We say, yes. Why not? Imagine you're the mouse, imagine that you're screaming out in fear, you're being attacked by this big creature who's playing with you until it rips you apart and leaves you there usually without even eating you. Imagine you're the creature, screaming, trying to run away, just being grabbed again, thumped down again. Would you like to be saved? Yeah, most people would say, yes. So why shouldn't we be a savior for a while? What's the problem? Have you got something more important to do?
One of the saddest things I ever heard in an interview was a person telling me how they were very equanimous, how they practiced equanimity. Back home, in a safe big city apartment, this person heard screams out in the street, looked outside and saw that someone was beating somebody else up. Claiming that they were practicing equanimity, they did nothing and went back to what they were doing. It was one of the saddest things I ever heard anyone, especially an old student, tell me, in an interview here. They have never returned after that second retreat.
That's not equanimity, that's indifference - not caring, which is not what we want to practice. If you're inside a nice comfortable apartment, and a person is screaming and being beat upon the street, and you have a telephone right there, the least you can do is call the police. But this person didn't even make any effort to call the police.
No, I say, go ahead, try to stop the cat.
Now there may be occasions where you can't actually interfere, it's too big of a problem. If that cat happens to be a tiger, lion or other big cat, maybe we can't save whatever they are attacking without putting ourselves in danger. Maybe we're in a situation where we can't even get to a phone. There are times when we have to accept that we simply can't help and practice equanimity.
But there's a heck of a lot of times when we can do more or a great deal more. And particularly with cats, especially, it's so easy. Unless it grabs that mouse and speeds off, it's often very easy to save the mouse.
And what happens at the end, if you've ever done it before, what happens after the mouse is saved? I mean what happens to you? It's like that, it's like wow, great, and you've identified with that mouse. The minute that mouse is free, you and that mouse are kind of sharing a similar emotion at that moment, you become one. And it's a very nice feeling.
Perhaps some day another human or creature will save you.