Why does a person live?
Probably, everyone gives themselves an answer to this question, and everyone then receives the consequences of this answer. You can live like a flower - breathe air, absorb water and bask in the sun. But what is suitable for a flower is completely unsuitable for a person.
Happiness and pleasure at the level of the physical body still leave some kind of emptiness that cannot be filled with food, money, or entertainment. Because man is first and foremost a spiritual being. And, if a person lives at the level of satisfying instincts, he is no different from an animal. And this is as absurd as trying to fill an electric car with diesel.
Of course, there must be balance in everything. Spiritual and material food are equally important for humans
. Man is first and foremost a soul, but without a physical body the soul will not be able to act in the material world. There is also a problem when a person is carried away by spiritual food, but at the same time, in terms of bodily food, he eats anything. Physical food affects consciousness, so all advanced spiritual practitioners and holy people refused to eat slaughter food. Because you can’t talk about compassion while chewing a cutlet. Or rather, you can, of course, talk, but there’s no point in it.
Therefore, food and spiritual development are inextricably linked
. If we eat simple natural food, it means that we are one with nature, our food does not cause harm or violence to anyone, and first of all to ourselves. Because fried potatoes are also violence. Over your liver. And it won't end well.
But proper nutrition is not everything. Spiritual development is no less important. How to eat spiritual food? When Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert, one day Satan told him: “If you are the Son of God, turn stones into bread.” To which Jesus answered the tempter: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And Jesus further taught during the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” That is, he gave instructions to constantly seek the truth, and it will certainly be revealed to the seeker.
What is spiritual food? This is reading
Quite a lot of different things have been said about spiritual food. But most often it means reading. For example, this is what John Chrysostom writes:
John Chrysostom
Archbishop of Constantinople, theologian
“Reading for the soul is spiritual food, which strengthens the mind and makes the soul strong, firm and wise, and does not allow it to be carried away by unreasonable passions.”
There are books that are empty and others that are harmful. Rather, it makes sense to talk about reading as spiritual food in a historical sense. In earlier times, there was no written language, and people passed on knowledge orally.
Of course, not every text is spiritual food.
This sounds fantastic to us, but the ancient Indo-Aryans memorized texts that are comparable to the complete works of A.S. Pushkin.
What motivates such devotion? Obviously not a desire for erudition. The knowledge that received such an honor was not artistic, but spiritual works.
St. Mark, like all the Evangelists, is depicted with a manuscript: reading the Holy Scriptures is the most important spiritual food
Subsequently, people lost this skill and began to write down the most important texts. This was done by:
- Sumerians;
- Egyptians;
- Jews.
And writing initially recorded only the most valuable knowledge - spiritual food.
Where to look for food for the spirit
Nutrition for the spiritual and moral development of a person can be obtained from the following sources:
- Literature is one of the main sources of spiritual food. Reading various types of literary works allows you to get answers to questions of a moral, philosophical and educational nature. Also, scientific and philosophical works teach one to analyze, compare and draw conclusions from the knowledge gained.
- Classical and religious music, motivating a person to think about the essence of human life, promoting the manifestation of feelings and emotions. There are cases where religious music opened the way for people to the temple and helped them find the path to the Lord.
- Theatrical art and cinema ennoble a person and contribute to the enrichment of his emotional sphere.
When choosing spiritual food, you should remember that not all food is good for the body. Not every work of art contributes to spiritual development. One should be especially careful with pseudo-religious art, which carries false ideals and alienates a person from the Lord. It is necessary to clearly distinguish between works of an entertaining nature and serious works that satiate the mind, heart and spirit of a person.
Spiritual food is needed to reveal important truths to a person’s soul
It is useful for a person to select an acceptable diet for every day. The same is true with spiritual food. There is little use in reading the same thing every day, or just reading everything indiscriminately.
How much benefit would there be if a person ate only nuts, or ate everything that came to hand? No. The body would either become oversaturated with individual substances or die from poisoning.
The same applies to the human soul. It is a fragile substance, and therefore needs to be taken care of.
From reading we gain spiritual knowledge and can apply it in life.
Does this mean that a person should not read Agatha Christie, Bram Stoker, Stephen King? Not at all. Reading is an activity of a cultured person, it has many useful things:
- fantasy game;
- study of language forms;
- sophisticated work of thought;
- enrichment of knowledge (we also say: “food for the mind”);
- entertainment, after all.
But there are other books whose goal is not to play with the intellect and imagination, but to appeal directly to the soul, to reveal to it the most important truths for a person. And the person himself is transformed. As the Holy Scripture says:
2 Cor. 3:18
“...beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”
The Apostle Paul says: “As we behold the glory of the Lord, we will be transformed into the same image.”
You are what you eat
Photo by Jc Laurio: Pexels
In addition to products, people absorb information. Some of it passes by, but the rest influences the formation of his worldview.
In a certain sense, spiritual food is something that has an immediate and long-term impact on the individual and, therefore, throughout life, because it is painful or joyful thoughts and ideas that shape human existence.
Information from the outside gives you those “magic tools” that help you live a happy and fulfilling life.
Therefore, a kind of spiritual hygiene is very important. For her, it is enough to periodically arrange information detoxes, or take the following actions on an ongoing basis:
- reduce time on social networks;
- do not watch or read unpleasant news;
- reduce your social media feeds to a few really interesting posts a day;
- reduce the number of subscriptions;
- where possible – disable advertising;
- avoid literary and cinematic “garbage”.
Spiritual food
Even seemingly small things can affect your thinking and well-being. Painful or joyful thoughts and ideas that cause corresponding feelings influence decisions and actions. And thus, spiritual nutrition controls behavior, which helps build reality here and now.
Quantum physicists confirm that everything in the universe is energy, including thoughts and ideas. A reality formed on a specific spiritual nourishment has the ability to be supplemented with energy of the same quality, that is, to connect.
Therefore, you connect with people and situations that receive approximately the same informational food. On the one hand, it’s easier to communicate with peers. On the other hand, to reach a new quality level you will have to reconsider what you “eat”.
Only divinely inspired scriptures and good deeds are useful to a person as spiritual food.
Not all spiritual food is needed by a person.
There is such an Eastern aphorism:
“Even a drop of poison can ruin a bucket of milk.”
And what’s doubly bad is that “milk” is also a good conductor. The poison is better absorbed by the body. Fortify yourself with such a product - and that’s it, your fate will be deplorable.
There are many texts that use religion or any scripture as a cover as milk. For example, a person writes second-rate detective stories, and suddenly in his novel there is a passage about Christ, faith, salvation.
It seems to be good from a Christian point of view. But no. There is so much misunderstanding, falsehood, narcissism, false self-deprecation and pseudo-philosophy in this that it becomes scary.
Sermons have no place in fiction books, they are for something else, but the main thing is Scripture.
Still, the artistic writer must remain within the framework of fiction, and he must leave the preaching to those who have been taught this and are able to present the Holy Scripture in its pure form. Therefore, as spiritual food for an Orthodox person, the following are useful:
- Bible;
- Lives of Saints;
- Works of the Church Fathers and prominent theologians.
Actually, any believer in the era of audio books is able to fill his life with spiritual reading at any convenient time when he can concentrate on it.
Monks eat earthly food while listening to spiritual food.
Reading spiritual books is a typical practice in monastic life.
And although we are mostly talking about reading, it should be noted that spiritual food is not limited to it. Any righteous deed is also a spiritual experience and it acts in a similar way, bringing a person closer to God.
But we will talk about this further when we look into the works of Christian leaders.
Working with thoughts
You can try another practice to work with your own thinking. In moments when you feel bad, imagine what you really like in order to be saturated with joyful thoughts and ideas. Feel how your condition is improving.
When everything is good, consciously think about what you don’t like. Most likely, your mood will begin to deteriorate and unpleasant sensations will appear.
Knowing that it is thoughts and their corresponding ideas that create a feeling of discomfort or a sense of well-being, and that you have every right to choose what exactly you think about, has a positive effect on your outlook.
God's word is the main spiritual food for a Christian
Holy Scripture is the main spiritual food because you can find in it much that is useful for the believer:
- An example of the courage of the righteous;
- Comfort reading about God's providence;
- Deep reflections on spiritual topics;
- Strength to strengthen the spirit;
- Inspiration for the spiritual path;
- The road to God.
The Bible is the most important spiritual food for a Christian.
A person who turns to the Bible is invincible: in it he finds Divine light in order to walk in its rays through life. And therefore, the Apostle Peter, through the thickness of centuries, calls on humanity:
1 Peter 2:1–3
“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander, like newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow to salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
But the main idea, as Jesus Christ always expresses. He says:
In. 6, 26-27, 32-33, 35
“Truly I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw miracles, but because you ate the bread and were filled. Do not strive for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. Truly I say to you, My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
The bread that Christ distributed is perhaps an allegory of knowledge. And then we understand that he offers us not simple, but spiritual bread. That is, we are talking about a metaphor.
the sign of the fish is a symbol of the early Christians, perhaps because of it the story of the loaves and fishes arose, although they were not earthly, but spiritual food
And here it is appropriate to make a digression and say that a number of researchers even assume that the disciples of the Messiah conveyed much in the text metaphorically. And the bread with which the listeners of Christ were satisfied was knowledge.
What about fish? And there is an explanation. The fish icon was depicted in places where Christians gathered. This symbol was identified with our faith even before the cross replaced it.
But that's a completely different story.
How to track it
You can do a simple practice of analyzing how qualitatively spiritual food influences the thinking of a particular person.
To do this, write down associations associated with a specific area of life. For example, if you take a job. Your first association: “You can’t catch a fish out of a pond without difficulty”? That is, it sits in your head that without great effort there will be no reward. This thought belongs to a person, but on what is it based? On what books, films, words of parents?
Every annoying thought that actually interferes with life must be replaced in writing with a more pleasant one. Remember, for example, those books where a miracle happened and the “fish” came without exhausting labor. Write it down. Then try to look for confirmation of the new belief in external information. You will be surprised, but there will be a lot of them.
The Holy Fathers taught that spiritual food is in everything
The Monk Macarius of Optina believed that the soul needs spiritual food no less than physical food:
Macarius Optina
clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church
“Reading spiritual books enlightens our mind and shows the path to salvation, nourishes the soul just as physical food nourishes the body. We learn what we must do to fulfill the will of God; and recognizing our weakness, we ask for God’s help, we repent, we humble ourselves: but God looks upon the humble (Ps. 113:6) and gives them His grace (Prov. 3:34).”
The Monks Barsanuphius and John the Prophet taught to find spiritual food in everything:
John the Prophet
Christian saint, disciple of St. Barsanuphius
“Everything must be done with reason and the fear of God. When you happen to go somewhere, do not expect to find peace there, and you will not be embarrassed, and when, having dreamed of finding it, you do not find it, you will slander the one who received you, but slander is the death of the soul. Give thanks for everything, for in this lies spiritual and soul-healthy food and peace.”
Christ prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, and this reminds believers that prayer is also spiritual food.
St. Ephraim the Syrian did not use the concept of “spiritual food,” but we can clearly see that he spoke specifically about it. Ephraim the Syrian points out that food for the spirit is exploits, labor and benefactors:
Ephraim Sirin
Christian theologian and poet
“Just as a child born in this age does not remain in infancy forever, but grows daily as a result of necessity, according to the inexplicable laws of nature, until he comes to a perfect man, in the fullness of rational concepts, in the same way one who is born again by water and the Spirit must be raised not to the infancy of spiritual age, but, daily being in feat, labor and much patience, is obliged through the struggle with the spiritual opponent to succeed and grow to the fullness of spiritual age.”
“Soup” according to my own recipe
Now you know that the recipe for your “soup” can be changed by your positive thoughts and ideas. This is the only way to create an unforgettable taste of your life - knowing what suits your personality best.
Photo by Elly Fairytale: Pexels
People generally feel better when they switch their mental diet from heavy to light, namely from negative thoughts to positive ones. At first it is difficult to deny your frightening, angry, sad beliefs, but many have become accustomed to their bitter aftertaste
Thanks to their upbringing, their observations and experiences, everyone “eats” in a certain way.
However, with patience and self-love, you can, step by step, at your own “pace,” develop spiritual food that is beneficial for you. Then the usual “soup” recipe will become unique.
Hieromonk Dorotheos wrote that spiritual food leads a person to the Lord
But the priest Dorotheos approached the consideration of spiritual food in especially detail. He taught that spiritual food is in everything, but the degree of its usefulness, as in the case of ordinary food, varies:
Abba Dorotheus
holy monk
“In all spiritual food there is one leaven—the grace of the Holy Spirit. But the word for reason has different tastes. Here is simple, monotonous, moderate and easily understandable spiritual food, sufficiently satiating and delighting the soul. Let him who understands understand what is said.”
Further, Dorotheus emphasized that the physical and spiritual have many similarities that we sometimes do not notice:
“The beginning of everything is God’s love for mankind, inexpressible and endless. For God gave people mental and physical feelings. The mental feelings are as follows: consciousness, thinking, speech, imagination, perception. And the bodily senses are: sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch. With their help we perform virtues, mental and physical.”
Hieromonk Dorotheos assured that books useful for the spirit were written according to the will of God and are designed to awaken the best feelings in a person:
“And the books were written according to the will of God. So that a person reflects on books and learns. And the beginning of spiritual wisdom is the fear of God. Fear gives birth to faith. Faith gives birth to hope, hope gives birth to love for God and people. Love gives birth to mercy, obedience, patience and much more. Patience gives birth to obedience and every virtue, for it is the source of all virtues. Obedience breeds trust. Hope lays the foundation for fasting. Fasting gives rise to spiritual and physical purity, and silence. Silence gives birth to abstinence, prayer, tears and cuts off all evil tongues. Abstinence gives rise to vigil, prayer, cheerfulness, tenderness, tears, sobriety and much more. Crying gives rise to fear of God and selflessness. Selflessness gives birth to truth and cuts off all deceit. The truth is brighter than the sun. For truth is God Himself.”
This is how spiritual food leads a person to God. Next, the priest continues the chain of cause-and-effect relationships on a person’s spiritual path:
“And all the righteous, like the sun, will shine with righteousness and the paleness of their bodies from all troubles and suffering, and will gain eternal life. Prayer gives rise to sobriety of mind, prudence, insight, tears, and joy. Tears give birth to humility of heart and meekness. Humility gives rise to humility, insight, and modesty. Humility cuts off proud arrogance, conceit and vanity, and cultivates spiritual fruit. From these virtues all passions, mental and physical, disappear. And little by little grace grows in us, and we achieve perfection and are saved. The physically healthy, tormented by carnal passions, should acquire all these virtues. And the weak, who live in them with the help of God, need nothing more than holy humility and the Jesus Prayer, and thanksgiving, with which all these virtues are inexhaustibly filled.”
Hieromonk Dorofey recommended supplementing spiritual reading with good deeds and the regular Jesus Prayer.
Among the most important forms of spiritual food for holy monks, Dorotheos mentioned the Jesus Prayer:
“Prayer removes all thoughts so much that everything worldly seems like dust and ashes. When the soul tastes the sweetness of prayer, then a person begins to despise his corruptible life. Desires neither beauty nor pleasure. He forgets himself and everyone living on earth.”
The Jesus Prayer can lead a believer into the Kingdom of God:
“When the Jesus Prayer flows through a spiritual action in the soul, mind and heart of a person, then, like the Divine, it remains with him constantly, in an incomprehensible connection, filling him with a ray of heavenly Light with its flow. And when his mind is privileged to feel this joy and the glory of the coming bliss, then the person forgets himself, despises both his life and everything earthly, as he briefly said before. And after this he does not accept aspirations for anything worldly and no desires. Because unexpectedly joy ignites in him and sweetness never ceases, replacing food for his tongue and womb. For joy and a certain sweetness constantly bubble up from his heart. And everything suddenly envelops a person for a while, and for some time it remains in abundance. His whole body is filled with a certain spiritual food, aasamna, and radiant joy. And it is impossible to express and convey this in bodily language. And, remembering this, man considers everything in the present century to be ashes and earth, dust and rubbish. And when this joy and food comes over a person, powerfully filling his entire body, then the Kingdom of Heaven appears to him as nothing other than this.”
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Consequences of spiritual fasting
Failure to satisfy spiritual hunger leads to a person’s distance from the Lord, which leads to an attempt to replace true spiritual food with products of mass culture aimed at satisfying bodily needs. This leads to the replacement of human virtues with sinful vices: violence, aggression, adultery, fornication, murder, thirst for hoarding.
Humanity should remember that the opportunity to join true spiritual life is given by the Lord. But he can take this gift away. The Bible says that a time will come when virgins and young men will wander in search of the Word of God.
But not finding it, they will languish from unsatisfied spiritual thirst and hunger. Therefore, one should not delay entering the path of approaching the Kingdom of Heaven and neglect the spiritual food sent by the Lord.
Source
Bread of heaven in the desert
What happened to Israel during the 40 years of wandering?
They got used to the manna and complained.
(Numbers 11:5)
We remember the fish that we ate for free in Egypt, cucumbers and melons, and onions, and onions and garlic;
And this is not true, they never ate for nothing because they were slaves.
How many products are mentioned here?
6 products is the number of a person.
(Numbers 11:6)
and now our soul languishes; there is nothing, only manna in our eyes.
The food of heaven (bread of heaven) - the food of the strong has become for them that from which their soul languishes. They were hungry for something more than manna.
Every time you hear a sermon about Jesus, you receive something fresh and powerful for your life.
When you see Jesus, you are transformed. If you accept the heavenly bread, you will be freed and healed. Your marriage can be transformed by looking to Jesus.
A comment!
Thank God for preaching that puts Jesus first.
Copper serpent: meaning
(Numbers 21:8)
And the Lord said to Moses: Make yourself a serpent and put it on a banner, and if you are bitten, you look at it and you will live.
Jesus said to Nicodemus: (John 3:14)
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
Jesus is the brass serpent that Moses made. And He was placed on the cross - a type of what will happen when Jesus dies on the cross for our sins. And everyone who looks at Him will live.
A comment!
Don't look at your symptoms and your condition, your lostness and depression, but look at His saving power.
Why did biting snakes appear in the desert?
Snakes have always been in the desert, but they didn't cause any harm until something happened.
(Numbers 21:5)
and the people spoke against God and against Moses: Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert, for here there is neither bread nor water, and our souls are disgusted with this worthless food.
(Numbers 21:6)
And the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, which bit the people. And a great multitude of the children of Israel died.
The brass serpent is a type of salvation and healing.
The bread of heaven (manna) is also a type of Jesus Christ.
If the people of Israel had eaten manna and not complained, they would have all been healthy.
(Numbers 21:5)
for there is neither bread nor water here, and our souls are sick of this worthless food.
This is not true, every time water was needed it was there.
What does “bad food” mean?
This means treating a given subject superficially.
And also the word “worthless” is the same root as the word “curse”.
This is when you treat superficially what your wife, husband or children said. In fact, by doing this you are cursing them.
When you give weight to them and their words, take the time to listen to them, open your eyes and ears, you clothe these people with glory.
Peace Sacrifice Law
The word "world" in Hebrew is plural, that is, "sacrifice of the worlds."
(Lev 7:30) C
with both hands he must offer a sacrifice to the Lord: he must offer the fat with his breasts, shaking his breasts before the face of the Lord;
(Lev 7:31)
The priest will burn the fat on the altar, and the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons;
Our High Priest today is Jesus, and His sons are all of us. What belongs to our High Priest belongs to us. Jesus was sacrificed on the cross as a peace offering.
When we read the Bible, we should pay attention to His love. You are fed by the love of Jesus. Jesus Himself feeds on His love for us, and we feed on His love for us. His food is to love us.
In the Bible, food is associated with pleasure. Jesus delights in showing you love.
