 itself when it is provided with essential
information that then becomes activated by intention. This in turn prompts
inspiration, humility, and surrender, and these tendenci es become
progressively more operative. When dominant, they lead to dedication and
perseverance. In addition to these aspects of consciousness, progress is
greatly aided by expert guidance and the usefulness of the calibrated levels
of consciousness of the teachers and the teachings. Illusion is the secondary, automatic consequence of positionality. What
happens in a miraculous transformation is that the positionality dissolves,
allowing for a greater contextualization, outside of time and place, by which
the linear content is replaced with the nonlinear (context).When carefully examined, one finds that all opinions are worthl ess. They
are all vanities and have no importance or intrinsic merit. Everyone’ s mind
is loaded with endless opinions,  and when seen for what they are, opinions
are really only mental activity. What is of more importance, however, is that
opinions stem from and reinforce positionalities, and it is these
positionalities that bring on endless suffering. To let go of positionalities is
to silence opinions, and to silence opinions is to let go of positionalities. The evolution of consciousness is one’s karmic inheritance because it is a
quality innate to human consciousness itself.... The value of watchful
witnessing is that even just awareness of an ego defect tends to undo it. By
surrender and prayerful invocation, Divine Will facilitates transition from
the lesser to the greater, for the Self effortlessly supports and energizes
intention. The totality of the self is held within a larger underlying nonlinear field
of awar eness that is always present. It represents context rather than
content. By analogy, it would be like looking at the planet Earth from outer
space, where space is the context and Earth is the content.... With
surrender, obstructions are dissolved by the infinite compassion  of Divinity
that unconditio nally loves all that exists, for that existence is the
manifestation of God. Only illusions could make this obvious truth not
apparent. Error occurs when we cling to the belief that I am “that.” Truth is
unveiled when we see that one has “that” or does “that,” instead of is“that.”
When it learns of the benefit of letting go of egocentric goals, the ego
itself then becom es the springboard to spiritual inquiry and the means to its
own transcendence, realizing that humility is strength, not weakness, and
that it is wisdom and not ignorance. The ego—or more accurately, the belief that one is the ego— obscures the
Realization of the Reality of the Self as the Oneness of All That Is. The
dissolution of the ego results in liberation from the bondage of the illusions
that create suffering. These illusions are susceptible to fearless scrutiny that
reveals the underlying fallacies. The only tool needed is the willingness to
unreservedly surrender all beliefs, opinions, and attitudes to God. The activation of spiritual poten tiality is a consequence of nonresistance,
which is like the flower that opens and responds to the warmth of the sun by
virtue of its intrinsic qualities imbued by Creation itself. It is not really necessary to subdue the ego but merely to stop identifying
with it. The clever ego can extract the juice/payof f of secret gratification and
pleasure from anything it arbitr arily selects. Actually, it is always just the
same goal over and over again. The “what” that is desired is actually
irrelevant. The locus is imagined  to be “out there” but is actually “in here,”
for the pleasure gained is subjec tive and internal. The relinquishment of this
single, solitary goal unveils the Reality of the Self—which is the innate
prime source of all happiness—and its Realization terminates all wants and
desires. The locus of happiness is always solely from within. Pleasure is
transitory; joy and happiness are from within. To watc h the mind from a detached position is educati onal and
nonstressful, and it can be done with equanimity. From thinking that we are our minds, we begin to see that we have  minds
—and that it is the mind that has thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and opinions. Eventually we may arrive at the insight that all our thoughts are merely
borrowed from the great databa se of consciousness and were never really
our own. Prevailing thought systems are received, absorbed, and identified
with; in due time, they are replaced by new ideas that have become
fashionable with us. As we place less value on such passing notions, they
lose their capacity to dominate us. We experience progressive freedom of,
as well as from, the mind. This in turn ripens into a new source of pleasure;
fittingly, the pleasure of existence itself matures as one ascends the Map of
Consciousness. All thinking, from a spiritual viewpoint, is merely vanity, illusion, and
pomposity. The less one thinks, the more delightful life becomes. Thinkingness eventually becomes replaced by knowingness. That one “is”does not really need any thoug ht at all. It is helpful, therefore, to make a
decision to stop mental conversation and useless babbling. Once thoughts, like objects, are depersonalized, they become devalued
and lose their attraction. Thoughts and feelings arise from desire, and the
mind desires what it values. To clear the mind, merely note that nothing at all is of special or unique
“value” or “worth” except by invested, superimposed, and projected belief. Therefore, withdraw value, worth, importance, and interest. With practice, one can stay focused on the quality of conscious ness as a
process without  actually getting involved  in the “what ” that is being
processed or experienced. Those who have  tried Zen meditation know that the first thing  taught is
the handling of discomfort of the physical body by letting go of resisting the
experience, cancelling out thoughts about it, and becoming one with it,
thereby disappearing it. If the goal of life is to do the very best one can do at each unfolding
moment of existence, then through spiritual work, one has already escaped
the primary cause of suffering. In the stop-frame of the radical present,
there is no life story to react to or edit. W ith this “one-pointedness” of mind,
it soon becomes obvious that everything merely “is as it is,” without
comment or adjectives.The essential nature of spiritual work is to stay focused on what arises
from instant to instant and become aware of “what” is experiencing and
where it is being experienced. The intent of meditation is detachment, especially detachment  from the
notion that thoughts are “mine” or represent “me.” In Reali ty, they are
merely “its,” as is the mind itself. The idea of ownership arises from the
personalization of these thoughts due to familiarity because the mind (like a
camera) was present to record these past thoughts, events, and memories. However, it recorded them only because they were imbued with
importance. Note that little roadside detail is recalled from a boring cross-
country drive. The mind’ s inner camera records what is valued. A usefu l decisio n or choice is to decide to stop mentally talking about
everything and refrain from interjecting comments, opinions, preferences,
and value statements. It is therefore a discipline to just watch without
evaluating, investing worth in, editorializing, commenting, or having
preferences about what is witnessed. Every life experience, no matter how “tragic,” contains a hidden lesson. When we discov er and acknowledge the hidden gift that is there, a healing
takes place. As the payof fs of the ego are refused and surrendered, its grip on the
psyche lessens, and spiritual experience progresses as the residues of doubt
are progressively relinquished. As a consequence, belief is replaced by
experiential knowledge, and the depth and intensity of devoti on increase
and may eventually supersede and eclipse all other worldly activities and
interests. Letting go of the old is facilitated by willingness, courage, and faith. Spiritual progres s literally benefits all mankind in that it raises  the general
level of consciousness. Even one iota makes a difference.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        OceanofPDF. comALSO BY DAVID R. HAWKINS, M. D.,
Ph.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: Who is the author of this book?,
A: The author is Dr. David R. Hawkins.
Q: What is the main theme of this book?,
A: The book is about the process of surrendering the ego and realizing the true self.
Q: What is the purpose of the ego, according to the author?,
A: According to the author, the ego's purpose is to satisfy its own survival and self-interest, and to seek pleasure and gain.
Q: What is the author's approach to spiritual growth and self-realization?,
A: The author recommends a process of surrender, self-reflection, and devotion, as well as the importance of humility and compassion.
Q: What is the author's view on the concept of the ego?,
A: The author views the ego as an illusion, an obstacle to spiritual growth, and a source of suffering.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Another obstacle
to spiritual growth is impatience. This can be overcome


 at eliminating the symptoms, forJenny and Alex the treatm ent is directed at restoring Qi and
strengthening the body. Diagnosis is thus the process of determining what, how, and why
particular events occur so that we’re informed about what to do. It
is a process of discovery in which decisions are made according to
dierent frames of reference and orders of complexity, from the
most general parameters of Yin-Yang  and Five Phases  down to the
very specic ones of Qi, Moisture, Blood, Eight Guiding Principles, and
Five Organ Networks : Is the condition one of Heat or Cold, belonging
to Metal  or Fire, aecti ng the Qi or the Blood, of the Spleen  or the
Liver? The craft of the clinician, like the detective and artist, is in
capturing the essence of the person and the nature of the disease
within the net of these descriptive and interpretive criteria. OceanofPDF.comFive Organ Networks: Traditional Chinese PhysiologyCHAPTER SIX
FIVE-PHASE THEORY : EVOLUTIONARY  STAGES OF
TRANSFORMATION
As a microcosm, human beings embody all the phases within
themselves. Within each thing is contained all things. In the
seed is the tree; in the tree is the forest.…  Life forms are
stations for the reception and transmission of forces, through
which all are nourished. Each thing exists to nourish all others
and, in return, to be nouri shed itself. In this manner, each
kingdom of nature serves to receive and transmit life.…  These
forces are not all material, but include subtle energies of … a
spiritual nature.…  In the inner world, a central sun is also the
source of life. The inner sun is our true self.…
Vasant Lad and David Frawley
The Yoga of Herbs
THE URGE TO ORDER OUR PERCEPT IONS AND DEFINE THE WORLD IS AS old as
humankind itself. From observation and contemplation, we generate
symbols that reect our experience back to us, demystifying
existence by discovering and deciding how reality is organized. Chinese philos ophy does this through the notions of Tao, Yin-Yang,
and the Five Phases. Tao is a compo site of everything, the intrinsic order of all things. The way we interact with Tao, with nature, is described by Yin-Yang
and the Five Phases. Chinese cosmology suggests that life’s
movement is like a spinning ball on a owing river, a tide of wind
and water, a vortex revolving while rhythmically contracting and
expanding ( Yin-Yang ) as we are carried along by the currents of Tao.The Yin-Yang  model symbo lizes the creation process through the
interaction of bipolar forces. Five-Phase Theory * further
dierentiates this dynamic into the relationship between ve
fundamental powers, partitioning the continuum of movement into
identiable stages. Five-Phase  thinki ng provides the basis for
describing the development of forms, systems, and events. It
postulates that everything in creation can be categorized within
these basic parameters: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. If Yin-Yang  is like shadow and sun in varying proportions, Five-
Phase  is like the rainbow spectrum. Shades of darkness and light
create the drama and inten sity, and the Five Phases  provide the
shape, character, and hue. Green, Red, Yellow, White, and Black
correspond to each of the Phases. Five aords a more complex  description of phenomena than two. Combining Yin-Yang  and Five-Phase  genera tes an even more intricate
system of two times ve, or ten. Any process that can be described
in terms of Yin-Yang  can be further dierentiate d into Five-Phase. Any of the Five Phases  can be further dierentiated into Yin-Yang. Each of the ve colors can be distinguished as bright and intense,
Yang, or pale and diuse, Yin. Just as Yin-Yang  can be used to describe the alternation between
sun and shade, heat and cold, dry and wet, so the Five Phases
represent the seasons of the earth, the stages of huma n life, the
waxing and waning of Yin and Yang. Just as day is Yang and night
Yin, so the dawn  is Wood, midday Fire, afternoon Earth, evening
Metal, and nighttim e Water. Five-Phase  and Yin-Yang  concepts
always illuminate and cast shadows upon each other.Five-Phase Yin-Yang Rhythms
The stages of transformation that dene all processes in nature can
be similarly described by the two interpenetrating paradig ms of Yin-
Yang and Five Phases. FIVE-PHASE  THEORY: A  HOLOGRAPHIC  MAP
The underlying assumption of Chinese philosophy is that the forces
that govern the cycles of change occurring in the external world are
duplicated within our human bodies and minds. Patterns  in nature
are recapitulated at every level of organization—from the rotation
of the planets to the behavio r of our internal organs. These ancient
Oriental ideas conform to what some modern thinkers call the“holographic paradigm”: the organization of the whole (nature) is
reected by each and every part (plants, animals, human beings). 2
Within the human being, the same forces that organize the
physical, senso ry, and perceptual life of the organism (soma) aect
the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual life of the person (psyche). Within this framework, the Five-Phase  model has a diverse range of
application. Using anthropologist Gregory Bateson’s phrase, it is a
“pattern which connects.” 3
A comp lex web of relationships was spun between the Five Phases
and human culture. Aairs of state and society were conducted
according to these principles. Proper times to plant and harvest,
advance and retreat in battle, wed and procreate, and the methods
of preserving health were prescribed by this system. The Five Phases
are an almanac of the human cycles of momentary and lifelong
change, a map that charts the course of process, a guide for
comprehending our unfolding. PHASES AS TRANSFORMATIVE  STAGES
The Five Phases  identify stages of transformation, patterns of
expansion and contraction, proliferation and withering. Each Phase
has an intrinsic primal energy, an ontological inuence that shapes
events. For example, human beings go through cycles in their lives
similar to the seasons in nature—beginning in birth and ending in
death, with stages of growth, maturity, and decay in between. Within the life cycle, the power of each Phase  can be observed. The Wood Phase  is seen in birth, new life bursting forth. The
newborn, at rst small and fragile like a tender green shoot,
mobilizes tremendous energy for swift growth. The baby moves
from the Yin phase of gesta tion, correspon ding to Water, to the Yang
phase of growth, correspond ing to Wood. The peak of this Yang
phase is reached in adulthood when we are in our prime. This
corresponds to Fire. Our “ripening,” the stage during which we
luxuriate in our maturity, corresponds to the Earth Phase. We revisit
Yin through degeneration and aging, which corresponds to Metal. Inour dying we return to the Yin state of dissolution, the Water Phase,
and the emptiness from which we emerged. Five Phases With Earth in the Center
One representation of Earth  within the Five-Phase  model is as the
center or axis, the point of reference of the four cardinal directions,
the middle of the Middle Kingdom that was ancient China. Later on,
in an eort to align Yin-Yang  and Five-Phase Theory, Earth  came to
represent the time and space of transition from one stage to another,particularly the passage between the apex of Yang (Fire) and
ascendance of Yin (Metal ). For examp le, between summer and
autumn is late summer, between noon and dusk is late afternoon. Within this logic, Earth  was placed schematically along the circular
continuum between Fire and Metal. This diagram has become the
one conventionally used to describe the Five-Phase  relationships in
Chinese medicine. Just as the Five Phases  delineate transformations of the life cycle,
they also describe the proces s of our daily existence. Our awakening
is associated with Wood, and our movement toward a state of
complete wakefulness corresponds to Fire. Becoming sleepy
represents Metal, and the state of sleep itself corresponds to Water. Earth  represents the still point, the balance between the polar
movements, when neither one nor the other ascends. Our integrity
is based on the proportion and rhythm of each of the Five Phases
within us, regulating our waking and sleeping, activity  and rest,
arousal and inhibition. PHASES OF  PULSATION
The power, quality, and direction of each Phase can be observed in
any given internal process. In expanding the chest, for example, we
move out into our world,  and in contracting we gather our
resources, experiencing ourselves as contained within  our own
boundaries. Wood  is the Phase  of expansion, culminating in the
Phase  of Fire, which spreads energy across and away from the


OD PRODUCTS
RAW  FOODS
ECONOMY SIMPLICITY
AS A REMEDY
EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN
THE SELECTION OF FOODS
FOOD COMBINATIONS
THE PREPARATION OF FOOD
PREPARATION OF UNCOOKED FOODS
EFFECTS OF COOKING FOOD
COOKING MILK
FLESH FOODS
NUTS
FRUITS
CEREALS
VEGETABLES
BREAD FERMENTATION
CONDIMENTS
HOW TO EAT
MASTICATION
FEEDING CHILDREN
FOOD VALUES AND TABLES
FLESH   FOODS —TABLE
DRIED FRUITS —TABLE
GREEN VEGETABLES —TABLE
DAIRY   PRODUCTS —TABLE
NUTS,   S HELLED —TABLE
FRUITS AND BERRIES —TABLE
HOW TO BEGIN
RECIPES
SOUPS
VEGETABLES  ,
FLESH FOODS
EGGS
CEREALS
SANDWICHES
NUTS
SALADS
FRUIT AND FRUIT DISHES
MELONS
EVAPORATED FRUITS
CHEESE AND JUNKET
CAKES, PUDDINGS AND PIES
JELLIES
MOUSSES, SAUCES AND WHIPS
CREAMS
ICE CREAMS, ICES AND DRINKS
MENUS FOR SEVEN DAYS
BANQUET MENUS  WHY THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN. SOME years ago we, the authors of this work, both became so
impaired in health as to almost totally disqualify us for the
performance of our daily work. A very exhaustive study of
our condition convinced us that it was caused mainly, if not
wholly, by incorrect habits in eating. This brought forth a
very careful and studied series of experiments in diet which
was confined entirely to cooke d foods, because we at that
time accepted implicitly the common theory that foods could
be predigested and improved by heat. Failing utterly in this, our a ttention was turned toward
what have been called natural f oods, but what in reality mean
food in its elementary or unchanged state. Less than a year of study and experimenting with this system of feeding resulted in the total elimination of all stomach disorders and our complete restoration to perfect health. From scientific research, in addition to these failures and successes, we have
studied out a system of both eating and drinking, which has
been tried by many others under our direction, and in every instance health, strength and vitality have come to those who have obeyed our instructions. In order to bring this theory  more conspicuously before
the public we gave a seven course dinner or banquet of
uncooked foods, which was atte nded by many distinguished
New York people. It received much attention by the New
York press, and was widely commented on all over this and
foreign countries through the press exchanges. A flood of
inquiries concerning the use of uncooked food, especially
referring to their remedial va lues, followed this publicity. This gave the first hint of the great interest that the public is
now taking in this method of living. These inquiries showed that thousands of intelligent
people were dissatisfied with their present methods of living. A second Elementary food banquet was spread at the
same hostelry a few months late r, which was given still wider
publicity by the press, and which brought forth inquiries in
such volume and of such intricate detail that it became
impossible to answer them. Therefore as a labor saving
method of making reply and in order to place intelligently
before the public the results of our work and experiments, it
was decided to incorporate them into pamphlet form. But it
was soon  discovered that this was entirely inadequate, so the
present volume is the result. If it gives to men more strength, more vitality, more
endurance; if it gives them more health and less disease, more
sympathy, more affection and more love. If it gives them
higher senses of Mercy and Justice which flow more freely
from a fountain of robust health, and which are the warp and
woof in the great fabric of a higher civilization! If it contributes one degree to the elevation and freedom
of woman, if it gives her one hour more of pure air and
sunshine, if it gives her new thoughts, new dreams, new
hopes with which she may endow the race to be, if but in dreams it shifts the scene from four dark walls hung with pots
and bones to gardens and fields, where nature's bounteous
store of purple and red is swung with prodigal hand in
sunshine and autumn leaves, waving and waiting to mingle
their life with hers; if it brings her more youth and years, less
sorrow and tears, if this book in  the least lightens the leaden
load that has been laid upon her by our civilization,—if in all
the world it changes one hour of  suffering to an hour of peace
or pleasure, we will be repaid. EUGENE CHRISTIAN. MOLLIE GRISWOLD CHRISTIAN. INTRODUCTION. THE earth moves, and man, its little masterpiece, is growing
apace. After spending ages in scanning stars and flowers, and
mountains and trees—after vain effort to find truth in the
objects about—man has discovered himself. He has come
into his own, the kingdom of self-knowledge, self-control and
self-development. In the early times he was a blind
instrument in the hands of the Great Father. Blindly he
worked and rested, and slept. Blindly he procreated. Blindly
he ate what came to his hand, asking only physical
gratification. But now—the earth moves, and man has graduated from
the dull life of the flesh, and has entered into his kingdom. He
has great, shining dreams of what he would be and know and
do. He would work harder, think deeper, aspire higher than
his forefathers. He demands of himself tasks of which they
did not dream. To fulfil these demands he must have greater
strength, endurance, nervous vitality. He must increase his
powers. To increase his powers he must know how to work,
how to rest, how to feed his body—to feed his body so that it
may be strong instead of w eak, alive instead of dying. Of all the problems of practical life the question of
feeding is the most important. Not only the individual but the
race suffers from errors of diet. Many solutions have been
proffered. Some of these are be tter than the conventional diet;
others worse. Of the plans of diet that have been expounded
for the betterment of man there is one that seems to be
ideal—that fulfils every requirement, physiologic, sensuous,
domestic and esthetic. This plan of diet provides a food that
maintains the body and mind in the highest health and vigor,
that is gratifying and enticing to the palate, that needs
practically no preparation and that, by its appearance and its
associations, appeals most strongly to the imagination. Having said so much it is needless to add that the plan
referred to is the "Uncooked Food," sometimes called the
"Elementary Food" plan. The picturesque features of the new diet (that is to say
the oldest of all diets readopted)—the beauty, the economy
and the splendid feeding properties of the new diet have made
for it, within the last few years, thousands of advocates
among the most intelligent and advanced classes of people. Those people have at times felt keenly the need of some
reliable advice as to the preparation and service of these
beautiful foods. In my capacity as writer for H EALTH -
CULTURE, a journal of wide circulation, I have received many
such letters. To none of the write rs have I been able to give
the full and satisfactory information desired. It has been said by some c onfiding soul that for every
issue needing a man of certain powers the man is somehow
provided. In one instance this has been doubly fulfilled. The
issue was need of information on a very important subject—
diet. And to meet this issue—to give information on this important subject—there came not only a man, but a man and
a woman. Besides his many other qualifications, Eugene
Christian is to-day recognized as an expert on the question of
food and diet. Mrs. Mollie Griswold Christian has studied the
subject from every standpoint; and her practical experience as
a dietary expert has given to this brilliant young woman a
knowledge of all phases of the diet question. The information
provided by these two students of the art of living is plain,
practical and authoritative. It opens the door to a new world. For with the great English pathologist, Alexander Haig, M.D.,
V.R.C.P., etc., of London. I firmly believe that "in diet lies
the key to nine-tenths of those social and political problems
that vex our age and time." The "present scribe" fully agrees with the eminent
authority quoted. I believe that the greatest advance in solving
these problems will be made through reform diet. And that,
up to the present, the best solution of these problems, I
believe, is found in the use of the uncooked foods. W. R. C. L ATSON, M. D.
THE PROBLEM OF PROBLEMS. EVERY  century since civilization began has left upon the
pages of history some great thing


	‘thinker’	behind	thoughts,
a	‘feeler’	behind	feelings. These	are	illusions	that	reinforce	the	belief	that
one	is	a	separate,	distinct	entity	subject	to	birth,	death,	and	karma. Belief
that	one	is	a	separate	entity	engenders	fear	that,	in	turn,	reinforces	all	the
drives	for	survival	and	the	basic	ego	mechanisms	of	greed,	desire,	envy,
pride,	hatred,	and	guilt. To	see	oneself	as	a	separate,	finite	entity
automatically	creates	a	duality	based	on	‘me’	versus	‘not	me’,	‘here’
versus	‘there’,	‘now’	versus	‘then’,	and	so	on. Q:	What	then	is	the	basic	mainspring	of	the	ego’s	self-propagation? A:	Believing	it	is	a	separate	entity,	the	ego	resists	this	illusion	based	on	its
fear	of	nonexistence. It	fears	coming	to	an	end	and	not	surviving	in	time. Its	notion	of	reality	is	very	limited,	and	it	does	not	know	what	lies	beyond
itself. The	ego	cannot	experience	the	Infinite	or	know	of	the	exquisite
Presence	that	will	replace	it. The	ego	clings	to	the	small,	personal	‘I’
because	it	has	no	knowledge	or	conscious	experience	of	the	infinite	peace
or	joy	of	the	great	‘I’	that	comes	into	awareness	and	replaces	it. The	ego	cannot	be	blamed	for	its	own	ignorance. It	has	no	notion	that
anything	exists	beyond	its	own	limited	parameters. To	go	beyond	its	own
self-imposed	limitations	and	boundaries	is	not	a	goal	that	can	originate
from	the	ego	itself. Unaided,	the	ego	cannot	transcend	itself	or	dissolve	its
own	hindrances	and	limits. It	is	like	an	isolated	tribe	that	is	unaware	that
there	is	a	whole	world	beyond	itself. Commonly,	the	members	of	primitive
societies	refer	to	themselves	as	‘the	people’	of	the	Earth. The	ego	is	neither
bad	nor	an	enemy,	but	merely	an	illusion	to	release	so	that	something	far
better	can	replace	it. Q:	If	the	ego	is	as	described,	then	how	can	enlightenment	come	about? A:	That	is	the	function	of	spirituality,	which	informs,	educates,	inspires,	leads,
and	supports	the	exploration	of	consciousness	beyond	the	restrictions	of
the	ego	experience. Those	who	have	gone	farther	along	the	road	to	greater
awareness	report	their	findings	to	the	world	and	invite	those	who	are
interested	to	follow. Although	Enlightenment	is	statistically	infrequent,	it	happens
sufficiently	often	so	that	there	is	collectively	a	great	body	of	teachings
which	have	a	profound	influence	on	all	humanity. Each	enlightened	being,
by	its	own	energy	radiation,	silently	recontextualizes	and	expands	the
paradigm	of	human	consciousness. That	higher	levels	of	consciousness	are
possible	pervades	and	inspires	all	knowledge	and	creates	the	overall
context	for	the	human	experience. The	urge	to	progress	is	innate	in	all
societies	and	cultures,	both	individually	and	collectively. Human	striving
creates	the	history	of	civilization	in	its	efforts	to	better	itself. Even	though
it	is	often	mistaken	in	its	efforts,	the	striving	itself	is	still	present. Q:	It	is	said	that	the	world	we	see	and	experience	is	a	projection	of	the
mind	and	has	no	independent	existence. It	exists	only	as	a	perception. How	can	this	be	explained? A:	We	can	start	with	a	simple	example. We	hear	there	is	a	‘problem’	in	the
world,	or	the	observer	has	a	‘problem’. It	is	relatively	easy	to	see	that	all
‘problems’	exist	only	in	the	mind	of	the	observer	as	a	result	of	taking	an
arbitrary	point	of	view. All	‘problems’	are	products	of	mentation	only	and
do	not	exist	in	the	world. Desires	and	other	worldly	passions	and	belief	systems	result	in
selectivity	of	perception. Examine	the	so-called	‘signs	of	the	Zodiac’	and
‘constellations’	that	supposedly	exist	in	the	sky. If	you	photograph	the
starry	sky	at	night	and	look	at	it	with	no	preconceived	notions,	it	is
obvious	that	arbitrary	lines	could	be	drawn	between	any	group	of	bright
spots	so	as	to	produce	the	outline	of	any	familiar	figure	or	geometric
shape. One	can	draw	on	a	map	of	the	stars	a	dog,	a	cat,	quadruplets,	or
whatever. These	do	not	exist	in	reality	in	space;	in	fact,	there	is	no	such
thing	as	a	constellation	except	to	the	imagination	of	the	observer. From	a
different	viewpoint	in	space,	not	a	single	one	of	the	famous	constellations
with	fanciful	names	can	be	seen	by	anyone. Q:	Why	then	is	there	such	a	plethora	of	erroneous	observations	and
belief	systems? A:	Languaging	creates	and	defines	thought	patterns	and	forms	that	are	then
projected	onto	the	world. It	is	an	anthropomorphic	habit. We	see	a	big	tree
next	to	a	small	tree	and	say	the	big	tree	is	‘smothering’	the	little	tree	and
‘taking	away	its	sunshine’. Or	we	say	that	that	was	a	savage	or	angry
storm,	or	that	this	is	a	beautiful	tree	but	the	one	next	to	it	is	deformed	and
ugly. Naïve	anthropomorphic	statements	are	routine. When	we	saysomething	is	good,	we	mean	we	want	it. When	we	say	something	is	bad,
we	really	mean	we	do	not	like	it. In	and	of	itself,	the	world	contains	no	objects,	adverbs,	or	prepositions;
neither	is	there	sequence,	events,	or	happenings. Even	all	verbs	are
inappropriate. Nothing	is	‘doing’	anything. Even	nouns	are	sources	of
perceptual	illusion	as	a	noun	stands	for	an	arbitrary	selection	of	boundaries
and	qualities	that	have	prior	existence	only	in	the	observer’s	mind. What	is
difficult	to	see	is	that	all	is	complete	and	total	in	itself	and	exists	as	its	own
self-identity. No	‘thing’	exists,	and	even	if	it	could,	it	is	not	the	name	given
to	it. To	say,	“This	is	a	chair,”	is	to	deny	the	completeness,	wholeness,	and
absolute	self-identity	of	all	that	exists. To	say,	“That	is	a	chair,”	is	to	say
that	A	is	actually	B. The	name,	the	image,	the	idea	of	a	chair	is	again
something	other	than	a	chair,	and	the	mind	is	easily	deceived	by
nominalization	and	linguistic	convenience. Abstractions	are	linguistic
conveniences;	they	have	no	separate	existence. Language	is	metaphor. We	are	all	familiar	with	cleverly	constructed	pictures	that	hide	images. Children	love	to	‘find	the	cat’	in	the	picture. The	mind	does	this	constantly
over	and	over	out	of	habit. The	perceptual	world	is	formed	out	of	familiar
forms	and	images	held	together	by	belief	systems	and	energized	by
emotions. Whether	the	object	or	situation	is	loved	or	hated,	feared	or
admired,	seen	as	ugly	or	beautiful,	depends	on	the	observer. Such	qualities
do	not	exist	in	the	world. Adjectives	have	no	actual	existence	or	reality. As	consciousness	evolves	to	higher	levels,	the	world	changes	in
appearance	and	behavior. As	consciousness	reaches	the	levels	that
calibrate	in	the	high	500s,	the	beauty	and	perfection	of	the	world	shine
forth	with	divine	Radiance	as	the	core	of


 wher e we ar e behaving in a
way we fear will be unacceptable to those we love. Maybe
it’s an ar ea of our life that’s out of contr ol, a habit or
addiction we ar e struggling with, or a fantasy that we’r e
afraid to speak out loud. When our behaviors ar e
incongruent with the masks we wear, we will work har d tohide them. W e might be r eally sweet and caring to everyone
we come in contact with during the day and then go home
at night and yell at our kids. Maybe we position ourselves as
a brilliant intellectual while we’r e with our colleagues, only
to go home and spend hours watching mindless TV and
playing video games. P erhaps we’r e in a committed
relationship but ar e secr etly cheating, or we act lik e a self -
made success when the fact is we ar e secr etly living oﬀ our
parents. Our unr esolved shame causes us to act out; it eventually
gets e xpressed as an outer behavior that blows the cover oﬀ
the parts of our life we’ve been trying to conceal. W e can
work day and night trying to contr ol our hidden impulses
from ever coming to the surface, but we ar e only a moment
away fr om acting in ways that under mine our self -respect. If
we’ve been hiding a part of our life in which we act without
integrity, it will eventually be e xposed as we write bad
checks or cheat on our tax r eturns. Section summary:

(Please summarize approximately 150 words)

Note: Please make sure to maintain accurate detail retention and include relevant numbers/figures whenever necessary, avoiding repetition where applicable. ).<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the author's stance on idealized self-image?,
A: The author believes that an idealized self-image is not a viable solution, as it can lead to feelings of rejection and emotional wounds.
Q: What are some common attitudes that indicate an idealized self-image?,
A: The text lists several examples, including "I'm not like those people, I'm better", "I've never strayed", "God is proud of me", "Criminals and wrongdoers aren't even human", "Everyone sees how good I am", and "I already know who I am and what I need to do, I'm not conflicted".
Q: What is the author's advice for dealing with the shadow?,
A: The author suggests acknowledging, embracing, and befriending one's shadow, and working to uncover and understand its role in their life.
Q: What is the author's view on the concept of the shadow?,
A: The author believes that the shadow is a powerful and essential part of the human psyche, and that it is crucial to understand and integrate it in order to become a whole and authentic person.
Q: What is the author's message about the importance of self-acceptance?,
A: The author emphasizes that true self-acceptance is the only way to achieve wholeness and authenticity, and that trying to hide or deny one's shadow will only lead to further suffering.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>If we r outinely cover
over feelings of loneliness, they may surface in the quiet of
the night as an insatiable hunger for sugar, alcohol, or
sedatives to ﬁll the emptiness we feel. If the rage we wer e
subjected to decades ago is not addr essed and r eleased, it
may seek e xpression by tur ning us in to a nagging par ent or
a bick ering spouse. Maybe our distaste for our cheating
parent causes us to k eep attracting partners who can’t be
trusted and ar e emotionally abusive. It could be that our
normal se xual curiosity was shut down at a young age,
giving rise to an insatiable fascination with illegal
pornography or danger ous se x. However, to fr ee ourselves
from the unmanageable compulsions that cause us to live a
secret life, we must ﬁnd healthy ways to e xpress our
repressed aspects so that we can be safe fr om behaviors
that can sabotage our life. Matthew was the chief of staﬀ at a pr estigious medical
university. He was admir ed by his colleagues and had a
loving wife and thr ee healthy childr en. Although to the outerworld he look ed lik e a pillar of society, he found himself
bored with his intellect and all the accolades that came with
success. One night Matthew r eturned home af ter making
rounds and started watching late-night TV. He became
fascinated by a young actr ess who was star ring in a movie
and decided to go online and check her out. One thing led to
another and, while visiting a por n site, he click ed on an ad
for a local strip club. The images he saw ﬁlled him with
excitement. His mind began to wander, and he fantasized
about stopping by the club on his ne xt day oﬀ. F eeling a bit
of excitement and fear, he rationalized his decision,
reasoning that since the club was located on the other side
of town, he could just put on a baseball cap and avoid being
recognized by anyone he knew. Soon visits to this strip club became Matthew’s r egular
patter n. He found himself gr owing overly attracted to one of
the women and eventually made a date to get together. The
stories he told his wife became mor e and mor e complicated,
with deeper and deeper layers of deception. He began
looking for medical confer ences to attend in obscur e parts
of the country, so he could enjoy a week end of de bauchery
without wor rying about being caught. As se x with his wife
became less fr equent and less e xciting, he became mor e
adventur ous and started taking bigger risks. He even got
into the habit of buying se xy lingerie and outﬁts he could
take with him on his outings to ensur e that his women could
turn him on. One week end, Matthew’s wife, Maria, took his car to dr op
their kids oﬀ at a tennis lesson, and when she opened the
trunk to tak e out their equipment, she noticed a medical
bag she had never seen befor e. After getting her kids to
their lesson, she r eturned to the parking lot and—on an
instinct—opened the bag. She was shock ed to ﬁnd sheer
lingerie, condoms, and an assortment of other se xual
parapher nalia stuﬀed in this small bag. W anting to
understand the e xtent of her husband’s inﬁdelity, she beganlooking thr ough the cr edit-car d bills, the Inter net history on
their computers, and his cell-phone bills. A fter studying his
behavior for a number of weeks, she discover ed just how big
a secr et life Matthew had been leading, which r evolved
around strip clubs, escorts, and countless one-night stands. After several weeks of silent suﬀering, Maria decided to
confr ont Matthew with all the evidence she had uncover ed. With nothing to say and his hidden behaviors now out in the
open, Matthew was faced with the task of unveiling the
unfulﬁlled ur ges that had led him to cr eate such a gap
between his public persona and his private life. As the shock
of the consequences of his secr et life came into clear view,
he was disgusted that his shadow had lur ed him into
behaviors he never dr eamed he would have been capable
of. Like most se x addicts, Matthew needed help and soon
discover ed that it wasn’t just se x he was seeking, but
attention, admiration, and e xcitement. If he had been able
to see and acknowledge these secr et desir es, he could have
sought the support he needed befor e his behavior escalated
out of contr ol. Instead, his shadow caused him to lose his
marriage and his dignity. I have hear d countless people in my seminars over the
years shar e similar stories. W ithout thinking, they became
somebody they never wanted to be. The bottom line is if we
don’t deal with our shadow aspects, our impulses and our
repressed feelings, they will deal with us. As my friend Dr. Charles Richar ds tells us in The Shadow Eﬀect  movie,
“Ignoring our r epressed shadow is lik e locking somebody in
the basement until they have to do something dramatic to
get our attention.” If we r efuse to uncover them willingly,
we put ourselves at risk of being in the line of ﬁr e of what I
call the Shadow Eﬀect. W ith no r elief in sight for these
repressed parts of ourselves, they tak e on a life of their
own. By r eleasing the guilt and shame we car ry when a part
of our life is housed in the dark, we can instead open thecellar doors and e xchange our secr et life for an authentic
life. When we deny ourselves a safe outlet to e xpress our dark
side—or r efuse to even acknowledge its e xistence—it builds
up and becomes a powerful for ce capable of destr oying our
life as well as the lives


	inhalation. By	contrast,	a	smooth,	healthy	liver	permits	the
lungs	to	easily	extend	into	the	abdominal	region,	which	puts	pressure	on	the	abdomen	and
squeezes	the	lymph	and	blood	vessels	to	force	lymph	and	blood	toward	the	heart. This
breathing	mechanism	is	often	called	“belly	breathing,”	and	it	can	be	seen	in	healthy
babies,	especially. An	enlarged	liver	prevents	the	full	extension	of	the	diaphragm	and
lungs,	which	causes	reduced	exchange	of	gases	in	the	lungs,	lymphatic	congestion,	and	theretention	of	excessive	amounts	of	carbon	dioxide	in	the	lungs. The	restricted	uptake	of
oxygen	negatively	affects	cellular	functions	throughout	the	body. Most	people	in	the	industrialized	world	have	an	enlarged	liver,	especially	those	who	are
overweight	or	obese. What	doctors	generally	consider	a	“normal-sized”	liver	is	actually
oversize. Once	all	gallstones	are	removed	through	a	series	of	liver	cleanses,	the	liver	can
gradually	return	to	its	original	size. Almost	all	diseases	of	the	lungs,	bronchi,	and	upper	respiratory	passages	are	either
caused	or	worsened	by	gallstones	in	the	liver	and	can	be	improved	or	eliminated	by
removing	these	stones	through	liver	cleansing. Disorders	of	the	Urinary	System

The
urinary	system
	is	an	extremely	important	excretory	system	of	the	body. It	consists	of
the	following:	two
kidneys,
	which	form	and	excrete	urine;	two
ureters,
	which	convey	the
urine	from	the	kidneys	to	the	urinary	bladder;	a
urinary	bladder,
	where	urine	collects	and
is	temporarily	stored;	and	a
urethra,
	through	which	urine	passes	from	the	urinary	bladder
to	the	exterior	of	the	body	(see
Figure	11
). Smooth	functioning	of	the	urinary	system	is	essential	for	maintaining	an	appropriate
fluid	volume	by	regulating	the	amount	of	water	that	is	excreted	in	the	urine. Other	aspects
of	its	function	include	regulating	the	concentrations	of	various	electrolytes	in	the	body
fluids	and	maintaining	normal	pH	(acids-alkalis	balance)	of	the	blood. This	system	is	also
involved	in	the	disposal	of	waste	products	resulting	from	the	breakdown	(catabolism)	of
cell	protein	in	the	liver,	for	example. Figure	11
:	The	urinary	system

Most	diseases	of	the	kidneys	and	other	parts	of	the	urinary	system	are	related	to	an
imbalance	of	the
simple	filtration
	system	in	the	kidneys. About	26	to	40	gallons	of	dilute
filtrate	are	formed	each	day	by	the	two	kidneys. Of	these,	only	34	to	52	ounces	are
excreted	as	urine	(the	rest	is	absorbed	and	recirculated). With	the	exception	of	blood	cells,
platelets,	and	blood	proteins,	all	other	blood	constituents	must	pass	through	the	kidneys. The	process	of	filtration	is	disrupted	and	weakened	when	the	digestive	system—and,	in
particular,	the	liver—performs	poorly. Gallstones	in	the	liver	and	gallbladder	reduce	the	amount	of	bile	that	the	liver	is	able	to
produce. Thus,	it	becomes	impossible	to	digest	food	properly. Much	of	the	undigested
food	begins	to	ferment	and	putrefy,	leaving	toxic	waste	matter	in	the	blood	and	lymph. The	body’s	normal	excretions,	such	as	urine,	sweat,	gases,	and	feces,	do	not	usually
contain	disease-generating	waste	products;	that	is,	of	course,	for	as	long	as	the	passages	of
elimination	remain	clear	and	unobstructed. Disease-causing	agents	consist	of	tiny	molecules	that	appear	in	the	blood	and	lymph. They	are	visible	only	through	powerful	electron	microscopes. These	molecules	have	a
strong	acidifying	effect	on	the	blood. To	avoid	a	life-threatening	disease	or	coma,	the
blood	must	rid	itself	of	these	minute	toxins. Accordingly,	it	dumps	these	unwanted
intruders	into	the	connective	tissue	of	the	organs. The	connective	tissue	consists	of	a	gel-
like	fluid	(lymph)	that	surrounds	all	cells. The	cells	are	“bathed”	in	this	connective	tissue. Under	normal	circumstances,	the	body	knows	how	to	deal	with	acidic	waste	material	that
has	been	dumped	into	the	connective	tissue. It	releases	an	alkaline	product,
sodium
bicarbonate
	(NaHCO
3
),	into	the	blood	that	is	able	to	retrieve	the	acidic	toxins,	neutralize
them,	and	then	eliminate	them	through	the	excretory	organs. This	emergency	system,
though,	begins	to	fail	when	toxins	are	deposited	faster	than	they	can	be	retrieved	and
eliminated. As	a	result,	the	connective	tissue	may	become	as	thick	as	jelly. Nutrients,
water,	and	oxygen	can	no	longer	pass	freely,	and	the	cells	of	the	organs	begin	to	suffer
malnutrition,	dehydration,	and	oxygen	deficiency. Some	of	the	most	acidic	compounds	are	proteins	from	animal	foods. Gallstones	inhibit
the	liver’s	ability	to	break	down	these	proteins. Excessive	proteins	are	“temporarily”
stored	in	the	connective	tissues	and	then	converted	into	collagen	fiber. The	collagen	fiber
is	built	into	the	basal	membranes	of	the	capillary	walls. The	basal	membranes	may
become	up	to	ten	times	as	thick	as	normal. A	similar	situation	occurs	in	the	arteries. As	the
blood	vessel	walls	become	increasingly	congested,	fewer	proteins	are	able	to	escape	the
bloodstream. This	leads	to	blood	thickening,	making	it	more	and	more	difficult	for	the
kidneys	to	filter. At	the	same	time,	the	basal	membranes	of	the	blood	vessels	supplying	the
kidneys	also	become	congested,	making	them	harder	and	more	rigid. As	the	process	of
hardening	of	the	blood	vessels	progresses	further,
blood	pressure
	starts	to	rise	and	overall
kidney	performance	drops. More	and	more	of	the	metabolic	waste	products	excreted	by
the	kidney	cells,	which	would	normally	be	eliminated	via	venous	blood	vessels	and
lymphatic	ducts,	are	now	retained	and	adversely	affect	the	performance	of	the	kidneys
even	further. Figure	12a
:	Kidney	stones	embedded	in	kidney

Through	all	this,	the	kidneys	become	overburdened	and	can	no	longer	maintain	normalfluid	and	electrolyte	balances	in	the	body. In	addition,	urinary	components	may	precipitate
and	form	into	crystals	and	stones	of	various	types	and	sizes	(see
Figure	12a
). Uric	acid
stones,
	for	example,	are	formed	when	uric	acid	concentration	in	the	urine	exceeds	2	to	4
mg	percent. This	amount	was	considered	within	the	range	of	tolerance	until	the	mid-
1960s,	when	it	was	adjusted	upward. Uric	acid	is	a	by-product	of	the	breakdown	of	protein
in	the	liver. Since	meat	consumption	rose	sharply	in	that	decade,	the	“within	the	norm”
level	was	adjusted	to	7.5	mg	percent	This	adjustment,	however,	does	not	make	uric	acid
any	less	harmful	to	the	body. Stones	formed	from	excessive	uric	acid	concentrations	of	4
mg	percent	and	higher	(also	see


 how beautiful they alr eady ar e. Our prayer becomes “ Dear God, tak e the scales fr om in
front of my eyes. Help me to see my br other’s beauty. ” It is
our failur e to accept people e xactly as they ar e that gives us
pain in a r elationship. Our ego is mer ely our fear. We all have egos, that doesn’t
make us bad people. Our egos ar e not wher e we ar e bad but
wher e we ar e wounded. The Course says that we ar e ‘allafraid on some level that if people saw who we r eally ar e,
they would r ecoil in hor ror. ’ That is why we invent the mask,
to hide our true selves. But the true self—the Christ within
us—is that which is most beautiful. W e must r eveal
ourselves at the deepest level in or der to ﬁnd out how
lovable we r eally ar e. When we dig deeply enough into our
real natur e, we do not ﬁnd darkness. W e ﬁnd endless light. That is what the ego doesn’t want us to see; that our safety
actually lies in letting down  our mask. But we cannot do this
when we’r e constantly afraid of being judged. The holy
relationship is a conte xt wher e we feel safe enough to be
ourselves, knowing that our darkness will not be judged but
forgiven. In this way we ar e healed, and fr eed to move on
into the light of our true being. W e are motivated to gr ow. A
holy r elationship is this: “a common state of mind, wher e
both give er rors gladly to cor rection, that both may happily
be healed as one. ”
8. ROMANTIC L OVE
“There is no love but God’s. ”
‘Ther e are no diﬀer ent categories of love. Ther e isn’t one
kind of love between a mother and a child, another between
lovers, and another between friends. The love that is r eal is
the love that lies at the heart of all r elationships. That is the
love of God and it doesn’t change with for m or
circumstance. ’
A girlfriend of mine r emark ed to me r ecently, “Y our
relationship with your baby must be showing you a whole
new kind of love. ” “No, it’s not,” I r eplied. “ But it’s showing
me a new depth of tender ness, which is teaching me mor e
about what love is. ”People ask, “Why can’t I ﬁnd a deep, intimate r omance. ”
The question is understandable, because people ar e lonely. An intimate r omantic love, however, is lik e taking graduate
work towar d a Ph. D. in the ways of love, and many of us ar e
hardly out of elementary school. When we’r e not in a
relationship, the ego mak es it seem as though all the pain
would go away if we wer e. If the r elationship lasts, however,
it will actually bring much of our e xistential pain to the
surface. That’s part of its purpose. It will demand all of our
skills at compassion, acceptance, r elease, for giveness, and
selﬂessness. W e might tend to for get the challenges
involved in a r elationship when we’r e not in one, but we
remember them clearly enough once we ar e. Relationships don’t necessarily tak e the pain away. The
only thing that “tak es the pain away” is a healing of the
things that cause the pain. It isn’t the absence of other
people in our lives that causes us the pain, but rather what
we do with them when they’r e ther e. Pure love asks for
nothing but peace for a br other, knowing that only in that
way can we be at peace ourselves. How many times have I
had to ask myself, “ Do I want him to be at peace, or do I
want him to call. ” P ure love of another person is the
restoration of our heartline. The ego, ther efore, is marshaled
against it. It will do everything it can to block the e xperience
of love in any for m. When two people come together in God,
the walls that appear to separate us disappear. The beloved
doesn’t seem to be a mer e mortal. They seem for a while to
be something else, something mor e. The truth is, they are
something mor e. No one is anything less than the per fect
Son of God, and when we fall in love, we have an instant
when we see the total truth about someone. They are
perfect. That’s not just our imagination. But the craziness sets in quickly. As soon as the light
appears, the ego begins its powerful drive to shut it out. Allof a sudden, the perfection we glanced on the spiritual
planes becomes pr ojected onto the physical. Instead of
realizing that spiritual perfection and physical, material
imperfection e xist simultaneously, we start looking for
material, physical perfection. W e think someone’s spiritual
perfection isn’t enough. They have to have perfect clothes
as well. They have to be hip. They have to dazzle. And so no
one gets to be a human being anymor e. We idealize one
another, and when someone doesn’t live up to the ideal,
we’re disappointed. Rejecting another human being simply because they ar e
human, has become a collective neur osis. P eople ask,
“When will my soul mate get her e. ” But praying for the
right person is useless if we’r e not r eady to r eceive him. Our
soul mates ar e human beings, just lik e we ar e, going
through the nor mal pr ocesses of gr owth. No one is ever
“ﬁnished. ” The top of one mountain is always the bottom of
another, and even if someone meets us when we feel “ on
top” of things, the chances ar e good that very soon we’ll be
going thr ough something that challenges us. It is our
commitment to gr owth that mak es this inevitable. But the
ego doesn’t lik e the look of people when they’r e “going
through things. ” It’s unattractive. As in every other ar ea, the
problem in r elationships is rar ely that we haven’t had
wonderful opportunities or met wonderful people. The
problem is, we haven’t known how to tak e the gr eatest
advantage of the opportunities we’ve had. Sometimes we
didn’t r ecognize at the time how wonderful those people
were. Love is all ar ound us. The ego is the block to our
awar eness of love’s pr esence. The idea that ther e is a
perfect person who just hasn’t ar rived yet is a major block. Our vulnerability to the myth of “Mr. Right” stems fr om
our gloriﬁcation of r omantic love. The ego uses r omantic
love for its “special” purposes, leading us to jeopar dize ourrelationships by overvaluing their r omantic content. The
diﬀer ence between a friendship and a r omance can be
illustrated with the image of a long-stemmed r ose. The stem
is the friendship; the blossom the r omance. Because the ego
is sensation- oriented, our focus automatically goes to the
blossom. But all the nourishment that the blossom needs in
order to live, r eaches it thr ough the stem. The stem might
look boring in comparison, but if you tak e the blossom oﬀ
the stem it will not last for long. I shar ed that image in a
lectur e once, and a woman then added a lovely thought: A
long-ter m romance is lik e a rose bush. In any given season,
a blossom might fall oﬀ. But if the plant is well nourished,
then the season will come ar ound again, and new blossoms
appear. The disappearance of r omantic fervor doesn’t
necessarily spell the end of a wonderful relationship, e xcept
to the ego. The Spirit can see the seeds of r ebirth in any
patter n of decline. A Course in Miracles  says it is ‘not our job to seek for
love, but to seek for all the bar riers we hold against its
coming. ’ Thinking that ther e is some special person out
there who is going to save us is a bar rier to pur e love. It is a
large gun in the ego’s arsenal. It is a way the ego tries to
keep us away fr om love, although it doesn’t want us to see
that. W e seek desperately for love, but it is that same
desperation that leads us to destr oy it once it gets her e. Thinking that one special person is going to save us tempts
us to load an awful lot of emotional pr essur e on whoever
comes along that we think might ﬁt the bill. We don’t have to r emind God that we’d lik e wonderful
relationships. He’s al


 most powerful telescopes, each galaxy an “island univer se” with
billions of stars. Y et what is ev en more awe-inspiring is the in finity of
space itself, the depth and stillness that allows all of that magnificence to
be. Not hing co uld be more awe-inspiring and majestic than the
inconceivable vastness and stillness of space, and yet what is it? Emptiness, vast emptiness. What ap pears to  us as space in our universe perceived through the mind
and the senses is the Unmanifested itself, externalized. It is the “ body” of
God. An d the greatest miracle is this: That stillness and vastness that
enables the universe to be  is not just out there in space — it is also within
you. When you are utterly and totally pr esent, you encounter it as the
still inner space of no-mind. W ithin you, it is vast in depth, not in
extension. Spacial extension is ultimately a misperception of infinite
depth — an attribute of the one transcendental reality. Accor ding to Einstein, space a nd time ar e not separate. I don’ t r eally
understand it, but I think he is saying that time is the fourth dim ension of
space. He calls it the “space-time continuum.”
 Y es. What you perceive extern ally as space and time are ultimately
illusory, but they contain a core of truth. They are the two essential
attributes of God, infinity and eternity, perceived as if they  had an
external existence outside you. W ithin you, both space and time  have an
inner equivalent that reveals their true nature, as well as your own. Whereas space is the still, infinitely deep realm of no-mind, the inner
equivalent of time is presence, awareness of the eternal Now. Remember
that there is no  distinction between them. When space and time are
realized within as the Unmanifested — no-mind and presence —
external space and time continue  to exist for you, but they beco me much
less imp ortant. The world, too, continues to exist for you, but i t will not
bind you anymore. Hence, t he ultimate purpose of the world lies not within the wo rld but in
transcendence of the world. Just as you would not be conscious of space
if there  were no objects in space, the world is needed for the
Unmanifested to  be realized. Y ou may have heard the Buddhis t saying:
“If there were no illusion, there would be no enlightenment.” It is
through the world and ultimately through you  tha t the Unmanifested
knows itself. Y ou are here to enable the divine purpose of the un iverse to
unfold. That is how important you ar e! CONSCIOUS DEA TH
Apart fr om dreamless sleep, which I mentioned already, there is one
other inv oluntary portal. It opens up briefly at the time of physic al death. Even if you h ave missed all the other opportunities for spiritual
realization during your lifetime, one last portal will open up  for you
immediately after the body has died. There are countless accounts by  people who had a visual impression of
this portal as ra diant light and then returned from what is co mmonly
known as a near -death experience. Many of them also spoke of a sense
of blissful serenity and deep peace. In the T ibetan Book of the Dead, it is
described as “the luminous splendor of the colorless light of Emptiness,”
which it says is  “your own true self.” This portal opens up o nly very
briefly, and unless you have al ready encountered the dimension of the
Unmanifested in your lifetime, you will likely miss it. Most people carry
too muc h residual resistance, too much fear, too much attachment tosensory experience, too much identification with the manifested world. So they see the portal, turn aw ay in fear, and then lose consciousness. Most of what happens after that is involuntary and automatic. Eventually,
there will be another round of birth and death. Their presenc e wasn’ t
strong enough yet for conscious immortality. So going thr ough this portal does not mean annihilation? As with all the other portals, your radiant true nature remains, but not the
personality. In any case, what ever is real or of true value in your
personality is your true natur e shining through. This is ne ver lost. Nothing that is of value, nothing that is r eal, is ever lost. Approaching death and death itself, the dissolution of the physical form,
is al ways a grea t opportunity for spiritual realization. This opportunity is
tragically missed most of the time, since we live in a cultur e that is
almost totally ignorant of death, as it is almost totally ignorant of
anything that truly matters. Every portal is a  portal of death, the death of the false self. When you go
through it, you cease to derive  your identity from your psych ological,
mind-made form. Y ou then real ize that death is an illusion, just as your
identification wi th form was an illusion. The end of illusion — that’ s all
that death is. It is painful only as long as you cling to illusion.CHAPTER EIGHT
E N L I G H T E N E D
 R E L A T I O N S H I P S
ENTER THE NOW FROM WHEREVER YOU ARE
I alw ays thought that true enlig htenment is not possible except thr ough
love in a r elation ship between a man and a woman. Isn’ t this wh at makes
us whole again? How can one’ s life be fulfilled until that happens? Is that true in your experience? Has this happened to you? Not yet, but how could it be otherwise? I know that it  will happen. In o ther words, you are waiting  for an event in time  t o save you. Is this
not the core err or that we hav e been talking about? Salvation is not
elsewhere in place or time. It is here and now. What do es that statement mean, “salvation is her e and now”? I don’ t
understand it. I don’ t even know what salvation means. Most pe ople pur sue physical pleasures or various forms of psyc hological
gratification because they believe that those things will make them happy
or free them from a feeling of fear or lack. Happiness may be perceived
as a heightened sense of aliveness attained through physical pleasure, or
a m ore secure a nd more complete sense of self attained throu gh someform of psychological gratificat ion. This is the search for salvation from
a state of unsatisfactoriness or insuf ficiency. Invariably, any satisfaction
that they obtain is short-lived, so the condition of satisfa ction or
fulfillment is usually projected o nce again onto an imaginary po int away
from the here and now. “When I obtain this  o r am f ree of that  — then  I
will be okay.” T his is the uncon scious mind-set that creates the illusion
of salvation in the future. T rue salvation is fulfillment, pea ce, life in all its fullness. It is to be who
you are,  to feel within you the good that has no opposite, the joy of
Being that depends on nothing outside itself. It is felt not as a passing
experience but as an abiding presence. In theistic language, it is to “know
God” —  not as something ou tside you but as your own innermost
essence. T rue salvation is to know yourself as an inseparable part of the
timeless and formless One Lif e from which all that exists derives its
being. T rue salvation is a state of freedom — from fear, from suf fering, from a
perceived state of lack and insu f ficiency and therefore from all wanting,
needing, graspin g, and clinging. It is freedom from compulsive thinking,
from ne gativity, and above all from past and future as a psychological
need. Y our mind is telling you that you cannot get there from here. Something need s to happen, or  you need to become this or th at before
you can  be free and fulfilled. It  is saying, in fact, that you need  time —
that you need to find, sort out, do, achieve, acquire, bec ome, or
understand something before you can be free or complete. Y ou see time
as the means to salvation, whereas in truth it is the greatest obstacle to
salvation. Y ou think that you can ’ t get there from where and who you are
at this moment b ecause you are not yet complete or good enough, but the
truth is that here  and now is the only point from where you can  get there. Y ou “ge t” there by realizing tha t you ar e  there already. Y ou find God the
moment you realize that you do n’ t need to seek God. So there i s no only
way to salvation : Any condition can be used, but no particular condition
is neede d. How ever, there is on ly one point of access: the Now. There
can be no salvation away from t his moment. Y ou are lonely and  without
a pa rtner? Enter the Now from


, and 160,400 died of
it. This high incidence of death is true even though lung cancer is the most
preventable of malignancies; if every bit of tobacco were remov ed from the
earth, the number of all cancer types (not only those affecting the lung)
would fall by 17 percent. Of the two general kinds of lung cancer, small-cell
and non-small-cell, the latter is more common, accounting for
approximately 75 percent of all diagnosed cases. Conventional oncological treatment of lung cancer, which primarily
depends on surgery with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and sometimes
hyperthermia, has offered a poor prognosis for remaining alive over a
prolonged period of time. • The success rate for five-year survival of stage I lung cancer (no spread
to lymph  nodes) is 30 to 80 percent because the tumor is tiny in size and
surgery removes it. • The success rate for five-year survival of stage II lung cancer (spread to
the hilar nodes) is 10 to 35 percent with both surgery and radiation
therapy administered. (Hilar nodes  are those lung indentations where
arteries enter and veins and lymphatics leave.) • The success rate for five-ye ar survival of stage IIIA lung cancer
(surgery is possible combined with radiation therapy and occasional
chemotherapy) is 10 to 15 percent. • The success rate for five-ye ar survival of stage IIIB lung cancer
(surgery offers no benefit; radiation therapy and experimental
chemotherapy may be attempted) is less than 5 percent because usual
orthodox oncological treatments truly fail the patients. • The success rate for five-year survival of stage IV lung cancer
(metastases to distant sites) is considerably less than 5 percent—perhapsonly 3 percent—for treatment usually is directed merely toward relieving
symptoms. Non-small-cell lung cancer, spreading by the lymphatic system and
through the blood, contains three distinct types: squamous-cell or
epidermoid carcinoma of the lung (most related to smoking), large-cell
carcinoma (associated with brain metastasis), and adenocarcinoma. For no
known reason, adenocarcinoma has steadily increased in frequency (above
30 percent of all lung cancers). Treatment is similar for these three non-
small-cell lung cancer types. Upon an emer gency recommendation of his consulting oncologist, John
Peters underwent immediate open-chest surgery, followed by twenty-four
radiation treatments. Thus, his various symptoms consisting of constant
cough, sometimes containing blood, hoarseness and shortness of breath,
excessive sputum, recurrent episodes of lung infection, weight loss, and
swelling of the face, plus the sense of overwhelming fatigue, lessened to the
point of almost disappearing. A year later, however, the patient’ s original coughing and some of his
other symptoms recurred. Another series of diagnostic tests, including
bronchoscopic examination, revealed that he again required chest surgery
for excising the non-small-cell lung cancer. “When I refused surgery and
chemotherapy, the doctors told me that there was no chance for my survival
at all,” John Peters explained. “I had research ed lung cancer and realized that the only reason I got
cancer was that my body supported it. Thus, if I didn’ t change the internal
environment of my body, the cancer would just come back again. In May
1991, I started on the Gerson Therapy at home,” said Mr. Peters. “I was
very weak, and this Gerson Therapy was demanding, but I was facing the
Grim Reaper, so I was also highly motivated. “In only three weeks, I knew the Gerson treatment was workin g—I was
getting stronger, coughing less, and feeling much better. Most surprising, I
was actually gaining weight on this vegetarian diet. After losing so many
pounds the months before, I was finally becoming more than just skin and
bones,” Mr. Peters wrote in a letter to the Gerson Institute. “I have remained
cancer -free and in good health for the past seven years. I am vegan, avoid
refined flour, sugar, salt, caf feine and alchohol and still press vegetables and
drink their juice s, about twenty-four ounces per day. There is no doubt inmy mind that I would have been in the cemetery six or seven years ago
without the Gerson Therapy. “Incidentally, before going throu gh my 1989 lung removal surgery, I had
obtained a second opinion from the head of the Pittsbur gh Cancer Institute. When I returned  to him for a follow-up cancer test in 1996, he was shocked
to see me survi ving. The lung surgeon told me that I’d never know how
lucky I was to be alive and that with my disease, there was only about a 3
percent chance of five-year survival. Eating the Gerson vegetarian way has
saved my life,” John Peters confirmed. At his latest report to this book ’s two authors, as a former lung cancer
patient who subscribes rather closely to the eating program of the Gerson
Therapy, John Peters has gone  well beyond doubling the usual cancer
patient’ s five-ye ar survival time for adenocarinoma of the lung. (As you’ve
been informed, five-year survival of any cancer is defined by the American
Cancer Society as a “cure. )”
A T WENTY -YEAR CURE OF  INOPERABLE  STAGE IIIB L UNG CANCER
In mid-January 1979, Jesus Lechuga Valdez of Durango, Mexico,
returned from a business trip to Mexico City with a severe cold. A week
later it had deter iorated into a persistent cough and lingering hoarseness that
made it difficult  for him to speak. Senor Lechuga, who, at this writing, is
eighty-six years  old, in 1971 had retired from his position as general
manager and partial owner of a truck and tractor dealership. His travels for
business had been successful but hard on the man’ s body. During the next
six months, his chronic cough and hoarse voice were treated by three
allopathic physi cians and a homeopath, all of whom thought such signs of
illness came from adult-onset asthma. At that time he was sixty-six years
old. The doctors’ diagnosis and treatment were incorrect, for X-ray films
eventually taken  of Senor Lech uga’s thoracic area showed a 5-centimeter
(cm) round spot in the upper region of his right lung. A chest surgeon he
consulted confirmed the existence of a lung tumor 2½ inches across. Since an El Paso, Texas, intern ist, Walter D. Feinber g, M.D., had been
keeping annual records of the patient’ s physical examinations, on June 18,
1979, Senor Lechuga traveled  to Dr. Feinber g’s office for comparingprevious and current radiographs. It turns out that there had been no sign of
the potential for a chest lesion the year before. Within half a dozen months,
therefore, his mass had formed spontaneously and quickly. Pulmonologist E. S. Crossett, M.D., at El Paso’ s Hotel Dieu (French for
“God’ s house”) Hospital performed a bronchioscopy and medi- astinoscopy
during lung surgery to remove the tumor. But because excision would have
left his patient too weak, the surgeon decided not to remove the tumor and
only performed a biopsy. The resulting tissue pathology and
instrumentation reports indicated that Senor Lechuga was victimized by
stage IIIB “large cell undif ferentiated carcinoma with metastasis to the
bronchial and mediastinal areas.”
Staging  in cancer terminology is a relative index of how much cancer
exists in an individual’ s body, including its size, location, and containment
or metastasis.3 Stage III indicates that metastases have spread the cancer to
areas other than the primary site. In lung cancer, stage III is divided into
two types, IIIA and IIIB. Stage IIIB lung cancer  classifies the tumor as not
removable because of technical reasons relating to the surgical technique or
because there would be no benefit to the patient.4 The several malignant
metastases of Jesus Lechuga Valdez were declared inoperable, and his
prognosis became established at only three to six months of life remaining. High-Dosage Radiation Exposur e for Senor Lechuga
Consultation with oncologist Ira A. Horowitz, M.D., medical director of
the El Paso Cancer Treatment Center, followed. Dr. Horowitz emphatically
recommended radiation therapy, but the machine used for this external
radiation failed to be state-of-the-art; its old-fashioned cobalt-60 electron
beams would present the patient with some awful side effects. The
machine’ s radioactive source was housed in a lead container, and as the
cobalt isotope decayed, it produced a beam in the megavoltage range.5
With advice from his family, Senor Lechuga decided instead that he
would take radiation therapy in Chester, Pennsylvania, close to the
Wilmington, Delaware, home of his daughter, Geor gina Lechuga Potter. (Mrs. Potter, who now lives in Vienna, Virginia, acted as transl ator for her
father ’s Spanish -spoken case history. Besides hospital records, she is a mainsource of the information you


 except love. That’ s how the universe correctsitself, but only if we’re aligned with that intention. The present can’t free us
if we’re insistent on living in the past. When I was a child my sister and I had what were called “add-a-pearl”
necklaces. Every  holiday we would receive another little pearl to put on a
chain, the idea being that one day we would have a full neckl ace. I don’t
remember that either one of us ever did, but I’ve always thought of the Holy
Instant—that moment when all obsession with past and future and guilt and
shame have fallen away—as a pearl we’re adding to a collectio n of perfect
moments. It’s the idea that you could collect these miraculous moments,
which might then turn into a minute, which might then turn into an hour,
which might then turn into a day, and ultimately transform your life. “Happily ever after” means a state of mind in which we live fully in the
present moment, our minds untarnished either by painful memories from
the past or obsession about the future. One of my personal challenges is that sometimes I have difficulty
letting the past go. I’ll obsess about something that happened  in the past
rather than allowing for a miracle in the present. “But you said...!” “But
then why did you do that...?” The past never has a chance to heal if we
ourselves insist on dwelling there. The only thing real about the past was
the love we were given and the love we received; the present is
programmed to correct all lovelessness that occurred there, as long as we
are willing to let it go. In the Holy Instant we are radically open to the only thing that’s real,
casting out what isn’t real and allowing the universe to begin again. But we
can’t be open to “the universe” unless we are willing to be open to people. We cann ot forgive someone, yet at the same time hold them to their past. Whether it’s reminding ourselves of what we did wrong in the past, or
reminding others of how they did us wrong in the past, at a certain point
even going there is just a way of reopening the wound. Obviously, at times we need to process things from the past; but there’ s
a difference between processing  and spewing. There is a difference between
honoring our pain and indulging it. Spirit might need to process, but the ego
wants to hold on too long. There ’s a discipline to knowing when enough has
been said. Of course we shouldn’ t ignore our suffering. We should always honor
the season of our pain. But the ego tempts us to stay on the cross longer
than we need to at times, whic h is just as dysfunctional as ignoring oursuffering altogether. The ego would turn past pain into our personal calling
card, a sly trick of the ego to keep us mired in its suffering. Learn from it,
grow from it, forgive it, and use it to help others. But if I overi dentify with
the pain in my past, I cannot transcend it. What I haven’ t yet transcended, I
can’t help you transcend either. The ultimate question regarding  past pain is
this: How have the lessons I learned from that experience made me a wiser
and better person now? In the Holy Instant we have a chance to both heal the past and
reprogram the future. Jesus is the right alignment of past and future because
his mind is the right alignment of everything. We place our past in his hands
so he can help us reinterpret it. A past that is forgiven is a past that can no
longer touch you, and a future surrendered into the hands of God is a future
that will be aligned with divine intelligence. The Holy Spirit delivers us beyond the limitations of linear time to a
realization of timelessness. He keeps us focused on the present because that
is the only time that ultimately exists. In Him, both past and future dissolve
in the blinding light of what really is, right now. The past is purified of
painful memorie s that do not serve, and the future is programmed to be its
most wonderful best. The most power ful way to plan the future is not by obsessing about it,
but by living fully in the presen t. Miracles occur naturally when we allow
them to. The ego doesn’ t want us to experience the fullness of the present
because that’s where miracles  happen. The ego wants us constantly
obsessing about  past or future  so that our lives will never truly move
forward but remain stuck on a never -ending wheel of chronic anxiety and
pain. Only the enlightened master has made every moment a Holy Instant, but
all of us, with practice, can build the musculature of the Holy Instant. Only
love is real, only the present is real, and nothing else exists. It’s amazing
how many sentences you delete before pushing the “send” butto n, once you
realize how many things really don’ t need to be said again. Miracles collapse time* (T-8), which means we can make a loving
decision in any moment, saving time and jumping ahead to a peaceful
outcome in any situation. “Only infinite patience produces immediate
effects* (T-88). Or we can fill the present with attack or defense, over and
over for however long it takes, experiencing the pain of having chosen
wrongly as many times as we choose until we are willing to choose again.We can choose fear and drag this thing out, or choose love and make an
immediate ascent. Dear God,
Please save me
from the endless torment of attachment
to past or futur e.
Send Y our spirit to heal my mind
of the temptation to enter
the nothingness of time. Keep me firmly in the pr esent
that I might know that I am blessed. Amen
OceanofPDF.comChapter Three
The Temples of Relationship
My holy brother, I would enter into all your relationships and step between you and your
fantasies. Let my relationship to you be real to you, and let me bring reality to your perception
of your brothers. They were not created to enable you to hurt yourself through them. They were
created to create with you. This is the truth that I would interpose between you and your goal of
madness. Be not separate from me, and let not the holy purpose of Atonement be lost to you in
dreams of vengeance. Relationships in which such dreams are cherished have excluded me. Let
me enter in the Name of God and bring you peace, that you may offer peace to me. * (T -357)
DRIVING UP TO a fashionable spiritual center, I saw a large sign near the
entrance. It said, “Love Yourself.”
That’ s become a trendy thing to say these days, but I thought about what
Jesus would have said. He didn’t say, “Love yourself.” He said, “Love one
another.”
Not that loving ourselves is bad. It’s both the foundation and the result
of our ability to love others. Judging ourselves is no less blasph emous than
judging others. But the current glorification of self—the “love yourself” culture—has
helped create an atomized society of isolated beings, struggling to relate to
one another and grieving the loss of love. Looking in the mirror to say “I
love you” all the time doesn’ t quite cut it long term. It’s not even that we’re
looking for love in all the wrong places. It’s that we’re not really looking
for love at all. We’re looking for sales, we’re looking for clicks, we’re looking for
prestige, we’re looking for power, we’re looking for things, we’re looking
to hook up. But that’s not the same as looking for love. Perhaps  we’ve even
given up on that.Love is hard to find out there because it isn’t out there. It’s in here. On
the material plane, what we give away we no longer have. On the spiritual
plane, we only get to keep what we give away. The only way to find love is
to give it.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Please show me the innocence in this person and myself, that I might be at peace. Amen
Prayer changes us on the level of cause. Effects of that change
automatically follow. Every thought is either love or fear. All negative thought is an expression of
fear. There is really only one problem (fear), and there is really only one
Answer (love). Love is our natural state, yet we’re thrown off our natural state as a
result of simply living in this world. That is the spiritual meaning of Adam
and Eve exiting the garden. All of us, including the person who treated you
unkindly, has been wounded by the world. Whereas the love of God is
meant to flow into us and extend through us, our woundedness forms an
obstruction to our ability to allow  that. Ego is when the wires get crossed in
our brains: in any moment, for whatever reason, we can’t see how to
express our love and still get our needs met. We become stuck in that
moment and fall asleep to who we are. That is what happened inside the person who hurt you. They fell asleep
to who they are; and in that state, they


vious? The way to overcome this emotion is to say to yourself,
“Isn’t it wonderful! I rejoice in that man’s prosperity. I  wish for him
greater and greater wealth.”
To entertain envious thoughts is devastating because it places y ou in
a very negative position; therefore, wealth flows from you instead of
to you. If you are ever annoyed or irritated by the prosperity or great
wealth of another, claim immediately that you truly wish for  him
greater wealth in every possible way. This will neutrali ze the negative
thoughts in your mind and cause an ever-greater measure of weal th to
flow to you by the law of your own subconscious mind. • Rubbing out a great mental block to wealth
If you are worried and critical about someone whom you claim is
making money dishonestly, cease worrying about him. You know
such a person is using the law of mind negatively; the law of mi nd
takes care of him. Be careful not to criticize him for the  reasons
previously indicated. 106  Remember: The block or obstacle to wealth is in your own mind. You can now destroy that mental block. This you may do by getting
on mental good terms with everyone. • Sleep and grow rich
As you go to sleep at night, practice the following tech-nique. Repeat the word, “Wealth,” quietly, easily, and feelingly. Do t his over
and over again, just like a lullaby. Lull yourself to sleep wit h the one
word, “Wealth.” You should be amazed at the result. Wealth should
flow to you in avalanches of abundance. This is another example o f
the magic power of your subcon-scious mind. • Serve yourself with the powers of your mind
1. Decide to be wealthy the easy way, with the infallible aid of your
subconscious mind. 2. Trying to accumulate wealth by the sweat of your brow and hard
labor is one way to become the richest man in the graveyar d. You do
not have to strive or slave hard. 3. Wealth is a subconscious conviction. Build into your men-tality
the idea of wealth. 4. The trouble with most people is that they have no invisible means
of support. 5. Repeat the word, “Wealth,” to yourself slowly and quietly for
about five minutes prior to sleep and your subconscious will br ing
wealth to pass in your experience. 6. The feeling of wealth produces wealth. Keep this in mind at all
times. 7. Your conscious and subconscious mind must agree. Your
subconscious accepts what you really feel to be true. The dom inant
idea is always accepted by your subconscious mind. The dominant
idea should be wealth, not poverty. 107  8. You can overcome any mental conflict regarding wealth by
affirming frequently, “By day and by night I am being pros-pe red in
all of my interests.”
9. Increase your sales by repeating this statement over and ov er
again, “My sales are improving every day; I am ad-vancing,
progressing, and getting wealthier every day.”
10. Stop writing blank checks, such as, “There is not enough to go
around,” or “There is a shortage,” etc. Such state-ments magnify  and
multiply your loss. 11. Deposit thoughts of prosperity, wealth, and success in your
subconscious mind, and the latter will give you compound interest. 12. What you consciously affirm, you must not mentally deny a few
moments later. This will neutralize the good you have affirmed. 13. Your true source of wealth consists of the ideas in your mind. You can have an idea worth millions of dollars. Your subconscious
will give you the idea you seek. 14. Envy and jealousy are stumbling blocks to the flow of wealth. Rejoice in the prosperity of others. 15. The block to wealth is in your own mind. Destroy that block
now by getting on good mental terms with everyone. 108  10
Your Right to Be Rich
It is your right to be rich. You are here to lead the abun-dant l ife and
be happy, radiant, and free. You should, therefore, have all the money
you need to lead a full, happy, and pros-perous life. You are here to grow, expand, and unfold spiritually, men-tally, a nd
materially. You have the inalienable right to fully develop and express
yourself along all lines. You should sur-round yourself with beauty
and luxury. Why be satisfied with just enough to go around when you can enjoy
the riches of your subconscious mind? In this chapter you can le arn to
make friends with money, and you should al-ways have a surplus. Your desire to be rich is a desire for a fuller, happier, mor e wonderful
life. It is a cosmic urge. It is not only good, but also very good. • Money is a symbol
Money is a symbol of exchange. It means to you not only freedom
from want, but beauty, luxury, abundance, and refine-ment. It is
merely a symbol of the economic health of the nation. When your
blood is circulating freely in your body, you are healthy. When money
is circulating freely in your life, you are economically heal thy. When
people begin to hoard money, to put it away in tin boxes, and become
charged with fear, there is economic illness. Money has taken many forms as a medium of exchange down
through the centuries, such as, salt, beads, and trinkets of vari ous
kinds. In early times a man’s wealth was determined by the num ber of
sheep and oxen he had. Now we use currency, and other negotiable
instruments, as it is much more convenient to write a check than c arry
some sheep around with you to pay bills. 109  • How to walk the royal road to riches
Knowledge of the powers of your subconscious mind is the means
to  the royal road to riches of all kinds—spiritual, men-tal, o r
financial. The student of the laws of mind believes and knows
definitely that regardless of economic situations, stock marke t
fluctuation, depression, strikes, war, other conditions or
circumstances, he will always be amply supplied, regardles s of what
form money takes. The reason for this is that he has con-veyed the
idea of wealth to his subconscious mind, and it keeps him supplied
wherever he may be. He has convinced himself in his mind that
money is forever flowing freely in his life and that there  is always a
wonderful surplus. Should there be a fi-nancial collapse of
government tomorrow and all the man’s  present holdings become
valueless, as the German marks did after the First World War, he
would still attract wealth and be cared for, regardless of th e form the
new currency took. • Why you do not have more money
As you read this chapter, you are probably saying, “I am worthy of a
higher salary than I am receiving.” I believe most people are
inadequately compensated. One of the causes many people does not
have more money is that they are silently or openly condemning i t.
They refer to money as “filthy lucre” or “the love of money is  the root
of all evil.” Another reason they do not prosper is that they ha ve a
sneaky subconscious feeling there is some virtue in poverty. T his
subconscious pattern may be due to early childhood training,
superstition, or it could be based on a false interpretation of scri ptures. • Money and a balanced life
One time a man said to me, “I am broke. I do not like money. It is
the
root of all evil.” These statements represent a confused ne urotic
mind. Love of money to the exclusion of everything else will c ause
you to become lopsided and unbal-anced. You are here to use your
 110  power or authority wisely. Some men crave power others cra ve
money. If you set your heart on money exclusively and say, “Money is al l I
want; I am going to give all my attention to amassing money; nothi ng
else matters,” you can get money and attain a fortune, but you have
forgotten that you are here to lead a balanced life. You must also
satisfy the hunger for peace of mind, harmony, love, joy, and perfect
health. By making money your sole aim, you simply made a wrong choice. You thought that was all you wanted, but you found after all your
efforts that it was not only the money you needed. You also desired
true expression of your hidden talents, true place in life, beaut y, and
the joy of contributing to the welfare and success of others. B y
learning the laws of your subconscious mind, you could have a million
dollars or many millions, if you wanted them, and still have peac e of
mind, harmony, per-fect health, and perfect expression. • Poverty is a mental disease
There is no virtue in poverty; it is a disease like any ot her mental
disease. If you were physically ill, you would think there was
something wrong with you. You would seek help and do something
about the condition at once. Likewise, if you do not have money
constantly circulating in your life, there is some-thing radic ally wrong
with


 the Loetschental
valley ever had the benefits (or curse) of sugar. This Swiss valley, while supporting a
rich and prosperous population, has never ha d a doctor or a dentist. There has been no
need for either. The expected life period is around one hundred years. The persons are
vigorous and well able to do manual work in the 80's and 90's. Deficiency diseases as
we know them simply do not exist. The Swiss Guard which formerly was furnished to
the Pope, and for which the Swiss government searches the country for the finest
physical specimens, was largely taken from this valley. The foregoing are given as illustrations in the human family which might in some
measure parallel laboratory experiments made on animals. A larger and more
convincing exhibit could be adduced from the experience of the Chinese, Japanese, and
Filipinos in connection with polished rice. The eating of polished rice produced
hundreds of thousands of cases of beriberi--a  disease which paralyzes certain muscle
groups, and in some cases produces insanity, and always leads to death. Our own southern states, southern Spain, Italy,  and other Mediterranean areas furnished
thousands of cases of a disease called pellag ra. Persons affected with pellagra have red
discoloration of the skin, with disturbances of digestion, and nervousness which finally
becomes insanity. In the insane asylums of the southern states, over half of the inmates
are there as the result of pellagra. Pellagra ha s been found to be a disease caused by diet
deficiency. Beriberi in the orient and pell agra in America are still common, and the
conditions producing the diseases in these different parts of the world can be duplicated
in laboratory animals with the same result. Our knowledge, then, in regard to diet  does not depend altogether on experiments
with laboratory animals, but every step and every conclusion may be backed up with
facts that have been gleaned from human experience on great groups of people in various parts of the world. Our purpose here is not to adduce in every case the proofs of what we are saying in
regard to human disease. These proofs are to be found in every well-stocked library. In
the medical journals for the last five years this subject has taken up more space than any other, and in medical papers presented at c onventions this subject has been the principal
topic for discussion. Newspaper and magazine s have carried innumerable articles, and
in some several such articles may be found in one issue. The result of all the work that is being done in the universities and commercial
laboratories throughout the whole civilized world is that certain chemical entities are
found to, be necessary to life processes. Animal life demands certain minerals, certain
vitamins, and certain fats and proteins in order that the body chemistry may be properly
carried out. Never before in the history of the world has it been possible to say what
these necessary things are. Always, up to the present time, diet has been a hit-or-miss
affair. Experience has been the only guide. Success or failure depended upon accident. No guide was available except the likes and dislikes of appetite. Everything that
contributed to the pleasure of eating was considered acceptable and good, just as anything that contributed to protection from the winter's cold and storm was thought to
be acceptable and good. Grains were known to be good food. Human teeth were not capable of properly
crushing them. Artificial methods came into  use. The crushing of wheat between two
stones relieved the human teeth of much of their natural function. Elaboration on this principle led to the development of wheat flour as we know it today. Modern milling
has robbed food of certain valuable ingred ients. The sweetness of fruits was acceptable
and valuable to our early ancestors, but chemistry concentrated the sweetness and
cheapened it so that sugar became a universal food. In the development of these two foods much was left out, and we now know that some
of the things omitted were and are necessary to optimum functioning of life processes. In an effort to make foods more acceptable to the taste and to keep food supplies over the winter's season, sterilization by heat and the exclusion of microorganisms brought
about the conditions which resulted in the canning industry. The factory production of
sugar has robbed another class of food of valuable ingredients. Canning has also
contributed to the deficiency picture by robbing certain foods of valuable chemical elements. When these changes in food were first developed, no one believed that anything was
being done which was detrimental to our food supply. But now it is well known that factory processes--heating, canning, and ster ilizing--have a definitely bad effect, and
that this bad effect is the removing of certain health promoting elements which formerly
existed in the natural food. The question then  arises--What are these elements, and what
has their absence from modern food done to the average so-called civilized individual? Before discussing the individual elements that are lacking in modern foods, we should
understand that most of our thinking processes are on the basis of relativity. Do we
know whether a child in school is a normal, healthy child or not? Do we know that a
boy on a football team in college is a normal, healthy individual or not? Do we know a
private in the army who has passed the physical examinations is a normal, healthy
individual? Is the doctor who writes your pres cription a healthy or a diseased person? Is
your minister, your grocer, your secretary, a normal, healthy individual? It is quite
obvious that the standards of the present time are wrong standards. We have been afflicted by mass diseases for so many decades that the average layman and the average
doctor, and quite obviously the average dentist, does not know what is normal. The standards of the present time have been built up from population averages, just as
the standards of the insurance companies have been compounded of groups of
policyholders. Both of these are false standards, but standards of groups of human individuals "as is." In the future when the human family takes advantage of the
scientific aids to optimum health now available, the standards will be quite different. A
decayed tooth will be looked upon as a very rare disease. Persons will not be afflicted
with arthritis or neuritis before the advan ced ages. Most of the chronic diseases that
afflict middle-aged persons at the present time will have disappeared. CHAPTER II
WHY WE MUST HAVE VITAMINS
   The young animal coming into the world receives a diet of milk. The milk contains
fats, proteins, sugars, and minerals. With the exception of water, the needs of the young
animal are completely supplied by this one food. After a certain time, in order to
develop properly, the young animal must provide himself with other foods. One of the
first needs is food that contains iron, as  Nature supplies the young animal with iron
enough to last only a few months. Milk supplies calcium for the growing bones of the young, and must also supply protein for building muscle, brain, and other bodily
structures. The milk supplies certain elements which convey the ability to resist
infections. The most common of these is vitami n A which is to be found in the fat in the
milk. The protein elements in the milk ca rry all of the vitamins of the vitamin B
complex. The milk contains some vitamin C and perhaps, if the mother has been exposed to sunshine during her period of pregnancy, the milk contains the bone-
building element, vitamin D. The young animal, then, receives from his parents the
vitamins necessary to life--the sugars constituting a good part of the solid material in the
milk. The sugars are burned to supply energy. In the early months and years of life, the young animal is exposed to various types and
kinds of infections. The only way in which the organism is enabled to resist such
infections is through the optimum functi oning of the various glands, and the proper
working out of body chemistry. It is a fact that well-fed animals survive exposure to
infections which readily kill animals which are not thus well nourished. While the functions of various vitamins and minerals overlap to a very great degree,
there is to some extent a specific action, and this specific action has much to do with
ability or lack of ability to resist infections. Vitamin A, for instance, has something to do with protecting eyes from infections. The person who is lacking in vitamin A may
develop a mild or severe eye infection, depending on the degree of the deficiency. The
severe infection will inevitably lead to such  destruction of the eye tissues as to produce
permanent blindness. Deficiency eye diseases are the best examples of infections built
up on a deficiency basis. For years the scientific men of the orient debated the question as to whether beriberi
was a mild infection of the nervous system, or an outright lack of building material necessary for nerve tissue. It is now quite apparent that the symptoms are those of a
low-grade infection superimposed on diet deficiency. In the case of scurvy, it is not the
same problem as in the past. It was formerly thought that lack of vitamin C was a lack
of actual building material. The person with advanced scurvy has for years had the
symptom of leakage of blood vessels under the skin. It was thought that the leakage was due to the fact that the cement substance in the walls of the capillaries was lacking to
such a degree that the blood oozed out between the poorly cemented cell walls. Whether
or not there is some lack of building material we do not know. It is evident that leakage