Cat Spirituality

“I my study of Furless creatures I have found they have what they call jobs, “ruminated Lamont. “When we were feral cats, I guess we had them too, hunting for food to eat, though we didn’t call it a job, it was just surviving. Now that we are house cats, we don’t have jobs. But really it is not a lot different; hunting was fun in a way just more taxing and we live longer now that we don’t do it.”

“Jobs, work,” replied Patchricia, “such words. Do our furless servants have jobs?

“I don’t think so,” Lamont rejoined. “I think they are what furless ones call retired. But they seem as busy at being retired and they were when they had jobs; not unlike ourselves.”

“What jobs did they have, Inquired Pawline?

“I believe,” answered Lamont, “that the female furless servant dealt with criminals among other things. As near as I can figure it her work was being a mother who had to keep other furless ones kittens or rather offspring in line, and occasionally seeing that their ears were boxed.”

“What about the furless servant that hits golf balls now,” asked Patch?

Ahhh, that is an interesting question,” replied Lamont. “He was, a near as I can figure a pastor.”

“What’s a pastor,” asked Patch?

“That’s a very difficult question to answer,” Lamont continued, “but of course, I will try my best to edify you. Pastors, as I can determine are hired by organizations called churches, who want their pastors to teach them about religion; Christianity in our furless one’s case; how to understand it and practice its teachings.”

“Religion? Is there more than one religion for the furless ones, asked Pawline?

“There seems to be a plethora of religions,” Lamont expounded. “Some include Christianity, as mentioned, but also Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Sikhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Baha’is, and the list goes on and on endlessly. Then there are those who call themselves atheists, meaning they don’t belief in religion, which is a type of religion itself. It is very complicated. I understand there about 21 major religions today with lots of variations on those.”

“My goodness,” said Patch, “How do they tell one from another and what the difference in them?”

“As far as I can tell, “Lamont went on, “They are all pretty much the same. They believe in God, though they have a bunch of different names for God and seem to think that makes a difference. They all seem to believe in the same basic practices in all those religions: to get along with God, each other, and take care of the world. At least that is what they all say, but their history shows that they are very adept at not following the teachings of their religion and even use it to fight each other.”

“That doesn’t make much sense,” stated Pawline.

“No it doesn’t,” replied Lamont. “But they all have something to do with what the furless ones call ‘spirituality.’”

“Wow,” meowed Paw, then thoughtfully inquired, “Do we have a cat religion and we spiritual?”

“Of course,” retorted Lamont. “We cats, along with other animals are very spiritual and religious. I’m not sure about rocks and plants, they just don’t seem to talk about it.”

“So, most learned one,” asked Patch, “What is our religion?”

Lamont avowed, “I believe we are Christian-Islamic-Secular-Hindu-Buddhist-Primalistic-Juche-Jewish-Bahai-Janists-Shinto-Cao Dai-Zorastor followers-Tenriko-neo-pagans-universalists-Rastafarians. I think after our 9 times 90 lives are over in part or in total, we will all be in the same spiritual realm and forget all these labels. I think that is what the furless Jesus accomplished for one and all. At least that is the position of this Catist.

Silence filled the room for quite a while, and then all three cats lay down side by side, crossed their paws and in unison began to purr.