A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to

leave the examination room and said,

"Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side."

Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."



"You don't know? You, a Christian man,

do not know what is on the other side?"


The doctor was holding the handle of the door;

on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,

and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room

and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.



Turning to the patient, the doctor said,

"Did you notice my dog?

He's never been in this room before.



He didn't know what was inside.

He knew nothing except that his master was here,

and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.

I know little of what is on the other side of death,

but I do know one thing...


I know my Master is there and that is enough."

nice kate i loved it

Thank you

your welcome sweetie

That is the way my dog is. He will whine and scratch on the door until I let him. I will ask him what he wants and he just barks at me. Last night he was wanting water to drink. My other female dog waits till he gets in and is right on his heals. The male dog waited till she was done then got him a drink but usually when I give them a bowl with meat in it they both have their head in the bowl at the same time until the bowl is clean. I liked reading what you had there, too.

Thank you HF

Katertots, while I find the premise of your story very interesting, it is the other side of the same premise the story intructs, taht caught my attention. I submit it to you for debating sake.


Here it goes:

If we had not MADE-UP the 'dog-master' concept, the dogs 'instincts' would have remained wild, and they wouldn't be scratching their 'master's' door FOR FOOD WATER AND OTHER MAN MADE GOODIES.

The dog DOESN'T KNOW what is on the other side of the door. He smells his master, which smell he automatically equates to food & other man-made comforts (Pavlovian).

We don't know what's on the man-made 'other side' of life!!! There is no other side!!! It's just our instinctive fear of death which made up the other side concept, it comforts us ... and we believe in it (pavolvian for humanoids).

Have faith in life, here, now! Afterlife is just a profound distraction IMO.

Thanks Katertots.

As long as there is a need for the entity that is me, I exist.

it is kinda like this

a man is wondering what heaven and hell will be like and then he has a vision and sees that in one room there is a bunch of people sitting around a pot of food and he notices that all the people have short arms but really long spoons he also notices that they are all still starving yet there is a pot full of food in the middle of the circle

but then he sees another room much like the previous one but the people are all very full and well nourished and then he sees why the people in this room have learned to feed one another with the food from the pot because they have realized they cant feed themselves

so take this as you may but i have said what i would like to say and so you know I'm LDS or Mormon

Katertots37,

I hope I haven't offended you. It certainly wasn't my intent.

Given that this is a debating forum, I figured you might enjoy debating the interesting question you raised in you opening post 'What lies on the other side?'.


Maybe I'm just too sensitive, and the only reason you haven't gotten back to my reply is because you've just been too busy cooking up a storm!!!
(just a joke, given the picture under your name!!!)

kater, I liked the analogy.
Voil, I'd like to respond for the sake of debate

What makes you assume the dog is hungry or thirsty or wants a treat? Perhaps it just wants to be near the master. You mention the basic needs: food, shelter, water but you left out to belong. All beings feel a need to belong.
I'm not affraid to die. In a twisted kind of way, I look forward to it. (Side note: I think I'm gonna live to 150.)

Just as the dog can smell his master on the other side of the door, perhaps we too have some sense of the 'other side'. And it is that feeling, not fear that makes us have faith in life here after.

Tahnks for playing 'ezguy' :

You are right, I left out '... need to belong'.

And for debate sake, I'll keep forwarding the point I made earlier.

The dogs smells the master, and pursues his instinctive need to belong, by scratching the door, as he would scratch the ground for a bone.

Maybe it is just so with us.

We have that same instinctive need to belong, and we are preoccupied about not knowing where WE will belong after death. I simply suggest that IMO it strictly instinctive, and not fundamental, not real. It feels real, but it isn't. The preoccupation or instinct to belong is a real preoccupation and a real instinct. We really feel it, but no more. It is not IMO because we have an instinctive need in belonging, and that we are preoccupied about belonging 'forever', that there must be another side to this side. It wolod seem to me that the real instinct of belonging (forevever), is entirely fabricating this other side, for soothing purposes.

I too have this instinctive need to belong. I too find merit and color in the message Katertots37 wrote, but more like something to ponder and really inquire into, as in not taking it for granted that there is another side, and that we will be on the right side of the other side.

IS there really another side? Is there really a need for another side, besides the hope to sooth an instinctive need to belong?
Also, while our attention is on this elusive (IMO) concept of another side, how is that impacting our being present to this side, while we're here with plenty of 'belonging' and nurturing opportunities?

I believe very humbly that we are not going anywhere. Not now and not eventually. We'll be here, forever, taking different forms, but here, wharever and whatever that here is!!!

Just for debating sake...

Thanks again 'ezguy'.

... and 'kater', care to come out and play some?!?!?

that was good. thanks for sharing.

Thanks 'kingbreeze'.

What would you have to say on this topic?

DID anyone like my analogy??

Love it YankeeBoy!!!

Tell me if I get this right.

Sort of like, if your focus is on others, you have no need to worry about belonging, nor surviving forever. Your preoccupations are not on YOU, but on others.

If that is a possible interprettion, I love it!

What are your thoughts on the other posts 'YankeeBoy'?

fear is a human emotion but just because we feel it does not mean that we have to give in to it. there are lessons to be learned everywhere you go in life and this one just so happened to be taught by a dog(one of GODs creatures).

I find your point about fear interesting 'kingbreeze',and I agree.

And what lesson do you draw from the analogy offered by the 'dog' story.