Buddhist legend has it that the Buddha meditated for six years before realising his “First Noble Truth”. The First Noble Truth is usually translated as “All life involves suffering”, though Buddhist scholars say that “All life is unsatisfactory” would be a more accurate translation. It is probably the First Noble Truth that leads many to believe that Buddhism is a miserable religion, particularly those who never get past it to Noble Truths Two to Four (which are about the cause of, and the cure for, suffering). If the Buddha had consulted a marketing expert he would have been told that to make a new religion marketable his First Noble Truth ought to catch the consumer’s interest right from the start with the promise of something good; eternal life, 10% off the wages of sin, unlimited chocolate, that sort of thing. But if they had marketing experts 2,500 years ago, the Buddha wasn't interested, he just told it how he saw it, and after six years’ meditation he concluded that life, on the whole, was just not entirely satisfactory.
I don’t know if the Buddha really meditated for six years before coming to this conclusion. Presumably he would have had to get up in between times to eat, to sleep, and to answer the call of nature. But I do know this. It would not have taken the Buddha six years to conclude that life is unsatisfactory if he had supported Norwich City Football Club. A couple of hours would have been enough.
Last year, Norwich were relegated from the Land Flowing with Milk and Honey (aka The Premier League). Whilst bitterly disappointing for the club’s long suffering fans, amongst which number Mrs Bear and I are proud to count ourselves, at least playing in a lower division raised the possibility that the club might actually enjoy some success. Particularly since ongoing payments from the League Flowing with Milk and Honey meant that we were the richest club in our new league. Armed with these riches, the club enjoyed a successful pre season, holding on to almost all its best players, and strengthening its squad with some judicious player acquisitions. By common consent, the club now has one of the strongest squads in our league. Success, albeit at a lower level, clearly beckoned. And so it has proved. Last night, for example, Norwich travelled to Middlesborough and thrashed them 0 - 4. Despite being away from home, we dominated possession, holding the ball for nearly 60% of the match, whilst the outclassed home team struggled to get above 40%. Our territorial domination was even more impressive. The game was played almost entirely in the Middlesborough half. We rained crosses into the Middlesborough penalty area, and shots in on the Middlesborough goal. Yes Sir, we certainly gave those Middlesborough boys a footballing lesson. Against the background of such a masterful display it seems almost churlish to mention the two minor blemishes on our performance. The first was that, well, we didn’t actually score any goals. The second was that Middlesborough scored on almost every one of their attacks. The manifestly unjust outcome, reader, is that although we thrashed Middlesborough, the record books show that Middlesborough actually won the game, by a four goal margin, and the Football League has awarded them the points, with the result that Norwich’s slide into mid table obscurity continues apace. Can you believe it? As the Buddha said, life is just thoroughly unsatisfactory.
The unsatisfactoriness of life was revealed to me again recently when I chanced to meet the parties to a case that I had mediated about a year ago. It was one of the relatively small number of our mediations that did not settle. The parties in question, charming people both, had decided against settlement, encouraged by the confident legal advice they had received that their witnesses were more credible, their legal points better, and their case generally superior. And so, they told me, it had proved. Their witnesses were much more credible in the witness box. Their legal points were set out with superior clarity. Clearly, by every rational standard, they won. But, unaccountably, inexplicably, the judge had believed the wrong witnesses, and accepted the wrong legal submissions. Like Norwich City against Middlesborough, they had triumphed in every respect except the one that mattered most. Which can only be described as unsatisfactory, as the Buddha said. And deeply, ruinously costly.
Which I guess is one part of the reason why cases continue to settle at mediation. Your case, gentle reader, may be strong. Perhaps as strong as Norwich City’s squad. On reflection, and for your sake, let us hope it is stronger than that. But in a world laced through with unsatisfactoriness, there is no certainty that this strength will necessarily be recognised by a judge who is at the end of the day (and with great respect, m’lud) an unsatisfactory human being too. Mediated settlements, it is true, are rarely brilliant. Mostly, they are just about satisfactory, which means that both parties are left some way short of ecstatic. But in an unsatisfactory world, and against the background of an unsatisfactory (and ruinously expensive) litigation system a satisfactory settlement may be the best course. If you don’t believe me, ask the Buddha. Or take up supporting Norwich City.
