Animal Mind

(“Animal Spirit”, 2018, original encaustic)

Animal Mind

Sometimes I wonder what it’s like to be an animal.
Of course I am an animal,
But I wonder what it’s like
To not have the human layer of mind
The one that thinks, reflects, recollects 
Compares, contrasts and cogitates.
Then I remember what it’s like to dream
Where effortlessly I experience whatever
All with my animal mind.

I know it’s my animal mind
Because as vivid as it may be when dreaming it
It quickly fades like mist in the morning sun
If I don’t deploy my human mind 
To store it away in some available white matter.

It makes sense that this sense of simply experiencing 
Is what all animals share
With maybe just a few having some capacity 
For the self reflection we so love about ourselves.

What is really going on here in the layers of mind?
Is it even knowable?
Of course it is!
Because it is all within us!

Within our brain the two halves
That make up a whole
Include the nonverbal, nonrational side
Of sensory perception
And its opposite
The side of data processing, filing and recall.
In the day the left side rules
But in the night the right holds sway.

So my night is like my dog’s day
Fantastically wonderful and fresh
While my day is just another day
Of an endless story I tell myself
A story my dogs don’t even have a mind 
Let alone ears to hear
Beyond the soothing tones of a human lullaby.

(9/4/25)

animaldreampsychologicalspiritualnarrative

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