“Cat in the Hat” Meets “Thou Art That”
One of the books that my daughter likes me to read to her is "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" by Dr. Suess. You may have read it before. The last time I read this story to her, I was holding her in my lap while feeling a substantial heaviness in my heart.
I'd been quite hurt by something that had recently happened and I was in the process of working through it. Distinctly aware of this feeling in my heart, there was part of the Dr. Suess story that resonated with me on a deep level. This image has stuck with me ever since.
The image is from a point in the story where the Cat in the Hat has left behind a giant pink "cat ring" in the bathtub. In an effort to remove it, he wipes the stain with the mother's white dress. Though he succeeds in removing the stain from the tub, the dress is now covered in a pink stain.
So, the Cat in the Hat tries wiping the dress off on the wall, which solves the dress stain problem, but now the wall bears the mark. The next thing he tries to clean the mess up with is the dad’s “$10 shoes,” and you can guess how well that goes.
On and on the story continues, with the pink stain simply being transferred from one object to the next.
The image from this children’s story strikes me as an excellent metaphor for the way we humans unload our "stuff" upon each other. Whether you call it patterns, karma, or say "hurt people hurt people," we are energy transferring beings.
Whatever doesn't sit quite right, whatever seeks release, whatever is there that we haven't quite worked through is liable to be transferred in some way, shape, or form to someone else.
There's a powerful momentum to this energy and it's hard work to make the "buck stop here." So...
Hurt people hurt people.
Scared people scare people.
Angry people anger people.
Ashamed people shame people.
The great news is that the transfer does not have to be negative. There's a lot more than "hurt people hurting people" going on in this universe.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SPREAD PAIN.
You can do the hard work on yourself, allowing the energy of pain to be transmuted within your own psyche. You can become fully conscious of it as PURE ENERGY- that's the stuff of awakening. You can be THAT and you can spread THAT.
By working through your unconscious stuff until it's conscious, you bring light to others' darkness as well.
YOU CAN BE A CATALYST FOR TRUTH, AN INSPIRING FORCE OF BEAUTY, AND A MESSENGER OF GREAT LOVE.
Loved People Love People.
Awakened People Awaken People.
There is nothing stopping you except you. There is no one holding your hands behind your back but you.
Never underestimate your power. You may not be able to see the effects right away, but they ripple out much farther than you can see.
You are THAT force.
You can also extract deep spiritual teachings from children's books, now how about that? Thank you, thank you Mr. Cat in the Hat.
