Lesson 12 - The Tying of the Cat

People believe some crazy stuff.  Of course, they don’t think their belief is crazy.  We never think our belief is crazy.  But everyone has something they believe is true that others might consider wacky.

I had a student who is more than old enough to know better who was convinced that a girl could get pregnant all by herself simply by doing complex gymnastics moves.  I have met full grown adults who believe that if you go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween that you will immediately become possessed by a demon.  Then there are the parents who won’t allow their kids within 3 miles of a movie theater because they are “evil”, but will sit at home and watch gory horror films about demons and witches with their kids.  Same said parents won’t let same said kids watch Disney animated movies because they are also “evil.”

Seriously.

And, please, don’t read anything into those examples about what I believe or don’t believe about these things.  I think I’ve made my proclivity towards sci-fi, action, and fantasy clear by now.

The point is, people believe some interesting things.  It causes us to wonder where they picked that up from?  Where did they learn that?  Why do they believe that?  Who taught them that?  Why choose to die on that hill, and not another?

Let me tell you a story.  We are about at that point in this post, yes?  However, just to be upfront with you, this is a completely fictional story.  Also, for the sake of honesty and integrity and other words that end in “y”, I did not create this story.  So, if you have heard it before, I apologize if I don’t tell it the way you had heard it before.  This story is about the point more so than the details.

Once upon a time long ago there was a Rabbi.  For those who don’t know, “Rabbi” is simply the Hebrew word for “teacher”.  This Rabbi was in charge of one of the weekly prayer gatherings in his area.  The Rabbi took great pride in making sure everything was organized well and ran smoothly.

One day just as he had gotten things started in his prayer gathering, a cat snuck into the room.  As everyone was trying to pray and be focused, this cat began whining and meowing and making all manner of racket.  This made the Rabbi not happy.  He tried to catch the cat but could not.  It stayed out of his grasp as would hide behind random objects in the room.  The cat had ruined his good planning.

The next week, the Rabbi started up his prayer session again deciding to shake off the last weeks travesty of a spiritual gathering.  But just as he thought things were going good, he discovered the cat had come back and snuck in as it began to screech and whine just as loudly as the week before.  Angry, the Rabbi again tried to catch that cat, but once again he failed.

The next week he decided to be smarter than the cat.  He arrived earlier than usual making sure everything was in order, and then proceed to hide outside and wait to see if the cat would show up.  His patience and planning paid off.  The cat showed up right on schedule and the Rabbi snatched it up before it could sneak inside.  Being the kind man that he was, he didn’t harm the cat, but instead tied it to a tree just out side of where they were meeting.  Once the meeting was over, he released the cat and let it go on its way.

The next week he did the same thing.  He waited, caught the cat, tied it to a tree, and then released it after the meeting.  And so it was that every week he continued to do this just to keep the cat from sneaking in and disrupting the meeting.

Unfortunately, the Rabbi was an old man and some time later, he died.  His disciples loved him and tried to honor him by taking over his weekly prayer session.  As such, they made sure there was someone waiting outside to catch that cat.  They would do so, tie it to the tree, and then release it after the meeting.

Well, after a number of years, the inevitable happened.  The cat grew old and also died.  The Rabbi’s disciples knew exactly what to do.

They bought a new cat.

Every week they would take the new cat and tie it to the tree.  The disciples did this week after week, year after year until finally that cat grew old and died at which point they would find another cat.  The tradition passed from disciple to disciple for generations until finally the tree itself died.

Undeterred, the distant followers of the Rabbi simply planted a new tree in the same spot so they could continue to tie a cat to it.

And so, for generations upon generations, the followers tied a cat to the tree every week as the Rabbi had done.  As time passed, books were written about the Tying of the Cat.  They talked about the meaning of the cat and the symbol of the tree and the significance of tying a cat to it and what it all meant and it’s implication on life and God and salvation.

All because some dude didn’t want a cat screwing up his meeting.

People believe some crazy things.  But what matters even more than what they believe is why they believe it and how they came to believe it.

As I mentioned last week, motive is everything.  Intention is everything.  What you do is important, but why you do it is much more important.  The “why” always dictates the “what”.

The reality is that, most of us don’t really know why we do what we do or believe what we believe.  When I ask people, the most common answer I get is “I heard from (insert random non-expert: here).”  The internet.  A TV show or movie.  Their grandmother.  Their parent.  Some person in a random conversation they were close to.  Sometimes they don’t even remember where they heard it.

And yet, they insert it directly into their belief system and regular practice with out ever having sought out it’s purpose or validity or usefulness.

It becomes belief without motive.  At least, not their motive.  And as such, their own motives become muddy and uncertain because they begin to live at cross purposes with their own motives, intentions, and desires… and those of someone else who wasn’t anymore in the know than they were.

If you as a person do not choose to take control of who you are as a person, what you believe and why you believe it, you will always be living at cross purposes with yourself and never be truly fulfilled in life.  Choose to know what you know.  Find the reality obscured by the myth.

Set yourself free.
     Otherwise, all you will be doing is tying a cat to a tree and you won’t even know why.