 to beget and to grow, to harvest and to store,
to nish and to begin anew. Ilza Veith, Nei Ching
BEFORE LEARNING CHINESE MEDICINE, I STUDIED WITH SOCIAL THEORISTS
inuenced by Hegel, a German idealist philosopher. The relational,
interactive, process-oriented thinking of Chinese medicine  resembles
Hegelian dialectics. This was not altogether coincidence since many
European philo sophers were aected by Eastern thought. It was this
similarity that charmed me from the start. Because Chinese
medicine was about interwoven relationships and continuous
processes of decaying and becoming rather than a reductionist
examination of things in and of themselves, I had eagerly
anticipated studying it. Dialectical logic captures Yin-Yang  thinking. Within dialectics the
whole is a contingent structure, in reciprocal interactio n with its
own parts and with the larger whole of which it is a part. As parts
and wholes evolve as a conse quence of their relationship, constants
become variables, causes become eects, and systems develop that
regenerate and destroy the conditions that gave rise to them. 1OPPOSITION AND  UNITY
The Tao is an undierentiated whole. It is both the unity of all
things and the way the unive rse works. Out of this oneness emerges
Yin-Yang : the world in its innite forms. Yin-Yang  is a symbolic
representation of universal process that portrays a changing rather
than static picture of reality. The Yin-Yang  model is also used to
dierentiate aspects of process. Within the magnetic eld of
fundamental opposition and creative tension, each aspect
interrelates, interpenetrates, and depends upon the other. The poles
of a unied whole are characterized in relation to each other,
revolving cycles of the “one” becoming the “other.” Yin-Yang  can be
a dicult concept for Weste rners to grasp because it escapes strict
either- or categories that are xed and concrete. Wholly relative in
its designations, Yin-Yang  depends entirely on the point of view of
the observer, as this Taoist poem reects:
To the frogs in a temple pool
The Lotus stems are tall;
To the gods of Mount Everest
An elephant is small. All things have a polar natur e: time is divided into day and night
and summer and winter, gender into male and female, place into
heaven and earth, temperatu re into hot and cold, directi on into up
and down, space into inside and outside, and so on. But designations
of Yin or Yang are made only in relation to each other. For example,
the sun is bigger, brighter, hotter (Yang) in relation to the earth,
which is small er, darker, and cooler (Yin). The earth, however, is
more Yang in relation to the moon, which is more Yin. Yin  and Yang
cannot be separated. There  is no dark without light, no front
without back, no up without  down, no in without out, and no heat
without cold. There is no space without time, no birth without
death.The Yin-Yang  of the Mountain
The shady side of the mountain is Yin in relation to the sunny side,
which is Yang. As the sun rises and moves across the sky, however,
the warmth and light of the morning upon the one slope shifts to the
other slope in the afternoon—the sunny and shady sides merge and
alternate. Yang becomes Yin, and Yin becomes Yang. As the day
becomes night, the entire mountain is dark, cool, and quiescent. In
the night when  the moon shines on the mountain, the light of the
moon is Yang within the dark Yin of night. Yin also appears within Yang, and vice versa. For example, if Yang
is considered to be warm, expanding, and light, and Yin is cool,
contracting, and dark, then the shady side of the mounta in is Yin in
relation to the sunny side of the mountain, which is Yang. As the
sun rises and moves across the sky in relation to the mountain,
however, the warmth and light of the morning upon the one slope
shifts to the other slope in the afternoon—the sunny and shady sides
merge and alternate. Yang becomes Yin, and Yin becomes Yang. As
the day becomes night, the entire mountain is dark, cool, and
quiescent. In the night when  the moon shines on the mountain, the
light of the moon is Yang within the dark Yin of night.DESIGNATIONS OF  YIN-YANG
Because everything is in motion, all process is cyclic, and everything
contains its opposite, the dilemma of what came rst, the chicken or
the egg, is transcended in Chinese philosophy by accepting them as
inseparable agents of the process of creation. Chinese theory does
not separate cause from eect; instead, the one invariably turns into
the other in an ever-repeating cycle of metamorphosis. The day does
not cause the night, birth does not cause death, summe r does not
cause winter, but one precedes and the other follows. Life is a game
of leapfrog with events tumbling over each other in a perpetual
cascade. The chicken makes the egg— Yang generates Yin— but the
chicken grows out of the egg—Yin produces Yang. They are only
mutually generative. Which came rst (linear logic) matters less
than how they interact (systems, dialectical, relational logic). All states, events, and mome nts can be characterized as being Yin
or Yang, relative aspects of an alternating cycle along a single
continuum. Yin is at the core, sinking, conde nsed, and internal. Yang
is at the surface, rising, dispersed, and external. The humidity of the
air accumulates and condenses into clouds. This dense mass of vapor
(Yin) builds until the moment of discharge (Yang), when the weight
and density of the moisture transforms into thunder, lightning, and
rain. Relative to each other, Yin is quiescent, static, and contracting,
whereas Yang is dynamic, active, and expansive. Yin responds to Yang’s stimulus, and Yang is supported by the
solidity of Yin. Yin  is dense and hidden, while Yang is dispersed and
exposed. In a candle, the beeswax and wick are the material
foundation: solid, heavy, Yin; the ame, which moves upward, is
insubstantial in nature: bright, hot, Yang. The interactio n of the two
is what produces the useful light and heat and reects the
interaction of matter and energy. Their dependence on each other
renders them inseparable. Yang makes things happen. It transforms. Yin provides the material basis for the transforming power of Yang. Energy—heat, activity, light—transforms matter. If Yin is a noun,
then Yang is a verb, and life is a complete sentence.Yin-Yang  Tidal Flow of Rhythm
The processes in nature and in the life of living organisms
correspond to the stages of transformation of Yin-Yang  manifested
by seasonal, diurnal, developmental, and physiological cycles of
ourishing and withering, lightening and darkening, beginning and
ending, expanding and contracting. If Yin-Yang  is likened to a battleground, the fort represents the
Yin. Relatively hidden and protected from threat, it shelters the
noncombatants and food. The fort stores the potential or reserve
energy. The eld of battle is exposed, relatively unprotected, Yang. Upon it the precious stored-up Yin substance is transformed into
Yang activity.Health is dened as the poised balance between Yin-Yang, and
sickness is the result of a deciency or excess, a Yin-Yang
disharmony. Survival is based  on an organism’s capacity to adapt to
changing conditions and maintain equilibrium. Yin-Yang  harmony is
a metaphor for sustaining adaptability and equilibrium. YIN-YANG AND THE  HUMAN BODY
Yin-Yang  also describes human process. The stages of life go from
conception to birth, growth, decline, and death. Our youth (Yang) is
like the hare—quick, capricious, erratic, and light. Our older years
(Yin) are more like the tortoise—slow, deliberate, dense, and
persevering. When we expand and ll out chests with air, we are in the Yang
phase of respiration; when we exhale and empty our lungs, we are
in the contractive Yin phase. We perpetually ll and empty our
stomachs, our lungs, our hearts, our minds. We are active (Yang)
and lie quiet and rest ( Yin). Yin is the materi al basis, tissue, for the transforming power of
Yang, which reorga nizes and regenerates. Food (Yin) is transmuted
by metabolic activity (Yang) into more substance (tissue ) and more
energy (heat and metabolic activity). The sperm (Yang) joins the egg
(Yin), and new life is created by their merger and interaction. Thus
the sperm mobilizes and transforms the substance provided by the
egg. The sperm derives its propulsive and activating power from the
male (Yang), and the egg derives its receptive and nurturing power
from the female ( Yin). The internal organs of the body,


 by how often and deeply we breathe, you can make an
accurate diagnosis of any ailment and prescribe treatment and in the end to
cure not only the body, but also the head. According to scientists, breathingis closely interconnected not only with a state of health, but also with a state
of consciousness. Maybe breathing not only keeps the soul in the body, but also decides its
fate? Basic instinct

What does it mean to breathe correctly? A strange question at first glance. After all, each of us daily makes nearly 20,000 breaths. And we do not
think at all how to do it. Otherw ise, the same tragedy would have happened
to us as with the hedgehog from the joke. Do you remember? The hedgehog
ran through the forest, for got how to breathe, and died. Breathe! This basic instinct is laid in us by nature. A person is considered
born when he takes his first breath, and dead when he takes his last breath. And between the beginning and the end there is only a series of breaths. The same is true with our younger brothers. But everyone breathes different ly. For example, jellyfish have the simplest
form of breathing. Oxygen dissolved in water is absorbed through their
skin, and dissolv ed carbon dioxide is vented out in the same way. And on
the abdo men of insects there are many small holes. Each of these pores is
the entrance to a tube called the trachea. It acts like a human breathing tube,
or breathing throat! Thus, insects breathe in the same way as we do, with
the only difference being that hundreds of breathing tubes can be located on
their abdomen. And the pace of breathing, that is, how often we breathe air, largely depends
on the size of the creature itself. The larger the animal, the slower it
breathes. For example, an eleph ant inhales about 10 times per minute and a
mouse about 200. And with the respiratory rate, it turns out that life
expectancy is directly related: the elephant lives longer than a mouse. And
turtles breathe very slowly and live very long.On average, a person inhales 16 times per minute, but perhaps less often -
6-8 times per minute, and maybe more often - up to 20 times per minute,
depending on the circumstances. Moreover, young children breathe 20-30
times per minute, and infants - 40-60 times! Doctors have long been thinking about the riddle of uneven breathing in
humans. The first information and tips for proper breathing were  discovered
already in Chinese jade inscripti ons, which date back to the VI century BC. Ancient sayings teach: “When breathing, you must do the following: hold
your breath, it accumulates; if it has accumulated, it spreads further; if it
spreads further, it goes down,  it becomes calm; if it becomes calm, it
strengthens. If released, then it grows; when it grows, you need to squeeze
it again. If you squeeze it, it will reach the crown of the head. There it
presses on the head, presses down. A person who follows this method lives,
and whoever acts the other way round dies.”
Who needs breathing exercises

• The method of shallow breathing is shown to everyone, starting from
infancy, and especially to peopl e with illnesses, because it is harmless and
cures over a hundred diseases, eliminating the cause of the disease - carbon
dioxide deficiency in the blood. • If a healthy person at rest after exhalation can hold his breath  for at least
60 seconds, then the possibilitie s of a sick person are extremely limited: the
holding of his breath does not exceed 5-10 seconds. The deeper the breath,
the shorter the pause after exhalation and the delay after it, the harder the
person is sick and it is necessary to correct his breathing as quickly as
possible. • The instructio ns for using the method of volitional eliminat ion of deep
breathing, devel oped by Buteyko, give indications for the method. First of
all it includes: “asthma, angina pectoris, hypertension, obliterating
endarteritis, spasm of cerebra l vessels, bronchi, heart, atherosclerosis,
pulmonary emphysema, skin itching, neurosis. Normalization of breathing
reduces the amount of cholesterol in the blood and shortnes s of breath,
headache, dizziness, insomnia, normalizes weight, cures gastritis, colitis,
nephritis, other diseases of the stomach and intestines, facilitates
menopause, reduces susceptibility to colds and infectious diseases, relieves
allergies, migraines, reduces the likelihood of a stroke, leg vein expansion
with thromboph lebitis, fragility of blood vessels, enlar gement of the thyroid
gland, possibly even paralysis, cancer and many others.”
Whom this gymnastics is contraindicated to

• people with mental illnesses and mental defects that do not allow the
patient to understand the essence of the method and master it;
• diseases that threaten severe bleeding;
• infectious diseases in the acute period;
• insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus;
• patients with aneurysm with lar ge blood clots;
• those who have foreign transplants in the body, as well as after heart
surgery;
• it is advisable for expectant  mothers to under go a cleansi ng reaction
before pregnancy. Also, the Buteyko method will be difficult to apply to people who have bad
teeth and chroni c tonsillitis. It is necessary to cure them or remove diseased
teeth and glands. If this is not done, then it will be difficult to increase the
pause between inspiration and exit, and sometimes deterioration  may occur
with an increase in pause. Chapter 3. The structure of the respiratory system

Before proceeding to the description of Buteyko respiratory gymnastics,
let's try to under stand what the respiratory system is and how it works, what
types of breathing are and how well you breathe. For any technique it is very important to understand all the nuances. Only in
this case it will work efficiently. Therefore, do not skip this chapter, trying
to immediately begin to practice. Breathing is a physiological process during which natural gas exchange
occurs in the body. During inspiration, oxygen is supplied to all organs and
tissues, and during expiration carbon dioxide is removed. This mechanism
is supported by the work of the whole system of or gans (Fig. 1). Fig. 1
 The beginning of the airways is the nasal cavities, which are connected to
the pharynx. The walls of the nose form bones and cartilages, and the inner
surface of these cavities is lined with mucous membrane. It is breathing through the nose that is physiologically correct. After all, the
atmospheric air, bypassing the nasal cavities, manages to warm up and clear
itself of microsc opic dust particles. Through the nose, purified and warmed
air enters the upper part of the throat - the throat. The soft palate (small
tongue) divides it into the nasopharynx and oropharynx. For the pharynx
follows the larynx, in which the vocal cords are located. The next stage is the trachea. It has the appearance of a dense tube formed
by unclo sed cartilage rings. It accumulates dust and foreign particles that
can enter the body. In addition, the function of the trachea is to humidify the
air. In the cavity of the chest, the trachea is divided into two tubes - the
bronchi. On them purified and heated atmospheric air enters the lungs. The lungs are paired organs that have a conical shape. In the chest they are
located on both sides of the heart, while the right lung has several large
sizes. Inside they are covered with a thin shell - the pleura. The basis of the
lungs is the so-called bronchial  tree – branching bronchi and bronchioles. Small protrusions in the form of bubbles on the walls of the bronchioles are
called alveoli. A network of capillaries permeates them, and it is through
their walls that gas exchange takes place in the human body. The work of the lungs during inhalation and exhalation can be compared
with the work of blacksmiths. Special intercostal muscles and diaphragm
help the chest to shrink and expand. When you inhale the muscles raise the
chest, the diaph ragm is reduced and thickened. As a result of this process,
the volume of the lungs increases and air enters them as if through a pump. When you exhale, the intercosta l muscles relax, the diaphragm rises and theair is pushed out of the body. The brain coordinates this work transmitting
the orders through the peripheral nerves. Chapter 4. Types of breathing

In a healthy person, gas exch ange occurs with the same frequency of
inhalation and exhalation (16–20 breaths per minute). In children,
respiratory rate is higher. It is 20-30 respiratory movements per minute; in
infants, 30–40; in newborns - 40–60. Respiratory rate can vary depending
on physical activity, emotional state, health. Moreover, each person is able
to arbitrarily change the rhythm, depth, structure and level of breathing, to
use different types of breathing in different situations


supposed	murderer	is	executed. One	cannot	violate	basic	spiritual	principles
without	paying	a	price. The	spiritual	seeker	sees	through	the	illusion	and
therefore	gives	up	the	role	of	judge	and	jury. Nobody	goes	‘scot-free’,	as
people	indignantly	protest. With	muscle	testing,	one	can	quickly	affirm	that	not	one	iota	is	missed	by
the	universe;	literally,	every	hair	is	counted,	every	fallen	sparrow	noted. No
kind	word	goes	unnoticed. All	is	recorded	forever	in	the	field	of
consciousness. Give	Up	Guilt
Guilt	is	an	attempt	to	purchase	salvation,	manipulate	God,	and	purchase
forgiveness	by	suffering. These	attitudes	stem	from	the	misinterpretation	of
God	as	a	great	punisher. We	think	we	will	assuage	His	righteous	wrath	by	our
pain,	suffering,	and	penance. There	is	actually	only	one	appropriate	‘penance’
for	wrongdoing,	and	that	is	change. Instead	of	condemning	the	negative,	we
choose	the	positive. To	make	progress	and	to	change	takes	more	effort	than	feeling	guilty,	but
it	is	a	more	appropriate	response. We	note	from	the	Scale	of	Consciousnessthat	Guilt	is	way	down	at	the	bottom,	whereas	God	is	way	up	at	the	top. Consequently,	wallowing	around	in	guilt	at	the	bottom	of	the	field	of
consciousness	does	not	get	us	to	the	top. Humility	means	that	we	see	our	own	life	as	the	evolution	of	spiritual
consciousness. We	learn	from	mistakes. Maybe	the	most	useful	of	all	quotes
to	revise	whatever	the	past	behavior	is,	‘It	seemed	like	a	good	idea	at	the
time’. Later,	of	course,	in	retrospect,	it	becomes	recontextualized	and	seems
to	be	in	error. However,	if	other	people	are	intrinsically	innocent	because	that
is	the	nature	of	consciousness,	then	so	is	the	self	of	the	spiritual	seeker. Along	with	giving	up	guilt,	it	is	also	very	helpful	to	give	up	sin	as	a
reality. Error	is	correctible;	sin	is	a	mistake	and	is	forgivable. Most	of	what
people	call	sin	is	an	attachment,	an	emotionality	stemming	from	the	child
within. It	is	actually	the	child	who	lies,	steals,	cheats,	calls	other	people
names,	and	hits	other	people;	therefore,	sin	is	really	immaturity	and	ignorance
of	the	true	nature	of	Reality	and	the	nature	of	consciousness. As	spiritual
values	replace	worldly	ones,	temptation	diminishes	and	error	is	less	likely	to
occur. Willingness
This	is	the	keystone	to	all	spiritual	progress	as	well	as	success	in	the
world. It	means	letting	go	of	resistance	and	finding	the	joy	of	going	one
hundred	and	one	percent. Unpleasantness	is	due	to	resistance,	and	when
resistance	is	let	go,	it	is	replaced	by	feelings	of	strength,	confidence,	and	joy. In	any	endeavor,	there	is	a	point	of	resistance	that	becomes	a	block. When
this	is	overcome,	the	endeavor	becomes	effortless. Athletes	often	go	through
this	discovery,	and	so	do	physical	laborers. There	is	suddenly	the	release	of
enormous	energy,	an	emergence	into	an	almost	enlightened	state	in	which	all
is	happening	of	its	own. There	are	a	peace,	a	serenity,	and	a	stillness. The
exhausted	ballerina	or	laborer	is	closer	to	the	discovery	of	God	than	they
think. The	awareness	of	the	presence	of	God	is	preceded	by	surrender. In	Zen,	it	is	said	that	heaven	and	hell	are	only	a	tenth	of	an	inch	apart. It	is
often	in	the	pit	of	despair	that	the	ego	lets	go	so	that	all	crises	can	be	turned
into	the	opportunity	of	spiritual	discovery. Realize	That	‘Truth’	Is	Dependent	on	Context
Truth	is	only	relative	and	not	absolute. All	truth	is	only	so	within	a	certain
level	of	consciousness. For	instance,	to	forgive	is	commendable,	but	at	a	later
stage,	one	sees	that	there	is	actually	nothing	to	forgive. There	is	no	‘other’	to
be	forgiven. Everyone’s	ego	is	equally	unreal,	including	one’s	own. Perception	is	not	reality. Nonattachment
This	is	an	attitude	of	withdrawal	of	emotional	entanglement	in	worldly
affairs. It	leads	to	serenity	and	peace	of	mind. It	is	supported	by	refusing	the
emotional	seduction	of	other	people’s	upsets	and	problems. It	also	involves	a
willingness	to	allow	the	world	and	its	affairs	to	work	out	its	own	problems
and	destiny. Reactive	involvement	and	intervention	in	the	world	can	be	better
left	to	people	who	have	a	different	calling. A	‘good	person’	is	one	thing;	enlightenment	is	another. One	is	responsible
for	the	effort	and	not	the	result,	which	is	up	to	God	and	the	universe. Nonattachment	is	not	the	same	as	indifference,	withdrawal,	or
detachment. Misunderstanding	that	the	development	of	detachment	is
required	often	ends	up	as	flatness	or	apathy. In	contrast,	nonattachment	allows
full	participation	in	life	without	trying	to	control	outcomes. Acceptance
Acceptance	is	the	great	healer	of	strife,	conflict,	and	upset. It	also	corrects
major	imbalances	of	perception	and	precludes	the	dominance	of	negative
feelings. Everything	serves	a	purpose. Humility	means	that	we	will	not
understand	all	events	or	occurrences. Acceptance	is	not	passivity	but	non-
positionality. The	development	of	a	spiritual	ego	can	be	avoided	by	the
realization	that	spiritual	progress	is	the	result	of	God’s	grace	and	not	the	result
of	one’s	personal	endeavors. Avoid	False	Gurus
This	cannot	be	overemphasized. The	naïve	spiritual	initiate	is	easily
swayed	by	trappings	and	reputations	of	spiritual	figures	and	the	charisma	of
those	who	have	many	followers. Without	the	spiritual	awareness	of	advanced
states	of	consciousness,	the	spiritual	seeker	has	no	means	of	guidance,	and
popularity	clouds	judgment. At	this	time	in	human	history,	there	is	actually	not	a	single	guidepost	that
can	be	relied	upon	other	than	the	muscle	test	of	the	actual	calibration	of	the
level	of	consciousness	of	a	teacher,	organization,	or	teaching. The	naïve	are
impressed	with	claims	of	supernatural	powers,	paranormal	feats,	and	fanciful
titles	and	dress. Earmarks	of	true	teachers	are	humility,	simplicity,	lovingness,
compassion,	and	peacefulness. There	is	no	financial	charge	for	conveying
truth,	as	there	is	no	interest	in	money,	personal	power,	or	gain. It	is	irrelevant	to	a	true	teacher	whether	others	become	followers	or	join	a
spiritual	group	or	organization. All	are	totally	free	to	leave	the	spiritual	group. There	is	the	avoidance	of	the	development	of	a	personality	cult. There	is	no
desire	by	a	true	teacher	to	control	others,	and,	therefore,	a	true	teacher	has	no
interest	in	coercion	or	persuasion. Neither	does	the	teacher	attempt	to
appropriate	knowledge	or	force	it	on	others	inasmuch	as	it	was	freely
received. Therefore,	the	true	teacher	is	gracious	in	manner	and	spirit. The
student	of	a	true	teacher	is	the	totality	of	all	mankind. Avoid	False	Teachings
It	is	often	recommended	that	one	use


 at war
within ourselves. BEFRIENDING OUR SHADOW
To begin to grasp how essential the shadow is, try to
imagine a story without any conﬂict or a her o whose virtue
is never put to the test by a worthy adversary. The her o of
any story could not e xist if it wer e not for the villains that
challenge the her o along the way. If what the Easter n
wisdom traditions say is indeed true, that “the sinner and
the saint ar e mer ely e xchanging notes,” then the conﬂict
between our higher and lower natur es cr eates the tension
necessary to pr opel our evolution as human beings. The
same concept that guides good literatur e applies equally in
real life: heroes ar e only as str ong as their villains. In the drama of our evolution, the shadow is the character
of greatest inter est. The shadow is only danger ous when we
keep it lock ed away in the dark cellar of r epression. That’s
when we run the risk that it will blow up in our face,
derailing our diets, sabotaging our r elationships, and killing
our dr eams. But if we allow our shadow characters to serve
as integrated parts of our whole self—as colorful, powerful
forces for the good—they will lead us to richer e xperiences,
more genuine connections, mor e laughter, mor e
authenticity, and honest self -expression. The battle with our
dark side will never be won thr ough hatr ed and r epression;
we can’t ﬁght darkness with darkness. W e have to ﬁnd
compassion and embrace the darkness inside us in or der to
understand it and, ultimately, to transcend it. In his inﬂuential book The Art of W ar, Sun Tzu suggests
that “to know your enemy, you must become your enemy.”
In this case, the enemy is usually an impulse insideourselves that we don’t understand or don’t know how to
deal with. As long as we’r e denying, r epressing, or
minimizing the importance of this and other hidden ur ges,
as long as we believe that our own dark impulses will never
catch up with us or be e xposed, their wisdom will continue
to elude us. By actively ﬁnding the gif ts and r eceiving the
contribution our shadow is trying to mak e, we r edirect its
once destructive power into a for ce that can beneﬁt our life. More than that, we become a r ole model for others to ﬁnd
healthy outlets for the parts of themselves that don’t
confor m to society’s script or to their ego ideal. We can be saints by pr oviding the sinners that r eside
within us the fr eedom of self -expression—not by indulging
bad behavior, but by seeing how this impulse or quality
could serve us or society as a whole. The mor e acceptance
and safe e xpression we ﬁnd for our dark er impulses, the less
we will have to wor ry about being blindsided by them. I
know you might be wondering how a part of you that you
fear and loathe could actually serve you, but I pr omise you
as you go thr ough the pr ocess, you will see that ther e are
gifts to be mined in every quality, feeling, and e xperience. Reclaiming the parts of ourselves that we have r elegated
to the shadow is the most r eliable path to actualizing all of
our human potential. Once befriended, our shadow becomes
a divine map that—when pr operly r ead and followed—
reconnects us to the life we wer e meant to live, the people
we wer e meant to be, and the contributions we wer e meant
to give. Embracing our inner beast is the tick et to fr eedom. It is the conduit for tapping into all our gr eatness. It mak es
our inner life rich and meaningful and our outer life mor e
enjoyable. It allows us to bask in wholeness rather than be
constrained by the limitations of a self that was cr eated by
smok e and mir rors. Why smok e and mir rors? Because if we
have cr eated our public image or persona out of only those
qualities we have deemed acceptable, we will have lef t outsome of the most important, potent, and ﬂavorful parts of
ourselves. OUR SHADOW MASK
Uncovering the parts of ourselves that we lear ned to r epress
is the k ey to understanding why we enjoy fr eedom in some
areas of our life and behave lik e a robot in others. It is fear
that convinces us to wear one of an inﬁnite number of
masks to hide behind and to construct a persona—a
costume, so to speak—to conceal all of who we r eally ar e.
We work tir elessly to cr eate an outer façade, so that no one
will ﬁnd out about our dark thoughts, desir es, impulses, and
history. It is the shadow of our past that dr ove us to cr eate
the face—the mask—that we show the world. W ill we be a
people pleaser, or will we seek r elief from the world by
being isolated, distant, and alone? W ill we work tir elessly to
be per ceived as an overachiever, or will we be content to lie
in front of the TV or spend hours sear ching Inter net gossip
sites? Our persona was not cr eated by accident; it was
created in or der to camouﬂage the parts of ourselves we
deemed the most undesirable and to over compensate for
what we believe to be our deepest ﬂaws. This false self is char ged with one mission only : to hide all
of the unwanted and unacceptable parts of ourselves. If we
were wounded fr om having been raised by emotionally
unpredictable par ents, we may work very har d to portray an
image that we ar e calm and in contr ol. If we had a lear ning
disability gr owing up, we might cr eate a war m, overly loving
personality, so others won’t notice what we per ceive to be
our handicap. If we ar e ashamed of the fact that we wer e
raised by a welfar e mom, we might become a highly
motivated work er who is always impeccably dr essed and
well-spok en. The public image we cr eate is contrived by the
parts of us that wer e hurt, confused, or full of pain. Althoughit may fool others and even us for a while, eventually we will
be faced with the wounds that this mask was constructed to
hide. As a way to ensur e that our ﬂawed and imperfect self
would not be discover ed or e xposed, we cleverly began to
develop qualities opposite fr om those we wer e trying to
hide. W e work ed har d to over compensate for the parts of
ourselves we believed wer e unacceptable, hoping to thr ow
others oﬀ the scent or to rid ourselves of the bad feelings
that wer e associated with them. If we wer e riddled with
insecurities, we may have developed an ar rogant, know-it-
all persona to convince others that we have enor mous
conﬁdence. If we felt lik e a failur e, we may have sur rounded
ourselves with people who have achieved gr eat things or
exaggerated the scope of our own endeavors to appear
more successful than we actually ar e. If we felt powerless
over our life, we might have chosen a car eer or partner that
would have allowed us to appear mor e powerful. Our personas convince us that ther e is nothing that we
don’t know about ourselves—that we ar e in fact the person
we see in the mir ror and believe ourselves to be. But the
issue with this is that once we have bought into the story of
“this is who I am,” we shut the door on any other possibility
and deny ourselves access to all of who we can be. W e lose
our ability to choose, because we can’t do anything outside
the conﬁnes of the character we’r e playing. The pr edictable
persona we’ve constructed is now in contr ol. W e become
blind to the immense possibilities for our life. Only when we
stop pr etending to be something we ar e not—when we no
longer feel the need to hide or over compensate for either
our weaknesses or our gif ts—will we know the fr eedom of
expressing our authentic self and have the ability to mak e
choices that ar e based on the life we truly desir e to live. When we br eak out of this trance and ar e no longer
preoccupied with ﬁtting in, with what other people think of
us or what we think about ourselves, we can open up andtake advantage of opportunities that might just pass us by
when we ar e trapped inside our story line or behind the
mask we wear. We are driven to the point of e xhaustion by our ego ideal
to be diﬀer ent than we ar e. We ﬁght to be bigger, str onger,
tougher, and mor e secur


	rate. Still,	such	“recoveries”	may	cause	side	effects	that	are	often
serious. The	infection	by	the
H. pylori
	bug	is	only	possible	because	factors	other	than	a
normally	harmless	germ	have	already	weakened	and	damaged	the	stomach	cells. In	a
healthy	stomach,	the	same	bug	turns	out	to	be	completely	innocuous. Most	of	us	have
lived	with	this	bug	without	ever	being	troubled	by	it. This	brings	up	an	important
question:	Why	does	the	same	bug	cause	an	ulcer	in	some	people	and	not	in	others. As
mentioned	before,	gallstones	in	the	liver	and	gallbladder	can	cause	intestinal	congestion
and	thereby	lead	to	frequent	back-flushing	of	bile	and	toxins	into	the	stomach,	which	may
injure	an	ever-increasing	number	of	stomach	cells. Antibiotics	destroy	the	natural	stomach
flora,	including	those	bacteria	that	normally	help	to	break	down	damaged	cells. Although
the	antibiotic	approach	results	in	a	quick	relief	of	symptoms,	it	also	lowers	stomach
performance	permanently,	which	sets	up	the	body	for	more	severe	challenges	than	just
dealing	with	an	ulcer. 1
	Shortcuts	to	healing	rarely	pay	off. On	the	other	hand,	most
stomach	disorders	disappear	spontaneously	when	all	existing	gallstones	are	removed	and	a
healthy	diet	and	balanced	lifestyle	are	followed	regularly. Diseases	of	the	Pancreas

The	pancreas	is	a	small	gland	with	its	head	lying	in	the	curve	of	the	duodenum. Its	main
duct	joins	the	common	bile	duct	to	form	what	is	known	as	the
ampulla
	of	the	bile	duct. The	ampulla	enters	the	duodenum	at	its	midpoint. Apart	from	secreting	the	hormones
insulin
	and
glucagon,
	the	pancreas	produces
pancreatic	juice,
	which	contains	enzymes
that	digest	carbohydrates,	proteins,	and	fats. When	the	acidic	contents	from	the	stomach
enter	the	duodenum,	they	combine	with	alkaline	pancreatic	juice	and	bile. This	creates	the
proper	acid-alkaline	balance	(pH-value)	at	which	the	pancreatic	enzymes	are	most
effective. Gallstones	in	the	liver	or	gallbladder	cut	bile	secretions	from	the	normal	amount	of	one
quart	or	more	per	day,	to	as	little	as	one	cup	or	less	per	day. This	severely	disrupts	the
digestive	process,	particularly	when	fats	or	fat-containing	foods	are	consumed. Subsequently,	the	duodenal	pH	remains	too	low,	which	inhibits	the	action	of	pancreatic
enzymes,	as	well	as	those	secreted	by	the	small	intestine. The	net	result	is	that	food	is	only
partially	digested. Improperly	digested	food	that	is	saturated	with	the	stomach’s
hydrochloric	acid	can	have	a	very	irritating,	caustic	effect	on	the	entire	intestinal	tract. If	a	gallstone	has	moved	from	the	gallbladder	into	the	ampulla,	where	the	common	bile
duct	and	the	pancreatic	ducts	combine	(see
Figure	3
),	the	release	of	pancreatic	juice
becomes	obstructed	and	bile	moves	into	the	pancreas. This	causes	a	number	of	protein-
splitting	pancreatic	enzymes,	which	are	normally	activated	only	in	the	duodenum,	to	be
activated	while	still	in	the	pancreas. This	makes	these	enzymes	highly	destructive. They
begin	to	digest	parts	of	the	pancreatic	tissue,	which	can	lead	to	infection,	suppuration,	and
local	thrombosis. This	condition	is	known	as
pancreatitis. Gallstones	obstructing	the	ampulla	release	bacteria,	viruses,	and	toxins	into	the
pancreas,	which	can	cause	further	damage	to	pancreatic	cells,	and	eventually	lead	to
malignant	tumors. The	tumors	occur	mostly	in	the	head	of	the	pancreas,	where	they
inhibit	the	flow	of	bile	and	pancreatic	juice. This	condition	is	often	accompanied	by
jaundice
	(for	more	details	see
Diseases	of	the	Liver
	below). Gallstones	in	the	liver,	gallbladder,	and	ampulla	may	also	be	partly	responsible	for	both
types	of
diabetes:
	insulin-dependent	and	non-insulin-dependent. All	patients	of	mine	with
diagnosed	diabetes,	including	children,	have	had	large	quantities	of	stones	in	their	liver. Each	liver	cleanse	further	improved	their	condition,	provided	that	they	followed	a	healthy
daily	regimen	and	diet	devoid	of	animal	products. 2
	Figure	3
:	Gallstones	in	the	liver	and	gallbladder
	Diseases	of	the	Liver

The	liver	is	the	largest	gland	in	the	body. It	weighs	up	to	three	pounds,	is	suspended
behind	the	ribs	on	the	upper	right	side	of	the	abdomen,	and	spans	almost	the	entire	width
of	the	body. Being	responsible	for	hundreds	of	different	functions,	it	is	also	the	most
complex	and	active	organ	in	the	body. Since	the	liver	is	in	charge	of	processing,	converting,	distributing,	and	maintaining	the
body’s	vital	“fuel”	supply	(for	example,	nutrients	and	energy),	anything	that	interferes
with	these	functions	must	have	a	serious,	detrimental	impact	on	the	health	of	the	liver	and
the	body	as	a	whole. The	strongest	interference	stems	from	the	presence	of	gallstones. Besides	manufacturing	cholesterol—an	essential	building	material	of	organ	cells,
hormones,	and	bile—the	liver	also	produces	hormones	and	proteins	that	affect	the	way	the
body	functions,	grows,	and	heals. Furthermore,	it	makes	new	amino	acids
3
	and	converts
existing	ones	into	proteins. These	proteins	are	the	main	building	blocks	of	the	cells,
hormones,	neurotransmitters,	genes,	and	so	forth. Other	essential	functions	of	the	liver
include	breaking	down	old,	worn-out	cells;	recycling	proteins	and	iron;	and	storing
vitamins	and	nutrients. Gallstones	are	a	hazard	to	all	these	vital	tasks. In	addition	to	breaking	down	alcohol	in	the	blood,	the	liver	also	detoxifies	noxious
substances,	bacteria,	parasites,	and	certain	components	of	pharmaceutical	drugs. It	uses
specific	enzymes	to	convert	waste	or	poisons	into	substances	that	can	be	safely	removed
from	the	body. In	addition,	the	liver	filters	more	than	one	quart	of	blood	each	minute. Most	of	the	filtered	waste	products	leave	the	liver	via	the	bile	stream. Gallstones
obstructing	the	bile	ducts	lead	to	high	levels	of	toxicity	in	the	liver	and,	ultimately,	to
liver
diseases. This	development	is	further	exacerbated	by	one’s	intake	of	pharmaceutical
drugs,	normally	broken	down	by	the	liver. The	presence	of	gallstones	prevents	their
detoxification,	which	can	cause	“overdosing”	and	devastating	side	effects,	even	at	normal
doses. It	also	means	that	the	liver	is	at	risk	for	damage	from	the	breakdown	products	of	the
drugs	on	which	it	acts. Also,	alcohol	that	is	not	detoxified	properly	by	the	liver	can
seriously	injure	or	destroy	liver	cells. All	liver	diseases	are	preceded	by	extensive	b


 Under the ego’s dir ection, we come together to
share desperation. Negativity, however, cannot r eally be
shared because it is an illusion. “ A special r elationship is a
kind of union fr om which union is e xcluded.”
A relationship is not meant to be the joining at the hip of
two emotional invalids. The purpose of a r elationship is not
for two incomplete people to become one, but rather for two
complete people to join together for the gr eater glory of
God. The special r elationship is a device by which the ego
separates rather than joins us. Based on a belief in inter nal
emptiness, it is always asking, “What can I get?”, wher eas
the Holy Spirit asks, “What can I give?” The ego seeks to
use other people to fulﬁll our needs as we deﬁne them. Certain voices go on endlessly these days about whether or
not “ our needs ar e being met” in a r elationship. But when
we try to use a r elationship to serve our own purposes, we
falter because we ar e reinfor cing our illusion of need. Under
the ego’s guidance we’r e always looking for something, yet
always sabotaging what we’ve found. One of my girlfriends called me one day and said she had
had a date with someone she r eally lik ed. The ne xt week,
she called and said he had br oken a date with her in or der
to go out of town. She didn’t lik e him af ter all. “I won’t tak e
that fr om anyone,” she told me. “I’m r eady for a
relationship.”
“No you’r e not r eady for a r elationship,” I told her. “Not if
another person isn’t allowed to mak e a mistak e, you’r e not.”
The ego had told her to r eject the man because she was
ready for a r elationship, but what it was r eally doing was tomake sur e she wouldn’t have one. The ego isn’t looking for
someone to love; it’s looking for someone to attack. Its
dictate in love is “Seek, and do not ﬁnd.” It looks for a
reﬂection of itself, another mask that hides the face of
Christ. In the special r elationship, I’m afraid to show you the
real truth about myself—my fears, my weaknesses—
because I’m afraid that if you see them, you’ll leave. I’m
assuming you’r e as judgmental as I am. And I’m also not
really jumping up and down wanting to see your weak spots
either because it mak es me nervous to think I’m involved
with someone who has them. The whole setup mitigates
against authenticity and ther efore against r eal gr owth. A
special r elationship perpetuates the self -punishing
masquerade in which we all seek desperately to attract love
through being someone we’r e not. Although we’r e seeking
love, we’r e actually fostering our own self -hatr ed and lack of
self-esteem. What’s our miracle her e? It’s a shif t from thoughts of
specialness to thoughts of holiness. Our mental patter ns in
regard to r elationships ar e so fraught with fear—attack and
defensiveness, guilt and selﬁshness, however pr ettily
disguised—that many times we ar e brought to our knees. As
always, that’s a good place to be. W e pray for God to guide
our thoughts and feelings. ‘Y ou can place any r elationship
under the Holy Spirit’s car e and be sur e that it will not r esult
in pain.’
7. THE HOL Y RELA TIONSHIP
“The holy r elationship is the old unholy
relationship transfor med and seen anew.”
If the special r elationship is the ego’s r esponse to the
creation of the Holy Spirit, the holy r elationship is the HolySpirit’s r esponse back. The ‘holy r elationship is the old,
special r elationship transfor med.’ In the special r elationship,
the ego guides our thinking and we meet in fear, mask to
mask. In the holy r elationship, the Holy Spirit has changed
our minds about the purpose of love and we meet heart to
heart. A Course in Miracles  describes the diﬀer ence between an
unholy and a holy alliance:
“For an unholy r elationship is based on
diﬀer ences, wher e each one thinks the other has
what he has not. They come together, each to
complete himself and r ob the other. They stay
until they think that ther e is nothing lef t to steal,
and then move on. And so they wander thr ough
a world of strangers, unlik e themselves, living
with their bodies per haps under a common r oof
that shelters neither; in the same r oom and yet
a world apart. A holy r elationship starts fr om a diﬀer ent
premise. Each one has look ed within and seen
no lack. A ccepting his completion, he would
extend it by joining with another, whole as
himself.”
The purpose of a special r elationship is to teach us to
hate ourselves, while the purpose of a holy r elationship is to
heal us of our self -loathing. In the special r elationship, we
are always trying to hide our weaknesses. In the holy
relationship, it’s understood that we all have unhealed
places, and that healing is the purpose of our being with
another person. W e don’t try to hide our weaknesses, but
rather we understand that the r elationship is a conte xt for
healing thr ough mutual for giveness. A dam and Eve wer enaked in the gar den of Eden but not embar rassed. That
doesn’t mean they wer e physically nak ed. It means they
were emotionally nak ed, totally r eal and honest, yet they
were not embar rassed because they felt accepted
completely for who they wer e.
The Course pr esents an image of the special r elationship
as a pictur e set in a frame. The ego is mor e inter ested in the
frame—the idea of the perfect person who will “ﬁx”
everything—than we ar e in the pictur e, which is the person
himself. The frame is bar oque, and decorated with rubies
and diamonds. But the Course says the rubies ar e our blood
and the diamonds ar e our tears. That is the essence of
specialness. It is not love but e xploitation. What we call love
is often hate or at best, r obbery. Although we may not know
it consciously, our sear ch is of ten for someone who has
what we think we don’t have, and once we get it fr om them
we’ll be r eady to move on. In a holy r elationship, we’r e
interested in the pictur e itself. All we want by way of a
frame is a light support that does just enough to k eep the
pictur e in place. W e’re not inter ested in our br other for what
he can do for us. W e’re inter ested in our br other, period. The holy r elationship is, above all else, a friendship
between two br others. W e are not put her e to audition one
another, put someone on trial, or use other people to gratif y
our own ego needs. W e are not her e to ﬁx, change or belittle
another person. W e are her e to support, for give and heal
one another. I was once counsel ing a couple who wer e in the
process of messily completing their r elationship. The man
had moved on to date someone else and the woman was
angry. During our session she said to him about the new
girlfriend, “Y ou only lik e her because she tells you how
wonderful  you ar e all the time!” He look ed at her very
seriously and quietly said, “Y eah, I think that has something
to do with it.”How do we ﬁnd a holy r elationship? Not by asking God to
change our partners, but by asking God to change our
minds. W e don’t run away fr om someone we’r e attracted to
because we’r e afraid of specialness. Anytime ther e’s a
potential for love, ther e’s a potential for specialness. I of ten
ask audiences, “What’s the ﬁrst thing we should do when
we’re attracted to someone?” and they r eply in pep-rally
fashion, “ pray! ” The prayer goes something lik e this: “ Dear
God, you know, and I know, that I have mor e potential for
neurosis in this ar ea than in any other. Please tak e my
attraction, my thoughts and feelings about this person and
use them for your purposes. L et this r elationship unfold
accor ding to your will, Amen.”
Spiritual pr ogress is lik e a deto xiﬁcation. Things have to
come up in or


 millions, you will continue to experience the inner
condition of lack, and deep dow n you will continue to feel unfulfilled. Y ou may  have many exciting experiences that money can buy, but they
will com e and go and always l eave you with an empty feeling and the
need for  further physical or psychological gratification. Y ou won’ t abide
in Being and so feel the fullness of life now that alone is true prosperity. So give up waiti ng as a state of mind. When you catch yourself  slipping
into waiting. snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be,
and enjoy being. If you are pre sent, there is never any need for you to
wait for anythin g. So next time somebody says, “Sorry to have kept youwaiting,” you can reply, “That’ s all right, I wasn’ t waiting. I was just
standing here enjoying myself — in joy in my self. ”
These are just a few of the habitual mind strategies for denying the
present moment that are part of ordinary unconsciousness. They are easy
to overlook because they are so much a part of normal living: the
background static of perpetual  discontent. But the more you practice
monitoring your inner mental-emotional state, the easier it will be to
know when you have been trapped in past or future, which is to say
unconscious, an d to awaken ou t of the dream of time into the  present. But bew are: The false, unhappy self, based on mind identification, lives
on ti me. It knows that the present moment is its own death and  so feels
very threatened by it. It will do all it can to take you out of it. It will try
to keep you trapped in time. THE INNER PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE’S JOURNEY
I can see the truth of what you ar e saying, but I still think that we must
have purpose on our life’ s journey; otherwise we just drift, and purpose
means futur e, doesn’ t it. How do we r econcile that with living in the
pr esent. When you are on a journey, it is certainly helpful to know where you are
going or at least  the general direction in which you are moving, but don’ t
for get: T he only  thing that is ultimately real about your journ ey is the
step that you are taking at this moment. That’ s all there ever is. Y our life ’ s journ ey has an outer purpose and an inner purpose. The outer
purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination, to accomplish what you
set out to do, to achieve this or that, which, of course, implies fu ture. But
if yo ur destination, or the steps you are going to take in the future, take
up so much of your attention t hat they become more important to you
than the  step you are taking now, then you completely miss the journey’ s
inner purpose, which has nothing to do with wher e  you are going or what
you are doing, but everything to do with how. It has nothing to do with
future bu t every thing to do with  the quality of your consciousne ss at this
moment. The outer purpose belongs to the horizontal dimension of spaceand time ; the inner purpose concerns a deepening of your Being in the
vertical dimension of the timeless Now. Y our outer journey may contain
a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking
right now. As y ou become more deeply aware of this one s tep, you
realize t hat it already contains within itself all the other steps a s well as
the destination. This one step then becomes transformed into an
expression of perfection, an act of great beauty and quality. It will have
taken yo u into Being, and the lig ht of Being will shine through it. This is
both the purpose and the fulfillment of your inner journey, the journey
into yourself. Does it matter whether we ac hieve our outer purpose, whether we
succeed or fail in the world. It will matter to you as long as you haven’ t realized your inner  purpose. After that, the ou ter purpose is j ust a game that you may continue to play
simply because you enjoy it. It i s also possible to fail completely in your
outer pu rpose an d at the same time totally succeed in your inner purpose. Or the other wa y around, which is actually more common: outer riches
and inner poverty, or to “gain the world and lose your soul,” as Jesus
puts it. Ultimately, of course, every  o uter purpose is doomed to “f ail”
sooner or later, simply because it is subject to the law of impermanence
of al l thi ngs. Th e sooner you rea lize that your outer purpose can not give
you lasti ng fulfi llment, the better. When you have seen the limitations of
your ou ter purpose, you give up your unrealistic expectation that it
should make you happy, and you make it subservient to your inner
purpose. THE P AST CANNOT SUR VIVE IN YOUR PRESENCEY ou men tioned that thinking or talking about the past unnecessarily is
one of the ways  in which we avoid the pr esent. But apart fr om  the past
that we r emember and per haps identify with, isn’ t ther e anothe r level of
past within us that is much mor e deep-seated. I am talking about the
unconscious past that conditions our lives, especially thr ough early
childhood experiences, per haps even past-life experiences. And then
ther e is our cultural conditioni ng, which has to do with wher e we live
geographically and the historical time period in which we live. All these
things d etermine how we see th e world, how we r eact, what we think,
what kind of r ela tionships we have, how we live our lives. How could we
ever bec ome con scious of all that or get rid of it. How long w ould that
take. And even if we did, what would ther e be left. What is left when illusion ends. There is  no need to investigate the unconscious past in you ex cept as it
manifests at this moment as a thought, an emotion, a desire, a reaction,
or an external event that happens to you. Whatever you need to know
about th e unconscious past in you, the challenges of the present will
bring it out. If you delve into th e past, it will become a bottomless pit:
There is always more. Y ou may think that you need more time to
understand the past or become free of it, in other words, that the future
will eve ntually f ree you of the past. This is a delusion. Only the present
can free  you of the past. More t ime cannot free you of time. Access the
power of Now. That is the key. What is the power of Now. None o ther than the power of your presence, your consc iousness
liberated from thought forms. So deal with the  past on the level of the present. The more atten tion you
give to the past,  the more you ener gize it, and the more likely y ou are to
make a “self” out of it. Don’ t misunderstand: Attention is esse ntial, butnot to the past as past. Give attention to the present; give att ention to
your beh avior, to your reactions, moods, thoughts, emotions, fears, and
desires a s they occur in the prese nt. Ther e’ s  the past in you. If you can be
present e nough t o watch all thos e things, not critically or analytically but
nonjudgmentally, then you are dealing with the past and diss olving it
through the power of your presence. Y ou cannot find yourself by going
into the past. Y ou find yourself by coming into the present. Isn’ t it helpful to understand the past and so understand why we do
certain things, r eact in certain w ays, or why we unconsciously cr eate our
particular kind of drama, patterns in r elationships, and so on. As you  become more conscious of your present reality, you may
suddenly get certain insights as  to why  your conditioning functions in
those particular ways — for e xample, why your relationships follow
certain patterns — and you may remember things that happen ed in the
past or see them more clearly. That is fine and can be helpful, but it is not
essential. What is essential is your conscious presence. That  dissolves the
past. Th at is the transformative agent. So don’ t seek to understand the
past, but be as present as you can. The past cannot survive in your
presence. It can only survive in your absence. CHAPTER FIVE
T H E  S T A T E  O F  P R E S E N C E
IT’S NOT WHA T YOU THINK IT IS
Y ou kee p talkin g about the state of pr esence as the key. I think I
understand it intellectually, b ut I don’ t know if I have ever truly
experienced it. I wonder — is it what I think it is, or is it something
entir ely differ ent. It’ s not what you think it is. Y ou can’ t think


 just one of many meditation procedures that we
could describe. Meditation is a purposefully directed and harmonious application of the
mind. And the Indian Yogi Maharishi’ s teachings ask: “What is the mind? Itis only a bundle of thoughts. Stop thinking and show me then, where is the
mind?”
Psychotherapist Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D., another pioneer who explores
therapeutic and ethical implications of meditation and visualizations, offers
us a means of reaching into the mind by counting breaths. It is a technique
used in Zen training, and the object is to be doing just one thing as
completely and fully as possible. The single thing, in this case, is counting
one’s exhalations. “Strive to be aware of just counting breaths and be as fully aware of it as
possible,” Dr. LeShan advises. “All your attention is gently and firmly and
repeatedly broug ht to bear on this activity. The goal is to have your whole
being involved in the counting.... In this exercise one is paying as full and
complete attention as possible to the counting itself. Thoughts, feelings,
impressions, sensory perceptions, to the degree that they are conscious, are
a wandering away from the instructions.”
We suggest that you draw in your senses by counting the breaths up to
four counts. Then begin the coun t again. To fill up the time elaps ed between
counts, add the word “and” after each of the exhalation counts. Thus you
would count “one”—“and”—“two”—“and”—“three”—“and”—“four.”
Then repeat the count. This is a very fine technique for bringing you into a
meditative state.6
Repeatedly Use Affirmations
Among the most important elements of creative visualization are
affirmations, strong and positive statements declaring that something exists
or is already so.7 When an individual states, “I am getting better and better,”
the mind tells the body. Be assured: The body believes everything that it
hears the mind say. The stream of thoughts that runs through one’s mind are
vital to the body’ s health, for if the ideas and words we use are
unknowingly negative, a small amount of this negation attaches itself to
one’s physical self. Those words get stuck in the mind and seep out to the
rest of oneself. And, if the nega tive notions are knowingly painful to others, those ideas
are disaffirmations that come back to destroy you. Remember that oldcliché which has proven itself all too true: “What goes around comes
around.”
The practice of silently verbalizing affirmations (or speaking them aloud)
allows the verbalizer to replace negative, stale, worn-out programming from
the past with positive or constructive concepts and themes to transform
attitudes and expectations abou t life and health. You can write down the
affirmations too or chant them as rhymes or sing them as songs. Repeatedly
using af firmations is vital for bringing about healing. Exponents of the Gerson Therapy encourage the application of tangible
health-producing affirmations having to do with acute or chronic illnesses
and infectious or degenerative diseases that are causing difficulty. Here we
offer just a few samples of affirmations you might create and use for
yourself:
• Every day in every way I am getting better, better, and better. • I am vibrantly healthy and radiantly beautiful! • I am healthy and whole and complete in myself. • I give thanks now for my life of perfect health and happiness. • I am happy to be alive and well, anticipating what the future brings. • I now recognize and accept the excellence of my healing path. • I love and appreciate myself just as I am. • I am conquering illness because the treatment is working. At this point we have some suggestions about how to use affirmations to
create health and happiness:
1. Always phrase affirmations in the present tense, as if what you aim for
already exists. See your goal as being reality now and as something to
come. That’ s because everythin g is created first in the mind before it
becomes manifest in the physical. 2. Phrase affirmations in the most constructive manner possible by
stating what is definitely wanted, rather than what is not wanted. Avoid
disaf firmations except when eliminating emotional blocks or bad habits. If it is necessary  to say somethi ng negative, follow up immediately with
another thing that’ s positive. 3. Use shorter affirmations instea d of longer ones so that they remain
clear and convey strong feelings. 4. Hold on to the affirmative statement only if it fits you well and feels
right for your body and mind.5. Have the affirmation produce a feeling of belief within you by
suspending doubts or hesitations about its practicality. 6. Use affirmations repeatedly whether alone or in combination with
creative visualizations. (Affirmations accompany visualizati ons very
well.) Develop the Imaginative Power of the Right Brain
It’s only in the last century and a half that real progress has been made in
understanding the mind’ s work ings, and even that progress has shown us
how much is yet to be learned. Just when scientists think they have located
areas where activities such as thinking, remembering, and speaking are
based, a new situation appears which proves that the answer is by no means
certain. Yet we are gathering knowledge about the imaginative power of the
right brain—at least we know that the mind is infinitely more subtle than
was previously thought. Everyo ne who possesses what has been called a
“normal” mind actually owns a much larger ability and potent ial than had
been determined a mere fifty years ago.8
The brain of each human being has two sides, the left hemisphere and the
right hemisphere. Each side of the brain has different mental functions
which scientists refer to as lateralization,  meaning that various mental
abilities are parceled out laterally (to the left or right side). The left hemisp here functions most effectively for purposes of reading,
writing, arithmetic and number skills, calculation, spoken language and
language skills, scientific skills, reasoning, linear processing, logical
procedures, and right-hand control. The right hemisphere best controls
music awareness, spatial construction and artisitic intelligence, holistic
thinking, imagi nation, insight,  intuition, three-dimensional and pattern
perception, and left-hand control. Added to these, the right brain deals with
relaxation, imagination, creativity, visualization, medit ation. and
affirmations.9
As an interesting aside, women have more-developed left hemispheres
and thus outperf orm men on tests of verbal fluency. And wom en do better
on remembering  details. In navigating through the world, however, men
possess more of a sense of a spatial map in their mind, while women payattention to and use local landmarks as guides. The mental differences
between the sexes may be partly due to hormones.10,11,12
Inasmuch as the right hemisphere provides more efficacy with the
psychology of surviving cancer, we highly recommend that the person with
a degenerative disease develop the imaginative power of the right side of
the brain using the methods we have described. References for Chapter Eighteen
1
Cousins, N. Anatomy of an Illness. New Y ork: W.W. Norton & Co., 1979,
p. 86. 2
Bishop, B. “Psychological considerations for the Gerson patient.” In
Gerson Therapy Physician’ s Training Manual. Bonita, Calif.: The Gerson
Insititute, 1996, p. 62. 3
Silva, J.; Stone, R.B. You the Healer. Tiburon, Calif.: H.J. Kramer, 1989,
p. 18. 4
Gawain, S. Creative Visualization. Novato, Calif.: Nataraj Publishing,
1995, pp. 27-28. 5
Ozaniec, N. Meditation for Beginners. London: Hodder & Stoughton
Educational, 1995, p. 2. 6
LeShan, L. How to Meditate. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1974, pp. 58-
59. 7
Gawain, S. Creative Visualization. New  York: Bantam Books, 1982, pp. 21-26. 8
Buzan, T. Use Both Sides of Your Brain. New  York: E.P Dutton, 1974, p.
13. 9Leviton, R. Brain Builders! (West Nyack, N.Y: Parker Publishing Co.,
1995, pp. 330-331. 10
Herlitz, A.; Nilsson, L.G. ; Back man, L. “Gender Differences in Episodic
Memory.” Memory and Cognition  25(6):801–81 1, 1997. 11
Sherwin, B.B. “Estrogen and cognitive functioning in women.”
Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
217(1): 17-22, 1998. 12
Fink, G.; Sumner, B.E. ; Rosie, R.; Grace, O.; Quinn, J.P “Estrogen
control of central neurotransmi ssion: effect on mood, mental state, and
memory.” Cellular and Molecular Neur obiology  16(3):325-344


 is always easy, but we can at least lean into the changes
that foster our rebirth. Even small changes can have profound results. And
always remember, the mystic Jesus will help you. See yourself taking his
hand as a child would take the hand of an Elder Brother. He will help you. Think of him in order to remove the veil before your eyes, to see beyond
appearances, to penetrate the layers of illusion that otherwise dominate your
mind. As part of your daily spiritual practice, this morning prayer from A
Course in Miracles  is a powerful directive to your subconscious mind to do
the bidding of the Holy Spirit:
Wher e would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say, and to whom? * (WB-122)Then, as the day winds down, a powerful way to bring the mind to rest
is with an honest appraisal of how we did that day. Whom do I need to for give? Where was I not my most loving? Is there anything I need to correct? What was the part I played in whatever problem plagued me? Is there anyone I owe an apology? Where did I indulge the habit of negativity and blame? Where was I holding on to the past? With each one, simply look at it, forgive yourself and others, place it all
in the hands of God and be at peace. If there’ s something you need to do as
a follow-up, you’ll know. There is something about the word “Jesus” that automatically reminds
the mind of something. It’s not that the name itself carries magical power. It’s that the brain  responds to the name in some way, like a medicine for the
subconscious mind. If a problem seems insurmounta ble, try closing your eyes and see Jesus
walking on water. If you lack faith that a situation can miraculously change,
see him turning water into wine. If you’re acting in service but you lack the
resources you need, see him multiplying the loaves and fishes. If you feel
afraid, reach out for his hand and he will guide you. For mystic  Jesus is the
mind of pure love, and perfect love casts out fear. If you’re having a difficult time in a relationship, see him embracing
you both. Before you go into a meeting, bless everyone in the room. Pray
silently to be a vessel of love, pray that the Holy Spirit pour forth His spirit
on the gathering, and ask Him to use you to help heal the world. Pray to see
and appreciate the value of everyone who is gathered. See Jesus with his
arms around everyone; see him sitting at a conference table where you’re
having an important meeting; see him embracing everyone involved if
you’re having a dif ficult conversation. None of those visions are idle fantasies. If you treat this kind of imagery like a toy, it will have the effect of a toy
in your life. But if you treat it like the power of the universe, so shall it be
for you. There is nothing in the world more powerful than your ability to
use your mind to glorify God. Not by saying His name out loud orproselytizing for your religion, but simply by being the person that you
know He would have you be. “Teach the gospel” means “demonstrate
love.”
Because all minds are joined, everyone subconsciously knows
everything. People you meet today won’ t consciously know they’ve been
blessed by you, but they will feel it. They won’ t know exactly why they like
you so much. They simply will. OceanofPDF.comBeing Saved
The mystic Jesus repudiates and dissolves the power of the ego. He teaches
us how to love in a world where it can often be so hard. The birth of the mystic self is a commitment to becoming who we are
capable of being, a willingness to die to who we used to be in order to
become who we are capable of being. “He that findeth his life shall lose it:
and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39, KJV). Spiritual rebirth  isn’t an easy way out; it’s more like a difficult  way in. And we often run away from such work. We prefer the dull ache of
unconscious living to the sharp pains of self-discovery. Pulling an entire thought system out by its roots is not an easy thing to
do. We’ve been taught since childhood to see ourselves as separate from
others; we’ve been taught that the world is dangerous, that there  are only so
many pieces of the pie to go around, that no one is good enough,
particularly ourselves, and so forth. We’ve been taught in many ways that
toughness is strength and gentleness is weakness, only to learn the hard way
that controlling behavior can turn people off and humility draws them in. We were taught that self-will is everything and grace is just a fantasy, when
in fact self-will is often self-sabotaging, and the experience of grace nothing
short of miraculous. In a world where we are taught to fear, however, we can train ourselves
to think differen tly. Imagine if you had a kind of internal coach, with you all
the time, a Teacher who would take each thought you gave to him and show
you how to uplift it. Who would show you how to love yourself, and how to
love others. Who would guide you in the ways of forgiveness. That is who
Jesus is. If Shake speare dropped by and said he would teach you how to write
better, would you turn down his offer? If Picasso dropped by and offered to
teach you to paint, would you turn down the offer? That’ s what Jesus does,in a way: he makes us an offer— to teach us how to think more clearly, love
more deeply, live more creatively, and so save humanity from itself. Once
you realize it’s an offer like that—just that simple, really, with no strings
attached—it makes you think a bit before you refuse. The only thing we need to be “saved” from is our own fear-based
thinking. Yet fear often masque rades as something it is not: sophisticated
thought, demanding that we bow down to its authority. Self-hate can
masquerade as self-love, selfishness can masquerade as self-care, and
casting a brother out of our hearts can masquerade as having healthy
boundaries. The last thing fear would want us to do is to see that we
ourselves are the main source of our problems. The Holy Spirit  stands on the fence between the self eternally at peace
with God and the self that is lost in the egoic confusion of the world. He
sees you as you really are, and He sees your worldly personality. Most
significantly, He sees and understands the gap between the two. We turn to our Internal Teacher to transform our thoughts, so that even
in this world we can experience the truth of who we are. We do so by handing Him every thought that comes to mind, asking that
He remove the elements of illusion, of fear, and give our thoughts back to
us transformed. An example would be this: There is someone in your life who treats you
in a way that is unkind, unloving, or disrespectful. In response, you are
triggered in various ways, based on childhood wounds or any other factor. Your temptatio n is then to close your heart to them—judgment,
defensiveness, and so forth—as they have closed their heart to you. The ego would have you see yourself as victim, filled with righteous
anger and totally justified in defending or attacking back in some way. Defense itself is an attack, howe ver, and now both of you have jumped onto
the wheel of suffering. And the initial offense might have been anything. It
could have been  a serious trans gression or even something as simple as an
unkind remark on Twitter. Even small annoyances, accumulated  over time,
have the capacity to leave us anxious, devitalized, and depressed. A rampant
mean-spiritedness begins to express itself collectively, as an entire society
can feel itself subject to often subtle, sometimes dramatic expressions of
lovelessness that begin to fill the air. But there is another way. The journey begins in the realm of personal
transformation, and over time has societal effects. In praying for ourselveswe are praying for the world. Dear God,
I am annoyed and hurt by ________’ s behavior. Their lovelessness has trigger ed me and I am not at peace. I give to you the feelings I feel,
asking that you transform them. I am willing to feel otherwise. I am willing to see this situation differ ently.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Even the tiniest thought of forgiveness, of mercy, of love, can
change the trajectory of our lives. I learned at a seminar years ago a technique that I’ve passed on to many
others. We were told to look at people and silently say to them, “The love in
me salutes the love in you. ” How often I’ve been in situations where I’ve
done that and seen extraordinary  changes. For all minds are joined. The vast
majority of data we receive is registered subconsciously. We can feel it
when we are being judged, and we can feel it when we are being  loved. Our
greatest


 find that for which
you are searching. This teaching implies the definiteness of  mental
and spiritual laws. There is always a direct response from  the Infinite
Intelligence of your subconscious mind to your conscious thinking. If
you ask for bread, you will not receive a stone. You must ask
believing, if you are to receive. Your mind moves from the thought to
the thing. Unless there is first an image in the mind, it cannot move,
for there would be nothing for it to move toward. Your prayer, which is your men-tal act must be accepted as an
image in your mind before the power from your subconscious will
 74  play upon it and make it productive. You must reach a point of
acceptance in your mind, an unqualified and undisputed state of
agreement. This contemplation should be accompanied by a feeling of joy a nd
restfulness in foreseeing the certain accomplishment of your de sire. The sound basis for the art and science of true prayer is your
knowledge and complete confidence that the movement of your
conscious mind will gain a definite response from your subconsciou s
mind, which is one with boundless wis-dom and infinite power. By
following this procedure, your pray-ers will be answered. • The visualization technique
The easiest and most obvious way to formulate an idea is to
visualize it, to see it in your mind’s eye as vividly as if  it were alive. You can see with the naked eye only what already exists in the
external world; in a similar way, that which you can visualize in your
mind’s eye already exists in the invisible realms of your mi nd. Any
picture, which you have in your mind, is the substance of things hoped
for and the evidence of things not seen. What you form in your
imagination is as real as any part of your body. The idea and the
thought are real and will one day appear in your objective world if you
are faithful to your mental image. This process of thinking forms impressions in your mind; these
impressions in turn become manifested as facts and ex-peri ences in
your life. The builder visualizes the type of build-ing he wants; he s ees it as
he desires it to be completed. His imagery and thought-process es
become a plastic mold from which the building will emerge—a
beautiful or an ugly one, a skyscraper or a very low one. His ment al
imagery is projected as it is drawn on paper. Eventually, the contractor
and his  work-ers gather the essential materials, and the b uilding
progresses until it stands finished, conforming perfectly to the mental
pat-terns of the architect. 75  I use the visualization technique prior to speaking from the
platform. I quiet the wheels of my mind in order that I may pres ent to
the subconscious mind my images of thought. Then, I picture the
entire auditorium and the seats filled with men and women, and each
one of them illumined and inspired by the in-finite healing presence
within each one. I see them as radiant, happy, and free. Having first built up the idea in my imagination, I quietly sustain it
there as a mental picture while I imagine I hear men and wome n
saying, “I am healed,” “I feel wonderful,” “I’ve had an instanta neous
healing,” “I’m transformed.” I keep this up for about ten minute s or
more, knowing and feeling that each per-son’s mind and body are
saturated with love, wholeness, beauty, and perfection. My aw areness
grows to the point where in my mind I can actually hear the voic es of
the multitude proclaim-ing their health and happiness; then I rele ase
the whole picture and go onto the platform. Almost every Sunday
some people stop and say that their prayers were answered. • Mental movie method
The Chinese say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Willia m
James, the father of American psychology, stressed the fact th at the
subconscious mind will bring to pass any pic-ture held in the mind and
backed by faith. Act as though I am, and I will be. A number of years ago I was in the Middle West lecturing in se veral
states, and I desired to have a permanent location in the general  area
from which I could serve those who desired help. I traveled far, but
the desire did not leave my mind. One evening, while in a hotel i n
Spokane, Washington, I relaxed completely on a couch, immobilized
my attention, and in a quiet, passive manner imagined that I w as
talking to a large audience, saying in effect, “I am glad t o be here; I
have prayed for the ideal opportunity.” I saw in my mind’s ey e the
imaginary audience, and I felt the reality of it all. I playe d the role of
the actor, dramatized this mental movie, and felt satisfied that this
picture was being conveyed to my subconscious mind, which would
bring it to pass in its own way. The next morning, on awakening, I  felt
 76  a great sense of peace and satisfaction, and in a few days ’ time I
received a telegram asking me to take over an organization in the
Midwest, which I did, and I enjoyed it immensely for several years. The method outlined here appeals to many who have de-scribed it as
“the mental movie method.” I have received nu-merous letters f rom
people who listen to my radio talks and weekly public lectu res, telling
me of the wonderful results they get using this technique in  the sale of
their property. I suggest to those who have homes or property fo r sale
that they satisfy themselves in their own mind that their pr ice is right. Then, I claim that the Infinite Intelligence is attracting to them the
buyer who really wants to have the property and who will love i t and
prosper in it. After having done this I suggest that they quiet t heir
mind, relax, let go, and get into a drowsy, sleepy state, which reduce s
all mental effort to a minimum. Then, they are to picture t he check in
their hands, rejoice in the check, give thanks for the check, and g o off
to sleep feeling the naturalness of the whole mental movie c reated in
their own mind. They must act as though it were an objective rea lity,
and the subconscious mind will take it as an impression, and thro ugh
the deeper currents of the mind the buyer and the seller are brought
together. A mental picture held in the mind, backed by faith, wi ll
come to pass. • The Baudoin technique
Charles Baudoin was a professor at the Rousseau Institute in France. He was a brilliant psychotherapist and a research direct or of the New
Nancy School of Healing, who in 1910 taught that the best way to
impress the subconscious mind was to enter into a drowsy, sle epy
state, or a state akin to sleep in which all effort was r educed to a
minimum. Then in a quiet, passive, receptive way, by reflec tion, he
would convey the idea to the subconscious. The following is his formula: “A very sim-ple way of securi ng this
(impregnation of the subconscious mind) is to condense the idea
which is to be the object of sug-gestion, to sum it up in a b rief phrase
 77  which can be readily graven on the memory, and to repeat it over  and
over again as a lullaby.”
Some years ago, a young lady in Los Angeles was engaged in a
prolonged bitter family lawsuit over a will. Her husband had
bequeathed his entire estate to her, and his sons and daugh-ters  by a
previous marriage were bitterly fighting to break the wil l. The
Baudoin technique was outlined to her, and this is what she did: She
relaxed her body in an armchair, entered into the sleepy stat e and, as
suggested, condensed the idea of her need into a phrase consist ing of
six words easily graven on the memory. “It is finished in Divi ne
Order.” The significance to her of these words meant that Inf inite
Intelligence operating through the laws of her subconscious mind
would bring about a harmonious adjustment through the principle o f
harmony. She continued this procedure every night for about ten
nights. After she got into a sleepy state, she would affirm s lowly,
quietly, and feelingly the statement: “It is finished in Divine  Order,”
over and over again, feeling a sense of inner peace and an al l-per-
vading tranquility; then she went off into her deep, normal sleep. On the morning of the eleventh day, following the use of the above
technique, she awakened with a sense of well-being, a conviction that
it was finished. Her attorney called her the same day, saying that the
opposing attorney and his clients were willing to settle. A har monious
agreement was reached, and litigation was discontinued. • The sleeping technique
By entering into a sleepy, drowsy state, effort is reduced to a
minimum. The conscious mind is submerged to a great extent w hen in
a sleepy state. The reason for this is that the highest degree of outcropping  of the
subconscious occurs prior


 grits, cornmeal, even rice, processed grains of any and every kind, contain considerable fatty rubbish and cause choked arteries in varying degree. Some people have been using their own home mills to grind their own flour, and say they have had
some improvement, however where a person is trying to reduce very high blood pressure or avoid a surgical operation for choked arteries, the best thing to do is completely avoid flour and meal of any
and every kind, even homemade. Potatoes are a good s ubstitute for bread, and it has been found there is
no real problem in getting used to doing without bread. Since some people have notions about bread and flour being the indispensable "Staff of life" and so
forth, we should look at the true facts. Bread and flour as we know them were developed in the Middle
East only a few thousand years ago, and have become popular mostly in the industrialized nations. (Ref. "Flour for Man's Bread" by Storck & Teague, pub. 1952 by Univ. of Minn.) However, bread was
not adopted everywhere, for even today there are many parts of the world where the use of bread is mostly limited to the cities, notably in the Far East, tropical Africa and South America. Since there are
millions of happy well-fed people living today who do not eat flour or bread, it is very clear that it is
not necessary. Ready-to-eat cereals are made of finely ground flour and various other grains, so
must be considered stale food. 15. BRAN IN FLOUR AND CEREALS
   Bran is the brown outer coating of the wheat grain, and is a sort of Jekyll and Hyde
material. On the one hand it contains some worthwhile vitamins and protective
materials, but on the other it contains toxic substances which irritate the intestines,
produce stomach pains and diarrhea and have even been known to kill young children and baby animals. Bran occurs to some degree even in white flour as fine particles,
and gives whole wheat flour the brown color. Wheat grains can lie buried in the soil for several years and finally sprout, showing
the extremely durable and toxic properties of the bran coating in warding off soil
microbes. Bran is extremely durable and resistant to breakdown by organic action. For
this reason it can in finely ground form fall in the same class as fatty rubbish and play
a minor role in forming arteriosclerotic deposits. There are indications that yellow brown pigments from bran form accumulations in the body and have some bearing on
skin blemishes and the discoloration of old age. 16. QUALITY OF MEAT AND EGGS
   The flavor and health-giving power of these products and milk as well depend
greatly on how the producing livestock were cared for and fed. One can no more get
strength and health by eating products from run-down vitamin-deficient livestock than
borrow money from a pauper, for if the animal's body does not contain the necessary substances required to be healthy, it can not possibly give them to the human
consumer. It has been known for centuries that humans living on the products of poorly fed animals become weak and sickly. The eating quality of animal products due to feed alone can vary over a great range,
and the nutritional merits and freedom from fatty rubbish go hand in hand with the
eating quality. This is not surprising, for after all it is hardly possible to build a high quality product with shoddy materials. Nowadays most beef cattle, hogs, and chickens are fattened under confinement
feeding practices in which they are shut up in lots, pens, or cages and fed entirely upon stale stored feeds such as finely ground and pelletized grains, industrial by-
products, hay, and silage. These stale feeds contain large quantities of fatty rubbish
and the high quality health giving nutrients are mostly unavailable. Animals fed in
this way grow fast and become fat, but their disease resistance is low, and a great
many would sicken and die except for the anti-biotics and other drugs put in the feeds. In this way, animals can be cheaply raised, but the health giving power of their
products is low. The authorities have studied  the likelihood of drugs in the feed being
carried over into human food, but have overlooked the most important aspect, which is that the livestock products produced on drugged feeds often do not contain the
natural substances necessary to maintain health in the human consumer. It would be
better for the public if drugs were not used in livestock production so that the farmers
would have to feed the stock properly and weak animals would not live to be sold as food. Hogs raised by confinement feeding frequently are so weak they can hardly walk,
have poor thin fuzzy hair, diarrhea, sore eyes, and deformed jaws. The farmers know very well that they cannot feed their brood sows and hens in this way, for the babies
would be born or hatched dead, deformed, or so weak that most would die, so they
keep the prospective mothers in green fields of grass where they get fresh food. The
food faddists' idea that fertile eggs are be tter is correct, but not for the reason usually
given. The male chicken's fertilization of the hens has no food advantage, but it is the
green grass pasture on which breeding hens are kept that makes the difference. Many farmers seem to have forgotten that all livestock including chickens relish
tender green grass better than any other feed, and do best when eating it.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Soil and Health Library
This document is a reproduction of the book or other copyrighted material you
requested. It was prepared on for the exclusive use of Oriana, whose email address is
orianaoriana@gmail. com. This reproduction was made by the Soil and Health Library only for the purpose of
research and study. Any further reproduction or distribution of this copy in any form
whatsoever constitutes a violation of copyrights. A NEW DIETARY
DISCOVERY

STALE FOOD
-vs-
FRESH FOOD
BY ROBERT S. FORD
President, Magnolia Laboratory
 — MEMBER —
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CEREAL CHEMISTS
THE INSTITUTE OF FOOD TECHNOLOGISTS
A. H. A. COUNCIL ON ARTERIOSCLEROSIS
AMERICAN OIL CHEMISTS' SOCIETY
P. M. P. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
AMERICAN AGING ASSOCIATION
   AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

DEDICATION
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO A BETTER LIFE FOR ALL

THIS BOOKLET IS AVAILABLE FROM MAGNOLIA LABORATORY
701 BEACH BLVD. — PASCAGOULA, MISS. — U. S.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: Who is the author of the book?,
A: Robert S. Ford
Q: What is the main cause of common arthritis, according to the author?,
A: The deterioration of the synovial membrane
Q: What is the author's explanation for the difference in the development of arteriosclerosis in the Masai and the Finnish people?,
A: The author attributes this to the fact that the Masai and Finnish people eat their meat and milk fresh, unlike the Finnish people who eat stale food.
Q: What is the author's advice for those who are experiencing sleep disturbances?,
A: The author suggests avoiding coffee, tea, and other stimulants four hours before bedtime, eating an early evening meal, and engaging in relaxing activities before sleep.
Q: What is the author's stance on the use of antibiotics in livestock production?,
A: The author suggests that it would be better for farmers to feed their animals fresh grass and green fields, rather than using antibiotics, in order to produce healthy and strong animals for food.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Cattle
especially thrive on good grass above all,  and beef from grass and grain feeding
combined has a rich red color, fragrant golden yellow fat and a taste that is in a class
by itself. Eggs from chickens receiving gr een grass have brilliant orange colored
yolks that do not easily break in the pan, and a delicious flavor entirely different from the musty tasting confinement eggs. And oldtimers remember how good fresh country
pork used to taste, with its sweet aromatic fat, not slimy and rancid like commercial pork is today. It is still that good when the pigs are raised in green fields. Chicken
feeds now are such a fake that the mills even put in a yellow dye to imitate the skin appearance given by the yellow carotene vitamin normally in a healthy chicken. Feedlot beef often shows dark streaks of ro t in the center of the bones, and if the
segments of red meat are pulled apart one can see that the fibrous muscle sheaths have
already been turned brown by microbes, because the meat lacks the anti-microbic
defensive powers found in normal animals. Most livestock on the market today are like old-time sailors who have been eating stale food on a long sea voyage, weakened
and sickened by scurvy and beri-beri. The livers from confinement fed livestock are abnormal and show the depletion of
vital substances by their pale yellowish or pinkish color. Healthy livers are dark wine
red. This was evidently known in very early times, for weak and worthless creatures
were called "white livered" or "lily livered." The liver condition is a good indicator of quality. 17. SMOKED AND SALTED MEAT AND FISH
   Food scientists have published extensivel


 brain, it has little to say about the
experience of life as a whole, yet that experience impinges
directly on who gets sick and who stays well. Deepak was not the ﬁrst to see these ﬂaws and
omissions, but Quantum Healing  was very bold in becoming
the ﬁrst book to oﬀer a path to new answers. He proposed
that quantum  physics describes an invisible domain from
which mind and body both emerge and unite. Quantum
Healing  struck a nerve by focusing on the most baﬄin g
phenomenon in medicine, spontaneous remission from
cancer. How could the most intractable of diseases, the
object of billion-dollar campaigns to ﬁnd a cure, suddenly
disappear from a patient’s body. Since oncology is a
numbers game, it was easier simply to ignore these
extraordinary cases as anomalies. But if science prides
itself on going wherever  reality leads us, such cases arewell docume nted in medical journals. They force us to
rethink the entire materi alist, reductionist model—Deepak
was willing to go there. Even today, not everyone  is willing. As a neurogeneticist,
I have  been fortunate to study the wondrous interplay of
genes and the brain. All organic processes are coded in our
DNA. Since that includes all brain processes, the mind-
body connection is directly engendered in our genes. The
same is true for healing,  another process that cannot take
place absent genetic activity. However, most geneticists
don’t think in such broad terms; our research studies are
extremely detailed and focused (my specialty is the
neurodegenerative disorder Alzheimer’s disease). The mind
is all too often left out of the equation, and as for quantum,
the word has traditionall y had no bearing on our training,
being the province of physics. Quantum Healing  looked past this long-accepted
compartmentalization, opening up genetics, along with
every other corner of physiology, to quantum thinking. I
didn’t delve into the mind-body connection when I ﬁrst
began my quest to end Alzheimer’s disease, but since it’s a
brain disorder, I discovered common ground with a broad
thinker like Deepak. After getting  excited about how our
interests and passions overlapped, we wrote a book, Super
Brain,  together. The gist of the book, based on solid
neuroscience, is that the brain is plastic, inﬂuenced by
thoughts, feelings, choices, and most important, self-
awareness. We also explored a radical possibility that
Quantum Healing  ﬁrst proposed: What if the mind is
creating the brain at the same time that the brain is
creating the mind. This was a mind-blowin g (or brain-
blowing) idea, because it ﬂew straight past the insistence
that only physical processes matter in the brain
(materialism) and that every answer lies at the level of the
neuron (reductionism). The basic research that was showing how messenger
molecules carry information from the brain to every cell in
the body was new when Quantum Healing  was published. Now our knowledge in this area is extremely sophisticated. The next frontier is the mind-gene connection. Here
Deepak and I have found the most exciting possibilities. We
are actively pursuing the beneﬁcial genetic chan ges that
occur in meditation and other contemplative practices. Long portrayed as spiritual, these are actually mind-body
techniques that speak to every cell and even deeper, to
every gene. The implications are explosive when it comes
to cutting-edge science in preventing or reversin g chronic
disorders, attacking the causes of aging, and ﬁghting
against the subtle imbal ances that lead to inﬂammation,
now the prime suspect in many disorders, including cancer. We are proposing that lifestyle choices, insofar as they
aﬀect a person’s genes, can lead to transformati on at the
level where personal evolution occurs. Genes are not the
ﬁxed, stable, immovable entities I was taught about; they
are ﬂuid and dynamic, and their activities are altered by
every experience, thought, word, and action in a person’s
life. So, why not direct your experience to inﬂuence your
genes in the most positive ways. Ground is being broken in
“self-directed biological transformation” (SDBT), our
phrase for personalized conscious evolution. (And a new
book is emerging from this concept, titled Super Genes,  to
bring SDBT into the practicalities of daily life. ) Quantum Healing  didn’t set out to cure cancer or
Alzheimer’s or any other  intractable disease. It set out to
see the human body, and human existence in general,
through wiser eyes. As a scienti st I’m passionate about
genes and the brain; as a person I’m totally fascinated by
the origins of consciousness. Quantum Healing  galvanized
my intuition that these areas do not have to be separated. They belong together naturally, and once we feel securethat self-awareness is integral to the healthy workings of
the body, it will be integral to existence itself. Beyond that,
the possibilities are inﬁnite. —
Rudolph Tanzi, Ph.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: Who is the author of the book "Quantum Healing"?,
A: Deepak Chopra, M.D.
Q: What is the main argument of the book "Quantum Healing"?,
A: The book argues that the mind and body are connected, and that the mind can influence the body to heal or become sick.
Q: What is the name of the Indian philosopher who stated that people grow old and die because they see others grow old and die?,
A: Adi Shankara
Q: What is the main point of the book "Quantum Healing"?,
A: The book proposes that the mind and body are not separate entities, but are connected and can be influenced by each other, and that the mind can be used to heal the body.
Q: What is the term used to describe the connection between the mind and body, as proposed in "Quantum Healing"?,
A: Quantum healing<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>He did not even suspect that it was cancerous,
and since he was in his sixties, the lesion was growing
quite slowly. However, as soon as I told him that the lesion
was consistent with a diagnosis of lung cancer, he became
terribly agitated. Within a month he started to cough up
blood; within  three, he was dead. If his state of mind
contributed to this untoward haste, it apparently acted
quickly. This patient could live with his tumor, but he
couldn’t live with the diagnosis. Even more basic is this question: Is the “mind” that a
doctor is interested in the patient’s overall personality, his
subconscious, his attitudes, his deepest beliefs, or
something not yet understood and deﬁned by psychology? It may be that the releva nt aspect of the mind involved in
getting sick or getting well is not even speciﬁcally human. An Ohio University study of heart disease in the 1970s
was conducted by feeding quite toxic, high-cholesterol diets
to rabbits in order to block their arteries, duplic ating the
eﬀect that such a diet has on human arteries. Consistent
results began to appear in all the rabbit groups except for
one, which strangely displayed 60 percent fewer symptoms. Nothing in the rabbits’ physiology could account for their
high tolerance to the diet, until it was discovered by
accident that the studen t who was in charge of feeding
these particular rabbits liked to fondle and pet them. He
would hold each rabbit lovingly for a few minutes before
feeding it; astonishingly, this alone seemed to enable the
animals to overcome the toxic diet. Repeat experiments, in
which one group of rabbi ts was treated neutrally while the
others were loved, came up with similar results. Once
again, the mechanism that causes such immunity is quite
unknown—it is baﬄing to think that evolution has built intothe rabbit mind an immune response that needs to be
triggered by human cuddling. There is even a possibility, many doctors would contend,
that the mind is a ﬁction, medically speaking. When we
think that it is sick, what is really sick is the brain. By this
logic, the classical mental disorders—depression,
schizophrenia, and psychosis—are actually brain disorders. This logic has obvious inadequacies: it is like saying that
car wrecks should be blamed on automobiles. But the
brain, being  a physical organ that can be weig hed and
dissected, makes medicine feel more secure than does the
mind, which has proved impossible to deﬁne after many
centuries of introspection and analysis. Doctors are quite
happy not to be called upon as philosophers. The ability of today’s psychotropic, or mind-inﬂuencing,
drugs to relieve the major symptoms of mental illness, such
as depression, mania, anxiety, and hallucinations, is much
greater than any treatment available in the past. Chemical
psychiatry is likely to vie with its exact opposite, mind-body
medicine, as the medical revolution of our time. It has hard
clinical results to back it up, including numerous
indications that chemical imbalances in the brain are
directly linked to mental illness