11:59 p.m. - 2004-02-20
Experiments
Busy day today, dear diary. It was one of those kind where you know every minute seemed to be taken up with something but it's hard to recall what. "Talked" with the hospital staff and the school board's about a number of issues trying to iron out communication. Worked with the software a little more trying to come up with a logical sequence for the next set of tasks. Elections Canada wants us to bring a lot more people in to work on projects and in some ways I can see the value of that as staff start learning their roles. But my home is not going to become an open house on their behalf or a de facto office. It's the only sanctuary I've got and I won't give that up. I addition, the time it will take to complete everything nearly doubles as the time it takes to explain the work, then monitor and and correct things just demands too much time. I should be looking for contract work again now so I have something in place should the election not be called in the next month or two. If the scandal playing out right now delays things any longer it means there likely won't be an election until next fall at the earliest. I don't have any funds to live on until that time except what I can make on contracts. Irritating to have to try and juggle everything when nothing is in one's control - stressful too.
The technician from IBM arrived with new electronics for me too. Just a switch from one model to another with a few more features for us to use - fax machine and such. Miss Kitty took an instant shine to him. She brought her most precious and treasured toy to him and laid it at his feet, looking up with those big luminous green eyes. He didn't quite understand what it meant, thinking only that she maybe wanted to play with him. He picked her up and cuddled her, which she allowed and enjoyed, although she is usually very distant with visitors. I understood at once and stated that he had a cat - correct? Yes. A male cat - correct? Yes. Miss Kitty obviously was willing to give up her greatest treasure to him in order to be taken to meet said male cat. I felt sad for her. She obviously strongly feels the need for a mate, but I can't afford more kittens even though I love the ones she has already. When she is spayed - when I finally have enough funds coming in that I can afford that - then we'll see what we can do. Trouble is we'll have to have all her daughters dealt with at the same time. That's an awful lot of vetrinary bills.
The incident sort of underlined a theme that has been running in my mind the past while too, although I don't really know why. The most powerful way to make a point sometimes is to tell a little story - you know like those inspirational homilies that sometimes show up in one's inbox. Parables or fables. Morality plays. The problem with them is that there are underlying assumptions that the people receiving the "lesson" have the same values and perceptions of the meaningfulness of the sequence of events described as you do. One only has to think of those other little homilies that arrive in one's in-box - you know the "kids say the Darndest things" type - to realize one's intended message might go completely over the other person's head or be interpreted in a way that you never thought possible to understand the danger of communicating something important to you in that fashion.
In the past year I've had people tell me little stories that they obviously felt were very significant, that left me puzzled or confused. I think it is because those allegories avoid speaking to the logical part of the brain and aim directly at one's emotions instead. Sort of a sneak attack in someways - manipulating one into agreement on an issue, because of a sentiment that is shared instead of using a rational approach about a volatile issue that doesn't have easy answers nor invites agreement based on fact. In the case of Miss Kitty and the tech, he thought one thing because he wasn't aware of the tremendous value she placed on her toy, she was making a great sacrifice hoping for something that was even more important to her. In this case, they both took something positive away from the interaction, but neither got what they thought was the point of the exercise.
Rupert Sheldrake, a nobel prize winner in science, has often written about the sensitivity and intelligence of animals and continues to ask for the assistance of people who interact with animals directly - reporting their observations to him of their ways of communicating their intelligence to humans. His researcher - [email protected] with subject heading: Rupert Sheldrake - is collecting accounts about such incidents for further experimentation and research. His website is: Sheldrake His book - Seven Experiments that Could Change the World- outlines his perceptions and the questions they raise in his own mind. Maybe that is what is working below the surface of my conscious mind now. I don't know why.
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