My first job was in a bakery. When it opened, my boss (the head baker) only baked and sold one type of bread, Honey Whole Wheat. The franchise that he was part of mandated this constraint which, I think, lasted the whole first year. The idea was that he should focus on the fundamentals of baking before expanding the business and branching out with more complex recipes.
What is the Honey Whole Wheat of the spiritual life? That fundamental practice that is the foundation for everything else?
It may be the capacity to sit, in silence, with our own interiority. To be present to our own thoughts and feelings and witnessing them clearly without layering on narrative.
This is the place where love, where artful living can begin, and may, in fact, be the Honey Whole Wheat of being human.
Paul's Blog 