Passion. Purpose. Dreams. Drive. Ambition. Fire! Almost every success book ever written talks about the importance of living each day with ­passion—­having passion for life. The Fire Cow isn’t merely the spark in a fabulous relationship, it is the roaring fire. Passion for life is the drive to live beyond one’s ­self—­to lose one’s self in something bigger than ego. But the misnomer about passion is that it is an option. The reality is that you either live your life with meaningful passion or that energy will be diverted elsewhere. The importance of the Fire Cow hinges on this very critical issue. I would like to clarify my point by referring to a classic ­tale.

Most people have either read or heard of the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Many view it as a good premise for a monster movie. In fact, there have been more than a dozen renditions of this ­work—­mostly B movies that continue to drive the important and timely message of this book into obscurity. One reader, however, who has examined the work more scrupulously, has called it, “ . . . A fable that lies nearer to poetry than to ordinary prose fiction.” —Vladimir ­Nabokov Let’s look closer at Mr. Stevenson’s little gem. He wrote the story in less than three days while he was deathly ill of tuberculosis. Published in 1866, it was the manuscript that would give him his first taste of fame. Most of the serious analyses of his book quickly point out the seemingly obvious counterpoint of good vs. evil. However, deeper study shows a much more significant and disturbing message. It reveals how good men fall and why. This is how I see the ­story.

Dr. Jekyll was a respected man in the community. Everything he did was acceptable and ­honorable—­but to him, boring. He was a prominent physician but no longer felt any joy in his life or his ­work—­everything he did felt meaningless. He was raised to live a moral and ethical life. Dr. Jekyll was a man of principle without any passion for those principles. He was desolate ­inside.

This emptiness drove Dr. Jekyll to seek for excitement and pleasure anyway he could. To find passion for something, he created an alter ego, Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde was full of life, exciting, and wild. But, unlike Dr. Jekyll, he had no values. He was raw emotion. As we learn in the story, this combination was disastrous. Mr. Hyde acted out his base desires without remorse. He was the embodiment of passion unbridled by ­principles.

Mr. Hyde proves to be Dr. Jekyll’s undoing. Dr. Jekyll spends more and more time as Mr. Hyde. He becomes addicted to his own alter ego. He can’t resist the feeling of aliveness when he becomes this hideous emotionally driven creature. Inside, Dr. Jekyll is mortified by the evil committed by Mr. Hyde but is continually drawn to him like a moth to the flame, until his untimely ­end.

Most see Mr. Hyde as the villain in this tale, but that is too obvious. The real culprit here is someone who knows right from wrong, has great prospects to do good, yet is unwilling to become passionate about his opportunities. Dr. Jekyll is the real monster ­here—­and look around today, he can be seen everywhere, maybe even in the mirror!

Just as with Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, most people like to point to the activities of Mr. Hyde above and label them as “the problem.” But laziness, endless Internet surfing, excessive television, drugs, and addictions of all kinds are more symptoms than problems. They are the indicators of a life that has a dearth of spirit, of purpose, or ­commitment—­the fire in such a person’s life has been misdirected or ­numbed.

But let’s not point fingers here, I use the term “Mr.” for the sake of the story only. Both Johnny and Sarita are vulnerable to the insidious nature of a Mr. Hyde. But how do we keep the Dr. Jekyll side of our nature satisfied? How do we keep him from turning into Mr. Hyde? There is an old Native American fable that answers this question ­well: As a Cherokee elder was teaching his grandchildren about life, he said to them, “A fight is going on inside me . . . It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, hatefulness, and lies. The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, friendship, generosity, faith, and truth. This same fight is going on inside of you, and inside every other person, too.” The children thought about it for a minute. Then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The Cherokee elder wisely replied, “The one you feed.” This ­well-­known tale always ends there. I, however, would like to see the story extended with the question, “But, Grandfather, what do you feed it?” For me, the answer to that question is passion! Passion is food to our soul. We must have it to live. Passion fuels and drives our efforts. The question posed by the story above is which side of our self are we going to feed our energy and passion to? In our first tale, our character at some point in his life stopped feeding any passion to his Dr. Jekyll persona, letting his Mr. Hyde side gorge himself on the excitement and energy previously reserved for the good ­doctor.

The Fire Cow is called the Passion for LIFE cow because LIFE is wholesome, worthwhile, and involves building people and creating goodness in the world. The opposite is death. It breeds destruction, selfishness, contempt, and a world full of hate. The Bible teaches that there are only two ­choices—­life or death. Which will you feed your passion to? Mr. Hyde led Dr. Jekyll to an untimely death and a similar choice will lead to the spiritual death of anyone who allows their Mr. Hyde to thrive in their ­life.

There is actually a science behind our need to express passion in our lives, for good or ill. It is not just left to the musings of storytellers and philosophers. When I first heard Dr. Ty Erickson’s physiological explanation for our need for passion, a great deal of human behavior started to make sense to ­me.

People want to experience joy. Joy emanates from the natural hormones of dopamine and serotonin from the midbrain organ called the amydgala. As we enjoy our family, our relationships, our work, and our recreation our brains produce these important chemicals that bring joy. In fact the greatest stimulant of these natural chemicals comes through selfless service. Jesus proclaimed, he “who loses himself will find himself.” As we lose ourselves in good work the passion that inspired the action works within us and literally our brain changes. Nitrous oxide is released causing the “good feeling” that attends good deeds. This is a ­short-­lived molecule that if sustained through persistent virtuous living, will elevate the important neurotransmitters of serotonin and ­dopamine.

People who become depressed have low levels of these two chemicals and often will “self medicate.” They employ a surrogate method of increasing these ­substances—­succumbing to addictions. The use of alcohol, cocaine, tobacco, methamphetamines, and even pornography will raise the levels of these brain chemicals in an unnatural manner. Those who use these substances, will “feel passionate” for as long as the surrogate is in their system. But the stimulation will ultimately subside then collapse, and the addict will seek them ­again.

Passion is part of who we are. It is in each of us and is a gift from our Creator. God planted physical passions or appetites within each of us to help us thrive physically. Our appetite for food and water will help our bodies to survive and thrive. The physical attraction and passion between Johnny and Sarita lead to the creation of families. These passions or appetites are ­obvious.

But not so obvious is the passion within us that feeds our spirit. This is the drive deep inside of us that seeks for fulfillment. This is the passion that separates man from the rest of earth’s creatures. We seek to find and express a meaning in life. We naturally yearn to connect with our fellow man, with God, and leave a legacy. This is the passion that not only elevates us as individuals; it lifts all of ­humanity.

We are born with passions and appetites that are inherent in our natures and souls. They are not an option. But how you deal with them is. The wise Cherokee elder stated that the wolf you feed will win. Either you will choose good or evil, life or death, Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. Our passions and appetites will feed one wolf or the other. But why would anyone want to feed the wrong wolf? The key word here is WANT. What do you really want? If you don’t know what you want, you won’t know which wolf to ­feed.

I once knew a man who had the “perfect” family. He was married to a lovely woman. He went to church each week. Everything in his life looked ­great—­except he wasn’t happy, he had no passion for his life. He stated that everything he had done in his life was to fulfill the expectations of ­others—­his parents, his religion, society, and his family. He didn’t know what he really wanted. Over the next two years as a consequence of his lack of passion for his great life, he had an affair and ended up losing his wife, the respect of his family, and his membership in his church. Even his employment ­suffered.

Only after he had lost most of his previously unappreciated life did he finally become passionate about ­something—­his old life! He wanted it back as he wanted air. He was on fire for the first time about things that were finally important to him. And unlike most stories like this, he won back his wife, his family, his church membership, and even his work thrived. He got back what he had lost. But his family finally got something they never ­had—­they got him. Because this time they had his heart, his passion!

So what do you ­want?

You can’t let your parents, your church, society, or your friends decide that for you. You can only become passionate about what YOU want. Nobody is going to do this for you. However, be careful before you start pursuing your first impulses. Be sure to look ahead to see if what you want today will lead you to what you will want tomorrow. The present is connected inseparably with the future. If you want and get a life of ­self-­indulgence and gluttony today you cannot escape a life of poor health and misery down the ­road.

Dig deep. Look at the whole picture. Look at the present and the future. Connect with your Maker. Think about the real purpose of your life. Think about your talents, your gifts. Then decide WHAT YOU WANT. Find out what that is and pursue it with all the passion of your ­soul.

Tracy Lyn Cutler tlc@eightcow.com Excerpt from "An Eight-Cow Woman Deserves an Eight-Cow Man," ©Tracy Cutler Permission to use excerpt granted by the author as long as source is referenced. Tlc@eightcow.com