No such thing.  Most dogs are born perfect.  We exist, then we seek food, not the essence of self.  

I had a large Great Dane friend named Kierkegaard, who conceptualized about the meaninglessness of life itself.  He developed a dread of nothingness; angst.  For him, angst equaled  barking at nothing, or possibly worried about barking at nothing; a nondirectional emotion.  

I’ll try to explain.  When I walk on the levy to the Algiers Ferry, I think about the ride across to the City and go over my plan on where I will position myself. That is actual fear of falling into the Mississippi River.  I call it the muddy river fear.  On the other hand, Kierkegaard always dreaded of the possibility that he might throw himself over the side and into the water.  He worried about nothing.  It was ‘makeup worry’; angst.

Can you imagine a bigger waste of time and energy?  He should have been learning about trucks.

Angst precedes nothing.  That’s what makes it different from fear.  Fear has an object and can be overcome with courage.  Fear is not a bad thing but don’t confuse ‘no fear’ with courage.  I knew a dog with no fear.   He also had never seen a truck.   The barking fool ran in, challenged the bumper and now sits close to The Big Dog above.  He was fearless but lacked the wisdom of TRUCK and now, he’s dead.  A dog who lacks fear can be more dangerous to himself, and others, than a coward.

Fear is normal in the face of fearful things.  A dog must be afraid once in awhile, face and overcome the challenge, then move on.  In doing so, he or she develops the confidence to face the next fearful challenge.  After a little practice, courage takes root deep within the soul and allows a dog to advance or retreat based upon acquired wisdom.  

Real courage has intelligent direction so hold your ground but not in the path of an oncoming TRUCK.  

I have a hard time with the whole concept of nondirectional emotion.  I really don’t care what it means and I’m not going to worry about it because it’s nothing to me.  And you should have figured out by now that if I worry about nothing, I will have disproven my lack of awareness of the concept of dread.  

Existentially speaking, I dread that happening.  Thanks a lot, Kierkegaard.

The Wisdom of Willie Bean