Raw Food Spirituality

I just read in Christie's blog this week that "the reason I began eating a solely raw food diet was to enhance and further my spirituality".

And I wanted to write about this subject for quite some time now - the connection between raw food and spirituality.

Spirituality. Such a BIG word - sometimes controversial, even.

I'm defining spirituality as any type of understanding that there's more to life than what is obviously there. In my mind, it doesn't matter if you hold any religious beliefs, practice any rituals, or follow the teachings of some great ascended master. As long as you try to be conscious of the world, the subtle ways you affect it - and the ways it affects you – then you're on a spiritual journey.

For many people, the first step is to recognise that we don’t have to settle into being unhappy, meaning we can strive for something better. So we search for a better car, a better house, a better job, a better lifestyle. The next step starts when we realise there’s always a “better” somewhere out there, and then we might start and look at the inner issues: the thing that makes us unhappy is inside us - our own thoughts, our own judgments, our prejudices. And the journey within begins, of letting them go. We realise that being happy is not dependant on anything outside of ourselves, and then we learn to be happy, loving, joyous - regardless of the external situation.

There are far more many steps to take on the spiritual path, but that’s where I’m up to at this stage, and that’s also where the raw food diet fits in.

Most people are introduced to the concept of raw foods when they are on that step of realising that they have the POWER to IMPROVE their health by changing their diet. And mostly, the health does improve.

Moreover, I came across claims that the raw food diet cleanses and set us free from blockages – whether these are located in our intestines, in our bodily tissues, or in our mind. In my experience, after moving to a 100% raw food diet, my mind was clearer, as opposed to some type of “fogginess” that I recall from before going raw.

And now that I’m not 100% raw (more like 70%-80% these days) my mind is still clear and sharp. As if I cleared the blockages, and now they’re no longer there.

The other thing that I notice while on a 100% raw food diet was a good sense of understanding/attracting/creating abilities. You could call it “law of attraction” or a “can do attitude” – the name is irrelevant – what I experienced was that a lot of things became “easy” to do and achieve. I was attracting the most amazing people into my life, I was actively creating the RAW FOOD CAFÉ @ Taste Organic – everything was doable and flowing relatively effortlessly.

Now I keep moving forward in my spiritual growth. I’m challenged by my own belief systems that label some food as being “superb” (fresh raw fruit and leafy greens… YUM!), some food is labelled “good” (home made soups, cooked wholefoods, raw gourmet food… YUM!), and some food that I eat and label “junk food” (vegan, gluten-free snacks like the Sweet Williams rice-crackle chocolate – my favourite… YUM!). I’m challenged as I now think that it’s the belief that I have that is a major, maybe even the sole, contributor to the way it affects my body.

When you experience higher awareness levels, ultimately NOTHING OUTSIDE OF YOU EFFECTS YOU. Ram Dass describes how he witnessed Maharaj Ji taking a few LSD pills at one time and didn’t have any reactions to them whats-or-ever.

I don’t know if I could attend this level of conscious – maybe in another lifetime LOL – but I’m taking small steps, examining the relationship between my belief systems and the ways I act/react in this world. I trust that this process of reflecting/examining will lead me to where I need to get at.

And here’s an audio recording where Esther Hicks answers a question about raw food. It pretty much sums it all up!