BADMOUTHING KATRINA

It was an experiment. Katrina the dog sat beside me grinning about something, and in the most friendly voice I could summon I said:

"What're you doing down there with that stupid look on your face? Why, I ought to reach down and pull that slimy tongue out of your stinking mouth and slap your ugly face with it."

I said all this with the biggest smile I could manage, while scratching around her ears the way she likes.

"That's just like you, you hussy," I continued, "lousing around all day and just being in the way. Why, you're good for nothing but feeding fleas, and I wish you'd go away and not come back."

Katrina just laughed and wagged her tail as if I were making squeaking sounds, which she likes. But, I felt terrible. It was fascinating how bad I felt, like I'd broken something important inside myself, so the experiment was giving good results.

I'd known I was getting into deep water with this experiment because for many years I've realized that human mentality -- "my" mentality -- is a bag of worms that shouldn't be played with. When I was in college I did enough Jungian analysis of my dreams to scare myself, and I'd learned how to hypnotize myself and others. And then, there was this:

For decades I'd been oppressed by frequent dreams of riding a bus trying to get between home and the university, going one way or another, but I'd always miss my connections or the bus would get lost. Then a couple of years ago, remembering the power of the spoken word during hypnosis, I went into the woods alone and, feeling very foolish, said to myself in a regular speaking voice:

"Dream-Maker, I want to talk to you about these bus dreams in which I never get to school or back home. I'm an old man now, have had my degrees for forty years, and there's no more home to go back to, all gone... I enjoy most of our dreams and know that even the hard ones are important for my proper functioning, but could you keep in mind that these trips between school and home are out of date... ?"

I knew to speak with respect to the Dream-Maker, for my Jungian dream analysis had showed that "I," like everyone else, am a composite of somewhat distinct personalities, and each is a worthy and necessary presence. I think it's they who are the Dream-Maker, maybe just one of them, or more likely several working together.

Whatever the case, since that talk in the woods, since then I've experienced no such dreams. Sometimes I still find myself on disoriented buses, but the college <---> home dreams are gone. I've been astonished at the change, and even more than ever in awe of, and mystified by, human mentality.

Here's what I decided was the take-home message from the Katrina experiment: Words are important, and spoken words are much more powerful than read or thought ones.

This means that we should be careful about the words we let ourselves hear, whether they're our words or those of others. We might do well to tune out conversations dripping with cynicism and negativism, or dwelling on bad news we already know but can't do anything about. We should make a conscious effort to seek uplifting, positive words of encouragement, and articulate to others our own nurturing messages.

Finally, besides the fact that human mentality is the crowning achievement of evolving Life on Earth, and thus an appropriate topic for a Naturalist Newsletter, there's this:

Nature speaks to us in words of birdcalls, wind through trees, thunder on the horizon, water dripping off roof eaves, and every word spoken tells the truth, is life-confirming, good to hear, and always at hand. Simply by focusing on Nature is one important way we can improve ourselves, and help others along.