I sometimes worry about things.
Like have I forgotten to do something, or am I doing enough for climate change, or If reincarnation were true but you kept your own consciousness, could I handle living as a duck.
Probably not. I know very little of duck culture, I could never fit in. I am not a strong swimmer currently and although I image as a duck I would instinctively be able to swim, I also feel that if I had my own consciousness that I wouldn’t feel confident swimming. And that would definitely show on my face to other ducks. Probably not to humans, we humans probably lack the capability in our mind to comprehend the subtle facial expressions of the duck. But when I am reincarnated to live among them, I would be a very poor poker player. Or whatever the duck equivalent is. I am certain they have games. Why else would they fly in shapes.
That’s another thing, I’m not good at working in groups. More of a solo flyer. But that’s not the ducks game. The duck loves a good group fly. Flocking around up there like sky sheep. Or is that just geese? I think I’d make a better eagle. Solo and soaring around up there just chilling. I feel like a bird is probably one of the better animals to get reincarnated into. A fish isn’t a great option is it? So many potential deaths. Fishing, predators, humans slowly killing you off with environmental disaster. Even if you’re a shark, pretty much all of your food has been poisoned or fucked with in someway by plastic. That would be like if every time we bought food we were forced to also eat the packaging.
I could definitely be a dog or a cat. I much prefer dogs to cats. I feel like when you get a dog you’re saying I want a pet, when you get a cat you’re saying I want to be a pet. I’d rather be a cat though for that reason. Cats have much more freedom and agility. Dogs can’t survive in the wild anymore. If me and a dog had to survive in the apocalypse I’d eat the dog. If me and a cat had to survive in the apocalypse, the cat would go missing for 10 days then come back and try to eat me.
They’re survivors. They’re evil though. They don’t care about your feelings. I worry one day they could take over somehow. Who knows with A.I. It’s a mess out there. Maybe that’s what we need, cats to rise up. Become our overlords and enslave us all. Forcing us to place our most valuable possessions onto ledges so they can knock them off and laugh as we weep over a photo of our long lost Uncle Kenneth or our shattered iPhone 10. Never letting us sleep beyond 3am as all the cat overlords join to sing in out of harmony ballads. These will ring out for hours and hours as other small cats stand at the doors to houses, never actually entering.
Perhaps this is what we need to be shown. That our valuables are only ever a nudge away from destruction and that our lives should be more based on the very moment you’re living in. Maybe you wanted to go inside one second ago but now you’ve changed your mind again oh no wait you’ve changed it again you’re coming in, and that’s fine.
Jake Pickford 