Know Yourself ~ Socates

Socrates, in the writings of Plato, was foud of saying, “Know thyself” as he explored the wisdom of Delphi. How can we know others unless we first have an understanding of ourselves? Or perhaps understanding others if far easier than knowing ourselves as we can be more objective about others than we can about ourselves. Ah, such go the deliberations of philosophical human beings.

Now it is less well know in history that Socrates had a cat, Socates, who was quite learned in his own right and prone to philosophical thought as well. In previous cat tales Lamont is known to have voiced his belief in reincatation. One of those reincatations was as Socrates cat, Socates. We also understand from previous cat tales that Bast was a goddess in ancient Egyptian mythology to depicted as a cat. It is helpful to recall this historical information as we deal with today’s cat tale.

* * *

With his usual great agility Lamont leapt to the railing of upstairs railing, thumped his right paw on the railing three times and said, “Attend now you members of the Order Bast, Drennan household chapter.”

With that Patchtricia and Pawline, strode to the beds, assumed a thoughtful and attentive curl and peeked up at Lamont and said, “State the order of business for the day Bast Master.”

Stepping down to the bed on the orange chair Lamont went on, “Sisters and members of the good order of Bast in this household in this household we have all come to realize I believe that we are now official house cats.”

“We’ve ascertained that several times recently O Lamont, “Cranston/Shadow and Bast leader. Pray continue,” said Patch.

“I believe,” continued Lamont, “that we should have a discussion as to our proper role and matters of protocol as house cats in order to display seemly behavior as house cats. ‘Know yourself’ as the good Socates used to say, our in our collective case, ‘know ourselves.”

“Well put,” yawned Paw as she examined the claws on her right front paw. “I take it this is an open discussion with equal input by all and not just a pontification by you Lamont.”

“You may well assume that,” replied Lamont with a slight sniff.

“It seems to me,” put forth Patch, “that as house cats that we should take on as a priority and a responsibility of the wellbeing of our human servants. We need to keep them happy and have them continue to dote on us as is their place in life as I believe they are coming to understand.”

“Well said,” applauded Paw, “If they are happy we should be happy. Or as they might say in Upstairs Downstairs or Downton Abbey parlance, “happy servants make a happy household.”

“Hear, hear,” affirmed Paw licking her paw and rubbing the side of her face with it.

“To that end,” spoke Lamont, “I would suggest a primary goal is to ensure that we spend a good deal of people time. We need to be around them as much as is convenient for us. And, we should be very entertaining.” Seeing nods of approval from Paw and Patch, Lamont continued, “As it should be apparent I am the most people oriented of the three of us, so I will assume the major responsibility in this area, but we must all endeavor in these noble pursuits.”

“If by ‘people oriented’ you mean a show off, we agree,” said Paw. Lamont frowned a bit but held his tongue.

“I know what always works,” chimed in Patch. “They just love it when we run up past them, throw ourselves on the floor and then roll over on our backs with all four paws pointing to the ceiling as we await tummy rubs. They love that, and it has the double advantage of being quite pleasurable for us.”

“Excellent, most excellent,” agreed Lamont. “That is very good and exactly what I am talking about. More suggestions? He inquired.

“Well, just this morning Mewreen was having some milk in a cup when she got up, “said Patch, “and when she had finished most of it I stuck my head in the cup and lapped up the remaining milk. I stuck my paw in for good measure to get the last drop. She thought that was just great and got Meugh, in his usual morning grump, to look over and even he laughed and enjoyed my shenanigans.”

“Good one Patch,” continued Lamont, “I saw that and poked my nose in as well. Excellent behavior. I also notice that Mewreen likes it a good deal when I jump up into her chair as she watches TV, massage her legs a bit with my paws and then move onto the padded bench beside her chair.”

“Oh yes,” said Paw, “and she really likes it when you sit on her lap for awhile. You do that best even if it isn’t very long. Patch and I will put up with being held on her lap or Meugh’s lap, but no longer than necessary, meaning when they loosen their grip, we’re out of there. I think Meugh gets a bit jealous of Mewreen who gets more lap time. Such is life.”

“They like it when we scratch on the scratching pole and cone and even the new rug,” said Paw, “but they get down right grumpy when we scratch on the cloth sofa. Meugh bellows ‘No!’ very loudly. And heaven forbid if with might look like we’d even extend a claw on the leather chairs of couch. That could easily led to us loosing our claws and toes along with them. We must be careful there.”

“Let see,” added Lamont, “they also like our climbing into bed with them at night as long as we don’t claw them. They think it is a hoot when we zoom at lightning speed across rooms and up or down the stairs. They laugh when they hear us thumping around upstairs when they are downstairs. And they love petting and brushing us at meal time.”

“This is a very good start and a good sharing at this Bast meeting. Well done everyone, we must do this regularly. Socates would be proud,” said Lamont as he ended the meeting my thumping his right paw on the chair three times and they all took a nap.