Day Eleven, In Which I Experiment

 A big push for my understanding of this particular act of contemplation is of the idea of All or Nothing.

In terms of mind and body... 

If you eat healthy, do you have to meditate?

If you meditate, do you have to wear natural fibers?

If you wear natural fibers, do you have to be aware of dyes in our food?

If you're aware of dyes in our food, do you have to be versed in quantum physics?

This, to my mind, seems a little less messy. It clearly isn't all or nothing. I know people who only eat organic, but they also vaccinate their kids, and I know people who will criticize your choice of consuming fluoride but have no concept of what synthetic fibers could be doing to you. - And they're all okay with it!

In terms of Jewishness or Judaism, the lines seem much blurrier.

If you're Jewish (start at the base), do you have to keep kosher?

If you do keep kosher, are you Shabbos shomer?

If you are Shabbos shomer, do you dress tzniut?

And it goes on and on: have you been to Israel? Have you been to day camp? Sleep away camp? Do you wear tzitzit? A tallit? Do you cut your sideburns? Do you own a copy of the Talmud? 

Is it all or nothing? And if there's a hierarchy in your mind of these things, Mind & Body OR Jewish, do you feel like you can't embrace something meaningful because you haven't embraced something lower on your scale that you find just doesn't resonate well with you?

I am kosher-ish. If it is available as kosher, it is my preference. I cannot afford kosher meat. ($11 for a pound of chicken? What am I? Rockefeller?) Does this, one of the most basic steppingstones of living Jewishly, stop me from proceeding any further?

These were my thoughts yesterday in which I prepared to run to the grocery store (we were out of dish detergent) in my joggers and tennis shoes. 

Do... I... cover? 

I'm not dressed tzniut in this moment. Am I allowed to cover and wear athletic clothes? Or should I just... be secular for a half an hour out of my day?

Should I forgo meditation because I decided to eat a donut?

Let's add a layer. Should I forgo meditation when the donut that I ate was kosher?

Is it all or nothing?

Who gets to judge your pathway?

Who determined the hierarchy you're observing right now?

And if it's anyone other than you determining or judging your progress, why are you allowing that?

Who are they?

And if it's you, you're acknowledging that it's you, then why aren't you being more gracious with yourself?

Do the things which you have the want and the capacity to do in the moment. 

Eat the donut, but meditate.

Wear the joggers and still cover.

Very infrequently are things so interdependent that your whole scheme falls apart from one tired moment, from one misjudgment.