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| Soybeans |
Sometimes we need to stand far away and look into the distance to see what has been right in front of us. Our eyes are built for a fine focus, because we evolved from predator animals. This is great for keeping us 'on task' with a sharp focus. Unfortunately we tend to lose sight of the big picture.
We can lose sight of the big picture when we feed ourselves, especially if we are North American. I watched a wonderful film yesterday on Edward Espe Brown, a revered head cook of the Tassajara Zen Buddhist Center in California, it is called How to Cook Your Life. Brown taught cooking and he spoke on how our food reflected our culture. His teacher, Shunryu Susuki, author of the classic text Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, told Edward Espe Brown to treat food with the same reverence and preciousness that he felt for his own eyes.
Brown commented on how much hard work North Americans are willing to do just to avoid confronting a potato. You hold a raw potato in your hands and say to yourself, what am I supposed to do with this? I'm hungry now! So then you go to the store and buy frozen french fries or you go to a restaurant and order french fries. As you can probably tell, Brown prefers to work directly with the whole potato right there in his hands.
Whole foods. They help to nourish our whole life. Cook some whole foods and see for yourself. Feel the connection to the earth, to the planet, to your own life.
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