Saturday, January 24, 2015

Enlightened - in a flash!

Dear George,
I know that "enlightenment" is the state of understanding something clearly or as in Buddhism or Hinduism, is the state of no longer having any human desires, so that one is united spiritually with the universe! What I don't know is towards which one of these two states is my human mummy aiming to. Based on my observations over the years I think she aims (unsuccessfully) towards "no longer having any human desires". I mean...eating meat is a human desire, correct? Well, she lost that one as now she's eating only grass and I can't make her understand that a mouse is fresh and juicy regardless of the season.
"Sleeping in" every morning is very much a human desire, right? She lost that too as she's up early in the morning but then she goes sit on the floor crossed legs with her eyes closed - I know she's sleeping she can't fool me....but why give up the comfort of a warm  bed? Or, I cringe when I see her twisted like a pretzel at times! What human desire can this one possible be? Why all these false pretences? Why "being enlightened" is so important to humans? Humans will never reach our elegance, good taste and wisdom.
So, I decided to teach her a lesson! I proved to her that even if I eat meat, sleep in every morning and not transforming myself into a pretzel I can still become "instantly enlightened" (as you can see in the photo)! That's sheer wisdom! Do you agree George?
Should I aim to enlighten my mummy so she'll have a better understanding of life?
Do you think she can become enlightened in a flash? Just like me?
Love
Fluffy

Dear Fluffy,

We cats don't become enlighted. We are enlightened. It is our nature, our telos, the essence of our being. We live in the present without having to do mindfulness exercises. We do not obsess about the past or future. So we do not think: "If only..." or "What if..." or "Why me?" 
We do yoga every day without even thinking of it. We stretch out our back legs and then our front legs. We place our back leg against our ears pointing up towards the heavens (so that we can clean ourselves). We lie stretched out in the warm or curled up in the cold paws neatly tucked away under our bodies, tailed swept round as a bit more protection against a low temperature.
And our eyes are enlightened in the moonlight, as the moon's rays hits our tapetum at the back of the eye and spring back with our own flash of moonlight. Like the photo you sent me. Sheer wisdom indeed, Fluffy.
Your equally enlightened friend
George

8 comments:

  1. Fluffy and George, thanks for reminding us that we cats are enlightened. Love your enlightened 'lazer eyes' as well!

    Purrs,
    Mindy
    Moe
    Cookie
    Mike


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  2. Cats are very enlightened. I love those eyes :) We have one similar to that on our post today.

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  3. Wish your Mommy gets enlightened in a flash! Love to see her eyes :-)
    Diego

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  4. Fluffy, I never thought you knew so much! I can see sheer wisdom coming out your eyes!
    Vegas

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  5. If it's to compare the "enlightenment" coming from their eyes...I would say Fluffy seems more "enlightened" :-)
    No disrespect to George - after all HE IS the one giving all us advice.
    Probably his secretary posted a photo she picked in haste instead of looking for one which would reflect George's true wisdom! But both George and Fluffy look cute!
    Saluti a tutti
    Frederico

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  6. CAT VictoriaJanuary 30, 2015

    Between the two of you - I can't decide which one I like better!
    Very, very cute and ......of course, very enlightening :-)
    CAT Victoria

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  7. OMG! if it's to judge by the eyes (in a photo) ...I'm certainly enlightened from a very, very young age!
    Leo

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Help for cats whose humans show behaviour problems.

This blog is devoted to the study of human behaviour. We cats, who live with this sometimes unpredictable and always feeble minded species, can benefit from seeing their behaviour in its proper scientific context. The study of feline dilemmas, training problems, and difficulties with humans, can only benefit all of us. All of us train our humans - to buy the right food, for instance, but many of us do not have knowledge of how to improve our training methods. The human species is obviously not as intelligent as the cat, but nevertheless can learn quite a lot - if properly managed. Topics of interest include the use of claw and order, purring as a human reward, rubbing your human up the right way, when to bite, spraying as a method of making our wishes known, ignoring the human, human harassment, human inattention and sheer human stupidity. I welcome your questions. Photos can be sent via my secretary's website, www.celiahaddon.com This blog has been chosen as one of the top 50 feline blogs by Online VetTechprogramms.org