serving the faith communities of the Goulburn Valley
According to some major religions, work is a crucial arena for spiritual connection. The average person will spend 90,000 hours – about 20% of their waking life – at work. The French philosopher Simone Weil calls work “part of an ever-renewing rhythm of human existence”. Work is my everyday existence. How can it also be the site of my spirituality?
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As a woman studying Zen, I had heard Buddhist teachings that females were less able than males to practice the dharma and recognize their awakened nature. This belief was not surprising. Having grown up in the U.S. in the 1950s, the assumed inferiority of women was the air I breathed. And though the feminism that emerged in the 1960s helped me see through these assumptions, I continued to struggle with them.
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In mindful eating, we deliberately direct our full awareness to that liveliness, in the form of the bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions that arise and disappear as we eat. Most important, we do this without criticism or judgement. We bring clear attention and curiosity to the colors and shapes of our food (as if appreciating a work of art), to the changing fragrances and flavors, to the textures and even the sounds of our food.
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