Wisdom has Whiskers

I woke up on a snowy morning with one of our cats sitting next to me meowing. I petted her and she purred happily, rubbing her head against my hand. She was absolutely content and, like every other cat, exceptionally beautiful. Then I tried to pull her closer and she pulled back, resisting. Her message was “I’ll happily come to you as long as I’m free and choose to do so. Try to dominate me and our relationship will quickly sour.”

I could see the lesson.

The purpose of life is to be happy, grow/learn (spiritually), and perpetuate life all while treating others as you want to be treated. The Earth’s abundance is more than adequate to meet these needs. Yet, no amount of resources is enough to satisfy a populous driven by the desires to acquire, conquer, and control. Those are twisted desires that can never be satisfied. Greed is the cancer of the Earth.

When one disrespects or insults another person a seed is planted that you do not want to grow; but, like any seed, it has the tendency to do so. It doesn’t matter if it is a stranger or a loved one, damage is done. Spiritual maturity is not threatened by a different opinion or the freedom or success of another. Light is not afraid of the dark.

We, as a species, spend enormous resources (supposedly) in search of life outside of Earth. (I personally think it is really more about greed for resources again.) Earth is inundated with life – at least at the time being. The animals have so much to teach us if we would just pay the least bit of attention. No animal is confused about its purpose. They don’t have to decide what to be or do. They just be and do what they are. If they have food, water, shelter, and whatever social network their species requires, they are happy and life is good. Each human was born with talent and passion for something.

Many might respond with “but we’re not animals” or “but we’re superior to animals.” If you can’t see that you are an animal then you have a very long road ahead of you and I wish you luck because you are going to need loads. Some qualify that notion with the fact that we drive cars or write books or whatever. Yes, we’re tool makers. We are unique (at least on this planet) and we have great potential. But that doesn’t put us above our environment. Should we actually live up to our potential one might be able to debate whether or not we are superior to other animals. But so far (as a species) we have proven the opposite – our performance proves that we are inferior to other animals. The very need to refer to oneself as superior proves that one is not.

I think our greatest flaw is that as a whole we have allowed a sociopathic minority to hijack us. Maybe it has been out of an amalgam of fear and laziness. Maybe our innocence, wherever it existed, was simply used as a weapon against us. I am always amazed that humans, for all our supposed “intelligence,” act so Russian-Roulette stupid. I briefly toyed with the idea of making a list; but that would be redundant. The Crux blog is my list and my fodder shall not soon run dry.

But here is a tiny example: People argue endlessly about what constitutes the natural human diet. A lifetime could be spent reading the arguments and they get really ugly, sometimes threatening violence. Probably the most common plan of attack is to insult the opposition’s intelligence or education. Yawn.
Cats, like most other animals, make their own Vitamin C (super nutrient proven to cure cancer). That’s why they can thrive on meats alone. A few animals cannot make their own Vitamin C and must get it from their diets. They are primates (humans included, of course), guinea pigs, and fruit bats. What does that tell us? Don’t think too hard. It’s right in front of you. And no, it doesn’t mean that every single human should be a vegan. Look at the diets of primates – particularly the apes, and START there. Tweak to find your individual best diet. It’s not complicated if you just ignore the reams of stupidity that exist to brain wash us into buying Product X.

We are drowning in misinformation. Why is corn the primary ingredient in most dog and cat food? Give a cat an ear of corn and you’ll get that incredulous look that says “and you can drive a car?” The majority of everything man-made that you see is designed to influence you, not to inform you. Everything. Every magazine (not just the covers), newspaper, commercial, TV program including (and especially) news, movie, web site, non-fiction book, product label, store sign, logo, CD/DVD/game cover, flyer/brochure/business card, free “literature” from the government and non-profits, tons of junk mail, mannequins in store windows, blogs...everything. I hope to influence you to think independently even if you disagree with me. Dissonance can be revolutionary.