Bovine spirituality?

I can't decide whether I think this is serious or a joke, ridiculous or provocative, but it's certainly a good read. Over at Slate, Jon Katz, who writes about rural life, pens an essay titled, "Holy Cow! What my 3,000-pound steer has taught me about faith." Here's how it begins:

"I've attended churches, Quaker Meetings, synagogues, and Buddhist temples. I've taken yoga and read Joseph Campbell, Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, St. Augustine, and the Bible. I pray often. But I had an unsettling realization recently, which is that my steer Elvis already has the spiritual equanimity I have been seeking. He is comfortable within himself, has no discernible anxiety, rolls with life as if it were a gentle wave, is uncomplaining, generous and loyal to his mate, and trusts and accepts people."

There are some very funny, and vivid, descriptions of life with Elvis, but by the end of the essay, Katz comes to an obvious conclusion:

"It occurs to me that the price of such equanimity is that you have to be a cow and that to be a human means you struggle to find these things but know in your heart that this is an uneven struggle, filled with successes and victories, ups and downs, crooked lines and gates and fences."

(Photo, of a Highland steer, by Peter Kemp/AP.)