Food for thought

FOOD FOR THOUGHT !

On a tortilla spread a thin straight line of tomato paste cheerfully off center. Over this spread a thicker layer of re-fried beans followed with a small sampling of tomato sauce. Cover this concoction with a layer of chopped onion, preferably leek, and add a clove of chopped garlic. Add spices to taste and blanket the whole with a sprinkling of tasty cheese. Roll up the tortilla, bake for five minutes and, lo and behold, you have one of my quite famous burritos.

A Tibetan lama of my acquaintance, a rinpoche no less, that is to say, a reincarnation of a deceased Lama, scoffed at the idea that the universe is expanding, despite the scientific evidence formulated within the last century. “Where can it expand,” he asked, “there is no where that it can expand, there is nothing beyond it into which it can expand, nothing beyond the universe?” This the exact point, which he was unable to grasp due to his belief in an infinite universe. Yet it is precisely beyond the expanding universe that there is nothing, an infinite void which contains only the finite universe, an eternal void containing the temporal universe, a spiritual void confining the material universe, an absolute void containing a universe in which everything is relative.

This material, finite universe is rushing to expand since time, even thirteen and a half billion years of it, is limited. The spiritual void has no cognizance of time. It is infinite and absolute. It is also, however, the living seed within the universe. Every form of life contains this spiritual seed. If merely one seed blossoms to its absolute potential unswayed by the relativity of existence, the universe must be dissolved, the relative negative consumed by the absolute positive, love and hate overpowered by the spiritual void’s absolute love. Our only task is to ally ourselves with this love by believing in love’s absolute power to overcome hate, in the power of the positive, the true power of the spiritual void within life, to annul the false power of the negative, and then, of course, in living by what we believe.

This, of course is the great paradox, that the void is positive and that the negative only exists within the universe, confined within relativity and soon to be annulled by the void’s absolute power, the material dissolved within the spiritual. Yet, the spiritual appears weak within the rational actuality of relativity since rational thought objectifies the material of the universe and refuses to accept a transcendent reality, the spiritual reality of the void. In this regard, also, relatively few individuals have come to terms with the discovery that the universe is finite, preferring the comfort of Newtonian infinity to the theories of relativity.

On a Mediterranean pita bread spread a thin layer of tomato paste and cover with a layer of tomato sauce followed by a thick layer of sliced zucchini. Add spices to taste, cover with grated cheese and a little pepper, black or cayenne, and bake in a toaster oven for ten minutes. A simple, tasteful, vegetarian pizza.

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