Sharing food from the Cosmic plate

Our goal each day should be to evolve more as spiritual beings, not merely as religious people.

When we see the Earth as a whole, from outer space, we can clearly see the interconnection and interdependence of planetary beings. We have created imaginary boundaries, dividing ourselves into countries and states. Those man-made divisions and boundaries make us feel alone and lost in the world.

As poet David Wagoner reminds us, “The trees ahead and the bushes beside you are not lost. If what a tree or bush does is lost on you, you are surely lost!”

We forget that we are interconnected with, and interdependent on everything and everyone, and we are all living together, breathing the same air, drinking from the same water, eating food grown from the same Earth.

We share everything on Earth with other people, whether we are conscious of it or not.

For example, the air that is in your lungs today was circulated yesterday through the lungs of somebody living in China. The air in the lungs of the person next to you, enters your lungs in a few minutes. It is like two people eating from the same plate.

Imagine you walk into a restaurant and notice two people sharing a plate of food. It shows a level of intimacy, closeness, and love.

Few years ago, I had lunch with one of my former supervisors who is also a friend. At the end of the meal, she ordered dessert and I didn’t. A generous portion of ice cream souffle was placed in front of her. “I can’t finish it alone Paul, have some,” she said. There were two spoons on the plate. The waiter must have thought we were a couple. Initially, I was reluctant to share ice cream with a woman who was not my wife. But the fast-melting ice cream in front of me melted the guard rails of my marital bond and before I knew it, I was scooping that ice cream!

While eating the ice cream from the same plate with a person who was not my blood family, I felt a special connection and affection for that person. She is from Jamaica, I am from India, and we were from totally different worlds, experiences, and backgrounds. When we sat inside that Bennigan’s restaurant in Fort Lauderdale and shared ice cream from the same plate, it felt like a divine experience.

Try that with somebody who is not a family member. It is an amazing experience of closeness, intimacy, love, freedom, and unity.

If you really think about it, sharing food with others from the same plate is happening every day everywhere. You are doing it right now as you read this book. You are not sharing ice cream; in fact, you are sharing something more important. You are sharing the air — food for your brain.

Living on the Earth and sharing the same air with everybody else is, in fact, like sharing food from the same plate — an abundant cosmic plate!

Every day, 8 billion people “eat” from that cosmic plate, prepared, and provided by Mother Earth — and the food never runs out!

According to David Suzuki, a Canadian scientist and environmentalist,

“Every breath is a sacrament, an essential ritual. As we imbibe this sacred element, we are physically linked to all our present biological relatives, countless generations that have preceded us and those that will follow.”

Pausing several times during the day, and observing my breathing as a ritual, makes me feel connected to the plants who provide me oxygen, and to everyone who breathes — the entire population of Earth. In fact, breathing is the ultimate religious activity, because the word religion is derived from the Latin word religare, meaning, to bind together.

If air is sacred and breathing is a ritual, then living should be a spiritual symphony on the cosmic stage!

Jesus had a special appreciation for the Earth. He didn’t live in high-rise condos or work in sprawling boardrooms. He taught on the mountain top and the seaside; he prayed in the garden and died on a hill. He talked about the lilies of the field, the birds of the air, and fish in the sea as manifestations of the heavenly realm on Earth. For Jesus, earthly activities such as a woman cooking a meal, a merchant looking for a pearl, and a farmer harvesting seeds are kingdom-of-heaven related activities.

Don’t just live on the Earth as aliens and strangers, plundering and taking advantage of its resources, but be respectful and grateful for everything that the Earth offers, which is life itself. We came out of the Earth, and we will return to it.

We should always remember that the Earth can survive without us, but we cannot survive without the Earth. That should be a humbling thought.

So, meditating on the Earth and learning the lessons she teaches is about seeing the big picture; it is about feeling the connection with the Earth, with everything and everyone on it; it is about thinking about the welfare of all people beyond the boundaries of our nation; it is about relinquishing narrow nationalism and embracing a wider humanity. It is about transcending our tribal mentality and having a planetary consciousness!

(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)