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What Can Cats Teach Us About Ourselves?
Lessons from the universe: Assume Ignorance and be Present.
Cats are interesting.
They seem to think in their own way. It really looks like they have an internal philosophical system that is different from ours. One that is not as systematic as ours but serves them well in their own environment.
There is no reason a cat should follow our standards of rationality and logic.
It would be like us going around acting as ants or bees do.
Cats live their lives in the moment, not planning for the future. It’s all very intuitive for them, they just feel when to be aggressive and when to back off. Understanding the philosophical systems of cats may help us improve our system and live better lives.
The trouble is the prejudice that keeps us from seeing cats as beings that can teach us about ourselves. We humans think that the world revolves around us when in reality humans are just cosmic dust on this planet.
As a matter of fact, it’s not the other beings who should be learning from us, it’s the other way around. We don’t know how little we know about the world and what it has to offer!