By+John+Gray

A philosopher once assured me， many years ago， that he had converted his cat to veganism1. Believing he was joking， I asked how he had achieved this feat. Had he supplied the cat with mouse-flavoured vegan food？ Had he presented his cat with other cats， already practising veganism， as feline role models？ Or had he argued with the cat and convinced it that eating meat is wrong？ My interlocutor2 wasnt amused， and I realised that he really believed the cat had opted for a meat-free diet.

The independence of cats is one of the features most admired by those of us who love them. Having entered into close proximity with human beings， cats were quickly recognised as being useful to them.

For many cat lovers， I suspect what they cherish is not how cats resemble us， but their differences from us. Living with cats opens a window into a world beyond our own and teaches us something important about what it means to be human.

One of the most attractive features of cats is that contentment is their default3 state. Unlike human beings—particularly of the modern variety—they do not spend their days in laborious pursuit of a fantasy of happiness. They are comfortable with themselves and their lives， and remain in that condition for as long as they are not threatened. When they are not eating or sleeping， they pass the time exploring and playing， never asking for reasons to live. Life itself is enough for them.

If there are people who cant stand cats—and it seems there are many—one reason may be envy. As Jeffrey Masson， whose The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats is the best book on cats ever published， has written：

In English， if not in “cat”， the word contentment conveys something of a feeling of being at peace with the world or with yourself. It is more of a state than a fleeting emotion. A person can be happy （momentarily） without being content. Contentment cannot be purchased； happiness， on the other hand， has a price.

Whereas human beings search for happiness in an ever-increasing plethora4 of religions and therapies， cats enjoy contentment as their birthright. Why this is so is worth exploring. Cats show no sign of regretting the past or fretting5 about the future. They live， absorbed in the present moment. It will be said that this is because they cannot envision6 the past or future. Perhaps so， though their habit of demanding their breakfast at the accustomed hour shows they do have a sense of the passage of time. But cats， unlike people， are not haunted by an anxious sense that time is slipping away. Not thinking of their lives as stories in which they are moving towards some better state， they meet each day as it comes. They do not waste their lives dreading the time when their lives must end. Not fearing death， they enjoy a kind of immortality. All animals have these qualities but they seem particularly pronounced7 in cats. Of all the animals that have lived closely with human beings， cats must surely be the least influenced by them.

“When I play with my cat，” Montaigne8 wrote， “how do I know she is not playing with me？” With creatures that can be understood only partly by us， one can only speculate about their inner life. Yet it is tempting to suppose that the secret of feline contentment is that cats have no need to defer to a picture of themselves as they imagine they should be.9 Certainly they have a sense of dignity： they avoid people who treat them disrespectfully， for instance. Yet cats do not struggle to remake themselves according to any ideal self-image. Not inwardly10 divided， they are happy to be themselves.

The moralizing11 philosopher who believed he had persuaded his cat to adopt a meat-free diet only showed how silly philosophers can be. Rather than seek to teach his cat， he would have been wiser to learn from it， as Montaigne did. Living in accord with their nature， cats do not need moral instruction. Dissatisfaction with our natural condition， on the other hand， seems to be natural for human beings. The human animal never ceases to strive for some higher form of life. Cats make no such effort. Without any process of laborious cogitation， these lucid， playful and supremely adaptable creatures already know how to live.12

很多年以前，有一位哲學家曾信誓旦旦地和我說，他讓他的貓學會了吃純素。我以為他是開玩笑，便問他是如何實現這一個壯舉的。是給貓?zhí)峁┝死鲜罂谖兜乃厥硢?？還是通過其他貓成功吃素的案例給他的貓樹立了榜樣？又或者曾經和他的貓爭論并使它相信吃肉是不對的？然而我面前的這位仁兄并沒有被逗笑，這讓我意識到他真的認為是他的貓自己選擇了吃素。

在貓的種種特質中，我們這些愛貓人士最欣賞的一點就是它的獨立性。當貓與人的關系變得親密之后，人們很快就意識到了貓的重要作用。

我甚至懷疑許多愛貓人士喜歡的并不是貓與我們的相似點，而是它們與我們的不同之處。與貓同住不僅讓我們有機會了解人類以外的世界，還教會我們一些重要的事情，即人類的意義所在。

貓最吸引人的一點就是它們一向自得其樂，不像人類——特別是現代人——它們不會把時間花在汲汲于享樂上。貓對于自身和自己的生活怡然自得，并且只要四周沒有威脅，它們就樂于保持現狀。貓在不吃飯或不睡覺的時候，就會將時間花在探險和玩耍上，從不會追尋活著的意義，因為對它們來說只要活著就足夠了。

如果有人不能忍受貓——而且似乎為數不少——那么原因之一可能是嫉妒。正如杰弗里·馬森，目前出版的關于貓的最好的一本書——《貓咪的九種情感生活》的作者，曾經寫道：

在英語中，如果不是用在貓身上，那么“滿足”這個詞代表的就是你與世界或者你與自己達到的和諧統一。相較于稍縱即逝的情緒，滿足更似一種狀態(tài)。一個人即使在不滿足時也可以是快樂的（即使是暫時的）。滿足感無法用錢來買到；而快樂，從另一方面來說，是有標價的。

人們在越來越多的宗教和治療中尋求快樂，而貓卻將滿足視為其與生俱來的權利。這其中的原委值得我們探討。貓既不會對過去感到遺憾，也不會對未來感到焦慮，它們全神貫注地活在當下。有人可能說，這是因為它們無法追憶過往和想象未來?？赡苁沁@樣，但是貓定時吃早餐的習慣證明它們確實有時間觀念，不過與人類不同的是，它們不會對時間的流逝產生焦慮感。貓不會像活在故事里一樣去追求更好的生活狀態(tài)，而只是迎接每一天的到來。它們不會浪費時間為生命必將迎來的終結而感到恐懼。它們不懼死亡，因此享受著一種不朽的狀態(tài)。所有的動物都具有這些特質，但這些似乎在貓身上尤為彰顯。而在所有與人類共同生活過的動物當中，貓一定是最不受人類影響的。

“和我家貓玩耍的時候，”蒙田寫道，“我怎么知道她并不是在和我玩呢？”我們往往不能完全地理解它們，只能猜測它們的內心所想。我們很想這樣猜測：貓獲得滿足感的秘訣就在于它們不必成為自以為應該成為的樣子（即安于現狀）。當然它們會有尊嚴感：例如，它們拒絕接近不尊重它們的人。但貓還是不會按照任何完美的樣子費力改造自己。它們的內心從不矛盾，只樂于做自己。

那位對貓說教的哲學家相信他已經成功說服他的貓吃素，只證明了哲學家有多么愚蠢。他應當像蒙田一樣，學得聰明一些，從他的貓身上學些什么，而不是去教導他的貓。貓順從天性生活，不需要道德說教。而對天生條件感到不滿，從另一方面說，似乎是人類的天性。人類從來不會停止追求更好的生活方式。貓不會為此做任何努力。無需任何深思熟慮，這種頭腦清楚、頑皮而又適應性極強的生物早已知道該如何生活。

1. veganism： 純素食主義。

2. interlocutor： 對話者。

3. default： 默認值。

4. plethora： 過多，過剩。

5. fret： 焦慮，煩惱。

6. envision： 想象。

7. pronounce： （尤指正式地）對……發(fā)表看法。

8. Montaigne： 蒙田（1533—1592），文藝復興時期法國思想家、散文家，以《隨筆集》三卷留名后世。

9. it is tempting to do sth.： 很想做某事（看起來是正確或合理的，但很可能是錯誤的）；defer to： 遵從，聽從。

10. inwardly： 內在地，內心里。

11. moralizing： 說教的，訓導的。

12. cogitation： 思考，深思；lucid：頭腦清楚的；supremely： 極其。