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Pleasures of wealth, second-hand thrills can’t compete with joy of balanced living
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LAST Thursday morning I received a message reminding me that “On this glorious day that belongs to you, wish you a happy birthday, good health, and all the best!”
I was a little touched, even though the message came from a bank. Importantly, I began to be mindful of how glorious that day turned out to be.
On that day another amusement park opened, promising thrills to many visitors.
Also on that day Bai Enpei, former Party secretary of Yunnan Province, stood trial for taking bribes of nearly 250 million yuan (US$38.33 million). That’s a lot of money — though on the previous day, Zhou Bin, son of Zhou Yongkang, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking bribes and illegal business operations. Zhou was also fined 350.2 million yuan.
As civilized beings we have developed a sensitivity to numbers, but too many numbers like these can numb us.
When we were younger, before we were taught the value of “getting and spending,” we used to see each new day with wide-eyed curiosity, and wondered at what nature had to offer.
At the time when “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,” our forefathers used to take pride in their ability to feed and clothe themselves.
Were they happy? We do not know. But they were grateful, for each passing day was a miracle of survival.
Last Wednesday, while walking in a park, I heard desperate cries from a bird that had been stalked and captured by a cat. I shouted at the cat. The cat looked back with a start, and the bird took to its wings.
For a bird, and a cat that does not live off the hands of others, each passing day is also a miracle.
Some human beings still experience some thrills like these vicariously, either at amusement parks or wilderness survival programs like the one hosted by Edward Michael “Bear” Grylls.
Such safe and second-hand “thrills” are an outlet for enlightened humans beings who as a rule find placid satisfaction in the size of their houses, vacation plans, or the labels on handbags. For them, each day has evolved into a struggle to get into a crowded metro car, so as to sit on an assembly line for eight hours. If that sounds boring, at least there’s a paycheck to look forward to.
We are already the master of all species, if not nature itself, though each of us is enslaved by “success.”
But since success is elusive, we probably have reason to be thankless for each ordinary day.
I used to take my birthday very seriously. I remembered once I refused to have dinner because my parents failed to make the day as special as it deserved to be.
While I no longer see this day as a day apart from the many days before it, I have attained to a kind of wisdom many adults take pride in.
Ambushed by progress
Rather than celebrate what we are or have, too many people compare themselves to metrics that have nothing to do with life or our basic needs.
A farmer living hand-to-mouth is only living a marginal existence. He does not even qualify as a warning to most urban children today (unlike in my time).
Our heroes are more likely people like the afore-mentioned Bai and Zhou (before their falls from grace), who demonstrated dexterity at grabbing, only for the sake of grabbing.
In our rush to get and spend, we have lost our sense of proportion against the brevity of our earthly tenure.
Many children are sensitive to the wonders of nature, as we can see when they babble and giggle at what they see around them.
Before long they are ambushed by progress, and fantastic tales of earthly success are drilled into their minds. They too become convinced that all those butterflies and flowers and birds are childhood fantasy, and what really matters in life is what socio-economic class they eventually attain.
They are persuaded that there is no higher purpose than being successful and respectable.
In consequence, life evolves from a leisurely stroll and an adventure marked by the delights of small changes, into a race for first-place, with the most valued virtue being determination to avoid distraction by anything that might slow our progress.
As life become one-dimensional, it becomes simple.
We have everything in our control. We leave nothing to chance.
Our natural aversion to this regiment, however, comes out in our occasional desire to be surprised or frightened — two emotions many pay a great deal of money to experience.
A more lasting solution would be to find a balanced life, and treat each morning with reverence and joy. By reaffirming our niche in nature, we might be able to live a fuller life. And like so many other species, we might find that at each dawn we are born again, and what we do today is what really matters.
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