Seek & Ye Shall Find: Faith, Chocolate, & Enlightenment
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FULL DISCLOSURE: Rev. Dr. R.M. Peluso is a contributing editor to the C-spot®. The book reviewed below mentions the C-spot® & discusses her work with, & the relationship to it.
Other than God & sex, chocolate (along with maybe music) is the most powerful force in the universe. In this part spirit guide / part autobiography, Rev. Dr. R.M. Peluso covers them all… personally.
Readers of our humble forum will recognize Rev. Dr. R.M. Peluso as our deacon-in-residence whom we affectionately refer to as Rev. Ron DMC (for Doctor of Meditational Chocolate) because — after working together for a few years on the C-spot® — she started using small 5-gram neapolitan squares as meditational devices with her congregation. Before long, she was consecrating them for communion sharing. Seriously, all true. This publication chronicles her journey.
No secondhand school marm, the lady knows whence she speaks from direct experience. Check these boxes:
- former singer in jazz-rock band (tick / off-the-list)
- an ordained Interfaith minister (tick…)
- a wedding officiant & marriage counselor for innumerbale couples (tock…)
- & now a chocolate maker (BANG!) – yes, the same Zen & Buddhistic calm acquired in her meditation discipline now applies to the oft-frustrating, even exasperating, toil of making chocolate from scratch (that is, working from the raw material cacáo seed transformed into finished chocolate product, be it a bar or a bombone). This includes, in her case, the invocation of prayers at particular steps of the process — such as sealing the bottom of the moulds. Definitional Holy Cacáo.
Chocolate & the sacred go back millenia.
It fulfilled the role of a sacramental or ritual food for the ancient peoples of the New World, no less than bread & wine did for the Olde Worlde.
Not since Rabbi Deborah Prinz penned On the Chocolate Trail; A Delicious Adventure Connecting Jews, Religions, History, Travel, Rituals & Recipes to the Magic of Cacao & Cameron McNeil’s compendium Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History have the links been so richly blessed.
Rev. Peluso delivers her homily without snot-snobbery cocoa-doodle guru-speak. Instead, she walks the path with humilty; offering insights that are real, practical, & actually beneficial. Her personal brand of spiritual & social activism.
The nib of the matter: Meditation & Chocolate share similar physical & mental health benefits.
The reason they work together is because of the joint melt – the bar melt into the mind melt. Liquids, smoke & most solids lack that meltdown dimension.
WARNING: this program may entrance too deep a space whence the ‘D’ in Rev. DMC might also stand for ‘Delta’ waves!
To avert that, ‘tis best to read this book as Rev. Ron DMC advises taking chocolate: in morsels rather than gulps, perhaps a chapter or two a day in order to fully ruminate & appreciate the maximum intent of the content. Yes, perfect that way, for in a sense the good Rev. predigested the course for her audience by breaking it down into bite-sized chapters averaging 10 or so pages. In other words, Deep Tasting mirrors the structure for chocolate consumption & meditation just as the US Constitution embodies the form of the American govt. Hey, maybe after she finishes ohm-ing the populous, a (retro)chocolate revolution awaits the White House & the halls of Congress.
Rev. Peluso conveys just what mystics, prophets, yogis, shamans have known for centuries, & now modern MDs too; that practices outlined herein can be life-changing & rewarding. Are we suggesting that this book is the most beneficial piece ever written on the subject of chocolate? Hyperbolie aside, we might well be saying just that.
Following Rev. Peluso’s lead, meditation combined with chocolate & you (honestly), the cocoa industry (rotting with stealth, subterfuge, & skullduggery – even at the artisanal level) & the world at large (seriously) can rebalance toward higher, more pleasurable consciousness without the down side-effects of drugs (prescription & otherwise). When you think about, humanity’s never-ending quest for reaching peaks & feeling one’s best underlies power grabs, greed, addiction & a host of maladies. Those however are errant distortions. This simple approach in contradistinction curbs such deleterious appetites to summon the better angels within. Hell, slap on some cans & turn up the appropriate audio tracks (e.g., Holosync™) + entrainment visuals to go along with it for a full sensory immersion. 20 mintues a day & you’re fixed / utopic.
Needless to state, we’re proud of the association & grateful for her generous attributions of our own small contribution to this work.
People often ask us for guidance in locating their own personal C-spot. We direct them to the search features in The Chocolate Census. But likened to an article of faith, those who have found it never have to ask & those who have to ask probably will never find it.
Now there’s renewed hope for any seeker, thanks to Deep Tasting.
