Have You Ever?

Have you ever gotten mixed up about the beverage in your cup, picked it up and tasted water for a split second only to realize it was something else? The taste of water was as real in that instant, as palpable as the actual flavor and texture that drowned it out.

I did that just now. I tasted clean, clear water from the RO dispenser as the fizzy drink touched my tongue. That's the power of mind.

Sounds dumb right?

We've no idea of the power of mind to shape reality even at an immediate physical level. My mind (or brain if you lean materialist) gave me the distinct sensation of this water that is tasty and refreshing. It was qualitatively the same as if I had been actually drinking the RO water.

Many years ago, my then wife would remark about Blue the Cat's uncanny ability to detect my arrival from work. Usually, she would be sitting with him in the home office or preparing food in the kitchen. He would get up and go sit at the front door, several minutes before I walked in. That's how she knew I was home, when she saw him scurry off to sit on his haunches at the portal.

Rupert Sheldrake wrote a book on this phenomenon.

We lived on the first floor of a busy apartment building. People came home all the time around the same time that I did each day. In the middle of a large city, people come and go at all hours. It's that Blue knew when Daddy was coming home that was interesting. Whether traffic was heavy or I had to run an errand after work didn't matter. His cute face and my wife's big smile were welcome sights.

Victoria began to think nothing of it. She had never lived with a cat and the two had bonded nicely. If Blue darted to the door, she knew I was home and would follow him. She even timed it in her head, measuring the difference between when Blue got up to the time I entered.

I theorized that I must have walked a certain way that Blue could recognize. Maybe I had a Quasi Modo-style gait. Cats have keen hearing, although they favor sight as obligate carnivores. It wasn't the car as this was out on a deck, out of sight and earshot. There was no way for him to see me approach.

I looked for a way to explain it away.