RE: Bits and Pieces

July 24, 2002

Carol wrote that she was putting the cat down. The cat did not go

gently

into that good night. She had a bad reaction to the sedative and died

not-peaceably. The vet was not at peace. I was not at peace seeing

that

was not having the kind of death I wanted her to have. But all

that

storytelling lasted only a few minutes. I can't really know that

was

not at peace -- perhaps only her body was agitated. Perhaps she has

been

spared a lot of future agitation with this momentary discomfort. All I

know

is, I would like a sendoff like had -- friends who cared about

both of

us came to say goodbye last night and accompanied us to the vet this

morning.

She was an amazing little kitty who made amends before she died, truly.

A

great teacher for me. We did not get along well for 12 years and for

her

last year, after I came home from the school for The Work, after I

realized a

cat will always go on being a cat, we were very close and loving to each

other.

I would say that I miss her, but she lives where she always did. Thank

you

for that reminder yesterday.

Love, Carol

---It is very difficult to put an animal down. For years they trust you

to do the right thing for them, and the last thing you do is be a part

of ending their life. But that's my immediate story about that.

Ultimately, it could be that ending their life is just one final phase

of your stewardship towards them, and a part of the journey of your

intimate relationship with them, unflinching faithfulness...and love.

That could be true. We can only partially account for our own inner

" explanation " of the world with " best guesses " , beyond that just expect

" reality " to get away from you every time. As Albert Korsybsky ( " Science

and Sanity " ) said once, " the map is not the territory " . I can live with

that.

---My name is Jim Lamoreux, I am 52, retired from the Department of the

Interior and live in Reno Nevada. For most of my life I was a " dog

person " . Dogs understand the idea of the " alpha " and are a sort of

" convenient " kind of pet that can be ordered to " sit " and " lay down " .

For ten years now my wife and I have lived in a one room studio

apartment and one day I decided that maybe a pet would help us manage in

that tiny little space better. It had to be a cat, that was the

apartment rules. So we went to the pound and I spotted one and that was

the one we took home. She was sick with upper respiratory illness so we

raised a pretty hefty vet bill trying to keep her alive. We fed her by

hand a lot. But in the end, time and patience won out and she survived.

I realized that I was the owner of a little female tabby, which was

unusual for me because as I said I am a dog person, and of course there

is a running story with me that I am " allergic " to cats and must avoid

them. That doesn't account for the fact that I like to rub my face in

her furr when I'm playing with her, and have not had one allergy this

year.

---The cat has been a good mistress to me. She has taught me that my

impatience and bursts of temper are upsetting, just as my wife has

always insisted they are. So I am always on the look out for ways of

managing that. One day last week my buddy Fred brought over the book

" Loving What Is " and my wife did the work with Fred facilitating. When

she was done she was sort of sitting there with an odd look on her face.

Fred turned to me and it was my turn. I launched into the things that I

felt were the root of my irritability revolving around a tumultuous

child hood and years of psychological abuse all focused around my

mother, and one by one the fear and unhappiness that drove those things

was quietly extinguished. The stories that gave the irritability life

were false, and when exposed...were easily dropped. So much of my time

had been chewed up with fretting about things that were other people's

business. Like , I then did the equivalent of quietly " picking up

socks " or " doing the dishes " and loving it. It works. There is something

magical about coming to the kind of conclusions you have to come to, to

get to that place. Suddenly everything you need is...just there.

---I have studied sonian hypnosis, NLP and the works of

Wolynsky among others, for over fifteen years. At no time have I

experienced such a profound perceptual shift as when I sat down last

week for less than five minutes and did " the Work " . I have struggled

under the tutelage of people who have come from the place of " personal

revelation " to teach the world, only to realize that no matter how hard

they try to convince you otherwise, one size does not fit all. And yet

" the Work " resonates with me and there is no air of impatience on my

part trying to figure out the vague referendum of a guru, or the hyper,

teeth clenching jargon of a Tony Robbins or any other " make your

millions now " mystic of this golden age. is very easy to

understand...and appreciate. We can learn a lot from cats, and women who

have clawed their way up from the bottom to share the personal

revelation that got them to the top again, with solutions that actually

fulfill the requisite of " one size that fits all " . But that's just

another story isn't it? I'll have to explore the efficacy of that

today...with inquiry.

July 24, 2002