 cellular phones all emit invisible electromagnetic frequencies. If we add
natural geopathic radiation to our household implements, it is no exaggeration to say that we exist
in an electronic soup, or to see that this is bound to have a harmful impact on human health and
well-being.
As the use of cellular phones increases worldwide, more and more radio masts are erected
to service them. So far, official bodies have tended to claim that these masts presented no health
risks to people living near them, but concerned individuals tell a different story, reporting on
clusters of diseases, mainly cancer, erupting in the vicinity of a recently erected mast. Sleep
disturbances, headaches, skin rashes, heart palpitations and vertigo have also set in within the
same period. Some scientists agree with the concerns of the lay public, For example Dr. Robert
O.Becker, twice nominated for the Nobel Price, called the proliferation of electro-magnetic
fields “the greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment.” And both the World Health
Organization and the European Parliament have held discussions on the environmental impact of
electro-magnetic fields.
Applying the precautionary principle—“If in doubt, don’t ”—everything possible must
be done to limit the risks of the all-pervasive electronic smog. Cellular phone use must be
cut to a minimum, switched off immediately after use, and not carried on the body even
when switched off. If possible, hands-free devices should be used, to keep phones away from
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 4 4Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comhead and body.
Phones apart, it is wise not to keep any electronic devices near beds, where the sleepers
would be exposed to radiation throughout the night. All electronic equipment should be
switched off when not in use, not left on stand-by. A common houseplant, chlorophytum
(popular name spider plant) is said to absorb harmful radiation, and should be kept in the
home in large numbers.
Stress—the Enemy Within
 Last but not least, beside the harmful influences that attack the body’s defenses from the
outside, there is another self-made internal one, namely stress, that must be considered. Stress
is very much taken for granted as part of today’s rushed and restless lifestyle, yet it wasn’t even
identified, let alone explored until the first half of the twentieth century. It was then that the
eminent Hungarian-born endocrinologist Hans Selye, M.D., D.Sc., FRS (1907-1982), first began
to wonder why so many people were suffering from  what he called a state of sub-health, being
neither ill nor well and lacking in vitality. He eventually identified the cause as stress, which he
defined in the following words: “Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demand,
whether it is caused by, or results in, pleasant or unpleasant conditions. How you take it determines
whether you can adapt successfully to change.”
 In other words, stress in itself isn’t bad. On the contrary. To quote Selye again, “It is generally
believed that biological organisms require a certain amount of stress in order to maintain their
well-being. However,.”. excess stress that the system cannot handle, produces pathological
changes.” 8 The problem is that modern human beings respond to real or imaginary danger with
the same instantaneous biological changes as our most remote ancestors did when confronted
with an attacking mammoth or the flint axe of an enemy: the “fight or flight” response clicks in,
giving the organism a burst of energy to fight the attacker—or flee with above-average speed. The
alarm reaction causes the pituitary-adenocortical system to respond by producing the hormones
essential to either fighting or fleeing. The heart rate increases, the blood sugar level  rises, the
pupils dilate to see better and the digestion slows down to divert energy to the limbs. Adrenaline
and cortisol rush into the system. All these changes disappear when the situation is resolved,
either by fighting the enemy or fleeing to safety.
 These days the threats are mainly non-violent, and the challenges tend to cause frustration,
simmering rage or repressed tension, which find no outlet—after all, we can’t wrestle with a
hyper-critical boss, or escape from a maddening traffic jam—so that the organism stays in an
unnaturally aroused state. Just like our cave-dwelling ancestors, modern people also go through
the three phases of alarm, resistance, and finally exhaustion. And in due course the stress-induced
hormonal changes can lead to a wide range of diseases, including hypertension, coronary
thrombosis, brain hemorrhage, gastric or duodenal ulcers, arteriosclerosis, arthritis, kidney
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 4 5Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comdisease and allergic reactions. Above all, the immune system is weakened—and by now we know
how dangerous that is.
 Hardly anyone gets through life without experiencing periods of great stress. Business
failure, financial problems, serious debt, divorce, sickness in the family, loss of a job—the list is
long. People often respond by putting in extra hours of work, living on junk food and unhealthy
snacks, taking sleeping drugs to fight insomnia and “wake-up drugs” to cope with the new day,
drinking more coffee, more alcohol, smoking more, all of which speeds up the descent into ill
health. But it is their reaction to stress, not the stress in itself  that causes the trouble. Stress and
its consequences may act as the proverbial last straw that breaks the camel’s back, especially if we
are dealing with one of Selye’s “sub-healthy” individuals, whose liver is already in a sorry state,
with the rest of the organism toxic and malnourished.
 All this means that stress must be included among the factors that undermine the body’s
defenses, and we need to deal with it sensibly. Relaxation techniques, yoga, breathing exercises,
counseling help to re-program one’s spontaneous, deeply damaging reactions to life’s inevitable
turmoils. ( see Chapter 25, Overcoming Stress and Tension ) Combined with optimum nutrition this
may result in the ideal set out by Dr Selye, when he recommended, “stress without distress.”
References:
1. Gerson, M. “ A Cancer Therapy—Results of 50 Cases
 6th edition, Bonita, CA. The Gerson Institute, Bonita, California, 1999.
2. Hardell, L. & Eriksson, M. CANCER  V ol.85, No.6. 1999
3.  Lean, G. The Independent on Sunday, London, May 22 2005
4..Breggin, P. Talking Back to Ritalin, Common Courage Press, 1998
5. Erb, J. & T.M., The Slow Poisoning of America, Paladins Press, 2003
6. Gesch, B. Press Conference, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, June 25, 2002;
Schoenthaler, S. Anti-Ageing Medical Publications, V ol.III. Health Quest Publications,
CA 1999
7. Taber’ s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 17th edition, F.A.Davis Company, Philadelphia,
1989
8. Selye, H. The Stress of Life, 1956
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 4 6Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comCHAPTER 6
Diseases  of  Modern  Civilization
It is an astonishing fact of the 21st century that instead of enjoying good health and fitness, so
many people in the developed world suffer from a multitude of complaints and diseases, which
a few generations ago were much less widespread. Worse still, these conditions are no longer
limited to the middle-aged and elderly, but attack ever-younger generations. Because of their
comparative novelty, they are often called “diseases of modern civilization.” This sounds like a
kind of justification, as if they were the price we have to pay for our unprecedented degree of
technological development, comfort and consumer choice; in other words, that they are a direct
consequence of today’s de-natured, over-civilized lifestyle. This is probably true. At any rate,
orthodox medicine deems these diseases incurable. All it can offer is symptomatic treatment,
which only works up to a point and for a limited time, and has serious side ef fects.
So what exactly is it in modern civilization that can be blamed for the deterioration of public
health? The accepted culprits are widespread pollution of air, water and soil, the consequences of
climate change, vastly increased levels of noise, violence and general insecurity, social tensions,
stress, and the breakdown of law and order in many areas of life. All of this is true and valid. But


 “This is too good  to be true, something
will probably happen  to spoil it.”   Something  probably did  happen to cre -
ate conflict or to cause  you to miss it entirely. Man finds it relatively sim -
ple to disregard  the promise  of something  good by thinking  of all the rea -
sons why he  cannot achieve  it.
People  around  you may be  quick  to point out that you  are being  unrealis -
tic when you  mention a  desire  that appears difficult or impossible  to
reach. We  should  all be  unrealistic  in the  face of the  army of doubt if we
would  experience our wish fulfilled. We  are called upon to disregard the
“facts”  which would  deny the  achievement of our heart’s desire. Habit is
the only thing  that keeps our thoughts moving  along  the old familiar  neg-
ative ruts. No one  can change  your thought patterns and, therefore, your
life but you.
It is worth all the  effort it may take to center  your attention and  feel as if
you already possess that which you  want in place  of things as they are.
Consciousness is the  only cause   and the only reality. Every negative  ex-
perience was produced  by first giving  attention and  feeling  to that condi -
tion. What consciousness has made, it can unmake. Your responsibility is
to impress upon your mind  with the  change  you wish to express. Your
imagination is the  creative  power  that can and  will accomplish the end
without effort and  in a natural way.
More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenAppearances confirm our former  habitual patterns of thought. That which
you imagine  yourself to be  today will project itself in your world tomor -
row. Persistence in assuming  that you  are the person you  wish to be,  de-
spite your present circumstances, is the  only condition imposed  upon you
to embody that ideal.
Inner Conversations
All of us are  mentally speaking  within ourselves every waking  moment.
Our inner conversations must match the  wish fulfilled  if we would  realize
our desire. If our desire  is for a  better  job and  we imagine  ourselves being
congratulated  because  we are gainfully employed  in a wonderful position,
we must also make our inner  conversations conform to   that end. We
must be  certain that we  are not saying  within ourselves something  like,
“That  boss of mine  doesn’t believe  in promoting  people;”  or “It would be
difficult to find  any job at my age, never  mind a better  one,” or similar
statements that would  imply that we  do not have  that which we desire.
We must persist in the  feeling  of our imaginal act by making  our mental
conversations conform to what we  would  say had  we already realized  our
aim.
If, for instance, we wished  to own a  new car, we  could  imagine a new car
parked  in our garage  or imagine  ourselves driving  it, or imagine  our
friends admiring  it. We  must then  make our inner  conversations reflect
the  type  of conversations we  would  engage in were  we really the  own-
er of a new  car. Our  conversations could  consist of discussing  our new  car
with friends such as telling  them of the  wonderful fuel mileage  we are re-
ceiving, or hearing  our friends tell us how  much they enjoy riding  in our
new  car, etc.
Our inner conversations are  just as creative  as our deliberate  imagining  of
the wish  fulfilled. In fact, if they are  of the  opposite  nature,  they can
negate  what we  have imagined. You  must watch what you  are saying  in-
ternally to make sure  that these  conversations coincide  with your wish
fulfilled.  If you  become  aware  that these  inner talks contradict what you
would  like to achieve,  revise  them so that they follow  along  the track that
would  indicate  that you  already have  what you  desire  or are  already the
person you  wish to be.
Revision
Your present world  reflects the  sum total of all that you  believe  to be true
of yourself and  others. That which you  imagine  yourself to be  today goes
forward  and will confront you  in the future. If you  have forgotten your
imaginal activities of the  past, that which you  see appearing  in your world
indicates the  kind of seeds you  have previously sown.
Assuming  the feeling  of your wish fulfilled  is using  your imagination cre -
atively to bring  into your world  that which you  desire  to experience. You
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havencan use  the art of revision to  change  the effects of prior thoughts and  be-
liefs.
If, for instance, you  had gone to an interview  for a job you  truly wanted
but later  learned  that someone  else was hired,  you can revise  that news
to make it conform to what you wish you  had heard. If you  react by feel -
ing depressed  or assume  any other  negative  attitude, you  will then expe -
rience the  same  type of rejection in the  future. Your reactions, whether
positive  or negative,  are creative  of future  circumstances. In your imagi -
nation, you  can hear words congratulating  you on getting  a wonderful
new job. That imaginal act  now goes forward  and you will encounter  this
pleasant experience in the  future.
As you  review  your day, it is important to revise  each negative  reaction so
that you  can remember  it as what you  wished  had happened  rather  than
storing  that memory as it did   occur. What you  think of with feeling  or
emotion is an actual fact. That which you   experience in the  physical
world  is merely a  shadow, reflecting  the reality of your imaginal  activity.
Therefore,  when you  revise  a conversation, an unhappy experience, or
a quality about yourself, you  are literally experiencing  it in reality (your
consciousness). The  outer  world  is a delayed  reflection of the  inner and is
confined  to a dimension of space  where  events occur in a  time sequence.
Revision, then, literally changes the  past. It replaces what  occurred  in the
outer  world  with the  revised  version. The  revised  scene  then gives off its
effect by going  forth to change  future  events.
Dwelling  on past irritations or hurts perpetuates them and  creates a vi -
cious circle  that serves to confirm these  negative  emotions. The  circle can
be broken by starting  now to revise  anything  that you  no longer  wish to
sustain in your world. By revising  the past, you  rid yourself of any effect it
may have  on your future. Revision is truly the  key, which can  be used to
unlock  the doors that have  kept you  trapped  in a particular  state. “Be  ye
transformed  by the  renewing  of your mind.”
States of Consciousness
All states exist and  are a fixed part of creation. Anyone  can enter a state
consciously or fall  into a  state inadvertently. You  may move  into different
states throughout your lifetime  or you  may occupy a  single  state.  Desire
is what usually motivates us to move  from one  state to a  higher  level.
Since a  state is total and  complete  in itself, when we  enter  a state we are
compelled  to behave  in a manner  dictated  by that state. For instance, in
the state of poverty, we would  find ourselves constantly in need  of funds.
We would  have difficulty  making  ends meet and  have no way to enjoy lux -
uries. Should  we be given a  large sum of money, if we remain in the state
of poverty (filling  our mind  with thoughts of lack  and  limitation,) we
would  soon find  ourselves without funds and  again experiencing the same
difficulties. The  reverse  would  be true if we occupied  a state of wealth.
More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenWhen we are  in a state we see only the  contents of that state and are
compelled  to act in  accordance with all that the  state entails. While  in
a particular  state, you  believe  certain  things are  true and would  find it dif-
ficult to understand  another  point of view.  In the  state of poverty, it is
easy to focus your thoughts on the  problems of providing  food, shelter
and clothing. When you  succeed  in moving  out of this state, you  no longer
find it difficult  to acquire  these  things. Most people  attribute  this change
of fortune  to a change  in circumstances. However, unless you have moved
from the  state of poverty


we	know	right	now	is	immediate	and	personal:	how	we	feel,
what	we	want,	whom	we	love.	And	that’s	enough.	The	decisions	we	make
determine	how	life	proceeds.	We	don’t	go	through	life	simply	making	good
choices	and	bad	ones.	We	go	through	life	making	who	we	are.	Choice	is	the
hand	that	shapes	the	raw	clay	of	a	person.
With	a	little	thought	each	of	us	can	answer	questions	about	who
we
	are
and	our	purpose	in	life.	All	we	need	to	do	if	we	wish	to	choose	what	happens
in	Akasha	is	to	extend	the	same	questions	over	the	threshold	of	physical
death.
What	do	you	want	your	story	to	be	after	you	die?What	do	you	expect	will	happen	next?
What	does	the	afterlife	mean	to	you	personally?
Where	will	your	last	breath	take	you?
How	will	you	get	there?
Who	will	block	your	way?
Who	will	help	you	along?
Notice	how	strange	these	questions	would	sound	if	you	hadn’t	first
encountered	them	in	the	context	of	every	day.	We	are	caught	between	two
levels	of	existence.	Let	me	give	an	example:
Recently	I	met	Lydia,	an	older	woman	who	has	been	devoted	to	a	Zen
roshi
,	or	master,	for	over	thirty	years.	This	particular	roshi	was	Italian	rather
than	Japanese	and	a	woman.	Lydia	mentioned	these	unusual	facts	without
explaining	how	she	happened	to	choose	her	teacher.	“We	were	always	very
close.	It’s	not	something	one	can	intellectualize	about.	It	has	to	come	from	in
here.”	Lydia	touched	her	heart	lightly.
“I	spent	time	with	my	teacher	in	Rome,	and	over	the	years	my	practice
became	central	to	my	life.	Every	winter	I	go	to	Rome	to	stay	with	her,	and	I
practice	Zen	with	the	small	group	she’s	gathered	there.”
“You’ve	found	your	path,”	I	remarked.
She	looked	doubtful.	“Have	I?	The	last	time	I	was	packing	to	go,	part	of
me	kept	wondering,
Why	am	I	doing	this?	What’s	the	point?
	My	doubts
seemed	ridiculous	at	first,	but	then	I	began	to	wake	up	at	night	in	a	panic,	my
mind	racing.”
I	asked	her	what	the	panicky	thoughts	were	about.
“Always	the	same	thing.	I	imagine	I	will	be	lost	over	there,	lonely
and
with	no	real	confidence	in	what	I’m	doing.	But	I	know	everything	is	going	to
turn	out	all	right	once	I	get	with	my	Zen	group,	so	I	go	back	to	sleep.”
After	decades	of	meditation	and	other	spiritual	practices,	Lydia	knew
herself	well,	but	these	panic	attacks	had	recently	grown	worse.	She	asked	me
what	I	thought	they	were	about.
“A	lot	of	things	are	possible,”	I	said.	“Maybe	you’re	just	going	back	and
forth	to	Rome	out	of	habit,	and	your	real	commitment	has	come	to	an	end.
Maybe	you	haven’t	gotten	what	you	expected	from	Zen	Buddhism.	Maybe
you’ve	reached	a	stubborn	level	of	resistance	that	refuses	to	let	you	move	on.”
Lydia	nodded	eagerly.	“All	of	that.	I	sometimes	get	so	disgusted	with
myself	and	all	my	stubborn	habits	and	judgments	that	I	think	I	haven’t	gotten
anywhere.	Is	that	possible?”
“Of	course	you’ve	gotten	somewhere,”	I	assured	her.	(In	fact,	Lydia	had	a
strong	presence	that	made	itself	felt	the	moment	she	entered	the	room.)	“But
the	things	we’ve	accomplished	spiritually	get	put	on	the	shelf,	and	the	things
we	still	have	to	work	on	loom	large,	like	spots	on	a	tablecloth	that	attractattention	even	when	the	rest	of	the	tablecloth	is	clean.”
Lydia	liked	the	analogy,	but	she	remained	doubtful.	“Maybe	something
inside	me	wants	to	be	judgmental	and	depressed,	or	whatever	negative	thing	it
is	I	can’t	move	past.	If	so,	then	what?”
I	offered	several	ways	to	look	at	it.	They	apply	generally	to	existential
doldrums.
“You	are	a	deeply	spiritual	person,	and	that	means	you’re	allowing	your
deepest	issues	to	come	up	to	the	surface	instead	of	hiding	them.
“Being	spiritual	isn’t	about	being	comfortable	all	the	time.
“You	may	be	in	transition,	anxiously	awaiting	a	new	phase	in	your
journey.”
“I	didn’t	realize	I	had	that	many	choices.	I	thought	I	was	just	…”	Lydia’s
voice	trailed	off.
“Failing?”	I	said.	“Not	at	all.	Most	people	spend	huge	amounts	of	time
and	effort	on	one	thing:	avoiding	the	painful	truth	about	themselves.	You’re
doing	exactly	the	opposite.”
She	felt	better,	and	she	had	something	to	think	about.	Many	people	resist	a
commitment	to	being	spiritual	once	they	discover	that	it	brings	a	state	of
ferment.	Everything	serious	and	difficult	gets	postponed,	often	to	their	dying
day.	But	the	rishis	taught	that	self-exploration	is	the	most	important	thing	one
can	do	to	prepare	for	the	afterlife.	All	the	tactics	we	use	to	avoid	ourselves
must	be	dissolved.	Which	puts	someone	like	Lydia	in	an	unusual	position.	In
effect	she	is	experiencing	the	Akashic	field	as	her	own	inner	silence.
Buddhism	sometimes	describes	its	practices	as	conscious	dying.	One	dies	to
old	memories,	conditioning,	habits,	and	self-denial,	all	the	things	that	the
mind	uses	not	to	see	itself.
To	experience	the	Akashic	field	requires	an	expanded	state	of	awareness.
Contracted	awareness	keeps	us	anchored	in	daily	affairs.	I	told	Lydia	that	her
mood	swings	and	lack	of	decisiveness	were	symptoms	of	swinging	back	and
forth	between	expanded	and	contracted	awareness.	When	her	mind	wasn’t	in
the	Akashic	domain,	she	was	centered	in	her	ego	personality.	Everyday
desires	and	impulses	took	control.	But	at	other	times	her	mind	would	slip
outside	its	boundaries.	Seeing	herself	with	expanded	awareness,	she’d	drop
her	ego—as	much	as	anyone	can.
“It’s	the	price	you	pay,”	I	said.	“Everyone	feels	wobbly	who	walks	the
path	with	your	kind	of	dedication.”
Lydia	was	lucky,	in	that	she	was	used	to	the	swings	between	contracted
and	expanded	awareness.	Many	people	find	negative	words	for	expansion.
They	say	“I’m	just	spacey,”	“I’ve	lost	my	bearings,”	“I	hardly	know	who	I
am.”	Sometimes	those	labels	may	apply,	but	moments	of	transcendence	are
being	overlooked.	By	the	end	of	our	conversation,	Lydia	affirmed	what	she
had	learned	from	long	years	of
practice
:	The	dramas	we	live	out	takeunexpected	turns,	and	as	we	make	new	choices,	the	life	of	the	soul	takes
shape.	The	critical	thing	is	to
have
	a	life	of	the	soul,	and	that	comes	about
only	through	expansion.
A	Variety	of	Choices


 the cars, trees,
buildings, and myriad other objects you encounter each day. They come in,
and they pass through. But there are a few things that are harder to deal with
inside, and therefore you resist them or you cling to them. This is how you
fell out of the garden of reality. Impressions stayed inside your mind and
became the foundation blocks upon which you built your psyche.Chapter 14.
The Veil of the Psyche
Your psyche is like  a computer program running in your mind based on your
samskaras. It’s in there talking to you about things that happened before,
what you wish would happen now, and what you hope does or doesn’ t
happen tomorrow. You’ve actually created an alternate reality  inside your
mind that is very complex. It’s a tremendous menagerie of the stored
moments you were not able to let go of. At this point, you don’t even need
another rattlesna ke to get you disturbed. The fact that the experience of the
snake is stuck in your mind means other things will remind you of it. In fact,
you can remind  yourself of it without the need of an external reminder.
You’re driving down the street, minding your own business. Suddenly, you
remember how scary that snake was, and you get scared again. We’re not
dealing with reality anymore. We have such a mess built up in there that it’s
no wond er we have so much trouble with life. Such is the nature of the
personal mind.
Regardless of how messy it gets in there, the fact remains that the
personal mind is not you—no more than your TV screen is you. But it’s
much more difficult to objectiv ely watch your mind than your TV screen.
This is because of the power of the impressions you have stored in your
mind. These past impressions compete with the image of realit y coming in
from the outside and make it hard to tell which is which. It is difficult to
maintain a seat of objective observation when it gets so confusing in there.
Samskaras are not to be taken lightly; they seriously distort your experience
of life.
Let’s take the example of a psychological Rorschach test, often referred
to as an inkblot test. The psychologist holds up an inkblot and asks what
you see. You immediately respond that you see people making love or,
perhaps, mommy and daddy fighting. In other words, the Rorschach teststimulates the patterns you’ve stored inside your mind, causing you to see
what’ s not actually there. The truth is the whole world is a giant Rorschach
test. The world is a flow of atoms unfolding in front of you. It’s no more
personal than the inkblots. But it’s hitting your samskaras, and that
stimulates stored mental and emotional reactions. Now, instead of
experiencing what is passing by outside, you are experiencing the likes,
dislikes, beliefs, and judgments stored inside. These impress ions are so
strong that you actually think they are what is really out there, just like the
inkblots. The personal mind has taken over your entire life. You are no
longer free to enjoy the experie nces that are actually happening—you are
forced to deal with what your mind says is happening.
Let’s look a little deeper into how samskaras affect your life. We have
discussed that what is coming in from the outside stimulates your mental
blockages from the past. Past experiences were uncomfortable when you
first resisted them, and they are going to be uncomfortable when they come
back up. To make matters worse, just as with the Rorschach test, you are not
seeing what is actually outside—you are seeing your inner issues projected
onto the outside. That’ s why life seems so scary and why it seem s to always
be hitting your weak spots. The truth is, life is not hitting your weak spots,
you are projecting your weak spots onto life. Yet not everyth ing you stored
in there was negative. You held on to some positive things from the past.
The problem is they’re not happening anymore, and that is disappointing. If
you go back to the same place  where you saw the butterfly, and it’s not
there, it becomes a negative experience.
Understand, you have just made life a lose-lose situation. If anything
reminds you of what bothered you before, you lose. If you are not getting to
reexperience what you liked before, you lose. This is in drastic contrast to
what Zen calls beginner ’s mind. If you are not expecting anything in
particular from a situation, and then something special happens, it can touch
you really deeply. It could be a beautiful sunset, the first unexpe cted kiss, or
some other welcome surprise. If it touches you so deeply because you have
no sams karas in your mind about the event—you have beginner ’s mind.
Otherwise, you will be expecting something based on prior experiences, and
that will interfere with the spontaneity of the event.
The end result is that these samskaras have ruined your life. You’ve
made it so that unless something drastically different happens to pull you
out of this preference system, you can’t feel anything fully. That’ s whysome people must go to the extremes to get a rush. It is also why some
people try to keep everything exactly the same so life doesn’ t disturb their
samskaras. In either case, trying  to keep the mind a decent place to live in
can force people  to look for escapes, such as drinking and drugs. You get to
the point where you’re running around trying to appease your mind.
Eventually, you will come to realize that it’s not the job, the spouse, or
the car that gets old—it’ s listen ing to the mess in your mind that gets old.
While all of these patterns from  the past are blocked in your mind, you in
there can neither experience the miracle of life unfolding before you, nor
can you experience the natural beauty within you. Your awareness is
completely distracted by these stored mental patterns, and you must devote
your days and nights to serving them. You can no longer exper ience reality
—you are stuck experiencing yourself.
There’ s a concept in Zen known as “just tree.” It fits perfectly with our
discussion. The story goes as follows: There was a young Buddhist monk in
a monastery who would go for daily sessions with the Zen master. The
master would ask him some questions, and the monk would leave. One time
when the young monk walked in, the master looked at him and remarked,
“What happened to you? Y ou look so alive and filled with light.”
The monk was surprised. “What do you mean?”
“I see a dif ference in you, my son. What happened?”
The monk told him, “I was walking across the courtyard and saw the
big oak tree. I stopped and looked at it. I had seen it many times before, but
this time I saw just tree. I just saw the tree. Somehow, it took me to such a
deep place that I felt an awakening. I felt a moment of enlig htenment. It
took me beyond myself.”
“That tree has been there for a hundred years,” the master reflected.
“You have walked by that tree every single day since you’ve been here.”
“Yes,” the stude nt said, “but when I previously walked by the tree, it
often reminded me of the tree Buddha sat under when he reached
enlightenment. Other times, the tree reminded me of the one I fell out of
when I was little. The tree alway s stimulated thought patterns from my past.
This time I saw just tr ee.”
The master smiled.“Just tree” is what we talked about in the beginning of our discussion of
mind. The tree comes in, renders in your mind, and that’s all you see. In
contrast, the tree comes in, renders in your mind, and stimulates any past
samskaras you have about trees. Your samskara mind becomes activated,
and your consciousness is scattered between the primary image of the tree
and the second ary explosion that takes place inside. The secondary
explosion is the reaction within your mind due to the stored patterns there.
You can’t have pure experience s anymore. The young monk did—he saw
“just tree.” If you didn’ t understand this before, hopefully you do now. A
Zen master would be pleased with you, because “just tree” is a very deep
concept in Zen Buddhism.
There is nothing  wrong with the mind itself. Just like there is nothing
wrong with a computer, per se. It is how you use these powerful gifts that
can cause a problem. There is almost no limit to the brilliance of mind.
People think Einstein was smart, but they don’t understand their own
brilliance. We all have the human mind, every single one of us. We don’t
have a possum mind, a squirrel mind, or even an ape mind. We have the
human mind, and the human mind is brilliant.Chapter 15.
The Brilliant Human Mind
What’ s so specia l about the human mind? Let’s take a look. For billions and
billions of years, while the planet Earth was spinning through space, the
process of evolution took place. There were minerals, then plants, then
animals, all formed from atoms created in the stars. The planet had been
floating in space for 4.5 billion years before modern humans showed up. It
is worth


, and experiences a
powerful threa t of falling. This indicates that our sense of  balance
can be  consc iously manipulated in various ways. T ightrope
walkers have separated their  sense of balance from any feeling of
threat o r danger. To someone standing on the ground looking up,
the danger looks real enough  (your heart can pound simp ly from
watching a risky circus act without experiencing it firsthand).
In the accepted model of evolution, all the traits we inherited
have survival value. Our anc estors needed a sense of bal ance for
obvious reason s when hunting and fighting other creatures in the
wild. But we go beyond survival all the time and toy with our
evolutionary inheritance simply because we want to. Tightropewalking has no survival val ue, and since it poses considerable
danger unless you are highly trained, it has negative survival
value.
Babies are afraid of falling from a very early age, and they  can’t
learn to walk without testing the precarious state between falling
down and staying on their feet. Clearly fear of falling loses out in
the end. Tightrope walkers go a step further by consciously
overriding evolution when they disconnect fear of falling from
sense o f balance. This ability to override evolution is actually a
higher evolutionary trait.
The pow er of consciousness allows daredevils to hang glide or
free-climb vertical rock faces using any rationale that comes to
mind—thrill s eeking, a drive to accomplish the imp ossible,
competitive riv alry, or simply no reason at all—oblivious to their
life-or-death s ituation. Suc h freedom is absent in creatures
hemmed in by physical ev olution. Only Homo sapiens  turns
extreme risk-t aking into fun. We choose our own motiv es, and
personal realit y moves with our intentions. It would be horrifying
to find yourself in a dark alley facing an assailant armed with a
knife, b ut som eone with appendicitis, blocked coronary arteries,
or a tumor willingly undergoes the controlled violence presented
by knife-wielding surgeons. Once consciousness interprets a
situation in a specific way, th e reality of the situation fits whatever
consciousness has decided.
The virt ual rea lity that surrounds us permanently is a cons truct
that fits so many motives, intentions, decisions, and
interpretations that we’ve lost track of them all.

This chapter has dived into deep water, and some issues get
complex. But the purpose of the chapter is simple—to close the
gap be tween illusion and reality. No one’s body is going to
vaporize. The commonsense world will be there to greet yo u when
you wake up tomorrow morning. Yet everything is entangled in
illusion, makin g the commonsense world unstable at its core. By
testing the very limits of time, space, matter, and energy, we are
testing our own creative po wer. Moving a mountain with yourmind is nothing next to mo ving the whole world, which is our
ultimate goal.I6

E X I S T E N C E  A N D
C O N S C I O U S N E S S  A R E
T H E  S A M E
have strong memories, growing up in India, of attending
schools taught by Catholic  missionaries. The Old Testament
wasn’t light reading—I came away remembering sin, wars, laws,
lamentations, a nd plagues. But there’s a verse very early o n, after
the seven days of creation, in which God “was walking  in the
Garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). God was still on good
terms with Adam and Eve, a nd, in my imagination, the moment
was perfect for a casual conve rsation. None occurs. Adam and Eve
aren’t a ctually there at first, h aving hidden from God out of shame
for thei r nakedness. But in my imaginary conversation, they would
ask a crucial question: “Why did you do it? Why did you create the
world?”
In reply, God would say, somewhat sheepishly, “There wasn’t
any reason. I just had to. I couldn’t help myself.”
Modern cosmology has come up with no better answer. The
universe is self-creating. It exists just because it has to exist.
Everything sin ce the big bang has unfolded of its own  accord,
driven b y natural forces. We a lmost didn’t make it. Physicists havecalculated that the balance of creation and destruction was
extremely delicate in the beginning. Destruction came within a
hairbreadth of  winning out, because all but the tiniest fra ction of
primal mass and energy coll apsed within itself, returning to the
vacuum state, as it is know n. As little as one part in a billion
escaped the jaws of destruction—a metaphor for gravity, the force
that caused the collapse of e verything else—but one billionth of
creation was enough to enab le trillions of stars and galaxies to be
formed. (This didn’t happen quickly, though. It took 800 million
years for the oldest star to coalesce from interstellar dust.)
A se lf-creating universe is our version, with many bells and
whistles attached, of the eighteenth-century notion of God as a
cosmic clockm aker who wound up the early universe, set it going,
and departed to let it operate  mechanically. But self-crea tion is a
sticky b usiness. Who or what got the process going? The creator’s
creator wasn’t a problem for the ancient Jewish rabbis—they
accepted God on faith as always existing. Finding a similar
nonfaith agent has proved all but impossible.
I’m arg uing in this book tha t consciousness is the only viable
self-creator, turning itself into mind, body, brain, and universe.
That’s a radical departure from physical explanations of the
cosmos. As in the Book of Ge nesis, consciousness creates because
it h as to. It only needs to ex ist in order to start the ball rolling.
(Where did existence come from? We don’t have to worry about
that, because if nonexistence existed, it wouldn’t be nonexistence.)
Just because it exists, pure consciousness generates reality as
we know  it. The ancient Indi an scriptures speak of myriad worlds
spinning into creation like motes of dust dancing in a sunbeam.
But in the same sunbeam we see myriad thoughts, feelings,
sensations, and images, too, the entire content of the human
mind. Faced with staggering overload, our minds have to generate
a livabl e world to inhabit—a human world—and the virtual reality
that we created was inevitable.
But simply reducing the teeming multiplicity of raw reality
wasn’t enough. The human world contains meaning. Where did it
come from? It was always there, as a primary trait of met areality.
Pure consciousness created a universe filled with meaning.
Everything we can say about being human—our joy, love, vitality,intelligence, a nd infinite potential—needed no creator. Those
qualities came  with existence, right off the bat. Without w heels, a
car isn’t a car.  Without humanity, the cosmos isn’t a cos mos we
could ever relate to, or even inhabit.
The universe was created for us because there is no other
alternative. Creation cannot be whole unless we are who le. Once
this secret is re vealed, metahuman can free itself from sel f-doubt,
confusion, and sorrow. They are the stepchildren of illusion.
A  S p e c i a l  C r e a t i o n
Pure consciousness cannot be interviewed, like talking to God,
even in an imaginary conversation. But the notion of self-creation
has always been viable. We  can accept without question that
Homo sapiens  cre ated its ow n version of reality. We are still at it,
with no signs of stopping. It makes no sense to claim that our
remotest ancestors somehow learned to be creative. Creativity is
intrinsic to us, like breathing.
Somehow we picked up a lo t of old habits that consciousness
had got ten use d to. All life forms are wrapped up in self-c reation,
but they are c ontent to let it roll over them. The ancestor of all
mammals was a shrew-like cr eature named Juramaia  t ha t liv ed in
tree ferns around freshwate r lakes 160 million years ago. The
discovery of this creature in China in 2011 pushed the ancestry of
all “tru e” mammals back by 35 million years. (A true m ammal
species is one in which the fetus is nurtured by a placenta in the
womb. This accounts for 95 percent of all mammals, the other
portion being marsupials like possums and kangaroos that give
birth t o tiny babies that finish their maturation inside the
mother’s pouch.)
Juramaia  did n’t know t hat it would be anything but a shrew,
and you’d think, looking at its five-inch skeleton, that only modern
shrews would descend from it, not all true mammals. No  trace of
dogs, cats, bats, elephants, o r whales is visible. It took a lot of
inference to suggest that Juramaia  had a placenta, since no softtissues are preserved in fossils. Yet


lour
3.	processed	oils
4.	milk	products
Consuming	these	foods,	especially	as	a	large	part	of	the	diet	and	over	time,	is
virtually	guaranteed	to	cause	disease.	They	provide	little	nutrition	and	are	toxic
as	well.	If	every	American	were	to	stop	eating	these	“foods,”	our	epidemic	of
chronic	diseases	would	decline	dramatically.	Problematic	in	their	own	right,	the
real	harm	caused	by	these	four	food	failures	comes	from	the	fact	that	we	eat
them	repeatedly,	day	by	day,	meal	by	meal.
As	highly	as	we	might	think	of	ourselves,	on	a	physical	level	we	are	nothing
more	than	an	organized	mass	of	about	75	trillion	cells,	all	constantly	demanding
nutrients.	If	we	consistently	choose	the	Big	Four—sugar,	white	flour,	processed
oils,	milk	products	or	foods	containing	these	as	ingredients—we	cannot	hope	to
meet	the	needs	of	our	hungry	cells.	Every	single	time	you	choose	an	organic,
fresh,	unprocessed	food	instead	of	one	of	the	Big	Four,	you	are	doing	your	cells
(and	yourself)	a	great	service.	Let	us	have	a	closer	look	at	the	Big	Four.
Sugar	Wreaks	Havoc
If	you	make	only	one	change	in	your	diet,	let	it	be	to	eliminate	or	at	least
reduce	your	intake	of	sugar.
People	in	our	society	eat	an	enormous	amount	of	sugar—	probably	far	more
than	you	realize.	As	is	often	the	case,	our	perspective	is	the	real	problem;	we	are
so	familiar	with	sugar	that	we	do	not	think	of	it	as	a	serious	health	threat.
Furthermore,	because	in	one	form	or	another	sugar	is	contained	in	an	enormous
number	of	processed	foods,	it	is	almost	impossible	to	avoid.
Sugar	even	in	small	amounts	is	detrimental.	Just	two	teaspoons	of	sugar	(far
less	than	a	typical	soft	drink	or	bowl	of	breakfast	cereal)	has	a	significant
hormonal	and	nutritional	impact	for	several	hours,	throwing	the	body	out	of
balance	and	into	a	state	of	biochemical	chaos.	If	you	eat	sugar	morning,	noon
and	night	(as	many	people	do),	your	body	remains	in	chaos	all	day,	every	day.	In
this	state	of	chaos	your	body	constantly	tries	to	restore	its	balance	but	never
quite	succeeds.	Sugar	is	so	damaging	to	body	chemistry	that,	in	his	2000	book,
Fit	for	Life:	A	New	Beginning,
Harvey	Diamond	calls	refined	sugar	“a	deadly,
virulent	poison.”
During	many	thousands	of	years	of	human	evolution,	our	ancestors	survived
fine	without	any	sugar	other	than	sugars	naturally	occurring	in	wild	fruits	andberries.	Refined	sugar	is	a	comparatively	recent	invention,	and	only	very
recently	has	it	become	a	dietary	staple.	In	1750,	when	it	was	first	introduced	to
North	America,	sugar	was	a	rare	and	expensive	commodity,	and	even	in	1900
the	average	person	ate	only	10	pounds	of	sugar	per	year.	By	1985,	sugar
consumption	had	risen	to	124	pounds	per	year,	and	by	the	year	2000	the	average
American	ate	a	whopping	160	pounds	of	sugar	per	year!	Most	of	us	cannot
comprehend	eating	this	much	sugar	because	we	fail	to	realize	that	it	is	in	almost
every	type	of	processed	food.	The	average	American	now	consumes	about	one
quarter	of	his	or	her	calories	from	sugar,	and	many	children	receive	almost	half
of	their	calories	from	sugar.
All	the	calories	from	sugar	are	empty	calories,	containing	virtually	none	of	the
nutrients	that	your	cells	need	so	desperately.	Furthermore,	sugar	is	an
antinutrient;
eating	sugar	drains	nutrients	from	your	body.
Certain	nutrients
(which	are	present	in	raw	sugarcane	but	not	in	refined	sugar)	are	needed	for	you
to	metabolize	the	sugar.	Your	body	must	obtain	these	nutrients	from	somewhere,
and	because	they	are	not	in	the	sugar	they	are	robbed	from	your	own	tissues—
thereby	depleting	your	health.
Sugar	consumption	contributes	not	only	to	the	more	obvious	health	problems
such	as	diabetes	and	tooth	decay,	but	also	to	heart	disease,	osteoporosis	and
immune	dysfunction.	If	you	want	to	avoid	colds	or	if	someone	in	your	family	is
“coming	down	with	a	cold,”	eliminate	sugar.
Our	society	constantly	worries	about	the	relationship	between	high-cholesterol
animal	products	and	heart	disease,	yet	sugar	is	a	more	serious	cause.	A	study	by
A.	M.	Cohen,	M.D.,	published	in	a	1961	issue	of	the	medical	journal
Lancet,
reports	that	Jews	from	Yemen	were	noted	to	have	very	little	heart	disease,	even
though	the	diet	in	Yemen	is	typically	high	in	animal	fat.	When	these	Jews
moved	to	Israel,	where	a	lot	of	sugar	is	common	in	the	diet,	rates	of	heart	disease
increased	dramatically.
Being	an	antinutrient,	sugar	also	causes	calcium	to	be	lost	in	the	urine,	forcing
the	body	to	remove	calcium	from	the	bones	in	order	to	keep	the	blood	calcium
levels	within	normal	limits.	By	taking	the	calcium	out	of	your	bones,	eating
sugar	contributes	to	osteoporosis.	People	concerned	about	or	already	suffering
from	osteoporosis	should	eliminate	sugar	from	their	diet.
Eating	sugar	causes	deficiencies	of	a	number	of	minerals,	including	calcium,
chromium,	magnesium	and	zinc.	When	you	do	not	have	enough	minerals,	your
body	has	difficulty	producing	sufficient	digestive	enzymes	needed	for	good
digestion.	Undigested	food	particles	can	enter	into	your	bloodstream,	creating
serious	problems	such	as	allergies	and	immune-deficiency	diseases.	This	is	whyfoods	consumed	with	sugar	(such	as	wheat,	corn,	milk	and	eggs)	become	the
most	common	allergens.	If	you	enjoy	your	foods	and	do	not	want	to	become
allergic	to	them,	learn	to	avoid	combining	them	with	sugar.
In	this	modern	age	of	AIDS,	autoimmune	and	other	immune	system	diseases,
sugar	creates	special	problems.	Sugar	damages	the	cells	of	our	immune	system,
creating	susceptibility	to	colds,	flu	and	other	immune-related	diseases.	Sugar
also	plays	a	crucial	role	in	the	development	of	diabetes.	The	mechanisms	for
controlling	blood	sugar	become	faulty	when	high	levels	of	sugar	are	present	in
the	diet.	Sugar	also	causes	a	calcium/phosphorous	imbalance,	which	makes	the
body	less	capable	of	breaking	proteins	down	into	the	amino	acids	that	are
required	to	make	essential	body	chemicals.	Even	traditional	doctors
acknowledge	that	sugar	causes	tooth	decay.	Historically,	natives	who	had	little
exposure	to	the	civilized	world	and	refined	sugar	had	almost	no	tooth	decay.
Sugar	is	bad	enough	by	itself,	but	also	it	is	a	dangerous	partner.	You	should
especially	avoid	combining	sugar	with	protein	(such	as	a	sweet	dessert	after


 I shall illustrate its need with another practical
case.
    A mother asked my assistance in planning the nutritional program for her boy. She reported that
he was five years of age and that he had been in bed in hospitals with rheumatic fever, arthritis and
an acute heart involvement most of the time for the past two and a half years. She had been told
that her boy would not recover, so severe were the complications. As is so generally the case with
rheumatic fever and endocarditis, this boy was suffering from severe tooth decay. In this
connection the American Heart Association has reported that 75 per cent of heart involvements
begin before ten years of age. My studies have shown that in about 95 per cent of these cases
there is active tooth decay. The important change that I made in this boy's dietary program was the
removal of the white flour products and in their stead the use of freshly cracked or ground wheat
and oats used with whole milk to which was added a small amount of specially high vitamin butter
produced by cows pasturing on green wheat. Small doses of a high-vitamin, natural cod liver oil
were also added. At this time the boy was so badly crippled with arthritis, in his swollen knees,
wrists, and rigid spine, that he was bedfast and cried by the hour. With the improvement in his
nutrition which was the only change made in his care, his acute pain rapidly subsided, his appetite
greatly improved, he slept soundly and gained rapidly in weight. In the first view, to the left, in Fig.
94, the boy is shown sitting on the edge of the bed at the end of the first month on this program.
His joints were still badly swollen and his spine so rigid that he could not rotate his head farther
than shown in the picture. In the center view he is shown about six months later, and in the third
view, one year later. This occurred six years ago. As I write this a letter has been received from
the boy's mother. She reports that he is taller and heavier than the average, has a good appetite
and sleeps well.
    In the newer light regarding the cause of rheumatic fever, or inflammatory rheumatism (discussed
in Chapter 21) there appear to be three underlying causes: a general lowered defense against
infection in which the fat-soluble vitamins play a very important part; minute hemorrhages in joint
tissues as part of the expression of deficiency of vitamin C, a scurvy symptom, and a source of
infecting bacteria such as streptococcus. This could be provided by his infected teeth. These
typical expressions of modern degeneration could not occur in most of the primitive races studied
because of the high factor of safety in the minerals and vitamins of their nutrition. It is important to
emphasize the changes that were made in our modern dietary program to make this boy's nutrition
adequate for recovery. Sugars and sweets and white flour products were eliminated as far as7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 165/250possible. Freshly ground cereals were used for breads and gruels. Bone marrow was included in
stews. Liver and a liberal supply of whole milk, green vegetables and fruits were provided. In
addition, he was provided with a butter that was very high in vitamins having been produced by
cows fed on a rapidly growing green grass. The best source for this is a pasturage of wheat and
rye grass. All green grass in a state of rapid growth is good, although wheat and rye grass are the
best found. Unless hay is carefully dried so as to retain its chlorophyll, which is a precursor of
vitamin A, the cow cannot synthesize the fat-soluble vitamins.
    These two practical cases illustrate the fundamental necessity that there shall not only be an
adequate quantity of body-building minerals present, but also that there shall be an adequate
quantity of fat-soluble vitamins. Of course, water-soluble vitamins are also essential. While I have
reduced the diets of the various primitive races studied to definite quantities of mineral and calorie
content, these data are so voluminous that it will not be appropriate to include them here. It will be
more informative to discuss the ratios of both body-building and repairing material in the several
primitive dietaries, in comparison with the displacing foods adopted from our modern civilization.
The amount of food eaten by an individual is controlled primarily by the hunger factor which for
our modernized groups apparently relates only to need for heat and energy. The dietaries adopted
have all been built on the basis of the heat and energy requirements of the body for the groups
living in the several districts and under their modes of life. These have been calculated for the
principal foods eaten by the various groups. The figures will be published in detail in a more
technical report. There are two simple ways in which these comparisons can be made. One is in
terms of normal body requirements; and the other in terms of the ratio between the mineral and the
vitamin content of the native foods and the displacing foods. If we use as a basis the ability of
individuals to remove half of the minerals present even though their bodies need more than this, we
will be more generous than the average individual's capacity will justify. This will require that we
double the amount, as specified for minimum body use by the United States Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, in their Bulletin R 409, that is, for calcium 0.68 grams; for phosphorus
1.32 grams; for iron 0.015 grams. The figures that will be used, therefore, are for twice the above
amounts: 1.36 grams of calcium; 2.64 grams of phosphorus; 0.030 grams of iron.
    Few people who have not been in contact with experimental data on metabolism can appreciate
how little of the minerals in the food are retained in the body by large numbers of individuals who
are in need of these very chemicals. We have seen that infants cannot absorb calcium from
spinach. If we are to provide nutrition that will include an adequate excess as a factor of safety for
overloads, and for such periods as those of rapid growth (for children), pregnancy, lactation and
sickness, we must provide the excess to the extent of about twice the requirements of normal
adults. It will therefore, be necessary for an adequate nutrition to contain approximately four times
the minimum requirements of the average adult if all stress periods are to be passed safely.
    It is of interest that the diets of the primitive groups which have shown a very high immunity to
dental caries and freedom from other degenerative processes have all provided a nutrition
containing at least four times these minimum requirements; whereas the displacing nutrition of
commerce, consisting largely of white-flour products, sugar, polished rice, jams, canned goods,
and vegetable fats have invariably failed to provide even the minimum requirements. In other words
the foods of the native Eskimos contained 5.4 times as much calcium as the displacing foods of the
white man, five times as much phosphorus, 1.5 times as much iron, 7.9 times as much magnesium,
1.8 times as much copper, 49.0 times as much iodine, and at least ten times that number of fat-
soluble vitamins. For the Indians of the far North of Canada, the native foods provided 5.8 times
as much calcium, 5.8 times as much phosphorus, 2.7 times as much iron, 4.3 times as much
magnesium, 1.5 times as much copper, 8.8 times as much iodine, and at least a ten fold increase in
fat-soluble activators. For brevity, we will apply the figures to calcium, phosphorus, magnesium,
iron and fat-soluble activators in order. The ratio in the Swiss native diets to that in the displacing
diet was for calcium, 3.7 fold; for phosphorus, 2.2 fold; for magnesium, 2.5 fold; for iron, 3.1 fold;
and for the fat-soluble activators, at least ten fold. For the Gaelics in the Outer Hebrides, the native
foods provided 2.1 times as much calcium, 2.3 times as much phosphorus, 1.3 times as much
magnesium, and 1.0 times as much iron; and the fat-soluble activators were increased at least ten7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 166/250fold. For the Aborigines of Australia, living along the eastern coast where they have access to sea
foods the ratio of minerals in the native diet to those in the displacing modernized foods was, for
calcium, 4.6 fold; for phosphorus, 6.2 fold; for magnesium, 17 fold; and for iron 50.6 fold; while
for the fatsoluble activators, it was at least ten fold. The native diet of the New Zealand Maori
provided an increase in the native foods over the displacing foods of the modernized whites of 6.2
fold for calcium, 6.9 fold for phosphorus, 23.4 fold for magnesium, 58.3 fold for iron; and the
fatsoluble activators were increased at least ten fold. The native diet of the Melanesians provided
similar


 the proper
body-type program.
WHY  DID IT  HAPPEN?
If you start to feel sick and the cause is Kapha imbalance, usually you
will either have a passing cold or flu, or else there is a pattern of illness you
detected early on in your life— allergies, asthma, obesity, and so on. In
either case, the following influences are likely to be present, either causing
or aggravating your condition:
A serious Kapha problem, such as diabetes, aller gies, or obesity, runs
in your family.
You have gained a lot of weight and feel depressed about it.
Your diet contains lar ge amounts of sugar, salt, fatty or fried foods,
heavy foods, dairy products (especially cheese, milk, and ice cream).
You have been under stress and react to it by withdrawing, feeling
insecure and unwanted.
You place excessive emphasis on possessing, storing, and saving
things.
You act dependent or overprotective in relationships.
You have been sleeping late more than a few days in a row.
The weather is cold and damp or snowy (typical winter and spring
weather).
In medical practice, an Ayurvedic physician diagnoses Kapha imbalance
by looking for the following symptoms:
MENT AL INDICA TIONSBEHA VIORAL  INDICA TIONS
PHYSICAL  INDICA TIONS
It is important to remember that any dosha can cause any symptom—
these are just the most common signs of a Kapha imbalance.
OceanofPDF.comCHAPTER 5
REST ORING THE BALANCE
Michelangelo’ s genius as a sculptor lay in his ability to see a finished statue
inside a rough block of marble.  His challenge was not to make a sculpture
but to release the one that was already there, imprisoned in the stone.
Essentially that is what you do when you bring yourself back into balance.
You are not creating a new you; you are releasing a hidden you. The process
is one of self-discovery.
The hidden you that wants to emer ge is in perfect balance. Finding it is
not a rote affair— every person achieves balance in his or her personal way.
Most people have no idea who they really are—or at best a very limited
idea—because they have no way to see their true nature. It is hidden from
them by their imbalances, like a lake bottom hidden by muddy water. Like
hunger and thirst, the instinct for balance is built into the human body. In
the practice of Ayurveda we try to bring people back into balance and at the
same time let their true nature shine through. The two processes are really
the same, as the following case study will show.
By his own estim ate, Norman, a writer in his early sixties, has not had a
good night’ s sleep in thirty years. Norman’ s insomnia is the classic Vata
kind: as soon as he gets into bed, his mind finds a dozen things to worry
about, and a hundred impression s from the day whirl in his head. He cannot
keep his attentio n off them, or off the ticking clock, the dripping faucet, and
the noises coming in from the street. He tosses restlessly all night without
feeling that he has slept for more than a half-hour at a stretch.
By the time he comes to see us, he is very discouraged, having tried a
long string of sleep remedies, from whiskey night-caps to barbiturates, none
of which worked for long. Over time, he has resigned himself  to his fate,
but only superficially—actually, Norman dreads bedtime and delays itevery night as long as he can. He keeps magazines piled by his side to read
whenever he wakes up. If he is too restless to read, he paces the floor, goes
to the bathroom, eats a midnight snack, or calls his insomniac friends for
long night-owl chats.
“It’s all because I’m Vata, isn’t it?” he mourns, having learned about the
prakruti system through reading about Ayurveda and taking a prakruti test.
“There’ s certainly Vata imbala nce here,” he is told, “but that doesn’ t
make you a Vata type.” He looks surprised. A thorough examination
discloses that he is mainly Pitta, with a strong Vata component. Even so, it
is not his Vata that made him insomniac but a history of throwing Vata
dosha out of balance, largely by the constant use of his mind: Norman
worked on his writing at all hours of the day and night and had never
seriously considered being completely regular in his habits. If he had, his
Vata aggravation might not have grown so bad over the years.
To make him see the healthier person inside himself, we began to explain
how balance works and how temporary imbalances become permanent.
A HUNDRED THERMOST ATS
Every function in the body has a home base it wants to return to, just as a
thermostat has its fixed set point. In fact, body temperature operates very
much like a thermostat. You can raise it by running half a mile or sitting
inside a sauna, but after you stop, your temperature will return to 98.6
degrees F. That is home base for your body’ s thermostat, established by
natural laws over the course of evolution. These laws are flexible, so you
can temp orarily depart from the normal setting of 98.6, but if you depart too
far or too long, there will be unpleasant repercussions.
One of the main reasons why human physiology is so complex is that
hundreds of thermostats have been installed inside us, each obeying its own
special set of natural laws—we  have not just one single balance point but
many. Their coordination is quite miraculous. You would think that thebloodstream, for example, would be a stew of biochemicals, considering the
bewildering number of hormones, nutrients, and diverse messenger
molecules that float through it. In fact, the bloodstream is so exactly
balanced that all these molecules go where they are needed with exquisitely
precise timing and in exact measure.
Similarly, the brain is capable of keeping track of all our overlapping
thermostats without confusion. One tiny portion of gray matter  in the fore-
brain, called the hypothalamus, weighing roughly one-sixth of an ounce, is
responsible for balancing an amazing number of diverse functions,
including fat and carbohydrate metabolism, sleeping and waking, appetite,
thirst, digestive secretions, levels of fluids, growth, body temperature—in
short, everything  that goes on automatically inside the body. Whatever you
do not have to think about is being looked after by your hypothalamus
(sometimes called “the brain’ s brain”).
What this shows is that balance  is a function of intelligence. We are not
really a collection of thermostats, because a thermostat cannot set itself: we
can. The original setting that you were born with is your prakruti, or given
nature. It serves as a guide, but you can manipulate it. Let’s say that
someone was born with a Pitta-V ata setting, as Norman was. We can
illustrate this prakruti with a simple diagram:PRAKRUTI
At birth, this set point determines the ideal balance for the three doshas
during the perso n’s whole lifetime. All of the hundreds of thermostats in the
body obey this master setting, just as they obey your hypothalamus. But
you can talk to your doshas much more easily than you can to your
hypothalamus. Vata predictably goes up when any aggravating influence,
such as cold weather, dry or moving air, fear, the taste of spicy food, and
staying up too late at night, touches it. These influences are the words that
say “more Vata” to the body. (Pitta and Kapha have their own catalysts.)
The baby who came into this world as a Pitta-V ata may grow up to look
like a very dif ferent adult:VIKRUTI
Now it appears that he is a Vata-Pitta, because the doshas have been
moved to new positions by the everyday influences of life, including food,
exercise, sleep, and emotions. Everything you think, say, do, see, feel,
smell, or taste moves your doshas, either a little or a lot. They are meant to
bounce back after traveling to a new position, following their instinct for
balance. In this case, as in Norman’ s, something went wrong.
The shaded zone is now topped by a blank area, standing for the
imbalances that have accumulated over time. They are called vikruti inAyurveda, a word that means “deviating from nature.” The two terms
prakruti and vikruti are thus opposites, one referring to what is natural for a
person, the other to what is not. You cannot push your doshas into a
configuration that is better than the one you were born with; you will only
create distance between yourself and nature. Skip a meal and you add a
little to your vikruti; go without sleep for a night and you add a little more.
Wrong food, bad sleeping habits, negative emotions, and physical or mental
strain all make life a little bit more unnatural, until eventually you find
yourself in the most unnatural of all conditions, a full-blown disease.
At the same time, your self-ima ge will also change—in place of positive
reactions, you


ome	of	you,	but	for	others,	it’s	a	distinct	possibility	that	you	may
have	a	drink	(or	a	few)	here	and	there,	as	well	as	some	big	nights	out.	(Though
if	you	are	serious	about	preserving	your	beauty,	these	would	be	increasingly	less
frequent.)
Alcohol	is	a	hepatotoxin,	meaning	it	specifically	damages	your	liver	and
impairs	your	body’s	ability	to	detoxify	itself.	Alcohol	is	also	dehydrating	and
causes	your	skin	to	look	less	fresh	and	smooth,	especially	the	day	after
imbibing.	There	is	no	doubt	that	alcohol	is	depleting.	If	and	when	do	you
decide	to	indulge,	there’s	some	important	information	to	keep	in	mind	when
picking	your	poison.
LIMIT
CONGENERSChances	are	you’ve	never	heard	of	congeners.	But	if	you	drink	alcohol,	you
have	unknowingly	consumed	them.	Congeners	are	substances	produced	during
fermentation	that	can	include	small	amounts	of	chemicals	such	as	esters,
tannins,	acetone,	methanol,	and	aldehydes.	Congeners	are	responsible	for	most
of	the	taste	and	aroma	of	distilled	alcoholic	beverages	and	may	contribute	to
the	symptoms	of	a	hangover.
40
	Darker	liquors	such	as	whiskey	or	scotch
contain	more	congeners	than	clear	liquors.	Research	has	suggested	that	whiskey
and	dark	liquors	can	produce	stronger	hangovers	due	to	their	high	levels	of
congeners.
41
	This	means	that	because	of	their	extra	impurities,	darker	liquors
hit	your	body	in
a	stronger	and	perhaps	more	damaging	and	aging	way.	If	you
are	going	to	drink	hard	liquor,	stick	to	clear	varieties	such	as	vodka	or	gin.
KEEP	IT	SIMPLE
The	simplest	drinks	are,	of	course,	shots,	but	these	are	definitely	not	the	best
idea	as	they	go	down	way	too	fast	and	may	lead	you	to	consume	far	more	than
you	realize.	A	better	option	is	to	nurse	a	simple	drink	of	vodka,	soda	water,	and
lime.	Avoid	sugary	mixers,	which	add	inflammation	on	top	of	the	toxic	effects
of	the	alcohol	and	further	age	your	skin,	adding	a	sallow	appearance,	dark
under-eye	circles,	and	puffiness.	Skip	the	mojitos	and	other	mixed	drinks	that
call	for	pure	cane	sugar.	Also	avoid	sugary	mixers	such	as	orange	juice,	sodas,
energy	drinks,	margarita	mixes,	and	the	like.	It’s	simply	too	much	for	your	poor
body	to	take	all	at	once.	If	you	really	want	a	sweet	drink,	try	adding	some	stevia,
xylitol,	or	a	little	coconut	sugar	or	raw	honey	to	unsweetened	and	diluted
cranberry	juice	and	vodka.	Of	course,	it	would	be	hard	to	find	this	at	a	bar,	but
you	could	make	it	for	yourself	and	your	friends	during	a	festive	home	hangout.
CHOOSE	RED	OVER	WHITE
Red
wine	contains	more	antioxidants	than	white,	so	it	is	generally	the	better
choice.	However,	red	wine	can	also	inflame	the	skin	and	trigger	a	histamine
release	in	some	people	(especially	those	of	Asian	descent).	This	can	cause
redness	and	preexisting	rosacea	to	flare	up.	Unfortunately,	wine	often	comes
with	added	sulfites,	and	the	sugars	in	wine	can	contribute	to	candida	and	sugar-
imbalance	issues.	Still,	if	you	have	none	of	these	aforementioned	issues,	red
wine	(in	moderation)	is	not	a	bad	choice.
SKIP	THE
BEER
Beer	shouldn’t	be	your	go-to	alcohol	of	choice	(minus	those	occasional
tailgating	parties,	perhaps).	Because	of	the	hops	that	are	used	to	brew	it,	beer
has	some	estrogenic	effects,	meaning	it	can	disrupt	your	hormones.
42
	It	can	alsobe	very
bloating	and	often	contains
gluten.
Toxic	Overload:	How	to	Deal	with	a
Hangover
Alright,	so	it	happened.	You	woke	up	feeling	completely	lousy	from	one	(or	a
few)	drinks	too	many.	It’s	too	late	now	to	try	to	alternate	drinks	with	water	or
to	pass	on	that	last	cocktail.	(Who	knew	it	would	come	back	to	bite	you
this
badly!)	What	should	you	do?
Drinking	lots	and	lots	of	room	temperature	water	to	rehydrate	your	entire
system	is	a	good	place	to	start.	You	can	also	sip	on	hot	water	with	lemon	to
help	flush	out	your
liver.	Add	some	ginger,	which	will	stimulate	digestion	and
help	you	process	the	excess	alcohol	lingering	in	your	system.	Coconut	water
will	also	help,	as	it	contains	potassium,	electrolytes,	and	some	B	vitamins	that
will	combat
de
hydration	and	replenish	your	body.
For	breakfast,	eating	fiber-filled	foods	will	make	you	feel	more	balanced.	A
simple	gluten-free	avocado	sandwich	will	stabilize	you,	and	the	carbohydrates	in
the	bread	will	absorb	the	excess	alcohol	in	your	system	while	helping	your	achy
head.	Also	try	eating	a	banana,	which	contains	potassium	and	B	vitamins,	to
help	replenish	what	your	body	lost	from	your	little	alcohol	binge;	some	oatmeal
with	a	banana	would	actually	be	a	fantastic	choice.
At	lunchtime,	a	hummus	and	veggie	wrap	or	sandwich	(preferably	with
gluten-free	bread)	can	also	be	comforting	and	digests	well	during	this	“delicate”
time.	A	nice	big	lentil	or	veggie	soup	with	some	brown	rice,	or	vegetarian	sushi
rolls,	are	also	good	choices.	Try	some	chopped	cabbage	either	in	a	salad	or	in	a
healthy	slaw	with	a	little	tahini	as	the	base.	The	cabbage	will	help	stabilize	your
blood	glucose	levels.	Stay	away	from	greasy	foods	(as	tempting	as	they	may	be)
or	the	misguided	“hair	of	the	dog”	approach	(which	refers	to	drinking	more
alcohol	the	next	morning	to	ease	a	painful	hangover),	which	will	just	add	to	the
digestive	burden	and	make	it	harder	for	you	to	get	back	to	normal.	Don’t
worry;	this,	too,	will	pass.SHIFT	3:
Radical	Beauty	Ratios	and
Macronutrient	Balance
Whether	they	came	from
Ireland,
Japan,	or
Namibia,	our	ancestors	didn’t
approach	health	and	beauty	by	hunching	over	calculators	and	calorie-tracking
apps.	They	certainly	had	no	intention	of	figuring	out	to	the	last	milligram	how
much	was	needed	of	every	nutrient	and	micronutrient.	Analyzing	numbers,
which	often	leads	quickly	to	obsessing	over	them,	is	not	natural,	and	your	goal
is	to	move	closer	to	your	body’s	natural	intelligence	so	you	can	express	more	of
your	own	natural	beauty.
Knowing	what’s	in	each	food	requires	too	much	time	and	effort	that	is	much
better	spent	reaching	a	single	goal:	knowing	just	a	few	essential	ratios.	These
ratios	will	be	enough	to


 and from then on its exponents and
practitioners, persisting in the face of scientific opposition, gradually accomplished their purpose by proving their content ions, and
at length have the satisfaction of seeing their conclusions accepted and adopted without a pology or acknowledgment by what may
be termed intellectuaI authority.

There is no form of ignorance that is so difficult to overcome and to instruct as is of the "scientific" mind. And, when the latter, as
it sometimes does, obtains a conception of its error, it is extremely loth to admit, first, that it has not always been in possession of
the truth, and, second, that it should render due credit to the mind responsible for its change of concept or belief. And, if  the
position of the individual be such t hat he may with authority employ the power of mere assertion, it is usually much the easier way
to announce as one's own discovery that which formerly one has denied and condemned, perhaps through prejudice, but more
often through sheer ignorance.

In thi s connection quotations are made from several articles and books recently issued by medical authors. These screeds are given
with small comment, but they serve to illustrate the contemptuous attitude assumed by those of whom Louis Kuhne years ago sai d
this: "Everywhere the new science of healing finds sympathetic acceptance, except among a few sceptics and those who believe
that they know everything better than anyone else, and who generally consider it superfluous to make practical trial of any m ethod
strange to the tenets of their own."

First let us hear Dr. W. A. Evans, who writes How to Keep Well, a syndicated letter at present published daily in various
newspapers throughout the country. Dr. Evans has this to say about fasting:
"On the shelves of the  Crerar Library (Chicago), or any other library of similar equipment, are many books on fasting. I
know none that is even half way scientific, nor a quarter way trustworthy. One reason for this is that fasting is the sport o f
amateurs, as one writer calls it. He might have added that it is the fad of faddists and the field of the faker. To further
complicate matters, it is all mixed up with religion. Every religion has always had religious feasts, which are gorges, and
its fasts.

"Prof. Morgulis of the Un iversity of Nebraska has just put out a truly scientific book on the subject. The only trouble
about this book is that it is so accurate, scientific, and technical that the man who needs it most cannot understand it.
Page 34 of  72
"Fasting is a remedial agent of enorm ous power --power for good and power for harm. Nothing the doctor carries in his
saddle bags approximates fasting in its therapeutic possibilities. In fact, a doctor attends a patient through a long illness,
giving him four kinds of medicine four times ever y day, it is probable that the under -nutrition through which the patient
has passed by reason of his loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, or other quality of his disease, or the dieting to which h e
was subjected, influenced both the patient and his disea se far more than did the medicine which was given.
Comes now Dr. Frederick M. Allen, A. B., M. D., of the Rockefeller Institute Hospital, who about the year, 1915, advanced his
"discovery" of the "starvation treatment" of diabetes. There is no need to dev ote more time to him than to say that as far back as
1878 Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey successfully employed the fast in treating diabetes mellitus.

A quotation now follows from Fasting and Undernutrition, the book of Professor Morgulis of the University of N ebraska College
of Medicine. This is the author mentioned by Dr. Evans, who attributes to the Professor the only scientific work written upon  the
fast--so scientific in fact that the man who needs it most cannot understand it. In his book Professor Morguli s has devoted himself
solely to the physiological aspect of abstinence from food with its effects upon animals in health, neglecting its therapeuti cal
possibilities, excepting to say in his preface: --"In the hands of the skilful practitioner of medicine total abstinence from food may
prove a wonderfully effective weapon in restoring health. The therapeutic value of inanition, however, should be studied
experimentally and not be left to the judgment of amateur enthusiasts. The practical value of inanition wi ll never be fully utilized
until both laymen and the medical profession lose their instinctive fear of fasting". (My italics.) Professor Morgulis, scien tific in
mind and expression though he may be, makes in the statement given the egregious error of confu sing inanition, starvation, with
fasting, forgetting or perhaps not knowing that there is no malnutrition comparable to the starvation that accompanies overea ting.

Quotations from the writings of these men of science are made thus at length for several r easons. It is desired that the reader may
be impressed with the truth that fasting for therapeutic purposes --fasting for the prevention and relief of disease --has been known
and practiced for all of the historic ages of man. It is also to be emphasized tha t all animate nature, save man, instinctively refuses
food when physical balance is disturbed. And, whether the discussion conducted herein be from the standpoint of science
"scientific" or not, it will stand the sole test that makes for truth in that the results connoted are based upon long, faithful, and
accurate observation and experiment of minds as capable of receiving and recording the phenomena connected with abstinence
from food in illness or in health as are those of the scientists quoted. And it s hould possess the further distinction of being easily
understandable by him who needs it most.

The premises of the argument underlying the application of a fast for therapeutic will bear repetition. Disease, in whatever form
evidenced, whatever the sympt om displayed, has its origin at the threshold of digestion. In disease itself lies relief. Disease and
cure, viewed from the standpoint of nature, are a unity. The former may not be suppressed lest the latter fail of attainment.  When
an organism, constitut ed as is the body of man, becomes the victim of its own violation of hygienic law, when the avenues through
which vital force, the source of life, is transmitted, are permitted to become obstructed, unless these channels are cleansed, are
opened for the pa ssage of energy, life ceases and death occurs. In order that the passages through which the life principle reaches
the separate parts of the human body may be free and unobstructed, a system of elimination exists. Building of tissue --
assimilation --takes pl ace as the result of food ingested and digested, but health depends upon a balance between nutrition and
elimination. And there is no eliminative agency known to science comparable with a properly administered fast.

Dr. Evans has said that the book of Pr ofessor Morgulis is a treatise upon the fast that is truly scientific. And there is no doubt that
Fasting and, Undernutrition is a thesis most carefully prepared and couched in purely scientific terms. But it deals entirely with
inanition in healthy animals and with a few short fasts undertaken by healthy human professionals. Fasting in health and fast ing
when disease is in evide nce are two distinct processes, and the writer believes that even science must concede differing chemical
transformations and reactions in sickness and in health. And further, because the results of many years of observation, exper iment,
and induction are placed before students in terms that are easily understandable, it must not be concluded that the truths discovered
and related are non -scientific and are to be discarded as fallacies. Yet the professed scientist is most free in offering the sort of
critic ism mentioned and inferred, and this has its weight with those who are subservient to intellectual authority, with those who
are either unwilling or incapable of thinking for themselves.

It is thus seen that obstacles are put in the way of the practice o f fasting as a therapeutic measure by the scientist and by the
ignorant layman, but this has a direct advantage in promoting investigation, for criticism, especially from scientific source s,
necessarily induces in an intelligent and conscientious observer intense concentration upon all phases of the subject. No point that
may conduce to favorable issue is overlooked; no natural law or accessory is permitted to remain without investigation.
Considerations merely selfish in character might here prove motives for a certain sort of endeavor --desire for gain, the hope of
triumphing over other schools. But a broader deeper feeling actuates the true student of nature In him the search for perfect
understanding of cause and effect, the giving of a truth to the world  the relief of physical suffering, are the stimuli that impel him
to surmount the obstacles he meets and that bring success to his labors.

The discovery of the general therapeutic worth of the fast was soon followed by a knowledge of its value as a diagn ostic agent.
Page 35 of  72 Properly directed, the method never fails to uncover every weak point in an ailing body, to reveal the exact location of orga nic
distress or defect, the focal point of disease. Continued experiment and observation established the desirability of correct approach
to complete abstinence from food through gradual diminution of intake, thus insuring systemic accommodation to the
physiological changes involved,


 just
going into a real house was going to be a novelty for me.
The Griffises’ house was a warm country home. The
walls were pecky cypress, milled long ago on-site. Mrs.
Griffis had cooked up a southern meal with plenty of
vegetables, sin ce she had heard that I was a vegetarian.
The conversations were warm and friendly, and it really
felt as though we were all family. At one point, Mr.
Griffis said something I will never forget. He said,
“Before we met you three, w e used to think that hippies
were the dirtiest, filthiest things on Earth. You know,
we’ve really come to love you boys.” It was another one of
those b eautiful moments th at started me thinking—
where were all these unbelievable experiences coming
from? Someh ow, deeply touching experiences kept
coming from the most unexpected places. It was really
starting to blow me away.
As days  turned into weeks, the house began to take
shape. Once the outside sidin g was up, you could really
begin to feel the inside space. Bobby Altman then posed
a q uesti on I had never though t of—which of us was going
to do the electrical wiring? Though I had never done
such a thing, I volunteered. Bobby handed me a small
book on electrical wiring from  one of his courses and left
me on my own. His confidence in my ability to do the
entire electrical system for the house rather astounded
me. Bu t if he t hought I could do it, then I could—and I
did. A great spiritual teacher once said, “Every day bite
off more than you can chew, and chew it.” Life was
teaching me some very important lessons.
We laid  pinewood floors throughout the house, put
cedar d ecks in both the fro nt and back, and hired a
plumber to install exposed, c ast-iron plumbing pipes for
the bath room area. By then, the house had taken on a life
of it s own. We had put our he arts and souls into buildingthat house, and we were ve ry proud of what we had
accomplished. To me, it had started out as a project to
build a quick, s imple meditation hut, and it turned into a
one-of-a-kind life experience. But it wasn’t the one I
longed for. All I really wanted was to go into solitude and
work on  my heart’s only desir e—absolute peace, stillness,
and freedom. With the house finished, the time for that
work had finally arrived.November 1971: All I wanted was a ti ny meditation hut—just look
at what life gave us to build!House finished—time for solitude.1 1.
G e t  T h e e  t o  a  M o n a s t e r y
I  moved  into my new house in November 1971. I
remember it was November because just before I moved
in, my sister, Kerry, and he r husband came up from
Miami to visit me for Thanksgiving. This was very brave
of them, considering they were regular folk. Harvey was
a successful accountant, and he and Kerry were used to a
nice ho use and comfortable living conditions. When they
showed up, I was busy finishi ng the final checklist before
moving out of my van and int o the house. Harvey helped
me inst all the last two windows and then insisted on
having Thanks giving dinner with me. That meant they
joined m e sitting outside on rocks and cooking what we
could o n an open fire. Person ally, I think they had come
up to check on me to see if I w as still halfway sane. I had
been w ithout a phone number for a long time, and I’m
sure my family must have been concerned about me.
Once Kerry and Harvey left, I was glad to be alone
again with my beautiful new house. All I had wanted was
a simple place to fully focus on my meditations. What I
got was a gift from the invisible hand that had taken over
my life.  That’s  what I called  it back then—the invisible
hand. From the beginning of my awakening, I had
inwardly begge d for help in knowing who I was, the one
who wa s watching the voice o f the mind. From that point
forward, it was as though something had reached down
and grabbed me by the ponyt ail and begun to pull me up.
My who le outer life had been ripped away from me in the
blink of an eye. In its place I had been shown the beauty
and peace of an inner state that was beyond anything I
had eve r imagined. That touch of the beyond had lit myheart aflame. I had a fire bur ning in the pit of my being
that never left me alone—eve n for a moment. It was like
a b ecko ning, a calling to come home. At that stage of my
awakening, the only way I knew how to get back was to
willfully push my way through myself with the intense
discipline of Zen meditation. As I sat at the threshold of
the door that o pened into the beautiful place that life had
given m e to do this work, I reverently bowed my head.
This wa s my temple, my monastery, and I vowed to use it
well.
I wa s ve ry surp rised to find t hat the monastic lifestyle
came q uite naturally to me. I awoke every morning at
3:00 a.m. and sat for a few h ours of meditation. I would
then do contemplative walkin g out on the fields. In those
early days, I w as still holding on to the concept that it
was all about concentration a nd focus. When I walked, I
would become  acutely aware of every step I took and
every movement of my body. This helped to prolong the
peace I  felt from my morning meditations. I would then
do y oga postures outside un til it was time for my noon
meditation. I held the rope of self-discipline very tightly,
every day. It was an extremely strict lifestyle, very
different from anything I had ever experienced. But just
as a n athlete is  willing to give everything, every day and
night, t o train for the Olympics, so I was willing to give
everything, eve ry moment, to drop the part of me that
was holding me back from wh ere I so desperately wanted
to go.
It d idn’t take long before I noticed that food had a
major effect on my practices. The less I ate, the easier it
was to fall into a meditative s tate. So I tested the limits of
how far I could go without eating. The balance I reached
was to eat a small dinner salad every other day and fast
in between. My intention was to give up everything
possible that pulled my attention outward. This would
allow me to more fully focus on the deeper inner states.My nighttime routine began  at sunset. Somehow the
setting sun strongly affected the force that pulled me into
meditation. I was always on my meditation pillow before
the sun started setting. After a few hours of meditation, I
would m ake my way upstairs to go to sleep. I had no
alarm clock; I awoke naturally at 3:00 a.m. every
morning to start the regimen again.
I d on’t know where I got the i dea that if I held the rope
tight enough, my lower self w ould go away and leave me
alone. But that is how I lived for about a year and a half.
The par t of me that had dominated my entire previous
way of life had no place in my new life. There were no
perks fo r him, and every day he fought back less and less.
The noisy, demanding personal part of me didn’t go away
—he just began to resign himself to the intense
discipline. I thought it was working, but I would soon
come to see that I was very wrong.1 2.
W h e n  t h e  D i s c i p l e  I s  R e a d y,  t h e  M a s t e r
A p p e a r s
O ther than for schoolwork, r eading books had never
played a  major role in my life. But just as Three Pillars of
Zen  had shown u p exactly when I was ready for it, so
another book had found its  way to me just before I
moved into my house. It was given to me by Bob Merrill,
a friend  of mine who, like me, was very much into yoga
and meditation.
One day while I was still living in my van, Bob gave me
the book called Autobiography of a Yog i  by
Paramahansa Yogananda, a holy man from India. I
remember tryi ng to start this book the evening Bob had
given it  to me, but after a few  pages I had to put it down.
Not because I didn’t like it, but because each word I read
kept drawing me into such a deep meditative state that I
couldn’t continue reading. I tried again the next night.
The same thing happened. I didn’t understand what was
going on, but I was certainly intrigued by the experience.
I de cided to pack the book away until


ali-m.) INTERNALMATERIAMEDICA
EMOTIONAL/MENTALSYMPTOMS
Angry.Anxious.Desirescompany.Dislikesbeing
touched;beingalone.Expression:haggard;suffering.
Fearfulofbeingalone.Irritable.Jumpy.Sensitiveto
noise.Sluggish.Touchy.
Thesearetouchyindividualswhoareanxious,irri-
tableandsluggishallatthesametime.Theydonot
wanttobealoneandyettheyarenotthewelcoming
type!Theyarehighlystrung,beingeasilystartledboth
bynoisesandbyunexpectedtouch,eitherwhile
awakeorasleep.Theyoftentalkandmoanintheir
sleep.
PHYSICALCOMPLAINTS
Backache
SymptomsPains:inlowerback;sore,bruised;
stitching.
Betterforpressure.
Worsearound3a.m.;beforemenstrualperiod;after
longsitting;forwalking.
Thisbackachemayoccurafterinjury,andthepains,
whicharemuchworseintheearlyhoursofthe
morning,drivethepersonoutofbed.
Cough
SymptomsBreathingwheezing.Cough:dry;hard;
irritating;loose;racking;vomiting;violent;wakens
personatnight.Paininchest:cutting;stitching.
Withnausea;vomiting.
Worsefordeepbreathing;forbecomingcold;during
fever;duringtheevening;forheat;forlyingdown;in
themorning;atnight;fortalking;around3a.m.
Causesgettingchilled.
Thepersonhastositupandleanforwardtocough,
andtogetsomerelief.Chestpainswithacough(chest
infection)areoftenright-sidedandarecutting,knife-
likeorstitching,withafeelingofirritationinthewhole
respiratorytract.
Fever
SymptomsSweating:profuse;fromslightestexer-
tion.
Betterinbed;forheat.
Worseaftereating.
Headache
SymptomsPains:aboveeyes;inforehead;shooting;
tearing.
Worseforcold;onleftsideofhead.
Causeseyestrain.Indigestion
SymptomsBelly/stomach: feelsbloated;feelsfull.
Painssore,bruised.
Betterforbelching.
Worseaftereating.
Feelsbloatedandfullaftereating-everythingturnsto
gas.
Insomnia
SymptomsDreams:anxious;nightmares.
Worsebeforemidnight;around1-2a.m.
Thepersonwillbesleepyintheeveningbutwillbe
unabletogettosleep,oralternatively willfallasleep
easily,haveawfuland/oranxiousdreamsandwakein
theearlymorning,unabletogetbacktosleep.
Jointpain
SymptomsArmsfeelweak.Legsrestless.Pain:in
arms/hip/legs/shoulder; sore,bruised;stitching;tear-
ing.
Betterformovement;forwalking.
Worsearound2-3a.m.;forlyingonpainfulpart.
Thereisjerkingongoingtosleep.Handsandfeetfeel
coldandnumbandlegsfallasleepeasily.
Labourpains
SymptomsPains:inback;distressing;ineffectual;
weak;stopaltogether.
Piles
SymptomsPileslarge.
Causeschildbirth.
Toothache
SymptomsPainsstitching.
Worsewhileeatinganddrinking;colddrinks/food;
hotdrinks/food.
KALIMURIATICUM (Kali-m.)
Othernames:chlorideofpotash;potassiumchloride
Potassiumchlorideoccursnaturallyintheformof
themineralsilvite.Itisfoundingranularcrystalline
massesinsaltdepositsinGermanyandPoland.
Potassiumchlorideisanimportantpotassiumcom-
poundanditaccountsformostoftheconsumptionof
potassiumsaltsbecauseofitsextensiveuseasaferti-
liser.Italsoplaysamajorroleinmakingchemicals.
Thehomeopathicremedyispreparedfrompotassium
chloridebytrituration.
INTERNALMATERIAMEDICA Kaliphosphoricum (Kali-p.) •103
GENERALSYMPTOMS
Dischargeswhite.White-coatedtongue
Thisisasmallremedythatdoesnothavestrong
generalsymptomsbutitisanimportantadditionto
anyfirst-aidkitthatdealswithcolds.Itskeynoteis
whiteness-andthisisfoundeverywhere:onthe
tongue,inthemouth,andinallthedischarges. Itis
worthconsideringforanycoldthathasmovedbeyond
thefirststageandsettledinbuthasnotasyetturned
intoamoreseriousinfection,withyellowgreen
discharges.
Therearenomarkedemotional/mental symptoms.
PHYSICALCOMPLAINTS
Commoncold
SymptomsNasalcatarrhwhite.
Thisisforthesecondstageofacold,whenthenasal
dischargehaschangedfromclearandwaterytowhite
(beforeitturnsyellow).Itisforstuffyheadcoldswith
thickwhitemucus.Theglandsmaybeswollen.
Cough
SymptomsCough:barking;hard;short.
Earache
SymptomsWithnoisesintheear.Deafnessaftera
cold.Glandsswollen.
Worseforswallowing.
Theearssnap,crackleandpoponblowingthenoseor
onswallowing,anddeafnessremainsafteracold
becauseofcatarrhintheEustachiantubes.
Indigestion
SymptomsWith:diarrhoea;stoolspale.
Worseaftereatingstarchyfood.
Sorethroat
SymptomsTonsils:swollen;white.
Thrush
SymptomsInbreastfeeding babies.Tongue/gums
coatedwhite.
KALIPHOSPHORICUM (Kali-p.)
Othernames:potassiumphosphate;phosphateof
potash
Kaliphosphoricum isaconstituentofallanimalfluids
andtissuesandespeciallyofthebrain,nerves,mus-clesandbloodcells.Itisproducedbymixingaqueous
phosphoricacidwithpotassiumhydrateorcarbonate.
Thehomeopathicremedyispreparedfrom
potassiumphosphatebytrituration.
GENERALSYMPTOMS
Anaemia.Exhaustion:causedbyflu;nervous.
Sweating:whentired;profuse;aftertheslightest
physicalexertion.
Betterforheat;forrest.
Worseforcold;forexercise;forexcitement;formental
exertion;forworry.
Kaliphosphoricum isanervenutrientfoundinthe
tissuesandfluidsofthebrainandnervecells.Itis
indicatedincasesofnervousexhaustionwhere
anaemia,nervousheadachesandorinsomniaare
present. Itisespeciallyusefulforexhaustionthat
followsabadcaseoffluanditisalsousefulinthe
convalescentstageofanacuteillnesswherethereis
muscularweakness.Thistirednessisoftenaccompa-
niedbysweatingfromeventhegentlestexertion.The
patientsareverysensitivetocoldairandcoldin
general,andalltheircomplaintsareworseforcold.
Theyfeelbetterfor-anddesperatelyneed-warmth
andrest.
EMOTIONAL/MENTAL SYMPTOMS
Anxious.Complaintsfrom:mentalstrain;overwork.
Depressed.Forgetful.Jumpy.
Thisremedyisforthosewhoareexhaustedfollowing
aheavyworkorstudyperiodandwhosenervesare
consequently frayed.Theybecomesensitive,easily
startledanddepressed-atruesortofdepressionof
themindwherethememorynolongerworksaswell
asitdid,withresultantanxiety.Themindbecomes
exhaustedandsluggish.Sensitivitytonoiseandlight
areoftenpresent.
PHYSICALCOMPLAINTS
Backache
SymptomsPains:inspine;sore,bruised.
Bettertormovement.
Thespinefeelssoreandbruisedandthearmsandlegs
heavyandcold.
Headache
SymptomsHeadachenervous.Pains:one-sided.
Causesmentalexertion;overwork.
Thesearetheheadachesofstudentswhobecome
wornoutbvover-studvandareunabletothink.
104•Kalisulphuricum (Kali-s.) INTERNALMATERIAMEDICA
Indigestion
SymptomsIndigestionnervous.Belly/stomach
feelsemptv.
Causesnervousexhaustion;overwork.
Thereisanervous,emptyfeelinginthestomach
whichisonlytemporarilvrelievedbveating.This
indigestionaccompaniesthenervousexhaustionand
depression.
Insomnia
SymptomsWithemptyfeelinginpitofstomach.
Causesanxiety;excitement;mentalstrain;nervous
exhaustion.
Thisisthesortofsleeplessnessthatfollowsaperiodof