ﬀ. The pr oblem is it is used
to create either a life-pr oducing heat or a life-destr oying
conﬂagration. Wher e ther e is no love, ther e is fear. And fear,
once it has gripped the mind, is lik e a vice that thr eatens to
crush the soul. So that’s what it is, this thing we call the shadow. It does
not appear, in most of our lives, as a gigantic ﬁr e, but
simply as a slow bur n. It is you when you mak e the stupid
remark, hurting someone you love and possibly ruining a
relationship. Or you when you do the stupid thing that
sabotages your car eer. Or you when you pick up the drink,
although you know you’r e an alcoholic and that if you
continue doing this it will kill you. In other wor ds, it is the
you within you that does not wish you well. It is your
shadow, and it can only be eliminated by shining forth your
light. God’s love both dwells within us and e xtends out fr om us
every moment of every day. When we ar e living inalignment with our true selves as God cr eated us, we
receive love constantly and then e xtend it outwar d as we
have r eceived it. That is what it means to live in the light. Yet as commonsensical as this sounds, it does not feel lik e
common sense when someone has behaved in a way that
seems undeserving of our love. A t such a moment,
extending our love to that person feels lik e the wr ong thing
to do, and withholding our love feels right. That moment—
that little bit of unloving thought that seems lik e just a tiny
thing, just a r easonable judgment—is the r oot of all evil. It is
the cor nerstone of the shadow’s thought system, for it
involves a separation fr om God and a casting of blame. God
never withholds love, and we achieve sanity by lear ning to
love as God loves. Our task, if we ar e to cast out the shadow, is to lear n to
think only immortal thoughts, even though we live on the
mortal plane. Our higher thought for ms will lif t the
frequency of the planet, and the world will then transfor m.
But what about now? What mak es us for get who we ar e,
thus tur ning oﬀ the light and splitting the world into two
separate states—love and fear? It is one thought: that
someone is guilty. How we deal with human imperfection is
the essential question that decides whether we dwell in the
shadow or in light. God does not look at a person who has made a mistak e
the same way we do. God does not seek to punish us when
we have made mistak es, but to cor rect us. When we r eturn
to our right minds, loving unconditionally and unwaveringly,
then the world itself will self -correct. That does not mean we lose discer nment, boundaries, or
brain cells. Divine love is not a weakness. God’s love is not a
gooey love. It’s not even always “ nice,” in a kind of pink,
fuzzy way. It involves radical truth telling, the kind of truth
that the heart knows even when the mind r esists it. It has
less to do with style and mor e to do with substance. Ther e
are ways to very sweetly withhold love, putting too muchemphasis on a half -baked understanding of the wor ds
“positive” and “supportive” and ther e are ways to e xtend
love with a kind of harshly r ealistic honesty that only
appears, much later, to have been love at all. It is time for all of us to get deeply serious about love. In
the wor ds of Dr. Martin L uther King, Jr., it is time to inject
“new meaning into the veins of human civilization.” W e
need to e xpand our sense of love beyond the personal, to its
social and political implications as well. Only in doing so will
we cast out darkness that now hangs lik e a specter above
the world. Living in the darkness, we ar e living in the
shadow. And in the shadow, suﬀering r eigns. IT MIGHT NOT BE REAL, BUT IT SURE L OOKS REAL
Sometimes you have a ﬁght with someone you love and you
can’t even believe it’s happening. It feels lik e a nightmar e.
You actually hear yourself saying, “This can’t be
happening!” And that’s because it isn’t—you ar e lost in a
parallel universe, a hallucination of separation and conﬂict. Years ago, I told myself not to wor ry about the Devil,
because that was all in my mind. And then I r emember what
happened ne xt. I simply stood ther e, stopped in my tracks
by the thought that, in fact, that was the worst place it
could possibly be. I’m not so much comforted by the idea
that ther e’s no Devil out ther e stalking the planet for my
soul, as stagger ed by the idea that ther e is an ever -present
tendency within my own thinking to per ceive without love
and thus mak e myself miserable. So wher e did this “tendency” come fr om? If God is love
and love only, and God is all-powerful, then how did a
counterfor ce ever come into being? The answer, metaphysically, is that actually it did not. Nothing but God’s love e xists, and in the wor ds of A Course
in Miracles,  “What is all-encompassing can have noopposite.” The operative r eason for how an illusory world
that actually does not exist but seems so str ongly to exist
came into being is the principle of fr ee will. We can think whatever we want to think. Our thoughts,
however, have power no matter what we think, because our
creative power comes fr om God. The law of cause and eﬀect
guarantees that we will e xperience the r esult of whatever it
is we choose to think. When we think with love, we ar e
cocreating with God and ther efore cocr eate mor e love. When we think without love, however, we manufactur e fear. What that means is that we have split minds. One part of us
dwells in the light, eter nally at one with God’s love. Y et
another part of us—a part most of ten aligned with the
mortal world—dwells in darkness. And that is the shadow
self. God doesn’t see the shadow because, not being love, it
does not actually e xist. Y et being all-love Himself, He
register ed our suﬀering when we fell into the darkness and
provided for us an instantaneous healing. In that moment,
He cr eated a loving alter native to our self -imposed insanity
and fear. This alter native is lik e a divine ambassador that
dwells with us in the world of darkness, always available to
lead us back to light, should we r equest it. This ambassador
has many names, fr om Thought A djuster to the Holy Spirit. For our purposes her e, we will call it the Illuminator. In A Course in Miracles,  it is said that we ar e not perfect or
that we would not have been bor n—but that it is our mission
to become per fect her e. It is our mission to transcend the
shadow and become our true self. The Illuminator acts as a
bridge between our shadow self and our light. It has been
empower ed by God to use all the for ces of heaven and earth
to lead us out of the darkness back into light. It does so ﬁrst
and for emost by r eminding us that the darkness is not r eal. When we ar e lost in the darkness, our gr eatest power lies in
calling on the Illuminator, whose task is to separate truth
from illusion. W e do this thr ough prayer, and thr oughwillingness. “I’m willing to see this diﬀer ently” is a sentence
that gives the Illuminator per mission to enter into our
thought system and lead us fr om insanity back to truth. A few years ago I went to visit a friend, who alr eady had
several close girlfriends at her home when I ar rived. One
woman in the gr oup had a manner of speaking that seemed
to me very grandiose, so much so that every time she spok e
I felt as if someone wer e running ﬁnger nails acr oss a
blackboar d. Obviously my mind was wild with judgment, as I
could not understand how someone could possibly be so
aﬀected in the way she spok e.
As a seek er on the path, I knew that the pr oblem was not
with the woman, but within myself—my own lack of
compassion. I inwar dly said a prayer and e xpressed my
willingness to see her diﬀer ently. Almost instantly, or so it
seemed


if	the	body	received	more	than	enough	calcium	foods	or	food	supplements,	a	shortage	of
bile	would	render	much	of	the	ingested	calcium	useless	for	bone	building	and	other
important	metabolic	processes. In	addition,	the	presence	of	gallstones	in	the	liver	raises
the	level	of	harmful	acids	in	the	blood,	some	of	which	are	neutralized	by	calcium	leached
from	the	bones	and	teeth. (Something	similar	happens	when	a	person	drinks	cow’s	milk. To	neutralize	the	high	phosphorus	concentration	of	ingested	milk,	the	body	uses	not	only
the	milk’s	calcium	but	also	calcium	from	the	bones	and	teeth. ) Eventually,	the	body’s	calcium	reserves	become	depleted,	diminishing	bone	density	or
bone	mass. This	may	lead	to	bone	and	hip	fractures	and	even	death. With	more	than	half
of	all	women	over	age	50	already	affected	by	osteoporosis	(albeit	only	in	industrialized
nations),	it	is	obvious	that	the	current	approach	of	taking	hormones	or	calcium
supplements	is	a	shot	in	the	dark;	it	in	no	way	addresses	the	imbalance	in	the	liver	and
gallbladder	caused	by	reduced	bile	output	due	to	gallstones. Rickets
	and
osteomalacia
	are	diseases	that	affect	the	calcification	process	of	bones. In
either	case,	the	bones	become	soft,	especially	those	of	the	lower	limbs,	which	are
bowed
by	the	weight	of	the	body. The	fat-soluble	vitamin	D,
calciferol,
	is	essential	for	balanced
calcium	and	phosphorus	metabolism	and,	therefore,	healthy	bone	structures. Insufficient
bile	secretion	and	disturbance	of	the	cholesterol	metabolism,	both	of	which	are	caused	by
gallstones	in	the	liver,	lead	to	vitamin	D	deficiency. Lack	of	sufficient	exposure	to	natural
sunlight	further	aggravates	these	conditions. Infection	of	bones,	or
osteomyelitis,
	may	result	when	there	has	been	a	prolonged
lymphatic	obstruction	in	the	body,	especially	in	or	around	bone	tissues. Consequently,
blood-borne	microbes	gain	unhindered	access	to	bones. As	mentioned	before,	infectious
microbes	only	attack	tissues	that	are	acidified,	weak,	unstable,	or	damaged. The	microbes
may	originate	from	gallstones,	a	tooth	abscess,	or	a	boil. Malignant	tumors
	of	the	bone	can	occur	when	lymphatic	congestion	in	the	body	and
the	bones,	especially,	has	reached	extreme	proportions. The	immune	system	is	depressed,
and	malignant	tumor	particles	from	the	breasts,	lungs,	or	prostate	gland	can	spread	to	or
develop	in	those	parts	of	the	bones	that	have	the	softest	tissue	and	are	more	prone	to
congestion	and	acidification,	that	is,	the	cancellous	bone. Bone	cancer	and	all	other
diseases	of	the	bone	indicate	lack	of	nourishment	of	bone	tissue. Such	diseases	usually
defy	treatment	unless	all	gallstones	in	the	liver	are	removed	and	all	other	organs	and
systems	of	elimination	are	cleared	of	any	existing	congestion	as	well. Disorders	of	the	Joints

Our	body	contains	three	types	of	joints:
fibrous
	or	fixed	joints,
cartilaginous
	or	slightly
movable	joints,	and
synovial
	or	freely	movable	joints. The	most	susceptible	to	disease	are
the	joints	of	the	hands,	feet,	knees,	shoulders,	elbows,	and	hips. Rheumatoid	arthritis,
osteoarthritis,
	and
gout
	are	among	the	most	commonly	found	joint	disorders. Most	people	stricken	with	rheumatoid	arthritis	have	a	long	history	of	intestinal
complaints:
bloating,	flatulence,	heartburn,	belching,	constipation,	diarrhea,	coldness
and	swelling	of	hands	and	feet,	increased	perspiration,	general	fatigue,	loss	of
appetite,	weight	reduction,
	and	more. It	is	reasonable,	therefore,	to	conclude	that
rheumatoid	arthritis	is	linked	with	any	of	these,	or	similar,	symptoms	of	major	intestinal
and	metabolic	disturbances. I	have	personally	experienced	all	the	symptoms	mentioned
above	when	I	suffered	painful	bouts	of	juvenile	rheumatoid	arthritis	during	my	childhood
years. The	GI	tract	is	constantly	exposed	to	a	large	number	of	viruses,	bacteria,	and	parasites. In	addition	to	the	many
antigens
	(foreign	materials)	contained	in	foods,	the	digestive
system	may	also	have	to	deal	with	insecticides,	pesticides,	hormones,	antibiotic	residues,
preservatives,	and	colorings	contained	in	so	many	foodstuffs	today,	as	well	as	some	large-
molecule	drugs	such	as	penicillin. Possible	antigens	include	pollen	from	flowers,	plants,
plant	antibodies,	fungi,	bacteria,	and	the	like. It	is	the	task	of	the	immune	system,	most	of
which	is	located	in	the	intestinal	wall,	to	protect	us	against	all	these	potentially	harmful
invaders	and	substances. To	be	able	to	accomplish	this	task	every	day,	both	the	digestive
and	lymphatic	systems	must	remain	unobstructed	and	efficient. Gallstones	in	the	liver
seriously	disturb	the	digestive	process,	which	leads	to	an	overload	of	toxic	substances	in
the	blood	and	lymph,	as	mentioned	above	(see	“
Disorders	of	the	Circulatory	System
”). Doctors	consider
arthritis
	an
autoimmune	disease
	affecting	the	synovial	membrane. Autoimmunity,	a	condition	in	which	the	immune	system	develops	immunity	to	its	own
cells,	results	when	antigen/antibody	complexes	(
rheumatoid	factors
)	are	formed	in	the
blood. Naturally,	the	B-lymphocytes	(immune	cells)	in	the	intestinal	wall	become
stimulated	and	produce	antibodies	(
immunoglobulins
)	when	coming	into	contact	with
these	antigens. The	immune	cells	circulate	in	the	blood,	and	some	settle	in	the	lymph
nodes,	spleen,	mucus	membranes	of	the	salivary	glands,	lymphatic	system	of	the	bronchial
tubes,	vagina	or	uterus,	milk-producing	mammary	glands	of	the	breasts,	and	capsular
tissues	of	the	joints. If	there	is	repeated	exposure	to	the	same	types	of	toxic	antigens,	antibody	production
will	increase	dramatically,	particularly	in	areas	where	immune	cells	have	settled	becauseof	a	previous	encounter	with	the	invaders. These	harmful	antigens	may	consist	of	protein
particles	from	putrefying	animal	foods,	for	example. In	such	a	case,	intense	microbial
activity	can	occur. The	new	encounter	with	the	antigens	raises	the	level	of
antigen/antibody	complexes	in	the	blood	and	upsets	the	fine	balance	that	exists	between
the	immune	reaction	and	its	suppression. Autoimmune	diseases,	which	indicate	an
extremely	high	level	of	toxicity	in	the	body,	directly	result	from	a	disturbance	of	this
balance. If	antibody	production	is	continually	high	in	synovial	joints,	inflammation
becomes	chronic,	leading	to	gradually	increasing	deformity,	pain,	and	loss	of	function. The	overuse	of	the	immune	system	leads	to
self-destruction
	in	the	body. If	this	form	of
self-destruction	occurs	in	nerve	tissue,	it


 his being a good
politician. But part of the decay of our social or der has come
about because we ar e gover ned by so many people who ar e
politicians rather than leaders. L yndon Johnson was a gr eat
politician but not much of a leader. John K ennedy was a
great leader but not much of a politician. The str ength of a
positive vision for America, thr ough its inspirational eﬀects
on all the people who want desperately to see our nation
healed, will do mor e to get someone elected than any
amount of conventional politicking. It will touch our hearts. I told my friend that the k ey to a successful campaign
would be to sur render the campaign to the Holy Spirit and
ask that it be used as an instrument of His peace. My friend
said that sounded gr eat, but he needed to ﬁgur e out how to
do that. I told him he didn’t have to ﬁgur e out anything. “ All
you have to do is to be willing,” I told him, “and the Holy
Spirit will enter wher e He is invited. Y ou’ll be brilliant. Y ou’ll
be charismatic. Don’t try to ﬁgur e out your message; just
ask God what He would have you say. Step back and let Him
lead the way.”
A silent prayer befor e every speech and every political
appearance would help bring his ener gies in line with truth. Once I accompanied him to a political rally, and in the car
on the way, he shar ed with me some understandable
judgments of certain people who would be ther e. “Pray that
your per ceptions be healed,” I said to him as we walk ed into
the building. “Y our goal is to lead us into a compassionate
society, but you can’t give what you don’t have. Start by
being compassionate towar ds the people at this rally. As
your mind is healed, its eﬀect on others will be automatic. You won’t even have to think about what to say. The perfect
words will come right out, because love will guide your
mind.” That’s what it would mean to let God run his
campaign.And so it is with any business. Befor e the meeting, or the
interview or the session, or whatever, try saying this prayer :
“Dear God, I sur render this situation to you. May it be
used for your purposes. I ask only that my heart be open to
give love and to r eceive love. May all the r esults unfold
accor ding to your will. Amen.” Whatever you do, do it for
God. We are strong enough to do any job He asks us to do. Don’t be concer ned about your own r eadiness, says the
Course, but be consistently awar e of His. It is not you doing
the work, but the spirit who is within you. F orgetting this
causes fear. A Course in Miracles  says that the pr esence of
fear is a sur e sign we’r e trusting in our own str ength. “If you
are trusting in your own str ength, you have every r eason to
be appr ehensive, anxious and fearful.” Of ourselves, none of
us have the capacity to work miracles. W ith ‘the power that
is in us but not of us,’ however, ther e is nothing we can not
do. 9. SALES TO SERVICE
“Love would always give incr ease.”
When we ar e motivated by the desir e to sell, we ar e only
looking out for ourselves. When we ar e motivated by the
desir e to serve, we ar e looking out for others. Miracles shif t
us from a sales to a service mentality. Since in the r ealm of
consciousness we only get to k eep what we give away, a
service mentality is a far mor e abundant attitude.”
The thought system that dominates our cultur e is laced
with selﬁsh values, and r elinquishing those values is a lot
easier said than done. The jour ney to a pur e heart can behighly disorienting. F or years we may have work ed for
power, money and pr estige. Now all of a sudden we’ve
learned that those ar e just the values of a dying world. W e
don’t know wher e to sear ch for motivation anymor e. If we’r e
not working in or der to get rich, then why ar e we working at
all? What ar e we supposed to do all day? Just sit home and
watch TV? Not at all, but thinking so is a temporary phase many
people go thr ough—when the values of the old world no
longer have a hold on us, but the values of the new don’t
yet grab your soul. They will. Ther e comes a time, not too
long into the jour ney to God, when the r ealization that the
world could work beautifully if we would give it the chance,
begins to e xcite us. It becomes our new motivation. The
news isn’t how bad things ar e. The news is how good they
could be. And our own activity could be part of the unfolding
of Heaven on earth. Ther e is no mor e powerful motivation
than to feel we’r e being used in the cr eation of a world
wher e love has healed all wounds. We are no longer ambitious for ourselves, but ar e rather
inspir ed by the vision of a healed world. Inspiration
rearranges our ener gies. It sour ces within us a new power
and dir ection. W e no longer feel lik e we’r e trying to car ry a
football to the ﬁnish line, clutching it to our chest and
surrounded by hostile for ces. W e feel instead as though
angels ar e pushing us fr om behind and making straight our
path as we go. Purity of heart will not mak e us poor. The e xaltation of
poverty as a spiritual virtue is of the ego, not the spirit. A
person acting fr om a motivation of contribution and service
rises to such a level of moral authority, that worldly success
is a natural r esult.Give all your gif ts away in service to the world. If you
want to paint, don’t wait for a grant. P aint a wall in your
town that looks drab and uninviting. Y ou never know who’s
going to see that wall. Whatever it is you want to do, give it
away in service to your community. At my lectur es in L os
Angeles, I gr ew so tir ed of hearing actors moan about not
getting jobs. “ Go to hospitals, to r etirement homes, to
mental institutions,” I said. “Ther e was acting befor e ther e
were acting jobs. If you want to act, act.” Some people who
heard me for med a gr oup called the Miracle Players, and
they did just that. “I don’t want to do it because I can’t mak e a living doing
it,” is a very weak beam to send into the universe. I lectur ed
on A Course in Miracles  for at least two years befor e it
became the sour ce of my income. When I started lecturing, I
had no idea it would become my pr ofession. Some things
you do for no other r eason than because they’r e the right
thing to do. “I’ll do this because it serves, even if I’m not
paid,” is a very high beam. It says to the universe that you
must be very serious. And when you get serious about the
universe, the universe gets serious about you. I never felt the need to advertise much for my lectur es. I
ﬁgured if they wer e of genuine inter est to people, then
people would hear about them. That’s not to say that
advertising is bad, as long as the motivation for advertising
is to infor m people as opposed to manipulating them. Ar nold
Patent wr ote that if you genuinely have something to say,
there is someone who genuinely needs to hear it. W e don’t
have to invent an audience so much as we have to hone the
message we plan to give them once they get her e. Serving
three people is as important as serving thr ee hundr ed. Once
we’re clear about how to deal with a small following, a lar ge
following will develop automatically, if that would serve the
world. Our power lies in our clarity about the r ole our workcan play in the cr eation of a mor e beautiful world. The
miracle is to think of our car eer as our contribution, however
small, to the healing of the universe. The ego’s world is based on ﬁnite r esour ces, but God’s
world is not. In God’s world, which is the r eal world, the
more we give, the mor e we have. Our having a piece of the
world’s pie doesn’t mean ther e’s less for anyone else, and
someone else having a piece of the pie doesn’t mean
there’s less for us. So we needn’t compete, in business or
anywher e else. Our gener


 force of your own
aggression as you attack the other person’ s position. Obs erve the
attachment to your views and opinions. Feel the mental-emotional
ener gy b ehind y our need to be right and make the other person wrong. That’ s t he ener gy of the egoic mind. Y ou make it conscious by
acknowledging it, by feeling it as fully as possible. Then one day, in the
middle of an ar gument, you will suddenly realize that you have a choice,
and you may decide to drop your own reaction — just to see whathappens. Y ou surrender. I don’ t mean dropping the reaction just verbally
by sayin g, “Oka y, you are right,” with a look on your face that says, “I
am above all th is childish unconsciousness.” That’ s just displa cing the
resistance to another level, with the egoic mind still in char ge, claiming
superiority. I am speaking of le tting go of the entire mental-e motional
ener gy field inside you that was fighting for power. The ego is cunning, so you have to be very alert, very present, and totally
honest w ith yourself to see wh ether you have truly relinquished your
identification with a mental position and so freed yourself from your
mind. If you sud denly feel very light, clear, and deeply at peace, that is
an u nmistakable  sign that you have truly surrendered. Then obse rve what
happens to the o ther person’ s mental position as you no longer ener gize
it throug h resistance. When identification with mental positions is out of
the way, true communication begins. What ab out nonr esistance in the face of violence, aggr ession, and the
like? Nonresistance d oesn’ t necessarily mean doing nothing. All it means is
that any “doing” becomes nonreactive. Remember the deep wisdom
underlying the practice of E astern martial arts: Don’ t resist the
opponent’ s force. Y ield to overcome. Having said that, “doing nothing” when you are in a state of intense
presence is a v ery powerful transformer and healer of situations and
people. In T aoism, there is a term called wu wei, wh ich is usually
translated as “actionless activity ” or “sitting quietly doing nothing.” In
ancient China, this was regarded as one of the highest achievements or
virtues. It is radically dif ferent from inactivity in the ordinary state of
consciousness, or rather unconsciousness, which stems from fear, inertia,
or in decision. The real “doing nothing” implies inner nonresistance and
intense alertness. On t he other ha nd, if action is required, you will no longer re act from
your conditioned mind, but you will respond to the situation out of yourconscious presence. In that state, your mind is free of concepts, i ncluding
the concept of non-violence. So who can predict what you will do? The ego believes that in your r esistance lies your strength, whereas in
truth resistance cuts you of f from Being, the only place of true power. Resistance is weakness and fear masquerading as strength. What the ego
sees as weaknes s is your Being in its purity, innocence, and power. What
it se es as stren gth is weakness. So the ego exists in a continuous
resistance-mode and plays counterfeit roles to cover up your “weakness,”
which in truth is your power. Until the re is surrender, unconsc ious role-playing constitutes a lar ge part
of h uman interaction. In surrend er, you no longer need ego defenses and
false masks. Y ou become very simple, very real. “That’ s dangerous,”
says the ego. “Y ou’ll get hurt. Y ou’ll become vulnerable.” What the ego
doesn’ t know, of course, is that only through the letting go of resistance,
through becomin g “vulnerable,”  can you discover your true and essential
invulnerability. TRANSFORMING ILLNESS INT O ENLIGHTENMENT
If someo ne is seriously ill and completely accepts their cond ition and
surr enders to the illness, would  they not have given up their w ill to get
back to health? The determinati on to fight the illness would not be ther e
anymor e, would it? Surrender is inner acceptance of what is  without any reservations. W e are
talking about your life  — this instant — not the conditions or
circumstances o f your life, not what I call your life situation. W e have
spoken about this already. W ith reg ard to illness, this is w hat it means. Illness is part of your life
situation. As such, it has a past and a future. Past and future form an
uninterrupted co ntinuum, unles s the redeeming power of the  Now is
activated through your consciou s presence. As you know, underneath the
various conditio ns that make up your life situation, which exists in time,
there is somethi ng deeper, more essential: your Life, your very Being in
the timeless Now.As there are no problems in the Now, there is no illness either. The belief
in a labe l that someone attaches  to your condition keeps the condition in
place, empower s it, and makes a seemingly solid reality out of a
temporary imba lance. It gives i t not only reality and solidity but also a
continuity in time that it did not  have before. By focusing on this instant
and refr aining from labeling it mentally, illness is reduced to one or
several of these factors: physical pain, weakness, discomfort, or
disability. That  i s what you sur render to — now. Y ou do not surrender to
the idea of “illness.” Allow the suf fering to force you into the present
moment, into a state of int ense conscious presence. Use it for
enlightenment. Surrender does not transform what is, a t least not d irectly. Surrende r
transforms you. When you  are transformed, your whole world is
transformed, because the world is only a reflection. W e spoke about this
earlier. If you looked in the mirror and did not like what you saw, you would
have to be mad to attack the image in the mirror. That is precisely what
you do when you are in a state of nonacceptance. And, of course, if you
attack the image, it attacks you back. If you accept the image, no matter
what it is, if you become frie ndly toward it, it cannot not  become
friendly toward you. This is how you change the world. Illness is not the problem. Y ou  are the problem  — as long as the egoic
mind is in control. When you are ill or disabled, do not feel that you have
failed in some w ay, do not feel guilty. Do not blame life for trea ting you
unfairly, but do not blame yourself either. All that is resistance. If you
have a major illness, use it for enlightenment. Anything “bad” that
happens in your life — use it for enlightenment. W ithdraw time  from the
illness. Do not give it any past  or future. Let it force you into intense
present-moment awareness — and see what happens. Become an alchemist. T ransmute base metal into gold, suf fering into
consciousness, disaster into enlightenment. Are you seriously ill and feeling  angry now about what I have j ust said? Then that is a clear sign that the  illness has become part of your sense of
self and that you are now protecting your identity — as well asprotecting the illness. The cond ition that is labeled “illness” has  nothing
to do with who you truly are. WHEN DISASTER STRIKES
As far as the sti ll unconscious majority of the population is co ncerned,
only a critical limit-situation ha s the potential to crack the hard shell of
the ego and force them into surr ender and so into the awakened  state. A
limit-situation arises when through some disaster, drastic upheaval, deep
loss, or suf fering your whole world is s hattered and doesn’ t make sense
anymore. It is an encounter with death, be it physical or psych ological. The egoic mind, the creator of t his world, collapses. Out of the  ashes of
the old world, a new world can then come into being. There is  no guarantee, of course, that even a limit-situation will do it, but
the potential is always there. Some people’ s resistance to what is  even
intensifies in such a situation, and so it becomes a descent into hell. In
others, t here may only be partial  surrender, but even that will give them a
certain depth and serenity that were not there before. Parts of the ego
shell bre ak of f, and this allows small amounts of the radiance a nd peace
that lie beyond the mind to shine through. Limit-situations have produced many miracles. There ha ve been
murderers on death row waiting for execution who, in the last few hours
of their lives, experienced the egoless state and the deep joy and peace
that come


 marjoram and/or thyme and bake in a low oven
1-2 hours or until done. Potatoes and Carr ots, W estphalian Style
6-8 small carrot s sliced or 4-5 large carrots sliced, 3 medium potatoes or
2 large potatoes, 1 lar ge onion, and 3-4 tbsp of soup stock. Wash and slice carrots into pan. Peel and slice potatoes and chop onion. Add all together in pan with soup stock. Let simmer until done, adding a bit more soup stock if necessary. When done, no water should remain in pan. Red Cabbage
Combine in pan: ½ cabbage shredded, 3 tsp vinegar, 3 large chopped
onions, 2 bay leaves, and a little soup stock. Stew over low heat approximately ½ hour. Last half hour add: 3 apples peeled and grated plus 1 tsp raw sugar. Spinach
After cutting of f roots wash 3-4 times. Put in large, tightly covered pot that has a layer of onions on the bottom
of the pan. Do not add water. Stew over a low flame until spinach wilts. Pour of f excess juice. Serve chopped with slice of lemon. Stuffed Holiday SquashYN
1 large kabocha squash (about 4½ lbs), ¾ cup raw brown rice, ¼ cup raw
wild rice, rye or wheat berries, or more brown rice, 2½ cups vegetable stock
or purified water, 1 cup onion diced, 3 cloves garlic minced, 1½ cup fresh
peas shelled, or sprouted lentils, ¾ cup celery diced, ¾ cup yellow or red
bell pepper diced, ½ cup unsu lphured raisins or prunes (pit prunes andchop), 1 tsp each of sage and savory, 2 tsp thyme,
  cup fresh parsley
finely chopped, and ¼ cup fresh orange juice. Yvonne Nienstadt says: “I love the texture and taste of this Japanese
squash. It’s very meaty and sweet, but you could use pumpkin, turban, or
acorn squash too (cut the latter in half and seed). You may also use 2 or 3
smaller -sized squashes rather than a large one. This makes a very attractive
presentation, especially if the squash are of dif ferent sizes. ”
Cook rice and wild rice together in vegetable stock for 45 minutes or
until rice is done. Using stock to cook the grain adds both nutrition and flavor. Just save your vegetable trimmings, for carrots, parsnips, chard stems or
greens, celery, celery root, onion all work well. Avoid cabbage family veggies as they impart a strong flavor. Cover with pure water and simmer until done. Use in soups, to make sauces or what have you. Carefully cut the top off of the squash as you would when carving a
pumpkin. Remove seeds. Place squash face down on baking pan together with the squash lid and
prebake for 25 to 30 minutes in a 350° F oven. Take care not to overcook; a mushy squash cannot be stuf fed. Place onion, garlic, peas, and celery in a pot and cook on low for 20
minutes to barely tenderize. Add diced pepper, raisins, herbs, citrus juice, and cooked rice, mixing
well. Fill squash with stuf fing, packing it down. Return to oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until squash is tender, but
still firm. If there is extra filling, bake in a covered casserole with a tablespoon of
stock or juice, or fill a bell pepper or two and do the same. To serve, arrange a platter with fresh kale or other leafy greens. Place squash in center of platter and artistically prop squash lid up
against squash. Spoon out each helping, making sure to get some of the delicious squash
meat. Alternatively, if squash is cooled  a bit before serving, it may be sliced in
wedges. Ladle Parsley Yogurt Sauce (see recipe below under Sauces and Dips)
over each portion, if dairy is allowed; otherwise, a squeeze of orange juice
adds a bit of zing. Enjoy. Stuffed SquashYN
3-4 acorn squash, ½ cup onion diced, ½ cup celery diced, ½ cup carrot
diced, 1¼ cup cooked brown rice, ½ cup lentils sprouted, ¼ cup raisins or
chopped prunes soaked and drained, 3 tsp fresh parsley minced, ½ tsp
rubbed sage, ½ tsp thyme, and 1 lar ge clove of garlic crushed. Slice squash lengthwise and remove seeds. Combine remaining ingredients; fill squash halves. Cover and bake at 300–325° F for 1½ hours, or until squash is tender. Delicious with Apricot Sauce or Golden Gravy (see under Sauces and
Dips). Try using 6–8 whole cloves garlic for a delicious mild flavor. Crushing
the fresh  garlic releases its strong aromatic oils, whereas using garlic uncut
imparts a very mild flavor. Stir-Steamed Snow Peas Medley*
1 lb snow peas, 1 bunch bok choy, 1 medium zucchini, 1 medium
crookneck yello w squash, 1 small red onion, 1 carrot, 1 leek, 1 cup orange
juice, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp vinegar, and 1 tsp of allspice. Clean all vegetables, removing stem from snow peas, slicing white stalk
and green leaf of bok choy into strips, slicing yellow squash lengthwise and
then into half circles. You can make attractive planks out of the zucchini by trimming off each
end, and then cutting in half, then half again. Stand each barrel of squash on end and slice down into
 " planks. Dice red onion, then slice carrot s oriental style as thin as possible at a 45-
degree angle into ovals. Slice leek in similar fashion across stalk into ovals. Put orange juice, honey, allspice, and vinegar into a blender, then pour
into a suitable-sized steam pot. Cover with all the vegetables and simmer 15–20 minutes until tender. Very succulent. String Beans
1 lb green beans (cut tips, wash, and cut into any size piece desired). Add: 1 onion chopped, some soup stock (just enough to keep beans
moist). Stew approximately 50 minutes (until tender). Sweet Potato
Cut of f tips and wash. Perforate potato with knife to let steam escape and place in casserole
(covered for soft skin, uncovered for crisp skin). Bake in low oven for 2 to 2½ hours. Tomatoes, Grilled
Slice tomatoes in half. Put in pan, sliced side up, and cover each half with chopped onions. Bake in a low oven 1 hour. Save juice to put into soup. Green T omato Mincemeat
1 qt green tomatoes, 2 oz golden raisins, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup
water, 2 oz seeded raisins, ¼ tsp cloves, ¼ cup wine vinegar, along with 1
pt of tart apples. Put tomatoes through coarse chopper. Combine all ingredients except apples. Heat to tender about 30 minutes, stirring. Add chopped apples and cook until thick. Tomatoes Stuffed with Mixed V egetables
4 tomatoes (hollowed out as the vessel), vegetables: a variety, as much as
desired, 2 tomatoes and 6 garlic cloves (the sauce). Wash tomatoes well. Hollow out the 4 tomatoes. Cut the vegetab les into small pieces and boil in a little water for half an
hour. Put cook ed vege tables in the tomatoes and place them in a baking dish
without the lid. In the blender, blend the 2 tomatoes and garlic. Spread sauce on top of each tomato. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn it of f and put tomatoes in for another 10 minutes. Zucchini
Combine: sliced  zucchini, raw chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, and a
touch of soup stock. Stew for 20 minutes or cut squash into small pieces and place in a baking
dish. In the blender, blend the tomatoes, onion, and 4 garlic cloves. Pour sauce over squash and bake 1½ hours at 200–250° F. Zucchini and Rice
½ lb or ganic brown rice, 1 carrot, 1 zucchini, and 2 garlic cloves. Wash the rice and vegetables well. Put rice in a baking dish and add chopped up parsley, carrot, celery, and
zucchini squash. At the same time blend tomato  and garlic in the blender and spread on
top of the rice and vegetables. Bake in the oven for 1½ hours at 250°F. Zucchini and T omatoesSD6 small zucchini sliced, 1 mediu m or large onion chopped, 2-3 tomatoes
chopped, plus garlic and herbs to taste (thyme, mace, marjoram). Saute onion, tomatoes, and seasonings in a little water. Add zucchini when half done, and simmer. Serve as a vegetable or potato topping. Spaghetti with BeetballsYN
Wash I medium spaghetti squash and cut in half. Scoop out seeds and place cut side down on baking sheet. Bake in low oven for 2 hours or until tender. Or, place cut side up in a large covered pot with 1” water and steam over
low flame for 1 hour


 as one” means the day will come when they
will no longer exist as two separate states. Our thoughts will be purified of
fear, so our planet will be purif ied of fear as well. That is our destiny; we
will get there through wisdom or we will get there through pain. How long
it will take, and how much suffering we will have to go through first, is
entirely up to us. But our healin g is foreordained, because God’ s Will has
never not been done.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Guilt is the corne rstone of the ego’s thought system, just as
innocence is the cornerstone of the Holy Spirit’ s. In projecting guilt onto someon e else, we are attacking ourselv es. Like
an autoimmune disease, the ego insanely attacks that which we are meant to
bless. Given that the power of the mind is literally infinite, it becomes an
instrument of mass destruction more powerful than any we can imagine. I remember having dinner with my daughter when she was about ten
years old. I don’t know how the topic came up, but somehow there was a
mention of nuclear bombs. I remember her putting her little head in her
hands and saying with great intensity, “The fact that they exist is insane. ”
She said it with a moral clarity  that only a child can express—simple
and unequivocal. There were not yet mitigating factors, complicated
justifications, or any excuses whatsoever that could veil the absolute truth
in her mind. And she was right. The issue is not that nuclear bombs are good or bad. The issue is that
they are insane. Given  that enough of them  could destroy human
civilization as we know it, or possibly even the species for at least a fewhundred thousand years, the very fact that they exist is an example of how
humanity crucifi es itself. When Gandhi said that the problem of the world is
that humanity is not in its right mind, he was right. Yet we can choo se again. We can be as vigilant against the ego as for it. The resurrection  having already been accomplished, the issue is whether or
not we choose to claim it. Resurrection is a choice. We live in a world in which crucifixion is given more respect than love. We have more faith in the powe r of cancer to kill us than we have in God to
heal us. How much more attention and resources are given to those who
know how to wage war and manufacture the means to do it, than to those
who know how to wage peace and build thriving communities. We literally
give more respe ct to fear than to love. Our collective ego uses all manner of
pseudosophistication to obscure its real intentions. The way of resurrection
is available; it’ s simply too often unchosen. Jesus having already broken the spell of darkness, the resurrection is
now an established fact in the ethers of human consciousness. It’s like a
superpower we just leave lying  on the sidewalk. Saying we believe in the
resurrection yet refusing to live its message, we simply mock Jesus as he
was mocked before. And what is our resistance. Why, with so many professing our desire to
love and to be loved, do we so often not. Surely it is not because love is
unreasonable. According to A Cours e in Miracles, love restores reason and
not the other way around. No, our resistance is about some thing deeper than that. Our resistance is
the fact that the one thing we find scarier than death is the prospect of
having to change. Some people would rather die than change their mind*
(MT-51). If Jesus is real, if he is alive and his power is available to us, then
basically everyth ing we’ve ever been taught about the world is untrue. And
that’s true—but also terrifying to the ego. The ego is terrified of love, and our identification with ego has made us
terrified of love too. The belief that we are separate is so ingrai ned into our
thought system that we fear annihilation without it. That’ s because to the
ego, love is annihilation. Those who profess love as the cure to the world’ s ailments are so often
deemed “not in touch with reality. ” The reality we don’t choose  to be in
touch with is a reality that will kill us all. Even more significantly than that,the ego’s reality isn’t even ultimate reality. Humanity is awakeni ng from the
real to the Real. From climate change that could  make the planet uninhabitable for most
people, to prospects of nuclear disaster, our current way of living on this
planet is a slow-moving crucifixion of the human race. But the story isn’ t over.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the core of the ego's thought system?,
A: Guilt
Q: What is the ultimate goal of the resurrection?,
A: To transform and resurrect ourselves, and in doing so, to transform the world
Q: According to the text, what is the power of the mind?,
A: Infinite
Q: What is the significance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus?,
A: To demonstrate the power of love and forgiveness, and to show that it is possible to overcome fear and darkness
Q: What is the ultimate goal of the Course in Miracles?,
A: To awaken humanity to the reality of their oneness and guide them towards a path of redemption and transformation.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>“If I am with you in the loneliness of the world, the
loneliness is gone”* (T -144). I have borne witness to much agony in my life. I have sat at many
deathbeds. I have held parents in my arms who just saw their child take
their last breath. I have seen, and I have experienced, the torture of
heartbreak. Yet in the lives of others, as in my own life as well, I have seen
deep darkness turn into light. I have seen hope again in the eyes of thosewho form erly had none. I have seen how the universe operates. I have seen
the glory of God. We came from love and shall return to love. There is no question this
will happen after we die, but the bigger point is, we can go there now. We
don’t have to wait until death to experience the deathless. Our eyes can be
reopened, right here, right now. Where the mystic Jesus is made welcome, there he is. OceanofPDF.comAcknowledgments
W RITING IS VER Y private, but it can take a lot of people to make a writer ’s
work possible. I am deeply grateful to the people who have done this for
me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... To Andr ea Cagan, who once again became my muse when the words
were in me but I couldn’ t find them. To Robert Perry, who generousl y lent me his brilliance and insight into
A Course in Miracles. To Emil y Bennington, whose gracious work with Robert at the Circle of
Atonement lent insight and direction. To Laure n Selsky, Cathy Parr, Cindy Alvarado, Gina Vucci, Debo Grim,
and Tammy Brenizer, for handli ng with excellence and grace the world that
swirled around me as I wrote. To Ellis Levine, for continuing to guide my publishing career. To Tamm y Vogsland, for making sure my world didn’ t fall apart as I
wrote. To Gabriella Page-Fort, who showed great care and generosity in
bringing the book to completion. To assistant editor Ryan Amato, production editor Lisa Zuniga,
copyeditor Cathy Cambron, interior designer Leah Carlson-Stan isic, interior
design manager  Yvonne Chan, and cover designer Stephen Brayda. To
marketer Julia Kent, publicists Courtney Nobile  and Alison Cerri, deputy
publisher Laina Adler, and publisher Judith Curr. Thanks to all of you for
doing such a wonderful job.To my daughter, India, my greatest blessing. And to Mickey Maudlin for the years of wise direction, for giving me
the chance to write this book, and believing that I could. OceanofPDF.comAbout the Author
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON  is an internation ally acclaimed lecturer and
New York Times bestselling author with fourteen  published books, including
A Return to Love. She has been a popular guest on a number of television
programs, including Oprah, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and
Charlie Rose. Williamson is the founder of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-
wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los
Angeles area. She is a native of Houston, Texas. Discover great authors, exclusive of fers, and more at hc.com. OceanofPDF.comPraise for Marianne Williamson’ s A
Return to Love
“Marianne Williamson’ s book is a classic. She reveals, with
elegant simplicity, that love is not a mere sentiment of emotion, but the
ultimate truth at the heart of creation.”
—Deepak Chopra, MD
“With this gutsy book Marianne Williamson has single-hande dly
ushered in a powerful spiritual renewal. I wholeheartedly recommend
your reading it.”
—John Bradshaw, author of Homecoming: Reclaiming and
Championing Y our Inner Child  and Creating Love: The Next


 with me, and in the morning I shall be filled with life  and
love. A circle of love is drawn around me. I will fear no evil, for Thou
art with me. I sleep in peace, I wake in joy, and in Him I live, move,
and have my being´
• Summary of your aids to the wonders of sleep
1. If you are worried that you will not wake up on time, sug-gest  to
your subconscious mind prior to sleep the exact time you wish to
arise, and it will awaken you. It needs no clock. Do the same thing
with all problems. There is nothing too hard for your subconscious. 2. Your subconscious never sleeps. It is always on the job. It
controls all your vital functions. Forgive yourself and every-one  else
before you go to sleep, and healing will take place much more rapidly. 3. Guidance is given you while you are asleep, sometimes in a
dream. The healing currents are also released, and in the morning you
feel refreshed and rejuvenated. 4. When troubled by the vexations and strife of the day, still the
wheels of your mind and think about the wisdom and intelligence
lodged in your subconscious mind, which is ready to respond to you. This will give you peace, strength, and confidence. 145  5. Sleep is essential for peace of mind and health of body. La ck of
sleep can cause irritation, depression, and mental disorders. You need
eight hours’ sleep. 6. Medical research scholars point out that insomnia precedes
psychotic breakdowns. 7. You are spiritually recharged during sleep. Adequate sleep is
essential for joy and vitality in life. 8. Your tired brain craves sleep so hungrily that it will sacr i-fice
anything to get it. Many who have fallen asleep at the wheel of  an
automobile can testify to this. 9. Many sleep-deprived people have poor memories and lack pro per
coordination. They become befuddled, confused, and disorientated. 10. Sleep brings counsel. Prior to sleep, claim that the in finite
intelligence of your subconscious mind is guiding and di-recting  you. Then, watch for the lead, which comes, perhaps on awakening. 11. Trust your subconscious completely. Know that its tendency is
always lifeward. Occasionally, your subconscious answers you i n a
very vivid dream and a vision in the night. You can be forewarned in a
dream in the same way as the author of this book was warned. 12. Your future is in your mind now, based on your habitual
thinking and beliefs. Claim infinite intelligence leads and guide s you
and that all good is yours, and your future will be wonderful. Beli eve
it and accept it. Expect the best, and invariably the best will come to
you. 13. If you are writing a novel, play, or book, or are working on an
invention, speak to your subconscious mind at night and claim boldly
that its wisdom, intelligence, and power are guiding, directing, a nd
revealing to you the ideal play, novel, book, or revealing the p erfect
solution whatever it may be. Wonders will happen as you pray thi s
way. 146  14
Your Subconscious Mind and Marital
Problems
Ignorance of the functions and powers of the mind is the cause of al l
marital trouble. Each using the law of mind correctly can so lve
friction between husband and wife. By praying together they stay
together. The contemplation of divine ideals, the study of the  laws of
life, the mutual agreement on a common purpose and plan, and the
enjoyment of personal freedom bring about that harmonious marria ge,
that wedded bliss, that sense of oneness where the two become one. The best time to prevent divorce is before marriage. It is  not wrong
to try to get out of a very bad situation. But, why get into the bad
situation in the first place. Would it not be better to give attention to
the real cause of marital problems, in other words, to reall y get at the
root of the matter involved. As with all other problems of men and women, the prob-lems of
divorce, separation, annulment, and endless litigation are directly
traceable to lack of knowledge of the working and interrelations hip of
the conscious and subconscious mind. • The meaning of marriage
Marriage to be real must first be on a spiritual basis. It must be of
the heart, and the heart is the chalice of love. Honesty, sincerit y,
kindness, and integrity are also forms of love. Each partner should be
perfectly honest and sincere with the other. It is not a true marriage
when a man marries a woman for her money, social position, or to lift
his ego, because this indicates a lack of sincerity, honesty, a nd true
love. Such a marriage is a farce, a sham, and a masquerade. When a woman says, “I am tired working; I want to get marri ed
because I want security,” her premise is false. She is not  using the
laws of mind correctly. Her security depends upon her knowledg e of
 147  the interaction of the conscious and subconscious mind and its
application. For example, a woman will never lack for wealth or health if she
applies the techniques outlined in the respective chapters o f this book. Her wealth can come to her independent of her husband, father, or
anyone else. A woman is not dependent on her husband for health,
peace, joy, inspiration, guidance, love, wealth, security, happiness, or
anything in the world. Her security and peace of mind come fr om her
knowledge of the inner powers within her and from the constant use of
the laws of her own mind in a constructive fashion. • How to attract the ideal husband
You are now acquainted with the way your subconscious mind
works. You know that whatever you impress upon it will be
experienced in your world. Begin now to impress your sub-conscious
mind with the qualities and characteristics you desire in a man. The following is an excellent technique: Sit down at night in your
armchair, close your eyes, let go, relax the body, become very quiet,
passive, and receptive. Talk to your subconscious mind and say t o it,
“I am now attracting a man into my ex-perience who is honest,
sincere, loyal, faithful, peaceful, happy, and prosperous. These
qualities, which I admire, are sinking down into my subconscious
mind now. As I dwell upon these characteristics, they become  a part
of me and are embodied subconsciously. “I know there is an irresistible law of attraction and that I attract to
me a man according to my subconscious belief. I at-tract that  which I
feel to be true in my subconscious mind. “I know I can contribute to his peace and happiness. He loves m y
ideals, and I love his ideals. He does not want to make me ove r;
neither do I want to make him over. There is mutual love, freedom,
and respect. ”
Practice this process of impregnating your subconscious mind. Then, you will have the joy of attracting to you a man possessing  the
 148  qualities and characteristics you mentally dwelt upon. Your
subconscious intelligence will open up a pathway, whereby both of
you will meet, according to the irresistible and changeless  flow of
your own subconscious mind. Have a keen desire to give the best that
is in you of love, devotion, and co-operation. Be receptive to this gift of love, which you have given to your
subconscious mind. • How to attract the ideal wife
Affirm as follows: “I now attract the right woman who is in
complete accord with me. This is a spiritual union because i t is divine
love functioning through the personality of someone with whom I
blend perfectly. I know I can give to this woman love, light, pea ce,
and joy. I feel and believe I can make this woman’s life full, complete,
and wonderful. “I now decree that she possesses the following
qualities  and attributes: She is spiritual, loyal, faithful, and true. She
is har-monious, peaceful, and happy. We are irresistibly at tracted to
each other. Only that which belongs to love, truth, and beauty ca n
enter my experience. I accept my ideal companion now. ”
As you think quietly and with interest on the qualities and attributes,
which you admire in the companion you seek, you will build the
mental equivalent into your mentality. Then, the deeper current s of
your subconscious mind will bring both of you together in divine
order. • No need for third mistake
Recently a teacher said to me, “I have had three husbands and all
three have been passive, submissive, and dependent on me to m ake all
decisions and govern everything. Why do I attract such type men. ”
I asked her whether she had known that her second hus-band was
the
effeminate type, and she replied, “Of course not. Had I known, I
would not have married him. ” Apparently she had not learned
anything from the first mistake. The trouble was with her pe rsonality
 149  make-up. She was very masculine, domineering, and unconsciously
wanted someone who would be


his time did not recognize the fact that the patient needed not a temporary treatment, but
a permanent one. They did not recognize the fact the ulcers were due to dietary deficiencies, and that the patients must be put on a correct diet for the rest of their lives. They assumed that the patient was consuming a normal diet, and that the ulcer was due to some mysterious and unexplainable happening which in some way was connected
with the production of too much acid in the stomach. We now know that the acid is the
defense mechanism. It is the only mechanism the stomach has for fighting back against
irritations from without. The person suffering with this kind of diseases always has
some degree of scurvy. The scurvy has produced bad teeth and infected gums. The bad teeth and infected gums have caused pus to be swallowed into the stomach sometimes at
the rate of about a teaspoonful every hour. The swallowing of pus produces local
irritation. The irritation calls out the increased stomach secretion. Continuation of the
irritation results in an increase of hydrochloric add, leading eventually to ulceration. These happenings cover a period of years, and by the time the ulcer appears in stomach or duodenum the whole gastrointestinal tract is diseased and along with it the liver bile
duct and gall bladder. The ulcer is a focal breakdown in a completely diseased gastro-intestinal canal. In connection with colds and other respiratory diseases, there is no doubt about the
resistance being high in well-nourished pers ons and low in badly nourished persons. In
connection with gastrointestinal disease of the type described, there is no question but that the evidence is just as well established. The chronic gastritis and hyperacidity and stomach and duodenal ulcers are deficiency dis eases the same as scurvy, beriberi, and
rickets, and may be cured just as certainly and just as permanently by diet and proper mineral and vitamin intake. The study of what we need and what we get in the way of diet establishes the fact that
diseases of the respiratory tract and diseas es of the stomach are unnecessary luxuries. We may have them if we wish. We need not have them if we do not wish. Every person who exists on a general dietary deficiency for a period of years, even
though he may not develop chronic respiratory infections, or actual peptic ulcer, will
have vague, indefinite stomach distress whic h is called indigestion. He will also have some degree of constipation, and such person will have an abnormal colon. In the past,
this disease of the colon has been called colitis. The fitness of this name has been
questioned, as it is hard to establish an actual inflammation present in these cases. However, the mucous membrane of the colon does become diseased. It does fail in its
function. The walls of the colon become thinne r. In some cases these walls break partly
through, producing diverticula. A diverticulum is a hernia of the lining of the colon. In
the person who has such a diseased colon, ulceration occurs in the advanced stages of
the disease. In some such diseased colons a widely distributed mass of warts grow up, and these warts may become ulcerated or cancerous (papilloma). The x-ray shows in
advanced stages of colonic disease that the entire colon may be excited to contraction,
thereby narrowing the whole organ. The contr action may occur only in certain sections
of the colon; but whether it occurs in the col on as a whole or in sections, the disease is
referred to as spastic colon. It is simply the old, long-continued chronic disease irritating the organ to the point where it is thrown in to a chronic spasm. The spastic colon, the
ulcerated colon and the atonic are of course painful. Nervousness has nothing to do with
producing colitis but the colon disease and the nervousness are both the result of the same diet deficiencies. The same relationshi p exists in connection with overfatness and
diabetes. They are both caused by the bad diet. One does not cause the other. The many forms of colitis produce a more or less shifting and advancing and receding
group of pains. These colon pains may appear in any part of the abdomen. Since the
colon is a large organ, it is doubled upon itself, and sections of it may occupy any
abdominal position. The pains of colonic disease are often mistaken for inflammation of
the appendix, ovaries, or gallbladder. Since diet deficiency is almost universal, and different degrees of colitis or colonic disease are also widespread, colonic pains are the
most common pains in both the male and female abdomen. The colon bacillus is a normal form of germ life within the colon. It exists without
doing any harm to the mucous membrane. However, in persons who have a lowered
resistance on account of deficiency disease, or who have an old, chronic, constipation
which causes stagnation within the colon, these bacilli lose their friendly attitude and
become disease producers. They not only attack the lining of the colon, but make their way through, especially in the case of females, into the kidneys and bladder, setting up
colon bacillus pyelitis and cystitis. They may filter through into the parenchyma of the
kidneys, causing more or less severe nephrit is. This is the commonest cause of bladder
inflammation in women. While the disease may be temporarily relieved by giving
urinary antiseptics, there is a tendency for the disease to recur until the colon is brought
back to better health by vitamins and minerals and a better dietary intake. The dietary deficiencies which promote the invasion of the nasal cavity, throat, and
lungs by the virus of colds, which subsequen tly leads to establishment of abscesses in
the sinuses, and which produce a lack of resistance to infections along the
gastronintestinal tract, also affect resistance against infection in the deeper parts of the
body. Every living cell in the body has an inherited ability to maintain its health in the
face of a constant threat by microscopic enemies. These microscopic enemies have a
very great degree of selectivity. They are the commonly known disease germs and the
less commonly known disease-producing viruses. Viruses are much smaller than bacilli
or bacteria or fungi. Viruses are so small that some of them are parasites on these other forms of life. Viruses pass through the finest filters. Bacteria do not. Since both bacteria
and viruses produce disease, and since they have a very delicate selectivity, it is quite apparent that virus disease as well as bacterial disease is encouraged by food
deficiencies and discouraged by the sound, healthy cell that is properly nourished. At the present time there are probably many  diseases where the viruses attain entrance
into the body by way of local damage which has been caused by bacteria. In other cases
the reverse is true. Smallpox is a virus disease. The damage done admits the common pus-producing germs. The common cold is a virus disease. The virus causes enough
destruction to admit the pneumococcus, streptococcus, and other forms of bacterial
disease. Arthritis is undoubtedly due to infection built up on a deficiency basis, and may
or may not have some connection with virus diseases. One of the common virus
diseases is poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis). Here a fine degree of selectivity occurs, as the virus only attacks certain nerve cells. These are nerve cells deep in the body. Apparently the deeper parts of the body have a lower resistance in the person who is
carrying a food deficiency. Disease of the brain is well known to result from food
deficiencies as in the case of the insanity accompanying pellagra. The insanities
following attacks of flu, and the insanities which have been known to be cured after the removal of abscessed teeth are low grade brain infections which have been made
possible by nutritional deficiency. In the case of brain disease, poliomyelitis, and arthritis, we are dealing with internal
parts of the body far removed from body surfaces. The idea that the battle against infection occurs only in the mouth, nose, stomach, and other parts where infectious material actually comes in contact with body cells is therefore entirely erroneous. The
point to be made here is that not only the body areas which come in direct contact with
infection, but every cell in the body, even its most remote parts, is subject to the action
of invading microorganisms in cases where nutrition is below normal. It is quite
obvious that skin, eyes, teeth, gums, and tonsils do have a constant contact with infectious material from the outside. When th e cells of these organs lose their fighting
power by lack of certain vitamins and minerals in the diet, it is easy to see how such
structures are invaded. The connection between bones and joints, brain and spinal cord,
blood vessels and heart is not quite so easy to see; but that it does occur is quite evident. After the outer defenses are broken through the poisonous infectious material is carried
by the blood stream to every inner part of the body. In the mortality records, the disease which leads all others as the cause of death is
heart disease. As the mortality records cl assify heart disease apart from blood-vessel
disease, it does not give a true picture. Blood  vessels and heart are all one organ. Brittle
arterioscelerotic blood vessels are never attach ed to a healthy heart. The same general
disease that produces heart failure also pr oduces disease of the blood vessels. Mortality
records should


. In a male moth, the fuzzy
antennae on its head are actually receptor sites that have
extended outside the body. As the sun sets, the moth waits
for a signal from a female moth in his vicinity, who is
emitting a special molecu le called a pheromone. Moths are
tiny creatures, and the number of pheromones they can
send through the air is inﬁnitesimal compared to the total
volume of air and its immense freight of pollen, dust, water,
and other pheromones being secreted by animals of every
kind, including man. One would hardly suspe ct that two
moths can communicate over any sizable distance. But when a single pheromone molecule lands on the
male’s anten na, his behavior is transformed. He swiftly
homes in on the female, begins an elaborate courtship
ritual in the air, and proceeds with the act of mating.Biologically speaking, the only thing that causes this
complicated behavior is one molecule. When I give steroids to an arthritis patient, trillions of
molecules and receptor sites are involved. That is why the
blood vessels, skin, brain, fat cells, and so on all exhibit
their diﬀerent responses. If I go to my desk reference, the
long-term consequences of staying on steroids include
diabetes, osteoporosis, suppression of the immun e system
(making a person more susceptible to infections and
cancer), peptic ulcers, internal bleeding, elevated
cholesterol, and much more. One might even include death
among these side eﬀects, because taking steroids for a long
period causes the adrenal cortex to shrivel (an example of
how an organ will atrophy if not used). If the steroid is
withdrawn too quickly, the adrenal gland does not have
time to regenerate. The patient is left with inadequate
defenses against stress, which adrenal hormone s help to
buﬀer. He can go to the dentis t to have a wisdom tooth
extracted, a stress that is usually well within the normal
limits, but deprived of adrenal hormones, he can go into
shock. A tooth extraction could even kill him. Take all of these details together, and what you see is
that steroids can cause literally anything  to happen. They
may be the immediate cause or just the ﬁrst domino—the
distinction makes little diﬀerence to the patient. To her,
there is no diﬀerence between the osteoporosis caused by
steroids and the “real thing.” The same holds for
depression, diabetes, or death. A single messenger has
caused them  all. In truth there is no such thing as a single
messenger—each one is a strand in the body’s web of
intelligence. Touch one strand, and the whole web
trembles. I realize that this makes drugs look much more
dangerous than we had thought, even in an era that is
obsessed with cataloging medical disasters. We are used toa more limited idea of what a side eﬀect is—a touch of the
bitter with the sweet, like the thorn that comes with the
rose or the hangover with the bottle of wine. Instead, a side
eﬀect balloons out into anything the body can think of. Generally we are protected from serious harm because the
body reacts along certain  narrow lines. A patient who takes
an aspirin might experience bleeding in his stomach lining
but not a heart attack. However, every cell in the body has
a wide  latitude for action—it is a conscious being who
understands the world around it. The side eﬀects in my
desk reference are just the ones that have been observed
so far. I recently read a story of an internist who was baﬄed
when one of his patien ts, a man in his late seventies,
suddenly began to act paranoid. The man was obsessed by
the idea that robbers were going to break into his house,
and he bought a gun to keep under his pillow. One night he
terriﬁed his wife by leaping out of bed at three in the
morning, running downst airs with his pistol, and searching
wildly for the intruders he thought were behind every chair. Knowing that he was hallucinating dangerously, the wife
rushed him to the internist. The patient had no prior
history of mental illness and was on no medicatio ns other
than digitalis, which he took to stabilize his heart rhythm. Considering the patient’s age, a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s
disease seemed imminent. However, the internist consulted a neurologist to read the
patient’s CAT scan. Nothing abnormal appeared on it, but
the neurologist said, “I bet this man is hallucinating from
the digitalis.” In thirty years of practice, the internist, who
is also a professor of medicine in New York City, had never
seen this side eﬀect, altho ugh he had heard of it, barely. He
reduced the digitalis, and within ten days the patient
returned to normal. It seems quite freakish that a highly
speciﬁc heart medication should lead to insanity. If thispatient had hallucinated a few decades ago, when the desk
reference did not list such a bizarre side eﬀect, no doctor
would have believed it; today, the internist believed it only
after an extensive battery of tests ruled out everything else. What this case teaches is that you can never tell what the
body is thinking, or where. It is entirely  possible that the
man’s heart went insane, in the sense that it toppled the
ﬁrst domino and triggere d the onset of his paranoia. The
brain and the heart share  many of the same recep tor sites;
more important, they share the same DNA, which implies
that a heart cell can beha ve like a brain cell, a liver cell, or
any other kind of cell. After open-heart surgery, patients
sometimes have psychoti c breaks and begin hallucinating. Flat on their backs, groggy from deprivation of oxygen to
the brain, and locked into the blank sterility of an intensive
care unit, they suddenly  think that little green men are
marching up and down the sheets—such is the accepted
explanation for their episodes. Could it be that in fact it is
the heart that is hallucinating here? Simply the trauma of
the surgery could make the heart think that reality has run
wild, and that is what it tells the brain. —
The discove ry of neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and
messenger molecules of all kinds has vastly extended our
concept of intelligence. But if every cell has an endless
number of messages it can send and receive, it is also clear
that only a small fraction are activated at one time. Who or
what controls the messages? That turns out to be an
explosive question. In a chemistry lab, reactions will run
automatically as soon as the experiment starts; it is just a
matter of mixing one chemical with another. Yet, someone
has to take the chemicals oﬀ the shelf to begin with. Medicine has traditionally preferred to ignore this fact as
it applies to the human body. Now we see that withthousands of chemicals on its shelf, a cell has not only to
choose some, mix them together, and analyze the results. It
has to make the chemicals in the ﬁrst place, ﬁnding
thousands of ways to create new molecules out of basically
a handful of elements— carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen. To do that requires a mind. So, by follow ing the
story of neuropeptides, we have ultimately arrived at a
dramatic shift in worldview. For the ﬁrst time in the history
of science, mind has a visible scaﬀold to stand upon. Before
this, science declared that we are physical machines that
have somehow learned to think. Now it dawns that we are
thoughts that have learned to create a physical machine. EXPANDING THE TOPIC
Placing mind before brain, the main point of this chapter,
remains very hard for some people, in particular the
researchers who devote their entire careers to exploring
the brain. By developin g ever more sophisticated brain
scans, such as fMRI, which can look at brain activity
“lighting up” in real time, neuroscience has entered a kind
of golden age. New ﬁndings emerge literally by the month,
and in some circles it is conﬁdently promised that very
soon the mystery of the mind will be completely solved. This is a promise that will never be kept if science
proceeds by assuming that brain = mind. Think about
music. A piano sonata is written by Mozart, using a
completely mental process. He writes the notes down on
paper, and the sonata can be performed on the piano. Now
imagine that a scientist comes along and says, “I’ve been
examining how pianos work. I’ve looked at the keys and
strings down  to the mole cular level. I can tell you how the
piano’s mech anism registers the ﬁnest nuances of Mozart’ssonata. Very soon we will know exactly how he composed
everything he ever wrote.”
The claim is nonsense, because dissecting a piano tells
you nothing  about how music is composed.


diseased cells are but one ingredient out of countless
others; the others are just more intangible. Ayurveda
maintains that many diﬀerent conditions interact to create
disease—the disease organism plays one part, aided by the
patient’s immune resistance, age, diet, habits, the time of
year, and many other factors that contribute to the eventual
clinical result. Western medical studies have also
abundantly proved that a person’s lifestyle and emotional
makeup are implicated in his state of health, but we lack
the omniscience to evaluate all these factors. A cancer
patient has a whole life behind him, populated by thoughts,
actions, and emotions that no other person shares exactly. The fact that emotions lie so deep does not mean that
cancer patients cannot alter them. People can be rescued
from their feelings of helplessness and despair by going to
a still deeper level. It does not matter if one is caught in the
throes of either despair or huge self-conﬁdence. Either one
could be a phantom. Ayurveda therefore pays much less
attention to surface emot ions than does current mind-body
medicine. The whole rationale for treating cancer (or AIDS)
with primordial sound and bliss techniques is that they
reach the deep levels of consciousness common to
everyone, the weak as much as the strong. The following  case study is the most complete success to
date of treating cancer with these techniques. The patient
is a woman in her late thirties named Eleanor. In 1983,
while living in Colorado and working for a computer
company there, Eleanor was diagnosed with advanced
breast cancer that had metastasized to the lymph nodes
under her arm. She underwent one radical mastectomy,
followed by a second; her reaction to chemotherapy
afterward was extremely poor. Finding the side eﬀects
intolerable, she abandoned conventional treatment
altogether, even though her doctors made her well aware
that the cancer had now spread to her bones. Patients in
this category of metastasis have about a 1 percent chance
of survival. As it happens, Eleanor was advised by her family doctor
to start meditating in 1986, in the middle of her disease. Through her meditatio n practice, she heard about
Ayurveda. She came to Lancaster for inpatient treatment,
where I met her and instructed her in the primordial sound
for treating cancer. The results were remarkable. Her
severe bone pain disappe ared (this incident was mentioned
earlier, in chapter 9), and whenever she returned home to
be X-rayed, her radiologist found fewer and fewer pockets
of bone cancer. It was far too late for these regressions to have been
caused by her earlier treatment. Generally, if a tumor is
being bombarded with radiation or chemotherapy, it
shrinks very quickly. If Eleanor survives for two more years,
she will enter the privileged ranks of patients who beat all
the odds. But what I want to portray here is the overall
change she has undergone. I asked her to write down the
history of her disease as seen from the inside. What she
sent me is a very remarkable document. It begins at the
most harrowing moment of her life, when she is about to
enter the operating room to have breast surgery:
Undrugged, I am lying in the pre-op holding area
by the doors of the O. R. at City of Hope Hospital. A nurse walks by carrying  a huge breast in a clear
plastic bag. My breasts seem so small, helpless,
and innocent. I had nursed my baby sons and felt
so good about my breas ts; they were feminine,
soft, and pretty—I truste d them. Now I am just
lying here, waiting for someone to cut away at
least one of them. I am scared  and shaking. Every nerve in my
body seems to be screaming for action, wanting
to run away before it is too late and I am pushed
through the doors to the O.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: According to the author, what is the fundamental difference between the enlightened state and the non-enlightened state?,
A: The author notes that the enlightened state is not a single, fixed state, but rather a sliding scale, and that the subjects in his research came from diverse backgrounds and were influenced by cultural factors.
Q: What is the key to treating cancer, according to the author?,
A: The author suggests that the key to treating cancer is not just the treatment, but rather finding inner peace and acceptance, which allows the body to heal naturally.
Q: What is the author's perspective on the concept of enlightenment?,
A: The author believes that enlightenment is not a fixed state, but rather a personal and evolving concept that requires a broader definition.
Q: Who is the author's collaborator for the paper "How Consc iousness Becomes the Physical Universe"?,
A: The author does not specify the collaborator's name in the provided text, but mentions that he co-authors papers with scientists, including Menas Kafatos.
Q: What is the author's view on the concept of quantum healing?,
A: The author suggests that quantum healing is the ability of one mode of consciousness to spontaneously correct the mistakes in another mode of consciousness, and that it is not a game of numbers or statistics.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Healing Yourself - Quantum Physics, how the
body works
This is an incredibly interesting topic and one tha t can be seen as controversial in the
western world. Please know that I am in no way sayi ng that you should not see a
doctor or seek medical advice. I am simply opening your mind to the possibility of
who you are and what you can accomplish with a simp le thought and intention. Let's start with a simple concept; those with deter mination will get to where they
want to be. If they set their mind to it, then they  can achieve anything. Well this goes
for illness and injury also. If you set your mind t o recovering and getting back to
optimum health and this is your priority, then you will do so. So with intention, you can achieve anything, includ ing healing yourself of illness and
injury. For any of those who are familiar with Quantum Phys ics or have seen the movie
What the Bleep do we Know? You will know that the universe and the human
body are made up of matter. "We think of an atom as a kind of hard ball. What th ey then realised is that it is not
solid, it's this really dense matter right at the c entre, surrounded by fluffy a probability
cloud of electrons popping in and out of existence. And then they realised that not
even this is right. That even the nucleus (the cent re) that we think of as so dense,
pops in and out of existence, just as readily as th e electrons do. The most solid thing
that you can say about all of this insubstantial ma tter is that it is more like a thought,
it's like a concentrated bit of information." - Wha t The Bleep do we Know? The point of this is that there is nothing solid in  the universe, all of the things that we
see and believe to be solid, the trees, the cars, t he buildings, and our body's, are no
more solid than our thoughts. "A river is a mysterious thing. When you look at a r iver it looks the same to you in
every second of existence. But in fact, it is not t he same river. You cannot step into
the same river twice because new water flows in all  of the time"  - Heraculutus, Greek
Philosopher
"The human body renews itself rapidly. Even with one  breath, you take in 10 the
power of 22 atoms, an astronomical amount of materi al that ends up as your heart,
brain and kidney cells, your neurons and your DNA. With each breath, you breathe
out 10 to the power of 22 atoms, it's an astronomic al amount of raw material that is
coming from every bit of your body. You are literal ly breathing out bits and pieces of
your brain tissue, heart and kidney. Actually, tech nically speaking we are intimately
sharing organs with each other all of the time...DN A holds memory of hundreds of
millions of years. Your DNA is part of Christ, Leon ardo Da Vinci, Buddah, Sadam
Hussein." - Deepak Chopra, What is the True Nature of Real ity? If we are exchanging parts of our body with one ano ther, then why are we retaining
our illness and injury? "In 12 months 98% of the human body has regenerated  itself. In 2 1/2 years you will
replace your whole body" -  Deepak Chopra, What is the True Nature of Reality? Why then do we retain the illness and injury, how c an the cells when we create new
ones, do so with the same disease (dis-ease)  they had previously? This is because
the shelf life of our emotions are longer than that  of the physical body. "Science has found that you immune cells are constan tly eaves dropping on your
internal dialogue. Nothing that you say to yourself  - which you are doing all of the
time, even in sleep - escapes the attention of the immune cells. When you think a though, you make molecules, to thi nk is to practice brain
chemistry. These thoughts are translated into very precise molecules known as
neuropeptides. Neuropeptides like keys, fit into


 lar ge eggplant, diced
2 lar ge zucchinis, cubed
3 lar ge bell peppers, green and red, cubed
2 cups tomatoes, diced
1½ cups vegetable stock
½ cup basil, sliced thinly

In a lar ge soup pot, h eat the olive oil and then add the leeks, pepper, garlic, Braggs, and Italian
spices. Add the eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes. A dd the tomatoes
and continue to simmer. Add the vegetable stock when the mixture begins to dry out. The stew
should simmer for 20 to 30 minutes at a low heat. Add the fresh basil just before serving. Maple Filo W alnut T riangles
1 teaspoon ghee
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 cups walnuts, chopped coarsely
¼ cup coconut flakes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
12 sheets whole wheat pastry filo
¼ cup ghee or vegetable spray
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Heat the ghee and maple syrup in a sauté p an. Add the walnuts and sauté until well coated. Stir in
the coconut flakes and cinnamon. Continue to combine until well coated. Cut a whole filo past ry sheet into ¼-inch strips. V ery lightly spread the ghee on the sheets with a
pastry brush. (Y ou can also use some vegetable spray instead of ghee. Lightly spray the sheets with
oil.) S tack four strips on top of each other. Place some of the chopped walnut mixture into the corner
of the filo pastry. Fold into a triangle starting at the corner and keep folding unti l the triangle iscomplete. Place on a sprayed sheet pan and  lightly brush some ghee on top and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.A p p e n d i x
For information on ongoing Gr ow Y ounger, Live Longer programs, log on
to www.chopra.com. Primordial Sound Meditation T eachers
T o l ocate a certified Primordial Sound Meditation (PSM) teacher near
you, log on to www.chopra.com, and go to: Find an Instructor in Y our Area. Recommended Relaxing and Inspiring Music
Becvar, B., and B. Becvar. The Magic of He aling Music. San Rafael, Calif.:
Shining Star Productions, 1997. Oldman, C. Floating on Evening. New Haven, Vt.: Coyote Old man Music,
1998. Coxon, R. H. The Silent Path. Quebec, Canada: R.H.C. Productions, 1995. Evenson, D. Ocean Dr eams. T ucson, Ariz.: Soundings of the Planet, 1989. Raye, M. Liquid Silk. Penrose, Colo.: Native Heart Music, 1999. Chopra, D. A Gift of Love. New Y ork, N.Y. : T ommy Boy Music, 1998. Sources of ProductsThe nutritional supplements described in this book are readily available
from a wide ran ge of sources, including health food stores and pharmacies. The Chopra Center Essentials  line of nutrients has been designed to
conform with the recommendations outlined in Gr ow Y ounger, Live  Longer. V isit www.chopra.com  to access high-quality nutritional complements,
herbs, and teas, including The C hopra Center Essentials, featuring amalaki
jam (Chavanprash) available as Biochavan. Our daily Gr ow Y ounger, Live Longer nutritional
complement recommendations are:

A high-potency multivitamin (Chopra Center Daily Nutrients)

Calcium/magnesium/vitamin D tablets (Chopra Center Essentials—
Bone Health Formula)

Menopause Formula or Men’ s Support Formula

One teaspoon of Biochavan or Biochavan wafer

W e are pleased  to announce T he Grow Y ounger, Live Longer Fitness
Program, a collaboration between The Chopra Center for W ell Being and 24Hour Fitness W orldwide. This program, exclusively available through 24
Hour Fitness, is specifically designed to maximize the age-reversing
benefits of a balanced exercise program. 24 H our Fitness, the world’ s l ar gest fitness chain, has more than 430
centers in eleven countries. Their professional fitness staf f is trained to
create personali zed fitness programs for people regardless of age, fitness
level, or ability. T o learn mor e about The Grow Y ounger, L ive Longer
Fitness P rogram at a 24 Hour Fitness Center in your area and re ceive a free
guest pass to a facility near you, log on to: www.24HourFitness.com.R e f e r e n c e s
Chapter 1
Escaping the Prison of Conditioning

Langer, Ellen. Mindfulness. Reading, Mass. : Perseus Books, 1989. Leaf, Alexander. Y outh in Old Age. New Y ork: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Chapter 2
Changing Y our Perceptions

Grey, Alex. Sacr ed Mirr ors: The V isionary Art of Alex Gr ey. Rochester, Vt.: Inner T raditions
International, 1990. Murchie, Guy. The Seven Mysteries of Life. Boston: Houghton Mif flin, 1978, pp. 321–22. Chapter 3
Restful A wareness and Restful Sleep

STRESS
Cannon, W alter. V oodoo death. American Anthr opologist 44(1943): 168–81. Selye, Hans. The Str ess of Life. New Y ork: McGraw-Hill, 1978.MEDIT A TION
Elson, B. D.; P. Hauri; and D. Cunis. Physiological changes in yoga meditation. Psychophysiology
14(1977):52–57. Ghista, D. N.; D. Nandagopal; et al. Phys iological characterization of the “meditative state” during
intuitional practice (the Ananda Mar ga system of meditation) and its therapeutic value. Medical and
Biological Engineering 14(1976):209–13. Glaser, J. L.; J. L. Brind; et al. Elevated serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels in practitioners
of the T ranscendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi programs. Journal of  Behaviora l Medicine
15(1992): 327–41. W allace, R. K. Physiological ef fects of tran scendental meditation. Science 167, no. 92 6 (1970):1751–
54. W allace, R. K.; M. Dillbeck; et al. The  ef fects of the transcendental meditation  and TM-Sidhi
program on the aging process. International  Journal of Neur oscience 16(1982):53–58. SLEEP
Chopra, D. Restful Sleep. New Y ork: Harmony Books, 1994. Czeisler, C. A.; and E. B. Klerman. Circ adian and sleep-dependent hormone release in humans. Recent Pr ogr ess in Hormone Resear ch  54(1999):97–130; discussion 130–32. Irwin, M.; A. Mascovich; et al. Partial sleep deprivation reduces natural killer cell activity in humans. Psychosomatic Medicine 56(1994): 493–98. Shochat, T. ; J. Umphress; et al. Insomnia in primary care patients. Sleep  22, Suppl. 2 (1999):S359–
65. Chapter 4
Nurturing Y our Body Through Healthy Food

Key, Tj; G. K. Davey ; and P. N. Appleby. Health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Pr oceedings of the
Nutrition Society 58(1999):271–75. Segasothy, M., and P. A. Phillips. V egetarian diet: panacea for modern lifestyle dise ases? Quarterly
Journal of Medicine 92(1992):531–44.W alter, P. Ef fects of vegetarian diets on aging and longevity. Nutrition Reviews 55, no. 1 Pt 2
(1997):S61–S65; discussion S65–S68. Chapter 5
Using Nutritional Complements W isely

For readers interested in the scientific basis of our nutritional complement recommendations, a
detailed reference list is provided below. Bauliey, E. ; G. Thomas; et al. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), DHEA sulfa te, and aging:
contribution of the DH EAge Study to a sociobiomedical issue. Pr oceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences  97(2000):4279–84. Bell, K. M.; S. G. Potkin; et al. S-adenosylmethionine blood levels in major depressio n: changes with
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 self-acceptance?,
A: The genuine desire to better oneself, leading to acceptance of one's personality as it is now.
Q: What is the idealized self, and what is its impact on the individual?,
A: The idealized self is a rigid, artificial construct that weakens the center of one's being, leading to feelings of guilt, shame, and compulsion, causing a vicious cycle of self-punishment and self-rejection.
Q: What is the key to understanding the idealized self?,
A: Recognizing the discrepancy between the idealized self and the real self, and accepting one's current self, is the key to understanding the idealized self.
Q: How can one re-experience the pain of childhood to overcome the idealized self?,
A: One must become aware of the pain and re-experience it, allowing oneself to feel the emotions and come to terms with the past. This can be done by recognizing the similarities between the current and past experiences, and understanding the root cause of the pain.
Q: What is the role of the real self in understanding the concept of God?,
A: The real self is the only part of one's being that can grow, be, and live. It is the source of intuition, and only through understanding and embracing this real self can one truly connect with the concept of God and achieve self-realization.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>The outcome seems to matter more than the issue
itself, for when the intensity of emotions is truly tested, it often has
no relationsh ip to the issue at stake. It would rather be
commensurate with a life-or-death issue. Although you may think
this irrational on a consciou s level, on an unconscious level being
wrong truly means being dead, for being wrong means being denied
by the other. On the dualistic plane, your sense of identity is
associated with the other person, not with your real self. As long as
you experience yourself only as the outer ego-self, you will depend on
others. Hence, a slight quarrel truly becomes a matter of life or
death, which explains the intensity of emotions when it comes to
proving your right and the other’s wrong. Only when you have
realized the center of your being, which embodies unication, does
your life cease to depend on others. On the dualistic plane each issue ends with either life or death. Life becomes terribly impo rtant in order to avoid death. Often
people fear death so much that they run into it head on. Such
individuals do not escape fear of death. Quite the contrary. Their
constant strug gle with life, which results from their fear and
struggle agains t death, renders them so unhappy that they believe
they don’t fear death. This is an illusion as long as life is
experienced on the dualistic plane, as long as one side is viewed as
important and is fought for, and the other side is seen as a threat
and is fought against. As long as you feel that you must win because
your side is true, while the other’s is false, you are deepl y involved
in the world of duality, and therefore in illusion, conict, andconfusion. The more you ght in this way, the greater the confusion
becomes. Human beings are habitually trained by upbringing, and
everything they learn from their surroundings agrees that one must
ght for one and against the other of any number of opposites. This
applies not only to material issues but even more to conce pts. Every
truth can thus be divided into two opposites, one being adhered to
as the “right” and the opposite aspect being declared the “wrong”
idea. In reality, however, the two complement one another. On the
unied plane, neither aspect  is thinkable without the other. There
the complements are not “enemies” or negations of each other; only
on the dualisti c plane of consciousness are they so opposed. There
every conict multiplies into intricate subdivisions of the primary
dualistic split. Since all this is a product of illusion, the longer the
conict continues, the less it can be solved and the more hopelessly
enmeshed you become in it. Let us now return to our exam ple and demonstrate how this is so. The more you prove your friend wrong, the more friction exists and
the less you obtain what you thought you would by provin g yourself
right and your friend wrong. You believe that by proving yourself
right and your friend wrong, your friend will nally accep t and love
you again and all will be well. When you do not succeed, you
misinterpret that and try harder, for you think you have not
suciently proven that you are right and the other is wrong. The
rift widens, your anxiety increases, and the more weapons you use
to win the ght, the deeper your diculties, until you actually
damage yourself and the other and act against your own best
interest. You are then faced with a further conict, which  arises out
of the rst dualistic split. In order to avoid a total rift, with all its
real and imagined threats— for real damage has begun to be
wrought—you are now faced  with the alternatives of having to give
in, in order to appease your friend and avoid further damage to
yourself, or to continue ghting. Since you are still convinced that
there is a right versus a wrong, such appeasement robs you of self-
respect and you ght agains t that. Whether you use this “solution”or not, you will be torn between ghting or submitting. Both create
tension, anxiety, and inner and outer disadvantages. Thus, a second  duality develops out of the rst. The rst is: “Who
is right and who is wrong? Only I can be right. Otherwise all is
bad.” The second is either giving in to a wrong that you cannot
admit, for it is a total wrong, or continuing the ght. Admitting a
wrong means death, in a sense. So you are faced  with the
alternatives of either admitting a wrong, which means death in the
deep psyche, in order to avoid dreaded consequence s and the
possibility of a real risk, putting your life at a grave disadvantage,
again death, in the deepest sense, or insisting on your total
rightness. Any way you turn you nd death, loss, annihi lation. The
harder you ght for and against, the less there is to ght for and the
more all alternatives turn against you. The illusion that one side was
good and the other was bad has brought you to the inevitable next
step on this road of illusion, which is that all alternatives are bad. All dualistic struggle is fated to lead you into further traps, which
are all products of illusion. When the road to the unie d principle is chosen, soon what at
rst appeared as one certain good and one obvious bad ceases to be
so, and you inevitably encounter good and bad on both ends. When
this road is pursued still further, no longer is there any bad, but only
good. The road leads deep inside the real self, into truth  that goes
way beyond the fearful little ego’s interests. When this truth is
sought deep inside the self, one approaches the unied state of
consciousness. Our example is a banal one and can be translated
into many everyday issues, big or small. It can take shape as a small
squabble betwe en mates or as a conict between countries at war. It
exists in all diculties humanity encounters, individually and
collectively. As long as you nd yourself in this illusory dualistic
conict, you will experience hopelessness, for there is no way out on
the dualistic plane of thinking. As long as your very existence is
identied with the ego-self and therefore with the dualistic
approach to life, you cannot help but despair, no matter how much
this despair is covered up or momentarily alleviated by occasional
success with the desirable alternative of the two opposites. Thehelplessness and hopelessness, the wasted energy of the dualistic
struggle, rob you of your birthright. You can nd your birthright only
on the plane of unication. Since everything you learn from your education and environment
is geared to dualistic standards, it is not surprising that you are
totally attached  and adapted to this state of consciousness. And even
when you learn about the other possibility, you are fright ened of it. You cannot believe in it and you cling to what you know. This
creates a vicious circle, in that the dualistic rules and precepts,
which condition you to this way of life, are themselves a result of
your fear of giving up the egotistical state that alone  seems to
guarantee life. It appears that giving up this ego state means
annihilation of your individuality, which, of course, is utterly
erroneous. So, you have these dualistic rules becaus e of your
erroneous fears, and you cling to the false fears becau se of your
indoctrination. Before we discuss in greater detail why you cling to the painful
dualistic state, despite the immediate accessibility of the unied
plane of consciousness, I