Sunday, January 22, 2017

The Higher Purpose of Organic Blackberries

Everyone is talking about organic these days.  Everyone seems to be dialed in on how to get the purest nutrition, how to put only goodness into our bodies. 
We are focused on where our fruits came from, and if the meat we bought lived a healthy and honorable life.   
We want to know who harvested our coffee beans, where our quinoa came from, and if our blackberries were grown without synthetic pesticides.   Suddenly we have a culture very intensely interested and preoccupied with consuming the "right" things.    I see stickers that read: "GMO free, ORGANIC, PURE, WHOLE, SPROUTED".. etc.  People are caught up (and I believe rightly so) with how a product was made - what makes it decent and worthwhile.  
There is the sense of pride about the whole thing.   We feel like superior people for buying, growing, or ingesting sustainable, high-quality deliciousness.   


Well, I happened to be eating some pesticide-free blackberries a few days ago. 
And I began to consider how much focus is invested on the input side of what goes into our bodies. 
There is often such an assumption about the quality of a person simply based on what they are feeding themselves.  
I think somehow we forget that this input has a purpose.
Sometimes, I think we believe that the only purpose for eating goodness is for our "bodies".   In a lot of ways, yeah, it totally benefits us to munch down on some organic kale, or devour some broccoli sprouts.. 
But we are more than just bodies.    
I asked myself..  personally...   what is the purpose of eating organic blackberries?   
If I'm so intent on going out of my way to invest in better food, and holding myself to a higher-standard of dietary stewardship...  then shouldn't I hold myself to that same standard on the other end?   
I mean..  after we buy all these bags of organic avocados...  is there anyone checking up with us later to make sure that those delicious, nuggets of perfection went to fuel an equally impressive purpose?   No.   There isn't.
After we buy this higher-minded food, we are sort of left to our own.      
There is all this forethought and wisdom that went into the act of input...  but no one is really holding us accountable for happens afterward. 
I want to believe that we eat honorable food...  because we want to become honorable people.
I want to believe that we value what goes into us because we also value the energy and output that leaves our bodies.  

Maybe we should consider a new agreement with our food.
Maybe we should give thought, not just to what we eat..  but also to the purpose of why we eat it.  
If we're slurping up some sautéed Brussel sprouts, maybe we should also take a moment to think about how this (superior energy) is going to be used in a superior way. 
If we are intent of eating foods whose origin has helped make the world a better place..  then maybe we should also be intent on using the energy from those foods to create a better place. 

...thoughts while devouring organic blackberries. 



Andrew Tipton

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