 ever had in his company. "It not h ow much we give but how much love we put into giving." (Mother
T er esa 1910 -199 7)

If yo u are strugg ling with money, in order to feel really go od abou t money,
you can send tho ughts of abundance of money to the people who m you pass
on th e st reet dur ing the day. Look at each of their faces and imagine giving
them ple nty of mon ey, and imagine their joy. Feel it, and move on to the
next per son. It's a sim ple thing to  do, but if you real ly feel it, it will change
how you feel about mon ey, and it will change the circumstances of money
in your life. Car eer and Business"T rue genius without heart is a thing of naught -for not gr eat understanding
alone, not intelligence alone, nor both  together make genius. Love! Love! Love! That is the soul of genius. "(Nikolas Joseph von Jacquin 1727- 1817)

It's the attractive force of love that moves all the money in the world, and
whoever is giving love by feeli ng good is a magnet for money. Y ou don't
have to earn money to prove yourself. Y ou are worthy of all the money you
need now! Y ou " are deserving o f the money you need now! Y ou are meant
to w ork for the joy of it. Y ou're meant to work because it thrills and excites
you. Y ou're meant to work because you love it! And when you love what
you do, money follows! If you're doing a job because y ou believe it's the only way you can earn
money, and you don't love it, yo u'll never bring money or the job you love
that way. The job you love exists now, and all you have to do to bring it to
you is give love. Imagine and feel having the job now and you will receive
it. Look for everything that's good about the job you have and  love those
things, because when you give love, everything you love follows. The job
you love will walk right into your life! An unemployed man applied for a job he had always wanted. After
applying for the job, he created a pretend of fer letter from the company that
included his salary and details of his job. He created a business card with
his name and the  company's logo, and he lo oked at the  card with feelings of
gratitude that he worked for the company. He wrote congratulatory emails
to himself every few days for getting the job. This man progressed through the phone interview, to face-to-face interviews
with ten people. T wo hours after his interviews, the c ompany called with
the new s that he had the job. This man received the job he had always
wanted with a f ar greater salary than he had written in his imaginary of fer
letter. Even if you don 't know what yo u want to do in your life, all you have to do
is give love through good feelings, and you will magnetize everything you
love to yourself. Y our feelings o f love will lead you to your purpose. Y ourdream jo b is on the frequency  of love and to receive it, you just have  to get
yourself there. "Success is not the key to hap piness. Happiness is the key to success. " (Albert Schweitzer 1875-1965)

Success in business operates in exactly the same way. If you have a
business but it's not doing as well as y ou w ant, the n something isn't sticky
about yo ur business. The biggest thing that causes businesses to become
unstuck is giving bad feelings about the lack of success. Even if the
business has been going well, if  you react with bad feelings when there's a
slight dip, you will create a bigger downturn in your business. All the
inspirations and ideas that will make yo ur busin ess skyrocket to levels you
can scarcely imagine are on the frequency of love, so you have to find ways
to feel good about your business an d get yourself onto the high est
frequency you can. Imagine, play, and create games, and do whatever you can to lift your
spirits and feel good. When you lift your feelings, you will lift your
business. In every part of your life, every day, love everything you see, love
everything around you, and love the success of other companies as though it
were your success! If you feel really good about success, no matter whose
success it is, you stick success to youl
In business or whatever job or work you do, make sure that you give in
equal value to th e money you receive in profits or from your sa lary. If you
give less value than the money you receive, your business or your career
will be doomed to failure. Y ou simply can't take from anyone in life,
because you will take from yourself. At all times give equal value for what
you're receiving. The only way you can be sure of doing that is to give more
value th an the money you're receiving. If you give more value than the
money you're receiving, your business and career will take of f.
 Love Has Unlimited ways for Y ou
to Receive

Money is only a tool for you to experience the things you love in  life. When
you think about the things you c an do with money, y ou will feel much more
love and joy than when you think only of money. Imagine being with what
you love, doing what you love, and  having  the things you love, because you
will then feel far more love than you will if you only think about money. The attra ctive force of love has unlimited ways for you to receiv e what you
want, an d only one of those wa ys involves money. Don't make the mistake
of think ing that money is the only way you can receive somethin g. That is
limited thinking and you will limit your life! My siste r attracted a new car through the most adventurous sequence of
events. S he was  driving to work  and she got caught in a flash flood and her
car stopped in the water. At the insistence of an emer gency rescue worker
she was  carried to dry land, even though the water was not dang erously
high. She laughed her way through the whole experience, and  her rescue
even made the nightly television news. My sister's car was irreparably
damaged by the water, and within two weeks she was given a lar ge check,
and she bought her dream car. The mo st wonderful part of thi s story is that my sister was r enovating a
house at the time, and she didn't have any spare money for a ne w c ar. She
didn't even imagine having a new car. She had attracted the beautiful new
car t o her becau se she had cried tears of joy when she heard the news that
our other sibling had gotten a new car. My sister was so  happy and gav e so
much love for o ur sibling receiving a new  car that the law of attraction
moved e very ele ment, circumst ance, and event to deliver a new car to her
too. That is the power of love!Y ou will not know how you will receive what you want until you receive it,
but the force of love knows. G et out of your own way, and have faith. Imagine what you want, feel the happiness inside you, and the attractive
force of love will find the perfect way for you to receive it. Our human
minds are limited but the intelligence of love is unlimited. Its ways are
beyond our comprehension. Don't limit your life by thinking money is the
only wa y to get something you want. Don't make money your only tar get,
but make your tar get what you want to be, do, or have. If you want a new
home, im agine a nd feel the joy of li ving in it. If you want beautiful clothes,
appliances, or a car; if you want  to go to co llege, move to another country,
receive training in music, acting, or a sport - imagine it! All these things can
come to you in an unlimited number of ways. Love Rules
There is one rule with money: you can never put money ahead of love. If
you do, you vio late love's law of attraction, and you will suf fer the co
nsequences. Love must be the ruling force in your life. Nothing can ever be
put above love. Mo ney is a tool for you to use, and you bring it to yourself
through love, but if you put money ahead of love in your life, it wi ll cause
you to re ceive a wh ole bunch of negative things. Y ou can't give love for
money and then walk around being rude and negative to people, because if
you do  that, you open the door for negativity to walk into your
relationships, health, happiness, and finances. "If you r equir e love, try to r ealize that the only way to get love is by giving
it, that the mor e you give the mor e you will get, and the only way you can
give it is to fill yourself up with  it, until you become a magnet." ( Charles
Haanel 1866-1949)

Y ou are meant to


. He can end the
ceremony by saying the same of fering of respects as in the
beginning. He cried a lot this week. And I bounced on the ball as I put him down for a nap
and cried too. I begged him, or God, to just tell me what he needed. I felt frustrated when he seemed to cry for no reason
and sometimes annoyed
by how much he needed me. I felt like I needed a moment. One breath. Two seconds
for me. The ability to shower without saying,
“I’m just showering, little angel. I’ll be right there. ”
To eat a whole meal in peace,
or at least sitting in one place. And then he smiles
and my whole world melts. My whole world
melts. I am yours, little one. Completely taken. I feel like God must have given mamas super powers. Truly. To love like this is unreal. And the ability to serve like this…
what an opportunity. I need you too, little one. I’m learning what it means
to love. L. R. Knost, the author of Two Thousand Kisses a Day  and The Gentle
Parent, writes,
I discovered early in my parenting journey that raising my voice
might scare my children into compliance, but it taught them nothing
other than to be afraid of me, to hide their mistakes and problems
from me, and to raise their own voice when they were frustrated or
upset themselves. Speaking quietly, though, drew them in close,
quieted them down, built trust, and opened their little ears and minds
and hearts to my words and my thoughts and the life lessons I wanted
them to learn. Teaching and guiding and modeling positive
communication skills naturally took center stage once I’d made that
first discovery. Learning to control myself rather than try to control
my children, to show respect instead of demanding respect, to listen
instead of lecture, to communicate instead of command, to parent
instead of punish, to problem-solve instead of becoming part of the
problem myself, has been the journey of a lifetime. What a lifetime
it’s been. As mamas,
our job is to instill within them the knowingthat there is nothing they could do
that would make them undeserving of our love. That there is no emotional state
that we cannot hold space for with patience and attention. There is no need
that is too big of a burden. It’s a practice,
as there are moments when I’m tested. And I know that when I’m tested to step into something,
there lie my greatest opportunities for healing and growth. There are moments when I feel things or want to do things
that I would never do. There are moments when I want to shake you. There are moments when I want to leave you crying on the bed. There are moments when I want to avoid you or ignore you. There are moments when it takes everything in me
to take a deep breath. To pause. To ask myself,
“How can I love you more, little one. ”
And I feel guilty even admitting these things,
because I feel that maybe I’m the only mama in the world that
ever feels like this. Though I know that I’m not,
because this is the work of a mama. There are moments
when I want to project onto you
what’ s happening inside of me
instead of taking responsibility. These are the moments
where healing can happen. When I don’t react out of frustration or anger;
When I don’t act based on how my parents may have acted;
When I choose not to act based on my patterns and conditioned
beliefs;
When I instead exercise my ability to
respond
with more awareness, more love, and more kindness. The real work of a mama is the inner work. Where are your actions coming from. A place of love. A place of frustration or anger. Because that’ s what they feel
and that’ s how they then learn
to respond to the world. Deep breath, mamas. It’s a huge responsibility. It’s the most important work. And I’m right here with you. Understanding Newborns
Your newborn babe has left the warm, watery, dark, quiet, and comforting
home of your womb and entered into a world that is cold, dry, bright, loud,
and startling in contrast. You will notice them adapting to these changes in
different ways. Their skin may become dry; their arms will reach out
looking for the distinct boundary of the surrounding womb, though now
they feel only space. In order to support them in developing a nervous system that is well
adjusted to their environment, it is essential to help ease their transition into
the world. This is why Ayurveda places a strong emphasis on the
postpartum window as a time where mama and babe stay at home. The
home environment can be kept quiet, peaceful, predictable, warm, and
comfortable, so that your baby can adjust well and develop a stable nervous
system. Newborn babies do not need much else besides your love and care. Generally speaking, a healthy newborn that does not have any medical
conditions or temporary imbalances will cry for only a handful of reasons. If your baby seems unhappy or uncomfortable, check their basic needs first. Is their diaper dirty. Are they hungry. Are they tired. Are they too hot or
too cold. Do they want to be held. Are they gassy or in an uncomfortable
position. If their basic needs are all met, check to see if it is their primary need:
mama’ s love. Hold them close, sing to them, rock them, let them nurse just
for comfort, even if they may not be hungry. According to Ayurveda, it is best for a newborn baby to be in the auric
field—the ener getic field exuding from the body—of their mother for the
first several weeks, no more than a couple feet away. You are their entire
world—their comfort and their home. Your voice is soothing, your smell is
inviting. They do not know a world without your heartbeat close by. It
soothes their nervous system and quite literally stabilizes their breath to feel
your warmth. Use this time to be with your little one. Do not be rigid about
eating and sleeping schedules or other “shoulds. ” Simply get to know your
little angel, and allow your rhythms to ebb and flow as you discover
yourselves, together. BASIC NEEDS
When tending to your little one’ s basic needs, be as present with them as
possible. When you are caring for them in these necessary ways, whether itbe changing their diaper, bathing, or feeding them, of fer them your full
attention so that they know that they are worthy of deep love and care. Here are some details pertaining to caring for your baby’ s basic needs:
Diaper changes. A baby will be uncomfortable sitting in a poopy
diaper, and a dirty diaper may cause a diaper rash, so change your
little one’ s diaper right after they are finished pooping. If you are
using a disposable diaper, most of them have an absorbent quality
that pulls the wetness away from their skin, so it will not feel
uncomfortable if the baby is in the diaper for a while after peeing;
generally they can pee two to four times in a disposable diaper
before they need a change. If you are using cloth diapers, the baby
will likely be uncomfortable after peeing just once because they will
feel the wetness. I suggest using cloth diapers as often as possible,
especially as your little one gets older, to reduce waste and expense. We used mostly disposable in the early days, as it invited more ease
to our early postpartum rhythm, but then we switched to using one
cloth diaper per day, then two, before switching over completely. Temperature regulation. The traditional advice used to be that
parents should check the baby’ s hands and feet to see if they are
cold. The recommendation now, however, is to feel the temperature
of their chest—if the skin there is cold, they are too chilly and need
some warmth. If their chest is hot, they need to cool down. A rule of
thumb is for your baby to be wearing one more layer than you are,
as they are likely to feel cold in the first few weeks of life (since they
are used to the warmth of your womb). An infant cannot regulate
their own body temperature until they are several months old, so it is
dangerous for them to overheat. If they are sweating, they are too
hot and probably uncomfortable. Skin-to-skin contact is a great way
to regulate your baby’ s body temperature if they are hot, cold, or
have a fever. Let them rest on your bare chest and their temperature
will quickly regulate to match yours. Nourishment. Better than creating feeding schedules and tracking
your newborn’ s eating times is to learn your baby’ s cues for when
they are hungry, and feed them when they cue you. If your newborn
is crying and upset, hunger is one of the first things to check. Among
the many hunger cues that the baby may give (moving around,
looking around, opening their mouth and moving their head around,
licking their lips, reaching for you, and so on), crying is the last one. Ayurveda recommends at least two hours between feedings so that
the milk has time to fully digest in your babe’ s stomach. However, in
the newborn stage, please do not worry too much about timing, as
every child’ s needs are dif ferent—you can feed them more often if
they are hungrier or less often if they are sleeping (you do not have
to wake them


 fasting:
    Case 8 was the only instance in which there was staining of adjacent tissues. Others were as noted or normal. Page 70 of  72     One fact of significance shown in the post mortem findings and in the comparison noted above is that, no matter how general
were the defects in other organs, nor how emaciated the body, unless they themselves were organically imperfect, the heart, t he
lungs, and the brain were normal in size and in functioning ability. It may be added that, although not always specifically s tated,
the brain in each instance in the cases cited was thoroughly dissected. Through the facts related the immediate cause of death in every case described may easily be traced to its origin. And
furthermore these facts virtually prove that organic deficiency, if not produced by drug dosage, is the direct result of dige stive
impairment. The scientific worth of this observation  is much enhanced for the reason that in these autopsies the entire organism in
each case was exhibited unaffected by recent drug paralysis. Observation also shows that the subjects in whom glands were
hardened or atrophied were invariably of an emaciated or wiry physique, while those in whom a softening of the organs had
occurred were inclined to obesity. It is also interesting to note that, where mental control was lacking at any stage of the fast, the
colon upon dissection showed displacement and distort ion, so much so that its evacuation was rendered most difficult even with
the aid of enemata. From the scientific viewpoint the observations included in the present chapter are of greatest import. By them the theory of
Fasting for the Cure of Disease  is fully substantiated, and proof of its efficacy as a therapeutic measure is rendered
incontrovertible. SUMMARY OF DEATHS IN THE FAST

N
o. Sex Lengt
h of
Fast
Days  Age Height  Weight
at
Begin
ning of
Fast Weight
at Death  Pulse at
begi-
ning of
fast Pulse
at
mid
fast Pulse
before
death  Temp at
begin -
ning of ast  Temp at
mid fast  Temp before
death
1 F 40 38 5'5" 124 86 82 72 86 99 98 97
2 F 57 39 5'2" 110 68 74 72 68 96 98 94
3 F 60 24 5'7" 132 75 90 104 112 97 99 96
4 F 59 35 5'8" 144 90 78 84 108 100 100 96
5 M 19 24 5'7" 110 87 80 68 60 96 97 94
6 M 30 46 5'11"  145 112 88 92 96 98 99 97
7 M 38 56 5'5" 115 70 60 68 50 94 96 94
8 M 49 22 5'6" 128 100 90 86 102 97 98 97
9 M 21 27 5'10"  125 88 56 54 48 94 96 94
10 M 35
(Diet)  34 5'9" 146 120 54 52 50 94 94 94
11 F 80
(Diet)  33 5'2" 78 65 56 60 62 94 96 94

CHAPTER XXI
NATURAL THERAPY AND THE FAST

OSTEOPATHY AND CHIROPRACTIC:
THE TENDENCY OF OSTEOPATHY TO REVERT TO MEDICINE:
THE BROAD BASIS OF NATURAL THERAPY

    AS ELSEWHERE expressed the fast in itself is primarily an eliminative agency, a process of purification, and therefore it mus t
be regarded, not as the actual restorative, curative power, but as a means to this end. Ability to recover from disease, cure  itself,
resides within the individual organism, the fast, together with its accessories, permitting, and at times even compelling, ga thered
body impurity to be eliminated through the various natural, normal channels of evacuation. It prepares and furnishe s a restored and
renovated foundation upon which a new and healthy physical structure may be re -erected. The accessories utilized in fasting have been in greater part explained and elaborated. But one important auxiliary agency th at is
daily brought into play during the regimen imposed is that of body manipulation, including adjustment and correction of bony
lesions, be the latter located in the spinal column or elsewhere. In this connection two distinct schools of healing have ari sen
within comparati vely recent time, those of Osteopathy and of Chiropractic. Osteopathy, the theory of which was first propounded by Dr. A. T. Still in 1874, is defined as "that science or system of hea ling
which treats disease of the human body by manual therapeutics  for the stimulation of the remedial forces within the body itself, for
Page 71 of  72 the correction of misplaced tissue, and for the removal of obstructions or interferences with the fluids of the body, all wit hout the
internal administration of drugs or medicine. " It may perhaps serve to make this definition more lucid if Dr. Still's own
interpretation of his discovery is added. It is this: -- "Osteopathy deals with the body as an intricate machine, which, if kept in
proper adjustment, nourished and cared for, will run smoothly into ripe old age. When every part of the machine is adjusted and in
perfect harmony, health will hold dominion over the human organism by laws as natural and immutable as are the laws of
gravitation. Every living organism has within it the power to manufacture and prepare all chemicals, materials, and forces needed
to build and rebuild itself, together with all of the machinery and apparatus required to do the work in the most perfect man ner,
producing the only substances that can be utilized in t he economy of the individual. No material other than food and water taken in
satisfaction of the demands of the appetite can be introduced without detriment. " The name, Osteopathy, derived as it is from two Greek words, osteon, a bone, and pathos, su ffering, is not such a misnomer as
at first might appear. The osteopathic theory, it is seen, is based on the belief that disease is caused by some part of the human
mechanism being out of proper adjustment, as in the ease of misplaced bone, cartilage or l igament, adhesions or contractions of
muscle, any one of which results in unnatural pressure on, or obstruction to, nerve, blood, or lymph. Osteopathy, then, throu gh the
agency or use of the bones, especially the long ones which are employed as levers, see ks to adjust the misplaced parts. It pays
attention to all portions of the organism, but it devotes much of its work to the spinal column, which, owing to its complex
structure, is liable to several forms of sub -dislocation, depending upon the region in wh ich they may occur. The most common of
these is that of rotation followed by forward or backward displacement of a single vertebra. Compensation always succeeds the se
changes so that the disturbance is communicated to the vertebrae above or below, thus for ming a group. These lesions and others
are detected by the touch and are verified by tenderness of the surrounding parts. Chiropractic is defined as "a system of therapeutic treatment for disease through the adjustment of the articulations of the human
body, particularly those of the spine, with the object of relieving pressure or tension upon nerve filaments. " As in osteopat hy, the
operations necessary are performed with the hands, no drugs being administered. There is no doubt that mobility of  the spinal column is of first importance, for in health there is motion between adjacent
vertebrae. Lack of movement may be caused by muscular tension, by stretching of ligaments, or by a union of the parts because  of
bony deposit. Following any of these conditions, both osteopathy and chiropractic hold, are functional or organic disturbances,
acute becoming chronic. Nerves are pinched or impinged, and, as circulation of blood to an organ depends upon its nerve contr ol,
organic mechanism is interfered with, and disease results. That these two schools are closely related in theory is evident. But each falls short of its greatest possibilities when offe red as a
sole agency for the relief of human ills. Osteopathy has begun to recognize this fundamental fallacy in principle, but in doing so, it
has to a degree departed from the vision of its founder, a departure which, in the opinion of the author, is vital error. At the time
this is written osteopathy is leaning backward towards that profession which Dr. Still repudiated a half century ago, and only its
leading members can save it from amalgamation with the dominant cult, a union which will surely prove its annihilation. Alrea dy
in the osteopathic curriculum there have been introduced materia medica, phar macology, and minor surgery, with side journeys
into bacteriology. The official magazines of the profession now carry articles on subjects which, if not strictly medical in tone, are


 beings in a benecial relationship to
Qi. THE MOTIVE  FORCE:  QIQi (pronounced “chee”) can be understood as the creative or
formative principle associated with life and all processes that
characterize living entities. All animate forms in nature are
manifestations of Qi. Qi is an invisible substance, as well as an
immaterial force that has palpable and observable
manifestations. Qi has its own movement and also activates the movement of
things other than itself. Qi begets motion and heat. Within the
context of the human person, Qi is that which enlivens the body
and is dierentiated according to specic functional systems. All physical and mental activities are manifestations of Qi:
sensing, cogitating, feeling, digesting, stirring, propagating. One Chinese ideogram for Qi is comp osed of an upper radical
representing “rising vapor” and a lower radical denoting
“grain.” The steam that spirals from a pot of cookin g rice
symbolizes distilled essence, hence Qi can be transla ted as the
vapor of the nest matter. The highly rened essence of food
(Food Qi ) and air (Air Qi ) in the body become one entity known
as “pure” or “righteous” Qi. Defensive Qi (wei) is the activity of
adapting to inuences such as weather or mobilizing resistance
to pathogenic microorganism s and noxious substances in the
environment. Qi refers to resources the human organism
consumes, transforms, and transmits. HEALTH IN THE  GARDEN
A garden is a dynamic self-regulating system that transforms
sunlight (Yang) and water (Yin) into the living tissue of vegetation. Within the cycle of seasons, there is a time for sprouting, maturing,
ripening, harvesting, and composting. Through this process of
transformation the garden continuously sustains and re-creates
itself. This interplay of Yin and Yang is what enables life to
mushroom.Maximum growth in the garden derives from the proper balance
between the heat and light of the sun with the cool moisture of
water. The garden is healthy when rich growing conditions prevail
and when plants are resilient enough to tolerate adversity. An
occasional period of drought, a spring storm, an infestation of
insects, or the moldy fungus  that grows during periods of extended
humidity can be overcome by a vigorous ecosystem, adaptable
enough to recover once the hardship has passed. The gardener does not make the garden grow. Nature does. The
gardener is an ally who prepares the soil, sows the seeds, waters,
and removes the weeds, placing plants in the proper relation to each
other and the sun. If the gardener did not tend the garden, it would
lose its unique  identity and grow wild, merging completely with its
surroundings to blend with the larger environment. The gardener
protects the integrity of the garden by promoting growth in some
areas, restrictin g it in others, adding compost to keep the soil fertile. He observes and nurtures the interaction between the garden and
environment. HEALTH IN THE  MICROCOSM OF A  HUMAN BEING
Both the garde n and the human body are microcosms of nature. The
processes, cycles, and conditions that exist in a garden can also be
observed in the life of a human being. Like the earth, the human body is enveloped and permeated by
streams of Qi that link and enliven all its activities. The human body
is subject to similar rhythms and cycles as the garden. A person both
embodies and interacts with cycles—daily, monthly, seasonal, and
lifelong. Over millennia doctors observed cycles in nature and
conceptualized the body in these terms. They saw a human being as
a complete system unto itself with constellations of subsystems
within it. The body is not conceived of as cells, tissues, and other
structural components. Rather it is understood in terms of the
relationships among the constituents of form and process that
generate, regulate, and accumulate Blood, Moisture, and Qi.Just as earth is comprised of land, ocean, and atmospher e, so the
body is organized as Blood, Moisture, and Qi. The Blood  governs
tissue, the material form of the body. The Moisture  governs the
internal environment, the body’s inner ocean. The Qi governs the
shape and activity of the body and its process of forming and
organizing itself. Qi also means the totality of Blood,

QI, MOISTURE, BLOOD
Just as earth is comprised of land, ocean, and atmosphere, so
the body is organized as Blood, Moisture, and Qi. Blood  governs
tissue, the material form of the body. Moisture  governs the
internal enviro nment, the body’s inner ocean. Qi governs the
shape and activity of the body and its process of forming and
organizing itself. Qi also implies the totality of Blood, Moisture,
and Qi, the total summation of the life of the organism. Blood  is a material substance as well as the process of
generating, distributing, and storing nutrients. Moisture  is an
amorphous substance as well as the process of generating,distributing, and storing uid. Qi is an invisible substance, as
well as an immaterial force that manifests as movemen t and
activity through which it is palpable and observable. Moisture
cannot be separated from the function of moisturizing, Blood
from nourishin g, nor Qi from moving. They are part of a
continuum of tangible forms and immanent functions. Within the body, every phenomenon is a product of the
interaction of Blood, Moisture, and Qi. Without proper Moisture,
the Qi becomes hot and agitated and the Blood  dries up and
congeals. Without Blood, Moisture  is dispersed and Qi is
scattered. Without Qi, Moisture  and Blood  stagnate, coagulate,
and cease circulating. Each constituent exists as an individual
entity and yet depends comp letely upon the larger system, the
body. All functions and processes are interdependent,
cogenerating, and mutually regulating. Moisture, and Qi, earth, sea, and air, the total summation of the life
of the organism, body, or world. Within the body, every phenomenon is a product of the
interaction of Blood, Moisture, and Qi. Without proper Moisture, the
Qi becomes hot and agitated and the Blood  dries up and congeals. Without Blood, Moisture  is dispersed and Qi is scattered. Without Qi,
Moisture  and Blood  stagnate, coagulate, and cease circulating. Each
constituent exists as an individual entity and yet depends
completely upon the larger system, the body. All functions and
processes are interdependent, cogenerating, and mutually
regulating. Together, Blood, Moisture, and Qi represent the visible and
invisible, gross and rened, substance and process of the soma and
psyche. Blood  is a material substance as well as the process of
generating, distributing, and storing nutrients. Moisture  is an
amorphous substance as well as the process of generating,
distributing, and storing uid. Qi is an invisible substance, as well as
an immaterial force that manifests as movement and activitythrough which it is palpable and observable. Moisture  cannot be
separated from the function of moisturizing, Blood  from nourishing,
nor Qi from moving. They are part of a continuum of tangible forms
and immanent functions. Just as ice, water, and steam are three
manifestations of the same molecular entity, Blood, Moisture, and Qi
are three manifestations of the same “life force.” In death, a
disorganization of the continuum occurs: tissue and spirit become
separated from form and process. PATTERNS OF  HARMONY IN THE  HUMAN GARDEN
Nature, like a symphony, is composed of complex interweaving
patterns of form and movement. These patterns are recapitulated in
every smaller system. The body is to nature as a violin is to an
orchestra. The strings are to a violin as the organs are to the body. The musical vibrations of each string are like the functio ns of each
organ. For the orchestra to play a symphony in harmo ny, all the
instruments must be tuned to each other—all the strings of each
instrument and all the notes of each string must be played  in tune. If
a single instrument is out of tune, the whole sound is dissonant
rather than harmonious. This illustrates an aspect of Chinese philosophy known  as the
theory of correspondence. Simply, this theory states that in order for
a larger  system  to be in balance as a whole, each smaller system
within it must itself be balanced. This principle of harmony is the
same at each level of complexity. Patterns of harmony in one system
both reect and generate patterns of harmony in other systems, as
well as at greater and lesser orders of complexity. Correspondence thinking postulates that events occur in
association with each other, linked by a mutual force regardless of
their location in time and space. Qi is the medium that links all
events with each other, transcending time and space because
patterns are formed that persist beyond their moment  of origin. Causal thinking,


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	about	justified	resentments? A:	The	willingness	to	let	go	of	resentments	reveals	that	all	so-called
justifications	are	rationalizations	and	excuses. They	are	the	projections	of	blame	and	represent	a	narcissistic
positionality. Resentments	are	really	childish	and	based	on	kindergartennotions	of	fairness. Nothing	in	the	universe	has	anything	to	do	with
fairness. Instead,	everything	represents	universal	justice	outside	present
time	and	locality. All	resentments	represent	the	justification	of	blame,	the
projection	of	responsibility,	and	seeing	oneself	as	victim. For	the	spiritual
student,	even	if	the	other	person	was	‘wrong’,	they	still	have	to	be
forgiven. All	resentments	calibrate	below	the	level	of	200	and	are	not	in
integrity. There	is	no	gain	in	harboring	them. The	modern	trend	toward	‘political	correctness’	is	a	great	source	of
conflict,	strife,	and	suffering	(calibrates	at	190). It	is	based	on	imaginary
‘rights’. In	reality,	there	are	no	such	things	as	‘rights’. These	are	all	social
imaginings. Nothing	in	the	universe	has	any	‘rights’.The	whole	area	of
‘rights’	leads	to	a	‘chip	on	the	shoulder’	paranoid	attitude,	confrontiveness,
conflict,	concepts	of	perpetrator	and	victim,	illusions	of	causality,	and
revenge. All	this	displaces	taking	personal	responsibility	for	one’s	own
experience	of	life,	which	is	the	level	one	has	to	reach	for	integrity. Q:	How	does	humility	undo	the	hold	of	the	intellect? A:	By	fearlessly	exploring	logic	and	reason,	science	itself	comes	to	realize	its
limits	and	its	proper	domain. Eventually,	reason	and	logic	become
circuitous	so	that	one	ends	up	defining	definitions,	categories	of	thought,
and	modes	of	description	from	preselected	points	of	observation. Logic
has	practical	and	useful	applications	in	the	everyday	material	world	that
are	salutary	and	beneficial,	but	they	do	not	lead	to	enlightenment,	which	is
an	entirely	different	endeavor. Q:	But	what	about	morality? Doesn’t	letting	go	of	right	and	wrong	and
judgment	of	others	lead	to	immorality? A:	Denotations	of	right	and	wrong	are	practical	guides	to	behavior	for	people
who	are	not	yet	spiritually	evolved. They	are	a	temporary	substitute	for	a
greater	awareness. Thus,	we	teach	a	child	that	it	is	‘bad’	to	cross	the	street
alone	because	they	lack	the	awareness	of	danger. By	adulthood,	such	a
contextualization	as	right	or	wrong	about	crossing	the	street	is	no	longer
meaningful	or	significant. We	look	both	ways	before	crossing	the	street	to
avoid	being	run	over,	not	because	it	is	wrong	or	bad. With	spiritual
progress,	ethical	values	replace	moralistic	dictums,	just	as	awareness	of
spiritual	truth	replaces	dogma	and	coercive	belief	systems. Behaviors	that
have	to	be	outlawed	to	suppress	their	occurrence	in	the	general	population
have	lost	any	meaning	to	people	who	are	far	more	advanced. Q:	If	there	is	no	‘objective’	right	or	wrong,	then	what	guides	behavior?A:	One’s	awareness	of	Reality	recontextualizes	all	meaning	and	significance
as	well	as	any	appearances. There	are	no	gains	to	be	desired,	no	wrongs	to
avenge,	no	winners	or	losers,	no	causes	to	sacrifice	for. The	guide	to	all
action	becomes	an	unconditional	lovingness,	kindness,	and	compassion. All	choices	have	consequences,	and	there	is	actually	no	injustice	anywhere
to	be	seen	when	one’s	vision	is	unlimited	by	time,	space,	and	perception. Q:	What	about	karma? A:	We	can	avoid	controversy	and	contention	by	not	using	that	term,	which,	in
the	Western	world,	is	associated	with	Eastern	religions	and	spiritual
traditions. Instead,	we	can	observe	the	association	between	actions	and
choices,	both	mental	and	physical,	with	consequences. In	reality,	these	are
not	sequential	but	are	actually	concordant	and	seemingly	separated	by
perception. From	outside	the	duality	of	perception,	an	‘event’	and	its
‘effects’	are	one	and	the	same	thing. Nothing	actually	moves	except	the
point	of	perception	itself. All	religions,	without	exception,	teach	that
decisions,	choices,	and	actions	are	connected	with	consequences	that
appear	and	occur	later	in	‘time’. If	life	is	seen	as	a	continuum	from	one
realm	to	the	next,	then	all	religions	are	the	same	in	that	they	teach	that
actions	have	consequences	in	another	realm	or	condition	of	sequential	life
frame. All	the	religions	teach	that	there	will	be	a	nonphysical	life	that
supersedes	the	physical	one. The	confusion	here	arises	from	the
misidentification	of	this	life	as	physical	and	other	lives	as	nonphysical,	or
recurrently	physical. To	begin	with,	this	life	is	an	inner,	subjective
experiencing	that	includes,	but	is	independent	of,	the	physical	body. Thus,
this	current	existence	is	not	actually	physical,	either. This	life	is	the	subjective	adventure	of	that	mysterious	entity	called	‘I’. This	current	experience	of	the	‘I’	may	consider	itself	physical,	but	that	in
itself	is	an	illusion. Whether	successive	life	experiences	include	the
illusion	of	physicality	or	not	is	really	irrelevant	to	the	inference	and
significance	of	the	sequential	progress	of	conditions. All	‘lifetimes’	are
subjective,	nonphysical,	interrelated,	and	actually	continuous. Each	is
conditioned	and	determined	by	choices,	positionalities,	and	their
consequences. All	possibilities	are	included	in	the	evolution	of
consciousness. Once	consciousness	stops	identifying	with	form,	it	is	then
beyond	karma. It	is	of	considerable	interest	that	newborns	already	have	a	calibratable
level	of	consciousness	at	the	time	of	their	birth,	and	that	this	level	in	most
people	tends	to	persist	throughout	their	lifetime. The	progression	ofconsciousness	in	the	average	human	being	during	one	lifetime	is	an
advance	of	about	five	points. Paradoxically,	however,	the	level	of
consciousness	of	mankind	as	a	whole	remained	at	190	for	many	centuries,
and	only	recently	crossed	the	critical	line	of	200	to	the	current	level	of
207. The	rate	of	increase	of	the	general	level	of	consciousness	is	held	back
by	the	immense	number	of	people	who	continue	to	make	negative
decisions	and	choices. Q:	Is	karma	therefore	related	to	form? A:	Preexisting	conditions	of	consciousness	consist	of	patterns	expressed	as
prevailing	energy	fields	of	relative	power. Each	level	contains	within	it	the
unresolved	issues	and	limitations	that	characterize	that	level	and	thereby
confront	the	individual. Let	us	say	that	at	birth,	one’s	energy	field
calibrates	at	150. This	person’s	main	confrontation	will	certainly	be	anger. They	may	spend	a	lifetime,	or	many	lifetimes,	with	anger	as	the	central
theme. Persons	who	are	in	the	energy	field	that	calibrates	in	the	50s	will
face	a	life	of	poverty	and	deprivation	and	may	be	born	in	a	starving
population,	ravaged	by	disease	and	war. Q:	Aren’t	conditions	at	birth	pure	chance,	depending	on	genes,
chromosomes,	and	the	accident	of	geography	and	time? A:	Nothing	in	the	un


age of twelve—ﬁlled me with endless loops of dark thoughts
and negative feedback: “Why did you say that?” “ Don’t be
silly; he will never lik e you,” “Y ou’re an idiot,” “ Don’t stand
too tall; people will be jealous of you,” and on and on and
on. I found it odd and confusing listening to these voices
inside my head, because one minute they wer e telling me
that I was nothing but a spoiled, r otten brat and the ne xt
they wer e convincing me that I was better, pr ettier, smarter,
and mor e talented than everyone else. An inter nal war raged inside my psyche. F irst it was,
“You’re great!” and then, “Y ou’re nothing but a little liar.”
“Everyone lik es you because you ar e kind and war m,” and a
few minutes later, “Y ou ar e a cold-hearted bitch who doesn’t
deserve to have any friends.” These voices lef t me utterly
confused about who I was. The coe xistence of the positive
messages and the negative war nings cr eated so much
havoc within me that I was either crying hysterically or
going out of my way to spr ead good feelings to anyone who
was willing to r eceive my love. They called it hor mones at
the time. Er ratic behavior was e xpected of a girl my age,
but mine was a bit mor e melodramatic, which ear ned me
the title of the neighbor hood drama queen. A t last I had
ﬁnally won a pageant, e xcept this cr own came with many
negative pr ojections fr om my family and lots of laughs fr om
family friends who wer e privy to my private shame. I began
to feel mor e and mor e powerless over my inter nal
chattering, until I came to the conclusion that ther e was
deﬁnitely something wr ong with me and ther e was nothingthat I could do to ﬁx it. I tried with all my might to silence
these voices, to mak e them shut up, by trying to convince
myself that I was r eally ok ay. My moments of peace and
happiness became less and less fr equent, unless I was
fortunate enough to be caught up in listening to a gr eat
song or playing with my friends. But in the quietness of a
shower or an early mor ning rush to school, it became har der
and har der to br eak fr ee of the stranglehold of my inter nal
demons, whose voices sounded lik e a chur ch choir singing
out of tune. Instead of feeling compassionate, kind, and
gentle towar d myself, I felt hopeless, hostile, and angry. As my inter nal discomfort r ose, I began to sear ch for what
might silence my ugly little mind and mak e me feel better
about myself. My sear ch for feel-good moments began with
certain foods: Sara L ee br ownies and a liter of Cok e seemed
to do the trick. I lear ned how to silently slip into my par ents’
room during dinner, go into their wallets, and steal the
change I needed to get my daily ﬁx. It started oﬀ quite
easily, because the 7-Eleven was right acr oss the str eet
from our home on F orty-sixth A venue in Hollywood, Florida. As months went by, that ﬁx was just not enough. The
noisy, dark voices fr om inside somehow lear ned to slip
through my sugar -induced feel-good moments. I had to ﬁnd
something else to manage these unwanted br eak-ins and
put a smile back on my face—even if those smiles wer e met
with the occasional inter nal voice thr eatening to “ wipe that
smile oﬀ your face.”
My inner hunger to feel good soon became gr eater than
my need to be lik ed or to be per ceived as a good or “decent
young lady.” I was over come with the impulse to change the
way I felt. My sugar addiction quickly tur ned into something
greater, as I pick ed up my ﬁrst cigar ette and a sampling of
drugs. P ot, which was never my thing, tur ned into pills,
placidillies, or downers, as they wer e called in those days. These escalated into psychedelics that led me to a plethora
of other substances. As I succeeded in using drugs to cr eatemoments of complete peace—the mantra of almost every
popular song back then—I ingrained into my young psyche a
way of thinking and behaving that said to feel good I
needed to look outside myself for something to mak e me
feel better. Over time I lear ned that the scary impulses that of ten
came out in my behavior wer e not meant to be e xamined or
expressed, but rather should be hidden and r epressed, no
matter what the cost. Slowly I slipped away fr om any
semblance of the innocent child I once was and cr eated an
outer persona that e xuded conﬁdence and success. The
more I played in the darkness of my own human demons,
the str onger the impulse to hide my feelings of shame and
unworthiness. I began to over compensate for my
weaknesses by becoming char ming, friendly, str eet-smart,
and savvy in the outer world. Although I struggled
desperately in school, because I was too busy listening to
the craziness in my mind rather than the teacher in the
room, I wrapped myself up in a pack age that look ed
somewhat smart and pr etended to be an opinionated know-
it-all, hoping that I could fool everyone, including myself,
into believing that I wasn’t the dumb little sister of Linda
and Michael F ord. I watched what the rich girls wer e wearing, and either I
begged my par ents to buy me the knock- oﬀs or I met with a
group of kids at the mall on Satur day mor nings to steal what
I didn’t have, so no one would ﬁnd out that I was fr om a
middle-class Jewish family. I didn’t think being a Jewish girl
was cool and had hear d mor e than my shar e of nasty
Jewish-girl jok es, so I studied how the town shiksas (the
pretty non- Jewish girls—usually blonde) wer e behaving and
took on some of their characteristics and behaviors as part
of my car efully designed mask to hide my inner ﬂaws and
imperfections. It was a game I didn’t even know I was playing at the
time. If I discover ed something about myself that was notacceptable to my ego ideal, I would sear ch the outer world
to see who was acceptable, and with the sensibilities of a
true artist I sculpted the new me, giving the illusion that I
was the person I wanted to be rather than the person I
feared I was. The pr oblem was that no matter how much I
over-compensated for the parts of myself that I fear ed or
was ashamed of, in the silence of my own mind I knew the
truth about who I was under neath my public mask. Although
some could see thr ough the glorious act that I had cr eated,
for the most part I had become a successful human being
because I could fool those ar ound me. I trick ed people into believing my smok e-and-mir rors act. I
was able to enr oll people in my happy life by smiling and
spouting my many accomplishments of the day. Or I could
invite them into one of my other favorite nar ratives—“W oe
is me”—wher e I played the part of the damsel in distr ess. Either way, I became a master at hiding not just fr om
others, but also, and most of all, fr om myself. I didn’t know
who I was or what I r eally wanted. I didn’t know what truly
made me happy or what lef t me feeling empty and devoid
of emotions. My shadow was in contr ol, even though, in all
my ar rogance, I believed I was the one in char ge. Truly the
dark side had won, until my persona came crumbling down. Just lik e Humpty Dumpty, who fell to the gr ound, by the
time I was twenty -seven I was stripped of my “I have it all
together,” know-it-all persona and lef t wailing on the ﬂoor of
a drug tr eatment center. It was ther e that I came face-to -
face with the r eal Debbie F ord—with all of her ﬂaws,
weakness, and disowned qualities as well as her gif ts,
strengths, and deeply hidden inner needs. It was ther e that I
knew I was mor e than I could ever even imagine and that I
was nothing but one of six billion human beings struggling
to mak e peace with their dark side and their human
vulnerabilities. It was during this very humbling meeting with myself that
I committed to lear ning about who and what I was and why Ifelt compelled to do the things I did. It was at this pivotal
time in my life that I began to understand the human
shadow and the e�


	success	on	your	journey	to	achieving	a	perpetual	state	of	health,
happiness,	and	vitality. CHAPTER	1

Gallstones	in	the	Liver:	A	Major	Health	Risk

Think	of	the	liver	as	a	large	city	with	thousands	of	houses	and	streets. There	are
underground	pipes	for	delivering	water,	oil,	and	gas. Sewage	systems	and	garbage	trucks
remove	the	city’s	waste	products. Power	lines	deliver	energy	to	the	homes	and	businesses. Factories,	transport	systems,	communication	networks,	and	stores	meet	the	daily
requirements	of	the	residents. The	organization	of	city	life	is	such	that	it	can	provide	all
that	it	needs	for	the	continued	existence	of	the	population. But	if	a	major	strike,	a	power
outage,	a	devastating	earthquake,	or	a	major	act	of	terrorism,	such	as	the	one	we	witnessed
in	New	York	City	on	September	11,	2001,	suddenly	paralyzes	city	life,	the	population	will
begin	to	suffer	serious	shortcomings	in	all	these	vital	sectors. Like	a	city’s	infrastructure,	the	liver	has	hundreds	of	different	functions	and	is
connected	with	every	part	of	the	body. Every	moment	of	the	day,	it	is	involved	in
manufacturing,	processing,	and	supplying	vast	amounts	of	nutrients. These	nutrients	feed
the	60	to	100	trillion	inhabitants	(cells)	of	the	body. Each	cell	is,	in	itself,	a	microscopic
city	of	immense	complexity,	with	billions	of	chemical	reactions	per	second. To	sustain	the
incredibly	diverse	activities	of	all	the	cells	of	the	body	without	disruption,	the	liver	must
supply	them	with	a	constant	stream	of	nutrients,	enzymes,	and	hormones. With	its	intricate
labyrinth	of	veins,	ducts,	and	specialized	cells,	the	liver	needs	to	be	completely
unobstructed	in	order	to	maintain	a	problem-free	production	line	and	frictionless
distribution	system	throughout	the	body. The	liver	is	the	main	organ	responsible	for	distributing	and	maintaining	the	body’s
“fuel”	supply. Furthermore,	its	activities	include	the	breaking	down	of	complex	chemicals
and	the	synthesis	of	protein	molecules. The	liver	acts	as	a	cleansing	device;	it	also
deactivates	hormones,	alcohol,	and	medicinal	drugs. Its	task	is	to	modify	these
biologically	active	substances	so	that	they	lose	their	potentially	harmful	effects—a	process
known	as	detoxification. Specialized	cells	in	the	liver’s	blood	vessels	(Kupffer	cells)	mop
up	harmful	elements	and	infectious	organisms	reaching	the	liver	from	the	gut. The	liver
excretes	the	waste	materials	resulting	from	these	actions	via	its	bile	duct	network. A	healthy	liver	receives	and	filters	3	pints	of	blood	per	minute	and	produces	1	to	1. 5
quarts	of	bile	every	day. This	ensures	that	all	the	activities	in	the	liver	and	in	the	rest	of	the
body	run	smoothly	and	efficiently. Obstructive	gallstones	greatly	undermine	the	liver’s
ability	to	detoxify	any	externally	supplied	and	internally	generated	harmful	substances	in
the	blood. These	stones	also	prevent	the	liver	from	delivering	the	proper	amounts	ofnutrients	and	energy	to	the	right	places	in	the	body	at	the	right	time. This	upsets	the
delicate	balance	in	the	body,	known	as	“homeostasis,”	thus	leading	to	disruption	of	its
systems	and	undue	stress	on	its	organs. A	clear	example	of	such	a	disturbed	balance	is	an	increased	concentration	of	the
endocrine	hormones
estrogen
	and
aldosterone
	in	the	blood. These	hormones,	produced	in
both	men	and	women,	are	responsible	for	the	correct	amount	of	salt	and	water	retention. When	stones	congest	the	gallbladder	and	the	liver’s	bile	ducts,	these	hormones	may	not	be
sufficiently	broken	down	and	detoxified. Hence,	their	concentration	in	the	blood	rises	to
abnormal	levels,	causing	tissue	swelling	and	water	retention. Most	oncologists	consider
elevated	estrogen	levels	to	be	the	leading	cause	of	breast	cancer	among	women. In	men,
high	levels	of	this	hormone	can	lead	to	both	excessive	development	of	breast	tissue	and
weight	gain. Over	60	percent	of	the	American	population	is	overweight	or	obese. Men,	women,	and
children	in	this	condition	suffer	mainly	from	fluid	retention	(with	relatively	minor	fat
accumulation). The	retained	fluids	help	trap	and	neutralize	noxious	substances	that	the
liver	can	no	longer	remove	from	the	body. This	helps	the	overweight	or	obese	person	to
survive	a	major,	possibly	fatal,	toxicity	crisis	such	as	a	heart	attack,	septic	poisoning,	or
massive	infection. The	side	effect	of	fluid	retention	in	the	tissues,	however,	is	that	it
causes	these	toxins	and	other	harmful	waste	matter	(metabolic	waste	and	dead	cell
material)	to	accumulate	in	various	parts	of	the	body	and	further	congest	the	pathways	of
circulation	and	elimination. Wherever	in	the	body	the	storage	capacity	for	toxins	and
waste	is	exceeded,	symptoms	of	illness	begin	to	occur. Cleansing	the	liver	and	gallbladder	from	all	accumulated	stones	(see
Figures	1a
	and
1b
)
helps	to	restore	homeostasis,	balances	weight,	and	sets	the	precondition	for	the	body	to
heal	itself. The	liver	cleanse	is	also	one	of	the	best	precautionary	measures	you	can	take	to
protect	yourself	against	nearly	every	kind	of	illness,	known	or	unknown. Figure	1a
:	Flushed-out	gallstones

Figure	1b
:	Flushed-out	gallstones

If	you	suffer	any	of	the	following	symptoms,	or	similar	conditions,	you	most	likely
have	numerous	gallstones	in	your	liver	and	gallbladder:
Low	appetite
Food	cravings	Digestive	disorders
Diarrhea
Constipation
Clay-colored	stool
Hernia
Flatulence
Hemorrhoids
Dull	pain	on	the	right	side
Difficulty	breathing
Liver	cirrhosis
Hepatitis
Most	infections
High	cholesterol
Pancreatitis
Heart	disease
Brain	disorders
Duodenal	ulcers
Nausea	and	vomiting
A	“bilious”	or	angry	personality
Depression
Impotence
Other	sexual	problems
Prostate	diseases
Urinary	problems
Hormonal	imbalances
Menstrual	and	menopausal
disorders
Problems	with	vision
Puffy	eyes
Any	skin	disorder
Liver	spots,	especially	those	on
the	back	of	the	hands	and
facial	area
Dizziness	and	fainting	spells
Loss	of	muscle	tone
Excessive	weight	or	wasting
Strong	shoulder	and	back	pain
Pain	at	the	top	of	a	shoulder
blade	and/or	between	the
shoulder	blades
Dark	color	under	the	eyes
Morbid	complexion
Tongue	that	is	glossy	or	coated
in	white	or	yellow
Scoliosis
Gout	Frozen	shoulder
Stiff	neck
Asthma
Headaches	and	migraines
Tooth	and	gum	problems
Yellowness	of	the	eyes	and	skin
Sciatica
Numbness	and	paralysis	of	the
legs
Joint	diseases
Knee	problems
Osteoporosis
Obesity
Chronic	fatigue
Kidney	diseases
Cancer
Multiple	sclerosis	and
fibromyalgia
Alzheimer’s	disease
Cold	extremities
Excessive	heat	and	perspiration
in	the	upper	part	of	the
body
Very	greasy	hair	and	hair	loss
Cuts	or	wounds	that	keep
bleeding


 he loves and pr ovides for all life. Sur render doesn’t
obstruct our power; it enhances it. God is mer ely the love
within us, so r eturning to Him is a r eturn to ourselves. 4. THE SURRENDERED LIFE
“Holy Child of God, when will you lear n that only
holiness can content you and give you peace. ”
To relax, to feel the love in your heart and k eep to that as
your focus in every situation—that’s the meaning of spiritual
surrender. It changes us. W e become deeper, mor e
attractive people. In Zen Buddhism, ther e’s a concept called “zen mind,” or
“beginner’s mind. ” They say that the mind should be lik e an
empty rice bowl. If it’s alr eady full, then the universe can’t
ﬁll it. If it’s empty, it has r oom to r eceive. This means that
when we think we have things alr eady ﬁgur ed out, we’r e not
teachable. Genuine insight can’t dawn on a mind that’s not
open to r eceive it. Sur render is a pr ocess of emptying the
mind. In the Christic tradition, this is the meaning of “becoming
as a little child. ” Little childr en don’t think they know what
things mean. In fact, they know they don’t know. They ask
someone older and wiser to e xplain things to them. W e’re
like childr en who don’t know, but think we do. The wise person doesn’t pr etend to know what it’s
impossible to know. “I don’t know” can be an empowering
statement. When we go into a situation not knowing, ther e
is something inside us which does. With our conscious mind,
‘we step back in or der that a higher power within us can
step forwar d and lead the way. ’
We need less posturing and mor e genuine charisma. Charisma was originally a r eligious ter m, meaning “ of the
spirit,” or “inspir ed. ” It’s about letting God’s light shine
through us. It’s about a sparkle in people that money can’tbuy. It’s an invisible ener gy with visible eﬀects. T o let go, to
just love, is not to fade into the wallpaper. Quite the
contrary, it’s when we truly become bright. W e’re letting our
own light shine. We are meant to be this way. We are meant to shine. Look at small childr en. They’r e all so unique befor e they
start trying  to be, because they demonstrate the power of
genuine humility. This is also the e xplanation of “beginner’s
luck. ” When we go into a situation not knowing the rules, we
don’t pr etend to know how to ﬁgur e anything out, and we
don’t know yet what ther e is to be afraid of. This r eleases
the mind to cr eate fr om its own higher power. Situations
shift gear and lights go on simply because our minds have
opened up to r eceive love. W e have gotten out of our own
way. Love is a win-mode, a successful and attractive vibration. We think that success is diﬃcult, and so, for us, it is. Success in life doesn’t have to involve negative tension. W e
don’t have to be struggling all the time. If you think about it,
“taking the bull by the hor ns” would be a very danger ous
thing to do. In fact, ambitious tension actually limits our
ability to succeed because it k eeps us in a state of
contraction, emotionally and physically. It seems to give us
energy but doesn’t r eally, lik e the white sugar of mental
health; ther e’s a short high, followed by a crash. The
cultivation of mental r est, or sur render, is lik e eating healthy
food. It doesn’t give us an immediate rush, but over time it
provides a lot mor e ener gy. This doesn’t r equir e sitting in a lotus position all day. We
still get e xcited, but mor e gently. Many people associate a
spiritual life with a grade B movie, but God doesn’t get rid of
all the drama in our lives. He just gets rid of the cheap
drama. Ther e is no higher drama than true personal gr owth. Nothing could be mor e genuinely dramatic than boys
becoming r eal men and girls becoming r eal women. Something amazing happens when we sur render and just
love. W e melt into another world, a r ealm of power alr eady
within us. The world changes when we change. The world
softens when we sof ten. The world loves us when we choose
to love the world. Surrender means the decision to stop ﬁghting the world,
and to start loving it instead. It is a gentle liberation fr om
pain. But liberation isn’t about br eaking out of anything; ‘it’s
a gentle melting into who we r eally ar e. ’ W e let down our
armor, and discover the str ength of our Christ self. A Course
in Miracles  tells us that although ‘we think that without the
ego, all would be chaos, the opposite is true. W ithout the
ego, all would be love. ’
We are simply ask ed to shif t focus and to tak e on a mor e
gentle per ception. That’s all God needs. Just one sincer e
surrender ed moment, when love matters mor e than
anything, and we know that nothing else r eally matters at
all. What He gives us in r eturn for our openness to Him, is
an outpouring of His power fr om deep within us. W e are
given His power to shar e with the world, to heal all wounds,
to awak en all hearts.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the author's perspective on the name "Jesus"?,
A: The author believes that using the name "Jesus" is not the issue, and that it's not about replacing it with another word, but rather about understanding the true meaning and intention behind the name.
Q: What is the concept of "miracles" in the context of A Course in Miracles?,
A: Miracles are not about changing external circumstances, but rather about shifting our perception and changing our own thinking and behavior. It's about choosing to love and heal ourselves and others.
Q: What is the author's stance on the concept of "forgiveness"?,
A: The author believes that forgiveness is not about condoning or ignoring someone's wrongdoings, but rather about recognizing that there is no need to judge or condemn, and instead, choosing to love and accept people as they are.
Q: What is the author's view on the concept of "faith"?,
A: The author believes that faith is not about blindly believing, but rather about trusting in the universe and letting go of our attachment to specific outcomes. It's about choosing to trust in the power of love and the universe to handle things.
Q: What is the author's perspective on the concept of "surrender"?,
A: The author believes that surrender is not about giving up control, but rather about letting go of our ego's need to control and manipulate, and instead, choosing to love and trust in the universe.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>A gentleman
appear ed to me and said, “Ex cuse me, Miss W illiamson, but
we thought we should tell you: In the cosmic r oll call, you
are consider ed a hawk, not a dove.”
I was incensed. “No way,” I said indignantly. “I’m totally
for peace. I’m a dove all the way.”
“I’m afraid not,” he said. “I’m looking on our charts, and
it says very clearly right her e: Marianne W illiamson,
warmonger. You’re at war with R onald R eagan, Caspar
Weinber ger, the CIA, in fact the entir e American defense
establishment. No, I’m sor ry. You’re deﬁnitely a hawk.”
I saw, of course, that he was right. I had just as many
missiles in my head as R onald R eagan had in his. I thought it
was wr ong for him to judge communists, but I thought it was
okay for me to judge him. Why? Because I was right, of
course! I spent years as an angry lef t-winger befor e I realized
that an angry generation can’t bring peace. Everything wedo is infused with the ener gy with which we do it. As Gandhi
said, “W e must be the change.” What the ego doesn’t want
us to see is that the guns we need to get rid of ﬁrst ar e the
guns in our own heads. 4. THE CHOICE TO L OVE
“The ego is the choice for guilt; the Holy Spirit
the choice for guiltlessness.”
The ego always emphasizes what someone has done wr ong. The Holy Spirit always emphasizes what they’ve done right. The Course lik ens the ego to a scavenger dog that seeks out
every scrap of evidence for our br other’s guilt and lays it at
its master’s feet.


 their body. They now saw themselves as having  a
body, rather than just being it.When religions arose, this disassociation became even more pronounced
as th e “you are not your body” b elief. Countless people in East and W est
throughout the ages have tried to find God, salvation, or enlightenment
through denial of the body. This took the form of denial of sense
pleasures and of sexuality in  particular, fasting, and other ascetic
practices. They even inflicted p ain on the body in an attempt to  weaken
or p unish it bec ause they regarded it as sinful. In Christianity, this used
to be called mortification of the flesh. Others tried to escape from the
body by entering trance states o r seeking out-of-body experiences. Many
still do. Even the Buddha is said to have practiced body denial through
fasting a nd extr eme forms of a sceticism for six years, but he  did not
attain enlightenment until after he had given up this practice. The fact  is that no one has ever become enlightened through denying or
fighting the body or through an out-of-body experience. Although such
an experience can be fascinating  and can give you a glimpse of  the state
of liberation from the material f orm, in the end you will always have to
return to  the body, where the essential work of transformati on takes
place. T ransformation is thr ough  the bod y, not away from it. Thi s is why
no tr ue master h as ever advocated fighting or leaving the body, although
their mind-based followers often have. Of the ancient teachings concerning the body, only certain fragments
survive, such as Jesus’ s statement that “your whole body will be filled
with ligh t,” or they survive as m yths, such as the belief that Jesus never
relinquished his  body but remained one with it and ascen ded into
“heaven” with it. Almost no one to this day has understood those
fragments or the hidden meanin g of certain myths, and the “you are not
your body” belief has prevailed universally, leading to body denial and
attempts to escape from the b ody. Countless seekers have thus been
prevented from attaining spi ritual realization for themsel ves and
becoming finders. Is it pos sible to r ecover the lost teachings on the significance of  the body
or to r econstruct them fr om the existing fragments? There is no need for that. All spiritual teachings originate from the same
Source. In that sense, there is and always has been only one master, who
manifests in many dif ferent form s. I am that master, and so are you, once
you are able to a ccess the Source within. And the way to it is thr ough the
inner body. Although all spiritual teachings originate from the same
Source, once they become v erbalized and written down they are
obviously no more than collections of words — and a word is nothing
but a signpost,  as we talked about earlier. All such teachings are
signposts pointing the way back to the Source. I h ave already s poken of the T ru th that is hidden within your body, but I
will sum marize for you again the lost teachings of the masters — so here
is an other signpost. Please ende avor to feel your inner body as you read
or listen. SERMON ON THE BODY
What you perceive as a dense physical structure called the body, which is
subject to disease, old age, and d eath, is not ultimately real — is not you. It is a m isperception of your e ssential reality that is beyond birth and
death, a nd is due to the limita tions of your mind, which, ha ving lost
touch w ith Bein g, creates the b ody as evidence of its illusory belief in
separation and to justify its stat e of fear. But do not turn away from the
body, for within that symbol of impermanence, limitation, and death that
you per ceive as the illusory creation of your mind is concealed the
splendor of your essential and immortal reality. Do not turn your
attention elsewhere in your search for the T ruth, for it is nowhere else to
be found but within your body. Do n ot fight ag ainst the body, for in doing so you are fighting against
your own reality. Y ou ar e  you r body. The body that you can see and
touch is  only a thin illusory ve il. Underneath it lies the invisi ble inner
body, the doorway into Being, into Life Unmanifested. Through the
inner body, you are inseparably connected to this unmanifested One Life
— b irthless, deathless, eternally  present. Through the inner body, you are
forever one with God. HA VE DEEP ROOTS WITHIN
The key  is to be  in a state of permanent connectedness with y our inner
body — to feel  it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform
your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the
higher i ts vibrational frequency  becomes, much like a light that grows
brighter as you turn up the dimmer switch and so increase the  flow of
electricity. At this higher ener gy level, negativity cannot af fect you
anymore, and you tend to attr act new circumstances that reflect this
higher frequency. If you keep your attention in the body as much as possible, you will be
anchored in the Now. Y ou won’ t lose yourself in the external w orld, and
you won’ t lose y ourself in your mind. Thoughts and emotions, fears and
desires, may still be there to some extent, but they won’ t take you over. Please examine where your attention is at this moment. Y ou are listening
to me, or you are reading these words in a book. That is the focus of your
attention. Y ou are also periphe rally aware of your surroundings, other
people, and so on. Furthermore, there may be some mind activity around
what you are hearing or reading, some mental commentary. Y et there is
no need for any of this to absorb all  your attention. See if you can be in
touch with your inner body at the same time. Keep some of your
attention within. Don’ t let it all flow out. Feel your whole bo dy from
within, a s a single field of ener g y. It is almost as if you were listening or
reading with your whole body. Let this be your practice in the days and
weeks to come. Do n ot g ive all your attention away to the mind and the external world. By all means focus on what you  are doing, but feel the inner body at the
same tim e whenever possible. Stay rooted within. Then observe how this
changes your state of consciou sness and the quality of what you are
doing. Whenever you are waiting, whe rever it may be, use that time to  feel the
inner body. In t his way, traf fic jams and lines become very e njoyable. Instead of mentally projecting yourself away from the Now, go more
deeply into the Now by going more deeply into the body.The art of inner -body awareness  will develop into a completely new way
of li ving, a state  of permanent c onnectedness with Being, and will add a
depth to your life that you have never known before. It is  easy to stay present as th e observer of your mind when  you are
deeply rooted within your body. No matter what happens on the outside,
nothing can shake you anymore. Unless you stay present — and inhabiting your body is al ways an
essential aspect of it — you wi ll continue to be run by your m ind. The
script in your head that you learned a long time ago, the conditioning of
your mind, will dictate your thinking and your behavior. Y ou may be free
of it  for brief intervals, but rarely for long. This is especially true when
something “goes  wrong” or ther e is some loss or upset. Y our co nditioned
reaction will then be involuntar y, automatic, and predictable, fueled by
the one basic emotion that underlies the mind-identified state of
consciousness: fear. So w hen such challenges come, as they always do, make it a habit to go
within at once a nd focus as muc h as you can on the inner ener gy field of
your bod y. This  need not take long, just a few seconds. But you need to
do it  the  momen t that the challe nge presents itself. Any delay w ill allow
a co nditioned mental-emotional reaction to arise and take y ou over. When you focus within and feel the inner body, you immediately become
still and  present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind. If
a r esponse is required in that situation, it will come up from th is deeper
level. Ju st as the sun is infinite ly brighter than a candle flame, there is
infinitely more intelligence in Being than in your mind. As long as you are in conscious contact with your inner body, you are
like a tree that is deeply rooted in the earth, or a building with a deep and
solid fo undation. The latter analogy is used by Jesus in the generally


 well be inherited. But there is another point to consider. When a disease runs in the family,
we have to remember that the family members are likely to eat the same
foods. Not only that, but the daughters will again eat the foods they have
learned to prepare from their mothers. In this way, the same type of diet will
be carried on through the family and into the next generation. At the Gerson Institute, we had an interesting illustration of this situation. A vivacious woman named Lillian Stomatis, aged about fifty-five, arrived
at the Gerson Therapy hospital to find relief for her rheumatoid arthritis. Her right knee was very swollen and so painful that she was unable to help
herself. In order to manage at the hospital, she brought her daughter Rosalie
along to help her walk to the bathroom, dress, and perform other personal
tasks. The daughter, an attractive young woman, was twenty-eight years old
and already clearly showed the beginning symptoms of arthritis. Still more
unfortunate, Rosalie had brought along her own daughter, a pretty little girl
in pigtai ls, aged five, who alread y had the first symptoms of arthritis! So we
see that the degenerative chang es of arthritis set in earlier and earlier in
each generation. The older people still have somewhat better reserves and are less
damaged by the toxins in the air, water, soil, and daily food and newer
drugs. The youn ger people are getting more and more used to taking drugs
for pain, discomfort, sleeplessne ss, low energy, and worse. This drug taking
causes more rapid deterioration. Moreover, in very young child ren, there is
always the additional problem of vaccination. There has been a great deal of evidence, as described by Robert A.
Mendelsohn, M.D., former head of the American Pediatric Society and
chief of a large pediatric hospital in Chicago before his death, that damage
to young  children has been caused by vaccination. In many children, the
introduction of attenuated germ s or viruses is sufficient to cause severe
damage, brain dysfunction, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. Dr.
Mendelsohn’ s warnings and writings were violently disputed by orthodox
medicine, but the fact remains that a large number of children became
brain-damaged owing to vaccinations. The other disease effects were more
difficult to prove. But we have to ask again about the underlying problem ofvaccinating against disease: What does vaccination do to cause disease
rather than prevent it? Toxins introduced into the body and not completely
excreted can cause enzyme inhibition. When particular enzymes are
blocked or inhibited, certain nutrients are improperly digested and excreted. And that is where disease begins. An eighty-two-year -old physician, H. R. Feinstein, M.D., of Los
Angeles, was seen at the Gerson Therapy hospital mainly because he
suffered from rather severe osteoarthritis pain in his hip and other doctors
had urged him to submit to a hip replacement operation. He refused and
came into the Gerson program instead. However, he had other problems. This physician maintained himself on medication for high blood pressure,
had a blood cholesterol count of over 300 (up to 200 is normal), and
suffered from a severe loss of hearing. Dr. Feinstein brought his wife along,
who also suffered from arthriti s, but her problem was rheum atoid rather
than osteoarthritis. She too was victimized by a high cholesterol count. The doctor was amazed that his cholesterol count came down by over
100 points in one week. Then he was able to reduce his high blood pressure
medication. Toward the end of their second week at the hospital, the
Feinstein’ s son was in a serious auto accident, and the father was,
understandably, very anxious and nervous. Just to be sure, he took an extra
dose of blood pressure medication and promptly had a fainting episode. The
Gerson physicians at the hospital were worried since this man, after all, was
eighty-two years old. So the physicians took emer gency measures. But they
found that Dr. Feinstein’ s blood pressure was simply too low from his
having popped down the medication. As time passed and the hyperten sion medication left his bloodstream, he
became normal again and was perfectly fine. By the end of the third week at
the hospital, the patient’ s hearing had vastly improved, and his blood
pressure remained normal without medication. The pain in Dr. Feinstein’ s hip disappeared, and his osteoarthriti s stopped
bothering him. Of course, his hip did not heal completely, but from an X-
ray exam ination he could see that the healing process had started and the
friction was down, eliminating the pain. In his wife’ s case, her swollen
finger, too, was improved, but due to her rushing off to her son’s side, Mrs.
Feinstein’ s treatment was interrupted and her results were not as dramatic. Another patient with osteoarthritis, Mrs. Marion Sands, a librarian aged
sixty-one, arrived at the Gerson Tijuana hospital with extremely deformedknuckles and fingers. She wore  a leather shaping form to hold her fingers
aligned in a normal position. She went through a three-week program and
went home with knowledge to help herself. After some two years on the
Gerson Therapy, at home, her hands became almost normal. The fingers
were straight and her muscles were restored so that she was able to use her
hands fairly well thereafter, never again needing any kind of leather brace. As mentioned before, patients suffering from osteoarthritis have long-
term, deep damage, and it takes a good deal of time and ongoing adherence
to the Gerson Therapy to slowly restore the bones and muscles. But the
important thing  is that it can be done if the patient has enough
determination and will stay long enough with this demanding and rather
restrictive nutritional therapy. OSTEOPOROSIS
In osteo porosis, patients suffer from decalcification of the bones. The
presence of that problem tends to produce a reaction from the average
allopathic physic ian. More often than not, he or she tells the patient to drink
plenty of milk (for calcium). Unfortunately, this is a simplistic and incorrect
approach to the problem. First of all, we must remember that excess protein as in milk causes the
disease in the first place. Second, we have seen in Pottenger ’s classic book
Cats, a Study in Nutri tion,8 that heat-damaged, pasteurized milk or cooked
milk products are not absorbed without the live enzymes and do no good at
all, only harm. Using calcium supplementation doesn’ t work, either. Calcium tablets are not well assimilated. Calcium has to enter the body in
the proper combination, together with active, live enzymes that we find in
carrot juice, juice from green salad leaves, and a great deal of fresh lettuce. In those fresh organically grown foods, the body receives not
pharmaceutical calcium but the complete mineral nutrients aside from
calcium: magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, potassium, iodine, and
many more together with the active enzymes to allow the body to assimilate
these minerals and lodge them in the bones. In this manner, the Gerson
Therapy not only alleviates calcium deficiency but allows one’s body to
actually rebuild bone.The Gerson Therapy has been observed to be effective in improving
calcification of bone for osteoporosis. STEROID  TREA TMENT
When conventionally administered allopathic steroid treatment is
received by patients such as those with systemic lupus erythematosus,
rheumatoid arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, brain tumors, and other
conditions, such cortisone medication must not be discontinued suddenly
and the Gerson Therapy substituted in its place. Using appropriate
monitoring, the proper procedu re is to slowly wean the patient off steroid
medications as appropriately as possible. These sick people on steroids,
which have terrible side effects, are more likely to experien ce stomach
irritation. Acidol and niacin should be eliminated until five days after
steroids have been deleted from the bloodstream, and potassium should be
reduced to 10 or 20 tsp per day. SYSTEMIC  LUPUS  EPYTHEMA TOSUS, RHEUMA TOID ARTHRITIS, AND
SCLERODERMA
Upon elimination of steroids,  systemic lupus erythematosu s (SLE),
rheumatoid arthritis (RA), scleroderma (all collagen diseases) respond
exceptionally well to the Gerson Therapy. However, there will be poor
healing even with the Gerson Therapy in those situations where steroids
have been taken bv the patient  for periods over two years, or when the
patient has been pretreated with chemotherapy. For SLE and RA, enemas
should be limited to two to three per day. Reactions can be severe, and
patients must be monitored carefully during the reaction period. ULCERA TIVE COLITIS
People who are the victims of ulcerative colitis, even when bleeding, may
respond surprisi ngly well to the Gerson Therapy. We have observed several
people who have gone into full, long-term remissions. Chamomile replaces
coffee in enemas at the outset of treatment, and certain raw foods areavoided for a short period. Ulcerative colitis, Crohn’ s disea se, irritable


 now. And we need not
feel guilty, for He will undo all consequences of our wrong decision if we
will let Him. The Atonement principle does not come from us, but it is
within us because God put it there. When fear occu rs—a repetition of the original moment of separation—
the universe is always ready to correct itself. The question is whether we
are. All of us fall off the spiritual wagon more times a day than we care to
admit. But at any given moment, we can choose again. That is the power of
the Atonement. In the moment when we close our hearts, choosing fear instead of love,
the miracle we could have had is held in trust for us by the Holy Spirit. It
will be safe in His hands until we are ready to receive it. It might be another
situation, at another time, but the opportunity will be provided. The miracle
available to us in any moment is an undeletable file. We can choose not to
download it, but we can never remove it from the hard drive. In the presence  of perfect love, the universe rearranges itself and
miracles occur automatically. That is the infinite mercy of God. OceanofPDF.comEnlightenment
For thousands of years, both Jews and Christians have conceived of a
Messiah who liberates humanity from spiritual and material bondage. The
Jews say the Messiah is coming, the Christians say the Messiah came, and
Einstein said there is no time. The mystic Messiah won’ t be coming from outside but from the inside. He’s not coming down from the sky; he’ s coming from our higher mind. Thinking of the Messiah only in terms of linear time and the historical
reality of Jesus keeps us bound to limited awareness. The mystic Messiah is
a state of mind, a loving awaren ess of our oneness with God and with each
other. In that sense the Messiah does liberate the children of God. But liberation is not a moment, it’s a process. Time and space, and the
body itself, are learning devices through which we rehearse over and over
again the lessons of enlightenment. Every circumstance is carefully planned
by the Holy Spirit for our maximal soul growth, both challenging and
inviting us to choose love instead of fear. Enlightenment isn’t a change in our bodies but in our souls, not a denial
of the body but a rethinking of its purpose. God honors our creations as we
are asked to honor His. Nothing in this world is holy or unholy except as
determined by the purpose we ascribe to it. The body itself is like a
priceless suit of clothes. Used as a means of healing and comm unication, it
too is a holy thing. In many Christian churches you’ll see it written: “Do this in
remembrance of me.” The mind of Jesus holds nothing but faith, nothing
but love, and nothing but service. In every situation, our spiritual challenge
is to even try to approach that. It’s quite  a task to go over the events of our lives at the end of each day,
asking, “In that situation, did I bring forth my best? Did I show love and
generosity, or fear and selfishn ess? Was I there to give, or was I there totake? Did I bless, or did I blam e?” It’s amazing how the more  we do this,
the more we begin to see that our lives are exactly as we program  them with
our thoughts. We’re not asked by God to be perfect, but to be honest. Every time we
realize “Yep, I wasn’ t my best in that instance,” we can place that moment
into the hands of God, atone for our error, and pray for the chance to begin
again. He will provide it. That is the power of the Atonement. It isn’t a fix;
it’s a miracle. The choice for love is a radica l departure from the way we’ve been
taught to view the world. Enligh tenment is a psychological conversion that
ultimately dism antles a thought system based on fear, but not without
temptation and hardships that every life is privy to. The temptations of the ego are pernicious. How often we self-sabotage,
only to realize afterward that we ourselves were the enemy who hurt us
most. The ego would much prefer that you monitor the faults of others than
to be honest about your own. Yet it’s only when we’re willing to look at
ourselves clearly in the mirror that the path of liberation begins. Enlightenment isn’t a stupendous moment after which everything is
suddenly clear and we’re forever changed. It’s a moment-by-moment, often
arduous process of personal growth that can involve, and in fact usually
does involve, some level of personal discomfort. Growth is messy. The
journey is scary, and a guide—a  friend to support us as we go, solidly there
with us and never to leave, that and more—is the mystic Jesus. He overshadows our consciousn ess, delivering us to thinking that will
set us free of pain. The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and the only way
we can achieve that is if we learn to think as God thinks. Asking Jesus to
help us is a way to get there. There is a mystery to what happens when we
invite him into our heart, something beyond the grasp of our mortal mind. The Course  refers to our relationship to him: “ ⁶ It is possible to read his
words and bene fit from them without accepting him into your life. ⁷ Yet he
would help you yet a little more if you will share your pains and joys with
him, and leave them both to find the peace of God”* (MT-88). I have found
that to be true. Giving up how we used to think means giving up who we used to be,
and the old self rarely goes down easily. The journey takes us through a
very dark forest, filled with psychological demons that jump out at us as weseek to make our way: thoughts of past failures, personal humiliation,
shame, self-hatred, regret, and grief. The mystic path is an insistence on meaning in an otherwise
meaningless universe, a dedica tion to purpose in a world that constantly
distracts us with seduction by ultimately unimportant things. It is a refusal
to go along with the corrupting influence of petty judgme nts. It is a
commitment to making forgiven ess the core principle around which we live
our lives. There is so much to unlearn. The temptation to perceive without love—
choosing attack over forgiveness  and blame over blessing—is more than the
dominant norm in our world; it’s the preferr ed one. And it will challenge us
at every turn. Years ago, I told myself not to worry about the devil because that was
only in my head. I remember the moment I realized that that is hardly good
news. The devil isn’t out there somewhere stalking the plane t for men’ s
souls. Rather, it is the temptation in all of us, ever vigilant and ever active,
to perceive without love. Since  all minds are one, as we transcend that
temptation within ourselves, we help purify the thoughts of the world. We’ll be forced by circumstance s to see where we are spiritually strong
and where we are spiritually weak. The Holy Spirit isn’t here to honor our
comfort zones but to bust them,  to bring to our awareness the places where
we still hold love at bay. Only then can we atone for those aspects of our
personality and heal from them. Just as we mentally exercise to build our physical muscles, we exercise
to build our spiritual muscles. Jesus is like a great trainer, going through the
moves with us, correcting us when we didn’ t quite get it right, helping us
develop greater strength with which to do it for ourselves. Yoga or Pilates or
weight training changes the shape of our physical muscles; a consistent
effort to be more loving changes the shape of our personality. By
disciplining ourselves to be more loving, we don’t just become “nicer.” We
become miracle workers, healer s, and agents of transformation. That is why
we are here. As there are objective, discernible laws of physics, there are objective,
discernible laws of consciousness, or metaphysics, as well. You don’t have
“faith” in the power of gravity; you simply understand the power of gravity. At a certain point you don’t have faith in the power of love either; you
simply understand the power of love.If we’re confused, or angry, or intolerant, or triggered, God does not ask
us not to be. He simply asks us to be willing  not to be. Knowing there is a
power that can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves at that moment,
knowing there is within our mind a savior from our confusion and despair,
it’s up to us whether we choose to call on it. Jesus can’t come into our mind
and simply take those things from us—he can’t take what we don’t release
to him—but if we request his help we will receive it. Part of the art of life is not doing something stupid in the meantime. Just
as physical exercise builds physical muscles, prayer and meditation build
attitudinal muscles. One gives us the strength to move quickly and
powerfully. The other gives us the strength to remain nonreactiv e and still. I
might think