cat on mat

Have you ever eaten a peach?

My quasi-Buddhist friend used to like to ask me that. He meant, "have you ever just eaten a peach?" Here, now, just peach-eating me. Not thinking about it, or fretting about it. Just eating the peach.

Well, can't say as I've ever had a peach.

My yoga teacher would say, "just do the pose." Funny word, pose. More than a hint of faking it, built right into the word. No matter, do the pose please.

A stray tabby has been sleeping in the bushes. Today when I come to my mat she is sitting on it, like an illustration of the old saying philosophers use to prove that perception corresponds to reality. "The cat is on the mat," I say to myself like a koan, "the cat is on the mat." She seems to be doing nothing on the mat other than being there.

"Shove over," I tell her. "I'm going to try that."