I am still learning to cook.

To sustain is “to supply with food, drink, and other necessities of life.”

In this world today, there are more than 8 billion evolving definitions for necessities.

To nourish is “to strengthen, build up, or promote.”

To cook is to work toward sustenance and/or nourishment.

(Definitions from dictionary.com)

To cook seriously is to put forth my best effort, believing my best effort will always be ahead of me.

For me, cooking is cleansing; spiritual; nourishment on multiple levels.

Cooking brings me happiness.

Definition from a friend: “Happiness is something that makes you smile, that gives you a sense of wonder, that you like, that you appreciate, that speaks to you, that brings you joy, that is tied to [but goes beyond] your physical senses.”

I believe Happiness is in one’s search for unattainable Truth and Wisdom. And I believe to experience a sense of wonder and/or joy is to catch a fleeting glimpse of Truth and Wisdom; and to glimpse Truth and Wisdom in this way may encourage one to more consciously seek Truth and Wisdom. But I also believe, as a Human, to consciously seek Truth and Wisdom is to foster dissatisfaction. And for some, to consciously seek Truth and Wisdom is to open oneself to the possibility of debilitating dissatisfaction. Yet dissatisfaction is necessary to strive toward Truth and Wisdom. All of this is why so many of us simplify by seeking comfort and embracing prepackaged truth and wisdom, thereby lessening opportunities for wonder and joy.

Dissatisfaction is necessary to live Life.

To live Life seriously is to put forth my best effort, believing my best effort will always be ahead of me.

To live Life seriously is to consider God.

I believe in the Will of God, so I must believe in God.

However…

“An insistence that God is a mindset or doctrine or ideology is constraint without freedom and an entrenched belief that ‘my’ way is Goodness; whereas an insistence that God is dead is freedom without constraint and a laissez faire approach to responsibility and resolution.”

So to consider God seriously is to question everything, believing my questions will not be answered in this lifetime.

“To claim to know is to deny God. If God wanted us to Know, with certainty, there would be no differing opinions; no varied interpretations. To be certain is to reject personal learning and growth. I do not worship my God; I focus on Her Will. I struggle mightily in every moment, with every thought, with every decision, with every act. I remain steadfast in my conviction that the constancy of uncertainty, the struggle between Goodness and Malevolence, Compassion and Cruelty, Empathy and Indifference, a desire for Justice and a self-serving greed, is necessary for essentiality, which in turn is necessary for survival; and ultimately salvation. This is my God.”

I have been told I am a good cook. I am not. On occasion I get good results I believe because I am not willing to settle for a status quo. I am constantly striving to do better; to be better. I frequently make obvious mistakes and must compromise my plan by shifting into rescue mode. I sometimes think everything has gone as planned only to discover an error or misjudgment in the results. And rarely but every now and then results are such that I am merely left to ask the question, “What can I do better next time?” If I do not ask this question, if I believe I cannot do better, I will not strive to do better. To not strive to do better is to quit. To believe everything is as it should be is to quit. To quit is to not cook seriously. For me, to not cook seriously is to not live Life seriously.

I am still learning to cook.