Insatiable cravings for Bob Dylan and bacon

I've been thinking a lot about cravings lately. Several weeks ago I realized there were two things I could not get enough of...Bob Dylan's music, and bacon.

Any time I was in my office, I was listening to Dylan...I'd listen on my drive to and from work...I'd listen at home. I could not get enough. It was almost as bad with bacon. They sell bacon by the strip in the dining room at work...that was not a good situation, let me tell you!

I've heard that when you crave a certain food, it's because something is lacking in your diet. I'm not sure what nutritional value I could have gained from bacon, but I ate a lot of it. What need was the bacon fulfilling? What about the music?

What is it about Bob Dylan's music that I couldn't get enough of?

Did I have a deficiency of 60's folk? Was I needing a touch of social revolution?

I still turn to Dylan quite a bit...so much so that one of my office mates very diplomatically asks to turn it off when she's in the office.

But this concept of craving...desire. The Four Truths of Buddha say:

1. Life is suffering

2. Suffering is caused by the want of worldly things (desire/craving)

3. Suffering will end when worldly things are rejected

4. Seek the eternal, the everlasting...God

Maybe I wanted to keep suffering...that's why I had such strong cravings. I'm also reminded of something Eckhart Tolle says in "The Power of Now"...he relates a favorite technique of a Zen master to focus his students on the present moment. The Zen master would simply ask, "What at this moment is lacking?"

When one is focused in the present moment, which is all we have, then there is no desire, no craving.

Random thought: There's a polar opposite in this respect regarding Jedi and Sith...Jedi are supposed to be without craving; Sith are driven by cravings.

Perhaps this was just a way of the Universe reminding me to stay present. We could all do with more mindfulness. Maybe all of us but the Zen masters and Eckhart Tolle.