How one receives food determines how Life is received in the body. I've noticed the scientific approach to food, and eating, and the chemicals used in foods we eat, and I inhale the air we breath. It is laced with chemicals the government allows to be dropped upon us. I go many places and in the last decade seldom eat out because the way people don't eat their food is distracting.
I was eating breakfast with a bunch of ministers and elders some years ago at a fairly decent restaurant. I ordered my favorite breakfast combination. When the food arrived I sat in awe and slowly turned my plate around and around with my pinky fingers. I put my face close to the food and inhaled deeply. It was a beautiful array of colors and smells. I could see the colors with my eyes closed dancing and twirling around with glee and abandonment. I merged with the food through sight, and smell, and below a whisper I breathed a chant of thanksgiving, and began to dream of the taste as I thanked the plants, and the animal who had given me this meal. As I was thanking the Creator for the food one of the deacons, David, asked, "What are you doing, Greg?"
"All of life is in this circle. I am grateful, and fascinated by it all." I said.
He was shocked, and rebuked me! His words and his disgust broke my reverie, and stupefied I looked up at him to my left and couldn't find the words.
There was another incident with most of these men but my point is well illustrated. The sacred approach to Life is far beyond the quoting of scriptures. It is in the details of intimacy. It is the movements of Creation imbedded within us, and our ability to merge with the energies of Creation. It is how the Holy People practice their moves to heal. Within a Sacred Life is how poisonous words are taken in and rendered harmless. Eating food is a reflection of how we receive and give away words. Eating is a sacred act. Eating is the dialogue between body and soul. Food, the preparation of food, and the eating of food are the conversations between the Creator and all of Creation. Eating is a lifetime conversation full of gratitude, or ingratitude. Food and how we eat tells the story of who we are just as easily as Water, and how we treat her tells the true nature of our religion. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8.27.12
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