Perhaps you’re sitting up late reading a book.
You hear meowing outside your window.
Ah, yes, a cat on the prowl.
Perhaps you even take the time to imagine what kind of cat, the color of its fur, its size, maybe even the look of its collar and ID tag-maybe you even go so far as to give it a name: Leo, Mouser, Roly Poly Sleeper, Wild Yarn Batter, Big Pud Tugger, etc.
But you don’t actually know what it looks like, what its name is-this is all just stuff you’re imagining.
And, frankly, it’s all a little Starbucks Basic, isn’t it?
You hear meowing therefore you imagine a cat.
Fine, I guess.
Perfectly logical.
I’m not saying logic doesn’t have its place . . . but why not have an adventure?
Why not picture a man outside your window making meowing noises?
Why not picture me?
It could be a man.
It could be me.
Now, imagine going outside to see who or what exactly is making the meowing sounds. I’ll allow you to bring a flashlight.
You get outside . . . you take a look . . . and you see both a man and a cat.
The man is obviously me-you’ve been reading my blog for years, so you recognize me from my writing-and the cat is also there, but you don’t know which one of us was meowing.
Maybe we were both meowing.
Maybe a third being-cat or human or dog or angel or alligator or Fuller Brush Man or United States President in the depths of dementia or owl or antifood meal replacement powder spokesman or Florida Governor shuffling about with his pants around his ankles because he just carelessly cut the state belt budget-was meowing, but then left right before we showed up-who can say?
And then a new thought occurs to you: could the cat be the actual blogger, and the man a mere front to avoid causing panic in a population unprepared to accept a blogging feline?
You’re seized by indecision.
Because what if perception dictates reality?
I mean, sure, to some degree perception is all you’ve got.
But what if your perception in this moment determines the truth of who is the actual meower?
And then what happens if your perception changes a moment later because some people are just naturally indecisive?
And then your perception changes a moment after that?
The meows jump from cat to man to hypothetical third being to cat to man to hypothetical third being . . . round and round and round . . . until the meow itself seems to be the thing.
Who says a meow needs a cat or a man or any other kind of being to bring it into existence?
Maybe the meow is the author of the cat or the man or whoever or whatever.
Maybe you didn’t hear meowing at all.
Maybe you heard a meow catting, but your perception warped it to fit into your mentality that dictates all meows must always be authored and never the author itself.
What if . . . it was a Meow . . . that Meowed itself into existence?
Whoa dude!
Pretty great, right?
Doesn’t that feel fresh?
Sure it does.
See?
Now you’re busting outta that Starbucks Basic cage . . . and hijacking that Ahab Intricate whaling vessel to hunt the White Whale of the Meow that Meows itself into being!
