 clarity. In fact, this person is often
confused, bewildered, and apprehensive. RUMINATIONWhen a person is overly pensive and contemplative, he can easily
become xated on worriso me thoughts and ideas. He is often
tormented by his overconce rn for details and becomes caught in
circular thinking from which  there is no escape. His approach to life
may become obsessive to the point that he is unable to have any
fresh thoughts or experiences. Secure but dull, safe yet sorry, he is
prone to apathy and boredo m. He may be construed as a stick-in-
the-mud. People can depend  on this type of person because he is
reliable, sympa thetic, and a good caretaker. Without the demands of
work or responsibility to others, he can become inert, dropping back
into the well-w orn trails of his own mind. In this state, his energy
becomes stagnant and leads to poor digestion, heaviness, and
abbiness. SORROW
When Sorrow  pervades, a person insulates and defends herself from
the pleasure of attachment and the pain of loss. She arranges her life
for the purpose of avoiding risk and the vagaries of passion. She can
become possessive, acquisitive, and domineering in an eort to
control her environment. Her striving for self-protection may keep
her too detached and inaccessible for true intimacy. She is pleasant
but cool. She has easy disdain for people she considers sloppy and
undisciplined and is uncomfortable with displays of emotion. Her
life is designe d to keep her feelings in. She appears tight, well
mannered, and scrupulously put together. Without the ordered
arrangement of her daily life, this person becomes completely
vulnerable and threatened. Overcontrol is her theme and can
manifest as asthma, constipation, and frigidity. She wards o
excitement and feeling. FEAR
Fear arises when survival is threatened. A man who is in the grip of
Fear can think only of escape. His life is dominated by theexpectation of threat, so he isolates himself and hides from the
world. He becomes furtive and suspicious, relies on no one and
prefers to be left alone. He is the hermit, drifter, and loner. He
anticipates the worst, imagining calamity and disast er lurking
around every corner. He lives under a cloud of doom and gloom. Critical and cynical, he believes the world is fundamentally harsh,
unsafe, and unfriendly. Among other people he remains aloof. His
isolation may eventually cut him o from life, leaving him cold and
hard like stone, impenetrabl e and devoid of spirit. Because of this
hardening, he is prone to develop arthritis, deafness, and senility. METHODS OF  EXAMINATION:  OBSERVATIONS, QUESTIONS, PALPATIONS
Western diagnosis often involves evaluation of a battery of
laboratory tests and machine measurements. Chinese diagnosis
emphasizes methods that rely solely on the practitioner’s own sense
perceptions, judgment, intuition, and experience. The practitioner
inventories what he sees, hears, smells, and feels. He listens to the
patient’s feelings and complaints. He asks questions about activities
and events that cannot be observed directly. Using himself as the instrum ent, the doctor takes the measure of
the patient: focusing mind and perception upon the gestalt of
posture, statur e, emotional and behavioral expression; upon specic
attributes of the tongue, pulse, and complexion; and nally upon the
areas and quality of pain or discomfort, restriction or freedom of
movement, overall vigor and weakness. Like the Feng Shui adept who divines the currents of Wind  and
Water  that circulate  through the environment to place people in a
proper and benecial alignment to them, the doctor turns himself
into a divining  rod that reads the movements of Qi, Moisture, and
Blood, assessing whether the Five Organ Networks  are working
harmoniously. The patient reports on current physical, mental, and emotional
complaints, states, and attitudes. Patterns of sleepin g, eating,
eliminating, working, and relaxing, as well as responses to stress,needs, desires, and goals, are useful information. The doctor wants
to know not only the nature  of the problem, but the nature of the
patient. Patient and doctor work together, recapturing and re-creating
relevant history, noting tendencies, patterns, and cycles that might
be inuencing the present condition. Together, family health,
emotional, physical, and sexual development, childhood illness and
treatment, injury, trauma and its resolution or lack thereof, and
times of crisis and change all reveal the evolutionary stages leading
to the present state. Just as every cell in the human body contains in its DNA a
template of the entire organism, so in Chinese medicine any part of
the body (puls e, tongue, eye, ear) broadcasts information  about the
whole. Just as the genes contain all the information about the
potential form and develop ment of the person, any aspect of a
human being can become a window or lens for revealing the state of
the person. This applies not only to the physical body, but to the
thinking and feeling body as well. METHODS OF  DIAGNOSIS
To observe: complexion, eyes, tongue, nails, hair, gait,
stature, aect, quality of excretions, secretions
To listen and smell: sound of voice and breath; odor of
breath, skin, excretions, secretions
To question: current complaints, health history, family health
history, pattern s of sleep, appetite, weight, elimination, menses,
stress
To touch: texture, humidity, temperature, elasticity of skin;
strength and tone of muscles; exibility, range of motion of
joints; sensitivity of diagnostic points; radial pulse evaluationMAY I PLEASE  SEE YOUR TONGUE? Of all the possi ble methods of examination, two are considered most
useful and reliable: inspection of the body and coating of the
tongue, and palpation of the pulse at both wrists. The tongue is
characterized by its color, texture, moisture, size, and shape. A
healthy tongue  ts comfortably in the mouth and is smooth, moist,
bright, pink, and rm, with a thin white fur that covers the upper
surface. Changes in the body of the tongue generally reect long-term
dysfunction of the viscera, whereas changes in the fur reect short-
term disturbances of digestion, uid balance, and heat regulation. In acute conditions such as a cold or u, the tongue may be red at
the tip with a yellow or white fur that is thicker than normal. The
red tip indicates Heat and possibly fever, and the thickened fur
indicates an Adverse Climate  such as Cold or Dampness. An enlarged, pale, and abby  tongue with greasy or cheesy white
fur is associate d with deciency and Dampness  or excess Moisture. This is charact eristic of illnesses such as chronic bronchitis, colitis,
nephritis, or a weak and enlarged heart. The thick, wet quality of
the fur is a sign of excess Moisture  manifested as phlegm in
bronchitis, loose, watery stool in colitis, and edema of the feet and
hands in heart disease or nephritis. The tongue fur primarily mirrors the Qi of the Stomach. Quite
Yang, this Qi is referred to as the “digestive Fire,” the “smoke of the
Stomach.“ If the fur is yellow, there is an excess of Heat in the
Stomach, associated with stomach pain or acidity, constipation, and
a sore, dry mouth or throat. If the fur is thick and white like cottage
cheese, this reects an extreme accumulation of Cold and Dampness
usually associated with marked deciency of digestive Fire,
manifesting in nausea, bloating, lack of appetite, and loose bowels. The color and shape of the tongue body also reect the intrinsic
strength and functional capacity of the individual. If the tongue is
very red overall or in one area, this indicates the presence of fever
or inammatio n that is attacking the Organ Networks. The Heart,
Lung, and Liver are most vulnerable to damage by Heat, which showsup as redness on the tip and edges of the tongue. In prolonged
febrile or chronic inammatory illness, the entire tongue may
become deep red. In additio n, if the tongue looks dry or parched,
this indicates serious deplet ion of Moisture, manifested by scanty
urine, constipa tion, thirst, and dryness of the skin and mucous
membranes. In these situations the tongue may appear to be
shrunken and shriveled. Tongue Zones
Kidney  zone: organs and functions below the navel including
kidneys, adrenals, large intestine, small intestine, bladder, uterus,
ovaries, and testicles; reproduction, elimination, regeneration,
locomotion, vegetative metabolism.Spleen  zone: organs and functions between diaphragm and navel and
between right and left sides including stomach, spleen, pancreas,
trans


A: The main idea of the Buteyko method is to breathe shallowly, as the less you breathe in, the faster the healing of the body takes place.
Q: Who is the Buteyko method contraindicated for?,
A: The Buteyko method is contraindicated for people with mental illnesses and mental defects, those with severe bleeding, infectious diseases in the acute period, insulin-dependent diabetes, patients with aneurysm with large blood clots, those with foreign transplants in the body, and those who have bad teeth and chronic tonsillitis.
Q: What is the purpose of the breathing exercises in the water?,
A: The breathing exercises in the water are designed to improve the condition of the respiratory system, develop the lungs, and strengthen the respiratory muscles. Regular exercises in the pool form the correct breathing, develop the lungs, and strengthen the respiratory muscles.
Q: What is the effectiveness of the Buteyko method?,
A: The method of Volitional Elimination of Deep Breathing (VEDB) has been recognized by official medicine and is recommended by many doctors. It is also used to treat a wide range of chronic diseases, including bronchial asthma, stress, anxiety, and depression.
Q: What is the importance of proper breathing?,
A: Proper breathing is essential for maintaining the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the body, and it is necessary to maintain the balance of the autonomic nervous system.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>For breathing exercises you will need the place in the pool where the water
has the smallest depth - it reaches the armpits. Exer cise 1

Standing in the pool, make circular movements with straight arms forward
5 times in a row, then take a deep breath, immerse your face in water and
exhale slowly. Straighten your body, take another breath and repeat a slow
exhale into the water. Now make circular motions with your hands back and
again inhale twice and exhale twice in the water. At first, repeat the exercise
2-3 times, subsequently - up to 10 times. Increase the load gradually. Exer cise 2
 Lie down on the water with your hands on the pool handrail. To maintain a
horizontal positi on, make movements with your legs, as when swimming
with the crawl style. Breathe in the method of diaphragmatic breathing by
exhaling into the water. The duration of the exercise is 1-2 minutes. Exer cise 3

Standing in the water, take a deep breath and sit down, immersed in the
water with your head. Grasp your knees with your hands, press your chin to
your chest and float to the surface. In the float position, continue holding
your breath for 5-15 seconds (depending on your health condition and
duration of your workouts). Then exhale into the water through half-closed
lips and return to the starting position. Initially, it is enough to perform this
exercise once. After 2-3 weeks after the start of classes, you can repeat it 2-
3 times per workout. Exer cise 4

Walk along the bottom of the pool, lifting your hips high in the water. Respiration counts: 1,2 - inhale, 3, 4, 5 - exhale, 6, 7, 8 - pause. Duration -
2-3 minutes. Exer cise 5

Stand with your back to the pool wall. After taking a deep breath, sit down
and exhale slowly underwater through half-closed lips. Return  to starting
position and after a short pause, repeat the exercise. Repeat 5-10 times. Exer cise 6

Standing in water, jump out of it as high as possible. Start with 3-4 jumps
and gradually bring this number to 10-15. Exer cise 7

Lie on the water on your back. Resting your feet against the wall, take a
deep breath, then push your legs bent at the knees from the pool wall, hold
your knees to your chest and, holding your hands along the torso, slip along
the surface of the water on your back while exhaling. Perform this exercise
1-2 times per lesson. Exer cise 8

Standing in the water, perform movements with your hands, as when
swimming with the breaststroke style, for several minutes. At the end of the gymnastics, swim in the pool for your pleasure or find
yourself company and play ball in the water. The total duration of the lesson
is 30-60 minutes. Chapter 15. Massage of the internal organs with
the help of breathing

In Chin a, practitioners of the Taoist teachings practice almost the same
exercises. They call it "back breathe." During such training, the abdominal
muscles do not relax on inhalation, but tense. The diaphragm moves down. The chest does not expand. Filling the lungs with air is possible only due to
their "inflating" towards the abdominal cavity, and, accordingly, squeezing
the internal organs. At the same time, an active massage of the internal
organs, including the adrenal glands, affecting the hormonal background of
a person takes place. And similar exercises below are suggested by Buteyko followers. These
simple exercises can alleviate and cure many acute and chronic diseases and
health conditions, improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system,
immune, muscle  and nervous system, kidneys, digestive tract, liver, lungs,
eyes, skin and other or gans and systems of a person. Depending on your state of health, you can choose exercises that will help
you overcome the disease and recover faster after the surgical procedure, as
well as restore your physical and mental health and well-being. They will
not take you much time to learn  and perform them. You will feel their deep
healing effect after just a few sessions. They are useful for people of any
age, including children from four years of age, and health status. Massaging the stomach, intestines, liver

Fig. 35

Stomach br eathing or lower br eathing
Starting position : lying, sitting or standing. The muscles are relaxed. Place
one palm on your stomach, the other on your chest. Take a slow but strong
exhale, while pulling the abdominal wall inward. Slowly through the nose,
inhale, the diaphragm relaxes during this movement, the abdominal wall
bulges outward; the lower part of the lungs is filled with air. When you exha le, the abdominal wall is pulled inward, air from the lungs
leaves through the nose. When  performing several breaths in a row, the
stomach performs wave-like movements, massaging the stomach,intestines, and liver, Fig. 35. The exercise is repeated 4-6 times  3-4 times a
day. Massaging the heart, liver, spleen, kidneys

Middle, or chest, br eathing
Starting position : lying, sitting or standing. Attention is directed to the ribs. After exhalation, slowly inhale through the nose, expanding the ribs on both
sides of the chest. The middle part of the lungs is filled with the air. Exhale
through the nose, gradually relaxing the ribs. The abdominal wall and
shoulders are not involved in the act of breathing. The hand that controls
the respiratory movements, located on the chest, rises with the chest. The
hand, located on the stomach, remains motionless. When performing this
exercise, the heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys are massaged. The exercise is
repeated, like the first, 4-6 times 3-4 times a day. Massaging the lungs and lymph nodes of the chest

Upper br eath
Starting position: lying, sitting  or standing. Attention is directed to the
upper part of the lungs. After exhaling, slowly inhale throug h the nose,
lifting the clavic les and shoulders, while air will fill the upper part of the
lungs. Exhale through the nose, gradually relaxing the ribs of the upper
chest and lowering the shoulders. The abdomen and the middle part of the
chest remain motionless. The exercise is repeated 4-6 times 3-4 times a day. With this exercise, massage of the lungs and lymph nodes of the chest
occurs. More intensive massage of your lungs

Fig. 36

Fig. 37

For a more intensive massage of the lungs and increased circulation, a sharp
exhalation is used. Take a full breath, at the same time raise your hands up
and touch the ears, hold your breath for 2-3 seconds. Then bend sharply,
lower your hands freely, relax, and exhale vigorously through your mouth,
as if pronouncing the syllable “ha”. Repeat the exercise 3-5 times. Exer cises to impr ove body function

Everyone knows that it is advisa ble to take air in and out throu gh the nose. But there are times when this "rule" has to be violated. For example, when
swimming, singing and ordinary talking. The structure of respiration
changes during physical exertion. It's offered a set of special exercises that
have a strengthening, training,  regulatory effect on the body. Breathing
rhythm: exhale twice as long as inhalation. • Rhythmic breathing with extended expiration. Take the main stand. Breathe in at the expense of 2-3, exhale at 4-6. Gradually extend the inhale


	accumulate	facts. In	the	end,
all	facts	disappear,	and	there	are	none	to	be	known. If	one	realizes	that
one’s	own	Self	is	the	All	of	Everything	that	is,	has	been,	or	ever	could	be,
what	is	left	that	one	needs	to	know? Completeness	is,	by	its	very	nature,
total	and	complete. Q:	How	can	this	be? A:	Because	once	you	become	something,	there	is	nothing	more	to	know	about
it. To	know	implies	incompleteness. That	which	I	am	is	Allness. To	realize
that	one	already	is	and	always	has	been	All	That	Is	leaves	nothing	to	be
added. Q:	This	sounds	confusing. A:	That	is	only	because	the	false	self/ego	identifies	itself	with	limitation	and
form. Q:	What	about	‘learning’? A:	With	awareness	of	Reality,	all	learning	stops. The	mind	becomes	silent. In
peace	and	stillness,	all	that	exists	radiates	forth	its	own	meaning	and	truth
and	reveals	that	the	nature	of	existence	is	stunningly	divine. Everything
radiates	forth	its	Divine	essence	as	Existence	itself. That	which	Is	and	that
which	is	Divine	are	one	and	the	same. Out	of	the	Unmanifest	radiates	the
Manifest,	which	is	also,	in	its	essence,	the	Unmanifest	as	well. There	is	no
duality	of	manifest	versus	unmanifest. All	seeming	differences	disappear
when	one	transcends	perception,	which	is	an	arbitrary	and	limited	point	of
view. It	is	perception	that	creates	duality. This	is	an	experiential	fact,	not	a
philosophical	conclusion. Philosophy	can	be	useful	but	it	is	only	an
intellectual	parallel	to	reality	in	which	no	philosophy	is	possible. Q:	Then	what	are	we	discussing? A:	Descriptions,	but	behind	them	stands	the	subjective,	experiential	reality. Q:	Of	what	value	are	teachings	or	discoveries? A:	Each	piece	of	information	contributes	to	intuitive	understanding	and
recognition. Truth	is	recognized. It	presents	itself	to	a	field	of	awareness
that	has	been	prepared	in	order	to	allow	the	presentation	to	reveal	itself. Truth	and	enlightenment	are	not	acquired	or	achieved. It	is	a	state	or
condition	that	presents	itself	when	the	conditions	are	appropriate. Q:	What	favors	this	occurrence? A:	Humility	is	of	greater	value	than	all	factual	accumulation. Unless	one	hascompletely	and	totally	experienced	the	presence	of	God	in	Its	stunning,
absolute	Allness,	it	is	safe	to	assume	that	one	really	knows	nothing	and
that	all	accumulated	so-called	knowledge	is	but	ignorance	and	pride. Anything	within	that	claims,“I	know,”	by	that	very	statement	proves	that	it
is	false	or	else	it	would	not	make	such	a	claim. Q:	Why	is	knowledge	such	a	block	to	enlightenment? A:	The	thought,	“I	know”	precludes	the	ultimate	awareness	of	the	real	‘I	Am’. The	word	‘know’	is	dualistic	and	assumes	a	dichotomy	between	a	separate
subject,	the	‘knower’,	and	something	external	to	be	known. Q:
Thus,	is	there	no	division	between	‘knower’	and	‘known’,	no
difference	between	subject	and	object? A:	That	is	the	basic	error	of	duality,	which	assumes	the	perceptual	point	of
observation. Actually,	the	subjective	and	the	objective	are	one	and	the
same. To	say	otherwise	is	merely	to	be	arbitrary. Q:	We	hear	that	the	ego	is	the	block	to	realization. Can	you	explain	that? A:	There	is	no	such	thing	in	reality	as	an	ego;	it	is	merely	illusory. It	is	made
up	of	a	compilation	of	arbitrary	points	of	view	supplied	by	mentation	and
powered	by	feelings	and	emotions. These	desires	represent	the	attachments
that	the	Buddha	spoke	of	as	the	bondage	of	suffering. With	absolute
humility,	the	ego	dissolves. It	is	a	collection	of	arbitrary	mentations	that
gain	force	only	because	of	vanity	and	habit. If	one	lets	go	of	the	vanity	of
thought,	it	dissolves. All	thought	is	vanity. All	opinions	are	vanities. The
pleasure	of	vanity	is	therefore	the	basis	of	the	ego—unplug	it	and	it
collapses. In	the	higher	state	of	consciousness,	it	becomes	silent	in	the
Presence. To	even	have	a	single	thought	in	the	presence	of	the	Presence
would	not	be	within	the	realm	of	the	doable	nor	would	there	be	the
likelihood	of	bringing	up	such	an	outlandish	pomposity. Q:	There	must	be	some	tools	to	assist	in	lessening	the	hold	of	the	ego. A:	Ideation	persists	because	it	is	valued. Notice	that	everyone	has	an	opinion
on	everything. Notice	that	all	thoughts	are	merely	pontifications. Everyone
is	enamored	of	their	own	thoughts	and	ideas,	even	though	they	are
worthless. Q:	But	what	about	the	value	of	education? A:	Education	gives	reliability	to	thought	processes	and	therefore	of	action. This	is	useful	in	the	world	but	does	not	lead	to	enlightenment. To	become
educated	is	one	objective;	to	become	enlightened	is	another. Many	are	the
educated,	and	few	are	the	enlightened.Q:	But	is	there	not	reality	to	experiencing	that	which	is	myself? A:	All	seeming	separation	is	an	artifact	of	thought. It	is	essential	to	see	that
the	mind	is	at	all	times	experiencing	a	point	of	view. Q:	What,	then,	is	illusion	that	we	hear	about	so	much? A:	The	entire	perceptual	illusion	that	the	ego	claims	to	be	reality	is
completely	and	totally	the	product	of	positionality. This	is	very	important
to	unravel	and	understand	in	one’s	own	experiential	awareness. If	you
observe	carefully,	you	will	note	that	at	the	time	the	mind	is	taking	a
position,	that	position	stems	from	choice,	training,	desire,	emotion,	or
political	or	religious	viewpoint. From	the	arbitrary	positionalities	of
moralizing,	all	actions	and	events	can	be	categorized	as	right	or	wrong. From	that	positionality	stem	all	the	pointless	sacrifice	and	sufferings	of	the
world. Q:	What	is	the	cause	of	this	error? A:	Judgmentalism. This	is	the	great	vanity	of	all	egos. Scripture	says,	“Judge
not,	lest	ye	be	judged.”	Also,	‘‘‘Judgment	is	mine,’	sayeth	the	Lord.”
Christ	said	to	forgive. The	Buddha	said	there	is	nothing	to	judge	because
perception	can	only	see	illusion. Perception	is	always	partial	and	limited
by	an	arbitrary	context. In	truth,	no	judgment	is	possible. Q:	Is	judgment	ever	justifiable? A:	It	can	always	be	rationalized. From	Ethics,	one	learns	the	basic	axiom	that
the	end	does	not	justify	the	means. To	fail	to	understand	this	basic	dictum
is	to	be	totalitarian	and	subject	to	serious	spiritual	error. A	‘good’	result
can	be	conjured	up	to	excuse	any	barbaric	behavior,	and	it	is	thus	used
extensively	in	our	society	to	justify	socially	sanctioned	behaviors	that
violate	spiritual	premises. These	violations	undermine	the	very	fabric	of
society	and	backfire	as	the	prevalence	of	misconduct,	crime,	and	human
suffering	in	all	its	forms. Q:	How	can	mankind	climb	out	of	this	pit	of	misery? A:	The	swiftest


cess of trying to cover
up our true self in or der to become who we believed would
be an acceptable version of a self that would belong. W ith
each r ejection, we cr eated mor e and mor e inter nal
separation, building thick er and thick er invisible walls to
protect our tender and sensitive heart. Day by day,
experience af ter experience, we unknowingly constructed
an invisible fortr ess that became our false self. This fortr ess
of limited e xpression obscur ed our essence, hiding our
vulnerabilities, our sensitivities, and of ten our ability to
know and see the truth of who we ar e. Befor e our malleable self har dened into a mor e rigid ego
ideal, we had the fr eedom to e xpress every aspect of our
humanity. We had multiple emotional r esponses to any
event in our life. Unbur dened by shame or judgment, we
had access to all parts of ourselves. This fr eedom meant
that we could be anything we wanted to be at any given
moment. Ther e wer e no inter nal restraints to pr event us
from stepping into the r ole of the sought-af ter object of
attention or the jealous, wick ed stepsister. Befor e we
learned to judge one quality as better than another, we had
unrestricted access to the full range of e xpression that
resides within us. W e could tap into elegance, grace,
courage, cr eativity, honesty, integrity, assertiveness,
sexiness, power, brilliance, gr eed, frugalness, laziness,
arrogance, and incompetence as easily as we could change
our clothes. Life was a play when we granted all parts of ourselves the
permission to e xist. Each day was an opportunity for
complete self -expression. And best of all, if we didn’t lik e the
way our story was tur ning out, all we had to do is go into our
room, wrap a cape ar ound our shoulders, bring forth a
diﬀer ent character, and—voilà—we could r ewrite the script
and cr eate a gr eat new ending or even an entir ely diﬀer ent
story. We could tur n a drama into a comedy or a boring epicinto a fabulous adventur e. Ther e wer e countless
possibilities, and we wer e curious to e xplor e them all. Once the shadow was bor n, however, our self -expression
became stiﬂed and mor e serious. W e lear ned fr om our
parents, teachers, friends, and society that to win love and
acceptance we had to adher e to certain pr ewritten scripts. As we went to school, wer e exposed to media, and
interacted with a wider cir cle of people, we observed that
certain behavioral traits wer e demonized, criticized, or
denied love and acceptance while others wer e idolized and
shower ed with attention. F rom this time on, we distanced
ourselves fr om any part of ourselves that did not ﬁt into
society’s standar ds or our own ego ideals. W e rejected mor e
and mor e aspects of ourselves for all kinds of r easons—
some because they seemed too bold, others because they
were too silly or foolish. We tried to ﬁgur e out ways to get rid of these unwanted
aspects of our persona until one day we got so distracted
that we for got they e xisted at all. W ith everyone giving us
diﬀer ent messages about which of our many faces we
should show the world, it became safer to listen to the
voices of authority rather than trust in our authentic natur e. Soon we found ourselves with only a limited range of
emotions. Our self -expression was stiﬂed; the endless
possibilities that wer e once in fr ont of us nar rowed to just
the few. We lear ned how to shut oﬀ life and actually became
comfortable doing it. Eventually we identiﬁed with the
internal character we believed to be most acceptable to
those ar ound us—and chances ar e we ar e still playing some
version of that r ole to this day. We may mak e little changes
here and ther e, but when we tak e an honest look, we may
see that we’ve never r eally r einvented ourselves completely. Chances ar e we’r e like most people—we ﬁx ourselves up a
bit, put a patch over the parts of our lives that ar en’t
working, and cr eate a slightly new version of who we’ve
been. By the time we move thr ough our thirties, most of ourchoices ar e already pr edeter mined in one or mor e areas of
our life. Even the clothes we wear, the foods we eat, the
types of entertainment we seek. The things we fantasize
about ar e even r epetitive and monotonous. As we become mor e present and awar e, we begin to see
how r obotic and trapped we r eally ar e inside the personas
we’ve cr eated. And we can choose to tak e proactive
measur es to deal with the shadows that ar e keeping us
bound and try to br eak fr ee. If we don’t deal with these
shadows, mak e no mistak e—they will deal with us. They will
show up in our r elationships and separate us fr om those we
love, k eep us tied to a job or lifestyle that we outgr ew years
ago, or lead us to an addiction or habits that under mine our
success and happiness. They will blind us fr om seeing the
warning signs of an abusive r elationship or a bad business
deal. They will k eep us in a state of perpetual denial, and in
that state we fail to help those we love when they most
need us, when they ar e faced with their own demons. Every one of us has constructed an ego -based identity in
which we have assigned ourselves an acceptable r ole that
eventually smothers our full self -expression. R ather than
being who we r eally ar e, we become a characterization of
the person we think we “should” be. Over time, our stiﬂed
self-perception becomes the perfect br eeding gr ound for our
shadows to tak e root. Whether this r ole was cr eated to
compensate for some inadequacy that we believed e xisted
within ourselves or as a strategy to meet the e xpectations
of our par ents, car egivers, or friends—if we strive to fulﬁll
our ego’s r ole to the e xclusion of all other r oles that we
could potentially enjoy, we end up cr eating a life devoid of
depth, adventur e, meaning, and ﬂavor. As we begin taking
our assigned r oles too seriously, they get sealed into our
ego structur e. Rarely do we deviate fr om the identity we’ve
created, because we fall into the illusional state of denial
and start to believe we are that identity. Looking ar ound ourown lives, most of us can r ecognize the limitations and
repetitiveness of the r oles we play. Of course, it’s much easier to spot the r oles that our
friends and family members ar e playing than it is to spot our
own. W e can identif y the martyr who will volunteer at the
PTA and tak e on mor e than her fair shar e of the workload
(and then complain about it later), or the neighbor hood
charmer who is pr etending to be super -dad while secr etly
cheating on his wife. W e know who lik es to play the part of
the gossip whor e, who knows the dirt about everyone and
everything (and looks for every opportunity to shar e it). W e
are familiar with the local drama queen, who is always being
victimized in one way or another (whether it’s by getting in
a fender bender or because her husband didn’t bring home
enough money last month). It’s easy to spot the eter nal
optimist who is always the life of the party or the wallﬂower
who always sits passively on the sidelines. What’s incr edible
is that even if the r ole we’ve assigned ourselves is boring,
miserable, r epetitive, or joyless, we cling to it for dear life,
all the while rationalizing why we can’t be mor e than we
already ar e or have mor e than we cur rently do. Unknowingly
we ar e the ones who have typecast ourselves to play some
version of the same character year af ter year and rar ely—if
ever—do we allow ourselves to ventur e into a r ole that we
aren’t familiar with or a level of self -expression we don’t yet
know. If we operate inside the myth that we must squelch, kill
oﬀ, lock up, and hide all of the qualities that mak e us
interesting and unique, we forsak e our right to e xperience
passion and peace. The quest for the perfect life, the perfect
role, and the perfect persona will always leave us unfulﬁlled


andheal
ing,andsowehaveremainedlargelyignorantofthehealingsystemandhowourbodiescontinuallystrivetocorrectimbalancesand
keepushealthy. Whenthingsbegintochangeinourbodies,weautomatically
assumewearesick,andthatsomethingisdreadfullywrong. Ifourbodiesbegintoreflectimbalanceandfunctionabnormally,ifthere
issomediscomfortorpain,ourfirstassumptionismostlikelythat
wearebecomingsickorthatwehaveanallergy. Thisisbecausewe
aretryingtoaccountforoursymptoms. Thisisanaturalandnor
malinterpretationofwhatishappeningwithourbodies. Ratherthanjumpingtotheconclusionthatsomethingiswrongwithyourbody,firsttrytounderstandhowyourhealingsystemmay
berespondingappropriatelytocorrectanimbalancethathasoccurred. LetmeexplainwhatImean. Considersneezing,forexample. Weusuallythinkofsneezingas
asymptomofthecommoncold,orthebeginningofanallergy~Inrea1ity~sneezingisanormalhealing-systemresponsetoexpelforeigndebris,flushoutirritants,removepotentialpathogens,ridthebody
ofdisease,andhelpthebodymaintainitsintegrity. Sneezingalsois
aprotectivemechanismthathelpstopreventthefurtheradvanceofunwantedforeigninvadersintothedeeper,moredelicatestructures
oftherespiratorysystem,suchasourlungsandsinuses,andisanothercommonwaythatourhealingsystemssafeguardourhealth. Inadditiontosneezing,mostpeople,includingdoctors,confuse
manyothercommonhealingresponseswithsymptomsofadisease. Theseresponsesincludethefollowing:
oCoughing. Alsoconsideredasymptomofarespiratoryillnessorcondition,coughingisadefinitiveresponsefromyourhealingsystemtoexpelunwanteddebrisandinvadingmicroorganisms
thathavepenetrateddeeperintotherespiratorysystemandarethreateningtocausedamagetoyourlungs. Inmedicalcircles,a
goodcoughisknownasaproductivecoughinthatitsuccess
fullybringsupphlegm,mucous,microorganisms,andinfectious
YourHealingSysteminAction 33
debris,whicheffectivelyclearstheairwaysandmakesforeasierbreathing. Coughingcanbepowerful;thespeedatwhichfor
eignparticlesanddebrisexitthelungswithacoughhasbeenclockedatapproximately660mph,aboutthespeedofanF4Phantomfighteraircraft. •Diarrhea. Usuallyconsideredasymptomofanintestinaldisease,diarrheaisahealingresponsethatyourbodyusestoeliminatetoxinsandcontaminatedmaterialfromyourcolonandlargeintestines. Diarrheaisfastandefficient,andithelpstoflushoutwhatisirritatingoroffendingyourintestinaltract. Anumberofpotentiallyseriousintestinaldiseasesorproblemscanbeeliminatedthisway. Suppressingdiarrheathroughartificialmedica
tionscanbedangerous,anddoingsooftenbackfires. Whenyouclogupyourbody’snaturaleliminativeprocessesthroughthesuppressionofdiarrhea,harmfulmicroorganismshavenowhere
togobutfurtherinsideyourbody,wheretheycaninvadeyourliverorbloodstreamandcausemoreseriousillness. Ofcourse,therearetimeswhentoomuchfluidandelectrolytelossfromdiarrheamayrequiremedicalintervention. However,byseeingdiarrheaasaresponseofyourhealingsystem,andseekingout
waystocooperatewiththatsystem,youcanoftenmakesimple,naturaladjustmentstorestorebalanceandhealthtoyourbody. Thesemayincludedrinkingmorefluids,avoidingirritatingfoodsandsubstances,andmanagingstress,whichcanbeharm
fultoyourintestinesanddigestivesystem. (Wewilllookmorecloselyatthesefactorsinthechaptersthatfollow. ) aFainting. Faintingoccurswhenapersontemporarilylosesconsciousnessandfallsdown. Thecausesoffaintingcanrangefromserioustobenign,butthelossofconsciousnessisusuallydueto
ofalackofbloodflowtotheheadandbrain. Fallingdownwhilefaintingrepresentsacompensatoryresponsefromyourbody’shealingsystem. Whenthebodyhasfallenandliesflaton
thegroundinahorizontalposition,bloodflowandoxygento
thebrainincrease,whichcanoftenrestoreconsciousness. Mostinstancesoffaintingaretotallybenign,especiallyifnoseriousunderlyingdiseasesorconditionsexist. However,thereareocca
sionswhenseriousunderlyingdiseaseispresent,andyouwill
34 YourExtraordinaryHealingSystem
needtobebroughttothehospitalandtreated. However,the
correcttreatmentistodealwiththeunderlyingcausesthatprecipitatedthefainting,notjustwiththefaintingitself. UFever. Commonlyassociatedwithaninfection,feverisyourhealingsystem’swayofheatingyourbodyuptokilloffendingorganisms,mostofwhichareextremelytemperaturesensitive
andcannottolerateexcessiveheat. Additionally,feverinducessweating,whichhelpsthebodyeliminatetoxinsmorerapidly. Learningtoworkwithafeverthroughcontinuousrehydration(drinkingplentyofwater),ratherthansuppressing afeverwithartificialmedications,willsupportyourhealingsystemandresultinafaster,morethoroughhealingresponse. Evenattimeswhenmedicalsuppressionofafevermaybenecessary,fluidintakeshouldbeencouraged. Withanyfever,itisprudentto
lookfortheunderlyingcausesofthefeverandtotreatthese,not
justsuppressthefever. Doingthisworkswithyourhealingsys
temtohelprestorehealthandbalancetoyourbody. UNausea. Nauseaoccursinthesmallintestinesandstomach,and
itisaspecificresponsefromyourhealingsystemthatprotects
yourbodyfrommorefoodenteringintoit. Whenyoufeelnau
seous,youhavelostyourappetiteforfood. Yourhealingsystemdoesthiswhenyourbodyneedstolimitsolidfoodintake. Nauseaoccurswhenyouhaveahighfeverandareinneedof
lotsoffluids,orwhenyouhaveastomachvirusoranulcer,and
solidfoodswouldmaketheseconditionsworse. Nauseaalso
helpstoconserveenergyandfreesbloodflowfromthedigestive
tractsoitcanbereroutedtootherareasofthebodythathavea
greaterimmediateneedforhealingenergy. 0Pus. Yourbody’shealingsystem,workingwithyourimmune
system,producespus,anunpleasant,smelly,yellowishsub
stance,tohelpeliminateforeignmaterial,bothlargeandsmall. Puscommonlyoccurswithinfection. Inthecaseofasplinterorforeignbodyintheskin,yourhealingsystemwillformapuspockettowalloffthesplinter,separatingitfromtherestofyourbody. Yourhealingsystemwillattempttodigestanddissolvethesplinterorforeignobject;ifthisprovesdifficult,itwilltryto
pushthesplinteroutoftheskin. Inadditiontofluidssecreted
YourHealingSysteminAction 35
toflushoutmicroorganismsandforeigndebris,puscontainswhitebloodcellsanddigestiveenzymesthatbreakdownanddigestforeignmaterial. Inthecaseofabacterialinfectioninany
partofthebody,thepusproducedwillattempttokilloffanddigestthebacteriawhileitflushesouttheinfection. sRunnynoseandnasalcongestion. Usuallyconsideredsymptoms
ofthecommoncoldorallergies,arunnynoseandnasalcongestionareactuallyspecificresponsesfromyourbody’shealingsys
tem. Theincreasedsecretions,mucous,phlegm,andcongestion
areyourhealingsystem’swayofattemptingtoflushoutanyoffendingorganismsorforeignparticlesthatmayhaveinvaded
theentrancetoyourrespiratorysystem. Althoughattemptingtosuppressthesehealingresponseswithnasaldecongestantsandotherdrugsgivestemporaryrelief,doingsooftenbackfires;it
canprolonganillnessandevenmakethingsworse. Becausethepharmaceuticalagentstendtodryupthesecretionstoeliminatesymptoms,theyworkagainstthenaturalprocessesofyourbody’shealingsystemtoeliminateharmfulsubstances. *Swellingandredness. Thefirstvisiblesignsatthesiteofanyinjury,trauma,orinfectioninthebody,swellingandredness,
too,arespecificresponsesofyourhealingsystem. ‘Whethercausedbyabruise,acontusion, asprain,afracture,oraninfec


production	in	the	liver	and	thereby	destroy	this
precious	organ. Elevated	LDL	cholesterol	is	not	a
cause
	of	heart	disease;	rather,	it	is	a
consequence
	of	an	unbalanced	liver,	of	a	congested,	dehydrated	circulatory	system,	and	of
a	poor	diet	and	lifestyle. If	your	doctor	has	told	you	that	lowering	your	cholesterol	with	statins	will	protect	you
against	heart	attacks,	you	have	been	grossly	misled. The	number-one	prescribed
cholesterol-lowering	medicine	is	Lipitor. I	suggest	that	you	read	the	following	warning
statement,	issued	on	the	official	Lipitor	website:

“LIPITOR
®
	(atorvastatin	calcium)	is	a	prescription	drug	used	with	diet	to	lower
cholesterol. LIPITOR
®
	is	not	for	everyone,	including	those	with	liver	disease	or	possible
liver	problems,	and	women	who	are	nursing,	pregnant,	or	may	become	pregnant. LIPITOR®	has	not	been	shown	to	prevent	heart	disease	or	heart	attack. If	you	takeLIPITOR
®
,	tell	your	doctor	about	any	unusual	muscle	pain	or	weakness. This	could	be	a
sign	of	serious	side	effects. It	is	important	to	tell	your	doctor	about	any	medications	you
are	currently	taking	to	avoid	possible	serious	drug	interactions…”

According	to	a	study	published	in	the
Journal	of	the	American	Medical	Association,
entitled	“Cholesterol	and	Mortality,”	after	age	50	there	is	no	increased	overall	death	rate
associated	with	high	cholesterol. The	same	study	showed	that	for	every	1	mg/dl	drop	in
cholesterol	in	your	body,	your	risk	of	death	soared	by	a	whopping	14	percent. In	other
words,	taking	statins	can	easily	kill	you. My	question	is	this:	Why	risk	a	patient’s	health	or	life	by	giving	him	or	her	a	drug	that
has	no	effect	whatsoever	in	preventing	the	problem	for	which	it	is	being	prescribed? The
reason	why	the	lowering	of	cholesterol	levels	cannot
prevent
	heart	disease	is	that
cholesterol	does	not
cause
	heart	disease. In	a	recent	heart	disease	study,
7
	lowering
cholesterol	levels	was	no	longer	part	of	the	recommendations—but	try	to	tell	that	to	statin-
prescribing	doctors	or	drug	makers! The	most	important	issue	with	regard	to	cholesterol	is	how	efficiently	a	person’s	body
uses	cholesterol	and	other	fats. The	body’s	ability	to	digest,	process,	and	utilize	fats
depends	on	how	clear	and	unobstructed	the	bile	ducts	of	the	liver	are. When	bile	flow	is
unrestricted	and	balanced,	both	the	LDL	level	and	the	HDL	level	are	balanced	as	well. Therefore,	keeping	the	bile	ducts	open	is	one	of	the	best	things	you	can	do	to	prevent
coronary	heart	disease. Poor	Circulation,	Enlargement	of	the	Heart	and	Spleen,	Varicose	Veins,	Lymph
Congestion,	Hormonal	Imbalances

Gallstones	in	the	liver	may	lead	to	poor	circulation,	enlargement	of	the	heart	and	spleen,
varicose	veins,	congested	lymph	vessels,	and	hormone	imbalances. When	gallstones	have
grown	large	enough	to	seriously	distort	the	structural	framework	of	the	lobules	(units)	of
the	liver,	blood	flow	through	the	liver	becomes	increasingly	difficult. This	not	only	raises
the	venous	blood	pressure	in	the	liver,	but	also	raises	it	in	all	the	organs	and	areas	of	the
body	that	drain	used	blood	through	their	respective	veins	into	the	liver’s	portal	vein. Restricted	blood	flow	in	that	portal	vein	causes	congestion,	particularly	in	the	spleen,
stomach,	esophagus,	pancreas,	gallbladder,	and	small	and	large	intestines. This	can	lead	to
an	enlargement	of	these	organs,	to	a	reduction	of	their	ability	to	remove	cellular	waste
products,	and	to	a	clogging	of	their	respective	veins. A
varicose	vein
	is	one	that	is	so	dilated	that	the	valves	do	not	sufficiently	close	to
prevent	blood	from	flowing	backward. Sustained	pressure	on	the	veins	at	the	junction	of
the	rectum	and	anus	in	the	large	intestine	leads	to	the	development	of
hemorrhoids,
	a	type
of	varicose	vein. Other	common	sites	of	varicose	veins	are	the	legs,	the	esophagus,	and	the
scrotum. Dilation	of	veins	and
venules
	(small	veins)	can	occur	anywhere	in	the	body. It
always	indicates	an	obstruction	of	blood	flow. 8

Poor	blood	flow	through	the	liver	always	affects	the	heart. When	the	organs	of	the
digestive	system	become	weakened	by	an	increase	in	venous	pressure,	they	become
congested	and	begin	to	accumulate	harmful	waste,	including	debris	from	cells	that	have
been	broken	down. The	spleen	becomes	enlarged	while	it	is	dealing	with	the	extra
workload	associated	with	removing	damaged	or	worn-out	blood	cells. This	further	slows
blood	circulation	to	and	from	the	organs	of	the	digestive	system,	which
stresses	the	heart,
raises	blood	pressure,
	and
injures	blood	vessels. The	right	half	of	the	heart,	which
receives	venous	blood	via	the
inferior	vena	cava
	from	the	liver	and	all	other	parts	below
the	lungs,	becomes	overloaded	with	toxic,	sometimes	infectious,	material. This	eventually
causes	enlargement,	and	possibly	infection,	of	the	right	side	of	the	heart. Almost	all	types	of	heart	disease	have	one	thing	in	common:	blood	flow	is	being
obstructed. But	blood	circulation	does	not	become	disrupted	easily. It	must	be	preceded	by
a	major	congestion	of	the	bile	ducts	in	the	liver. Gallstones	obstructing	the	bile	ducts
dramatically	reduce	or	cut	off	the	blood	supply	to	the	liver	cells. Reduced	blood	flow
through	the	liver	affects	the	blood	flow	in	the	entire	body,	which,	in	turn,	has	a	detrimental
effect	on	the	lymphatic	system. The	lymphatic	system,	which	is	closely	linked	with	the	immune	system,	helps	to	clear
the	body	of	harmful	metabolic	waste	products,	foreign	material,	and	cell	debris. All	cellsrelease	metabolic	waste	products	into,	and	take	up	nutrients	from,	a	surrounding	solution,
called
extracellular	fluid
	or
connective	tissue
. The	degree	of	nourishment	and	efficiency	of
the	cells	depends	on	how	swiftly	and	completely	waste	material	is	removed	from	the
extracellular	fluid. Since	most	waste	products	cannot	pass	directly	into	the	blood	for
excretion,	they	accumulate	in	the	extracellular	fluid	until	they	are	removed	and	detoxified
by	the	lymphatic	system. The	potentially	harmful	material	is	filtered	and	neutralized	by
lymph	nodes
	that	are	strategically	located	throughout	the	body. One	of	the	key	functions	of
the	lymphatic	system	is	to	keep	the	extracellular	fluid	clear	of	toxic	substances,	which
makes	this	a	system	of	utmost	importance. Poor	circulation	of	blood	in	the	body	causes	an	overload	of	foreign,	harmful	waste
matter	in	the	extracellular	tissues	and,	consequently,	in	the	lymph	vessels	and	lymph	nodes
as	well. When	lymph	d


 not
angry, r eally I’m not. I’m on of A Course in Miracles  and I
don’t get angry anymor e,” when inside you’r e seething. The
Holy Spirit tells us, “ Don’t try to purif y yourself befor e
coming to me. I am the puriﬁer. ” I was once on my way to
giving a lectur e on the Course, and I thought about a
woman I knew who I was feeling annoyed at. V ery quickly, I
tried to hide the thought, as though it wasn’t holy enough
for me to be thinking at such a time. Then it seemed asthough a voice in my head said, “ Hey, I’m your friend. Remember. ” The Holy Spirit wasn’t judging me for my
anger; He was ther e to help me move past it. We mustn’t for get what the Holy Spirit is for. We don’t
deny we’r e upset, but at the same time we own up to the
fact that all our feelings stem fr om our own loveless
thinking, and we’r e willing to have that lovelessness healed. Growth is never about focusing on someone else’s lessons,
but only on our own. W e aren’t victims of the world outside
us. As har d as it is to believe sometimes, we’r e always
responsible for how we see things. Ther e would be no savior
if ther e wer e no need for one. Of course things happen in
this world that mak e it almost impossible to love—cruel,
horrible things—but the Holy Spirit is within us to do the
impossible. He does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. He will lend us His str ength, and when His mind is joined
with ours, ego thinking is cast out. But we must be awar e of our ego feelings in or der to
release them. “ He cannot shine away what you k eep hidden,
for you have not oﬀer ed it to Him and he cannot tak e it fr om
you. ” It would be violating our fr ee will for the Holy Spirit to
change our mental patter ns unask ed. But when we ask Him
to change them, He will. When we’r e angry, or upset for any
reason, we’r e ask ed to say, “I’m angry but I’m willing not to
be. I’m willing to see this situation diﬀer ently. ” We ask the
Holy Spirit to enter into the situation and show it to us fr om
a diﬀer ent perspective. Once I was having por celain ﬁnger nails applied, and my
manicurist’s friend came into the r oom. I couldn’t tolerate
her personality. From the moment this woman opened her
mouth, I felt lik e someone was running ﬁnger nails over a
blackboar d. Since my hands wer en’t fr ee, I couldn’t leave
the room, and since the manicurist was someone who cameto my lectur es, I felt ashamed of my own r eaction. I prayed
and ask ed God for help. His r esponse was dramatic. W ithin
moments, the “ obno xious” woman began talking about her
childhood, and particularly her r elationship with her father. As she began to describe her upbringing, it became
perfectly clear to me how she would have gr own up with
little self -esteem, and an inor dinate need to develop
grandiose personality characteristics, which in her mind
would denote str ength. Her defenses didn’t work, of course. Coming fr om fear, they mer ely put people oﬀ. Suddenly, the
same behavior that had so ir ritated me ﬁve minutes befor e,
now elicited in me a deep compassion. The Holy Spirit had
pointed me to the infor mation that would melt my heart. Now I saw her diﬀer ently. That was the miracle: Her
behavior hadn’t changed, but I had. 5. LEVELS OF TEACHING
“Therefore, the plan includes very speciﬁc
contacts to be made for every teacher of God. ”
Relationships ar e assignments. They ar e part of a vast plan
for our enlightenment, the Holy Spirit’s blueprint by which
each individual soul is led to gr eater awar eness and
expanded love. R elationships ar e the Holy Spirit’s
laboratories in which He brings together people who have
the maximal opportunity for mutual gr owth. He appraises
who can lear n most fr om whom at any given time, and then
assigns them to each other. Like a giant universal computer,
He knows e xactly what combination of ener gies, in e xactly
what conte xt, would do the most to further God’s plan for
salvation. No meetings ar e accidental. “Those who ar e to
meet will meet, because together they have the potential
for a holy r elationship. ”The Course says that ther e are ‘thr ee levels of teaching’
in relationship. The ﬁrst level is what we think of as a casual
encounter, such as two strangers meeting in an elevator or
students who “happen ” to walk home fr om school together. The second level is a “mor e sustained r elationship, in which,
for a time, two people enter into a fairly intense teaching-
learning situation and then appear to separate. ” The thir d
level of teaching is a r elationship which, once for med, lasts
all our lives. A t this level, “each person is given a chosen
learning partner who pr esents him with unlimited
opportunities for lear ning. ”
Even at the ﬁrst level of teaching, the people in the
elevator might smile at one another or the students might
become friends. It is mostly in casual encounters that we
are given a chance to practice the ﬁne art of chiseling away
the har d edges of our personalities. Whatever personal
weaknesses ar e evident in our casual interactions will
inevitably appear magniﬁed in mor e intense r elationships. If
we’re crabby with the bank teller, it will be har der to be
gentle with the people we love the most. At the second level of teaching, people ar e brought
together for mor e intense work. During their time together,
they will go thr ough whatever e xperiences pr ovide them
with their ne xt lessons to be lear ned. When physical
proximity no longer supports the highest level of teaching
and lear ning between them, the assignment will call for
physical separation. What then appears to be the end of the
relationship however, is not r eally an end. R elationships ar e
eternal. They ar e of the mind, not the body, since people
are ener gy, not physical substance. Bodies joining may or
may not denote r eal joining, since joining is of the mind. People who have slept in the same bed for twenty -ﬁve years
may not be truly joined, and people who ar e many miles
apart may not be separate at all. Often we see a couple who has separated or divor ced
and look with sadness at the “ failur e” of their r elationship. But if both people lear ned what they wer e meant to lear n,
then that r elationship was a success. Now it may be time for
physical separation so that mor e can be lear ned in other
ways. That not only means lear ning elsewher e, from other
people; it also means lear ning the lessons of pur e love that
come fr om having to r elease the for m of an e xisting
relationship. Third-level, life-long r elationships ar e generally few
because “their e xistence implies that those involved have
reached a stage simultaneously in which the teaching-
learning balance is actually perfect. ” That doesn’t mean,
however, that we necessarily r ecognize our thir d-level
assignments; in fact, generally we don’t. W e may even feel
hostility towar d these particular people. Someone with
whom we have a lifetime’s worth of lessons to lear n is
someone whose pr esence in our lives for ces us to gr ow. Sometimes it r epresents someone with whom we participate
lovingly all our lives, and sometimes it r epresents someone
who we e xperience as a thor n in our side for years, or even
forever. Just because someone has a lot to teach us, doesn’t
mean we lik e them. P eople who have the most to teach us
are often the ones who r eﬂect back to us the limits to our
own capacity to love, those who consciously or
unconsciously challenge our fearful positions. They show us
our walls. Our walls ar e our wounds—the places wher e we
feel we can’t love any mor e, can’t connect any mor e deeply,
can’t for give past a certain point. W e are in each other’s
lives in or der to help us see wher e we most need healing,
and in or der to help us heal. 6. THE SPECIAL RELA TIONSHIP“The special love r elationship is the ego’s chief
weapon for k eeping you fr om Heaven. ”
We can all r elate to the desir


 u p a shield, but by raisi ng the frequency vibration of y our totalener gy field, so that anything that vibrates at a lower frequency, such as
fear, anger, depression, and so on, now exists in what is virtually a
dif ferent order of reality. It do esn’ t enter your field of consc iousness
anymore, or if it  does you don’ t need to of fer any resistance to i t because
it pa sses right through you. Please don’ t just accept or reject w hat I am
saying. Put it to the test. There is a simp le but powerful self-healing meditation that yo u can do
whenever you feel the need to boost your immune system. It is
particularly ef fective if used when you feel the first symptoms of an
illness, b ut it also works with ill nesses that are already entrenched if you
use it at frequ ent intervals and with an intense focus. It will also
counteract any disruption of your ener gy field by some form of
negativity. How ever, it is not a substitute for the moment-to-moment
practice of being in the bod y; otherwise, its ef fect will only be
temporary. Here it is. When yo u are unoccupied for a few minutes, and especially last thing at
night be fore falling asleep and first thing in the morning before getting
up, “floo d” your body with consciousness. Close your eyes. L ie flat on
your back. Choose dif ferent parts of your body to fo cus your attention on
briefly at first: hands, feet, arms, legs, abdomen, chest, head, and so on. Feel the  life ener gy inside those  parts as intensely as you can. S tay with
each par t for fifteen seconds or so. Then let your attention run  through
the body like a wave a few time s, from feet to head and back again. This
need only take a minute or so. After that, feel the inner body in its
totality, as a single field of ener gy. Hold that feeling for a few minutes. Be intensely present during that time, present in every cell of your body. Don’ t be  concerned if the mind  occasionally succeeds in drawing your
attention out of the body and you lose yourself in some thought. As soon
as you notice that this has hap pened, just return your attention to the
inner body. LET THE BREA TH T AKE YOU INT O THE BODY
At t imes, when my mind has been very active, it has acqui r ed such
momentum that I find it impossible to take my attention away fr o m it and
feel the inner bo dy. This happens particularly when I get into a worry or
anxiety pattern. Do you have any suggestions? If at any time you are finding it hard to get in touch with the inner body,
it is usually easier to focus on your breathing first. Conscious breathing,
which is a powerful meditation i n its own right, will gradually put you in
touch w ith the body. Follow the breath with your attention as it moves in
and out of your body. Breathe into the body, and feel your abdomen
expanding and contracting slightly with each inhalation and exhalation. If y ou find it easy to visualize, close your eyes and see yourself
surrounded by light or immerse d in a luminous substance — a sea of
consciousness. Then breathe in that ligh t. Feel that luminous su bstance
filling u p your body and making it luminous also. Then gradually focus
more on  the feeling. Y ou are now  in your body. Don’ t get attached to any
visual image. CREA TIVE USE OF MIND
If yo u n eed to use your mind for  a specific purpose, use it in con junction
with your inner body. Only if you are able to be conscious  without
thought can you use your mind creatively, and the easiest way to enter
that state is through your body. Whenever an answer, a solution, or a
creative idea is n eeded, stop thinking for a moment by focusing attention
on your  inner ener gy field. Be come aware of the stillness. When you
resume thinking, it will be fresh and creative. In any thought activity,
make it a habit to go back and  forth every few minutes or so between
thinking and an inner kind of lis tening, an inner stillness. W e c ould say:
don’ t just think with your head, think with your whole body. THE AR T OF LISTENING
When listening to another person, don’ t just listen with your mind, listen
with your whole body. Feel the ener gy field of your inner body as youlisten. T hat takes attention away from thinking and creates a still space
that ena bles you to truly listen without the mind interfering. Y ou are
giving the other person space —  space to be. It is the most precious gift
you can  give. Most people don’ t know how to listen because t he major
part of their attention is taken up  by thinking. They pay more attention to
that than to what the other person is saying, and none at all to what really
matters: the Being of the other person underneath the words  and the
mind. O f course, you cannot fe el someone else’ s Being except through
your ow n. This is the beginning of the realization of oneness, which is
love. At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is. Most hu man relationships consist mainly of minds interacting with each
other, not of hu man beings communicating, being in commu nion. No
relationship can  thrive in that way, and that is why there is so much
conflict in relationships. When the mind is running your life, conflict,
strife, and problems are inevitab le. Being in touch with your inner body
creates a clear space of no-m ind within which the relationship can
flower.CHAPTER SEVEN
P O R T A L S  I N T O
 T H E  U N M A N I F E S T E D
GOING DEEPL Y INT O THE BODY
I can feel the en er gy inside my body, especially in my arms and  legs, but
I don’ t seem to be able to go mor e deeply, as you suggested earlier. Make it into a m editation. It needn’ t take long. T en to fifteen m inutes of
clock time should be suf ficient. Make sure first that there are no external
distractions such  as telephones o r people who are likely to interrupt you. Sit o n a chair, but don’ t lean ba ck. Keep the spine erect. Doin g so will
help you  to stay alert. Alternati vely, choose your own favorite position
for meditation. Make su re the body is relaxed. Close your eyes. T ake a few deep  breaths. Feel yourself breathing into the lower abdomen, as it were. Observe how
it expan ds and contracts slightly with each in and out breath. Then
become aware of the entire inner ener gy field of the body. Don’ t think
about it — feel  it. By d oing this, you reclaim  consciousness from the
mind. If you fi nd it helpful, use the “light” visualization I described
earlier. When you can f eel the inner bo dy clearly as a single field of ener gy, let
go, if possible, of any visual image and focus exclusively on the feeling. If you can, also drop any mental image you may still have of the physical
body. A ll that is left then is an all-encompassing sense of presence or
“beingness,” and  the inner body  is felt to be without a bounda ry. Thentake your attention even more d eeply into that feeling. Become one with
it. Mer g e with the ener gy field, so that there is no longer a perceived
duality of the o bserver and the observed, of you and your b ody. The
distinction betw een inner and outer also dissolves now, so there is no
inner b ody anymore. By going deeply into the body, you have
transcended the body. Stay in this realm of pure Being for as long as feels comforta ble; then
become aware again of the physical body, your breathing and physical
senses, and open your eyes. Look at your surroundings for a few minutes
in a meditative way — that is,  without labeling them mentally — and
continue to feel the inner body as you do so. Having access to that formless realm is truly liberating. It frees you from
bondage to form and identif ication with form. It is life in its
undif ferentiated state prior to its fragmentation into multiplicity. W e may
call it the Unmanifested, the in visible Source of all things, t he Being
within all beings. It is a realm o f deep stillness and peace, but also of joy
and intense aliveness. Whenever you are present, you become
“transparent” to  some extent to the light, the pure conscious ness that
emanates from this Source. Y ou  also realize that the light is not  separate
from who you are but constitutes your very essence. THE SOURCE OF CHI
Is th e Un manifested what in the East is called chi, a kind of universal life
ener gy? No,


 hyperthyroidism. Cholesteroloften drops below normal in the Gerson program, because patients are
eating an extremely low-fat diet. THE LIPOPROTEIN /CHOLESTEROL  FRACTIONA TION  LABORA TORY TEST
To assess the risk of coronary artery disease, the lipoprotein/cholesterol
fractionation laboratory test is conducted. By centrifugation or
electrophoresis, it isolates and measures the cholesterol in blood, which
appears as low-density lipopro teins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins
(HDL). It’s known that a lower HDL level in the population gives rise to a
higher incidence  of CAD. Conversely, higher HDL levels produce a lesser
amount of CAD. Note: Since the Gerson Therapy  offers a minimal amount of fat, it often
lowers the risk of coronary artery disease; but it does provide an adequate
supply of certain polyunsaturated essential fatty acids and fat-soluble
vitamins that cannot be synthesized in adequate amounts for optimal body
function. Normal HDL cholesterol ranges from 29 to 77 mg/100 mL of blood, and
normal LDL cholesterol ranges from 62 to 185 mg/100 mL. Too-high LDL
levels increases the risk of CAD, while elevated HDL general ly reflects a
healthy state. Or it might indicate chronic hepatitis, early-stage primary
biliary cirrhosis, or too much alcohol consumption. THE SERUM  TRIGL YCERIDES  LABORA TORY TEST
Triglycerides being the body’ s main storage form of lipids (constituting
95 percent of fatty tissue), the serum triglycerides laboratory test provides a
quantitative analysis of them. It identifies hyerlipemia  in kidney disease and
CAD. The triglyceride values vary according to age:
Age Trigyceride V alues
mg/dL nmol/L
0-29 10-140 0.1-1.5530-39 10-150 0.1-1.65
40-49 10-160 0.1-1.75
50-59 10-190 0.1-2.10

Test abnormality suggests that other measurements are needed. High
triglycerides indicate the risk of atherosclerosis or CAD. Mild-to-moderate
levels advise of biliary obstruction, diabetes, kidney disease, endocrin-
opathies, or too much consumpt ion of alcohol. Decreased levels are rare but
may show malnutrition or a betalipoproteinemia. Note: On the Gerson diet, flare-ups and healing reactions are shown by
elevated triglycerides. THE SERUM  PROTEIN  ELECTROPHORESIS  LABORA TORY TEST
The major blood proteins of the body, albumin and four globulins, are
measured in an electric field by separating them into patterns according to
size, shape, and electric charge at pH 8.6. Comprising more than 50 percent
of total serum protein, albumin prevents leakage of capillary plasma by
oncotic pressure (the pressure exerted by plasma proteins on the capillary
wall), and it transports the many water -insoluble substanc es such as
bilirubin, fatty acids, hormones, and drugs. Of the four globulins, alpha1,
alpha2, beta, and gamma, the first three act as carrier proteins for
transporting lipids, hormones, and metals through the blood, and the fourth,
gamma globulin, acts in and upon the immune system. As indicated by its label, the serum protein electrophoresis labor atory test
uses electric current to measure the total serum protein and albumin-
globulin ratio to convert them into absolute values. These values help to
uncover the presence of liver disease, blood dyscrasias, kidney disorders,
gastrointestinal illnesses, neoplastic (benign and malignant) diseases, and/or
protein deficien cy. Here are the normal blood serum ranges for these
proteins:Total serum pr otein 6.6 to 7.9
g/dL
Albumin fraction 3.3 to 4.5
g/dL
Alpha1 globulin fraction0.1 to 0.4
g/dL
Alpha2 globulin0.5 to 1.0
g/dL
Beta globulin 0.7 to 1.2
g/dL
Gamma globulin 0.5 to 1.6
g/dL

The balance between total albumin and total globulin (known in
medicine as the A-G ratio) is evaluated in relation to the total protein level. A reversed A-G ratio (decrease d albumin and elevated globulins) and low
total protein shows chronic liver disease; reversed A-G ratio with normal
total protein shows myeloproliferative disease (leukemia and Hodgkin’ s
disease) or certain chronic infectious diseases (tuberculosis and chronic
hepatitis). THE BLOOD  UREA NITROGEN  (BUN) L ABORA TORY TEST
Measurement of the blood’ s nitrogen fraction of urea, the chief product
of protein metabolism, is accom plished by the blood urea nitro gen (BUN)
laboratory test. Formed in the liver from ammonia and excreted by the
kidneys, urea constitutes 40 to 50 percent of the blood’ s nonprotein
nitrogen. The BUN level reflects protein intake and kidney excretory
capacity, but it’s a less reliable indicator of uremia (urine in the blood) than
the serum creatinine level (see the test description which immediately
follows).With normal values ranging from 8 to 20 mg/dL, the BUN test helps to
evaluate kidney  function, aids in the diagnosis of kidney illness, and
assesses the body’ s hydration. An elevated BUN happens in reduced renal
blood flow from  dehydration, renal disease, urinary tract obstruction, and
increased protein catabolism as in burns. Depressed BUN levels occur in
severe liver damage, malnutrition, and overhydration. Note: Due to initial decreased dietary protein intake, a person following
the Gerson Therapy will likely show a slightly r educed level of BUN. THE SERUM  CREA TININE  LABORA TORY TEST
Providing a more sensitive measure of kidney damage than the BUN, the
serum creatinine laboratory test is a quantitative analysis of the non-protein
end product of metabolism, creatinine. Kidney impairment is virtually the
only cause of creatinine elevation in the blood; therefore, creatinine levels
are directly related to the glomerular filtration rate. They assess renal
glomerular function and screen for kidney damage. Creatinine concentration in males normally ranges from 0.8 to 1.2
mg/dL; in females it ranges from 0.6 to 0.9 mg/dL. Elevation of serum
creatinine means that serious renal disease is present with 50 percent
damaged nephrons as in gigantism and acromegaly. Interfering factors are
too much absorption of ascorbic acid, barbiturates, diuretics, and sulfobro-
mophthalein. Also, athletes may have above-average creatinine levels, even
with normal kidney function. THE SERUM  URIC ACID LABORA TORY TEST
Used mainly to detect gout, the serum uric acid laboratory test measures
levels of uric acid, a metabolite of purine in the blood. Glomeru lar filtration
and tubular secretion gets rid of uric acid, but it’s less soluble at a pH of 7.4
or lower  which occurs in certai n diseases such as gout, excessive cellular
generation and destruction as in leukemia, and kidney dysfunction. Uric acid conce ntrations in men range from 4.3 to 8 mg/dL; in women
they range from 2.3 to 6 mg/dL. Although elevated levels of serum uric acid
don’t correlate with severity of disease, they do rise in congestive heart
failure, glycogen storage disease, acute infectious diseases such asinfectious mononucleosis, hemolytic anemia, sickle cell anemia, hemo-
globinopathies, polycythemia, leukemia, lymphoma, metastatic malignancy,
and psoriasis. Depressed uric acid levels indicate defective acute hepatic
atrophy or tubular absorption as in Wilson’ s disease and Fan-coni’ s
syndrome. Drug factors interfering in the serum uric acid laboratory test include
loop diuretics, ethambutol, vincristine, pyrazinamide, thiazide s, 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. Decreased uric
acid is caused by high doses of aspirin, Coumadin, clofibrate, cinchophen,
adrenocorticotropic hormone, and phenothiazines. THE GLUCOSE,  FASTING  BLOOD  SUGAR  (FBS) L ABORA TORY TEST
Following a 12- to 14-hour fast, the glucose, fasting blood


 of which is the mystic
Jesus, will speak to us; but it’ s our responsibility to listen. Many times people have said to me, “I don’t know what God is telling
me,” and I’ve responded based on my own experience: “Oh, yes, you do. You just don’t like what God is telling you.” We think we know better. We
get an intuitive hit, or a sense  we’ve received an answer when we pray
about something, but it might seem to make no logical sense. After all, the
Holy Spirit know s what’ s going to happen tomorrow, and we don’t. So we
say, “I’ll ask Him again tomorrow, when He has more data.”
When we make the quieting of our minds a fundamental lifestyle
decision, we do begin to experience love’ s intuitive presence. Its voice was
always there; we just didn’ t know to take it seriously. Many times in my
past, I absolutely  had the sense of an answer to my prayer for guidance; yet
because it went against “expert opinions,” I ignored it, only later to realize
what a mistake I had made. Other times, I simply didn’ t take the time to
ask, to pray, to deeply reflect on a question, only later to realize my lack of
wisdom. Yet the voice was always there. The Voice for God is that which guides us toward love, forgiveness,
right living, and faith. It’s a part of our mind that can see the whole picture
in a way we can’t, that knows what’ s going to happen tomorro w and how
our part best fits into a lar ger plan. “He speaks from nearer than your heart to you. His Voice is closer than
your hand”* (WB-226). As it says in the Course, all of us live with a consiste nt stream of
thoughts in the background of our minds. Such thoughts fit basically into
one of two categories: either a cacophonous background noise filled with
fear-based perce ptions, or a peaceful symphony of positivity and love. Prayer and meditation dissolve the former and increase the latter. Thoughts of random negativity  emer ge fully formed from the cave of
the ego mind. They are the inevitable results of a fear-based view of the
world. They arise from fear, and they perpetuate fear. Efforts to suppressthem only make them more dangerous. Telling yourself to “stop thinking
like that” is a losing battle, because you’re simply pitting you against you. The Voice for God is the exact opposite of the voice of the ego. It is the
voice that reminds us we were created innocent, and so we are. It reminds
us our mistakes do not eradicate our innocence, that we can atone for them
and we can chan ge. It reminds us that this is also true of everyone else; that
people make mistakes, yes, but we can extend our perception beyond their
errors to see the truth of who they are. It is the voice reminding us we can
always be more gentle, less judgmental, kinder, less arrogant, less negative,
more responsible, more ethical, and less quick to blame others for faults of
our own. It reminds us that those kinds of qualities, being expressions of
love, are magnets for miracles. Listening to the Voice for God is a habit we cultivate, the mental
musculature of grace. Who among us hasn’ t decided something we came
later to regret, remembering that at the time we’d had a gut feeling it just
wasn’ t right? But we’d gone with some worldly voice that said differently,
allowing it to override our internal knowing. Walking through  life taking
seriously the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the mystic Jesus, the Voice for
God, we know that the voices of the world should always be listened to, but
they should never ever have the final say. OceanofPDF.comPrayer
The highe st level of prayer is not an entreaty of any kind. It’s a gentle
communion with that which is bigger than ourselves. Our communion with
God is the ultim ate experience of ourselves. God speaks to us, and in prayer
we speak to Him. Prayer is the way we invoke and activate the power of God in our lives,
drawing down the intercession ary power of love to change our lives by
changing us. Sometimes someone will tell me they have a problem in their life, and
I’ll ask if they’ve prayed about it. I’ll often get the answer, “Oh, I know it’ s in God’ s hands.”
“But that’s not what I asked you,” I’ll say. “I asked if you prayed about
it.”
For the two are very different things. To know something is in God’ s
hands is very different from actually putting it there. To know something is
in God’ s hands means you know that ultimately love will prevail. To
actually put someth ing in God’ s hands means that of your own free will
you’re putting yourself in service to the goal. At the very least, that will
speed things up. Putting somethi ng in the hands of God means we’re willing to think
about it differen tly. No matter what has happened, it’s the space  we inhabit
within an experience—the thoug hts and behavior with which we respond to
it—that will ultimately determine its ef fect. The highest level of prayer is for another way to think about something. Thought is the level of cause, and the direct relationship between cause and
effect is inviolable. Jesus works  with us on the causal level. He cannot and
will not take away the effects of our thinking, but if we ask him to, he will
help us change our thoughts. The choice for love is a choice for peace, for
healing, and for miracles. For miracles are natural wherever there is love.We can’t say, “Dear God, I’m holding on to my negativity, but please
change the effects that all those negative thoughts have caused in my life,
okay?”
Not gonna happen. What we can do, however, is to pray that God take away our negativity. Putting a relationship in the hands of God, for instance, means asking for
help in seeing someone else’s innocence and in showing ours to them. Even
one person—“whoever is saner at the time”* (T-384)—can change the
trajectory of a conflicted relationship. The prayer is that our thoughts be
shifted from a focus on blame to a focus on innocence. We can pray:
Dear God,
I am willing not to be cold,
I am willing not to be harsh,
I am willing not to be judgmental. Please enter the deepest r egions of my mind,
show me my err ors, and change my thoughts. Free me fr om my self-sabotaging ways. Change me in my deepest heart
that I might have a miracle. Amen
Jesus cannot do our work for us, but he will do our work with us. He
will not and cannot take away the effects of our thinking, but he is always
there to help us think more wisely. Prayer is a tool in our toolbox too often set aside in favor of far lesser
powers. I find it amusing when people say, “All we can do now is pray,” as
though all the really powerful things have already been tried. It’s often  said that there are no atheists in foxholes, but we don’t have to
wait until a crisis arrives to create a better life for ourselves. You come to
the point where you don’t just pray when things are going poorly; you pray
so they’ll go well. Prayer is like preventive medicine for the soul. We are
responsible for how we direct our thoughts, and as we direct our mind to
embrace the light, darkness has a much harder time getting in. Mental
energy that is consciously placed in the service of love is unava ilable to the
ego’s purposes. The Lord’s Prayer is an example  of a powerful invocation for a miracle-
minded existence.Our Father— Our true sour ce
Who art in heaven— In the awar eness of our oneness
Hallowed be thy name— May the meaningless stimulus of the world
fall away that I might r ealize the sacr ed
Thy kingdom come— May the ener gies of love pr evail
Thy Will be done— May loving thought, not ego, be manifest
On earth as it is in heaven— Not just abstractly on the level of
thought, but in my practical experience
Give us this day our daily bread— May our minds be open to receive
the infinite abundance of life
And forgive us our trespasses— Corr ect our thinking, return us to the
state of our innocence
As we forgive those who trespass against us— Help us see the
innocence in others, that we might see it in ourselves
Leave us not in temptation— Guar d our minds so we won’ t wander
into thoughts of ego and fear
But deliver us from evil— Guide us away from sick and loveless
thoughts
For Thine is the kingdom, and Thine is the power, and Thine is the
glory— Love is the kingdom, love is the power, love is the glory
Forever and ever— Every moment of the day
Amen— May it be so
“The world you see must be denied, for sight of it is costing you a
different kind of vision. You cannot see both worlds, for each of them
involves a different kind of seeing, and depends on what you cherish”


 Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire. Your  desire is your
prayer. It comes out of your deepest needs and it reveals the  things
you want in life. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled. That is really prayer, life’s
 72  hunger and thirst for peace, harmony, health, joy, and all the other
blessings of life. • The passing-over technique for impregnating the subconscious
This consists essentially in inducing the subconscious mind to ta ke
over your request as handed it by the conscious mind. This passing
over is best accomplished in the reverie-like state. Kn ow that in your
deeper mind are Infinite Intelligence and In-finite Power. Ju st calmly
think over what you want; see it com-ing into fuller fruition from  this
moment forward. Be like the little girl who had a very bad coug h and
a sore throat. She de-clared firmly and repeatedly, “It is  passing away
now. It is pass-ing away now. ” It passed away in about an hour. Use
this tech-nique with complete simplicity and naïveté. • Your subconscious will accept your blueprint
If you were building a new home for yourself and family, you know
that- you would be intensely interested in regard to the bluepr int for
your home; you would see to it that the builders conformed to the
blueprint. You would watch the material and select only the best
wood, steel, in fact, the best of everything. What about your mental
home and your mental blueprint for happiness and abundance. All
your experiences and everything that enters into your life depend up on
the nature of the mental building blocks, which you use in the
construction of your mental home. If your blueprint is full of mental patterns of fear, worry, anxiety, or
lack, and if you are despondent, doubtful, and cyni-cal, then the
texture of the mental material you are weaving into your mind will
come forth as more toil, care, tension, anxiety, and limitation of a ll
kinds. The most fundamental and the most far-reaching activity in life  is
that which you build into your mentality every waking hour. Your
word is silent and invisible; nevertheless, it is real. You are building your mental home all the time, and your thought
and mental imagery represent your blueprint. Hour by hour, moment
 73  by moment, you can build radiant health, success, and happines s by
the thoughts you think, the ideas which you harbor, the beliefs th at
you accept, and the scenes that you re-hearse in the hidden studio of
your mind. This stately mansion, upon the construction of which y ou
are perpetually engaged, is your personality, your identity in t his
plane, your whole life story on this earth. Get a new blueprint; build silently by realizing peace, h ar-mony,
joy, and good will in the present moment. By dwelling upon these
things and claiming them, your subconscious will accept your
blueprint and bring all these things to pass. By their fruits ye shall
know them. • The science and art of true prayer
The term “science” means knowledge, which is co-ordi-nated,
arranged, and systematized. Let us think of the science and a rt of true
prayer as it deals with the fundamental principles of life and the
techniques and processes by which they can be demonstrated in your
life, as well as in the life of every human being when he appl ies them
faithfully. The art is your technique or process, and the sci ence behind
it is the definite response of creative mind to your mental picture or
thought. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and  it
shall be opened unto you. MATTHEW 7:7. Here you are told you shall receive that for which you ask. It shall
be opened to you when you knock, and you shall find that for which
you are searching. This teaching implies the definiteness of  mental
and spiritual laws. There is always a direct response from  the Infinite
Intelligence of your subconscious mind to your conscious thinking. If
you ask for bread, you will not receive a stone. You must ask
believing, if you are to receive. Your mind moves from the thought to
the thing. Unless there is first an image in the mind, it cannot move,
for there would be nothing for it to move toward. Your prayer, which is your men-tal act must be accepted as an
image in your mind before the power from your subconscious will
 74  play upon it and make it productive. You must reach a point of
acceptance in your mind, an unqualified and undisputed state of
agreement. This contemplation should be accompanied by a feeling of joy a nd
restfulness in foreseeing the certain accomplishment of your de sire. The sound basis for the art and science of true prayer is your
knowledge and complete confidence that the movement of your
conscious mind will gain a definite response from your subconsciou s
mind, which is one with boundless wis-dom and infinite power. By
following this procedure, your pray-ers will be answered. • The visualization technique
The easiest and most obvious way to formulate an idea is to
visualize it, to see it in your mind’s eye as vividly as if  it were alive. You can see with the naked eye only what already exists in the
external world; in a similar way, that which you can visualize in your
mind’s eye already exists in the invisible realms of your mi nd. Any
picture, which you have in your mind, is the substance of things hoped
for and the evidence of things not seen. What you form in your
imagination is as real as any part of your body. The idea and the
thought are real and will one day appear in your objective world if you
are faithful to your mental image. This process of thinking forms impressions in your mind; these
impressions in turn become manifested as facts and ex-peri ences in
your life. The builder visualizes the type of build-ing he wants; he s ees it as
he desires it to be completed. His imagery and thought-process es
become a plastic mold from which the building will emerge—a
beautiful or an ugly one, a skyscraper or a very low one. His ment al
imagery is projected as it is drawn on paper. Eventually, the contractor
and his  work-ers gather the essential materials, and the b uilding
progresses until it stands finished, conforming perfectly to the mental
pat-terns of the architect. 75  I use the visualization technique prior to speaking from the
platform. I quiet the wheels of my mind in order that I may pres ent to
the subconscious mind my images of thought. Then, I picture the
entire auditorium and the seats filled with men and women, and each
one of them illumined and inspired by the in-finite healing presence
within each one. I see them as radiant, happy, and free. Having first built up the idea in my imagination, I quietly sustain it
there as a mental picture while I imagine I hear men and wome n
saying, “I am healed,” “I feel wonderful,” “I’ve had an instanta neous
healing,” “I’m transformed. ” I keep this up for about ten minute s or
more, knowing and feeling that each per-son’s mind and body are
saturated with love, wholeness, beauty, and perfection. My aw areness
grows to the point where in my mind I can actually hear the voic es of
the multitude proclaim-ing their health and happiness; then I rele ase
the whole picture and go onto the platform. Almost every Sunday
some people stop and say that their prayers were answered. • Mental movie method
The Chinese say, “A picture is worth a thousand words. ” Willia m
James, the father of American psychology, stressed the fact th at the
subconscious mind will bring to pass any pic-ture held in the mind and
backed by faith. Act as though I am, and I will be. A number of years ago I was in the Middle West lecturing in se veral
states, and I desired to have a permanent location in the general  area
from which I could serve those who desired help. I traveled far, but
the desire did not leave my mind. One evening, while in a hotel i n
Spokane, Washington, I relaxed completely on a couch, immobilized
my attention, and in a quiet, passive manner imagined that I w as
talking to a large audience, saying in effect, “I am glad t o be here; I
have prayed for the ideal opportunity. ” I saw in my mind’s ey e the
imaginary audience, and I felt the reality of it all. I playe d the role of
the actor, dramatized this mental movie, and felt satisfied that this
picture was being conveyed to my subconscious mind, which would
bring it to pass in its own way. The next morning, on awakening, I  felt
 76  a great sense of peace and satisfaction, and in a few days ’ time I
received a telegram asking me to take over an organization in the
Midwest, which I did, and I enjoyed it immensely for several years. The method outlined here appeals to many who have de-scribed it as
“the mental movie method. ” I have received nu


 & Valens, E. G. "Viruses and the Nature of Life" 1962 Dutton. 36. Stefansson, V. "The Lost Franklin  Expedition" in "Unsolved Mysteries of the
Arctic—1962 Collier. 37. Storck, J. & Teague, W. D. "Flour for Man's Bread"—1952 Oxford Univ. 38. Sullivan, B. & Near, Cleo—Ind. & Eng. Chem., Vol. 25, Jan. 33. 39. Sullivan, B. et al Cereal Chem. Vol. 13, p. 318 of 1935. 40. Sullivan, B. Cereal Chem. Vol. 17, p. 661 of 1940. 41. Swern, D. "Fatty Acids" Ed. Markley, K. S. Ed. 2 P. 1429. 41A. Thatcher, F. S.
et al Cereal Chem. 30-71 (1953)
   42. Walde, A. W. et al, Cereal Chem. 7:480-486 of 1930. 42A. Walker, Niles H.
Cereal Chem. 24-39 (1946)
   43. Wells, H. G. "The Discovery of the Future"—Smithsonian Yearbook for 1902. 44. Zeleny, Cereal Chem. Vol. 15, of 1938, p. 580. HOW IT ALL STARTED AND WHAT IS YET TO COME

 The author's long crusade against choked arteries was begun in
October 1961, prompted by early death of both parents from these
strange fatty deposits. Having previously been highly successful in
solving many difficult technical problems where others long had
failed, and having been awarded citations and patents for many important discoveries and inventions, he felt this grisly problem
also might be solved by the same kind of hard-hitting attack. With
the help of his wife Rose and brother Charles, he founded the
laboratory, which was given a charter by the State on November 19,
1961 as a non-profit scientific institution. On December 29, 1965 the federal Internal Revenue Service determined Magnolia Laboratory tax-exempt
under section 501C(3). This means that contributions to this institution may be
included in the deductions on your income tax return in the same space used for
contributions to churches, etc., and have th e same effect toward reducing your income
taxes. The chartered purposes of Magnolia Lab read as follows: "To carry out such
scientific, creative, educational, and ch aritable activities and endeavors as are
calculated to discover a better knowledge of the laws of life and true hygiene, to
advance and improve the physical and mental health, standards of living, and well-
being of mankind through research in the prevention and cure of diseases of man and animal; methods for more efficient production and improvement of food supplies; and
the invention of improved labor-saving apparatus and processes for producing the goods and services on which civilized human life depends, —." This sixth edition has been revised and improved, our work on choked arteries now
being far advanced. We have almost co mpleted scientific explanation of the
remarkable benefits the Fresh Food Diet brings toward cleansing arteries. Better still,
it now seems possible to develop improvements in commercial foods so as to eventually obtain similar results in the whole population with no self-denial.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Cattle
especially thrive on good grass above all,  and beef from grass and grain feeding
combined has a rich red color, fragrant golden yellow fat and a taste that is in a class
by itself. Eggs from chickens receiving gr een grass have brilliant orange colored
yolks that do not easily break in the pan, and a delicious flavor entirely different from the musty tasting confinement eggs. And oldtimers remember how good fresh country
pork used to taste, with its sweet aromatic fat, not slimy and rancid like commercial pork is today. It is still that good when the pigs are raised in green fields. Chicken
feeds now are such a fake that the mills even put in a yellow dye to imitate the skin appearance given by the yellow carotene vitamin normally in a healthy chicken. Feedlot beef often shows dark streaks of ro t in the center of the bones, and if the
segments of red meat are pulled apart one can see that the fibrous muscle sheaths have
already been turned brown by microbes, because the meat lacks the anti-microbic
defensive powers found in normal animals. Most livestock on the market today are like old-time sailors who have been eating stale food on a long sea voyage, weakened
and sickened by scurvy and beri-beri. The livers from confinement fed livestock are abnormal and show the depletion of
vital substances by their pale yellowish or pinkish color. Healthy livers are dark wine
red. This was evidently known in very early times, for weak and worthless creatures
were called "white livered" or "lily livered. " The liver condition is a good indicator of quality. 17. SMOKED AND SALTED MEAT AND FISH
   Food scientists have published extensivel y on the deterioration of fatty materials in
smoked and salted meat and fish. There are certain microbes which are able to thrive
in spite of the salt in these items, and these microbes split up and deteriorate the fatty
materials into fatty rubbish  which causes arteriosclerosis. The bluish or greenish
iridescent colors in hams are due to these microbes. Bacon, ham, corned beef, etc., are really hardship foods invented long ago so the
livestock could be butchered in the fall and the meat preserved for winter use. These
foods have little nutritional value, actually poor foods by any standard, yet sell at a
high price due to the labor expended on them. Now that it is possible to store meat by
freezing there is no longer any reason to eat  these stale items. Thin broiled slices of
fresh or frozen pork taste far better than bacon, and what could taste better than a
roasted fresh leg of pork. There is no longer any reason to eat bacon and ham. It has been known for many years and repeatedly proven by animal experiments that
burned, smoked, or heat browned materials are a powerful and certain cause of cancer
if applied or eaten over a long period of time. These materials are also extremely toxic
to the body in general. Cigarette smoking for instance causes cancer not because of
the materials used but simply because of the burning and consequent production of
tars. There are other known causes of cancer, such as certain chemicals, and some
unknown causes as well, so it certainly would not be correct to say that smoked foods
are the cause of cancer. But they are definitely a contributing cause, and so is any
other food if it is excessively browned or subjected to smoke or oily fumes in cooking
or in processing. 18. GENERAL FOOD PRACTICES
   Many people have a perverse obsession in wanting to "make" something out of food, and keep it
around for days. They mess about with recipes, meas uring cups, grinders, mixers, graters, slicers,
juicers, blenders etc, putting in long hours of work damaging their food so it will choke their arteries
and give them cancer. Those chipped-up slaws, cakes and pies, biscuits, ground-up casserole dishes,
hamburgers, brown gravy, big pots of stew or dried beans and ham that are re-heated for three days, are
slow tickets to misery and the graveyard. Paradoxical as it may be, the people that do such things the
most are often the ones we admire the most, for their conscientious good intentions and energy, even if
it is misdirected and destructive. Some of the nicest widows and sick people I know are like this. They are constantly chipping and chopping, marinating, mixing things together. These good people mean to do the right thing, bless their hearts, but they just have the wrong idea. Original food items should not
be looked at as raw materials to "make" some artifici al thing out of. Foods are very delicate materials,
which can be easily damaged. With few exceptions, anything you do to food reduces its health value. This brings us to the essential point: Treat f ood gently, until it goes between your teeth. Don't grate
and grind it. Prepare and serve it as nearly intact as you can. tutting it up only enough to get it in the pot or serve it conveniently. Don't over-cook it to a mush, don't overheat it, don't brown it. Realize that you
can eat better without all this self-destructive hard work. Try the following menus. Also see diet section
page 39. 19. MENUS AND BEVERAGES

BREAKFAST MENU
FRUIT, VEGETABLE, OR JUICE COURSE
Your choice of raw fruit, like apple, orange, gr apefruit, (no lemon or lim e) pear, grapes, melon,
bananas, strawberries, etc. Your choice of celery sticks, raw carrots, broccoli, cabbage, etc. Your
choice of juice fresh-squeezed then and there. Canned tomato juice as second choice. MEAT OR EGGS COURSE
Eggs (