The other day I was watching a neighbor cat stalking various small creatures in our yard and thinking how much better she is at it than my dog, when I had a light bulb moment. Actually it was more of a jigsaw moment. Instead of coming up with an original idea, it was more like images and thoughts suddenly dropping in a syncrinized cascade into a unified conglamoration of previously disjointed concepts. It was very metaphysical.
This jigsaw moment was brought on by the simple act of the cat looking up into a tree. My dog almost never looks up. If I point out a bird or tight rope walking rodent she looks for a ground based animal. I can even grap her snout and point it upwards but even then she will continue to shift her eyes from side to side, frantically looking for something on the ground. It occured to me that her understanding was limited to her plane of operations. The dog's mobility is mostly restricted to the ground. My dog does not look up because there is nothing upwards that is pertinent to her existence.
The cat, on the other hand, is a proficient climber and so her plane of operations and her spectrum of observation are much larger than the dog's. Thus, she looks up.
Like all other creatures, a person's understanding is limited to his or her plane of operations. People, however, have the ability to broaden that plane, both physically and mentally. We create devises for disabled people so they can move around freely. We write stories, particularly fiction, that allow one person to drink in more experiences than he or she could possibly have in one lifetime. We increase our intellectual plane of operations by reading and so increase our ability to understand. If only my dog could read she might begin to look up a little more.
At least, this is a very rough draft of my idea, that I hope to refine in future, but for now I am still working on the morbid discussion.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.joy2day.com/fun-hi-fun/funny-pictures/images/cat-sleeping-dog-reading.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.joy2day.com/fun-hi-fun/funny-pictures/cat-sleeping-dog-reading.php&usg=__7gHlze8u5oALPxFEzriALS--eGs=&h=379&w=570&sz=38&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=gIu8dM8VsrRAXM:&tbnh=131&tbnw=192&ei=TKXjTZf_N8nZgAeun_3TBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcat%2Band%2Bdog%2Breading%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D934%26bih%3D558%26rlz%3D1W1ADFA_en%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=272&vpy=170&dur=6591&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=218&ty=66&page=1&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0&biw=934&bih=558
This jigsaw moment was brought on by the simple act of the cat looking up into a tree. My dog almost never looks up. If I point out a bird or tight rope walking rodent she looks for a ground based animal. I can even grap her snout and point it upwards but even then she will continue to shift her eyes from side to side, frantically looking for something on the ground. It occured to me that her understanding was limited to her plane of operations. The dog's mobility is mostly restricted to the ground. My dog does not look up because there is nothing upwards that is pertinent to her existence.
The cat, on the other hand, is a proficient climber and so her plane of operations and her spectrum of observation are much larger than the dog's. Thus, she looks up.
Like all other creatures, a person's understanding is limited to his or her plane of operations. People, however, have the ability to broaden that plane, both physically and mentally. We create devises for disabled people so they can move around freely. We write stories, particularly fiction, that allow one person to drink in more experiences than he or she could possibly have in one lifetime. We increase our intellectual plane of operations by reading and so increase our ability to understand. If only my dog could read she might begin to look up a little more.
At least, this is a very rough draft of my idea, that I hope to refine in future, but for now I am still working on the morbid discussion.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.joy2day.com/fun-hi-fun/funny-pictures/images/cat-sleeping-dog-reading.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.joy2day.com/fun-hi-fun/funny-pictures/cat-sleeping-dog-reading.php&usg=__7gHlze8u5oALPxFEzriALS--eGs=&h=379&w=570&sz=38&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=gIu8dM8VsrRAXM:&tbnh=131&tbnw=192&ei=TKXjTZf_N8nZgAeun_3TBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcat%2Band%2Bdog%2Breading%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D934%26bih%3D558%26rlz%3D1W1ADFA_en%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=272&vpy=170&dur=6591&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=218&ty=66&page=1&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0&biw=934&bih=558
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