Thought for food

Without a doubt this will be the most pleasant consciousness exercise yet created. To do this exercise you need a tool. You select that tool. Go to your favorite store and buy your favorite ice cream or fruity sorbet. Sixteen ounces (half a liter) will do nicely, but if others are going to also do this consciousness exercise with you, then they must all have their own full containers, right? Otherwise, do this exercise alone!

The exercise. Get comfortable, and dress warmly in case you decide to really rush through this exercise. Have your favorite spoon handy, and open the container. Do this slowly, very slowly, very very slowly, but don’t take more than about one or two seconds.

Now start eating! Also very slowly as herein aforementioned.

RULES:

1. While you are eating, do whatever else you feel like doing except that you MUST NOT SHARE with anyone, and you must finish the entire container (And you thought ALL rules were bad.).

2. You should try to constantly be aware of the taste of the delicious flavors.

3. While you are eating, you should silently read the follow-up questions below.

Ask yourself,What does the container mean to me before I open it? Why am I having some pleasure now before the first taste? Is this at all like “opening my life” when I was born? Where is that feeling now?

How often am I actually NOT paying attention to the tasting but am thinking about something else or “lost in another perception?”

Why doesn’t my ego join in and provide all sorts of commentary about how good it tastes, how wonderful the experience is, how lucky I am to have a consciousness exercise instructor instead of an exercise instructor? What is my “talker” saying about this? Wouldn’t I consider myself to be enjoying this “a lot more” if I had “a lot more” words to accompany this experience?

At what point in the consumption did I notice “taste bud burn out”? When did I note that the pleasure of those first few mouthfuls was definitely not being matched by the subsequent spoonfuls? Where does my pleasant gustatory experience turn into plain old eating? How often do I, in daily life, eat past this point?

How does the taste of the spoon affect this experience?

What side of my mouth is “getting more fun”?

Do I have any food issues? Is part of me feeling “bad about enjoying this”? Should I feel bad about eating this?

Or should I feel really really bad about eating this?

If tomorrow the government decreed that only this flavor would be permitted to be manufactured and sold from now on, how would I feel?

What actually happens when I get tired of this same flavor that Edg is FORCING me to eat? Why does my brain quit enjoying when the flavor remains the same?

What does the container mean to me when it is empty and I am full? Is this how I will feel when I am about to die? Would that be the right way to die?

Can all my desires be met right now without me dying?

Does God eat?