Antisocial 'Common' Table of the Modern Times
If we make a brief survey of various specific dietary needs of people in
our times, then we can distinguish the following groups:
- People who consume food in accordance with one of
the traditional food cultures from which they originate.
- People who have accepted modern fast food culture.
- People with various eating styles, such as carnivores, vegetarians,
vegans, macrobiotics, raw foodists, etc.
- People with special nutritional needs due to food intolerances,
allergies, or specific physical illness.
- People with eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia, obesity,
etc.
Just from this list alone we can see the challenge of the present times, when
cooks have to prepare a common meal for a large group of people. In fact, it is
impossible to prepare one single dish or meal which would cater for all these
diverse dietary needs!
What are the underlying reasons for such a stressful situation in
relation to the common meal which met in the past the needs for social
bonding, and which had often even the status of a sacred rite?
There are several reasons; among them is the decisive fact that "we live now in the age of the
consciousness soul
in which man must become independent. But on what does
this depend? It depends on people's ability to become self-assertive, to not
allow themselves to be put to sleep in their thinking by other people.
The
most essential characteristics of the human being during this epoch are
antisocial. For the consciousness which is based on thinking must be
developed during this very period. For that reason this period will manifest
outwardly in maximum degrees, through the very nature of man, the antisocial
impulses. It would not be possible for mankind to accomplish its present-day
task if just these antisocial forces did not become ever more powerful; they
are indeed the pillars on which personal independence rests."
[1]
People are 'put to sleep' in their thinking whenever they rely on
authorities and simply accept their explanations without taking the trouble
of checking them out. If people had made such efforts then they would soon
notice one-sidedness and simplifications of nutritional explanations, or how
often various dietary advices are opposing each other in fundamental aspects
of nutrition. Then there would not exist so many nutritional 'political'
parties, each with its own food 'ideology' or final 'truth' about food and
nutrition. Here the spiritual
science can serve as a peacemaker because it creates a common ground which
enables us to understand why "spiritual science includes what others
consider the one and only thing, what others see only from their own narrow
perspective." [2] This is possible because of the multi-sided approach of
spiritual science which points out that "to say something that is incorrect
is not the worst thing that can happen, for the world itself will soon put
one right about it; but it is really serious to regard a one-sided truth as
the absolute truth and to persist in so regarding it. It is always essential
to look at truths not from the one side but also from the other. The fault
of most people with authoritative knowledge is not that they say something
false – in many cases their assertions cannot be refuted because they do
state truths – but that they make statements which are due to things having
been viewed from one side only," [3] or from few but not from all possible
viewpoints. [4] Until this one-sided approach is overcome we will have a
reign of confusion in the field of nutrition.
There is another reason for the present uncertainty in regard to
nutritional needs which is presented in the LOSS OF HEALTHY EATING INSTINCTS.
In relation to this we need to know that in the near future "the task of
civilized humanity in the age of the consciousness soul will be to lay hold
of the whole human being and to make him entirely dependent on himself, of
lifting into the full light of consciousness much of that which in earlier
periods man felt instinctively and judged instinctively. Many present difficulties and much that is chaotic
around us in our era, become quite explicable when one knows that
the task
of our era is to raise that which is instinctive to the plane of
consciousness. What is instinctive in us happens to a certain degree by
itself, but to achieve a conscious result one must make an inward effort,
above all, to begin to think truly with one's whole being" [5] – that is,
not just with abstract intellect, but with thinking which incorporates our
life of feelings and impulses of our will. "We must take into account that
we live in the age of the consciousness soul and that its impulses seek to
press up into consciousness. But through these impulses human beings bring
about more or less distressing conditions." [6]
There is more than enough evidence of quite distressing conditions in the
domain of nutrition, including the antisocial tendencies at the modern
'common' table. But we cannot fight against them in the ordinary manner,
because these troubles are "connected with the necessary tendencies of
evolution in our time. It is simply sheer nonsense to say that the
antisocial impulses must be resisted, for they cannot be resisted. One must
grasp the essential inner development of mankind in our time and understand
the evolutionary tendency." [7]
When we grasp that one of the most important task of the present age is
free development of our own individuality then we are not surprised that
"individuals differ much more from each other than one thinks, for the human
soul no longer relates entirely to the (physical) body and this makes human
beings very complex today." [8] But on the other hand
we have to realize that "every special diet also makes an unsocial being out
of man. The more we need something extra for ourselves in nutrition, the
more we become unsocial." [9] Here we have an example
of the real life contradiction which cannot be solved with any simple
formulas, but only by conscious cooperation of all those who want to tackle
this modern challenge. And if we want to cooperate in this process with
positive ideas and fruitful practical solutions, we need to understand – at
least, in an outline – the spiritual archetype of the common meal.
Spiritual Archetype and Role of a Common Meal
When we come together and eat a common meal we establish through this
activity three complementary ways of co-operation with other people:
[10]
- On the physical level we share impressions of visual
appearance, smell, taste, warmth, and texture of food we consume – all that
belong to the COSMIC NUTRITIONAL STREAM. Beside these we share with others
the objective effects of food on our organism; these effects are presented
in the chapter NUTRITION & HEALTH.
- On the soul level we share enjoyment of food we eat and the company of
others. These aspects of nutrition are presented in the chapter
NUTRITION & SOUL LIFE.
- On the spiritual level we share in the supersensible effects of
various foods. These aspects of nutrition are presented in the chapter
NUTRITION & SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT.
Through the consumption of a common meal we are performing an activity
which is affecting us much more than is usually thought. From a
spiritual-scientific perspective the rite of
the common meal had a very important role in the past and will have it again
in the future. This is due to the fact that everything we consume enters
into our blood and thus affects its quality both in a physiological and
soul-spiritual aspect as well. This is possible because the blood is the
physical carrier of our Ego-organisation.
[11] Just because of such hidden spiritual relationships the existence
of various food cultures had and still have a very important role in the
overall evolution of humanity. If we wanted to understand the reasons behind
the fact that in numerous old cultures there existed holy rites and
ceremonies in relation to food or to a common meal, then we would have to be
very familiar with the esoteric aspects of human evolution. Because this is
not possible without serious study of spiritual science, we will now
describe one reason which can be grasped by modern intellect.
[12]
"The people of ancient times who lived in small, tribal communities were
attracted to common blood and the human feeling of belonging together was
expressed in that blood attraction. As humanity developed however, people
began to feel sympathy for one another as individuals. In this way smaller
groups, families and communities developed, then together formed large
communities. As individuals, however, human beings become increasingly
egotistic and self-seeking. This is the secret of human evolution, that the
blood assumed a self-seeking character." [13] Of
course, this is understandable only, when we take into account spiritual
influences which have been gradually preparing the conditions for the
transition from the group consciousness of the blood community to the
individual consciousness of the modern person.
We are now in the period when the development of individuality is of the
primary importance. For that purpose we need "to cultivate the individual
human ego, as opposed to the common ego developed by groups bound up with
blood relationship. The farther back we seek, the more firmly we find the
community consciousness bound up with
consanguinity, and passing on in time
we see it decreasing: man's feeling of independence becomes ever stronger,
and he senses the necessity for developing an individual ego, as opposed to
the common ego." [14]
The existence of individuals is not the end of human social evolution,
but it is a necessary step towards creation of communities of free
individuals. The future of humanity lies in communities of the spirit which will
replace the type of communities based on blood kinship. When the new spirit
of freedom "has been poured into human individuals, then the great community
of humanity will have appropriated the earth. There will be no longer any
consciousness of clans and blood relations whatsoever, but only an awareness
of humanity as a community. Despite the greatest individualization, every
individual will be drawn to every other. Small tribal and ethnic communities
will give way to the communities of living spirit." [15] This
is the great ideal of the future humanity.
How is this development manifested in the domain of nutrition? People in
old communities were part of the whole; they lived, worked and ate together.
In this way all people belonged to specific food cultures; there were no
individual dietary needs among the members of the same group. In those times
– and even today in similar circumstances – we cannot talk about freedom of
individuals to choose their own dietary style. This came into existence only
in the modern times. Thus we can witness how a person is "torn by
current eating trends from the old community bonds, from the family, and
must learn, alone and independently, as a free individuality, to find
the
way to a new community-building through the common meal. To that end, two
factors will be increasingly essential. First, man must take the spirit of
the time seriously; he must choose nourishment on the basis of spiritual
knowledge. That is a demand made to all those responsible for community
nutrition: the producers and processors of food, the cooks, the dietary
advisers, nutritional researchers and educators, etc. The second demand is
made to the consumer himself. Today he cannot merely sit down at a readily
prepared table; instead, he must participate in working towards a
fundamental knowledge of nutrition and its practical application. Modern man
must make the choice." [16]
In the past such choices were natural and unconscious; now we need to do
them on the basis of understanding. Only in this way can the rite of the
common meal serve again as such a community-building force that it can lead
towards real freedom in the domain of nutrition. Such metamorphosis of our nutritional
traditions and the present chaotic state of affairs is also in accordance
with fundamental sociological law which says: "In the early stages of
cultural evolution, mankind tends towards the formation of social units;
initially the interests of individuals are sacrificed to the interests of
those groupings; the further progress of development leads to the
emancipation of the individual from the interest of the groupings and to the
unrestricted development of needs and capacities of the individual."
[17]
This is the new social art of conscious co-creation of the new food
culture. If we want to embark on this journey, then we need to have a living
interest in other human beings. For "only a genuine concern of each man for
his neighbour can bring salvation to mankind in the future – to his
community life. The characteristic feature of the epoch of the consciousness
soul is man's isolation. That he is inwardly isolated from his neighbour is
the consequence of individuality, of the development of personality. But
this separative tendency must have a reciprocal pole and this counter pole
must consist in the cultivation of an active concern of every man for his
neighbour. This awakening of an active concern for others must be developed
ever more consciously in the epoch of the consciousness soul.
On the pediment of the famous temple of Apollo in Greece was inscribed
this motto: 'Know thyself!' Self knowledge in the highest sense could still
be achieved at that time through introspection. But that is becoming
progressively less possible. Today man has made little advance in self
knowledge through introspection. Fundamentally men know so little of each
other because they are concerned only with themselves, and because they pay
so little attention to others, especially to what they call the shortcomings
of others." [18]
People frequently mention that one shouldn't be critical, but positive
toward others. Yet it is not clear if those who say this are aware that "the
majority of men today will certainly have to foreswear their present ways if
they wish to develop this positive attitude, for at the moment they have not
the slightest notion what it means. When they perceive something in their
neighbour which displeases them – not something to which they have given
careful consideration, but something which from a superficial angle meets
with their disapproval – they immediately begin to criticize, without
attempting to put themselves in their neighbour's skin. It is highly
antisocial from the point of view of the future evolution of mankind to
harbour these tendencies and to approach one's neighbour with undisguised
sympathy or antipathy. On the other hand the finest and most important
social attribute in the future will be
the development of a scientific
objective understanding of the shortcomings of others, when we are more
interested in their shortcomings than in our concern to criticize them. For
gradually in the course of the future cultural epochs the individual will
have to devote himself increasingly and with loving care to the shortcomings
of his neighbour." [19]
We need to develop this
attitude also in the realm of nutrition; we need to develop
an active
interest and a spiritual scientific understanding of the special dietary
needs of all people with whom we share our meals. These are two
of the basic conditions we need to pay regard to if we want to build a new
food culture in the spirit of the coming age.
For complementary perspectives see:
♦ GENERAL VERSUS INDIVIDUAL DIET
♦ DEVELOPMENT OF NEW EATING 'INSTINCTS'
DIETARY CONCLUSIONS & PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS
This principle helps us to recognise the modern antisocial trends in
regard to the common meal, regardless if we like it or not. After this we
have three choices in front of us:
- We can passively accept the inevitable antisocial
development which will finish (if we do not do anything about it) with
everyone eating their own meals by themselves.
- We can try to revive the traditional forms of common meals whenever
there are suitable circumstances.
- We can start to develop a new, more conscious approach to the
preparation of common meals.
What can be done practically if we choose the third way? This challenge
is evidently the social one, for we cannot know in advance what the
solution will be if we include other members of the community in the
process. Nobody can tell others what they should eat or what is the best
solution; we need to talk and find out what we have in common and start to
build on from this. But there is one thing that needs to connect us – that
is, the will to work consciously with the question how we can share common
meals with other members of the community in the spirit of mutual respect
of our individual differences.
Basically there are two kinds of questions which we need to discuss in
regard to common meals. First are the questions in regard to
food quality. The most important guideline
in regard to the issue of food quality is that we strive to improve the
quality of food ingredients which are used for the common meals. If we live
in the outer circumstances which obstruct us from what we would like to
achieve, we can start with an initiative to change the outer circumstances
instead of accepting 'inevitable' limitations. The motives for such a more
difficult path can originate only from real understanding of the effects of
food quality on our whole being. And such an understanding is only possible
to develop with the help of the fundamental principles of nutrition that are
available on this website.
Then there are the questions of specific individual needs and preferences.
In regard to this issue we need to start with where we are in our individual
life journeys. Here we need to develop empathy towards the imperfections of
the other members of our community, and also towards our own. An honest
recognition of our weaknesses and imperfections is a healthy ground from
which we can strive towards an ideal we want to attain. While we consciously
strive to understand them we need to be also aware that this is a long
journey without shortcuts, because the true knowledge of human being is the
hardest of all.
♣ See
NINE ASPECTS OF A HEALTHY
MEAL for an overview of all aspects of a meal which need to be taken into
consideration if we want to create a meal which will cater for the needs of
all those who will consume it. [20]
♣ See PATH TOWARDS NEW FOOD CULTURE
for an additional description of what needs to be done and which issues need to be
discussed with others if we want to share meals with them in a way which
respects individual freedom of all people involved.
If we wish we can express our conscious awareness of the spiritual
realities active behind the physical world through the use of the table
verse; at the beginning of the common meal. In the past people were
expressing the mood of gratitude for the gifts of nature laid on the common
table through the table prayer. Although this still can be done today, such
attitude is something that belongs to the past when recognition of the
spiritual world was based on belief. Now it is not enough just to say the
prayer or the verse, we need also to fill the words with real life. But for
modern human beings with their powerful intellect (which is the fully
rightful quality of the consciousness soul) this is not possible if they do
not make a conscious effort to gain the knowledge of spiritual worlds. Only
if the people at the common table share kindred spiritual knowledge will the
table verse express something real and thus contribute to the nurturing of
the social forces.
♣ For some examples see TABLE VERSES
WARNING: You always have to put the above
practical dietary instructions inside the framework of
GENERAL NUTRITIONAL
GUIDELINES with the aim to know their limits when looking for a solution
of a specific nutritional problem. You also need to be familiar with
THE ROLE OF NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES
with the aim to avoid any one-sided conclusions.
