A Ceremony of the Ordinary

"This is the moment when we are most human, when we most acknowledge the fallibility of our nature-that we must take the lives of other species in order to sustain our own."

"The Tibetans place the first food of a meal outside the door as an offering to hungry spirits. We have wandered so far from this sense of meal as a holy gift. Our food comes too easily. We care less about sustenance, more about choice. We judge the meal, we do not honor it. Only the one who lifts the hand in preparation senses even dimly the sacred significance residing in the act."

The Small Graces- The quiet gifts of everyday life by Kent Nerburn