Cheese- a potent metaphor for life

A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye. — Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

How can you govern a country where there are 246 different types of cheese? — (attributed to Charles de Gaulle)

Cheese smells a lot like ass. — (attributed to William Shakespeare)

Over the past weeks I have been thinking an increasing amount about cheese. And I now believe that as well as being a most excellent foodstuff, cheese is a potent metaphor for the challenges that we meet with in our everyday lives.

However, I must admit that my ponderances are not solely of my own creation. They were, in part, inspired by Dr Joe, whilst sitting in his joy basket one afternoon. I was reading another in a long line of excellent posts, this time regarding a 'cheese inquisition', and it occured to me that this 'cheese' that we so glibly talk of has a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Another major influence on my thinking is the phenominally popular author Dr Spencer Johnson, and his internationally best selling book Who moved my cheese? Reading this book has helped me to begin to understand the power of cheese as this metaphor for change in our lives. And it is on this journey that I would like to now take you on.

I first came across this book in August of 2002 when Arsenal Football club unveiled their new signing, the Brazil international Gilberto. Gilberto, a defensive midfield player who, unlike most Brazilian footballers, doesn't like to spend too much time on the ball. Described by the Brazilian press after the 2002 World Cup as the 'Invisible Wall', he was the player who, 'carried the piano for Ronaldo and Rivaldo to play their tunes on'. But this 'no nonsense' approach to his football wasn't the main thing that set him apart from his more exuberent team mates, it was his passion for cheese. This passion is not based on (although it may include) the distinctive taste that cheese affords, but on the book written my Doc Johnson. The book subheaded 'An amazing way to deal with change in your work and life'.

This book contains such profound insights as: "having cheese makes you happy" and that one should "smell the cheese so you know its getting old". In essence, the book claims that "When you see that you can find and enjoy new cheese you change course." To help one to achieve this we must understand that "movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese". The result is an engaging, enriching manual for life that tells the story of what happens in a maze when four different characters search for 'Cheese' - a metaphor for everything one wants out of life such as career, relationship, money, house or spiritual peace.

"The more important your cheese is to you the more you want to hold on to it."

So cherish your cheese, hold on to it and you will be able to enjoy it. But be aware that it could at any time start to get old. It is at these times that you will have to take the exciting journey to seek out new cheeses, cheeses that are made fom the milk of many animals, be they a cow, goat, sheep, buffalo, horse or camel. Some of you may be worried about leaving cheeses that you have held on to for a long time, others may be worried that they will not find better cheeses than the ones they have already. But it is taking the step that counts. Which reminds me of another dairy based parable, from the 2002 Steven Spielberg film 'Catch me if you can' starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and based on the true story of Frank Abagnale. The father of Frank Abagnale jr, Frank Abagnale snr (who is expertly played by Christopher Walken) is recounting the story of his life. To sum it up he says: "Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse."

This book is clearly so much more than just another 'self help' book. It could be the key to a new way of looking at life, a new philosophy of not trying to hold o to cheese, but seeking out new pastures, and new cheeses. However some of you may disagree with the idea of finding new cheese and leaving old cheese out to dry. I believe that this is an important question, and one that would be very positive to discuss on this forum. But I urge you, my friends, to begin to smell the cheese you have, and to search out new cheese that it may enrich your lives in the way it has enriched mine.