Spiritual_Gluttony

It’s dinner time among the branches of a tree.

Imagine a nest filled with baby birds, beaks opened wide for worms. These worms are sustenance to these ones. It's their food and their natural fuel.

Mama bird comes swooping by with tasty treats for her brood. She has what seems to be an endless supply of worms, and proceeds to feed her chirping and gobbling babies. And she keeps feeding them. And they keep chirping. And she feeds them more. And they still want more.

Bellies bloated, the birds still cry for more, consuming everything put into their mouth. They are full, but not satisfied.

This is the picture I get when I think of the spiritual gluttony that plagues many spiritual seekers. Perhaps another term would be spiritual consumerism.

One would assume that it is the spiritual seeker that would be the most happy in life, full of joy, peace, and bliss. After all, it's the pursuit of the Divine and discovering the reason for being that is the drive of a spiritual seeker. Doesn’t that result in better living and heaven on Earth?

If we were to dip our toes in spiritually arrogant waters, we could assume that the "unwashed masses" are unaware, unconscious, and unthinking. They work, eat, and sleep as automatons, caught in the never-ending cycle of producing, out-witting, performing, and earning--and of course, having something to show for it. We may demonize the Western world, and curse its influence on the environment, politics, and humanity. We may say that money is evil, pollution is bad, and eating sugar is harmful. Atop our high horse, we look to the East for its wisdom, simplicity, and balance.

Yet, and bear with me as I wrap up this session of “let’s pretend we’re arrogant”, we sit upon those horses, emulating and embracing the East, while our mouths are open wide like a bird with a bottomless belly.

Consumerism and gluttony seemed to be associated much more the West than with the East, as well as capitalism that is intrinsically tied to excess consumption.

There’s a saying that you can take a girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl. In spiritual circles, I get the feeling that some think they can immerse themselves in Eastern thought (take the girl out of the West), and still live in the West unscathed by rampant attitudes of gluttony and consumption.

But is the West still inside?

Let me just back up and say that, energetically speaking, I have a Hedonist Archetype that I love and cherish. I love fine food, fine fabrics, and fine books. I am not speaking about the enjoyment of spiritual or earthly pleasure, nor am I speaking against capitalism and the West. What I am pointing out, however, is a spiritual seeker’s lack of digestion.

Yes, that’s right—digestion. In the physical body, it takes some time for the stomach to realize that it is full. Eating fast usually leads to eating more, especially since we haven’t felt the signal “Hey! I’m full! Stop eating!” But there’s also another phenomenon when one craving is substituted for another, and the body’s signals are ignored or unrecognized. This concept is at the core of what is termed “emotional eating”. An emotional vacuum needs filled, or a wound needs a balm, and food becomes a substitute—a numbing narcotic to ease the feelings of emptiness and pain. Self-medicating is not relegated to just food, of course. It can be shopping, spending, drinking, drugging, sexing, and TVing.

In the realm of the spiritual seeker, it may be meditating, workshopping, guru-hopping, and book huffing.

What, you’ve never heard of book huffing? It’s that high that you get when you open yet another new book on spirituality or self development and smell it’s freshly minted pages. I made that up, actually, but books on spirituality and self development are big sellers nowadays. Hey, even my shelves groan under the weight of all my acquired reading material!

This afternoon, we celebrated my son’s 5th birthday with a small party. My brother-in-law was talking about eating contests and stuffing his face in college. My Dad weighed in with how he once ate 6 deep-fried foot longs (hotdogs) in front of my Mom when they were dating. They began to regale each other with stories of individuals from far lands wolfing down food for an eating contest, and how it was often the skinny guys that could really put it away. Now, we were having the party at my son’s favorite Chinese restaurant, mind you, so I was getting a bit grossed out by their tales.

Fast forward to just a short while ago. My husband was talking to me about the vague feeling of dissatisfaction that he was experiencing. I told him I knew exactly how he was feeling. He said that he felt like life was speeding by so fast. When I hear something like that, I immediately conclude “not living in the eternal Now!” I asked him if he was living in the past or future, and he said he didn’t think so. He’s pretty great at living in the Present Moment, I must confess. Much better than I am, that’s for sure.

But then this comment gave him away: “I’ve been looking back, and thinking of how…”

Uh oh…Past alert!

He and I then got into one of our existential conversations, and I said “You know, I think we sometimes suffer from spiritual materialism.” He replied “You mean like reading tons of books on spirituality? Consumerism?” (Bless his heart; he was born with a guru’s intuition, so he doesn’t touch the stuff, i.e., spiritual or self-help books..) And I answered him with a hearty yes!

Spiritual seekers consume workshops, books, teaching tapes, TV shows with gurus, websites, and so on. More is better.

But you know, I don’t think so. If you look in the New Testament, Jesus’ message was very straightforward and very basic. Many didn’t get it then, and many don’t get it now. In his simplicity, Jesus was also repetitive at times. I believe he did this because he knew that humanity would have to be continually pointed towards the basics. In fact, he said that a new law had superseded the multitude of laws that were practiced, preached, and enforced in the synagogue: love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. The teachers of the law marveled the wisdom he displayed while even a young boy. His message didn’t come from a lecture, a book, or a workshop. It came from having a direct relationship and experience with the Divine. And according to Jesus, we have the ability to do what he did—and even greater works!

I would also offer that his wisdom came from “digested” information. He would often pull away from the hurting, desperate masses so he could pray. The Bible records some of Jesus’ prayers, but the disciples were probably not privy to Jesus’ direct communications with the Father when he was alone on the mountaintop. I’m speculating, but perhaps these were the times that Jesus digested. He allowed his knowledge and wisdom to actually become a part of him, and replenished his storehouse so he could carry out his purpose.

In Philippians 2:7 it is written “But emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” The Greek word for “emptied” is kenosis, and means that Jesus willingly laid aside certain elements of deity so he could have a human experience and relate to another part of himself, the Father, in different fashion. It’s fascinating to contemplate Jesus’ divinity and humanity, and the choice to become temporarily disconnected in some respects. It’s as if Jesus served as a model to the rest of us Divine creatures on how to re-member and access our Eternal Who, especially when we feel our humanity all too acutely and forget Who we really are!

And I don’t think it is a coincidence that a part of the Christian tradition is fasting. When you fast, your body must live on what it has already consumed and stored. And I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that many health practitioners recommend certain types of fasts to detoxify the body. While this isn’t the same as digestion, fasting is a similar concept of living on what is immediately available, whether that is through food eaten slowly with gratitude and awareness, or whether it’s through accessing the stored reservoir in our bodies.

In “spiritual” terms, it’s realizing that we already have what we need within and as a result of a direct experience with the Divine. If we feel to branch out and eat at another’s bountiful table, then we eat slowly, with gratitude, and allow the spiritual food to permeate our bodies until it becomes a part of ourselves. It’s getting the knowledge out of the head realm and into the living, practical, “walking our talk” realm. You can try to “walk the talk” by imposing certain rules and limits on yourself, but that is far different than spontaneously living what’s inside because it is as natural to you as breathing.

In other words, it’s reading a book slowly, highlighting if necessary, and really meditating on what has been offered. If you felt led to the book, then you owe it to yourself to get all you can from it. Going from book to book to book, gleaning only cursory head knowledge can be a form of spiritual consumerism. It’s consumption without digestion. Being able to parrot the book’s ideas is not the same as assimilating the information as a part of your life path. It’s attending a workshop, taking notes, sitting with the information and doing the recommended exercises—as opposed to contacting your travel agent about another workshop as soon as you step off the plane. It’s about focusing on the path right in front of you, as well as what Guidance is saying to you in the Present. Just because someone else needs to be reading a certain author doesn’t mean it’s a part of your path right now.

Adopt an attitude of gratitude, count your blessings, slow down, get into the Eternal Now, and give yourself a check-up-from-the-neck-up by noticing the rate of your information consumption. Your spiritual “belly” will be glad you did!