(Minghui.org) My second aunt gave us a sticky-rice cake in a vacuum-sealed package before the Chinese New Year. I couldn't find any expiration date on it. I asked my husband to ask her about the expiration date and whether the cake would be fine to keep it for a few more days before cooking it. My aunt knew I wasn't at home when my husband asked her, so she complained, “She pays so much attention to expiration dates! I have to be careful next time I give her anything.”
I reflected upon myself on hearing what she had said about me. I didn't remember when I started paying attention to expiration dates. When I was little, food wasn't labeled with any expiration dates. We ate anything that didn't smell bad or taste bad. We didn't even think about it, but we were fine. Now that all food packages are labeled with expiration dates, we throw away any expired food no matter what. In the meantime, there are all kinds of problems with the food in China, such as harmful ingredients, pesticide residues way above safety levels, unapproved additives, etc. They are harmful to people even before the expiration dates. Additionally, we always hear what kind of food has which kind of nutritional value. I completely believed in all this information.
What made me so attached to that information? I realized it was because of my blind belief in science. I have treated science as the truth and believed whatever it told me and eventually evaluated things with scientific information without thinking.
I brought up this topic with my fellow practitioners. They pointed out another cause. We have been self-protective, so we pay special attention to anything that would benefit ourselves.
Master has told us:
“Moreover, the development of this science is confined to a limited scope; it has set boundaries for itself. So what situation has this caused? It doesn’t dare to acknowledge anything outside empirical science. This is most dreadful, most dreadful for humankind, that is. Why is that? Think about it, everyone. Science is really shallow. In the words of scientists themselves, it’s not yet very developed. People now believe in it strongly and think it’s the absolute truth. This belief is shared by many theories in society nowadays, as well as by Western religions, be it Catholicism or Christianity. What you truly believe in is not your Lord—what you truly believe in is science. Deep down in your bones, what you really believe in is science, whereas your religion is merely a superficial formality that has become a civilized act of humans.” (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe)
I began to realize that I hadn't changed my basic mentality even though I had cultivated for 22 years. I have just found the root cause and now understand why I hadn't been able to have strong righteous thoughts all the time. It was because my thoughts had been confined in the framework of science as arranged by the old forces.
Tracing my attachment to expiration dates has allowed me to see my thought pattern of following empirical science instead of a cultivator's righteous thoughts. I'm writing it down, hoping fellow practitioners like me will be able to cast off the false principles of science and truly believe in Master and Dafa.
Category: Improving Oneself
