What happens when the dog dies? If a pet is giving you the only love you know, it's going to destroy you to watch it pass. I'm saying that from experience. And

What happens when the dog dies? If a pet is giving you the only love you know, it's going to destroy you to watch it pass. I'm saying that from experience. And we're very unlike animals too. Intelligence is unlike any other force in nature. We're the only thing that can drastically and intentionally shape the world around us, find and preserve knowledge for thousands of years. Even language itself is incredible, and nothing like what we see with animals. You're not wrong about shallow relationships and striving for approval being a trap though. But there is an alternative to being swallowed by emptiness. It's not the most popular thing to talk about, but when people refer to "saving faith", that emptiness you describe, is what they are saved from.