Cruelty

(Speaking of shoulds) I recently decided that one of our cats, Graham, should sleep on the cushy chair next to my desk, rather than on his preferred couch. That way I could enjoy his company while I worked.

So, whenever I found him on the couch, I'd bring him into the office and put him on the chair. He would immediately get up and head back to the couch.

Nevertheless, I persisted in my efforts to train him. (Train a cat. Right!)

Then, last week, I "got" what I was doing.

I had no thought for Graham's happiness. I didn't even have much thought for my own true happiness. I just wanted Graham to conform to my desires.

I wanted to remake the world. Again.

And I saw the cruelty inherent in this. More accurately, I felt the cruelty . . . like a blow to the stomach.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting the company of this sweet kittie. But my demand was fucked up and once I saw that, I let him return to being a cat.

He still likes me, which says a lot about a cat's generous spirit.

Comments

[Chana]

I use to argue with the abbot here, saying "you can not change the course that nature takes", he would argue "yes you can". Now i know that you can train nature to bend a little, but it won't break.
We had a fox that was attacking our free ranging chickens and had killed two. So we got a dog to protect the chickens. The dog chased the chickens so we had to confine the chickens to the chicken coup. Then we got a call that the dog was 1/2 mile down the road eating the cat food on another farm. It had to cross a very busy highway to get there. Now we have it tethered to a rope, and will not let it loose, because it will just run to other farms in the area. Remind me of the song....we got a dog, to get the cat, that gets the mouse, that gets the cheese, that we make. or something like that. So i remember the old saying "be as a reed, strong enough to bend but not break." :)

[puerhan]

Clear insight Barry!

Of course the same insight applies to exactly why we humans insist on keeping other species as our pets in the first place!

_/\_

[Joseph]

if only babies were as simple as kitties! :)

[mama p]

it occurs to me i have been moving quite a lot of cats around the room. aha!

[Jomon]

Dear patient Graham.

[Genju]

Amazing, isn't it? How they keep letting us come back to learn that lesson over and over until we get it right?

[David]

Before I was enlightened, a cat was just a cat. When I was enlightened, a cat wasn't a cat anymore. After I was enlightened, a cat's just a cat again."

Cat puts paws together and Gashos. ;)