When my daughter Ruth said she wanted to move back home recently, she said she also wanted to bring her new dog and cat with her. I wasn't sure if I wanted either, so I told her I'd have to think about that. She's often not around (I often am) so if her little cat and pup moved in, I knew I'd be involved in their lives.
I thought about it a couple of weeks and then said yes. They're both cute and sweet and smart. Easy to love.
The cat, Ruth named her Bartholomew (even though it's a female), was an inside cat who spent much of her time sitting in the window looking (longing to be) outside. I convinced Ruth it was worth the risk to give her more freedom--even though we've lost cats to 'something' outside in the past.
Bartholomew 'embraced' her new freedom--exploring, hunting, lolling in the sun. Made friends with some of the other neighborhood cats. Even a feral cat--I often saw them sunning together in the front yard.
A couple of weeks ago Ruth told me she thought Bartholomew might be pregnant.
What?! She hasn't been spayed?!!!
I thought all cats were spayed these days. But it's obvious that Bartholomew is now great with child. And soon we'll, O joy, have a litter of kitties.
Lately I've been humming Jimmy Buffet's song, Wasting Away in Magaritaville. Particularly the part, "Some people say there's a woman to blame--but I know it's my own damn fault." My fault. My karma.
Kind of.
Most of us in the West have a pretty sketchy understanding of what karma is. We tend to think of it as destiny or as a kind of pre-ordained future. But karma is simply "We reap what we sow." And the plural way of saying it, like I just did, is important. WE reap what WE sow. Karma is a team sport.
Which is to say we're all connected. For the poor souls who died in the Twin Towers, personal karma had almost nothing to do with their deaths. Nothing was preordained for them. Bad things can happen to good people--and collective karma is big-picture reality.
Ruth's and my cat karma wasn't preordained either. We'll both be pretty much reaping what we both sowed. So there's no reason for me (after I cool off and hear what wisdom is saying) to blame Ruth for anything. I thought it over before I said yes--I missed something in my thinking--some particular something I'll never miss again!
Because karma is a team sport, none of us can control our future. Yet each of us can influence it. We can never guarantee our future. Yet we can always 'seed' better possibilities for a better future.
Every choice and action is a seed. Plant weeds, get weeds. Plant vegetables get vegetables--and weeds! (Karma is a team sport--people are always sowing weeds--us too).
But also, ALSO, Wisdom and spiritual formation are always coaxing us to plant more good seed and less bad. And reminding us how it works. Mindfulness helps us be aware of what we're planting RIGHT NOW. Which will significantly affect what we'll be reaping sooner or later. We can't control what others sow--yet we can influence, at least a little, what others sow. Kindness often begets kindness. Anger usually begets anger. Un-spayed female cats usually beget kittens.
A mature, realistic understanding of karma leads to a mature and realistic experience of life. We don't complain as much. We don't blame as much. We don't pout as much just because our 'now' is not what we expected. As we plant less complaining/pouting/blaming we reap more peace and more joy.
And almost certainly fewer unplanned kitties in the Hudson household next year.
