Desire and GREED

There is a funny paradox in one’s greed.

The more the one chase its desire, more likely end up in misery, in stead to have a satisfaction.

It is said, there are only two motivations which drives the man’s life. One is the sex and the other is greed.

— it might be true as the fundamental instincts for survival are the own survival and the survival of the species.

For own survival, the one has to eat. To eat enough and well, it needs to find the source and the mean to get it

= virtually all the human culture is for this system, directory or indirectly.

And the cynics even said, to eat and live is for a purpose of to perform sex. (How exciting. —– but if it was the

case, surviving without performing a sexual act, is it a waste of the life ? —– somebody made a joke,

it’s a small change after spending spree 😀 )

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Eat just enough is classified as bare essential —– but more than that is called as [Greed] 😀

Eat more than necessary would end up with obesity but I may not be a good adviser for this topics since

I couldn’t understand why it happens, since I’m not an addict to any food and having the same body weight

(60kg) since I was 16 years old.

Yet, strangely I can eat an enormous amount in one go —– once, when I went to the Saudi Arabia, Jeddha to set up

an audio-visual multi-screen display for a Motor Show, as well as photographing all those process, I needed to

work pretty hard —– and seeing me eating two portions of meal, a man from advertising agency from Japan said

“Now I understand where your energy and the power came from”

“Of cause, you can’t fight with empty stomach” 😀

But, when the body needs very little, such as a time just dealing with electronic circuit, sitting all day = I even

forgot to eat. —– (Still, drink 1.5~2 litters / 3~4 pints of tea in a day = it is a must for my body)

So that, I have no idea how and why some people can keep eating while getting fat without feeling nausea.

—– couldn’t they feel what the body is telling and see the situation in the mirror ?

( uncontrollable addiction is different from a simple desire or greed, still as I wrote in the earliest post,

eating disorder such as anorexia is a wrong program in the subconsciousness = it’s a matter of the person’s

mind-set of which the Zen is specialized to deal with )

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Life is a total system. Hence, it’s called Life Style.

But this style is not like a fashion, it can not be simply changed day by day or each occasion.

And as it is the total system, it is hard to tinker the corner, as the system operates in relation to every

elements / subsystem. —– Mind set is synchronizing with this system.

Simple example is the shopping.   The food you buy is what you eat. = you may say “Of cause”

—– really ?  Just think, how much food you have been throwing away from the fridge or didn’t finish to eat.

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If you think to slim-down to simple life, you have to start to change from the shopping habit.

Buy only the food for bare essential, and make a pattern what to buy in where.  If you are likely to

eat little of that cooking, make it only small portion for just enough amount and finish all of them.

—– once the pattern is established, gradually remove a kind of food which is not essential or

self-indulgent kind, namely sweets, crisps and chocolate, even ice cream 🙂

Having the food on front and curve the desire is a fruitless attempt.

Better start with not to buy, not to have it.

So, set the mind [I can’t spend the money for this kind. I’m a poor person] —– (I don’t think if

anybody think, to buy chocolate is a sign of rich person though. 😀 )

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At Morison I buy Danish bread, Carrot, Onion, Sprouts, Leaf Tea and Honey. = Because I can choose exact size

of vegetable (because I eat all of them in one meal) and their Danish bread found to be the best so far.

At Lidl I buy Chicken, Apples, Tinned Fish  (my cloths, shoes and junk goods and tools = cheap :-D)

And Iceland, I buy only their Eggs and Single Cream (for Tea and for creamy soup).

At street market, I buy Green Pepper, strange fruits, and exotic vegetables. —– as this shopping habit is

fixed, I only goes to particular corner and I buy nothing else  ( to do Japanese cooking

I go up to the China Town to buy Tofu, Sea weed etc.)

Since, my mind got only those essentials, others such as sweets are just a passing land-scape.

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Here that paradox is = set the mind as poor person and abandon greed can bring the more

well-shaped rich life. = (Best of all, I don’t get ill. 🙂 )

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PS :  Some of you might be wondering, what I’m cooking out of such limited ingredients. —– I used to

think, I’m a good cook and when I ate something “Oh, I know how it was cooked and I can do too” though,

I gave up to think like this, as I became aware how it is the specialized and delicate area of the skill.

I left gourmet food to the specialized restaurant.  I know it’s there, but may not on my life.  That’s it.

To accept the limit is a part of the contemplation, and this is the departure away from the greed.

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