Let's step back. And look at what we have done so far. This blog is about mindfulness. And if you are not familiar with the vocabulary used here I suggest you start with basics like, what is mindfulness, values, metal objects and information sphere. However, even without those background knowledge, if you read slowly trying to understand the meaning following dialogue will make sense. And you will find out how to eat a mango, Mindfully.
Untasty Mangoes.
My daughter brought a cut up mango, given by her grandfather. She ate all of it except two pieces and she had a complaint. The remining two pieces were, little crushed and looked, untasty. That's exactly what she ment. She ment, the mango pieces on the plate were untasty.
I could do nothing but smile and ask "How can you tell that those pieces are untasty?, Did you eat them?". (obviously she did not, they were there on the plate, just like other pieces which were, before they ended up in her tummy)
"No, they look untasty". And everyone agreed, they are untasty. Or rather "Looked untasty". This let me wonder where the taste is. And I looked at the mind and questioned.
Obviously, the unpleasent pieces looked untasty. But the obvious question is how? How can a mind ever know something is untasty? If you would agree if I give you 100 different pieces of mangoes, which looks the same, but from different mango types, you would not be able to tell which is the tastiest unless you taste them. So, it is fundamentally wrong to talk about taste without tasting something. Would you agree that since the world was invented by the great wizard every moment of human 'taste' was associated with a human toungue? (and all the mechanism behind it including conciousness)
Where is mango taste?
Now here is an interesting fact. Everyone talks about mango taste. Like the taste is something within the mango. But the problem is the taste is not in the mango, not at all. If you create exact chemical composition of the mango, with chemicals, the mango 'flavour' can be created in a laborotory. Imagine you put these chemicals into a piece of cake and you would feel the 'mango taste' when you eat this cake. How am I sure of it? Because we have been doing this for a long time now. We have been extracting essence of taste of different natural fruits and artificially making our food taste like it.
Is it in the toungue?
Compare this? Can you talk about a mango taste without talking about a tounge? Never, there has not been a mango taste since the begining of humans, without human tounge. So, the mango taste, which we thought initially in the mango, is not at all in the mango. It is a special 'mapping' in our toungue and brain, to identify a specific chemical composition. It looks like 'mango taste' is a 'stimulation' we get when whatever the substance in the mango reacts with our toungue. (you can read more about how taste is formed here)
So then, is the mango taste in the tongue? Not at all. Tounge doesn't produce a mango taste unless it is stimulated by a mango chemical, or similar substance. It is just a reaction by the body to the stimulus.
How to eat a mango Mindfully
Now here is a thought. This mango taste, lasts only for a fraction of a second you feel it in your toungue. It is not there until it touches your mouth. It is not there once you swallow it. It is not there until the mango is in your tree. It is not there in the mango in your basket. The mango taste is not there even in the pieces on her plate. Not in the crushed ones. Not even beautiful tasty looking ones. It is just there on the toungue. And the taste we feel is just a drop of honey. But to bring this small fraction of a second, 'mango taste' we take a lot of trouble. Is it worth? Oh no I am not against the mindfulness which makes me taste the mango. Mindfulness can be used to enjoy the mango to the fullest. But that is not the true goal of mindfulness. Its just a side effect that you feel the taste better when you are mindful. But the true meaning of mindfulness is to see the errors in our conciousness. Which makes us blind from everyday truths.
The 'taste of mango' you craved (or hated) was a creation of your mind. The true 'taste' of mango was there, just for a fraction of second (maybe you missed most of this), and once its gone you again started to 'think about another taste, which was created by your mind'. So next time when you crave a mango, see where the 'taste of mango comes from' and ask yourself, is this the 'true taste or the fake one'?
Why should we eat mindfully?
You may ask why? Why should we look at a mango, and separate it's taste from the mango?
I would say because that is the truth. The mind decieves us showing a taste which is outside. But it is inside, or more precisely speaking, 'taste is you'. I know this will tickle you a little bit. But not to the level you stop everything else you are doing and start living mindfulness. But, when your life troubles are overwhelming, remember these little tickles and come back here. Read again and see weather you fully understand these little everyday wisdom mindfulness teaches us.
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