Yep–that’s the right title. I just posted a response to a discussion on Comcast’s message forums. It seems that a woman has discovered that her house has a ghost – of a CAT! Well, that makes alot of sense to me, and here’s what I said about it:
All creatures have spirits. In fact, most religions believe that all things–animate or otherwise–have spirits. There are spirits in the rocks, the trees, rivers and streams, and even our automobiles take on human characteristics.
And, of course, the spirits themselves take on different characteristics. After my cat Greystone died, I guess he moved up to a higher level, because we’ve maintained a dialogue that has gone on for almost five years since he passed away.
Now, I should explain a few things here, since Greystone was rather a special cat to begin with. In the first place, Greystone understood human speech pretty well, and I had no problem making myself understood to him. But Greystone wanted more, and between 1987 and 1993 or so, he actually taught me to SPEAK CAT. That’s right–I learned to perfectly mimic nearly all of the feline vocalizations, and even learned what they mean…TO A CAT. Cats, you see, are not just hungry purring furballs meant for giving love to humans. In fact, their evolution has not even revolved around humans except for the last 3,000 years or so (out of some 1.6 million years of evolution).
What I’ve learned is, Cats have a rather sophisticated society of their own. Greystone was a king–he ruled an area covering about 4 1/2 city blocks, and had his choice of females, prey, and food. And, cats are political. I’ve seen feline politics in action in many occasions, and was even called upon once to help resolve a dispute between two other cats! (Unfortunately, I came back with the scratches to prove it–their form of justice is delivered by fang and claw, as you can immagine.) But, the two toms got along marvelously after that.
And then, Greystone’s wife moved in with us for a while. Tht was the first time I ever saw a cat go steady–she had two litters of kittens before I took Greystone to the vet. I couldn’t bear to have him altered in a way that would affect his personality, his authority, his politics, so I paid a little extra for a vasectomy. It probably shortened his life, but I think it was worth it. Greystone gave me 14 wonderful years of his life before he died, and a great deal of wisdom along the way.
And then he took on a new life altogether. It was no pitter-patter of feet, and a strange depression on the pillow I felt. Greystone spoke to me in the recesses of my mind in clear English words, in a deep, resonate, baritone voice worthy of any true king. He now calls himself “John Tiberious Greystone,” and he’s adopted a tagline, invented by me, btw: “The Legend of Greystone.”
Well, that legend continues. Not content as a haunting, Greystone now accompanies me like a guardian angel, always present and able to converse with me. He’s there at my mental fingertips along with God, my personal angel guardian (Whom I’ve known since I was a child) and the “spirit” of my car, who often jokes about my driving.
Maybe I’m mildly delusional, one would say. But I’ve always been able to tell the difference between that which is real, and that wich is imaginary. And while none of these voices are material, I can sense that they are real–fabrications of outside intelligences, and not the product of my own vivid imagination. For, when I imagine something, as I must do to invent stories or play a Role-playing Game, the voices in my head, whatever timbre, gender, or language, are ME. When John Tiberious Greystone speaks, it is my cat. And only my cat. And when God speaks…well, you get the idea.
There are non-physical entities all round us, and there always have been, and there always will. And if one or more of those entities is, or once was the soul of a person or a favored pet, this is nothing unusual. The Christian bible states somewhere that God knew each of us before we were a twinkling in our mothers’ eyes. If that’s true, then there’s no reason He can’t know us–and we know each other–after our physical point of presence in this world has been shed and is no longer necessary for us.
A cat ghost? Of course! For all creatures, and indeed all things of this Earth have spirits. They live with us, and they live forever. So shall we all.
Amen.
SASS has Spoken.
— the SASS Man
And it’s all true. Animals are sentient, and some have enough of it to do remarkable things. Even act as our advisors after death.
SASS has spoken.
Seeya!
In the Words of the SASS Man 