 needed. High triglycerides indicate the
risk of atherosclerosis or CAD. Mild-to-moderate levels advise of biliary obstruction, diabetes,
kidney disease, endocrinopathies, or too much consumption of alcohol. Decreased levels are rare
but may show malnutrition or a betalipoproteinemia.
Note: On the Gerson diet, flare-ups and healing reactions are shown by elevated tri-
glycerides.
The Serum Protein Electrophoresis Laboratory Test
The major blood proteins of the body, albumin and four globulins, are measured in an electric
field by separating them into patterns according to size, shape, and electric charge at pH 8.6.
Comprising more than 50 the serum creatinine level (see the test description which immediately
follows).
With normal values ranging from 8 to 20 mg/dL, the BUN test helps to evaluate kidney
function, aids in the diagnosis of kidney illness, and assesses the body’s hydration. An elevated
BUN happens in reduced renal blood flow from dehydration, renal disease, urinary tract
obstruction, and ‘increased protein catabolism as in burns. Depressed BUN levels occur in severe
liver damage, malnutrition, and overhydration.
Note: Due to  initial decreased dietary protein intake, a person following the Gerson Therapy
will likely show a slightly reduced level of BUN.
The Serum Creatinine Laboratory Test
Providing a more sensitive measure of kidney damage than the BUN, the serum creatinine
laboratory test is a quantitative analysis of the nonprotein end product of metabolism, creatinine.
Kidney impairment is virtually the only cause of creatinine elevation in the blood; therefore,
creatinine levels are directly related to the glomerular filtration rate. They assess renal glomerular
function and screen for kidney damage.
Creatinine concentration in males normally ranges from 0.8 to 1.2 mg/dL; in females it ranges
from 0.6 to 0.9 mg/dL. Elevation of serum creatinine means that serious renal disease is present
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 188Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comwith 50 percent damaged nephrons as in gigantism and acromegaly. Interfering factors are too
much absorption of ascorbic acid, barbiturates, diuretics, and sulfobromophthalein. Also, athletes
may have above-average creatinine levels, even with normal kidney function.
The Serum Uric Acid Laboratory Test
Used mainly to detect gout, the serum uric acid laboratory test measures levels of uric acid,
a metabolite of purine in the blood. Glomerular filtration and tubular secretion gets rid of uric
acid, but it’s less soluble at a pH of 7.4 or lower which occurs in certain diseases such as gout,
excessive cellular generation and destruction as in leukemia, and kidney dysfunction.
Uric acid concentrations in men range from 4.3 to 8 mg/dL; in women they range from 2.3
to 6 mg/dL. Although elevated levels of serum uric acid don’t correlate with severity of disease,
they do rise in congestive heart failure, glycogen storage disease, acute infectious diseases
such as infectious mononucleosis, hemolytic anemia, sickle cell anemia, hemoglobinopathies,
polycythemia, leukemia, lymphoma, metastatic malignancy, and psoriasis. Depressed uric acid
levels indicate defective acute hepatic atrophy or tubular absorption as in Wilson’s disease and
Fanconi’s syndrome.
Drug factors interfering in the serum uric acid laboratory test include loop diuretics,
ethambutol, vincristine, pyrazinamide, thiazides, and low doses of salicylates which elevate
blood levels. Also, starvation, a high-purine diet, stress, and alcohol abuse raise uric acid. When
uric acid is measured by the colorimetric method, false elevations come from acetaminophen,
ascorbic acid, levodopa, and phenacetin. Decreased uric acid is caused by high doses of aspirin,
Coumadin, clofibrate, cinchophen, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and phenothiazines.
The Glucose, Fasting Blood Sugar
(FBS) L ABORATORY  TEST
Following a 12- to 14-hour fast, the glucose, fasting blood sugar (FBS) laboratory test
measures glucose metabolism as required in diabetes mellitus. In the fasting state, blood glucose
levels decrease, stimulating release of the hormone glucagon. Glucagon then raises plasma
glucose by accelerating glycogenolysis, stimulating glyconeogenesis, and inhibiting glycogen
synthesis. Normally, secretion of insulin checks this rise in glucose levels. In diabetes, absence or
deficiency of insulin allows persistently high glucose levels.
Normal ranges for fasting blood glucose on the FBS laboratory test after an eight- to twelve-
hour fast are:
 ▪  fasting serum, 70 to 100 mg/dL;
 ▪  fasting whole blood, 60 to 100 mg/dL;
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 189Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.com  ▪  nonfasting whole blood, 85 to 125 mg/dL in persons over age 50, and 70 to 115 mg/dL
    in persons under age 50.
These laboratory readings help to screen for diabetes mellitus and other disorders of glucose
metabolism. They also monitor drug or dietary therapy for diabetics, insulin requirements for
uncontrolled diabetics, and known or suspected hypoglycemics.
Fasting blood glucose levels of 140 to 150 mg/dL or higher obtained on two or more occasions
are diagnostic of diabetes mellitus. Nonfasting levels that exceed 200 mg/dL also show diabetes.
The elevated blood glucose may come from pancreatitis, hyperthyroidism, pheochromocytoma,
chronic hepatic disease, brain trauma, chronic illness, chronic malnutrition, eclampsia, anoxia,
and convulsive disorders as well.
Depressed blood glucose occurs from hyperinsulinism, insulinoma, von Gierke’s disease,
functional or reactive hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, congenital adrenal
hyperplasia, hypopituitarism, islet cell carcinoma of the pancreas, hepatic necrosis, and glycogen
storage disease.
The Serum Iron And Total Iron- Binding Capacity Laboratory Test
Two separate blood tests conducted with buffering and coloring reagents measure (1) the
amount of iron bound to the glycoprotein transferrin and (2) the plasma’s total iron-binding
capacity (TIBC) if all the transferrin were saturated with iron. The percentage of saturation is
obtained by dividing the serum iron result by the TIBC, which reveals the actual amount of
saturated transferrin. Normal transferrin is 30 percent saturated. Thus, the two tests (a) estimate
total iron storage, (b) diagnose hemochromatosis, (c) distinguish between iron deficiency anemia
and chronic disease anemia, and (d) evaluate a person’s nutritional status.
Normal serum iron and TIBC values have been determined to be:
                                     Serum Iron  TIBC (mcg/dL)   Saturation (mcg/dL)
Men:    70 to 150      300 to 400           20 to 50
Women:    80 to 150      350 to 450             20 to 50
In iron deficiency, serum iron falls and TIBC increases to decrease the saturation. With
chronic inflammation as in rheumatoid arthritis, serum iron is low in the presence of adequate
body stores, but TIBC remains unchanged or drops to preserve normal saturation. Iron overload
does not alter serum levels until relatively late in the pathology, but serum iron increases and
TIBC remains the same to increase the saturation.
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 190Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comThe Erythrocyte (Red Blood Cell, RBC) Count
Traditionally counted by hand with a hemacytometer, red blood cells (RBCs) are now
commonly counted with electronic devices, which provide faster, more accurate results. This
erythrocyte count does not provide qualitative information about the RBCs’ hemoglobin content,
but it does tell mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH).
Thus, the erythrocyte blood count offers indices for RBC size and hemoglobin content and
supports other hematologic tests in diagnosing anemia and polycythemia.
Depending on age, sex, sample, and geographic location, normal RBC values in adult males
range from 4.


 the iodine. Shirley was instructed to take
microgram doses of iodine in the form of Atomidine
®
 (Edgar Cayce’s iodine formulation) three days per
week. Since
reducing her dose, all of her hypothyroid symptoms have improved and she is not having palpitations. Shirley’s case is
very rare. I have only had to use microgram amounts of iodine a few times over the last 12 years. This has occurred in
patients who are extremely sensitive to nearly everything.
The above cases illustrate that every patient needs to have an individualized treatment plan. Those that are sensitive to
medications may need a lowered dose, and may need to titrate their dose of iodine. If one is deficient in iodine, it is rare not to be
able to find an appropriate dose to improve the clinical condition.
Amanda, a 23-year-old fitness instructor, complained of coldness of her extremities and fatigue. “I teach four aerobic
classes per day and I am exhausted after each class,” she said. Amanda’s saliva/serum of iodide could not be calculated
since her iodine level was too low. In addition, she was found to have a large amount of bromide in her serum (127mg/L).
As established in
Chapter 11
, bromide is a toxic halogen that inhibits iodine absorption and binding in the body. Amanda
was started on 25mg/day of iodine/iodide (Iodoral
®
). Immediately, her symptoms improved. “I was not exhausted after
teaching my aerobics class. Also, my hands and feet warmed up,” she said. Amanda was also complaining of a rash on
her skin after teaching a pool aerobics class. The pool was sanitized with bromine. After taking the
iodine, the rash
immediately disappeared. Follow-up testing revealed that Amanda’s saliva/serum iodide improved to 42.5 and her serum
bromine level fell to 16.7mg/L.
Update on Amanda’s case: Amanda has now been on iodine for three years. “I would not stop taking it because it
makes me feel so good. The biggest difference I have found is that my energy level declines when I go a few days without
iodine,” she said.
New (5
th
 Edition) update on Amanda’s case: Amanda continues to take 25mg/day of iodine. She has had her first
baby and took the same dose of iodine throughout her pregnancy. Amanda recently reported to me, “Of all the things I
have taken over the years, iodine is the best. If I miss taking it for a few days, I start to get puffy and my energy drops.
My body will tell me when I forget to take iodine. I never want to stop taking it.”
Amanda’s case is very common. The correction of iodine deficiency can resolve the symptoms of hypothyroidism. In fact, if
there is iodine deficiency and hypothyroidism present, iodine deficiency needs to be corrected first. This was explained in
Chapter
6
. In Amanda’s case, correcting an iodine deficit was probably helping the body rid itself of the toxic halide bromine. The
improvement in her skin was evidence of this.
Kim, a 42-year-old business woman, wanted desperately to have another child. She said, “My son is 11 and I want
him to
have a brother or sister.” Kim had two miscarriages over the last two years and she had a difficult time getting
pregnant. Her first pregnancy was very hard for her as she was extremely fatigued and had a very difficult delivery. Kim
was diagnosed with hypothyroidism after the birth of her first child and placed on thyroid hormone (Armour
®
 thyroid). “I
did feel better with the Armour
®
 thyroid, but I was still cold. The worst thing was that my energy never really returned
after the birth of my son,” she said. Kim heard a lecture that I gave on iodine and had her iodine levels checked. Her
iodine-loading test was low at 22% excretion (normal >90%) and she was placed on 50mg/day of Iodoral
®
. “I felt a
huge change immediately. My energy returned and all of my remaining hypothyroid symptoms resolved within weeks. It
felt like a miracle,” she said. Kim became pregnant shortly after starting the iodine supplementation and she delivered a
healthy baby boy nine months later. During the pregnancy, she continued the iodine supplement. “At 42 years old, thiswas the easiest pregnancy. I gained 16 pounds and could fit into all my regular clothes right after I delivered. My midwife
was amazed at how easy this pregnancy was on me. I wasn’t even fatigued after the delivery. I wish that I had taken
iodine earlier in my life,” she claimed.
Kim’s story is repeated over and over in my practice. Iodine supplementation often helps improve a hypothyroid
condition.
Many times, even with the supplementation of thyroid hormone, some hypothyroid symptoms still remain. My experience has
shown that the best results in treating a thyroid condition will occur when iodine deficiency is rectified.
1
 Vitale, M. Endocrinology. 2000 Feb; 141(2):598-605.Chapter 15
Questions and Answers
CHAPTER 15: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
This chapter will help to answer common questions regarding iodine.
Q: Is there a difference between Lugol’s iodine and tableted Lugol’s such as Iodoral
®
 or Iodozyme HP™?
A: No. All three items contain iodine and iodide. Two drops of Lugol’s equals one Iodoral
®
 or Iodozyme HP™ tablet
(with both supplying 12.5mg of iodine/iodide). Lugol’s solution has a fairly strong metallic taste that many find offensive.
For doses under 50mg, I generally prefer tableted iodine. For doses greater than 50mg, I suggest taking Lugol’s iodine
since the price is less expensive.
Q: Do children need iodine?
A: Yes. Children and adults need adequate amounts of iodine. Children need smaller amounts due to their size. Iodine
dosing guidelines for children were covered in
Chapter 10
.
Q: Is the iodine patch test reliable?
A: No. The iodine patch test does not provide useful information on the body’s total iodine status. Approximately
20% of the body’s iodine load is found in the skin. The iodine patch test may provide information about how much iodine
is in the skin, but the studies have not been done to verify that. One study found that over 85% of the iodine applied to
the skin sublimated (evaporated) into the air. A more reliable indicator of the total body iodine load is the 24-hour
urinary iodine-loading test.
Q: If I have no thyroid gland, do I need iodine?
A: Yes. Iodine is found in all the tissues of the body, not just the thyroid gland. Even without a thyroid gland, the rest
of the body needs iodine.
Q: Does iodine supplementation cause goiter?
A: No. Iodine deficiency causes goiter. Medical research has shown this for over 100 years.
Q: Does everyone need to take 50mg/day of iodine?
A: No. There is no single dose that is effective for everyone. I suggest working with a health care provider who is
iodine knowledgeable.
Q: Is iodine deficiency more prevalent now than it was in the past?
A: Yes. Due to the increased toxicity of our modern
surroundings, iodine deficiency is more pronounced now. The
onslaught of chemicals and goitrogens such as bromine and fluoride has risen dramatically over the last 40 years. What
has happened to our iodine levels during that time period? They have fallen by over 50%. Goitrogens can bind to iodine
receptors and also bind to and damage the transport mechanisms for iodine. Goitrogens can exacerbate the iodine-
deficiency problem that already is present. Combined with a declining nutrient level in our food supply, it is no wonder
that people need to ingest larger amounts of iodine compared to past times.

Q: Does iodine cause autoimmune thyroid illness such as Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease?
A: No. Autoimmune thyroid illnesses have been increasing over the last 40 years, while iodine levels have been
falling. If iodine was the cause of autoimmune thyroid illness, as iodine levels fall, you would expect to see a decline in
the incidence of Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease. That has not happened. In fact, the opposite has happened–over the
last 40 years, autoimmune thyroid illnesses have increased at epidemic rates.

Q: Are there side effects with iodine supplementation?
A: There are potential side effects from supplementing with anything, iodine included. With proper follow-up visits
and
monitoring, adverse effects are easily treated.
Chapters 5
-
7
 review how to minimize adverse effects with
autoimmune thyroid disorders and
Chapter 13
 describes the adverse effects of iodine in more detail.

Q: Why hasn’t conventional medicine recognized that iodine deficiency is still present today?
A: A natural product cannot be patented. A patentable product can be very profitable for a pharmaceutical company.
Big Pharma cartel’s main interest is to make a profit. Big Pharma has shown little interest in any natural


	within	that
time,	it	would	count	as	a	hit.	If	he	didn’t	say	the	word,	or	if	he	said	it	after	the
two	minutes	were	up,	it	counted	as	a	miss.
To	ensure	neutrality,	someone	besides	Aimee	chose	both	the	pictures	and
the	key	words	that	matched	each	one.	(This	proved	somewhat	unfair	to	the
bird,	since	the	neutral	chooser	picked	some	words	like	“TV”	that	N’kisi	had
only	said	once	or	twice	before;	the	bird	didn’t	utter	these	words	at	the	right
time	during	the	experiment,	nor
did
	he	say	them	at	all.)	After	all	the	trialswere	over,	the	tapes	of	what	N’kisi	had	said	were	played	for	three	judges,
who	wrote	down	what	they	heard;	unless	N’kisi	distinctly	said	the	right	word,
as	transcribed	by	all	three	judges,	a	hit	wouldn’t	count.	The	results	were
beyond	ordinary	comprehension.	For	example,	when	Aimee	looked	at	a
picture	showing	scantily	clad	bathers	on	a	beach,	N’kisi	mumbled	for	a	bit,
then	all	three	judges	heard	him	say,	“Look	at	my	pretty,	naked	body.”	He
didn’t	say	other,	irrelevant	key	words	in	between	saying	the	right	words,	the
bird	only	whistled	and	made	tones.	When	Aimee	looked	at	a	picture	of
someone	talking	on	the	telephone,	N’kisi	said,	“What’cha	doin’	on	the
phone?”	Perhaps	his	most	intriguing	response	came	when	Aimee	concentrated
on	a	picture	of	flowers.	Instead	of	simply	uttering	the	key	word	“flower,”
Ni’kisi	said,	“That’s	a	pic	of	flowers.”
How	did	he	do	overall?	Out	of	71	trials,	N’kisi	got	23	hits,	as	compared
with	7.4	hits	that	would	have	been	expected	if	the	results	had	been	random.
Sheldrake	points	out	that	this	is	quite	a	significant	outcome,	all	the	more
because	N’kisi	wasn’t	aware	that	he	was	being	tested	and	often	said	the	right
key	word	after	the	allotted	time	was	up.
In	a	small	Manhattan	apartment	this	bit	of	proof	was	added	to	mounting
evidence	that	the	mind	isn’t	solely	human	property,	and	in	fact	might	exist
outside	the	brain.	Communication	between	the	animal	kingdom	and	humans
may	seem	odd,	but	pets	can’t	cheat	and	they	have	no	ulterior	motive	for
proving	they	have	special	abilities.	The	Vedic	rishis	long	ago	asserted	that	the
entire	universe	is	intelligent,	because	it	is	permeated	by	consciousness.	Let’s
see	how	precisely	we	can	put	this	in	modern	terms.
Into	the	Mind	Field
Mind	has	remained	a	metaphysical	riddle	for	centuries	because	it	inhabits	the
physical	world	like	a	ghost.	But	that’s	a	Western	perspective	based	on	our	bias
for	solid,	tangible	things.	We	insist	that
the
	brain	must	be	the	source	of	mind
because	the	brain	is	a	visible	object,	which	is	like	saying	that	a	radio	must	be
the	source	of	music	because	it	is	a	visible	object	from	which	music	emerges.
The	Vedic	rishis	adopted	the	opposite	perspective,	insisting	that	visible
objects	couldn’t	be	the	source	of	mind	since	the	physical	plane	is	the	least
conscious	of	worlds.	It	may	seem	significant	that	the	brain	is	active	during
thought,	but	a	radio	is	active	during	a	broadcast,	and	there	is	no	doubt	that
N’kisi	(not	to	mention	human	telepaths)	picked	up	a	thought	that	was	being
broadcast.
Our	Western	prejudice	against	the	invisible	isn’t	easy	to	overcome.	Mind
will	only	be	proved	to	exist	outside	the	brain	if	it	leaves	some	kind	of
footprint,	a	visible	sign	that	is	as	convincing	as	the	MRIs	that	provide
concrete	evidence	of	neural	activity.	One	such	piece	of	evidence	isinformation,	which	we’ve	touched	on	before.	If	information	permeates	the
entire	quantum	field,	it	can	bridge	mind	and	matter	in	terms	more	acceptable
to	a	materialist.	No	scientist	has	a	problem	believing	that	matter	and	energy
cannot	be	created	or	destroyed,	and	the	cutting	edge	of	physics	is	grappling
with	the	notion	that	information	cannot	be	created	or	destroyed,	either.	What
we	see	in	the	universe	is	constant	transformation.	Helium	atoms	that	fuel	the
sun	send	heat	to	Earth	that	gets	transformed	by	photosynthesis	into	plants	and
all	other	life-forms.	It	can	fairly	be	said	that	life	consists	of	the	sun’s	atoms
exchanging	information	with	atoms	on	Earth.	(Energy	is	information	in	the
sense	that	all	chemical	or	electrical	charges	can	be	expressed	as	plus	or	minus,
positive	or	negative,	zero	or	one.)	It	doesn’t	matter,	then,	that	your	body	bears
no	resemblance	to	a	fiery	star.	Both	are	part	of	the	same	information	field,
which	undergoes	endless	transformation	within	itself.	Or	as	Lord	Krishna
says	in	the	Bhagavad-Gita,	“Folding	back	in	on	myself,	I	create	again	and
again.”
Amit	Goswami,	a	prominent	physicist	who	writes	extensively	on	the	self-
aware	universe,	says	that	creativity	is	just	another	face	of
transformation
.
“The	universe	is	always	putting	new	wine	into	old	bottles,	or	new	wine	into
new	bottles.”	The	same	energy	packets,	containing	the	same	information,	are
being	endlessly	shuffled	in	the	Zero	Point	Field.	Goswami	approaches
reincarnation	in	the	same	context.	Identities	are	passing	through	the
information	field,	exchanging	data	with	new	identities	that	feel	like	a	new
“me”	but	are	actually	transmutations	of	indestructible	zeros	and	ones	strung
into	long	chains	of	ideas	and	experiences.
Right	now	you	are	a	bundle	of	information	in	mind	and	body.	You	have
unique	memories;	your	cells	have	undergone	chemical	changes	shared	by	no
one	else	in	the	world.	When	you	die,	none	of	this	information	will	vanish,
because	it	can’t.	There	is	nowhere	for	plus	and	minus,	positive	and	negative
to	go	since	the	field	contains	nothing
but
	information.	Therefore	their	only
alternative	is	to	recombine.	How	do	they	do	that?
The	answer	lies	in	the	root	word	of	information,	which	is	“form.”	We
inhabit	an	“in-formed	universe”	according	to	Ervin	Laszlo,	which	strings
atoms	along	the	double	helix	of	DNA,	bits	of	information	in	physical	form,
just	as	it	strings	together	information	in	nonphysical	form	as	ideas.	This
brings	us	one	step	closer	to	the	breathtaking	notion	that	the	whole	universe	is
God’s	mind;	that	is,	a	dynamic	field	of	infinite	information	undergoing
infinite	transformations.	But	we	can’t	take	that	step	unless	we	know	how
small	ideas	survive,	much	less	cosmic	ones.
The	rishis	taught	that	ideas	survive	in	the	Akashic	field	as	memories.	You
and	I	constantly	access	Akashic	memory	when	we	assume	that	we	are
accessing	our	brains.	In	esoteric	circles	Akashic	memory	functions	to	give	us
information	from	departed	spirits	and	past	lifetimes.	In	Jungian	psychologythe	same	m


 another adult.
Relative truth isn’t stable or reliable. It is constantly open to
disagreement. Being certain that you are right and someone else is wrong
creates endless hostility in traffic jams, religion, politics, and family life.
Yet each person justifies their participation in the hostilities by feeling that
they have truth on their side. To upgrade your story in this area, Royal Yoga
provides essential tactics to increase social intelligence.
THE PRACTICES OF TRUTH
Abandon the certainty that you are always right.
Allow the possibility that everyone has their own truth.
Hold on to your truth in silence. Don’t rush to broadcast it.
Don’t make other people wrong.Realize that your truth exists to bring light into your life and
those around you.
Don’t use “I’m only telling the truth” as a cover for blame,
criticism, and discord.
When your truth is compatible with the light, it will create no problems
for you. When your truth is a disguise for the desire to wound, criticize, and
blame other people, you are not even practicing relative truth—you are
lying to yourself instead.
Exercise
Glance over the list of practices for living your truth. Take an honest
look at how well you are following these practices. The first step, as noted
earlier, is to pause and stop yourself from following an impulse that would
make the situati on worse. The second step is to reflect afterward if your
response helped the situation.
For exam ple, imagine that you are talking to a friend or family member
whose beliefs you strongly disagree with. The most sensitive topics tend to
be the familiar ones: religion, politics, and money. You feel an impulse to
set this person straight, acting out of the certainty that you know the truth.
This certainty is a sure sign that you are using relative truth for the wrong
ends. There is no possibility that you will set the other person straight. You
will be creating resistance and hostility instead. The stress level  for both of
you will rise.
How do you know that those negative reactions will be the outcome?
Social intelligen ce tells you so. Bashing someone over the head with your
truth is a perfect example of doing more of what never worked in the first
place. By holding back, you are choosing a higher truth, and the higher
truth is that bringing light to any situation begins by not increasing the
darkness.
WEDNESDAYBeing Yourself
Begin by silently repeating today’ s theme:
I embrace the wholeness of myself.
I embrace the wholeness of myself.
The third yama  is abou t acting unselfishly, without envy, jealousy,
greed, or coveto usness. What makes this guidance hard to follow  is that we
are constantly comparing our stories to someone else’s. The rich, powerful,
and gifted seem to exist to fuel envy, and when we are drive n by social
climbing and ambition, these motivations typically come from a desire not
to be seen as inferior or to be left behind. As a result, “I want your story
instead of mine” is easier to indulge than upgrading your own story.
Royal Yoga teaches that stories are just temporary phases. The things
you envy and covet are not the values of the true self. You can choose to
envy the rich and famous, and this might provide you with motivation to
claw and compete for your chance at the golden ring. But in your fierce
focus and determination, you will lose sight of the wholeness of life.
While we use the word wholeness  to refer to everything from whole
foods to holistic medicine, Yoga has a unique view of it. The Yogic view is
that you are already whole but don’t realize it. Instead of striving to
overcome your inner struggle, along with the beliefs and condi tioning of a
lifetime, Royal Yoga advises only one thing, and that thing is to be yourself,
because no other behavior will open the way to realizing your true self.
The practices of the yamas  are like a testing ground to determine if
Yoga’s view of wholeness literally works. By practicing the third yama, you
do away  with envy, greed, and covetousness simply by being yourself,
moving away from the habits that keep you from knowing who you really
are.
THE PRACTICES OF BEING YOURSELF
Stop comparing yourself to others.Don’t depend on other people to validate you.
Set aside the criticism and judgments of others.
Get beyond self-judgment.
Accept who you are and appreciate what you have to offer.
Give everyone the space to be themselves.
Assume that all people, in their essence, are whole.
The key to these practices is to live without comparing yourself to
anyone else. In classic Yoga this yama  is specifically about not being
envious and covetous. I’ve expanded the theme for modern life, in which
mass media floods us with reasons to feel inadequate because we aren’ t as
rich, beautiful, smart, or talented as someone else; therefore, we feel the
need to acquire more and more of the things we lack. Endless consumerism
offers substitutes for embracing  who we are. Craving the next iPhone, a
bigger SUV, more premium channels on your smart TV, and all the rest of
the flashy material things around us is a hollow surrogate for the true self.
Royal Yoga isn’t telling you to look at your present life and call it
perfect—the yamas  are all about upgrading your story. Approach your life
with an attitude of “I am enough in myself,” instead of an attitude of
insecurity and lack. Social intelligence tells us that such a negative
starting point won’ t bring a better life; it only makes your present life less
rewarding.
Exercise
You cannot be yourself if you are constantly distracted. Today’ s
exercise is about becoming more aware of those times when you are
stressed, worried, overwhelmed, confused, or distracted in any way. The
moment you notice that you are feeling any of these things, find a moment
to be alone in a quiet place.
Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, and center your attention in
the region of your heart. Easily follow your breathing as you breathe in and
out. Don’t try to control or suppress any thoughts that arise. Don’t try tochange anything. Just be easy with the moment as it presents itself because
that’s the basis for a life in wholeness.
This simple practice of centering yourself will reappear over and over
again on our journey. No matter which limb of Yoga you are focused on, it
is crucia l for the experience to be natural and easy. Nothing is more natural
or easier than being yourself. Your sense of self is your lifelong companion,
and it will bring  immense rewards as you begin to realize that the self you
sense is the true self.
THURSDAY
The Value of Innocence
Begin by silently repeating today’ s theme:
I treat every day like a new world.
I treat every day like a new world.
The fourth yama  is abou t radiatin g a presence of purity and innocence.
The contrast with modern life could hardly be more glaring. As time moves
inexorably forw ard from the moment we are born, innocence is left behind.
Our experiences  teach us abou t the risks and obstacles in life, we stop
trusting automa tically and begin to distrust just as automati cally. Most
people would agree with this thumbnail sketch, but Royal Yoga pushes
back. Reality is timeless, and the things we lose, such as innocence and
trust, shouldn’ t be lost. They fade from our lives because we buy into a
scheme that everyone agrees on, the scheme that idealizes youth  and dreads
the ravages of time.
Right now, you can stop buying  into the illusion that your life is ruled
by the clock and the calendar. The light is always present; every day is a
new beginning; and innocenc e can always be reborn. Adopt those
principles, and your behavior will follow suit.As applied to your social self, innocence involves a set of practi ces, just
as all the yamas  do.
THE PRACTICES OF INNOCENCE
Don’t bring old expectations to new situations.
Don’t fear the present because of bad experiences in your
past.
Practice trust, including the ability to trust yourself.
Be open to other people as your default, rather than being
defensive or suspicious of them.
Be attuned to the mood of people around you. Don’t impose
your own mood on them.
In place of trying to control other people and the events of the
day, give them space to unfold the way they want to.
As with the other yamas, these princip les are based on social
intelligence. You are not aiming to change your inner beliefs  and habits.
That’ s why the word tactics  applies. Yet there are deeper levels to the
yamas, and one level is about the proper use of energy. The connection  with
innocence isn’ t obvious, so let me explain.
Royal Yoga teaches that energy you expend during the day is yours to
control and, as you become better at controlling it, more energy is provided.
This applies to every kind of energy—physical, mental, and emotional. A
good example is the energy of love. Falling in love is a disor ganized state,
known as “infatuation.” When you are infatuated, nothing matters but the
beloved, and all your ener gies are directed at your beloved, including sexual
energy. When you are caught up in infatuation


 or created by human lawgivers and enforcers.
What m akes us human is inv isible and impossible to codify. To
be human, you must know  how to pay attention. Yo u must
understand what it means to remember something, hold it in your
mind, and return to it whene ver you need to. You must be able to
carry through with an intention. These things are so basic that webarely n otice them, but too o ften the basic instructions have gone
awry.
The average mind is restless, u nable to stay  still for more than
a brief moment.
The average mind is shallow, u nabl e to reach beneath t he
surface of unending mental activity.
The average mind is without purpose, unable to bring its
intentions to fruition in a meaningful way.
These t hree problems are interlinked, and they bring about the
struggle that most people kn ow all too well. If it were na tural for
the hum an mind to be restle ss, shallow, and without purpose, it
would be useless to speak of metahuman as anything but an empty
ideal. But, in r eality, the mind by nature is restful. It is ca pable of
going d eeply into its own awareness, and it can find a higher
purpose. Pract ical immortality brings this truth to light, telling us
what is normal and natural in our mental life.
When y ou are in contact w ith one thing, other basic t hings
become clear. You cannot be  human without the ability to make
symbols and recognize what they mean. A red stop s ign is a
symbol that tells cars to ha lt at an intersection. Red  has zero
connection to stop  until human beings assign it that meaning. The
word tree  symbol izes a class of tall plants with wooden trunks, but
the con nection is totally arbitrary. Arbre  w ill do in Fren ch; Baum
in Ger man. Y et having created a symbol, we can become
imprisoned by it, the way tha t flags trap people into nationalism,
money into greed, and religious rituals into dogmatism.
The fre edom to create symbols without being ruled by them is
part of practica l immortality.  The Sufis say that everything in the
world i s symbolic, which seems true to me. Virtual reality is a
three-dimensional symbol of how Homo sapiens  wants the world
to be. The things we say in words are symbols of deeper things
that are beyond words or even thoughts. If you try to unravel
everything implied by the word love, for  example, the thread of
meaning will lead in every direction. “I love X” can be ass igned to
all desires, all wants and wishes. Then the opposite of love,
whether it is hate or fear, becomes symbolic of the undesirable.As part of going beyond your story, it is necessary to stop falling
prey to the lure of symbols. You begin to see that they are like
counterfeit money. Love  can be the word used to justify domestic
violence, obses sive jealousy, stalking, or attacking some one else
who de sires th e same person you desire. The same slip periness
afflicts a word like peace, w hich can be used by a country that sells
weapons of mass destruction  in the name of keeping peace among
nations or appeasing tyrants to prevent them from murdering
their own people.
The ultimate rationale for pr actical immortality is the same as
the rationale for not-doing. Y ou let wholeness unfold on its own.
You stop forcing, struggling, and interfering. It’s unfortunate that
the teachings of not-doing, whether in Buddhism, Taoism, or
Christianity, have acquired the reputation of being mystical. If
people simply stopped forcing, which isn’t mystical in the
slightest, daily life would improve immensely. If we stopped doing
a lot of things we know are bad for us, not-doing would b ecome a
way of life everyone would want to follow.
Why don’t we? Because e verything involved in practical
immortality—paying attenti on, using your intention to get
somewhere, fulfilling a purpose, dropping your story, ending the
tyranny of symbols—depends on a state of consciousness y ou have
to arriv e at. Virtual reality is all about stories and symbols.
Metareality isn ’t. That’s why a  path is needed to get from o ne state
of consciousness to a different one. What choiceless awareness
teaches us is th at the path isn’t about what you think, say, or do.
You unf old your potential, which isn’t a matter of thinking, saying,
or doing. It happens on its own.
The truth is th at no one has to worry about communic ating
with t he immortal, because the immortal is co nstantly
communicating with us. It won’t let us go, ever. A message from
metareality en ters our awareness, and it sticks. The message can
be a nything once it is transla ted into daily life. Look around you.
No one  invente d attention, intention, love, intelligence, cr eativity,
and evo lution. Yet these things are here, now and forever. They
never let go, no matter how much we misuse them. One thing has
us a lways in m ind, which is w hy we have it in mind. Neither side
has a choice.W13

O N E  L I F E
hen we  are whole, the world will become whole. That
would be an a mazing change, because, as things stand,  we are
divided and so is the world. This state of affairs goes bey ond the
never-ending c onflicts that make the news. There’s a deep  fracture
at the very core of being human. We call ourselves mammals, and
yet most people believe they have a soul. We set ourselves apart
from N ature, e xploiting it without considering the conseq uences.
As caretakers of the planet, we are also its worst threat.
A shift is already being sparked in collective consciousness,
however. One of the most h eartening signs of this is seemingly
trivial, an online video abo ut a grateful octopus, now seen by
almost twelve million viewer s. It begins on a beach in Portugal
with a man, Pei Yan Heng, strolling along the sand. He spots a
small octopus stranded out of the water. Pei takes out his
smartphone to film the creature. Presumably tossed onshore by a
large w ave, the  octopus looks shriveled and near death. In a kind
gesture Pei gathers the octopu s into a plastic cup, carries it back to
the sea, and releases it.
The octopus immediately begins to revive. Its eight arms spread
out (experts tell us that tentacle  isn ’t the prop er term), and it
changes to a healthier colo r. Typically, an octopus is shy andscuttles away from any approaching threat, a necessary tactic for
such a baggy, s oft-bodied ani mal. But instead of fleeing, the saved
octopus approaches Pei’s boots and places two arms on them,
resting for several seconds before moving away without haste.
Soon the “grateful octopus” entered popular culture when the
video went viral. You might suppose that this was an exa mple of
human sentim entality, but then, there is no proof that the  rescued
octopus wasn’t  grateful. Is there any way to tell?
The convention al answer is n o. This can be a hard no or a soft
no. The hard n o holds that only human beings are conscio us. The
soft no holds t hat humans are the only fully conscious cr eatures.
This lea ves a little wiggle room for big-brained mammals, like
porpoises, elep hants, and the great apes. The soft no has h eld firm
for a  long time. But once you understand that consciousness is the
source of creation, the road to yes—an octopus can  feel gratitude—
is opened.
From the perspective of metahuman, nothing is alien, however.
There is only o ne reality, governed by one consciousness. There is
only one life, too, despite our distinctions between smart
chimpanzees, s tupid lizards, and totally unconscious bacteria. An
urgent need at this moment w hen the Earth is in peril is t o evolve
to metahuman for the sake of all living things.
O n e  L i f e,  a n d  O n e  L i f e  O n l y
In a January 2014 article in Scientific American, the highly
regarded neuro scientist Christoph Koch made inroads against the
“no” po sition by asking if co nsciousness is universal. He is very
persuasive when he points out that animal intelligence isn’t
primitive. Not only that, it is n’t correlated with brain size or even
possessing a complex nervous system. “Bees can fly several
kilometers and return to their hive, a remarkable navigational
performance,” Koch points ou t (not only remarkable, I would add,
but something  human beings lost in the woods are incap able of).“And a scent blown into the  hive can trigger a return to the


	works,	people	who	relate	with	others	do	help	each	other
through	adversities,	allowing	for	greater	health	and	wellness	than	people	who	areisolated	and	alone.
Although	relationships	cannot	be	put	onto	a	slide	and	examined	under	a
microscope,	many	studies	have	cited	the	effects	of	relationships—or	the	lack	of
relationships—on	health	and	disease:
•	People	who	are	single,	separated,	divorced	or	widowed	are	more	than
twice	as	likely	to	die	than	their	married	peers,	and	five	to	ten	times	more
likely	to	be	hospitalized	for	mental	disorders.
•	Social	isolation	is	as	big	a	risk	factor	for	disease	as	smoking.
•	People	with	minimal	social	connections,	such	as	those	with	few	friends	or
family	and	people	who	tend	not	to	participate	in	their	communities,	are	two
to	five	times	more	likely	to	die	prematurely	than	those	with	more	extensive
social	ties.	These	differences	are	independent	of	age,	sex,	and	ethnic	or
cultural	background.
•	Studies	of	medical	students	during	stressful	exam	periods	found	that	the
biggest	drop	in	immunity	occurred	in	students	who	reported	being	lonely.
•	When	experimental	subjects	were	injected	with	cold	viruses,	individuals
with	fewer	social	ties	were	four	to	six	times	more	likely	to	develop	colds	as
those	who	had	more	social	ties.
•	The	death	rate	among	Russian	men	increased	by	nearly	40	percent
following	the	fall	of	communism,	attributed	to	social	instability.
Love	is	a	deep	and	vital	part	of	ourselves	and	a	critical	aspect	of	the
psychological	pathway.	There	is	love	for	oneself,	for	other	people,	for	pets,	love
in	spiritual	practice	and	much	more.	True	love,	of	course,	is	unconditional,
existing	for	its	own	sake	because	you	choose	it	and	want	it	in	your	life.
Finding	and	feeling	love,	however,	can	be	a	challenge.	Anger,	frustration,
fear,	jealousy,	apathy—all	can	interfere	with	our	ability	to	love	ourselves	and
those	dear	to	us.	Part	of	being	able	to	love	is	being	able	to	have	compassion	both
for	yourself	and	for	the	people	around	you.	Understanding	the	obstacles	that	you
face	in	your	life	makes	it	possible	and	easier	to	understand	the	obstacles	others
face.	Within	this	perspective,	you	can	have	compassion	for	anyone,	even
someone	who	mistreats	you.	Likewise,	having	compassion	for	yourself	is	not
only	possible	but	essential!	Sometimes	we	succeed	and	sometimes	we	fail;
facing	life’s	obstacles	is	challenging,	as	we	all	know,	but	without	compassion
and	love,	obstacles	may	seem	insurmountable.
If	we	do	not	fill	our	lives	with	love	and	compassion,	then	we	make	room	for
their	opposites,	such	as	anger	and	hostility,	which	are	incredibly	harmful	to	our
health	and	happiness.	As	Redford	Williams,	M.D.,	author	of	the	book
AngerKills,
wrote:	“Getting	angry	is	like	taking	a	small	dose	of	some	slow-acting
poison	every	day	of	your	life.”	At	the	Behavioral	Medicine	Research	Center	at
Duke	University,	Williams	has	researched	the	effects	of	anger,	particularly	how
stress	chemicals	cause	heart	disease.	He	found	that	chemicals	released	by	the
body	during	periods	of	anger	and	hostility	damage	the	lining	of	arteries.	Another
study	reported	in	a	1980	issue	of
Psychosomatic	Medicine
found	that	people	who
are	cynical,	who	have	hostile	attitudes	and	who	have	suppressed	anger	have
more	atherosclerosis	and	blockage	of	coronary	arteries	and	are	more	likely	to
have	heart	attacks.
The	Power	of	Prayer
Perhaps	the	best	way	to	maintain	love	and	compassion	in	your	life	is	to
consciously	seek	and	practice	it.	Enlightened	leaders	and	global	spiritual
traditions	advocate	spiritual	practice	as	the	essential	foundation	of
comprehensive	health	and	vitality,	including	all	aspects	of	a	sound	mind	and
body.	This	book	does	not	advocate	any	specific	religion	or	spiritual	practice,	but
does	recommend	some	type	of	practice.	Why?	Because	being	self-involved,	self-
centered	and	“stuck	in	your	own	head”	is	so	easy.	Only	when	body,	mind	and
spirit	are	fully	integrated	can	you	truly	optimize	your	health.
Spiritual	practice	brings	about	measurable	changes	in	the	brain	and	in	overall
health.	Larry	Dossey,	M.D.,	in	his	book
Healing	Words,
described	“one	of	the
best	kept	secrets	in	medical	science”:	the	benefits	of	prayer.	Dr.	Dossey	defines
prayerfulness	as	“a	feeling	of	love,	compassion	and	empathy	toward	another,”
and	he	explains	that	prayer	is	“a	powerful	and	legitimate	(if	often	overlooked)
method	of	healing.”	Dossey	uses	an	impressive	array	of	evidence	to	show	that
prayer	can	have	a	positive	effect	on	health.	A	1988	study	conducted	in	San
Francisco	investigated	the	effects	of	prayer	on	the	cardiovascular	health	of	393
coronary-care	patients.	Unknown	to	the	patients	involved,	one	group	was	prayed
for	and	the	other	was	not.	At	the	end	of	the	ten-month	study,	the	prayed-for
group	was	five	times	less	likely	to	require	antibiotics	and	three	times	less	likely
to	develop	a	condition	in	which	the	lungs	fill	with	fluid.	Dr.	Dossey’s	research
also	found	that	prayer	can	have	beneficial	effects	on	various	living	cells	and
organisms,	including	mice,	chicks,	fungi,	yeast,	bacteria	and	enzymes.	In	the
October	2001	issue	of	the
Journal	of	Reproductive	Health,
researchers	at
Columbia	University—expressing	great	surprise	at	their	own	profound	findings
—announced	that	when	complete	strangers	prayed	for	women	who	went	to	a
fertility	clinic,	the	women	had	twice	the	pregnancy	rate	as	women	for	whomprayers	were	not	given.
How	does	spirituality	influence	health	and	performance,	and	how	do	we
integrate	it	into	health-care	promotion	and	practice	as	professionals	and	as
individuals?	No	one	scientifically	understands	the	mechanisms.	Nonetheless,	the
scientific	data	prove	that	spirituality	does	work.	Such	data	pose	profound
questions.	Perhaps	these	precise	questions	are	the	ones	we	need	to	be	asking	in
order	to	develop	a	more	complete	understanding	of	health.	Even	if	we	don’t	have
all	the	answers,	we	can	still	benefit	from	the	power	of	spiritual	practice.
A	Great	Opportunity
While	health	generally	is	measured	and	understood	at	the	physical	level,	as	we
have	discussed,	psychological	health	and	physical	health	are	indivisibly	one	and
the	same.	What	goes	on	in	your	mind	is	also	going	on	in	your	body,	and	the
good	news	is	that	you	have	a	wide	menu	of	practical,	productive,	self-
empowering	and	exciting	options	to	promote	psychological—	and,	therefore,
physical—well-being.
Too	many	people	fall	into	self-defeating	lifestyle	patterns.	If	you	want	to


.html#toc 228/250of brain atrophy.
    The contribution of Dr. Schreiber also emphasizes strongly the susceptibility of the brain tissue
to injuries which may handicap the individual throughout life.
REFERENCES
1. LAIRD, D. The tail that wags the nation. Rev, of Revs., 92:44, 1935.
2. TREDGOLD, A. F. Mental Deficiency (Amentia). Ed. 5. New York, William Wood,
1929.
3. BARRIE, M. M. O. Nutritional anterior pituitary deficiency. Biochem. J. In press.
4. PAPEZ, J. A proposed mechanism of emotion. Arch. Neur. and Psychiat., 38:713, 1937.
5. PENROSE, L. S. Maternal age in Mongolism. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., 115: 431, 1934.
6. ORDAHL, G. Birth rank of Mongolians: Mongolism, definite form of mental deficiency,
found more frequently in the later birth ranks. J. Hered., 18:429, 1927.
7. MACKLIN, M. T. Primogeniture and developmental anomalies. Human Biol., 1:382,
1929.
8. BENDA, A. E. Studies in the endocrine pathology of mongoloid deficiency. Proc. Am. A.
Ment. Deficiency, 43:15 1, 1938.
9. BLEYER, A. Idiocy--the role of advancing maternal age. Proc. Am. Assn. Ment. Defic.,
61:10
10. GREULICH, W. W. The birth of six pairs of fraternal twins to the same parents. J.A.M.A.,
110:559, 1938.
11. BURT, C. L. The Young Delinquent. London, University of London Press, 1925.
12. LICHTENSTEIN, M. and BROWN, A. W. Intelligence and achievement of children in a
delinquency area. J. Juvenile Research, 22:1, 1938.
13. BLACKER, C. P. Chances of Morbid Inheritance. Baltimore, Wood, 1934, chapter 18.
14. MALL, F. P. On the frequency of localized anomalies in the human embryos and infants at
birth. Am. J. Anat., 22:49, 1917.
15. BLOOM, D. D. Abnormalities encountered in dissection of the head and neck of an
anencephalic monster. 16:226, 1937.
15a HOOTON, E. A. Crime and the Man. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1939.
16. VAUGHAN, K. Safe Childbirth. Baltimore, Win. Wood, 1937.
17. SCHREIBER, F. Brain Damage at Childbirth. Cleveland Press, June 23, 1938.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 20
SOIL DEPLETION AND PLANT AND ANIMAL
DETERIORATION
THE data available on the subject of soil depletion and animal deterioration are so voluminous
that it would require a volume to present them adequately. When we realize the quantities of many
of the minerals which must enter into the composition of the bodies of human beings and other
animals, we appreciate the difficulty of providing in pasture and agricultural soils a concentration of
these minerals sufficient to supply the needs for plant growth and food production. If we think of
growing plants and grasses in terms of average soil tilled to a depth of seven inches, we are dealing
with a total of approximately two million pounds of soil per acre, of which two thousand pounds7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 229/250will be phosphorus in its various chemical forms, some of which will not be readily available for
plants. If one-half of this phosphorus were present in an available form, there would be enough for
only one hundred poor crops, utilizing ten pounds to the acre for the seed alone; or for forty good
crops, taking twenty-five pounds per acre, assuming that the seed were to be removed from that
land and not replaced. A sixty-bushel crop of wheat or corn per acre takes twenty-five to twenty-
eight pounds of phosphorus in the seed. The soil is depleted of calcium similarly, though that
mineral is not usually present in such limited amounts nor so rapidly taken away as is phosphorus.
The leaves and stems of rapidly growing young plants and grasses are rich in calcium and
phosphorus. As the plants ripen the phosphorus is transported in large amounts to the seed while
most of the calcium remains in the leaves. A large part of the commerce of the world is concerned
with the transportation of chemical elements as foods, chief of which are calcium and phosphorus.
Whether the product of the soil is ultimately used as wheat for bread, milk and meat for foods, or
wool and hides for clothing, every pound of these products that is shipped represents a depletion
of soil for pasturage or for grain production.
    If we think of one hundred good crops constituting the limit of capacity of the best soils, and
one-fourth of that for a great deal of the acreage of the tillable soil, we are probably over-
generous. This problem of depletion may seem to many people unimportant, either because there
has been no consciousness that depletion has been taking place, or because they believe that
replenishment is a simple matter.
    In correspondence with government officials in practically every state of the United States I find
that during the last fifty years there has been a reduction in capacity of the soil for productivity in
many districts, amounting to from 25 to 50 per cent. I am informed also that it would cost
approximately fifty dollars per acre to replenish the supply of phosphorus.
    Many people realize that farms they knew in their childhood have ceased to be productive
because they have "run out." The movement of population to cities and towns is, in part, the result
of the call of the social center and in part a consequence of the need of forsaking depleted soil.
While there are many things that influence the movement from the farms, there is much to be
learned from the government census reports which deal directly with farm acreage and values.
    If we relate the levels of life of human and domestic animals to the problem of soil depletion, we
find two important groups of data. First, there are those which relate to specific land areas, some
small and some very large; and second, those which relate to civilizations and groups, both large
and small that have passed out of existence or are rapidly deteriorating. A study of the skeletons of
the past and present often discloses a progressive breakdown. For example, we may mention the
important anthropological findings of Professor Hooton of Harvard, who, in his examinations of
various pueblos of the Western Plains, especially at the Pecos Pueblo where the progressive
burials have been uncovered, has brought to light the calendar of a civilization extending over a
thousand years. These findings show that there has been over the period of years a progressive
increase in skeletal deformities, including arthritis and dental caries, together with a reduction in
stature, suggesting a direct relationship to progressive depletion of the soil.
    In a recent magazine article, I have presented data (1)  comparing the mineral content of different
pasture grasses, and relating these to deficiencies in cattle. Unfortunately, space does not permit
reviewing these data here in detail. They show that calcium varied from 0.17 per cent for a dry
pasture grass in Arizona to 1.9 per cent in a Pennsylvania pasturage plant, to 2 per cent in a British
Columbia pasturage plant, a range of over ten fold. Similarly, phosphorus was shown to vary from
0.03 per cent to 1.8 per cent, a range of sixty fold. Neither pasture animals nor human beings can
eat a sufficient amount of low mineral plant food to provide the total mineral requirements of
ordinary metabolism. In cases of overload, such as pregnancy and lactation in adults, and rapid
growth in children, the demand is increased greatly. For example, a high-milk-production cow
from southern Texas on a certain low mineral pasture will run behind her normal requirements
about 60 grams of phosphorus and 160 grams of potassium per day. In that district large numbers
of cattle were unable at the time to maintain their own bodies, let alone reproduce or provide milk.
Many cattle in the district developed loin disease. It was found that moving them to another plot of7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 230/250ground where the soil was not depleted provided recovery.
    About thirty-seven billion dollars, or approximately 40 per cent of the cash income of salaries
and wages of the people in the United States, is used for the purchase of foods. When we add to
this the expenditure of energy by the people living on the land, it represents a total, probably
exceeding fifty billion dollars a year that is spent for the chemicals that are provided in the foods, a
large amount of which, perhaps 50 per cent, will have been expended for calcium and phosphorus,
perhaps 25 per cent for other chemicals, and 25 per cent for special vitamin or activator carrying
foods. Of this enormous


BITS—BODY  INTELLIGENCE TIPS
In Ayurveda, how you eat is just as important as what you eat. The reason
goes back to ojas, which is the end product of all the signals that reach your
body during a meal. Although eating food that tastes good is important, the
other senses— sight, hearing, touch, and smell—also need to send signals
that make your body happy; that is the only way to completely make use of
the mind body connection. An attractive plate of food served steaming hot
from the kitchen sends all the right signals to nourish the doshas, but if you
leave that plate on the table for five hours, it will be unfit to eat, despite the
fact that its raw nutrients have not significantly changed.
Your whole body is tremendously alert while you are eating. Your
stomach cells are aware of the conversation at the dinner table, and if they
hear harsh words, the stomach will knot with distress. Then everything you
digest at that meal will be affected, because you have taken in indigestible
sounds. Your stomach cells cann ot literally hear, but the brain, taking in what
the ears hear, sends out chemical messages to update the stomach and every
other organ. So you cannot fool any part of your digestive tract into thinking
that a tense meal is a happy one; your “gut feelings” know better.
According to Ayurveda, your duty to your body is to nourish every cell in
it in every way— that is the larger purpose of a sattvic diet. If you are careful
about nourishing your cells completely, they will reward you with ojas, the
perfect expression of their satisfaction. To make that happen, I have provided
sixteen BITS, or Body Intelligence Tips, each of which helps to expand the
satisfaction your body derives from eating.
As you follow these BITS, you will be surprised at how much more
enjoyment every meal can give you. Your body can bubble with joy after
every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, once you know the secret of turning food
into ojas.
BITS—BODY  INTELLIGENCE TIPS
Eat in a settled atmosphere.Never eat when you are upset.
Always sit down to eat.
Eat only when you feel hungry.
Reduce ice-cold food and drink.
Don’ t talk while chewing your food.
Eat at a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow.
Wait until one meal is digested before eating the next (i.e., intervals of
two to four hours for light meals, four to six for full meals).
Sip warm water with your meal.
Eat freshly cooked meals whenever possible.
Minimize raw foods—cooked food (preferably well cooked) is much
easier to digest.
Do not cook with honey—heated honey is considered to produce ama.
Drink milk separately from meals, either alone or with other sweet
foods.
Experience all six tastes at every meal.
Leave one-third to one-quarter of your stomach empty to aid digestion.
Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal.
This concise list gives you a great head start on getting the most out of
any diet. The basic principle here is that food that is easiest to digest is best
for you, which explains why well-cooked food is preferred over raw, hot
over cold, fresh over processed. Making digestion easier is also the reason
for sipping warm water with your meal, eliminating milk, and sitting brieflyat the table once  you are finishe d eating in order for your body to settle into
its digestive rhythms.
Another important principle is moderation. Moderate amounts of food are
taken at regular mealtimes—the Ayurvedic texts consider a double handful
of food to be an ideal portion. Take this amount as a first serving and go
back for more if you still feel hungry. It is advisable to leave  one-third to
one-quarter of your stomach empty at the end of your meal. Your digestive
tract will work more efficiently on smaller portions, and your body will find
it much easier to control its weight automatically. Don’ t be afraid that you
will walk away from the table hungry. Being satisfied is not the same as
being stuffed. If you leave a little empty room in your stomach, you will feel
light, buoyant, energetic, and much fresher an hour after you eat. That is how
a properly eaten meal feels, leading naturally to a properly digested one.
BITS for Weight Loss
If you have a problem with overweight, try using these BITS before going
on any kind of calorie-cutting diet. You will be surprised to find that your
excess weight is caused not just by what you’ve been eating but by how
you’ve been eating it— carelessly or compulsively, on the run instead of
sitting down, between meals instead of at regular hours. These are simple
things, of course, but they make a big dif ference.
Leaving aside the very small minority who actually have a hormone or
metabolic problem, most overweight people are the victims of conditioning
—bad habits that have been unconsciously built into their bodies over time.
Everyone’ s body  has the intellig ence to know the right amount to eat; nature
gave us the hunger reflex to tell us when our bodies want food and its
opposite, the satiation reflex, to tell us when our stomachs are satisfied.
People who have lost these instincts have surrendered an important aspect of
their body’s intelligence. They eat like machines, switched on by automatic
cues—the sight and smell of food, or just the thought of it. But by following
these BITS they can return to “conscious eating,” guided by their body’ s
inner intelligence.WHEN OJAS IS LESS
Besides overeating, other abuses at the table can suppress our healthy
instincts for eating. If you consume a meal while feeling angry, an Ayurvedic
doctor would say that you are producing mental ama from your food, while a
Western physici an would say that a stress reaction is throwing off your
endocrine balanc e. The end result is the same, a damaging chemical message
going straight to your cells.
Even before you eat the first bite of food, disturbances in the doshas can
negate your body’s attempt to produce ojas. As usual, Vata dosh a comes into
play here—wha tever throws off Vata dosha also damages ojas—worry, loud
noise, going without sleep, and drastic diets and fasting. On the positive side,
anything that calms Vata during mealtimes is good for ojas.
Most people do not eat a strict ly sattvic diet in this country, so I would
like to give a few more reasons why changing to one would benefit your
health. You will notice that a sattvic diet is vegetarian, and it is now common
knowledge that vegetarians have excellent blood pressure (18 percent lower
than average) and lower rates of heart disease and cancer. In addition, the
federal governm ent has warned us for twenty-five years that Americans eat
far too much salt, protein, and animal fat, most of which come s from meat
(much of the excess salt also comes from processed foods). If you started
reducing your meat intake today, moving gradually in the direction of a
meatless diet, you would almost certainly lessen your chance of having a
heart attack in the future. By including sweet foods on the list, Ayurveda
does not mean to condone the huge amounts of refined white sugar that most
of us now consume. The sweetness of pasta, rice, and bread is enough.
Like everything else, there are two extremes in diet. Certain foods are not
easily turned into ojas; among them are the following:
Non-Ojas Diet
Meat, poultry, and fishHeavy and oily foods
Cheese
Leftovers and processed food
Excess of sour, salty tastes
Overeating
For the sake of economy and convenience, many cooks like to save
leftovers, but Ayurveda frowns on this practice. Food is meant to be eaten
fresh, right off the stove if not right out of the garden—the fresher the
produce, the more the ojas. Old, cold food, even when reheated, will not
produce ojas in the same amou nts. Frozen food in general is also good to
avoid. Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes destroys ojas and prevents
other foods from producing it. Air and water pollution are equally
detrimental. All of these influences are called tamasic, which means that
they produce dullness and inertia by promoting the buildup of ama. Kapha
types should be especially wary, since their naturally slow digestion makes it
easier for ama to form.
Finally, here are a few time-ho nored rules about a blissful diet handed
down in the Ayurvedic tradition, each aimed at maximizing ojas.
Eat fresh food suitable to the season and your geographical area. The
best possible foods for the body are fruits, vegetables, and dairy
products raised in your area— foods have thrived on the same air,
water, nutrients, and sunlight that you grow on.
Have your lar gest meal at lunch, when digestion is strongest. Dinner
should be a modest meal that can be digested before bedtime; breakfast
is optional and in any case should be your smallest meal of the day.
Eat at the same time every day. Besides not snacking, avoid eating at
night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and easily promotes ama
as you sleep from the food that is undigested.Dine either alone or with people you genuinely like. Negative emotions,
whether yours, the cook’ s, or


kin	cells	to	allow	new,
fresh	cells	to	grow	in	their	place.	If	you	don’t	slough	old	cells,	it’s	harder	for
your	body	to	absorb	the	ingredients	from	your	skin-care	products;	they	will
more	likely	just	sit	on	the	surface	of	the	older,	dead	skin	cells	and	not	do	you
any	real
good.	What	a	waste!	This	is	similar	to	the	concept	of	internal
detoxification.	You	have	to	make	space	for	the	new	raw	materials	to	come	in
and	be	absorbed	and	assimilated	so	they	can	be	used	to	fuel	your	beauty.
AHAs	exfoliate	without	scrubbing	with	physically	dense	abrasives	such	as
grains,	granules,	apricot	pits,	and	the	like,	which	can	lead	to	broken	capillaries
and	damaged	pores.	However,	if	your	skin	is	dark	or	particularly	sensitive,	be
very	careful	to	avoid	irritation.	There	are	various	kinds	of	AHAs	and	different
strengths	to	choose	from,	including	malic,	mandelic,	lactic,	and	glycolic	acids.
The	mandelic	and	malic	acids	tend	to	be	much	safer	for	dark	skin,	though	be
sure	to	ask	your	dermatologist	if	you	are	unsure	which	AHAs	are	right	for	your
skin,	and	ask	what	strength	to	use.	AHAs	can	also	make	your	skin	more
sensitive	to	sunlight,	so	be	sure	to	protect	yourself	properly.
Green	Tea
Green	tea	is	a	fantastic	ingredient	to	include	in	your	skin-care	routine	due	to	its
polyphenols,	a	type	of	flavonoid	that	enacts	powerful	antioxidant	activity.
Topically	applied,	green	tea	can	help	reduce	inflammation	in	your	skin,	thereby
preventing	or	slowing	the	formation	of	lines	and	wrinkles	and	reducing	sagging
skin.	Some	studies	have	shown	that	green	tea	can	also	reduce	damage	from
environmental	pollution	and	sun	damage.
9
PeptidesPeptides	are	protein	fragments	that	have	been	shown	to	have	some	beneficial
effects	on	skin.	In	particular,	they	help	heal	damaged	tissue	from	scars	and
wrinkles	and	stimulate	the	production	of	healthy	normal	skin.	Some	research
has	shown	that	peptides	can	help	enhance	cell	communication,
10
	regulating	the
exchange	and	growth	rates	between	layers	of	skin	cells.	Peptides	can	also	prevent
harmful	oxidation	that	damages	the	skin,	and	they	have
anti-inflammatory
properties	that	can	better	set	up	your	skin	to	heal	itself.
Essential	Fatty	Acids	(EFAs)
EFAs	reduce	the	amount	of	moisture	lost	through	your	epidermis,	the	top	layer
of	your	skin,	thereby	keeping	your	skin	soft	and	elastic	instead	of	dried	out.
They	are	particularly	protective	in	cold	or	windy	weather,	which	can	strip	away
the	skin’s	lipid	barrier	and	contribute	to	skin	conditions	such	as	eczema.	The
anti-inflammatory	properties	of	these	essential	fats	are	also	helpful	for	eczema
and	psoriasis,	and	in	preventing	inflammation	that	can	contribute	to	aging.
There	are	many	natural	sources	for	these	essential	fatty	acids,	such	as	shea
butter,	kukui	nut,	jojoba,	rosehip,	sesame	seed,	black	currant,	evening	primrose,
camellia	seed,	almond,	apricot	kernel,	argan,	hemp	seed,	manuka,	kokum,
pumpkin	seed,	olive,	black	cumin	seed,	coconut,	sea	buckthorn,	avocado,
borage,	tamanu,	and	walnut	oils.
Hyaluronic	Acid	(HA)
The	body	uses	hyaluronic	acid	to	make	new	cells,	and	it	is	a	natural	compound
found	in	the	skin.	As	we	age,	we	produce	less	of	this	acid,	so	adding	it	back
helps	repair	the	skin	and	reduce	inflammation.	As	a	skin-care	product
ingredient,	it	helps	not	only	to	deliver	moisture	to	the	skin	but	also	to	hold	it
there,	preventing	moisture	loss	for	continued	smooth	skin	while	protecting	the
skin	from	dirt,	debris,	and	pollutants.	It	doesn’t	penetrate	too	deeply,	staying
near	the	surface	of	your	skin.	Hyaluronic	acid	was	once	produced	largely	from
the	comb	of	a	rooster,	but	thankfully	it	is	now	produced	in	a	lab	from	a
fermentation	process	that	involves	plant	materials.
Clay
There	are	different	kinds	of	clays,	which	are	a	highly	beneficial	ingredient	to
include	in	skin	masks.	Sometimes	masks	are	pushed	to	the	side	in	a	skin-care
routine,	but	applying	masks	is	an	ancient	beauty	tool	that	can	be	very	beneficial
to	use	at	least	once	a	week	(depending	on	your	skin	type)	to	help	you	maintain
beautiful	skin	for	the	long-term.
Clay	is	a	unique	ingredient	with	the	ability	to	absorb	excess	oils,	dirt,	andharmful	toxins	from	the	skin.	Clays	are	made	up	of	different	mineral	contents,
which	are	unique	to	different	types	of	clays,	and	these	minerals	help	rejuvenate
the	skin	as	the	clay	simultaneously	exfoliates	and	stimulates	blood	circulation
to	the	skin.	The	more	regularly	you	use	clays,	the	fresher	your	skin	will	look.
Improved	circulation	and	the	removal	of	debris	from	your	pores	instantly
improve	the	brightness	of	your	skin.
Rose	clay	is	mild	kaolin	clay	that	is	great	for	normal	to	dry	skin	and	gently
helps	cleanse,	exfoliate,	and	improve	skin’s	condition.	It	gets	its	delicate	pink
color	from	the	iron	oxides	it	contains.	White	clay,	also	known	as	China	clay,	is
basically	kaolinite	and	is	the	mildest	of	all	clays.	It	helps	stimulate	circulation
to	the	skin	while	gently	exfoliating	and	cleansing.	French	green	clay	consists
mostly	of	montmorillonite	and	is	highly	efficient	at	drawing	oils	and	toxins
from	the	skin.	It	also	helps	nourish	the	skin	with	minerals	and	phytonutrients.
It	is	great	for	oily	skin	and	is	commonly	included	in	spa	body	wraps.	It’s	not
recommended	for	sensitive	or	dry	skin.	Yellow	kaolin	clay	is	mild	and
stimulates	circulation	to	the	skin;	it	is	suitable	for	use	on	sensitive	skin	as	well
as	dry	skin.
ANCIENT	BEAUTY	INGREDIENT:
ROSE	WATER
Roses	are	one	of	the	most	universally	revered	flowers	for	their	beauty	and	sweet
fragrance,	but	what	can	they	do	for	your	skin?	In
ancient	Rome,	rose	water	was
allegedly	used	as	a	cleanser.	Some	even	bathed	in	it.	Rose	water	has	also	been	a
part	of
Indian	skin	care	for	millennia.	Just	like	natural	foods,	natural	skin-care
ingredients	can	impart	their	beautifying	properties	onto	you.	Pure,	true	rose	water
is	created	from	steam	distillation	of	damask	rose	petals.	It	smells	delicate	and
delicious	and	nothing	like	the	synthetic	and	sickeningly	strong	fragrances	that	are
used	in	toxic	sprays	and	car	air	fresheners.
Rose	water	is	said	to	have	some	antibacterial	and	antiseptic	properties	and	is
believed	to	help	restore	the	skin’s	pH	levels	and	tighten	pores


 jaundice is often the result of
sudden emotion, and it is sometimes followed by acute yellow atrophy, a wasting of the liver with yellow pigmentation. In the
latter form of jaundice ther e is always disorganization of the cells of the liver.

    A man who works with his brain after a sleepless night or when he is in the clutches of some discomforting indisposition at
times does not see how he can possibly accomplish his day's stint. He a ttempts it, however, and is often surprised to find that he
works more rapidly and with more acuity than when in normal state. This occurs because, feeling the necessity, he brings his will
into play and concentrates with greater determination than usual u pon what is before him. So our attention is often called to the
fact, and it is a fact, that a very large percentage of the world's best work has been done by men who were not in health mos t of the
time that they were about it. But does this offer an argum ent in favor of the possession of a defective unhealthy body? These very
men, though we hail them as geniuses, were and are universally under the control of an impressible and capricious nervous
temperament, always a handicap upon thorough and efficient ac complishment. And it is interesting to speculate upon the kind and
the amount of labor with which the genius in ill health might have enriched the world had he been the possessor of a physical ly
normal body. Would this work have been of a quality surpassin g that which was produced by forced concentration; or would the
physical ease of health have removed the spur of accomplishment?

    We cannot, if we would not eventually fall short of our desired achievements, afford to discriminate in favor of either m ind or
body. The development of each is equally essential to the greatest and best results from the other. Hence, given a body free from
any organic trouble, the successful enjoyment and prolongation of life is as much dependent upon intellectual developme nt as
upon physical, and vice versa.

    It is thus apparent that the work that the brain can perform is in highest degree proportional to and dependent upon the phys ical
condition of its body. To repeat, a functionally perfect brain is the product only of a physically perfect body. And it is to be
emphasized that the brain is not a producer of energy, nor of vitality, nor of the mental processes. It acts but as a medium of
reception and transmission, and it in itself no more thinks than do the words that  express a thought. Mind, as received from the
creative source, is perfect; its expression is affected by the functional ability or inability of its human instrument.

    The mysterious forces, energy and vitality, which are seen manifested in the life o f the body, exist outside of and independent of
the human vehicle. A healthy organism is one that is in position to liberate these principles in the form of power, mental an d
physical, as it is needed in the activities.

    Human beings possess what are known as the conscious and subconscious minds. The conscious mind controls those acts which
are subject to the will and those thoughts which are produced by brain effort in conscious moments. The subconscious mind cov ers
that which occurs without conscious  perception. The conscious mind could not possibly send messages to the numerous glands
that fit the body for action, nor attend to all the delicate adjustments that enter into the process. The conscious mind in m ost of us
does not even know of the existen ce of the organs and secretions involved. But there is a something in mentality that is without
conscious perception, and that takes advantage of all of the past, gauging means to an end with perfect nicety.

Page 60 of  72     All processes of healing are subconscious.  Even pain and the distressing symptoms of sickness are to be regarded as benevolent
warnings that sharply remind us of our condition, and that compel the repose which we require, or that deter us from admittin g into
the system substances which are injurio us. They not only point to the existence of a mind that is subconscious, but they indicate
how great a part that mind plays in the curing of every form of disease. Anything that weakens or depresses the subconscious mind
exposes us to disease by making us less able to resist its encroachments. And, on the other hand, we possess such allies and
resources within ourselves that the chief function of the physician should be to awaken in his patients the will to live, and  to
employ every element of resistance wh ich the system itself affords.

    If humanity since its creation had constantly been caring for its individual bodies, no condition of disease could make its
appearance suddenly. There could be no physical collapse, for cancers, tumors, Bright's disease, diabetes, etc., all require time to
develop, and in a body that is both mentally and physically conscious, their beginnings cannot help but be observed, understo od,
and remedied. For he who is in the habit of caring properly for his body, who understands  and obeys natural physical law, cannot
for one day neglect his course of action, because, subconsciously if not consciously, he is subjected to irritation and disco mfort. To
illustrate, he who is used to pure air cannot endure a vitiated atmosphere, and h e who bathes his body daily, in case of omission,
finds his skin figuratively talking to him because of its neglect.

    A diseased body is the product of a process development that began with its birth, for every symptom in its finality is
cumulative. T he colds and fevers of infancy and adolescence, the causes of which are imperfectly eliminated, leave their residue to
accumulate until the eventual crisis occurs. And, as in the physical so in the mental realm, disease of the mind, and in it w e include
crime as well as insanity, are symptoms of unbalance, often produced because of physical reaction. Crime begins in small acts,
develops like a cancer, and in reality it is to be regarded as a cancer of the conscious mind, and hence should be treated as  is
disease. Instead, society punishes the discovered victim. Insanity is but another form of unbalance that in many instances aris es
from functional physical disturbance, yet it, too, is handled as is crime, its sufferers being subjected to police authority in ways that
are reminders of the dark ages.

    And since brain troubles in great part arise from functional physical derangement, their alleviation and cure is to be sought  in
systemic bodily purification. The text fully covers the manner in which the lat ter process may best be accomplished, in fact the
only way in which it can be done. And, could the fast and its hygienic accessories be introduced and scientifically administe red in
all asylums, insane as well as criminal, of the land, numbers of their inm ates would be restored both in mind and in body. And
further, in those in whom mental incapacity is due to organic structural defects that hamper normal function, the form and de gree
of the latter would at once be revealed, and the knowledge thus gained wo uld determine to what extent treatment should be carried.
And it is probable that among even these severely afflicted sufferers there might be many who could be brought to mental
responsibility. Apart from its therapeutic worth, a trial of the method in pu blic institutions offers two other points of merit, viz., it
would ameliorate much of the suffering now undergone by stimulated unruly patients who need restraint, and it would lower by
many thousands of dollars the expense of caring for these wards of the  state. But, if not for the sake of those who pay taxes, at least
for the salvation of those detained in asylums for the insane and criminal, the method is entitled to a thorough investigatio n and
trial at the hands of government.

    To many minds the thought that human life is in any way connected with or dependent upon ordinary natural agencies carries
with it denial of faith in the divine. Reasoning thus, these intellects segregate in toto spirituality from materiality, refu sing to
recognize their manifest interdependence. A calm retrospect of the history of the Christ causes one to know that Jesus, apart  from
his spiritual endowment, was a man in the flesh and of the flesh; that he was subject to the laws of the body, to its nec essities and
to its temptations. It is written, "Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when h e had
fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered."

    The application of this fragment of sac red history to the subject matter of the text may not be obvious, but brief explanation will
serve to show that the related incident is distinctly pertinent. Fasting the body for the sake of health was understood and f ollowed
by the older civilizations; an d fasting for the attainment of that higher mentality which borders upon spirituality is still employed
by the members of that system of philosophy known as Yoga, in which meditation upon the supreme spirit is inculcated as the w ay
to final beatitude. That  the Christ acquainted with and was learned in these practices is fully substantiated by the evident purpose
and scientific completion of a period of forty days and nights of abstinence from food. Jesus never overturned natural law; h e
worked with it alway s, and his statement concerning prayer and fasting in disease is easy of analysis. "More things are


 during
the building of Sandy’s cabin that I first started the ritual
of o ffering my work up to t he invisible force that was
guiding me. I was not in charge, yet life continued to
unfold as if it knew just what it was doing. I would serve
that force. Call it what you want—God, Christ, Spirit.
These were no longer just na mes of something to believe
in. The events that were pu lling me through life were
tangible and real to me. I nwardly, I began to offer
everything I did up to the Universal Force. All I wanted
was to return h ome to that be autiful place deep inside of
me. If following the invisible hand of life would take me
there, so be it.
Sandy’s house was very simple. It was similar to what I
had thought we were going to build for my place. Her
twelve-by-sixteen-foot cabin  had no electricity, no
plumbing, no inside siding, and the window openingswere covered with only scree ns and some plastic. It only
took about six weeks to build and cost almost nothing,
but she loved it. I smile no w when I look back at my
initial resistance. I could never have imagined how many
important life experiences of mine would end up being
tied to that cabin.
Meanwhile, summer was ove r and the time to start my
classes at Santa Fe was rapidly approaching. I had been
true to my commitment of no t allowing a single thought
to e nter my mind about wha t I was going to teach. How
would I ever know what life was capable of doing if I was
always in control? I walked in to my first class at Santa Fe
completely op en to whatever would unfold. As the
students filed in, I simply q uieted my mind and asked
myself, Do you have something worthwhile to teach
these students?  I n my h eart I knew that I had a wealth of
knowledge that would be both interesting and beneficial
to t heir lives. So I took a breath, stood up, and just
started speaking. I couldn’t have known it at the time,
but that exact moment was laying the groundwork for
the next phase of my spiritual journey: becoming a
teacher.
The words just flowed out. There was no prior thinking
involved. The first session lai d out the road map of what
we wer e going to do in the class, just as though a
curriculum had  been decided beforehand. It was similar
to when  I was writing that ec onomics paper in my van in
the woods. Except this time, I  was watching a continuous
stream of inspiration turning into a powerful lecture. I
was not doing any of this—I was just aware of it.
As t he semester progressed, this kept happening class
after cl ass. I was amazed by  what was being taught in
these classes. It was as thou gh all the knowledge from
my schooling, plus all that I had learned through
introspective m editation and  the relentless watching of
the voice, was being woven together into a cohesive
whole. The premise of the c ourse was centered on thepossibility tha t one underlying truth exists in the
universe, and all of man’s knowledge was just looking at
this tru th from  different perspectives. The exploration of
that pre mise w ould involve physics, biology, psychology,
and religion. What was the p ossibility that they were all
saying the same thing? I had never thought about things
in th is way before. In fact, I had spent my time learning
to not make th oughts a pastime. How could each class
come out so perfectly without my doing it? Nonetheless,
the presentation was unfolding on a class-by-class basis
before my eyes.
The success of the classes was overwhelming. I would
start the semester with twent y students in the room, and
by t he end the  count had doubled. I remember one class
where I literally had troub le entering the classroom.
Twenty students were registered and another forty or so
were either sitting in class or  listening from the hallway.
People would just keep bringing their friends. I was still
into be ing quiet and didn’t want all this to become a
distraction to my practices. So I tried to isolate myself by
coming to school just before class, leaving right
afterward, and not attending any faculty meetings or
school f unctions. It didn’t matter. This was the ’70s, and
I was teaching Universal Th ought in the midst of the
consciousness revolution. Over time, students and their
friends began to show up for the Sunday meditations at
my place.
As if that were  not enough, those classes at Santa Fe
laid the groundwork for another very spiritual flow of
events. This time it was regarding, of all things, my
doctoral dissertation. I had been telling Dr. Goffman that
my life had tak en me far from the field of economics, and
I had no intention of writing a dissertation. Nonetheless,
one day  he made me promise, as a personal favor to him,
that I would t urn in something, anything, for him to
read. I had gre at love and respect for Dr. Goffman, and I
saw it as an ac t of surrender to acquiesce to his wishes.That ve ry nigh t, I sat down on the floor of my house, lit
my kerosene lamp, and asked  myself if I had something
to write that was worth such an enormous undertaking.
It o nly took a moment to  realize that I did have
something very  important to write, and I would love for
Dr. Goffman to read it. It se ems that life had just given
me the perfect opportunity to write about that voice in
your head and the oneness  behind all of science and
religion—just a s I had been teaching in my classes at
Santa Fe.
With th at as the topic, I was filled with inspiration.
Though I knew it wouldn’t b e accepted as an economics
dissertation, I put my heart a nd soul into my writing. As
it turned out, the finished document had an unexpected
destiny of its o wn. A professor on my doctoral committee
had a publisher contact m e, and within a year, my
dissertation wa s published under the title The Search for
Truth.  Thirty-five years later, that book still sells copies
every month on Amazon—a fitting tribute to the acts of
surrender that brought it into this world.
What is important from all this is that if I had listened
to m y own min d, none of this would have happened. By
following the flow of life, instead of my own preferences,
I wa s now a carpenter, a teacher, and a published author.
Inwardly, I had grown as w ell. The sharp line I had
drawn between  spiritual and nonspiritual had begun to
fade. The energy I experienced while teaching my classes
at Santa Fe was the same energy I was dealing with in my
yoga and meditations. In meditation, that energy would
flow upward and lift me aw ay from my everyday self.
When I  stood in front of a class, the very same energy
would explode into a passionate, heartfelt lecture. Not
only di d I begin to see all this as the flow of spiritual
energy, but I also began t o see that there was no
difference between coming to class to teach and driving
home to do my  meditative practices. I was teaching those
classes because an amazing flow of events had put methere. I was d riving home because an amazing flow of
events had put me there. Neither of these destinations
was decided by me. They were the result of my letting go
of m yself. Little by little, the fabric of my life was
composed of the results of my  surrender. I was becoming
surrounded by a life that ha d been built for me, not by
me. In my wild est dreams, however, I could never have
imagined where this was going to lead me.2 0.
T h e  M o s t  I m p o r t a n t  T h i n g  I  W a s  E v e r
A s k e d  t o  D o
T he summer of 1973 ushered in some very interesting
changes where I lived. Through no effort of my own,
many of the five-acre lots around my property were
being purchas ed by folks d rawn to a back-to-nature
lifestyle. Unsur prisingly, man y of these people were into
some fo rm of meditation and yoga. I was still holding on
to m y s elf-concept of a meditator wanting solitude in the
woods, so I had little interact ion with my new neighbors.
I must admit, however, that my afternoon walks became
more in teresting as various rough-sawn cabins began to
spring up in the woods around me.
A man named  Bob Tilchin purchased the property
directly behind  my house. I had not known him before,
but he was into yoga and Sufism and was a very gentle
soul. He hired my friend Bob Gould to help him build his
house, s o it all felt like family. One day Bob Tilchin came
to m e a nd asked me to do him a favor. He was pen pals
with an inmate named Jerry


onrightsideof
body.
ThetypicalMercuriussolubilistongueandsmelly
breatharealsopresent.Thebonesinthefacemay
ache.
Sorethroat
SymptomsPains:spreadinguptoearsandneck;sore;
stitching.Tonsils:swollen;ulcerated.
Worseatnight;onrightsideofbody;forswallowing.
Theseareverypainfulsorethroatswithulcersonthe
tonsilsandswollenglands.Thepainsshootupinto
theearorintotheneckonswallowing.
Thrush(genital)
SymptomsDischarge:burns;greenish;smelly.
Worseatnight.
Thrush(oral)
SymptomsInbabiesandchildren.Withexcess
SALIVA.
Thecharacteristicsmellybreathisusuallypresent.
Theremaybesomeulceration.Toothache
SymptomsCheeksswollen.Pains:spreadingupto
earsandface;pressing;sore,bruised;tearing.
Betterforwarmcompresses;forrubbingcheeks;heat.
Worseforcoldair;fordrawingincoldairbetween
teeth;atnightinbed;whileeating;warmthofbed;
winter.
Causesabscess;cold,dampweather.
Thesetoothachescanindicatethepresenceofan
abscess,andpersistenttoothacheshouldalwaysbe
takentoadentist.Mercuriuswillprovidereliefinthe
meantime,however, ifthesymptoms fit.
Natrumcarbonicum (Nat-c.)
Othernames:sodiumcarbonate;sodaash
Sodiumcarbonate isanimportantcommercialchemi-
calandisknownvariouslyas'soda','salsoda'or
'washingsoda'.Itoccursnaturallyasamineraldeposit
leftbehindbytheevaporationofancientsalinelakes
andseasascanbeseenintheextensivedepositsthat
occurindesertareas.Itisalsoproducedcommercially.
Thelargestconsumersofsodaasharetheglassand
chemicalindustries. Itisalsousedinthemanufacture
ofsoap,paper,water-softening agents;andinthe
formofsodacrystalsitservesasacommoncleanser.
UntilHahnemannprovedit,itwasusedchieflyas
anexternalapplicationforburns,eczemaandasa
douchefornasalandvaginalcatarrh.
Thehomeopathicpreparation ismadebydissolving
purifiedcommonshopsodaintwopartsboilingdistil-
ledwater,andfilteringthesolutionthroughblotting
papertoformcrystals.Onegrainofthesecrystals
driedontheblottingpaperistakenforthetrituration.
GENERALSYMPTOMS
Anklesweak.Complaintsfromsunstroke.Dislikes
milk.Facepale.Sweat:fromslightestphysical
exertion;frompain.Taste:mouthtastesmetallic.
Betteraftereating;formassage.
Worsebeforeeating;duringastorm;forfreshair;
mid-morning; forphysicalexertion;forsun.
Natrumcarbonicumtypeshavepalefaceswithblue
circlesaroundtheeyes,andtheireyelidsmaybe
puffy.Theyareaggravatedgenerallybyexcessive
summerheatandexposuretothesun(especiallythe
head),butthereisalsoanaversiontofreshair.Once
rundown,anyexercisewillaggravatetheirgeneral
condition.Theyareextremelysensitivetothunder-
stormsandcansensethemcoming,oftengettinga
INTERNALMATERIAMEDICA Natrummuriaticum(Nat-m.) •117
headachethen.Thesepeoplearebetteraftereating,
whenthevfeelwarmer.Thevdislikemilk-thiscan
causediarrhoea.Massagealsohelps.
Thisremedvisespeciallyvaluablefornervouschil-
drenwhocannottoleratesunshineandwhosuffer
fromweakankles.Iftheyfallillwith,say,asevere
headacheoracold,thenSatrumcarbonicumwillnot
onlvhelptheacutesymptombutwillstrengthentheir
wholebodv,includingtheemotionalpart'
EMOTIONAL/MENTALSYMPTOMS
Anxious.Cheerful.Complaintsfrom:mentalstrain.
Confused.Depressed.Fearful.Forgetful.Gloomy.
Jumpy.Lively.Sensitive:generally;tomusic.Shy.
Sluggish.
Thesepeopleputonabravefacewhenreallytheyare
feelingmiserable.Theyaresensitivegenerallybut
especiallytoemotionalhurtswhichthevharbour
quietlvinside,thoughwithoutthebitternessof
Satrummuriaticum.Theyavoidconflictbyappearing
cheerful,butthismasksafeelingofbeingcutoff,
depressedandanxiouswithpersistentsadthoughts.
Listeningtomusicincreasestheirsenseofmelancholy
inacomfortingbutnegativeway.Theirsensitivity is
suchthattheyareeasilystartledbynoise.
Theybecomementallyweakenedfromemotional
pressureandfinditdifficulttothink.Complaints
comeoninthisweakstate,andaftermentalstrain
(overwork),whenapersonhasbeenfeelingsadand
depressed.
PHYSICALCOMPLAINTS
Commoncold
SymptomsNoseblocked.Nasalcatarrh:drips
downbackofthroat;smelly;thick.
Thisisthesortofcatarrhthatrunsdownthebackof
thethroat,constantlymakingthepersonwantto
hawkup.Thenosealsobecomesblocked.Theremay
beasourormetallictasteinthemouth.
Exhaustion
SymptomsLegs:heavy;weak.Nervousexhaustion.
Withicy-coldextremities;heavinessinlimbs.
Worseforheatofsun;formentalexertion;forslightest
exertion;forsun.
Causesmentalstrain;sun.
Thisnervousexhaustionfollowsaperiodofoverwork
wherethecirculationgrindstoahalt:thefeetand
handsbecomecoldandthelegsfeelheavyandweak.
Itcanalsobecausedbyanoverdoseofsunshine
(whichisnotagreatdealforaNatrumcarbomcumtype);
likePulsatillathesetypesaremorepronetobecomingtiredinhotweather,andanythinking,sunshineor
exertionwillmakethistirednessworse.
Headache
SymptomsHeadfeelsheavy.Painspressing.Sweat-
ingonforohead.
Worse3tiereating;forthinking.
Causesmentalstrain;mentalexertion;summer;sun-
stroke.
Althoughthepersonfeelsgenerallybetteraftereat-
ing,theheadacheitselfmayactuallybeworse.The
headachemaybearesultoftoomuchstudyormental
strain,andthepersoncan'tthinkanymorebecause
thebrainiswornout.Itmayalsobeahot-weather
headache;thesearepeoplewhoaresensitivetotoo
muchsun.Thepersonmayfeeldizzywiththis
headache,especially ifthestressismental.
Indigestion
SymptomsBelchessour.Pains:instomach,sore,
bruised.Withnausea.
Thepersonfeelsnauseousinastuffyroomandhas
troubledigestingfoodbecausethenervoussystemis
rundown.
Insomnia
SymptomsAnxiousdreams.Wakingearly.
Thepersonwakesearlyinthemorningafteranightof
anxiousdreamsandcannotgetbacktosleepagain.
Natrummuriaticum (Nat-m.)
Commonnames:sodiumchloride;tableorcommon
salt
Commonsaltis,nexttowater,themostwidelydistrib-
utedsubstanceinnature.Itoccursnaturallyinthe
formofrocksalt,ascrystalsofthemineralhalite,andit
isalsoextractedfromseawater.Hugedepositsofsolid
saltarefoundthroughouttheworld,someofthem
severalthousandfeetthick.Theseareformedbythe
evaporationofancientlakesandseas,andarefound
bothundergroundandexposedontheearth'ssurface
througherosion.
Salthasbeenwidelyvaluedasamajoritemoftrade
throughouthistory'-Theword'salary'isderivedfrom
theLatinwordSolariumwhichreferredtothemoney
allottedtoRomansoldiersforthepurchaseofsalt.Itis
anessentialelementinthedietofallmammalsandhas
beenusedwidelytopreserveandflavourfood.Com-
mercialsaltisalsoimportantinthepreservationof
hidesintheleatherindustry.Atonetimeitwasused
invariousrefrigerationoperations,anditstillplaysan
NBSEEALSOPAGES203-26FORGENERALADVICE,DOSANDDON'TS.
118•Natrummuriaticum(Nat-m.) INTERNALMATERIAMEDICA
importantpartinkeepingourstreetsice-freeinthe
winter.
Unfortunately, theexcessiveintakeofsaltinthe
moderndietiscontributing tomuchillhealth,and
homeopathsfrequentlyseepatientswhoareconduct-
ingtheirownaccidental