Cookies and Consciousness

I am reading ‘The Divine Romance’, by Paramahansa Yogananda while drinking coffee and eating triple chocolate cookies.  Elke is eating an apple. I am devouring cookies after dipping them in my coffee, northern Italian style, and Elke is devouring her apple, all of it, even the core, and I am reading about the opposite modes of material and spriritual consciousness, and about how I can test myself to see which consciousness I have, and I read these lines:

Material consciousness says to eat your apple and cookies yourself. Spiritual consciousness says to divide and share with someone else.

I freak a little and I turn around to see if Paramahansa Yogananda is in the room, watching us with our cookies and apple, and there is no one there, and I look up and in other directions but the yogi is not there, and I am about to tell Elke to stop but it is too late; the apple is gone.

He wrote this book when my mom was a kid. How does he know we are eating an apple and cookies?

The apple is gone, but I have cookies still. There are six left. 

“Cookie?” I offer, though I know Elke will refuse because she doesn’t eat cookies. 

As expected, she says "Nein, danke."

I am still scanning the room for traces of the yogi. He is on the astral plane, hovering over my shoulder.

If I read the same lines tomorrow, and I am eating toast instead of cookies, will it say in the book, 

Material consciousness says to eat your apple and toast yourself. Spiritual consciousness says to divide and share with someone else. ?

This is a test indeed, and the yogi knows it, because I am selfish about cookies. 

Spiritual consciousness says to divide and share with someone else.

Elke bought me the cookies, and said, “These are your cookies, just yours,”

and I had kept them all to myself,  knowing that here they would be safe from the boys.

For you see, the boys are also cookie monsters. They also devour cookies as if they were potato chips. 

The other day I found cookies in the kitchen, and I ate two of them with my coffee, dipping them into the coffee as they do in the north of Italy. I only ate two because they were the last two cookies. Then, later that evening, as I was strumming on the guitar, they came into this very room, and sat down together, smiling.

“Did you see cookies on the counter in the kitchen?” asked Philipp.

“Because we can’t find them, there were two cookies,” said Max.

“We are looking for them, did you see them?” asked Philipp.

There was a little uncomfortable pause as they scrutinized my countenance for a sign.

“Ah, you mean those sandwich-like cookies, with chocolate cream in the middle?” I asked.

“Yes,” they said in unison, smiling a little, scrutinizing.

“There were two?” I asked.

“Yes, there were two,” said Philipp.

“Two cookies,” said Max. “We can’t find them.”

“Did you see them?” asked Philipp.

A little pause, and I believe I must have been blinking a lot and swallowing.

“Yeah, I ate them with coffee this morning,” I blurted out. “They were sitting on the counter, you know?”

The twins laughed a bit, looking at each other and nodding, then back at me.

“Yes, of course,” said Philipp.

“Yes, they were on the counter,” said Max.

“There were only two? I thought I had left some,” I said.

“No, there were only two,” said Philipp. “Okay.”

“Yes, okay,” said Max.

“Okay,” I said, and I believe it was for this reason that Elke had bought me my very own pack of cookies.

So now I have these cookies, and the yogi is hovering over me somewhere in astral space, telling me personally through his book that I should share the cookies. 

Alas, as I have been writing these words I have eaten two more cookies. There are now but four, and I will have another cup of coffee, and I will require cookies with that cup as well.

 But… the test.  Am I of a more spiritual or material consciousness? Will I share my cookies? 

Later in the day... 

Max and Philipp have given me some cake. 

I offered cookies so now I can't change my mind. There are three left. Three triple chocolate cookies and I will share.  I will eat one more myself.

"Yo! Yogi Yogananda! I'm sharing my cookies!"

I am clearly a spiritual man.