 say that
a woman blossoms at forty, but in America we’re still burdened by
our abhorrenc e of age, particularly in women. I remember when I
was younger and looked great in a way that only the young can
look. But I’m also sure that in those days I had no clue as to what
makes a woman glorious. Some young women do, I realize.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        “TIMELESS … UNDENIABLY COMPELLING. ”
—Redbook
“How strange that this should be the club we belong to: women who have
been to hell and back. But we all understand what this means. It’s a
membership badge we wear with knowing looks and lines on our
foreheads. … Such has been our womanquest. The relationships, careers,
children, dreams, betrayals, hopes, wins, losses  … Our feelings have
blended. Our stories converge. ”
So begins the extraordinary  new book by one of today’s most
renowned and inuential spiritual leaders. A hugel y popular
proponent and interpreter of A Course in Miracles, Marianne
Williamson has made a phenomenal impact on audiences
worldwide, via her captivating lectures and TV appearances. With A Woman’s Worth, Williamson turns her charismatic voice—
and the same empowering, spiritually enlightening wisdom that
energized her landmark work, A Retur n to Love—to exploring the
crucial role of women in the world today. Drawing deeply and
candidly on her own experiences, the author illuminates her
thought-provoking positions on such issues as beauty and age,
relationships and sex, children and careers, and the reassu rance and
reassertion of the feminine in a patriarchal society. Cutting across  class, race, religion, and gender, A Woman’s Worth
speaks powerfully and persuasively to a generation in need of
healing, and in search of harmony. OceanofPDF. com“IMPASSIONED, INTENSE”
—Mirabella
“Marianne Williamson is blessed with the ability to get to the kernel
of truth. … [She] addresses issues of the spirit with such earnestness
and grace that she can conve rt even the most jaded of souls. … Her
voice is refreshing and new. ”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“She puts the responsibility, glory and direction of women’s lives
right where it belongs—in our own hands and hearts. ”
—The New Times (Seattle)
“DEEPLY FELT … IT’S CLEAR SHE’S BEEN THERE. ”
—Booklist
“Marianne Williamson has powerful and universal things to say and
she says them well. … This is a work of wisdom. ”
—Santa Rosa Sun
“Filled with insightful comments and inspirational thoughts that will
empower women to fulll their potential. ”
—Chattanooga News
“A potent message. ”
—Kirkus Reviews
OceanofPDF. comOceanofPDF. comA Ballantine Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 1993 by Marianne Williamson
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in
Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. www. ballantinebooks. com
This edition published by arrangement with Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 93-90550
eISBN: 978-0-307-83335-8
v3. 1_r3
OceanofPDF. comPREFACE

When I told girlfriends I was writing a book about
women, most of them said something like this: “For us, for women
who have been to hell and back. ”
How strange that this should be the club we belong to: women
who have been to hell and back. But we all understand  what that
means. It’s a membership badge we wear with knowing looks and
lines on our foreheads. Most of us have known at least one divorce
or one devastating breakup, whether we were married or not. Other
circumstances can get us into the club as well: abortion,  disease, a
variety of public or private humiliations, drugs, alcohol, the death of
a loved  one, incompetent parents, sick children. It’s everything we
thought life would never be like. We don’t feel self-pity so much as
fear and deep grief. Such has been our womanqu est. It is conscious and discip lined, or
unconscious and unbridled. Whether we’ve learned anything or not,
our suering has shaped who we are, and for better or for worse
we’ve been changed by the past few years. We are not who we
would have been had we not descended. We have a lot of stories
and a lot to edit. In writing this book, I have no purpose other than a creative spill
of my own guts. But that in itself is a passionate purpose, and I have
seen how like my guts are to those of other women. The
relationships, careers, children, dreams, betrayals, hopes, wins,Marianne Williamson
Los Angeleslosses—all these form my landscape too. Our feelings have blended.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: Who is the author of the book being discussed?,
A: Marianne Williamson
Q: What is the author's purpose in writing this book?,
A: The author states that her purpose is to "consciously and deliberately" share her own experiences and the experiences of other women, and to explore the crucial role of women in the world today.
Q: What is the author's message to women about their power and worth?,
A: The author emphasizes that women have the power to reclaim their worth and worthiness, and that they should not look to the external world for validation, but rather seek inner guidance and connection with the divine.
Q: What is the author's stance on the concept of beauty and the expectations placed on women?,
A: The author argues that true beauty comes from within, and that women should not try to conform to societal standards of beauty, but rather focus on cultivating their own inner light and spiritual connection.
Q: What is the author's perspective on the concept of "the Queen" and the importance of self-acceptance?,
A: The author emphasizes the importance of embracing and honoring one's own power and divinity, and encourages women to focus on their inner strength and connection with the divine, rather than seeking external validation or approval.
Q: What is the author's message to women about their relationships and societal expectations?,
A: The author advises women to stop trying to conform to societal expectations and instead focus on embracing their own inner power and spiritual connection, and to recognize that their worth and power come from within.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>They
know much more than I did. But women my age and older who
didn’t know until now should continue to blossom as long as we’re
breathing. For me and for many other women forty and over, the
pieces of the puzzle have only just begun to t together. What mature women want is this: the lightheartednes s of our
youth with the added depth our suering of the past few years has
given us. Through the grace of the Goddess, it is within our grasp to
have both. Genuine spiritual experience transforms our suering
into something beautiful and lifts the heavy burdens  from our
hearts. The older we get, the lighter we can become. It takes eort
to move in this direction, because it is counter to the ways of the
world, but running counter to the ways of the world is the purpose
of our lives. The enlightened system isn’t set up so that we work hard, nally
nd joy, experience it for a relatively short time, and then grow old
and die. Unless we strive for an expanded, more compassionate
vision of age and aging, the achievements we seek here are at best
cruel mockeries of our pain-lled eorts. Let us imagine  a woman’s life improving as she ages. Age doesn’t
have to be bad. It could, in fact, be magnicent, if we would take
our spiritual lives more seriously. Throughout our twenties and
thirties, we care so much about what the Joneses think, even if we
think we don’t. These two decades are the time when we’re most
tempted to try to live for others. Around forty, it occurs  to us thatthe Joneses are either going to like us or they’re not, that the
Joneses have holes in their socks too, thank you, and that we have
less control over what other people think than we ever imagined. And other people shouldn’t have so much control over what we
think either. There’s too much “you should  … you should not” told
to women these days. Wheth er a woman takes hormones, wants to
have a face-lift, wants to admit her age, or wants to talk about
menopause is nobody’s busin ess but her own. There’s privacy in a
woman’s heart  that should never be violated, and certainly not in
the name of feminism. We are doing the best we can. Whatever we
come up with on our journey to expanded consciousness, let us have
and let us


 microscope and the telescope, science has
extended its vision enormously, but in the realm of the microcosm it
disintegrated the atom and found nothing left, and in the world of the
macrocosm it detected distant galaxies moving away at the speed of light
into space that shouldn’ t exist. Ultimately, all investigations of matter have
a common meeting ground, which is the disappearance of individuality into
unity, into a world where space and time and separateness do not exist, and
this world is not capable of representation by objects or material things but
is primarily mental and not subject to the probing of physical instruments. Investigations in the field of parapsychology have now pr oved that it is
possible for one mind to communicate with another without any known
organic means, and this has been labeled telepathy. It has also been pr oved
that the human mind can attain to knowledge of coming events, and this has
been labeled pr ecognition. It has been pr oved that the human mind can see
at a distance, and this has been labeled clairvoyance. It has been pr oved
that the human mind can influence the behavior of objects, and this has
been labeled psychokinesis. All these powers of the mind, however dimly
discerned or bar ely understood, when lumped together indicate the
existence of an absolutely unexplor ed ar ea of vast and almost unimaginable
possibilities that one day must liberate humanity fr om its bondage to the
flesh. Mor eover, ther e is indicated a coming r evolution in the basic concepts
of life.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Y ou may have wadded up other pieces of paper and tossed
them at the wastebasket without a single further hit, and probably you
shrugged your shoulders and wrote of f the first hit to luck. W ell, it wasn’ t
luck at all. It was simply that you performed the action without the
interference of conscious mind. In ef fect, you allowed the paper to propel
itself at the wastebasket, with yourself as only a medium of impulsion. This
kind of psychic unification of the basket and the paper and the propelling
energy allowed all elements in the action to become “one piece,” and
anything occurring within that unity had to have perfect symmetry and be
absolutely ef fective. Becoming One with Our T asks

Now if there is one mind common to all things and exclusive to none, it
follows that we basically are all part of a single or ganism, and our
effectiveness within that or ganism depends upon our recognition of this
fact. As long as we view ourselves as separate selves, we are moved by the
delusion of egoistic desire and thus led into opposition to the will of the
Secret Self. Any action that is conceived in the ego and entered into for
egoistic purposes, if not doomed to failure from the outset, can result in
only mediocre success. Its entire purpose and impulsion arise from a limited
knowledge, set against the ocean of knowledge that is universal mind. W e
learn to do things well by becoming one with them, by so engrossing
ourselves in our tasks that we pick up a sense of unity with them. This sense
of oneness is impossible to the egoistic nature for the simple reason that the
ego itself is a sense of separateness. When we become completely absorbed
in things, we have a true spiritual experience, for by this psychological
transference of self, we plunge deeply into universal mind and become the
work that we are doing. Everyone who has great skill or talent goes daily to
this fount of for getfulness, plunges in and is renewed, and the temple of
their religious worship is their own talent. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “If
one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to
live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with unexpected success
in common hours. ”

Thrusting against Pain

All barriers to accomplishment are in the mind. Education itself teaches
limitation, and history establishes a definitive level that suppresses human
aspiration. For years four minutes was thought to be the fastest time that
anyone ever would run the mile, then along came a group of Australianmilers with a new philosophy. They broke down the mental barriers, and
now any number of people have run the mile faster than four minutes. This new philosophy might as easily be applied to any area of human
activity. It is built around the premise of thrusting against pain, on the idea
that pain represents a limitation in the mind. Those who train under this
system drive themselves to run farther than they think they can, asserting
the principle of mind over matter to do away with fatigue. Such a
philosophy releases a human being from all barriers. Nothing is impossible
to us as long as our guiding principle is to surmount each obstacle we
encounter. Directional drive is the most important single factor in achievement. Outstanding boxers are often culled from the social groups that have to
fight hardest to survive. Heads of corporations and government executives
are often born in the most humble circumstances, and their climb to the top
is allied directly to their dedication. Heaven attends those who throw their
hearts into their work. In this absorption they lose their egoistic sense of
self and become clear channels for the ener gy and creativeness of universal
mind. Constant Aspiration

The usefulness of goals depends on their ability to remove limitation from
our thinking. W e can exceed ourselves by aiming higher than we have ever
aimed before. It is not the goal that is important; it is the aiming higher. When a goal is reached, it actually becomes a limitation unless replaced by
a higher goal. Those who achieve something and spend any time patting
themselves on the back are nullifying their growth, for when self-
complacency enters the nature, ego grows and the individual stagnates. If
we don’ t try to exceed ourselves, we disintegrate. If we do not try to be
better, it is impossible for us even to stay as good as we are. The dynamicforces of life are growth and decay, and nothing is static; things move in
one direction or the other. A few years ago, a young man emer ged from an automobile accident
paralyzed from the neck down, except for the rudimentary use of the
forefinger of his right hand. As he lay abed and pondered his situation he
resolved to develop some skill with that right forefinger. He had a
typewriter rigged on his bed, with his right arm slung before it so he could
peck at the keys with his forefinger. His initial ef forts were excruciatingly
slow and required great concentration and resolve. He labored for hours to
type a single sentence. As the weeks turned into months he was able to type
a page, then two, finally a dozen or more. After a year he not only was
typing proficiently but was actually sitting up in bed to do it. T oday, he gets
about with crutches and has embarked upon a program of total
rehabilitation. He seems well on the road to recovery. Such tenacity and
purpose might be expected to belong to a very grim person, but this young
man has deep humility and a wry sense of humor. When asked how he has
been able to accomplish such miraculous results, he stated, “I was given
this body, and I banged it up. The least I can do is put it back in the
condition I found it. ”
Humans have searched out the trackless wastes of the poles, journeyed to
the depths of the seas, flung themselves miles into the air, and even
journeyed amongst the stars. Who can say that anything is impossible to the
human mind and ef fort. There exists within us a power to imagine a better
world than the one in which we live, and we never cease attempting to find
it. Our imagination should be treated with precious care, for it is the tool of
our liberation from the bonds that hold us. W e can be anything we are
capable of visualizing, do anything we are able to imagine, for the images
that form in our minds inevitably lead us into the work that ef fects their
realization. Inner Acceptance
 Skills ar e developed by faith that one possesses the skill alr eady. This a
priori inner attainment of the skill allows us to act as if it wer e impossible
for us to fail. W e still will go thr ough a period of ineptness, but such
ineptness will not stay with us. W e will surmount all — all fear, all
ineffectuality — for we ar e sustained in all cir cumstances by an inner vision
that we alr eady have accepted as r eality. If we aspir e to an ability, we
become accomplished only after inner acceptance. No one can ever be any
better or gr eater than their mental visualization. If we accept ourselves as
exactly what we alr eady ar e, it becomes impossible for us to impr ove. T o
become better we must think we ar e better, not in the egoistic sense of
thinking that something is our due, but in the wider spiritual sense of
realizing that all things derive fr om the image within. Such psychic
positioning of the ego r eleases it fr om bondage to itself and allows it to


merely the consequences of what has already happened. Success is what
happens “out there” as a consequence of what already has happened “in
here.” We already have one of the greatest secrets: The source of fame and
success is “in her e” and not “out ther e!”
We see why all the futile scram bling after success is guaranteed to fail. Such individuals are searching in the wrong place. They’re looking “out
there” when it’s not “out there” in the first place. When they look around
they see the symbols of success that others have out there— the stretchlimos, the fancy addresses, the extravagant clothes, the right clubs—and
conclude that those are the things to strive for. Yet the inner secret of
success is delight. We start the snowball rolling, and then we sit back and
watch it increase in size as it gains its own momentum. At this point I want everyone to stop trying to become a succes s. I want
you to throw away all the “how to become a success” books. I want you to
become a friendly person. It’s outrageous that we can make more money in
this world by just being friendly than we can ever make striving for success. That’ s the only thing I’m asking from you at this point: Be friendly and
have an open mind. Having an open mind is part of being friendly, isn’t it? Part of being friendly is giving the other person a chance to be heard. If
you’re willing to do that, you don’ t have a problem. When I was a kid I would go to camp every year, and every year I would
be a pollywog. I was scared to swim; I didn’ t know how. Despite all of the
swimming lesso ns, I stayed a pollywog. One day I was visiting some
friends at the lake in Wisconsin,  and we were out on their little sailboat. We
started some horseplay, as kids do, and the next thing I knew, the three of
them picked me up and threw me overboard. For a few seconds I flailed
around frantically, and then the magic moment arrived. All of a sudden, I
lay on my back, kicked my feet, and started doing the reverse breaststroke. My God, there was nothing to it! All I had to do was float and paddle along
easily. It was effortless. It was joyous. I went from pollywog to dolphin. I
could do every swimming stroke: I found myself automatically doing the
breaststroke, then I went into the Australian crawl, and then I went into the
back crawl. After that I becam e an expert swimmer. Real success is like
being a cork in the water, which rises of its own buoyancy and not by
frantic ef fort. The purpose of this book is for you to “get” the inner convi ction and
certainty that you can make money and become successful and famous if
you wish. Fame and fortune, once we have the formula, are just a matter of
getting around to it, and that’s the way it’s going to be for you. All of the
expensive weekend business conferences and consciousness trips and how-
to conve ntions that you’ve attended have contributed to your knowledge.Having facts and know-how, however, does not guarantee success. There
are other factors involved. It is these other secret factors that we are going to explore in this book. OceanofPDF.comGETTING THE BANANAS
In a well-known  experiment, a monkey was put in a cage and bananas
were placed outside the cage on the opposite side from the door, just
beyond his reach. Once the monkey spotted the bananas, the door was
opened. What happened was that the monkey stretched his arm between the
bars. He struggled and practical ly dislocated his shoulder, frantically trying
to grasp  that which was just beyond his reach. He could struggle there for
hours, weeks, or months, and it was always going to be just beyond his
reach. To get the bananas, he had to turn his back on them and walk through
the open door. We know that the minute he got that “aha” and saw the open door,
success was automatic. It’s only the manifestation of what had already
happened. The minute the monkey saw the open door, in effect he already
had the bananas. He could have and eat as many bananas as he could hold. Fame and success are exactly like that—they happen the instant we see
something. Success is the automatic expression of what has already
happened. Wha t the world considers fame and success are merely the
symbols and the outer representations of what has already “happened.”
The difficulty is that the world  confuses “out there” with “in here.” It
thinks the money, the success,  the stretch limos, and all that goes with
success are the causes instead of the effects. So people, like monkeys, strive
to reach  the bananas. If we look around us, we’ll see million s struggling
year in and year out to reach the bananas, and we have an inkling as to why. Fame and success, like happin ess, cannot be sought directly. Happiness
cannot be achiev ed by struggle; it is the automatic consequence  of an innersense of delight, joy, and satisfa ction. Happiness automatically comes from
being a certain kind of a person  and being a certain way in the world and
about life. A truly happy person  is happy no matter what. I’ve been happy
rich, and I’ve been happy poor. I’ve been happy single, and I’ve been happy
married. I’ve been happy as a student, and I’ve been happy as a teacher. The source of joy is in every moment; it is totally independen t of “out
there.” Fame and success are exactly like that. They cannot help but
happen. Once we start a snowb all rolling, it automatically goes downhill. We don’t have to do another thing about it. The precision and the balance
are effortless. Power is effortless; it is grace, poise, ease, confidence,
certainty. What the world relies on mistakenly is force. The greatest baseball hitters of all time were not known for having huge
muscles. In fact, there are millions of men with bigger biceps and shoulders
than the star players of all time. If force could do it, everyone would be
successful. If we look around the marketplace, we’ll see that everyone is
forcing themselves to the max. Power is something else. The momentum of
the bat hits the momentum of the ball with such precision that it is the
impact  that propels the winning ball. Let’s look at one of the great principles with which we are going  to work:
the differ ence between for ce and power. To know the dif ference is crucial. In World War II, the Germans assembled the greatest military force of its
time. Adolf Hitler, who relied on force, ended up insane, suicidal, disgraced,
dead, anathema to the human race, and brought defeat to the whole country. Force may create the illusion of success for a period of time—but, as in the
case of every celebrity who kills themselves, apparently the symbols of
success are not what success really is. What is the source of power? Power is something that we own within
ourselves. When  Winston Churchill catalyzed the will of the British people,
he mani fested power. Conseque ntly, Hitler ’s forces ran into power; when
force meets power, it always loses. Let’s take another example where the principle is even more clearly
delineated. That was in the meeting of the power of Mahatma Gandhi
against the force of the Britis h Empire. At the time of impact in thisencounter, the British Empire was the greatest force the world had seen. It
ruled two-thirds of the earth, yet was brought to its knees by a 90-pound
“shrimp” who was disparaged by their system as “colored.” If we
understood the difference between force and power, we could have
predicted the fall of the British Empire just from that understanding. Mahatma Gand hi was coming from a principle of universa l truth—the
equality of all men by virtue of the quality of their creation. These are the
same principles that empower the Constitution of the United States. A
universal principle is unlimited power. The British Empire was motivated by self-interest, which was limited. It
was not concern ed with the good of all mankind, or serving life, or any
other universal principle of great power. Instead it only cared about serving
its own interest s. When self-limited force, as impressive as it was in the
British Empire, met the unlimited power of the will of Mahatma Gandhi—
which solidified, unified, and catalyzed the will of the Indian people—the
defeat of the British Empire was inevitable. The political events and all that
is listed in the history books are merely the consequences; they are not the
cause. Our first really major secret is to reverse the world’ s understanding of
cause and effect. Cause, which is power, is “in here.” What we see “out
there” is merely  the consequence. It is automatic. It can’t help but happen
because of the universal laws of life. The world envies the wrong thing
when it envies the consequence. It tries to imitate, but doesn’ t know what  to
imitate.


 w a y s  u s e d  t o  s a y  t h a t  “ T h e  e x e r c i s e  i n
r e s t r a i n i n g  t h e  b r e a t h,  o r  b l o c k i n g  t h e  n o s e,  i s  n o t  a  c o r e  p a r t  o f  t h e
V o l i t i o n a l  E l i m i n a t i o n  o f  D e e p  B r e a t h i n g. I t  i s  m e r e l y  a  s u p p l e m e n t a r y
e x e r c i s e,  t o  b e  a l l o w e d  i n  c e r t a i n  s i t u a t i o n s  w i t h  s p e c i f i c  e x c e p t i o n s. W h a t
t h o s e  e x c e p t i o n s  a r e,  I  s h a l l  s a y  i n  m o r e  d e t a i l  l a t e r,  i n  t h e  c o m m e n t a r i e s
a n d  c l a r i f i c a t i o n s. B u t  f o r  t h e  t i m e  b e i n g,  t h e  e x t r a - m u r a l  s t u d e n t  s h o u l d
g r a s p  o n e  t h i n g :  E x e r c i s e  N o  3  m e r e l y  s u p p l e m e n t s  E x e r c i s e s  1  a n d  2. E x e r c i s e  N o  3  w i l l  n e v e r  s u p p l a n t  t h e m. I t  w a s  t o  D r  B u t e y k o ’ s  e t e r n a l  r e g r e t  t h a t  e v e n  d u r i n g  h i s  l i f e  t i m e,  t r a i n e r s
g a v e  p r i d e  o f  p l a c e  t o  t h e  e x e r c i s e  i n  b l o c k i n g  t h e  n o s e  a n d,  n a t u r a l l y,  s o
d i d  t h e i r  t r a i n e e s  a n d  p a t i e n t s. W h y. B a s i c a l l y  b e c a u s e  i t  n e e d e d  l i t t l e
e x p l a n a t i o n. Y o u  j u s t  n e e d e d  t o  s a y  “ H o l d  y o u r  n o s e  a n d  d o n ’ t  b r e a t h e ”  a n d
t h e r e  y o u  h a d  t h e  w h o l e  t e c h n i q u e. P e r f e c t l y  u n d e r s t a n d a b l e  t o  e v e r y o n e :
y o u n g  a n d  o l d,  t h e  h a l t  a n d  t h e  l a m e. B u t  j u s t  t r y,  f o r  e x a m p l e,  e x p l a i n i n g
E x e r c i s e  N o  2  t o  a n  8 0 - y e a r - o l d  w h o  i s  h a r d  o f  h e a r i n g  a n d  c a n ’ t  s e e  v e r y
w e l l. T r y  s h o u t i n g  i n  t h e i r  e a r  t h a t  t h e y  s h o u l d  s h o r t e n  t h e i r  b r e a t h,  a s
t h o u g h  t h e y  w e r e  f i l l i n g  a  t u m b l e r  t o  t h e  l o w e r  e d g e  o f  i t s  r i m …
S o  t h a t  i s  h o w  i t  c a m e  a b o u t. T h e  n e e d  f o r  a  s i m p l e  e x p l a n a t i o n  d r o v e  t h e
m a j o r i t y  o f  t r a i n e r s  t o  s i m p l i f y  t h e i r  w o r k. A n d  t h e  r e s u l t. T h e  e x a c t
o p p o s i t e  o f  t h e i r  g o o d  i n t e n t i o n s. T h e  p a t i e n t s  u n d e r w e n t  t h e  c o u r s e  o f
e x e r c i s e s  w i t h o u t  d i s c o v e r i n g  t h e  a u t h e n t i c  B u t e y k o  t e c h n i q u e. T h e y  g o t
j u s t  t h e  s u p p l e m e n t a r y  p a r t  t h a t  v e r y  o f t e n  d o e s  n o t  g i v e  t h e m  r e l i e f. S o,  E x e r c i s e  N o  3 :
1 )  S t a n d  i n  t h e  m i d d l e  o f  t h e  r o o m
2 )  A d o p t  t h e  c o r r e c t  p o s t u r e,  n a m e l y :  s t r a i g h t e n  y o u r  s h o u l d e r s ;  d r o p
y o u r  h a n d s  d o w n  b y  y o u r  s i d e s ;  h o l d  y o u r  h e a d  u p  s t r a i g h t  w i t h  y o u r
m o u t h  c l o s e d,  a n d  b r e a t h e  t h r o u g h  y o u r  n o s e. 3 )  A f t e r  a n  o r d i n a r y  o u t - b r e a t h  s q u e e z e  t h e  t i p  o f  y o u r  n o s e  w i t h  y o u r
l e f t  h a n d,  a n d  g e n t l y  l o w e r  y o u r s e l f  i n t o  a  s e m i - s q u a t t i n g  p o s i t i o n. T h a t  i s,  s q u a t,  b u t  n o t  t h e  w a y  a n  a t h l e t e  d o e s. S q u a t  d o w n  s l o w l y  a n d
n o t  r i g h t  d o w n  t o  t h e  f l o o r. 4 )  S q u a t  a n d  s q u e e z e  y o u r  n o s e  c l o s e d  f o r


stockholders	were	asking	blunt	questions,	and	management	was	understandably

on	the	lookout	for	a	new	product	sufficiently	spectacular	to	wipe	out	the	memory

of	Chloromycetin. POLIO	VACCINE	SEEMED	A	GOOD	BET,	and	in	the	early

spring	of	1953,	after	spending	a	little	over	$1	million	on	research,	Park,	Davis
	believed	its	own	experimental	vaccines	were	READY	FOR	TESTING	ON

CHILDREN." SALK	VACCINE:	THE	BUSINESS	GAMBLE	By	Spencer	Klaw,	p.	125-126,

Sept,	1956	issue	of	FORTUNE	MAGAZINE. Is	there	a	connection	between	the	Salk	vaccine	and	the	transmission	of	monkey

encephalitis	to	a	number	of	mental	patients	in	Germany? Those	who	are

interested—should	read	page	xxxi	of	Doctors	of	Infamy	by	Alexander

Mitscherlish	(who	testified	at	Nuremberg). June	28,	1955

Polio	Prevention,	Inc.
Coral	Gables,	Florida

Gentlemen:

Enclosed	are	the	newspaper	clippings	of	the	death	of	my	8	year	old	son	Charles

Bynaker. In	these	eight	years	I	had	a	happy	life	until	someone	came	up	with

polio	"shots"	which	took	him	away	from	me. They	say	he	had	a	brain	abscess	but	I	know	he	didn‘t,	because	he	never	got	sick

until	he	took	the	shot. He	took	it	on	Thursday	and	came	home	Thursday	evening,

from	school	sick	and	the	last	words	he	said	to	me	just	before	he	died

were..."Mommy	the	old	shot	made	me	sick." Now	can	you	understand	how	I	feel? If	I	had	10	more	kids	they	would	never	take

the	shots. Many	people	who	saw	him	knew	he	was	not	sick	until	he	took	the

shot. As	bad	as	I	need	a	child,	I	can	never	have	anymore	of	my	own. If	I	had	it	to	do

over	again,	I	would	never	sign	the	paper. I	am	a	mother	whose	life	has	just	been

slapped	in	the	face. I	know	he	did	not	have	abscess	of	the	brain. I	know	why	they	said	he	had. That

was	because	they	thought	I	would	sue	someone. Well	all	the	money	in	the	world

won’t	bring	him	back. They	also	wanted	to	cut	his	head	to	pieces,	but	I	didn‘t	let	them	I	took	him	to	the

hospital	in	one	piece	and	I	meant	to	bring	him	back	the	same	way. I	know	how	rotten	this	polio	vaccine	is	and	it	is	nothing	but	a	killer. He	was

paralyzed	from	his	waist	up	and	died	like	that. I	found	out	who	put	it	out,	but	maybe	they	lied	again. They	said	it	was	put	out	by

Lilly	Co.,	but	they	have	lied	so	much	to	me	I	just	don’t	know	what	to	believe

anymore. They	did	not	want	to	tell	me	who	put	it	out	or	what	doctor	gave	the

shot. They	say	it	was	free	to	all	children,	but	lets	stop	and	look	what	I	had	to	pay. I	am

not	a	rich	person	and	I	had	no	insurance	so	it	leaves	me	in	a	pretty	bad	spot. Hospital	bills	totaling	$163.75,	plus	burial	expenses	of	$358.00. Now	do	you	see

where	there	is	anything	free	to	it? I	hope	you	will	send	me	the	facts	about	this	child	killer	vaccine,	that’s	all	it	is. I

know	the	shot	killed	my	son. They	had	him	in	the	iron	lung	from	Saturday	night

until	he	died	Sunday	evening. I	wish	all	mothers	could	read	my	letter	so	they	would	not	have	to	be	broken

hearted	like	I	am	now;	so	please	feel	free	to	publish	any	part	of	my	letter. Yours	truly,
Margaret	Bynaker

Rt. 2
Dayton,	Va.

A	FATHER	ASKS:	"ARE	WE	GUINEA	PIGS?" Nashville	Banner,	June	13,	1959

Editor’s	Note:	The	Banner	has	carried	reports	of	official	actions	in	connection

with	the	refusal	of	Ben	Gamble,	Edenwold	Road,	to	allow	his	children	to	be

inoculated	with	Salk	vaccine. He	has	asked	this	newspaper	for	the	privilege	of

stating	his	side	of	the	case. His	statement	follows:
	To	the	Editor	of	TheBanner:

"Are	We	Guinea	Pigs?" For	the	benefit	of	an	uninformed	public	I	would	like	to	make	my	position,	in

refusing	to	have	my	children	inoculated	with	the	Salk	vaccine,	better	understood. I	am	not	a	belligerent	person,	neither	am	I	a	conformist. I	try	to	obey	the	laws	of

the	land,	except	where	I	think	they	infringe	my	individual	rights. My	Bible	teaches	me	that	the	Creator	sealed	our	bloodstream	for	specific	reasons

and	with	a	lot	more	brains	than	the	human	race	has	today	and	that	he	did	not

intend	it	to	be	polluted	with	so-called	serum. Good	health,	in	my	book,	can	be	defined	in	two	simple	words—assimilation	and

elimination. We	are	the	product	of	what	we	eat. I	live	in	the	country,	grow	my

own	vegetables	on	organically	fertilized	soil	and	we	have	one	cow	from	which

we	obtain	pure	milk. I	have	read	where	the	U.	S.	is	the	most	unhealthy	nation	in

the	world	and	the	rejections	made	by	the	Armed	Services	seem	to	confirm	this

fact. Doctoring	has	become	one	of	the	most	profitable	professions,	simply	because

people	have	been	brainwashed	by	clever	advertising	to	think	that	most	of	the

foods	we	buy	in	the	stores	is	good	for	us,	when	in	fact	the	reverse	is	quite	true. Our	soil	is	being	ruined	by	chemicals	and	the	foods	we	get	in	the	store	are	all

doctored	with	some	form	of	additives	to	prolong	shelf	life. I	wish	you	could	read	the	stacks	of	mail	I	am	receiving	from	people	in	all	walks

of	life	who	praise	me	for	the	stand	I	have	taken	against	compulsory	inoculation. I	think	the	following	quotes	from	an	article	which	appeared	in	the	Tri-State

Medical	Journal,	February,	1959,	by	Fred	B.	Klenner,	M.D.,	should	be	of

interest:

"In	1955	we	were	told	by	the	National	Foundation,	the	United	States	Public

Health	Service	and	‘lesser’	Public	Health	Departments,	Medical	Societies

through	their	political	officers	and	appointees	that	ONE	injection	of	the	currently

used	polio	vaccine	would	give	prolonged,	possibly	lifetime	protection. In	1956

we	were	told,	after	those	receiving	the	initial	shot	developed	polio,	that	a
	‘booster’	or	second	shot	was	necessary	to	raise	the	protective	antibody	level	to	a

height	whereby	90%	protection	against	paralytic	infection	would	be	assured. In

1957	we	were	told,	after	those	receiving	the	second	injection	also	developed

polio,	that	a	third	‘shot’	was	imperative	to	effect	absolute	protection. For	some

this	was	their	fourth	and	even	fifth	boosters. Now	in	1958	we	are	told	that	a

fourth	shot	is	"Expedient." Dr.	Joseph	L.


 Place in steamer,
covered, over boiling water 5-7 minutes. Broccoli stems should be tender
when pierced with tip of sharp knife and should retain their bright green
color. In small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Whisk in lemon juice. Pour sauce over hot broccoli. Serves 2-4. DAY TWENTY-FIVE—THURSDAY
BREAKFAST:
Same as Day One. LUNCH:
Fresh fruit or carrot juice (optional)
Stuffed Pita Sandwich (see page 182), or Energy Salad (see page 149)
DINNER:
Fresh Vegetable Juice Cocktail, if desired (see page 152)
Golden Potato Soup,' or Carrot-Leek Bisque (see page 192)
Stir-fried Black Mushrooms with Zucchini and Chinese Greens *
Dilled Cucumbers (see page 185)
GOLDEN POTATO SOUP 30 Min. 2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon safflower oil
1 clove garlic, minced
A FOUR-WEEK EXAMPLE OF THE FITNESS LIFE-STYLE • 213 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 cups celery, chopped
5 medium russet potatoes or 8 White Rose potatoes, peeled and cut
into 1-inch cubes
6-8 crookneck squash, cut into Winch slices
1 tablespoon white miso or 1 vegetable bouillon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
{A teaspoon dried tarragon
Vz teaspoon dried sage
Sea salt, seasoned salt, or salt-free seasoning
Dash of cayenne
6—7 cups water
In heavy soup kettle, melt butter and heat oil. Add garlic, onion, and
celery, and saute until they begin to wilt. Add potatoes, squash, miso or
bouillon, and seasonings. Add water to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Cool
slightly, and puree in increments in blender to a smooth golden cream. Reheat gently, stirring so soup doesn't stick. Serves 4. STIR-FRIED BLACK MUSHROOMS WITH ZUCCHINI AND
CHINESE GREENS 45 Min. NOTE: This is a basic stir-frying technique that can be used successfully
with whatever vegetables you happen to have on hand. If you don't have
dried mushrooms, you can substitute standard fresh mushrooms or
steamed carrots. Broccoli or snow peas can be substituted for zucchini, but
they should be blanched or presteamed before adding them to the wok, 1
minute of blanching for snow peas, 5 minutes of steaming for broccoli. Cabbage can be substituted for Chinese greens. 2 cups dried black mushrooms
2 cups vegetable broth or soup stock
6-7 scallions
1 bunch Chinese greens or bok choy greens (approximately 4 cups)
1 tablespoon safflower oil
Prepare the vegetables. Soak mushrooms in vegetable broth or stock until completely hydrated,
approximately 30 minutes. While mushrooms are soaking, cut zucchini
214 • FIT FOR LIFE and scallions into diagonal slices, and coarsely shred Chinese greens. Set
aside in separate bowls. Drain mushrooms, reserving broth for sauce and
final preparation. Cut heavy stems from mushrooms, and cut large ones
in half. Place in bowl with zucchini. Seasonings:
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced, or Vi teaspoon ginger powder
Safflower oil
Prepare the seasonings. Mince garlic and ginger. Place in small bowl, and cover with small
amount of safflower oil. PLACE YOUR WOK ON HIGH HEAT AND ALLOW
IT TO HEAT UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO COOK. Sauce:
1 cup vegetable broth from mushrooms
2 tablespoons tamari or thick soy sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon Chinese bean paste or tofu sauce or Hain barbecue
sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or dry sherry
Vz teaspoon curry powder
Prepare the sauce. Combine all ingredients. Mix well. 'Thickener:
1 tablespoon arrowroot or Japanese kuzu
2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon safflower oil
Prepare the thickener. Combine all ingredients until smooth. Last-minute preparation. Line up ingredients so they are easily accessible in this order: 1) oil 2)
seasonings, 3) scallions, zucchini and mushrooms, greens, 4) sauce and
5) thickener. Place oil in preheated wok. Immediately add seasonings. Immediately
A FOUR-WEEK EXAMPLE OF THE FITNESS LIFE-STYLE • 215 add scallions, and toss. Immediately add mushrooms and zucchini, con
tinuously tossing vegetables in oil. If zucchini begins to scorch, add a few
teaspoons of vegetable broth. Continue tossing until zucchini and scal
lions turn a bright color. Add greens. Toss continuously. Add sauce,
tossing continuously until greens begin to wilt. Add thickener in a thin
stream. Toss all vegetables to coat well with sauce. Turn out on platter
and serve immediately. Serves 3—4. MAIN-COURSE SALAD DA Y
DAY TWENTY-SIX—FRIDAY
BREAKFAST:
Fresh fruit juice
LUNCH:
Continue on fruit and juice throughout the day. DINNER:
1 papaya, or several fresh pineapple spears, or 1 whole grapefruit
Cantonese Seafood Salad *
CANTONESE SEAFOOD SALAD 45 Min. 2 cups bok choy
2 cups mung bean sprouts
2 cups snow peas
Vi cup carrots, shredded (optional)
1 cup dried wood ear, cloud ear, or Chinese black fungus (optional),7
presoaked for 30 minutes
2 teaspoons safflower oil (optional)
3 cups shrimp, crabmeat, or other seafood
4 cups romaine lettuce, coarsely shredded
2 cups spinach, coarsely shredded, or Chinese cabbage, finely
shredded
7Available dried in Asian markets and fresh in finer supermarkets. 216 • FIT FOR LIFE Prepare the salad. Soak cloud ear in warm water until they swell and soften, about 30 min
utes. Thinly slice bok choy. Cut through sprouts once or twice to make
them bite-size. String snow peas and blanch, whole, in boiling water for
1 minute. Drain and immediately place under cold water or plunge into
bowl of ice water. Dry and cut them into '/4-inch diagonals. Blanch carrots for 1 minute in boiling water. Drain and immediately
place under cold water or plunge into bowl of ice water. Drain cloud ear, reserving stock for another meal. Dry them and cut
into thin strips. Use raw, or saute in oil until tender. If using fresh shrimp, plunge them in their shells into boiling water,
and boil 3-4 minutes until they turn pinkish white. Drain and run under
cold water. Peel skins off, cut each shrimp in half lengthwise, and re
move any waste deposits with a damp paper towel. If using frozen
shrimp, steam for 3-5 minutes, undefrosted, in a vegetable steamer. Drain well. If using frozen crabmeat, defrost it, rinse, and pick out any
shells. Drain well. In a large bowl, add shrimp and vegetables to greens. CANTONESE DRESSING:
2 tablespoons cilantro or arugula, minced (optional)
1 tablespoon scallion, minced
V4 teaspoon dried ginger or Vi teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
Vi teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons safflower oil
1 teaspoon Hain or Robbie's barbecue sauce or tofu sauce
1 tablespoon tamari
V-t teaspoon sea salt (optional)
Prepare the dressing. Combine all ingredients. Mix well. Pour over salad. Toss well. Serves 2. DAY TWENTY-SEVEN—SATURDAY
BREAKFAST:
Fresh juice and Fresh Applesauce *
A FOUR-WEEK EXAMPLE OF THE FITNESS LIFE-STYLE • 217 LUNCH:
Fresh fruit or carrot juice (optional)
Cuke-a-tillas (see page 170), or Avotillas (see page 201), or Romaine
Roll-ups (see page 208)
DINNER:
Fresh Vegetable Juice Cocktail, if desired (see page 152)
Harvest Soup (see page 167), or Old-fashioned Lentil Soup*
Honey Corn Bread, * or Pita Toasts *
Grandma's Coleslaw (see page 197)
FRESH APPLESAUCE 5 Min. This is a wonderful breakfast alternative, and an ideal children's food. Vi cup fresh apple juice or Vi cup water
2 large apples, peeled and quartered
Vz teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg, or lA teaspoon of each
1 fresh or frozen banana or Vi papaya or 2 ripe persimmons (very soft)
(optional)
Place all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Raw or uncooked
applesauce is the only applesauce that is beneficial in our systems. Cooked applesauce is acid and does far more harm than good. Make sure
this is only eaten on an empty stomach. Serves 1-2. OLD-FASHIONED LENTIL SOUP 1 Hr. 15 Min. IVi cups water
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large white onion, chopped
2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
2


 agree with the analysis made by Dr. Jacob.
Congressman Pepper told Dr. Crout, “If there is a drug for which there was an
enormous amount of prospect of good that was being pressed upon you by three
drug companies who apparently thought the drug had enormous potential, in a case
like that, I would think that you would be eager to see if the claims that were made
could be justified. You would be looking for satisfactory proof that would square
with your conscience and your judgment that that product might give relief to a lot
of people and could be put on the market.
“Now, the public—and I must say up to now I share the opinion—has the
impression that your agency in its desire to be careful and its desire not to letanybody be hurt, has denied perhaps a lot of people relief in fear that if they
allowed the thing to be approved as it was presented, that they might be hurt by it;
that yours is a negative attitude, that you don’t tell them what is wrong with the
application in an informal way so they can attempt to correct it and the like; that
you are not eager to see the users of the country that might profit from it get the
advantage of it,” said the Congressman.
“You say, ‘It is no skin off my back,’ as the old saying goes, ‘if these folks
cannot comply with the technicalities. That is the law, it is none of our
responsibility. Let them get a better lawyer or somebody else. We are not running
it. We are just sitting up here trying to protect the public interest.’
“Are you sure that there is no justification for the public or even members of
Congress having that impression of our regard of your duties?” asked
Congressman Pepper. “Are you sure there is no foundation for that fear?”
Dr. Crout discounted such a possibility and implied that DMSO was having
difficulties because it was so unorthodox. He said it would be far easier for a new
drug to have its application approved if it was closer to something already in the
marketplace, such as a new antibiotic or tranquilizer that duplicates an existing
one.
DMSO is a substance totally strange to medical science. It has a novel mode
of action not understood within the context of our current healing concepts. It is an
altogether new principle that will possibly revolutionize
therapeutics once it is
studied in a more exacting way. For now, however, DMSO is not being studied in
accordance with the standard double- or single-blind procedures commonly used in
the scientific method. This is the present problem. And it is one that has perplexed
the medical community ever since DMSO was first discovered to have therapeutic
value to counter human injury and heal human disease.
The existence of this new anti-inflammatory painkiller raises the questions:
How can it be established with certainty the degree to which DMSO does or does
not work for the numerous and varied conditions reported in the medical literature
by clinicians using it successfully? Are we able to break the logjam that enables a
federal agency to keep this drug from general use because its research studies
don’t conform to the regulations laid down by that same federal government for its
citizens’ protection? Does DMSO have a history of controversy among pioneering
health professionals and bureaucratic medical conservatives alike, because neither
group truly comprehends how radically this substance departs from known
principles of healing? Must DMSO remain controversial?CHAPTER 2
DMSO’s Controversial History
On November 10, 1980, United States Food and Drug Administration officials
entered the office of Dr. Stanley Jacob at the University of Oregon Health
Sciences Center. They were looking for research reports on possible damage to
human eyes from the use of DMSO. They had an administrative search warrant
issued by a federal judge and were prepared to rifle through and seize the files
kept by Dr. Jacob.
William Zuber and Dr. Alan B. Lisook of the FDA were refused access to any
documents by Jacob even in the face of the federal warrant. Instead, Jacob’s
attorney, Jay Geller, answered the warrant point-by-point in federal court. Mr.
Geller said such reports or documents didn’t exist or, if they did, were not in
Jacob’s possession.
Geller added that certain documents requested were privileged patient
information and not available even under court order except in cases where
patients give permission. Zuber and Lisook walked away with only one paper that
Jacob provided, a two-page memo on DMSO and its legal use in treating
interstitial cystitis. Otherwise, they got no response to questions they asked. Zuber
admitted he did not have any authority to question the physician, since the Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act does not give the FDA “access to people, just things.”
When Lisook asked Geller whether the reports had ever been in Jacob’s
possession in the past, Geller assured the investigators that they had not and that
no documents had been removed from the doctor’s office since the warrant was
issued. Zuber and Lisook then terminated the meeting, saying they didn’t believe
they could obtain any information “central to this warrant.”
Geller accused the FDA of harassing Jacob. He said much of the information
requested in this federal warrant was on record from previous hearings.
Jacob said there was no evidence of damage to the human eye caused by
DMSO. “Allegations of hidden toxicity are false,” he stated.
1
Such controversy, with legal actions and reactions, has commonly surrounded
the puzzling painkiller dimethyl sulfoxide. Its exciting biological and medical uses
have made the substance one of the stormiest and most disputed drugs of our day.It lay dormant for nearly one hundred years after its discovery; now it had burst on
the medical scene amidst contention, discord, charges and countercharges—
literally a war of words intended to convince others of the truth.
The loser in all this intraprofessional argument is the medical consumer.
Patient advocacy doesn’t seem to exist when it relates to DMSO. Welfare for the
people has been abandoned. The facts remain undetermined with certainty;
guidance to help victims of illness make the wisest health decisions for themselves
has been ignored. Health professionals and medical bureaucrats apparently are
failing to fulfill their responsibilities to the public.
THE SOURCE AND ORIGIN OF DIMETHYL SULFOXIDE
DMSO was first synthesized in 1866 by Russian scientist Alexander Saytzeff in
Kazan, on the Volga River in Central Russia. He saw that the substance was
colorless, had a garlic-like odor, felt oily to the touch, looked like mineral oil when
poured from the test tube, and left an aftertaste similar to clams or oysters. It had
laboratory curiosity value for Dr. Saytzeff and his fellow chemists because
dimethyl sulfoxide combined with almost any chemical he dropped into the liquid.
It was an excellent solvent, useful as a degreaser, paint thinner, and antifreeze. For
about eighty years, the only publication advising scientists about the stuff was a
paper Dr. Saytzeff had submitted to an obscure German chemistry journal that
printed his article in 1867.
After World War II, chemists started to show active interest in the substance.
A number of papers appeared in chemical literature in 1948, showing DMSO to be
an excellent solvent. In 1959, a group in Great Britain demonstrated that the
solvent would protect red blood cells and other tissues against freezing conditions.
Dr. H. Harry Szmant, Chairman of the University of Detroit’s chemistry
department, explained that the liquid has a tremendous capacity to dissolve
substances. It is a reagent that can speed up some chemical reactions a
“billionfold.”
“The unique capability of DMSO to penetrate living tissues without
causing
significant damage is most probably related to its relatively polar nature, its
capacity to accept hydrogen bonds, and its relatively small and compact
structure,” he said. “This combination of properties results in the ability of DMSO
to associate with water, proteins, carbohydrates, nucleic acid, ionic substances,
and other constituents of living systems. Of foremost importance to our
understanding of the possible functions of DMSO in biological systems is itsability to replace some of the water molecules associated with the cellular
constituents, or to affect the structure of the omnipresent water.”
2
Controversy began to surround DMSO in 1962 when Dr. Jacob first became
interested in how to safely freeze human kidneys and considered the solvent for
this purpose. He asked Robert Herschler, a chemical applications supervisor at the
Crown Zellerbach Paper Company, for some of the chemical. Crown Zellerbach
had plenty to spare, since DMSO is a byproduct of its paper-making process. For
five dollars a quart it can be produced commercially in crude form for refining into
human medicinal application.
At their first meeting, Robert Herschler mentioned that he had difficulty
washing the stain off his hands when both DMSO and dye got on them. Dr. Jacob
recalls: “We painted DMSO on our skin and within fifteen minutes noticed an
oyster and garlic taste. The skin where the chemical had been was dry.”
The drying effect of dimethyl sulfoxide set off the DMSO explosion. Dryness
of a therapeutic agent makes it valuable in the treatment of burns, since moisture
tends to promote infection. Jacob and Herschler tried it on burned rats and found
those treated were quieter in behavior


 sweet spices
for a spicy-sweet “island” blend. The nice thing about this combination
is that it works in both sweet a nd savoury dishes. It will r ound out your
spice cabinet nicely.
1/4 cup toasted coconut flakes, fr esh or dried
1/4 cup coconut sugar crystals
1 tbsp gr ound cinnamon
1 tsp gr ound allspice
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp gr ound cloves
1.  Using a mortar and pestle or small electric grinder, pound or grind
toasted coconut until coarsely or finely ground, as desired. T ra nsfer to a
bowl an d add sugar crystals, c innamon, allspice, salt and cloves. Mix
well. T ra nsfer to  an airtight glass jar, label and store in a cool, dark, dry
place for up to 3 months.I use cinnamon as a sweet flavouring in both sweet and savoury dishes.
It imparts an aro matic “island” taste to dishes. My favourite ground or
stick cinnamon is premium V ietnamese cinnamon, but Cinnamomum
zeylanicum  ( shown at right in the photograph) comes a close second. It
is much sweeter than the common Cinnamomum cassia  (shown at left
in the photograph), with a pure, never -bitter cinnamon flavour.
Y ou can find V ietnamese cinnamon at fine spice stores or online.
T andoori Spice Blend
Makes 3/4 cup
The smokey paprika is the wi ld card in this blend, giving it an exotic
flavour that is hard to iden tify, while ginger, cayenne pepper and
mustard pr ovide the heat. Use this blend with caution to start, then
adapt it to your tastes in futur e dishes.
3 tbsp smokey paprika
2 tbsp gr ound ginger
2 tbsp gr ound turmeric
1 tbsp gr ound cayenne pepper
1 tbsp gr ound coriander
1 tbsp gr ound cumin
1 tbsp gr ound mustard
1 tbsp sea salt
1/2 tsp gr ound cloves
1.  In a bow l, combine paprika, gin ger, turmeric, cayenne, coriander, cumin,
mustard, salt and cloves. Mix w ell. T ransfer to an airtight, dark -coloured
glass jar, label and store in a cool, dry place for up to 3 months.V ietnamese Five-Spice Blend
Makes 1/2 cup
If you ar e wondering about the name of this blend because you have
counted the ingr edients and come up with six, not five, y ou need to
know that I don’t count coconut sugar as a spice. This blend is differ ent
fr om the traditional Chinese five-spice blend because of its  sweetness,
which comes fr om the cocon ut sugar as well as the star anise and
V ietnamese cinnamon.
2 tbsp gr ound coriander
2 tbsp gr ound star anise
2 tbsp coconut sugar crystals
2 tbsp gr ound V ietnamese cinnamon
1 tbsp gr ound fennel seeds
1 tbsp sea salt
1.  I n a bowl, combine coriander, star anise, sugar crystals, cinnamon, fennel
and salt. Mix w ell. T ransfer to an airtight, dark-coloured glass  jar, label
and store in a cool, dry place for up to 3 months.
Y ou can find V ietnamese cinnamon at fine spice stores or online.Coconut Dr essing
Makes about 1-1/2 cups
Pur e coconut flavour explode s in this easy-to-make dr essing. I find it
works best with fruit and summer gr eens, but it sur e is nice to drift
back to the tr opics in the middle of winter with just a shake of a jar.
1  cup coconut milk
1/4 cup unsweetened shr edded coconut, fr esh or dried
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
2  tbsp coconut vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1.  I n a jar, combin e milk, shredded coconut, oil, vinegar and mu stard. Cap
and shak e well to emulsify. Use immediately or cover and store in the
refrigerator for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before using.Coconut Blue Cheese Dr essing
Makes about 2 cups
The amount of coconut cr eam  or milk called for in the r ecipe tends to
make a thinner  dr essing that can be drizzled over lettuce wedges and
used as a sauce for barbequed chicken, vegetables or steaks. If you
pr efer a  thicker dr essing, simply r educe the amount of coconut cr eam
or milk.
2 oz blue cheese such as Stilton
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp softened coconut oil
2/3 cup coconut cr eam or coconut milk
1 tsp coconut aminos or tamari sauce
1.  In a bowl, mash the cheese using a fork. Stir in lemon juice and oil. Add
the cream and aminos and mash until small pieces of the ch eese are
distributed in the dressing. Use immediately or cover and sto re in the
refrigerator for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before using.Honey Lime Coconut Dr essing
Makes 1 cup
A tart-sweet and brilliantly crafted dr essing.
1/3 cup fr eshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup coconut nectar or liquid honey
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 tbsp coconut vinegar
1/4 tsp grated fr esh gingerr oot
1.  In a jar, comb ine lime juice, nectar, coconut oil, sesame o il, tahini,
tamari, vinegar and ginger. Shake well to emulsify. Use immediately or
cover an d store  in the refrigerator for up to 6 days. Bring to room
temperature and shake well before using.
T ahini is a paste  made from ground sesame seeds. Depending on the
brand, it may ha ve oil floating on the top, which is easy to stir back
into the paste before measuring. Y ou may need to mash the ta hini it
with a fork b efore shaking the ingredients in order to get it
incorporated evenly in the dressing.Hot Spiced Coconut Sauce
Makes 1-1/2 cups
The spice paste used in this r ecipe is hot and slightly sweet, m aking this
a versat ile sauce for pasta or rice, vegetables or cooked meats, chicken
or fi sh. Depending on your tol erance for spicy-hot seasoning, add mor e
or less of the paste, to taste, or use 1 tbsp of any one of the m ilder spice
blends found in this chapter.
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
1  small onion or 2 shallots, finely chopped
2  tbsp coconut flour
2 tbsp Hot Spice Paste (page 138)
or 1 tsp hot sauce
1 can (14 oz/398 mL) coconut milk
1.  In a saucepan, heat oil over m edium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring
constantly, for 2 minutes. Add flour and spice paste and cook, stirring
constantly, for 1 or 2 minutes  or until fragrant and lightly browned.
Whisk in milk and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes or until sauce
has thickened. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.Coconut Gr emolata
Makes 1 cup
Gr emolata is a savoury mixtu r e of parsley and garlic that  is used to
garnish slow-cooked veal or lamb and fish as well as soup and other
vegetable dishe s. My version is nutty and slightly sweeter b ecause I’ve
r eplaced the garlic with cocon ut. If desir ed, you can add finely chopped
fr esh garlic to make it savoury.
1/2 cup chopped fr esh parsley
1/4 cup toasted sliver ed almonds, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup toasted, coconut flakes, fr esh or dried
1 tsp sea salt
1.  I n a bow l, combine parsley, alm onds, coconut flakes and salt. T oss to mix
well. Sto re in an airtight contain er in the refrigerator for up to 2  weeks or
freeze fo r up to 1 month. Use as a garnish for soup, stew, s alads and
vegetable dishes.
I use  a mezzalun a (above) to chop fresh herbs. The all-in-one, st ainless
steel han dles on this one are easy to keep clean and do not harbour
bacteria as do wooden handles.
T o toast  nuts or seeds, in a dr y skillet or saucepan, heat nu ts over
medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes …
… or until golden brown. Remo ve from heat, transfer to a bowl and let
cool. Do  not let the nuts cool i n the hot pan or they will continue to
brown.T o t oast coconut: Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange coconut in a n even
layer on a rimmed


/G06/G0E/G07 /G20/G01/G01
/G21/G01/G0B/G12/G14/G04/G01/G22/G04/G04/G03/G01/G12/G22/G0C/G04/G01/G10/G07/G01/G22/G05/G02/G03/G0E/G01/G16/G07/G0F/G04/G01/G07/G0A/G01/G10/G0B/G04/G01/G0C/G12/G05/G0E/G04/G05/G01/G0C/G04/G16/G16/G07/G03/G16/G01/G10/G0B/G12/G10/G01/G21/G01gleaned from that expansive journey into the pages of /G01/G02/G03/G04/G06book.  Cosmic Wealth
 94
But they are all that I take with me now, from that previous
karmic drama and debt - into the allowance of my new life adventure of a conscious inner life and my abundant cosmic
wealth.  My life is much lighter and free-er now, with clearer
sight and greater truth.
There are times in our lives when we are ready to review
our current experiential “story,” the one we tell ourselves (and others) on a daily basis – and th us the one we are living, to
decide if it matches the vibration of what we want  or what we
don’t want.  It is a kind of inner housekeeping.  And when we
invest the time to gently look at our current story and its experience, it is very liberating  to see that we truly are the
authors of our lives.  We write the script.  We listen to our own
cues.  And we choose our thoughts, beliefs, dreams, and life experiences.
I released that story, with the help and grace of hawk in
my heart.  And I chose to writ e a new one, when my inner
guidance called me to do so.  And in this journey, I deliberately
transformed my karmic debt into cosmic wealth.  That is the
opportunity for us all, in our present and future creations.
We are continuously writing the script for what we wish to experience.  Wherever you are,  and however you feel right
now, remember that life is a story that is yet to be written.  Dream your dreams and live your heart’s magic that is the  truth of your infinite nature.  I close my hawk medicine story with this aerial view of how every day can be elevated to  the miraculous, simply with
our willingness to open, to see, to listen, to choose, and to allow
it.  Every part of this enchanted forest is our friend.  The natural
world adds tremendous depth to our life experiences, when we
allow our heart-felt experience of our oneness with all things.   If we follow Hawk, and we honor the divine guidance and
messages that come from Spirit in all of their forms (that feel good to us), we can soar into the sun-filled sky in beautiful celestial flight.  Thank you Hawk friend.  I am grateful.

 95
/G14/G15/G0B/G16/G0F/G09/G08/G01/G22/G13/G0A/G0F/G09/G09/G0E/G21
Living the Prosperity of a Rich Inner Life

/G25/G07/G12/G06/G0F/G09/G05/G06/G18/G05/G03/G0C/G0E/G06/G0D/G0F/G10/G10/G05/G11/G06/G01/G07/G06/G1A/G07/G12/G09/G06/G03/G0C/G0C/G05/G09/G06/G0C/G0F/G01/G12/G09/G05/G0A/G06/G06/G25/G07/G12/G06/G0F/G09/G05
being called to your inner worl d that is the true world,
as compared to the world aro und you.  You have all the
abundance that you need in th is inner world – fruit of
the finest trees, sunlight of  a pure and rich variety,
silver moons that warm and nourish your spirit in  dream times.  You have all the material elements you
could ever want and need.  Heal th is your “always” state
of being.  Confidence and gaie ty are your fabric and essence,
each and every day.  You smell of sweet joy.  You smile
at your bliss and comfort.  An d you live love-fully.  This
is the inner world in which I invite you now.
          /G28 Spirit 1/5/09

It continually amazes me, upon  reflection, that no matter
how many channelings I receive, books from conscious teachers that I read, or life experiences that I have – the core messages
within them are always the deriva tive of Source.  That is the
root message in the “already is” application of the Law of
Attraction;  that the ultimate essence of anything that you desire is the essence of Source, and that the ultimate essence of who you really are is the true essence of Source.  In this way, we are
always the potential  vibrational match of anything we can ever
need, want, or desire.  We sim ply need to relax into the easy
feeling essence, within ourselves and our desires, to bring the vibrations into harmonic alignmen t.  This is the grand Source-
ful string that connects us all,  and expands our non-physical
essence toward greater understanding and light-filled expansion.    There is a new consciousness, a new energy, coming to our earth experiences.  It rests within the mystical world of the non-physical.  And yet it is mo re real than anything we can
physically see.  I have transcrib ed two Spirit messages in this Cosmic Wealth
 96
final chapter, that speak to these expansive energetic shifts
and our ultimate experience of cosmic wealth.  They seem to summarize the essence of the vastness of our earth experiences and our non-physical truths.  I offer them to you now, for your
own reflection.
 We believe the time has come for all beings to awaken to
their inner, dormant light.  It is a light so bright, so full, so
rich - it would astound even the most skeptic of you.  Because
you cannot see it, with your out er eyes, does not mean it does
not live within you.  Inner eyes, inner vision, is a way to see,
feel, and perceive that vastn ess of all that you really are.
Energies surrounding the earth, and within the Earth herself,
are flowing toward the greatness of the illuminating light.  As these non-physical energies fill more of the spaces within the
earth’s atmosphere, the vibrationa l essence within all of you -
will turn toward that which burn s as bright, in its likeness.
Where is that?  They will turn inward – for within is where
the same eternal light exists.  And they will begin to see it – with a new lens, an old lens rea lly, but to them - a new one,
of inner vision.  Of energetic vision.  Creative vision.
Believing vision.
There is nothing to fear.  Some, who would say they prefer the
darkness, then have lost their contrast.  Darkn ess can only be
desirable to those removed so fa r from their light that they
would deny the sun.  Yet, they cannot separate themselves
from their “already is” truth and brilliant light.  While some may continue to deny, or resist, the approaching new energetic
realities, it is the same as deny ing the presence of air on your
planet.  Unseen, but very  much in existence.
There you see that the shift in energies brings a new age of
expansively supportive and lovi ng energy.  We want you to
know that this energy already burn s bright in all of you – it
is only a matter of allowing it in your field of consciousness.
We understand your desire to live in the familiar.  The world
of what, you believe, appears to  be “known.”  Yet expansion
requires an expectation and a llowance of change.  The Living the Prosperity of a Rich Inner Life 97
“known” qualities of change often are believed to mean
the “not good” or the “not wa nted.”  But truthfully, if we
understood “change” as an ever expansive richer Source-full
flow, we would allow it instantly, and all of its feeling good-
ness.
You are doing your pa rt beautifully and rem arkably.  We love
seeing you relax and expand, relax and expand.  Some will
expand with ease, and some with willful fight.  But expansion
always comes.  It is your natu re to expand.  The earth itself
naturally expands.  Fighting e xpansion does not stop change.
It simply creates resistance, and thus challenges, in finding
ways to feel good.
We suggest beginning to believe in your inner power, your
inner light, as the flow of change shifts the world perspective.
It is in allowing, that you can a ll receive the greater truth that
exists in all that is, of wh ich you are an essential part.
Be the person you want to be, th rough the allowance of all that
you already are.  Live the life you desire to live,


 often  of  these  calves  dies  in
confinement.  All  of  this  gross  cruelty  is  inflicted  in
order  to  produce  a  white  and  lean  meat.  The  concur-
rent diseases  of  anorexia,  bulimia,  and  iron  deficiency
run  parallel  to  the  same  diseased  state  of  the  veal
calves.  The  highly  carcinogenic  substances  used  in  the
animals'  feed  have  also  seeped  into  the  reproductive
system  of  humans.  Infertility  and  cervical  cancer  have
increased  rapidly  as  the  atrocities  of  agribusiness  go
unquelled.
We  are  linked  to  the  animals.  The  pain  of  the  calves
is  felt  through  our  own  birthing  of  life.  As  we  drink
from  the  well  of  malaise,  we  contaminate  our  dhatus
and  feed  this  ama  to  our  newborns  through  our  breast
milk.  Recent  studies  in  Britain  and  Australia  show
that  the  child's  allergic  reactions  to  the  mother's  milk
relates  directly  to  the  mother's  consumption  of  com-
mercial quality  milk.  We  cannot  wait  for  scientific
research  to  unfold  these  facts  one  at  a  time.  We  need
to  sit  within  ourselves  and  observe  what  goes  against
the  grain  of  nature,  see  how  quickly  it  seeps  into  our
bodies  and  psyches,  and  know  that  we  cannot  con-
tinue to  drink  from  this  well,  nor  repast  from  this
meat.  We  must  realize  that  the  cows'  milk  is  the  milk
of  the  eternal  mother,  and  that  their  flesh  is  our  flesh.
We  have  to  acknowledge  that  the  pearls  of  cognitive memory  are  held  by  the  animals  so  that  we  may  con-
tinue to  develop  our  own  stupendous  potential  as
love  embodied  in  a  life  form.  We  need  to  remember
that  if  we  allow  the  abuse,  we  are  also  guilty,  and  that
if  the  animals  lose  all  cognition,  we  will  not  be  able  to
continue.
The  purified  soma  juices  have  flowed  forth  mixing  with
curds  and  milk.  They  are  cleansed  in  the  waters.
Rig  Veda  IX  1.24
[You]  are  become  such  as  have  need  of  milk,  and  not  of
strong  meat.
Hebrews  5:12
This  pale  and  polluted  fluid  we  call  milk — steeped
in  human  greed  and  ignorance  and  squeezed  from
the  udders  of  intense  anguish — is  not  the  milk  that
flows  from  the  earth's  bosom.  Pure  unadulterated  milk
is  the  primal  food  of  sattva,  of  peace  and  calm.  It  is
mentioned  in  the  Vedas  as  the  first  food,  along  with
grains  and  fruits.  This  food  is  used  to  build  the  dhatus
of  a  growing  body  and  also  to  buffer  the  acids  and
hormonal  activities  of  the  mature  body.  The  health
problems  caused  by  food  in  India  today  are  due  to  the
excessive  use  of  milk,  sugars,  and  oils,  and  to  the  more
recent  infiltration  of  chemical  pesticides  and  herbi-
cides into  her  livestock  feed.  For  centuries,  pure  milk
from  healthy  and  happy  cows  was  consumed  in  India,
Europe,  and  Scandinavia  without  the  present  epidemic
of  diseases  caused  by  the  polluted  milk  we  have  been
drinking  for  several  decades.
The  Vedas  divide  foods  into  three  main  categories
for  human  consumption.  The  first  consists  of  foods
that  penetrate  the  earth,  such  as  plants,  vegetables,
fruits,  roots,  herbs,  flowers,  and  so  on.  The  second
group  is  made  up  of  substances  such  as  minerals,
which  are  derived  from  within  the  earth.  The  final
group  consists  of  foods  that  come  from  the  animal
kingdom.  Milk,  as  well  as  meat  and  honey,  belong  to
the  animal  group.  Ayurveda  recommends  small  por-
tions of  organic  meat  for  the  Vata  type.  The  rules  of
hunting  and  killing  the  animal,  practiced  by  the  na-
tive peoples,  were  very  specific  and  detailed.  Since  we
are  no  longer  observing  these,  I  do  not  recommend
178
^Cr
FOOD    SADHANAS
the  use  of  any  animal  meat  as  food,  not  even  for  the
Vata  types.  Similarly,  the  milk  recommended  as  food
or  medicine  was  organic  and  was  produced  in  a  man-
ner harmonious  with  nature.  Unless  we  observe  the
natural  order  of  organic  farming  for  milk,  we  cannot
drink  this  food  either.  Of  the  three  animal  food  groups,
only  honey  has  remained  uncontaminated.  Humans
have  been  unable  to  exert  power  over  the  bees,  thanks
to  the  precocious  nature  of  these  insects,  and  thus  the
integrity  of  honey  is  protected.  We  do,  however,  mis-
use honey.  It  is  a  potent  food,  and  we  need  only  a
small  amount  of  it  in  our  diet.  It  is  most  beneficial  for
Kapha  and  Vata  types,  since  it  is  warming  and  cossets
the  cold  natures  of  both  these  types.  It  is  too  strong
for  the  Pitta  type  and  turns  to  acid  in  the  intense  fire
of  Pitta's  metabolism.  Likewise,  honey  becomes  toxic
when  transformed  by  heat.  It  should  never  be  cooked.
Even  though  in  earlier  times  the  meat  of  animals
was  used  with  regard  for  and  observation  of  nature's
law,  I  believe  that  the  time  for  the  hunt  and  kill  has
passed.  Early  humans  pursued  the  chase  not  only  to
feed  themselves  but  also  to  discover  their  full  poten-
tial. They  lived  among  the  animals,  honored  them,
challenged  and  conquered  them,  to  learn  about  na-
ture and  to  reign  supreme  as  a  species.  The  meat  of  ~n
animal  is  a  highly  rajasic  food,  a  food  which  was  used
to  build  bulk,  potency,  and  verve  for  a  demanding
and  strenuous  life.  With  the  advent  of  a  maturing
planet  and  species,  we  have  become  capable  of  con-
sciousness and  knowledge  by  observation.  We  no
longer  need  to  hunt  or  to  kill  in  order  to  recognize
our  nature.
The  time  and  space  in  which  we  live  today  call  for
the  character  of  sattva  and  not  rajas.  Sattva


 consciousness—its
evolution, its quality, its nature, and how it’s been approached through
science, reason, logic, philosoph y, ethics, theology, and religion. How it has
evolved in mankind, how it manifests itself and the part that it plays in
everyday life. Force then requires energy, and it exhausts people. People
can only exert force to a certain point, and then they begin to collapse.
Power, on the other hand, does not exhaust itself. In fact, the more it’s used,
the more powerful it seems to be. For instance, if we experiment with
forgiving people and being willing to love and love unconditionally, we find
that that capacity grows.
In the beginnin g, it may seem difficult to love that which seems
unlovable, but if we dedicate ourselves to that way of being in the world, if
we dedicate ourselves to being that way in the world, then we find that it’s
easier and easier. We find that with force, the more you give away, the less
you have. But with power, the more you give, the more you have. So the
more loving a person is, the more loving their world becomes. We begin toexperience the world of our own creation. Some people say, “You go to
New York City, and they’re all so cold and horrible there. I hate New York
City; they’re all mean.” And another person goes to New York City and
says, “My goodness, they were the most wonderful people—all the
waitresses and cabdrivers were so neat... it’s just an incredible place!”
Well, it’s becaus e in the presenc e of love, we precipitate the emer gence of
love in other people. And when we’re not loving, we tend to bring forth the
negative side of their natures.
So all we’re experiencing then is the kind of a world that we’re
precipitating. A virtual display of what we and ourselves have become.
• • •
The contrast between power and force is given dramatically by historical
example of the British empire, vis-à-vis Mahatma Gandhi. Well, Mahatma
Gandhi, as you know, was a Hindu ascetic. And if you calibrate Gandhi,
he’s over 700. At the time that he confronted the British empire, it was the
greatest force the world had ever seen. It ruled one quarter of the world, a
third of the planet and the seas.
And when I was growing up, it was still the great British empire  upon by
which the sun never set. Against that stood a little 90-pound Hindu, skin
and bones—he confronted the great lion who ruled one-third of the planet.
The interesting thing is that Mahatma Gandhi, by doing nothing—in fact,
just saying  he’s going to stop eating, and if they didn’ t like it, he’d just
starve to death— threw the world into a panic. And at 700 Gandhi stood
there. Well, 700 is of course enormous power, extremely rare on the planet.
He faced off against the British empire, which in its pridefulness and self-
interest calibrated at 190.
And without firing one single shot Gandhi defeated the entire British
empire and took it apart, and brought the end of colonialism. It was not only
the British empire, but colonialism per se, that he defeated, and self-rule
became the dominant political system in the world. What Gandhi really
represents then is the influence of power. Power doesn’ t cause  things; force
can be said to cause things within the Newtonian paradigm. Power
influences  things.
Now, you know that a quark is going to rise depending on the density of
the medium that it finds itself in. So by prayer, by spiritual evolution, whathappens then is that mankind creates a very powerful field, this field, this
spiritual reality, which then begins to lift and ef fect all of mankind. It ef fects
the whole paradigm of reality and values. So as I mentio ned before,
integrity is now becoming a predominant value in our society ; it’s being
talked about constantly in the media. We have a whole new value system.
Now, that was not brought about by the mechanism of force. Nobody forced
the media to begin valuing integrity, but integrity emer ged as a social value.
Not as a spiritual value, but as a social value.
We all live by our own principles. Spiritual growth then means, What
principles do we live by? And as we grow and mature, we choo se different
principles. Some  people live by the principle of “Always be right—never
give the sucker a break.” People come out and state what their principles
are. Sometimes they seem quite outlandish, but you could say they’re
integrous to the degree that they live by them. To the degree that they live
by them, they are living by what they’re committed to. So I respect what
people say they’re committed to, and I think to the degree they live by that,
then they’re being virtuous by their own definition. So the calibrated level
of consciousnes s, to some degre e, then reflects the degree to which we live
by our own stated spiritual choice.
You might say karma or spiritual destiny, the calibrated level of
consciousness, then, is the consequence of spiritual freedom of choice. So
we have  freedom  of choice at every moment, but this freedom  of choice
seems to be obscure. We seem to be run by programs. And one reason that
we try to transcend the ego is because we don’t want to be at the effect of
the ego. We would like the mind to stop long enough for us to deliberate
and make a choice. And so often we do a thing quickly and we regret it
later, and sort of get a feeling of resentment, thinking, Gee, I didn’ t really
have a moment to r eally think about that.
Our spiritual choices, then, tend to determine which direction we choose
when the moment arises. If it wasn’ t for the silence of consciousness, you
would not be able to know what you’re thinking. It’s because of the silence
of the forest that you can hear sound. It’s because the mind is silent that you
can hear or see or picture what you’re thinking. Therefore, the content of
the mind  must be going on in the space of no mind, which is a classical
term, meaning thoughtless, form less consciousness, upon which thoughts
reflect themselves. So, we withdraw our investment and preoccupation andidentification with the content of thinking and begin to see that we’re the
space in which thinking can occur.
The value of meditation, then, is that it focuses us so that we withdraw
our investment in identification with the content of thought to the space in
which the thoug ht is occurring. We begin to see that there is a witness  to the
thinking. There is an awareness  to the witness, and there’ s a substrate that
underlies all of it that is beyond time, beyond dimension, and that it is
independent of personal identification. And the identification then with
consciousness itself lifts us out of the identification of our reality as either
the body  or the mind or the thoughts or the feelings, and takes us to a
greater dimension.
As we move into that greater dimension, then we confirm the spiritual
reality, which underlies our existence. People become involved in spiritual
work on a practical level. They want to know, “How can I forgive my
enemies when I hate them so much after all they’ve done to me? How can I
feel hope when I’m really depressed? How can I get rid of fear when I’m
scared all the time?” It starts out on a very practical level. Other people will
start out from a different level. They start out through inspiration. They will
hear an inspirational speaker and get uplifted.
One can start from curiosity; one can start from sort of a spontaneous
evolution within one’s own consciousness. I think spiritually evolved
people inspire others outside of their awareness. Because they influence the
field, people who would have ordinarily not been interested in spirituality
suddenly become curious—not through any inner prompting, but as a
consequence of the field. So if you’re around people who are more
spiritually evolved, you may find your own interest in it spontaneously
becoming more intense. It’s not through any deliberate decision-making,
but just because it’s more interes ting—like how when you’re around people
who are into sports, you tend to listen more and be more interested in that.
When people have some kind of disaster in their life—and we hear it all
the time about an illness or drugs or alcohol or criminality or grief or loss—
they want to know what they can do about it. The willingness to surrender
life to God, of course, is one of the most profound spiritual tools. People
ask, “What spiritual tools are the most powerful?” I would say, humility, the
willingness to surrender life—to let go of wanting to control it, to let go of
wanting to change it—the willingness to surrender how you see things toGod (or to some  higher spiritual principle, because God is not a reality. It’s
just a word to most people).
For most people, God is a hoped-for reality, but not an experiential
reality until they become more spiritually advanced and begin to experience
the presence of the field itself and intuit its enormous


 is fasting, enzymic functions (specific biochemical
reactions) are carried out at a high level of energy. Fuel for energy is supplied by
glucose. When no food is being taken into the system, no glucose is being manufactured. Therefore, stored reserves of glucose, taken mainly from the liver and muscles are being utilized. When these reserves begin to diminish, nervous and
chemical energy are expended to replace the glucose.
   During the fast, glucose is needed to supply energy to effect the carrying off of
wastes from the bloodstream and to burn up fat. This same energy, supplied by glucose, is utilized to effect the process of desalination (removal of salt from fatty
tissue) which occurs during fasting. Inorganic salt, which the body in its wisdom has
mobilized by conjugating it with fat, is now disengaged from the fat and cast into the
bloodstream where it is carried basically to the main organ of elimination, the kidneys, which void it.
   Glucose aids the buffer systems of the blood to help neutralize the acidity which
occurs during the fast. The brain, which uses glucose for fuel, must also be supplied
with this vital substance by the bloodstream.
   When you are physically active during the fast, glucose (which would be utilized to
supply energy for the removal of toxins a nd metabolic wastes, for the metabolism of
fat, for desalination, to fuel the brain, etc.) must be diverted to provide the energy
required for physical activity. The result coul d be a less efficient removal of wastes, a
reduction in the amount of fat metabolized, reduced efficiency in the desalination
process, and a dangerously low glucose level in the brain. It could cause acidosis because of too concentrated a level of toxins remaining in the bloodstream rather than
being excreted efficiently; it could cause ra pid heartbeat; it could affect the respiratory
center of the brain, causing fainting or a lack of proper breathing. The condition is
known as hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.
   In an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association,  November 16,
1963, Dr. Walter Bloom of the Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, states: "Fasting
is well tolerated for long periods of time, provided energy expenditure is restricted."
   A most important point, regarding exercise during fasting, to also consider is that
the body in the fasting state is resting, and the use of exercise may put an excessive strain on the heart and other organs, with life-threatening consequences.
   Today we do not stress so much the length of the fast as its effectiveness. To
arbitrarily limit the duration of the fast is to limit the benefits one may derive from it.
The only logical plan of determining the length of a, fast is to watch day-by-day
developments and to break or continue the fast according to these. No man possesses sufficient knowledge to determine in advanc e how much fasting one requires in one's
particular condition. In adjusting the length of the fast to individual needs, a close study and observation of the faster, as the fast progresses, is required.
   The second phase of Natural Hygiene I'd like to familiarize you with is proper
nutrition and food combining. Let us not be confused with the terms nutrition and
food. These are not synonymous. It is one thing to have good nutrition, but it is
another thing to eat an abundance of food. You are not nourished by the amount of food you eat, but in proportion to the amount you digest and assimilate (absorb and
convert into living tissue). The key is assimilation.    According to the research of Dr. Joseph Sasaki, an eminent eye specialist from Ann
Arbor, Michigan, many people are not receiving the proper nutrition from their foods because of one important factor--close work during and/or after eating. It is a known
physiologic fact that close work, during or immediately after eating hinders digestion
and inhibits the proper absorption and, assimilation of vitamins B and C and amino
acids. This predisposes most human beings to many consequential diseases, in
addition to tenseness and nervousness. In fact, many people's tenseness and nervousness have disappeared when close work during and/or after eating was
stopped. The problem is that people spend a majority of their time indoors, at home or
work, and rarely do they allow their eyes to relax at infinity (beyond 20 feet).
Therefore, don't read or watch television during mealtimes; don't read or watch
television for one and one-half ;a to two hour s after eating; don't close your eyes (as
in napping) after eating, since this is the same as doing close work; and don't stay
indoors because rarely do you see beyond 20 fe et, but if you must, then sit and look
out the window into the distance.
   Many people do not have the capacity to properly digest and assimilate their food,
yet I've seen countless numbers stuffed on al l types of foods, particularly protein and
fattening food. This stuffing regimen, which is so common, only enervates and further
weakens those people who lack the capacity to digest and assimilate. They are similar to people who are anemic and taking iron without improving, or those taking any
other so-called food supplements for whatever is supposed to be lacking and yet not
getting better. After these methods have failed, stimulants and tonics are usually
added. These cannot enhance digestive and assimilative powers, so the individual may
become thinner, weaker, and sicker. This is what happened to me as I ran this same gamut during the course of my nightmarish illness. Capacity cannot be bought. There
are no drugs that can increase this capacity  or carry on our life functions for us.
Nothing from any source outside the body can add to its nutritive capacities or healing abilities. Furthermore, if medicines are supposed to make sick people well, then it
certainly should be beneficial or harmless for healthy people to take them. So why are they forbidden?
   It is as important to know when to abstain from food as it is to know when and how
much to eat. There is no benefit derived by eating when no food is required or when
food cannot be digested and assimilated. Just as a large pile of bricks does not
increase the productive capacity of the bricklayer, so a large supply of food does not increase the digestive and assimilative capacities of the invalid. Fasting, under certain
circumstances and conditions, is one way to increase these powers. Generally
speaking, the average person should fast 36 hours (a day and a half) a week. For
example, eat the last meal on Sunday night; then eat the next meal on Tuesday morning.
   In Natural Hygiene, a vegetarian diet is followed, although some people in a
transition period or for personal reasons do use occasional meat or fish until they are able to eliminate them. The diet consists mainly of fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts,
seeds, and sprouts which are eaten, for the most part, unfired--raw. Some prefer to use
a little natural cheese, while some prefer to add some cooked food such as steamed
potatoes, brown rice, and a wide variety of very interesting and palate-teasing
vegetarian recipes. These foods supply the richest source of minerals, vitamins, and
enzymes when eaten raw. Heat (cooking) destroys the enzymes, certain vitamins, and in general the life in the food. Many people maintain they can't handle raw foods. I
couldn't either, but after a fast to.let the digestive apparatus heal itself, I'm living on
foods my doctors said I could never eat again. So it is with others, which indicates
that a fast may be necessary.
   The present-day diet of Americans is largely denatured. It is made up of white
bread, white rice, demineralized cereal grains, pasteurized milk, white sugar, canned
rusts and vegetables, cakes, pies. and thorough cooked food. all eaten in abominable
combinations. Also the unlimited use of other harmful "foods" such as salt,
condiments, coffee, tea, deep-fried foods, alcoholic beverages, pastas spaghetti,
macaroni, etc., food substitutes (e.g., egg substitutes, non-dairy creamers etc.), and an
endless list of items which denote "gracious living." I have always said that man will
eat almost anything, even if it makes him sick or kills him. In fact, if I took some shoe
leather, softened it, spiced it as a gourmet would and baked it, I venture to say that
someone would eat it. The motto seems to be, "If it tastes good--eat it." People have
forgotten the taste of plain, wholesome, natural food.
   White sugar is probably responsible for more damage to the mind and body than
any other single food-type element. It rais es blood cortisone, increases triglycerides
(fats) and cholesterol, raises blood uric acid (which can cause gouty arthritis among
other things), and increases hydrochloric acid in the stomach. There is no nutriment in
white sugar (which is contained in most commercial foods today and has a strong
affinity for calcium--so much so that it upsets the calcium-phosphorus balance, which can be serious in a growing child). White sugar can produce hypoglycemia (low blood
sugar) because of the constant stimulation of  the pancreas to produce insulin in