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| Rosemary & Niño 2020 |
10. If you cannot live a little more like a cat, return without regret to the human world of diversion. Living like a cat means wanting nothing beyond the life you lead.
From Ten Feline Hints on How to Live well.
John Gray – Feline Philosophy – Cats and the Meaning of Life
A cliché of clichés is the one when men, including this one say, “My better half.” It acknowledges that to be a whole person (in the lingo of the long lost 20th century) one had to have a partner (lingo of this century) or a wife.
With my Rosemary now gone since December 9, 2020 the feeling that I am not a whole man is acute. I find myself with the idea that I am waiting for something. I will not be morose here and write what I suspect I am waiting for. I deal with my daily menialities and try to keep busy with distractions. But at the hour of turning off the light in my bedroom, it brings with it that realization that I am not a whole man (person). My grief suddenly lands upon me with a vengeance that is only mollified by the immediate competition of Niño and Niña to get prime bed real estate as close to this guy as possible. I then grasp that these two are alive and their live presence in the room signifies that I am not alone even if I am half a person.
When Rosemary was alive I would say that that the two of us lived with two cats. This two plus two was one of humans here, and felines there.
Now I would say, “The three of us live in a little Kitsilano duplex.”
In John Gray’s lovely book, which is full of philosophers who loved cats, Montaigne, etc and some who disliked them, Pascal; I found lots of evidence that my cats have a strong human presence. And it is more perfect than that of the human who insists on equating life with actions and distractions and not of simply being. That said I believe that Sartre must have liked cats.
In a recent visit to my cardiologist, Dr. Huckell, he asked me about my cats. I told him, "I think they are becoming human." The good doctor, with a smile on his face, countered, "No, Alex you are becoming a cat."