Tuesday 5 June 2001

Pic of the day: So there is no cow in the picture. But there is way aplenty, and a barn in the background. I have to choose the best from what I have...

The Way of the Cow

Once upon a time, so the story goes, there was a man who sat with his guitar. And he struck the same chord again and again, much to his own enjoyment. His friends asked him why he did play only one chord. Answered he: "The others, they are searching for the perfect chord. But I have found it."

I am not quite that focused. But I am very much a fad person, and I am known to play the same melody relentlessly for a whole evening if I like it. In extreme cases, such as Stille lengde by "Sterk Naken og Biltyvene", I would play the same song easily a hundred times over the course of a few days, with no other music in between. (Then again, Kristin Evjenth has a beautiful voice, which made me quite ticklish all over when she played with it.) Incidentally, the band's lyrics are usually rather embarassing. This was one of the more moderate.

But even for me, most experiences fade with repetition. They may come back later, eventually, but many don't. That's just the way things work. (And particularly, perhaps, if you roll over them for hours at end...) So I move on to the next thing that catches my fancy.

***

My earthly father, when I was a boy, sometimes imparted these words of wisdom: "The cow always eats the best. First she eats the best, then she eats the best of what is left, and so on. That way, she always eats the best."

There is a deep wisdom in the Way of the Cow: To live in the here and now, to make the best out of the situations we are given, to take what we have got and not what we wish we had.

But there is also the risk that by focusing on the present, we may hurt the future. If the cow was left in charge of the farm, she would probably eat all the grain during winter so that only hay was left when it was time to sow. The cow may be renowned for generosity, but certainly not for business smarts.

Of course, my father never commented on either of these things. He was a wise man, and still is. He just told me about the cow and let time do its work. A wise farmer knows to sow in the spring.

***

In the latest Psychology Today, there was an article about meditation. I have told you already, meditation is a good thing. But the article was headed by a story about a Tibetan village where people live in poverty and work from before dawn to after dusk, and are still happy and friendly. Now, it is nice that they are satisfied with their lot. But they are still poor, while we are rich. Well, in comparison at least. I'm not saying that they are poor because they meditate, but evidently it has not helped all that much.

And let us face it, most of you would prefer money over happiness if given the choice. In fact, we are given the choice often enough, and experience shows that most people take the money. This is understandable, because until recently more money meant less suffering. It is nice to have a dry and comfortable place to sleep, it is nice to be able to choose what food to eat rather than having to always eat the cheapest or not even always eat at all. It is nice to be able to decorate our homes and listen to music. Many comforts can be bought for money.

Yet a few decades ago the curve of happiness and the curve of income separated in the western world. The income has increased since then, but happiness has not. Unlike the cow, we have become unable to enjoy the best of what we already have, because our eyes are always on the better things that are far away from us. Those who are not rich and famous envy those who are, while those who are rich and famous are rarely happy either.

It would seem that in our relentless chase after riches, we hurt ourselves so much that we need to use much of those riches to repair the damage. Perhaps we should learn a bit from the cow after all.

***

Me, I generally have it this way already. Rather than thinking "only the best is good enough for me", I think "only the best of what is easily available". I am not suffering heat or cold, hunger or thirst, shame or loneliness. So I simply have no motivation to live a very structured life, over and above the structure imposed by a simple job. As long as I do not destroy my body and soul before their time, that is.

Do not mistake this, the body degrades with age, and it does not suddenly start at 70. When I was young, I could eat more than I could afford. Now it is the other way around. Some things do not agree with my digestion now that I could tolerate well when I was young. (Sausages comes to mind.) I did not appreciate these things when I had them, and now it is too late. This will no doubt accelerate if I grow old. Still, while none of us want to grow old, most of us want to live a long life. "Despite the hight cost of living, the choice remains popular."

So like the cow, I pick the best out of the circumstances in which I currently live, rather than long for yesterday or chase after tomorrow. But unlike the cow, I don't eat the seeds of next year's planting. Sounds like a good compromise to me. But I admit that the Way of the Cow makes for odd tastes in entertainment ...