Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Unfortunate Assumptions



As part of beginning my exploration into recent, frequent appearance of Hagalaz, i.e. what needs to break in order to make room for the new, I've been watching this TED talk by Kathryn Schulz about being wrong. She says being wrong feels exactly like being right. It's the moment of realizing you're wrong that's embarrassing. She says, "The miracle of your mind isn't that you see the world as it is, it's that you see the world as it isn't." Oh man, that is so true. Incredible talk, well worth watching - at least I believe I'm right about that!

I'm thinking this morning about a friend whose cat ran away last winter. For five weeks this friend searched her neighborhood for her beloved cat of 14 years. At last she spotted her cat in an alley with a bunch of feral cats. She sat out in that alley every day for a couple of weeks, trying to coax her beloved cat to come home. She worked with some people who trap feral cats in order to have them spayed/neutered, then return them to the wild, she talked to a pet psychic, and a pet behaviorist. She even lit a candle, which is extraordinary, since she is a non-believer. (I guess it's extraordinary, too, that she contacted the psychic.) She was determined - and desperate - to bring her cat home.

At last she enticed her cat into the cat carrier. She thought the drama was over. But the cat was traumatized; wouldn't come out of the basement, wouldn't relate to the other cat in my friend's home. Just recently she started treating her cat with Prozac, trying to coax her back to her normal behavior.

On Easter morning, her 14 year old, spayed cat gave birth to four kittens. Even so, my friend refused to believe this was not her cat. She said she would bet her life on her belief that this was her cat. A trip to the vet confirmed that this cat, the one she brought in from the alley, is definitely a young, fertile, feral cat, NOT my friend's cat.

When her old, spayed cat gave birth to kittens, that was a Hagalaz moment, oh yeah.

This morning I pulled Kenaz, the torch rune, which reflects the energy of enlightenment; it's about the moment when you GET it, when you see through the false assumption, when the fog dissipates, the ah-ha. This is often a very sad moment. For my friend kenaz would refer to the moment when the vet confirmed that this cat is NOT her old cat.

I don't have big plans for today - grocery shopping and maybe a walk depending on how much green dust is flying around. No matter what, I'll be opening my mind and heart today, hoping the lightbulb above my head lights up. What am I not seeing? What do I think is absolutely RIGHT or TRUE that perhaps is not as solid as I thought it was? What am I so SURE about that I would stake my life on it?

My eyes are open. Wonder what I'll see today ...

17 comments:

Rebecca Clayton said...

Yesterday, after reading your psychic hail warning, we had a hail storm here on Droop Mountain. Not damaging hail, just the "Oh wow--glad I can get in out of the rain" hail.

Do the runes ever get literal with you? My favorite forecast is, after all, the weather forecast.

Reya Mellicker said...

I think the runes - and every other divination system I know about - offer clues both metaphoric and literal. There are so many layers in every version of reality.

The hailstorm would not have been remarkable to me except that I'd been pulling that rune over and over. I even pulled it twice in a row a few times. When I see the same symbol over and over, I assume the multiverse is trying to show me something.

ellen abbott said...

oh yeah, Kenaz. Like the time I was in chemistry class totally and miserably lost for weeks and then in one instant something clicked and I understood.

Reya Mellicker said...

Yeah! That's Kenaz

Susan Carpenter Sims said...

What a great parable! I will carry this with me today, and like you, open my mind and heart and eyes today.

NanU said...

That realization moment can be a real kick in the solar plexis. I hope your friend is happy with her -new- cat(s)!

The Bug said...

I'm just fascinated with this whole concept. It's different from the "I'm PRETTY sure I'm doing the right thing" & then I find out my instincts were right & pretty sure wasn't sure enough. It's, as you said, sure enough to stake your life on it & finding out it's absolutely not right. Wow.

Do I have some of those? Yep - and I'm not sure I could sound as calm as you do if I knew that one of them was about to be revealed as false. Tenterhooks is where I'd be!

Reya Mellicker said...

Glad you're in solidarity, oh great Pollinatrix, especially since I put the herbs out in the garden today. Going to do a whole lot more gardening on Thursday, heading out to the nursery. Thanks for your fecund blessings!

Bug - I'm not going to "pre-worry." The truth is, maybe nothing big will change and the whole point is to open my heart and mind to huge revelations? I can freak out IF something shifts.

(Linda are you proud of me? I'm NOT freaking out!)

Jo said...

You'll know it when you see it, Reya.

It will appear as everything does...at its proper time.

Reya Mellicker said...

I'm taking a wait-n-see attitude, appropros of Granda's suggestion: that I cultivate a state of "light hearted respect." I love that.

steven said...

reya thanks for the link to the kathryn schulz ted talk - it was so cool . . . end to end. i couldn't stop listening. schools are there now accepting the power of a "wrong" answer but i don't think that people in general accept the big space between being wrong and not correlating that to a sense of personal wrongness. cool. so very cool! thankyou. steven

linda said...

You know what I love about you? You make me laugh AND think at the same time. What could be better than that?

Reya Mellicker said...

Linda, how cool! Thanks!

Reya Mellicker said...

Steven, what you and I do constantly is thank each other. I love that!

hele said...

i was still musing on this post when i found tir tucked away next to a box and pointing to the kitchen...hmmm

Kerry said...

I read this yesterday, and came back to say, Damn reality...I really hoped the ^%$#!cat was (miraculously) hers and that it had (miraculously) had kittens.

Dan Gurney said...

Hey, Reya, I just got the chance to see this video of Kathryn Schulz's TED talk.

I deliberately showcase my mistakes in kindergarten and talk a LOT about being wrong. Being wrong is how we grow. When we're always right our world shrinks and gets tinier and tinier. Who was it that said the most interesting words in science are, "That's funny, that's not what the theory would predict would happen."

I could be wrong about this, but I think everyone who sees it will be glad they did.

Thanks for the tip!!