A reader writes:
Oddly enough I thought of your blog the other day when I was petting a friend's cat. It is rare for me ever to dislike an animal. But it's just as rare for an animal to form an immediate bond with me. Upon first meeting my friend's cat, it immediately took to me. Over the last few weeks it has become evident that this cat and I understand each other on an intuitive level. She acts as though she's my cat and we've know each other forever. And I understand her feline mood swings better than any other cat I've been around. There is something deeply intuitive about our relationship.
The only thing I can compare it to is the love I feel for my best friends and for my childhood dog: there is absolutely no effort to the relationship, all love and immediate compassion. And it made me think of Montaigne, and then your blog. I imagine this is where you see the divine, trumpets blaring. And if there were anything that I were to consider divine, it would be this special, rare connection.
Divinity aside, what appears most important to me is that many (all/most/few?) of us have had this feeling of a deep friendship; a feeling that is not privy to any one one faith. Whatever the reasons for this connection - and we must all surely have an explanation - I am just thankful that I have felt it and that it exists even without me.