it appears to us dogs.

     Although dogs have their own mythologies that employ the BIG DOG and omnipotent powers and such, these things are not taught to young dogs with any detailed certainty.  Supreme Dog Beings are helpful when used in literature, as symbols of tradition and teachers of morality.  As in Aesop's Fables, these BIG DOG Beings can be used in allegory and metaphor in order to tell important stories.  They aren't very useful in science books though, or in mysteries.  Otherwise it's like knowing that the end of every mystery is that the butler did it.  If the end of every dog's search for the truth is that the BIG DOG just decided everything arbitrarily, then life loses its sparkle; everything is determined, there's no need for inquiry, there's nothing new to discover.  Where did dogs come from?  I'm still working on wondering about that.  My wonder years will likely last throughout all of my life.  I hope so!  (Right now, I'm wondering what the family is making for supper?)

Buffy
Wonder Dog!