Plates of Hidden Daily Wisdom · Passages of Nature Ignored
⁘ “Our lives are full of little rites of passage. Openings for thorough mindfulness — for the growth of wisdom and integration. Not just weddings and funerals. From the simplest things, like the food we eat and the meals we share. Pause and reflect on the origins, the journeys, and the terminals of all that is. The journey of the carrot and the farmer. It's all there — on your plate as the journey's tail. Witness all of life with eyes of wisdom.”
Have you considered how our lives
are full of little rites of passage,
moments for thorough mindfulness?
Junctions for recollection and reflection,
for the growth of wisdom and integration.
There's more to it than just weddings and funerals,
if only you attend to the ongoings of your life.
From the simplest things,
like the food we eat, and the meals we share.
There, say your prayers or don't –
but do take a moment to reflect.
Those carrots on your plate,
the farmer toiling the fields,
the unsteady climate of the season past
and all the struggles that followed.
And take a trip to the chicken nugget factory,
the workings of the automatons,
the industrial pipelines – it's all there.
How the salt you sprinkle was mined
from ancient mountain deposits
or sieved from the essence of the sea.
It's all there and it's all a part of what is –
if only you care to attend.
To pause and reflect on the origins,
the journeys, and the terminals of all things.
This leads to the growth of wisdom,
and it leads to your progressive integration
with the fullness of the fabric of life.
For no thing exists without its origins, without its journey,
until it lands on your plate or in your backyard.
It's not that their tales cease to exist.
It's simply that you veil them over with your ignorance.
Then remove this ignorance in reflective rites of passage.
Witness the threads of time and the loom of wisdom –
of all things, as they are, in their fullness.
Witness all of life with the eyes of wisdom.