I used to love dogs until I discovered cats.

Hear, O seekers of hidden affections, the words of Nafisa Joseph, who confessed with candor: “I used to love dogs until I discovered cats.” At first, her saying seems but a light remark about shifting preference, yet within it lies a revelation about love, discovery, and the unexpected widening of the heart. For love is not static, nor bound to one form; it grows, it changes, it deepens when new beauty is revealed. To “discover cats” is not to lose the love of dogs, but to awaken to another dimension of companionship—mysterious, subtle, and profound.

The dog has long been humanity’s open friend—faithful, eager, unquestioning in its devotion. To love dogs is natural, for they offer their loyalty freely. Yet Joseph’s words point to the moment when the soul meets something different: the cat, aloof, enigmatic, selective in its affection. Where the dog gives love like a flood, the cat gives it like a rare jewel—granted only to the worthy, bestowed in fragments that leave us longing for more. To “discover cats” is to learn a new language of love, one that values patience, respect, and reverence for independence.

The ancients knew this dual truth. In Rome, the dog was praised for guarding the hearth, but in Egypt, the cat was elevated to divinity itself. The Egyptians saw in cats a grace that transcended service: the mystery of independence, the elegance of restraint, the quiet power of presence. To discover cats, as Joseph did, is to walk into that same temple of wonder, to realize that love is not always loud and exuberant, but often quiet, watching, waiting, and all the more powerful for its silence.

Consider the story of Ernest Hemingway, who filled his home in Key West with polydactyl cats. Though he had known the company of dogs, it was the cats—independent yet affectionate, playful yet dignified—that became his constant companions. They wandered freely, yet always returned. Hemingway found in them a muse for his art, a living metaphor of freedom and discipline, of closeness and distance. His life mirrors Joseph’s words: once the cat is discovered, one’s sense of love is forever changed.

The meaning of Joseph’s saying is that discovery reshapes affection. When we encounter new forms of beauty, new ways of relating, we are changed. To discover cats is to realize that love does not always require surrender or constant affirmation; sometimes it requires respect, patience, and humility. The cat teaches that companionship is not possession, that affection is most precious when freely given, not demanded.

The lesson for us is clear: never close your heart to new forms of love. What you cherish today may be deepened tomorrow by a new discovery, a new way of seeing. Do not think that embracing one form diminishes the other; rather, it enlarges the soul. Love dogs for their loyalty, and love cats for their mystery. In doing so, you learn that love is vast, and your heart is capable of holding more than you once believed.

Practically, this means approaching both people and creatures with openness. Do not expect all to love in the same way. Some will shower you with affection, like the dog; others will offer it sparingly, like the cat. Learn to honor both, for each reflects a facet of love’s great jewel. Be patient with the reserved, as you are grateful for the exuberant. In this balance lies wisdom.

So, O listeners, remember Nafisa Joseph’s truth: to discover cats is to discover a new world of love. It does not erase past affections but adds to them, enlarging the soul’s capacity for wonder. Let this remind you that life, too, is full of discoveries yet to come—new ways of loving, new companions, new revelations that transform the heart. And when they arrive, embrace them, for they will show you that love is infinite, ever-growing, ever-deepening, like the gaze of the cat that finally chooses to rest upon you.

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