A Challenge!!!

[Arathin]

I pose a challenge for all, outcast or nay, willing to try. Everything will be accepted from anyone. The submissions will be placed here and once I have enough, I'll make a commentary thread. Then once we'll have an poll for the best one. No prise I'm afraid, but come on! It'll be fun!!!

This is your challenge... to write an short storie or essay etc (your choice) not too much more than three pages please so everyone can read them all easily. Your topic is... "The Religious Views of a Wolf and a Domesticated Dog: Compare and Contrast" That is your mission... lets say we'll be running this until like early August, lets say August 7th... nice random number... After we have voted the best one, then a new topic can be voted upon... So Please!!! tell your friends, submit submit submit... more than one per topic is welcome!!!

[HLGStrider]

Does this mean my view religiously on the dogs and wolves or the religious view of dogs and wolves. . .I'm guessing the second . . .gosh, this is going to be interesting. . .

[Sador]

Dog thinks:
I am a good dog. Here comes God. I hope He throws a stick. God just scratched my ear. Wow. God has very attractive legs. I wonder if He'd mind.... Oh no, God is displeased! This water is so cold! Maybe I can bring God a present... I've still got that rat I caught last week.... God would surely want a dead rat beside His bed.... I must be a bad dog. God yelled at me, even though I gave Him a rat and made sure He would find it when He woke. Maybe I should just lick my genitals and give up theology. God moves in mysterious ways I spose.
Wolf Thinks:
I'm hungry.... I'd better eat. I'm tired... I'd better sleep. I'm horny... I'd better mate. I'm glad I'm a wolf. I like my pack buddies. I wonder if some great wolf dreamed me into this world?
Is the food I hunt put there just for me? Or did I just show up at the right time? Who cares? Live Fast Die Young, leave a good looking pelt.

[HLGStrider]

Wolf
I was made with a purpose
I run, I sleep,
I move, I mate
I was made with a purpose
I slink, I race,
I lie in wait
This was the purpose for which I was made

Dog
I was made with a purpose
I lick, I bark,
I whine, I plead
I was made with a purpose
I play, I wag,
I go where my master will lead.
This was the purpose for which I was made.

[Arathin]

You've all waited and wanted to know when I would be posting my own entry in this little challenge of mine. So here you have it!!!

The Religious Views of a Wolf and a Domesticated Dog: Compare and Contrast
By Lueca Isil aka Arathin's penname...

What makes a god? Faith, followers, prayers, belief… these are what creates a god or a series of gods and goddesses. Are humans the only beings on this world with gods? We teach that our gods told us to care for the animals, but what if that means nothing to the animals? What if the animals themselves have there own gods, similar or dissimilar from our own? These are questions commonly over-looked in today’s society of quickly whirling humanity. Today is the rein of humanity, but what if tomorrow was the rein of the wolf, the tiger, or even the little white lab mouse? What faith, what gods, would be worshipped then? What if, right under our intolerant noses, thousands of thousands of different animal and plant religions are being practiced out on a daily basis? What are these different religions like? How might different parts of the same species have different or similar religious views?

Of course it is common knowledge that the domesticated dog came, originally, from the wild dog. Most domesticated dogs’ lineage can be traced back to one ancestor, known even in today’s world as the wolf. Thus it is believable that the wolf’s religious views, beliefs, and god or gods would have been the same as those of the ancestors of our household dogs, but have these beliefs changed after human domination? How could they not have? In today’s world there can been seen three different religious views when one looks at the common domesticated dog and the wolf as the examples. It can be assumed that wolves all follow the same or roughly the same religious view, but among domesticated dogs there are two separate religious sects.
These two religious sects among the domestic dog population can be looked at through the dog’s attitude toward its master or masters. The common belief among people is that dogs look at humans as the gods. This can be justified because we feed the dog, we give the dog attention or ignore it, we wash the dog, we give it shelter. In return the dog protects it ‘god(s)’ or keeps it (them) company. Another, slightly less commonly admitted to by humans, religious view of domesticated dogs would of course be that they themselves are the ‘god(s)’. This belief can be justified through the same aspects that the last was. We clean up after the dog, we feed it when it is hungry, we let it sleep in our house, or bed, etc. The view taken by the dog as to whom in the relationship is the ‘god’ and who is the servant is seen utterly in the dog’s attitude towards it’s person or people. Some dogs beg for food because it is ‘the nectar of the gods’. Other dogs expect it because we must ‘offer up delectables for their consumption’. Some dogs would never jump up on the ‘god’s’ bed. Others believe it is not the human’s bed, but the dog’s. These examples continued on through every aspect of the human-domesticated dog relationship.

However, wolves are not under the rein of human beings. The common wolf is under the jurisdiction of Mother Nature and the ways of the wild. Thus it can only naturally be assumed that humans would in no way be the gods of the wolf. Instead the wolf’s gods are more likely to be the earth, the rain, the sun, the moon, some god that guides the hunt, and other such deities. The relationship between the wolf and its gods can be seen when the wolf howls at the moon. Perhaps asking the moon to guide it or protect it in some way. Also this relationship can be seen when the wolf hunts and makes a kill. It hunts only those that are weak, sickly, old, can’t keep up, or alone. That way it preys off those undesirables of nature. The wolf is guided by instincts imbedded with Mother Nature and its other deities to hunt only those that are unwanted, only those that would weaken the rest of the herd. It can be justified that wolves, and other animals, see humans as a ‘big, bad, scary monster’ or some other such thing. Humans kill indiscriminately well every other animal on the planet kills only what is needed and almost always goes for the weak, undesirables of the herd it is hunting. Might it also be possible that the wolf interrupts humans as the god of death, destruction, and chaos? For, no matter how hard we try, these are what seem to follow us wherever we go in the animal world.

Thus it can be seen that the religious views of animals, although they may or may not include humans as the god(s), can be quite diverse, even among the same species. It is evident that no matter appearance or genetic relation, a single species can, and will, have differing views upon the religions that make up its every day life. Plus if wolves believe roughly the same religion that ancient human did, then how is it that humans can view themselves, and their modern religions, as the most powerful race or species or driving force upon the face of the planet?

[e.Blackstar]

Uh...okay

Dog

Dear Diary,
This has been the greatest day of my life! Today I have found my own personal God! Mother said it would happen one day. Oh joy! He pets me, feeds me, loves me, and I return his love with affection of my own. Perhaps I shall leave him a present in the living room.

Wolf

Dear Diary,
Another good day of conquering and killing. I am far superior to these other canine weaklings. Another obnoxious, overdressed evangilizing Chihuahua came to talk to me about my eternel soul today. He should have been more worried about his eternel soul, as his life was short after he came calling.