Lagom

Early Saturday evening, while sitting at the outdoor balcony of La Chakana café, a younger looking, Scandinavian man walked in. He ordered an iced tea, brewed locally at an organic farm run by a Dutch couple in this small Bolivian town, and sat down at the table next to mine. He was reading a Swedish novel, and seemingly jotting down notes in his travel journal. He caught me gazing past his shoulder, off into the vast Amboro Fern Forest, and said while breaking my stare, “Pretty beautiful, isn’t it?” I nodded and stuck out my hand, “Yes, it is. I’m Bill.” His eyes were a clear, bright crystal blue, earnest and caring, framed by a few wrinkles; his skin incredibly pale; his hair, short and very blonde.

“Brandon,” he replied, “Nice to meet you. How long are you staying here for?”

“Oh, I live here. I moved here a couple of years ago. And you?”

“Just a few days, unfortunately,” he said.

After the small talk and pleasantries he asked if I had ever heard of the Swedish word “lagom” (pronounced law-gum). I shook my head, “No I haven’t. What does it mean?”

“Loosely translated it means ‘enough…or ‘in balance’…” he paused, “just right or….just the right amount. But, even that cannot fully captivate the scope of this untranslatable ethos of the Swedish culture.”

I nod, “Interesting, do you know where the word came from?”

“The word itself derives from a shortening of the phrase “laget om”, which literally translates as “around the team” and dates back to the Viking era in the eighth century. There is an old custom in Viking culture, similar to the that of the yerba mate here in South America, in which communal horns of mjöd, or fermented honey wine, would be passed around and everyone took a sip of their own share and not a bit more.”

Moderation. Taking what you need, leaving what is left. Thinking and acting communally. It makes me think of the indigenous Bolivian concept of “ayni”, or community. In Bolivian indigenous cultures, such as Quechua and Aymara, the term ayni permeates all aspects of family and community life: many families host communal athapis, or potlucks, for large family, or even, community wide celebrations; often, multigenerational families will live together in multistoried homes in urban spaces to alleviate some of the stresses facing young families, and to allow younger members to take care of their elders; rural communities will often travel, together, to neighboring cities; here, in Samaipata, we often host mingas, or community work parties to help our neighbors in constructing their orchards or repairing parts of their adobe homes…

So, it doesn’t matter if you are practicing lagom in Sweden or ayni in Bolivia it is all the same, radically challenging the rugged individualist psyche all too common in the conventional U.S. mindset, while resiliently and beautifully creating a new culture based on and in community.