Food Fight #9Nature is a spiritual system just as much as, if not more than, it is a scientific system. Since food is nature, food has a spiritual component. Food contains the spiritual energy and influences of the sun, moon, moisture, soil, organisms, insects, wind, birds and much more. We can receive nutrition from these creating energies if we approach eating as a spiritual experience also.
We acknowledge the spiritual aspect of food when we lift up prayers before eating. Many also celebrate the spiritual connection of food during thanksgivings, harvest festivals, rain ceremonies and daily cultural practices.
When we appreciate, enjoy and take pleasure in food through each of our senses, we tap into spiritual energy. When we appreciate the components of nature that make food possible, our souls are also fed.
If we maintain appreciation while we eat, we can receive the spiritual nutrition already present in food. This is the same nutrition our spirits receive when we appreciate any natural thing such as a beach, forest, park, tree, houseplant, butterfly, fresh air and even a spider for doing one of its things, keeping other insects in check. When we are in appreciation of the natural world, we feel eased and rejuvenated as we acknowledge these gifts. The longer we remain in this grateful state, the better our spirits feel.
Maintaining appreciation while we eat lifts the experience above the physical hunger and pleasure that causes us to eat dangerous things and also causes us to overeat. Appreciation slows us down. It causes us to chew more and allows time to drift, reflect and absorb the life forces that are saturating our senses and capable of satiating our souls.
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