A Subconscious Connection
Subconsciously, a person will often reach for something sweet or savory to eat when experiencing feelings of unhapiness. The pleasurable experience of eating becomes a mechanism to help a person to forget what is presently bothering him.
However, a person does not just forget his feelings of unhapiness while eating. Caught in the physicality of food, a person also temporarily forgets Hashem.
A craving to snack may not be a true expression of the body's desire for nourishment. It may be the neshamah's call to remind us to connect with our Creator.
However, a person does not just forget his feelings of unhapiness while eating. Caught in the physicality of food, a person also temporarily forgets Hashem.
A craving to snack may not be a true expression of the body's desire for nourishment. It may be the neshamah's call to remind us to connect with our Creator.
5 Comments:
So very true.
In a Weight Watchers meeting I attended a few months ago, they discussed that the feeling if hunger is very similar to the feeling associated with being thirsty. Our stomach feels empty, we have low energy, etc.
I realized that since we associate water with Torah, it often is that "craving" for something sweet that is, like you wrote, only a substitute for a true thirst for Torah.
Doesn't saying the berachos help maintain a connection with HaShem while eating?
sNeil, I've heard that to, that we don't know how to recognize and differentiate between thirst and hunger. Bob- Brachot do help us connect to Hashem even when eating, but still just because you make a brocha does not give you permission to eat like a pig! Something I need to remember myself!
If I recall correctly, the Maor V'Shemesh says exactly that. And the Piasetzner quotes him and speaks at length about the difficulty in discerning the urge of the neshama from the urge of hunger.
This is so very true, really like your blog.
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