 I thank You for what lies ahead. Then begin the beautiful day doing something kind for another human
being someplace on the planet.Change your life by examining your urge to boast and be self-
righteous. When you’re about to brag to others about your credentials or
accomplishments, momentarily sense the urge and recall Lao-tzu’ s advice
that “this is the very stuff that must be uprooted, thrown out, and left
behind.” On the Tao path, inner approval is healthy and pure, while self-
righteous boasting is simply superfluous. When you notice your gloating
habit, you can choose to get back on the Tao path by remembering this 24th
verse of the Tao Te Ching. Pomposity and self-inflating comments can then
be seen as weeds you really have no need for. By returning to radical
humility and seeing the greatness within everyone, you’ve then cleared your
life of excessive self-importance... and this is the way of the T ao. Do the T ao Now
Tomorrow morning, do something expressing your kindness to someone
who will be totally surprised by your actions. E-mail someone, expressing
your love and appreciation. Call a grandparent who may be feeling lonely in
an assisted-livin g facility. Send flowers to a loved one who’ s alone, or even
a strang er if necessary. Note how your gratitude for another truly nurtures
your T ao path, not that of your ego. OceanofPDF.com25th Verse
There was something formless and perfect
befor e the universe was born. It is ser ene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally pr esent. It is the Mother of the universe. For lack of a better name,
I call it the T ao. I call it gr eat. Great is boundless;
boundless is eternally flowing;
ever flowing, it is constantly r eturning. Therefore, the W ay is gr eat,
heaven is gr eat,
earth is gr eat,
people ar e great. Thus, to know humanity,
understand earth. To know earth,
understand heaven. To know heaven,
understand the W ay.To know the W ay,
understand the gr eat within yourself. OceanofPDF.comLiving from
Greatness
Many of the scholars who have  written about the Tao Te Ching over the
centuries consider this 25th verse to be one of the most significant lessons
in the entire manuscript. In my research, all the translations of this passage
actually include the word great to describe it. This verse tells the story that even before the beginning there existed
“something form less and perfect.” It goes on to say that this formless
perfection is the “Mother of the universe.” Even though it’s nameless, it’s
called the “Tao,” and it’s synonymous with what is great. That is, there’ s
nothing within the Tao that is the opposite of great—there’ s nothing that’s
puny, insignificant, weak, unimportant, or even average. The story appea rs to want the reader to realize there’ s a pure, timeless
energy that’s within everything on the planet and that remains
uncontaminated by the solid appearance of form. The conclusion is a
directive to the student, who is you, the reader. To know this formless
perfection, you must “understa nd the great within yourself.” You’re the
central character in this wonderful saga! Since you’re animated by the eternal Tao, this tale’s message of greatness
invites you to change the way you live and to see the life you’re living
change. You can begin to do so by examining thoughts and ideas that are
inconsistent with this phenomenal observation made by Lao-tzu, which has
been echoed by others throughout history. In her book The Journey, which
was published in 1954, Lillian Smith describes it like this:
The need that one feels every day of one’s life, even though one
does not acknowledge it. To be related to something bigger than
one’s self, something more alive than one’s self, something older
and something not yet born, that will endure through time. That enduring “something” confirms your greatness, your absolute
connection to the infinite. There’ s a sense of being permanently aligned
with a sort of senior partner that is greatness itself.Lao-tzu advises you to notice the planet, its people, and the heavens and
see greatness. Next, look at yourself and see that you’re a component of
them all. That is, befriend what appears to be the great mystery of creation
by discovering the greatness within you, then bask in the joy of noting the
greatness you share with heaven, Earth, and all of its people. By persistently
hanging on to your own “greatness heritage,” you ensure that the always-
present Tao is consciously available. From a perspective of greatness, only
greatness can emer ge from you; from an inner perspective of inferiority,
you only attract events that align with those beliefs. Your greatness won’ t be found in a classroom; an apprenticeship; a
teacher; or flattering commen ts from well-meaning family  members,
friends, or lovers. It is within you. It’s crucial for you to become conscious
of the greatness that constantly flows through you—to do so, meet it in
meditative moments of gratitud e, and cease to be influenced by contrary
points of view. In partic ular, watch and listen for the critical comments that originate
from your own inner dialogue. When such thoughts emer ge in your mind,
let them tell you what they want. If you allow those not-so-great notions to
speak, you’ll always discover that what they really want is to feel good. Give them the time they need  to trust that there’ s no payof f for their
existence, and they will happily merge into the greatness within you. Accessing this quality allows you to participate in the greater whole, where
the power of the Tao flows unimpeded by fearful self-judgment. Change the
way you live by tapping into this greatness, and the life you’re living will
literally change. Following are the thoughts that Lao-tzu would have you adopt as he wrote
out this verse of the T ao Te Ching some 25 centuries ago:
Trust in your own gr eatness. You are not this body you occupy, which is temporary and on its way back
to the nowhere from which it came. You are pure greatness... precisely the
very same great ness that creates all of life. Keep this thought uppermost in
your mind and you’ll attract to yourself these same powers of creation: The
right people will appear. The exact events that you desire will transpire. The
financing will show up. That’ s because greatness attracts more of its ownself to itself, just as thoughts of inadequacy act upon a belief that ensures
that deficiency will become your reality. Affirm the following to yourself
over and over until it becomes your automatic inner response to the world: I
come fr om gr eatness. I attract gr eatness. I am gr eatness. Look for beliefs that contradict your status as a being of gr eatness. Catch yourself in the midst of any utterance that reflects your belief that
you’re average. Silently speak warmly to that belief and ask it what it
wants. It may think it has to protect you from disappointment or pain, as it
probably did earlier in your existence. But with continued accepting
attention, the feeling will always  eventually admit that it wants to feel great. So let it! You’re good enough to withstand the passing disappoi ntments and
pain that afflict life on this planet—but trying to protect yourself by
believing that you don’ t embody greatness is overkill. Look for these misbeliefs and give them the chance to transform to what
they (and you) really want. Whatever you desire to become or to attract to
yourself, make the internal shift from It probably won’ t happen for me to It
is on its way! Then begin the process of looki ng for even minute evidence
that what you desire is indeed on its way. It’s crucial to keep this ancient
axiom in mind: I get what I think about, whether I want it or not. So think
about how fortu nate you are to have greatness located within yourself. Now
you can live the ultimate paradox: You can be greatnes s and be nobod y,
simultaneously. Do the T ao Now
Copy the following words and apply them to yourself: I came from
greatness. I must be like what I came from. I will never abando n my belief
in my greatness and the greatness of others. Read these words daily,
perhaps by posting them conspicuously where you can see them. They will
serve to remind  you of the truth of your own greatness. Meditate for ten
minutes today, focusing on your inner greatness. OceanofPDF.comOceanofPDF.com26th Verse
The heavy is the r oot of the light. The still is the master of unr est. Realizing this,
the successful person is
poised and center ed
in the midst of all activities;
although surr ounded by opulence,
he is not swayed. Why should the lor d of the country
flit about like a fool? If you let yourself be blown to and fr o,
you lose touch with your r oot. To be r estless is to lose one’ s self-mastery. OceanofPDF.comLiving Calmly


uilt	is	pointless,”	he	said	impatiently	“It	adds	more
	pain	when	what	you
want	is	less. There	are	subtle	ways	to	show	Jimmy	that	you’ve	changed
inside. Let	me	show	you.”Baba	would	have	made	a	great	actor,	because	in	an	instant	he	changed	before
my	eyes. He	stiffened	and	crossed	his	arms	like	a	policeman	confronting	a
guilty	criminal. His	eyes	looked	right	through	me,	and	his	body	tightened	into
a	rigid	pillar. “How	do	I	look?”	he	said. “Pretty	scary.”
“And	how	do	I	look	now?”
Without	so	much	as	a	moment’s	hesitation	he	changed	again. His	body
softened,	the	sternness	in	his	face	melted,	and	I	saw	myself	reflected	in	his
eyes	just	as	I	did	in	my	mother’s	when	I	came	home	from	boarding	school. “That’s	amazing,”	I	said. “The	soul	finds	many	ways	to	express	what	is	true	about	you,”	said	Baba. “Through	your	body	language,	your	tone	of	voice,	the	look	in	your	eyes,	the
whole	sense	you	give	off	of	being	tense	or	relaxed.”
“I	never	notice	those	things,”	I	said. “Oh,	we	all	notice,	but	we	pretend	not	to,”	said	Baba. “That’s	what	is	so
amazing	about	this	particular	secret	weapon. It’s	out	in	plain	sight,	yet	it	still
remains	a	secret.”
W
HAT
	I	L
EARNED
This	lesson	is	about	bonding,	which	doesn’t	happen	in	what	you	do	or	say	or
think. The	moment	an	animal	is
	born,	it	bonds	with	the	first	living	creature	it
sees. You	can	hatch	baby	geese,	for	example,	away	from	their	mother,	and	if	a
man	is	watching	them	emerge	from	the	shell,	they	will	follow	him	for	the	rest
of	their	early	life	as	if	he	were	their	mother. A	human	baby	learns	to	recognize
its	mother’s	smile	within	a	few	hours	of	being	born,	and	soon	the	baby’s	eyes
will	go	to	that	face	and	watch	it	over	any	other	face. Mother	and	child	must
bond,	for	that	is	how	the	baby’s	brain	develops,	by	paying	attention	to	when
the	mother	smiles	or	frowns. Your	whole	sense	of	who	you	are	originally
came	from	watching	your	mother’s	reactions	in	those	first	days	of	life. Probably	the	most	fascinating	story	I’ve	heard	about	bonding	has	to	do	with
autistic	children. Autism	is	a	condition	that	causes	babies	to	go	inside
themselves	and	pay	no	attention	to	the	outside	world. Such	babies	show	nointerest	in	other	people. They	blank	out	music	and	television. It	is	sad	to	see
an	autistic	child	spend	an	entire	day	sitting	in	one	place	bobbing	back	and
forth,	a	prisoner	in	a	silent	world. These	children	were	considered	unreachable	for	a	long	time,	and	then	some
wonderful	exceptions	showed	up. In	one	case	an	autistic	boy	from	India
began	to	write	beautiful	poetry	even	though	he	could	barely	speak. In	another
case	a	father	got	down	on	the	floor	and	imitated	all	the	strange	twitches	and
twiddles	that	his	son	made,	and	after	many	months	the	son	started	paying
attention—he
	came	out	of	his	inner	world	and	began	to	show	signs	of	life. In	other	words,	someone	bonded	with	these	kids,	silently	saying,
I	am	here	for
you
. And	in	one	case	an	autistic	boy	who	had	shown	barely	any	interest	in	the
outside	world	suddenly	began	to	write	and	do	math,	skills	he	had	learned	all
by	himself. When	asked	how	he	had	done	that,	he	tapped	out	a	message	with
one	finger	on	his	alphabet	board:	“I’ve	been	listening.”	I	felt	a	lump	in	my
throat	when	I	heard	that	story,	because	I	suddenly	knew	that	a	child	inside	us
is	always	listening,	no	matter	what	we	see	on	the	outside. Autism	is	related	to	a	brain	disorder,	a	disease,	but	even	in	normal	people	the
power	of	bonding	is	amazing. I	can	think	of	a	famous	moment	in	World	War	I
when	the	enemy	troops	had	been	facing	each	other	from	the	trenches	for
years,	at	great	cost	of	life,	without	either	side	advancing	so	much	as	half	a
mile. Christmas	Eve	arrived,	and	on	either	side	the	soldiers	emerged	from	the
trenches	to	sing	carols. The	feelings	of	war	fell	away	for	that	magical
moment,	and	although	this	happened	in	several	places	on	the	front	lines,	in
one	particular	place	many	soldiers	reported	seeing	a	mysterious	light	hovering
over	the	trenches,	a	light	that	some	identified	as	an	angel. Is	this	possible? Baba	taught	me	that	I	would	never	know	the	power	of	love
until	I	began	to	bond,	because	love	can’t	flow	when	it	is	trapped	inside	one
person. Bonding	comes	down	to	specific	things	you	can	do	in	every
relationship	you	have,	either	at	home	or	with	friends:
Look	in	the	other	person’s	eyes	with	acceptance. Show	that	you	understand	their	point	of	view. Don’t	rush	to	make	your	point	of	view	seem	right. Show	respect	in	every	situation,	even	when	you	feel	angry	and	argue.Both	sides	of	an	argument	need	to	be	able	to	walk	away	feeling
respected. Be	willing	to	compromise. Do	your	best	to	feel	what	the	other	person	feels. Put	yourself	in	their
position. If	you	are	in	a	bad	mood,	tell	the	other	person	that	it	is	not	their	fault. Give	the	other	person	the	gift	of	approval,	smiles,	and	laughter. Make	some	sort	of	physical	contact	if	it	is	appropriate,	showing	with	a
light	touch	on	the	shoulders,	a	hug,	or	shaking	hands	that	you	feel
close. Show	in	your	body	language	that	you	feel	relaxed	around	the	other
person. Relaxed	body	language	means	that	your	arms	and	legs	aren’t
crossed;	your	shoulders	are	lowered;	you	face	them	directly,	not
turning	to	one	side;	and	your	facial	muscles	are	relaxed. Bonding	comes	naturally	when	your	heart	opens. If	you	want	to	know	the	one
thing,	however,	that	breaks
	down	bad	feelings,	it	is	respect. If	you	show
respect	for	how	someone	else	feels,	you	can	bond	even	though	you	disagree. Your	respect	says,
I	accept	you	as	a	person	equal	to	me,
	and	although	we
often	say	that	in	words,	meaning	it	from	the	soul	is	ten	times	more	important.The	Secret	of	Attraction
I
s	there	a	girl	you’re	really	attracted	to?”	asked	Baba. What	a	question! The
truth	is	that	I	had	never	had	a	girlfriend. We	were	very	innocent	in	India	back
then. Kids	barely	held	hands	on	a	first	date,	even	late	in	high	school. I	didn’t
know	one	boy	who	had	gotten	his	first	kiss. Most	of	the	time	we	just	watched
girls	from	afar. “Then	tell	me	this,”	said	Baba	when	I	didn’t	answer. “Why	are	boys	and	girls
attracted	to	each	other?”


 min infusion. It was found that ICP was quickly lowered by both DMSO and pentobarbital with central venous pressure unchanged. Where the treatments differed was in the lowering of systemic arterial pressure by pentobarbital but not by DMSO, an outcome that likely produced a reduction in cerebral perfusion by the barbiturate. To find out the physiological basis for DMSO’s action in lowering ICP and reduc -
ing brain edema after a cryogenic brain lesion in rabbits, cerebral blood flow was measured before and after 2 g/kg/h DMSO 20% infusion for 2 h or 1 g/kg DMSO bolus preceded by a bolus of 20 mg indomethacin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent and a nonselective prostaglandin (PG) synthase inhibitor. 65 The results sug -
gested that following the DMSO bolus injection in the absence of indomethacin, an immediate rise in cerebral blood flow was followed by a decrease 30 min later despite a constant lowering of ICP. These rise and paradoxical dip of cerebral blood flow were not observed when
DMSO was given as a slow infusion where ICP was still lowered and cerebral blood flow rose consistently throughout the infusion. When indomethacin was given 15 min prior to DMSO infusion, cerebral blood flow failed to increase immediately until 60 min had passed, an action not observed when indomethacin was admin-
istered prior to a DMSO bolus. The authors concluded that the action of reducing
ICP immediately after DMSO infusion may have been due to the ability of DMSO to extract brain water rapidly and lower brain pressure as a result. The decrease of cerebral blood flow induced for 60 min after a bolus of DMSO in animals receiving 144 Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) in Trauma and Disease
indomethacin implies that ICP was quickly lowered and was not a factor in affecting
cerebral blood flow levels.65
Another explanation may be that indomethacin’s inhibition of the cyclooxygenase
pathway controlling the synthesis of PGs may temporarily block DMSO’s ability to stimulate vasodilating PGs such as E
1 or I2 in cerebral endothelium to increase
cerebral blood flow.70–72
FREE RADICALS IN BRAIN INJURY
Free radicals are atoms that contain an unpaired electron in its outer orbit, making this atom highly reactive. This highly reactive process takes place by the free radical stealing an electron from a healthy molecule in order to become stable. Instead, the original free radical creates a new free radical, resulting in a chain reaction. Free radicals can be generated during the production of ATP in mitochondria. These free radicals can leak from the mitochondria to form ROS, including super -
oxide anion and hydroxyl radicals. Free radicals use a number of biological pathways to create cell damage. For example, free radicals attack the nitrogenous bases of cell DNA where damaging mutations can result and prevent oxidative phosphoryla -
tion from taking place, thus preventing the cell from making ATP to fuel its energy metabolism. Repair of cell damage in the presence of decreased energy production following mitochondrial dysfunction aggravates cell damage by promoting second -
ary damage. 73
Secondary injury following brain trauma in humans or animals is characterized
by a host of pathophysiologic cascades that can additionally damage more brain mitochondria. These cascades include exposure of neurons to excitotoxic levels of excitatory neurotransmitters with intracellular calcium influx, of ROS, of production of peptides that participate in programmed cell death, and of glutamate generation, a primary mediator of mitochondrial dysfunction and delayed cell death. 74
Excessive free radical production can react with cell membranes, lipids, and
nucleic acids in a site-specific fashion that can unbalance proteins in healthy cells and damage or kill these cells. 75
Although free radicals perform some beneficial functions within the immune sys-
tem, their excess production can cause deadly toxic oxidation or oxidative stress.76
The brain is particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress following injury, and hence, much research has focused on how to arrest or reverse free radical damage after a traumatic or ischemic brain injury. The role of toxic free radicals in brain trauma has been the object of numerous
studies in the past, and many therapies have been introduced to neutralize the pri -
mary and potentially secondary damages caused by these reactive molecules. However, therapeutic strategies to control secondary damage following brain
trauma by focusing on blocking free radicals that generate oxidative products remain ineffective. 77
Nevertheless, studies carried out in preclinical models of traumatic brain injury
using DMSO have provided information that free radicals appear to be intimately involved in producing devastating brain cell damage and that blocking their chain reaction can lead to preserving brain tissue from further damage.145 DMSO in Basic Neuroprotection
A study by Ikeda and his colleagues,78 from Johns Hopkins University, looked at
the effects of DMSO and other hydroxyl radical scavengers such as dimethylthiourea
and deferoxamine in cats. A standard cortical freezing method for the production of vasogenic brain edema was used. The authors found a reduction in brain edema that correlated with a reduction of hydroxyl radicals in animals treated with DMSO and deferoxamine. 78 These results could be partly explained by the scavenging proper -
ties of DMSO when chain-propagating radicals such as the superoxide anion are present. 79,80
Superoxide has been associated with the pathophysiology of many diseases
including brain trauma, ischemic stroke, and inflammatory reactions. Superoxide can leak from brain mitochondria in response to these insults and convert to hydro -
gen peroxide, an important contributor to oxidative damage. 81
One study that supports the antioxidant-related damage caused by some mole -
cules that commonly develop after trauma showed DMSO’s antioxidant properties in rat brain homogenates were able to reduce both lipid peroxidation and protein oxida-tion induced by ferrous chloride/hydrogen peroxide. 82
The brain is a highly oxidative organ consuming 20% of the body’s oxygen even
though it represents only 2% of the total body weight. For this reason, oxidative activity involving ischemia or hypoxia resulting from brain trauma or stroke can have devastating effects on brain function if left untreated or when treatment is delayed. 83
Oxidative stress from ROS has been associated with the onset of systemic inflam -
mation, and it is generally recognized that increased oxidative activity plays an impor -
tant role in pathological process of brain tissue damage.84 The presence of excessive
free radical, ROS, and release of local inflammatory mediators, including cytokines, are a characteristic initiator of pathologic cascades following traumatic brain injury. 85,86
These inflammatory cytokines include inteleukin-6, nitric oxide, and tumor
necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- α). They can lead to complications affecting immuno -
suppression and result in severe, systemic inflammation with multiorgan damage, causing death within days or weeks following brain trauma. 87 As discussed earlier
(see also the section “Anti-Inflammatory” in Chapter 2), DMSO has been shown to significantly decrease the levels of nitric oxide, IL-6, and TNF- α in injured rats,
21,36,37
as well as the oxidative stress marker malondialdehyde (see the section “Burns and Scar Tissue” in Chapter 2). NF-κB (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells) is a pro -
tein complex that controls the transcription of DNA and modulates a large number of normal cellular processes, such as immune and inflammatory responses. DMSO has been shown to suppress the effects of activation of NF- κB immunoreactivity, which
is exerted by decreasing the production of TNF- α and inhibiting the transcription of
critically important adhesion molecules. 88
Finding a neuroprotective agent that can reduce systemic inflammation, cytokine
production, and free radicals after brain trauma is the task of numerous investigators that continues to this day. As seen in Figure 8.1, DMSO appears to fulfill many of
these requirements based on the research of this compound dating back to the early 1970s. This research will be reviewed in this section of this chapter beginning with a primary understanding of how cerebral blood flow behaves normally and after brain injury.146 Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) in Trauma and Disease
CEREBRAL HEMODYNAMIC FUNCTION IN BRAIN INJURY
Traumatic brain injury is known to impair cerebral hemodynamic function. Understanding and correcting hemodynamic dysfunction has become an impor -
tant therapeutic target in arresting or reversing secondary damage resulting from brain trauma, ischemia, or neurodegeneration from worsening or becoming irreversible. Restoring cerebral blood flow to preinjury levels is a key therapeutic target
because when trauma, ischemia, or neurodegenerative damage occurs, nutrient delivery to the brain, including oxygen and glucose, which are the primordial mol -
ecules necessary for maintaining normal brain cell function, can fail to supply brain cells’ demand to carry out all metabolic activities. Since most of the energy of the brain is obtained exclusively from aerobic meta -
bolic processes, a low supply and high demand for energy nutrients in the presence of trauma not only creates a neuronal energy crisis from the uncoupling of cerebral blood flow and metabolism but also ensures that motor, sensory, and cognitive func -
tions remain impaired or irreparably lost. Additionally, the brain cannot manufac-ture or store energy nutrients such as glucose and is totally dependent on optimal cerebral blood flow to deliver these nutrients as


 not
by you, but by someone else. Your parents,
perhaps. Your religion. Your teachers,
historians, politicians. Very few of the value judgments you have
incorpora ted into your truth are judgments
you, yourself, have made based on your own experience. Yet experience is what
you came here for —and out of your
experience were you to create yourself. You have created yourself out of the
experience of others. If there we re such a thing as sin, this would
be it: to allow yourself to become what  you
are because of the experience of others. This is the “sin” you have committed. All of
you. You do not await your own experience,
you accept the experience of  others as
gospel (l iterally), and then, when you
encounter the actual experience for  the first
time, you overlay what you think you
already know onto the encounter. If you did not do this, you might have a
wholly different experience —one that
might  render your original teach er or
source wrong. In most cases, you don’t want to make  your parents, your schools,
your religions, your traditions, your holy
scriptures wrong —so you deny your own
experience in favor of what you have been
told to think. Nowhere can this be more profoundly
illustrated than in your treatment of human
sexuality. Everyone knows that the sexual
experience can be the single most loving,
most  exciting, most powerful, most
exhilarating, most renewing, most
energizing, most  affirming, most intimate,
most uniting, most re -creative physical
experience of which  humans are capable. Having discovered this experientially, you
have chosen to  accept instead the prior
judgments, opinions, and ideas about sex promulgated by  others —all of whom have
a vested interest in how you think. These opinions, judgments, and ideas
have run directly contradictory to your own
experience, yet because you are loathe to
make your teachers wrong, you convince
yourself it must be your experience that is
wrong. The result is that you ha ve betrayed
your true truth about this subject —with
devastating results. You have done the same thing with money. Every time in your life that you have had
lots and lots of money, you have felt great. You felt great receiving it, and you felt  great
spendin g it. There was nothing bad about
it, nothing evil, nothing inherently  “wrong.”
Yet you have so deeply ingrained within
you the teachings of others on this  subject that you have rejected your experience in
favor of “truth.”
Having adopted this “truth” as y our own,
you have formed thoughts around it —
thoughts which are creative. You have thus
created a personal reality around money
which pushes it away from you —for why
would you seek to attract that which is not
good? Amazingly, you have created this same
contradiction around God. Everything your
heart experiences about God tells you that
God is good. Everything your teachers teach you about
God tells you God is bad. Your heart tells
you God is to be loved without fear. Your
teachers tell you God is to be fear ed, for  He
is a vengeful God. You are to live in fear of God’s wrath, they say. You are to  tremble in
His presence. Your whole life through you
are to fear the judgment of the  Lord. For the
Lord is “just,” you are told. And God knows,
you will be in troubl e when  you confront the
terrible justice of the Lord. You are,
therefore, to be “obedient” to  God’s
commands. Or else. Above all, you are not to ask such logical
questions as, “if God wanted strict
obedience to His Laws, why did He create
the possibility of those Laws being
violated?” Ah, your teachers tell you —
because God wanted you to have “free
choice.” Yet what kind of choice is free
when to choose one thing over the other
brings condemnation? How is “free will”
free when it is not your wil l, but someone
else’s, which must be done? Those who teach you this would make a hypocrite of
God. You are told that God is forgiveness, and
compassion —yet if you do not ask for this
forgiveness in the “right way,” if you do not
“come to God” properly, you r plea will not
be heard, your cry will go unheeded. Even
this would not be so bad if there were  only
one proper way, but there are as many
“proper ways” being taught as there are
teachers to teach them. Most of you, therefore, spend the bulk of
your adult  life searching for the “right” way
to worship, to obey, and to serve God. The
irony of all this is that I do not want your
worship, I do not need your obedience, and
it is not necessary for you to serve Me. These behaviors are the behaviors
historically d emanded of their subjects by
monarchs —usually ego -maniacal,
insecure, tyrannical monarchs at that. They’re not  Godly demands in any sense —
and it seems remarkable that the world
hasn’t by  now concluded that the demands
are counterfeit, having nothing to do with
the needs or desires of Deity. Deity has no needs. All That Is is exactly
that: all that is. It therefore wants, or lacks,
nothing —by definition. If you choose to believe in a God who
somehow needs something —and has such
hurt feelings if He doesn’t ge t it that He
punishes those from whom He expected to
receive it —then you choose to believe in a
God much smaller than I. You truly are
Children of a Lesser God. No, my children, please let Me assure you
again, through this writing, that I am  without
needs. I require nothing. This does not mean I am without desires. Desires and needs are not the same thing
(although many of you have made them so
in your present lifetime). Desire is the beginning of all creation. It is
first thought. It is a grand feeling wit hin the
soul. It is God, choosing what next to
create. And what is God’s desire? I desire first to know and experience
Myself, in all My glory —to know Who I Am. Before I invented you —and all the worlds
of the universe —it was impossible for Me
to do so. Second, I desire that you shall know and
experience Who You Really Are, through  the power I have given you to create and
experience yourself in whatever way you
choose. Third, I desire for the whole life process to
be an experience of constant joy,
continuous  creation, never -ending
expansion, and total fulfillment in each
moment of  now. I have established a perfect system
whereby these desires may be realized. They  are being realized now —in this very
moment. The only difference between you
and Me is that I kno w this. In the moment of your total knowing (which
moment could come upon you at  anytime),
you, too, will feel as I do always: totally
joyful, loving, accepting, blessing,  and
grateful. These are the Five Attitudes of God, and
before we are through with th is dialogue, I
will show you how the application of these
attitudes in your life now can —and will —
bring you to Godliness. All of this is a very long answer to a very
short question. Yes, hold to your values —so long as you
experience that they serve you. Ye t look to
see whether the values you serve, with
your thoughts, words, and actions, bring to
the space of your experience the highest
and best idea you ever had about you. Examine your values one by one. Hold
them up to the light of public scrutiny. If you
can tell the world who you are and what you
believe without breaking stride or
hesitating, you are happy with yourself. There is no reason to continue much
further  in this dialogue with Me, because
you have created a Self —and a life for the
Self—which nee ds no improvement. You
have reached perfection. Put the book
down. My life is not perfect, nor is it close to being
perfect. I am not perfect. I am, in fact, a
bundle  of imperfections. I wish —
sometimes I wish with all my heart —that I
could correct these  imperfections; that I
knew what causes my behaviors, what sets
up my downfalls, what  keeps getting in my
way. That’s why I’ve come to You, I guess. I haven’t been able to find  the answers on
my own. I am glad you came. I have always been
here to help  you. I am here now. You don’t  have to find the answers on your own. You
never had to. Yet it seems so...presumptuous...to simply
sit down and dialogue with You this way —
much less to imagine that You —God—are
responding —I mean, this is crazy. I see. The authors of the Bible were all
sane, but you are


 form. My gra titude to the amazing HarperCollins team, whose
excitement in working on this book is contagious. Thank you
to the wonderful Judith Curr, president and publisher of
HarperOne, and my fantastic editor, Gideon W eil, who were
both suc h a joy t o work with. Th ank you also to Brian Murray,
T erri Leonard, Y vonne Chan, Suzanne Quist, Laina Adler,Edward Benitez, Aly Mostel, Melinda Mullin, Adrian Mor gan,
Dwight Been, Anna Brower, Lucile Culver, and Rosie Black. Thank y ou to the international HarperCollins team: Chantal
Restivo-Alessi, Emily Martin, Juliette Shapland, Catherine
Barbosa-Ross, and Julianna W ojcik. Thank you to the
HarperCollins U K team: Charlie Redmayne, Kate Elton,
Oliver Malcolm, Katya Shipster, Helen Rochester, Simon
Gerratt, and Julie MacBrayne. And thank you to the
HarperCollins G lobal Publishing Partners: Brasil, Espanol,
Mexico, Iberica, Italia, Holland, France, Germany, Polska,
Japan, and Nordic. Special thanks to the following  people who helped me with
their invaluable feedback: Peter Foyo, Kim W all, John W all,
Hannah Hodgde n, Marcy Koltun-Crilley, Mark W eaver, and
Fred Nalder. T o my family, Peter Byrne, Oku Den, Kevin (Kid) McKemy,
Henley McKemy, Savannah Byrne Cronin, and my daughter
Hayley, who was the force that set me on my incredible
journey in search of the truth six teen years ago. T o my dearest
sisters, P auline V ernon, Glenda Bell, and Jan Child, thank you
for loving me and for allowing me to love you. And fin ally, tha nk you to my amazing and beautiful teacher,
whose words and teachings of  the truth over the past four
years ha ve radically transformed  my life and helped me to see
clearly who I re ally am. This precious book is in your hands
because of her unlimited givin g and her patience in helping
direct me home. My love for her knows no boundary.The Beginning
After the release of The Secr et  in  2006, my life became what I
can only  describe as a dream life. Through practicing The
Secr et  principles religiously, my mind had become
predominantly positive, and so my life reflected that positive
state in my happiness, health, relationships, and finances. I
also found myself with a natural love and gratitude for
everything in life. But desp ite all of that, somethin g inside me continued to ur ge
me on to seek more of the trut h; something propelled me to
continue my search, though for what, I didn’ t yet know. Unbeknownst to me at the tim e, I had begun what was to
become a ten-year journey! It started with studying the
teachings of an ancient tradition in Europe, the Rose Cross
Order, a nd I studied their profou nd teachings for many years. I
also spe nt some years studying Buddhism, the many works of
the Chr istian mystics, theolo gy, Hinduism, T aoism, and
Sufism. After I studied the ancient traditions and their
historical teachings, my search turned back toward the present
time, and I started following recent teachers like J.
Krishnamurti, R obert Adams, Lester Levenson, and Ramana
Maharshi, as well as some teachers still living today. Throughout my journey I learned many things that are
unknown to the public at lar ge, and while they were
fascinating, none of them made me feel that I had found the
truth. As t he years pas sed by, I even considered that searching might
be m y life fore vermore. I didn’ t realize it then, but I was
looking for the truth in the world, when all along it was closer
to me than I could ever have imagined.T en yea rs after my search began, in early January of 2016, a
challenging situation arose in my life that caused me to feel
deep dis appointment. I was surprised at the depth of negative
emotion that I felt. How could I feel so bad when I usually felt
so g ood? But that disappointing situation was to become the
greatest gift in my search for the truth. T o turn my disappointment around, I grabbed my iPad and
watched an interview on Cons cious TV with a man called
David Bingham. At the time of the interview David was not a
teacher but was just an ordinary  everyday person like you and
me, with one d if ference: after twenty years of searching, he
had discovered the truth! I w atche d the interview, and aft erward I listened to a podcast
that David recommended. I listened intently to the podcast,
and during it I heard that most people overlook this discovery
—not because it’ s dif ficult, but because it’ s so simple. Then, I
was able  to speak with David on the phone, and during our
conversation he said, “Look at w hat I’m pointing to. It’ s right
here.” A nd suddenly I saw wha t I had been searching for. It
was  so simple, and it was  right here. Just like that—after ten
years—my searc h ended! I can say without any hesitation that
the happiness and joy I felt from this discovery was worth
every se cond of my years-long journey. Even if it had taken
my entire life to discover it, it would have been worth it. In th e en d, just one simple discovery was the whole truth that I
had bee n looking for, which is actually what everyone is
looking for, whether they realize  it or not. And once I had seen
the truth, I could see that it was everywhere. Everything I had
been rea ding and learning for ten years contained it; I just
didn’ t have the e yes to see it at that time. I had been searching
for year s, from one tradition an d philosophy to the next, and
what I had been looking for ha d been right in front of me all
along! From the moment I made the di scovery, I knew that there was
nothing more important than to understand this discovery
more, live it com pletely, and then share it with the world. My
hope was to sho w the way out for those experiencing hardship,
to help end the pain and suf feri ng that so many are enduring,and to shine a light to a futur e where we can live without
anxiety or fear. I ha d already been putting notes from everything I was
learning in a folder on my computer that was entitled “My
Next Bo ok.” It was an intuiti ve sense that inspired me to
record e verything I was discovering, in the hope that I could
eventually share it with the world. Those cherished notes,
when I had finished collating them, became the foundation of
this book. Just two months after discovering the truth through David
Bingham, I met someone else w ho was to have an enormous
ef fect on my life, and on the creation of this book. She walked
into a room I wa s in at a retreat, and when I walked up to talk
to he r, h er prese nce had such a profound ef fect on me that any
trace of negativi ty from my entire lif e was gone in an instan t! She had  been a s tudent of one o f my all-time favorite teachers,
the late Robert  Adams. I kne w instantly that she was my
teacher, the one who would hel p me fully realize and live the
truth in this lifet ime, and she has remained my teacher for the
past four years. Her teachings are straightforward, beautifully
simple, and she never hesitates to tell me if I’m going in the
wrong direction. While her name remains anonymous at her
request, I have shared many of her life-changing teachings that
propelled my life into one of constant joy and happiness. My
deepest wish is that they will do the same for you. She, along with the other teachers featured in this book, helped
lead me  out of the darkness of ignorance by illuminating this
one discovery. Every one of them helped me to understand the
truth that I had  discovered more deeply and to live from it
more fully, and the love I feel for them is infinite. Their words
that changed my life forever are featured throughout this book. W ith every step you take throug h this book, you will become
happier and your life will become more ef fortless, and that
happiness and ef fortlessness wil l continue to increase without
any end. Any fear and uncertainty of the future will no longer
plague you. Any anxiety and str ess about your daily struggles
or w orld events will dissolve. Y ou can be free of every form ofsuf fering that you might be experiencing right now. And you
will be. While there are certainly some  huge revelations throughout
these pages, there are also many simple practices to
immediately put  those revelations into practice. The practices
alone ar e worth  their weight in  gold.


emia, leukemia, lymphoma, metastatic malignancy, and psoriasis. Depressed uric acid
levels indicate defective acute hepatic atrophy or tubular absorption as in Wilson’s disease and
Fanconi’s syndrome. Drug factors interfering in the serum uric acid laboratory test include loop diuretics,
ethambutol, vincristine, pyrazinamide, thiazides, and low doses of salicylates which elevate
blood levels. Also, starvation, a high-purine diet, stress, and alcohol abuse raise uric acid. When
uric acid is measured by the colorimetric method, false elevations come from acetaminophen,
ascorbic acid, levodopa, and phenacetin.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        It could be an almost forgotten early emotional wound, a severe loss, a deep
resentment, or some unfinished business with a loved or hated person. Or else we may be dealing
with someone who conforms to the so-called ‘cancer-prone personality,’ as defined by Lawrence
LeShan4, pioneer researcher of the body-mind link in malignant disease. LeShan, also known as
‘the father of psycho-oncology,’ has observed over several decades that certain personality traits
seemed to pre-dispose some people to cancer. These traits include low self-esteem, difficulty
in expressing anger or aggression, an urge to please others and ignore their own feelings and
needs, and inhibited emotions. The true self of such people has been banished behind a false self,
probably developed quite early in life to ensure parental approval, and maintained in adulthood,
too, when it was no longer necessary. Of course this personality profile does not apply to all cancer patients, although in my work
with sufferers I have often come across similar character traits. Together or separately they suggest
a dispiritingly negative outlook on life, which a cancer diagnosis can turn into black despair, and
PNI tells us what that means in terms of reduced immune competence. It has been observed that cancer often appears 18 months or two years after some adverse life
event, such as divorce, bereavement, financial crisis, loss of a job or of an important relationship,
and so on. Experience with clients has shown me that those events only represented for them
the last straw; that they had long existed in an impossible existential situation that apparently
could neither be borne nor changed. LeShan and Carl Simonton, M. D. 5 call this setup a life trap,
which they describe in detail. My case material bears out its power, and the fact that those who
feel unable to break free eventually reach a stage when they don’t care whether they live or die. As many of them put it, “Something snapped inside me. ” I suspect it was the last strand of their
frayed will to live. The Role of Stress
 I am often asked whether stress can cause cancer. I don’t think it can, certainly not by itself. But it can be the ultimate extra burden that pushes an already weakened, barely functioning
immune system over the edge, so that it can no longer dispose of the irregular maverick cells that
every healthy organism produces in vast numbers every day. Yet without the eternal vigilance of
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author. Page 168Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www. thegersonway. coma well functioning immune system there is nothing to stop a few of those irregular cells to initiate
a malignant process. What we are dealing with here is the mysterious interaction of biochemistry and emotions,
which we have only begun to explore and understand. But there is already enough orthodox
clinical—as opposed to anecdotal—evidence to prove that inner attitudes can make a big
difference to survival. For example, British researcher Stephen Greer 6 interviewed a group of
women three months after they had undergone mastectomies, to find out how they were coping. He found four distinct types among them who showed respectively fighting spirit, denial, stoic
acceptance and hopelessness. After 5 and 10 years, 80% of the fighters, but only 20% of the
hopeless had survived. These rates had nothing to do with medical prognoses. In the U. S., David Spiegel, M.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the primary goal of the Gerson Therapy?,
A: To help the patient recover from cancer and other chronic diseases.
Q: What are some common personality traits that may predispose an individual to cancer, according to Lawrence LeShan?,
A: Low self-esteem, difficulty expressing anger or aggression, an urge to please others and ignore own feelings and needs, and an inhibited emotional response.
Q: What is the purpose of the Serum Calcium Laboratory Test?,
A: To evaluate the body's physiological processes, diagnose liver damage, and detect various diseases.
Q: What is the main function of the body's immune system?,
A: To dispose of irregular cells that may become cancerous.
Q: What is the role of stress in cancer development, according to the text?,
A: Stress can push an already weakened immune system over the edge, causing it to fail to dispose of irregular cells.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Decreased uric acid is caused by high doses of aspirin,
Coumadin, clofibrate, cinchophen, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and phenothiazines. The Glucose, Fasting Blood Sugar
(FBS) L ABORATORY  TEST
Following a 12- to 14-hour fast, the glucose, fasting blood sugar (FBS) laboratory test
measures glucose metabolism as required in diabetes mellitus. In the fasting state, blood glucose
levels decrease, stimulating release of the hormone glucagon. Glucagon then raises plasma
glucose by accelerating glycogenolysis, stimulating glyconeogenesis, and inhibiting glycogen
synthesis. Normally, secretion of insulin checks this rise in glucose levels. In diabetes, absence or
deficiency of insulin allows persistently high glucose levels. Normal ranges for fasting blood glucose on the FBS laboratory test after an eight- to twelve-
hour fast are:
 ▪  fasting serum, 70 to 100 mg/dL;
 ▪  fasting whole blood, 60 to 100 mg/dL;
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 189Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.com  ▪  nonfasting whole blood, 85 to 125 mg/dL in persons over age 50, and 70 to 115 mg/dL
    in persons under age 50. These laboratory readings help to screen for diabetes mellitus and other disorders of glucose
metabolism. They also monitor drug or dietary therapy for diabetics, insulin requirements for
uncontrolled diabetics, and known or suspected hypoglycemics. Fasting blood glucose levels of 140 to 150 mg/dL or higher obtained on two or more occasions
are diagnostic of diabetes mellitus. Nonfasting levels that exceed 200 mg/dL also show diabetes. The elevated blood glucose may come from pancreatitis, hyperthyroidism, pheochromocytoma,
chronic hepatic disease, brain trauma, chronic illness, chronic malnutrition, eclampsia, anoxia,
and convulsive disorders as well. Depressed blood glucose occurs from hyperinsulinism, insulinoma, von Gierke’s disease,
functional or reactive hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, congenital adrenal
hyperplasia, hypopituitarism, islet cell carcinoma of the pancreas, hepatic necrosis, and glycogen
storage disease. The Serum Iron And Total Iron- Binding Capacity Laboratory Test
Two separate blood tests conducted with buffering and coloring reagents measure (1) the
amount of iron bound to the glycoprotein transferrin and (2) the plasma’s total iron-binding
capacity (TIBC) if all the transferrin were saturated with iron. The percentage of saturation is
obtained by dividing the serum iron result by the TIBC, which reveals the actual amount of
saturated transferrin. Normal transferrin is 30 percent saturated. Thus, the two tests (a) estimate
total iron storage, (b) diagnose hemochromatosis, (c) distinguish between iron deficiency anemia
and chronic disease anemia, and (d) evaluate a person’s nutritional status. Normal serum iron and TIBC values have been determined to be:
                                     Serum Iron  TIBC (mcg/dL)   Saturation (mcg/dL)
Men:    70 to 150      300 to 400           20 to 50
Women:    80 to 150      350 to 450             20 to 50
In iron deficiency, serum iron falls and TIBC increases to decrease the saturation. With
chronic inflammation as in rheumatoid arthritis, serum iron is low in the presence of adequate
body stores, but TIBC remains unchanged or drops to preserve normal saturation. Iron overload
does not alter serum levels until relatively late in the pathology, but serum iron increases and
TIBC remains the same to increase the saturation. Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007. All rights


 Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.frwould eventually propel me into an unexpected
world. I disco vered that in the post -war Soviet
Union, where pharmaceutical lobbies were en-
tirely inexistent, and a strong spirit of innova-
tion and scientific research prevailed, a medical -
scientific approach entailing therapeutic fasting
was formally consolidated. Drawing on a tradi-
tion previously established in Russia, the mech-
anisms of therapeutic fasting had been success-
fully investigated and clinically tested on thou-
sands of patients over the course of 60 years. This provided the scientific foundation that
eventuall y made it possible for the Ministry of
Health to approve its methodological indica-
tions. Many Russian doctors had the oppor-
tunity to cultivate this approach and even
Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.frdevelop a radical branch, as the dry fast could be
defined. In November 2016, I worked to meet Dr. Fi-
lonov, who is considered the top dry fasting ex-
pert in Russia. I offered him to become the fore-
runner of dry fasting in Italy and he gave me
“carte blanche”. Thus, in March 2017, thanks to
the invitation of the Italian University of Health
heade d by Dr. Valdo Vaccaro, I had the oppor-
tunity to introduce Dr. Filonov to the Italian au-
dience. In the summer of 2017, I tested this fantastic
method on myself at Dr. Filonov’s headquarters
in Altai Republic (Ust -Sema, West Siberia) and
finally in mid -December 2017 the monograph,
Digiuno secco. Gli ultimi sviluppi della digiuno-
terapia in Russia  (Dry Fasting: the latest
Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.frdevelopments in fasting in Russia), came to life. It’s the first non -Russian book about dry fasting! This 687 -page volume comprises the al most
complete version of the first book by Dr Filonov,
Suchoe lechebnoe golodanie. Mify i realnost (Dry
medical fasting. Myths and reality) and selected
chapters of his second book, Lechenie organizma
sobstvennymi silami  (Curing the body with its
own strengths)1. 1 Our monograph in italian: Digiuno secco. Gli ultimi sviluppi della
digiunoterapia in Russia  (Dry fast: the latest developments in fasting
in Russia), Macerata, edizioni Simple 2017, brings together the
translation of the two writings of S. Filonov and is composed as fol-
lows:
- Suchoe lechebnoe golodanie. Mify i realnost  - (Therapeutic dry
fasting. Myths and reality), 2008. This book is reported here in
an almost integral version, separated into the shorter chapters:
Interesnye svedeniya o suchom golodanii (Interesting facts about
Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.frThe book was received with great interest in It-
aly: its emergence attracted the attention of the
community of complementary medicine sup-
porters, and many bought it without hesitation,
despite its weight and hefty price. Nonetheless, we’d like to emphasize, however,
is that the subject of our work has had repercus-
sions outside of a circle of enthusiasts of the al-
ternative medicine scene: today, our website Si-
berika.it receives continuous requests for

dry fasting), Zenshchina, kotoraya ne est  (The woman who does
not eat ), Solntseedy  (The sun -eaters)
- Lechenie organizma sobstvennymi silami (Curing the body with
its own strengths), 2015 - the chapters regarding the vetero -
slavic massage Staroslaviyanskie metody lecheniya  (Vetero -
slavic treatment methods) have been omittedy

Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.frclarification from ordinary people who are in-
trigued by the approach proposed by dry fasting. In 2018, this growing interest has encouraged
us to produce a lighter and cheaper text, which
was nevertheless full of informative content: 20
Domande sul digiuno secco  (Twenty questions
about dry fasting - 271 pages), a compendium of
Dr. Sergej Filonov’s monographs, which is also a
practical manual aimed at clarifying all the fun-
damental points related to the dry fasting
method in a question -and-answer form. The
positive response to this compendium further
conv inced us that the subject is attracting more
and more readers by the day. We therefore un-
derstood that the time has come to present it in
English for the benefit of the huge English -
speaking community. Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.frWe hope to have correctly grasped the needs of
the gen eral audience and hope to succeed in our
intent to offer the first, essential and exhaustive
encounter of the dry therapeutic fasting method
here. Vera Giovanna Bani  (vera.bani@gmail.com;
siberika.it)

Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.fr
The good fate of therapeutic fasting in Russia
and the contribution of Prof. Yuri Nikolayev
(introductory article by Vera Giovanna Bani)

In Russia, therapeutic fasting has a history that
can be traced back to 1769, when Petr Vilyami-
nov, professor of medicine at the University of
Moscow, wrote the treaty Slovo or postakh kak
sredstve predochraneniya ot bolezney  (On fasting
as a means of dise ase prevention) after having
held a series of lessons on the benefit of fasting. Vilyaminov's observations found a follower
fifty years later: in 1822 L. A. Struve, a professor
at the University of Jurev, wrote about fasting as
Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.fran excellent method of treatment for many dis-
eases. In 1834, Professor I. G. Spassky from the Uni-
versity of Moscow used fasting in his medical
practice. In the article he wrote in the same year,
titled " Uspeshnoe deystvie goloda na prostudnye
zabolevaniya " (Successful application of fasting
in the treatment of cooling diseases) he ob-
served:
"By limiting and changing nutrition, fast-
ing ends up balancing many disturbances
in the body's vegetative process and in this
sense it appears to be an excellent remedy
in the treatment of different chronic dis-
eases". Subsequently, between the late 1800s and the
early 1900s, Dr. Nikolay Lvovich Zeland (1833 -
Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.fr1902) was interested in experimental fasting. Born in Saarema, now Estonia, he completed his
studies in Petersburg and was appointed to work
in the outlying regions of the Russian Empire, in
Vladivostok, Alma -Ata, and Tashkent. Zeland
did a lot of research on dosed fasting, experi-
menting on himself and on animals. He came to
the conclusion that, thanks to the impact of the
fast:
"It is possible to notice not only radical
changes in the composition of the nervous
system and in the state of being, but at the
global level the processes of digestion and
hematopoiesis improve... A temporary ar-
rest of the vital processes becomes a source
of renewal and of great energy for these
same processes. Abstinence from habitual
Copyright © Vera Giovanna Bani 2019 www.dryfasting.infoThis Ebook was purchased by Gilberto Franchi email: gilbertofranchi@hotmail.frfood becomes a stimulus thanks to which
the elements of the tissues become stronger
and are enriched with proteins. (...) After
my experiments I came to the conclusion
that fasting is not only an effective thera-
peutic remedy, but also a practice that de-
serves attention as an educational
method". Dr. Zeland explained his observations in the ar-
ticle " O posledovatelnom


gethat the thinnest man of a class was always thebiggest glutton. Each year, a prize of acombination knife, fork, and spoon, was given tothe grossest eater of the junior class. Within mymemory the recipient was always a very thinand cadaverous fellow. As a matter of fact, the hardest work done by
the body is performed within the body. It is thework of digestion, general metabolism, and theconstant and never-ceasing pumping of theblood through hundreds of miles of veins andarteries. If this work is measured in terms ofheat units thrown off (calories) the internalactivity of the body is as two to three parts ofthe whole heat energy released into thesurrounding air. It is quite possible to increase this heat
expense by 20 to 50 per cent. by merelyoverloading the stomach a little, and crowdingthe mechanism of metabolism to its utmost. Sometimes the crowding is carried so far thatthe organism cannot stand it; somethingbursts ; and, there you are—dead. CONTENTMENT. The supremest felicity is not wanting
anything. If one cannot think of a single thingin the wide, wide world, not even oblivion, thatthey would have in addition to what they areenjoying at the moment, their cup ofcontentment is full. In regard to eating, to have Fletcherized a
few morsels of the finest food that anyone'smother ever made, until there is no desire formore, and yet the contentment is of that calmsort that indicates that there is no overloadingof the stomach, is gastronomic Heaven, and itcarries with it a blanket of general contentmentthat covers the universe. On the other hand, to have eaten unwisely,
as the result of animal voracity, over-estimate ofcapacity, and greed of getting outside of all that
must be paid for, or, in slavish deference toaggressive hospitality, is Hell from the finish ofthe meal until the finish of the " spell ofsickness " that may follow the gorge. It werealmost impossible to sink into the depths ofsuch gluttony on any one, two or three of thebest dishes possible to imagine; only a modernmultiple mixed menu is liable to bring thisdegradation, and hence the menace of it. Suppose, again, you are framing up a
business deal, and have a customer " on thestring. " The best way to get at his heart andpocket-book is through the sociabilityaccompanying a sumptuous meal. You seek a Princess' Restaurant, a Ritz-
Carlton or a Waldorf, and make a spread of yourEpicurean generosity, your bank account, andyour business web or net. If you insist on fillingyour guests full of everything, you must set theexample. Results: Similar in all cases. Science is not even secure against the
temptation of the monumental menu. Thewriter has known the citadel of scientificconservatism to be captured by five-dollar still-wine and fifty-cent. cigars, as accompaniments
of six-course dinner-dreams. This, too, in theinterest of an Epicurean Economy that put all ofthe academic teachings in the back-number list,and favored fifty-cent. banquets with nary acigar to top off the feast. FLETCHERISM  AND POLITICAL  ECONOMY. It may be argued that the waste attendant on
sumptuous living is the most prolific means ofkeeping money in circulation : of putting breadinto the mouths of the servant class: and thatSpartan simplicity would throw the world backtwo thousand years in the civilized progress ithas made. That might be true of some forms of
sumptuousness, but not as to the wanton wasteof food through the temptations of magnificentmenus. Food is the realest of all forms ofwealth. Scarce ever a grain of wheat or kernelof corn is wasted. The story of the Englishmanwho visited Kansas, and from there took hometo London a colossal joke at the expense of cornand Kansas, illustrates the permanence andindestructibility of food wealth. Riding through the State, with a native
Kansan, an English globe-trotter wondered atthe endless fields of yellow " maize. " He called itmaize, but the Kansan called it " corn. " " What in the world do you do with all this
maize. " said the mobilized Cockney. " Oh, thatis easy," replied the native: " We eat what wecan and we can what we can't. " In due season this strange answer was
interpreted to the visitor and he determined tocan the joke for serving up at his club inLondon. Arriving in England, the joker made
deliberate preparations to open his can ofKansas corn to the best effect. He invited a setof chappies to dine with him and the pièce de
résistance was Kansas canned corn. Having engineered the matter to the right
point of curiosity, the host told the story of hisvisit to Kansas and finally exploded his finale in
this wise : " Do you know, these Americans outin the West are a jolly lot. They have a dry sortof wit, too. I was travelling in company with oneof them through the State of Kansas, which isthe great maize State of the country. They don'tcall it maize, however, they call it corn, and
what we call corn they call wheat. Well, I wasamazed at the miles and miles of maize—no punintended and no apology needed—and asked mycompanion whatever in the world they did withit all. And what do you think he said : He said,' We eat what we can and the rest we put up intins. '"
It took the perpetrator of the joke another
week to find out why no one laughed, andspoiled everything by still waiting for the pointafter the real explosion took place : and nointernational incident is recorded in the historyof that day. Yes, the really most vital wealth is stored in
the food treasuries. Profusion of it carries downthe prices and this raises wages by comparison. There is always a spot-cash market for food atsome price, which is not the case with manyother forms of property. But the waste of the food material itself is
insignificant compared to the waste of energythat must take place to get rid of it, the momentit is swallowed and beyond personal respons-ibility. The transportation of a car-load of wheatby rail from Saskatchewan to the Atlantic
seaboard by rail and across the ocean bysteamer is small as compared with the expenseof getting a mouthful of bolted bread through,an alimentary canal that is congested withindigestion. CHAPTER XIV
THE CRUX OF FLETCHERISM
The Value of Occasional Fasting—The Power of Freedom from
Indigestion—Muscles have Memories. ALMOST  everybody eats with sufficient care
most of the time ; otherwise, all would be on thesick-list all the time and the death-rate would
be increased enormously. Whatever sickness, depression, weakness and
other illnesses there are now are the result ofoccasional carelessness only. The remedy for lapses from carefulness is
knowledge of what the natural requirementsare, and training the muscles and functionsemployed in nutrition to work always withcareful deliberation and never allow themselvesto be hurried with their work. It should also be made a habit
NOT TO EAT ANYTHING
without a keen appetite. This involves knowinghow to recognise a true appetite and also how todetect a false craving. Waiting for a healthful
call for food, for any length of time, can do noharm, and should not cause any discomfort orinconvenience ; but exciting a false desire andtaking food before the body is " good and ready "for it, starts trouble brewing at once. If the worst results of premature or hurried
eating were immediately felt, no one would getin the habit of sinning in this manner. Likeauto-intoxication from excess of alcohol,poisoning from unnecessary or unwelcomefood—either an excess of it or when takenuntimely—is an aftermath of unhealthystimulation or exhilaration. The crux, then, of dietetic righteousness, or,
Fletcherism, is habituating the body to practisethat Eternal Vigilance, which is
THE PRICE  OF FREEDOM  FROM  INDIGESTION. It should be much easier to install a habit of
carefulness than it is to permit habits ofcarelessness. It is possible so to sensitize themuscles which control swallowing that they willrefuse to act and will cause choking if anattempt to swallow prematurely is made. Systematic attention to this detail of care for a
week will secure it as a permanent habitwithout need of any further attention to it. The statement that it is easier to do the right
thing than it is to do the wrong thing : and thatit is easier to fix firmly good habits than it is toacquire bad habits ; will probably be questionedor disputed by many; but practice of theprinciples which underlie Fletcherism will curesuch pessimism relative to the attitude ofMother Nature towards her most perfectproduct in general, Man. Man is given more liberty and more license
than any other natural expression and, with theendowment which we call " intelligence," he israised to a position of partnership in assistingnatural evolution and progress. From inklings of experience it is reasonably
inferred that Man is more susceptible toevolutionary influence than any of the animalkind ; that he can ever progressively trainhimself towards higher and highersupermanhood ; that he is able to performmarvels


actically
disappeared
and
the
eczema
must
still
be
tried
to
remove
the
compresses
with
evaporated
or
standing
urine
-
the
rough
skin
will
then
peel
off
better. The
combination
of
acidification
and
alkalization
of
eczema
with
these
two
types
of
urine
will
strengthen
the
effect
of
urine
therapy. Salads
or
stewed
vegetables,
porridge,
meat
and
the
like
should
be
eaten,
but
only
according
to
the
principles
of
a
separate
diet. It
is
necessary
to
cook
only
with
melted
water,
eat
sprouted
grain
bread
more
often. An
interesting
case
of
curing
diabetes
is
described
by
A.
Maslenikov,
one
of
the
founders
of
Russian
urinotherapy:
A
woman
cured
herself
of
"terrible"
diabetes
within
one
year
by
drinking
her
child's
urine
every
morning
and
then
freshly
milked
milk. By
the
way,
Avicenna
already
talks
about
such
a
comprehensive
treatment
of
diabetes
with
urine
and
milk
in
his
"Canon
of
Medical
Science"
from
the
11th
century:
"Human
urine
and
camel
urine,
especially
together
with
its
freshly
milked
milk,
helps
with
dropsy
and
hardening
of
the
spleen." Thus
the
words
of
the
Prophet
are
confirmed:
'If
you
drink
milk
and
urine,
then
you
will
surely
be
healthy.'" Comment:
Such
treatment
is
suitable
only
for
people
who
tolerate
milk
well. Urine
helps
to
stimulate
the
functions
of
the
pancreas,
activating
its
enzymes. Freshly
milked
milk
in
small
quantities
is
an
ideal
food
that
is
processed
by
its
own
enzymes. In
addition,
freshly
milked
milk
has
a
special
energy
that
also
helps
restore
the
structure
and
thus
the
functioning
of
the
pancreas. Urinotherapy
and
diseases
of
the
heart
and
blood
vessels
Here,
it
is
primarily
necessary
to
purify
the
blood
and
remove
various
clots
and
deposits
from
the
bloodstream. Before
cleansing
the
blood,
the
large
intestine
must
first
be
cleansed,
and
in
order
to
achieve
free
blood
circulation,
the
so-called
portal
hypertension
must
beremoved,
i.e. the
liver
must
be
cleansed. The
substances
contained
in
the
urine
will
do
everything
else:
they
will
help
the
heart
muscle
and
stimulate
it,
dissolve
thrombi. It
is
recommended
to
drink
an
odd
number
of
sips
2-3
times
a
day
after
50-100
grams
of
urine. Example:
“For
three
weeks,
I
collect
the
middle
part
of
the
urine
from
3
to
4
in
the
morning
and
drink
3
sips
of
quarter
urine. It
seems
to
me
that
the
large
intestine
has
started
to
work,
the
comb
between
the
stomach
and
the
duodenum
works
better,
the
stomach
is
softer
and
the
heart
works
better. So
far
I
have
under gone
8
surgeries
under
general
anesthesia. Among
other
things,
they
removed
the
bullet
from
my
liver.' Example:
"I
am
54
years
old,
I
am
already
retired,
I
felt
very
bad,
I
had
injections
twice
a
year,
I
suffer
from
rheumatoid
carditis
and
I
have
a
heart
murmur. By
chance,
I
got
hold
of
your
book,
where
you
also
write
about
urinotherapy. She
helped
me
a
lot. I
haven't
had
any
injections
for
half
a
year
now,
I
drink
urine
and
smear
myself
with
it. I
starve
twice
a
month. I
feel
much
better.' Example:
"I
am
54
years
old,
I
have
been
suffering
from
high
blood
pressure
for
8
years
up
to
200
to
120,
my
head
is
spinning. After
only
ten
glasses
of
urine
drunk
on
an
empty
stomach,
my
blood
pressure
dropped." Example:
The
patient,
64
years
old,
suffers
from
high
blood
pressure,
atherosclerosis,
ischemia
of
the
heart,
varicose
veins
on
the
legs. For
a
month
and
a
half,
she
drank
urine
3
times
a
day,
smeared
herself
with
it
and
followed
a
diet. The
results
are
good:
blood
pressure
130/80,
venous
nodes
on
the
legs
have
disappeared
and
heart
function
has
improved. Example:
"Patient
swollen
to
the
waist,
'elephant'
legs
blackened
to
the
knees,
swollen
hands,
black
wrists,
sores. After
many
months
in
the
hospital,
she
went
home
to
die. A
neighbor
gave
her
faith
in
life
and
a
book
on
urine
therapy. She
stopped
taking
medicine
and
started
drinking
urine,
doing
massages,
enemas,
for
the
first
time
with
a
man's
urine. She
starved
for
seven
days. Black
lumps
started
coming
out,
the
swelling
didn't
go
away,
but
it
didn't
get
bigger
either. The
patient
has
a
weak
heart
and
cirrhosis
of
the
liver. Please
advise
what
to
do
next?' Comment
and
recommendation:
Always
apply
poultices
of
evaporated
quarter
urine
to
the
area
of
  swelling
and
wounds,
pay
close
attention
to
enemas
-
all
problems
come
from
the
large
intestine. Continue
with
urine
intake
and
fasting. Vomiting
and
passing
black
sludge
are
symptoms
indicating
the
beginning
of
the
cleansing
process. So
it
is
necessary
to
continue,
drink
more
urine,
use
melted
water. If
the
condition
were
to
worsen,
but
at
the
same
time
pathological
waste
products
were
being
excreted,
this
means
a
cleansing
process
and
a
healing
crisis. You
have
to
overcome
them. If
you're
getting
worse
without
these
symptoms,
you've
let
the
disease
go
too
far. Cloudy
and
at
the
same
time
strongly
smelling
urine
indicates
a
body
heavily
clogged
with
waste
and
poisons. In
particular,
the
intestine
and
liver
are
affected. That
is
why
cleansing
procedures
are
so
important
for
relaxing
the
body. For
heart
problems,
the
best
massage
is
from
11
a.m.
to
1
p.m.,
when
the
heart


., “Intermittent Hypoxia-Hyperoxia Conditioning Improves
Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Older Comorbid Cardiac Outpatients without Hematological
Changes: A Randomized Controlled T rial,” High Altitude Medical Biology  19, no. 4 (Dec.
2018): 339–43. And much more. A British study of 30 rugby players showed those trained in“normobaric” levels of 13 percent oxygen (equivalent of an altitude of 12,000 feet) had
“twofold greater improvements” over controls training in normal sea-level air after just four
weeks. A European study of 86 obese women showed hypoxia training led to a “significant
decrease in waist circumference” and significant reduction in fat over controls. (More available
oxygen in the cells meant that more fat could be burned more ef ficiently.) And even diabetes! T wenty-eight adults suf fering from type 1 diabetes showed that hypoxia training reduced
glucose concentrations, keeping the subjects more in line with normal levels over controls. The
simple method, the researchers wrote, “may induce significant prevention of diabetes
cardiovascular complications.” See references for all these studies, and more, at
mrjamesnestor.com/breath. T h i s  l i s t  g o e s  o n :  See a photo of Sanya Richards-Ross competing here: https://tinyurl.com/yyf8tj7m. o u r  l u n g s  r o u g h l y  h a l f  f u l l :  Throughout our jogging, Olsson and I used a Relaxator, a device Olsson
designed to restrict airflow during exhalations and increase the positive pressure on the lungs,
which helps them expand and increase space for gas exchange. Breath resistance devices like
the Relaxator can help monitor a consistent flow of air and measure the amount of resistance,
but they are optional. The most ef fective technique in hypoventilation training is to extend
exhales and then hold the breath with lungs half-full as long as possible and do it all over again. This can happen anywhere, at any time. The more “air hunger” you create, the more EPO will
release from the kidneys, the more red blood cells will release from bone marrow, the more
oxygen will upload into your body, the more resilient the body will become, the farther and
faster and higher it will go. In the 1990s, Dr. Alison McConnell, a London physiologist and a
leading expert on breath training, had cyclists use a resistance device that forced pressure on
the inhale. She found that the athletes gained a shocking 33 percent increase in endurance
performance after just four weeks. Just five minutes of this training can lower blood pressure
by 12 points, about twice what aerobic exercise delivers. Alison McConnell, Br eathe Str ong,
Perform Better  (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2011), 59, 61; Lisa Marshall, “Novel 5-
Minute W orkout Improves Blood Pressure, May Boost Brain Function,” Medical Xpress, Apr. 8, 2019, https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-04-minute-workout-blood-pressure-boost.html ;
Sarah Sloat, “A New W ay of W orking Out T akes 5 Minutes and Is as Easy as Breathing,”
Inverse, Apr. 9, 2019, https://www.inverse.com/article/54740-imst-training-blood-pressure-
health. 5 0  s c i e n t i f i c  p a p e r s :  An exhaustive list of Buteyko’ s studies and other research, in both English and
Russian, are available at the following links provided by Breathe W ell Clinic (Dublin, Ireland)
and Buteyko Clinic International: http://breathing.ie/clinical-studies-in-russian/ ;
http://breathing.ie/clinical-evidence-for -buteyko/ ; https://buteykoclinic.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/04/Dr -Buteykos-Book.pdf. 2 5  m i l l i o n  A m e r i c a n s :  Stephen C. Redd, “Asthma in the United States: Burden and Current Theories,”
Envir onmental Health Perspectives  110, suppl. 4 (Aug. 2002): 557–60; “Asthma Facts and
Figures,” Asthma and Aller gy Foundation of America, https://www.aafa.or g/asthma-facts ;
“Childhood Asthma,” Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.or g/diseases-conditions/childhood-
asthma/symptoms-causes/syc-20351507. f o u r f o l d  i n c r e a s e :  Paul Hannaway, What to Do When the Doctor Says It’ s Asthma  (Gloucester, MA: Fair
W inds, 2004). P o l l u t a n t s,  d u s t,  v i r a l  i n f e c t i o n s,  c o l d  a i r :  “Childhood Asthma,” Mayo Clinic,
https://www.mayoclinic.or g/diseases-conditions/childhood-asthma/symptoms-causes/syc-
20351507. a s t h m a  c a n  b e  b r o u g h t  o n :  Duncan Keeley and Liesl Osman, “Dysfunctional Breathing and Asthma,”
British Medical Journal  322 (May 2001): 1075; “Exercise-Induced Asthma,” Mayo Clinic,
https://www.mayoclinic.or g/diseases-conditions/exercise-induced-asthma/symptoms-
causes/syc-20372300.e x e r c i s e - i n d u c e d  a s t h m a :  R. Khajotia, “Exercise-Induced Asthma: Fresh Insights and an Overview,”
Malaysian Family Physician 3, no. 2 (Apr. 2008): 21–24. w o r l d w i d e  a n n u a l  m a r k e t :  “Distribution of Global Respiratory Therapy Market by Condition in 2017–
2018 (in Billion U.S. Dollars),” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/312329/worldwide-
res  piratory-therapy-market-by-condition/. w o r s e n e d  a s t h m a  s y m p t o m s :  When a group of medical doctors, professors, and statisticians wanted to
know how medicine and procedures actually af fected patients, they didn’ t look up reviews in
W ebMD. They noticed that the numbers in many studies were funded by private drug
companies and the outcomes were either fudged or grossly misleading. So these researchers
gathered studies from dozens of dif ferent treatments and reanalyzed the data to of fer an
accurate measurement of the impact of a medicine or therapy. T o give a real-life view into how
ef fective drugs and treatments are, the researchers’ outcomes estimated the number of patients
who need to be treated to have an impact on one person. They called their or ganization The
NNT, a simple statistical concept: “Number Needed to T reat.” Since starting in 2010, NNT
( https://www.thennt.com ) has surveyed more than 275 drugs and therapies in fields ranging
from cardiology to endocrinology to dermatology. They rated each of these drugs and therapies
on a color scale: green (the therapy or drug has clear benefits); yellow (it is unclear if it has any
benefits); red (no benefits); and black (the treatment is more harmful to patients than helpful). They reviewed 48 trials, including tens of thousands of subjects, of a standard asthma
treatment: long-acting beta-agonists (LABA) with corticosteroids, an inhaled combination drug
treatment with trade names Advair and Symbicort, designed to keep smooth muscles in the
airways constantly relaxed. Of the 48 trials represented, 44 were sponsored by the
pharmaceutical maker of long-acting beta-agonists, one of the two drugs in combination. This
drug was not only approved, but used by likely millions of asthmatics every year. NNT
crunched the numbers and found that combination LABAs and steroid inhalers were not only
totally inef fective but harmful. Only 1 in 73 asthmatic patients who used the drug reduced their
chances of mild to moderate asthma attack. Meanwhile, the drug provoked a severe asthma
attack in 1 in 140 people. According to NNT, the drug “seems to have caused an asthma-related
death” for 1 in every 1,400 asthmatics. LABAs were equally inef fective for children. More
context on this subject: V assilis V assilious and Christos S. Zipitis, “Long-Acting
Bronchodilators: T ime for a Re-think,” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine  99, no. 8
(Aug. 2006): 382–83.


turn from translucent to opaque. 3. Add relish and heat through. The k ey to cooking scallops is to sear each side on very high heat. This seals in the
moisture an d actually poaches the tender meat. Overcooking turns all seafood toughand rubbery, so when using high heat, pay attention to the time the scallops are in the
pan—it’ s critical. For an appetizer, serve in small pots. T op spaghetti with 1 lar ge sea scallop tossed in Roasted
T omato, Fennel and Basil Relish. Fr eezing Fennel

1. Select Equipment: Select suitable-size freezer containers, bags or Mason
jars ( Freezing ). 2. Blanch sliced or diced fennel bulb in boiling water to which 1/4 cup (50
mL) lem on juice has been add ed for 3 minutes. Lift out and plunge into
cold water. Let s tand for 3 minu tes. Drain and pat dry. Pack into containers,
leaving a 1-inch (2.5 cm) headspace. Remove air, label and seal. Freeze for
up to 9 months.G a r l i c  S c a p e s
NOT LONG AGO, SCAPES WERE F AIRL Y RARE IN NOR TH
AMERICA. Now, with more market gardeners growing garlic, we are
seeing m ore of the fresh green f lower stalks showing up around the end of
June or beginning of July. Scapes are tender and very tasty stems that are
cut from the garlic in order to allow the plant to put all of its ener gy into
growing the bulbs that will be harvested in the fall. These lig htly garlic-
scented vegetab les can be grille d, steamed or poached. T reat t hem as you
would a sparagus or green beans, and use them in casseroles, soups and
stews. Good Preserving V arieties
If you can get scapes, no matter what variety of garlic they were cut from,
they will make great relishes, salsa and pesto. Use them fresh, freeze them
or pickle them. Pur chasing/Storing
1 lb  (50 0 g) yields 2-1/2 to 3 cups (625 to 750 mL) sliced
garlic scapes. Y ou will need about 1 lb (500 g) for each quart (1 L) jar. Even th ough scapes keep well for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, like
everything else, they are best if used immediately after they are cut from the
plant. Good W ith
Herbs such as basil, bay, thyme, parsley, sage, rosemary.Other vegetables, such as asparagus, green and wax beans,
potatoes, fennel, eggplant. T oasted almonds, pecans an d walnuts; sesame seeds,
sunflower seeds, flaxseeds. Most fish; beef, lamb, chicken, pork. Preparation
Cut of f and disc ard the flower head (only if it is hard) and the st raight piece
that grows out of it. Swish scapes in a sink full of cool water to which a
drop of food-safe soap has been  added. Rinse well, drain and pat dry. Cut
the thin,  green, tender stalks into 1- or 2-inch (2.5 or 5 cm) pieces or chop
roughly. Canning Garlic Scapes
I do n’ t recommend canning garl ic scapes because they turn brown and lose
their texture. They freeze easily and stay green and firm, so this is by far the
best way to preserve them. g a r l i c  s c a p e  r e l i s h
Surprisingly, this summer r elish is not actually gr een because the turmeric
tints it a sunny, golden colour. The mild garlic flavour fr om the scapes
combines nicely with the classic pickling spices in this favour ite r elish. If
you don’ t tell anyone that it has cabbage in it, they won’ t know. I use this
r elish to  thin the consistency o f commer cial mayonnaise for potato and
other summer salads. MAKES 10 CUPS (2.5 L)
5 cups (1.25 L) finely chopped garlic scapes
5 cups (1.25 L) shr edded gr een cabbage
2 cups (500 mL) chopped r ed bell pepper
1 cup (250 mL) finely chopped onion3 cups (750 mL) champagne or white wine vinegar
1–1/2 cups (375 L) lightly packed br own sugar
3 tbsp (45 mL) finely chopped fr esh gingerr oot 1–
1/2 tbsp (22 mL) salt 1 tbsp (15 mL) gr ound turmeric
3 tbsp (45 mL) Classic Pickling Spice Blend  (stor e-bought), tied in a
cheesecloth bag

1. In a M aslin p an or canning kettle, combine garlic scapes, c abbage, red
pepper and onion. Add vinega r, brown sugar, ginger, salt, tu rmeric and
spice ba g. Cove r and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Uncover and boil hard for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Redu ce heat and
boil gently, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. Liquid will be
reduced and relish will be thick. Discard spice bag. 2. Mean while, heat five 1-pint (2-cup/500 mL) jars in boiling  water, and
scald the lids, lifter, funnel and tongs ( Boiling W ater Method, Step by Step ). 3. Fill hot jars, leaving a 1/2- inch (1 cm) headspace. Run a thin non-
metallic utensil around the insid e of the jar to allow air to escape. Add more
hot relis h, if necessary to leave a  1/2-inch (1 cm) headspace. W ipe rims, top
with flat lids an d screw on met al rings. Return jars to the hot water bath,
topping up with hot water if necessary. Bring to a full rolling boil and
process jars for 10 minutes ( Boiling W ater Method, Step by Step ). 4. Remo ve cann er lid and wait 5 minutes before removing jars t o a towel or
rack to cool com pletely. Check seals, label and store in a cool place for up
to 1 year. Use: A tangy a nd sweet relish with just a hint of garlic, it is great with
grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, sausages and lamb kebabs. It adds a
pickle f lavour to meat loaf an d can be combined with mayonnaise for
coleslaw and other salad mixes.g a r l i c  s c a p e  p e s t o
When I first lea rned about garlic scapes 20 years ago and tried them in
r ecipes, I was ho oked. Now, with all the people ar ound me who g r ow garlic,
I cou ld b e burie d in them by mid to late June when everyone is taking them
off t he plant. At that time of yea r, I’m busy making Garlic Scap e Relish as
well as this pest o. I make a lot a nd use it fr esh, but also fr eeze it in 1- or 2-
cup (250 or 500 mL) amounts. Fr esh local garlic is still not av ailable when the scapes ar e har vested, so I
omit the  garlic cloves. The r esult is a mildly garlic-tasting gr een sauce for
meat an d vegetables. I have included the cloves in the r ecipe a s an option
for people who want a str ongly garlic pesto. I don’ t use a whole cup (250
mL) of olive oil for this pesto because I like it on the dry side and rather
chunky. Use mor e or less oil to suit your pr efer ence for pesto consistency. MAKES 4 CUPS (1 L)
4 cups (1 L) r oughly chopped garlic scapes
3 to 5 cloves garlic, optional
1/3 cup (75 mL) pine nuts or sunflower seeds
1/3 cup (75 mL) shaved Parmesan cheese
1 cup (250 mL) olive oil (appr ox) sea salt

1. In  a food proc essor, combine scapes, garlic cloves, if using, a nd nuts and
process for 30 se conds. Add Parmesan cheese and process for 10 seconds to
blend. W ith the motor running, add olive oil in a steady stream  through the
opening in the l id until the pest o reaches the desired consistency. Add salt
to taste. 2. Scrape into a clean jar with a lid and refrigerate for up to a week or
freeze in measured amounts for up to 6 months.g a r l i c  s c a p e  p e s t o  p o t a t o e s
Use any r oot vegetable with or  in place of the potatoes in this  r ecipe. It’ s
one of those r ec ipes you don’ t need a r ecipe for


, 50, 70, etc., and then you simply consult your
agenda to see where you ought to be, rather than making a new
decision each day and having a strong enough belief in yourself to
be able to alter the plan. Don’t let the plan become bigger than you. Henry was a client of mine who was in his middle twenties. He
suffered desperately from the having-a-plan-neurosis, and as a
consequence he missed out on many exciting life opportunities. When he was twenty-two he was offered a position in another state. He was petrified about the move. Would he be able to make it in
Georgia. Where would he live. How about his parents and friends. The fear of the unknown literally immobilized Henry, and he turned
down what might have been a chance at advancement, exciting new
work and a brand new en-122 / Your Erroneous Zonesvironment, in favor of staying where he was. It was this experience
that brought Henry to counseling. He felt that his own rigid adher-
ence to a plan was keeping him from growing, and yet he was afraid
to break out and try something new. After one exploratory session,
it was revealed that Henry was a veritable plan freak. He always ate
the same breakfast, planned his clothing days in advance, had his
dresser drawers arranged perfectly by color and size. Moreover, he
imposed his plan on his family as well. He expected his children to
have things in their place and his wife to conform to a rigid set of
rules that he had laid down. In short, Henry was a very unhappy,
albeit organized person. He lacked creativity, innovation and per-
sonal warmth. He was in fact, a plan unto himself, with his goal in
life to get everything into its proper place. With counseling, Henry
began to try some spontaneous living. He saw his plans as manipu-
lators of others, and as convenient escapes from wandering into the
risky unknown. He soon eased up on his family and allowed them
to be different from what he expected them to be. After several
months, Henry actually applied for a job in a firm that would require
him to move frequently. The very thing that he originally feared
became desirable. While Henry is by no means a totally spontaneous
person, he has effectively challenged some of the neurotic thinking
that supported his previously planned-out existence. He is working
on it every day, and learning to enjoy living, rather than living out
his life in a ritualized fashion. Security: Internal and External Varieties
A long time ago you learned how to write a high school theme or
essay. You were taught that you need a good introduction, a well-
organized body and a conclusion. Unfortunately, you may have
applied the same logic to your life, and come to see the whole busi-
ness of living as a theme. The introductionEXPLORING THE UNKNOWN  / 123was your childhood wherein you were preparing to be a person. The body is your adult life, which is organized and planned out in
preparation for your conclusion, which is the retirement and happy
ending. All of this organized thinking keeps you from living your
present moments. Living according to this plan implies a guarantee
that everything will be okay forever. Security, the final plan, is for
cadavers. Security means knowing what is going to happen. Security
means no excitement, no risks, no challenge. Security means no
growth and no growth means death. Besides, security is a myth. As
long as you are a person on earth, and the system stays the same,
you can never have security. And even if it weren’t a myth, it would
be a horrible way to live. Certainty eliminates excitement—and
growth. The word security as used here refers to external guarantees,
possessions such as money, a house and a car, to bulwarks such as
a job or a position in the community. But there is a different kind of
security that is worth pursuing, and this is the internal security of
trusting yourself to handle anything that may come down the pike. This is the only lasting security, the only real security. Things can
break down, a depression can wipe out your money, your house
can be repossessed, but you, you can be a rock of self-esteem. You
can believe so much in you and your internal strength that things
or others will be seen as mere pleasant but superfluous adjuncts to
your life. Try this little exercise. Suppose that right now, this second, as you
are reading this book, someone swooped down on you, stripped
you naked, and carted you off in a helicopter. No warning, no money,
nothing but yourself. Supposing you were flown to the middle of
Red China and dropped in a field. You would be up against new
language, new habits, and new climate, and all you would have is
yourself. Would you survive or collapse. Could you make friends,
get food, shelter and the like, or would you simply lie there and
moan about how unfortunate you were to have this catastrophe
visited on you. If you need external security, you’d perish, for all
of your goods would have been taken away. But if you have internal
security and are not afraid124 / Your Erroneous Zonesof the unknown, then you would survive. Security can then be re-
defined as the knowledge that you can handle anything, including
having no external security. Don’t be trapped by that kind of external
security, since it robs you of your ability to live and grow and fulfill
yourself. Take a look at those people without external security,
people who don’t have it all mapped out. Perhaps they are way
ahead of the game. At least they can try new things and avoid the
trap of always having to stay with the safe. James Kavanaugh in Will You Be My Friend. writes tellingly about
security in his little poem called Some Day. Someday I’ll walk away
And be free
And leave the sterile ones
Their secure sterility. I’ll leave without a forwarding address
And walk across some barren wilderness
To drop the world there. Then wander free of care
Like an unemployed Atlas. *
Achievement as Security
But the “walking away” to “be free,” as Kavanaugh puts it, is
difficult as long as you carry around the conviction that you must
achieve. Fear of failure is a powerful fear in our society, one incul-
cated in childhood and often carried throughout life. You may be surprised to hear this, but failure does not exist. Failure is simply someone else’s opinion of how a certain act should
have been completed. Once you believe that no act must be per-
formed in any specific other-directed way, then failing becomes
impossible. There may, however, be occasions when you will fail in some
given task according to your own standards. The impor-
*Los Angeles: Nash Publishing Corp., 1971. EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN  / 125tant thing here is not to equate the act with your own self-worth. Not to succeed in a particular endeavor is not to fail as a person. It
is simply not being successful with that particular trial at that partic-
ular present moment. Try to imagine using failure as a description of an animal’s beha-
vior. Consider a dog barking for fifteen minutes, and someone say-
ing, “He really isn’t very good at barking, I’d give him a “C. ” How
absurd. It is impossible for an animal to fail because there is no
provision for evaluating natural behavior. Spiders construct webs,
not successful or unsuccessful webs. Cats hunt mice; if they aren’t
successful in one attempt, they simply go after another. They don’t
lie there and whine, complaining about the one that got away, or
have a nervous breakdown because they failed. Natural behavior
simply is. So why not apply the same logic to your own behavior
and rid yourself of the fear of failure. The push to achieve comes from three of the most self-destructive
words in our culture. You’ve heard them and used them thousands
of times. Do your best. This is the cornerstone of the achievement
neurosis. Do your best at everything you do. What’s wrong with
taking a mediocre bicycle ride, or going for an average walk in the
park. Why not have some activities in your life which you just do,
rather than do to the best of your ability. The do-your-best neurosis
can keep you from trying new activities and enjoying old ones. At one time I counseled an eighteen-year-old high school senior
named Louann, who was imbued with the achievement standard. Louann was a straight A student, and had been since she first set
foot in a school. She worked long tedious hours on her school work,
and as a result she had no time for being a person. She was a veritable
computer of book knowledge. Yet Louann was painfully shy around
boys, never even having held hands let alone dated. She had de-
veloped a nervous twitch which came into play whenever we talked
about this side of her personality. Louann had placed all of her em-
phasis on being an achieving student at the expense of her total de-
velopment. In126 / Your Erroneous Zonesworking with Louann, I asked her what was more important in her
life. “What you know, or how you feel. ” Even though she was a
valedictorian, she was lacking inner peace and was actually very
unhappy. She began to place some importance