Mar 29 2009
Sensuous Soups on a Shoestring – Part 1
Creativity, Comfort, Compassion, Community for the Boomer Generation
A note from author, Christine Phoenix-Green:
“Sensuous Soups on a Shoestring” showcases four soups—each for a different purpose. I am here on a mission and with a vision! I love soups! I love working with food and especially the gifts of the earth and the energy of the seasons. For me, making soups is a very creative and centering activity when my life gets hectic, confused, and I need to come home to myself and my kitchen. But the older I get, the more I have realized that for me, the cooking of soup is a spiritual practice of Compassion, Comfort and Community. Recently I shared this passion for soup making at one of my workshops. Here and in the next few articles, I share some thoughts on this Sensuous Experience.
How many times I have been sick and a friend has come in with a pot of soup when I could not take care of myself and I gratefully received this blessing gift to nourish me and facilitate my healing. I have found that every time I make a big pot of wonderful soup, almost ALWAYS there is someone else in my life who is in need of support, comfort and compassion and it is such a blessing to be able to “pay it forward” by sharing some of what I have created when they are in need.
A soup is nourishing, easily digested, and takes no effort to warm up once it has been cooked. What I have experienced over and over again in these past several years is the power of soup to connect people on a one-to-one basis and form a community. My vision is a neighborhood or network of people who all have a pot of soup each week for themselves, and to share with someone in an act of Compassion, forming a wonderful Community of support, familiarity and comfort…no one should go hungry…and we should know our neighbors and each other!
A special story that makes this point is the children’s book STONE SOUP, which you can find at the library or at amazon.com. It is a special story about manifesting a soup with the co-operation, participation and generosity of an initially recalcitrant community.
In a time of hardship, fear, suspicion and perceived poverty, different peoples, different lives, different vegetables and ingredients were coaxed (or tricked) into the pot. As a result, everyone got fed, and in this unexpected sharing, made new relationships, exchanged stories, and in a new spirit of compassion, came to a new level of Community with a capital “C” !! That is the spiritual/social message.
In the story, Stone Soup came together on a shoestring, but I doubt that it was SENSUOUS. That’s what I want to write about here. How do you put the “Sensuous” into the Soup — and do it on a shoestring? -
Read the answer in Part 2 of this article.
About the Author: Christine Phoenix-Green, is a practicing Spiritual Director and Dreamguide, Retreat/ Workshop Facilitator, Astrologer, Insight Intuitive Guidance Counselor and Piano Teacher. She has led workshops in Herbal Wisdom and Natural Foods Cooking and is a featured writer for the website www.midlifejourney.com on various metaphysical and spiritual topics such as Sacred Presence, Creative Prayer, and Incarnational Spirituality (claiming/living your Authentic Identity and Destiny).
