Buddha Comes to Dinner

One perk of retirement that I truly enjoy is the time to read, plus my ability to borrow up to 30 books at a time from our local public library.

My reading has been focused in my current passions...photography and health. The latter includes diets, nutritional supplements, fitness, physical ailments, anti-aging, etc. I'm particularly interested in senior fitness as I'm leading the Dynamos, a health and fitness group at our Spiritual Center, and I look for interesting bits of information to share with the group at our regular Healthy Potlucks.

There is a lot of conflicting information information, a lot of "miracles" to be found in such things as magnesium, rhodiola, apple cider vinegar, fasting, soil organisms, bioidentical hormones, and satisfying our bodies' need for water. Everyone seems to want to loses weight, so there are many, many diet programs: low carb, high protein, low fat, you name it.

So it was very pleasant to come across a book by Hale Sofia Schatz, IF THE BUDDHA CAME TO DINNER. She discusses bringing Buddha consciousness, or spiritual consciousness, to nourishing ourselves.

With our fast paced lives, we often eat processed and fast foods on the run. Many of us don't think beyond the taste and convenience of food, losing the connection between what we eat, why we feed ourselves, and how we feel.

Schatz says that the simple, daily act of eating can become a profound catalyst for spiritual growth and a renewed sense of vitality and purpose in life.

She asks: As spiritual beings, how do we feed ourselves to nourish our body heart, mind and spirit with the care and awareness we deserve, in ways that encourage our spiritual growth. Imagine the Buddha is coming to dinner...we wouldn't serve hamburgers and French fries. We'd prepare a fresh, tasty, wholesome meal exquisitely in our own kitchen.

She calls for "transformational nourishment"...to transform our habitual, constricting patterns and behaviors into nourishing practices that encourage growth and development, that turn food and eating into a daily practice for becoming physically, emotionally and spiritually aware.

When we are nourished, we know who we are. We know how we feel, we understand our priorities, and we have a clearer understanding of our deep purpose in life. We act in ways that honor our truest self; we move through life with graceful strength; we feed our bodies, hearts, minds and spirits as one integrated being.

She asks us to become aware of WHO we are feeding with the choices we make...our petulant inner child, our rebellious adolescent, or our feelings of sadness, depression or inadequacy.

We need to shift our food consumption to more vital essence, life-affirming foods such as organic, seasonal vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, and non-GMO soy products. She also recommends antibiotic-free meat and dairy products, high quality oils such as flax, and purified drinking water.

Her recommendations are consistent with a number of other authors, with the additional acknowledgment that we are spiritual beings seeking to nourish the shining life force that already exists within us. And to eat as though the Buddha is sitting down to dinner with us each day.

Ernest Holmes agrees when he says: The whole being needs to be fed...bread and meat for the body, knowledge and wisdom for the soul, and atmosphere and consciousness for the Spirit.

Food must be a spiritual idea. We cannot expect to overeat or to eat the wrong things and have them agree with us. There is an intelligence within us to guide us into a proper diet. Whatever our individual physical system needs to make our food intake harmonious, Intelligence will guide us to.

We can declare: My food agrees with me and I agree with it. I understand that food is a spiritual idea of Substance and I am now in complete agreement with this idea. My digestion works in perfect harmony with all that I take into my body. My food is spiritual and harmonious with my system. I move forward with physical energy, mental clarity, creativity and focus.

And so it is,