Sigmund died yesterday. Those of you who listened to my old podcasts will remember him. He is Kristin's cat, who was diagnosed with cancer over 14 months ago.
At the time, we were told he had only 3-4 more months to live. But Kristin gave him alternative treatments, nutritional supplements, acupuncture, and herbs. He lived for 14 months. During that time, he got love and attention and was able to be with Kristin, with whom he has a special bond.
He died yesterday in their apartment; Kristin was with him.
He was a very sweet and affectionate cat. He loved to put his head on Kristin's shoulder, cover his face with her long hair, and purr.
Kristin has had him since we was a kitten, so of course she is very sad now... as am I. We have been meditating and praying for him, and have been reading The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying-- a wise and beautiful book about life and death.
Through all of this, I am reminded that love and compassion are for all sentient beings. Its the reason I became a vegetarian, for I do not wish to contribute to the suffering of ANY being.
I believe that animals, in fact, are wonderful teachers and companions. Their innocence and relative helplessness challenge us to expand our loving-kindness to embrace all. For this, I am grateful.
Most of all, I'm grateful for the happiness that Sigmund gave Kristin, and myself.
[I'll post a picture of Sigmund once I get home to San Francisco].
[Audio for this podcast will be available for this post in the future... at the moment I'm out of town and can't record audio].
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Sign Up For My Free 7 Day Email Course
About Me
- AJ Hoge
- I have a Masters degree and over 10 years of English teaching experience. I am the Director of The Effortless English Club.
Effortless English Links
Effortless English Facebook Fanbox
Effortless English on Facebook
3 comments:
hello my name is raq iam searching a way to teach my five years dauther to english i didnt speak 10 year this laungrig please can you give me more information to help her to stady easyly
Hi AJ,
I think that keeping pets do serve in reminding us of the importance of compassion, love or other positive qualities.
This is my silly belief, but I do believe that all sentient beings are interconnected deep down, though these connections may be invisible.
When I was about 16 years old, I went to see my cousin. there was one puppy he picked up from somewhere. since his family members hated keeping animals, they finally forced him to abandon this puppy in the woods.
Somehow, I accompanied my cousin on a car to a mountain. after arriving there, we reluctantly left helpless puppy in a small box with some foods.
it was right before we got in a car that we both heard his voice, yapping through our ears, though the distance between where we parked a car and where we left him in the woods was about a few Kilometers away. Of course, this puppy was not around us and we knew that he was still so small that he could not even run after us, but strangely enough, both my cousin and I did hear his whining before leaving there. after that, we turned to each other. " Haaaa, did you hear that, hiroshi? said my cousin with peplexed face. " Yes, I did hear that as well. what the heck is that?".
we did not discuss this supernatural phenomenon at that time anymore.
Later on, I had another strange experience. It was at 10:30AM in 2001, the time when I left Osaka, Japan for Bangkok. To my great surprise, my professor who really loved me passed away at the exact, same time when my flight flew off to Bangkok from Osaka.
These strange two experiences reminded me of what Jung called coincidence and the collective uncounsious. To put it simply, space and time we take for granted may not exist in reality and all sentient beings are connected somewhere deep down in the subcoucious.
My guess is that although it can not be perceived with our normal senses, there is one energy or vibration running through every sentient being in which there is neither space nor time. Just one energy connecting us all.
That is why I heard a cry from the puppy we left a few kilometers away from us. That is why my profossor died at the same time when I left Japan.
in fact, many of us seem to have premonition, especially before something bad happens.
Dont get me wrong, I am not into any cult. this is just my assumption.
anyway, please accept my condolences to your friend and you. Singmund soul should be conneceted with that of Kristin.
hiroshi, you're right !! believe it or not, some pets are connected with their owners, i.e. my wife had a small dog (female) for about 1 year, this dog had a heart problem, then she took the dog to vet and the vet said: "the dog will die due to she has a big heart in a small body", months later, this dog was pregnant, then the dog could not walk or her breathing was hard, so one night, this dog started to agonize all night long, I don't know why, but next day (morning) when my wife got up and went to see her dog, then the dog saw her and she died in peace. So we wondered why this dog did not die during the night, why did she wait until to see my wife before dying ?
AJ, sorry and respects.
Post a Comment