What I Learned From My Cat – Part I

I remember telling my cat that he needed to learn to obey me. (These were early days!) “I'm bigger than you, I can make you do as I say. I feed you and care for you, you must obey me in everything I say.” Now that's a silly thing to tell a cat, but I didn't know any better.

He was very patient with me and explained to me without words that he was an independent being, with his own interests that may or may not coincide with mine!

As I learned to respect his free will and not to impose my will, except for his physical safety, I realized that I really didn't need to control his every behavior. Our battle of wills eased and I found that he fell in with my wishes very easily. He respected my reasonable requests and ignored me otherwise.

This lesson equally applies to the people in our lives. Any control we think we have is our own illusion and interferes with true understanding. I learned this from my cat.

Excerpted from my book, “Collected Works: a book for the Eclectic Spirit”