March 31, 2008

• Eat, Pray ... Eat

  Along with A New Earth which I'm deliberately reading slowly so I can stay at the pace of the class, I'm reading Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love and several other books but for most of the weekend I've been in and out of the "Eat, Pray ..." stuff.

  The book has been on the NYT Bestseller list for a while, and I'll be honest, that's usually a turn-off for me.  There's something in me that says, "How much depth can this book have if it's that popular?"  But I've seen it every time I hit Borders for about three months, so I finally broke down and picked up a copy.  (The other book I keep seeing is Skinny Bitch but I am far more attracted to a book that says "EAT" than one that says, "macrobiotic".)

  I could say all kinds of things about Liz Gilbert's voice and the refreshing honesty of her story.  But really, I want to talk about the eating part.  See, she went through a divorce that she initiated.  Then she had a love affair that ended in heartbreak.  Then, she ran away to Italy for four months to eat.

  Cheese, bread, figs, pasta, pizza, gelato, more pasta, tiramisu, olives, espresso, pastries ... All are described in loving detail.  Then she goes to India and lives in an ashram for five months where she earns the nickname "Groceries."

  This is a woman I can relate to. 

  I was so enthralled by her time in Italy pursuing pleasure that I was sad when she was packing up to move on to India.  I didn't want to read the next section.  I didn't want to consider devotional life.  I wanted her to go back for one more serving of tortellini in heavy asiago cream sauce.

  One of the beautiful lessons of spiritual life is that there is a time and place for everything.  She came through a time of mourning, and before she could move on to a time of intense devotion, she needed a time of joy, of living moment to moment, guided by her instinct to feed herself. 

  We all need to be fed on a multitude of levels.  I need sleep, mental stimulation, companionship, social interaction, creative challenges, new shoes, and food.  Ms Gilbert suggests that we get in the habit of considering our needs by asking every morning, "What do I want to do today?" 

  What good is it to be alive if there's no pleasure, no play?  If as the Dalai Lama says, we were created to be happy, there are a great many of us not fulfilling our greatest purpose.   Maybe your great purpose for the day is to save a life, maybe you have a problem that only you can solve, maybe you have a calling that must be fulfilled, a prayer that must be prayed.  But maybe for today, your highest purpose is to really enjoy your lunch. 

  • 12:24 pm
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