1. We can abuse the world.
2. We can use the world.
3. We can take pleasure in its beauty.
4. We can look for its meaning.

The following essay, in examining the example of "food," gives great insight into where our choices are leading us.

"ABUSE OF FOOD"

The diet industry is a billion-dollar affair. We are all familiar with the abuse of food. People eat when they aren't hungry and eat what isn't healthy. They do it when they know it's destructive. They get mad at themselves for losing control -- but they still go after that extra piece of cake. Drug and alcohol abuse is even worse.

"USE OF FOOD"

What is the practical use of food? Most people would say, only eating what you need and what is healthy so that you have enough energy to do what you want.

Years ago when I was a sophomore in college, two friends and I decided to go on a three-day food fast. All we had was water. Sounds a bit crazy, but we wanted to test our stamina and see how much extra we were eating every day. Mind you, none of us were overweight. It was purely a test of willpower.

Well, the first day was raw torture. All of us wanted to quit, but we figured we would at least get though one full day of fasting. Then we amazed ourselves. The second morning, we weren't even hungry. Everyone went to breakfast in our dormitory. Lunch was comical to us. We laughed at all the people going to the dining room just because it was one o'clock. They were like cows going to graze. They just ate because of the hour and because everyone else was going, too.

I remember thinking how much time people waste in their lives eating, drinking, sleeping and going to the bathroom. Boy was I going to cut down on that stuff!

The third day was a cinch. When it was over, we were actually reluctant to taste anything. We thought we could almost become angels, living on air. The next day I went to a restaurant and had a few hamburgers. I don't remember anything about our experiment after that. I sure lost it fast.

That's the trouble with most physical pleasures. It's very easy to slip into the lower levels, and it takes a certain amount of clarity to turn it around.

By the way, [Maimonides wrote that] food should not be eaten to the point that one's stomach is full. During a meal, about one-third less should be eaten than the amount that would fill you up.

"BEAUTY OF FOOD"

The third relationship to food is beauty. You may think, "How can food be beautiful?" Do you remember being away from home for a while? Maybe you were at college or out of town on a job. Then you came home and got a great home-cooked meal! There is something special about it, if the person doing the cooking doesn't look at it as a big hassle.

Nowadays, we're all in a big hurry. We throw a TV dinner into the microwave and wolf it down in five minutes. But good food is a wonderful way to take care of ourselves, or show someone love. It's almost a lost art. I've heard kids say they don't think their parents care about them because they get nothing but fast food dinners, or their family never sits down together at a meal. One way a husband or wife can show their spouse they love them is to prepare a great dinner, or take them out to a good restaurant.

Of course, if it's done with fatty, unhealthy foods, we're back to abusing our bodies. Beauty can enhance pleasure -- but if you don't look at the ingredients, it will also enhance blubber.

"MEANING OF FOOD"

The best way to approach food is through meaning.

Why do you eat? Try asking people this question. They will look at you a little funny. What a silly question, they're thinking. Why do I eat? To stay alive, of course! (That would be level two -- eating because it's useful.)

But you persist and say, "No, beyond that. Why do you eat?"

"I guess a good meal makes me feel better about life. Sometimes I feel a bit down and a good meal changes my mood."

Some people will say, "I eat to stay healthy."

There is actually a higher reason for eating. Think of it in terms of a horse and rider.

The rider feeds the horse so it will be strong enough to take him somewhere. Sometimes he may give it sugar to make it happy. But he knows that feeding the horse isn't the rider's purpose in life. The rider has a destination and he needs the horse to take him there.

It's the same with food. Our body is a bit like a horse. It takes us where we want to go. We should keep our body healthy, so it can perform for us and help us reach our life goals.

Every person knows that if he doesn't take some kind of reasonable care of his car, it won't last too long. If you know of a gas station that will fill your engine with fuel that will destroy it, will you go there? No way.

We should take at least as good care of our body as we do of our car. Aren't we also using it to take us where we want to go?

And at the very least, we want to spend long, healthy years with our family.

"KABBALAH OF FOOD"

Here is another interesting point about the meaning of food. Kabbalists say that the whole process of eating teaches us valuable lessons about how to become a wise person. Food and wisdom have this in common: they are both meant to nourish. It's just that one nourishes the body and the other the soul.

First, a person should watch what food he puts in his body. Some things are obviously harmful and no one would think of eating them, like sand or arsenic. The same applies to information. We should be careful about accepting something as fact before we have checked it out carefully.

With food, we chew it into smaller pieces before we swallow it. The same holds for wisdom. Even if an idea is true, we should analyze it bit by bit -- and not stuff it into our heads like some school kid who just wants the right answer for the test, never mind whether he understands it or not.

After food enters the stomach, it is dissolved and sent on its way to nourish and be assimilated into the body. And -- you guessed it -- the same applies to wisdom. When we see an idea is true, we should let it become part of our being and live with it.

Some ingredients in the food we digest are useless or even dangerous, so the body excretes it. Once again the same is true of wisdom. If we recognize that part of our information is ineffective or destructive -- get rid of it as fast as possible.