Whether they know it or not genuine cat lovers have an inner spirituality. Most people are disconnected from the idea of spirituality. For me spirituality is a connection with nature which is a connection with our roots. Ultimately we are born of the earth. The domestic cat is a wonderful example of the beauty and force of nature. Cat lovers often accept this instinctively without realising it.
The Ganges is a famous river in the north of India. It meets the sea in India and in Bangladesh. Hindus call it “Ganga”; it is considered holy by them. Ganga is revered. Yet it is desecrated by Indians as they pollute it with poisons and heavy metals from the tanning industry and sewage.
In India, the cow is sacred but it is quietly and illegally slaughtered en masse for its skin. No one is caught and prosecuted. The sentence is 7 years in jail but the business is worth billons of dollars and as I said it pollutes Ganga with poisons which kills all life in this holy river.
The holiness and life force of the mighty Ganges is being destroyed and no one talks about it. This is symptomatic of much of what we do. We seek spirituality – a meaning in life – but then destroy nature from which we can find that elusive meaning and sustenance.
People wash in the Ganges. It brings them peace and wellbeing or it would but for the poisons in it.
However, there is an impressive spirituality in many Indian people and in the Westerners who go to India to live permanently. They say that in the West people are always chasing the next fix whereas if you live next to the Ganges and immerse yourself in its spirituality you just ‘are’. You accept who you are and what you are doing. You cease to chase the impossible.
The gurus say that Ganga is like a charger for a battery. If you spend time next to it and embrace its energy and life force you will be recharged.
And so to the domestic cat. Many cat lovers find that Ganga-like peace, calm and recharging of batteries when with their cat companion. These people are connecting with nature because the domestic cat is really a wild cat in disguise. There it is: the wild and nature next to you.
This is the healing power of nature and one of the great benefits and pleasures of caring for a domestic cat.
Cats can bring peace and calm and often they do I love being with my cats yet sometimes peace and calm is so not what I am experiencing …. like when Jinks chases Alfie up the stairs for the 50th time that day or I’m eating my lunch and 4 pairs of beady eyes are on me (even though they’ve just had theirs) or one of them has been sick just as I’m about to eat or I come in from work and there is cat sick on a highly polished table that nowadays is still highly polished but is about 3 different colours with one area looking like a murky Brown pool. At times like this I feel not so spiritual but I am very forgiving 😉