Why Eating Rice Is Good For Your Soul

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1. Rice is simple. It's nothing fancy and doesn't have a powerful flavor. In fact it's rather bland and this is a good thing. We live in times of major sensory overload, which can numb and alienate the soul. Our bodies and physical senses are good things in themselves, but it's very clear that we've gone off the deep end in the 21st century and lost all sense of proportion or balance. We're constantly jamming our ears with music whether we're driving, jogging, working, playing, or enjoying a meal at a restaurant, it seems that music is everywhere now. Our eyes are assaulted by all the visual information we drink in at our computers, on television, on billboards... everywhere we go, there are images grabbing at our eyes, screaming out for our attention. Smells likewise tug at our noses, telling us to ignore that voice that says "Not so fast, you need to lose a couple pounds." With all this sensory overload, it's good for the soul to take a break and eat something simple and almost tasteless, something that doesn't inflame the body's appetite for stimulus. When you take a break from the never-ending stream of physical sensory data, your attention can focus elsewhere and you become more spiritually perceptive. Try having a bowl of rice with the TV off, no music, and no other distractions. While eating, let yourself be still and contemplative. Make it a quiet moment to rest a little.

Photo from: Public Domain Pictures.net

2. Rice is cheap. I discovered a great trick to saving money my sophomore year of college. I'd go to a nearby international food market and buy a large bag of rice that would last me all semester. You can get a 20 lb bag for less than $20. You get a lot of bang for your buck when you buy rice, and by "bang" I mean "meals." This is certainly good for your wallet, but it's also good for your soul. Living more humbly and more within your means is a spiritual discipline. While it's tempting to blow a bunch of money on a big dinner at a local restaurant, staying home and eating cheaply is a triumph of the soul, an act of unselfishness that says, "I will not pander to and indulge my every desire." What makes it even better for your soul is that you save money that can be given away. You can give it to a cause you support or to a charity that will feed and clothe the needy. You can have pizza every week, or you can cut the pizza back to once a month and have rice as an alternative. Just a few dollars can buy a lot more rice in the third world for someone else to eat.

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3. Rice contains no meat. Eating meat is not a bad thing in itself, but too much meat is. Meat inflames the body's passions and makes you more animal-like, feeding not just your stomach, but the predatory and carnal element of your soul. In the Garden, man ate no meat and drank no wine- these are staples of our post-Fall diet. It is no wonder that most of the great world religions have varying prohibitions on eating meat. Most monks of all the world's major religions abstain from eating it entirely. Devout Hindus and Buddhists are also vegetarians. Though lost to much of modern, Protestant Christianity, there is a strong tradition of fasting from meat, wine, oil, and dairy products in the Church. As noted above, Christian monks still hold to this practice and Eastern Orthodox Christians spend roughly half the year fasting from these foods. Excluding meat from your diet once in awhile and having a simple, vegetarian meal of rice (perhaps with beans to supply more protein) is a spiritual discipline. It brings balance to your diet, suppressing the animal instinct for meat-consumption and lifting you to a higher place spiritually.