 wheat, sugar, and dairy. Eat at regular mealtimes without snacking. You can also increase the qualities of drying, stimulating, and expressing in
your life through adjustments to daily behavior including self-care and
exercise. Try the following activities and lifestyle adaptations to bring
kapha into balance:
Go to bed early and get up before sunrise; don’t take daytime naps. Add variety. Seek out mental and physical stimulation. Focus on nonattachment in daily life. Listen to enlivening music. Do intermediate to vigorous yoga (incorporating movement that is
heating and circulating; vinyasa, twists, arm balances). Engage in warming activities such as walking, hiking, dancing, or
jogging. Treat yourself to dry, brisk, exfoliating massage. Take cold showers. Receive fast and deep massage with sesame oil. SKIP N OTES
*1 https://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515351/. *2 Scott Blossom, “Intro to Ayurveda: Understanding the Three Doshas,” Yoga
Journal, January 21, 2021, https://www. yogajournal. com/lifestyle/health/intro-
ayurveda/. *3 Blossom, “Intro to Ayurveda. ”
*4 Blossom, “Intro to Ayurveda. ”
OceanofPDF. comConscious Conception 2
The Ayurvedic ideal goes far beyond mer ely conceiving. Instead, the
emphasis is on cr eating a child who is mentally, physically,
emotionally, and spiritually healthy—a wise and well-r ounded child
who will contribute to society and become an enlightened citizen. —Maharishi Ayurveda
Ayurveda teaches that the presence of life is what allows the embryo to
grow and transform into a fetus, and then a child. Without life, matter is in a
state of dormancy. When consciousness enters matter, you can see all the
symptoms of life: birth, growth, maintenance, the ability to procreate,
disease (or dwindling), and eventually death. Ayurveda teaches that at the
moment of conception the soul enters into mama’ s womb, and that the
physical, mental, and emotional body of the baby begins to form. Thus,
Ayurveda emphasizes the value of preparation before conception, as well as
intention during conception to call in a soul who will bring more light and
goodness into the world by welcoming them with that same ener gy. The physical strength of the parents three or four months before and at
the moment of conception determines a lar ge part of the foundation of
health or dis-ease for the baby. The parents’  mental state is a foundation for
the baby’ s overall state of mind. And the parents’  spiritual connection (or
disconnection) determines the soul who will come in, depending on where
the soul is on their own spiritual journey. From an Ayurvedic standpoint, the process of a woman bringing a life
into the world with intention is one of treating herself like a plant in a
garden, with four aspects to consider in preparation for conception: the
field, the seed, the season, and the water. Ayurveda teaches that a woman is the channel through which the soul of
a new life arrives. Women carry within them the “field” of the uterus, which
lives in the lar ger field of their body, mind, and emotions. The space that awoman lives in, her relationship with her partner, her work, her community,
and the planet all make up the greater context of the field that she needs to
cultivate with deeper intention. The health of all of these aspects of her life
influence the field of her uterus, and therefore, they are all important when
considering conception. Attention to the “seed” is attention to the health of the egg and the
sperm. We know that the menstrual cycle, and therefore fertility, is
negatively af fected by stress, hormonal imbalance, poor diet, environmental
toxicity, low body fat, and more. Ayurveda looks at how all these dif ferent
components of a woman’ s life might af fect her eggs and reproductive
organs as well as how the lifestyle of a baby’ s father af fects the quality and
quantity of sperm. Stress causes us to clench, which hinders the free flow of
prana  (vitality, life force) and causes stagnation in the body, leading to dis-
ease. Part of preparing for conception involves addressing any disorders of
the reproductive system such as irregular periods (often because of
stagnation or not enough nourishment), ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and
so on through proper diet, lifestyle practices, and herbal support, which will
vary from person to person. Ayurveda thus suggests a cleansing period
followed by a rebuilding (or nourishing) period prior to conceiving. The “season” refers to assessing a time for conception based on the
parents’  time of life, determining the proper time in the menstrual cycle, and
following guidance for living and eating in accordance with the time of year
so that the doshas stay balanced. Ayurveda also assesses the season, the
phase of the moon, the environment (literally, the room. ) that this soul will
be called into, as well as the state of consciousness of the parents at the
moment of conception. Last, the “water” is the Ayurvedic approach to the ways in which a
woman nourishes herself. The modern love af fair with intensity, stress,
activity, drive, and ambition oftentimes gets in the way of a woman’ s ability
to receive, and thus to conceive. A woman who has too many stress
hormones and not enough nourishment may need to slow down, relax, and
really focus on self-care practices that allow her to feel softer, grounded,
and cared for. Through the ancient yet practical lifestyle science of Ayurveda, you learn
how to engage with life consciously: how to step into every experience with
clarity, wisdom, and intention. This is a dynamic integration of doing
everything you can to prepare an ideal environment to welcome a child into
but also softening just enough so you do not become rigid within the timing
and the rituals. The goal is to trust that, ultimately, there is Divine timing
and a bigger plan than your own. The guidelines in this chapter of fer ways to cultivate the field of your
body, your consciousness, and dif ferent aspects of your life in preparation
for conception. Along with dietary disciplines that can assist you in
cultivating a strong seed and information to guide you in choosing the right
timing for inviting a child into your life, the chapter presents dif ferent
rituals from the ancient science of Ayurveda that you can use to invoke
intention and auspiciousness for the process of procreation. These
guidelines are not only for preconception and conception; throughout
pregnancy this same ener gy can be put into the cultivation of your body and
your baby’ s life as you nurture the little soul that is growing in the womb. PREPARING YOUR
CONSCIOUSNESS
Your consciousness can be compared to a mirror. It reflects the impressions
that have come in through your senses and the desires that stem from them. If you see a red convertible and really like it, it creates an impression in
your mind, and then a desire to have it. Your activities then become
motivated by your desire. Ideally, however, rather than your consciousness
reflecting the world outside of you, through spiritual practices, your
consciousness begins to reflect the pure nature of your soul. When your
consciousness reflects your soul, rather than being moved by what you wantor don’ t want, like or don’ t like (raga and dvesha), your only motive is the
desire to serve. Your will becomes aligned with Divine will, and all your
activities reflect that connection. The great teacher of Bhakti yoga Srila Prabhupada gives the metaphor
of a mirror that is covered by dust. When you look into that mirror, rather
than seeing yourself, all you see is the dust. The dust is compared to the
layers and layers of false identifications that have covered your real
identity: the roles that you play, the job that you have, the heartbreaks and
the joys, the pleasures and the pain, the past experiences that have shaped
and molded you. These create a “personality” that you now identify with, as
well as an endless stream of desires that you actively pursue. You have
forgotten who you really are. Yoga and Ayurveda teach that you are not what has happened to you. You are not your mind; you are not the temporary roles that you play; your
value is not defined by your status or position; you are not the color of your
skin or even the body that you are in. Your culture or ancestry may bring
deep meaning into your life, though who you r eally ar e isn’t actually
touched by any of it. You are the one that is seeing through your eyes,
hearing through your ears, and smelling through your nose. You are the
spark of life that gives consciousness to form. The actualization of material
desires (desires satisfied by matter) will not ultimately satisfy your soul. You are a pure spirit with the potential of becoming an instrument of the
greatest love possible. How can you clear the dust so that you can see who
you really are. It’s you and me forever, little one. And the tears started flowing
just as the


 without food for forty -two days. One of my purposes in writing this chapter is to dissipate the fiction
that the fasts that Dr. Tanner undertook were made in order to attract notorietyófor the mere sake of advertisement Th ey were not. Naturally these fasts attracted attention, and such periods of abstention from food still would attract attention were they b rought to
public notice. But Dr. Tanner had another object in view, and it is best expressed in his own words as conta ined in a personal letter
dated December 28, 1911. He says: "I really believe that I am entitled to be called the father of therapeutic fasting in this country, for away back i n 1877 I had
given up hopes of ever regaining what might be called normal heal th. I was then in Minneapolis in the practice of my profession,
and, after a strenuous time with a patient critically ill, I virtually collapsed. I was at such a low ebb physically and ment ally at the
time that I did not care whether I lived or died, and I  determined that, since my drugs gave me no relief, I would starve myself to
death ere I again would suffer the physical misery that had been mine for months preceding. I accordingly told Dr. Moyer, my
Page 3 of  72 consulting companion, that I would not again eat food until I was dead or recovered in health." It will be remembered that Dr.
Tanner was a fully accredited doctor of medicine. The facts as recorded are these. On the 15th of July, 1877, Dr. Henry S Tanner was called in consultation with Dr. A. Moyer o f
Minn eapolis, Minnesota, to attend a critical case that detained them late into the night. The next day Dr. Tanner felt ill and di d not
leave his room. During the day he drank some milk, as he did on the day following. But this was the last food taken by him un til
August 29th following, a period of forty -two days. Both Dr. Tanner and Dr. Moyer concurred in the opinion that from the
viewpoint of medical diagnostics the symptoms in the case were those of low gastric fever. During "treatment" Dr. Tanner
occupied a room in the home of Dr. Moyer, and he was not at any time confined to his bed. He took during the entire forty -two
days of abstinence nothing but water into his stomach, but of this he drank freely when thirsty. At the end of ten days of fasting the symp toms of his disorder disappeared; he gained in strength, and in every way showed
physical and mental improvement. Dr. Moyer, however, frequently remonstrated with Dr. Tanner for pursuing what he, Dr. Moyer,
believed to be a suicidal course, but Dr. Tanner persisted, and we have in the small volume, Forty Days Without Food, a record of
the full fast from Dr. Moyer's pen. The latter says, after detailing the daily experiences of his "patient" for forty days:

"The case continued until I became alarmed, and I  strenuously urged Dr. Tanner to allay his gastric irritation by taking milk, which
he finally consented to do. The next forenoon --that of the forty -second day of fasting --he ate a cracker and drank some lemonade,
but this his stomach rejected." In the lig ht of more recent knowledge of the therapeutics of fasting this experience was to be
expected. But later on the same day Dr. Tanner went downtown, and, coming home within half an hour, said to Dr. Moyer, "Well,
Doctor, I think I have finished affairs for g ood. I not only have taken a pint of milk, but have eaten five pears and half a good -sized
watermelon. " No records were kept either by Dr. Tanner or Dr. Moyer of the phenomena of this fast. The only data extant deal with the prom pt
and general relief of  symptoms of distress, all of which vanished by the tenth day of fasting, and there is mention made that Dr.
Tanner had no passage from the bowels from the 15th of July until the 31st of August, an interval of 47 days. To carry out a fast
today in this man ner would be deemed a bid for disaster, hence the record made by Dr. Tanner in this, his first essay into
prolonged abstinence from food for health's sake, is thus rendered the more remarkable. The fast in question was commenced with a view of relieving an inflammation of the stomach, and it was continued after the active
symptoms had subsided in order to test the worth of scientific teachings as to the time a human being might live without food. No
plan had been arranged, for, as stated, decision to fast  came suddenly; neither was there any intention of bringing the matter to
public attention. But the outcome of Dr. Tanner's experiment was so surprising and so successful from the therapeutic viewpoint that Dr. Moyer
was unable to remain silent, and he t old a few of his friends, among whom was a reporter of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. This
virtually necessitated a public statement of the facts, which called wide -spread attention to Dr. Tanner, and newspapers throughout
the country were soon publishing art icles and interviews, many of which attempted to throw doubt upon the doctor's veracity. Medical men especially, almost to a man, when questioned upon the subject, stated that such a fast was a physical impossibili ty,
and medical journals published such st atements as scientific facts. These attacks upon Dr. Tanner's probity he believed were likely to affect his professional reputation, and he thereupon deter mined
to speak for himself. This he did through the columns of the Pioneer Press in an article iter ating what has been related, together
with other announcements and arguments that need not here be quoted. For some time after publication of this communication considerable interest was shown, especially in the Middle West, upon th e
subject of fasting, not, however, because of its therapeutic possibilities, but because of the doubt that a human being might emulate
the Christ and perform in the flesh a miracle. For Christ's fast of forty days and nights was then as now by orthodox believe rs
numbered among  miraculous events. Dr. Tanner went further than this in later years, and, as he says in a letter to the author of date February 23, 1912: "My se cond fast,
publicly given, was called the 'Great American Sensation', and its novel incidents were wired to t he ends of the telegraphic world. My advisers planned for me wisely. My object was not money, but to relieve myself of the odium unjustly heaped upon me by the
medical enemies of all righteousness. Right triumphed, and the very javelins of hate hurled at m e, in their recoil held up the
medical profession to the derision of the world. Every prediction of failure was nullified, and I came off conqueror and more  than
conqueror, in spite of the medical Goliaths arrayed against truth." This statement was made by Dr. Tanner thirty -two years after he underwent his famous second fast in the City of New York. The
fast began on June 28,1880, and ended at noon, August 6,1880, full forty days. To go into the controversies that this public demonstration occasioned wo uld be futile here. It is sufficient to say that Dr. Tanner
Page 4 of  72 successfully vindicated his cause, and that he proved his contention that mere man might refrain from eating for forty days a nd still
live. In addition, he showed that the physical state of his bo dy was materially improved by his experience, and that the therapeutic
value of abstinence from food was an established fact. As a result of this test Dr. Tanner's name became a household word, an d to
this day in works not allied at all to the subject refe rences are met with the good old doctor as their theme. Dr. Henry S. Tanner was born in England in 1831. He died in San Diego, California, in comparative obscurity in 1919. Eighty -
eight years of life, most of which was devoted to contending with the orth odox members of his profession! Yet he never lost his
mental poise nor his well developed sense of humor. Nor did he ever descend to the meannesses of petty controversy, although
outspoken to the end. Throughout his practice, and he was always actively eng aged in the work of his profession, he decried the
use of drugs, depending entirely upon natural therapy. When his purse was full, his funds were at the disposal of those in ne ed, and
his whole personality was one that carried with it and expressed the Gol den Rule. Dr. Tanner, from 1877 on, employed the fast in his practice. He slightly antedates Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey in this regard, bu t he
did not, as did Dr. Dewey, make of his knowledge the basis of a cult, the foundation of a school. When in 1911 t he author was persecuted by the political members of the orthodox branch of medicine, and was accused of having
caused the death of one of her fasting patients by starvation, Dr. Tanner rose to the occasion, as evidenced in the following  letter:
"Our local  papers have published matter in regard to you professionally. As I am the father of fasting, I'm an interested party in
your welfare. If I can be of service, command me,


Karma” really means
accountability—and, as cited in previous spiritual research, every entity is
answerable to the universe. To summarize, as is commonly known, karma
(spiritual fate) is the consequence of decisions of the will and determines
spiritual destiny  after physical death (the celestial levels, hell, purgatory, orthe so-called inner astral planes). Included also is the option of
reincarnation in the human physical domain, which, as shown by
consciousness-calibration resear ch, can only be done by agreement with the
individual will. So all humans have, by agreement, chosen this pathway. In
addition, consciousness research confirms that all persons are born under
the most optimal conditions for spiritual evolution, no matter what the
appearance seems to be. Y ou don’ t get born without your approval. Linear:  Following a logical progression in the manner of Newtonia n
physics and, therefore, solvable  by traditional mathematics through the use
of dif ferential equations. Nonduality:  When the limitation of a fixed locus of perception is
transcended, there is no longer an illusion of separation nor of space and
time as we know  them. On the level of nonduality, there is observing but no
observer, as subject and object are one. You-and-I becomes the One Self
experiencing all as Divine. In nonduality, consciousness experiences itself
as both manifest and unmanifes t, yet there is no experiencer. In this reality,
the only thing that has a beginning and an ending is the act of perception
itself. Positionality:  The positionalities are structures that set the entire
thinking mechan ism in motion and activate its content. Positio nalities are
programs, not the real Self. The world holds an endless array of positions
that are arbitrary presumpti ons and totally erroneous. Primordial
positionalities are: (1) Ideas have significance and importance;  (2) There is
a dividing line between opposites;  (3) There is a value of authorship—
thoughts are valuable because they are “mine”;  (4) Thinking is necessary
for control, and survival depends on contr ol. All positional ities are
voluntary. Self (capital S): The Self is beyond, yet innate in, all form—timeless,
without beginning or end, changeless, permanent, and immortal. Out of it
arises awareness, consciousness, and an infinite condition of “at home-
ness.” It is the ultimate subjec tivity from which everyone’ s sense of “I”
arises. The Infinite Reality does not even know itself as “I” but as the very
substrate of the capacity for such a statement. It is invisible and all-present. The Self is the Reality of reality, the Oneness and Allness of Identity. It isthe ultimate “I-ness” of consci ousness itself as the manifestation of the
unmanifest. Thus, only, can the indescribable be described. Subjectivity:  Life is lived solely on the level of experience and none
other. All experience is subjective and nonlinear; therefore, even the linear,
perceptual, sequential delineation of “reality” cannot be experienced except
subjectively. All “truth” is a subjective conclusion. All life in its essence is
nonlinear, nonmeasurable, nondefinable. It is purely subjective. Truth:  Truth is relative and only “true ” in a given context. All truth is
only so within a certain level of consciousness. For instance, to forgive is
commendable, but at a later stage, one sees there is actually nothing to
forgive. There is no “other” to be forgiven. Everyone’ s ego is equally
unreal, including one’ s own. Perception is not reality. Truth arises out of subjectivity and is obvious
and self-revealing. Truth is radical subjectivity. With the collapse of the
illusions of duality, including the supposed “reality” of a separate “self,”
there remains only the state of the Infinite “I,” which is the manifestation of
the Unmanifest as the Self. Truth has no opposites, such as falsity or “off-
ness.”
Nothing is hidden from the field of consciousness. The ultimat e truth is
beyond is-ness, beingness, or any intransitive verb. Any attempt at Self-
definition, such as “I Am That I Am”—or even just “I Am”—is  redundant. The Ultimate Reality is beyond all names. “I” signifies the radical
subjectivity of the state of Realization. It is in itself the comple te statement
of Reality. OceanofPDF.comBIBLIOGRAPHY
Discovery of the Pr esence of God: Devotional Nonduality
Dissolving the Ego, Realizing the Self: Contemplations from the Teachings
of David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. The Eye of the I: Fr om Which Nothing Is Hidden
Healing and Recovery
I: Reality and Subjectivity
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surr ender
Power vs. For ce: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior
Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment
Truth vs. Falsehood: How to T ell the Differ ence
OceanofPDF.comABOUT THE AUTHOR
David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. (1927–2012), was directo r of the
Institute for Spiritual Research, Inc., and founder of the Path of Devotional
Nonduality. He was renowned as a pioneering researcher in the field of
consciousness as well as an author, lecturer, clinician, physician, and
scientist. He served as an advisor to Catholic, Protestant, and Buddhist
monasteries; appeared on major network television and radio programs; and
lectured widely at such places as Westminster Abbey, the Oxford Forum,
the University of Notre Dame, and Harvard University. His life was devoted
to the upliftment of huma nkind until his death in 2012. Visit
veritaspub.com. OceanofPDF.comOceanofPDF.comWhere is Y our Heart Leading Y ou? —
You were born with unique, undeniable gifts. In your quietest
moments, you can feel them yearning to awaken. You long to express them and show the world what you’re truly
capable of. By discovering more about yourself, you’ll naturally understand
how to fulfill the wonderful potential you know lives deep within
you. This self-discovery quiz will help guide you on your next steps to
sharing your gifts with the world. TAKE THE FREE QUIZ NOW >>
OceanofPDF.comHay House Titles of Related Interest
YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE, the movie,
starring Louise Hay & Friends
(available as a 1-DVD program, an expanded 2-DVD set,
and an online streaming video)
Learn more at www.hayhouse.com/louise-movie
THE SHIFT, the movie,  starring Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
(available as a 1-DVD program, an expanded 2-DVD set,
and an online streaming video)
Learn more at www.hayhouse.com/the-shift-movie
BECOMING SUPERNA TURAL: How Common People Ar e
Doing the Uncommon,  by Dr. Joe Dispenza
BLISS BRAIN: The Neur oscience of Remodeling Y our Brain for
Resilience, Cr eativity, and Joy, by Dawson Church
MIND T O MA TTER: The Astonishing Science of How Y our
Brain Cr eates Material Reality, by Dawson Church
TRUST LIFE: Love Y ourself Every Day with W isdom fr om
Louise Hay
YOU ARE WHA T YOU THINK: 365 Meditations for
Extraor dinary Living,  by Dr. Wayne W. DyerAll of the above are available at your local bookstore,
or may be ordered by contacting Hay House (see next page). OceanofPDF.comWe hope you enjoyed this Hay House book. If you’d like to
receive our online catalog featuring additional information
on Hay House books and products, or if you’d like to find
out more about the Hay Foundation, please contact:
Hay House, Inc., P.O. Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100
(760) 431-7695 or (800) 654-5126
(760) 431-6948 (fax) or (800) 650-51 15 (fax)
www.hayhouse.com® • www.hayfoundation.or g
——
Published in Australia by:  Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.,
18/36 Ralph St., Alexandria NSW 2015
Phone:  612-9669-4299 • Fax:  612-9669-4144
www.hayhouse.com.au
Published in the United Kingdom by:  Hay House UK, Ltd.,
The Sixth Floor, Watson House, 54 Baker Street, London W1U
7BU
Phone:  +44 (0)20 3927 7290 • Fax:  +44 (0)20 3927 7291
www.hayhouse.co.ukPublished in India by:  Hay House Publishers India,
Muskaan Complex, Plot No. 3, B-2, V asant Kunj, New Delhi
110 070
Phone:  91-1 1-4176-1620


 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
surface (Yang). Metal  is the Phase  of contraction, culminating in the
Phase  of Water, which  consolidates energy at the core (Yin). Our
Wood  aspect leads us outward toward Fire, where we feel at one, a
part of it all; our Metal  aspect leads us inward toward Water, where
we recognize our separate and historical self. Our Earth Phase
stabilizes us so that we can handle the gyrations of our oscillatingprocess. Consciousness that exists beyond time, in the realm of
space, belongs to Fire. Our bodies, lineage, genes, and will to pass
from generation to generation through time belongs to Water. The
realm of action belongs to Wood, denition to Metal, and balance to
Earth. Familiarity with each of the Five Phases  acquaints us with the
individual waves within the common sea of our being. In tension with the great Yin Phase, Water, is the great Yang, Fire. Water  gives rise to the germination  of substance, and Fire gives rise
to the completion of materi alized form. The latent power of the
apple seed in the creation of the apple tree derives from Water. The
manifest power of the tree to mature and bear shiny red apples,
completing and fullling its potential, derives from Fire. Whereas
Metal  and Wood  represent stages of expans ion and contraction,
Water  and Fire represent stages of generation and completion. The lines of correspondence between the Five Phases  and human
experience divide the body into Five Organ Networks, each of which
corresponds to one Phase. These Organ Networks, echoing the nature
of each Phase, descr ibe the physiology and psychology of the
organism. By extrapolation people can be generally classied into
ve character types by matching healthy and distorted expressions
of the soma and psyche with the characteristics of each of the Five
Phases  and Organ Networks. Five-Phase Theory  is like a fugue, with ascending and descending
rhythms and recapitulations, repetitions, echoes, and variations on a
theme. Each Organ Network  is a living system, a melody, expressed
through the instrument of the soma and psyche. In the body,
dissonance manifests as physical symptoms and patterns of
dysfunction. In the psyche, bothersome traits, xations, and
dilemmas manifest as distortions of character and patterns of
distress. The function and interaction of the Five Organ Networks
establish the basis for understanding the ve character types. Phases of Pulsation
Symbolizing the organism as a sphere: Metal  (Yin) represents
contraction, movement inwar d toward the core. Water  (extreme Yin)
represents the core, the site of germination and creation. Wood
(Yang) represents expansion, movement outward toward the surface. Fire (extreme Yang) represents the surface, the site of culmination
and completion. Earth  represents the axis, the point of balance,
around which the forces of Yin-Yang  revolve and spin. FIVE ORGAN NETWORKS:  TRADITIONAL  CHINESE  PHYSIOLOGYTo maintain the abundant circulation of Qi and Blood  is to sustain
the material life of the organism, the integrity of mind and tissue. Each Organ Network  refers  to a complete set of functions—
physiological and psychological—rather than to a specic and
discrete physical structure xed in an anatomical locatio n. For this
reason they are referred to as Organ


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.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: Who wrote this book?,
A: Eugene Christian and Mollie Griswold Christian
Q: What is the main purpose of food, according to the authors?,
A: To supply material for growth and to replace worn-out tissue
Q: What is the difference between "raw" and "elementary" food?,
A: "Raw" refers to food that has not been cooked, while "elementary" refers to food in its natural, unchanged state
Q: What is the main cause of disease, according to the authors?,
A: Eating unnatural and unnatural foods, and violating natural laws
Q: What is the main problem with the current methods of food preparation?,
A: The preparation of foods has become a complicated and laborious process, and is often done with artificial and unnatural ingredients, leading to health problems.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>The telephone and telegr aph were the outgrowth of man's protest against the courier system. The inventions of all
the marvelous machines to which we point as evidences and
marks of our great civilization, originated in the one thought,
the saving of human labor. But the stomach is a veritable
gehenna, and the appetite its grizzly gorgon that holds
millions of women in a worse bondage than the negro
suffered in the South before the war. EFFECTS OF COOKING FOOD. IN all nature there are two great forces working, as it were,
against each other; namely, construction and destruction. That
is to say, nature is, on the one hand, assembling together
certain elements and building them into forms we call life,
and on the other it is breaking down, changing and dissipating
these elements, which process we call death or destruction. In the process of construction, the vegetable or plant
takes up from the mineral kingdom inorganic matter, and
converts it into organic or living matter, such as is found in
fruits, nuts, cereals,—the natural foods of man. It is only
through this process that mineral elements can build or
become a part of animal life. One of the most potent and effective agencies known to
change and demolish materials is fire. When we apply it to
our food in the process of cooking, it results in such a change
as destroys the elementary plant form, and the mineral
elements return to their inorganic condition. It cannot be
otherwise, insomuch as it possess es absolutely no element of
construction. At about 145° F. certain properties in plant life are
destroyed. For instance, a leaf of cabbage, if emersed in water
that can easily be endured by the bare hand, will wilt,
showing that part of its cellular life is destroyed at that
temperature. The heat can be increased until all plant life is destroyed. This becomes important when we remember that animal life
is supported and entirely constructed from plant life. The
living plant possesses all the elements from which animal life
is made. Therefore, the question would naturally arise in the
mind of any thinking person, "Why destroy in part the plant
life before feeding it to the an imal? In what possible way can
the application of heat improve it?" Our education, our
science and learning, are of small value, if they do not teach
us how to build the highest form of animal life from the
material used. Many articles of our food are subjected to an intense dry
heat, ranging from 300° to 400° F., in the vain hope that in
some way they may be improved. Bread browned in an oven
is partly changed to ashes. It is half destroyed. Were it kept
there twice as long it would be wholly destroyed. Yet millions of people insist on eating those supercooked
foods. They insist on wheat being made into Zwieback, which
might be described as a bit of ashes held together by a little
gluten, without ever spending one moment in thinking of the
real difference in food value, between this stuff and the grain
in its original state. Of all the curious customs into which people have
evolved, cooking seems to be the strangest and to possess the
least excuse for existence. It has made of woman a slave. It
has made of the stomach a potpourri for everything living or
dead. It so changes the proper ties of foods that no chemist living can analyze them. It is the chief cause of mixing food
products, which is the principal cause of overeating, which, in
its turn, is the genesis of nearly all stomach and intestinal
disorders. It has changed man into an omnivorous, and in
some cases into a carnivorous animal. COOKING MILK. THE custom of cooking or sterilizing milk, due to ignorance,
is little less than criminal. Cooking milk is recommended by certain alleged dietetic
authorities on the ground that it kills bacteria. They probably
forget, maybe do not know, that all the five digestive fluids
are strongly germicidal. The bacteria that may exist in milk,
of which so much fear is entertained, could not live an instant
after coming in contact with the gastric juice which is
strongly aciduous, to say nothing of contact with the saliva,
bile, and pancreatic and intestinal juices. Milk, however, should be taken with some intelligence. A valuable lesson in its proper use can be learned from the
calf, or nursing infant, which draw and swallow it in small
quantities and which keep up a c ontinuous motion of the jaws
as if in chewing, thus pumping into the mouth enough saliva
to aid nature in the first process of digestion. Milk can be thoroughly insalivated by taking it into the
mouth and mixing it with other foods which have been
thoroughly masticated and are ready for swallowing. The too free use of boiled or sterilized milk will produce
scurvy in children, and when scurvy exists both sterilized and
raw milk must be discontinued. It is certainly, therefore,
much better to commence at on ce the use of milk in its
natural condition than to risk the development of scurvy and
then be compelled to entirel y do without such a valuable
food. Sterilized milk lacks freshness. It tastes dead, and to a
very great extent it is dead. Milk is rich in albuminoids,
derived, as it is, from tissues that contain them, and are
present in a vitalized form as pr oteids. The change that takes
place in boiling is the coagulation of the proteid molecules,
which sets free the inorganic molecules, thus rendering them
as to the iron and fluorine unabsorbable, and as to the
phosphates unassimilable. It is this most vital change that
takes place when milk is cooked. The use of sterilized milk becomes especially serious
when it is remembered that children require both phosphatic
and ferric proteids in a living form which are contained only
in the natural or uncooked milk. When adults have long violated the dietetic laws by
overfeeding,—consuming large quantities of food and drink
that have been devitalized by fire and fermentation,—milk is,
in many cases, the one food that will restore a normal
condition; especially is this tr ue in advancing old age when
the organs of digestion become weak, and the requirements of
the body are more like those of the infant. Milk is then of
more and more importance as an article of food. F


	experience	and	enterprise. Science
itself	has	progressed	only	to	the	point	where	it	can	advance	no	further
without	understanding	the	nature	of	consciousness. Thus,	there	are	so
many	international	conferences	on	science	and	consciousness	that	are	thefocus	of	much	interest	and	are	very	well	attended. Thus	far,	such
endeavors	have	been	hampered	by	the	lack	of	adequate	tools	to	explore	the
leading	edge	of	human	intelligence. Q:	We	hear	that	the	block	to	Awareness	is	duality	itself. How	can	this	be
solved. A:	Duality	is	the	artificial	and	arbitrary	basis	for	the	illusion	of	separation. It
originates	from	a	positionality	that	stems	from	the	sum	of	thinkingness,
with	all	its	myriad	judgments,	values,	selectivity,	prejudices,	and	opinions. These	in	turn	stem	from	symbolism,	limited	paradigms,	and	limitations
of	context. It	is	only	by	an	arbitrary	limitation	of	context	that	any
judgments	or	value	statements	can	be	made	about	anything	at	all. The	fact
that	many	opinions	are	held	by	great	masses	of	people	is	hypnotic. Few
minds	can	escape	the	appeal	of	the	authority	of	mass	agreement. People
look	without	instead	of	within	for	guidance. As	Freud	said,	the	individual
conscience	is	dissolved	in	the	unconsciousness	of	the	herd	and	mass
action. Morality	is	silenced	by	mass	hysteria. Few	can	resist	the	propaganda	of	the	news	media. Truth	eventually
surfaces,	but	it	is	usually	belated. How	often	human	error	underlies
tragedy	is	revealed	by	the	DNA-based	reversal	of	the	convictions	of	so
many	prisoners	who	have	even	been	previously	executed. Judicial
testimony	is	perception,	and	inasmuch	as	perception	is	the	source	of	error,
the	so-called	justice	system	is	understandably	prone	to	error. Truth	cannot
be	arrived	at	through	voting. Jury	conclusions	are	merely	opinions,	not
facts. Emotions	blind	perception	and	guarantee	error. Duality	is	thus	a
separation	of	truth	and	error	that	is	sourced	by	the	vanity	of	perception	and
the	ego. Q:	How	does	perception	result	in	duality. A:	Arbitrary	selectivity	results	in	a	positionality	that	is	a	point	of	view	which
artificially	polarizes	the	oneness	of	Reality	into	seemingly	separate	parts. These	parts	are	apparent	only	and	not	actually	separate	in	Reality. The
separation	into	parts	occurs	only	in	the	mind	and	not	in	Reality. Thus,	we
end	up	speaking	of	‘here’	and	‘there’,	or	‘now’	versus	‘then’,	or	we
arbitrarily	select	out	portions	from	the	flow	of	life	that	we	refer	to	as
‘events’	or	‘happenings’. One	serious	consequence	of	this	mental	process
is	the	production	of	a	false	understanding	of	causality. This
misunderstanding	leads	to	endless	human	problems	and	tragedies. Q:	I	understand	that	you	place	great	emphasis	on	clarifying	the	nature	ofcausality. A:	In	an	attempt	to	reconnect	that	which	has	now	been	conceptually	separated
in	the	processes	of	the	mind’s	thoughts,	causality	is	invented	to	explain
what	is	now	viewed	as	‘relationship’. In	Reality,	there	is	only	identity;
there	is	no	cause	of	anything	nor	is	it	required. In	the	Newtonian	paradigm
of	linear	causality,	a	‘this’	seems	to	be	causing	a	‘that’. In	Reality,
everything	is	already	complete,	and	the	total	oneness	is	beyond	time,
space,	and	separation	or	definition. It	is	obvious	that	nothing	is	the	cause
of	anything	else	as	that	would	require	a	dualistic	separation	in	time	and
space,	which	is	impossible. The	manifest	becomes	manifest	by	creation. All	things	are	because	of
their	essence	in	its	expression	as	existence. All	we	can	observe	are
conditions. It	is	relatively	easy	to	see	that	the	‘cause’	of	anything	is	the	totality	of
the	entire	universe	throughout	all	time,	being	what	it	is	in	all	its
expressions	as	existence. All	things	exist	as	an	expression	of	identity,	and
the	essence	of	all	things	shines	forth	by	its	presence. All	things	are	self-
created	by	divine	expression	as	existence. Therefore,	each	‘thing’	can	only
be	what	it	is	because	of	the	totality	of	the	entire	universe. A	speck	of	dust
cannot	be	where	it	is	positioned	without	air	currents,	which	require	a
room,	which	requires	a	building,	a	lot,	a	continent,	a	planet,	a	solar	system,
a	galaxy,	a	universe,	and	so	on. All	statements	made	by	the	mind	are	subjective. There	is	no	linear
progression	of	events,	sequences,	or	causations. All	shines	forth	as	it	is	in
its	expression	of	existence. All	is	self-existence	and	therefore	not
dependent	on	anything	outside	itself. Q:	Is	the	ego	‘wrong’. A:	The	problem	with	the	ego	is	not	that	it	is	wrong;	it	is	just	that	it	is	limited
and	distorted. To	conceive	of	the	ego	as	an	enemy	is	to	become	polarized,
bringing	forth	conflict,	guilt,	anger,	and	shame. Positionalities	support	the
ego. By	enlarging	context,	opposites	are	transcended	and	problems	are
dissolved. Humility	removes	the	ego’s	underpinnings	of	judgmentalism,
positionality,	and	moralizing. In	Reality,	there	can	no	longer	be	opposites
anymore	than	there	can	be	winners	or	losers. Within	the	illusion,	statistics,	for	instance,	depend	on	how	limits	are	set
and	defined. By	changing	classification,	statistics	shift. Thus,	the	supposed
crime	rate	in	the	United	States	can	be	made	to	appear	to	go	up	or	down,
depending	on	political	pressures,	or	by	including	or	excluding	certain
things	in	the	compilation. By	raising	or	lowering	criteria,	any	socialphenomenon	can	be	made	to	appear	to	increase	or	decrease. The	world	as
described	by	perception	is	therefore	arbitrary,	and	social	‘reality’	becomes
whatever	one	decides	to	call	it. Definition	defines	perception,	and	the
corollary	is	equally	true. Q:	What	effect	does	thought	have	on	perception. A:	Thought	usually	takes	the	form	of	languaging. Language	is	based	on
labeling,	which	is	therefore	the	result	of	prior	separations	and
fragmentations	of	the	whole. Thinking	and	mentation	are	dialogs	and
expressions	of	duality. One	can	ask	who	or	what	is	doing	the	thinking	or
for	whose	benefit. Who	is	the	speaker	and	who	is	the	listener. Q:	What	is	the	difference	between	ego	and	mind. A:	They	are	actually	one	and	the	same. The	term	‘ego’	is	generally	used,
however,	to	describe	certain	aspects	of	the	mind,	but	the	ego	could	be
more	generally	defined	as	the	source	and	the	process	of	thinking. Q:	What	is	the	relationship	between	mind	and	meditation. A:	The	purpose	of	meditation	is	to	transcend	the	mind	and	its	mentations	and
limited	perceptions,	thereby	transcending	duality	and	becoming
increasingly	aware	of	Oneness. Thinking	proceeds	from	lack;	its	purpose	is	gain. In	wholeness,	nothing
is	lacking. All	is	complete,	total,	and	whole. There	is	nothing	to	think
about	nor	any	motive	to	think. No	questions	arise	and	no	answers	are
sought	or	needed. Totality	is	complete,	totally	fulfilling,	with	no
incompleteness


 to be fr ee from this self -
defeating patter n. It didn’t tak e her long to accept the fact
that, indeed, she was lazy when it came to herself. With the
real sour ce of her behavior now in fr ont of her, she could
begin the pr ocess of making peace with the lazy part ofherself, so that it would not have to under mine her choices
each day and r ob her of her self -esteem and her dr eams. Every time we ﬁnd a behavior that thr eatens our peace of
mind, our happiness, or our safety, we ar e implor ed to heed
the call of our inter nal world and e xplor e the r oot cause of
our behavior. When we do, we will unveil an aspect of our
shadow. It doesn’t have to tak e a year or a lifetime. It can
take ﬁve minutes of radical honesty to unravel a patter n
from our past. If we ﬁnd an impulse in ourselves that we
unknowingly hid, we have the right and the ability to bring it
into the light of our awar eness, for give ourselves and others
for the pain we e xperienced, and br eak fr ee from the self -
defeating behavior. Maybe self -neglect is a patter n of behavior that you must
confr ont. Y ou show up for others, but have no idea how to
be ther e for yourself. Your dr eams have been put on hold as
you support your husband, childr en, siblings, and friends in
getting their needs met. F inally, you can’t stand one mor e
day of neglecting yourself and your own desir es. You trace
this patter n of behavior back by asking, “What kind of
person would go af ter her dr eams and not be ther e for other
people?” The answer you hear is “ A selﬁsh person.” F or a
moment you feel happy that you’r e not that selﬁsh person,
because you hate selﬁsh people. L ooking back, you
remember being told over and over again in r eligious school
how bad it is to be selﬁsh, so you made what you believed
to be the right decision—that you would never be that. Instead, you became the opposite—a selﬂess, big-hearted,
loving, and kind person who would do anything for the world
—and with that inter nal commitment, people pleasing
became your patter n.
To mak e peace and br eak this cycle, you must now
confr ont the distaste you feel for the notion of being selﬁsh
and e xpose the judgments you have held towar d all those
who you have deemed selﬁsh in the past. Y ou must admit to
the negative connotations you attach to the wor d “selﬁsh”and be willing to see that the way you ar e interpr eting that
word is limiting, disempowering, and rigid. Y ou must look to
see when you decided or wer e told that selﬁsh people wer e
bad and wr ong. Y ou must become willing to open your heart
to the selﬁsh part of you and for give all those who have
reﬂected back to you that being selﬁsh is bad. Y ou must
accept the dualistic view that being human comes with both
a healthy dose of selﬁshness and an equal dose of
selﬂessness. If you ar e unwilling or unable to ﬁnd a positive
view of being selﬁsh and insist on k eeping it in the shadow,
you will continue to be held, clinched in the patter n of
behavior that has you continue to neglect what is important
for your individual gr owth and the fulﬁllment of your soul’s
desir es. To embrace what has k ept us trapped, we must muster up
the courage to ﬁnd the gif t of our selﬁsh self. If self -neglect
is a patter n, being selﬁsh is a vital quality to embrace in
order to ﬁnd our true self. It’s gr eat to support others in
living their dr eams—I happen to do it for a living. But if I
could never choose selﬁsh behavior, I would never be able
to ﬁnish writing a book, because I would always be swayed
to answer the phone or support one of the many people who
want my help or attention each day. If we can’t choose
between selﬁsh and selﬂess, we will be driven to bypass
what may truly matter to us at the end of our life. F reedom
is being able to choose whoever and whatever we want to
be at any moment in our life. If we have to act in a
particular way to avoid being something we don’t lik e, we’r e
trapped. W e’ve limited our fr eedom and r obbed ourselves of
wholeness. If we can’t be lazy or angry, we can’t be fr ee. When we ar e reclaiming these parts of ourselves, it’s vitally
important to r emember that we ar e doing this to own our
true magniﬁcence. It’s best said by C. G. Jung: “I’d rather be
whole than good.”
Taking this jour ney into the past may feel slightly daunting
at ﬁrst. But the fact is this jour ney is one of the mostrewar ding trips we can tak e. It’s intriguing to uncover our
shadow, to see how it has tak en root, and to catch ourselves
befor e we say something we don’t r eally mean or do
something that we will r egret. Our shadows ar e there for us,
waiting to oﬀer invaluable insights about ourselves. W e can
never manage or defeat our self -sabotaging behaviors
without embracing the shadows that ar e driving them. There is no patter n of behavior that can’t be br oken or
changed if we ar e willing to e xpose its r oots and the
emotional upset that caused us to r eject the shadow aspect
in the ﬁrst place. When we can compassionately embrace
the part of us that has set this behavior in place, we will
take back the power over our own actions and br eak the
automatic r esponses of our unwanted patter ns. This pr ocess
often cr eates a conundrum because, as human beings, we
are designed to want to feel safe, and mor e often than not,
repeating the same old behaviors is what gives us a false
sense of safety. It somehow feels easier to r epeat the past
than e xplor e a diﬀer ent outcome. But to br eak open a
repetitive self -sabotaging behavior, we will have to give up
this illusion of a safety net for a moment and be willing to
feel what’s under neath. And when we ﬁnd ourselves in the
presence of one of our shadow aspects, we will be able to
unravel the mystery of our undesirable behavior and cause
change to begin. As we become mor e and mor e awar e of the fruitlessness
of succumbing to the same tir ed old patter ns, we can tur n to
our courageous self, ask for support, come face-to -face with
the shadow part of ourselves that is hidden, and have a
heart-to -heart. By becoming intimate with the cast of
characters that mak e up our own inter nal drama, we can
learn to mak e peace and give support to the life that we
want to achieve. On the other hand, if we fail to
acknowledge the opposing for ces that give rise to these
characters, we can easily get caught in the trap of believing
a story about ourselves that is only partially true, and wecan lose sight of the amazing opportunity to be a fully
expressed human being. If we r efuse to acknowledge the
duality within, we will be trapped, identif ying with the
character whose voice is the loudest within us, no matter
what that character’s agenda or mission might be. THE GIFTS OF OUR SHADOW
The shadow contains essential characters in the script of
your life. Y our job is to lear n from the shadow, to integrate
it, and allow it to evolve your thinking and e xpand the
boundaries of your self -created persona. Y our challenge is to
ﬁnd its value and to bring the light of for giveness and
compassion so that you can defuse its ability to dismantle
your life. Y our job is to bring its comple x characters out fr om
the shadow, and to use their power and potency as sacr ed
fuel to become who you wer e meant to be in this lifetime. If the villain inside you is angry, you must for give this part
of yourself and consider the possibility that anger is e xactly
what you need to ﬁght against some injustice or oppr ession
or to get you out of an abusive situation and back on track
to creating an amazing life. If your shadow is ﬁlled with fear
about who you ar e and what you think and masks the r eal
you by cr eating a phony and inauthentic self, you must
forgive yourself and look to see how and wher e these
qualities can be put to use.


. Congestive	heart	failure	is	a	progressive	condition	of	“dying	very	slowly,”
whereby	every	small	movement,	every	breath	taken,	and	every	word	uttered	take	huge
efforts,	and	the	body	becomes	unable	to	perform	even	the	simplest	of	tasks. One	of	the	body’s	first	and	most	efficient	approaches	for	avoiding	the	danger	of	an
imminent	heart	attack	is	to	take	excessive	proteins	out	of	the	bloodstream	and	store	them
elsewhere,	for	the	time	being	(see
Figure	8
). The	only	place	where	protein	can	be	accommodated	in	large	quantities	is	the	blood
vessel	network. The	capillary	walls	are	able	to	absorb	most	of	the	excessive,	unused,	or
unusable	protein. The	body	converts	the	soluble	protein	into
collagen	fiber,
	which	is	100
percent	protein,	and	stores	it	in	the
basal	membrane
	of	the	blood	vessel	walls. The	basal
membrane	has	the	capacity	to	increase	its	thickness	by	eight	to	ten	times	before	its	storage
capacity	for	protein	is	exhausted. Storing	proteins	in	the	blood	vessel	walls	also	means
that	the	body	can	no	longer	pass	adequate	amounts	of	oxygen,	glucose,	and	other	essential
nutrients	to	the	cells. The	cells	affected	by	such	a	“famine”	may	include	those	that	make
up	the	heart	muscle. The	result	is
heart	muscle	weakness
	and	reduced	performance	of	the
heart. This,	in	turn,	contributes	to	degenerative	illnesses,	including	diabetes,	fibromyalgia,
arthritis,	and	cancer. Whenever	the	heart	is	affected,	the	entire	body	suffers. THICKENING	OF	BLOOD	CAPILLARY	WALL
	Figure	8
:	The	beginning	stages	of	heart	disease

Once	the	capillary	walls	have	no	space	left	to	accommodate	excessive	protein,	the	basal
membranes	of	the	arteries	themselves	start	taking	up	protein. The	beneficial	effect	of	this
action	is	that	the	blood	remains	thin	enough	to	avert	the	threat	of	a	heart	attack,	at	least	for
some	time. Eventually,	though,	the	very	same	tactic	that	prevents	the	threat	of	sudden
death	also	damages	the	blood	vessel	walls. (
Note:
	Only	the	more	primary	survival
mechanisms	of	the	body,	such	as	the	fight-or-flight	response,	the	common	cold,	or
diarrhea,	are	without	significant	side	effects. ) The	inner	lining	of	the	arterial	walls
becomes	rough	and	thick,	like	rust	in	a	water	pipe. Cracks,	wounds,	and	lesions	appear	at
various	locations. Smaller	blood	vessel	injuries	are	dealt	with	by
blood	platelets. These	tiny	blood
components	release	the	hormone
serotonin,
	which	helps	to	constrict	the	blood	vessels	and
reduce	bleeding. However,	larger	wounds,	as	are	typically	found	in	diseased	coronary
arteries,	cannot	be	sealed	by	platelets	alone;	they	require	the	body’s	more	complex	process
of	blood	clotting. If	a	blood	clot	breaks	loose,	it	can	enter	the	heart	and	result	in
myocardial	infarction,
	commonly	called	a	heart	attack. A	clot	that	reaches	the	brain
results	in	a	stroke. A	blood	clot	entering	the	opening	of	a	pulmonary	artery	that	delivers
used	blood	to	the	lungs	can	be	fatal. To	prevent	this	danger	before	it	arises,	the	body	uses	an	entire	arsenal	of	first	aid
measures,	including	the	release	of	the	blood	chemical
lipoprotein	5
	(LP5)	and	cholesterol. Owing	to	its	sticky	nature,	LP5	works	as	a	“Band-Aid”	to	create	a	firmer	seal	around	the
wounds	and	lesions	within	the	arteries. As	a	secondary	but	equally	important	rescue	operation,	the	body	attaches	specific	typesof	cholesterol	to	the	injured	areas	of	an	artery	(more	on	this	in	the	section	“High
Cholesterol”). This	acts	as	a	more	reliable	bandage	than	LP5	can	provide. Since
cholesterol	deposits	still	are	not	protection	or	fortification	enough,	extra	connective	tissue
and	smooth	muscle	cells	begin	to	grow	inside	the	blood	vessel. Called	atherosclerotic	plaques,	these	deposits	can	eventually	block	an	artery	completely,
thereby	severely	obstructing	the	flow	of	blood	to	the	heart. In	response	to	this	grave
situation—unless	interfered	with	through	a	bypass	operation,	angioplasty,	or	the	insertion
of	a	stent—the	body	makes	its	own	bypasses	by	turning	existing	or	new	capillaries	into
small,	blood-supplying	arteries. Although	this	option	is	better	than	surgery,	it	still	does	not
significantly	reduce	the	danger	of	a	heart	attack. Contrary	to	common	assumption,	a	heart	attack	does	not	occur	as	a	result	of	blood
vessel	obstruction,	but	rather	because	of	blood	clots	and/or	soft	fragments	of
atherosclerotic	deposits	making	their	way	into	the	heart. The	blood	clots	and	soft	pieces	of
cholesterol	implicated	in	triggering	heart	attacks	are	almost	never	released	from	the	rock-
hard	structures	of	the	more	occluded	sections	of	an	artery,	but	tend	to	be	released	from
newly	created	lesions	and	their	protective	cholesterol	patches. For	this	reason,	stent	or
bypass	operations	have	neither	reduced	the	incidence	of	heart	attacks	nor	lowered	the
mortality	rate	from	these	attacks. Although	the	gradual	destruction	of	blood	vessels,	known	as
atherosclerosis,
	initially
protects	a	person’s	life	against	a	heart	attack	caused	by	a	blood	clot,	it	is	eventually	also
responsible	for	causing	such	an	attack. Most	forms	of	coronary	heart	disease	can	be
reversed	by	cleansing	the	liver	and	by	clearing	out	any	existing	protein	deposits	in	the
capillaries	and	arteries. (See	Chapter	3. ) High	Cholesterol

Cholesterol
	is	an	important	building	block	of	every	cell	in	the	body	and	is	essential	for	all
metabolic	processes. It	is	particularly	important	in	the	production	of	nerve	tissue,	bile,	and
hormones. On	average,	our	body	produces	about	half	a	gram	to	one	gram	of	cholesterol
per	day,	depending	on	how	much	of	it	the	body	needs	at	the	time. The	adult	human	body	is
able	to	produce	400	times	more	cholesterol	per	day	than	what	it	would	obtain	from	eating
3. 5	ounces	of	butter. The	main	cholesterol	producers	are	the	liver	and	the	small	intestine,
in	that	order. Normally,	they	are	able	to	release	cholesterol	directly	into	the	bloodstream,
where	it	is	instantly	tied	to	blood	proteins. These	proteins,	which	are	called	lipoproteins,
are	in	charge	of	transporting	the	cholesterol	to	its	numerous	destinations. Three	main	types
of	lipoproteins	are	in	charge	of	transporting	cholesterol:
low	density	lipoprotein
	(LDL),
very	low	density	lipoprotein
	(VLDL),	and
high	density	lipoprotein
	(HDL). In	comparison	to	HDL,	which	researchers	privileged	with	the	name	“good”	cholesterol,
LDL	and	VLDL	are	both	relatively	large	cholesterol	molecules;	in	fact,	they	are	the	richest
in	cholesterol. There	is	good	reason	for	their	large	size. Unlike	their	smaller	cousin,	which
easily	passes	through


 said that. The soul thrills at the r eminder of what we all
already know. The Course says that ‘one day, all the gif ts of God will be
shared equally by everyone.’ W e all have the potential for
greatness, but it gets plowed out of us early. Fear enter ed
when someone told us ther e’s a ﬁrst prize, second prize and
third prize, that some eﬀorts deserve an A, and some get a
C. After a while, part of us becomes afraid to even try. The
only thing we have to give to the world is our own grasp on
it. The ego ar gues that this is not enough. It leads us to
cover up our simple truth, to try to invent a better one. But
the ego isn’t pr otecting us her e, although, as always, it
pretends to. It isn’t guar ding against our making fools of
ourselves; it is guar ding against our e xperience of who we
really ar e, the brilliance of e xpressing it, and the joy that the
expression brings to ourselves and others. I love the story of the little girl who showed her teacher a
pictur e she painted of a tr ee. The tr ee was purple. The
teacher said, “Sweetheart, I’ve never seen a purple tr ee,
now have I?”
“Oh?” said the little girl. “That’s too bad.”
We can’t fak e authenticity. We think we need to cr eate
ourselves, always doing a paste-up job on our personalities. That is because we’r e trying to be special rather than r eal. We’re pathetically trying to confor m with all the other
people trying to do the same. A tulip doesn’t strive to impr ess anyone. It doesn’t
struggle to be diﬀer ent than a r ose. It doesn’t have to. It is
diﬀer ent. And ther e’s room in the gar den for every ﬂower. You didn’t have to struggle to mak e your face diﬀer ent than
anyone else’s on earth. It just is. Y ou are unique becauseyou wer e created that way. Look at little childr en in
kinder garten. They’r e all diﬀer ent without trying to be. As
long as they’r e unselfconsciously being themselves, they
can’t help but shine. It’s only later, when childr en ar e taught
to compete, to strive to be better than others, that their
natural light becomes distorted. The natural light of God within us all is what the Course
refers to as our grandeur. The ego’s eﬀorts to embellish our
natural state is what the Course r efers to as grandiosity. “It
is easy to distinguish gandeur fr om grandiosity,” says the
Course, “because love is r eturned and pride is not.” The ego
interfer es with the clear e xpression of our power by trying to
get us to add something to it. This is actually a ploy by
which it thwarts our capacity to e xpress who we r eally ar e,
and accept full r ecognition fr om others in r eturn. Once again, separation is the ego’s goal. I used to always
be on an emotional r oller-coaster ride, feeling I was better
than other people, and then feeling I was worse. “I’m better,
no I’m not as good, I’m better, no I’m not as good.” They’r e
the same mistak e. The truth is, we’r e just lik e everybody
else. Knowing this—that we’r e no better or worse than
anyone else because we’r e all essentially the same—is a
thought lacking in luster only until we fully appr eciate what
kind of club we belong to. Humanity is a gr oup of inﬁnitely
powerful cr eatur es. ‘Our power, however, is in us but not of
us.’ It is God’s spirit inside of us that enlightens and
enlivens our lives. Of ourselves we’r e really no big deal. This thought has helped me in my car eer. I walk onto a
stage and sometimes speak to mor e than a thousand people
at a time. I can’t imagine dealing with the pr essur e of
having to convince myself that I have something special to
oﬀer. I don’t try to. I don’t have to impr ess anyone, and if
I’m not thinking that I have to, ther e’s nothing to do butrelax. I walk out on stage without feeling the need to mak e
people think I’m special, because I know I’m not. I just talk
to friends, casually and with enthusiasm. That’s it. Ther e
isn’t anything else. Everything else is just an illusion. The
Son of God doesn’t have to embellish who he is. We’re tempted to think that we’r e mor e impr essive when
we put on airs. W e’re not, of course; we’r e rather pathetic
when we do that. The Course states, “ Grandiosity is always
a cover for despair.” The light of Christ shines most brightly
within us when we r elax and let it be, allowing it to shine
away our grandiose delusions. But we’r e afraid to let down
our masks. What is r eally happening her e, unconsciously, is
not that we ar e defending against our smallness. The ego is
actually, in those moments, defending against God. As I interpr et the Course, ‘our deepest fear is not that we
are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we ar e powerful
beyond measur e. It is our light, not our dark ness, that most
frightens us.’ W e ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented, fabulous? A ctually, who ar e you not to
be? Y ou ar e a child of God. Y our playing small doesn’t serve
the world. Ther e’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so
that other people won’t feel insecur e around you. W e are all
meant to shine, as childr en do. We wer e bor n to mak e
manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in
some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light
shine, we unconsciously give other people per mission to do
the same. As we’r e liberated fr om our own fear, our
presence automatically liberates others. A miracle work er is an artist of the soul. Ther e’s no
higher art than living a good life. An artist infor ms the world
of what’s available behind the masks we all wear. That’s
what we’r e all her e to do. The r eason so many of us ar e
obsessed with becoming stars is because we’r e not yetstarring in our own lives. The cosmic spotlight isn’t pointed
at you; it radiates fr om within  you. I used to feel lik e I was
waiting for someone to discover me, to “pr oduce” me, lik e
Lana T urner at the drugstor e. Ultimately I r ealized that the
person I was waiting for was myself.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        If I swallow a piece of aluminum foil, my body will
regurgitate until the oﬀending object is e xpelled. If I’m being
asked to swallow an idea that doesn’t “agr ee” with me, then
my psychological system will go thr ough the same pr ocess
of regurgitation in or der to e xpel the oﬀending material. If I’m convinced that I’m not good enough, I will have a
diﬃcult time accepting someone into my life who thinks I
am. It’s the Gr oucho Mar x syndr ome of not wanting to lik e
anyone who would want me in their club. The only way that
I can accept someone’s ﬁnding me wonderful, is if I ﬁnd
myself wonderful. But to the ego, self -acceptance is death. This is why we’r e attracted to people who don’t want us. We know they’r e not into it fr om the gate. W e pretend to be
surprised later when we ﬁnd ourselves betrayed and they
leave af ter an intense but fairly short stay. They ﬁt perfectly
into our ego’s plan: I will not be loved. The r eason that nice,
available people seem boring to us is because they bust us. The ego equates emotional danger with e xcitement, and
claims that the nice, available person isn’t danger ous
enough. The ir ony is that the opposite is true: available
people ar e the ones who are danger ous, because they
confr ont us with the possibility of r eal intimacy. They might
actually hang ar ound long enough to get to know us. They
could melt our defenses, not thr ough violence but thr ough
love. This is what the ego doesn’t want us to


 immortality. At this deep level, compassion becomes healing in the
widest s ense. In that state, your healing influence is primarily based not
on doin g but on being. Everybody you come in contact with will be
touched by your presence and af fected by the peace that you emanate,
whether they are conscious of it or not. When you are fully present and
people around you manifest unconscious behavior, you won’ t feel the
need to react to it, so you don’ t give it any reality. Y our peace is so vast
and deep that anything that is not peace disappears into it as if it had
never ex isted. This breaks the karmic cycle of action and reaction. Animals, trees, flowers will feel  your peace and respond to it. Y ou teach
through being, through demonst rating the peace of God. Y ou become the
“light of the wo rld,” an emanation of pure consciousness, an d so you
eliminate suf feri ng on the level of cause. Y ou eliminate unconsc iousness
from the world. This do esn’ t me an that you m ay not also teach through doin g — for
example, by pointing out how to disidentify from the mind, recognize
unconscious patterns within on eself, and so on. But who you ar e  is
always a more vital teaching a nd a more powerful transformer of the
world than what you say, and more essential even than what you do. Furthermore, to recognize the primacy of Being, and thus wor k on the
level of cause, does not exclude the possibility that your compassion may
simultaneously m anifest on the level of doing and of ef fect by alleviating
suf fering whenever you come across it. When a hungry person asks you
for b read and yo u have some, yo u will give it. But as you give the bread,
even though your interaction may only be very brief, wh at reall y matters
is this moment o f shared Being, of which the bread is only a symbol. Adeep healing takes place within  it. In that moment, there is no giver, no
receiver. But ther e shouldn’ t be any hunger and starvation in the first place. How
can we cr eate a better world without tackling evils such as hunger and
violence first? All evils are the effect  of unco nsciousness.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        T o defend himself against her
pain-body’ s atta ck, which he sees as totally unwarranted, he wil l become
even mo re deeply entrenched in his mental positions as he justifies,
defends himself, or counterattac ks. Eventually, this may activate his own
pain-body. When  both partners h ave thus been taken over, a level of deep
unconsciousness has been reached, of emotional violence, savage attack
and counterattack. It will not subside until both pain-bodies have
replenished them selves and then enter the dormant stage. Until the next
time. This is only one of an endless number of possible scenarios. Many
volumes have been written, and  many more could be written, about the
ways in which unconsciousness is brought out in male-female
relationships. Bu t, as I said earlier, once you understand the root of the
dysfunction, you do not need to explore its countless manifestations. Let’ s briefly look again at the scenario I have just describe d. Every
challenge that it contains is actually a disguised opportunity for
salvation. At every stage of the unfolding dysfunctional process, freedom
from unconsciousness is possible. For example, the woman’ s hostility
could become a signal for the man to come out of his mind-identified
state, aw aken into the Now, become present — instead of becoming even
more id entified with his mind, even more unconscious. Instead of
“being” the pain-body, the woman could be the knowing that watches the
emotional pain in herself, thus accessing the power of the Now and
initiating the transmutation o f the pain. This would remove the
compulsive and automatic outward projection of it. She could then
express her feelings to her partner. There is no guarantee, of co urse, that
he w ill listen, b ut it gives him  a good chance to become present and
certainly breaks  the insane cycle of the involuntary acting out of old
mind pa tterns. If the woman m isses that opportunity, the man could
watch h is own  mental-emoti onal reaction to her pain, his own
defensiveness, r ather than being  the reaction. He could then watch hisown pain-body being triggered  and thus bring consciousness into his
emotions. In this way, a clear a nd still space of pure awarene ss would
come in to being — the knowing, the silent witness, the watcher. This
awareness does not deny the pain and yet is beyond it. It allows the pain
to b e an d yet transmutes it at the same time. It accepts everything and
transforms everything. A door would have opened up for her through
which she could easily join him in that space. If you are consistently or at least predominantly present in your
relationship, thi s will be the greatest challenge for your partn er. They
will not be able to tolerate your presence for very long and stay
unconscious. If they are ready, they will walk through the door that you
opened for them and join you in that state. If they are not, you will
separate like oil and water. The light is too painful for some one who
wants to remain in darkness. WHY WOMEN ARE CLOSER T O ENLIGHTENMENT
Ar e the obstacles to enlightenment the same for a man as for a woman. Y es, but the emphasis is dif ferent. Generally speaking, it is easier for a
woman to feel a nd be in her body, so she is naturally closer to B eing and
potentially closer to enlightenment than a man. This is why many ancient
cultures instinctively chose female figures or analogies to represent or
describe the formless and transcendental reality. It was often s een as a
womb that gives birth to everything in creation and sustains and
nourishes it during its life as form. In the T ao T e Ching, one of the most
ancient and profound books e ver written, the T ao, wh ich could be
translated as Being, is described as “infinite, et ernally present, the
mother o f the universe. ” Natural ly, women are closer to it than m en since
they virt ually “e mbody” the Unmanifested. What is more, all creatures
and all things must eventually return to the Source. “All things vanish
into the T ao. It alone endures. ” Since the Source is seen as female, this is
represented as the light and dark sides of the archetypal fem inine in
psychology and mythology. The Goddess or Divine Mother has two
aspects: She gives life, and she takes life. When the mind took over and humans lost touch with the realit y of their
divine e ssence, they started to think of God as a male figure. Society
became male-dominated, and th e female was made subordinate to the
male. I am  not suggesting a return to earlier female representations of the
divine. Some people now use the term Goddess  i nst ead of God. They are
redressing a balance between m ale and female that was lost a l ong time
ago, and that is good. But it is still a representation and a concept,
perhaps tempora rily useful, just as a map or a signpost is temporarily
useful, b ut more a hindrance th an a help when you are ready t o realize
the reality beyond all concept s and images. What does rem ain true,
however, is that the ener gy frequency of the mind appears to be
essentially male. The mind resi sts, fights for control, uses, man ipulates,
attacks, tries to grasp and possess, and so on. This is why the traditional
God is a patria rchal, controllin g authority figure, an often angry man
who you  should  live in fear of, as the Old T estament suggests. This God
is a projection of the human mind. T o g o b eyond th e mind and rec onnect with the deeper reality o f Being,
very dif ferent qualities are needed: surrender, non-judgment, an openness
that allo ws life to be instead of r esisting it, the capacity to hold all things
in th e loving em brace of your knowing. All these qualities a re much
more closely related to the fem ale principle. Whereas mind-ener gy is
hard and rigid, Being-ener gy is soft and yielding and yet infinitely more
powerful than mind. The mind r uns our civilization, whereas Being is in
char ge of all life on our planet and beyond. Being is the very Intelli gence
whose visible manifestation is the physical universe. Although women
are potentially closer to it, men can also access it within themselves. At this time, the vast majority o f men as well as women are still in the
grip of the mind: identified with the thinker and the pain-body. This, of
course, is what prevents enlightenment and the flowering of love. As a


pit prunes andchop), 1 tsp each of sage and savory, 2 tsp thyme,
  cup fresh parsley
finely chopped, and ¼ cup fresh orange juice. Yvonne Nienstadt says: “I love the texture and taste of this Japanese
squash. It’s very meaty and sweet, but you could use pumpkin, turban, or
acorn squash too (cut the latter in half and seed). You may also use 2 or 3
smaller -sized squashes rather than a large one. This makes a very attractive
presentation, especially if the squash are of dif ferent sizes.”
Cook rice and wild rice together in vegetable stock for 45 minutes or
until rice is done. Using stock to cook the grain adds both nutrition and flavor. Just save your vegetable trimmings, for carrots, parsnips, chard stems or
greens, celery, celery root, onion all work well. Avoid cabbage family veggies as they impart a strong flavor. Cover with pure water and simmer until done. Use in soups, to make sauces or what have you. Carefully cut the top off of the squash as you would when carving a
pumpkin. Remove seeds. Place squash face down on baking pan together with the squash lid and
prebake for 25 to 30 minutes in a 350° F oven. Take care not to overcook; a mushy squash cannot be stuf fed. Place onion, garlic, peas, and celery in a pot and cook on low for 20
minutes to barely tenderize. Add diced pepper, raisins, herbs, citrus juice, and cooked rice, mixing
well. Fill squash with stuf fing, packing it down. Return to oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until squash is tender, but
still firm. If there is extra filling, bake in a covered casserole with a tablespoon of
stock or juice, or fill a bell pepper or two and do the same. To serve, arrange a platter with fresh kale or other leafy greens. Place squash in center of platter and artistically prop squash lid up
against squash. Spoon out each helping, making sure to get some of the delicious squash
meat. Alternatively, if squash is cooled  a bit before serving, it may be sliced in
wedges.Ladle Parsley Yogurt Sauce (see recipe below under Sauces and Dips)
over each portion, if dairy is allowed; otherwise, a squeeze of orange juice
adds a bit of zing. Enjoy! Stuffed SquashYN
3-4 acorn squash, ½ cup onion diced, ½ cup celery diced, ½ cup carrot
diced, 1¼ cup cooked brown rice, ½ cup lentils sprouted, ¼ cup raisins or
chopped prunes soaked and drained, 3 tsp fresh parsley minced, ½ tsp
rubbed sage, ½ tsp thyme, and 1 lar ge clove of garlic crushed. Slice squash lengthwise and remove seeds. Combine remaining ingredients; fill squash halves. Cover and bake at 300–325° F for 1½ hours, or until squash is tender. Delicious with Apricot Sauce or Golden Gravy (see under Sauces and
Dips). Try using 6–8 whole cloves garlic for a delicious mild flavor. Crushing
the fresh  garlic releases its strong aromatic oils, whereas using garlic uncut
imparts a very mild flavor. Stir-Steamed Snow Peas Medley*
1 lb snow peas, 1 bunch bok choy, 1 medium zucchini, 1 medium
crookneck yello w squash, 1 small red onion, 1 carrot, 1 leek, 1 cup orange
juice, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp vinegar, and 1 tsp of allspice. Clean all vegetables, removing stem from snow peas, slicing white stalk
and green leaf of bok choy into strips, slicing yellow squash lengthwise and
then into half circles. You can make attractive planks out of the zucchini by trimming off each
end, and then cutting in half, then half again. Stand each barrel of squash on end and slice down into
 " planks. Dice red onion, then slice carrot s oriental style as thin as possible at a 45-
degree angle into ovals. Slice leek in similar fashion across stalk into ovals. Put orange juice, honey, allspice, and vinegar into a blender, then pour
into a suitable-sized steam pot.Cover with all the vegetables and simmer 15–20 minutes until tender. Very succulent! String Beans
1 lb green beans (cut tips, wash, and cut into any size piece desired). Add: 1 onion chopped, some soup stock (just enough to keep beans
moist). Stew approximately 50 minutes (until tender). Sweet Potato
Cut of f tips and wash.
Perforate potato with knife to let steam escape and place in casserole
(covered for soft skin, uncovered for crisp skin). Bake in low oven for 2 to 2½ hours. Tomatoes, Grilled
Slice tomatoes in half. Put in pan, sliced side up, and cover each half with chopped onions. Bake in a low oven 1 hour. Save juice to put into soup. Green T omato Mincemeat
1 qt green tomatoes, 2 oz golden raisins, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup
water, 2 oz seeded raisins, ¼ tsp cloves, ¼ cup wine vinegar, along with 1
pt of tart apples. Put tomatoes through coarse chopper. Combine all ingredients except apples. Heat to tender about 30 minutes, stirring. Add chopped apples and cook until thick.Tomatoes Stuffed with Mixed V egetables
4 tomatoes (hollowed out as the vessel), vegetables: a variety, as much as
desired, 2 tomatoes and 6 garlic cloves (the sauce). Wash tomatoes well. Hollow out the 4 tomatoes. Cut the vegetab les into small pieces and boil in a little water for half an
hour. Put cook ed vege tables in the tomatoes and place them in a baking dish
without the lid. In the blender, blend the 2 tomatoes and garlic. Spread sauce on top of each tomato. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn it of f and put tomatoes in for another 10 minutes. Zucchini
Combine: sliced  zucchini, raw chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, and a
touch of soup stock. Stew for 20 minutes or cut squash into small pieces and place in a baking
dish. In the blender, blend the tomatoes, onion, and 4 garlic cloves. Pour sauce over squash and bake 1½ hours at 200–250° F. Zucchini and Rice
½ lb or ganic brown rice, 1 carrot, 1 zucchini, and 2 garlic cloves. Wash the rice and vegetables well. Put rice in a baking dish and add chopped up parsley, carrot, celery, and
zucchini squash. At the same time blend tomato  and garlic in the blender and spread on
top of the rice and vegetables. Bake in the oven for 1½ hours at 250°F. Zucchini and T omatoesSD6 small zucchini sliced, 1 mediu m or large onion chopped, 2-3 tomatoes
chopped, plus garlic and herbs to taste (thyme, mace, marjoram). Saute onion, tomatoes, and seasonings in a little water. Add zucchini when half done, and simmer. Serve as a vegetable or potato topping. Spaghetti with BeetballsYN
Wash I medium spaghetti squash and cut in half. Scoop out seeds and place cut side down on baking sheet. Bake in low oven for 2 hours or until tender. Or, place cut side up in a large covered pot with 1” water and steam over
low flame for 1 hour or until done. Note: Spaghetti squash is a yellow hard winter squash develo ped by a
Japanese farmer  some 30 years ago. When cooked, it comes out in strands
like spaghetti. It is now widely available especially in organic growers’
circles. Spaghetti Beetball Sauce
2 lb ripe tomatoe s (6–8 large), 3–5 cloves garlic minced, 1 medi um onion
diced fine, 1 green pepper diced, 2 stalks celery diced, or 1 small fennel
bulb diced, 2 small zucchini sliced, or 1 cup eggplant cubed,  4 tsp fresh
parsley minced,  pinch each of rosemary, thyme, sage, and marjoram, a and
½ tsp fennel seeds. Cook whole tomatoes over a low flame for 30–35 minutes or until tender. To ensure a thick, rich sauce,  pour off the extra juice drawn from the
tomatoes during cooking.b
Put drained tomatoes through food mill or sieve to remove skins and
seeds. Pour sauce back into pot and add remaining veggies and seasonings. Cover and stew over low flame for 1 hour or until veggies are done to
your liking. For a little extra bite add a dash or two of wine vinegar with a tsp of
honey.Beetballs
2 tsp parsley minced, 1 small onion minced, 1 medium beet grated, and
3-4 medium carrots grated. Or, 1 cup eggplant ground, ½ cup Essene rye
bread or saltless and fatless rye, 1½ cup of 2-day-old lentils germinated, c 1
small bunch endive, spinach or young chard finely chopped, and 2–3


 are spiritual
dynamics that underly our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Fear
depresses us, while love uplifts us. This is the existential loom onto which
we weave our lives. In every  instant we choose crucifixion or resurrection, fear or love. In
any mom ent the ego will have its way with us, and in any moment we can
rise above. The ego crucifie s by separating us from each other, which is why we
cannot be joined in crucifixion. We are joined in resurrection, for it is the
realization that we cannot be separated. Every thought of guilt is the nail by
which we crucif y, and every thought of forgiveness is the power by which
we resurrect.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Too many times  a therapist will say, “Why do you think you always
pick the same man. ” when perhaps it would serve the client best if the
therapist asked,  “Why do you think you always act a certain way with
men. ” In other words, why do you push love away. You seem to pick the
same man because you keep acting the same way. In many cases, contemporary psychotherapy has become a cult of
blaming someone else. Often it’s the ego’s hotbed of grievances and
victimization, using modern buzzwords like “trauma” and “narcissist” to
pretty much explain everything. While those words are meaningful and
carry significant messages given by important voices in the culture, they
shouldn’ t be cookie-cutter solutions applied  to every singl e issue. They’ve
been cheapened so much at this point that they’re used as a description, an
excuse, an almost jingoistic label slapped onto every problem. And notice
how rarely the problem seems to be you. While your therapist is explaining that the person you dated was
probably a narcissist, consider whether that person might be talking to their
therapist on the other side of town and hearing that you are. The ego just
loves to talk about other people’ s issues, and brilliantly ignores our own. I spent years in and out of thera py, and often with smart and very wise
people. But I think I would have been better served if I’d been coddled
much less and busted much more. Therapy should not be a place where we
are bolstered in our belief that we’re weak, or victimized, or forever
harmed. It should be a place where we are aided in letting go of the barriers
that stand in front of our hearts, that the love that is all around us might
enter in and give us peace. “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the
barriers within yourself that you have built against it”* (T-338). Most of us,
if we’re honest with ourselves, could write down on a piece of paper some
of the things we do that drive other people crazy. And if we don’t know
what those things are, our best friends could probably tell us. It’s our own behavioral patterns  more than anything else that deprive us
of love. We continue to grasp for love, when usually what we most need to
do is identify the ways we push it away. Our souls are swim ming everymoment in an ocean of love, for that is God’ s universe. But the ego is truly
a sly opponent, being, after all, our own mind turned against us. The biggest
mistakes I’ve made in love I actually thought were a good idea at the time. Send love to your friends, to your family, to your customers, to your
clients, to your boss, to your colleagues, to your employees, to the people
you know, to the people you don’t know, to your president, and yes—to that
ex-president too. Send love to Nancy Pelosi and to Marjorie Taylor Greene. Jesus would. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “God said I have to love my
enemies; He didn’ t say I have to like them. ”
The world we’re living in today is saturated by a mental poison. It is
more than toxic; it’s hateful. And all of us know it. None of us can afford to
sit out the process of doing what we can to de-escalate the madness. And it has to start with us. With every thought we think we’re either
adding to the solution or adding  to the problem. Either our heart is opened
or our heart is closed. There is a way to disagree, to set boundaries, even to
oppose behavior  that is intolerable, without withholding love. That is the
message of Jesus. It is as radical today as it was two thousand years ago. While I was writing this book, focusing deeply and sincerely on what it
would mean to truly deeply love, my assistant made an administrative
mistake, and I made a snark y comment. Sometimes people have the
extraordinary audacity not to do exactly what we want them to do. Shocking, but it happens. That’ s what makes a relationship the ultimate teaching and learning
opportunity. The point is not that other people have to change, but that we
do. The work is always on ourselves. The ego is certain that a relationship
will be fine as soon as the other person starts acting differently. But the fact
that we can’ t accept them as they are acting now is the actual problem. What a victim I was. Couldn’ t she see that I was trying to write a book
and I needed support here, dammit. There was a time in my life when I would have seen the situation that
way—as simply  about me not attracting the support I neede d. But this
wasn’ t some random event ironically at odds with the book  that I was
writing. It was an exact reflection  of the book I was writing. The fact that
I’m writing abou t these things brought up all the ways in which  I’m not yet
living them. That is how perfectly the cosmic computer works. If my only response to an assistant who doesn’ t do as I wish is simply to
get angry, then I’m limiting my ability to find the words or behavior thatcan help her do better. It also keeps me from having larger clarity about the
relationship as a whole. This isn’ t about her. It’s about me. But what about healthy boundaries. When is it okay to hold someone
else accountable. I threw such questions at Jesus as I made a cup of coffee
and slammed shut a cabinet door. “Yeah, I’m sorry you’re going through
this” was all I could imagine him saying at the time. I know it’s okay to set healthy boundaries, disagree when necess ary, and
hold someone else accountable. But all those things can and must be done
with respect and love. When we attack another person, we’re wrong even if
we’re right. The issues we’re here to monitor are our own. My ego would argue that the problem was her behavior; the Spirit
points out that the problem is my anger. Situations such as that will
continue as long as I consistently push up against the same wall. But the
wall isn’t going to give; I have to. That wall is the place—and most of us
have one—at which point we can’t see how to act with love and still get our
needs met. But we’re going to have to learn. The situation is going to repeat
itself until we do. So what do we do in such situat ions. Pray for a miracle. Pray for a shift
in perception. Say you’re willing to see the situation dif ferently. Sit down, breathe, pray, and your perceptions will begin to shift. As
your mind begins to calm down, one of two things will happen:
1. Your guidanc e will be to say nothing, to absorb the moment and just
let it pass. OR
2. Your guidance will be that something does need to be said, but you’ll
be given the wisdom to say what you need to say at just the right time and
in just the right way. You’ll be guided not only in what you should say but
in who to be while you’re saying it. The Holy Spirit doesn’t handle
situations for you, but turns you into a person who knows how to handle
them yourself. The main point is to see that the problem is within yourself; therefore so
is the solution. If you think the only solution is to find someone else to
fulfill whatever function you had assigned to that person, you’ll simply
attract someone else who acts the same way, or whom you subconsciously
set up to act the same way, until your eyes are opened to the real issue: you. The universe is intentional. It is always nudging us to be better, and if
that means putting people in our lives who make us have to confront ourown barriers to love, then it will. “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have
loved you” (John 15:12, ASV). To say this is easy; to live it is hard. That’ s why the mystic Jesus is so
relevant and important. Whether through religion or psychotherapy, the
world is in desperate need today of lessons in how to love. Both are the healing of the mind. Religion is limited when it lacks
psychological astuteness, and psychotherapy is limited when it lacks
spiritual understanding