[thechat] Icons was Mythology was comics

[Tamara Abbey]

At 09:45 PM 5/24/2001 +1200, you wrote:
>My cats have two icons / religious experiences in their lives. One is the 
>fountain of manna from heaven (dried food appearing in bowls). The second 
>is variable in its instances -- sometimes it's a metal object which 
>radiates intense warmth and sleepy-making joy (an oil column heater), 
>other times it is a towering inferno which also radiates joyous warmth 
>(the fireplace).
>
>I'm not sure what, if any, instruction they receive from these 
>manifestations ... but they're exceedingly pleased by the whole process

No, Andrew, your cats are not worshipping an icon when you feed them.

An icon (and I even looked it up to make sure) is a representation of 
something spiritual. While catnip could approach the spiritual for your 
cats, it's still real, concrete and existent.

An icon is not that definitive. I have not seen the face of God, God exists 
for me, and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel is /supposed/ to represent 
creation, but it's an interpretation.

So, if your cats created a representation of their food and they worshipped 
it, then it could come close to being an icon.

Which probably sounds a little out there -- an icon represents the 
spiritual, but not the earthly so if I haven't *seen* it, how can I believe 
it? Because I do.

<tamara />