 which the biologists may some day be
able to detect beforehand, just as blood is now tested and matched for transfusion.
    It is fortunate that there is a new explanation for the distressing old doctrine which holds that
geniuses cannot be born unless there is an abundant crop of defectives. In this connection
Jacobson says,
   The genius tends to be a product of mixed ethnic and nervously peculiar stock--stock so
peculiar that it exhibits an unusual amount of badness. The human family pays dearly for its
geniuses. Just as nature in general is prodigal in wasting individuals for the development of a
type, or species, so do we here find much human wastage apparently for a similar purpose. One
may think of the insane and the defectives as so many individuals wasted in order that a few
geniuses may be developed. It would seem' that in order to produce one genius there must be
battalions of criminals, weaklings and lunatics. Nietzsche must have had biologic implications of
this sort in mind when he spoke of the masses as merely "fertilizers" for the genius. This is why
the genius has been compared to the lily on the dunghill. He absorbs all the energy of his family
group, leaving the fertilizing mass depleted.
    Our recent data on the primitive races indicate that this theory is not true, since in a single
generation various types and degrees of physical, mental or moral crippling may occur in spite of
their purity of blood and all that inheritance could accomplish as a reinforcement through the ages.
    The extent to which the general public has taken for granted that there is a direct relationship
between mental excellence and mental deficiency is illustrated by the commonly heard expression
"great wits and fools are near akin" which expresses tersely the attitude of a modern school of
psychiatry. This doctrine is not supported by controlled data from scientifically organized
investigations. One of the principal exponents quoted is Maudsley who stated "it is not
exaggeration to say that there is hardly ever a man of genius who has not insanity or nervous
disorder of some form in his family." Many reviews of the lives of great men have been published in
support of this doctrine. Havelock Ellis, however, one of the leading psychologists and
psychiatrists of our day, has shown that the percentage of cases substantiating this doctrine is less
than 2 per cent and less than half that proportion found in the population at large, which in a tested
group he found to be 4.2 per cent. East of Harvard in discussing this problem states, after
reviewing the evidence pro and con: "Thus it is seen that where one collates the work of the most
competent investigators on the possibility of relation between insanity and genius the conclusion is
unavoidable that none exists."
   Those who still believe in the old fatalistic doctrines may answer the questions why the last child
is affected seriously much more often than would be expected through chance; or why the most
severe defectives are born after mothers have exceeded forty years of age; and still further why
our defectives are found chiefly among the later members of large families. These facts are not
explainable by Mendel's laws of heredity.
    Professor J. C. Brash, of the University of Birmingham, in his monograph (2) discusses the
current theories in detail. He emphasizes the role of heredity as the controlling factor in the origin of
divergencies. However, all of the distortions of the face and jaws which he presents as being
related to heredity can be duplicated, as I have shown, in the disturbances appearing in the first
and second generation after primitive racial stocks have adopted the foods of our modern
civilizations in displacement of their native foods. He emphasizes the importance of an adequate7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 237/250diet during the growth period of the child, and also the fact that malocclusion is not a direct
manifestation of rickets. Hellman has emphasized the importance of childhood diseases. The
disturbances which we are studying here, however, are not related to these influences.
    Two of the outstanding advances in laboratory and clinical approach to this problem of the
relation of the structure of the brain to its function as expressed in mentality and behavior have
been the work of Tredgold in England, referred to in Chapter 19, and the "Waverly Researches in
the Pathology of the Feeble-Minded," in Massachusetts. Tredgold recognizes two sources of brain
injury, "germinal blight" and ''arrest'' and puts particular stress on the former as being pathological
and not spontaneous, and related to the germ of either or both parents due to poisoning of the
germ cell. The "arrest" problems have to do with intra-uterine environmental disturbances.
    The Waverly group have made very detailed anatomical studies, both gross and microscopic, of
brains of mental defectives and related these data to the clinical characteristics of the individuals
both mental and physical when living. They have reported in detail two groups of studies of ten
individuals each. In their summary of the second group they state: (3)
  The provisional conclusions drawn from the second series and the combined first and second
series are much in agreement with the original conclusions drawn from the first series which
were as follows: First that measurable brain can be correlated with testable mind in the low and
high orders with fairly positive results. That is the small simple brains represented the low
intellects or idiots and the most complex brain patterns corresponded to the high grade, moronic
and subnormal types of feeble-mindedness.
    The lessons from the primitive races demonstrate certain procedures that should be adopted for
checking the progressive degeneration of our modernized cultures. If, as now seems indicated,
mal-development with its production of physical, mental and moral cripples is the result of forces
that could have been reduced or prevented, by what program shall we proceed to accomplish this
reduction or prevention?
   I have presumed in this discussion that the primitive races are able to provide us with valuable
information. In the first place, the primitive peoples have carried out programs that will produce
physically excellent babies. This they have achieved by a system of carefully planned nutritional
programs for mothers-to-be. It is important to note that they begin this process of special feeding
long before conception takes place, not leaving it, as is so generally done until after the mother-to-
be knows she is pregnant. In some instances special foods are given the fathers-to-be, as well as
the mothers-to-be. Those groups of primitive racial stocks who live by the sea and have access to
animal life from the sea, have depended largely upon certain types of animal life and animal
products. Specifically, the Eskimos, the people of the South Sea Islands, the residents of the
islands north of Australia, the Gaelics in the Outer Hebrides, and the coastal Peruvian Indians have
depended upon these products for their reinforcement. Fish eggs have been used as part of this
program in all of these groups. The cattle tribes of Africa, the Swiss in isolated high Alpine valleys,
and the tribes living in the higher altitudes of Asia, including northern India, have depended upon a
very high quality of dairy products. Among the primitive Masai in certain districts of Africa, the
girls were required to wait for marriage until the time of the year when the cows were on the
rapidly growing young grass and to use the milk from these cows for a certain number of months
before they could be married. In several agricultural tribes in Africa the girls were fed on special
foods for six months before marriage. The need for this type of program is abundantly borne out
by recent experimental work on animals, such as I have reported in Chapters 17, 18 and 19.
    Another important feature of the control of excellence of child life among the primitive races has
been the systematic spacing of children by control of pregnancies. The interval between children
ranged from two and a half to four years. For most of the tribes in Africa this was accomplished by
the plural-wife system. The wife with the youngest child was protected.
    The original Maori culture of New Zealand accomplished the same end by birth control and
definite planning. In one of the Fiji Island tribes the minimum spacing was four years.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 238/250    These practices are in strong contrast with either the haphazard, entirely unorganized programs
of individuals in much of our modern civilization, or the organized over-crowding of pregnancies
also current. The question arises immediately: what can be done in the light of the data that I have
presented in this volume to improve the condition of our modern civilization? A first requisite and
perhaps by far the most important is that of providing information indicating why our present
haphazard or over-crowded programs of pregnancies are entirely inadequate. This should include,
particularly, the education of the highschool-age groups, both girls and boys.
    In the matter of instruction of boys and girls it is of interest that several of the primitive races
have very definite programs. In some, childbirth clinics supervised by the midwife are held for the
growing girls. With several of these tribes, however, the ease with which childbirth is accomplished
is so great that it is looked upon as quite an insignificant experience. Among the ancient Peruvians,
particularly the Chimu culture, definite programs were carried out for teaching the


 in the body. In
Type I, or child onset, diabetes the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin for
glucose metabolism and insulin supplementation is required. In Type II or adult onset
diabetes the pancreas is overproducing insulin to compensate for failure of glucose to
be metabolized within the cells. Our research indicates some individuals have Type I
29
Winning The Cancer War
and Type II Diabetes.
Before the discovery of insulin by professor Ernest L. Scott in 1911 and until the
early 1930's, when a person was diagnosed as having diabetes, they would often ask
the doctor if their condition could be helped or made worse by what they were eating
and should they change their diet in any way? The doctor would tell them: "Oh no,
diet doesn't make any difference — eat anything you want, you aren't going to live
much longer anyway, so live it up and eat whatever you want." Doctors couldn't
connect the diet and diabetes. Even lay people in those days figured out that if you
ate a lot of leafy green vegetables and reduced the amount of sugar you took in, you
survived longer and did well — at least better than the person who didn't watch his
diet.
And so it was that after the development of insulin, doctors figured out that there is
a factor in diet. In the early 1920s there weren't very good analytical facilities
available. But the doctors empirically found that the people who ate green leafy
vegetables, and a few other foods, survived diabetes much better and the sugar count
in their urine was much better. They had a saying in the medical community at that
time that leafy, green vegetables contained "natural insulin." It wasn't actually the
truth, but they became aware of the fact that including these vegetables in the diet did
play a role and they were trying to explain it.
We're in the same situation now with cancer. Someday, in the near future, it will
dawn on the medical community that diet does make quite a difference in people
with cancer, and greatly affects health in general. It can't happen too soon. When it
does, a lot of lives will be saved and a lot of lives will be lived more healthfully.
Eighty-six percent of all cancers could be controlled and/or prevented
by diet and pancreatic enzymes.
At least 86% of all cancer conditions could be adequately treated and/or
prevented by diet and pancreatic enzymes. Cancer is a symptom of inadequate and
deficient protein metabolism. The real problem is protein metabolism, not cancer.
Cancer is only a symptom telling those who would listen that their protein
metabolism is in very serious trouble. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy only treat
the symptoms of cancer.
One hundred years ago Dr. John Beard at the University of Edinburgh discovered
that the body's primary mechanism for destroying cancer is contained in pancreatin,
a secretion from the pancreas that includes enzymes for digesting protein (among
other things). Enzymes digest or liquefy foods for absorption by the body. Dr. Beard
presented pictures in his books and papers to show recoveries using pancreatin. This
was an unprecedented approach to treating the symptoms of cancer — a direct attack
30
Winning The Cancer War
on the malignancy with a substance that did not have toxic side effects on the other
functions of the body.
Dr. Howard Beard, Ph.D. (no relation-retired a chemistry professor) of Fort Worth,
Texas has contributed considerably to the understanding and use of pancreatic
enzymes in the treatment of cancer. He and other researchers indicated that where
cancer is concerned trypsin and particularly chymotrypsin are the important enzymes
in pancreatin. Dr. Beard also recommended a nutritional program and other things, as
stated in his book: A New Approach to Cancer, Rheumatic, and Heart Diseases.
Cancer Compared to Diabetes
1. Diabetes is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism due to inadequate
production or utilization of insulin. Cancer is a disorder of protein metabolism
due to inadequate production or utilization of protein digesting enzymes.
2. Insulin is produced in the pancreas. Protein digesting enzymes are produced in
the pancreas.
3. A neurological process controls insulin production. A neurological process
controls enzyme production.
4. Diabetes can often be controlled by diet alone. Cancer can often be controlled
by diet alone.
5. Diabetes can almost always be controlled by the proper dosage of insulin.
Cancer can almost always be controlled by proper dosage of protein digesting
enzymes.
6. A diabetic patient can live a long useful life and never die as the result of
diabetes. A cancer patient can live a long and useful life and never die as the
result of cancer.
7. A diabetic patient must control his diabetes the rest of his life by diet or
medication or a combination of both. A cancer patient must control his cancer
the rest of his life by diet and protein digesting enzymes.
8. The diabetic patient and the cancer patient alike must seek professional help to
determine and regulate the condition, but it is up to the individual to
administer to himself the proper diet and missing medication and/or
supplements.
31
Winning The Cancer War
The Four Laws of Cancer
You cannot have cancer unless three factors are present:
1. The presence of an Ectopic germ cell
2. The stimulating presence of the female sex hormones
3. A deficiency of active pancreatic enzymes
For cancer to be cured, there must be a positive change in the
physiology of the patient.
First Law
The body fails to produce an adequate amount of active pancreatic
enzymes for one of three reasons:
1. 83% — Overworking the pancreas by the intake of too much protein
2. 10% — Neurological injury to pancreatic enzyme production
3. 7% — Malfunction of body chemistry inactivating the enzymes
Second Law
Protein is gradually sapped from muscles
Our research indicates that in 93% of all cancer cases the development of cancer is
gradual. The average cancer patient has had cancer 39 months before it is clinically
diagnosed. The important factor here is not that it is slow growing, but rather what
happens to the body during this growth time — the body must have protein to live,
but during this 39 months the body could not get enough protein from its food
supply. Therefore, to keep the blood protein at a minimal level to sustain life, the
body very gradually saps or destroys the muscles of the body.
Third Law
Damaged tissue and female hormones at the site of a latent, misplaced
Ectopic germ cell set the scene for cancer
At this point the conditions are ripe for the symptom cancer to develop. All that is
32
Winning The Cancer War
needed is something to stimulate the female sex hormone formation at the site of a
misplaced Ectopic germ cell. This is most often done by scar formation caused by a
blow, a bruise, a drop of tar in the lung, a sun burn, an overdose of X-ray, or anything
else that can cause a normal scar formation procedure to take place in the body — at
the site of a latent Ectopic germ cell. This is normal wear and tear of the body, which
happens to each of us every day; it is only when our protein metabolism is deficient
that the symptom cancer develops.
Now the Ectopic germ cell mistakenly thinks it is time to have a baby and starts
growing a placenta (cancer) in preparation for a baby that never develops. The only
trouble is, without proper amounts of pancreatic enzymes circulating in our
bloodstream to dissolve this abnormal placenta; it keeps growing and does not stop.
When the patient finally consults the physician the condition of cancer is announced
and surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are recommended.
Fourth Law
For cancer to be cured there must be a positive change in the physiology
of the patient
If nothing changes in the physiology of the patient, the cancer grows until it
destroys the body. If something positive changes in the physiology of the patient one
of two things can happen:
1. One person with cancer lasts a long time while another person with the same
type of cancer goes rapidly — and, before now, no one knew why.
2. The right combination of circumstances occurs, and the cancer is dissolved or
"cured."
This book answers the question: " What is the right combination of
circumstances?"
33
D o I Have Cancer?
If  our nation can put a man on the moon
and place a satellite in orbit for the banks and stock markets
to transfer money and assets out of the country, tax free...
Why hasn't the cure for cancer been found?
It has!
Have you ever asked yourself...
If our nation can put a man on the moon and place a satellite in orbit for the
banks and stock markets to transfer money and assets out of the country — tax free —
why hasn't the cure for cancer been found? It has!
Biopsy
The only accepted legal medical diagnosis of cancer is by biopsy. This is not
100% accurate, for there are false positives as well as false negative biopsies. We,
that is you and I, are not permitted to make a diagnosis of cancer. Nor are we
permitted by law to use any system of diagnosis except biopsy for cancer diagnosis.
The Medical Establishment tightly controls the diagnosis of cancer.
Everybody Has Cancer
Each day each one of us has a "Cancer" start and develop in our body. This is a
normal ongoing process each one of us experiences. Usually, our normal metabolic
defense system takes care of


rustling of the leaves and the songs of the birds.
The older woman had lived all of her life in New
York City, on the lower East Side. She hated to make the
visit to the country, and when she did, stayed as briefly
as possible. Two or three days were all that she could
stand. The peace and silence would drive her 'crazy',
and she could not wait to return to the city where she
would sigh with relief. Her apartment faced the street,
and from her open window, she could talk to anybody,
hear the hustle and bustle ofthe city, and feel secure
all in the midst of the lower East side (her'mother
land'), despite all the noise and muggings. She was in a
situation that another person might consider stressful.
A lot ofpeople might consider that part ofthe city
scary indeed. What she experienced as security
being there in the throngs of people, with the sounds
of garbage cans and garbage trucks making a racket at
5 AM, was reassuring to her. In contrast, peace and
silence in the middle of one hundred acres of woods
were stressful.
We can look at a comparable example of Devil's
Island, the French penal colony. The French govern
ment, out of social protest, closed much of the prison
and allowed the prisoners to run loose on the island.
They released them from the animal and torture cages
and allowed them the freedom ofthe island and to walk
around at will.What did the prisoners do? Much to the
surprise of the authorities, they went back to their
cages to sleep at night.They felt frightened, lonely, and
insecure even though, for the fIrst time in all the years, 83 STRESS
they had the freedom they so vociferously had demanded
and died for during that time. The sense of security
came from the feeling of being back in the cages.
To most people, a jail cell would be the maximum
threat. No greater horror could be imagined. Yet, what
have other people done in a prison cell? They have
written prize-winning novels and staggering pieces of
literature. Things written in jail cells and prisons have
changed the course of the history of mankind, for bet
ter or worse.Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampfwhile in
prison.
Another interesting example, in contrast to Devil's
Island, is exemplified by the famous movie, Lost
Horizon. If you remember, in that movie Ronald
Coleman and the other passengers of a plane made an
emergency landing in the Himalayas. They went
through a pass and came upon Shangri-La, which rep
resents an almost heavenly condition. Its energy field
(540-600) is very high and is a place of unconditional
love and unending peace. Although the character
played by Coleman was ready for the experience,
benefiting greatly and expanding his own conscious
ness, the other passengers reacted to it differently. It
was interesting to watch six different people with six
different reactions. A couple of them were not quite
ready for the experience and reacted to it as a stress
due to its newness and strangeness. Others felt stress
for a while but then adjusted to it and accepted the
sort of heavenly condition in their lives. In contrast,
others were acutely disturbed by it.
The person playing Ronald Coleman's brother in
the movie became agitated and almost paranoid. He 84 HEALING AND RECOVERY
demanded to return to the'real world'. All these
people exhibited a reaction not to where they were
but to their individual positions. Their experiencing
was not about the environment but about their own
levels of consciousness.
One time I was leaving Ecuador and at the time,
there were only two planes a week that flew out of
Quito. I arrived for the Thursday flight, having made
reservations many months in advance, but when I
checked in, the ftrst thing I was told was that my name
was not on the list.Then I was told that the plane was
not leaving onThursday of that week; it was leaving on
Saturday. For some reason, it just seemed to be humor
ous and even hilarious. Somehow, being in the culture
of Ecuador at an altitude of 10,000 feet and above, the
fact that the plane was going to leave three days late
was viewed as not really important. Nobody got upset
about it, and interestingly, the clock in the airport that
hung from the middle of the ceiling had stopped work
ing many years previously, and nobody had bothered to
ftx it.
There was no frustration in coming from the atti
tude of acceptance, so there was no stress. There was
an easygoing social attitude in which precision in the
material world was not considered to be important.
Human values were ofgreater importance. In this case,
because of human value, even the convenience of the
crew was more important than the departure day, and
nobody seemed to mind.The setting, the expectation,
and the cultural attitude in Quito were not even expe
rienced as stressful. Ifthat had happened in a different
social setting, such as LaGuardia Airport, for example, STRESS ·85
and the Thursday flight was not leaving until Saturday,
it would have been experienced as stressful.
As a matter of fact, when I arrived for the Saturday
departure scheduled at 11:45AM, there was some kind
of delay. It was the only plane on the runway and the
plane just sat there. Suddenly it was noon, the time
when everything shuts down for a siesta, so not only
did the Thursday plane not leave until Saturday, it
didn't leave at 11 :45 AM; instead, it left at 3 PM. The
plane just sat on the runway while everybody took a
siesta. When it was over, everyone gathered their
belongings, got on the plane, and away we went. No
one was upset; everyone was totally relaxed and at
ease. So it really is possible to be at peace with a three
day delay in aflight schedule.
Within these experiences is the key to the under
standing of stress, because when we talk about stress,
we are really talking about the experience of what is
stressful within our own consciousness. To consider
the body as part of a stress response means that the
body is only responding to what is held in mind. By
altering what we hold in mind-our expectations, our
way of being with life-we can preclude the develop
ment of stress. We did not have to go to a relaxation
program to handle the stress of the plane's being three
days late.We did not have to go to some kind of coro
nary exercise· program to protect our hearts from
stress-there wasn't any stress. Consequently, the real
approach to stress is to prevent it in the first place-to
preclude it by understanding how and where it arises.
Our ftrst understanding is that the source of what
we experience as stress is within ourselves; it does not 86 HEALING AND RECOVERY
exist 'out there' in the world. It does not exist in plane
schedules or prison cells; it exists only within our own
consciousness.
As we examine the Map of the fields of conscious
ness more closely, our awareness of this subject will
advance rather rapidly because it is easy to understand.
It is something we already know; it is just necessary to
bring it into our awareness.
The energy fields at the bottom of the Map are
adverse or destructive to life and can be called stress
because of their intrinsic nature, which indicates a
stressful direction.When we move to Neutral, we go in
a positive direction to that which is not stressful. At
consciousness level 540, all things are experienced in
their beauty and perfection, in the oneness of life, and
in unconditional love and lovingness.
On the Map, to the right of these energy fields that
are calibrated as to their relative power, we see the
emotions that arise from those positions or ways of
being with life. For example, we can see that people
who are at the level of Guilt experience the emotions
of blame and self-hatred. They experience life as
destructive and see a world of suffering. The person
who holds the position of Apathy about life experi
ences the emotion of hopelessness. They see life and
their world as hopeless. They are in despair, and there
is a loss of energy.The God of such a world is dead.
If enough energy is poured into a person in the
state of apathy, they can move up to Grief, a stage in
which they can express emotion. It has a certain bio
logical purpose, and the expression ofgrief, such as the
crying of a child, brings up the emotion. Those who are 87 STRESS
in that energy field are looking to the past and see their
lives filled with regret and 10ss.They become dispirited
and experience this as a sad world, feeling that the God
of this world is ignoring them. In contrast, the person
who is in the suppressed energy field of Fear looks at
life with intense worry and anxiety and experiences
life as frightening. Regret stems from clinging to the
past, and fear results from living in the future.
What is life? It includes a view of the


 in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 9 3Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comand kept in the freezer until the next juicing. It is best to have separate cloths for the carrot/apple
or plain carrot juice, and for the green juice.
At night, after all the juices have been made, you may use slightly soapy water for the day’s
final cleansing; afterwards rinse thoroughly to make sure that no soapy film remains. Even a small
residue of soap getting into the juices could cause the patient diarrhea, cramps or worse. The same
applies to the juice cloths. Wash them in slightly soapy water and rinse carefully, to get rid of any
soapy residue. Keep the cloths in the freezer overnight.
If you use a grinder, i.e., a Champion and a press operated by a hydraulic system, the same
rules apply. Keep both machines scrupulously clean and clear of soap.
Stove & oven—electric or gas
Neither type is ideal.  The cooking temperature is easier to control with a gas stove.  However,
gas burns oxygen, and if the patient spends time in the kitchen, the oxygen-depleted air is likely to
prove harmful.  The kitchen has to be well ventilated, which may be difficult on cold winter days.
It is recommended to install in the kitchen/living area a room ozone generator in order to restore
a better oxygen level.  CAUTION: too high an ozone level could be set on fi re by open flames.
Electric stoves or ovens are more expensive than gas to operate in most areas of the US.  Their
advantage is being cleaner and not using up oxygen. However, the cooking temperature, so very
important for the correct preparation of vegetables, is more diffi cult to control on these stoves.
Microwave Oven
Because of its speed and apparent efficiency, this gadget has spread to countless kitchens
in the U.S. and elsewhere, without its serious health hazards becoming known. Since many
microwave ovens carry an “Underwriter Laboratory” guarantee of safety, the general public is
led to believe that these ovens are safe to use. But that is not the case.
Research carried out in Switzerland and elsewhere has shown that microwaves cause
harmful chemical reactions in food, damaging nutrients, producing unnatural molecules and
making natural amino acids toxic. The heat is uneven; it doesn’t reach the middle of solid food,
but produces ‘hot spots.’ Liquids can overheat and cause severe burns when the food is removed.
To make things worse, these ovens emit radiation into the kitchen area even when not in use and
“cook the cook” (It is an interesting fact that for health reasons microwave ovens were banned in
the former Soviet Union as far back as 1976!)  If you own one, get rid of it. If it is not removable,
unplug it, and be not tempted to use it under any circumstances.  Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 9 4Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comPots  and utensils
Any contact of food with aluminum causes small amounts (with some vegetables, e.g.
tomatoes, large amounts) of aluminum to be dissolved and released into the food.  This metal is
highly toxic; it causes brain damage and is believed to play a role in causing Alzheimer’s.
Discard any and all aluminum items and don’t allow aluminum foil to come into contact with
food. Use stainless steel pots, preferably with heavy “waterless” bottoms; or glass (Pyrex) or
enameled cast iron pots.  Stainless steel cooking utensils or wooden spoons are best; also silver
flatware, if available.  Small amounts of colloidal silver, released from silver forks, spoons and
knives are valuable stimulants for the immune system.
Do not use pressure cookers: they work at a very high temperature that damages nutrients,
and one of the basic Gerson rules is to cook food very slowly, at a low temperature, to avoid such
damage. The glaze used on some crockpots is toxic—best steer clear of them.
Distillers
Surprising though this may sound, Gerson patients don’t drink water. There are two reasons
for this. On the one hand, their daily intake of 13 glasses of freshly made organic juices and fluid-
rich soup, salads and fruit provides them with all the top quality nutritious liquid they need. On
the other hand water would only dilute their already deficient digestive juices, without supplying
any nutrients. However, water is used in the Gerson Therapy in cooking, to make soups, teas, and
of course enemas, and it is vitally important to ensure the purity of this water. There are various
filter systems in the market, including reverse osmosis (R.O.), which can only be used if the local
water supply is guaranteed free from highly harmful fluoride. ( see Chapter 5., Pg. 24, pp. 6 ) The
safest way to ensure freedom from impurities, toxic chemicals and above all fluoride, is to set up
a home distiller.
Many kinds of distillers are available in various price ranges. Choice must depend on cost
and on the amount of water the household may need. The patient alone will use up 2-3 gallons
in every 24-hour period; more, if other family members also eat Gerson food and/or wish to use
enemas.
 A distiller needs an electric connection and an extra water faucet; many patients install theirs
in the laundry room or the garage. The machine needs to be detached and cleaned every 3 days.
Seeing the sludge left behind will convince anyone of the need to purify water as thoroughly as
possible.
Distillation works by heating water to the point of it becoming steam, which is run through
a tube that causes it to cool and condense back into water. Since minerals, various impurities and Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 9 5Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comadditives do not turn into steam, they stay behind, leaving the cooled, condensed steam free from
harmful components. However, volatile liquids, such as benzene fractions, also boil away, and
get condensed back into the purified water. To remove such items, all distillers should contain a
small tube of carbon pellets, so that when the condensed water drips back into a fresh container,
it passes through the carbon filter, which removes the unwanted volatile items.
It is sometimes claimed by health professionals that distilled water “removes minerals from
the body” and shouldn’t be used. But they are wrong. The minerals found in water are generally
inorganic and are therefore poorly absorbed or downright harmful, e.g. sodium or calcium. On the
other hand, the patient is virtually flooded with the easily absorbed organic minerals contained in
the large amount of juices drunk throughout the day; the “loss” of minerals contained in tap water
is actually a gain.
Cleaning Chemicals
Cleanliness is of course all important in the Gerson household, but, as stated before, special
care must be taken not to use toxic products. Here are the ones to avoid:
Chlorine : this is not only bleach, but also a powerful disinfectant, able to kill or control all
kinds of germs.. For that reason it is present in almost all kitchen cleansers (also in swimming
pools and in tap water!).  Chlorine is harsh and unsafe, able to displace iodine from the thyroid
gland and must be avoided.  There are a few kitchen cleansers that do not contain chlorine—try
to find one. You can also produce your own by mixing malt vinegar with water, half and half,
and decanting it into a spray-pump bottle to clean glass or polish kitchen surfaces—but keep off
wood. Plain soap and hot water are also recommended.
To remove lime scale, soak a piece of cotton in white vinegar, wrap it around the faucets in
your kitchen or bathroom, and leave for 30 minutes. Wash off with soap and water.
Clean stainless steel pans with olive oil. The result is stunning, but use the oil sparingly and
be careful to clean it all off.
Solvents : paint solvents, grease or glue solvents are all toxic and damaging to the patient.  If
one has to be used, take it outside and don’t allow it to evaporate in the kitchen. .
Dishwasher soap : Most dishwashers are equipped with two wash cycles followed by one
rinse cycle.  Since the Gerson Therapy does not involve the use of greasy food or baking dishes,
it is best to use one wash cycle and ensure that the soap is cleared by using two rinse cycles.  That
way the dishwasher soap should be completely eliminated, with no toxic residue remaining on
dishes.
Laundry soap & bleach :  If the laundry is washed in a washing machine, more or less the
same applies as to dishwasher soap.  You can use any appropriate soap and even add bleach, if
needed—as long as it is inside the machine and the patient doesn’t smell it.  (If he can smell it,


 Used
for tumors, snake bites, abscesses, infections, anything and everything.

HERBAL INTESTINAL CORRECTIVE LAXATIVE ALOE VERA
An “all-heal” for burns, itching from fungus, intestinal soother, etc.

TEA TREE OIL
Herbal antiseptic, itching from fungus, etc.

AN HERBAL PARASITIC FORMULA
Bacterial infections, E-coli, Candida, etc.

MODULE 6.7
Fasting in Detoxification

Fasting, in some form or another, has probably been practiced since the
beginning of history, by humans and animals alike. Fasting is instinctual and
is associated with rest and energy management. I enjoyed a six-month orange
fast back in 1972. This turned out to be one of the most incredible
experiences in my life. I had so much energy that I kept having tremendous
out-of-body experiences that took me right into the heart of God.
There are basically two forms of fasting. The first one, known as “forced
fasting,” is literally forced upon us because of disease. You simply can’t eat.Or if you try, you simply can’t keep the food down. This is the body’s own
mechanism to divert much-needed energy from digestion to the immune,
lymphatic and endocrine systems. This gives our bodies energy to expel the
intruder, the obstruction or the congestion.
The second form of fasting is “conscious fasting,” which is done to
cleanse and restore the body. Conscious fasting builds self-discipline and
self-confidence. These are two important attributes to develop on the road to
good health.
Both forms of fasting are energy management for the body. Most of the
foods that humans eat rob their bodies of energy instead of giving it. Health
and vitality is energy; disease is a lack of energy. Fasting is the way the body
can rest from extensive digestive and metabolic issues. It uses that same
energy, instead, to clean itself out of acids and toxins, thus allowing itself to
heal.
Our digestive and eliminative systems become overworked and
weakened on a typical diet of meats, grains, dairy products, and the like.
Fasting allows the pancreas, stomach, liver, intestines, and even the kidneys
to have somewhat of a rest. This gives more energy to the immune, glandular
and lymphatic systems. Fasting at one level or another is vital in getting well.
There are many types of fasts you can do. Let’s explore four basic types
of fasting and then discuss how to properly stop or “break” a fast.
TYPES OF FASTS

All Raw-Food Fast
This of course is not really a fast since you are still eating food. But to most
people who eat heavy, cooked foods, this is definitely considered a fast.
Remember: no other animal cooks its food before eating it. Take this fast a
day at a time, and try to eat all raw food that day. Try this fast for 5, 10, 30 or
60 days in succession, eating only all raw foods, the longer the better. This
type of fast would include fresh raw fruits, fruit juices, vegetables and
vegetable juices. No “protein” type foods like nuts or seeds.
All Fruit FastI highly recommend this type of fast. Being frugivores, this fast would be
more harmonious with our physiological and anatomical processes and
design. Grapes should be the focus, organic if possible. If not organic, they
must be thoroughly washed as they would contain a high level of pesticides.
However, any fruit or combination of fruits, or melons, will do. As you will
learn in the next chapter, on food combining, “Eat melons alone or leave
them alone.” You could eat grapes alone, or watermelon, or apples, whatever
you like or crave. I’ve helped a lot of souls clean cancer out of their physical
bodies with grapes and grape juice fasts. Eat as much as you want. We do not
count calories on this program.
Juice Fasting
This is high-level fasting which gives your GI tract and digestive tract a rest.
Juice fasts are high-energy fasts that stimulate much-needed cleansing and
lymphatic movement, while keeping the kidneys flushed out. Juices still
supply glucose and fructose to cells for energy. Juices can be vegetable or
fruit; however, the power is within the fruit juice, especially fresh grape juice.
There are always exceptions to any rule. In a pancreatic cancer case I
worked with, the individual had stopped digesting food completely. I started
her on fruit juices only. Then I added vegetable juices, and finally, after a
short period of time, I added first raw fruit and then vegetables. The reason I
chose this method is simple. First, her pancreas had stopped digesting her
food. When she ate any food it came out in her stools undigested. I needed to
maintain her systemic energy but give her something that took little, if any,
effort for the pancreas to digest. A freshly-made fruit juice is the best choice
in this solution. I added vegetable juices after awhile, even though they are
harder to digest, but her pancreas had improved enough to handle them. I
also used liquid botanical extracts to enhance various organs and glands in
her body, especially the pancreas. I finally added solid foods starting with
fruits, again because of their high energy levels and ease of digestion. Finally
in eleven months, she was cancer free!
Water Fasting
This is the fourth and ultimate type of fasting. Water fasts should only be
done with R/O (reverse osmosis) or distilled water. At this level, your
digestive energy is totally given to the immune, lymphatic and glandular
systems. A water fast creates a high level of body cleansing and purging. Thebody, in its tremendous wisdom, will focus on removing stored toxins,
mucus and inflammation.
To the average individual, water fasting can give energy. However, in
weakened or depleted conditions the goal is to give energy to the body by
elevating the systemic energy. I do not recommend a water-only fast for
highly depleted and weakened individuals, especially those with cancer. This
is because one is not feeding the body energy, per se, so the body must work
with the energy it has.
Even though fasting gives most individuals energy, when you’re dealing
in advanced tissue weakness, raw foods, especially fruits, will empower the
body with nutrition and energy. Consuming high-energy fruits or fruit juices
will begin to bring one’s cellular and systemic energies up, at the same time
allowing for detoxification. Water fasting in highly-depleted cases can
enervate the body and lead to death. After the individual is built up, then
water fasting would be appropriate.
PREPARATION BEFORE FASTING

If you intend to “go all the way” up to juice or water fasting, you would want
to prepare yourself by eating raw foods for a week, spending the last couple
of days on fruits only. This helps clean the bowels of putrid matter, flushes
the liver and kidneys, and sets the body in proper motion for your fast.
Fasting can be fun and self-empowering. Its role in helping the body to
cleanse and restore itself has been proven over and over again. For long,
extended fasts, seek the advice of someone who is experienced in fasting and
detoxification.
WHEN TO “BREAK” A FAST

The best time to “break” a fast will be discovered by listening to your inner
guidance or intuition. You know your body better than anyone. Listen to it.
You’ll know when you have had enough. (But also, be fair and honest with
yourself, knowing that desire can creep in even though you may not actually
be hungry.) After about three days or so, one generally loses the desire
for
eating. This is because the body is starting to use that digestive energy forcleaning and healing. When you start feeling hungry again, this is a good
sign that you are ready to start eating. Remember to start with fruits only.
Another way to determine how long to fast is the tongue-examination
method. This is the old-fashioned method that I’ve used for years. When you
start fasting, your tongue will become coated with a thick white, yellow,
green, or brown substance. The more toxic you are, the thicker and darker
this coating becomes. Of course the healthier you are, the less your tongue
will coat when you fast. If you fast until your tongue becomes pink again,
you will have done a tremendous job of cleaning your body out.
Detoxification is an ongoing process that can take years. That sounds
worse than it is. Health should become one of your hobbies. Spend a good
year or so aggressively working on yourself; then set your new lifestyle in
motion with balance and harmony. This will be the new, healthier, vibrant,
cleaner and more aware you. As you grow spiritually, always seek to balance
your lifestyle and eating habits with your spiritual awareness. The more you
expand your awareness, the healthier and more energetically you will want to
eat. You want your physical body to keep up with you. Have fun on your
journey of health, vitality, and spirituality; there is nothing like it.
HOW TO “BREAK” A FAST

It is very important how you break a fast, and depends on how long you’ve
fasted and what type of fast you did. A general rule of thumb would be:
Break most fasts with a day


 (Pirush Hamishnah), codifier
(Yad), and philosopher (Guide of the Perplexed).
He was born in Cordova, Spain, in 1135, when it had a
population of half a million and was at its height as a
cultural and medical center. B ecause of the persecution of
the fanatical Almohades, he had to leave his birthplace
when thirteen, trying first to  find shelter in southern
Spain, and from the age of twen ty-three to thirty in Fez,
Morocco. While there, he studied medicine with such
famous physicians as Ibn Zuhr (son of  famous Ibn Zuhr-
Avenzoar) and Abu Yusuf. Maimonides then, at the age
of thirty, left for Egypt wher e he lived in great fame, and
fatiguing medical and literary activities, for the remaining
thirty-nine years of his life. He refused an offer made by
the English king Richard th e Lion-Hearted, in 1193, to
accompany him as a court physician to England. He composed ten medical works, all written in Arabic. He
died in Cairo, December 13, 1204 at the age of sixty-nine,
thus culminating a resplendent career.
His Arabic medical works, of which The Preservation
of Youth is the first to be rendered from Arabic into
English, are:
1.  The Preservation of Youth
2.  The Extracts (Gleanings from Galen)
3.  Commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates
4.  Medical Aphorisms
5.  On Hemorrhoids
6.  On Sexual Intercourse
7.  Discourse on Asthma
8.  On Poisons and the Protection Against Deadly
          Remedies
9.  Discourse on the Explanation of Fits
10. Glossary of Drug Names

The works of Maimonides are based on authoritative
Greek and Arabic sources, used with critical
discrimination, and on his vast personal experience. They
excel with their brevity, precision, clarity and rational
approach. He used the language of the accepted ancient
and medieval "hormone" pathology in vogue until a
century ago and now making a partial and modified return in medicine. The pract ical application of those
theories was sound. He gave preference to personal
observation over traditions of  the past. He considered
theoretical knowledge inseparable from practice, the
ultimate aim being the fight against disease and the
prolongation of life.
His theology was not in conflict with medicine, but, on
the contrary, supported it and le nt it prestige. He ridiculed
the belief in the occult, demonology, exorcism, amulets
and spells, as he did home remedies whose efficacy was
not supported by experiment and practice. He considered
that medical science held the key to morality  and
godliness,  natural  processe s  being synonymous with the
divine. He demanded the highest standard of ethics from
the physician and took no remuneration from the
indigent.
Many physicians before Maimonides referred to
emotional states of the patient, but Maimonides made the
interaction of mind and body the cornerstone of his
diagnosis and therapy, in true psychosomatic tradition.
He dwelt at large on the impor tance of the measures to
prevent disease, on the role of proper diet and on the
contribution of constitutional disposition.
The physician should always strive to strengthen the
patient's own forces, utilizing also the forces of nature. He cautioned against over-medication, especially on a hit-
or-miss basis. When in doubt, he advised: leave it to
nature. What affects us is not medication alone, but
medication plus the forces of nature.
He demanded of the physician detailed examination
and close observation. One cannot learn medicine from
books alone nor from experi ence alone. Practice is
inseparable from knowledge and speculation. Every
patient is a case by himsel f and demands an individual
approach and care.
The medical views of Maimonides as expressed in his
medical writings, and also in  his philosophical and legal
works, do not belong to the curiosa of the medieval
healing art, but are an organi c part of what was best and
enduring in the medical traditions of the past.

H. L. G.

Introduction

The Preservation of Youth was composed in Arabic by
Maimonides in 1198, six years before his demise. It was
written in Egypt for the Sultan Al Afdal, son of Saladin,
at his request. Like all the other medical works of
Maimonides, it has never been translated into English
until now. It was rendered into Hebrew by Moses Ibn
Tibon in 1244, and republishe d recently with copious
notes by Dr. Süssmann Muntner, Jerusalem, 1957. The
Latin translation made by John di Capua, a converted
Jew, in 1290, and used extensively in the medical schools
of Europe, was based on the Hebrew translation.
Six authorities are quoted in this work. Three of them
are Greek: Hippocrates, "The Prince of Physicians" (460-
357 B.C.); Aristotle (384-322 B.C); Galen (130-200); and
three of them are Moslem  ( but not Arab):  Rhazes
(Razi)
(850-923) from Persia; Farabi  (870-950) from Turkey;
and Ibn Zuhr (1113-1162) fr om Spain. Maimonides often
introduces his own opinion as by "the author" or "the
servant." The Sultan complained of poor digestion, chronic
constipation and depressive moods. In his reply,
Maimonides discusses the dangers of overeating, the three digestions and diets adju sted to the state of health,
season and age. He schedul es physical exercises and
evaluates various foods: cer eals, meats, milk, wine,
vegetables and fruits. He prescribes a regimen for the healthy, the sick and the conva lescent, exto ls the power
of nature and describes the types of physicians in his day. He further discusses mild and drastic remedies, compound and simple drugs, purgatives and emetics. He suggests music as a therapeutic measure and gives directions for various pharmaceutical preparations, such as digestives, sedatives a nd aphrodisiacs. In a special
chapter he discusses the interrelationship between mind and body, also hypersensitivity, philosophy and theoretical morality, the even keel, imaginary good and evil, and the desirability of emotional stability and
optimism. In the last chapter he comments on airs and waters, and on the ideas of Al  Farabi and Al Razi about
patients and diseases. He cautions the reader on the pitfalls of erroneous approach es to medical science. The
last topics of his work are concerned with sexual
intercourse, the bath, discha rges from the nose, food deterioration and the advisability of avoiding sudden
changes in the art of living.

H. L. G.
[ED. NOTE:
The sub-titles are not in th e original Arabic text but
were added by the English translator, Dr. Gordon.]

Contents

  Maimonides as Physician and Medical Author
  Introduction
  A Letter from Rabbi Moses ben Maimon to
           the Sultan (Al Afdal, the Son of Saladin,
           1198-1200)
 I About the Care of Health in General, Fit for
                       Every Man and Stated Briefly
 II The Care of Patients in the Absence of a
                       Physician or in the Presence of a Physician
                       Who Is Not Adequate and Not Experienced
                       in This Science
 III The Care of My Lord in Particular, According
                       to the Condition He Complains of
 IV Helpful Hints in General, and in Particular,
                       for the Healthy and for the Sick, in Every
                       Place and in Every Season
A L ETTER FROM RABBI MOSES BEN MAIMON
TO THE SULTAN (AL AFDAL, THE SON OF SA-
LADIN, 1198-1200)

I, the insignificant servant,  Moses, the son of God's
servant, the Israelite from Cordova, received a command
from a messenger of the Honorable Chief, His Royal
Highness, let God increase his Excellence. He ordered his
servant to write down the regi men he should follow in the
treatment of the diseases th at befell my lord. Let God
keep illnesses far from him and may the state of health
always accompany him. The messenger who brought the
lord's command reported that my lord complains of
chronic difficult bowel moveme nts that take place only
after strenuous effort. He also reported occasional attacks
of horror, melancholy and th e fear of death. This is
accompanied by vomiting and poor digestion most of the
time. That is what he reported.
And I plan to divide this memorandum into four parts:
About the care of health in general, fit for every man
and expressed briefly; The car e of the sick in general,
when there is no physician or when the physician is not
perfect and experienced in wi sdom; The care of my lord


Meaning  behind  thoughts  and words.  1
Naturally
1This  is likewisc  what  Vedanta  doctrine  temu  the Sclf.  the
atman,  transcending  ali expcricnced  ""things."  RELICION  REVIEWED
the Meaning is meaning -less because, unlike
words,  it does not have meaning but is
meaning.  By itself,  a tree is mcaningless, but it
is the meaning of the word  "tree."
It is easy to see that this kind of language,
whether  in its religious or metaphysical forms,
can lead to ali manner of misunderstanding.
For when the mind is  divided, and 'T' wants to
get away from present ex - pericnce, thc whole
notion of a supernatural world is  its happy
hide -out. The "I" is resisting an unhappy
change, and so clings LOthe "unchanging"
Absolute,  forgetting that this Absolute is also
the "unfixed."  When life provides sorne bitter
experience, the "I"  can only support it with che
guarantee that it i s part  of the plan of a loving
Father -God.  But this very  guarantee makes  it
impossiblc  Lo realize  the "love of  God," which, as
is well known, requires che giving  up of "l."
The misunderstanding of religious ideas is
vividly  illustrated in what men havc madc of the
doctrine of  immortality, heaven, and hell. But
now it should be clear that eternal lifc is the
realization that the pres - ent is thc only rcality,
and that past and future can  be distinguished
from  it in a convcntional  scnse  alone.  The
moment  is the "door  of heaven,"  thc
.. straight  and narrow  way  that  leadeth  unto  life,"
be-
cause therc is no room in it for the scparate
··1." In  th is cxperience  there  is no one
expericncing  the ex- pcrience.  The  "rich  man"
cannot  get through  this
1 43 THE  WISDOM  OF INSECURITY
<loor  because  he carries  too much  baggagc;  he is
clinging  to thc past  and the future.
One might quote whole pages from the spiritual
litera tu re of ali times and places tO  show that
eternal  life has becn understood in this sensc. Thc
follow - ing from  Eckhart  will sufficc:
The Now -moment in which God made the first man and
the Now -moment  in which  the last man  will disappear,
ancl  the Now -moment in which  l am spcaking are ali one
in God, in whom  there  is only onc Now.  Lookl The per-
son who livcs in  the light oí God  is conscious ncither of
time  past  nor of  time  to come  but only  oí onc ctcrnity.
... Thcrcfore he gets  nothing new out oí  íuture  events,
nor from chance, Cor he lives in the Now -moment that is,
unfailingly,  "in verdure  newly  ciad."

When you are dying and coming to lifc in each mo -
ment, would -bc scicntific predictions about what
will happen  aftcr  death  are of little  consequencc.
The  wholc glory of it is that we do not know.
Ideas of  survival and annihilation are alike bascd
on the past,  on memories of waking and sleeping,
and,  in their  diffcrent ways, the notions of
evcrlasting continuity  and everlasting
nothingness  are without  meaning.
It necds but slight imagination to rcalize that
ever - lasting time is a monstrous nightmare, so
that be - tween heaven and hell as ordinarily
understood there  is littlc to choosc. The desire to
continue always can  only seem auractive when
one thinks of indef inite  time  rather  than  infinitc
time.  lt is one thing to  have  RELIGION  REVIEWEO
as much time as you want, but quite another to
have  Lime  without  end.
For there is no joy in continuity, in the
perpetua!.  Wc desirc it only because the prcsent is
empLy.  A pcrson who is trying to cat moncy is
always hungry.  When someone says, "Time to stop
nowl" he is in a  panic because  he has had nothing
to eat yet, and wants more and more time to go on
eating money,  ever hopeful of satisfaction around
the comer. We do  not really want continuity, but
rather a present ex - pcrience o( total happincss.
Thc thought of wanting  such an expcricnce to go
on and on is the result of be - ing sclf -conscious in
thc experience, and thus incom - pletely aware of
it. So long as there  is the  feeling of  an "I" having
this experience, thc moment is not all.  Eternal life
is rcalized when the last trace of differ - cncc
between  ·T' and "now"  has vanished -when  thcre
is just this "now"  and nothing  else.
By contrast, hell or "cverlasting damnation" is
not Lhc everlastingness of time going on forever,
but of  the unbrokcn circle,  the continuity  and
frustration  of going round and round  in pursuit of
something  which can ncver be attained. Hcll is  the
fatuity, the  cvcrlasting impossibility, of self -love,
sclf-conscious - ncss, and sclf-possession. lt is
trying to sec one's own  cyes,  hear  one's  own  ears,
and kiss  one's  own  lips.
To see, however,  thaL  life is complete  in each
mo-
ment -whole, undivided, and evcr new -is to
under - stand  the scnse  of the doctrine  that  in
eternal  life THE  WJSDOM  OF INSECURITY
God, the undefinable this, is ali -in-ali and is the
Final  Cause or End for,vhich  everything exists.
Because  the future is everlastingly unanainable,
and, like the  danglcd carrot, always ahead of the
donkey, the ful - fillment of the divine purpose
<loes not líe in the fu - ture. lt is found in the
present, not by an acl of resig - nation  to
immovable fact, but in seeing that there is no one
to resign.
For this is the meaning of that universal and
ever - repeated religious principie that to know
God, man  must givc up himself.  lt is as familiar as
any plati - tude,  and yet nothing has bccn  harder to
do, and  nothing so  totally misunderstood.  How
can a self,  which  is selfish,  give  icself up?  Not,  say
the theo - logians, by its own power,  but through
the gift of  divine grace, the power which enables
man to achieve  what is beyond  his own strength.
But is this grace  given to ali or to a chosen few,
who, when they re - ccive it, have no choice but to
surrender themselves?  Sorne say that it comes to
ali, but that there are those  who accept its aid and
those who refuse. Others say  that it comes to a
chosen elect, but still, for the most  part, insist that
the individual has the power to take  it or leave
it.
But this does not solvc thc problem at all. It re -
places  the problcm of holding or surrendering the
self by  the problem of accepting or refusing divine
grace,  and the two problems  are identical.  The
Chris -
146 RELIGION  REVIEWED
tian religion contains its own hidden anwer to
the problem in thc idea that man can only
surrender  himself "in Christ." For "Christ"
stands for the real - ity that there is no separatc
sclf to surrender. To give  up "I" is a false
problem. "Christ" is the realization  that there  is
no separa  te "l." "I do nothing  of myself .
... I and the Father  are one....   Before  Abra -
ham  was,  I am."
If thcre is any problcm at ali, it is to see that
in this instant you have no 'T' to surrenclcr. You
are completely free to do this at any momem, and
noth - ing whatever is


 actually  provide happiness for others.
 DR. COOPER: Absolutely! I love the statement you have made at
several of your retreats: “Include yourself in the circle of people you
love.”
Let’s move on now to the next questions: Where am I? and
Why am I where I am?
In many of your presentations, you invite the audience
members to make an important decision. You ask them to consider
whether they see themselves as Chemical Creatures —that is,
nothing more than “logical biological incidents” that happened to
emerge from mother and father—or whether they, in fact, see
themselves as Spiritual Beings.
People attending your presentations and reading the
Conversations with God material have presumably made the latter
decision—that we are Spiritu al Beings choosing to have a Human
Experience. And this is not an insignificant “remembrance.”  In fact, it
is a remembrance that changes everything!
If we are, in fact, Spiritual Beings having a Human Experi ence,
we can infer that we have chosen to come to Earth for a very specific
reason—one that beautifully and gloriously serves the Agenda of our
Soul. That is, no matter how much of a “struggle” it may appear  to be
here, physical life is, in fact, a gift, when we can remember our true
identity and use it to navig ate our day-to-day encounters in an
entirely dif ferent way.
Like the people of Ouagadougou, who found happiness even in
the most trying of times, when we have a willingness to explore
where we are and why we are where we are, we open the gateway
to findin g happiness and fulfillment, no matter what is going around
us. We unders tand that we have chosen  to be here for a specificreason that serves us (and that serves the Agenda of our Soul), and
we can then begin to see past struggle and to “see the gift,” as we
reconsider what any given day or any given moment is about.

NEALE: Struggle disappears when one answers those  questions
with clarity, and with the wisdom of the soul... providing the
response, “There is no such thing as struggle.”
Not only does struggle cease in any given moment, it literally
dissolves and it disappears from our life. It ceases to have its illusory
form. All struggle disappears. There is no such thing as struggle
when an entity, a sentient being, has answered for themselves who
they are and why they are here.
In fact, struggle turns into celebration.
All strug gle becomes celebration, ultimately, in the mind of the
Master, who understands that every circumstance and condition has
been produced co-jointly, by all of the souls collaboratively creating
that experience or that event, in order that each of the souls might
have a perfect contextual field within which to announce and to
declare, to express and to fulfill at the next level, Who They Really
Are.
This is about spiritual growth. This is about spiritual expansion.
This is about the soul’ s evolution.
And so Spiritual Masters celebrate every circumstance and
condition, though this may be difficult for the normal human mind to
comprehend.
And in the celebration of the circumstance and the condition
that some may call “negative,” the circumstance and the condition
itself begins to transform.  This is because the vibratory  frequency ofcelebratory energy, which is so powerful and positive, has a positive
effect on the exterior physical expressions of life.
And gratitude, by the way, is the foundational energy of all
celebration. When we are grateful for the situation previously thought
of as stressful, that gratitude turns stress into celebration and can
produce remarkably different results and outcomes, both internally in
the way we are experiencing life, as well as externally in the way that
life itself is expressing.
That is, when we hold the experience that we’re now moving
through differently inside of ourselves (as a celebration of our true
identity, providing an opportunity to demonstrate it, rather than an
obstacle to that demonstration), the resulting shift in the energy we
are feeling and projecting begins to produce outcomes outside of
ourselves that can sometimes be remarkably altered, from a purely
physical point of view.
Ancient alchem ists called those altered outcomes miracles, and
that’s how miracles are produced. It’s the alchemy of the universe.
When we understand that Who We Are is pure energy, the
Essential Essence of Life itself, and that this energy not only
composes us and comprises us, but is projected through us, from us,
and outward into the world... and when we understand furthermore
that energy affects other energy, that all energy impacts other energy
... then we begin to understand that how we think about a thing
determines how the thing is, and continues to be. Or, as physicists
have put it: “Nothing that is observed is unaffected by the observer.”
This is pure physics. This is pure science.
When we understand this, stressful situations can be
transformed in a remarkable way, because we don’t hold themanymore as stressful situations, but rather, as opportunities for, and
platforms upon which we can enjoy, the celebration, the wonder, and
the glory of Who W e Really Are.

DR. COOPER: What a point of view to hold! And it seems  to me that
the key ingredient in that process of gratitude and celebration is the
willingness to open your mind to go there.
In medicine alone, I have witnessed times when a patient has
come in with an “illness” that has a certain “expected outcome,”
which may be perceived as negative. Perhaps they are told that they
have only a couple of years, or a couple of months for that matter, to
live. And if a doctor gives a patient a prognosis like that, and the
patient becomes resigned to it being true, then it likely will be.
Yet there are countless stories of “medical miracles”—t hings
that are unexplainable by modern medicine—that are so often linked
to those people who had the willingness to go to the place of
acceptance, gratitude, and yes, even celebration, despite what
appeared to be occurring in their lives and the seemi ngly tragic
nature of it.
The courageous young woman Amy Purdy, who was recently
featured on Oprah’ s Super Soul Sunday and released a book called
On My Own Two Feet, is a powerful example of this.1 She was a
professional snowboarder aiming for the Olympics who, at the young
age of nineteen, became severely ill with bacterial meningitis. She
was hospitalized with “less than a 2 percent chance to live.”
She was brought into the operating room, knowing she would
be having both of her legs amputated, in addition to having her
spleen and kidneys remove d. She did survive the operation but,needless to say, her quality of life was drastically altered and only a
fraction of what it was prior to her illness.
However, as she was learning to live with her handicap, Amy
Purdy asked herself the following life-altering question: “If my life
were a book and I were the author, how would I want the story to
end?”
And from that moment on Amy began to visualize a new life.
Although she could not snowboard like she used to, she would
imagine every day getting back on the slopes and how it would feel
to have that experience again. She never once let go of her vision of
Who She Dreamed To Be, even in the face of overwhelming
adversity.
That simple yet profound question, “If my life were a book and I
were the author, how would I want the story to end?”, ignited Amy’ s
passion to make the most of her life. It was by no means an easy
road, but she did, in fact, regain her ability to snowboard, ultimately
earning herself the bronze medal at the Paralympics.
But even more inspiring— even more inspiring than that—was
the inner transformation  that took place along the way. For Amy
realized that who you show up as in the face of challenge is what
defines who you are. It relates back to our willingness to answer the
question for ourselves of why we are here on the planet to begin
with.
Amy Purdy has become a global spokesperson and a mentor
helping others with disabilities, spreading her message to the world
at large about what it means to never give up on living what she calls
an inspired life.  And Amy is just one example.I can’t tell you how many patients I have met who have
transformed “devastating diagnoses” into stepping stones toward
spiritual enlightenment. Talk about “seeing the gift” in even the worst
of times.
And every time I hear about, or witness, a story like that, it
gives me chills—because it is exactly what we’ve been talking about,
demonstrated with clarity in these people’ s lives.
And it does, in turn, af fect their outcome.
There is no doubt in my mind about that.
These are the people—if anyone is going to recover
“miraculously,” or turn their life into something profoundly meaningful
following a devastating illness, as Amy did— this is the energetic
framework from which it occurs, in my observation.

NEALE: You’re  correct, in my experience as well, that acceptance of
“what is” and seeing it as a gift allowing us to experience and
demonstrate who we are, is the most powerful response that a
person


60 calories.
Its weight (100 grams) is distributed as follows:
88.3 grams of water
0.7 grams of ash (solid residue)
4.5 grams of carbohydrates ( 4 calories per gram = 18 carb calories)
3.2 grams of protein ( 4 calories per gram = 13 protein calories)
3.3 grams of fat ( 9 calories per gram = 30 fat calories)
100       grams total

As you can see, 88% of the milk’s weight (the water) provides no calories. Among the remainder, 3.3 grams out of the 100
grams are fat, which is why the milk label shows “3.25% milk fat.”
However, protein, fat, and carbohydrates do not all contain similar energy v alue; fat packs more than twice the calories of an
equivalent amount of carbohydrates or protein. In rough numbers, each of the  3.3 grams of fat contain approximately 9 calories,
while the 3.2 grams of protein and 4.5 grams of carbohydrates contain about 4 calori es each.
Thus, in terms of calories, 30 of the 60 calories in whole milk come from fat, a fa ct the dairy industry is very happy to obscure.
The table below summarizes the fat content of the common fluid milk product s:

Interestingly, the “nonfat” milk contains the 2% fat that the dairy  industry would like you to think is in its “2%” product!
The idea that all fats derived from animals are solid while all those f ound in plants are liquid is inaccurate, although this is true in
the majority of cases. The primary exceptions are liquid fish oils in th e animal kingdom and solid coconut oil in the plant world.

Essential and Nonessential Fats
Essential fatty acids 58  (also referred to as EFAs) are so named because they cannot be synthesi zed; we must consume them in our
foods. They play an integral role in the health of our skin, in growth and deve lopment, the stability of our heartbeat, and the clotting
and flowing of our blood. Too much, too little, or the wrong ratio of these vital nutr ients can wreak havoc on our health.
Currently, two fatty acids are thought to be essential: alpha-linole nic acid (ALA), and linoleic acid (LA), omega-3 and omega-
6, respectively. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are commonly understood as  synonyms of the term “EFA,” but twelve different
fatty acids are actually made from ALA and LA. And all of the fatty ac ids that stem from these are classified as omega-3 and
omega-6. Thus, by definition, not all omega-3 and 6 family fatty acids are ess ential. Only the polyunsaturated fats ALA and LA must
be attained from external sources. The omega-3 fatty acids made from AL A include some notable members such as EPA
(eiocosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). In the omega-6 fa mily, the most notable members are arachidonic acid
(AA) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA).
Interestingly, current research in nutritional science is que stioning whether ALA is actually essential, since evidence ex ists that
the body may be able to synthesize it, as well. Thankfully, we needn’ t worry about this, since both linoleic and alpha-linolenic fatty
acids are both common in the makeup of plant lipids.
There is no established minimum recommendation for EFAs, but we do know that their ratio to one another is as im portant, if
not more important, than the quantity we consume. Scientists general ly accept that early man consumed omega-6 and omega-3 fatty
acids in roughly a 1:1 ratio. This happens to be the same ratio of essential f atty acids found in the human brain. 59
Historically, as grain consumption escalated and the use of oils heavi ly laden with omega-6 became commonplace in our diets,
this ratio began to shift. Current recommendations suggest that the  ideal ratio is between 1:1 and 4:1 (omega-6 to omega-3). In spite
of this “ideal’ range, the average American diet shows a ratio rang ing from 10 to 30:1, a dietary choice that contributes significantly
to the prevalence of inflammatory diseases and other very serious hea lth issues in our nation. This seriously skewed ratio
compromises the  body’s ability to convert ALA into longer-chain fatty acids, such a s EP A and DHA.
Lacking an agreed-upon minimum EFA requirement, we do have some data to gu ide us. In November of 2008, the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health  Organization convened a meeting of experts to review the
major developments in the field of fatty acids in human nutrition. Its f inal report is yet to be published, but a preliminary summary
concludes, “the available evidence indicates that 0.5 to 0.6%E [percenta ge of energy, or calories] alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) per
day corresponds to the prevention of deficiency symptoms.” 60  Previously in 2002, the Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended an “adequate intake” (AI), wh ich is not a minimum, for omega-3 of 1.1 (women) to 1.6
(men) grams per day. 61  If consumed as oil (not recommended), this amount would be extraordinarily s mall: 1.6 grams equates to
approximately a third of a teaspoon, or a couple dozen drops … and even this low n umber may be substantially inflated. 62
The information above can be combined to guide us in determining our nutrit ional needs. On a 2,000-calorie diet, 0.5% of
calories from ALA, or omega-3 represents 10 calories. This is approximat ely 1.1 grams of ALA, which falls within the IOM’s
adequate intake levels (albeit at the bottom of the range). This quantit y of ALA can be obtained through the consumption of whole
fresh fruits and vegetables, with the occasional addition of nuts and se eds. The following table shows ALA and LA content of
selected whole foods.

Based on the above numbers, on a 2,000-calorie 80/10/10 diet, we could obtain recommended lev els of EFAs with the
following:

Breakfast: 1.5 lbs. of mangos (about 3) and 12 oz. blueberries.
Lunch: 44 oz. of bananas (about 11).
Dinner: 1 lb. of oranges, 1 lb. of romaine lettuce, and 8 oz. of tomatoes.
According to the USDA nutrient database, this meal plan (totaling 2048 cal ories) provides 1.3 grams of ALA and 1.4 grams
of LA. This maintains the 1:1 ratio and supplies the adequate EFAs without  including any overt fats at all. Adding healthful (very
small) amounts of overt fats on occasion will ensure your needs are met.
Since the average American consumes a higher ratio of omega-6 tha n omega-3, we are bombarded with nutritional
information directing us toward omega-3 supplements. The idea that we ne ed to consume more of some particular nutrient to
balance another that is overconsumed is as ineffective as taking vi tamin C to minimize the damage from smoking cigarettes. The
result of increasing fat consumption, whether from “good” fats or not, is  that we end up consuming too much fat. Our need to
supplement for nutritional balance would not exist if we were not harmi ng ourselves through our lifestyle and foodstyle choices in the
first place. In our natural diet, the foods are automatically balanced to s uit our nutritional requirements.

Cholesterol
Cholesterol, a sterol (combination steroid and alcohol) and lipid, is found in th e makeup of every cell membrane and is transported
in the blood of every animal. The precursor of the five major classes of ste roid hormones  (progestagens, glucocorticoids,
mineralocorticoids, androgens, and estrogens), cholesterol is not all bad but  is vital to human life. Some of its many functions include
the production of vitamin D and the formation of the bile salts, the sex horm ones testosterone and progesterone, and the myelin
sheath that surrounds our nerves.
Discovered during the late 1700s in gallstones, cholesterol is still the  subject of much study. We know that cholesterol is not
an essential nutrient for humans (we don’t need to eat it). Our liver s produce all the cholesterol we need. However, when we
regularly consume animal foods that contain cholesterol or saturate d fat, we ingest quantities that exceed our physiological needs,
with deleterious consequences to our health. Excess cholesterol accu mulates and forms plaques within artery walls, leading to
atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), decreasing the oxyge n-carrying capacity of the blood, disrupting hormonal balance, and
sometimes decreasing cell permeability.

Saturated and Unsaturated Fats
Saturated fatty acids are so named because their long chain of carbon at oms contains the maximum possible


 Buddha. So the ener gy field
of the Buddha is here, now av ailable (calibrates as true). That which is
speaking to you right now is empowered by all the great teache rs who have
ever live d. Every great teacher w ho has ever lived leaves the power of that
field within the collective co nsciousness of humankind. T hat is why
humanity progresses. Otherwise, if every generation had to start from
scratch, humanity would not be where it is today.
Q: What is due to the teacher?
A:  Nothing at all. The listener ’ s interest is more than suf ficient. The only
obligation you should accept is the obligation to your own self to institute
the wisdoms that were learned and to practice them in order to transcend the
ego. Respect the teacher, but save reverence only for God.Q: How would one characterize or term the teaching and pathway that
you r epr esent?
A:  It is the way of the mystic and represents “devotional nonduality.”
Q: May we use that term to denote these teachings?
A:  Y es, that would be correct. It is the way of radical truth.
Q: Ar e gr eat leaps in consciousness possible?
A:  Great leaps in consciousness result from surrendering yourself to God.
This is seen in our societ y in people who have “hit bottom.”
W illfulness/Pride is surrendered and transformation occurs. From the pits of
hell, par adoxically, heaven is close by. W e see this in so-called conversions,
where a convict is transformed into a peaceful, loving, and alm ost saintly
person. Prisoners frequently go through major realizations and become
transformed int o the opposite of their former selves. These sudden
revelations also occur concomitant with near -death experiences. Thus,
many le vels of consciousness ca n be suddenly t ranscended. These are often
preceded by long periods of inn er agony. A true conversion is corroborated
by a major jump in the calibrated level of consciousness.
When spiritually  oriented people are exposed to the information provided
here, the y show a measurable el evation of consciousness. After each lecture
on this materia l, the calibrated consciousness level of the audience
generally shows  an increase, on  average, of between 10 and 40 points for
the group as a whole. This may vary individually from a low of four points
to as high as hundreds of points. W ithin the group, there is gre at variation
due to “karmic ripeness.” Given  that most people only advanc e about five
points during a lifetime, these numbers are significant.
Q: What is an “advanced” seeker?
A:  The more advanced seeker has heard that there is no “out there”  or “in
here” and thus takes responsibility for all that happens. T here is the
dawning awareness that all that seems to occur really represents what isbeing held in wh at was previously considered “within.” Thus, the proclivity
to project is undone. The “innocent victim” positionality, with all its
spurious “innocence,” is unmasked.
Adversity is thus seen to be the r esult of what had been previous ly denied
and repr essed into the unconscious. By looking within, you find  the source
of adver sity, suc h that it can be addressed. Beliefs are the determinant of
what you experience. There are no external “causes.” Y ou discover the
secret payof fs that are obtained from unconscious secret projections. Y our
underlying prog rams can be discovered by simply writing down your litany
of griev ances and woes and then merely turning them aroun d into their
opposites.
People hate me  stems from your own inner hatreds. People don’ t car e
about me  s tems from you r narcissistic absorption with your own happine ss
and you r person al gain, instead of that of others. I don’ t get enough love
stems from not giving love to others. People ar e rude to me  s tem s fr om lack
of cordiality to others. People ar e jealous of me  arises from inner jealousy
of others. Thus, if you take responsibility for being the author of your
world, you come close to its source, where you can correct it.
By bein g loving  toward others, you discover that you are surrounded by
love and lovingness. When you unreservedly support life without expecting
gain, life supports you in return. When you abandon gain as a motive, life
responds with unexpected gene rosity. When you perceive in th is way, the
miraculous begins to appear in your life. Harmony manifests as the
unexpected discovery, the fortui tous coincidence, and the lucky break, and
finally t he realiz ation occurs that these are the ripples coming back to you
from the seat of consciousness.
Q: What if one is pr esuming to live at the level beyond what one r eally
is?
A:  I n addit ion to the ego/mind’ s presumption that it “knows” som ething
because it has heard about it (reading a book on golf does not m ake one an
expert g olfer), t here is the erro r of mixing levels of truth or abstraction.
Sometimes spiri tual students have a picture in mind of what h igher states
look like, and then the ego attempts to produce or pe rform it. That i s very
dif ferent from actually “being” it.The apparent realities of a specific level of consciousness are not
necessarily thos e of another level, as is indicated by the  numerical
designations of the calibrated l evels of consciousness. As an example, a
person m ight quote the well-known saying of Ramana Maharshi that “there
is no point in trying to save the world, because the world one se es does not
even exist.” That is the truth and experiential reality of co nsciousness
calibration level 720, but it’ s not the experiential reality of consciousness
levels below it. It’ s best to simply “be as you are” and be true to the reality
that is experientially valid and true at your level of development.
Each lev el also has its concordant capacities as well as its lim itations,
which a re quite  dif ferent. For example, perhaps Ramana Maharshi could
safely w alk acro ss a busy highway with his eyes shut, but that is unlikely to
be th e ex perience of the average person, who is probably not ab le to imitate
the same behavior without getting run over!
Q: Does spiritual work help the world?
A:  T o endeavor to evolve spiritua lly is the greatest gift you can give. It
actually uplifts all humankind f rom within because of the nature of power
itself. Power radiates and is shar ed, whereas force is limited, sel f-defeating,
and evanescent.  All society is subliminally and subtly influenced by every
kind and loving thought, word, or deed. Every for giveness is a benefit to
everyone. The universe notes and records every action and returns it in
kind. Every kindness is forever.
Q: Is it corr ect to say that our “beingness” is mor e effective than our
“doingness”?
A:  Mo ralistic exhortation and “jus tice” seeking bring about the op posite
as counterforce, whereas lovingness radiates power of which there is no
opposite. W ith humility comes the willingness to stop trying t o control or
change other people or life situations or events ostensibly “fo r their own
good.” T o be a committed spiritual seeker, you of necessity relinquish the
desire to be “rig ht” or of imagin ary value to society. In fact, nobody’ s ego
or b elief systems are of any value to society at all. The worl d is neither
good nor bad, nor defective, nor is it in need of help or m odification,because its appearance is only a projection of one’ s own mind. No such
world exists.
The real ization of absolute reality and truth is one’ s greatest gift to the
world an d all humanity. Spiritua l work, in its essence, is therefore a selfless
service and surrender to the W ill of God. As your awareness increases, the
power o f that field of consciousness increases exponentially in logarithmic
expansion, and that, in and of itself, accomplishes more than all ef fort or
attempts at relieving the suf feri ng of the world. All such ef forts are futile,
because they are necessarily misguided by the falsifications and illusions of
the perceptual function of the ego itself.
The spir itual pow er and inner in tegrity of every individual helps raise the
sea a nd thus all the ships on it. Because everything is connected, that which
you become automatically uplifts all life.
If you frame you rself as a thank ful gift of God to the world, then you are
a gift of God to the world. If yo u frame yourself as a miserable worm, then
you are a miserable worm, because you become what you say you will be.
Everyone needs to own the infinite dimension of that which they are for the
sake of the world. In surrender, we hold out our hands to God and own the
Divinity within us. That which i s


 With a contaminated
water supply, inoculation proved to be useless as a preventative of
disease. And if inoculation, unnecessary under safeguarded conditions,is useless when such conditions fail, of what use is it at all?
Lack of utility, however, is not the only, or the most serious, criticism
to be levelled against the practice: the teachings of World War I pointto inoculation being directly harmful.
In a pamphlet entitled Microbes and the War,
1 by Dr. Walter Hadwen,
we find a quotation from Professor Ernest Glyn:
“Sickness (in the South African campaign) was responsible
for the loss of 86,000 men by death and invaliding (in nearlythree years); yet the total number of officers and men,including native Indian troops, leaving the Gallipoli Peninsulaon account of sickness from April 25 to October 20 may bestated as 3,200 officers and 75,000 other ranks! The totalhas since been increased to 96,000.”
In short, the toll of disease and death in these modern
days of serums and vaccines, with all their ‘protecting’influences against microbes, was, in proportion to the periodand the respective number of troops employed, nearly sixtimes greater in the last six months of the Gallipoli disasterthan in the whole three years of the Boer War.”
The following official figures for the losses in the Gallipoli Expedition
speak for themselves:
Killed 25,270
Wounded 75,191
Missing  12,451Sick 96,684
Taking into consideration the shot and shell from which there was
no escape in that inferno of fighting, this enormous number – 96,684
victims of disease – is nothing short of amazing. The sick far outnumberthose killed and even the number wounded; and we should remember
that of this great number of invalids, almost every man had been
inoculated. The nomenclature applied to their complaints is a minormatter in face of the fact that the application of Pasteurian methods on
a vast scale happened at the same time as an epidemic of the illness.
Indeed, so high was the rate of sickness among the soldiers of Gallipolithat the inference must be made that inoculation contributed to it by
poisoning the systems and lowering the vitality of the fighting men.
1. Published by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, London.In spite of this damning evidence, bacteriological diagnosis has done
its utmost to demonstrate the success of inoculation by giving every
name except typhoid to intestinal troubles, which, in previous wars,would have been thus classified. The process of bacteriological diagnosis
has been illuminatingly divulged by Lieutenant-Colonel C. J. Martin
and Major W. G. Upjohn, Pathologists of No. 3 General Hospital, A.I.F.
1
The exceedingly doubtful agglutinin reaction was the method adopted,
and, with a candour as delightful as it was unconscious, these gentlemen
confessed that in patients ‘previously inoculated’ the development oftyphoid agglutinins was regarded ‘with suspicion’. They went on to
say that they
“...only diagnosed typhoid when the typhoid bacillus was
isolated or when, the case being clinically typhoid, noparatyphoids could be detected.”
The Vaccination Inquirer, in criticising the report, remarks:
“Thus the mere presence of paratyphoids in addition to the
true typhoid was sufficient to take it out of the typhoid class,unless the patient was uninoculated; in which case, of course,the typhoid is as true as can be. We always maintained thattyphoid in the inoculated would be regarded ‘with suspicion’by the medicos, and here with charming naiveté we have theprocess disclosed by which the inoculated officially escape,and the uninoculated ‘get it in the neck’.”
2
This method of diagnosis well explains the statement of one
invalided soldier:
“First they said I had typhoid, and then they said I had
paratyphoid, and then they said I had dysentery; but it feels
the same all the time!”
To the devout Pasteurian, an illness has little connection with
symptoms or feelings: its reality consists in the form of a micro-organism
seen through a microscope.
As the late Mr. Stephen Paget, Secretary of the Research (i.e.
vivisection) Defence Society, wrote to the Daily Mail  of April 16, 1920:
“The symptoms of paratyphoid have a general likeness to
typhoid, but the germs are different.”
This viewpoint of disease conditions leads to the extraordinary
obsession that, provided a specific nomenclature be avoided, inoculation
Some Lessons from World War I...   3231. The British Medical Journal, 2nd September, 1916.
2. November, 1916.324   Béchamp or Pasteur?has gained a triumph, no matter how great the sickness rate, or even
death rate, may be. That this criticism is justified may be seen from
the same article in the Daily Mail  by Mr. Paget:
“See, in the light of these facts, the infamy of the suggestion
that the protective treatment failed at Gallipoli. It gives mepleasure to nail that lie to the counter.”
The ‘facts’ that provide this ‘light’ are given in a quotation from Dr.
Charles Searle, of Cambridge, who has stated:
“Before Gallipoli we only inoculated for typhoid, and the result
was that out of 100,000 cases of sickness, there were only425 cases of typhoid and 8,103 of paratyphoid. We wereunder the most appalling conditions: we were on half a pintof water a day; we drank from any pool of muddy water, anyfilthy stuff so long as it was moist. There is nothing moreterrible than thirst; we had no relief, we lived in the trenches.Every man was sick, and we had something like 50,000 casesof dysentery ; but we had only a very small proportion indeed
of typhoid.”
Dr. Searle continues by giving some figures for Egypt and Palestine
in regard to typhoid and paratyphoid, incidentally interjecting that
“there was any amount of dysentery in Palestine.”
All we can say is that the official figures for these countries have
been repeatedly asked for in Parliament, and that they have not yet
been provided. But to return to Gallipoli, Colonel Martin and Major
Upjohn have described the kind of bacteriological diagnosis that bringsabout the naming of diseases, while Dr. Searle himself bears witness
that ‘every man was sick’ and provides figures to show that nearly
60,000 were down with intestinal complaints. Granted that theconditions were ‘appalling’: we are not denying it, though they might
possibly have been less bad if it were not for the extravagant assurances
of the value of preventive inoculation, which inclined those in commandto take less precautions about a pure water supply.
What we are debating is whether our troops would not have
withstood those conditions very differently had they been free fromthe pollution of Pasteurian interference. This obsession of viewing
disease from the standpoint of micro-organisms, regardless, too, of
their possible variability, seems to ignore the obvious fact that inserious illness mere nomenclature can be of no solace to the patient;
neither would it console a mourner to be assured that dysentery ratherthan typhoid had been responsible for the death of his or her friend
or relative.
Of what value is artificial immunity from a particular complaint if a
similar complaint is its substitute? The matter must be judged upon
general health and the disease rate, and when again we learn from
General Smuts, in regard to the East African campaign, that ‘diseasehas wrought havoc’, we are once more provided with proof of the
failure of Pasteurian methods in World War I.
Another paean of medical victory that has been sung, even from
the pulpit of St. Paul’s,
l is that of the success of inoculation against
tetanus. The prophylactic use of anti-toxin is claimed to have modified
the complaint.
What, however, are the proofs of this claim?
When we consider the commencement of the war, we find that Sir
David Bruce had stated2 that the ratio of tetanus in September 1914
was 16 per 1,000; in October it was 32 per 1,000; and in November
only 2 per 1,000. Sir David states that there were:
“...several factors at work in September and October 1914 to
raise the ratio,”
and says that
“the most important factor was the prophylactic injection of
tetanus anti-toxin. This was not carried out during the firsttwo months of the war,”
Although this assertion is modified by his disclosure that
“the amount of serum sent out to France in the first five months
was: August 1914 – 600 doses; September – 12,000; October– 44,000; November – 112,000; December – 120,000.”
He refers to a letter from Sir William Leishman, who
“feels sure that the drop in the incidence of tetanus in
November 1914 was due to the use of the prophylactic dose,and does not think any large complicating factor comes in.”
To those who recall the insufficiency