ed and
well-spok en. The public image we cr eate is contrived by the
parts of us that wer e hurt, confused, or full of pain. Althoughit may fool others and even us for a while, eventually we will
be faced with the wounds that this mask was constructed to
hide. As a way to ensur e that our ﬂawed and imperfect self
would not be discover ed or e xposed, we cleverly began to
develop qualities opposite fr om those we wer e trying to
hide. W e work ed har d to over compensate for the parts of
ourselves we believed wer e unacceptable, hoping to thr ow
others oﬀ the scent or to rid ourselves of the bad feelings
that wer e associated with them. If we wer e riddled with
insecurities, we may have developed an ar rogant, know-it-
all persona to convince others that we have enor mous
conﬁdence. If we felt lik e a failur e, we may have sur rounded
ourselves with people who have achieved gr eat things or
exaggerated the scope of our own endeavors to appear
more successful than we actually ar e. If we felt powerless
over our life, we might have chosen a car eer or partner that
would have allowed us to appear mor e powerful. Our personas convince us that ther e is nothing that we
don’t know about ourselves—that we ar e in fact the person
we see in the mir ror and believe ourselves to be. But the
issue with this is that once we have bought into the story of
“this is who I am,” we shut the door on any other possibility
and deny ourselves access to all of who we can be. W e lose
our ability to choose, because we can’t do anything outside
the conﬁnes of the character we’r e playing. The pr edictable
persona we’ve constructed is now in contr ol. W e become
blind to the immense possibilities for our life. Only when we
stop pr etending to be something we ar e not—when we no
longer feel the need to hide or over compensate for either
our weaknesses or our gif ts—will we know the fr eedom of
expressing our authentic self and have the ability to mak e
choices that ar e based on the life we truly desir e to live. When we br eak out of this trance and ar e no longer
preoccupied with ﬁtting in, with what other people think of
us or what we think about ourselves, we can open up andtake advantage of opportunities that might just pass us by
when we ar e trapped inside our story line or behind the
mask we wear. We are driven to the point of e xhaustion by our ego ideal
to be diﬀer ent than we ar e. We ﬁght to be bigger, str onger,
tougher, and mor e secur e. Without r ealizing it, we position
ourselves to pr ove that we ar e mor e, better, or diﬀer ent
than the r est of the cr owd or try to stay invisible by ﬁtting in
and not being seen. W e scramble to cr eate the e xact
persona we believe will bring us the appr oval and
recognition we desperately need or, alter natively, give us an
excuse for not playing full out and having a life we love. And
then we begin to act and behave in ways, consciously or
unconsciously, that will leave others with the thoughts,
feelings, and impr essions we believe will bring us their love,
respect, or pity—until that one day when the walls come
crumbling down. Amanda was deeply ashamed of the fact that she never
graduated fr om college and mortiﬁed that most of the
relatives on her mother’s side of the family wer e from the
wrong side of the tracks and uneducated. She work ed har d
to create a persona to hide her embar rassment and mak e
her look good to those she wanted to impr ess. She found a
niche for herself in a specialized ﬁeld wher e she was
regarded as smart, helpful, and indispensable, but no
matter how much she r ead or how much she contributed at
work, Amanda ended most days feeling “less than. ” In an
attempt to r esolve her pain, she decided to go back to
school, hoping that ear ning a degr ee would transfor m her
from an uneducated girl fr om a trailer park into a
sophisticated, worldly woman. One evening she walk ed into her psychology class suited
up inside her pr ofessional persona. She felt pr oud, because
she had alr eady cr eated a r eputation for being the smart girl
in the class. As the pr ofessor detailed their assignment for
the week, Amanda began to cringe as her shame-ﬁlledshadow took over. She could feel her whole body tightening
up as she lear ned that the pr oject was to cr eate a very
detailed family tr ee showing the educational backgr ounds
and car eers of all her family members. As she began
working on the assignment, noting all the members of her
family who wer e drug-addicted, ﬁnancially unstable, and
uneducated, she was confr onted with the pain and
embar rassment of her family history. Her overwhelming
sense of not being good enough suddenly felt too big to be
hidden by any persona. Later in the week, as she r ead her
report and look ed over her compr ehensive family tr ee,
instead of feeling pr oud of the work she had done, she was
riddled with shame. A fter years of trying to outrun her
shadow and cover it up, it took only one assignment for
Amanda’s persona to crack open. Like Amanda, some of us wer e awar e, even at a young
age, that we wer e trying to be someone we wer e not. Instead of ourselves, we wanted to be lik e someone we
looked up to, so we unconsciously took on another person’s
façade, not even r ealizing that it was not an authentic self
we wer e seeing. But either way, in our sear ch for fr eedom,
safety, and authenticity, it is imperative to r ecognize that
we ar e wearing some version of a mask that we put on
twenty, thirty, or even forty years ago. And now our
authentic self, which is scr eaming to get our attention, is
deeply hidden behind a mask, and our false self is
masquerading as our true natur e. Imagine this. When you wer e a small child, you r eceived a
little gif t—a magic penny, per haps—fr om your grandmother. Wanting to k eep it safe, you hid it somewher e so no one
would ﬁnd it. W ould you be able to r emember all these
decades later wher e you had hidden it. W ould you
remember that you had hidden it at all. The same is true for
your unscathed authentic self. You’ve k ept it hidden for such
a long time, you have for gotten that this part of you ever
existed in the ﬁrst place. The natur e of the façade we chose varies based on our
backgr ound, our par ents, our sur roundings, and what was
consider ed good and bad behavior, yet the masks that ar e
commonly seen in our society today ar e no diﬀer ent fr om
those of a hundr ed years ago. Today we see updated
versions of the seductr ess, the char mer, the people pleaser,
the eter nal optimist, the “cool” one, the martyr, the good
girl, the nice guy, the tough guy, the abuser, the bully, the
quiet snak e, the intellect, the savior, the depr essive, the
jokester, the loner, the victim, and the overachiever. They
are repetitive, ar chetypal e xpressions appearing in the
moder n age. The pr oblem with living inside these masks,
these personas, is that eventually we lose sight of who we
really ar e and what is possible for our life. In canceling out
our darkness, we unconsciously e xtinguish our authentic
power, cr eativity, and dr eams. EXPOSING OUR SECRET LIFE
Our shadow thrives when we have secr ets. The moment we
close the door on one or mor e aspects of ourselves, we set
into motion a secr et life. Ther e’s an adage in twelve-step
programs: “Y our secr ets k eep you sick. ” And in my years of
working with people, I can conﬁr m that this is, in fact, true. It is nothing to be ashamed of, because most of us have a
public life and a secr et life. W e have a public persona we
show the world and a secr et life we k eep hidden. W e
construct a secr et life in or der to hide the parts of ourselves
that we’r e most ashamed to face. It could be an ar ea of our
life that holds some shame or


	congestion	in	the	cysterna	chyli	and	thoracic	duct	permits	toxic
materials	to	be	passed	into	the	heart	and	heart	arteries. This	unduly	stresses	the	heart. It
also	allows	these	toxins	and	disease-causing	agents	to	enter	the	general	circulation	and
spread	to	other	parts	of	the	body. Hardly	a	disease	can	be	named	that	is	not	caused	by
lymphatic	obstruction. Lymph	blockage,	in	most	cases,	has	its	origin	in	a	congested	liver
(the	causes	of	gallstones	in	the	liver	will	be	discussed	in	the	following	chapter). In	the
extreme	eventuality,
lymphoma
	or
cancer	of	the	lymph
	may	result,	of	which
Hodgkin’s
disease
	is	the	most	common	type. When	the	circulatory	system	begins	to	malfunction	because	of	gallstones	in	the	liver,
the
endocrine	system
	starts	to	be	affected	as	well. The	endocrine	glands	produce	hormones
that	pass	directly	from	the	glandular	cells	into	the	bloodstream,	where	they	influence
bodily	activity,	growth,	and	nutrition. The	glands	most	often	affected	by	congestion	are	the
thyroid,	parathyroid,	adrenal	cortex,	ovaries,	and	testes. A	more	severely	disrupted
circulatory	function	leads	to	imbalanced	hormone	secretions	by	the
islets	of	Langerhans
	in
the	pancreas	and	the
pineal
	and
pituitary	glands. Blood	congestion,	which	is	characterized	by	the	thickening	of	the	blood,	prevents
hormones	from	reaching	their	target	places	in	the	body	in	sufficient	amounts	and	on	time. Consequently,	the	glands	go	into
hypersecretion
	(overproduction)	of	hormones. When	lymph	drainage	from	the	glands	is	inefficient,	the	glands	themselves	become
congested. This	brings	about
hyposecretion
	(lack)	of	hormones. Diseases	related	to
imbalances	of	the	thyroid	gland	include
toxic	goiter,	Graves’	disease,	cretinism,
myxoedema,	tumors	of	the	thyroid,	hypoparathyroidism. Thyroid	disorders	can	also
reduce	calcium	absorption	and	cause
cataracts
,
	as	well	as
behavioral	disorders
	and
dementia. Poor	calcium	absorption,	alone,	is	responsible	for	numerous	diseases,	including
osteoporosis
	(loss	of	bone	density). If	circulatory	problems	disrupt	the	secretion	of
balanced	amounts	of	insulin	in	the	pancreatic	islets	of	Langerhans,
diabetes
	may	develop. Gallstones	in	the	liver	can	cause	liver	cells	to	cut	down	protein	synthesis. Reducedprotein	synthesis,	in	turn,	prompts	the	adrenal	glands	to	overproduce
cortisol
,
	a	hormone
that	stimulates	protein	synthesis. Too	much
cortisol
	in	the	blood	gives	rise	to
atrophy	of
lymphoid	tissue
	and	a
depressed	immune	response,
	which	is	considered	the	leading
cause	of	cancer	and	many	other	major	illnesses. An	imbalance	in	the	secretion	of	adrenal	hormones	can	cause	a	wide	variety	of
disorders,	as	it	leads	to	weakened
febrile	response
	(fever)	and
diminished	protein
synthesis. Proteins	are	the	major	building	blocks	for	tissue	cells,	hormones,	and	so	forth. The	liver	is	capable	of	producing	many	different	hormones. Hormones	determine	how
well	the	body	grows	and	heals. The	liver	also	inhibits	certain	hormones,	including
insulin,	glucagon,	cortisol,
aldosterone,	thyroid,
	and
sex	hormones
. Gallstones	in	the	liver	impair	this	vital	function,
which	may	increase	hormone	concentrations	in	the	blood. Hormone	imbalance	is	an
extremely	serious	condition	and	can	easily	occur	when	gallstones	in	the	liver	have
disrupted	major	circulatory	pathways	that	are	also	hormonal	pathways. For	example,	by
failing	to	keep	blood	cortisol	levels	balanced,	a	person	may	accumulate	excessive	amounts
of	fat	in	the	body. If	estrogens	are	not	broken	down	properly,	the	risk	of	breast	cancer
increases. If	blood	insulin	is	not	broken	down	properly,	the	risk	of	cancer	rises,	and	the
cells	in	the	body	may	become	resistant	to	insulin,	which	is	a	major	precursor	of	diabetes. Disease	is	naturally	absent	when	blood	flow	and	lymph	flow	are	both	unhindered	and
normal. Both	types	of	problems—circulatory	and	lymphatic—can	be	successfully
eliminated	through	a	series	of	liver	cleanses	and	prevented	by	following	a	balanced	diet
and	lifestyle. Disorders	of	the	Respiratory	System

Both	mental	and	physical	health	depend	on	the	effectiveness	and	vitality	of	the	cells	in	the
body. The	cells	of	the	body	derive	most	of	their	energy	from	chemical	reactions	that	take
place	in	the	presence	of	oxygen. One	of	the	resultant	waste	products	is	carbon	dioxide. The	respiratory	system	provides	the	routes	by	which	oxygen	is	taken	into	the	body	and
carbon	dioxide	is	excreted. Blood	serves	as	the	transport	system	for	the	exchange	of	these
gases	between	the	lungs	and	the	cells. Gallstones	in	the	liver	can	impair	respiratory	functions	and	cause
allergies,	disorders
of	the	nose	and	nasal	cavities
,	and
diseases	of	the	bronchi	and	lungs. When	gallstones
distort	or	injure	the	lobules	(units)	of	the	liver,	the	blood-cleansing	ability	of	the	liver,
small	intestine,	lymphatic	system,	and	immune	system	diminishes. Waste	material	and
toxic	substances,	normally	rendered	harmless	by	these	organs	and	systems,	now	begin	to
seep	into	the	heart,	lungs,	bronchi,	and	other	respiratory	passages. Constant	exposure	to
these	irritating	agents	lowers	the	resistance	of	the	respiratory	system	to	them. Lymph
congestion	in	the	abdominal	region,	particularly	in	the	cysterna	chyli	and	thoracic	duct,
hampers	proper	lymphatic	drainage	from	the	respiratory	organs. Most	respiratory	ailments
occur	because	of	such	lymph	blockages. Pneumonia
	results	when	protective	measures	fail	to	prevent	inhaled	or	blood-borne
microbes	from	reaching	and	colonizing	the	lungs. Gallstones	harbor	harmful	microbes,	as
well	as	highly	toxic,	irritating	material	that	can	enter	the	blood	via	areas	in	the	liver	that
are	damaged	by	the	presence	of	gallstones. Gallstones	are	a	constant	source	of	immune
suppression,	which	leaves	the	body,	and	particularly	the	upper	respiratory	tract,
susceptible	to	both	internal	and	external	disease-triggering	factors. These	include	both
blood-borne	and	airborne	microbes	(believed	to	cause	pneumonia),	cigarette	smoke,
alcohol,	x-rays,	corticosteroids,	allergens,	antigens,	common	pollutants,	waste	matter	from
the	GI	tract,	and	the	like. Further	respiratory	complications	arise	when	handfuls	of	gallstones	that	have
accumulated	in	the	liver	bile	ducts	lead	to
liver	enlargement. The	liver,	situated	in	the
upper	abdominal	cavity,	spans	almost	the	entire	width	of	the	body. Its	upper	and	anterior
surfaces	are	smooth	and	shaped	to	fit	under	the	surface	of	the	diaphragm. When	enlarged,
the	liver	obstructs	the	movement	of	the	diaphragm	and	prevents	the	lungs	from	extending
to	their	normal	capacity	during


 thr ough
a world of strangers, unlik e themselves, living
with their bodies per haps under a common r oof
that shelters neither; in the same r oom and yet
a world apart. A holy r elationship starts fr om a diﬀer ent
premise. Each one has look ed within and seen
no lack. A ccepting his completion, he would
extend it by joining with another, whole as
himself. ”
The purpose of a special r elationship is to teach us to
hate ourselves, while the purpose of a holy r elationship is to
heal us of our self -loathing. In the special r elationship, we
are always trying to hide our weaknesses. In the holy
relationship, it’s understood that we all have unhealed
places, and that healing is the purpose of our being with
another person. W e don’t try to hide our weaknesses, but
rather we understand that the r elationship is a conte xt for
healing thr ough mutual for giveness. A dam and Eve wer enaked in the gar den of Eden but not embar rassed. That
doesn’t mean they wer e physically nak ed. It means they
were emotionally nak ed, totally r eal and honest, yet they
were not embar rassed because they felt accepted
completely for who they wer e. The Course pr esents an image of the special r elationship
as a pictur e set in a frame. The ego is mor e inter ested in the
frame—the idea of the perfect person who will “ﬁx”
everything—than we ar e in the pictur e, which is the person
himself. The frame is bar oque, and decorated with rubies
and diamonds. But the Course says the rubies ar e our blood
and the diamonds ar e our tears. That is the essence of
specialness. It is not love but e xploitation. What we call love
is often hate or at best, r obbery. Although we may not know
it consciously, our sear ch is of ten for someone who has
what we think we don’t have, and once we get it fr om them
we’ll be r eady to move on. In a holy r elationship, we’r e
interested in the pictur e itself. All we want by way of a
frame is a light support that does just enough to k eep the
pictur e in place. W e’re not inter ested in our br other for what
he can do for us. W e’re inter ested in our br other, period. The holy r elationship is, above all else, a friendship
between two br others. W e are not put her e to audition one
another, put someone on trial, or use other people to gratif y
our own ego needs. W e are not her e to ﬁx, change or belittle
another person. W e are her e to support, for give and heal
one another. I was once counsel ing a couple who wer e in the
process of messily completing their r elationship. The man
had moved on to date someone else and the woman was
angry. During our session she said to him about the new
girlfriend, “Y ou only lik e her because she tells you how
wonderful  you ar e all the time. ” He look ed at her very
seriously and quietly said, “Y eah, I think that has something
to do with it. ”How do we ﬁnd a holy r elationship. Not by asking God to
change our partners, but by asking God to change our
minds. W e don’t run away fr om someone we’r e attracted to
because we’r e afraid of specialness. Anytime ther e’s a
potential for love, ther e’s a potential for specialness. I of ten
ask audiences, “What’s the ﬁrst thing we should do when
we’re attracted to someone. ” and they r eply in pep-rally
fashion, “ pray. ” The prayer goes something lik e this: “ Dear
God, you know, and I know, that I have mor e potential for
neurosis in this ar ea than in any other. Please tak e my
attraction, my thoughts and feelings about this person and
use them for your purposes. L et this r elationship unfold
accor ding to your will, Amen. ”
Spiritual pr ogress is lik e a deto xiﬁcation. Things have to
come up in or der to be r eleased. Once we have ask ed to be
healed, then our unhealed places ar e forced to the surface. A relationship that is used by the Holy Spirit becomes a
place wher e our blocks to love ar e not suppr essed or
denied, but rather br ought into our conscious awar eness. We never get crazy lik e we do ar ound the people we’r e
really attracted to. Then we can see our dysfunctions
clearly, and when we’r e ready, ask God to show us another
way. As temples of healing, r elationships ar e like a trip to the
divine physician’s oﬃce. How can a doctor help us unless
we show him our wounds. Our fearful places have to be
revealed befor e they can be healed. A Course in Miracles
teaches that ‘darkness is to be br ought to light, and not the
other way ar ound. ’ If a r elationship allows us to mer ely
avoid our unhealed places, then we’r e hiding ther e, not
growing. The universe will not support that. The ego thinks of a perfect r elationship as one in which
everybody shows a perfect face. But this is not necessarilyso, because a show of str ength is not always honest. It is
not always a genuine e xpression of who we ar e. If I pr etend
to have it together in some ar ea wher e I really don’t, I am
fostering an illusion about myself. I would only be doing this
out of fear—fear that if you saw the truth about me, I would
be rejected. God’s idea of a “good r elationship” and the ego’s idea of
one ar e completely diﬀer ent. T o the ego, a good r elationship
is one in which another person basically behaves the way
we want them to and never pr esses our buttons, never
violates our comfort zones. But if a r elationship e xists to
support our gr owth, then in many ways it e xists to do just
those things; for ce us out of our limited tolerance and
inability to love unconditionally. We’re not aligned with the
Holy Spirit until people can behave in any way they choose
to, and our own inner peace isn’t shak en. Ther e have been
times in my life wher e my thought about a r elationship was,
“This is ter rible,” but upon further r eﬂection I r ealized God
would pr obably be saying, “ Oh, this is good. ” Marianne gets
to see, in other wor ds, her own neur oses mor e clearly. A girlfriend once told me she had br oken up with her
boyfriend. “Why. ” I ask ed. “Because he didn’t call me for ﬁve days. ”
I didn’t say anything. “He knows I need verbal r eassurance on a daily basis,”
she continued. “So I set my limits. Don’t you think that’s
good. ”
“No,” I said. “I think it’s childish. ” I paused. “ Have you
consider ed accepting him as he is. ”“Well, thanks for the support,” she said. I responded, “Y ou’re welcome. ”
I knew she thought of support as agr eement fr om others
that her boyfriend was guilty. Support for the belief in guilt
is extremely easy to ﬁnd. But r eal support is when we help
one another see beyond someone’s er rors, to dr op our
judgments and see the love that lies beyond. Our neur oses in r elationships usually stem fr om our
having an agenda for another person, or for the r elationship
itself. It’s not our job to try to mak e a relationship into
something we think it should be. If someone doesn’t behave
like a gr eat romantic partner, then per haps they’r e not
meant to be that for us. That doesn’t mak e them wr ong. Not
every r elationship is meant to be the ultimate r omance: if
the train doesn’t stop at your station, it’s not your train. The
ego seeks to use a r elationship to ﬁll our needs as we deﬁne
them; the Holy Spirit asks that the r elationship be used by
God to serve His purposes. And His purpose is always that
we might lear n how to love others mor e pur ely. We love
purely when we r elease other people to be who they ar e. The ego seeks intimacy thr ough contr ol and guilt. The Holy
Spirit seeks intimacy thr ough acceptance and r elease. In the holy r elationship, we don’t seek to change
someone, but rather to see


 in the silence out of which the sounds come and
into which they return. Pay more attention to the silence than to the
sounds. Paying attention to oute r silence creates inner silence: the mind
becomes still. A portal is opening up. Every so und is born out of silence, dies back into silence, and d uring its
life span is surro unded by silence. Silence enables the sound to be. It is
an intrin sic but unmanifested part of every sound, every musical note,
every so ng, every word. The Unmanifested is present in this world as
silence. This is why it has been said that nothing in this world is so like
God as silence. All you have to  do is pay attention to it. Even during a
conversation, be come consciou s of the gaps between words, the brief
silent intervals between sentences. As you do that, the dimension of
stillness grows within you. Y ou  cannot pay attention to silence  without
simultaneously becoming still within. Silence without, stillness within. Y ou have entered the Unmanifested.SP ACE
Just as no sound can exist witho ut silence, nothing can exist wi thout no-
thing, w ithout the empty space that enables it to be. Every physical
object o r body has come out of  nothing, is surrounded by noth ing, and
will eve ntually return to nothing. Not only that, but even inside every
physical body there is far more “nothing” than “something.” Physicists
tell us that the solidity of matter is an illusion. Even seemingly solid
matter, i ncluding your physical body, is nearly 100 percent empty space
— so vast are t he distances between the atoms compared to t heir size. What is more, even inside every atom there is mostly empty spa ce. What
is le ft is  more like a vibrational frequency than particles of soli d matter,
more lik e a musical note. Buddhists have known that for over 2,500
years. “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,” states the Heart Sutra,
one of the best known ancient Buddhist texts. The essence of all things is
emptiness. The Unm anifested is not only present in this world as silence; it also
pervades the entire physical universe as space — from within and
without. This is just as easy to miss as silence. Everybody pays attention
to the things in space, but who pays attention to space itself? Y ou seem to be  implying that “emptiness” or “nothing” is  not just
nothing, that ther e is some mysterious quality to it. What is this nothing? Y ou can not ask  such a question. Y our mind is trying to make nothing
into something. The moment you make it into something, y ou have
missed i t. Nothi ng — space — is the appearance of the Unmanifested as
an externalized phenomenon in a sense-perceived world. That’ s  about as
much as  one can say about it,  and even that is a kind of paradox. It
cannot become an object of knowledge. Y ou can’ t do a Ph.D. on
“nothing.” When scientists stu dy space, they usually make it into
something and thereby miss its essence entirely. Not surprisingly, the
latest th eory is that space isn’ t empty at all, that it is filled with somesubstance. Once you have a the ory, it’ s not too hard to find evidence to
substantiate it, at least until some other theory comes along. “Nothing” can only become a portal into the Unmanifested for you if you
don’ t try to grasp or understand it. Isn’ t that what we ar e doing her e? Not at all. I am giving you poin ters to show you how you can bring the
dimension of the Unmanifeste d into your life. W e are not trying to
understand it. There is nothing to understand. Space ha s no “existence.” “T o exist” literally means “to stand out.” Y ou
cannot understand space because it doesn’ t stand out. Although in itself
it has no existence, it enables everything else to exist. Silence has no
existence either, nor does the Un-manifested. So w hat happens if you withdraw attention from the objects in s pace and
become aware of space itself? What is the essence of this ro om? The
furniture, pictures, and so on are in  the room, but they are not the room. The floor, walls, and ceiling define the boundary of the room, but they
are not the room  either. So wha t is the essence of the room? Space, of
course, empty space. There wou ld be no “room” without it. Since space
is “nothing,” we can say that what is not  t he re is more important than
what is there. So  become aware of the space that is all around you. Don’ t
think about it. Feel it, as it were. Pay attention to “nothing.”
As you do that, a shift in consc iousness takes place inside you. Here is
why. The inner equivalent to o bjects in space such as furniture, walls,
and so on are your mind objects: thoughts, emotio ns, and the objects of
the sens es. And the inner equiv alent of space is the consciousness that
enables your mind objects to be, just as space allows all things to be. So
if y ou withdraw attention fro m things  — obj ects in space — you
automatically w ithdraw attentio n from your mind objects as well. In
other words: Y ou cannot think and  be aware of space — or of silence, for
that matter. By becoming awar e of the empty space around you, you
simultaneously become aware of the space of no-mind, of pureconsciousness: the Unmanifested. This is how the contemplation of
space can become a portal for you. Space an d silenc e are two aspec ts of the same thing, the same no-thing. They ar e an externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is
stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence. Most humans are
completely unconscious of this dimension. There is no inner space, no
stillness. They are out of balance. In other words, they know th e world,
or th ink they do, but they don’ t know God. They identify ex clusively
with the ir own physical and psychological form, unconscious of essence. And bec ause ev ery form is hig hly unstable, they live in fear. This fear
causes a  deep misperception of themselves and of other humans, a
distortion in their vision of the world. If so me cosmic convulsion bro ught about the end of our world, the
Unmanifested would remain to tally unaf fected by this. A Course in
Miracles  expresses this truth poignantly: “Nothing real can be
threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.”
If yo u remain in  conscious connection with the Unmanifested, you value,
love, an d deeply respect the manifested and every life form in it as an
expression of the One Life beyond form. Y ou also know th at every form
is destined to di ssolve again and that ultimately nothing out here matters
all th at much. Y ou have “overcome the world,” in the words of Jesus, or,
as the Buddha put it, you have “crossed over to the other shore.”
THE TRUE NA TURE OF SP ACE AND TIME
Now consider this: If there were nothing but silence, it wouldn’ t exist for
you; you wouldn’ t know what  it is. Only when sound appears does
silence come into being. Simila rly, if there were only space without any
objects in space, it wouldn’ t exist for you. Imagine yourself as a point of
consciousness floating in the vastness of space — no stars, no galaxies,
just emptiness. Suddenly, space  wouldn’ t be vast anymore; it would not
be t here at all. There would be no speed, no movement from here to
there. At least two points of reference are needed for distance and space
to c ome into being. Space co mes into being the moment the One
becomes two, and as “two” be come the “ten thousand things,” as LaoT se calls the ma nifested world, space becomes more and more  vast. So
world and space arise simultaneously. Nothing could be  without space, yet space is nothing. Before the
universe came into being, before  the “big bang,” if you like, the re wasn’ t
a vast empty space waiting to be  filled. There was no space, as t here was
no t hing. There was only the U nmanifested — the One. When the One
became “the ten thousand things,” suddenly space seemed to be there
and enabled the many to be. Where did it come from? W as it created by
God to accomm odate the universe? Of course not. Space is no-thing, so
it was never created. Go out on a clear night and loo k up at the sky. The thousands of stars
you can see with  the naked eye are no more than an infinitesima l fraction
of what is there. Over 100 billion galaxies can already be detected with
the


 cell anemia, hyperviscosi ty, and low
plasma protein.Note: ESR is frequently raised during and after reactions and fevers
induced by the Gerson Therapy. THE PLATELET  COUNT
Platelets, or thrombocytes, are tiny formed elements in the blood which
create the hemostatic plug in vascular injury. They promote coagulation by
supplying phospholipids to the intrinsic thromboplastin pathway. The
platelet count is vital for moni toring chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or
severe thrombocytosis and thrombocytopenia. A platelet count that falls
below 50,000 brings on sponta neous bleeding; below 5,000, fatal central
nervous system bleeding or massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage is possible. The platelet count evaluates platelet production, assesses effects of
cytotoxic therapy, aids the diagnosing of thrombocytopenia and
thrombocytosis, and confirms visual estimate of platelet number and
morphology from  a stained blood film. Normal platelet counts range from
130,000 to 370,000/mm (130 to 370 x 1011/L). A decreased count comes from aplastic or hypoplastic bone marrow; in-
filtrative bone marrow diseases like carcinoma, leukemia, or disseminated
infection; megak aryocytic hypop lasia; ineffective thrombopoiesis caused by
folic acid or vitamin B1 deficiency; pooling of platelets in an enlar ged
spleen; increased platelet destru ction from drug use or immune disorders;
disseminated intravascular coagulation; Bernard-Soulier syndrome; or
mechanical injury to platelets. Medications decreasing the count include acetazolamid, acetohexam-ide,
antimony, antineoplastics, brompheniramine maleate, carbamazepine,
chloramphenicol, ethacrynic acid, furosemide, gold salts,
hydroxychloroquine, indomethacin, isoniazid, mephenytoin, mefenamic
acid, metha-zolamide, methimazole, methyidopa, oral diaoxide,
oxyphenbetazone, penicillamine, penicillin, phenylbutazone, phenytoin,
pyrimethamine, quinidine sulfate, quinine, salicylates, streptomycin,
sulfonamides, thiazide, thiazidelike diuretics, and tricyclic antidepressants. Heparin causes transient reversible thrombocytopenia. An increased platelet count results from such diseases as hemorrhage;
infectious disord ers; malignanc ies; iron deficiency anemia; myelofibrosis;
primary thrombo cytosis; polycy themia vera; myelogenous leuke mia; recentsurgery, pregnancy, or splenectomy; and inflammatory disorders, such as
collagen vascular disease. THE LEUKOCYTE  (W HITE BLOOD  CELL, WBC) C OUNT
Reporting on the number of white blood cells (WBCs) found in a
microliter (cubic  millimeter) of whole blood by use of a hemacytometer or
Coulter counter, the leukocyte count varies with strenuous exercise, stress,
or digestion. It’s used to detec t infection or inflammation, the need for
further tests such as the WBC differential or bone marrow biopsy, and the
response to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The WBC count  ranges from 4.1 to 10.9 x 10”. An elevated count signals
infection such as an abscess, meningitis, appendicitis, or tonsillitis, and it
may indicate leukemia, tissue necrosis from burns, myocardial infarction, or
gangrene. A low count shows bone marrow depression from viral infections
or from toxic reactions such as those following treatment with
antineoplastics, mercury or other heavy metal toxicity, benzene or arsenic
exposure, and invasion by the organisms of influenza, typhoid fever,
measles, infectious hepatitis, mononucleosis, and rubella. THE WHITE BLOOD  CELL DIFFERENTIAL
Being a relative number of each type of white blood cell, the white blood
cell differential test is determined by multiplying the percentage value of
each WBC type to give an absol ute number of each kind of the 100 or more
WBCs. There are granulocy tes, agranulocytes, juvenile neutrophils,
segmented neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, large lymphocytes, small
lymphoctyes, phagocytes, histiocytes, and so on. The WBC differential evalua tes the body’ s capacity to resist and
overcome infection, various types of leukemia, the stage and severity of
infection, allergic reactions, severity of allergic reactions, and parasitic
infections. There is a long list of reference values in the WBC differential
test, divided into adult and child. For example some of them are:For Adults— Relative V alue (%) Absolute V alue (mcL)
Neutr ophils 47.6–76.8 1950–8,400
Lymphocytes 16.2-43 660-4,600
Monocytes 0.6-9.6 24-960
Eosinophils 0.3-7 12-760
Basophils 0.3-2 12-200

To make an accurate diagnosis, the test examiner must consider both
relative and absolute values of the differential counts. For the vast number
of variables and illnesses which are diagnosed by them, please see
Appendix I of the Gerson Therapy  Handbook: Companion Workbook to A
Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases: Practical Guidance, Resour ces
and Recipes for Gerson Ther apy Patients. To acquire a copy of this
handbook /workbook, contact the Gerson Institute, in Bonita, California. THE ROUTINE  URINAL YSIS
Elements of routine urinalysis include the measurement evaluations of
physical characteristics, specific gravity and pH, protein, glucose, and
ketone bodies, plus examination of urine sediment, casts, and blood cell
crystals. The analysis of urine is an exceedingly important test that tells a
lot about the internal workings of a person. Routine urine test results have a
great number of implications for how the physiology is functioning or how
it is responding to the diet, nonpathologic conditions, specimen collection
time, and other factors. For the vast number of variables and illnesses which are evaluated by
urinalysis, please see Appendix I of the Gerson Therapy Handbook:
Companion Workbook to A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases:
Practical Guidance, Resour ces and Recipes for Gerson
  Therapy
Patients. To acqu ire a copy of this handbook/workbook, contact the Gers on
Institute in San Diego, California.OceanofPDF.comChapter Twenty-One
SUCCESS ST ORIES BY P ATIENTS
Writing in the Townsend Lette r for Doctors  & Patients,  medical
anthropologist Tim Batchelder advises that people do not arrive at health
care systems for diagnosis and treatments; rather, they come to find
wellness and wholeness.1
People often feel symptoms and even exhibit signs of illness when they
seek the services of a doctor or clinic but return home labeled with a
disease. Other medical anthropologists call such a result the “veterinary
practice of medicine” since the patient’ s experience of illness becomes
irrelevant except as it reveals an underlying presence of disease. A patient’ s
opinions, beliefs and other aspects of sociocultural identity only cloud the
doctor ’s mind-set.2 Preferable for some technically oriented and
conventionally practicing health  professionals is that the patien t be passive
like a sedated animal in a veterinarian’ s clinic. Not so the situa tions for Gerson patients whose case histories of chronic
illness you’re about to read. They have been far from passive  or sedated;
instead these people actively sought out the Gerson Therapy and practiced it
—this despite knowing their selected approach to wellness offers a difficult,
highly restrictive, and isolating  lifestyle. The goal for each of these folks
has been  to live as close as possible to the full complement of mankind’ s
allotted years. The Gerson Therapy has been allowing them to reach that
goal. REVERSING  LATE-STAGE LUNG CANCER
To his shock and dismay, in November 1989, sixty-year -old John Peters
of Pittsbur gh was diagnosed with lung cancer—an adeno carcinoma. Although he had eaten a good diet, swam a thousand yards in his swimmingpool five days each week, never smoked, and had been given an excellent
health report by his doctor just three months before, Mr. Peters still had
come down with non-small-cell  carcinoma of the lung, staged at level IIIA
by his consulting oncologist. Lung Cancer is the second most common cancer and the number -one
cause of death from malignancy  in both men and women. Although there
has always been a higher incidence in men, lung cancer in women has risen
rapidly in recent years. While lung cancer has long been the top cancer
killer of men, it has now surpa ssed breast cancer as the main malignancy
killer of women. In 1997,  178,100 Americans developed lung cancer


 nce at the time. The fact that they both justlanded in front of me like feathers falling into my lap made me
underestimate their importance. I couldn’ t imagine that something that easy
could be that important. To the ego, struggle is the generator of
significance. To the spirit, effortless accomplishment is simply a by-product
of right living. It took me a while to notice that flowers don’t struggle to
blossom. I had been taught by the world not to expect miracles; therefore I didn’ t
see them even though they were right in front of me. I had not yet realized
that “out of the blue” means out of the field of quantum possibility. Once when my daughter was a little girl, we were watching a video of
Cinder ella. In the scene where the wicke d stepmother (the ego) and her
awful daughters (the committee  of ugly thoughts in your head that tell you
how awful you are all the time) have left Cinderella (your  innocence)
behind to go to the ball, Cinderella falls to the ground weeping. Then the Fairy Godmother (the Holy Spirit) appears! So guess what
happens then? In the video we were watching, Cinderella said to the Fairy
Godmother, “Oh, Fairy Godmot her, I thought you’d never get here!”—and
the Fairy Godmother responded, “Oh that’s not true, dear, or I couldn’ t have
come!!”
Read that one again. So if Cinderella hadn’ t conside red the possibility that she existed, the
Fairy Godmothe r would still have been there, but Cinder ella would not
have seen her. We must at least be open  to the possibility of infinite
possibility, or no matter how many miracles occur the ego will be
successful at nullifying their existence. That’ s why faith means faith in that
which is yet unseen. Given that Cind erella had no dress to wear, no carriage to take her, and
no horse s to draw the carriage,  there was obviously no way that girl was
going to the ball. The Fairy Godmother could not have arrived had Cinderella been a
different kind of girl. In order for the mean-spirited will of the wicked
stepmother to be countermanded—in order for another way to be paved by
which Cinderell a could get to the ball—it was necessary for Cinderella’ s
consciousness to be receptive to miracles. If she had starting screaming
about her stepmother and stepsisters, “I hate those f—— bitches!” then the
Fairy Godmother could not have come. Her appearance was predicated on
two things: (1) Cinderella’ s faith that it was possible, and (2) Cinderella’ sinnocent heart, which allowed her to feel her grief but not projec t it outward
as an attack on those she perceived as having caused it. Continuing with the story, it’s instructive to see what happened next. The Fairy Godmother, like Merl in and other magicians, has a wand just
as Moses had a rod. The wand and rod symbolize straight and disciplined
mental adherence to spiritual truth. They symbolize the conviction from
which miracles arise. The Fairy Godm other didn’ t call for an Uber to take Cinderella to the
ball, nor did she call Neiman Marcus for the perfect dress. She didn’ t change Cinderella’ s circumstances; she transformed the ones
that already existed. Her wand touched a pumpkin and surroun ded it with
light; that turned  it into a coach. Her wand touched the mice and surrounded
them with light; that turned them  into coachmen. She touched Cinderella’ s
rags and surrounded them with light; that turned them into a ball gown. The
Fairy Godmother is that which reinterprets everything, and everything
miraculously transforms. Throwing her wand in the direction of something,
she simply “saw it in a new light.”
The Fairy Godmother retreats into the ethers when unneeded. But the
ethers are within your mind and when you need her, she is there. Cinderella is who you really are, and when you’re clear about that, the
wicked stepmother loses her power over you. She can keep  that stupid
house she lives in; it’s not your real home anyway. You’re moving into the
castle with the prince, and you know who that is. The world as we know it will teach our children things they’re going to
have to spend years learning how to forget. Fairy tales are preparatory
learning of a different kind. They are a way to both teach our children and
help them retain an understand ing of the miraculous world. A pumpkin
turns into a coach, then water turns into wine, then loaves and fishes
multiply. It’s all the same thing. OceanofPDF.comThe Meaning of Now
Time is a learnin g device. It’s a screen onto which we see our thoughts
projected. It’s actually an illusion of consciousness, real within the three-
dimensional world but not within the ultimate reality of spirit. In the words
of Albert Einstein, “Time and space are illusions of consciousness, albeit
persistent ones.”
While there are three categories of time—past, present, and future—
only one is ever really happeni ng at all. Past and future exist only in the
mind. The only place where God’ s time—that is, eternity—intersects linear
time is in the present. The present moment is our point of power. It is the link with eternal
reality, from which new beginni ngs are always possible. That is the miracle,
and the meaning, and the power of now. A presen t moment untarnished by loveless memories from the past is
called in the Course  the Holy Instan t. We are born again in any moment
when we don’t bring the past with us. The reason the image of the Christ is
a newborn child is because he has no past. A traditional model of psychotherapy is obsessed with exploring the
past. A spiritual model of psychotherapy sees no point in doing so. For the
past exists only in our minds, and in a very real way didn’ t even happen the
way we think it did. The brain picks and chooses from a myriad of
memories the way the eye picks and chooses from a myriad of visual
stimuli. The ego’s propensity for obsession with both past and future is a
characteristically sly way of obstructing our vision. The most powerful
thing we can do with the past is to put it in the hands of God. The role of the
Holy Spirit, the gift of the mystic Jesus, is that he will change our mind
about it for us. Is looking at the past a part of our healing? Sometimes, yes. But only so we can atone for our mistakes and for give others for theirs.The ego is like a set of blinders: looking at guilt, focusing on past or
future, it shields us from a visio n of the miraculous. We do it all the time. Constantly looki ng at the past, dwelling on where we or others got it wrong,
is not the way to heal. We don’t get rid of darkness by hitting it with a
baseball bat, but by turning on the light. We don’t spiritually transform by
destroying our demons; we transform by giving birth to the angel that we
are. In the presence of light, darkness disappears. This isn’t a spiritual
bypass; it’ s spiritual alchemy. The Holy Spirit  dwells in a realm of timelessness but operates in time. He is that which mediates between your spiritual and your material selves,
building a bridge between the two. He sees who you really are, and He also
sees who you are within the world. It is His job to help the two become one,
as they are in Jesus. Jesus is the mind in which only love is real. All that was real in the past
was the love you gave and the love you received; everything else was mere
illusion of consciousness. There is no need to bring anythi ng into the
present from the past except that love. All else is our proverbial “baggage.”
In giving your past to Jesus, you’re asking that he change your mind
about it for you. You’re asking that he dissolve any memories that make
lovelessness real in your perceptions today, thus freeing you from their
effects. In forgiving both yourself and others from the sins—that is,
mistakes—of the past, you are free to begin again. The universe is always
ready to start over when you are. If my mind is obsessed with the past while in the present, I block future
opportunities. They’re there, but I won’ t see them. Dragging the past into
the present, we bring shadow figures that cloud our eyes, obstructing the
arrival of relationships and circumstances that could create a new
beginning. Bringing the past into the present, I’m programming the future to be just
like the past. Then the ego gets to say, “See, I told you. Nothing ever
changes.”
The Holy Instant interrupts linear time, giving us in any moment the
miraculous opportunity for new beginnings. It is a kind of cosmic reset in
which any effects from the past except love are nullified, since only love
exists. In that moment, releasing our attachment to the past and
surrendering the future into the hands of God, we heal both. In an instant
we can release all thoughts


 on for the removal of gall-stone s in a
hospital in England. The condition described was based on the
diagnosis of hospital tests and the usual X-ray pro-cedures. She asked
me to pray for her. We were separated geographically about  6,500
miles, but there is no time or space in the mind principle. Infinite mind
or intelligence is present in its entirety at every point simulta neously. I
withdrew all thought from the contemplation of symptoms and from
the corporeal personality altogether. I affirmed as follows : “This
prayer is for my sister Catherine. She is relaxed and at p eace, poised,
balanced, serene, and calm. The healing intelligence of her sub -
conscious mind, which created her body, is now transforming every
cell, nerve, tissue, muscle, and bone of her being according to t he
perfect pattern of all organs lodged in her subconscious mind. Silently,
quietly, all distorted thought patterns in her sub-conscious mind ar e
removed and dissolved, and the vitality, wholeness, and beauty of th e
life principle are made manifest in every atom of her being. She is
now open and receptive to the healing currents, which are flowing
through her like a river, restoring her to perfect health, harm ony, and
peace. All dis-tortions and ugly images are now washed away b y the
infinite ocean of love and peace flowing through her, and it is so. ”
I affirmed the above several times a day, and at the end of  two
weeks my sister had an examination, which showed a re-markabl e
healing, and the X ray, proved negative. To affirm is to state that it is so, and as you maintain this attitude of
mind as true, regardless of all evidence to the con-trary, you will
receive an answer to your prayer. Your thought can only affirm, for
 81  even if you deny something, you are actually affirming the presence of
what you deny. Repeating an affirma-tion, knowing what you are saying and why
you are saying it, leads the mind to that state of consciousness where it
accepts that which you state as true. Keep on affirming t he truths of
life until you get the subconscious reaction, which satisfies. • The argumentative method
This method is just what the word implies. It stems from the
procedure of Dr. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby of Maine. Dr. Quimby, a
pioneer in mental and spiritual healing, lived and practiced in B elfast,
Maine, about one hundred years ago. A book called The Quimby
Manuscripts, published in 1921 by Thomas Y. Crowell Company,
New York City, and edited by Horatio Dresser, is available i n your
library. This book gives newspaper accounts of this man’s remarkable
results in prayer treatment of the sick. Quimby duplicated many of the healing miracles recorded in the
Bible. In brief, the argumentative method employed according  to
Quimby consists of spiritual reasoning where you convince the patie nt
and yourself that his sickness is due to his false belief, ground less
fears, and negative patterns lodged in his subconscious mind. You
reason it out clearly in your mind and convince your patient tha t the
disease or ailment is due only to a distorted, twisted patte rn of
thought, which has taken form in his body. This wrong belief in some
external power and external causes has now externalized itself  as
sickness, and can be changed by changing the thought patterns. You explain to the sick person that the basis of all heali ng is a
change of belief. You also point out that the subconscious mind
created the body and all its organs; therefore, it knows how t o heal it,
can heal it, and is doing so now as you speak. You argue in the
courtroom of your mind that the disease is a shadow of the mind based
on disease-soaked, morbid thought-imagery. You continue to build up all the evidence you can muster on behal f
of the healing power within, which created all the organs in the  first
 82  place, and which has a perfect pattern of every cell, nerve, and tissue
within it. Then, you render a verdict in the courthouse of your mind i n
favor of yourself or your patient. You liberate the sick one by faith
and spiritual understanding. Your mental and spiritual evidence is
overwhelming; they’re being but one mind, what you feel as true w ill
be resurrected in the experience of the patient. This pro cedure is
essentially the argumentative method used by Dr. Quimby of Main e
from 1849 to 1869. • The absolute method is like modern sound wave therapy
Many people throughout the world practice this form of prayer
treatment with wonderful results. The person using the absolute
method mentions the name of the patient, such as John Jones, then
quietly and silently thinks of God and His qualities and attrib utes,
such as, God is all bliss, boundless love, infinite intelligence, all-
powerful, boundless wisdom, absolute harmony, indescribable beauty,
and perfection. As he quietly thinks along these lines he is li fted up in
consciousness into a new spiritual wave length, at which times he
feels the infinite ocean of God’s love is now dissolving ever ything
unlike itself in the mind and body of John Jones for whom he is
praying. He feels all the power and love of God are now focused o n
John Jones, and whatever is bothering or vexing him is now
completely neutralized in the presence of the infinite ocean of life and
love. The absolute method of prayer might be likened to the sound wave
or sonic therapy recently shown me by a distin-guished physic ian in
Los Angeles. He has an ultra sound wave machine, which oscillate s at
a tremendous speed and sends sound waves to any area of the body to
which it is directed. These sound waves can be controlled, and he  told
me of achieving re-markable results in dissolving arthr itic calcareous
deposits, as well as the healing and removal of other disturbing
conditions. To the degree that we rise in consciousness by contemplat-ing
qualities and attributes of God, do we generate spiritual electronic
 83  waves of harmony, health, and peace. Many remark-able healings
follow this technique of prayer. •A cripple walks
Dr. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, of whom we spoke previ-ously in
this
chapter, used the absolute method in the latter years of his h ealing
career. He was really the father of psychosomatic medici ne and the
first psychoanalyst. He had the capacity to diagnose clairv oyantly the
cause of the patient’s trouble, pains, and aches. The following is a condensed account of the healing of a cripple as
recorded in Quimby’s Manuscripts:
Quimby was called on to visit a woman who was lame, aged, and
bedridden. He states that her ailment was due to the fact tha t she was
imprisoned by a creed so small and contracted that she could not stand
upright and move about. She was living in the tomb of fear and
ignorance; furthermore, she was taking the Bible literally, and it
frightened her. “In this tomb,” Quimby said, “was the presence and
power of God trying to burst the bands, break through the bonds, a nd
rise from the dead. ” When she would ask others for an explanation o f
some passage of the Bible, the answer would be a stone; then she
would hunger for the bread of life.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the key to making your prayers effective?,
A: The key is to quiet your mind, and your thoughts of health, vitality, and perfection operating through the one universal subjective mind will be felt and resurrected in the mind of your loved one.
Q: What is the visualization technique used by the author?,
A: The author does not explicitly describe a visualization technique in the passage, but the text mentions the importance of quieting the mind and focusing on the desired outcome. The passage does, however, mention the example of a girl who declared "It is passing away now" to cure her cough and throat pain.
Q: What is the Baudoin technique?,
A: The Baudoin technique involves entering a sleepy, drowsy state and repeating a phrase to yourself, such as "Thank you, Father" or "It is finished in Divine Order."
Q: What is the decree method?,
A: The decree method involves affirming a statement as true, regardless of evidence to the contrary, and feeling the reality of the desired outcome.
Q: What is the key to using your subconscious mind to achieve wealth?,
A: The key is to convince your subconscious mind that you are already wealthy and deserving of abundance, and to focus on the feeling of wealth and abundance.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>• A common stumbling block to wealth
There is one emotion, which is the cause of the lack of wealt h in the
lives of many. Most people learn this the hard way. It is  envy. For
example, if you see a competitor depositing large sums of m oney in
the bank, and you have only a meager amount to deposit, does it make
you en


 Laboratory?,
A: To help fund their research and potentially find a solution to the mystery of food-related health issues, allowing people to eat a wide variety of foods without suffering negative consequences.
Q: What is the impact that individual contributions can have, according to the text?,
A: Every dollar counts, and individual contributions can help speed up the process of finding a solution, ultimately leading to a better life for the contributor and their loved ones.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Soil and Health Library
This document is a reproduction of the book or other copyrighted material you
requested. It was prepared on for the exclusive use of Oriana, whose email address is
orianaoriana@gmail.com. This reproduction was made by the Soil and Health Library only for the purpose of
research and study. Any further reproduction or distribution of this copy in any form
whatsoever constitutes a violation of copyrights. THE NATIONAL MALNUTRITION*
D. T. QUIGLEY, M. D., F. A. C. S.

Published by The Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Copyright 1943 D. T. Quigley Seventh Printing of Second Edition December, 1952
Printed in U.S.A. by The Olsen Publishing Co., Milwaukee, Wis.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1: Our Dietary Needs Chapter 2: Why We Must Have Vitamins Chapter 3: Why We Must Have Minerals Chapter 4: Our Dietary Intake (What Do We Get) Chapter 5: What Are The Results Of Our Dietary Errors
Chapter 6: How Widespread Are Deficiencies
Chapter 7: Cancer-Its Treatment And Prevention
Chapter 8: Nutritional Treatment Of Anemia
Chapter 9: What Must Be Done? *The Soil and Health Library wishes to extend its sincere thanks to Kay Morgan of
Irving, Texas, for having donated a copy of this book. INTRODUCTION
   Since the first use of the word "vitamin" the problem of nutrition has been more or
less confused. With the discovery of new vitamins confusion increased. When minerals
were added to the necessary articles required for good nutrition the bungling and
muddling connected with pontifical pronouncements from supposed high places made it
more difficult for anyone, doctor or layman, to get at the truth. The matter would not
have been so hard to untangle had not the whole question been saturated with the poison of commercialism. The selling of bad food had become one of the biggest if not actually
the biggest of business enterprises. The usual scientific discussions which always follow
the introduction of new ideas in medicine were not allowed to proceed as usual in an
unbiased way, but commercial interests began in a most insidious way to combat
scientific fact with ridicule, endowed res earch (endowed in one direction), and other
well tried and tested methods. As the purveyors of good food were practically
unorganized and had smaller investments, erro rs were allowed to go unchallenged, the
general confusion on the subject of nutriti on increased and the sabotage on the health
and well being of the American people proceeded apace. Under the stress of war the
will to better health has been developed. The bad qualities of certain foods were
admitted. It was conceded that white fl our and sugar were producers of the most
dangerous diseases. An unsatisfactory compromise was made and the false statements
foisted on the people to allay general unrest. In effect the bad food purveyors now said: our product was bad but now it is good. As a matter of fact white flour has been
improved very little, sugar not at all and canned goods have the same reduced amounts of vitamin B that they always had, (the B largely killed by heat). The only good flour is whole grain flour and as this must be fresh, (it spoils in a few
weeks) the white flour milling business would be affected in an adverse way if fresh
whole wheat flour were to become universally used. In human nutrition we must aim at the optimum as in the inevitable national conflicts
which test the highest in physical and mental development, only the optimum will
prevail. The profit minded individual who prates about the American diet being
satisfactory as it is, digs his own grave as he opens the way for our enemies. CHAPTER I
OUR DIETARY NEEDS (What do we need?) The requirements for the maintenance of life in every living cell are to be obtained
partly from the air we breathe, partly from the water we drink, and partly from the food we eat. There is the possibility of variations or changes in any of these three which may inhibit the optimum life processes in the living cells. Air may be contaminated with smoke or gas or dust. Water may be contaminated with typhoid fever germs or amebic
dysentery. Food may be contaminated with disease germs, or may fail to contain the necessary elements for providing the highest type of resistance to disease germs. In the life of the ordinary person, the most common disease-producing factors are
from food deficiencies. In the past it has been thought that contaminated air and water
have a good deal to do with the production of disease, and while this does occasionally
occur, it is not to be compared in importance with the amount of disease that is
produced by errors in diet. In the past, before dietary principles we re on a scientific basis, much theorizing was
done as to the cause of some of the common diseases. Philosophical methods of thought
ascribed disease to air, water, weather, evil spirits, changes in the moon, cold, wet, and
witchcraft. Today we know that the average healthy animal will live out his life free
from disease, retaining mental and physical faculties until near the time that death
comes from old age, if the individual is properly nourished. These principles have been worked out on laboratory animals, and are now well established. The application to
human individuals is much more difficult than to laboratory animals, but by accident or
design, much evidence has been accumulated on individual human beings and in
groups, in factories, armies, and pers ons in certain geographical locations. The Japanese Army during the Russian- Japanese war suffered in a very great way
from a deficiency disease. The Japanese Navy during the same war, properly fed,
suffered very little from this disease. Some industrial plants have experimented with
employees in the matter of a tendency to catch cold, and have found that the well-
nourished individuals have a much smaller number of days absent from work on this
account. The people of Labrador every winter suffer severely from scurvy and beriberi
due to the fact that during this period of the year they are located in a somewhat
inaccessible geographical location, and fresh fruits and vegetables are not available. These instances are given to show the methods used to acquire information in
connection with the human animal, and in order to show that in the main the principles that apply to rats and guinea pigs apply in the same way to humans. A few of the sources of information in connection with human diets are studies made
in the Loetschental valley in Switzerland, th e Outer Hebrides Islands and the Indians of
western Canada. These relatively inaccessible geographic locations permit the study of
peoples who live on natural foods. Western Canada, in the region east of the Rocky
Mountains, is hard to reach. The Indians in this part of Canada enjoyed long life and
good health until a fort was established by the British government. The Indians who
lived near the fort found they could trade their furs and fish for "the white man's food." The white man's food consisted mostly of white flour and sugar. The Indians took to
this with as great enthusiasm as they did to alcohol; resulting in many cases of arthritis, tuberculosis, and tooth decay, with a shortened life period, and with lessened ability to
work. The Indians in the back country who did not have access to the white man's food kept their good health; had no tuberculosis or any of the other diseases mentioned. In the Outer Hebrides--a little group of Islands in the north Atlantic west of northern
Scotland--the natives were found to be healthy, strong, and long-lived. Their food was whole grain products, milk, milk products, and meat. There was no need for a doctor or
a dentist. In time the Lewis tweeds from the Is land of Lewis in that group came to be an
important article of commerce. A brisk shipping between Scotland and the capital of the
Islands sprang up. This shipping brought the English and Scotch, who in turn brought
marmalade and other sweets, candies, cookies, and products made with white flour and sugar. Coincident with the introduction of  these foods, the school children showed a
large incidence of tooth decay, adenoids, diseased tonsils, arthritis, tuberculosis, and
other diseases that go with deficiency diets. The people in the back part of the Island of
Lewis and the people of the other islands who were not exposed to the diets of the more
highly civilized English and Scotch suffered no deficiency disease. They continued to live to be near one hundred years of age without tuberculosis, arthritis, heart disease,
diseases of digestion, or tooth decay. The Loetschental valley in Switzerland is high in the Alps and is relatively
inaccessible. The population of the valley is around 2200. The summer is short, but is
long enough to provide for a crop of grass, greens, and vegetables. The people of the
valley live on milk cheese, butter, whole grains, eggs and meat. Neither the Indians of
western Canada, the people of the Outer Hebrides, or the inhabitants of


reaction, the mood shifts of the menstrual cycle, and even a
characteristic depression that is the earliest warning sign
of certain cancers (a tumor in the pancreas, for example,
may be too small to detect, yet it will release cortisol and
other “stress hormones” into the bloodstream, causing the
patient to feel depressed). Despite this, I see too many ﬂaws in the argumen t that a
deeper knowledge of body chemistry is all we need—the
body has too many chemicals (literally thousands of them),
they are produced in bewilderingly complex patterns, and
they come and go too fast, often in fractions of a second. What controls this consta nt ﬂux. We cannot leave the mind
out of the mind-body connection altogether. To say that the
body heals itself using only chemicals is like saying that a
car shifts gears using only the transmission. Clearly it takes
a driver who knows what he is doing. Although medicine
has spent several centur ies trying to hold on to the idea
that the body runs itself alone, like a self-motivated
machine, there must be a driver here, too. Otherwise, our
body’s chemistry would be a jumble of ﬂoating molecules
instead of the incredibly  ordered and precise machinery
that it so obviously is. In a more naïve age, the driver was thought to be a tiny
man, called the homunculus, who sat in the heart and
performed all the gear shifts needed to run the body. The
homunculus went out in the Renaissance, when anatomists
began for the ﬁrst time to dissect cadavers and verify what
was inside them. The homunculus wasn’t found inside the
heart (neithe r was the soul), but that left a huge, glaring
gap between the mind and the body. Many scientists since
have tried to ﬁll the gap with the brain, saying that the
brain’s funct ion is to order and control all other functions
in the physiology; but this answer begs the question,
because the brain is just another machine. The driver still
needs to be there. I will argue that he is, but he hasbecome something much more abstract than the
homunculus or even the brain—he is built into the
intelligent power that motivates us to live, move, and think. Can that be proved. The next step for us is to work our
way deeper into the body ’s inner intelligence, to try to ﬁnd
out what motivates it. The territory of mind-body medicine
has no givens and no inﬂexible rules, which is all to the
good. For decades,  medicine has known that much disease
has a psychosomatic component, yet dealing with that
component has been like trying to harness the wind. Inside
us there must be a “thin king body” that responds to the
mind’s comm ands, but where could it be and what is it
made of. EXPANDING THE TOPIC
One of the most baﬄing mysteries touched upon in this
chapter—where does a thought come from. —remains just
as baﬄing today. It may surprise you, but there is no
evidence that the brain is thinking. In fact, if you assume
that the mind arises from  the brain, which is the standard
working assumption in neuroscience, consciousne ss is just
an inference. Imagine an old-time player piano, the kind
that performed music by inserting a paper roll into the
mechanism. Punched holes in the paper roll activate the
keys, giving the appearance that an invisible pianist is
playing the “Maple Leaf R ag” or a Mozart sonata. No one would propose that the piano roll manufactured
itself. There must be a musician whose actual intentions lie
behind the “invisible” pianist. We infer his existence
without seeing him. The same is true about the mind when
you observe the brain. As its quadrillion connections
activate, using chemical signals and faint electrical
charges, the vast activ ity of mind—thoughts, feelings,sensations, and images—appears. To claim that this
happens automatically seems strange, but it’s the
materialist position, while in Quantum Healing  I said the
opposite: An invisible intelligence, comple te with
intentions, desires, hope s, dreams, and so on, is at work. The fact that you can’t see this entity, known as the self,
doesn’t prove that he doesn’t exist. It only proves that he
doesn’t exist  if you are a strict materialist, who will accept
nothing except physical phenomena. The bulk of this chapter was devoted to the reality  of the
mind-body connection, which is unassailable now. Over the
past thirty years the network that transmits messages
throughout the body has been studied in much greater
detail, leaving no doubt that every thought, feeling, mood,
and belief crosses the bridge from mental to physical. But
these detailed researches into hormones,
neurotransmitters, immunomodulators, peptides, and
thousands of products expressed by genes has obscured
the simplicity of the mind-body connection. In simple terms, the entire system is a feedback loop,
with only two factors to consider, input and output. Input
enters the brain, output  exits. This is the nexus where
every process, mental or physical, meets every other, like
trillions of train tracks converging on a train station and
then exiting the station  to go their separate ways. The
reason for simplifying the almost inﬁnite complexity of a
living mind and body comes down to practicalities. Each of
us wants to know the right and wrong kind of input that
will aﬀect us. Positive Input
Pure food, air, and water
Positive emotions
Strong self -esteemLow stress, good coping skills in the face of stress
Moderate exercise
Good sleep (eight to nine hours every night)
Loving, supportive relationships
Inner contentment, lack of conﬂicts and tensions
Satisfying work
Meditation and other contemplative practices
Abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs
Minimizing the use of prescription drugs
Healing old wounds and self-destructive conditioning
from the past
The reason that little or none of these things seem new is
that they don’t need to be. After decades of public
information about prevention and the rise of the wellness
movement, we know a great deal about positive lifestyle
changes (this isn’t the same as knowing all we need to
know about why these changes work). Input, positive or
negative, registers in every cell of the body, down to the
expression of your genes (that is, their complex chemical
output). The ﬂy in the ointment is that information isn’t the same
as motivation. People may know what’s good for them, but
they continue to live otherwise. The most common kinds of
negative input remain a mainstay in the lives of people who
sincerely want to change, including overuse of alcohol,
tobacco, and drugs; eating processed and junk foods;
tolerating a high level of stress; going short on sleep;
taking little or no exercis e. The Gallup organization, which
surveys the wellbeing of populations around the world, has
a top catego ry known as “thriving. ” These are the people
who describe  themselves  as happy, safe, ﬁnancially secure,
and healthy—in short, they are enjoying a level of wellbeing
that most Americans would consider a basic minimum. Yetthe percentage of people who are thriving around the world
is dismally low, often under 10–15 percent, and even in the
prosperous developed West, it rarely rises above 33
percent. The fact that the United States continues to
consume antidepressants and tranquilizers in record
numbers attests to our inner unease, and by some
estimates the abuse of prescription painkillers is now a
cause of death surpassing the total deaths from illegal
substances. No amount of preaching about these things will work
over the long run. Prevention implies a level of fear, and
fear is a bad motivator except in short bursts. The body
resists being  in a state of chronic stress, and worrying
about your health is a form of stress. The only successful
long-term motivation is inspiration. It, too, can ﬂicker out
quickly. But there’s a secure kind of inspiration that comes
from valuing yourself with such conviction that you like and
enjoy the experience of giving your mind and body positive
inputs all the time. When I wrote Quantum Healing  I wanted to give the
human side of the mind-body connection, realizing that a
term like feedback loop,  adopted from computers and
information theory, sound s cold and abstract. But the whole
game comes down to input-output in the end. Without dwelling on the negative, let’s say that you’ve
had a stressful day. You feel wiped out by ﬁve o’clock, so
you grab a burger and fries instead of cooking at home. You
settle in with a drink or two to unwind. Your workload is
heavy, so you catch up by taking some of it home with you,
and by bedtime you ﬁnd your mind is still so active that
getting to sleep takes a while. Your alarm clock goes oﬀ at
the usual time the next morning, but you’ve managed only
six hours of sleep. No matter, it’s time to start the


 that has
been declare d a success because the cancer cells are now
gone, disregarding the weakening of the entire body, the
looming danger of recurrent cancer caused  by the
treatment itself, and the state of lasting fear and
depression that so often comes with the cure. To live in
constant fear, even without cancer in your body, is not a
good state of health. The war is not over; it has merely
moved from open skirmishes to underground terrorism. The underlying philosophy in cancer treatment is that the
mind will just have to stand by while the body endures
devastation. In other words, an open clash is actually
encouraged in the mind-body system. How can this be
called healing? In a clash between mind and body, the
patient is ﬁghting on both sides—there is only his body and
his mind. Isn’t it obvio us that when a loser emerges, it will
be he? The vital issue is not how to win the war but how to keep
peace in the ﬁrst place. The West has not arrived at thisinsight, or comprehended  that the physical manifestation of
a disease is a phantom. The cancer cells that patients dread
and physicians battle against are just such phantoms—they
will come and go, raising hopes and despair, while the real
culprit, the persistent memory that creates the cancer cell,
goes undetected. Ayurveda gives us the means to go
directly to the level of consciousness that exorcises this
memory. Thinking of Chitra, I wonder how long it will be
before we broaden our outlook. We ask for heroism from
patients at a time when they have little of it to give, or else
we treat them as statistics, turning survival into a game of
numbers. Ayurveda tells us to place the responsibility for
disease at a deeper level of consciousness, where a
potential cure could also be found. To say that a patient’s awareness is responsible for his
cancer is very troublesome to many people—and so it
should be. Ayurveda as I view it does not agree that there is
a so-called cancer personality, nor does it accept that
superﬁcial emotions, styles of behavior, and attitud es cause
cancer. Some resear chers are convinced that patients who
react with helplessness and depression to their cancer are
more likely to die from the disease than those patients who
have a strong component in their personalities called “the
will to live.” This seems unarguable, but is it any help? A person aﬄicted with cancer naturally goes through
cycles of emotion; his will to live is susceptible to wild
swings from one extrem e to the other; and there is no
reason to expect that any “typical cancer personality”
proﬁle should emerge. (Some of the original research that
supposedly veriﬁed the “typical cancer personality” was
based on insigniﬁcantly small patient groups, as few as
twenty-ﬁve subjects, all of whom had only one type of
cancer—typically breas t cancer.) Why should the
psychologically healthy, who already have such a great
advantage, be the only hopeful cases?This is not an empty question. Recently I was on a plane
and happened to sit beside a very lively woman in her
sixties. She struck me immediately as a Yankee of the
classic type— very vigorous, no-nonsense, and full of strong
opinions. Her family had lived in Maine for generations and
had become quite prosperous. Since my head was full of all
the issues involved in cancer treatment, we bega n to talk
about them. The old lady lifted her chin. “I don’t believe any of these
doctors know what they’re talking about,” she declared. “My mother was diagnose d with breast cancer in 1947. She
went and had the lump removed and then came  home to
look after her four children. My father begged her to return
to Boston for a mastectom y, but she said she was too busy
for it, and she was too busy to be sick, too. She went on
perfectly normally like that. After a while my father won
out, and she did go back for the mastectomy, but there
wasn’t any radiation or chemotherapy back then.”
“What happened to her?” I asked. “Nothing happened,” the woman answered. “She lived
twelve more years, until she was over seventy, when she
contracted pneumonia. The whole family gathered around
her bed, she told us goodbye, and three days later she
died.”
Listening to this story, I suddenly saw, with a comb ination
of wonder and sadness, what it was about—the paradox of
being normal. It is absolutely normal to be too busy to be
sick, for that is exactly the kind of awareness that the
immune system thrives on. When you are just yourse lf and
not a “cancer patient,” then the complicated chain of the
immune response, with its hundreds of precise ly timed
operations, goes to work with a vengeance. But once you give in to helplessness and fear, this chain
breaks apart. You start sending out the neuropeptides
associated with negative emotions, these latch onto theimmune cells, and the immune response loses its eﬀiciency. (Exactly how this happens is not known, but the decreased
immune status of depressed patients is well docu mented.) Here is where the paradox comes in: if you reacted to
cancer as no great threat, the way you react to the ﬂu, you
would have the best chance of recovering, yet a diagnosis
of cancer makes every patient feel totally abnormal. The
diagnosis itself sets up the vicious circle, like a snake biting
its tail until there is no more snake. The reason I felt sadness and wonder at the same  time is
that it sudde nly dawned on me how inﬁnitely beautiful the
immune system is and how terribly vulnerable at the same
time. It forges our link with life and yet can break it at any
moment. The immune system knows all our secrets, all our
sorrows. It know s why a mother who has lost a child can
die of grief, because the immune system has died of grief
ﬁrst. It knows every moment a cancer patient spends in the
light of life or the shadow of death, because it turns those
moments into the body’s physical reality. Cancer, or any other disease, is nothing more than the
sequence of these ﬂeeting moments, each with its own
emotions, its own mind-b ody chemistry. In other words, the
diseased cells are but one ingredient out of countless
others; the others are just more intangible. Ayurveda
maintains that many diﬀerent conditions interact to create
disease—the disease organism plays one part, aided by the
patient’s immune resistance, age, diet, habits, the time of
year, and many other factors that contribute to the eventual
clinical result. Western medical studies have also
abundantly proved that a person’s lifestyle and emotional
makeup are implicated in his state of health, but we lack
the omniscience to evaluate all these factors. A cancer
patient has a whole life behind him, populated by thoughts,
actions, and emotions that no other person shares exactly.The fact that emotions lie so deep does not mean that
cancer patients cannot alter them. People can be rescued
from their feelings of helplessness and despair by going to
a still deeper level. It does not matter if one is caught in the
throes of either despair or huge self-conﬁdence. Either one
could be a phantom. Ayurveda therefore pays much less
attention to surface emot ions than does current mind-body
medicine. The whole rationale for treating cancer (or AIDS)
with primordial sound and bliss techniques is that they
reach the deep levels of consciousness common to
everyone, the weak as much as the strong. The following  case study is the most complete success to
date of treating cancer with these techniques. The patient
is a woman in her late thirties named Eleanor. In 1983,
while living in Colorado and working for a computer
company there, Eleanor was diagnosed with advanced
breast cancer that had metastasized to the lymph nodes
under her arm. She underwent one radical mastectomy,
followed by a second; her reaction to chemotherapy
afterward was extremely poor. Finding the side eﬀects
intolerable, she abandoned conventional treatment
altogether, even though her doctors made her well aware
that the cancer had now spread to her bones. Patients in
this category of metastasis have about a 1 percent chance
of survival. As it happens, Eleanor was advised by her family doctor
to start meditating in 1986, in the middle of her disease. Through her meditatio n practice, she heard about
Ayurveda. She came to Lancaster for inpatient treatment,
where I met her and instructed her in the primordial sound
for treating cancer. The results were remarkable. Her
severe bone pain disappe ared (this incident was mentioned
earlier, in chapter 9), and whenever she returned home to
be X-rayed, her radiologist found fewer and fewer pockets
of bone cancer.It was far too late for these regressions to have been
caused by her earlier treatment. Generally, if a tumor is
being bombarded with radiation or chemotherapy


. Look at your world with fresh eyes. Notice things you don’ t usually
pay attention to. Look at the many shades of green that nature paints. W atch the clouds manifest and dissolve. Go to your local art museum
and walk through the galleries. Really look at the faces of the people in
your life. T aste things as if for the first time. Bite into a tart apple. Savor the
flavor of freshly baked cherry pie. Pop a clove bud in your mouth. T aste your lover with a passionate kiss. Drink a freshly squeezed glass
of orange juice. Delight your taste buds. Notice the aromas in your environment. Breathe in the fragrances of
your garden. Snif f the smells of dinner. Inhale the scents of your loved
one. Go outside after a rain and smell the earth. Notice how closely
smells are linked with your memories and emotions. EXP AND YOUR IMAGINA TION
The ener gy and information of the world is translated into subtle sensory
impulses that are experienced on the screen of your consciousness. These
inner impulses are known in A yurveda as T anmatras. W e can think of them
as mental quanta, the subjective equivalent to the subtlest units of matter in
the physical world. A wakening the T anmatras through active imagination
creates a youthful mind. Read th e following visualizatio ns, then close your eyes and invoke a
vivid impression in your mind. Sound
Imagine the sound of:
A church bell tolling on Sunday morningA cricket, chirping outside your window at night
A marching band performing at a high school football game
A grandfather clock sounding six o’clock
A coyote howling at the moon
T ouch
Imagine the sensations of:
W alking on a sandy beach
T aking a hot shower
T ouching a rose petal
Stroking the soft cheek of an infant child
Caressing satin sheets
V ision
Imagine the sight of:
The sun setting over the Pacific Ocean
A flock of geese flying in formation overhead
Cumulus clouds on a warm summer day
A children’ s ballet performance
An Olympic diver jumping of f the platformT aste
Imagine the taste of:
A fresh, ripe peach
A spoonful of chocolate-chip ice cream
Gar gling with mint-flavored mouthwash
A pungent jalapeño pepper
A bitter leaf of endive lettuce
Smell
Imagine the smell of:
Bread baking in the oven
A new bar of sandalwood soap
A cinnamon stick
A freshly cut lemon
A fragrant rose
MUL TISENSOR Y IMAGINA TION
Y ou can develop your subtle sen ses by imagining multisensory experiences. Start with the fo llowing exercises and then create your own vi sualizations
to exercise your imagination. Imagine:
Y ou are walking along the beach on a tropical island. Y ou feel the warm
sun on your body. Y ou hear the ocean waves lapping at the sh ore and the
call of seagulls. Y ou smell the faint waft of your coconut suntan lotion. Imagine:
Y ou are in a late-fifties diner. The sounds of an Elvis Presley song fill the
room from the jukebox in the corner. The young men in the re staurant are
wearing white T -shirts with their sleeves rolled up. Y ou tak e your first
swallow of the chocolate milk shake served in a lar ge frosty fountain glass. Imagine:
Y ou are lying o n a lounge chair on a warm summer night. Fir eflies are
glowing on and of f as you gaze  into the dark sky. Crickets are chirping in
unison. The fragrance of night- blooming jasmine perfuses the air. As you
take a bite out of a fresh peach, a shooting star flashes through the sky. Nurture the enthusiasm that comes with heightened awareness of the
sounds, sensatio ns, sights, tastes, and smells in your outer and in ner worlds. Pay attention to the gifts your senses bring you. Learning and Gr owing
A yo uthful mind is a growing m ind. It is dedicated to continua l expansion
and lea rning. A youthful mind thrives on new experiences and new
knowledge. Experience combined with knowledge leads to wisdom. Make a commit ment to learn th roughout your life. Here are j ust a few
suggestions to keep your mind growing:Read—the classics, novels, Shakespeare, science fiction, fantasies. T ry
genres you do not usually choose. Read poetry—Rumi, T agore, Hafiz, Blake, Longfellow, Frost,
Ginsber g, and the modern poets
Read spiritual literature—the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, the
Upanishads, the Dhammapada
T ake classes at your local college
Learn a foreign language
T ake piano lessons
Learn to dance
T ake art classes
Learn to cook
T ake writing classes
Join a choir
T ake pottery classes
Learn a new computer program
T ake a poetry-writing class
Go to workshops—on love, on human potential, on success, on
spirituality, on health
T ake horseback-riding lessons
T ake a photography classV isit new places
T ravel to foreign lands
Go to museums and art galleries
W atch foreign films
Go to concerts
Relinquish rigid ideas about who you are, and challenge yourself with
new experiences and new perspectives. Expand your vocabulary. Keep
abreast of trends in art, science,  technology, medicine, politics,  music, and
fashion. Don’ t be afraid to question prevailing beliefs, including your own. Learn something new every day. As you continue stimulating your mind to
grow, your brain will continue c reating new connections among  its billions
of cells.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the key to experiencing the most fulfilling sexual experiences?,
A: Investing time and attention in creating physical, emotional, and spiritual intimacy.
Q: What are the three areas where expectations often reside in relationships?,
A: Performance, emotions, and security
Q: What is the significance of vulnerability in lovemaking?,
A: Vulnerability is essential for creating intimacy and connection, as it allows for the release of resistance and the experience of true freedom.
Q: According to Ayurveda, what is the purpose of the herbs and spices mentioned in the text?,
A: The herbs and spices are meant to enhance ojas, which is a vital energy that unifies the body, mind, and soul.
Q: What is the primary focus of the quantum realm, according to the text?,
A: The quantum realm is focused on the expansion of consciousness, creativity, and playfulness, which is the essence of a youthful mind.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Add ¼ cup of vegetable stock and simmer for 3
to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garbanzos, and the rest of the vegetable stock. Simmer until the
green beans are tender. Most of the liquid will be absorbed. Roasted Carrots with Fresh Rosemary
1 teaspoon ghee or olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon dill, dried
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, removed from stem and
coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon Braggs Liquid Amino Acid or tamari sauce
6 lar ge carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

Whisk together everything except the carrots in a lar ge mixing bowl. Add the carrots and toss with
your hands until well  coated. On a sprayed sheet pan, lay out the carrots and roast in a 350-degree
oven. Roast until tender, about 20 minutes. Raspberry T ofu Sorbet
One 10-ounce bag raspberries, frozen (or ganic)
One 10-ounce bag strawberries, frozen (or ganic)One 12-ounce container Mori Nu or silken tofu, low-fat, firm
or extra firm
¼ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cloves
T oasted coconut flakes
T oasted sliced almonds

In a food processor, pulse berries until almost smooth. Add tofu and continue to puree; add maple
syrup, vanilla, and cl oves. Continue to puree until a smooth texture is achieved. Remove from the
food processor and scoop out into bowls. Garnish with toasted coconut flakes and toasted sliced
almonds. Store any leftovers in the freezer. MEXICAN CUISINE
T ortilla Soup with A vocado and Cilantr o
Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas
Spanish Rice
Mango and T omato Salsa
Baked V anilla Flan with Maple Syrup

T ortilla Soup with A vocado and Cilantro
2 teaspoons ghee
1 cup leeks, chopped
1 teaspoon Braggs Liquid Amino Acid or tamari sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon chili powder (mild)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 cup carrots, cut into bite-size pieces
½ cup green bell pepper, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen (or ganic)
¼ cup roasted pepper, fresh or from a jar, chopped
2 corn tortillas, cut into 1-inch-thick strips
1 cup fresh avocado, cubed¼ cup, packed, cilantro, chopped
Several sprigs cilantro with stems (for garnish)

In a soup pot, heat 1  teaspoon of the ghee and add


 unication. Greetings, my dearest friends. May this evening be a blessing and
an enric hment for every one of you here and for all who read these
words. May you open your minds and hearts so you can deeply
understand yourselves. And even if you cannot understand my
words immediately, some of them may take root in your psyche and
come to fruition later. Full understanding of this lecture may reach
you only as you work your way through the deep layers of your
unconscious where what I say here will apply. There are two basic ways to approach life and the self. Or, to put
it dierently, there are two fundamental possibilities for human
consciousness: the dualistic and the unied plane. The majority of
human beings live predominantly on the dualistic plane, where you
perceive and experience everything in opposites: either/or; good orbad; right or wrong; life or death. In other words, practically
everything you encounter, every human problem, is shaped by this
dualism. The unied principle combines the opposites of dualism. By transcendin g dualism you will also transcend the pain it causes. Few human beings transcen d the dualistic plane, so most people
experience only an occasional taste of the limitless outlook, the
wisdom and freedom of the unied plane. On the unied plane of consciousness there are no opposites. There is no good or bad, no right or wrong, no life or death. There is
only good, only right, only life. Yet it is not the kind of good, or
right, or life that comprises only one pole of the dualistic opposites. It trans cends them both and is completely dierent from either one. The good, the right, the life that exist on the unied plane of
consciousness combine both dualistic poles, so no conict exists. This is why living in a unied  state, in absolute reality, creates bliss,
unlimited freedom, fulllment, and that unlimited realization of
potentials which religion calls heaven. Heaven is usually thought to
be a place in time and space. This, of course, is not so. Heaven is a
state of conscio usness that can be realized at any time by any entity,
whether a human being in the esh, or one who does not live in a
material body. Understanding Is the Way to the Unied Plane
The unied state of consciousness is attained through
understanding or knowingness. Life on the dualistic plane is a
continuous problem. You have to struggle with the arbitrary,
illusory division of the unied principle, through which things
become oppo sites that impose conicts. This creation of
irreconcilable opposites generates a tension within and therefore
with the outside world. Let us understand this particular struggle, and therefore the
human predicament, a little better. You already have, in your real
self, a unied state of mind, regardless of how unconscious and ignorant
you may be of it. This real self embodies the unied principle. Now,even those who have never heard of such a thing have a deep
longing and a mostly uncons cious sense of a dierent state of mind
and life experience than the one they know. They yearn for the
freedom, blissf ulness, and mastery of life that the unied state of
consciousness aords. This longing is misinterpreted by the personality, partly because it
is an unconscious yearning for happiness and fulllment. But let us
understand precisely what is really meant by these words. They
mean the unication of the dualistic opposites, so that there is no
longer any tension, conict, or fear. Consequently, the world
becomes alive and the self is master, not in a tight, tense, hostile
way, but in the sense that life can be exactly what the individual
determines it to be. The freedom, mastery, and bliss of this
liberation are sought after consciously and unconsciously. The misinterpr etation of this longing occurs partly because it is
unconscious—only a vague feeling deep within the soul. But even
when the theoretical knowledge of such a state exists, it is still
misinterpreted for yet another reason. When freedom, mastery,
unication, and the resulting bliss of the unied state of
consciousness are pursued on the dualistic plane, a tremendous
conict must ensue because they are absolutely impossible to
accomplish on that plane. You strive for the fulllment of your deep
longing to transcend and nd, deep within yourself, a new state of
consciousness where all is one. When you seek this on a plane
where all is divided, you cannot ever nd what you seek. You will
despair and split yourself further apart in conicts, for illusion
creates duality. This happens overwhelmingly among people who are ignorant of
these possibilit ies, but it also happens among people who are more
spiritually enlightened, yet are nevertheless ignorant both of the
dierence between these two planes and of how they can learn to
transcend the dualistic plane in their practical daily existence. When the vague longing for, or the precise theoretical knowledge
of, the unied plane of consciousness is misread and therefore
sought on the dualistic plane, here is what happens: You sense that
there is only good, freedom, right, beauty, love, truth, life, without athreatening opposite, but when you apply this on the dualistic
plane, you will immediately  be plunged into the very conict you
seek to avoid. You then ght for one of the dualistic aspects and
against the other. Such a ght makes transcendence impossible. Let me demon strate this in a familiar, everyday human problem,
so that you can understand these words more concrete ly. Let us
assume that you are quarreling with a friend. You are convinced,
from where you sit, that you are right; therefore, immediately, the
friend becomes wrong. With dualistic understanding issues can only
be either/or.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Self-Acceptance
The genuine desire to better oneself leads one to accept one’s
personality as it is now. If this basic premise is the main governing
force of your motivation for perfection, any discovery of where you
fall short of your ideals will not throw you into depressio n, anxiety,
and guilt, but will rather strengthen you. You will not need to
exaggerate the “badness” of the behavior in question, nor will you
defend yourse lf against it with the excuse that it is the fault of
others, of life, of fate. You will gain an objective view of yourself in
this respect, and this view will liberate you. You will fully assume
responsibility for the faulty attitude, being willing to take the
consequences upon yourself. When you act out your idealized self,
you dread nothing more than that, for taking the responsibility of
your shortcom ings upon yourself is tantamount to saying, “I am not
my idealized self. ”The Inner Tyrant
Feelings of failure, frustratio n, and compulsion, as well as guilt
and shame, are the most outstanding indications that your idealized
self is at work. These are the consciously felt emotions  out of all
those that lie hidden underneath. Actually, the basis of the tyranny
of the idealized self-image is the sense of false shame  and false guilt
that this image  produces when one cannot live up to it. In addition,
the idealized self also manifests false needs, which are superimposed
and articially created, like the need for glory, the need to triumph,
to satisfy vanity or pride. The pursuit of these needs never results in
true fulllment. The idealized self has been called into existence in order to attain
self-condence and therefore, nally, happiness, pleasure supreme. The stronger its presence, the more genuine self-condence fades
away. Since you cannot live up to its standards, you think even less
of yourself than you origin ally did. It is therefore obvious that
genuine self-condence can be established only when you remove
the superstructure, which is this merciless tyrant, your idealized
self. Yes, you could have self-co ndence if the idealized self were
really you; and if you could live up to these standards. Since this is
impossible and since, deep down, you know perfectly well you are
not anything like what you think you are supposed to be, you build
up additional insecurity with this “super self,” and further vicious
circles come into existence. The original insecurity, which was
supposedly whisked away by the establishment of the idealized self,
steadily increa ses. It snowballs, and becomes worse and worse. The
more insecure you feel, the more stringent the demands of the
superstructure or idealized self, the less you are able to live up to it,
and the more insecure you feel. It is very important to see how this
vicious circle works. But this cannot be done until and unless you
become fully aware of the devious, subtle, unconscious ways in
which this idealized self