In “developed countries”, when thinking about food, people are driven either by the desires of their senses (taste, smell, colours …) or by their ego (body shaping, dieting…). Nowadays, food is increasingly becoming an attribute of morality and ethics (animal husbandry and consumption) or personal health (various, often fashionable diets), but most people eat without realising that regardless of what we eat or drink (plants, mushrooms, meat, seeds, milk, water etc.) we always consume another life that dies to sustain us.
We hear the statement that after we die our bodies will “returns to the soil” and become nourishment for other forms of life. But most people are unaware that we are a source of life even before we die. We are indeed in constant exchange with everyone and everything at every level. Not only do we share the external environment with other life forms, but also our internal space is crowded by billions of microorganisms for which we are a source that keeps them alive.
In the light of this interweaving of life, we must act mindfully, with gratitude and respect. But we should also understand the miracle of transformation: a carrot is just as integrated into our cells as a piece of poisoned mushroom, a radioactive fish or an apple full of pesticides. Only, a single carrot can sustain our life, while poison will destroy it.
Tip to bring food into your awareness practice:
Contemplate: you consume life and you are consumed by life
Contemplate: everything you eat is a building block of your bones, muscles, organs, your inner chemical soup, your energy, your thought and your emotions
Show respect to life by mindful consumption: buy only as much as you can eat and eat only as much as you really need