Give your blessings

If you are amazed at how it is possible to speak, hear, smell, touch, see, understand, and feel—tell your soul that all living things collectively confer upon you the fullness of your experience. Not the least speck of existence is superfluous, everything is needed, and everything serves its purpose. “You” are present within everything that is beneath you, and your being is bound up with all that transcends you.—Rav. Kook, Orot ha-Kodesh

 

I recently heard this quotation at a Jewish sustainability conference I attended in Baltimore, and I really loved it. I don’t know why the wise Rav. Kook did not add eating to that list, but I think every time one eats, its vital to remember that that food came from a process which involved all of God’s creation.  Even if one doesn’t say a blessing before eating, just take a moment to think about how that food was grown, how it was transported and made to get from farm to your table—was the process sustainable? Was it ethical? do you honor and respect that process? Understand the fullness of your experience. It’s my wish that I can do the same and not live and eat ignorantly as it’s so easy to do.