But yeah. I just wanted to say she loves us so much and we love her so much, and im kinda curious about what affectionate verbal abuse other people use on their beloved pets.

Like, yes. The tree makes a sound, and to say otherwise would be an extremely human-centric and primitive way of thinking. The universe goes on and on whether we are here to experience it or not.

But the saying isnt really about a tree or a forest. Its about the lack of effect on our lives when something happens outside of our circle of perception. For instance, for the sake of an example, if somebody rapes somebody else, but their victim is asleep the entire time and you can say with 100% certainty that this has absolutely zero negative consequences for the victim, short or long term, and they will never know it happened, then is it still an evil act? And i think pretty much everyone would be in agreeance, yes, that is still an evil act, or bad, or whatever word you want to use. In my opinion i would say that in some ways it is a victimless crimes while in other ways it isnt. And i think that might be controversial, but thats just the way the prompt is set up. The victim has no idea they were a victim, and what really defines a victim? Are we going to claim that victim is an objective term in our society, or is it based on the experience of the "victim"? And again, i think we can claim, in cases like stockholm syndrome, that it is an objective truth in our society in most cases. But it just begs the question, is all. Like i said, i enjoy thinking about the layers.

And of course there are other, less mortifying examples that you could give, and different ways to interpret it. Like, if the tree falling is to symbolize something that is eventually inevitable, then are the consequences of that event also inevitable?

And finally, the variation that i enjoy most:

But then i imagine what my life would be life if i didnt have my imagination, and life would be a billion times worse.

But then i imagine what if my imagination had half the power over my emotions as it currently does. And man, i wish that were the case.

Except i dont, cause that would turn me into a zombie husk of who i am right now.

Having an argument, not a rage filled one but a somewhat civilized one, with someone that you know has a past of not even being honest with themselves (which is literally every human), makes the argument mean soo little. The way arguments work, except for maybe professional ones (but even those), there is bound to be inherent dishonesty in the back and forth nature, and in the bringing up of different points that you think of on the spot, and the pointing out when what someone else said was wrong even though you know they meant something different, and when you know somebody is providing false confidence for something, or bullshitting a "im pretty sure" to pass as 100% sure, or when someone tries tp diffuse an argument when they realize they were probably wrong instead of admitting that they are starting to understand the other side better.

Arguing with other humans is stupid. It should be more deliberate and practiced. We should have to practice being honest to ourselves before we are allowed the trust of being honest with other people.