My cat is missing.

[sophiaserpentia]

Our cat Marco Polo has been missing since Saturday night. He has always fought to "escape" from the safety, warmth, and constantly available food of the house. Part of me can't blame him; the world is a bigger place and there is a kind of cruelty in caging an animal in warmth and safety. Part of me though wants to envelop him and protect him, and it seems like such a waste for him to have simply vanished now, after five years of companionship and the large role that he has played in our lives during that time.

He was among a litter of cats that we fostered for the Humane Society, so he wouldn't have even had those five years if were not for our willingness to take him and littermates in, and the sheer luck that they and not another litter were given to us.

Marco Polo was always resisting confinement, which was how he earned his name. He is an unusually smart cat who has an affinity for joining in whenever someone in the house is doing magick or meditating. Dee played a game with him where she would sing to the sun and he would accompany her with his meows. The cat was an esotericist, if ever there was such a thing. Like all good esotericists, he was never satisfied with the easy way.

His disappearance has me wondering about happiness. So much happiness depends on our relationships with other people and other living things -- yet these relationships always end, and so the implicit promise of "ongoingness" in a relationship is a lie. This is why the Buddha said "existence is sorrow" and why so many mystical traditions teach that the way to be liberated from the cycle of sorrow is to avoid attachment. But I wonder, if detachment is really worth it. Life is short, but perhaps life should be happy to the extent it is possible.

Comments

[herbalgrrl.livejournal.com]

I think detachment is not being so caught up in fears/ desires of the past & for the future that you are missing the now. Hope Marco Polo is where his Will would have him be...

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

That's a good point.

Also... I too hope Marco Polo is where his Will would have him be. That's a good way of putting it. It's also why we stopped being so aggressive about preventing him from getting out, even though most of the people who drive down our street are morons who wouldn't stop for a cat without the sense to get out of the road.

Still, we haven't seen his corpse beside the road, which I guess is a good thing.

What worries us is that black cats are somewhat more likely to be abused than other cats because of the superstitions about them.

[noetic-heart.livejournal.com]

"But I wonder, if detachment is really worth it. Life is short, but perhaps life should be happy to the extent it is possible."

This is one of the things I've had trouble with for many years.

There have been moments, though, very brief and very few, when I seemed to understand this idea of detachment, or, possibly more precise, non-attachment, in a way that didn't include some sort of emotional sterility. I wish I could be more specific and enlightening, but, as with so many things, the feeling resists expression (or I have yet to understand it well enough to express it).

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I think I know what you mean... the tack of enjoying the good things and sorrowing in the bad things while not being strongly "invested" in them. It's the only way I've gotten through some of the really difficult stuff I've seen in the past six years.

[rowanf.livejournal.com]

This is why the Buddha said "existence is sorrow" and why so many mystical traditions teach that the way to be liberated from the cycle of sorrow is to avoid attachment. But I wonder, if detachment is really worth it. Life is short, but perhaps life s hould be happy to the extent it is possible.

I am all for living life to the fullest and am not trying to find a place of detachment. But I do try to be responsible for my own reactions to things. I can't control what happens around me, only how I h andle them. I try to dwell on the good and accept and release the bad.

That said, I hope Marco Polo comes home or is otherwise safe and sound. *hugs* I have lost one cat this year and am preparing to let my other one leave my life. It isn't an easy thin g.mi

Attachment / Non-attachment

[cranehaven.livejournal.com]

It helps me to understand the relation between attachment and non-attachment to thoughts, emotions, perceptions, objects, self -none of which imply detachment. For me the Truth of impermenance evokes a zest for both life and relationships.

I do hope Marco Polo's journey is fulfilling of his needs.

~P~

[azaz-al.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe he'll come back, sweety, keep your hopes up. My kitty liked to disappear for about 36-48 hours at a time. Hope he gets back home soon!

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

It's just... really unlike him. He has been going out fairly often, but returning after 2-3 hours in most cases, and never going more than 30 feet from the house.

[alobar.livejournal.com]

Has he got his sexual parts intact? he may be out hunting some poontang.

I have contemplated thwe freedom vs safety thing over many years. I have come to the place in my life where I will not own an animal which does not have free access to the door. Sure, I will miss those pets who die while exploring. But what would my life be like if I were imprisoned in an alien spacecraft or zoo?

It is possible to love deeply, yet not be attached to the present moment or the continuance of continuity. Some of us have very short lives, while others last a century or longer. Most of us who feel deeply for others will become searated from their loved ones again & again throughout life. It is the nature of existance.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

He was fixed, but we have always questioned how well it was done in his case.

One of our speculations is that he is actually intersexed. I've never seen him show an interest in female cats and AFAIK he has only bottomed to another tom.