Rat or Cat
“The cat can make a mistake; it is only toying with its prey. But the mouse cannot make a mistake; it will be its death.”
This anecdote from the book, Philosophy of Liberation by Enrique Dussell is asking a crucial question. What is your portfolio in your life situations. Is it that of cat or rat? Cat can play and make decisions. For rat, the decisions definitely affect them in a dramatic fashion. Another similar story is the example of hen (which can give eggs) and pig (only pork) to the master. Though both are gifting something, the cost of gift is different for both. I would bring the life of certain people for our discussions.
- Jesus left the glory of being God to being an ordinary human and was born in the extremely normal or poor circumstances. His reflections, intuitions, analyses were deep and radical. Contrast this with the reflections of innumerable spiritual gurus of past and present, which are just in the surface level.
- Buddha left his glory of being a prince and went in search of an answer for the cause of suffering. The answer arrived not from the palace, but by playing with life.
- Struggles and Problems in life make the marriage bond stronger, makes any sort of commitment more firm. Their love is of a different breed than that of others where marriage/complement is completely a glorious journey.
Now what is the purpose of raising these points. We have innumerable leaders in the religious, cultural, educational and political realms. It is good to ask, do their decisions and commitments arise from the cat or rat mentality. [Although birth in a high class has a high chance of procuring a cat mentality, it needn’t be the case always. The same is true for low class and rat mentality].
We desire sustainable and equitable development, where the fruits are able to reach all, where inequality in all forms are reduced. Such an understanding of development is possible if and only if the developmental goals arise out of an rat mentality and a related experience. Definitely it doesn’t mean all the goals of such person are right. Let the leaders be true shepherds (who has the possibility of loosing the life by virtue of saving the sheep) and not just security officers sitting in the isolated cabins, unaffected by the realities around.
