What are you feeding?

Meditating on the first chapter of the book of Daniel

Let’s read this passage together:
“ In the third year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and besieged it ^. The Lord handed over to him the king of Judah, Jehoiakim, and some of the vessels of God’s house, which he took to the land of Shinar to his god’s house, placing the vessels in his god’s treasury. span class = “apple-converted-space”> The king then instructed Ashphenaz, the superior of his courtiers, to bring back from among the Israelites of the royal line and the magnates young men without any blemish, beautiful in appearance, knowledgeable of all wisdom, knowledgeable and wise, fit for service in the royal palace. He intended to teach them the scriptures and the Chaldean language. The king gave them a daily ration of royal food and wine, which he drank. They were to be raised for three years, and upon their expiry they would begin their service to the king. Among the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; the overseer of the court service gave them names, Daniel – Belteshassar, Hananiah – Shadrak, Mishael – Meshak, Azariah and Abed-Nego. Daniel made a decision not to defile royal food or wine that [the king] drank. So he asked the court service overseer not to have to defile himself. God gave Daniel the favor and mercy of the court service overseer. The court service overseer said to Daniel: “I fear that my lord the king who has given you food and drink may not see that your faces are thinner than [the faces] of youths of your age, and that you may endanger my head. to the king’s danger ». Daniel said to the guard appointed by the overseer of the court service over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah: « Give your servants a ten-day test: let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then you will see what we look like and what the young men who eat royal food look like and you will treat your servants as you have seen ». P heeded this request and put them to the test for ten days. And after ten days they looked better and healthier than others young men who ate royal food. The guard would take their food and wine to drink and give them vegetables. And God gave these four young men the knowledge and skill of all scripture and wisdom. Daniel had a discernment of all visions and dreams. G When the period agreed by the king to present them had passed, the overseer of the court service brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. F of the roles spoke to them, and it was impossible to find anybody equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they began to minister to the king. In all matters of wisdom and prudence that the king put before them, they proved to be ten times better than all the dream-makers and fortune-tellers in his entire kingdom . ”

By way of introduction, this happens after Babylon conquers Israel and resettles the Chosen People. Let us accept the traditional meaning of Babylon and its king. Babylon is the world with all its riches, glitter, debauchery and evil. King Nebuchadnezzar, on the other hand, is its ruler.

Babylon is today’s entertainment culture. It is consumerism blown to the point of absurdity. Babylon is a world where sales bars are the most important thing. Success is measured by money and attractiveness. A world where only those who generate profits count. Babylon is a world that has made sex and entertainment idols. Babylon recognizes as its citizens only those who have inflated ambitions, desires and dreams. He loves to watch those who die in the rat race. Babylon hates emptiness, boredom, and mediocrity. He despises disability, disease, old age and all weakness. Babylon is all trinkets, fragrances and cheap emotions. Also in the Church.

King Nebuchadnezzar, or rather kings Nebuchadnezzar, are all today’s “singers of success”. All kinds of coaches who encourage the pursuit of money and happiness. They are the ones who teach how to put on masks and stick a smile in every situation. They are the ones who make themselves gods by telling you to create your own better version as if you were not God’s miracle. They offend you when you just don’t make it humanly. They are the ones who despise mediocrity and actually hate themselves and their everyday life. They obsessively call for change, but they want to change you, not themselves. They tell you that you are special and that you are meant to be, although by some strange coincidence, they really want everyone to be the same, but according to their fashion. These are those who say: it is enough to want, because wanting to be able to do it, follow your heart and there are no limits. You can be whoever you want, you can be anything. They exaggerate the role of desires and dreams.

The kings of Babylon are also modern prosperity preachers, most often associated with charismatic movements that use God as a means to an end. They are those who treat illness, a lower material condition as a punishment for sin and the lack of God’s blessing. If God hasn’t healed you, you don’t have enough faith. If you live modestly, and you barely make ends meet, you also have too little faith. They also disagree with mediocrity, they hate obstacles and difficulties. And they dislike tension, sadness and pain very much. They are also passionate about calling for change. They shout the slogans: “God will change your life, or actually he is already changing it! Currently!” However, in reality nothing has changed as it was, and you landed with the accusation of lack of faith. Expectations were awakened in you, emotionally filmed, and blamed for not changing. You are tired, sad, disappointed, depressed, and the gibberish of kings carries on.

The kings of Babylon hate criticism and consider any attempt at it as hate and an insult to majesty. They hate the words “I’m sorry I was wrong”, “I understand you”, “I’m sorry”. However, they love to shift the blame onto you as I wrote above. The salt in their eyes is that you begin to deny their “truths”, you turn on your heel, brush the sand off your clothes and start living your own way.

You start living your own way when you stop feeding on the mush that Babylon offers you. When you give up your pursuit of money and success. You stop paying attention to how others perceive you. No longer matters to you, all of these indicators of attraction, prosperity, and blessing. In other words, you start eating vegetables and drinking water. What does it mean? It means that you accept yourself, your weaknesses, your mediocrity and everyday life. You come to terms with yourself, your own limitations and failures. You just take life as it is. You don’t need to have everything and know everything. You are trying to resist the lusts of your eyes and body. You buy and enjoy entertainment with moderation. You are not trying to be what you are not. You do not want to be like other people, but you do not despise the otherness and weakness of your neighbor, you respect it. You face crises, pain, sorrow and suffering. You don’t run away, you just know they are part of life and a mine. So you don’t have to hide your emotions and fake a smile when you feel sad.

Of course, different kinds of “guards” will “sympathize” with you for a sad, average life. They will look at you with pity and express concern for your condition. They will say almost straight: you do not fit in with the rest, you will be unhappy, you will die, look at others. Be like them, you are allowed to drink wine and eat meat. It is allowed to use, dream and win. You can go for the so-called heart, dreams and desires. Slow but do you have to? St. Paweł writes: “ Everything is allowed to me, but not everything benefits me. Anything is permitted for me but I will not be enslaved to anything “(1 Cor 6:13 ).

Time passes and a moment comes when you face those who have been so worried about you and those who have taken advantage of what Babylon gave them so much. It turns out you look just as good as they do. You are joyful, smiling and full of peace. You are like that because you have reconciled with yourself, what’s more, you love yourself, you are not afraid for your fate because you have trusted God. You have accepted your weaknesses, diseases and limitations, hence there is no suffering in you anymore. You are not interested in the opinions of others. You are happy because you are yourself, you are here and now, and you are full of peace with which you infect others. You are integrated with yourself, with less and less contradictions in you. You don’t want to change anything because in what is there you have found happiness, peace and joy. And you accept everything that is positive with joy and gratitude. You treat the negative as a permanent part of your life and learn from it. You treat it as a moment of cleansing what is still disordered in your life. Finally, your emotions and desires are in order. Your desires and dreams become real, which makes you reach for them and make you joyful. But you avoid disappointment. And when failure and disappointment arise, you take them in and move on.
Your life experiences, especially the difficult ones, have contributed to your extraordinary, clear and simple life wisdom. In general, you are now a transparent, pure and simple man yourself. This, on the other hand, attracts and gathers people around you. You are a full man, not an empty one. You’re just happy!

Jerzyny and water, let’s face it, look pale with wine and meat. Especially if we had the opportunity to try this wine and meat. It’s a difficult but healthy diet. What is healthy and valuable is difficult and requires a lot of effort. It’s hard, especially at the beginning, to come to terms with what is difficult and painful in my life. It is hard to experience your own failures. It is even harder to find meaning, hope, faith, love and trust in God.
Dear reader, I encourage you to follow a healthy diet. For a diet, the effectiveness of which often appears after a long period of time. For a diet that requires effort, self-denial, and sometimes tears, but brings peace, joy and happiness. Not peace of mind, not emotional ecstasy, not empty laughter, not a substitute for happiness, but true peace, true joy and true happiness.

I have been practicing this diet myself for over a year, this is just the beginning of the road, but I am already seeing big fruits. Above all, more peace, joy and gratitude. If someone asked me if I was happy, I would answer: yes I am, because I have everything I need! I don’t have to and I don’t want to change anything, I love my everyday life. It seems gray, ordinary but how beautiful. How beautiful it is to wake up in the morning and see the sun outside your window! There is also more freedom and autonomy. There are less and less contradictions, disordered emotions, feelings and desires. Less and less of a state we call suffering. But there is still a long way to go. There are still many areas that are drunk with wine, eaten with meat, and in need of a diet. There are still many disappointments, failures and tears ahead of me.

Contemplative prayer, Jesus prayer, or Christian or Zen meditation (if you are an unbeliever) is very helpful in your diet. I myself try to practice the Jesus Prayer every day for an hour. Half an hour in the morning, another half an hour in the evening. I started with 5 minutes, then it was 15, half an hour, now an hour. Choose a convenient time and time for prayer yourself. It doesn’t take much, don’t throw yourself like jagged ones on the biscuits. It’s about quality not quantity! All you need to do is start praying the rosary, because the principle is the same: be focused on what is being said. You can find a lot of resources on contemplative and Jesus prayer on the Internet. I recommend the Jesuit and Benedictine sites and names such as George Malooney SJ ( Manna in the Desert ), Franz Jalics SJ ( Contemplative Retreat ), Anthony De Mello SJ ( The Way to God for Today), Thomas Merton OCSO ( Contemplative Prayer ), Anselm Grun OSB ( Breathe Freedom ).

When it comes to a “healthy diet” of vegetable and water, I highly recommend Monika and Marcin Gajda’s book “Development or how to cooperate with grace”.

So what, are we going on a diet together?

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