 the mouth. It is really
understandable why nobody is happy about root canals. They do not usually make you feel well. With root canals, the dentist is manually accomplishing the cleansing of the interior of the tooth that
your body has, due to imbalances, become incapable of doing for itself. Infections do not usually
occur in healthy people; but if they do occur, the body quickly heals the infection. In unhealthy people,
or people who are in moderate health but have a poor diet, infections cannot heal. Thus, a dentist is
required to support their bodies in healing the infection. Infections also rarely occur in people who
have a good bite, because correct bite places less stress upon teeth. The problem with root canals is that the reason for the infection is not addressed. The cause of the
infection could be a poor diet and an infection can loom up from below the root of the tooth, perhaps
at first unseen. The tooth may be traumatized or damaged by excessive biting pressures. Cleaning out
the guts of the tooth does not get to the root of the problem! Should You Remove A Root Canalled Tooth? Nearly every root canalled tooth contains within it toxic material. In a minority of people, their body
can wall off this source of infection, and they can be relatively unaffected by a root canal. If you
suffer from serious or debilitating chronic health problems, consider seeing a professional who can
help you determine if your root canals are causing your health problems. Infected root canals often go
undetected by x-rays and can wreak havoc in the body. The danger of any root canal you already have
is likely related to how unhealthy the tooth was in the first place. Root canals can be tested with a
TOPAS test, electrical testing devices or muscle testing to help identify a root canal that is
significantly harming your health. The root canal procedure hides the pain of the infection, but usually it does not get down into the bone
and tooth root tips where the infection may exist. The procedure also does not address the causative
reason why the tooth is infected in the first place. Thus hidden infections can lurk at root canal sites. If your health is not noticeably suffering, then many dentists believe you should keep your rootcanalled teeth. 21
 Currently there is no real natural replacement for your tooth. And although we have
the means to make healthy natural tooth replacements, I would not expect this technology to be
available, successful, or affordable for at least 20 years. Once you remove your tooth there is no
turning back. Your bite and your ability to chew are supported by your tooth, even if it has a root canal. Numerous
people have told me personally that they have regretted getting their root canalled teeth pulled
because of how it affected their chewing or bite. An alternative to pulling a current tooth with root
canal is to have your root canal resterilized with the newest technologies such as EndoCal 10. That
being said, there is a time and place for certain root canalled teeth to be removed, and doing so has
saved some people’s lives. Safer Root Canals and Avoiding Root Canals at the Dental Office
EndoCal 10, formerly known as Biocalex is a form of calcium oxide. Holistically oriented dentists
have reported good results from using this material. The root of the tooth needs to be carefully sealed
up from toxins before this material is used. As an alternative to a root canal, dentists can use the precision of a laser to vaporize infections in
teeth without traumatizing the dental nerve. 22
 This treatment can also save teeth from needing root
canals or crowns. So rather than ripping the entire nerve of your tooth out, the dentist helps it heal and
leaves it in place. Tooth infections can also be relieved sometimes by homeopathic injections to
stimulate healing in a specific area of the jaw. These are much better ideas than root canals. Does Your Tooth Need a Root Canal? A root canal is a heroic last resort treatment to spare removal of a tooth whose life has otherwise
ended. A root canal is performed to clean up dangerous material and swelling that is not healing
naturally. Without severe pain or inflammation, your tooth, while it may have a cavity, is still
probably in relatively good health. So you do not want to remove the top of it and gut its insides
unless there is no other option left. A majority of root canals are unnecessary. I do not recommend or encourage the treatment. However
in a case where there is absolutely no other choice, you will need to decide with your dentist and
health practitioner if you want to try a carefully executed root canal or extract the tooth. If you are not
in the situation of “there is no other choice,” then you do not need a root canal. A root canal is not
usually needed with cracked teeth that can be bonded together or in the case of inflamed areas near a
tooth that could be a gum infection, not a tooth infection. If your tooth has never had a dental
treatment, and it has not been severely traumatized then there is a very high likelihood that you do not
need a root canal. If your tooth is inflamed, the inflammation can be treated with a good diet and
herbs. Holistically oriented dentists also have tools to calm an infection, such as homeopathic
injections and lasers to stimulate healing. If you have been told that you need a root canal but you do
not feel any sort of pain, swelling or inflammation, then you more than likely do not need this dental
treatment. My concluding advice when considering whether to get a root canal is to ask yourself, “Does mybody really need this treatment?” and, “Would a root canal contribute to my improved health?”
How to Heal Tooth Inflammation or Tooth Infection (Tooth Abscess) and Avoid That Root
Canal (these guidelines are not for children)
Many inflamed or infected teeth can heal naturally. But there are many cases where they cannot heal
naturally and need the help of the dentist’s hand to protect the tooth so that it can heal. In particular,
teeth that are crowned, extensively traumatized, or with large mercury fillings can be very difficult to
heal only with nutrition. This is because we are faced with a tooth that has suffered years and years of
trauma. The trauma has come from biting forces, nighttime clenching or grinding, and a poor diet. After years and years of abuse, the tooth finally fails. It is a tall order to reverse a tooth that far gone
with nutrition alone because it could take months to rebuild the structure of such a traumatized tooth. The more suggestions you can follow on this list, the better your chances of healing a tooth infection
in addition to following the previously presented dietary guidelines. Tooth Infection (Abscess) Healing Guidelines

1
. Eat the tooth infection formula (chapter 6). 2
. Take two teaspoons of cod liver oil, or Blue Ice™ Royal Blend per day. 3
. Reduce biting forces by wearing a night guard. 4
. Reduce biting stress by supplemental treatments including cranial osteopathy, chiropractic
treatments on the jaw, acupressure, acupuncture, myofascial release, to name a few. 5
. Avoid all grains. 6
. Do not eat any fruit or sweets at all. 7
. Use herbal topical treatments (see “Healing Tooth Pain” in this chapter). 8
. Natto (special fermented soybeans) or the enzyme from natto, nattokinase increases blood
circulation and can help reduce infections. 9
. Prayer. What is vital to understand here is that if you do have an infection, you are at a very delicate point
with regard to your health. If the infection becomes more severe, which can happen rapidly if you are
not careful, then your health is at risk. Please note that the success rate for curing a tooth infection
will be lower than that for curing a cavity, as the infection is an indication of a more severe
imbalance. Eating raw animal fats and proteins significantly increases the chance of healing the tooth
infection. If your health is otherwise compromised, such as if you have a chronic or debilitating disease, then
please seek help from a minimally invasive dentist as the remedies here may not help you to a
significant degree. If you are taking the correct action, the tooth infection should not progress any further and the pain
should not increase. You can expect a moderate improvement in 12-24 hours, and a more significant
improvement with noticeable pain reduction in 24-48 hours. If you do not see this type of
improvement, then you need immediate dental intervention.Understanding Tooth Infections
There are different types of infections so this description may not include the type of infection that you
have. The phases of a tooth infection are:

1
. Rednc8ess and swelling in the gums above the tooth. 2
. Bumps or an additional swollen spot in gum above the tooth. 3
. Small white ball of pus forming. 4
. Large ball of pus in gum. 5
. Swelling in face and neck. 6
. Fever and severe swelling in face, neck and other parts of the body. You can easily tell if you have an infection based upon the amount of pain you feel. Swelling and
severe pain means a tooth infection. The infection can progress or regress through the different stages. When the infection is not visible, and cannot be seen on the x-ray, then the infection is gone from the
perspective of requiring a dental treatment on


	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	a
steak	dinner,	or	orange	juice	with	eggs	in	the	morning). In	combination,	they
react	and	form	damaging	compounds	called	AGEs	(advanced	glycation	end
products). AGEs	may	even	form	within	your	foods	before	you	eat	them,	if	sugar
and	protein	are	cooked	together	(such	as	baked	goods	containing	eggs	and	sugar,
or	a	ham	baked	with	brown	sugar	on	top). These	AGEs	are	known	to	promote
heart	disease,	high	blood	pressure,	cataracts	and	arthritis. Eating	refined	sugar	is	destructive	to	human	health	because	it	causes	vitamins,
minerals	and	hormones	to	become	imbalanced,	which	throws	the	body	into
biochemical	chaos	for	several	hours. The	body,	desperately	scrambling	to	right
itself,	depletes	itself	of	vital	nutrients. The	most	important	and	universal	dietary
recommendation	I	can	make	to	everyone	is	to	cut	as	much	sugar	(and	foods
made	with	sugar)	from	their	diet	as	possible. Those	children	who	are	consuming
up	to	half	their	calories	as	sugar	become	sitting	ducks	for	infections	and	future
problems	such	as	diabetes,	osteoporosis,	cancer,	arthritis	and	heart	disease. Eating	sugar	is	death	by	installment. White	Flour:	Quick,	Inexpensive	and	Destructive
Almost	all	bread,	pasta	and	baked	goods	are	made	of	white	flour—an	easy-to-
use,	easy-to-store,	highly	processed	derivative	of	what	was	once	a	wheat	grain. Wheat	is	a	good	and	nutritious	food,	but	by	the	time	wheat	gets	ground	up	and
processed	into	white	flour,	it	bears	little	resemblance	(physically	or	nutritionally)
to	wheat. White	flour	contains	little	nutrition,	is	toxic	and	is	an	antinutrient	(likesugar). Yet	the	average	American	consumes	more	than	two	hundred	pounds	of
white	flour	every	year. Almost	all	of	the	nutrients	once	contained	in	wheat	are	lost	in	the	process	of
creating	white	flour	(including	60	percent	of	the	calcium,	77	percent	of	the
magnesium,	78	percent	of	the	zinc,	89	percent	of	the	cobalt,	98	percent	of	the
vitamin	E,	80	percent	of	vitamins	B
1
and	B
3
,	and	75	percent	of	the	folic	acid). Also	lost	are	the	essential	fatty	acids	and	fiber. Worse	still,	many	nutrients	are
needed	in	order	for	your	body	to	metabolize	the	flour	for	energy. Because	the
flour	does	not	contain	those	nutrients,	your	body	is	robbed	of	the	nutrients,
similar	to	what	happens	when	you	eat	sugar. In	1941,	severe	nutritional	problems	prompted	our	government	to	pass
legislation	requiring	that	certain	nutrients	be	added	back	to	the	flour. “Enriched
flour”	was	born. White	flour	has	lost	more	than	twenty-five	known	nutrients,	a
handful	are	added	back,	yet	we	still	call	flour	“enriched”	(instead	of,	perhaps,
“impoverished”). We	did	not	have	nutritional	deficiency	in	mind	when


 in practice, it means anything and everything be -
sides animal products. The word v egetable der
ives from the Latin vegetus, meaning lively, exciting or animated. It does not mean specific types of foods other than those which enliven or sustain us in
an energetic mode. Necessarily, by this definition, fruits are high-energy foods whereas vegetables are either low-energy foods or have drawbacks. Typical present-day vegetari -
an fare includes grains, tubers, root, stalks, stems, leaves, nuts, seeds, fruits, legumes and about ev erything else that does not mo v
e, bleed, cry or resist acquisition. Even though those who eat all fruits or a preponderance of them can correctly be called fruitarians, they may also be correctly called vegetarians. Personally, my intake is mostly fruit. I prefer to be called a fruitarian, though I do not object to being called a vegetar -
ian. Do you agree that, naturally, we are fruit-eaters? Are W e Nut and S
eed Eaters? In nature there is no doubt but that humans did consume some nuts. Even so, our ability
to derive nuts from their hard shells is limited. We do not have razor sharp teeth and tons of pressure per bite or jaw-power as have squirrels. Humans can crack certain nuts with their teeth. Very few of today’s degenerated version of humans can do it, but most nuts
can be cracked with strong jaws and good teeth. Even strong hands can crush nuts if at least two are taken and pressed against each other. Most nuts are delicious to us in their raw state. Unfortunately, our ability to handle nuts is rather poor—we’d need pointed, durable teeth, as rodents have, to gnaw through nut shells. Nuts that we savor are in a storage form,
62
Fruiticulturethat is, as fats, proteins and invert sugars or starches. Digestion of nuts into fatty acids,
amino acids, and glucose is a long drawn out process, most often taking hours. Whether we did or did not consume nuts in nature makes little difference to us today. Most of us do consume nuts but disadvantageously as cooked fare. Heated fats and proteins are quite pathogenic, yes, even carcinogenic. Nuts should be eaten raw or not at all. Technically and botanically nuts are fruits. I do not buy that because the word fruit re -
ally means product or result. Fruits are really the mesocarps of seed packages which
plants creat ed specifically as a pr
oduct to be consumed by a biological symbiont who
would incidentally discard and distribute the seeds. Nuts and seeds were created by plants for broadcast and reproduction by other methods. All nuts are seeds. Most seeds are in a storage form to survive the vagaries of climatic and consuming elements so that they may be instrumental in reproducing and perpetuating their kind. Nuts, however, have extra protection in that they have hard woody shells. Seeds usually have only fi -
brous coatings as their protection. Both seeds and nuts are heavily endowed with nutri-ents sufficient to initiate and sustain a certain minimum growth of their plants. We can benefit from these nutrients. But if w
e eat more than two or three ounces, we’re likely to
get more protein and fats than we can readily handle. Certainly nuts and seeds were not created by plants for consumption but, rather, for
reproduction. That some animals have adapted to their consumption has not been a two-sided affair as it has been with fruits where the love affair has been and still is mu -
tual. There are many types of seeds: legumes, grains, weeds, nuts, and fruit seeds being among the most prominent. I n their na
tural state humans can handle very few of these
seeds. Nuts can be digested and used in very small amounts. Likewise, sesame, pump -
kin, squash, sunflower, pignolias, and some other seeds can be used. We are primar ily car
bohydrate eaters, not fat and protein eaters. I dare say you agree
with my assessment of nuts and seeds as human fare.Are We Fat Eaters?In nature there are very few fats we can get in any quantity without violating our biolog -
ical disposition. Avocados, durians, olives, coconuts, nuts and seeds are heavy on fats. Avocados and durians fur nish fa
ts in a predigested state when ripe. Coconuts furnish
fats as monoglycerides/glycerols before they set their fats as triglycerides in a storage 63
Fruiticultureform. Coconuts are, therefore, in the jelly-like state, easily digested. When matured and
hardened, it is almost impossible to digest them. Broccoli and cauliflower have con -
siderable fatty acids in an easily us-
able state when eaten in the raw fresh condition. How ev
er, they give
some unwanted toxic sulfur com -
pounds. We get predigested fats ad-equate to meet our fatty acid needs from fruits. An oc casional a
vocado or
seeds and nuts are quite satisfying. Those who subsist substantially on fats do not do well. Eskimos are very short-lived. They consume about 200 grams, about 1,800 calories, dai -
ly. Their short-lived condition is probably more attributable to their heavy protein con-sumption than fats. They consume about 200 grams of protein daily incidental to their fat-ea ting and this plac
es a great burden upon their organs, especially liver and kidneys. Because of the acid-forming properties of metabolized proteins, Eskimos lose their teeth at an early age and suffer severe osteoporosis. Eskimos are eaters of animal fats and pro -
teins, primarily as derived from fish. Be it noted that, during the berry-picking season, Eskimos are said to ea t only ber
ries during the short season they are ripening. Biologically we are not a species of fat eaters, but incidental eaters of fats. We do not need to store great quanties of fat, as do bears and sea lions. Ripe fruits contain ad -
equate quantities of predigested fats in the form of fatty acids that are easily handled. Other forms of fa t r
equire hours for their digestion, quite atypical of fruits to which we
are most favorably disposed. Fats may lie in the small intestine several hours before bile is secreted into it with which to emulsify them, thus exposing them to lipases which re -
duce them to monoglycerides (fatty acids) and glycerols. I adjudge tha t we are not a species of fa t ea
ters except incidental to our fruitarian
disposition. 64
FruiticultureAre We Protein Eaters? To hear the exponents of the meat trust, you’d think we’re in imminent danger of disease
and death if we fail to eat meat three times a day. The truth is that eating meat three times daily will cause the very conditions we’re taught to fear. We’re in no danger of pro -
tein deficiency unless we’re eating a 100% cooked food diet. On the other hand, there are gra v
e dangers in eating cooked proteins. At normal cooking temperatures, proteins
are coagulated, deaminated and largely oxidized. The nitrogenous materials are soil for putrefactive bacteria. The carbohydrate portions of cooked proteins are usable for ca -
loric values but still present the problems that cooked carbohydrates pose. If we must eat pr ot
eins, we must eat them raw to
derive their full benefit. But proteins, per se, are
not created as food. They are created by plant and animal life as components of organisms, seeds, en -
zymes, ova, etc. Most proteins of this nature have toxic prot ec
tive compounds. The bean family have
anti-enzyme factors. Eggs have avidin. Nuts also have anti-enzyme factors. Seeds of peaches, apples and many other fruits have hydrocyanide. Humans do not secrete the enzymes to ne -
gate or break down these toxic substances. From fruits we der iv
e as much protein as is present in mother’s milk for a growing baby! Moreover, fruit proteins come to us predigested as do other ripened fruit components. There are many alarmists who warn us about protein deficiencies of fruits and many other presumed deficiencies. If we developed in nature on fruits to our high state as an -
thropologists have found, then the real deficiencies are in the thinking of those who pro -
claim deficiencies. Their evidence is usually based on researches with pathological spec -
imens, especially those whose metabolic and assimilative faculties are very impaired. They base their thinking from a standpoin
t of disease rather than health, from a modality
and curing mentality rather than a correction of pathogenic practices. In saying that our natural foods are deficient, they are simultaneously proclaiming improvidence in nature. Or, in effect, saying: “God, you made a terrible mistake in providing for us and especially in giving us a sweet tooth. ” Advocating the consumption of proteins and yet more pro -
teins when those so advising know by their own researches and knowledge that the pro -
65
Fruiticultureteins will be cooked and contribute to heavy pathology is nothing less than criminal. One more consideration: If we ate only proteins in their raw state we’d quickly become
diseased and perhaps even suffer death! Why? Because various amino acids require from about 60% to 137% of their carbohydrate energy potential for their deamination and utilization. The net result would be starvation. That’s one reason so much weight is lost by the obese on protein diets


 bliss sheath (Anandamaya Kosha) cannot develop. It
serves as the door that links the outer world of the mind-
body complex with the senses and the inner world of con-
sciousness, which transcends the senses. Intelligence is
knowledge predominant29 and allows us to understand
things. Intelligence adds the power of fire to the basic ether
and air elements of consciousness (Chitta). Like fire, it is
penetrating, luminous and transformative in action. Intel-
ligence corresponds to Pitta, or fire, among the biological
humors. Pitta people are usually rational, discriminating,
good speakers, and usually have more perceptive minds
than others, for good or ill. Similarly, intelligence relates
to Tejas, the vital fire essence which provides courage, fear-
lessness and determination. Without Tejas, we lack the
independence and clarity necessary to develop our intelli-
gence properly. Energy/Awakened Prana
By its sattvic nature, intelligence transcends outward
vital and sensory activity and works as the conscious guide
of all the Pranas. It creates sattvic Prana or conscious use
of our life-energy. Intelligence has the power to control the
mind, senses and vital force, according to its experiential
knowledge. For example, once we have really learned that
walking across the street without looking puts us in dan-
ger of being run over, we will not fail to look when we
cross the street, even if we are in a hurry. The problem is
that if our intelligence is not developed properly, it is
dominated by the mind, senses and vital force and we do
things on impulse that later we must regret. This inabili-
ty of intelligence to control our impulses is one of the main
causes of disease. 30 Intelligence: The Power of Perception 101
True intelligence relates to what we have learned not
merely theoretically but in our own life-experience and
behavior. It is the wisdom of life. On the other hand, what
we know merely conceptually has no real vitality. It
reflects life on the outside, imitating the ideas and opin-
ions of others, and cannot change us fundamentally. The
energy of intelligence is the power that we place in knowl-
edge — the Prana we direct toward discovering the truth. The Prana of intelligence is ever awake and attuned to the
eternal, developing the aspirations of our soul. In yogic practice, Prana begins to awaken. We experi-
ence expanded energy through the breath, or feel various
currents of energy moving through the body, awakening
our subtle faculties. We gain more energy, enthusiasm and
creativity. This Prana has an intelligence that can teach
and guide us. Prana has become the teacher of many yogis
and has taught them asana, mantra and meditation. Sur-
rendering to that awakened Prana becomes their disci-
pline. Yet we must be careful not to surrender to an infe-
rior Prana, or inferior vital urge, which is what we do when
we are pursuing outer enjoyment, but to discover the
Prana of intelligence (Buddhi-Prana). The awakened Prana and the awakened intelligence
(Buddhi) are related. As Buddhi awakens, so does Prana. As our Prana awakens, so does Buddhi. The awakened life
and awakened intelligence move together. Intelligence
purifies and clarifies our life. On the other hand, without
vitality our intelligence remains superficial and theoreti-
cal. The wisdom of life is this unity of Buddhi and Prana. Will — The Doer
Intelligence is the agent or doer that decides what we
must do. Only when we really know are we capable of Ayurveda and the Mind
making a decision and doing something. Intelligence is
the executive part of consciousness, the commander who is
responsible for determining our line of action. The mind
and body are its instruments. Intelligence establishes last-
ing goals and provides the knowledge to achieve them; the
mind executes its orders through the body and senses. Intelligence is will in the higher sense — the will to
truth, the will to realize our ideals or achieve our goals/1
It is the basis of spiritual aspiration, the desire to know
God. Our intelligence determines what we should and
should not do, providing the ethical standard for our
behavior. As intelligence develops, we move away from
lower actions and embrace those that are higher. Intelli-
gence holds the striving of our soul toward enlightenment. True intelligence leads us to selfless service, in which
we act for the good of all and renounce the fruits of our
deeds. Through it we are dedicated to excellence and strive
to do the best, whatever the consequences. Intelligence
acts with clarity and decisiveness to achieve a higher aim
and ceases from action once it achieves its purpose. In this
regard it is the clear action that leads to inaction or peace. From it come proficiency and mastery in all fields of life,
including spiritual accomplishments and occult powers. Through it we can master our destiny and transcend the
world. At the time of death, the senses merge into the mind
and the mind, in turn, merges into intelligence, which, as
our inner flame, takes us to whatever subtle world our
karma merits. According to the values and goals of the
intelligence, the soul moves on to various after-death
states, and then returns for another physical birth. As is
our intelligence, so is our will, so is our karma and the evo-
lution of our soul. Our higher intelligence alone can Intelligence: The Power of Perception
endure consciously from life to life. Whatever power-of-
truth intelligence we develop can never leave us. Develop-
ing it should be the main goal of all that we do. For this
reason, the soul and intelligence are closely related. True
intelligence is the mind of soul, its awakened perception. Functions
The main function of intelligence is determination of
truth, which occurs in three ways: 1) perception; 2) reason;
and 3) testimony. Perception
Direct perception is the main way that we determine
the nature of objects. It allows us to identify the enduring
realities behind various shifting sensory impressions. The
capacity of the sense organs to perceive comes from the
working of intelligence. Right functioning of the senses
depends upon their alignment with intelligence, which
frees them from emotional distortion and brings into them
the clarity of awareness. Intelligence allows us to differentiate what objects are
from what we would like them to be, the Real from the
imaginary. Through it we can perceive sensations, emo-
tions, thoughts, and the ego itself, just as we can perceive
objects in the external world. Functioning wrongly, how-
ever, intelligence results in distorted or erroneous percep-
tion. We mistake one thing for another, like confusing a
rope in the dark for a snake. This creates all the errors, mis-
conceptions and wrong judgments that trouble us. 104 Ayurveda and the Mind
Reason
Intelligence governs all reasoning methods, inductive
and deductive. It allows us to compare our impressions and
arrive at a greater truth, like deducing fire from the pres-
ence of smoke. From it come the principles, ideals and sys-
tems of measurement that shape our perceptions and guide
our actions. In its wrong function, intelligence causes false
reasoning or rationalization, through which we try to jus-
tify what is false or illusory. This egoistic intelligence is
perhaps the greatest danger for human beings, because it
turns the instrument of truth into one of self-justification
that shuts off any real learning process. Testimony
Intelligence governs our ability to listen, to heed the
advice of others. It gives the ability to learn, which comes
from right listening. A good intelligence makes a good
student, disciple or patient. Wrongly functioning, intelli-
gence makes us deaf to advice or words of good counsel. True intelligence is the guru, adviser, and teacher. It is the
speaker, the one who speaks not merely casually or gives
his impressions, but who declares what he knows to be the
truth. From Cosmic Intelligence comes the scripture or
Word of Truth that sets forth the truth and how to realize
it. All spiritual teachings come from the higher levels of
intelligence. Sound has the ability to convey knowledge of the invis-
ible and transcendent. On the ordinary level, it can convey
knowledge of other times and places. On a higher level, it
reminds us of the knowledge inherent in our soul. While
higher realities like God or the Self are not known to the
outer mind, their knowledge is inherent in our hearts and
can be awakened by the right words aligned with the love Intelligence: The Power of Perception 105
and wisdom of the speaker. In this regard, sound and
speech are more important means of knowledge than are
sensory perception and reason, but for this to occur our
minds and hearts must be open to the inner truth. Intelligence relates to the organ of speech among the
vocal organs, and the organ of hearing among the sense
organs. These are the most rational and spiritual of the
organs, the most free from the limitations of form, through
which we can contact our inner intelligence. Sound itself
is a means of direct and internal knowledge, while other
sensory knowledge remains limited to the outer. Additional Functions
Wakefulness


 thankfulness for being able to
participate in such a miracle. This mind field exists and you are capable of not only keeping yours
uncontaminated, but of being a force for raising the frequency of others in
your presence. Raising those frequencies is the subject of the next chapter. For now, see if you can accept this idea of a mind field of ener gy composed
of your thoughts and the thoughts of those around you. The closer you
come to being in a dynamic state of grace in your thoughts, and refusing to
be in the fields of those who are projecting lower ener gy thoughts of fear,
stress, evil, anxiety, depression, and the like, the closer you come to being
in God’ s mind field. Here is how Meister Eckhart phrased it. Nature’ s intent is neither food, nor drink,
Nor clothing, nor comfort, nor anything
Else in which God is left out. Whether
You like it or not, whether you know it
Or not, secretly nature seeks, hunts,
Tries to ferret out the track on
Which God may be found. I love this idea, finding the track on which God may be found. This is the
energy field I am asking you to consider. It is devoid of the lower ener gies
that contaminate our lives and saddle us with illusions that we call
problems. Since I opened this chapter with an observation of W illiam Butler Y eats, let
me close with another one of his poetic observations.VACILLATION (IV)

My fiftieth year had come and gone,
I sat, a solitary man,
In a crowded London shop,
An open book and empty cup
On the marble table-top. While on the shop and street I gazed
My body of a sudden blazed;
And twenty minutes more or less
It seemed, so great my happiness,
That I was blessed and could bless. When you refuse to allow your ener gy fields to become contaminated, you
feel blessed, and you know you can bless others as well. That is what a field
of high ener gy truly is, one that exchanges feelings of being  blessed with
giving  blessings. I invite you to spend some time in your thoughts,
imagining having this for yourself. What follows in chapter six are some dynamic principles to internalize for
living in these faster ener gy frequencies. OceanofPDF.com6
RAISING AND
MAINT AINING YOUR
SPIRITUAL ENERGY
But I do not believe that man can perceive his “God-Like” qualities until his field reaches higher
and higher vibrations and attains a greater degree of coherency. No matter how hard we try to receive spiritual guidance, we cannot until our fields are attuned
to that vibrational system. —DR. VALERIE HUNT
Johann W olfgang von Goethe, a creative genius of the early nineteenth
century, made this observation: “If you treat man as he appears to be, you
make him more than he is. But if you treat man as if he already were what
he potentially could be, you make him what he should be.” His advice is
pertinent in today’ s world and specifically insightful about raising your
spiritual ener gy if you apply this wisdom to the way you treat yourself. First, who do you appear to be? Y our conditioning, your history, and your
senses provide you with a multitude of answers. Y ou appear to be a person
with a body, which has certain obvious limitations. Y ou appear to be of a
particular ethnicity, a certain age, with a background that has led you to this
point in your life. Go and look into a mirror to see what appears to be you.Now go beyond those appearances and look deeply into your eyes and see
yourself as a spiritual being having a human experience. Imagine what you
potentially could be, if you were unrestricted by all those appearances. Beneath or within what you appear to be is the image of magnificence and
unlimited joy that you truly are and that I ask you to consider as you read
about these principles. What you potentially can be is the basis for forming
a spiritual ener gy field. This is the foundation from which spiritual ener gy
arises for the resolution of problems. I enjoy Shakespeare’ s description:
“You are full of heavenly stuf f and bear the inventory of your best graces in
your mind.”
Just let this idea rest in you: you were made to prosper and you are going to
choose to identify yourself from this potentiality, rather than as you appear
to be to others and to yourself. Recognizing yourself as a child of the most
high, as a divine presence, will facilitate raising and maintaining that
higher, faster spiritual ener gy field. And it is from this new ener gy field that
you will bring the sparks of the divinity that nullify and eradicate those
problems in your life. In the remainder of this chapter I will describe a
series of principles to help you implement this idea. RAISING YOUR ENERGY VIBRA TIONS
The following principles are not of fered in any particular order of
significance. They represent my personal view on how your mind and your
subsequent behavior can move you from the toxic ener gy levels of the
material world into the level of spirit, wherein lies the solution to any and
all problems. All these ideas are presented with the intention of inspiring
you to become conscious of your ability to shift from the lower/slower
energy patterns of the material world to the higher/faster vibrations of the
world of spirit. Practice the Presence of Spirit
Practice awareness of the impossibility of being outside the omnipresent
spirit. Some ways of doing this are to remind yourself when you first
awaken that this is a day that God will be with you at all times. Remind
yourself that everywhere you are is a holy place. Every meal you eat bemindful of what it took for that food to reach your plate. When you make a
phone call, drive in your car, or enter your workplace, begin to have this
God realization. As you practice being mindful of the presence of the divine
invisible spirit you will notice a greater sense of peace, a stronger feeling of
being safe and secure, a knowing that you are healthy and living from an
inner sense of integrity. These feelings result from simply silently
practicing, and I emphasize silently. No preaching and converting others to
think as you do. Simply realize the presence of your source from which you
are never truly separated except in your own mind. Just by being mindful of
the divine presence, you raise your ener gy field vibrations. This is what Dr. Hunt means in the display quote at the beginning of this chapter. You have
to attune to the vibrational ener gy field of God to be able to receive spiritual
guidance. When you find yourself feeling out of sorts, anxious, or afraid, exercise
your mind by inviting the realization of the omnipresence of spirit to be
known, now. Do this in the midst of your fear or anxiety and notice how it
seems to be much less troubling. Some teachers refer to this as practicing
mindfulness. It is a sure way to raise the ener gy field frequencies into
higher realms. Y ou literally provide yourself with a treatment when you
stop to remember and practice the presence of God within and around you. Your Mind Is the Substance of All Matter
Take a look at your hand right now. Would you describe it as intelligent? No, because intelligence is the mind that directs your hand to move to the
right, to grasp, to clutch, to make a fist or wave good-bye. Y our hand
responds to the directives of your mind. Y es, of course, the hand has
intelligence, as does every living cell have a center of intelligence, but that
cell responds to the directives of your mind. Thus your mind is the
substance of the matter that is called your hand. Now think about every
other or gan in your body. Your heart, liver, spleen, all of which were created
to act in accordance with the central divine intelligence within them. Y et,
your mind is still the substance. If you so elect, your entire body will respond to the directives of your mind. From your mind you can tell all your body parts that God gave themfunctions and direct them to perform them. As you use your mind in this
manner to direct your body, eventually it will do so on its own. At first, you
tell it to do the business of God as it was so created to do, and then you will
see it doing so on its own. But always, your mind, that fount of high
spiritual invisible ener gy, is the substance of and in control over your body. Now extend this principle to all that surrounds you as well. Mind is where
you experience all matter, and your mind is the substance of all that you
experience. When you raise your ener gy field to include yourself in the
mind of God, you have that God field at your disposal. Every person on
earth is governed by the mind of God, yet most don’ t recognize this fact. Thus, they encounter the problem of the illusion of separation which ego
brings about. Even though I have said over and over that the mind of God is
your mind, I do not mean that you have a monopoly on this, as if you were
some chosen favorite. This unifying force is not only the intelligence of
every person, it is the intelligence of every cell in the universe. And this is
the scope of your mind! Direct, insist, demand if you must, that your mind
be in harmony with


 and sugars, is also
a strong stimulant for PLA2 activity. Cutting out grains, starch and sugar
will help to preserve a lot of essential fats in the brain of a GAPS patient. Aspartame, heparin, snake and bee venom, brain injury and lack of oxygen
can induce PLA2 overactivity. Due to this enzyme GAPS patients actively
lose AA and other essential fatty acids from their brains and other tissues in
the body. That is why it is vital to supplement them in large amounts. We
have talked about LA, LNA, EPA, DHA, GLA and their dietary sources. Where do we get AA from? Here is the surprise: AA comes from meat, eggs
and dairy products. You can not find it anywhere else! The GAPS diet is rich
in these foods and provides large amounts of AA, so vital for GAPS patients
to have. At the same time the GAPS diet cuts out the foods which cause the
loss of AA and other fatty acids from cell membranes-processed carbohy
drates and sugar. We need both omega-3 and omega-6 oils. However, due to wide con
sumption of sunflower oil, which is quite rich in omega-6, people generally
get more omega-6 than omega-3 oils in their diets, which may predispose
them to various inflammatory diseases. Clinical experience shows that for
people with health problems it is important to have more omega-3 oils
than omega-6 in their diet. The ideal ratio is disputed as it is probably very
individual, but generally it is accepted that 2:1 of omega-3:omega-6 is the
correct ratio in oil blends. For GAPS people it is vital to have not only
parent essential oils (LNA and LA) but their derivatives as well (EPA, DHA
and GLA). That is why it is important to supply not only seed and nut oils,
but fish oils as well. There are good blends of seed/nut oils available on the market, where
flax oil is the main source of parent omega-3 LNA and evening primrose oil
is the main source of omega-6 LA and GLA. Look for the brands with twice more of omega-3 fatty acids than omega-6. As long as the 2:1 ratio of
omega-3:omega-6 is adhered to, you normally cannot overdose on these
oils. In fact the higher the dose the more health benefits are seen in the
clinical practice. Look for high-quality blended oils which have not been
refined, deodorised or adulterated in any way. Heat, light and oxygen
destroy seed/nut oils very quickly, so theyhave to be supplied in dark glass
bottles and refrigerated at all times. Never use them for cooking. They can
be mixed with cold or warm food to give to the GAPS child or adult. Apart from the seed/nut oil blends make sure that you supplement EPA
and DHA through good quality cod liver oil and fish oil. These oils are also
highly perishable and should be refrigerated and protected from light and
oxygen. To summarise on supplementation of fats
GAPS children and adults should have a group of essential oils supple
mented:
1. A good seed/nut oil blend in the ratio of 2:1 of omega-3:omega-6 fatty
acids. It will supply the parent omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Make
sure that the oil is high quality, in dark glass and refrigerated. Depending on the age of the child start from a very small amount (a
few drops added to the cold/warm food) and slowly build the dose up
to 1-3 tablespoons a day. For children under the age of 18 months 1-2
teaspoons a day are usually enough. For GAPS adults start from a tea
spoon a day and slowly increase to 4-5 tablespoons a day. I recom
mend introducing these oils gradually to avoid any reactions, which
are possible in individuals with severe fatty acids deficiency. 2. Cod  liver oil, which will supply EPA, DHA, vitamin A and vitamin D.
Depending on the age of the child give 1-2 teaspoons a day. For chil
dren under the age of 18 months half a teaspoon is usually enough. It is
sensible to start from a small amount and slowly build up the dose. I
consider cod liver oil an absolute must for GAPS patients, children in
particular, because it supplies them with vitamin A in the most appro
priate biochemical form. Look for detailed information about vitamin
A in the next chapter. An adult should have 2 teaspoons a day or an
equivalent in capsules. 3. Fish oil with higher ratio of EPA to DHA, as more EPA seems to be
beneficial for GAPS patients. There are no toxic levels for these oils. Start from a small amount added to your child's food (not hot) and
slowly build the dose to 1-3 teaspoons a day (up to 1 teaspoon for chil
dren under the age of 24 months). An adult should start from a small
amount and build the dose up to 3-4 teaspoons a day or an equivalent
in capsules. Make sure that you supplement the oils after food or with food, not on
an empty stomach. If you supplement oils on an empty stomach the gall
bladder would empty its bile into an empty duodenum in order to deal
with the oil, which may cause cramps, belching and nausea. There are two oils which patients ask about the most, as they contain
both omega-3 and omega-6 fats in considerable amounts. These are hemp
oil and flax seed oil. Hemp oil is a fairly recent oil on the market. It contains both omega-3
and omega-6 fatty acids in the ratio of 1:3. It is too heavy on omega-6 fatty
acids to be supplemented on its own to GAPS children and adults. Flax seed oil is too heavy on omega-3 LNA, it contains 4 times as much of
omega-3 as omega- 6 fatty acids and also should not be supplemented on
its own. Olive oil is a time-proven health-giving food, used by Mediterranean
countries for centuries. The long list of benefits include lowered risk of
heart diseases, healing and anti-inflammatory effects, stimulation of bile
flow, activation of liver enzymes, antioxidant activity, stimulation of pan
creatic enzymes, anti-cancer effects, anti-bacterial and anti-viral activity,
membrane development, cell formation and cell differentiation. Virgin
olive oil has been shown to improve brain cell maturation and function. And yet it has not got much in the way of essential fatty acids which shows
us that we need much more than just omega-3 and omega-6 oils. It con
tains some LA (omega-6) in a range from 3.5 to 20% and LNA (omega-3)
from 0.1 to 0.6%. It is an excellent source of oleic acid (omega-9), a
monounsaturated fatty acid, which has an ability to strengthen the Thi
arm of the immune system. But the most important elements in olive oil
are its minor components: beta carotene, vitamin E, chlorophyll, squalene,
phytosterols, triterpenic substances, polyphenols and hundreds of others. Many health-giving properties of olive oil are probably due to these minor
components. However, heat, deodorization, refining, degumming and
other processing destroys and removes these vital substances. That is why
it is very important to buy unrefined extra virgin cold pressed olive oil. "Virgin" means that the oil has been extracted from whole, undamaged olives without refining. If it does not say on the bottle "virgin" then it is
refined. There is no international standard for cold pressing of oils, so dif
ferent manufacturers mean different things when they say that their oil is
"cold pressed". However, there is a distinct difference intastebetweencold
pressed virgin olive oil and just virginolive oil, so I recommend buying cold
pressed as well as virgin and use it liberally on ready served meals and
salads. It is not a good idea to cook with it, as the heat will destroy the
minor components and change unsaturated fatty acids into harmful trans-
fatty acids. It is best to cook with fully saturated fats, like ghee (clarified
butter), butter, coconut oil, goose and duck fat, pork dripping and lard,
because they do not alter their chemical structure, when heated, and in
small amounts are beneficial to health. Animal fats have received a great deal of bad publicity in the last few
decades. They have been blamed for all sorts of ills, and yet they are an
integral part of our anatomy and physiology. They are not called essential,
but we cannot live without them. Fat on meat does not just contain satu
rated fatty acids, it contains very important short-chain fatty acids,
monounsaturated and polyunsaturated essential fatty acids. Pork, for
example, contains 10% or LA (omega-6) and 34% of monounsaturated fatty
acids, which are abundant in our skin and arteries, keeping them supple
and soft. Native people in the north of Japan have a very high percent of
pork in their


 each
night without waking up five times during the night for a
bathroom visit. My energy level has soared! So now I am back to my old self—busy doing things
every day, walking and using a re-bounder. Previously, I
was basically a couch potato without energy or motivation
to do ANYTHING. I would have low energy crashes and
I thought I might have diabetes.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        ANXIETY
Anxiety disorder is the most common mental illness in the
United States, affecting over 40 million adults, or about 20
percent of the U. S. population. Anxiety is frequently associated
with a depressive disorder—people who are depressed are
nearly nine times more likely to develop an anxiety disorder than people who are not. The criteria in the DSM-IV  for generalized anxiety disorder
include:
1. At least six months of excessive anxiety or worry
2. Significant difficulty in controlling the anxiety
 or worry
3. For six months, the presence of three or more of
 the following symptoms on most days:
  •  Feeling wound up, tense, or restless
  •  Becoming easily fatigued or worn out|   37 ExCESS  ADRENALINE: THE  BAD
  • Concentration problems
  • Irritability
  • Significant tension in muscles
  • Difficulty with sleep
It is easy to see how adrenaline can be responsible for a
number of symptoms of this disorder: restlessness, fatigue
caused by prolonged muscle tension, insomnia, nervousness,
and jitteriness. People struggling with anxiety often feel the
need to smoke or drink or take drugs to relax. It is not unusual
for them to crave sugary foods. Adrenaline can be responsible for a number of
anxiety symptoms: restlessness, fatigue caused
by prolonged muscle tension, insomnia,
nervousness, and jitteriness. Generalized anxiety disorder is a medical condition
characterized by fear, unease, and worry while not being able
to identify the source of these feelings. There are other types
of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder (acute anxiety
reaction), obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). I discuss PTSD  briefly in the next
chapter. Panic disorder, a disabling condition associated with
anxiety, affects about 6 million people in the United States. It is characterized by sudden and repeated attacks of intense
fear, known as panic attacks, which occur when there is no
real danger. The classic symptoms are:ADRENALINE DOMINANCE 38  |
 • Shortness of breath (air hunger)
 • Palpitations
 • A sense of impending doom
Because of the feeling of air hunger, or shortness of breath,
the person hyperventilates, expelling too much carbon dioxide. Hyperventilation can result in pain on the left side of the chest
secondary to gas pain from swallowed air. It can also cause
numbness and tingling around the lips and fingers as the blood
becomes more alkaline from blowing off carbon dioxide. A patient suffering from a panic attack may show up at the
emergency room complaining of chest pain and shortness of
breath—classic symptoms of a possible heart attack. This, of
course, gives the hospital a reason to do an expensive workup,
even though a panic attack, or acute anxiety attack, is one
of the easiest diagnoses in medicine to make, as shown in
the movie As Good As It Gets. The character played by Jack
Nicholson comes to the emergency room complaining of
shortness of breath and chest pain. However, after his EKG
and cardiac enzymes test normal, the emergency room doctor
reassures him that he is having an anxiety reaction. In real
life, many more expensive though unnecessary tests might
be run as well, such as an echocardiogram, a thallium stress test, and possibly an angiogram, even though they might not be necessary. People with anxiety issues often have sighing-type
respirations. They may have the sensation of a lump in their
throat, referred to as globus hystericus, caused by muscle
contraction in that area. If reducing adrenaline does not completely eliminate a
person’s panic attacks, he or she may be dealing with suppressed |   39 ExCESS  ADRENALINE: THE  BAD
hostility or resentment. These feelings are often deep in the
subconscious, where the person is not aware of them. When
the suppressed hostility starts coming into the conscious mind,
it can result in a panic attack, which is the body’s attempt to
push the hostility back into the subconscious. This suppressed hostility is usually toward somebody close
to the person. In these cases, the person needs to look back over
his or her life and see if a parent or sibling or spouse or even a child has been the cause of an emotional hurt. The treatment is to deal directly with the issue that has been suppressed. Obsessive-compulsive behavior, another anxiety-related
problem, can take the form of ritualized behaviors, such
as obsessive hand washing, or repeatedly checking to see if
doors are locked or lights have been turned off. This type of behavior is actually a defense mechanism to keep the person from experiencing anxiety. In other words, if a person with a
need to perform an obsessive act is prevented from doing so, he
or she will experience anxiety. Again, lowering the adrenaline
level often helps to eliminate the need to perform obsessive acts. IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
Irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS—also called spastic colitis—
is characterized by constipation, diarrhea, or some combination
of both, although the most common manifestation of this
disorder is constipation. During the fight-or-flight response, caused by the release of adrenaline, extra blood is sent to the
muscles while circulation to the internal organs, which includes
the intestines, is reduced. This can result in a slowdown of
intestinal motility. Constipation is one of the most common gastrointestinal
expressions of excess adrenaline. In addition, when powerful ADRENALINE DOMINANCE 40  |
feelings caused by adrenaline, such as anger and irritability, are
internalized, they can result in diarrhea or intestinal spasms. Disorders associated with diarrhea are separated into two
categories: organic and functional. Organic diarrhea occurs
both day and night. Examples include ulcerative colitis, regional
enteritis (Crohn’s disease), ischemic colitis, and diarrhea caused
by the bacteria C. difficile or by the protozoa Giardia lamblia,
which causes giardiasis. Functional diarrheas are regarded
as psychological in origin and are not usually associated
with having to get up at night with diarrhea. Irritable bowel
syndrome is in this category. I have observed that other chronic inflammatory bowel
conditions, such as ulcerative colitis and regional enteritis
(Crohn’s disease), are similarly exacerbated by internalizing
anger. Very often this anger is related to relationships with
family members. Reducing the person’s adrenaline level often
significantly improves his or her interactions with others, along
with a significant improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms. HYPERTENSION
I suspect that many cases of hypertension are related to excess
adrenaline. As part of the fight-or-flight response, adrenaline
can certainly raise blood pressure. “White coat hypertension,”
a classic condition in which a person’s blood pressure rises
while it is being measured in a doctor’s office, is caused by the
release of adrenaline. Since visiting a doctor’s office is not the
only source of stress in this world, a person who has white coat
hypertension most likely has frequent episodes of hypertension
in other life situations. Similarly, it is not unusual for blood pressure to spike
in a dental office secondary to receiving a shot of novocaine |   41 ExCESS  ADRENALINE: THE  BAD
mixed with epinephrine. In this case, epinephrine (which is
adrenaline) is used to control bleeding because it causes blood
vessels to constrict. Admittedly, the mere sight of a dental drill
can induce fear in many people, with a concomitant rise in
adrenaline that leads to a spike in blood pressure. If adrenaline is rising, then so is blood sugar. Any time
the blood sugar level goes up, the body produces insulin to
move the sugar into the cells where it is needed. Insulin is also
a hormone that raises blood pressure, a fact well demonstrated
by the condition called metabolic syndrome, or syndrome X. This condition is indicated by high triglycerides, low HDL
cholesterol, and a high insulin level, as well as hypertension. To
my knowledge, the only cause of a low HDL is elevated insulin. In addition, excess adrenaline is associated with increased
stress. When under stress, the body releases cortisol, another
hormone that stimulates sugar production, which leads to
more insulin production, which can further increase blood
pressure. The excess insulin can also cause a drop in blood sugar
(hypoglycemia), which stimulates the production of adrenaline
to increase sugar, which again raises blood pressure as well as
cortisol, ad infinitum. This scenario of cascading hormones
is likely to cause recurrent and/or persistent hypertension. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just lower adrenaline
and avoid using drugs that can cause impotence,
weight gain, bronchial spasm leading to asthma,


 is a trusting defenselessness because the power that was
projected onto the world has been re-owned. There is an inner feeling of
strength and invulnerability leading to an inner serenity. At first, there is the identification, “I am the body. ” As the mechanism
of surrender continues, it becomes quite obvious that, “I am the mind that
experiences the body, not the body. ” As more feelings and belief systems
are surrendered, there eventually comes the awareness, “I am not the mind
either, but that which witnesses and experiences the mind, emotions, and
body. ”Through inner observation, there is the realization of something that
remains constant and the same, no matter what goes on in the external
world or with the body, emotions, or mind. W ith this awareness comes a
state of total freedom. The inner Self has been discovered. The silent state
of A wareness that underlies all movement, activity, sound, feeling, and
thought is discovered to be a timeless dimension of peace. Once identified
with this A wareness, we are no longer at the ef fect of the world, the body,
or the mind, and with this A wareness come an inner calmness, stillness, and
a profound sense of inner peace. W e realize that this is what we were
always seeking but didn’ t know it, because we had gotten lost in the maze. W e had mistakenly equated ourselves with the outer phenomena of our
hectic life—the body and its experiences, the obligations, the jobs, the titles,
the activities, the problems, and the feelings. But now we realize that we are
the timeless space in which the phenomena are happening. W e are not the
flickering images playing out their drama on the movie screen, but the
screen itself—a nonjudgmental witness of the unfolding movie of life, with
no beginning and no end, infinite in its potential. These progressive
realizations of our true nature prepare the ground for the Ultimate
Realization of the identity of Consciousness with Divinity Itself. CHAPTER
18
R E L A T I O N S H I P S
Because they are so intimately connected with our basic desires for love
and security, relationships quickly bring up our innermost feelings. For that
reason, they are extremely valuable, no matter whether the relationship is
classified as good or bad. In the process of emotional emancipation,
everything is equally valuable. It is necessary to remind ourselves that
feelings are programs; that is, they are learned responses that often have a
purpose. That purpose is directly related to achieving an ef fect on the other
person’ s feelings and, by doing so, to influence their feelings toward
ourselves and to fulfill our own inner goals. W e will look at common emotional reactions and examine what their
real purpose is. Emotional reactions have nothing to do with love, for love
is a state of oneness with another. Love is not just an emotion that comes
and goes. What often passes for love in common human understanding is
primarily attachment, dependency, and possessiveness. Negative Feelings
As we shall see, all emotions toward others involve the basic belief that we
are incomplete within ourselves and, therefore, others are viewed and
utilized as a means to an end. Although we may not be able to influence the
other person in the way we would like, the utilization of the other person
still occurs on the level of fantasy and expectation. W e also discover that
much of what we experience in a relationship is happening only in our
imagination. Let’ s start first with the most negative emotions; we willdiscover what their underlying purpose is and the other person’ s likely
response. Anger
The first feelings we will start with are the most negative: feelings of hate,
malice, anger, rage, revenge, and violence. It is obvious that the underlying
fantasy here is to eliminate, banish, kill, destroy, injure, hurt, frighten, and
intimidate. The other person’ s likely response is to avoid us, to hate us in
return, and to bring about a counter -attack. Lesser forms of anger are
criticism, criticalness, resentment, sulking, stewing, and negative judgments
about others. The emotional purpose is to punish others, make them feel
sorry, try to force them to change their feelings or behavior, make them
suf fer, get even with them, diminish and devalue them. This, of course, also
results in the other person’ s response of counter -criticism, counter -
resentment, and avoidance. T o handle this area, we have to realize that almost everyone has these
fantasies. Playing ostrich with them, thinking that they are wicked or that
we are guilty, will not resolve them. W e have to come up to the level of
courage and look at our worst feelings, admit that they are part of the
condition of being human, and remember that we are only held accountable
for what we do with them. It is obvious that these negative feelings take an
enormous emotional toll on our own inner selves. That reason alone is
suf ficient to warrant looking at them and letting go of them. Looking at the feelings on the level of interpersonal relationships, we
now discover another law of consciousness. Our feelings and thoughts
always have an effect on other persons and affect our r elationships,
whether these thoughts or feelings ar e verbalized, expr essed, or not. W e
will not, at this point, go into the discussion of the mechanics of exactly
how this comes about, but it is currently an area of research of modern
advanced quantum physics, especially that area concerned with high ener gy
subatomic particles and their relationship to thoughts and thought forms. W e can likely intuit the truth of this law of consciousness from our own
experience. W e generally know, for example, when someone is angry
toward us, even if they say nothing about it. Sensing their repressed angry
feeling, we might ask, “Is something wrong. ” Even when they reply, “Oh
nothing,” we are still aware of the ener gy of anger and upset. It is somewhat dismaying to discover the truth of this interfacing at the
ener getic level, but anyone can discover it by inner investigation. The
overall attitudes we hold about another person are influencing that other
person’ s feelings and attitudes about us whether we express them or not. W omen in our society are more intuitive than men; they are generally more
consciously aware that their thoughts and feelings are known by others. T rue psychics, of course, are merely people who are experts at intuition. When first discovering the truth of this, we might go through sort of a
mild paranoia. Most everyone is brought up to believe that our thoughts and
feelings are private af fairs and nobody else’ s business, that all minds are
separated, and that emotions happen only within the confines of the body. As we begin to investigate this area, we find that often the set of feelings
we hold about another person is mirrored back to us by their attitude and
that, when we change our inner attitude about them, their attitude changes
abruptly. W e are unconsciously influencing others all the time because of
the feelings we hold about them. As we become more intuitive, we will
laugh at our former naïveté. And, if we research further into the world of
psychics and parapsychology, we will discover that thoughts and feelings
can be read by expert psychics, even from the other side of the globe. The only way to get over this initial paranoia is to clean up our own
act. Finding out what needs to be cleaned up is simple and easy. Just look at
what you would not want others to know about you and begin to surrender
it. W ith observation, it is quite clear that these intensely negative feelings
reverberate and boomerang back to us, and profoundly af fect our
relationships. The other person merely mirrors back what we are projecting
onto them. People who carry a lot of hatred find that they are living in a
hateful world and that lots of people hate them. They see external situations
and the world as hateful. What they fail to see is that this entire situation is
self-created. W e have the secret hope that our angry feelings towards others will
punish and make them suf fer. Actually, we are just providing them with
justification to hate us back. W e have to live with the fear of their retaliation
and our own unconscious guilt, which often results in physical sickness. It
will be discovered that all of our anger and resentment are due to our
perception, that is, to the way in which we are viewing a given situation. When the inner feelings are relinquished, the way in which we see thesituation changes, and we are often surprised by the abruptness with which
feelings of for giveness suddenly arise and the relationship becomes
transformed, even though on the external level we did or said nothing to
express this inner change. This happens with great frequency when our intention is to overcome
our resentments. A Course in Miracles  is based on that precise process of
changing our view of a situation by the willingness to see it dif ferently and
to be for giving. This is what was meant by Jesus Christ when he spoke of
the miraculous power of for giveness. Interestingly enough, there is a scientific basis for Jesus Christ’ s
admonition to bless and love our enemies. On the level of ener gy, the lower
feelings have


 life, and everyone of them is giving love:
1. Be grateful for everything you have received in your life (past). 2. Be grateful for everything you are receiving in your life (present). 3. Be grate ful for what you want in  your life, as though you have r eceived it
(future). If you're not grateful for what you've received, and what you're receiving,
you're not giving love, and you don't have the power to change any of your
current circumstances. When you give thanks for what you've received and
what you're continuing to recei ve, it multiplies those things. At the same
time, gra titude brings what you w ant. Be grateful for what you want in your
life, as though you have received it,and the law of attraction says you must
receive it. Can you imagine that something so simp le as being gr ateful c an multiply
everything you love and completely change your life. A divorced man, lonely, depressed, and working in a job he hated, decided
to practi ce love and gratitude every day to change his life. He began by
being po sitive to  everyone he talked to during the day. When he called oldfriends a nd fam ily, he shocked them with how positive and happy he was. He bega n to be grateful for everything he had, right down to be ing grateful
for running water. This is what happened to his life within 120 days:
Everything he hated about his job miraculously changed, and h e now loves
his job. His job even takes him to places that he has always wa nted to see. He has the best relationships with all his family members, which he'd never
had befo re. He paid of f his car and he always has the money h e needs. He
has good  days no matter what is happening. And he is married a gain - to his
first love from tenth grade. "Gratitude for the abundance y ou have r eceived is the best insurance that
the abundance will continue. " (Muhammad Founder of Islam 570-632)

If you use gratitude a little, your life will change a  little. If you use gratitude
a lot every day, your life wi ll change in ways you can hardly imagine now. Not only does g ratitude multipl y everything in your life, it also eliminates
the negative things. No matte r what negative situation you may find
yourself in, you can always find something to be grateful for, and as you do
, you harness the force of love that eliminates negativity. Gratitude Is the Bridge to Love

"If we will be quiet and r eady enough, we shall find compensation in every
disappointment. " (Henry David Thor eau 1817-1862)

Gratitude took my mother from the d eepest grief into happiness. My mother
and father fell in  love with each  other virtually at first sight, and they had
the mos t beauti ful love af fair a nd marriage I have ever seen. When my
father died, my mother suf fered from enormous grief, because she missed
my f ather so much. But amidst her grief and pain, my mother began to look
for thin gs to be grateful for. Other than being grateful for all she had
received from the decades of lov e and happiness with my father, she looked
for things to be  grateful for in the future. The first thing she found to be
grateful for was that no w she could tra vel. T raveling was something my
mother had always wanted to d o but didn't do when my father was alive,
because he never wanted to travel. My mother did fulfill her dream; she
traveled, and she did many other things that she had always w anted to do. Gratitude was the bridge that too k my mother out of immense grief and into
building a new life of happiness. It's impossible to feel sad or have any negative feeling when you'r e grateful. If you're in th e midst of a dif ficult situation, look for something to be
grateful for. When you find one thing, then look for anoth er, and then
another, because every single thing you find to be grateful for changes the
situation. Gratit ude is the bridg e from negative feelings to harnessing the
force of love. "Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an a ntiseptic. " (John Henry
Jowett 1864-1923)
 When anything good happens to you in your day, give thanks. It doesn 't
matter h ow sma ll it is, say thank you. When you get the perfect parking
space, hear your favorite song  on the radio, approach a light that turns
green, or find an empty seat on the bus or train, say thank you. These are
all good. things you're receiving from life. Give tha nks for your senses: your eyes that see, your ears tha t hear, your
mouth t hat tastes, your nose that smells, and your skin that le ts you feel. Give thanks for the legs you walk on, your hands that you use to do almost
everything, your voice that enables you to express yourself and
communicate with others. Give thanks for your amazing immune system
that keep s you well or heals you, and for all your or gans that m aintain your
body im maculately so that you can live. Giv e thanks for the magni ficence
of your human mind that no computer technology in the world can
duplicate. Y our entire body is the greatest laboratory on the planet, and
there's nothing that can come even close to replicating its magnificence. Y ou are a miracle. Give thanks for your home, you r family, your friends, yo ur work, and your
pets. Give thanks for the sun, the water that you drink, the food that you eat,
and the air that you breathe; without any of them you wouldn't be alive. Give tha nks for the trees, the animals, the oceans, the birds, the flowers, the
plants, blue skies, rain, the stars, the moon, and our beautiful planet. Give tha nks for the transportatio n you use every da y. Give thanks for all th e
companies that provide you with essential services so that you  can live a
comfortable life. So many human beings toiled and sweated so that you can
turn on a tap and  have fresh water. So m any human beings gave their Life's
work so that you can flick a Light switch and have electricity. Think about
the magnitude of human beings who slaved day after day, year after year, to
lay the train tracks across our planet. And it's almost impossible to imagine
the n umber of p eople who did t he backbreaking work of making the roads
we drive on that form a connecting network of life for the world. "In or dinary life we har dly r ealize that we r eceive a gr eat deal mor e than
we give,  and that it is only with  gratitude that life becomes rich. " (Dietrich
Bonehoffer1906-1945)
T o use the power of gratitude, practice it. The more you feel gratitude, the
more love you give; and the more love you give, the more you receive. Are you  grateful  for your health when it's good. Or do you only notice  your
health when your body gets sick or hurts. Are you grateful when you have a good night's sleep' Or do you take those
nights for granted and only think of sleep when you've been deprived of it. Are you  grateful for your loved ones when everything is going well, or do
you only talk about your relationships when there are problems. Are you grateful for electricity when you use an appliance  or flick a switch. Or do you only think of electricity when there's a power blackout. Are you grateful to be alive each day. Every spare second is an opportunity to be grateful and multiply the things
you love. I used to think I was a gr ateful person, but I didn't know what
gratitude really was until I practiced it. If I am drivi ng or walking I use the time  to give thanks for eve rything in
life. Even wa lking fr om my kitchen to my bedroom I will give thanks. W ith
my heart I say, 'Thank you for my life. Thank you for the harmony. Thank
you for the joy. Thank you for my health. Thank you for the fun and
excitement. Thank you for the wonder of life. Thank you for everything
wonderful and good in my life. " Be grate full Gratitude costs you nothing, but it is worth more than all the
riches in the w orld. Gratitude  enriches you with all the riches in life,
because whatever you're grateful for multiplies. The Key of Play

There is one ce rtajn way you can make yourself feel better about any
subject in your life, and th at is to create games with your imagination, and
play. Play is fun, and so when you play, you feel really good. At some  point, we stopped playing and having fun like we did as children,
with the  result that as we beca me adults, we became more se rious about
life. But seriousness brings serio us circumstances into your life. When you
play and have fun, you fee l really good, and - voila really good
circumstances come into your life. Life is


 and cooled to the right
temperature, you can slowly lower your baby into the water feet first. You
can hold your baby face up with one hand under their head and neck and the
other hand under their bottom and allow them to float on their back in the
water. Your baby should appear warm and relaxed; they may uncurl their
arms and legs and reach out into the water. Assure that their feet are always
contacting a boundary, whether it is your body or the edge of the bathtub. They are used to the boundary of being in your womb, so too much space or
vastness can feel overwhelming—and even scary—to them. The best practice for a newborn bath is to keep the baby’ s umbilical
cord out of the water, and just allow your newborn to float on their back on
top of the water—the usual Ayurvedic recommendation is to wait until the
umbilical cord falls of f to give baby a full bath. However, a floaty herbal
bath can be a sweet, relaxing welcome into the world for your baby. The
herbs have the added benefit of being antibacterial and soothing to the skin. If the cord does get wet, simply dry it after the bath and apply powdered
goldenseal to the umbilical area to dry and help it heal. After a baby’ s welcome bath, it is not necessary or recommended to
bathe them again until the umbilical cord falls of f naturally. Optimally, the
umbilical cord will simply dry up and fall of f on its own without any
intervention. Make sure to use diapers small enough that they do not cover
the umbilical cord. Powdered goldenseal applied gently around the belly
button with a Q-tip once a day will aid drying and healing and help prevent
infection. Until the cord falls of f, you can wash the baby with a warm,
clean, damp washcloth or sponge if needed, but often a baby does not needto be washed at all. After the umbilical cord is gone, you can begin to bathe
the baby once every day or every couple of days in lukewarm water after a
massage (see the next section). BABY MASSAGE
A baby massage is a traditional practice that supports the health of a baby
and allows for deep bonding with the parents. The Ayurvedic
recommendation is to start baby massage after the umbilical cord falls of f
and to continue daily for at least the first year of the baby’ s life. BENEFITS OF BABY  MASSAGE
Activates important bonding hormones between parent and baby
Promotes healthy and nourished skin
Boosts baby’ s weight gain
Prevents bacterial infections
Increases circulation of the blood and the lymphatic system
Drains toxins from the body
Strengthens the immune system
Supports digestion and bowel movements
Helps with sound sleep
Strengthens limbs and joints
Soothes the nervous system
Pacifies excess vata dosha
TIPS FOR AN AYUR VEDIC BABY  ABHY ANGA
Use organic oils only (conventional oils have many pesticides).Use sesame oil in general. Use sunflower or coconut oil if your baby
is prone to overheating or rashes. Use the palms of your hands and closed fingers instead of finger tips
in order to calm your baby, rather than stimulate them. Take cues from your babe. If they are not enjoying the massage, you
can stop or change your methods. They should appear calm or
happy and not be upset with abhyanga. On that same note, always ask permission to give the massage. You
can ask by showing them your hands with the oil on it so they know
the massage is coming, and wait for their positive response before
moving forward. This is important even from birth—it teaches them
respect for their bodies and expectations for safe touch. Be sure that the pressure of the massage is moderate: not so light
that it tickles or so deep that it hurts. Only massage after basic needs (feeding and diapering) have been
met, and wait thirty minutes after a feeding. Massage from the heart outward down the limbs. Do not massage if the umbilical cord has not fallen of f yet, if the baby
is sleeping, if it’ s very soon after feeding, if baby is giving negative
cues (for example, crying or fussing), or if the baby is ill, congested,
or has a fever. Choose a song to sing during the massage. As soon as you start to sing, your
little hunny may light up, as they begin to understand that this certain song
means massage time. One of the most important parts of baby massage is transmitting love
through your hands, which means being totally and completely present with
your baby during this time. 1.Warm the oil first in your hands or place the oil bottle in hot
water for a few moments.2.Place little babe somewhere cozy and make sure the room is
warm. Be sure to place a sheet or towel underneath, as things
are about to get oily! 3.Gently begin by applying oil to the baby’ s scalp, rubbing their
head in circular motions with your palms. 4.Massage from the baby’ s heart down the arms and then the
legs. Use long strokes down the limbs, and circles around the
joints—making sure to really rub the oil into baby’ s tissues. 5.Massage baby’ s abdomen in a large clockwise motion, using a
gentle touch with little to no pressure. 6.Turn your baby onto their belly or side, and massage their back
and bum. 7.Let baby soak in the oily goodness for ten or twenty minutes. Make sure your little one stays warm! 8.Bath time! Ayurvedic Baby Soap
Ayurveda recommends using a soap made from the following recipe
for the first year of your baby’ s life. (Y ou can also use this soap
yourself after abhyanga massages!) This homemade liquid cleanser
is gentle on the skin and removes excess oil without being drying. No other commercial soap is necessary for your little one. Ingredients
1 tablespoon chickpea flour
½ teaspoon sandalwood powder
½ teaspoon rose water⅓ cup milk (can substitute milk with coconut milk or water in vegan
households)
Instructions
In a small saucepan, mix the chickpea flour and sandalwood with
enough milk to form a paste. Mix well and then add the rest of the
milk. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When the mixture begins to bubble and thicken, it is ready. Make
sure the soap has cooled before applying it to your babe’ s skin. Since it is made with milk, this soap should be made fresh before
each bath. COMMON NEWBORN
CHALLENGES
If your babe is experiencing an imbalance in the newborn phase, it may be a
result of mama having an imbalance. Mothers and babies are so intrinsically
connected in those early days that the health of the mother directly af fects
the health of the baby. Not only your diet but also your mind and emotions
affect your little one. As Ayurveda emphasizes, most imbalances and
disease in the body and mind can be treated with diet and lifestyle alone—
so Ayurveda recommends evaluating mama’ s diet and lifestyle, as well as
the ener gy in the environment that is surrounding mama and little babe,
before treating baby. Please be assured, however, that sometimes babies have minor
imbalances that are not due to mama’ s diet and mood. My little one got a
heat rash a few days after his birth. At the same time, he had really wet,
yellow poop. These are usually obvious signs that there is too much heat in
the body, so my husband and I both felt an ur gency to lower the baby’ s
pitta. I felt added pressure to make sure I was not eating too many heating
spices, along with guilt that something I was doing (or not doing) could beharming my babe. Every time I ate, I would be worried that it would af fect
him negatively. Feeling like I could be the cause of his suf fering due to my
diet or emotions did not feel good! Then our midwife came for a home visit,
looked at his poop, and laughed: “That is what normal baby poop looks
like!” She also told us our house felt way too warm and to open the
windows to allow some cooler air in—oh, okay, so simple! The following is a list of what might arise in your newborn days, and
Ayurveda’ s approach to what to do if they do. COLIC
Colic is not a diagnosis but rather a description of symptoms. When a baby
is “colicky” they usually exhibit a combination of fussing, crying (for hours
at a time), and gassiness. If little babe curls their legs into their chest, turns
bright red with tense limbs, and cries inconsolably, your baby may be
experiencing the abdominal pain associated with colic. According to Western medical science, colic is something that just
happens sometimes with no apparent cause. According to Ayurveda, the
cause of colic in a breastfed newborn is the diet of the nursing mama. Colic
takes three weeks or more to manifest with symptoms, after poor eating
habits have accumulated. Before colic manifests, you will see symptoms of
gassiness in your little one; if mama’ s diet is not altered, after several
weeks, you may have a colicky baby. Often when certain foods are removed
from


 his physical life. And in addition the divine plan
embodied further proof of its all -embracing wi sdom in that it held up to the world divinity clothed in a material body, endowed
with physical attributes, and subjected to the test of physical desire --a test that could perfectly be withstood only by a mind
functioning in a body physiologically pure. The Christ invariably worked through the material, the physical, to the mental and spiritual. And perfect spirituality in man
requires its vehicle, the material body, to be physically excellent. Purity of body, purity of mind, purity of heart --these al one may
commune with the divine. CHAPTER XX
DEATH IN THE FAST
A THEORY OF DEATH:
ELEVEN CASES OF DEATH IN THE FAST:
SUMMARY OF POST MORTEM FINDINGS

    NO FULLY satisfactory definition in explanation of what is called death in the physical body has  ever been given. In
conformity with the theory of life, upon which the belief of the author is based, a definition of physical death is offered t hat,
following the tenets of that belief, covers completely for her the phenomenon of the dissolution of the a nimal body. The theory
referred to considers energy, vitality, or life force, as an entity that emanates from a source without the animal organism, and that
animates the latter when, with the body as a laboratory, the chemical transformations necessary to life are effected. This means that
the expression of energy as exhibited in sentient living organisms is achieved with those organisms functioning merely as mea ns of
transmission, as vehicles. While the explanation may be a bit labored, its purport should be clear, and the definition of physical
death here offered is this: --when, for one reason or another, the mysterious force which permeates every sentient living body,
giving to it motion, sensation, and thought, is prevented entrance to or passage through  the organism, what is called death occurs. This definition is not strikingly original, nor is it completely satisfying, but, after all, the sciences have not as yet bee n able to
analyze life nor the sources of life; and the phenomenon of its cessation, or  what is called death, is just as much a mystery. A digression may here be pardoned. Just what is to be after death, apart from what faith may predicate, we do not know. And
men should fear only what they know. They should not, like children, be afra id to go to bed in the dark, afraid of things that they
imagine. In all that we really know there is nothing about death to frighten us. We know that our bodies go back to the earth. We
know that birth and death come alike to all of us. We can remember not hing that occurred before we were born, yet this thought is
not fearsome. We know that this universe, in which the earth is but a grain of sand, is managed with marvelous wisdom and
justice. We know in consequence that we have no reason to fear injustice, or terror, or torture. Death in the physical body is to be regarded as having taken place when there is complete stoppage of the functions of the br ain
and of the organs of respiration and circulation, with sequent cessation of the processes dependen t upon these functions. To
amplify, death occurs whenever, through disease or shock, the brain, the storage battery of physical and mental life, becomes
unable to perform its task of transmitting energy --life force to its points of action or expression, th e vital organs of the body. Vital
organs cease functioning when there is obstruction or demolition of some portion of the main lines of transmission followed b y life
force in its passage from the brain. That this may happen by reason of long continued deni al of food to the organism is
undoubtedly true, but death from the exhaustion of inanition caused by absence of food is most rare in occurrence. On the oth er
hand, in bodies that are continuously supplied with sustenance, exhaustion from lack of nourishmen t because of disorder of the
nutritive functions proves a most usual agent of dissolution. And this is true since this sort of exhaustion, while having it s source in
the functional disability of the organs of nutrition, eventually succeeds in inhibiting th e cells of the brain from acquiring and hence
assimilating those substances necessary for their conservation. In average conditions death results from disease that is functional in character, not organic. In the experience of the autho r,
death during  a fast never has occurred when merely functional disorder was present, nor did it ever result for the sole reason that
food was withheld. In every instance listed in this chapter, in every instance of death that has happened during the long yea rs of
pract ice upon which this text is based, the cause of dissolution was conclusively shown by post mortem examination to have been
the inevitable consequence of obstruction through structural defect of some portion of the avenues through which life force i s
expres sed. And it is questionable whether, in a conscious being not afflicted with morbid impairment of tissue, or not so situated
that food could not be supplied when hunger made its demand, death has resulted from starvation, or, in other words, from the
exhau stion of brain sustenance. No evidence that is conclusive shows that this has ever happened. In disease that is functional in origin and character the fast may be carried to its logical end without a particle of anxiet y, for the
law of hunger marks t he limit beyond which abstinence may not continue lest starvation ensue. Hence, death from starvation is
impossible during a fast when functional disease is in question. In the presence of structural organic deficiency the result is not
assured. When, howe ver, impairment of tissue is slight in degree, recovery is possible; but, when the fault is such that structural
Page 62 of  72 restoration of the organ or organs affected is beyond the power of natural law, no hope of cure exists, although, because fun ctional
labor is l essened through abstinence, and distress is with certainty relieved, life may be prolonged. It is always to be remembered
that in all disease, whatever its form, the fast is nature's sole curative agency, and is then as much a function as is feedi ng in hea lth. The autopsies held upon the bodies of the subjects of whom the causes of death are here described disclosed in every instance
disease that was organic in character. In most of these cases arrested development of one or more of the functioning pa rts of the
body was discovered, and in all of them malformation of the intestines was displayed that must be attributed to long continue d
irritation with inflammation. These cases are those of persons who had resorted to orthodox methods for the relief of their
suffering until orthodoxy proved without avail, and who only then bethought themselves of natural law. In view of the defects exhibited, it is certain that malnutrition occurring in the developing period of life, coupled perhaps  with
the banefu l effects of drugs administered in the attempt to remedy disease, was responsible for fatal issue. Nature had endowed
each of these subjects at birth with presumably normal vitality; each of them had suffered early in life from severe forms of
functional d isorder; and each, with one exception, had virtually exhausted the list of medicines designated as remedies for the
symptoms displayed. While it is not at all a just concept to attempt to place entire responsibility for the conditions shown upon drug  dosage, it is to be
recognized that, broadly speaking, there is no drug that is in effect not a poison. It is also to be recognized that, while h arm ensues
when drugs are used for the suppression of disease in mature years, the consequences of administeri ng medical remedies in infancy
and in adolescence are much more detrimental. The instances of death now to be cited occurred while a fast was in progress, or while the patient was undergoing a period of
dieting. Each casts light upon the ease of diagnosis consequent upon abstinence from food as a therapeutic measure; while the
autopsies also disclose the deleterious effects upon the human body of dietetic errors and of drug treatment. In every case t he cause
of death is conclusively shown to have been due to the presence of structural organic defeat that was beyond repair. Two o f the
deaths described happened when the subjects were on a dietary, but the conditions discovered in these showed no decided
differences in causation from those displayed when dissolution took place while a fast was in progress. In all of the related  cases
death was certain, fasting or feeding. The list is selected from a total of twenty -two fatalities occurring in a practice confined to
therapeutic fasting and its accessories that covers a period of over thirty years. The number of cases handled is about thirty
thousand, and each of these fasted at some time while under guidance for intervals varying from one day to seventy -five. Case 1. A married woman, thirty -eight years of age, who had devoted twenty years in vain attempt to regain lost health und er
medical guidance. She finally discovered that alternating periods of dieting and abstinence from food, usually short in durat ion,
were the sole means by which she could obtain relief. At consultation a perilous condition indicating the presence of organ ic
disease was evident, and a more carefully selected dietary, with the employment of the usual natural hygienic accompaniments of
treatment, was prescribed and faithfully carried out for six months. At the end of this time the patient, in full enjoyment o f the
relief