 letdown (when your milk is released forcefully). When your baby is
still only a few days or weeks old, they may not be able to handle the
amount of milk that is coming down if you have an abundant supply. Too
much milk volume can lead to your baby nursing less or for shorter periods
of time, turning away from the breast as a source of comfort, or refusing to
nurse at all, so try to resolve an oversupply issue early. As with all
breastfeeding concerns, it is best to consult a lactation specialist who can
determine your personal situation and provide the best and easiest solutions. If your newborn is spitting up due to oversupply, you may see some
corresponding signs from them:
struggling at the breast
choking with milk letdown
spitting up a lot of milk
having green, frothy stools
nursing for short periods of timepulling of f the breast soon after letdown
having bouts of unexplained crying
not settling into a feed
For solutions, pay attention to the following details:
Baby’ s latch. A good latch will help your baby control the flow of
milk. (Support from a lactation consultant can help you learn how to
improve your child’ s latch.) Baby’ s position. Try having your baby’ s head higher than your
breast. Patterns of nursing. Switching breasts too quickly can lead to baby
getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk. Try allowing a
longer time for feeding on each breast before switching, or of fer the
same breast for a few feedings in a row. Burping. For some moms, the solution is as simple as remembering
to burp the baby after every single feed and between switching
breasts. Frequency of feedings. If your baby is going too long between
feedings, they may be overly hungry and try to drink quickly. Watch
for and learn your baby’ s early signs of hunger, such as eye
movements, small sounds, and body movements. Draining the breasts. Empty one breast at a time at each feeding. This will regulate the supply of milk. Do not pump extra milk,
because it will cause your breasts to fill quickly again. Herbal supplements. If you are taking herbs to increase milk
supply, stop—and that may help solve the issue. Some herbs—
including peppermint, sage, and parsley—are considered
antigalactogogues (they decrease milk supply). Making these herbs
into a tea may help in reducing milk supply.Oversupply can cause a mama to have sore nipples, plugged ducts,
mastitis, thrush, or breast pain. If you have tried all the above solutions and
nothing seems to be working, I recommend consulting a specialist. Your
baby’ s symptoms of oversupply can also be signs of low supply, but you
can usually tell the dif ference by whether the baby is gaining appropriate
weight or not. Breastfeeding issues can sometimes be solved by simple
changes that you may not be aware of, so experts can be a tremendous help. NEWBORN SKIN: CRADLE CAP, DIAPER RASH,
AND HEAT RASH
Within the first couple of weeks after birth, your newborn’ s skin may go
through several dif ferent changes as they adjust to life outside of the watery
womb. Some skin rashes and conditions are normal, and some may be
uncomfortable or irritating for your baby. You may see “stork bites” (red dots on the back of the baby’ s neck or
between their eyebrows), dry or peeling skin, baby acne, milia (little white
bumps on the cheeks), or swelling in the baby’ s face (from the birth
experience) that will go down within a couple of days. All this is normal. Other common occurrences that may arise are cradle cap, diaper rash,
and heat rash. Although these are mostly harmless, they can be irritating or
uncomfortable for your babe, and of course, as a mama, you will want to
help your baby be as comfortable as possible. Neem-infused ghee is a great
Ayurvedic remedy for baby rashes, baby acne, and peeling skin. The
resources section at the back of this book has suggestions on where to order
some. Cradle cap is a yellowish crust that can sometimes appear on a baby’ s
scalp, forehead, or eyebrows. It does not need treatment and will go away
on its own eventually, but if you want to remove it you can gently massage
the area with ghee or coconut oil and allow it to soak into the skin
overnight. Optionally, you can add essential oils of lavender, frankincense,
or tea tree (or a combination). In the morning, the skin with cradle cap will
be soft, and you can gently pick of f the crust and comb or brush it out of thebaby’ s hair with a baby brush. Be gentle when picking the crust of f, as
baby’ s heads are delicate. The cradle cap should come of f almost
effortlessly and not break the skin or disturb your babe at all. A red, sore rash on a baby’ s bottom, known as diaper rash, occurs for
several reasons. Sometimes baby has a skin sensitivity to chemicals in
wipes or disposable diapers. Or they could be having a reaction to the
deter gent used to wash their cloth diapers. Often, rashes are caused by
sitting in a dirty or wet diaper for too long (even a short time if their skin is
sensitive). Other causes are yeast infection, reaction to antibiotics, or a
reaction to the nursing mama’ s diet. To prevent diaper rash, or to help
remedy it if necessary, the following approaches can help:
Elimination communication. Watch your baby’ s cues for when they
have to pee or poop, and take them to use the toilet (from birth!) instead of using diapers. Eliminating diapers would, of course,
eliminate diaper rash. Daily abhyanga massage. Nightly baby massages with sesame oil,
followed by using coconut oil where the rash is, will often soothe and
heal diaper rash quickly. A combination of lavender and tea tree
essential oil mixed into the coconut oil is also soothing and healing
for your baby’ s skin. Soaking up sunlight. Lay your naked baby in some indirect sunlight
daily. Hygiene awareness. Use the cleanest diapers, wipes, soaps, and
detergents: unfortunately, commercial baby products can sometimes
have highly harmful chemicals in them. Do your research to choose
high-quality body products or laundry soaps for your baby. Avoid
Vaseline as well as fragranced soaps, detergents, shampoos, diaper
creams, and talc powders. Change soiled diapers immediately. If you spend a lot of time with
your baby, you will always notice when they poop. Change theirdiaper right after they are finished. You may want to wait about ten
minutes from when you first notice them pooping to make sure they
are fully finished, then put the baby in a fresh diaper right away. If
your baby has sensitive skin, you may also want to use a dry cloth
and pat the bum dry after a cleanup, to make sure baby is
completely dry before putting on a new diaper. Change your diet. Think about whether the diaper rash might have
appeared when you introduced a specific food into your diet, and try
eliminating it to see if the rash goes away. Diaper rashes resulting
from diet will be accompanied by a red or irritated anus on your
baby. If diaper rash persists, you might be dealing with a yeast infection. Susun
Weed’s Wise W oman Herbal for the Childbearing Y ear discusses yeast
infection diaper rashes and how to treat them with home remedies. Another type of rash that is not uncommon in newborns is a heat rash. A
heat rash can be identified when you see tiny pink bumps, mainly on the
neck, chest, and upper back. Babies can experience heat rash anytime they
are overheating, whether from the temperature in the house, from the
temperature outdoors, or simply from being overdressed. Ayurveda adds the
perspective of heat rashes being a sign of excess pitta (fire) in the body,
which could not only be an ef fect of the temperature but also an ef fect of
the nursing mama’ s diet and emotions. Eating spicy foods or foods that
contain too many warming spices could cause excess heat, as well as a
mama’ s emotions “heating up” through anger, frustration, irritability, or
resentment. Heat rashes, as in all pitta imbalances, simply need to be cooled. Sometimes all it takes is applying a cool washcloth to the skin or turning on
the air conditioning in the house. If heat rash is more serious, mama may
need to change her diet—especially avoiding spicy foods or foods that have
too many warming spices—in order to see improvement. Some other
Ayurvedic solutions you can try to remedy heat rash include these:Give baby a lukewarm bath using the Ayurvedic baby soap recipe on
this page. Chickpea flour, sandalwood, rose, and milk are all cooling to the
skin. Use the essential oil solutions described in chapter 9. Drink cooling teas or infused waters made with things like cucumber,
watermelon, fennel, hibiscus, or rose. Drink fresh coconut water. Gosh…the ways I love you. It actually, literally hurts my heart. And sometimes it’ s scary to love this much.


 an advanced condition of degeneration; the stomach exhibited an extreme
hour-glass contraction, and its pyloric opening would not permit the insertion of a probe the size of a lead pencil, while the wal ls
of its lumen were cirrhosed or hardened; the small intestines and the colon throughout their lengths displayed a series of
cartilaginous contractions. These structural defects were undoubtedly developed after arrival at maturity, since the unaffect ed
portions of the organs were normal in size and in condition. The fetus was removed from the uterus at the autopsy, and was found
to be in excellent state, exhibiting the normal development of an unborn child at four months. Case 4. This was a married wom an of thirty -five years, and the case is similar in many respects to the one preceding. The patient
fasted fifty -nine days from the beginning of illness until death. The entire adult life of this woman had been made wretched by
digestive impairment, biliou s attacks, and menstrual difficulties. Drugs, including patent medicines, had done their worst until
about two years before death, when, in hopeless apathy, the patient consented to undergo a fast, and completed one of thirty days
with such success that sh e experienced full relief from menstrual pain thereafter, and there was but little digestive distress unless
there had been carelessness in diet. The compelling cause that led to the second fast lay in the organic condition, later discovered, that ha d progressed to the point
that the digestive function became inoperative. Morbid degeneration of the liver must have existed for some time previous to the
beginning of abstinence, for from the first day of the fast black bilious discharge in quantity disco lored the fluid of the enemas. The condition gradually became so aggravated that the thought of food tended to produce nausea, while its odor and even the
perfume of flowers could not be borne. Organic defect had without doubt been present when the first f ast took place, for its
symptoms were noted at that time, but the organs affected, recuperated to a degree by their enforced rest and assisted by gen eral
systemic purification, were enabled to continue partial functioning for some months longer. In the second fast pulse and temperature rose above normal register several points each day, but fell to average standard after t he
internal bath, which in this case was administered twice daily. As in the previous case pregnancy of some months complicat ed conditions. On the fifty -first day of abstinence it was discovered
that contractions of the uterus were occurring, and in a short while, with some manual assistance, a dead, misshapen fetus wa s
delivered with little or no distress or pain. General relie f was immediate, and it was so pronounced as to inspire the family with
hope of ultimate recovery; but the improvement was succeeded by a decline in vitality that ended in the death of the patient. During the latter days of this fast hiccoughs in sev ere form were present, and there was some vomiting of blackish bile. It was
useless to attempt feeding at any stage of the fast, for, from the first, the stomach refused even water, and the only manner  in which
the fluids of the body were renewed was throu gh absorption from the baths, both external and internal. Post mortem findings follow. The liver was so degenerated that but little functioning could have occurred for many days; the
gall sac was at least four times its normal in size and contained f oul, black, bilious fluid; the kidneys were hypertrophied or
enlarged, and pocketed with pus; the pancreas was so hardened in texture as to resist the knife; the spleen was degenerated t o the
degree that the organ was held together merely by its surroundin g membrane; the small intestines were normal in size, condition,
and position, as was the colon, excepting that the transverse portion of the latter organ had suffered malposition and in por tions
was no larger in diameter than the adult thumb; the right ov ary contained a cyst filled with fluid, while the right fallopian tube was
bent twice upon itself; the left ovary was in an atrophic or wasted state and was no larger than a lima bean in size; the hea rt and the
lungs were normal. Case 5 is that of a young man of twenty -five who had been syphilitically infected five years before death, and who had had his
symptoms treated by medical practitioners and by advertising quacks. At the time of consultation syphilitic sores still remai ned,
and other evidences  of the blood taint were present. There was a loss of mental control that necessitated constant attendance of a
nurse. About six months before death a fast of twenty -eight days was undertaken and successfully finished. At its completion the
syphilitic sore s had entirely disappeared, and relief in general was such that the patient was enabled to dispense with his attendant
and to care for himself. But several months later signs of serious organic breakdown, including loss of mental control, again  were
appare nt. One of the symptoms noted was that of copious discharge of watery mucus from the nasal passages and throat, together
with constant, profuse exudation of sweat about the face and head. The latter symptom was present in such degree that the hai r of
the p atient dripped moisture continuously and his pillow needed change every hour. Considerable solid feces and catarrhal mucus
appeared in the enemas, and for a month before death speech was impossible and no function could be performed without
assistance. No food was given during the last nineteen days of life. Page 65 of  72     Post mortem findings showed a brain, the right hemisphere of which was much degenerated and pus laden; the left hemisphere
was structurally normal; the right jugular vein was occluded with a whiti sh deposit, not analyzed; the heart was normal; the right
lung was in a state of embolism, and was virtually a mass of clotted blood, useless for its purposes; the left lung was norma l; the
liver was partially degenerated. In this case no abnormality exist ed throughout the length of the alimentary canal, and the kidneys,
pancreas, and spleen were in condition that presumed ability to function. Case 6, that of a man forty -six years of age, presents a history of constant disease with intermittent acute crises. As the result of
an accident in childhood, by which the subject was injured internally, both youth and early manhood were punctuated with a
succession of severe illnesses, which were treated in orthodox: without permanent relief. About fifteen year s before death the
patient abandoned medicine and turned to natural therapeutics, with the result that the first lengthy relief from physical di stress
was obtained. Three years before he died, acute disease again appeared, and, because of uncongenial but u navoidable environment,
medical treatment was resorted to for a short time, again without benefit. Reverted to in finality, the fast and its accompan iments
succeeded in relieving conditions to the extent that the patient was enabled to resume his wonted wo rk. Although he suffered at
intervals from this time on, there was no return of acute distress until the month preceding death, when, after somewhat stre nuous
exercise followed by a heavy meal, severe intestinal pains developed. For thirty days no food was  given, the stomach rejecting
even water, and at the end of the period named, virtually in constant pain the while, the patient died. Post mortem examination showed an organic condition that was most abnormal. The lungs were adherent to the walls of the
pleural cavity and to the diaphragm; the heart was slightly enl arged but functionally capable; the stomach was dilated and
prolapsed; the gall sac was divided into three distinct pouches, two of which were filled with a total of one hundred and twe nty-six
stones, ranging in size from that of a pea to one four inches in circumference; the small intestines were collapsed and midwa y in
their lower portion were intussuscepted so that two yards of their length were telescoped into but five inches, and here the diameter
of lumen was only one -quarter of an inch; all of the small intestines were below normal in size; the transverse colon lay in front of
the descending part of the bowel, an abnormality which largely increased the labor of disposing of body waste ; the ascending and
descending portions of the colon were lacking in development and were cirrhosed or hardened in structure; the sigmoid bend an d
the rectum were of diameter not to exceed that of an adult thumb, and were in an advanced state of cirrhosis;  the liver, the
pancreas, and the spleen all exhibited partial atrophy; brain and nerve centers showed no signs of deterioration. As has been stated, surgical intervention is at times essential in order to correct accidental or congenital structural defect in
tissue, and here was a case in which such intervention might have been successfully invoked at the time of the accident noted  in its
history. Neglected then, life was nevertheless prolonged despite the handicap of the abnormalities described, but  at cost constant
suffering. Case 7, that of a man fifty -six years of age, presents a history of continuous disease in youth, but includes at least twenty years
of adult life devoted to corrective dieting, judicious fasting, and to constant hygienic care of the body. At the time that the case was
brought to the attention and placed under the direction


 medicine. This young woman had been told
that she had one year to live. Instead, during that year she reversed
the course of her illness and regained health. Zheng Wen Tao is the
epitome of the modern Chine se medical hero, able to unite modern
science with classical tradition. When Efrem returned home, weexpanded our use of herbal medicine in the treatment of our
acupuncture patients, setting up an herbal pharmacy in our
acupuncture clinic. A F OREIGN  CULTURE  PLANTED ON  HOME SOIL
Some people tend to dismiss Chinese medicine for not conforming to
the modern medical model, while others tend to romanticize and
mystify it. Some discount it because it is not modern, others revere
it because it is old. The former group considers it eccentric
quackery, and the latter considers it a panacea. It is clear to us that
it is a system unto itself, altogether distinct from a trendy health fad
or other therapies considere d to be holistic or alternat ive. It has
endured for centuries not only because its techniques produce
tangible result s, but because it embodies a coherent philosophy that
integrates many aspects of human life. Western medicine has had a monopoly not only on our medicine
cabinets, but also on our minds. Now other possibilities exist. More
and more people are receiving acupuncture, so far several million
Americans, and Chinese herbs are nding the way onto their
shelves. Within the next decade medicinal foods will be simmering
in stainless-ste el pots, making the exotic aromas and avors of
China as familiar to us as chicken soup. Americans, like the Chinese,
are quite pragmatic—Chinese medicine meets their need, so people
try it; it helps, so they come back for more. By familiarizing yourself with its concepts, you will be able to
judge if and when it is a tting option for you. Spotting yourself
within its categories will help you better understand your behavior
and feelings, the ways you express your health, and the ways you
fall ill. By the end, we hope you will be able to interpret yourself
amply enough to acquire the rudimentary know-how to initiate
personal change. *Specially dened Chinese medical terms are italicized and capitalized throug hout the text
to dieren tiate them from their commo n meaning, such as heart as an anatom ically located
organ in the chest versus Heart  as an Organ Network, or wind that dances through the trees
versus Wind  that represents an adverse pathological phenomenon. The glossary will assist
in clarication. OceanofPDF.comPhilosophy in the West: The Doctor as MechanicCHAPTER TWO
PHILOSOPHY IN THE  WEST: THE DOCTOR  AS
MECHANIC
Cartesianism is the unspoken philosophical substratum of
contemporary medicine—the source of many of its great
strengths and equally of its deciencies. Pellegrino and Thomasma
A Philosophical
Basis of Medical Practice
BECAUSE OUR PERCEPTION OF THE WORLD INFLUENCES HOW WE LIVE IN it, our
consciousness sculpts reality. Conversely, our experience shapes our
thinking, so our reality molds consciousness. Our minds create what
is real, and our lived experiences generate our thoughts. There is a
reciprocity between beliefs and observations—what we look for
aects what we see, so describing “just the way things are” from the
Chinese and Western vantage  point is not necessarily the same. Each
makes sense of the body according to a dierent set of beliefs. It became clear to us that to penetrate Chinese medicine we
needed to examine how reality itself was dened, East and West. Because taken-for-granted assumptions are buried just beneath the
skin of our conscious awareness, in this chapter we peel that skin
back to expose our Western philosophic presumptions about how
things are. Upon understanding ourselves, we can approach the
unfamiliar and proceed to probe the East on its own terms. SCIENCE. THE NEW RELIGION OF THE  WESTDuring the Middle Ages, people in Western Europe had a unied
view of their universe: seeing themselves as an integral part of
everything that was both seen and unseen. They were connected
with Heaven through God and with Earth through Nature. The
break with this organic sensibility came with the decline of feudal
society as cities grew where there were once feudal kingdoms. As
the pervasive authority of the Roman Catholic church was
undermined by the Protestant Reformation, the people of Europe
believed they could attain mastery in the world through their own
willful eorts. No longer were they solely dependent on the spiritual
community of the Church. In the Christianity of this new era, the realm of Heaven existed
outside of Nature, apart from it, barely within human reach. Earth
and Heaven were divided into separate realms. The dark, sinister,
mysterious forces of Earth were juxtaposed with the enlightened,
righteous, and supernatural forces of Heaven. Instead of being an
ally, Nature became an adversary to be overcome and conquered. Man stood outside of it, apart from and above it. The Earth was no
longer intimat ely connected to the life of our own body, instead it
became an object that could be manipulated and exploited. Human
beings were the battleground  in which Man and Nature,  good and
evil, spirit and body, wrestled with each other. A unied reality was
sacriced for dominion over Nature, for technology, for “progress.”
A schism occurred between the sacred and the secular, Heaven
and Earth, life and death. Before this, with God for protection and
guidance, it was unnecessary to question and understand Nature. But without divine providence, the unpredictable chaos of Nature
was perceived as forbidding and dangerous. Death, associated with
the dark forces, became irreconcilable with life, rather than an
inevitable transition in the cycle of existence. The best protection
against Nature  was through domination and control: to gain power
over Nature was to conquer death. 1 A new set of values and beliefs
was created to explain and organize the world. This new “religion”
was that of science, and its priests were the mathe maticians,
physicists, and mechanical engineers. 2DESCARTES:  NATURE AND THE  BODY AS MACHINE
In the West the philosophy of science is based on the premise that
humans are separate from nature, and that the world, like a
machine, can be dismantled and reduced into constituent parts. Reality is located in the tangible structure of matter: that which can
be measured, quantied, and analyzed. Events occur according to
unchanging laws. The foundation for this scientic thinking was
buried in the soil of Aristotle’s “empirical materialism,” excavated
during the Renaissance. With Aristotle, reality came to mean that
which could be substantiated materially. Matter was understood to
be xed and unchanging, therefore real. In the seventeenth century, the French mathematician Descartes
ushered in the Western scientic revolution. His introduction of
analytic, reduc tive reasoning formed the basis of a new philosophy
of science, which became the philosophy of modern medicine as
well. His think ing had such profound inuence that the principles
underpinning modern science came to be referred to as Cartesian. Descartes believed there could be absolute, certain truth,
commenting, “All science is certain, evident knowledge. We reject
all knowledge which is mere ly probable and judge that only those
things should be believed which are perfectly known and about
which there can be no doubts.” 3 Through the use of reduc tive,
deductive logic, Descartes felt on the verge of comprehending the
fundamental workings of the universe. He conceptualized the world
and everything in it as a machine, stating, “I do not recognize any
dierence between the machines made by craftsmen and various
bodies that nature alone composes.” 4 Mechanical laws were said to
universally govern all phenomena. The exact sciences formulated to
dominate and control nature were applied to human beings as well. Descartes considered the human body a machine, likening a healthy
man to a well-made clock. He also erected a rm division between
mind and matter, asserting, “There is nothing in the concept of body
that belongs to the mind; and nothing in that of mind that belongs
to the body.” 5This mechanis tic view of nature led to the xed and absolute
physical laws devised by astronomer and mathemetician Isaac
Newton, which  outlined the cause-and-eect method of explaining
the material universe. This logic formed the basis of the scientic
method, which  even today remains essentially unchanged. Perhaps
unaware that many logical systems of knowledge exist, most
Westerners consider this to be the only valid way of understanding
the world. Within this worldview, nature and humans are machines
governed by mechanical laws: systems that do work, tools of
production. Western medicine, correspondingly, is the study of how
the human machine works. When people are like machines, doctors
become like mechanics. The mechanic occasionally performs routine
maintenance but mostly intervenes to execute emergency repairs. He plunges into the working parts, replacing the nonfunctioning
elements, and puts the mach ine back into


 Fire-Metal-
Wood ; and for Water: Earth-Water-Eire. This triad is considered to be
regulatory and less stable. Microcurrent. Electri cal current generated by medical instruments in
the range of millionths of an amp, which is within the same range as
the body’s own bioelectricity. Modules. Herbal formulas that have limited properties and eects
that are designed to be combined like building blocks to create morecomplex multipurpose formulas. Moisture  (Jin-ye ). Those processes and inuences within the body
that cannot be classied as Qi (insubstantial)  or Blood  (substantial);
that is, an intermediate state of Qi. Moisture  includes cerebrospinal
uid, synovial uids, interstitial uids, sweat, mucus, tears, saliva,
sexual secretions, sebaceous secretions, urine, and the Nutritive
Essence  that circulates with the Blood. Nutritive Qi. Also called Food Qi or Nutritive  (or Food) Essence ; that
which is transformed by the Stomach  and assimilated by the Spleen
to become the basis of the Qi, Moisture, and Blood  that nourishes the
organism. The lighter more rened Yang Essence  combines with Air
Qi to become the Pure Qi  that circulates in the channels. The heavier
Yin part is transmitted downwa rd to the Kidney  where it combines
with the congenital or prenatal Essence  to become the pure Essence
stored by the Kidney  (the material basis of growth, regeneration, and
procreation). Ontogeny. The pattern of individual development in a living
organism. Organ. Refers not only to an anatomical entity such as the heart or
liver, but also to the aggreg ate of tissues, activities, and channels
that constitute the Network of which that Organ  is an integral part. Thus the Heart  is associated with the Organ Network  of the Heart,
which also includes the Organ  of the Small Intestine  as well as the
channels of the Heart  and Small Intestine. Organ Networks  (Zang Fu). Distinct physiological-psychological
spheres of function within the organism. The Five Organ Networks
correspond to each of the Five Phases. These Networks  organize all
physical and mental processe s and link together all of the structural
components of channels, Organs, tissues, uids, and so on. They arethe Liver (Wood ), Heart  (Fire), Spleen  (Earth ), Lung (Metal ), and
Kidney  (Water ). Pathogenic Agent. Any entity of external or internal origin that
obstructs or interferes with normal function and that itself can
create secondary pathologic changes. Pattern of Disharmony. The integrated interpretation and
identication of an individu al’s array of symptoms and signs in
terms of the categories of Yin-Yang, Five Phases, Body Constituents,
Eight Principles, Adverse Climates, and pathogenic accumulations;
thus, a typical pattern of disharmony of the Spleen  includes
deciency  of Qi, an accumulation of Dampness, and stagnation of Qi
of the Stomach. Pericardium. One of the six Yin channe ls whose function is subsumed
within the Heart Organ Network. The Pericardium, along with the
Triple-Burner, is not associated with an anatomical entity. It
corresponds with the active function of the Heart  in perfusing the
body with Blood  (arterial circulation) and with the passive function
of harboring the Spirit  (maintaining awareness). Phlegm. Mucus, a by-product of dense, congealed Dampness, which
can cause obstructions, nodules, lumps, or tumors. Phenomenological or Phenomenology. In philosophy, the attemp t to
describe both internal and external events that constitute our reality
or existence without seeking to understand or identify their ultimate
or original causes. Chinese traditional medical thinking tends to be
phenomenological rather than causal, in contradistinction to
modern Western medical thinking. Psyche  (Shen). A Greek word for “soul,” meaning that which is not of
the body or matter. In the context of Chinese medicine it refers toall of the mental and psychological processes and immaterial aspects
of the organism. Purge. Eliminate, evict, eradicate, remove: to purge is to rid the
body of pathogenic agents or Adverse Climates  such as Wind, Heat,
Cold, Dryness, and Dampness  or phlegm; or to eliminate the
undesirable congestion of Qi, Moisture, and Blood. Herbs that purge
oust unwanted conditions by strongly stimulating the eliminative
function of the skin, lungs, intestines, and bladder as well as the
metabolic and temperature regulating mechanisms of the vegetative
nervous system. Qi (pronounced “Chee”; also spelled Ch’i). The creative or formative
principle associated with life and all processes that characterize
living entities. All animate forms in nature are manifestations of Qi. Qi is an invisible substance, as well as an immaterial force that has
palpable and observable manifestations. Qi has its own movement and also activates the movement of things
other than itself. Qi begets motion and heat. Within the context of
the human person, Qi is that which enlivens the body and is
dierentiated according to specic functional systems. All physical
and mental activities are manifestations of Qi: sensing, cogitating,
feeling, digesting, stirring, propagating. One Chinese ideogram for Qi is composed of an upper radical
representing “rising vapor” and a lower radical denoting “grain.”
The steam that spirals from a pot of cooking rice symbolizes
distilled essen ce, hence Qi can be translated as the vapor of the
nest matter. Qi refers to resources the huma n organism consumes,
transforms, and transmits. The highly rened essence of food (Food Qi) and air (Air Qi) in the
body becomes one entity known as Pure or Righteous Qi. It is this
Righteous  or Zheng Qi that circulates in the channels, regulating andnourishing all body processes and activities. Defensive Qi  (wei) is the
activity of adapting to inuences such as weather or mobilizing
resistance to pathogenic microorganisms and noxious substances in
the environment. Qi also implies the totality of Blood, Moisture, and
Qi, the total summation of the life of the organism. Qi is regulated by the Liver, generated by the Spleen, distributed by
the Lungs, and stored by the Kidney. Sheng Sequence. The Five-Phase  interac tion that describes the cycle
whereby one Phase  produces, gives rise to, or nourishes another:
Wood  engenders Fire, Fire engenders Earth, Earth  engenders Metal,
Metal  engenders Water, and Water  engenders Wood. Sheng Triad. The Phases  along the sheng  sequence that are the parent
and child of a given Phase:  for Wood: Water-Wood-Fire ; for Fire:
Wood-Fire-Earth ; for Earth: Fire-Earth-Metal ; for Metal; Earth-Metal-
Water ; for Water: Metal-Water-Wood. This triad is considered
supportive and usually more stable. Soma  (Jing). A Greek word meaning “corpse” or all that is not spirit. In the contex t of Chinese medicine it refers to all of the
physiological processes and material components of the organism. Spirit  (Shen). In the vocab ulary of Chinese medicine, Spirit  or Shen
refers to that which both originates and forms the outward
expression of the life of the organism, observed in the clarity and
luminosity of the eyes and complexion and in the focus, lucidity,
and intensity of intellectual and emotional process. Strange Organs. The brain and uterus are referred to as “strange” in
that they are not linked specically to any Organ  or channel but are
historically identied as important. All channels are said to
penetrate and nourish the brain, but insofar as the brain is regarded
as the “sea of marrow” and the Kidney  oversees the marrow, theKidney  rules the brain. Primarily the channels of the Kidney, Liver,
and Spleen  regulate and nourish the uterus. Tao. The owing course of nature or the ways of nature; a
cosmological and philosophical term that denotes the universe as an
undierentiated whole—as everything and no-thing. Stephen
Mitchell writes in his translation of the Tao Te Ching : “The Tao can’t
be perceived./ Smaller than an electron,/it contains uncountable
galaxies.…” and “The Tao never does anything,/yet through it all
things are done.”
Tonify. Nour ish, supplement, augment, build, support, bolster,
invigorate. To tonify is to add to the supply of body constituents—
Qi, Moisture, Blood— and to promo te the proper function of the
Organ Networks. Herbs that tonify the body assist the Spleen, Lung,
and Kidney  in generating Qi, Moisture, Blood, and Essence. Tuple-Burner. One of the six Yang channels whose function is
subsumed within the


equality. Likewise,	in	a	spiritual	field	of	power,	everyone	and	everything	is
attracted	and	influenced	by	virtue	of	its	own	constitution	or	spiritual	‘weight’,
vibration,	or	attractor	field. Some	entities	or	personal	egos	are	repelled	by	a	positive	field. Many
people	are	sincerely	‘turned	off’	by	anything	loving,	spiritual,	or	benevolent.Lots	of	people	really	hate	both	silence	and	peace;	it	drives	them	crazy. Are
not	solitary	confinement	and	silence	the	ultimate	punishment? It	seems	that	at	consciousness	level	200,	a	polarity	shift	occurs. It	is	as
though	from	200	up,	the	entity	is	positively	charged,	and	below	200,
negatively	charged. It	is	obvious	in	society	that	those	who	tend	toward
criminality	are	attracted	to	criminality	and	to	others	of	the	same	ilk,	whereas
those	who	choose	peace	and	love	are	attracted	to	others	with	the	same
propensities. Principles	that	are	obvious	and	attractive	above	the	level	of	200	can
become	repulsive	absurdities	and	are	often	ridiculed	below	the	level	of	200. Societies	whose	power	derives	from	keeping	the	consciousness	level	of	the
people	extremely	low,	such	as	the	recent	society	in	Cambodia,	even	take
official	political	positions	against	love	or	its	expressions. In	contrast,	peace	and	love	would	be	seen	as	the	greatest	of	opportunities
for	a	person	who	is	spiritually	motivated. Although	it	may	seem	absurdly
simple	and	obvious,	unfortunately,	to	most	of	mankind,	it	is	an	unfamiliar	fact
that	God	is	at	the	top	of	the	Scale	of	Consciousness	and	not	at	the	bottom. It	is
also	obvious	to	the	spiritually	advanced,	but	not	to	the	masses,	that	creation
and	power	radiate	from	the	top	down	and	not	vice	versa. The	power	of
creation	belongs	to	God	alone. The	physical	world	does	not	possess	the	power
of	creation	or	causality;	thus,	it	is	impossible	for	creation	to	proceed	from
form	and	materiality	into	life	and	eventually	nonform. People	are	not	‘co-
creators’	with	God. God	doesn’t	need	help. What	would	a	human	being	be
capable	of	co-creating,	anyway? God	is	beyond	all	form. Ordinary	people	think	in	terms	of	form. Why	would	that	which	is
omnipotent,	omnipresent,	and	formless	be	interested	in	worldly	games? There
is	nothing	that	‘needs’	to	be	created. The	effects	of	the	presence	of	God	emanate	from	the	Divine	Essence	itself
and	are	not	selective	acts	by	God. In	Reality,	there	are	neither	happenings	nor
events,	and,	therefore,	there	is	no	need	for	correction	or	intervention. Between	God	and	man	there	is	a	hierarchy	of	spiritual	energy	levels	and
fields	of	graduated	power. These	are	intuited	and	referred	to	as	the	Holy
Spirit,	the	Higher	Self,	the	Grace	of	God,	angels,	archangels,	and	heavens. Consciousness	levels	beyond	1,000	and	up	through	the	spiritual	hierarchy
represent	power	beyond	the	capacity	of	human	imagination. The	touch	of	an	archangel	is	so	powerful	and	devastating	that	the	ego	is	as
if	paralyzed	or	stunned	and	goes	silent. The	power	is	absolute	and	total. (An
archangel’s	power	calibrates	from	50,000	and	above.) If	life	continues	in	the
form	of	a	physical	body,	it	may	take	years	to	be	able	to	function	again	in
worldly	terms.Each	existence	is	then	the	consequence	of	the	Presence	and	is	given	the
capacity	to	fulfill	its	destiny. The	strength	to	sustain	and	survive	the
enlightenment	experience	itself	is	provided	by	the	Holy	Spirit	as	a	powerful
energy	that	sustains	the	remainder	of	destined	life. It	is	by	means	of	the	Holy
Spirit	that	there	is	a	return	to	function	of	the	faculties	necessary,	but	they	have
been	transformed	forever. Even	the	‘experience’	itself	cannot	be	spoken	of	for
many	years. There	is	no	one	to	tell	and	nothing	to	report. There	is	no	speaker
and	no	one	to	decide	to	speak. Life	is	directed	and	propelled	by	the	Presence. The	illusion	of	an	independent,	personal	will	or	decision	maker	is	gone
forever. Perhaps	subsequent	actions	are	the	momentum	of	a	prior	covenant	or
commitment. Everything	happens	of	its	own. Ongoing	life	is	self-actualizing
and	fulfilling. There	is	no	personal	self	to	do	anything;	there	is	no	thinker	to
think,	no	actor	to	act,	no	doer	to	do,	no	decider	to	decide. All	verbs,
adjectives,	and	pronouns	become	meaningless. The	Reality	of	God
God	does	not	direct	floods,	conflagrations,	earthquakes,	volcanoes,
storms,	lightning,	or	rainfalls. These	are	impersonal	effects	of	conditions
within	the	physical	world	and	its	universe. God	does	not	get	mad	and	‘trash
out’	cities,	civilizations,	towns,	or	ethnic	groups. All	these	things	occurred	on
the	planet	before	there	were	any	living	societies. God	does	not	get	involved	in
human	conflicts,	political	and	religious	struggles,	or	strife. God	has	no
interest	in	war’s	battlefields. He	has	no	enemies	that	need	to	be	slain. There
are	no	‘Holy	Wars’—the	term	itself	is	self-negating	and	absurd. Infidels,	believers,	or	the	like	are	all	positionalities	of	the	human	ego. Even	sensible	humans	are	beyond	such	smallness	of	mind	and	its
judgmentalism. God	does	not	‘care’	whether	one	believes	in	‘Him’	or	not;
however,	the	consequences	will	be	quite	different. Love	gravitates	towards	heaven,	and	hate	sinks	into	the	other	direction. Goodness	rejects	no	one. Like	goes	to	like;	love	is	attracted	to	love. God	takes
no	actions	against	anything	or	anyone. Some	souls	are	attracted	by	light	and
others	by	darkness. The	selection	is	from	within	the	ego	and	not	imposed
from	without. God	Is	Beyond	Form
It	is	important	to	recognize	that	that	which	is	beyond	form	is	not	reached
through	form	or	by	the	manipulation	of	form. Therefore,	involvement	in
esoteric	or	occult	practices	is	a	snare	and	a	delay. These	practices	are	byways
that	lead	to	astral	planes,	enthusiasts,	and	proselytizers,	all	of	which	areendless	in	number. There	is	no	power	in	geometric	figures,	mandalas,	icons,
paintings,	statues,	or	recitations. Any	value	that	ensues	is	by	the	intention,
dedication,	commitment,	and	faith	of	the	believer. The	world	is	full	of	well-
intentioned	but	naïve	reciters	of	mantras;	lightworkers;	worshippers	of	sacred
objects,	amulets,	charts,	holy	places,	Druid	remains,	mystical	charms;	and
sites	for	pilgrimage,	such	as	Machu	Picchu,	Stonehenge,	the	pyramids,	the
Ganges,	ancient	temples,	energy	vortices,	and	all	the	rest. This	could	be	called
‘making	the	circuit’,	but	eventually,	one	has	to	go	within. “Heaven	is	within
you,”	said	the	Lord	Jesus	Christ. God	is	self-revealing	and	beyond	all	form,	yet	present	and	innate	within
all	form.


directions. But mak e the map personal. See your sour ce as
a point while your whole world is an e xpanding cir cle. The
more you see, understand, and e xperience, the bigger the
circle gets. Y et it is always e xpanding fr om the sour ce. What
this means is that the sour ce is never far away. It’s a
constant. When you can e xperience yourself as your sour ce and
your world at the same time, you have become whole. Thereason that your sour ce seems far away is that you have
identiﬁed with all the separate things in your world,
neglecting the cr eative origin that mak es everything
possible. (This is lik e forgetting your mother as you gr ow up. No amount of for getting will erase the fact that you had a
mother who was your sour ce. ) It isn’t possible to lose the
connection to your sour ce entir ely, because consciousness
is what the sour ce is made of. Being awar e that you ar e
alive means that you ar e connected to consciousness. This
makes the connection sound passive, however, and it isn’t. Through this connection pours every thought you’ve ever
had. Ther e’s also a silent side to consciousness that works
to keep you alive physically. Your heart is awar e of what
your liver is doing, not in wor ds but thr ough messages
encoded in chemicals and electrical signals. Y our body
requir es an inﬁnite range of r esponses to be coor dinated
among hundr eds of billions of cells. This is an aspect of
consciousness that never gains a voice, but its intelligence
far surpasses that of any genius. Ordinary people wor ry that God may be so far away that
he has for gotten us, while r eligious enthusiasts fervently
believe that God is close at hand every moment. Both views
have a ﬂaw. “Near ” and “ far” are actually false ter ms. They
derive fr om duality, since near is the opposite of far. But
imagine the color blue. Befor e you saw it in your mind, was
the color blue close to you or far away. Say the wor d
“elephant” to yourself. Befor e you br ought it to mind, was
your vocabulary far fr om you or nearby. W e use
consciousness for individual r easons, in the service of “I,
me, and mine,” but you can locate yourself in time and
space without being able to locate your consciousness. There is no distance between you and a memory, you and
your ne xt thought. F rom the perspective of wholeness, since
everything is being coor dinated at once, distance isn’t
relevant. Which leads to an e xciting conclusion: your potential for
change isn’t far away, either. Potential is the same as
unseen possibilities. Either you see that something is
possible or you don’t. So the impossible is just another
name for the unseen. Thus the shadow, which mak es you
see a limited, fearful world full of thr eat and dark
possibilities, is masking many unseen possibilities that could
spring into your awar eness if you e xpanded beyond the
shadow. Without e xpansion you ar e forced to have nar row
vision. Think of having a bad toothache. The pain occupies
your whole attention; you can’t think of anything else. If the
human race wer e in constant physical pain, consciousness
would never have e xpanded. F ear is anticipated pain, and it
has the same eﬀect of nar rowing your awar eness. Wholeness, it tur ns out, is the same as ﬁnding your sour ce. There is no division at the sour ce. You don’t have to conquer
every aspect of yourself that is tinged with darkness (which
would be impossible in any case). Become who you r eally
are, and fr om that moment on darkness is no longer
anything you can identif y with. You ar e living near the sour ce of consciousness when the
following ar e true:
You ar e at peace. You cannot be shak en from your center. You have self -knowledge. You empathize without judgment. You see yourself as part of the whole. You ar e not in the world.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the key to undoing the shadow?,
A: To undo the shadow, you must see what you're doing, contact the feeling that is hidden beneath the surface, and make peace with that feeling.
Q: What is the main reason the shadow exists?,
A: The main reason the shadow exists is because we have been accumulating "emotional debt to the past" and are not willing to confront and heal our negative emotions.
Q: What is the key to repressing the shadow?,
A: The key to repressing the shadow is to deny, suppress, or judge your negative emotions, which only reinforces the unwanted feeling and makes it even more unwanted.
Q: What is the purpose of the shadow?,
A: The purpose of the shadow is to teach us that we are not separate from the world, and that our negative emotions are a part of our shared psyche.
Q: What is the ultimate goal of the spiritual path?,
A: The ultimate goal of the spiritual path is to transcend the ego and become one with the universe, allowing for wholeness and oneness with the divine.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>If you pull back fr om the spectacle, however, the whole
drama could have been avoided. An idealized self -image
isn’t a viable solution. Only true self -acceptance is, and
when that happens, ther e is nothing for others to r eject. This doesn’t mean you will be universally loved. Someone
else might still walk away, but if that happens, you won’t
feel r ejected. It won’t r esult in an emotional wound. How do
you know if you ar e falling for a false sense of self, which is
what an idealized self -image is? Y ou will hold such attitudes
as the following:
“I’m not lik e those people. I’m better.”
“I’ve never strayed.”
“God is pr oud of me.”
“Criminals and wr ongdoers ar en’t even human.”
“Everyone sees how good I am. Even so, I need to
remind them.”
“If I don’t have bad thoughts, why do other people?”“I alr eady know who I am and what I need to do. I’m not
conﬂicted.”
“I’m a r ole model.”
“Virtue isn’t its own r ewar d. I want my good deeds to be
validated.”
Dismantling your ideal image of yourself is a challenge,
because this is a much subtler defense than simple denial. Denial is blindness; the idealized self -image is pur e
seduction. The way out is to go past all images. Ther e is no
need to defend who you r eally ar e. Your true self is
acceptable not because you ar e so good, but because you
are complete. All things human belong to you. The most important ally you have is awar eness. Judgment
is constrictive. When you label yourself or anyone else as
bad, wr ong, inferior, unworthy, and so on, you ar e looking
through a nar row lens. Expand your vision and you will be
awar e that everyone, however ﬂawed, is complete and
whole at the deepest level. The mor e awar e you ar e, the
more you will accept yourself. This isn’t an instant solution. You must spend time looking at all the feelings you’ve so
diligently denied, suppr essed, and disguised. F ortunately,
those feelings ar e temporary; you can go beyond them. There’s nothing to r eject, just a lot to work thr ough. This is
how a ﬁgur e like Jesus or Buddha could have compassion for
anyone. By seeing the wholeness behind the play of light
and dark, they found nothing to blame. The same holds true
along the spiritual path you follow. As you see yourself mor e
completely, you will have compassion for your faults, and
that will lead to complete self -acceptance. The One V ersus the Many
The solution: Sur render to being.Finally, we ar rive at the war in your soul. A t this level, the
conﬂict is very subtle, which sounds odd, because we tend
to think that the cosmic battle between God and Satan must
be titanic. In fact, it’s very delicate. As you get closer to
your true self, you begin to sense that you ar e part of
everything. Boundaries sof ten and disappear. Ther e’s a
blissful feeling of mer ging. As beautiful as this e xperience is,
one last r esistance cr ops up. The ego says, “What about
me? I don’t want to die,” lik e the W icked W itch in The
Wizard of Oz,  whose last wor ds wer e “I’m melting, I’m
melting!” The ego has been incr edibly useful. It has guided
you thr ough a world of inﬁnite diversity. Now you ar e about
to experience unity. No wonder the ego feels fatally
threatened; it sees it usefulness (and its domination) come
to an end.


	into	a	thick,	mucus-
like	substance. Its	high	concentration	makes	bile	the	powerful	digestive	aid	that	it	is. Figure	5
:	Location	of	the	gallbladder

The	muscular	walls	of	the	gallbladder	contract	and	eject	bile	when	acidic	foods	and
most	protein	foods	enter	the	duodenum	from	the	stomach. A	more	marked	gallbladder
activity	is	noted	if	food	entering	the	duodenum	contains	a	high	proportion	of	fat. The	body
uses	the	bile	salts	contained	in	bile	to	emulsify	the	fat	and	facilitate	its	digestion. Once	the
bile	salts	have	done	their	job	and	left	the	emulsified	fat	for	intestinal	absorption,	they
travel	on	down	the	intestine. Most	of	them	are	reabsorbed	in	the	final	section	of	the	small
intestine	(ileum)	and	carried	back	to	the	liver. Once	in	the	liver,	the	bile	salts	are	collected
again	in	the	bile	and	secreted	into	the	duodenum. Intestinal	congestion	sharply	reduces	the
amount	of	bile	salts	needed	for	proper	bile	production	and	fat	digestion. Diminished	bile
salt	concentration	in	the	bile	causes	gallstones,	and	leaves	large	amounts	of	fats
undigested;	this	is	hazardous	to	the	intestinal	environment. Gallstones	in	the	gallbladder	may	be	made	primarily	of	cholesterol,	calcium,	or
pigments	such	as	bilirubin. Cholesterol	is	the	most	common	component,	but	many	of	the
stones	are	of	mixed	composition. Besides	the	above	ingredients,	gallstones	may	also
contain	bile	salts,	water,	and	mucus,	as	well	as	toxins,	bacteria,	and,	sometimes,	dead
parasites. Typically,	stones	in	the	gallbladder	keep	growing	in	size	for	about	eight	years	before
noticeable	symptoms	begin	to	appear. Larger	stones	are	generally	calcified	and	can	be
detected	easily	through	radiological	means	or	by	using
ultrasound
. Some	85	percent	of	the
gallstones	found	in	the	gallbladder	measure	about	¾	inches	across	(see
Figure	6a
),
although	some	can	become	as	large	as	2	to	3	inches	across	(see
Figures	6b
	and	6c	of	a
calcified	gallstone;	I	personally	examined	and	photographed	this	stone	moments	after	my
wife	released	it	without	any	pain	during	her	ninth	liver	cleanse;	the	stone	emitted	an
extremely	noxious	odor	unlike	any	I	had	ever	come	across). Such	stones	form	when,	for
reasons	explained	in	Chapter	3,	bile	in	the	gallbladder	becomes	too	saturated	and	its
unabsorbed	constituents	begin	to	harden. Figure	6a
:	Gallstones	in	a	dissected	gallbladder

Figure	6b

(left):	A	large	calcified	gallstone,	passed	painlessly	and

Figure	6c

(right):	The
same	stone,	cut	in	halves

If	a	gallstone	slips	out	of	the	gallbladder	and	becomes	impacted	in	the
cystic	bile	duct
	or
common	bile	duct
,	there	is	very	strong	spasmodic	contraction	of	the	wall	of	the	duct	(see
Figure	3
). The	contraction	helps	to	move	the	stone	onward. This	causes	severe	pain,
known	as
biliary	colic,
	and	is	accompanied	by	considerable	distension	of	the	gallbladder. If	the	gallbladder	is	packed	with	gallstones,	it	can	suffer	extremely	painful	spasmodicmuscle	contractions. Gallstones	can	cause	irritation	and	inflammation	of	the	lining	of	the	gallbladder,	as	well
as	of	the	cystic	and	common	bile	ducts. This	is	a	condition	known	as
cholecystitis. There
may	also	be	superimposed	microbial	infection. It	is	quite	common	to	encounter	ulceration
of	the	tissues	between	the	gallbladder	and	the	duodenum	or	colon,	with
fistula	formation
and
fibrous	adhesions. Gallbladder	disease	generally	originates	in	the	liver. When	the	occurrence	of	gallstones
in	the	bile	ducts	of	the	liver	and,	eventually,	the	development	of	fibrous	tissue	distort	the
structure	of	liver	lobules,	venous	blood	pressure	starts	to	rise	in	the	portal	vein. This,	in
turn,	increases	the	blood	pressure	in	the	cystic	vein,	which	drains	venous	blood	from	the
gallbladder	into	the	portal	vein. The	incomplete	elimination	of	waste	products	through	the
cystic	duct	causes	a	backup	of	acidic	waste	in	the	tissues	composing	the	gallbladder. This
gradually	reduces	the	stamina	and	performance	of	the	gallbladder. Subsequently,	the
formation	of	mineralized	gallstones	is	just	a	matter	of	time. Intestinal	Diseases

The	small	intestine	is	continuous	with	the	stomach	at	the
pyloric	sphincter
	and	has	a
length	of	16-19	feet. It	leads	into	the	large	intestine,	which	is	about	3.5-5	feet	long. The
small	intestine	secretes	intestinal	juice	to	complete	the	digestion	of	carbohydrates,
proteins,	and	fats. It	also	absorbs	nutrient	materials	necessary	for	nourishing	and
maintaining	the	body	and	protects	it	against	infection	by	microbes	that	have	survived	the
antimicrobial	action	of	hydrochloric	acid	in	the	stomach. When	acid	food	(
chyme
)	from	the	stomach	enters	the	duodenum,	it	combines	first	with
bile	and	pancreatic	juice,	and	then	with	intestinal	juice. Gallstones	in	the	liver	and
gallbladder	drastically	reduce	the	secretion	of	bile,	which	weakens	the	ability	of
pancreatic	enzymes
	to	digest	carbohydrates,	proteins,	and	fats. This,	in	turn,	prevents	the
small	intestine	from	properly	absorbing	the	nutrient	components	of	these	foods	(such	as
monosaccharides
	from	carbohydrates,
amino	acids
	from	protein,	and
fatty	acids
	and
glycerol
	from	fats). This	incomplete	absorption	can	lead	to	malnourishment	and	food
cravings. Since	the	presence	of	bile	in	the	intestines	is	essential	for	the	absorption	of	life-essential
fats,	calcium,	and	vitamin	K,	gallstones	can	lead	to	life-threatening	diseases,	such	as
heart
disease,	osteoporosis,
	and
cancer. The	liver	uses	the	fat-soluble	vitamin	K	to	produce	the
compounds	responsible	for	the	clotting	of	blood. In	case	of	poor	vitamin	K	absorption,
hemorrhagic	disease
	may	result. The	body	cannot	fully	absorb	this	vitamin	when	a
problem	with	the	digestion	of	fat	exists. The	main	cause	of	inadequate	vitamin	K
absorption	is	an	insufficient	supply	of	bile,	pancreatic	lipase,	and	pancreatic	fat. It	stands
to	reason	that	following	a	lowfat	or	no-fat	diet	can	actually	endanger	your	life. Calcium	is	essential	for	the	hardening	of	bone	and	teeth,	the	coagulation	of	blood,	and
the	mechanism	of	muscle	contraction. Poor	bile	secretion	can,	therefore,	undermine	the
uptake	of	calcium,	a	mineral	the	body	requires	for	some	of	its	most	vital	activities. What	applies	to	vitamin	K	also	applies	to	all	other	fat-soluble	vitamins,	including
vitamins	A,	E,	and	D.	The	small	intestine	can	only	absorb	vitamin	A	and	carotene
sufficient


 a futur e just
like the past.’ By letting the past go, we mak e room for
miracles. An attack on a br other is a r eminder of his guilty past. In
choosing to aﬃr m a br other’s guilt, we ar e choosing to
experience mor e of it. The futur e is pr ogrammed in the
present. T o let the past go is to remember that in the
present, my br other is innocent. It is an act of gracious
gener osity to accept a person based on what we know to be
the truth about them, r egardless of whether or not they ar e
in touch with that truth themselves. Only love is r eal. Nothing else actually e xists. If a person
behaves unlovingly, then, that means that, r egardless of
their negativity—anger or whatever—their behavior was
derived fr om fear and doesn’t actually e xist. They’r e
hallucinating. Y ou for give them, then, because ther e’s
nothing to for give. F orgiveness is a discer nment between
what is r eal and what is not r eal. When people behave unlovingly, they have for gotten
who they ar e. They have fallen asleep to the Christ within
them. The job of the miracle work er is to r emain awak e. We
choose not to fall asleep and dr eam of our br other’s guilt. In
this way we ar e given the power to awak en him. A prime e xample of a miracle work er is P ollyanna. The
ego knows this, which is why she is constantly invalidated in
this cultur e. She walk ed into a situation wher e everyone had
been in a nasty mood for years. She chose not to see the
nastiness. She had faith in what lay beyond it. She e xtended
her per ception beyond what her physical senses r evealed to
her, to what her heart knew to be true about every humanbeing. It didn’t matter how anyone behaved. P ollyanna had
faith in the love she knew e xisted behind anyone’s fear, and
thus she invok ed their love into e xpression. She e xercised
the power of for giveness. W ithin a short time, everyone was
nice and everyone was happy! Whenever someone says to
me, “Marianne, you’r e being a P ollyanna,” I think to myself,
“If only I wer e that powerful.”
3. GIVING UP JUDGMENT
“Judgment is not an attribute of God.”
A Course in Miracles  tells us that whenever we ar e
contemplating attacking someone, it is as though we ar e
holding a swor d above their head. The swor d, however,
doesn’t fall on them but on us. Since all thought is thought
about ourselves, then to condemn another is to condemn
ourselves. How do we escape judgment? Lar gely thr ough a
reinterpr etation of what we’r e judging. A Course in Miracles
describes the diﬀer ence between a sin and an er ror. ‘A sin
would mean we did something so bad that God is angry at
us.’ But since we can’t do anything that changes our
essential natur e, God has nothing to be angry at. Only love
is real. Nothing else e xists. ‘The Son of God cannot sin. W e
can mak e mistak es,’ to be sur e, and we obviously do. But
God’s attitude towar d error is a desir e to heal us. Because
we ourselves ar e angry and punishing, we have concocted
the idea of an angry, punishing God. W e are created in
God’s image, however, and not the other way ar ound. As
extensions of God, we ar e ourselves the spirit of
compassion, and in our right minds, we don’t seek to judge
but to heal. W e do this thr ough for giveness. When someone
has behaved unlovingly—when they yell at us, or lie aboutus, or steal fr om us—they have lost touch with their
essence. They have for gotten who they ar e. But everything
that someone does, says the Course, is either ‘love or a call
for love.’ If someone tr eats us with love, then of course love
is the appr opriate r esponse. If they tr eat us with fear, we
are to see their behavior as a call for love. The American prison system illustrates the philosophical
and practical diﬀer ence between the choice to per ceive sin
or to per ceive er ror. We see criminals as guilty and seek to
punish them. But whatever we do to others, we ar e doing to
ourselves. Statistics painfully pr ove that our prisons ar e
schools for crime; a vast number of crimes ar e committed
by people who have alr eady spent time in prison. In
punishing others, we end up punishing ourselves. Does that
mean we’r e to for give a rapist, tell him we know he just had
a bad day and send him home? Of course not. W e’re to ask
for a miracle. A miracle her e would be a shif t from
perceiving prisons as houses of punishment to per ceiving
them as houses of r ehabilitation. When we consciously
change their purpose fr om fear to love, we r elease inﬁnite
possibilities of healing. Forgiveness is lik e the martial arts of consciousness. In
Aikido and other martial arts, we sidestep our attack er’s
force rather than r esisting it. The ener gy of the attack then
boomerangs back in the dir ection of the attack er. Our power
lies in r emaining nonr eactive. F orgiveness works in the
same way. When we attack back, and defense is a for m of
attack, we initiate a war that no one can win. Since
lovelessness is not r eal, we’r e not at the eﬀect of it in
ourselves or others. The pr oblem, of course, is that we think
we ar e. In seeking a miracle, we don’t tak e part in life’s
battles, but rather we ar e asking to be lif ted above them. The Holy Spirit r eminds us that the battle is not r eal.“Vengeance is mine, sayeth the L ord,” means,
“Relinquish the idea of vengeance.” God balances all wr ong,
but not thr ough attack, judgment or punishment. Contrary
to how it feels when we’r e lost in the emotions that tempt
us to judge, ther e’s no such thing as righteous anger. When
I was a little girl, I would ﬁght with my br other or sister, and
when my mother came home she would be annoyed at us
for ar guing. One of us would always say, “They did it ﬁrst.”
It actually doesn’t matter who “did it ﬁrst.” Whether you’r e
attacking ﬁrst or attacking back, you’r e an instrument of
attack and not of love. Several years ago I was at a cocktail party wher e I got
into a very heated debate about American for eign policy. Later that night, I had a kind of waking dr eam.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Asa student and teacher of A Course in Miracles, I have
learned much about the r esistance that many people have
to Christian ter ms. As a Jew, I thought it was only other Jews
who would have a pr oblem with the wor d Jesus. But I was
wrong. It’s not just Jews who get nervous at the mention of
his name. Say the wor d Jesus to a gr oup of moderate
Christians, and ther e is lik ely to be as much r esistance to
the topic as ther e is in anyone else. I understand why. As it says in the Course, “some bitter
idols have been made of him who would be only br other to
the world. ” So many Christian ter ms have been used to
create and perpetuate guilt, that many thinking people have
decided to r eject them entir ely. In many cases, in fact, the
problem is worse for Christians than it is for Jews. Jewish
childr en ar e usually taught nothing at all about Christian
terms. F or many Christian childr en, on the other hand, these
words wer e char ged with guilt, punishment, and fear of hell. Words ar e just wor ds, and new ones can always be found
to replace ones that oﬀend. In the case of Jesus, however,
the pr oblem isn’t as simple as just coming up with another
word. Jesus is his name. Ther e’s no point in pretending that
his name is Herbert. By automatically r ejecting Jesus, based
on what some traditional Christians have done with and in
his name, many people have thr own out the baby with the
bath water. In relation to A Course in Miracles  and other
esoteric pr esentations of Christic


 present. Isn’ t it helpful to understand the past and so understand why we do
certain things, r eact in certain w ays, or why we unconsciously cr eate our
particular kind of drama, patterns in r elationships, and so on? As you  become more conscious of your present reality, you may
suddenly get certain insights as  to why  your conditioning functions in
those particular ways — for e xample, why your relationships follow
certain patterns — and you may remember things that happen ed in the
past or see them more clearly. That is fine and can be helpful, but it is not
essential. What is essential is your conscious presence. That  dissolves the
past. Th at is the transformative agent. So don’ t seek to understand the
past, but be as present as you can. The past cannot survive in your
presence. It can only survive in your absence.CHAPTER FIVE
T H E  S T A T E  O F  P R E S E N C E
IT’S NOT WHA T YOU THINK IT IS
Y ou kee p talkin g about the state of pr esence as the key. I think I
understand it intellectually, b ut I don’ t know if I have ever truly
experienced it. I wonder — is it what I think it is, or is it something
entir ely differ ent? It’ s not what you think it is! Y ou can’ t think about presence,  and the
mind can’ t understand it. Understanding presence is being  present. T ry a little experiment. Close your eyes and say to yourself: “ I wonder
what my next thought is going to be.” Then become very alert and wait
for the next thou ght. Be like a cat watching a mouse hole. Wha t thought
is going to come out of the mouse hole? T ry it now. W ell? I had to wait for quite a long time befor e a thought came in. Exactly. As long as you are in a state of intense presence, you a re free of
thought. Y ou are still, yet hig hly alert. The instant your c onscious
attention sinks below a certain l evel, thought rushes in. The men tal noise
returns; the stillness is lost. Y ou are back in time. T o t est t heir deg ree of presence, some Zen masters have been k nown to
creep up on their students from behind and suddenly hit them with a
stick. Quite a shock! If the student had been fully present and in a state
of al ertness, if he had “kept his loin girded and his lamp burning,” which
is one of the analogies that Jesus uses for presence, he would have
noticed the master coming up from behind and stopped him or stepped
aside. But if he were hit, that w ould mean he was immersed in thought,
which is to say absent, unconscious. T o s tay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply roote d within
yourself; otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag
you along like a wild river. What do you mean by “r ooted within yourself”? It m eans to inh abit your body fully. T o always have some of your
attention in the inner ener gy fie ld of your body. T o feel the body from
within, so to speak. Body awareness keeps you present. It anchors you in
the Now (see chapter 6 ). THE ESOTERIC MEANING OF “W AITING”
In a sense, the state of presenc e could be compared to waitin g. Jesus
used the analogy of waiting in s ome of his parables. This is not the usual
bored or restless kind of waiting that is a denial of the present a nd that I
spoke about already. It is not a w aiting in which your attention i s focused
on some  point in the future and t he present is perceived as an undesirable
obstacle that prevents you fro m having what you want. There is a
qualitatively dif ferent kind of waiting, one that requires your totalalertness. Something could happen at any moment, and if you are not
absolutely awak e, absolutely still, you will miss it. This is the  kind of
waiting Jesus talks about. In tha t state, all your attention is in the Now. There is none left for daydreaming, thinking, remembering, anticipating. There is no tensi on in it, no fear, just alert presence. Y ou are pre sent with
your wh ole Being, with every cell of your body. In that state, the “you”
that has a past a nd a future — the personality, if you like — is hardly
there an ymore. A nd yet nothing of value is lost. Y ou are still essentially
yourself. In fact, you are more fully yourself than you ever were before,
or rather it is only now  that you are truly yourself. “Be like a serva nt waiting for th e return of the master,” says Jesus. The
servant does not know at what hour the master is going to com e. So he
stays aw ake, alert, poised, still, lest he miss the master ’ s arrival. In
another parable,  Jesus speaks of the five careless (unconscious) women
who do not have  enough oil (co nsciousness) to keep their lamps burning
(stay present) and so miss the br idegroom (the Now) and don’ t get to the
wedding feast (enlightenment). These five stand in contrast to  the five
wise women who have enough oil (stay conscious). Even the  men who wrote the Go spels did not understand the me aning of
these parables, so the first misinterpretations and distortions crept in as
they were written down. W ith subsequent erroneous interpretations, the
real meaning was completely lost. These are parables not abou t the end
of th e w orld but about the end of psychological time. They po int to the
transcendence of the egoic mind and the possibility of living in an
entirely new state of consciousness. BEAUTY ARISES IN THE STILLNESS OF YOUR PRESENCE
What you have j ust described is something that I occasionally ex perience
for brief moments when I am alone and surr ounded by natur e.

Y es. Zen  maste rs use the word  satori  to  describe a flash of insight, a
moment of no-mind and total presence. Although satori  is not a lasting
transformation, be grateful whe n it comes, for it gives you a  taste of
enlightenment. Y ou may, indeed, have experienced it many times withoutknowing what it is and realizing its importance. Presence is needed to
become aware of the beauty, the majesty, the sacredness of nature. Have
you eve r gazed up into the infinity of space on a clear night, a westruck
by t he absolute stillness and i nconceivable vastness of it? Have you
listened, truly listened, to the sound of a mountain stream in the forest? Or to the song of a blackbird a t dusk on a quiet summer evening? T o
become aware of such things, th e mind needs to be still. Y ou ha ve to put
down fo r a moment your personal baggage of problems, of past and
future, a s well as all your knowledge; otherwise, you will see but not see,
hear but not hear. Y our total presence is required. Beyond the beauty of the extern al forms, there is more here: so mething
that cannot be named, someth ing inef fable, some deep, inner, holy
essence. Whenever and wherever there is beauty, this inner essence
shines through somehow. It only reveals itself to you when you are
present. Could it be that this nam eless essence and your presence are one
and the same? W ould it be there  without your presence? Go de eply into
it. Find out for yourself. When you experienced those m oments of presence, you likely didn’ t
realize th at you were briefly in a  state of nomind. This is because the gap
between that state and the influx of thought was too narrow. Y our satori
may only have lasted for a few seconds before the mind came in, but it
was ther e; otherwise, you would not have experienced the beauty. Mind
can neither recognize nor create  beauty. Only for a few seconds, while
you were completely present, was that beauty or that sacredness there. Because of the narrowness of that gap and a lack of vigilance and
alertness on your part, you were probably unable to see the fundamental
dif ference between the perception, the thoughtless awareness of beauty,
and the naming  and interpreting of it as thought: The time ga p was so
small th at it seemed to be a sing le process. The truth is, however, that the
moment thought came in, all you had was a memory of it.The wider the time gap between perception and thought, the more depth
there is to you a s a human being, which is to say the more consc ious you
are. Many pe ople ar e so imprisoned in their minds that the beauty of nature
does not really exist for them. They might say, “What a pretty flower,”
but that’


, and appropriate interventions by supervising health
professionals must be given when necessary. Alcohol
The Gerson Therapy has not often been employed for chronic
alcoholism, but we believe that alcoholics could readily be treated with the
narcotic/sedative-hypnotic/amphetamine addiction protocol described
above. Liver function must be watched carefully, and the warnings that
apply regarding hepatic insuf ficiency or weakness would be appropriately
applied to these unhappy people. Nicotine
No special modification to the Gerson protocol is required for
overcoming nicotine addiction. Some smokers may temporarily call for
mechanical props such as some thing to put into the mouth or hold in the
hands. These props may suffice to replace the physical activity  associated
with smoking. Niacin is a good adjunctive nutrient to take as a food
supplement if there are no contraindicating factors to its use. Some patients
report that niacin provides a similar effect to nicotine. (Niacin’ s actual
chemical compo nent is, afterall, nicotinic acid.) In most cases, nicotineaddiction may be eliminated without any withdrawal symptoms appearing
for the smoker engaging in the Gerson Therapy. This treatment for a smoker ’s habituation or other addictions does work,
although some more generalized explanation might be offered  for further
clarification. Further General Information about Drug Addiction
Unquestionably, the first thoug ht that comes to mind when we think
about drug addiction is what happens on the street, especially in the inner
cities. Surely in the last two decades, the use of street or illegal drugs has
reached frightening levels; but there are other, possibly even more serious
drug addictions for which we have a suggested treatment already. To clarify: an extremely common addiction is that to alcohol—a legal
drug. Some 12 million Americans are known to be confirmed alcoholics
and an untold number of undeclared ones exist as well. Another publicly shared and accepted addiction is the use of another
legal drug: coffee drinking. Starbucks Coffee Shops have built themselves
into a multi-bill ion-dollar business, a major franchise operatio n based on
this addiction to coffee. Worldwide, the public has been fooled into
believing that drinking this muddy, dark-colored beverage is diversional,
nutritional, pleas urable, harmless, and socially acceptable, while in reality it
has none of these attributes. Rather, coffee drinking is a temporary brain
excitant which brings on early fatigue; a hypoglycemic producer, it forces
excesses of insulin into the bloodstream; a deteriorator of arteries,
especially those already advanced toward blood vessel hardening from
atherosclerosis, it blocks blood flow; a potential producer of birth defects,
one can only conjecture as to the number of babies who have paid the price
of their mothers’ addiction. As for the mothers, coffee drinking  is believed
by many  in the holistic medical movement to be the possible source of
breast cancer. Numerous drugs are used for stimulants; others are considered to be
recreational. In view of the terrible damage they do, the recreational  term is
unquestionably criminally misleading. Drugs are also used extensively in medical practice for pain relief. And
here we encount er a delicate line of demarcation between use and becomingaddicted to opioids (morphine  is common). The prescribed opioids are
taken for two reasons: paink illing and as an offshoot, psychological
addiction. At this point, therefore, we need some definitions when speaking
of prescribed drugs. Tolerance  indicates that increasingly heavier dosages have to be used
since the body systems do become accustomed to the drug. And tolerance  is
a contrasting term to physical dependence,  which indicates that withdrawal
symptoms occur if the drug substance is suddenly withdrawn. But addiction
is considered present when, in addition to tolerance and dependence,
psychological dependence  is also present, or the product is compulsively
used for nonmedical purposes.1
We belie ve that a number of addictions, including alcohol and cigarettes,
stem from a basic deficiency. The habituated person is awar e that he is
craving something, often actual ly nutrients, and is not really functioning at
his best level. When he consumes alcohol, cigarettes, or coffee, he feels
either calmer or stimulated to increased physical or mental achievement. When such a person then experiments with heavier drugs, street drugs,
amphetamines, marijuana, and many more, he is easily “hooked” and
cannot stop. One of the main  reasons for this situation of becoming hooked is that the
underlying deficiency has not been solved and the nutrient intake of live
enzymes, vitamins, and minerals remains inadequate. Worse, an alcoholic
may stop eating in favor of drinking and become severely deficient in
nutrients. A person addicted to cigarettes will smoke instead of eating a
nutritious meal, especially when under stress. The Gerson Therapy and Drug Addiction
In addition to the protocol we furnished earlier for specific forms of drug
addiction, we have some other thoughts about Dr. Max Gerson’ s
procedures. The Gerson Therapy has produced some remarkable results in
overcoming addictions, even to cocaine and heroin. When an addicted
patient is given thirteen glasses of freshly pressed vegetable and fruit juices
to drink, his basic craving is satisfied with optimum nutrition, and to his
own surprise, he no longer craves the drug.Yes, withdrawal may occur. When the withdrawal symptoms set in, at a
time when the body tissues begin to release the accumulated drugs from the
cells into the bloodstream, a coffee enema clears the toxicity. The nights
remain the only problem for the first few days. At night, no juices are
served and the patient coming off his or her drug addiction sleeps so that no
detoxifying enemas are taking place. During those first nights of coming off their addictions, the patients tend
to suffer from heavy nightmares  and wake up around 1:00 or 2:00 A.M. They
should then swallow some fruit or juice and get up to take an enema. This
relieves the toxicity and possibl e craving so that the patient can go back to
sleep. The nighttime problem also clears after less than a week. We have
seen excellent results in overc oming addictions, even the heaviest ones
involving not one but multiple drugs. One young man (see the story of Rob in chapter 7) had been into various
heavy drugs and on a particular day he was showing the symptoms. In his
middle thirties, he was lying on the floor, too weak to get up, having lost
some 45 pounds and feeling ready to die. His mother saved him by
providing the foods and juices as well as the enemas of the Gers on Therapy. In a few months, the son gained back 35 pounds and felt like his former
self. He had suffered virtually no withdrawal problems even at the start of
the treatment, and returned to normal life and activity. We see that the Gerson Therap y can also achieve prompt and dramatic
results in smokers and alcohol ics. (See Beata Bishop’ s book A Time to
Heal. )2 One of the Gerson Therapy patients, another young man who is now
thirty-four years old and addicted to cocaine (supposedly the most difficult
drug addiction to overcome), came to a Gerson hospital for treatment. He
reported that all of his close friends had died from cocaine use. This fellow admitted that he was having lung troubles as a result of street
drug use and would surely die within two months if the Gers on Therapy
was unable to help him. He was also a heavy smoker. After becoming a
Gerson patient, the man went through nightmares similar to those we had
observed in others. These were  relieved with a nighttime coffee enema;
thus, he was of f the need for drugs, and smoking cigarettes, within a week. Studies have been completed suggesting that many people are addicted to
simple foods to which they are actually allergic. In his book Diet, Crime
and Delinquency, Alexander Schauss, Ph.D., points out that violent young
criminals between ages eighteen and twenty-one are often addicted to sugarand/or heavy milk consumption to which they are actually allergic. Dr.
Schauss reporte d that when the offending substances were withdrawn and
vitamins and minerals along with an appropriate diet were substituted, these
violent criminals became calm and reasonable.3
Of course the Gerson Therapy is intentionally devoid of foods  that tend
to cause allergies in some people. The organic vegetarian diet, free of
pesticides and chemical additives, achieves the purpose of overcoming
allergies and aller gic reactions. ATHEROSCLEROSIS
Atherosclerosis (arteriosclerosis ), or hardening of the arteries, usually
responds excee dingly well to the Gerson protocol. This condition is
eliminated by the antiblocking nutrition present in pure, whole  vegetarian
foods and the detoxification procedures originating in the standard Gerson
protocol. CHRONIC  FATIGUE  SYNDROME
People suffering from the series of symptoms identified as chronic
fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) or chronic fatigue
syndrome (CFS)  get along just fine on the Gerson program, but they should
see significant improvement after a short time, with recovery  after about
nine months. These Gerson treatment participants are allowed to have the
full thirteen glasses of juice daily if desired. CFS patients commonly feel worse after taking enemas in the early
stages of treatment because of toxicity escaping from their body cells. Two


 over our
resistance to choosing love. The ego comes up with very complicated
reasons why love is rarely the right answer, using the power of our own
minds to obscure the obvious. The ego makes strength appear as weakness
and weakness appear as strength. The ego’s thought system is like a consciousness hack, and the mystic
Jesus unhacks it. He transfo rms the world by transforming us. He
transforms our attitudes, our nervous systems, and our relationship to
others. It is not hyperbole to say that he gives us new life. From the immaculate conceptio n to the annunciation, from his birth to
his family’ s flight into Egypt, from his teaching in the temple to his
baptism, from his temptation to his transfiguration, from Gethsemane to the
crucifixion, from his resurrecti on to his ascension, the life of Jesus has
meaning on both outer and inner planes. Yes, those are stories, but they are
also states of awareness. All stages of his life have mystical equivalents. The birth of every child is the birth of God’ s love, or the birth of love into
the world. The thinking of the world then inevitably violate s all of us,
leading to pain and despair; that is the meaning of the crucifixion. When we
choose to respon d with forgiveness, love prevails; that is the meaning of the
resurrection. The lesson of the resurrection is that love corrects all things. That’ s not just the story of our lives; in some ways it’s the story of
almost every situation. Everyone’ s life is different, with unique
circumstances and experiences. Yet on another level there is only one story. Every single moment, we’re living out the same one. The dynamic of the life of Jesus—his birth, his crucifixion, and his
resurrection—is a template for a deeper understanding of the human
experience. As we recognize the workings of those dynam ics, we’re
empowered to claim the miracle of resurrection in our own lives. In him it
is already done. The power of the ego has been overcome in one; therefore
his overcoming is available to all. The point is not to share the crucifixion
of Jesus, but to share in his resurrection. Understanding the mystical journey makes it easier, quicker, more
miraculous. OceanofPDF.comMary’s Love
Just as the figures in a dream are various aspects of who we are, so are the
figures in scripture. The mysti cal Mary represents the human heart, the
receptive feminine aspect of the psyche. Humanity is pregnant with a new phase of its history, and for most of us
it’s a difficult pregnancy. Every life is a microcosm of the evolutionary
changes occurring in the world. We’re experiencing rebirth as individuals as
well as the rebirth of human civilization. We’re either headed  for a death
spiral, or else we are preparing for something new. That something new will
not emer ge just from science or politics; it will emer ge from within us. The esoteric dimensions of Mary’s story hold deep meaning for the
modern seeker. She was a maiden blessed by God, awakened in the middle
of the night by the angel Gabriel and told to go up onto the roof. There, she
was told by the angel she would give birth to the Son of God. Mary’ s was said to be a virgin birth, of course, yet what we read as the
word “virgin” today meant simply “maiden” in the original Greek. The idea
that Mary was impregnated by God rather than by man has mystical
significance whether she was physically a virgin or not. There is something
that happ ens in our hearts when we feel a stirring, a sense we can’t quite put
our finger on, that something new is about to happen. It does not come from
anything or anyone outside us. It’ s unfolding from deep within. Mary is the feminine yin to God’ s masculine yang. God impregn ates the
human heart. What is born from  that divine conception is the Christ, a new
sense of self that we carry into the world. This newborn self is fathered by
God and mothered by our humanness, the truth of who we are, both human
and divine. It’s not just Mary who was awakened from her sleep; all huma nity has
been in a state of spiritual slumber. “Yet the Bible says that a deep sleep fellupon Adam, and nowhere is there reference to his waking up”* (T-18). Who
among us isn’ t feeling the call to awaken? Our personal awakening is a gradual process, not necessarily a eureka
moment heralding a dramatic change. There might not have been a
particular moment or event, or anything that even seemed very significant
at the time. It might have been a prayer or meditation or mindfulness
practice. It might have been a relationship or a book or a teacher or a
spiritual journey. It could have been any form of life-changing experience,
good or bad, that cracked open the heart and led to greater wisdom. It might
have been an almost eerie experience of simply knowing something, though
we couldn’t explain why. No matter what form our initial awakening took,
we reme mber it as something that formed a crack in our resistance and
signaled the arrival of somethin g new. It was that something that awakened
us from our sleep and led us to the “roof” of our higher mind. Mary was to tell no one, and neither are we. The birth of new life is a
mysterious process, whether it’s the birth of a child or the birth  of a better
self. The period of gestation requires nourishment and care. We have an
instinctive understanding that certain ideas should stay within us, protected
from outside exposure until they’re ready to be brought forth. The spiritual
life is difficult to cultivate amid the clanging clamor of the modern world. Not just within Mary, but also within us, the newborn Christ needs
protection. It isn’t safe in this society to talk about our spiritual lives in just
any old setting. Conscious frien dships, therapists, and spiritual or religious
counselors offer protected spaces. Outside those, it can be emotionally
treacherous to share our deepest feelings about the inner life. And what is being born from deep within us is the power that will save
the world. Mary represents a facet of consciousness often referr ed to as the
“divine feminine,” a long-suppressed dimension of both self and society
that is desperate ly needed now. “This is what is meant by ‘the meek shall
inherit the earth.’  They will literally take it over because of their strength”*
(T-20). Mary’ s powers of kindness, gentleness, tenderness, nurturing,
bravery, understanding, and mystery—and most of all, her endurance amid
the deepest grief—are all aspects of self that will help us build a more
sustainable world. Like Mary, we too feel the stirring of new life within us. Like her, we
keep these things within us and we ponder them in our hearts. The whisperof angels is a deeply personal thing. Sometimes it’s insight, the intuitional
hits we get in the middle of the night. Some mysterious force is
encouraging us to be better, to do better, than we have ever been or done
before. We have a feeling that changes are coming and that we have some
work to do. The future of the world depends on our doing it. It will take more than
physical acts of procreation to perpetuate the life of humanity now; it will
take an evolution of human consciousness, a collective wisdo m that does
not yet exist on a massive scale. And just as physical life gestates within the
body, wisdom gestates within the mind. We must be and do differently now
in order for the species to survive. The ego, of course, will have none of that. Herod—the ego writ large—
is always on the lookout. The ego jealously guards its power lest love take
primacy over its worldly interests. It seeks to invalidate and destroy all
expressions of love. Herod wasn ’t having any of it with that powerful baby
who was born to be King of the Jews. He would rather kill all the babies
than allow that one to live. Mary was obviously very vulnerable then, as all
of us feel when new life—whether physical or spiritual—grows within us. Where does our protection lie? It lies in Joseph, the “divine masculine,” the aspect of the psyche that
manages the material world. It makes sure we’re safe as we go through our
transformational process. Joseph received all the instruction he needed. He
was directed to take Mary to Egypt to protect her, just as we learn
appropriate self-care and the gifts of solitude. The land of Egypt means the
sacred self; we retreat to that place within us while the old order falls away,
incubating our powers until the hour when the culture is ready to receive it. Herod’ s edict to “kill all Jewish babies” means the ego’s desire to nip in
the bud any emer ging hope. Herod’ s sons represent newer generations of
egoic figures, always working to suppress the voices of those  who might
emer ge as a challenge to the old order. The voice of the mystic finds no
welcome in Herod’ s land, but God is with you. You will be delivered to the


 ca me
home to Perth, Western Australia, where his father lived, and sa id to
him that he had met a monk who had returned from one of the healing
shrines in Europe. This monk sold him a piece of the true cr oss. He
said that he gave the monk the equivalent of $500 for it. This young man had actually picked up a splinter of wood from the
sidewalk, went to the jeweler’s, and had it set in a ring so tha t it
looked real. He told his father that just touching the ring or the cross-hea led
many. He inflamed and fired his father’s imagination to the po int that
the old gentleman snatched the ring from him, placed it over his chest,
prayed silently, and went to sleep. In the morning he was heale d. All
the clinic’s tests proved negative. You know, of course, it was not the splinter of wood from the
sidewalk that healed him. It was his imagination aroused to an intense
degree, plus the confident expectancy of a perfect healing. Imagination was joined to faith or subjective feeling, and the un ion of
the two brought about a healing. The father never learned of the t rick
that had been played upon him. If he had, he probably would have had
a relapse. He remained com-pletely cured and passed away fifteen
years later at the age of 89. • One universal healing principle
It is a well-known fact that all of the various schools of healing
effect cures of the most wonderful character. The most ob vious
conclusion, which strikes your mind, is that there must be some
underlying principle, which is common to them all, namely, the
subconscious mind, and the one process of healing is faith. 55  It will now be in order to recall to your mind z once more the
following fundamental truths:
First that you possess mental functions, which have been
distinguished by designating one the conscious mind and the other t he
subconscious mind. Secondly, your subconscious mind is constantly amenable to the
power of suggestion. Furthermore, your subconscious mind has
complete control of the functions, conditions, and sensations of your
body. I venture to believe that all the readers of this book are famil iar with
the fact that symptoms of almost any disease can be induced i n
hypnotic subjects by suggestion. For example, a subject in t he
hypnotic state can develop a high temperature, flushed face, or chills
according to the nature of the suggestion given. By experime nt, you
can suggest to the person that he is paralyzed and cannot walk: it will
be so. By illustration, you can hold a cup of cold water under the nose
of the hypnotic subject and tell him, “This is full of peppe r; smell it!”
He will proceed to sneeze. What do you think caused him to sneeze,
the water or the suggestion? If a man says he is allergic to Timothy grass, you can place  a
synthetic flower or an empty glass in front of his nose, when he is in a
hypnotic state, and tell him it is Timothy grass. He will portray the
usual allergic symptoms. This indicates that the cause of the disease is in the mind. T he
healing of the disease can also take place mentally. You realize that remarkable healings take place through oste opathy,
chiropractic medicine, and naturopathy, as well as through all t he
various religious bodies throughout the world, but it is obvious that all
of these healings are brought about through the subconscious mi nd—
the only healer there is. Notice how it heals a cut on your face caused by shaving. It knows
exactly how to do it. The doctor dresses the wound and says, “Na ture
 56  heals it!” Nature refers to natural law, the law of the s ubconscious
mind, or selfpreservation, which is the function of the subconsciou s
mind. The instinct of self-preserva-tion is the first law of nature. Your
strongest instinct is the most potent of all autosuggestions. • Widely different theories
It would be tedious and unprofitable to discuss to any great ext ent
the numerous theories advanced by different religious sects and p rayer
therapy groups. There are a great number who claim that becaus e their
theory produces results it is, therefore, the correct one. This, as
explained in this chapter, cannot be true. You are aware that there are all types of healing. Franz A nton
Mesmer, an Austrian physician (1734-1815) who prac-ticed in Pari s,
discovered that by applying magnets to the dis-eased body, he could
cure that disease miraculously. He also performed cures wit h various
other pieces of glass and metals. He discontinued this form of healing
and claimed that his cures were due to “animal magnetism,”
theorizing that this substance was projected from the heale r to the
patient. His method of treating disease from then on was by hyp-notism,
which was called mesmerism in his day. Other physicians sai d that all
his healings were due to suggestion and nothing else. All of these groups, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, osteo paths,
chiropractors, physicians, and all the churches are using the one
universal power resident in the subconscious mind. Each may
proclaim the healings are due to their theory. The process of all
healing is a definite, positive, mental attitude, an inner att itude, or a
way of thinking, called faith. Healing is due to a confident expectancy,
which acts as a powerful sugges-tion to the subconscious mind
releasing its healing potency. One man does not heal by a different power than another. It is tru e
he may have his own theory or method. There is only one process of
healing and that is faith. There is only one heal-ing power, nam ely,
 57  your subconscious mind. Select the theory and method you prefer. You can rest assured, if you have faith, you shall get results. • Views of Paracelsus
Philippus Paracelsus, a famous Swiss alchemist and physi-c ian, who
lived from 1493 to 1541, was a great healer in his day. He stated wha t
is now an obvious scientific fact when he uttered these words,
“Whether the object of your faith be real or false, you wil l
nevertheless obtain the same effects. Thus, if I believ ed in Saint
Peter’s statue as I should have believed in Saint Peter him self, I shall
obtain the same effects that I should have obtained from Saint  Peter. But that is superstition. Faith, however, produces miracles; and
whether it is true or false faith, it will always produce t he same
wonders.”
The views of Paracelsus were also entertained in the six-tee nth
century by Pietro Pomponazzi, an Italian philosopher and
contemporary of Paracelsus, who said, “We can easily conceive t he
marvelous effects which confidence and imagination can produce,
particularly when both qualities are reciprocated be-tween t he subjects
and the person who influences them. The cures attributed to the influence of certain relics are the effec t of
their imagination and confidence. Quacks and philosophers know that
if the bones of any skeleton were put in place of the saint ’s bones, the
sick would none the less experience beneficial effects, if the y believed
that they were veritable relics.”
Then, if you believe in the bones of saints to heal, or if you be lieve
in the healing power of certain waters, you will gel results because of
the powerful suggestion given to your sub-conscious mind. It is the
latter that does the healing. 58  • Bernheitn’s experiments
Hippolyte Bernheim, professor of medicine at Nancy, France, 1910-
1919, was the expounder of the fact that the suggestion of the
physician to the patient was exerted through the subconscious mind. Bernheim, in his Suggestive Therapeutics, page 197, tells a story of
a man with paralysis of the tongue which had yielded to no form of
treatment. His doctor told the patient that he had a new instrument with whic h
he promised to heal him. He introduced a pocket thermometer into the
patient’s mouth. The patient imagined it to be the instrument, which
was to save him. In a few moments he cried out joyfully t hat he could
once more move his tongue freely. “Among our cases,” continues Bernheim, “facts of the same sort
will be found. A young girl came into my office, hav-ing suffered
from complete loss of speech for nearly four weeks. After making sure
of the diagnosis, I told my students that loss of speech sometim es
yielded instantly to electricity, which might act simply by  its
suggestive influence. I sent for the induction apparatus. I ap plied my
hand over the larynx and moved a little, and said, ‘Now you can speak
aloud.’ In an instant I made her saw ‘a,’ then ‘b,’ then ‘Mari a.’ She
continued to speak distinctly; the loss of voice had disappeared.”
Here Bernheim is showing the power of faith and expect-ancy on
the part of