THE POTATO AND ITS RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS
I start with a paradigm of food technology, the Pringle potato chip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pringles/ Originally developed by Proctor & Gamble, now owned by the Kellogg Company.
This marvel of food design and engineering is only 43% actual potato. However, I can personally testify that it is a supremely tempting concoction, both from the point of view of taste and from its physical characteristics of form and mouth feel. I do not comment on its healthiness from the medical standpoint.
I have stopped eating it because, believe it or not, it violates my religious principles!
That may sound odd, so let me explain. LUCKISM® posits that there is a characteristic in nature, in all natural material and natural things (including humans). That characteristic is the quality of chance or unknowability attaching to everything in the natural universe. The closer something is to its original, healthy state, the more of this quality or connection it has. This aspect of reality is what has been classified as god in previous stages of human development. And it is desirable for humans to come close to this quality in their lives, to engage with it as much as possible. Water, in its most natural form, is the purest example of such a substance.
However, while it is good to come close to this quality of chance, (in the case of foods, to "eat it" so to speak,) it is not good to tamper with it, transform it or weaken it. Stated differently, the more one distances oneself from natural chance and the naturally unknowable, the less benefit one receives from it.
What is the benefit? It is the connection to fundamental life energy and the connection to the deepest possible understanding of what makes reality real and life lively and harmonious. Call it enlightenment or satori or illumination or wisdom or what you like. It is the attribute which best enables one to deal with the ebb and flow of life. Let's speak of it in "god" terms to make it more understandable. The chance element in the universe is loosely analogous to the god idea, in which it was good to get close to the god, but not too close... and certainly not to actually try to tamper with the god. Of course, one important distinction should should be kept in mind - chance is real. See Ramble 31.
By this standard, in this scenario, we give great respect to the potato; we are sensitive to tampering with it - and we are offended by its Pringlization. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, (but in order to convey the thought in understandable terms), the "godliness" of the potato is "desecrated." This does not mean potato worship. It means reverence should be given to the quality it has in common with all things arising in nature. This is the reverence due something with all the qualities formerly ascribed to fictional gods except personal concern for individuals. And it's not simply a variant of nature worship. It is reverence for the underlying, chancy force under the things we can use science to partially understand - a force that is vastly beyond our understanding - a force that is always affecting and dominating the order we like to think we have imposed.
Even without the sacred aspect, the potato deserves respect. It was domesticated by Homo sapiens approximately 7 to 10,000 years ago. It was probably gathered in its wild form long before that, much in the way contemporary Bushmen find edible and water-storing roots. It is associated with the earliest eras of human civilization.
From the nutritional standpoint it contains much more caloric energy than any of the other plants cultivated for food, approximately 20% more than corn and rice. In short, it is a food worthy of regard. Beyond that, like all living things, in its development and substance, it embodies the quality we call chance.
With this in mind, just go to the Wikipedia article and examine what is done to the inherent natural "chanciness" of the potato in the course of transforming it into Pringle chips. Suffice it to say that much, if not most, of its original nature is lost in the highly determined and controlled processing it undergoes.
A skeptic might say "The chance of being processed is all part of it." To which I respond,"Yes, BUT we are trying to maximize the direct connection between the potato and humans because therein lies a greater harmony and a better world for both. Yes, chance is also at work in mechanical, transformative operations and in all technology - but it makes the natural chance much more remote. Ipso facto, one should maintain a relationship with the real potato and avoid the exploitations and desecrations of its naturally "numinous" qualities.
The "potato" line of reasoning applies a fortiori to many other things, including the use of animals as food. LUCKISM® leads to vegetarianism, among other things. The transformation of a cow into hamburger or steak is a total destruction of the chance/unknowable force in that creature. Any action which ends another creature's chance interactions with the world has moral implications which must be carefully evaluated and only tampered with if there are paramount considerations involved.
This ramble opens the subject of the application of LUCKISM® to life and its a subject which will always be an evolving one. The new religion is certainly open to discussion of its ramifications. It does not threaten damnation for those who do not follow the way it is offering. It simply sees a continuation of the path on which the world is presently moving.
By the way, I am willing to answer questions on this matter. Also, if anyone does not want to continue receiving these rambles just let me know. I will not be offended.
END
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