I have cried. I have cried, I have cried, I've cried, CRIED over this piece. It just.. Gets into my soul.. I try to explain this to people, I have the newspaper articles about Ernie Barguckle. People have fought me on this. They don't see it, or they are close minded. "How can a comic strip about a cat smoking a pipe mean anything more than that?" But it is more. And when I feel spiritual, or start to think existentially, I still see this comic.
Here is something from 1981 that I wrote when thinking about the implications of this strip, this is just an excerpt here. There is more before and after, but this part is the essence to me. If a comic about a cat smoking a pipe can be the only thing in the universe, then maybe this is the strongest evidence for that;
Many of you say, "Oh, but I am not blind. I have never been blind." But when you truly see you will understand just how truly blind you once were to even think it right to say you were not blind. What does a blind man see? Blackness, darkness, blankness. Black darkness. Dark blankness. The absence of things, quite literally no thing, no things, nothing. Nothings.
So you see nothing, and I bring you to the light, a cat has your pipe, you've been BLIND.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS?
The cat has your pipe.
You can't fully immerse yourself, you don't have the light, you don't have the radiance, the radical light, the radically radiant light of truth, and truth's belonging love and nature of light and loving truthful radiance. So don't be bold and make bold statements, I know of you. The cat has your pipe.
The.
Cat.
Has.
Your.
Pipe.
Remember that.
That writing, well, it's kind of rough. Kind of an early 80s feel, and I see that. But I'm still.. I'm still proud of it. Sometimes I imagine that it is the editorial column of the newspaper Jon Arbuckle is reading. It's an exercising recursion, it's like a vortex opens up. It's like you hold two mirrors up to each other, one is reality, the other is a cartoon script.
Let's see.. Oh yes, I must bring this up because I think surely Jim Davis is again speaking on multiple levels by including the details set before us in the comic. Notice the glimpse of Jon Arbuckle's foot in the first panel. The size of the shoe would indicate that maybe the man just has small feet. But a deeper investigation takes us to the foot binding rituals of certain Asian cultures. Inflicted usually on women for the desire of men, this practice was incredibly painful and crippling. Wow. Mr. Davis is presenting us here with a man, or rather, 'man', who engages in foot binding. A body modification for women, on top of being without his pipe, or, impotent. This is a man facing extreme inner turmoil. The panels tell that story subconsciously. Notice the background wall shading in the first panel points inward towards Jon in the second panel. And the sharp tapered end of the purple pipe in the third frame also points at Jon in the second panel, inward. The eye is drawn to the center panel, you can connect these points and draw a triangle across the panels, and this triangle will align with the re-oriented points of Jon's collar. This, THIS is majestic artwork, and to uncover this hidden order is bliss like I've never known. Comfort in an empty world.
I can't help but read the thought bubble again and again.
"Now where could my pipe be?"
Now where could my pipe be..?
It is a profound question. Why am I here? What is my purpose? It is reflection and self-examination here. It is facing the dust, the misery of a cold, careless universe, you can feel the weight of it. "Now where could my pipe be?" What I imagine is the author, Jim Davis, nearly teetering on the edge of insanity, his rationality, his lucidity hovering over the void, and he seeks the truth. You can see it in the line quality of the drawings, the thoughtful, controlled outlines mixed with an occasional chaotic struggles of work in the shadows and Garfield's dark stripes.
It's almost as if Garfield is chaos himself, yes. He is the embodiment of chaos, disorder, hatred, fear, thievery, death, destruction, desolation. These are the things Garfield represents, HE stole the pipe, HE sits with his back to Jon, Garfield. Garfield. This chaos cat Garfield has turned his back on EVERYTHING, EVERYONE. One recalls the great existential forces in literature. Camus' Meursalt, Kafka's Gregor Samsa, or Sartre's Antoine Roquentin.
Garfield the Cat sees the hopelessness of life, which, aha, yes.. This is why Jim Davis has chosen smoking. It represents a recklessness, a disregard for what some would define as the beauty of life. Garfield may die from the nicotine. He may not. He defies life, he sits defiant, saying nothing but looking as though he could say;
"Then let me die."
"It does not matter."
"It does not matter."
And then we are faced with this; Could Jon behave the same? Is Jon the glimmer of hope? He seems to be unsure. Again his question, "Now where could my pipe be?" Indicates he is wrestling with his own existence. The center panel centers the issue, and again, this hearkens to many of the great religious works of art. I'm talking about the pipe strip in relation to religion. It's.. It's interesting to assign the roles of God, and anti-God, or, as many know him to be the devil, or on a much larger scale, simply the forces of good and evil. He is the devil, placed to the right. And note the two forms of Jon, Jon on the left, still innocent, still draped in the delight of the lack of knowledge, he is.. The humans in the Garden of Eden. He feels for his pipe, but he is yet to eat from the tree. And Garfield, the sinister serpent, and notice.. Notice how Jim Davis has framed this. The center Jon is locked in a struggle between his innocence and knowledge of the truth, knowledge of the existence of evil, it is.. Stunning.
The great struggle, the struggle that transcends time, and Jim Davis floats over all of this as creator, the.. God of sorts, in his own right. And he presents this cautionary message to us all, it is as if speaking from high and he is saying unto our awaiting ears;
"Where will you be when the cat reveals himself?"
[Jim 7:27:28]
"I can tell you where he'll be. You will have a choice. You can face endless suffering and eternal misery, you can be forced and beaten down with barbarians who clod each other just for a view of salvation. They'll tear your eyeballs out and rip your gizzards from end-to-end." They worship this cat, this false idol, this evil, horrible cat, "Do NOT be seduced by the cat in the pipe." Garfield, thy name is a mark of the demons of hell. Something like this, and to those listening, it is a stark reminder to follow the path of the first panel Jon.
Be humble, be grateful, honor the law and honor thyself. Be true, and be good, and no harm will come to you. Pray for salvation, it will be granted unto you. Be like Jon Arbuckle as he lowers his head, be like Jon Arbuckle as he lowers his paper, as he turns his head. Bow with Jon Arbuckle and praise unto the creator Jim Davis, and banish demon Garfield from your life. So what is all this? What am I saying? Aha, hm.
What does all this mean?
Why is this one comic strip so important to me? And why do I feel the need to share this? Obligation. I have an obligation to you all, this is redemption, this is a belief in redemption, a sacrifice of all the obvious trappings of this false modern life.
Look at the simplicity in this strip, in the pipe strip. Look at the simple clothes Jon wears. Look at his simple basic furniture, no adornments on the wall, even the very pipe his cat, Garfield, stole, it is a plain, modest pipe, and I have adapted this way of life. It speaks to me.
In our times, well, you don't need me to point out the hyperbole of our times. You have children being born 8 or 9 at a time, you have more money spent on a single Hollywood movie than some nations can spend feeding their starving people. Torture, distrust. Look around you, it's overwhelming. What can you contribute? And every day I look in the mirror and I hold this comic up to the mirror and I look into the mirror and at this little comic strip. Be humble, be thankful, it is a reminder. Be respectful. You are a statue. You are fragile. And when you break, when you shatter, where will those pieces go? Ask. Ask. Ask this question. Will you ask? Human kind is only as great as you, YOU, the individual, it begins and ends with you. You must treat this expedition, this search, this.. Life with a reverence and intensity found only in the smallest sticks, the littlest leaf, the tiniest stone, the most minuscule grain of sand on a beach of BILLIONS.
This is the secret. Do you want the pipe? Do you want to know where the pipe has gone? You ask yourself. You ask. You ask. You ask, "Now.. Where could my pipe be?"
