 priviledged to r eceive countless testimonials to
its positive eﬀect on r eaders. Because I am not the author of
A Course in Miracles  but mer ely an interpr eter of its
principles, I cannot tak e credit for the best things about
Return to L ove. The ideas in the Course had, and continue to
have, a miraculous eﬀect on my own life, and thus I
understand the e xcitement that others feel upon coming
across “miracles” for the ﬁrst time.
I’m the older than I was when I wr ote this book, and in
some ways I am less innocent. I have tasted mor e of love’s
oppositions. Y et having seen as much as I have now seen of
the world’s r esistance to the ways of love, I r ealize mor e
deeply than ever the r esponsibility which each of us has to
embrace it mor e fully and e xpress it eﬀectively. Hatr ed is
the spiritual malignancy of our species and, lik e any other
form of cancer, does its most ter rible work not outwar dly
but within us. The fear behind it literally eats us alive,
destr oying minds, bodies, cultur es, nations. Exter nalremedies can manage its eﬀects, but only love has the
power to undo it.
Undo it we must. F rom for eign wars to domestic
catastr ophes, our work is the work of casting fear fr om the
world. W e do this not only to serve ourselves but, most
important, to serve our childr en. They shall inherit what we
bequeath to them, and ther e is no gr eater gif t to futur e
generations than that we do the work God has ask ed us to
do: love one another, that the world might be made right.
Fear uncheck ed gr ows e xponentially. Love pour ed forth
has the power to r emove it. Thus is the power of God in our
lives. If A Return to L ove mak es one iota of diﬀer ence in
anyone’s ability to e xperience that power, then I am
exceedingly glad I wr ote it. I wish you miracles. I wish you
love.
Marianne W illiamson
January 1996
OceanofPDF.comP R E F A C E
I grew up in a middle-class Jewish family, laced with the
magical overtones of an eccentric father. When I was
thirteen, in 1965, he took me to Saigon to show me what
war was. The V ietnam W ar was beginning to r ev up and he
wanted me to see bullet holes ﬁrsthand. He didn’t want the
military -industrial comple x to eat my brain and convince me
war was ok ay.
My grandfather was very r eligious and sometimes I would
go to synagogue with him on Satur day mor nings. When the
ark was opened during the service, he would bow and begin
to cry. I would cry too, but I don’t know whether I was crying
out of a budding r eligious fervor, or simply because he was.
When I went to high school, I took my ﬁrst philosophy
class and decided God was a crutch I didn’t need. What kind
of God would let childr en starve, I ar gued, or people get
cancer, or the Holocaust happen? The innocent faith of a
child met the pseudointellectualism of a high school
sophomor e head on. I wr ote a Dear John letter to God. I was
depressed as I wr ote it, but it was something I felt I had to
do because I was too well-r ead now to believe in God.During college, a lot of what I lear ned fr om pr ofessors
was deﬁnitely e xtra-cur ricular. I lef t school to gr ow
vegetables, but I don’t r emember ever gr owing any. Ther e
are a lot of things fr om those years I can’t r emember. Like a
lot of people at that time—late sixties, early seventies—I
was pr etty wild. Every door mark ed “no” by conventional
standar ds seemed to hold the k ey to some lascivious
pleasur e I had to have. Whatever sounded outrageous, I
wanted to do. And usually, I did.
I didn’t know what to do with my life, though I r emember
my par ents k ept begging me to do something. I went fr om
relationship to r elationship, job to job, city to city, looking
for some sense of identity or purpose, some feeling that my
life had ﬁnally kick ed in. I knew I had talent, but I didn’t
know at what. I knew I had intelligence, but I was too frantic
to apply it to my own cir cumstances. I went into therapy
several times, but it rar ely made an impact. I sank deeper
and deeper into my own neur otic patter ns, seeking r elief in
food, drugs, people, or whatever else I could ﬁnd to distract
me fr om myself. I was always trying to mak e something
happen in my life, but nothing much happened e xcept all
the drama I cr eated ar ound things not happening.
There was some huge r ock of self -loathing sitting in the
middle of my stomach during those years, and it got worse
with every phase I went thr ough. As my pain deepened, so
did my inter est in philosophy : Easter n, Wester n, academic,
esoteric. Kierk egaar d, the I Ching, e xistentialism, radical
death- of-God Christian theology, Buddhism, and mor e. I
always sensed ther e was some mysterious cosmic or der to
things, but I could never ﬁgur e out how it applied to my own
life.
One day I was sitting ar ound smoking marijuana with my
brother, and he told me that everybody thought I was weir d.“It’s lik e you have some kind of virus,” he said. I r emember
thinking I was going to shoot out of my body in that
moment. I felt lik e an alien. I had of ten felt as though life
was a private club and everybody had r eceived the
passwor d except me. Now was one of those times. I felt
other people knew a secr et that I didn’t know, but I didn’t
want to ask them about it because I didn’t want them to
know I didn’t know.
By my mid-twenties, I was a total mess.
I believed other people wer e dying inside too, just lik e
me, but they couldn’t or wouldn’t talk about it. I kept
thinking ther e was something very important that no one
was discussing. I didn’t have the wor ds myself, but I was
sure that something was fundamentally oﬀ in the world.
How could everybody think that this stupid game of
“making it in the world”—which I was actually embar rassed I
didn’t know how to play—could be all ther e is to our being
here?
One day in 1977, I saw a set of blue books with gold
lettering sitting on someone’s coﬀee table in New Y ork City. I
opened to the intr oduction. It r ead,
“This is  A Course in Miracles. It is a r equir ed
course. Only the time you tak e it is voluntary.
Free will does not mean that you can establish
the cur riculum. It means only that you can elect
what you want to tak e at a given time. The
Course does not aim at teaching the meaning of
love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It
does aim, however, at r emoving the blocks to
the awar eness of love’s pr esence, which is your
natural inheritance.”I remember thinking that sounded rather intriguing, if not
arrogant. R eading further, however, I noticed Christian
terminology thr oughout the books. This made me nervous.
Although I had studied Christian theology in school, I had
kept it at an intellectual distance. Now I felt the thr eat of a
more personal signiﬁcance. I put the books back on the
table.
It took another year befor e I pick ed them up again—
another year, and another year’s misery. Then I was r eady.
This time I was so depr essed I didn’t even notice the
language. This time, I knew immediately that the Course
had something very important to teach me. It used
traditional Christian ter ms, but in decidedly nontraditional,
nonreligious ways. I was struck, as most people ar e, by the
profound authority of its voice. It answer ed questions I had
begun to think wer e unanswerable. It talk ed about God in
brilliant psychological ter ms, challenging my intelligence
and never insulting it. It’s a bit cliché to say this, but I felt
like I had come home.
The Course seemed


 evil, the
transmutation of  suf fering into i nner peace. The ultimate ef fect of all the
evil and suf fering in the world i s that it will force humans into realizing
who the y are beyond name and form. Thus, what we perceive as evil
from ou r limited  perspective is actually part of the higher good that has
no opposite. This, however, doe s not become true for you except through
for giveness. Until that happens, evil has not been redeemed and therefore
remains evil.
Through for giveness, which essentially means recognizing the
insubstantiality of the past and allowing the present moment to be as it is,
the mira cle of transformation happens not only within but also without.
A silent space of intense presence arises both in you and around you.
Whoever or whatever enters tha t field of consciousness will be  af fected
by it, sometimes visibly and im mediately, sometimes at deeper levels
with visible changes appearing at a later time. Y ou dissolve discord, heal
pain, dispel unconsciousness —  without doing  anything — simply by
being  and holding that frequency of intense presence.THE END OF YOUR LIFE DRAMA
In th at state of acceptance and  inner peace, even though  you may not
call it “bad,” ca n anything still come into your life that would be called
“bad” fr om a perspective of or dinary consciousness?

Most of the so-called bad things that happen in people’ s lives are due to
unconsciousness. They are self-created, or rather ego-created. I
sometimes refer to those things as “drama.” When you are fully
conscious, dram a does not come  into your life anymore. Let me remi nd
you briefly how the ego operates and how it creates drama.
Ego is the unobserved mind tha t runs your life when you are not present
as the witnessin g consciousness, the watcher. The ego perceives itself as
a separate fragment in a hostile universe, with no real inner connection to
any other being, surrounded b y other egos which it either sees as a
potential threat or which it will attempt to use for its own ends. The basic
ego patterns are designed to combat its own deep-seated fear and sense
of lack. They are  resistance, control, power, greed, defense, attack. Some
of the ego’ s strategies are extremely clever, yet they never truly solve
any of its problems, simply because the ego itself is the problem.
When egos come together, whether in personal relationships or in
or ganizations or institutions, “bad” things happen sooner or later: drama
of o ne kind or  another, in the form of conflict, problem s, power
struggles, emotional or physical violence, and so on. This includes
collective evils such as war, genocide, and exploitation — a ll due to
massed unconsciousness. Furthermore, many types of illness are caused
by the ego’ s continuous resistance, which creates restrictions and
blockages in the flow of ener gy through the body. When you r econnect
with Bei ng and are no longer run by your mind, you cease to create those
things. Y ou do not create or participate in drama anymore.
Whenever two or more egos come together, drama of one kind or another
ensues. But even if you live t otally alone, you still create y our owndrama. W hen you feel sorry fo r yourself, that’ s drama. When you feel
guilty or  anxiou s, that’ s drama. When you let the past or future  obscure
the p resent, you are creating time, psychological time — the stuf f out of
which drama is made. Whenever you are not honoring the present
moment by allowing it to be, you are creating drama.
Most pe ople are  in love with their particular life drama. Their  story is
their ide ntity. The ego runs their life. They have their whole sen se of self
invested in it. Even their — usually unsuccessful — search for an
answer, a solution, or for healing becomes part of it. What they fear and
resist most is the end of their drama. As long as they ar e  their mind, what
they fear and resist most is their own awakening.
When you live in complete acceptance of what is, tha t is the end  of all
drama in  your life. Nobody can even have an ar gument with you, no
matter h ow hard he or she tries. Y ou cannot have an ar gument with a
fully conscious person. An ar gument implies identification with your
mind and a mental position, as well as resistance and reaction to the
other pe rson’ s position. The result is that the polar opposites become
mutually ener gized. These are the mechanics of unconsciousness. Y ou
can still make yo ur point clearly and firmly, but there will be no reactive
force be hind it, no defense or at tack. So it won’ t turn into drama. When
you are fully conscious, you ce ase to be in conflict. “No one w ho is at
one with himself can even co nceive of conflict,” states A Course in
Miracles. T his refers no t only to confl ict with other people but more
fundamentally to conflict withi n you, which ceases when there is no
longer any clash between the d emands and expectations of your mind
and what is.
IMPERMANENCE AND THE CYCLES OF LIFE
However, as long as you are in the physical dimension and linked to the
collective huma n psyche, physical pain — although rare — is still
possible. This is not to be confused with suf fering, with  mental-
emotional pain. All suf fering is ego-created and is due to re sistance.
Also, as long as you are in thi s dimension, you are still subj ect to its
cyclical nature and to the law of impermanence of all things, but you no
longer perceive this as “bad” — it just is.Through allowing the “isness ” of all things, a deeper dimension
underneath the play of opposites reveals itself to you as an abiding
presence, an unchanging deep stillness, an uncaused joy beyo nd good
and bad. This is the joy of Being, the peace of God.
On the level of form, there is birth and death, creation and destruction,
growth and dissolution, of seem ingly separate forms. This is reflected
everywhere: in the life cycle of a star or a planet, a physical body, a tree,
a flower; in the  rise and fall of nations, political systems, civilizations;
and in the inevitable cycles of gain and loss in the life of an individual.
There ar e cycle s of success, w hen things come to you and thrive, and
cycles o f failure, when they wi ther or disintegrate and you ha ve to let
them go in order to make room for new things to arise, or for
transformation to happen. If you cling and resist at that point, it means
you are refusing to go with the flow of life, and you will suf fer.
It is not true that the up cycle is good and the down cycle bad, except in
the mind’ s judgment. Growth is usually considered positive, but nothing
can grow forever. If growth, of whatever kind, were to go on a nd on, it
would eventually become mon strous and destructive. Disso lution is
needed for new growth to happen. One cannot exist without the other.
The down cycle is absolutely essential for spiritual realization. Y ou must
have failed deeply on some level or experienced some deep loss or pain
to b e drawn to the spiritual dimension. Or perhaps your very  success
became empty and meaningless and so turned out to be failure. Failure
lies con cealed in every success, and success in every failure. In this
world, w hich is to say on the le vel of form, everybody “fails” sooner or
later, of course, and every achie vement eventually comes to naught. All
forms are impermanent.
Y ou can  still be active and enjoy  manifesting and creating new f orms and
circumstances, b ut you won’ t be identified with them. Y ou do not need
them to give you a sense of self. They are not your life — only your life
situation.
Y our physical ener gy is also subject to cycles. It cannot always be at a
peak. Th ere wil l be times of low as well as high ener gy. There will be
periods when you are highly active and creative, but there may also be
times w hen everything seems stagnant, when it seems that you are notgetting anywhere, not achieving anything. A cycle can last for anything
from a few hour s to a few years. There are lar ge cycles and sma ll cycles
within these lar ge ones. Many  illnesses are created through fighting
against the cycles of low ener g y, which are vital for regeneration. The
compulsion to do, and the tend ency to derive your sense of s elf-worth
and identity from external facto rs such as achievement, is an inevitable
illusion as long as you are identified with the mind. This makes it hard or
impossible for you to accept the low cycles and allow them to be. Thus,
the intelligence of the or ganism may take over as a self-protective
measure and create an illness in  order to force you to stop, so


ages made the fascinating observation that the fire that
burned in volcanoes also burned inside the human belly; the earth that bore
life was also a constituent eleme nt of human physiology; and the boundless
space all around was a vital part of the human body and mind.
From these basic observations flowed a series of conclusions: If human
beings were indeed compact forms of the universe itself, then all the laws
that governed the universe also governed them. This meant that the same
unseen natural intelligence that controlled the rhythm of the seasons also
regulated human  digestion, respiration, circulation, and reprod uction. And
the intelligence that told a seed to send forth a giant tree also taught a
broken bone to heal itself.
And yet, in spite of this suprem e intelligence, disease struck. Men and
women fell violently ill — or simply aged and died. The sages never
stopped questioning why. Then they unlocked another importan t secret: the
“intelligence” we possess has a “flow” that can be interrupted. They called
this flow prana,  or vital life force.Impurities, imbalances, immoderation — one by one the enemies of
flow emerged. What the sages now needed was to find the friend who could
restore the flow of natural intelligence, thus defeating disease. Again and
again, their attention was drawn to one and only one person: the sufferer
himself. This was the person, Ayurvedic healers reasoned, who played host
to both the intelligence and the interruption of flow.
Yes! The sick knew exactly where their discomfort lay. They alone
could tell what made them feel better. Who better qualified than the
suffering, the healers reasoned, to be the friends they were searching for?
In other words, the answer to each human disease and disorder lay
within the individual human being.
When Vaidya Divakar Sharma first explained this theory to me, I was
skeptical. After all, I argued, how can I be a better doctor to myself than an
actual, medical-degree-holding doctor who knows the human body inside
and out? The vaidya calmly pointed out that a doctor does know  the human
body better, but he can never know my body better than me.
That made perfect sense. And, to bring this chapter full circle, it
convinces me that A yurveda is, above everything else, a verb.
OceanofPDF.comICHAPTER 2
ayurveda spells health
b-a-l-a-n-c-e
The same str eam of life that runs thr ough my veins night and day runs
through the world and dances in r hythmic measur es. It is the same life that
is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.
— Rabindranath T agore
magine a tripod with one leg missing. Can you see it standing  straight?
According to Ayurveda, just as a tripod cannot stand on two legs, you
cannot be in perfect health if any one of these three elements is not in
balance:
•  body
•  mind
•  soul
We expe rience the truth of this statement all the time: a bad day at work
may trigger bodily aches and pains; a toothach e could result in depression;
the loss of a loved one can lead to a stroke.Yet practitioners of modern medicine insist on addressing body and
mind as separate  entities; a heart specialist asks you about your cholesterol
level, not about your love life. As a consequence, you have dif ferent doctors
for dif ferent parts: bone specialists, urologists, cardiologists, therapists.
An Ayurvedic physician, howev er, is always a vaidya. Period. A vaidya
is trained to treat you as a whole being, complete with your bone, muscle,
kidneys, skin type, likes and dislikes, habits, thoughts, and feelings. And,
interestingly, whatever your symptom and however chronic your problem,
the diagnosis is always the same: imbalance. This imbalance can be in your
physiology, your psychology, or your very spirit. But an imbalance it
always is.
So, with apologies to John Keats, I would sum up the Ayurvedic
definition of health thus: “Balan ce is health, and health balanc e: that is all
ye know on earth and all ye need ever know.”
Now, balance may seem to be an abstract thing. So is it possible to set
about achieving it the way you would, say, a monthly sales goal? Or does it
mean straying into the realm of heart, soul, and such abstract things?
The answer lies somewhere in between. That is because part of good
health can be quantified (blood-pressure readings, cholesterol count, heart
rate), but an equal part of it can only be judged by quality (calm, optimism,
equanimity).
Therefore, I suggest that you start by thinking of your quest for balance
as an endeavor to learn an art. I like to think of it as working with clay;
healing and making pottery echo each other beautifully.
Have you ever seen a master potter at work? How magically the potter,
with delicate fingers and a light touch, turns shapeless clay into a perfect,
symmetrical teapot in seconds. But if you have ever tried your hand at
pottery, you know what those fingers are doing while the fragile clay spins
furiously on the wheel. In those few seconds, they are shaping, steadying,
lifting, pressing, pulling, centering, dimpling, raising, and leveling the clay.
I got a firsthand idea of the master potter ’s job three years ago at a
pottery workshop, where I tried my hand at “throwing” a pot. Having
watched the instructor turn out two perfect pots in two minutes,  I felt that it
would be child’ s play. How mistaken I was! I tried to make a pot six times,but each time — at the crucial shaping stage when I slowly lifted the neck
— the clay would spin out of control and break into a miserabl e, shapeless
lump. It was terribly frustrating.
The instructor knew exactly where I was going wrong. “Try to balance
your pot,” he said. “When you cup that clay between your palms, feel for
the slightest lump and the faintest bump. Any protrusion or dent that
manages to hide in those tender  walls will cause them to lose balance, and
the weakest spot will tear.”
Those words exactly reflect the Ayurvedic view of perfect health. In
Ayurvedic terms, all illness begins with the tiniest chink or dent in the
human vessel. That is why I invite you to put yourself in the role of a potter
in love with the clay of your being. Take your body, your thoughts, and
your emotions as the malleable clay spinning on the wheel of time, and
mold them into a perfectly balanced work of art: a vessel free of lumps,
bumps, and dents. Thus balance d, you will be a living embodiment of the
Ayurvedic word for “healthy”: swastha. (swa:  self, stha:  established/steady
— “established in the self“).
How does it feel to be balanced? I am sure you have known that feeling
on days when you sing while cooking breakfast, lavish someone with
compliments, or pirouette around the house for no reason at all. In those
rare moments, without even realizing it, you have achieved perfect balance
among the following elements:
•  your own body, mind, and heart;
•  yourself and other people;
•  yourself and your surroundings.
For many of us, such moments  of complete balance are but pleasant
interludes in the tense drama of life. But once you understand and follow
Ayurveda, it need not be this way. You can make sure that imbalance, not
balance, is the exception in your life. What’ s more, with Ayurveda as your
road map, you can take the scenic route to balance.
And now, let’s get down to the brass tacks of the journey. What’ s the
first thing you do before you start on a coast-to-coast trip? You tune in to
weather and road conditions, check for possible delays, and fix your vehiclefor the trip. Similarly, before you set out to re-create balance in your own
being, you need to figure out where the lumps and bumps lie.
identifying your imbalances
According to the Ayurvedic approach, there are two key causes of
imbalance:
1. external factors (for examp le, change of season, pollution, and
infection);
2. internal causes (chiefly the accumulation of toxic matter inside us).
The external enemies of balance find it easy to gatecrash when our inner
defenses are down. Also, they are more or less beyond our control. The
internal enemy — toxic pileu p — is one we can combat and defeat.
Therefore, our focus should be on cleaning out these toxins. What exactly
are these toxins and how do they af fect us?
Toxins are easy to understand if you look at the human body as a
network of channels; think of them as specialized courier services that
receive and deliver packages. Men have thirteen such channels — called
shrotas in Ayurveda — while women have fifteen, including the
reproductive channels.

Package Couriers
Air heart, lungs, abdomen
Food stomach, intestines
Water


ary Yellow Emper or, to whom tradition attributes
the introduction of these practices.’ One of the diﬀerences
is that Chinese yoga adopts a posture distinct from the
Indian ‘lotus’ position; the position assumed is that of
kneeling and sitting on the soles of the feet. Some see in
this Chuang Tzu's ‘breat hing through the heels, ’ though
others take it to be symbolic of the depth of yogic
breathing. In both, the alchemical yoga is essentially the
province of people who put things into practice, who ‘do’
things, rather than specu late on them; it is the search for
perfection through knowledge rather than through faith; it
is, in Indian terms, the karma  yoga.
The highest aim of yoga is union, as the word implies;
but ‘yoga’ embraces practices from the spiritual down to
the psychic and physical in the cultivation of health and
‘powers.’ Yoga requires perfect discipline of body and
mind, the object being to rouse the spiritual powers latent
in humanity and to attain realization or immortality. Its
apparent rigours are not of a destructive nature: they do
not kill human instincts but discipline them into useful
servants. The aims of yoga and alchemy are the same: to
change unregenerate nature in humanity, that is the base
metal, into gold, the perfected individual. Both speak of
the soul, the soul in the body and the soul in the metals;
both work for immortality; both work on bringing the
dualistic conﬂicts of the world of the senses under control
until they are resolved and brought to harmony with the
rhythms of Nature. Patanjali deﬁnes yoga as ‘therestrictions of the whirls of the mind’ and when this is
achieved ‘the seer shines forth,’ the ‘seer’ being the
transcendent Self, pure awareness, a goal wholly
consistent with alchemical yoga, which also adopts a ‘do it
yourself ’ attitude towards  salvation. Yoga and alchemy are
both a transforming of the lower to the higher, the base to
the noble; both experiment on the individual; both require
tenacity of purpose, arduous training and exerc ise and
unremitting attention. It has been said that true yoga has
‘a dynamic power of the soul to shed lustre;’ this is the
alchemical gold of the True Man.
In the unremitting attention required there are no short
cuts possible  and both East and West warn against by-
paths. The Ts'an T'ung Ch'i  says:
People like trivial doings. They do not understand the
long and the short of the Tao. Abandoning the right
road and following vicious by-paths in the hope of
pursuing a short cut, they ﬁnally ﬁnd themselves at
the closed end of a blind alley. This is like a blind man
who goes about without the help of a staﬀ and a deaf
man who goes to listen to music. One might as well
look for rabbits and birds under water, or try to get
ﬁsh in a mountain. One might as well plant wheat to
reap barley, or use a pair of compasses to draw a
square. Energy is thus wasted and the spirit worn
away for long years without success... Many there
have been who have devoted themselves to the
cause, but very few of them have met with the good
fortune of success, by searching far and wide for
reputed drugs they fell into by-paths which are
incompatible with the Tao. Only he who concentra tes
his eﬀorts with a single-mindedness will be able to
attain the T ao.
From the W est the same warning is given:I have set you on the good road; follow it always and
do not take it into your head to take lanes and by-
ways believing to shorten your work and to arrive
sooner at the end of your desires. You would make a
great mistak e to do so, for it is only the great road
which leads to the great work. The beginning is a
little rude, rugged and diﬀicult to take, but the
further one goes, the more it smooths out and the
more beautiful discoveries are made.
Nor should you ‘cast your eye far ahead into a country
very distant from where you are, take care not to lose your
way by forcing yourself to see things to which you cannot
pay adequate attention... the further you advance in
those byway s the further you will be from the great and
veritable road... you will be altogether bewitc hed and
not able anymore to ﬁnd the true road.’
All excess must, of course, also be avoided. In Taoist
yoga the Ten Excesses have their eﬀects on various parts
of the body: (1) excessiv e walking harms the nerves, (2)
excessive standing adversely aﬀects the bones, (3) too
much sleep is bad for the blood vessels, (4) to sit too long
is harmful to the blood, (5) listening to excess impairs the
generative powers, (6) looking at things for too long harms
the spirit, (7) talking too much aﬀects the breath, (8)
thinking too hard upsets the stomach, (9) over-ind ulgence
in sex injures the life, (10) eating to excess damages the
heart.
There are also warnings along the alchemical-yogic path
that there will occur distracting or dangerous states of
mind, such as visions of the horrors of the demonic world,
demon apparitions or encounters; on the other hand, there
may be beautiful visions,  glimpses of paradise, wonderful
states of ecstasy and the development of psychic or siddhi
powers. All are to be shunned. Again, faulty techniques or
indolent and intermittent  practices, instead of the rigorousattention required, will lose any gains made and produce
an ‘evil ﬁre’ which destroys, as against the beneﬁcent
‘controlled ﬁre’ of the alchemical furnace which gives
spiritual power and light. Wrong, or excessive, food and
drink can also cause evil ﬁre to burn in the body and so
destroy any progress made. The evil ﬁre also represents
the very real dangers of undertaking any yogic exercise
without the instructions of a competent mast er; this
applies particularly to breathing and sex techniq ues. All
ailments of the body must be eradicated. Yoga-medicine is
preventive; illnesses must not be allowed to develop and
no Sage suﬀers from illnesses, unless he deliberately takes
on the karmic burden of someone else.
The yogin and hsien  can always leave the body and
return at will; but in the early stages of training, out-of -
the-body experiences should be limited until the yogin is
familiar with the necessary conditions and the practice
should be limited to the day time. For six months this
exercise should not be performed more than once  in three
days; after a year it can be undertaken daily and after two
years it can be increased  and may be allowed to occur at
any time. This hsien  faculty, after three years, enables the
yogin to travel in spirit to distant places. In hsien  terms,
he becomes a shen hsien, or earthly immortal, from which,
after nine years, he may rise to the state of a golden
immortal, the body then being illuminated by a golden
light. When, after many years, the work of transmutation
is complete, the adept can leave the body and wander
abroad to help heal the sick and bring salvation to
suﬀering humanity. The principle behind all yogic and
alchemical work is that nobody who has not ﬁrst healed
himself and put his own house in order is capable of
helping anyone else.
The right posture is important in all yogic practices
because it assists the ﬂow of ch'i; the wrong posturehinders it. This is particularly true of breathing exercises.
Breathing exercises are essential to becoming a hsien  on
the exoteric level. The method employed was known as
‘womb breathing,’ so called because the air should be
inhaled and exhaled independently of the nose and mouth,
like the foetus in the womb:
When you are beginning to learn how to control your
breath, you take in the air through the nose and hold
it while you count your heart beats. When you have
counted one hundred and twenty, let out the air very
gently throu gh the mouth. During the process care
should be taken that the passage of air either way is
quite inaudible to yourself and more should go in
than comes out. A good test is to place a piece of
swan's-down at the aperture of the nostrils and see
that it does not move when the breath is expelled.
Breathing had to be rhythmic to harmonize with the
rhythms of the universe; processes of inhalation and
exhalation were gradually prolonged to produce an even
slower and quieter rhythm. The exercises had to be taken
in ‘live air.’ The twenty-four hours are divided into twelve
two-hour periods: the six from midnight to mid-day are
‘live air’ and the six from mid-day to midnight are ‘


,
Y ou have given me such special gifts,
And yet I block them when I deny Y our love.
T oday may I r emember
The holy purpose Y ou have given me,
That I might find my talents
And be blessed ther eby.
Amen.DA Y 318
T o d a y  m a y  I  b e  a  b e t t e r
m a t e / f r i e n d / p a r e n t / e m p l o y e r / e m p l o y e e.
W hatever role I pl ay in life, I am there to be more, and do more,  than
appears. While the ego focuses in any situation on my needs as  I define
them, my only true need is to be the most shining light I can be.
As I increase my own giving—a greater generosity, deeper
understanding, a nd more loving attitude toward others—my life will be
thereby blessed. May I participate today in all of my relationships from a
more healed and holy place.
May I view each r ole I play as God intended it to be: the avenue
thr ough which miracles pour into me and thr ough me. May I no t
limit my  per cept ions today to th e drama of the mortal plane, but
rather see every r elationship as a holy one.DA Y 319
T o d a y  I  s e e k  t o  l o v e  e v e r y o n e.
W hen I see anyone today, I will bl ess him or her silently. When I enter
a room, I will send my love b efore me. In thinking of anyone, I will
surrender the relationship to God.
T oday I seek to love everyone. M y mind and heart were created to be
a vessel of God ’ s compassion, and today I pray to be aligned with His
intention for my life.
Dear God,
It isn’ t easy
T o be a lover of the world,
But today I will try.
May my love expand to include everyone,
Both those I like
And those I do not like.
Help me love mor e deeply,
That my life might be of gr eatest use.
Amen.DA Y 320
FOR REFLECTION
O n  C h o o s i n g  t o  B e  B e t t e r
O ur cl inging to ol d wounds might inspire sympathy for a time, or  even
temporary support. But it will not inspire invitations to start over, from
other people or from the un iverse itself. Bitterness is hardly the
personality trait that someone out there is looking to hire, partner with,
promote, or invest in.
No matter what we have endu red, there is probably someone out
there w ho has been through worse. There are people who have
experienced the most heinous things, and have found a path forward into
happiness and peace. There are things that happen in life after w hich we
know w e will never be the sam e. But which way it goes—wh ether we
become bitter or better—is a choice that only we can make.DA Y 321
T o d a y  I  h a v e  t h e  c o u r a g e  t o  r e a c h  f o r  m y  d r e a m s.
I  know in my he art that it isn’ t outer force, but merely lack of c ourage,
that keep s me from living the life I desire. I recognize the fear that keeps
me from reaching for my dreams.
The miracles I seek will not unfold unless I claim the love that casts
out fear.  T oday I will not hide behind the excuses that I give myself; I
will dee pen my willingness to serve the light within me, wherever it
leads and whatever it might ask of me.
Dear God,
I cower in fear at times
Befor e the calling of my soul,
The call to gr eatness,
The call to enlightenment,
The call to Y ou.
Please help me make the choice for love,
That I might live the life
I truly desir e
And manifest my dr eams.
Amen.DA Y 322
I  t u r n  a w a y  f r o m  h a b i t s  o f  w e a k n e s s  a n d  c u l t i v a t e
h a b i t s  o f  s t r e n g t h.
I  kno w I have habits of weakness in certain areas of my life. T oday, I
remember that with the help of God I can change my mind an d change
my ways.
Who I have been, I need not be now. What I have done, I need not do
now. How I have acted, I need not act now. I call upon the spirit of God
to break the cha ins that bind m e to the weakness of my former self. I
choose strength, and know that God Himself supports my choice.
I k now God Himself will help m e be the person He would have
me b e. T oday I eschew the habits of weakness that keep me bound
in suffering. I claim the power of God within me to br eak all
cor ds that bind me to the past and to deliver me to my better self.
Amen.DA Y 323
I  s e e k  t o  b e  t h e  b e s t  f r i e n d  I  c a n  b e  t o  t h o s e  w h o
h a v e  b e f r i e n d e d  m e.
H ow often I take for granted the love that is shown me by my friends.
I’m rem inded to day that our m ortal lives are not forever, and  that our
friendships on earth are but fleeting gifts.
May I remembe r to listen mor e, and say, “thank you” and “I love
you” more to my friends. May I seek to understand what others are
feeling, before telling them wh at I am feeling. May I be a less selfish
friend, today and always.
Dear God,
I place in Y our hands
My r elationship with my friends.
May I be a better friend,
Mor e supportive and understanding
And giving and compassionate.
Thus may my r elationships
Fulfill their purpose
And make all of us whole.
Amen.DA Y 324
M a y  I  n e v e r  b e  c y n i c a l.
I t’ s easy to become pessimistic at times, to declare oneself too cool to
care, too knowledgeable or reas onable to believe in miracles. Y et love is
the power of God, and miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.
T oday I will not allow cyni cism to blind me to the infinite
possibilities God  provides. Miracles are all around me and I cla im them
as my own; may I see the light that is mine to see whenever I open my
eyes.
May cynicism never close my eyes, nor pessimism poison m y
thinking. May I always be looking for the ray of light eternally on
God’ s horizon. May my mind th us be a conduit for miracles an d
love.DA Y 325
FOR REFLECTION
O n  t h e  A t o n e m e n t
W hen we take full responsibility for the places where we know in our
hearts w e underperformed in the past, or acted without integrity,  or failed
to respect opportunities and abundance that once were ours, we
experience the miracle of the Atonement.
Atonement is a mental proce ss through which we correct our
perceptions, thus changing the trajectory of probabilities that unfold as a
result. Atoneme nt is like a spiritual reset button. It is a gift from God,
providing us the opportunity to clear the karma of past mistakes by
owning them, taking responsibility for them, admitting them, making
amends for them, and doing wh atever is possible to change the  patterns
of behavior that created the situations that now cause us shame.
W e reco gnize past errors and pra y, “I am willing to be dif ferent t han I
was before. Please show me how.” The universe then corrects all
limitations caused by our wrong-minded thinking. Guilt dissolves from
our minds as thoughts of mercy and love replace it.DA Y 326
I  s e e  t h e  w o r l d  i n f u s e d  w i t h  l i g h t.
R egardless of the painful dramas of the world, I believe in a force more
powerful than evil. I believe th at in the presence of love, all fear will
disappear. And I believe that people are essentially good.
I p lace myself in service to the mighty force of peace. I believe  that
there wi ll yet be a turning of the  human heart. I pray to be used in a great
awakening that reminds us who  we are, infusing our hearts and then our
world with a light that casts out darkness and delivers us to love.
Dear God,
Bring forth the light of


 diﬀerent for every thought, and if one
could extend  the portrait to be full-length, there is no doubt
that the whole body changes at the same time, thanks to
the cascades of neurotra nsmitters and related messenger
molecules.
As you see it right now, your body is the physical picture,
in 3-D, of what you are thinking. This remarkable fact
escapes our notice for several reasons. One is that the
physical outline of the body does not change drastically
with every thought. Even so, the whole body quite
obviously projects thoughts. We literally read other
people’s minds from the constant play of their facial
expressions; without marking it, we also register the
thousandfold gestures of body language as a sign of their
moods and intentions toward us. Films made by sleep
laboratories disclose that we change position dozens of
times during the night, obeying commands from the brain
that we are unconscious of.
Secondly, we don’t see our bodies as projected thoughts
because many physical changes that thinking causes are
unnoticeable. They involve minute alterations of cell
chemistry, body temperature, electrical charg e, blood
pressure, and so on, which do not register on our focus of
attention. You can be assured, however, that the body is
ﬂuid enough to mirror any mental event. Nothing can move
without moving the whole.
—
The latest discoveries in neurobiology build an even
stronger case for the parallel universes of mind and body.
When researchers looked further, beyond the nervous
system and the immune system, they began to discover the
same neuropeptides and receptors for them in other
organs, such as the intestines, kidneys, stomach, and heart.There is every expectation of ﬁnding them elsewhere, too.
This means that your kidneys can “think,” in the sense that
they can produce the identical neuropeptides found in the
brain. Their receptor sites are not simply sticky patche s.
They are questions waiting for answers, framed in the
language of the chemical universe. It is very likely that if
we had the whole dictionary and not just our few scraps,
we would ﬁnd that every cell speaks as ﬂuently as we do.
Inside us, the questions and answers go on forever. Just
by itself, a single gland like the thyroid has so much to say
to the brain, to its fellow endocrine glands, and through
them to all the body, that its cascade of conversation
inﬂuences dozens of vital functions, such as growth,
metabolic rate, and much more. How fast you think, how
tall you are, and the dimensions of your eyes, for example,
all depend in part on advice from the thyroid. We can safely
conclude, then, that mind is not conﬁned to the brain by
some neat division set up for our own convenience. Mind is
projected everywhere in inner space.
One of the most forward-looking and accomplished
researchers in the ﬁeld of brain chemistry, Dr. Candace
Pert, director of the brain biochemistry division at the
National Institute of Mental Health, has pointed out that it
is quite arbitrary to say that a biochemical like DNA or a
neurotransmitter belongs to the body rather than the mind.
DNA is almost as much sheer knowledge as it is matter. Dr.
Pert refers to the entire mind-body system as a “network of
information,” shifting the emphasis away from the gross
level of matter toward the subtler level of knowledge.
Is there really any reason to keep mind and body apart at
all? In her own writings, Pert prefers to use one term for
both— bodymind. If this word sticks, it will clearly indicate
that a wall has come crashing down. Pert does not have all
of medical science behin d her yet, but that may change
very quickly. It is becoming clearer every day that the mindand body are amazingly alike. Insulin, a hormone always
identiﬁed with the pancre as, is now known to be produced
by the brain also, just as brain chemicals like transferon
and CCK are produced by the stomach.
This shows that our neat division of the body into nervous
system, endocrine system, digestive system, and so on is
only partially right and may soon be outmoded. It has now
been absolutely proved that the same neuroc hemicals
inﬂuence the whole bodymind. Everything is
interconnected at the level of the neuropeptide; therefore,
to separate these areas is simply bad science.
A body that can “think” is far diﬀerent from the one
medicine now treats. For one thing, it knows what is
happening to it, not just through the brain, but everywhere
there is a receptor for messenger molecules, which means
on every cell. This explains a great deal about drugs and
their side eﬀects that had not been known. Some drugs
have a bewildering numb er of side eﬀects. If I consult my
Physician’s Desk Reference, which comprehensively  lists
the medications that a doctor can prescribe, I can ﬁnd page
after page under the listing for corticosteroids. The most
familiar corticosteroid (or just steroid) is cortisone, but the
whole family is widely prescribed to treat burns, allergies,
arthritis, postoperative inﬂammation, and dozens of other
conditions.
If you didn’t know about receptor sites, steroids would
appear highl y peculiar. Let us say that I prescribe steroids
to a woman who is suﬀering from a diﬀicult  case of
arthritis. The steroids would bring down the inﬂammation
in her joints dramatically, but then a host of stran ge things
might happen. She could begin to complain of being
fatigued and depressed.  Abnormal fatty deposits  might
begin to show under her skin, and her blood vessels could
become so brittle that she would develop large bruises thatare very slow to heal. What could link these entirely
divergent symptoms?
The answer lies at the level of the receptors.
Corticosteroids replace some of the secretions of the
adrenal cortex, a yellowish pad on the top of the adrenal
glands. At the same time, they suppress the other adrenal
hormones, as well as secretions from the pituitary gland,
which is located in the brain. As soon as it is given, the
steroid rushes in and ﬂoods all the receptors throughout
the body that are “listening” for a certain message. When a
receptor becomes ﬁlled, what follows is not a simple action.
The cell can interpret the adrenal “message” in many ways,
depending on how long the site stays ﬁlled. In this case, the
receptor stays ﬁlled indeﬁnitely. (The fact that other
messages are not being received is important, as is the loss
of innumerable connections with the other endocrine
glands.)
The cell can exhibit extreme reactions from ﬁlling one
receptor. By analogy, look at a moth hanging under the
eaves on a summer night. In a male moth, the fuzzy
antennae on its head are actually receptor sites that have
extended outside the body. As the sun sets, the moth waits
for a signal from a female moth in his vicinity, who is
emitting a special molecu le called a pheromone. Moths are
tiny creatures, and the number of pheromones they can
send through the air is inﬁnitesimal compared to the total
volume of air and its immense freight of pollen, dust, water,
and other pheromones being secreted by animals of every
kind, including man. One would hardly suspe ct that two
moths can communicate over any sizable distance.
But when a single pheromone molecule lands on the
male’s anten na, his behavior is transformed. He swiftly
homes in on the female, begins an elaborate courtship
ritual in the air, and proceeds with the act of mating.Biologically speaking, the only thing that causes this
complicated behavior is one molecule.
When I give steroids to an arthritis patient, trillions of
molecules and receptor sites are involved. That is why the
blood vessels, skin, brain, fat cells, and so on all exhibit
their diﬀerent responses. If I go to my desk reference, the
long-term consequences of staying on steroids include
diabetes, osteoporosis, suppression of the immun e system
(making a person more susceptible to infections and
cancer), peptic ulcers, internal bleeding, elevated
cholesterol, and much more. One might even include death
among these side eﬀects, because taking steroids for a long
period causes the adrenal cortex to shrivel (an example of
how an organ will atrophy if not used). If the steroid is
withdrawn too quickly, the adrenal gland does not have
time to regenerate. The patient is left with inadequate
defenses against stress, which adrenal hormone s help to
buﬀer. He can go to the dentis t to have a wisdom tooth
extracted, a stress that is usually well within the normal
limits, but deprived of adrenal hormones, he can go into
shock. A tooth extraction could even kill him.
Take all of these details together, and what you see is
that steroids can cause literally anything


. It is often
recommended that SAMe be taken along with vitamins B6, B1 2, and folic
acid to enhance its ef ficacy.
SAMe m ay be an ef fective alternative to antidepressant medications, but
we believe that more scientific research is necessary before we can
recommend its routine use. If you are feeling persistently sad and depleted,
please see your health-care p rovider to discuss all potentially helpful
treatment options, including SAMe.
GROWTH HORMONE
In 1990 an intriguing article on aging by Dr. Daniel Rudman and his
colleagues appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Men between
sixty and eighty years of age were given human growth hormone (hGH)
injections three times a week for six months. At the completion of the study,
the men who ha d received hGH shots had an increase in their lean body
mass, a decrease in their fat content, and an increase in the t hickness of
their skin. Initially, these results were enthusiastically advertised as
evidence that hGH was the sou ght-after fountain of youth. Unfortunately,
subsequent reports found that several undesirable side ef fects developed
with its ongoing  use. Growth hormone injections had to be discontinued in
a number of men due to the development of carpal tunnel syndrome, edema,
joint aches, or breast swelling. Other reports found that although a person
developed greater muscle mass on hGH, they did not increase their strength.
In fact, adding growth hormone  to an good exercise program did not add
additional benefit.Due to the high  cost and inconvenience of hGH injections, there have
been attempts to stimulate the production and release of growth hormone
through amino acids taken oral ly. It has been known for many years that
giving th e amino acid ar ginine intravenously increases the level of growth
hormone. Ef fort s to boost growth hormone levels with oral ar ginine have
met with  mixed results. Conside ring all the currently available i nformation,
we d o not believ e that there is enough current evidence to suppo rt the long-
term value of pharmacologically manipulating growth hormone levels. W e
will continue to follow the research in this area with great interest.
DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE (DHEA)
This natural hormone produced by the adrenal glands must hav e a purpose,
but desp ite the fact that it was id entified over fifty years ago, scientists have
not yet determined what it does. It is known that we make very little DHEA
during the first ten years of life, we make a lot of it between the ages of
twenty a nd forty, and then we gradually discontinue making it, so by the
time we  are seventy, we have l ess DHEA than we had as teenagers. The
ef fects o f giving  animals and p eople supplementary DHEA h ave yielded
contradictory results, generating a lot of controversy. Some enthusiastic
advocates promote DHEA as the antiaging elixir, while most medical
scientists believe that further study is necessary to determine its lasting
benefits and risks to health. Among the thousands of studies on this
intriguing chemi cal, there are reports that it can relieve depressi on, improve
certain aspects of memory, red uce body fat, and enhance immunity. In a
recent study from France, men and women between the ages of sixty and
eighty years were given a daily DHEA dose of 50 milligrams and compared
to other subjects taking a placebo. At the conclusion of the one-year
experiment, mild benefits to the skin were seen in the younger men, while
women over seventy showed modest improvements in their skin, bones, and
libido. W hether these ef fects are due to the conversion of DHEA to male
and fem ale sex hormones or a specific action of DHEA on its own is notknown. Unfortunately, for almost every study that suggests a benefit there is
usually another one that fails to support it.
Although seriou s side ef fects a re uncommon, DHEA is converted into
male an d female hormones and may contribute to health concerns ranging
from ac ne to activation of b reast and prostate cancer to psychiatric
problems. The other issue of concern with DHEA is that we really don’ t
know what long-term side ef fec ts it may cause. Although the recent French
study las ted a year, most investigations showing either benefit or no benefit
have las ted less than three months. W e believe that too many qu estions still
need to be ans wered before we can endorse the routine use of this
fascinating horm one. W e’ll continue to watch DHEA with great interest and
provide you with updates as new information unfolds. In the meantime, we
can take some reassurance fr om a study which showed t hat regular
practitioners of meditation have higher DHEA levels than people who are
not meditating.
PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS
Nutritional scien tists have identified many health-enhancing sub stances that
come from our f ood. Members of the natural plant chemical family known
as phenolic compounds are receiving a lot of attention for their potent
antioxidant properties. Some o f the chemicals that you may have heard
about include bioflavonoids, iso-flavonoids, catech ins, and
proanthocyanidins. Found in green tea, berries, grape skins and seeds, as
well as pine bark, some of these  natural chemicals have been fo und to be as
much as fifty tim es more powerful scavengers of free radicals th an vitamins
C and E. The an tioxidant prope rties of the proanthocyanidins derived from
grapes may explain the beneficial ef fect of wine on the heart. In addition to
a possible role in the prevention of heart disease, these substances have also
been sho wn to have possible protective activity against cancer, d egenerative
brain conditions, and macular degeneration of the eye.As a  result of these studies, many nutritional supplement companies are
of fering concentrated capsules of these helpful agents. Grape seed extract,
powdered green tea extract, and pine bark extract (commonly known as
pycnogenol) are widely availa ble in health food stores and have been
promoted as antiaging wonder drugs. W e agree that these substances are
natural botanica l gifts, but believe they are best consumed as nature
provided them. Our bottom line regarding these super antioxidants is to eat
plenty of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and
cranberries. Con sume lots of grapes and chew the seeds. A cup or two of
green te a will invigorate you while you are receiving the antioxidant
benefits of the p olyphenols cont ained within. In regards to this class of age-
reversing allies, we believe that good food is better than good medicine.
Our Daily V itamin Recommendations
Living b eings have evolved for billions of years without the consumption of
nutritional supp lements, with most of the substances packed into a
multivitamin tablet having been  identified chemically only within the last
century. And yet it is becoming increasingly clear that the levels of vitamins
that prev ent a deficiency disease  may not be the levels that prov ide optimal
health. W e view nutritional sup plementation as an insurance policy. The
following daily doses are encou raged to complement a well-balanced diet.
They fall well w ithin safety limits while reflecting the informa tion on the
role that higher intake may play in lowering the risk for th e common
conditions that deplete our vitali ty and make us sick. Y ou can us ually fulfill
these re quirements by taking a high-potency multivitamin, m ultimineral
supplement. Ou r recommended Reversal of Aging nutritional c omplement
plan is listed in the appendix.
If you are at ris k for heart disease, you may benefit from an a dditional
dose of B vitamins, including folic acid, B6, and B12. If yo u feel your
memory is not serving you as well as you remember it did, consider adding
a daily helping of ginkgo biloba. If your joints have been calling for
attention, increa se your intake of omega-3 fatty acids and try supplementingwith glucosamine sulfate. Using these concentrated nutrients to complement
a healthy lifestyle and diet can help you grow younger and live longer. But
do not for get: Nutritional supplements  ar e not a sub stitute for a
nutritionally balanced diet.
Nutrient Ritual
Rituals serve to focus your atten tion. Y ou probably cannot remember what
you wore to din ner last Thursday evening, but if that night you attended an
awards c eremony or a birthday celebration, the previously for gotten details
may become available to you. Rituals take you from mind lessness to
mindfulness. They bring you into present moment awareness. Rituals focus
your intentions and stimulate your inner drugstore to produce age-reversing
compounds.
Consciously taking your supplements can empower their ef fects and
enhance their benefits. Although some disparage the so-called placebo
ef fect, w e see it as a valuable expression of your natural inherent health-
promoting pharmacy. When you anticipate the benefits of nutritional
complements, you activate your body’ s rejuvenating chemicals to work in
partnership with them


 the
“now” and the “then,” will you become aware of how you tried to
correct the situation. You will further see the folly of the
unconscious desire to recreate the childhood hurt, the frustrating
uselessness of it. You will survey all your actions and reactions with
this new understanding and insight, whereupon you will release
your parents. You will leave your childhood truly behind and start a
new, inner behavior pattern that will be innitely more constructive
and rewarding for you and for others. You will no longer seek to
master the situation you could not master as a child. You will go on
from where you are, forgetting and forgiving truly inside of you,
without even thinking that you have done so. You will no longer
need to be loved as you needed to be loved when you were a child.
First you become aware that this is what you still wish, and then
you no longer seek this kind of love. Since you are no longer a child,
you will seek love in a dierent way, by giving it instead of
expecting it. It must always be emphasized, however, that many
people are not aware that they do expect it. Since the childish,
unconscious expectation was so often disappointed, they made
themselves give up all expectations and all desire for love. Needless
to say, this is neither genuine nor healthy, for it is a wrong extreme.To work on this inner conict is of great importance for all of
you, so that you gain a new outlook and further clarication in your
self-search. At rst these words may give you perhaps only an
occasional glimpse, a temporary ickering emotion in you, but they
should be of help and open a door toward knowing yourself better,
toward evaluating your life with a more realistic and more mature
outlook.
Now, are there any questions in connection with this lecture?
QUESTION : It is very dicult for me to understand that one continually
chooses a love object who has exactly the same negative trends that one
or the other parent had. Is it reality that this particular person has these
trends? Or is it projection and response?
ANSWER : It can be both and it can be either. In fact, most of the
time it is a combination. Certain aspects are unconsciou sly looked
for and found and they are actually similar. But the existing
similarities are enhanced by the person who is doing the recreation.
They are not only projected qualities that are not really there, but
are latent in some degree without being manifested. These are
encouraged and strongly brought to the fore by the attitude of the
person with the unrecogniz ed inner problem. He or she fosters
something in the other person by provoking the reaction that is
similar to the parent’s. The provocation, which of course  is entirely
unconscious, is a very strong factor here.
The sum total of a human personality consists of many aspects.
Out of these, a few may be actually similar to some traits in the
recreator’s parent. The most outstanding would be a similar kind of
immaturity and incapacity to love. That alone is sucient and
potent enough in essence to reproduce the same situation.
The same person would not react to others as he or she reacts to
you because it is you who constantly do the provokin g, thereby
reproducing conditions similar to your childhood for you to correct.
Your fear, your self-punishment, your frustration, your anger, your
hostility, your withdrawal from giving out love and aection, allthese trends of the child in you constantly provoke the other person
and enhance a response coming from that part which is weak and
immature. However, a more mature person will aect others
dierently and will bring out that in them which is mature and
whole, for there is no person who does not have some mature
aspects.
QUESTION : How can I make the distinction as to whether the other
person provoked me or I the other person?
ANSWER : It is not necessary to nd who started it, for this is a
chain reaction, a vicious circle. It is useful to start by nding your
own provocation, perhaps in response to an open or hidden
provocation of the other person. Thus you will realize that because
you were provoked, you provoke the other person. And because you
do so, the other again responds in kind. But as you examine your
real reason, not the supercial one, the reason why you were hurt in
the rst place and therefore provoked, according to tonight’s lecture
you will no longer regard this hurt as disastrous. You will have a
dierent reacti on to the hurt, and, as a consequence, the hurt will
diminish autom atically. Therefore, you will no longer feel the need
to provoke the other person. Also, as the need to reproduce the
childhood situation decreases, you will become less withdrawn and
you will hurt others less and less, so that they will not have to
provoke you. If they do, you will now also understand that they
reacted out of the same childish blind needs as you did. Now you
can see how you ascribe dierent motivations to the other person’s
provocation than to your own, even if and when you actually realize
that you initiated the provocation. As you gain a diere nt view on
your own hurt, understandin g its real origin, you will gain the same
detachment from the reaction of the other person. You will nd
exactly the same reactions in yourself and in the other. As long as
the child’s conict remains unresolved in you, the dierence seems
enormous, but when you perceive reality, you begin to break the
repetitive, vicious circle.As you truly perceive such a mutual interplay, it will relieve the
feeling of isolation and guilt you all are burdened with. You are
constantly uctuating between your guilt and your accusation of
injustice you direct at those around you. The child in you feels itself
entirely diere nt from others, in a world of its own. It lives in such
a damaging illusion. As you solve this conict, your awareness of
other people will increase. As yet, you are so unaware of the reality
of other people. On the one hand you accuse them and are
inordinately hurt by them because you do not understand yourself
and therefore do not understand the other person. On the other
hand, and at the same time, you refuse to become aware when you
are hurt. This seems paradoxical, yet is not. As you experience for
yourself the interactions set forth tonight, you will nd this to be
true. While sometimes you may exaggerate a hurt, at other times
you do not allow yourself to know that it happened at all, because it
may not t the picture you have of the situation. It may spoil your
self-constructed idea, or it may not correspond to your desire at the
time. If the situation seems otherwise favorable and ts into your
preconceived idea, you leave out all that jars you, allowing it to
fester underne ath and create unconscious hostility. This entire
reaction inhibi ts your intuitive faculties, at least in this particular
respect.
The constant provocation that goes on among human beings,
while it is hidden from your awareness now, is a reality you will
come to perceive very clearly. This will have a very liberating eect
on you and your surroundings.
Go your way, my dearest ones, and may the blessings we bring to
all of you envelop and penetrate your body, soul, and spirit, so that
you open up your soul and become your real self, your own real self.
Be blessed, my friends, be in peace, be in God.
OceanofPDF.com4
The Real God and the God-Image
No one can avoid facing the question of God. Does such a Being
actually exist? How and where can I nd God, and what is the
truth behind the answers I have given myself so far, or behind the
confusion I feel? And what can the Pathwork Guide—an entity of
higher consciousness, an entity with an angel’s-eye view—teach us
that we have not read or heard before?
Greetings. I bring you blessin gs in the name of God. Blessed is this
hour, my dearest friends.
That the existence of God is so often questioned and that Divine
Presence is so rarely experien ced within the human soul is the result
of the distorted God-image most human beings harbor.
The False Concept of God
Children experience their rst conict with authority  at an early
age. They also learn that God is the highest authority. Therefore it is
not surprising that children project their subjective experiences with
authority onto their imaginings about God. Hence a wrong
conclusion is formed about God, which is unconsciously carried into
adulthood.
Children experience all lands of authority. When they are
prohibited from doing what they enjoy most, they experienceauthority as hostile. When parental authority indulges a child,
authority will be felt as benign. When there is a predominance of
one kind of authority in childhood, the reaction to that will become
the unconscious attitude toward God. In many instances, however,
children experience a mixture of both. Then the combination of
these two kinds of authority will form their image of God. In the
measure


ability  of the bladder and  a pro ressive incapacity  to
empty it. The prostate gland  undergoes  a considerable  increase in size,
and by pressing on the neck of the bladder forms an obstruction  to the
outflow of urine from that  organ..." (See  E. H. Ruddock,  M.D.  Vade
Mecum.)
Case of prostate trouble in its incipient  stage. Old gentleman  began to
have difficulty in voiding his urine. Was advised by a friend to try taking
half a pint of his own water every morning on rising; this to be followed
at the usual time by a light breakfast  instead of the customary  full meal.
Result: in one month  after starting the treatment  he was rid of his
trouble.
Bronchial  Asthma. Miss C. Doctor had  diagnosed  the case  as bronchial
catarrh; the victim  said to be in the early  stages of T.B.  General health
very poor.  Breathing  difficult. Victim had  to resort to palliatives  to
obtain ease and  short  periods of much needed sleep. Felt  very weak
and debilitated.  Heard of urine‐therapy. Fasted  for a fortnight  on urine,
but  without the rubbings.  In three  days the improvement  was so
marked *hat she was able to breathe freely  and  sleep each nignt  for
several hours  on end.  Broke fast, took two  meals a day only, and 86
 continued  the intake of urine. But the fast had  not been sufficiently
long to eradicate  the trouble and  her symptoms  returned.  She then
wrote  to me for advice. I told her that she had  not broken the fast
correctly,  advised  further  fasts  to be attended with the rubbings,  and
gave her a diet to be followed between the fasts. The final result was a
complete  cure,  and  the patient has remained  in excellent health. She
continues  ' to take her own urine daily, and from time to time resorts to
short  fasts, with the result that she feels better than she has ever done.
Case of gangrene  and after‐effects of drug‐ treatment  for thyroid
trouble.
(Reported  by the Naturopath,  Mr. 0. Warnock‐ . Fielden.) Lady aged 40.
Long history of drug treatment  since she was 15. In early  life she had
had  injections  during a number of years for over active thyroid, and
also for colds. More  recently she had  had  an operation  with a view to
improving  the circulation,  seeing that when the weather was cold, and
even at other  times, her hands  would go blue.  No improvement  was
noticed  after the operation.  Before  I was called  in, the local doctor had
retired from  the case,  pronouncing  it to be hopeless.  I found her hands
a ‐mass  of pus, moist  gangrene,  and  almost skinless. The necessity for
amputation  of both hands  had been mooted and feared. After making a
start with less  severe measures  such as hot fomentations,  cold
compresses,  urine‐packs, urine drinking in small quantities,  and  an
antiseptic  ointment  to relieve the intense " drawing " pains, I finally
advocated  a complete  fast on urine and  plain water only, at the same
time continuing  the packs. The fast lasted  three weeks, but even after  a
fortnight,  the patient could use her hands and  could knit. Granted that
the urine‐drinking and  the urine‐dressings  were of much value  to the 87
 treatment,  I none the less consider that the' three  weeks'  fast was the
decisive factor in this case,  since it enabled  the drugladen  system to be
drained  of its impurities.
Rash on the arms. Mrs. C. suffered for over three years from an
irritating eruption  on her arms. Had tried  various ointments  and lotions
without  any relief. Wa.; finally induced to try the effect of urine,  which
she dal bed on every  night. The rash disappeared  completely  within a
few weeks. In this  case  no fasting was resorted to or any other
measures.
Large wart on face. Mrs.  C. reports that she employed  the same
treatment  for an unsightly excrescence  on her face, which  in a short
time shrivelled  up and  then fell away, leaving no scar. (All three  of
these cases were supplied by Mr. Warnock‐Fielden.)
Lump on arm. A correspondent  reports the case of a lady who
developed  a nasty blue looking lump about j inch  high, which  she
feared might become malignant.  She was advised  by an acquaintance
to treat it with urine‐compresses,  and in less than three weeks it fell off,
leaving the skin healthy and clean.
A mysterious  case. Male patient about 58. Had been in the hospital for
several weeks for observation  and  treatment,  but  at the end of the
term was  said to be incurable,  and  was sent home to die, but enjoined
to keep in touch  with his local  doctor.  He was given a particular  drug to
take with him which was calculated  to dissolve any food he ate. When,
at the request of a gentleman  I was treating,  I first saw the patient, I
reckoned  he was dying sure  enough, but not from the disease so much
as from the powerful drug (poison) he was being given.  I noticed that 88
 his eye‐balls were much dist


 had every day about me.
One day my mother went to see this doctor. He told her about when he was young and worked with sick animals. He told her that he
loved the animals very much, and held them and stroked them. He said love and kindness was also a great medicine. Soon he saw
that the animals were getting better without medicine. His loving touch was making them well. After some time, he stopped working
as a vet.  People took sick animals to his house and they got better. Soon sick people came to see him and many people and animals
got well. This man told my mother he never took money from the people, as he believed he was doing God’ s work.
My mother told him about her dreams and her feeling that he might be able to help her in some way. The man said she had a small
growth, or a lump in her stomach, near where I was. He did not tell her much about it. He did not want to worry her. He said he felt
sure it could be healed if he had about three months to work on it. My mother thought I would be born in about two months, so even
though the time was short, it was decided to try the healing. My mother went to see the kind man several times before I was born,
and I could always feel something warm and strong coming into my body, as he held his hands above where I was. He always told
my mother there would be time to complete the healing before my birth.
In those hours after my birth, my mother telephoned him to tell him I had arrived in the world. He said he was sorry that there had not
been quite enough time, but he was conﬁdent that that the healing that had already taken place had been good, and more could
follow. Then he said that the growth inside her body had not really been on her, but it had been mine, and was in fact the little bubble
on my back. He said he was very sorry he did not tell her this before, but he knew she would worry, and worry was not good for her or
me. My mother told him that the doctors had already told her that I would  not live more than about two days. He thought about this for
a little while, then said, that he did not believe that was right. He told my mother he was conﬁdent I would have a long and happy life.
He could not say for certain if I would be able to walk, but he felt sure that if the right help could be found for me, it might be possible.
My mother was much comforted by his words. He was able to send healing to me and my mother, although he was not in the hospital
with us.
Disclaimer: The aim of this web site is to provide information on using natural healing methods to aid in the treatment of illness and health improvement.
The author cannot accept any legal responsibility for any problem arising from experimenting with these methods. For any serious disease,
or if you are unsure about a particular course of action, seek the help of a competent health professional.
© Copyright W alter Last & Austpac Productions. All Rights Reserved. | W eb Design by Austpac.10/30/24, 3:04 PM Health-Science-Spirit - In the Beginning
https://health-science-spirit.com/Spirituality/In-the-Beginning.html 6/6<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>THE BASIC CLEANSE
by W alter Last
This is recommended at the start of any health improvement program and also from time to time thereafter, say once a year. It is
designed to clean out and sanitize especially the gastrointestinal tract, the liver and the gall bladder. Eat apples only for the ﬁrst three
days, as many as you like. Granny Smith apples are usually preferable, but if you feel that they are too acid for you then use a
sweeter variety. If organic apples are not available, you may remove the skin and core of commercial apples.
In the evening have a hot castor oil pack on the liver and upper abdome n: Coat the area liberally with castor oil, cover with a woolen
cloth folded in several layers and keep warm for one to two hours with a hot-water bottle. This greatly increases the blood supply to
these areas and stimulates liver and bowel activities. At bedtime take one or two tablespoons of olive oil. Shake the oil in a jar
together with some lecithin granules, a teaspoon of Epsom salts to relax the gall bladder, and some fresh citrus juice.
However, on the evening of the third day take half a cupful of olive oil in this way. Then lie down immediately on your back or right
side. The next morning take a tablespoon of Epsom salts and after the ﬁrst bowel movement look in the toilet bowl for gallstones.
There may be hundreds of little greenish wax balls of different sizes ﬂoating on top of the water. However, sometimes gallstones
appear only after repeated cleanses.
First thing in the morning of the ﬁrst to fourth day take a glass of water with a crushed clove of garlic and about 1 tablespoon of
Epsom salt (more or less to cause a good bowel clean-out within a few hours). If you cannot take Epsom salts then try another strong
herbal laxative instead. If you have trouble taking raw garlic, you may ﬁll it into empty gelatin capsules.
Half to one hour after the Epsom salt and garlic take a large dose of acidophilus-biﬁdo, either as high-potency capsules or powder or
as a self-made ferment such as Keﬁr or fermented sauerkraut.
If you do not have the time or energy for the full cleanse, then you may now return to your normal diet and do the rest at another time.
However, continue for several weeks taking acidophilus culture before meals. Otherwise, from the fourth day on do a ﬁve-
day Psyllium Cleanse.
The Psyllium Cleanse:  Either as a separate 5-day cleanse or as part of the Basic Cleanse, from day four to eight replace the apples
with freshly pressed vegetable juices but possibly ﬂavoured with apple.  Dilute the juice with pure water for a total diluted juice intake
of about 2 liters. Stop using the magnesium and garlic ﬂush in the morning.
Drink the juice spaced out and very slowly. At least half the juice should be from celery, grass and green leaves. In addition or instead
of using juice you may puree a hand ful of fresh leaves at high speed in a blender and drink without straining. If you cannot make juice
or obtain fresh green leaves you may eat, spaced out, some green or tart apples or some raw vegetable salads.
Every 3 hours, or 5 times daily, take a teaspoon of psyllium hulls with a microbicide and sodium bicarbonate. Dissolve half a
teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate in a large glass of water, add the microbicide, and ﬁnally a teaspoon of psyllium hulls. Stir and drink
immediately, followed by some more  water.
The microbicide is recommended because presently most individuals are affected by Candida, parasites and other intestinal
infestations. As microbicide I prefer one that has the ability to penetrate bioﬁlms, such as chopped garlic, or about 5 drops of Lugol's
solution or non-acidiﬁed MMS (sodium chlorite).
On the morning after the last juice day and at bedtime the night before, take a tablespoon of magnesium salts in water, or enough
laxative to produce a strong bowel cleanout in the morning.
You may sit on a bucket to investiga te what has come out; often there are long strings, heavy mucus, and parts of compacted matter
looking like sections of bowel. These are the hiding places of Candida, parasites and bacteria causing inﬂammatory bowel conditions.
It is advisable to increase the variety of food very gradually and possibly doing allergy testing at the same time.
If there is discomfort during the cleanse from bloating or other intestinal problems, and it becomes too uncomfortable, then just take a
laxative or enema to ﬂush it all out and try again at a later time. Conti nue for a long time with moderate amounts of antimicrobial
remedies to prevent the fungi that live within the bowel wall to become re-established.
Additions and Alternatives
There are many possible variations of this Basic Cleanse. For instance if you do not have a juice extractor, you may either continue
longer with apples or have a few small raw salads instead. If you cannot get organic apples but have plenty of good grass and
Home About Diseases Healing the Body Healing Foods Healing the Mind Healing the Emotions Energies Science & Spirituality Spirituality Contact10/30/24, 7:22 AM Health-Science-Spirit - The Basic Cleanse
https://health-science-spirit.com/Healing_the_Body/The-Basic-Cleanse.html 1/2vegetables for juicing, then you may extend the juice and blended green leaf schedule from 5 to 8 days, but also have the castor oil
packs, olive oil, garlic, Epsom salts and acidophilus during the ﬁrst 3 or 4 days.
Another possibility, especially good for those with raised blood pressure and insensitive skin, is to use freshly pressed and diluted
lemon  juice instead of the vegetable juice, and possibly instead of the apple days as well. Use  psyllium  hulls and ground linseed as
for the last 5 days of


things started happening to me physically at this point. All my lifeI’ve been kind of a big, white farm-boy-looking guy without anymuscle definition at all. Now I’ve developed all this muscledefinition. I’m much stronger. I used to sleep eight or ten hours anight and then sit all day without wanting to do anything. NowI sleep about four hours a night and I’m never tired. Life is good.
I weigh 195 pounds. It’s the first time I’ve been less than 200
pounds since I was 12 years old. My brain hasn’t kept up with my155 MORBID OBESIT Y AND ROGER P.  body and my biggest challenges now are social and psychological.
I’d say socially I’m probably at a junior high school grade levelbecause I’ve never participated in society outside of work.
People sometimes ask me if I’m bitter about all the years when
I was looking for help and doors were being shut in my face. ButI’m not. They were blessings and gifts even though they werepainful. I’m pretty happy with who I am now.
THE PAIN OF MORBID OBESITY
T o me, Roger’s case highlights the pivotal problem with the way
medicine is practiced today.
As I’ve said before, too many doctors don’t have the time it
takes to listen to their patients any more. For years Roger wentfrom doctor to doctor about his weight problem, telling themthat he didn’t over-eat and asking for help. But they didn’tlisten to him. They dismissed him.
And they didn’t observe him. They didn’t look at him. It
was so obvious from the distribution of his fat that there wassomething more than an eating problem going on. He had tohave a hormone problem—it was unmistakable. It’s amazingto me that so many doctors were blind to it.
When I went through medical school, we had a course
called “Physical Diagnosis,” and it was fascinating. We learnedabout an array of outward physical signs, many of them verysubtle, that you could observe in a patient to pick up informa-tion about what might be going on inside their bodies. It wasa kind of visual detective work. It kept you attuned to whatyou were really seeing when you looked at your patient.
I wonder if they even teach this course any more. The
medical profession has become so fixated on technology thatsimple first-person observation seems to have lost its value.156 THE MIRACLE OF BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONES  TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK
This may sound strange, but I often feel that the development
of blood tests has been a major setback in medicine. In the olddays—going back 100 or 200 years—the only thing doctors hadto rely on was talking to their patients and observing them. (Inthe really early days they didn’t even have stethoscopes. They’droll up a piece of paper and listen to people’s hearts throughthat.) T oday doctors have blood tests to fall back on, and theyseem to find the statistical “hard facts” of blood tests reassuring.It seems that they would rather treat the blood test than look atthe patient and find out what’s actually going on. With everytechnological advance it seems as though doctors recede furtherand further from direct contact with their patients.
Roger was obviously crying out for help, and nobody
would give it to him. He was just about suicidal when he cameto me. Looking at him, at the way he stored fat in theabdomen and buttocks, it was obvious to me that his bodyproduced too much insulin and estrogen. So I put him onprogesterone right away. He went on the diet, and I eventuallyadded other hormones to help him with his metabolism andmuscle mass.
THE ROAD HOME
As he lost weight, Roger’s anger melted away too, and that
helped to mitigate his fibromyalgia. This man had been furi-ous for practically all of his 47 years. He’d been a fat child, andwe all know how cruel children are to the fat kids at school. Asan adult he carried this humiliation with him, becoming arecluse and living a life of quiet desperation. The suppressedanger he felt must have been crushing.157 MORBID OBESIT Y AND ROGER P.  Once he finally got help at our office, once he talked to a
doctor who confirmed that he was not over-eating and he wasnot the cause of his own disfigurement, his gratitude knew nobounds. T oday Roger will tell anyone who will listen that he’dwalk through fire for me or anyone in my office.
If you saw Roger now, you would never know this man had
once been morbidly obese. He looks like a normal person, andhis entire life has been transformed. And it was so simple. It wasjust a matter of getting his hormones in balance and getting himto eat in a way that would force his body to burn fat.
THE INFORMATION IS A VAILABLE
The sad thing is that what I’m doing for people like Roger is
based on information that’s available to any doctor who wantsto avail himself or herself of it.
The other day I saw an ad in the newspaper with the head-
line “An Amazing Weight Loss Discovery.” The ad was for apill that “causes the body to get rid of fat in three differentways.” You wouldn’t have to change anything in your lifestyle;you could still eat everything, you wouldn’t have to exercise,and the fat would just come right off.
I’m sure you’ve seen such ads and scoffed at their disingen-
uousness. They all have little disclaimers way down at thebottom of the page, usually next to the before-and-afterphotos that are captioned “Results not typical.” Well, if thesearen’t the typical results, then why buy the pills? Theytypically don’t work! It says so right there in the ad!
I’m being a bit facetious here, but it’s for a good reason. I’m
trying to drive home the point that as a society we tolerate allkinds of ridiculous misinformation about weight loss, while realinformation that could actually help people goes unheeded.158 THE MIRACLE OF BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONES  It’s my hope that people suffering from morbid obesity will
take this book into their doctors’ offices and demand the sim-ple, inexpensive solutions to their plight that they deserve.
A HAPPY ENDING
At the time Roger, at age 47, first walked into my office, he told
me he had never had a date in his life. He started on theprogram, lost weight, got down to a size 32 waist, eliminatedhis fibromyalgia, started dating, got engaged … and is nowhappily married.
It is truly miraculous what a little natural hormone balanc-
ing can accomplish.159 MORBID OBESIT Y AND ROGER P.  WEIGHT LOSS—
HOW MEDICATIONS
CAN PREVENT IT
chapter NINETEEN
Many of the medications commonly prescribed by doctors
today affect people’s ability to manage their weight. Some ofthese effects are publicized and some aren’t. For instance, mostpeople taking Prozac know that it causes weight gain, andthey make a conscious choice to sacrifice optimum weightmanagement in order to get an improvement in theiremotional outlook.
But the lipogenic (fat-creating) effects of some other
medications aren’t well known. People who take thesemedications may be struggling with their weight, unawarethey’re fighting a losing battle against an unrecognized enemy.These people should at least know what they are up against.
ANTI-DEPRESSANTS
Anti-depressants are a major source of weight gain. I suspect
this is the case in part because anti-depressants may elevateestrogen levels.
161SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) like Zoloft,
Paxil, Effexor, Celexa, Lexapro, and Prozac are particularlyprone to causing weight gain. Some doctors prescribe theseanti-depressants to help people lose weight by elevating theirserotonin levels—serotonin is the neurotransmitter in thebrain that takes away cravings. People who have a weightproblem only because they crave certain foods can sometimesfind benefit in taking anti-depressants. But for the most part,people on anti-depressants will gain weight.
The tricyclic anti-depressants like Elavil, Desipramine, and
Norpramin also cause weight gain.
A common phenomenon in our society is that people who
are depressed about their weight start taking anti-depressantsto help them manage their depression. But then the anti-depressants cause further weight gain, making these peoplefeel even worse about themselves. It’s a vicious cycle.
In my experience, the only anti-depressant that possibly
doesn’t cause weight gain is Wellbutrin.
BETA-BLOCKERS
People taking beta-blockers are almost guaranteed to gain
weight. Drugs like atenolol, Lopressor, Ziac, and Inderal blockadrenaline from entering the bloodstream. Adrenaline is whatthe body uses to stimulate the release of fat from the fat cells. Ifyou can’t get fat out of the fat cells, the muscles can’t burn it.
Beta-blockers are also anti-thyroid drugs, as I mentioned
in chapter 3. One of the treatments for someone with anover-active thyroid is to give them a beta-blocker to quiet thethyroid down. It prevents the conversion of T4 into T3,something we also saw in chapter 3.162 THE MIRACLE OF BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONES  Ironically, the biggest prescribers of beta-blockers are


 fromunderneath. During this time the cell begins to accumulate a protein inside
itself called keratin, the same horny substance as that found in our hair and
nails. The keratin replaces the soft part of the cell, making it harder and
harder. By the time it actually reaches the air, each skin cell contains
enough keratin to protect our bodies against wind, sun, and rain. The cell
then fulfills its mission by dying, leaving no trace behind when it gets
sloughed off to make way for the next wave of growing cells. By knowing
when to die, the skin cell helps to ensure the survival of the whole body.
At the opposite extreme, a cancer cell endangers the whole body by not
knowing how to die. A cancer cell is basically a runaway immortalist: It
tries to survive on its own terms, disregarding the fate of every other cell.
Insane as this behavior seems, it still represents a choice woven into
Nature’ s scheme; every cell’s DNA is outfitted with specialized genes,
called oncogene s, that apparently switch on before cancer can be triggered.
According to another recent hypothesis, there are genes in the first
chromosome of human DNA that would allow every cell to divide
indefinitely if activated. Scientists have not yet found a reason for cells to
pursue their own immortality. Perhaps this switch is a holdover from our
ancient evolutio nary past. Or is it a latent power we haven’ t yet learned to
tap?
People exert much more choice over their aging and death than we are
ready to acknowledge. Although  we call ourselves “victims” of old age and
death, the stark truth is that for many of us, growing old and dying offer the
only escape from an unfulfill ing life. Such escapist motives play an
important part, I believe, in the phenomenon of early-retirement death,
discussed in Part One. Another variation on this theme is “anniversary
death,” in which someone dies on the same date as a beloved spouse or
child passed away. Studies of Chinese and Jewish communities have
disclosed that their mortality rate dips dramatically just before important
religious holidays, only to rise immediately afterward. People were waiting
for one more New Year or Passover before they finally let go. It shouldn’ t
take a study to tell us that people cling to life when somethin g dear is at
stake.
The most recent instance I saw of this occurred with an old man, the
victim of several severe stroke s, and his grandson. The man had finallyreached the point of incapacity and was hospitalized with little hope of ever
going home again. He drifted along in a weak, semiconscious state; every
time he was lucid enough to speak, he pointed to his grandson’ s picture and
mumbled, “Where is he, where is he?”
The dying man’ s children called the grandson, who rushed to Boston.
When he arrived at the hospital, a change came over the old man. He smiled
and caressed the young man who meant so much to him. They held hands
and chatted quietly, alone together for most of the day. When the grandson
left, expecting to return in the morning, everyone told him how much better
his grandfather looked. Two hours later the old man died in his sleep. As I
think about this incident, I wonder how any researcher could hope to
quantify the forces that sustain life as long as there is hope or love to look
forward to. From the outside we cannot know with any certainty what a
person’ s body is responding to. The whole af fair is much too personal.
When the handbook on suicide, Final Exit, became a surprise bestseller
several years ago, its primary audience consisted of people afflicted with
incurable disease or chronic physical or emotional pain. Nature’s form of
slow suicide, aging, was not quick enough for them. Appalling as that may
sound, a life of pain and sickn ess would be even more appall ing without
some release. “If it were not for death,” an Indian guru once told his
disciples, “we would all be condemned to eternal senility.”
Even without senility, life can simply run its course. “I look forward to
death,” said Redden Couch, a retired farmer from Port Angeles,
Washington, “because of all the things I’ve done that I can’t do now. I don’t
have any fear of death at all. If I were to die right now, it would be just fine.
I’m ready anytim e.” Do these words express resignation, seren ity, apathy,
courage, defeat? We cannot know. As it happens, Redden Couc h made this
statement on his 100th birthda y and was still alive at 104. Despite his
words, his deeper self apparently had more living to do.
All these examples show that death doesn’ t have just one value, either
positive or negative. Dying is a form of change, and as such it has to be
seen within the larger framework of non-change. “People have a wrong idea
about death,” Maharishi once remarked to me. “They see it as an end, but it
is really a beginning.” You may call that an article of faith, but to me it’s a
realistic stateme nt of fact. In the flow of life, destruction never has the lastword; creation brings a phoenix out of the ashes every time. Every cell
knows how to divide to form two cells; every shattered atom can regroup
into new atoms;  every thought is followed by a new inspiration. How, then,
can we learn to live within this continuity that is the wholen ess of life?
What about a parent’ s emotional devastation when a child dies, or a wife’ s
when she loses her husband?
These feelings are natural, of course; there is pain at the loss of anyone
we love. But the pain does not have to be deep and enduring if you have
absorbed the reality of life as an eternal flow in which there is no loss or
gain, only transf ormation. In one of his sonnets Shakespeare wrote, “I weep
to have what I fear to lose”—this is the inevitable result of attachment to
time-bound awareness. The new paradigm holds that aware ness is the
source of reality, and two wholly  different kinds of reality resul t from time-
bound and timeless awareness.
RESUL TS OF TIME-
BOUND A WARENESSRESUL TS OF TIMELESS
AWARENESS
aging freedom, autonomy
entropy youthfulness
confusion knowledge of reality
fatigue unbounded ener gy
repression liberated emotions
feeling of victimization expansion beyond body and
ego
separation anxiety peace
conflict power
grief, sorrow harmony
imprisonment in ego and
bodyjoy
fear
death  All of us experi ence aspects of both realities, because our awareness is
fluid: It can bring us devastating moments of grief and fear and wonderful
moments of peace and power. It can choose to identify with the limitations
of a physical body and a selfish ego or it can break free into transcendence
and expansiveness. This flexibi lity is the true genius of human awareness,
because it leaves all possibili ties open. Yet obviously there are great
advantages to living permanently in timeless awareness.
India’ s spiritual masters believe there is a natural tendency for the human
spirit to seek unlimited freedom and fulfillment. Like the Gulf Stream
invisibly pushing its way through the Atlantic, our human minds contain
hidden currents ur ging our thoughts and emotions toward a higher reality. In
India this is called dharma,  an ancient Sanskrit word that can be translated
in various ways. It means law, orderliness, duty, and right behavior. A
person’ s dharma is his work or profession; it is also the duty he owes his
family, the higher purpose in his life, and the spiritual ideal to which he is
committed.
The root word of “dharma” is a verb that means “to uphold.” In the
broadest sense, dharma is what upholds the universe; it is the guiding force
that makes order out of chaos.  Thus, the ultimate way to avoid entropy,
aging, and death is to live in dharma. The universe evolves because the
stream of dharma guides it; it is the invisible intelligence that weaves the
fabric of life. Human awareness is capable of touching dharma  directly, of
latching onto it and thus guiding its own evolution. This, finally, is what
makes us human—that we not only evolve but guide our own evolution.
Dharma is not a set of religious teachings but an actual force that can be
discovered and used.
In the following In Practice section we will see how this can be
accomplished, for with consciou s guidance our inner intelligence can create
a permanent state of ageless body and timeless mind. All of us experience
moments when  peace, power, and love arise spontaneously, only to
disappear. Far from being random, this drift in and out of Reality reflects
the mind’ s ability to stay on course, for if dharma is followed steadily, there
is no end to peace, love, and power. They are the natural results of the most
natural kind of awareness—timelessness.For me the great joy of writing  this book was to take a subject fraught
with fear—agin g—and make it a vehicle for fulfillment. Humans are not
trapped in time, squeezed into the volume of a body