Friday, December 3, 2010

I really could use enhanced perception...

A certain tree outdoors looked like this and I found it so pleasing that I had to have it captured for the blog and the cat boys' viewing; however, the real show was indoors.

When I saw Augustus sitting on the bed with this look in his eyes...well, I knew something was up with these boys!

Ollie was modeling his Christmas scarf,

and asking August what he thought of it...was it slimming, did it bring out the hazel in his eyes?

August approved of the look

but suggested that Ollie wear the scarf more around his neck, like this:

This was new to me and I went down to think what was up. I thought it was best to play cool and let them have their fun. Upon returning upstairs I witnessed this:





(actually this is not them but that is what they were doing)

Really, all I could do was to leave them with this reading, which they accepted to study jovially.

"Know thou, verily, insight (or mental perception) seeth that which sight (or physical perception) seeth not and apprehendeth that which the body perceiveth not, inasmuch as the sight seeth the mirage as water, the images pictured in the mirror as a reality and genuine, and it seeth the earth as stationary, the great stars as small. But the insight correcteth the mistake of the sight and apprehendeth the reality and seeth that the mirage is not water, that the images pictured in mirrors are naught else save mere reflections, that the earth is moving and the distant stars are great. Consequently, the truth of insight, its effectiveness and power is proven, as well as the weakness of sight, its inefficiency and defects." Selections AB

As I was heading downstairs and back to work I heard smooching sounds, I knew the catboys were filling their paws with little kisses and blowing them in the air to wish you a lovely Friday and weekend!

Ciao everyone!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Perception....

Rather early this morning, five-thirtyish, I was out with the doodles. I had stuff on my mind, thinking how much I liked to be able to see 'outside the box' so to speak, to have acute foresight, insight, ??.
Too dark...I need a lighter sky,
this corner pointed out to me by the boys looked more interesting.
Augustus assumed the snack-eating posture, both he and Ollie enjoy receiving a few treats at designated treat stations.
I was impressed by the clear skies, the shiny Jupiter! Not bad for being right in the middle of a city, wishing I had my loaner telescope handy.
We did the usual walk down the street, Augustus likes to lead while I pull on his tail once in a while, Ollie likes to hang behind to make sure all is safe, that little boy is still a baby!
There he is, Gussy Gus, scoping the street to make sure it is alright to walk,
and little Ollie Ollie!
Back in our courtyard, still dark, I admire Gus, his shadow, we continue to talk about increased perception, this, that and other discourses of spiritual significance.
Some time later, perhaps 15 minutes later, it is light, Ollie was fascinated by how the light was turned on, me too in fact!!!
I grabbed the foofer and the puffy pants and brought them in quickly before the usual courtyard noises started...they were caught off-guard by my efficiency and not so happy! Heh heh!
Ollie wanted to know what all the discussion of boxes all about, he was interested to know if there were some treats hiding in the box or outside the box. He said that foresight is great if it lets him find treats. I was blown away by his intelligence!
The two of us prayed;
I was wondering if pussycat would like to have some pink boots;
I had to comb his luscious fur;
he told me that he is now going to do a flip, somersault and land on kitty dad (which he did and I heard a UUHH).
After showering I found him on his director chair,
I think he was dreaming of treats!
Downstairs was this tired boy,
tranquil, reflecting on
this passage that we read together:

THE PHYSICAL POWERS AND THE INTELLECTUAL POWERS

In man five outer powers exist, which are the agents of perception—that is to say, through these five powers man perceives material beings. These are sight, which perceives visible forms; hearing, which perceives audible sounds; smell, which perceives odors; taste, which perceives foods; and feeling, which is in all parts of the body and perceives tangible things. These five powers perceive outward existences.
Man has also spiritual powers: imagination, which conceives things; thought, which reflects upon realities; comprehension, which comprehends realities; memory, which retains whatever man imagines, thinks and comprehends. The intermediary between the five outward powers and the inward powers is the sense which they possess in common—that is to say, the sense which acts between the outer and inner powers, conveys to the inward powers whatever the outer powers discern. It is termed the common faculty, because it communicates between the outward and inward powers and thus is common to the outward and inward powers.
For instance, sight is one of the outer powers; it sees and perceives this flower, and conveys this perception to the inner power—the common faculty—which transmits this perception to the power of imagination, which in its turn conceives and forms this image and transmits it to the power of thought; the power of thought reflects and, having grasped the reality, conveys it to the power of comprehension; the comprehension, when it has comprehended it, delivers the image of the object perceived to the memory, and the memory keeps it in its repository.
The outward powers are five: the power of sight, of hearing, of taste, of smell and of feeling.
The inner powers are also five: the common faculty, and the powers of imagination, thought, comprehension and memory.


Seeing the puzzled look on my face Gussy assured me that we would continue our discourse on improving perception later!
Before starting their morning siesta catboys filled their paws with the usual sweet kisses and blew them in the air for YOU!

Ciao everyone!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Yada yada yada...

Is it just us or does it seem that el Día de Acción de Gracias happened a long while ago??...and in between then and now a lot of yada yada yada happened.
Fur balls number 1 and 2 were home with their new nanny while kitty parents were heading out to the MidWest.

Today I had to go home early in the afternoon to visit a painter who was going to repaint Augustus' bathroom. In a flash the dudes were out. Before I had a chance to say what was up with this manner of escape Ollie threw this reading at me to tell me that they had prayed and meditated and that now was time for action.

"...It is not sufficient to pray diligently for guidance, but this prayer must be followed by meditation as to the best methods of action and then action itself. Even if the action should not immediately produce results, or perhaps not be entirely correct, that does not make so much difference, because prayers can only be answered through action and if someone's action is wrong, God can use that method of showing the pathway which is right."
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, August 22, 1957)

Nanny said that the boys behaved in our absence. We have no way of knowing though. She did not know why the boys filled their paws with kisses each morning and blew them in the air. We were besides ourselves. At any rate, cat dudes send you kisses and best wishes as this November starts to roll away into December.

Ciao everyone!


Monday, November 22, 2010

A simple message ...

Furry little cat dudes dug into the recesses of their hearts and came up with the warmest Thanksgiving wishes for everyone and then filled their furry little paws with as many kisses as possible and blew them in the air.

It is going to be a busy week and this may be their only chance to say Happy Thanksgiving!




"... In this day, to thank God for His bounties consisteth in possessing a radiant heart, and a soul open to the promptings of the spirit. This is the essence of thanksgiving.
As for offering thanks by speaking out or writing, although this is indeed acceptable, yet when compared with that other thanksgiving, it is only a semblance and unreal; for the essential thing is these intimations of the spirit, these emanations from the deep recess of the heart...."

Wishing all a great week with all sorts of blessings...ciao!

Friday, November 19, 2010

All my photos were blurry this morning,

too early for my tired eyes, especially since a certain chubby kitty who shall remain unnamed made sure to wake me up once at 2 and once at three for a nuzzle session. I made sure to wake up at 4 myself thinking another round was coming up. Nope, I was wrong!

I was dragged out to the street with this fellow to play cat games (neighbors are sure I am crazy)
"Catch me", he meows...
"Here I am, find me!", he says.
Augustus was not out and about and then suddenly appeared out of thin air- his photo was blurry, so no pictures. He said that he was ready to go in. I praised the lord instantly!

Mr PuffyPants followed suit and I praised the lord again...to what do I owe such kindness, I did not have to open my book of cat-hunting tricks to get these doodles to return home.

Indoors, they gathered in their study area, which is in a state of disarray because we are doing the bathroom ceiling (again).
We decided to read a few lines so they could reflect on it during the day. Mr PuffyPants assumed the posture of meditation....


The Mystery of Sacrifice
"O maid-servant of God! The mystery of sacrifice is that man should sacrifice all his conditions for the divine station of God. The station of God is mercy, kindness, forgiveness, sacrifice, favour, grace and giving-life to the spirits and lighting the fire of His love in the hearts and arteries. I asked God to make thee a sign of mercy, the banner of kindness among His maid-servants."
Tablets of Abdu'l-Bahá, v. I, p. 65





And there we have it, two relaxed boys, pawfuls of kitty kisses blown in the air, this will be a great Friday indeed!

Ciao everyone!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

When cats read poetry they get sleepy...

This morning we ended our walk with a little pause in the reflection garden...we stared and listened to the birds waking up.

Back indoors the cat boys requested poetry to be read to them....


We read this:

SEARCH IS A JOURNEY
San Giovanni in Persiceto, 1983

Search is a journey
which the yearning
heart would like
to cover in a flash
whereas it’s long
and wearying.

And yet there is no time
there where the goal
knows no time,
a ghost existing
only in the traveller’s
deceptive mind.

And no stop exists
along that journey
which is moved by love,
though sometimes its progress
may seem so slow
as to be felt as standstill–
nay as regression–
by the longing lover.



And then I found the boys like this.

Usually they try every plot in their planning notebooks to get me to let them out again but today was different!

Before I left home they still remembered to fill their paws with lots of kisses and blew them in the air for YOU!

Ciao everyone!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Kitties received mail...

The other day a cat postman, we call them a postcat, dropped a package into our mail box, a package from way out there up north where there are moose, bears, and SALMON! Augustus and Ollie meowed in unison marie....


We cannot thank you enough marie. Just so you know we take turns snacking straight out of the pouch, we love it so much.


Calmed by the omega-3s in the salmon, the cat dudes asked me to read them something profound,


which I did.

"What do you mean by the confirmations of the Spirit?"

"The confirmations of the Spirit are all those powers and gifts which some are born with (and which men sometimes call genius), but for which others have to strive with infinite pains. They come to that man or woman who accepts his life with radiant acquiescence."
(Selections AB)

Uplifted by the reading, the cat dudes indicated to me that another girlfriend, kerin, was having a giveaway and that they really liked to participate. I think they order me around too much, nonetheless we all should go to check it out. Augustus and Ollie say so!

A busy week this is going to be but not so busy that the cat boys would not be able to fill their furry paws with lots of delicious kisses, which they blow in the air for YOU.

Ciao everyone!