SYMPOSIUMS
LECTURE
No. 4 – CHOOSING HOW WE FEED OURSELVES
No. 4 – CHOOSING HOW WE FEED OURSELVES
Our civilisation lives with strange paradoxes when it comes to food.
– Eating is a very intimate act: just after its first breaths, it is while clinging to its mother’s breast that the newborn takes its first meal. Yet modern man now devotes very little time to his food. He has standardised it considerably. And he naively hands over the make-up of his diet to assembly-line cooks, industrial producers and large-scale distributors…
– Today, more people in the world die from eating too much than from not eating enough. Industrialised countries see many “nutritional diseases”, with the overconsumption of food that is too fatty, too sweet or too salty, or an excess of energy intake combined with a sedentary lifestyle. The constant aim of reducing the cost of meals and the time spent preparing and eating them has given our era the stamp of “fast food”, then of “junk food”, with the well-known effects on health and on the environment.
But we are now realising that everyone’s right to “eat well” goes hand in hand with a more balanced and better shared diet, an agriculture more respectful of people and nature, and, more generally, with better civic practices. Food issues today go far beyond borders and affect us all, as citizens, producers or consumers. Eating behaviour is shaped by many factors: biological, psycho-emotional, cultural, economic, cognitive, philosophical, moral and spiritual.
This talk therefore chooses not to offer any “miracle recipes” or model menus. Rather, it offers a few reflections on our eating habits and their consequences, and suggests some necessary individual and collective changes at the ecological, societal, psychological and spiritual levels, drawing on the Teaching of His Holiness Lord HAMSAH MANARAH.
I – AT THE ECOLOGICAL LEVEL
The farming population has fallen from 60% to 2%, replaced by industrialisation. The promise of industrial food production was to feed more people, and this promise was kept, which was a form of progress. It also brought undeniable progress in food hygiene from a bacteriological point of view. But in any situation that evolves over time, what is considered a solution at one moment may later become a new problem to be solved.
This industrial food is no longer at all healthy from a chemical point of view; it is causing people to lose their culinary common sense and has become a public health problem. And intensive farming impoverishes and pollutes the soil. For several years now we have been witnessing a considerable loss of biodiversity.
“Man’s unconsciousness and errors have driven him to destroy, more or less directly, the natural heritage”[1], says Lord HAMSAH MANARAH, making prophetic these words attributed to Geronimo: “When the last tree has been cut down, when the last river has been poisoned, when the last fish has been caught, then we will know that money cannot be eaten.”
Only constraints from outside world society, such as ecological disasters confirming the warnings of many scientists, seem able to change our course. Fortunately, many experiments along these lines exist today in every field: the initiatives of farmers who respect the land and people, for example, were discussed in the talk on agriculture. Very often it is the initiatives of minorities that lie at the origin of profound changes in a society, as Serge Moscovici (social psychologist and historian of science) has shown[2].
By offering alternative solutions, minorities play a valuable role as agents of innovation and change. They create new ways of seeing the world and other ways of living, bring new ideas into many fields, and above all lead other people to accept these changes, often without their being aware of it. We will give an overview of this at the societal level.
II – AT THE SOCIETAL LEVEL
We must remember that inequalities show up even on our plates: not all households can spend the same amount on food. Five fruits and vegetables a day seems to be a privilege of the rich.
However, Priya Fielding-Singh[3], a sociologist at Stanford University, sheds a light other than the price of meals on the observation that the poorest households have a less balanced diet. First, because “junk food” also has a price: a trip to a fast-food restaurant for the whole family costs more than a home-cooked dish. Next, because, according to this sociologist, “junk food” can help people forget other deprivations (no brand-name shoes, no room of one’s own, no family holidays, etc.): “Food is an immediate and inexpensive way to create a positive experience in a difficult context: it helps soften everyday deprivations.” For better-off parents, it is easier to refuse a packet of sweets, because they can offer their children other pleasures. Finally, because it is the quality of products, more than their nature, that is sacrificed, especially since, let us not forget, children are the main target of advertising.
In response, minority initiatives are once again making themselves known and showing their success. Solidarity sales of fruit and vegetables through short supply chains, directly between consumers and farmers, are multiplying: they give the former access to fruit and vegetables at lower cost, and allow the latter to be better paid since there are no intermediaries.
Let us return to the thinking of Serge Moscovici, which, in brief, holds that an institution cannot be asked to be responsive and innovative. It is minorities that can experiment on a small scale. If the experiment is conclusive and can be repeated, then the institution’s cursor will shift towards new behaviours. A few examples:
– A report by ANSES (the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety) notes: “It would seem that current trends towards healthier eating and consumers’ fear of additives have prompted manufacturers to revise the ingredient lists of their products, reducing the use of additives.”[4]
– Various movements, from vegetarianism to veganism, which has become a social phenomenon, have encouraged people to reduce or even give up eating meat, consumption of which has fallen by 12% over the last ten years[5].
This is due to three main causes:
Growing awareness of cruelty to animals in factory farming and slaughterhouses.
Concern for human health: toxins due to feed and drug treatments in intensive livestock farming, and the WHO’s warnings about the problems linked to overconsumption of meat.
The ecological need to reduce the water and cereals used for intensive livestock farming[6]. According to Greenpeace, in the Brazilian Amazon, for example, 63% of deforestation is due to growing soya for livestock, which harms biodiversity and the climate[7].
Consequences:
– “Veggie” or “vegan” food has its place in supermarkets and in many restaurants. It stimulates the creativity of manufacturers who want to please every taste: we now see plant-based products that absolutely must look like meat!
– In France, since 1 November 2019, school canteens have been required to offer one vegetarian menu a week, and by 2022 organic products must reach 20% in school canteens and institutional catering (EGalim law)[8].
III – AT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL
Everyone knows that there is danger in not changing. But when individuals are in society, they come under pressure from the majority, which remains attached to its habits, and they react differently than when they are alone. So there is resistance to change. According to Sébastien Bohler, who holds a doctorate in neuroscience, something in our brain makes us put our immediate pleasure before saving the planet! This is the thesis he defends in his latest essay, Le bug humain[9]. This bug concerns the striatum, a small nerve structure in the brain that releases dopamine. Dopamine produces the sensation of immediate pleasure in eating, reproducing and winning, actions that are useful for survival as short-term necessities.
Even though this ancestral need for survival has disappeared from our civilisation, the striatum is said to be the cause today of our difficulty in thinking long term… It makes us prefer EUR 10 right away rather than EUR 15 in a year (for an adult), or one sweet right away rather than two in five minutes (for a child).
Fortunately, this “human bug” can be overcome: the striatum can be “tamed”! Individuals can be educated to think long term and to enjoy harmless pleasures: altruism, for example, activates the reward circuit just as much as selfishness does. This approach confirms the importance of education as the basis of change, especially where food is concerned. But this education, starting with that of adults, is not only about what goes into our meals. It takes into account our relationship with nature, which provides the food, and the way we prepare and eat it. All of this is of great importance in Aumism, which brings us to the fourth point.
IV – AT THE SPIRITUAL LEVEL
“If man aspires to harmonious development and fulfilment,” says Lord Hamsah Manarah, “he must pay particular attention to the study of his diet.”[10] “To eat just anything, when one can do otherwise, amounts to despising one’s own body.”[11] Let us remember that the body is regarded here as the temple of the soul. The preparation of meals calls for particular attention in all religious traditions. Some have dietary rules: bans on certain foods, ritual slaughter of animals, periods of fasting…
Every tradition begins the meal with a prayer. Sobriety prevails in monasteries and ashrams, where meals are taken in silence and in recollection. Aumism recommends, as far as possible, meals that are healthy, balanced and sufficient, of course without waste, and suited to each person: “What one eats must be considered according to its quality, its nutritional value, the nature of the activities planned, and even the goal to be achieved.”[12] Any deficiency must be avoided, especially in children, who need a varied diet.
Vegetarianism is recommended: “You will abstain from animal meat and fish if you can,” says Lord Hamsah Manarah.
The need to take animal welfare into account was developed in the talk on our responsibility towards animals. We know that the constitution of human beings, close to that of primates, is not that of a carnivore such as the lion, for example. Let us add that meat is rich in purines and other toxins. It carries energies, in particular that of the enormous stress of the animal that is killed, and that is all too often raised in deplorable conditions. By mistreating animals before digesting them, man does not respect himself. Moreover, in terms of farmland, vegetarian food could feed humanity: more than half of the world’s annual protein goes to animal production (it takes 16 kg of plant protein to produce 1 kg of beef).
We should also know that “meat, fish, alcohol and tobacco contain ‘rajasic’ and ‘tamasic’ elements, related to the passions, inertia, laziness and rootedness in matter”.[13] “Food influences health, character, the passions, inner dispositions, states of consciousness and behaviour in general.”[14]
For those who wish to practise meditation or to do deeper spiritual work:
“Man must never forget that food is of paramount importance, because it influences not only the body of flesh but also his subtle bodies.”[15] “The adept who wishes to intensify his spiritual work must move gradually towards vegetarianism.”[16] And “If this is impossible, you will bless the sacrificed group soul before eating it…”, says Lord Hamsah Manarah[17].
It is important to purify food and raise its vibratory rate through prayer, because food becomes impregnated with the vibrations emitted by nature reacting to aggression, and by negative human thoughts. This is explained in the book L’Aumisme, la Doctrine de l’Âge d’Or, in chapter XII. Cooking food therefore requires a calm and kindly state of mind. Then, at the table, it is important to keep an atmosphere of peace, serenity and joy. Good digestion depends on the quality of the food, but also on the psychological conditions in which it is eaten.
It is better not to eat:
– under the influence of a negative emotion: anger, fear, stress, annoyance
– if you are not hungry
– if your state of health requires it: a light diet helps the body detoxify
As for fasting, those who wish to practise it should do so gradually and in a balanced way. The Aumist Teaching never encourages mortification, which weakens the body! Short, regular fasts and fruit cures are good for health. A long fast should be undertaken with medical supervision. Whatever their diet, everyone can evolve in consciousness, understanding that their survival depends on their environment. Everyone can express their gratitude by blessing the kingdoms of nature and by wishing that all beings may eat their fill with respect for our Mother Earth. Aumists consider it a duty to pray for all the kingdoms of Nature so that they may be harmonised and evolve in the right sense of the word. To raise the vibratory rate of food, they chant the sound OM mentally or aloud, visualising white light, which has purifying virtues.
To conclude, here is a “prayer for the blessing of meals”[18]:
OM OM OM
“May Love, Peace, Happiness, Prosperity, Health, Protection and Bliss be for all beings in all directions of space: to the north, east, south, west, zenith and nadir.
May the blessing be upon all the elements, all the elementals of earth, water, air, fire and ether.
May the blessing spread over all plants, all animals and all human beings.
May the blessing spread over the whole earth and the whole universe.
May all who are hungry and thirsty be satisfied,
May abundance and prosperity be for all,
May all beings attain the condition of the liberated in the COSMIC CHRIST, the condition of DARPANA BUDDHAS.
Let us give thanks to the celestial Powers for blessing the food we are about to take, so that we may serve better.”
OM OM OM
May Love, Peace and Harmony reign among all people.
OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI
OM PEACE PEACE PEACE
V. Sumedhya
Graduate of the E.P.F., qualified in naturopathy and Hatha Yoga
*******
[1] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 411.
[2] Serge Moscovici, Psychologie des minorités actives, 1976, reissued by PUF, 1991 (published in English as Social Influence and Social Change).
[3] Priya Fielding-Singh, A Taste of Inequality: Food’s Symbolic Value Across the Socioeconomic Spectrum, 2017.
[4] ANSES 2019 report: Bilan et évolution de l’utilisation des additifs dans les produits transformés (Review and trends in the use of additives in processed products).
[5] Survey by the Research Centre for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (CRÉDOC), July 2019.
[6] See the figures at: https://blog.lendopolis.com/energies-renouvelables/impact-alimentation-environnement/
[7] https://www.greenpeace.fr/elevage/
[8] https://agriculture.gouv.fr/egalim-depuis-le-1er-novembre-un-menu-vegetarien-par-semaine-dans-toutes-les-cantines-scolaires
[9] Sébastien Bohler, columnist on the programme “La Tête au carré” on France Inter and on “28 minutes” on Arte, editor of the magazine Cerveau & Psycho, author of Le bug humain, Robert Laffont, 2019.
[10] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 423.
[11] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 425.
[12] Ibid., p. 425.
[13] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, Naturopathie et Yoga, p. 93.
[14] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 424.
[15] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 427.
[16] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, Naturopathie et Yoga, p. 95.
[17] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, La Loi d’Évolution des Âmes, p. 327.
[18] S. HAMSAH MANARAH, La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 432.
