I read Dostoevsky's 'Notes from Underground' last night, and omgosh, it was exactly like having a conversation with any person in my family. (Richard, read it! It's exactly like dad!) Conflicted, observant, reality seeking, questioning, laughing at the absurdity of themselves & the world, hoping for but rarely finding meaning... Is it any wonder we're all crazy?
I've haven't read much philosophy so far, but to find people who actually consider the world beyond the narrow realms of common thought is so...comforting. Enlarging. Inspiring.
When my kids went to school in Hatzic, everyday I passed the monastery in Mission, and everyday I'd look up to the pastures to where the cows were. The monastery keeps cows, lovely beige cows with silky mottled coats. (Ever notice when you see something often enough, it becomes so familiar it's almost like you own it?) I watched these cows over a long time, entertaining myself with thoughts of, 'I wonder if cows have a social structure, what is it, & is there indeed a head cow?
One day I discovered the cows weren't in their place in the pasture. Down the hill, along the road was a barbed wire fence, next to the ditch. Forty cows were lined up by the fence, stuck, not knowing whether to go forward or backward, whether to turn, or how exactly to get themselves out of their predicament, if they even realized they were in one, at all. Indeed there was a head cow, and it led 39 others into entrapment.
How like the world...
And being on the topic of cows has just reminded me that i have a beef about the whole idea of not thinking. I'm sure I fall into the category of those who think too much, but too not think at all? to follow without question? to never explore beyond yourself? - what a total waste of a mind.
Someone commented this week, having broadened their intellectual pursuits beyond the bible and McCleans magazine to a fictional novel, 'My gosh, reading really makes you think!' I looked at them sideways and didn't comment. I can't help but think it's utterly arrogant to not read, a way of asserting that the ideas already in your own head are the only ones that matter...
***
Anyways, all this talk of beige cows has got me thinking about cooking steak for dinner tonite.
Bon Appetite!
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2 comments:
Ha!! How funny. The world of cows. According to J's 86 year old Dad, who has been raising Highland cattle since he was a kid, the structure of a herd is very complex. There is such a thing as cow social structure and a head cow. The head cow (or boss cow as he calls it) is always female and runs the show. Well, I guess all cows are female, if not they would be bulls -whatever. When the boss cow or a bull screws up (gets mean, too bossy, does something stupid or for some reason just pisses him off) they are slaughtered and turned into haggis. A fitting end. Our world should be more like the world of cows.
R.
Hahahaaa! How interesting!
Our world IS like the world of cows! Well my world anyhow. That's the reason for my I & A file! Once you're in it, good as dead.
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