My last week--I would start feeling homesick but I will be leaving soon. I will miss this special place and would love to come back on a juice fast (I changed my mind; this would be a lovely place to fast at) or another program. There are cons, but generally it is pretty great to meet progressive people, establish new habits, and gather some spiritual clarity outside. No, they don't really talk about why humans think about this, and every other species just does. Obviously we are in our heads too much. But there are humans that just do--less and less but there will be more and more, if there are any.
It has been very nice eating all of this beautiful raw food the past month. So I am organizing my thoughts on this--first, overeating is not good. But my body reacts so much better to overeating this food than to overeating food in general. So it seems that raw food digests much more cleanly, though many perceive raw food as being more difficult to digest (cooked is pre-digested). Raw food is great.
Second, I am a volume eater, I always have been. Growing up, I was picky and always hated lunch so I'd come home hungry and eat a lot then--I have a deep habit of not eating, and then eating large amounts at a time. I don't see a reason to force a change in this area (there are actually studies with two groups on an iso-caloric diet, but one group eats the same number of calories daily and the other group has twice as many calories every other day. The second group ages less quickly, reaping benefits from intermittent fasting though their calories are ultimately not restricted. Paleolithic people would sometimes have to eat like this as well). This isn't starving/bingeing, it's enjoying life sans food and then eating until very satisfied. But--this type of food doesn't work well for that. It's too rich. I can eat a lot of salad but I just don't get enough calories to be satisfied without the entrees. But too much fat has always made me feel sick. I'd much rather fill the calorie gap with high-volume foods like fruits and cooked veggies and legume sprouts (grains every so often, they don't make me feel great). That's what I will do when I get back home.
The low fruit thing here is silly (read the Rainbow Live-Food diet book for details on the phases). I haven't had my blood examined because I am not interested in what they have to say. They do have fruit here, but not enough for me. Luckily the health food store has lots of cheap organic mangos. And you can get two fruits instead of a meal (orange, green apple, or grapefruit--lower sugar and cheap). But I am a dried fruit addict and should stay away indefinitely. It gives me a sugar rush.
Last, I don't like eating foods with so many ingredients and spices more than occasionally. You can't taste the actual food when it's like that. I would rather eat each thing individually. I know I won't get anyone to go vegan, watching how I eat. But I enjoy eating one thing at a time much more than combined. Less prep time as well. So, that is what I have concluded.
4 comments:
Hi Sara,
Animals just "do" because they are ruled entirely by instinct. All animals can do generally is live out there karma and hope for a better rebirth as there is little opportunity for them to better themselves spiritually.
Humans on the other hand, are at the greatest advantage because they actually have the opportunity to progress on the spiritual path.
However, many don't take advantage of this opportunity and a lot of them don't behave any differently than animals.
Being a human is a great gift and an indication of very positive previous karma. It is not something that should be taken lightly or squandered away. We are much higher than animals because we have attained a level of awareness and freedom that they haven't reached yet--but just because animals are not as spiritually advanced as us does not mean that they are ours to be used and taken advantage of.
I am not specifically an animal person, but this doesn't really resonate with me and intuitively it never has--it sounds like something humans made up. Humans are animals--spirituality is certainly different for us. But to put ourselves as the top seems like human ego more than anything else. I have been reading a lot about animals and how their behaviors are not so different from us as we think--we just are not aware of their language, ritual and medicinal systems, for example.
animals lack the intellect to understand higher teachings or consciousness. Therefore, spiritually they cannot be on the same level as humans. This is what is said in hindu and buddhist scriptures. According to great masters, like Paramahansa Yogananda, to view humans as merely a higher form of animal does us a great disservice as we have enormous amounts of spiritual potential that animals are incapable of in there present incarnations. It took me a while to come to undertstand all this in my present way.. but to me it makes a lot of sense.
Hi Summer,
I don't know you, but I hope you don't take it personally if I disagree with you. You'll never be able to prove that other animals are incapable of this spiritual potential. You can't judge what others feel and perceive without experiencing life in their shoes. It's better if you just say, "Humans have a great opportunity to progress on the spiritual path" and, "Humans have great spiritual potential" without putting the non-human animals into this inferior category. We generally can't communicate with them and therefore can't say we know them to be spiritually inferior. Besides, how can you possibly judge the potential of vast numbers of species?! I think there is probably much about animals we as humans don't know and can't relate to.
Hindu and Buddhist scriptures were written by humans, which is probably why they include the general assumption that we're the greatest and most important species on earth.
- Katie
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