Closer look at the cosmic eye

Although I am flattered to have been quoted in "The best soundbites from the Mirror's year of 1998" [Dec. 24], I feel that it may be a dubious honour in view of the heading that preceded my quote and the caption that followed it.

The quote is entirely accurate. I did in fact recognize that some people would write me off as insane if I spoke openly about the profound revelatory mystical experience that I had in 1992. I should point out that, as the quote says, this realization came very early in the experience. In fact, it came three months before the revelation regarding the eclipse and the "eye of God."

The heading states, "You got that much right" and Rev. Ray Drennan of the Unitarian Church of Montreal did in fact label my religious experience as "your psychotic experience" and angrily insisted that I seek psychiatric treatment. I fear, however, that some Mirror readers will interpret the heading as suggesting that the editorial staff of the Mirror also believe that I am insane.

The caption that follows my quote is seriously inaccurate and may further lead Mirror readers to believe that I am insane. I have never at any time believed "that a lunar eclipse is actually the eye of God," and I would agree that someone who believed the foregoing might in fact be suffering from psychotic delusions. What was revealed to me as a result of my revelatory experience, and what I do in fact believe, is that the readily verifiable similarity of the total eclipse of the sun to the pupil and iris of an eye is intended by our Creator to symbolically represent God's omniscience.

The "eye in the sky" that is visibly manifested during a total solar eclipse (it will appear in the skies over Europe, the Middle East and Asia on August 11, 1999) profoundly influenced the religious beliefs of ancient humanity. Why should this "cosmic eye" not be seen as a "sign of God" by humans today?

--Robin Edgar

City complicit in pet killings

An anonymous letter writer ["Pet killers are not real ritualists," Jan. 7] condemns the wanton killings of cats and other non-human animals in Montreal, but is quick to justify animal deaths at the hands of "real ritualists." This is nothing but hypocrisy.

For the many people concerned with the fate of other creatures, please realize that thousands of dogs and cats are killed every year in Montreal by the Montreal city pound, Berger Blanc, and to a lesser extent by the SPCA. As you read this letter, a cat or dog is perhaps being killed in one of these institutions, silently, behind closed doors.

The invisibility of it all enables the process to continue. No one protests, no one tries to put a stop to the killing. Try to imagine how, over the many years, a total of hundreds of thousands of mammals have been killed this way in Montreal

Yet, there is a trend in North America toward no-kill shelters. We do have one no-kill SPCA on the South Shore, the SPCA Monterégie. If concerned people could see what goes on, they would set up something similar in Montreal.

Imagine a local TV station that showed nothing but dogs, cats and others being given lethal injections.

There would be some quick action.

--Shloime Perel

Stewing over kitty comic

After reading the comic "A Day in the Life of a Montreal Kitty" [Dec. 31], I would just like to make a comment, specifically regarding the part where you see a guy in a chef hat that says "John Chinese Food" getting ready to chop up a cat. Don't you guys have Chinese restaurants advertising in your paper?

Well, I hope that you have the courtesy to inform them by saying, "Oh yes, we'll take your money and publish an ad for your restaurant, but we'll also have disparaging satirical cartoons portraying you guys as bloodthirsty catnappers! Have a good day... suckers!" Advertisers should be treated with a little bit of respect--after all they are the ones who are paying your bills.

--Anonymous

Correction

In the Jan. 7 Noisemakers issue, an article about Heavyweight ["And in this corner"] incorrectly referred to an upcoming show of works by Heavyweight artists. In actuality, Heavyweight member Thau Weva is coordinating an exhibition by Robert Holland Murray, the featured artist for Black History Month at the Saydie Bronfman Centre, to begin Feb. 4.