And, later, Eudora sent me a photo of the said Blimunda - perfectly and serenely embodying stillness...
Thank you, she is beautiful...
Eudora's comment set me thinking about this particular quality possessed by the denizens of catdom: from the sentinels guarding mummified pharaohs to the modern-day suburban moggy.
We look at cats - elegantly posed and poised - and see what to us appears to be an unhurried contemplation of life that has the stillness and focused concentration of a nun at prayer...
So, it didn't surprise me to discover that the Internet is crammed with thoughts on the subject, from observations such as this on a site called simply, About Cats...
They will position themselves in graceful stillness, focus on one spot, thing, or you (shudder), and with unblinking, unflinching pose will penetrate whatever (or whomever) it is they stare at....to the kind of metaphysical speculation indulged in by u'da buddha: The Awakened One...
I have paid close attention to this particular behavior on many an occasion, and can only see not a bored soul just watching the air molecules move about, but a extremely knowing being whose eyes, when you look deeply into them, reveal eras and ages of reincarnated mystique.
Cats are alert sublime meditation in stillness, action and interaction with total satisfaction. Gliding effortlessly through life entirely at ease, moving as slow fast as they please. Relaxed, in neutral, if something catches their attention they can shift in an instant into high or even warp speed. Playful, without excessive exertion or tension, expending only the amount of vitality that is necessary. Friendly and affectionate only when they want to be. Security purring ecstasy, congruent being in spiritual integrity...Yes, well...
We can learn from our feline friends to be in each moment, aware in our bodies, alive to our senses. To celebrate every touch, taste, sound, smell and see that we are continually surrounded by beauty. To be sensitive to breathing, movement, posture and our relationship to the earth. Not to get caught in excessive thought and activity. To rest, sleep and regenerate when our bodies tell us to.
To stop, be still, and realize that the game of life is the eternal impermanent play and interplay of form. To be conscious of our catlike nature; non-attached, less dependent, present and independent. To rediscover that we are and have always been light, enlightened, fully free, with the awareness and power to constantly appropriately authentically be.
Personally, I think we envy cats because they are able to "authentically be", as The Awakened One puts it, without the tiresome burden of having to try and work out what that actually means --- let alone trying to discover a way to do it!
Image: © Sacra Cantero Mancebo, 2007
7 comments:
...and cats, of course, spend more time asleep than awake ~ though not quite as much time as snakes. There is probably a lesson in this for us humans, but then again maybe not...
Let's be honest.This is all total baloney. Cats get attention because they are small and furry.Every other attribute and human characteristic is dumped on them by over imaginative people.We have a cat in our house and it's just a wild animal. It goes to where food is, it shows affection to those who provide it with the resources it needs to survive and when its not feeding, it does what it wants.In those respects its just like a hedgehog or a rat.However, because it looks cute, its in. If it didn't have any fur and scuttled around like a rodent, it wouldn't have any appeal and would be out on its ear regardless of how serene it appeared !
My God, what a surprise!, (I read the blog very early in the morning before I read my e-mailbox) it`s very kind of you put this photo of Bli, thank you very much, I always think that I am very fortunate, it was her decision, she chose my house and my garden to live (the cats choose, you can`t choose for them, they are not dogs...). Now she have 10 years, and she is, I think, very happy.
Bli is very quiet, she never climb up on the table when you are eating, she never tear the sofa or the curtains to sharpen her claws, she never scrachted my hands when she was a pussycat and played as little feline, she only wanted to run and run... When I tell this to friends and family I think they don´t believe me... but is the truth. Her daugther is very different, but very respectful too (an extraordinary hunter).
The theories and thinkings of the blog today are very interesting, and right, but, you know, cats are so unpredictable, so different... I think in their still, “Perhaps they know something that nobody knows.....”
Thanks again Mr. Sibley.
BOLL & EUDORA - Thank you both for demonstrating so purrfectly both sides of the Cat Issue!!
DAVID - True! Cats (and snakes - yuk!) spend more time asleep than awake, and I know just how envious you are of them! But bad luck, it's gone 8.30 and almost time for magicians to get up and start work on their spells... So, I'd best go and make you a coffee!
I realize it may be a faux-"paw" to go off topic, but Brian, as an author who has penned biographies, I was wondering if you had read the thread on CartoonBrew.com about the Charles Schulz biography. I have made my feelings clear, but you can probably be more objective than I. 3 of his 4 kids have weighed in just within this thread-- I have never seen a thread so well represented. Thanks for your 2 cents, or 2 pence on this... Thanks, Bill
I have just heard that Blimunda has passed to glory after 17 years of life. I was sad to haer this and send love to Blimunda's companion, Eudora.
Thank you Brian.
She was the joy of family home, for almost 17 years, always happy and nice, peaceful and quite... until she asked for play to something, the hide and seek was her favorite.
I write about her as she was a human being, seems silly but she was, after all, one more in the family.
She was abandoned in the street and entered a day in the garden, and stayed forever. I hope that her life has been better with us that in the streets.
She has been a blessing for me.
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