 any moment when we choose fear instead of
love, we deny ourselves the e xperience of P aradise. T o the
extent that we abandon love, to that e xtent we will feel it
has abandoned us.
4. HOL Y SPIRIT“The Holy Spirit is the call to awak en and be
glad.”
The power of the mind is itself neutral. It is the power given
to us fr eely by God. ‘W e have the fr ee will to think whatever
we want to think, but no thoughts ar e neutral. Ther e is no
such thing as an idle thought. All thought cr eates for m on
some level.’ Nothing can deprive us of our own cr eativity.
We are personally r esponsible for what dir ection we apply it
in.
Taking r esponsibility for our lives, then, means taking
responsibility for our thoughts. And praying to God to “save”
our lives, means praying for Him to save us fr om our own
negative thoughts.
Since only God e xists, and everything else is an illusion,
then the eﬀects of lovelessness ar e only happening within
the ego’s hallucination. The wor d sin means loveless
perception. It is an ar chery ter m. It means “ you missed the
mark.” So God isn’t angry at our sins because they’r e not
really happening. He doesn’t see sins, but only er rors in
perception. He doesn’t want to punish us, but to heal us.
The way He heals us is thr ough a for ce of conciousness
called the Holy Spirit.
The Course teaches that the Holy Spirit was cr eated in
the moment when the ﬁrst fearful thought was thought. As
perfect love, God cor rects all mistak es the moment they
occur. He couldn’t for ce us back to love, because love
doesn’t for ce. It does, however, cr eate alter natives. The
Holy Spirit is God’s alter native to fear.
The Holy Spirit was God’s answer to the ego. He is God’s
“eter nal communication link with His separated Sons,” a
bridge back to gentle thoughts, “the gr eat T ransfor mer ofPerception.” Of ten the Holy Spirit is r eferred to as the
“Comforter.” God can’t for ce His way back into our thinking,
because that would be violating our fr ee will. But the Holy
Spirit is a for ce of consciousness within us that “delivers us
from Hell,” or fear, whenever we consciously ask Him to,
working with us on the Causal level, transfor ming our
thoughts fr om fear to love. W e cannot call on him in vain.
Having been cr eated by God, He’s built into the computer.
He comes to us in many for ms, fr om a conversation with a
friend to a serious spiritual path; fr om a lyric in a song to an
excellent therapist. He is the ine xorable drive towar d
wholeness that e xists within, no matter how disoriented or
crazy we get. Something within us always longs to go home,
and He is that something.
The Holy Spirit guides us to a diﬀer ent per ception of
reality : one that is based on love. His cor rection of our
perception is called the A tonement. He r eminds us that, in
every situation, the love you’ve given is r eal, and the love
you have r eceived is r eal. Nothing else e xists. Anything
other than love is an illusion. In or der to escape the illusion
and ﬁnd inner peace, r emember that only love in a situation
is real. Everything else is a mistak e and does not e xist. It
must be for gotten. W e must consciously be willing to let it
go.
The only thing lacking in any situation is our own
awar eness of love. In asking the Holy Spirit to help us, we
are expressing our willingness to per ceive a situation
diﬀer ently. We give up our own interpr etations and opinions,
and ask that they be r eplaced by His. When in pain, we
pray, “ Dear God, I am willing to see this diﬀer ently.”
Surrendering a situation to God means sur rendering to Him
our thoughts  about it. What we give to God, He gives back
to us r enewed thr ough the vision of the Holy Spirit. Some
people think that if we sur render to God, we’r e giving uppersonal r esponsibility. But the opposite is true. W e’re taking
the ultimate r esponsibility for a situation by being
responsible for our thoughts about it. W e’re responsible
enough to know that, when lef t to our own mental devices,
we will instinctively r espond fr om fear. We’re responsible
enough to ask for help.
Sometimes people think that calling on God means
inviting a for ce into our lives that will mak e everything r osy.
The truth is, it means inviting everything into our lives that
will for ce us to gr ow—and gr owth can be messy. The
purpose of life is to gr ow into our perfection. Once we call
on God, everything that could anger us is on the way. Why?
Because the place wher e we go into anger instead of love, is
our wall. Any situation that pushes our buttons is a situation
wher e we don’t yet have the capacity to be unconditionally
loving. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to draw our attention to that,
and help us move beyond that point.
Our comfort zones ar e the limited ar eas in which we ﬁnd
it easy to love. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job not to r espect those
comfort zones, but to bust them. W e’re not at the
mountaintop until any zone is comfortable. L ove isn’t love
until it’s unconditional. W e’re not e xperiencing who we
really ar e until we e xperience our perfect love.
In order to insur e our pr ogress towar d the goal of
enlightenment, ‘the Holy Spirit has a highly individualized
curriculum for everyone.’ Every encounter, every
circumstance can be used by Him for His purposes. He
translates between our perfect cosmic self and our worldly
insanity. He enters into the illusion and leads us beyond it.
He uses love to cr eate mor e love, and He r esponds to ‘fear
as a call for love.’The Holocaust was not God’s will, nor is AIDS. Both of
them ar e products of fear. When we invite the Holy Spirit
into these situations, however, He uses them as r easons
and opportunities for us to gr ow into the very level of deep
love thr ough which they ar e eradicated fr om the earth. They
challenge us to love mor e deeply than we have ever loved
befor e.
If we r eally desir e a moral answer to the Holocaust, we
do everything in our power to cr eate a world in which it
could never happen again. As any thinking person knows,
Hitler did not act alone. He could never have done what he
did without the help of thousands of people who, although
they did not shar e his evil vision, did not have the moral
ﬁber to say no to it. What would the Holy Spirit have us do
now? Although we cannot guarantee that a Hitler will never
again be bor n, we can in fact cr eate a world in which, even
if a Hitler appear ed, ther e would be so much love that
hardly anyone would listen or conspir e with him.
The spiritual path, then, is simply the jour ney of living
our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just
don’t know it. The Holy Spirit is a for ce in our minds that
knows us in our perfectly loving, natural state—which we’ve
forgotten—but enters into the world of fear and illusion with
us, and uses our e xperiences her e to r emind us who we ar e.
He does this by showing us the possibility of a loving
purpose in everything we think and do. He r evolutionizes
our sense of why we ar e on the earth. He teaches us to see
love as our only function. Everything we do in our lives will
be used, or interpr eted, by the ego or the Holy Spirit. The
ego uses everything to lead us further into anxiety. The Holy
Spirit uses everything to lead us into inner peace.
5. ENLIGHTENED BEINGS“Enlightenment is but a r ecognition, not a
change at all.”
There are people who have lived on the earth, and per haps
there are people living her e now, whose minds have been
completely healed by the Holy Spirit. They have accepted
the A tonement. In all r eligions, ther e are stories of saints or
prophets who work ed miracles. That is because, when the
mind r eturns to God, it becomes a vessel for His power. The
power of God transcends the laws of this world. Saints and
prophets, by accepting the A tonement, have actualized the
Christ within them. They have been puriﬁed of fearful
thoughts and only love


 the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to  rather than
opposing  the flow  of life. The only place  where you can  experie nce the
flow of life is the Now, so to surrender is to accept the present  moment
unconditionally and without reservation. It is to relinquish inner
resistance to what is. Inn er r esistance is to say “no”  to what is, through
mental judgment and emotional negativity. It becomes pa rticularly
pronounced whe n things “go wrong,” which means that there is a gapbetween the demands or rigid expectations of your mind and  what is.
That is the pain gap. If you hav e lived long enough, you will know that
things “go wrong” quite often. It is precisely at those times that surrender
needs to  be practiced if you wan t to eliminate pain and sorrow from your
life. Acceptance of what is  immed iately frees you from mind
identification and thus reconnects you with Being. Resistance is  the
mind.
Surrender is a purely inner phenomenon. It does not mean that on the
outer level you cannot take acti on and change the situation. In fact, it is
not t he o verall s ituation that you need to accept when you surre nder, but
just the tiny segment called the Now.
For example, if you were stuck  in the mud somewhere, you wouldn’ t
say: “Ok ay, I resign myself to being stuck in the mud.” Resig nation is
not s urrender. Y ou don’ t need to  accept an undesirable or unpleasant life
situation. Nor do you need to deceive yourself and say that there is
nothing wrong with being stuck  in the mud. No. Y ou recognize fully that
you want to get out of it. Y ou then narrow your attention down to the
present m oment without mentall y labeling it in any way. This means that
there is no judgment of the No w. Therefore, there is no resis tance, no
emotional negativity. Y ou accep t the “isness” of this moment. Then you
take action and do all that you can to get out of the mud. Such action I
call posi tive action. It is far more ef fective than negative action, which
arises ou t of anger, despair, or f rustration. Until you achieve the desired
result, y ou continue to practice surrender by refraining from labeling the
Now.
Let me give you a visual analog y to illustrate the point I am mak ing. Y ou
are walk ing alo ng a path at night, surrounded by a thick fog. But you
have a powerful  flashlight that c uts through the fog and creates a narrow,
clear space in front of you. The fog is your life situation, which  includes
past and future; the flashlight is your conscious presence; the cl ear space
is the Now.
Non-surrender h ardens your psychological form, the shell of the ego, and
so creat es a strong sense of separateness. The world around you and
people in particular come to be perceived as threatening. The
unconscious compulsion to destroy others through judgment arises, as
does the need to compete and  dominate. Even nature becomes yourenemy a nd you r perceptions and interpretations are governed  by fear.
The men tal dise ase that we cal l paranoia is only a slightly more acute
form of this normal but dysfunctional state of consciousness.
Not only  your psychological form but also your physical form  — your
body — becomes hard and rigid through resistance. T ension arises in
dif ferent parts of the body, and the body as a whole contracts. The free
flow of life ener gy through the body, which is essential for it s healthy
functioning, is greatly restricted. Bodywork and certain forms of
physical therapy  can be helpfu l in restoring this flow, but unless you
practice surrender in your everyday life, those things can only give
temporary symptom relief since the cause — the resistance pattern —
has not been dissolved.
There is  something within you that remains unaf fected by the transient
circumstances that make up your life situation, and only through
surrender do you have access t o it. It is your life, your very Being —
which exists eternally in the timeless realm of the present. Finding this
life is “the one thing that is needed” that Jesus talked about.
If yo u fi nd your life situation unsatisfactory or even intolerable, it is only
by surre ndering first that you can break the unconscious r esistance
pattern that perpetuates that situation.
Surrender is perfectly compatible with taking action, initiating change, or
achieving goals. But in the surrendered state a totally dif ferent ener gy, a
dif ferent quality, flows into your doing. Surrender reconnects you with
the sour ce-ener gy of Being, and if your doing is infused with Being, it
becomes a joyful celebration of  life ener gy that takes you more deeply
into the Now. Through nonresis tance, the quality of your consc iousness
and, therefore, the quality of whatever you are doing or cr eating is
enhanced immea surably. The results will then look after themselves and
reflect that quality. W e could call this surr ender ed action. It is not work
as we have known it for thousa nds of years. As more humans  awaken,
the word work  i s going  to disappear from our vocabulary, and perhaps a
new word will be created to replace it.It is  the quality  of your conscio usness at this moment that is the main
determinant of what kind of future you will experience, so to sur render is
the m ost important thing you ca n do to br ing about p ositive change. Any
action you take is secondary. No  truly positive action can arise out of an
unsurrendered state of consciousness.

I c an see that if I am in a situa tion that is unpleasant or unsatisfactory
and I completely  accept the moment as it is, ther e will be no suf fering or
unhappiness. I will have risen a bove it. But I still can’ t quite see wher e
the ener gy or motivation for taking action and bringing about change
would come fr om if ther e isn’ t a certain amount of dissatisfaction.

In th e st ate of surrender, you see very clearly what needs to be done, and
you take  action,  doing one thing  at a time and focusing on one thing at a
time. Learn from nature: See how  everything gets accomplished  and how
the mira cle of life unfolds without dissatisfaction or unhappiness. That’ s
why Jesus said: “Look at the lil ies, how they grow; they neithe r toil nor
spin.”
If your overall situation is unsatisfactory or unpleasant, separate out this
instant  and surrender to  what is. Th at’ s the flash light cutting through the
fog. Y our state o f consciousness then ceases to be controlled by  external
conditions. Y ou are no longer coming from reaction and resistance.
Then look at the specifics of the situation. Ask yourself, “Is there
anything I can do to change the situation, improve it, or remove myself
from it?” If so, you take app ropriate action. Focus not on the one
hundred things that you will or may have to do at some future  time but
on the one thing  that you can do now. This doesn’ t mean you sh ould not
do any planning. It may well be that planning is the one thing yo u can do
now. But make sure you don’ t start to run “mental movies, ” project
yourself into the future, and so lose the Now. Any action you take may
not bear  fruit immediately. Unti l it does — do not resist what is. If there
is no action you can take, and you cannot remove yourself from the
situation either, then use the situation to make you go more de eply into
surrender, more deeply into the Now, more deeply into Being. When youenter this timeless dimension of the present, change often comes  about in
strange w ays without the need fo r a great deal of doing on your part. Life
becomes helpful and cooperative. If inner factors such as fear,  guilt, or
inertia prevented you from taking action, they will dissolve in the light of
your conscious presence.
Do not confuse surrender with an attitude of “I can’ t be bothered
anymore” or “I just don’ t care anymore.” If you look at it clo sely, you
will find that such an attitude is tainted with negativity in the  form of
hidden resentme nt and so is not surrender at all but masked resistance.
As you surrende r, direct your a ttention inward to check if the re is any
trace of resistance left inside you. Be very alert when you do so;
otherwise, a pocket of resistance may continue to hide in some dark
corner in the form of a thought or an unacknowledged emotion.
FROM MIND ENERGY T O SPIRITUAL ENERGY
Letting go of r esistance is easie r said than done. I still don’ t see clearly
how to let go. If you say it is by surr endering, the question r emains:
“How?”

Start by acknowledging that there is  resistance. Be  the re


 element s: earth (the Sanskrit word for earth is prithvi ), fire (agni),
water ( jal), air ( vayu ), and ether ( akash ).
Let’s take one element at a time.
First, think of all the fire inside you. What is hunger, but a burning
flame that demands fuel? What is digestion, but the “burning up” of food to
produce energy? Could “fire in the belly” be more than a metaphor?
Envision the two bright dots in the pupils of your eyes as lit sparks. Touch
the warm th of your rose-hued face as you come in from the snow. Feel the
intensity of your words as they rise from your heart and form in your throat.
The anger you sometimes feel is so close to fire; look at the metaphors we
use to describe it: his cheeks burned, she simmered, my blood boiled. Yes,
you are a creature of fire!Next, turn your attention to earth. In this new perspective, earth is not
just a planet that revolves around the sun, or solid physical matter with a
core and crust. Think of it as the anchor of life — everythin g that gives
support and structure to your being — from your spinal column to the
ligaments that connect your muscles. Run your fingers through the earthy
texture of your hair. Feel the rich loamy soil of your heart, where feelings of
love and kindness grow and flourish.
Then, consider the prime mover of everything: the all-pervading air.
Inhale deeply, and feel the warm current that flows in and out of your
nostrils every living moment. What is it that powers and propels food,
blood, waste, reproductive fluid, energy, and thought throughout your
being? How do emotions — positive and negative — pollinate themselves
across the soil of your heart? Who is the carrier of all these things but the
mighty force of air? To the Ayurvedic healer, air is not a mixture of oxygen,
nitrogen, and helium; it is prana, or life.
Water irrigates and lubricates. But inside the human body, water takes
many forms. Every bead of moisture in you is water: the wetness of saliva
in your mouth, the blood that courses through your veins, the tears that keep
your eyes moist, the mucus that lines your nose, the gastric juices that
process food, the fluid that keeps your joints supple, the ejaculate that
generates life, and the protoplasm that fills every living cell.
Ether, or space,  is an interesting element. On the face of it, you are a
solid mass of cells and tissues firmly held together. But in reality, ether is
everywhere; each cell in our body is separated by space. More obviously,
space fills the cavities of the nose, ears, mouth, and genitals. But ether
works on a much deeper level. It’s the medium through which you can
connect with your consciousne ss. In the cacophony of daily life, it is
impossible to be aware of ether. But once you tune in to yourself, your
mind’ s finest impulses travel through ether to seep into your consciousness
— and that is the first step toward retuning the instrument of your being.
Now, can you ever again think of yourself as just another concoction of
organs held together by bones and sewn inside a skin? But this new picture
of yourself should also tell you something else: If you are a dynamo made
from these diverse, restless elements, then you cannot also be a physical
machine that is identical with every other human being. And if you areindeed unique, no physician can hold a master key to your health. Ayurveda
recognizes this. That is why, when a vaidya says, “You’re one in a billion,”
it is not meant to be a compliment; it is as simple a truth as saying that
water is a fluid.
The logical question that arises from this is: if you are so totally unique,
isn’t pinpointing  your unique maladies and their cures as difficult as trying
to single  out one particular wave in the Pacific Ocean? The ancient sages
pondered the same question, and this led them to study the five elements
more deeply.
Over time, the sages realized that the energies of the elements tend to
work in pairs:
•  Accor ding to Ayurvedic theor y, fire needs moisture in order to burn,
transform, and metabolize certain substances. When fire and
moisture combin e, as in corrosive liquids like acids or alkalis, they
have the strength to transform, burn, and convert substances — that
is why fiery pitta governs metabolism.
•  Air needs ether, or space, in which to move.
•  Earth is cemented by water, and water flows on a bed of earth.
They further observed that these energy pairs combine inside human
beings:
•  Ether and air combine to form the energy of propulsion or motion,
which is called vata in A yurveda.
•  Fire and water combine to form the energy of metabolism, which is
pitta.
•  Earth  and water combine to form the energy of solidi ty and
structure, or kapha.
The sages next concluded that no two people shared exactly the same
combination of these three energies; just as people had unique voices and
faces, they also had unique energy patterns. Understanding these unique
patterns, then, was the key to unlocking an individual’ s specific health
problems.
So how did they classify these energy types? They called these three
energies — vata, pitta, and kapha — the three doshas. The word doshameans “fault.” So, in Ayurvedic terms, when any one or all of these three
doshas are either impaired or aggravated, you have a dosha imbalance. In
other words, there is a “fault” or “error” that needs correcting.
To find out which doshas in an individual needed correction, the sages
had to first know  what the indiv idual’ s natural dosha combinatio n was. This
they did by assigning “dosha types” to people. Simply put, a person with
more vata energy was called a “vata dosha type,” while someon e with more
pitta attributes was a “pitta dosha type” of person, and so on.
Today, you’ll find that books on Ayurveda refer to this basic individual
constitution by various names: “dosha type,” “body type,” “personality
type.” Whatever  its name, the purpose is to indicate what your dominant
body-mind ener gy is.
the elementary you
By now, it is clear that the journ ey toward Ayurvedic healing and wholeness
begins with the knowledge of your unique dosha type. Although it is best to
see a vaidya for this, you can guess your own basic dosha type.  The way to
do this is to think about which of the five elements seem to be strongest in
your personality. Start by answ ering this question: are you more fire, air,
earth, ether, or water? Give me an instinctive answer.
•  If you said “fire,” it’s likely that you perceive yourself as a strong,
bold, hot-tempered person.
•  If you said “earth,” you probably think of yourself as stable,
practical, and calm.
•  If your answ er was “air,” you’re likely to see yourself as active,
indecisive, and restless.
This is exactly how the ancient sages reasoned.
Now study the following lists, giving yourself one point for each quality
you think applie s to you. The dosha with the most points is your dominant
dosha.Vata
1. I am light and thin of build.
2. I think and act quickly.
3. My skin is dry and feels cool to the touch.
4. I cannot stand cold, dry weather.
5. My hunger and digestion are irregular.
6. I’m quick to grasp new information, but also quick to for get.
7. I tend to worry.
8. I have a tendency toward constipation.
9. I get light, interrupted sleep at night.
10. W arm, cooked foods and hot beverages comfort me.
Pitta
1. I am of moderate build.
2. My appetite and digestion are both strong.
3. My favorite foods are cold, and I love iced beverages.
4. I absolutely cannot skip meals; it gives me acidity.
5. My complexion is reddish, and I tend to have moles and freckles.
6. I cannot stand hot weather.
7. I sometimes wake up in the wee hours of the morning and find it
hard to go back to sleep.
8. My memory is steady.
9. I can be irritable and quick-tempered.
10. I am sharp and hardworking, but I tend to be a perfectionist.
Kapha
1. I am solid and heavy of build.
2. I have great strength and endurance.3. I am slow and methodical in everything I do.
4. My skin is oily and smooth.
5. I have a calm, steady personality.
6. Though I am slow to grasp new information, I don’ t easily for get.
7. It takes a lot for me to lose my temper or get excited.
8. I am a heavy sleeper, and can sleep for hours at a time.
9. My digestion is slow, but then my appetite is also mild.
10


-
minded and ignorant peop le take the profound as if it were
uncouth and relegate the marvellous to the realm of ﬁction
... what narrow-mindedn ess and ignorance.’ But for all its
powers he decided that magic will not be able to confer
Fullness of Life on its practitioners. ‘They may cure illness,
raise people from the dead, go years without hunger,
command ghosts and gods, disappear at will, see what is
occurring a thousand miles away... and know misfortune
and good fortune for things that have not yet occurred, but
none of those things beneﬁts their longevity or
immortality.’ And again: ‘Only those who have Tao can
truly perform these actions, and, better still, not perform
them, though able to perform them.’
OceanofPDF.com– 14 –
ALLIED SYMBOLISM
The symbolism of alche my uses a language of its own
which, like all symbolism, when understood, opens up
hidden meanings. Symbolism is always ambivalent, on the
one hand it makes more accessible and universal ideas
which transcend the limitations of ordinary langu age and
is the only language which is both international and
capable of adaptation to all levels of understanding and
experience and of endless expansion; on the other  hand, it
can be used to veil knowledge, to keep it hidden from
those incapable of using it correctly. These are the
exoteric and esoteric aspects. It is mainly the latter which
is used in alchemy, since much of its knowledge could be
dangerous, physically and spiritually, in the wrong hands.
Both eastern  and western technical terms were disguised
under strange and often bizarre names employed for the
substances, instruments and methods used; hence, much
of the langu age and symbolism used is incompre hensible
to the modern world. For example, an ancient Chinese
treatise read:
Red sand, cinnabar is of wood and will combine with
metal [gold]; gold and water live together; wood and
ﬁre keep each other company. In the beginning these
four were in a confused state. They came to be
classiﬁed as Tigers and Dragons. The numbers for
the Dragon which are odd are yang, and those for the
Tiger are yin and even. The blue liver is the father,
and the white lungs are the mother. The red heart is
the daughter, the yellow  spleen is the grandfatherand the black kidneys are the son. The son is the
beginning of the Five Elements...
As Holmyard points out, modern science uses signs and
symbols, an esoteric language unintelligible to the
uninitiated but diﬀering from alchemy in that the latter's
symbols are allegorical; in other words, modern  science
uses signs rather than symbols in the strict sense of the
word. He also writes of alchemical symbolism as being of
two kinds, the literary and the graphic:
Literary symbolism in its simplest form is seen as the
inveterate habit of adepts of applying fanciful names
to the substances and apparatus used in alchemy,
principally by metaphor or real or supposed analo gy.
Thus an oval or a spherical vessel which could be
hermetically sealed was commonly referred to as the
‘philosophers' egg,’ and not merely because of its
shape, but with a reference to the egg out of which
the universe was hatched; so that in a particular
context it may be hard to decide whether the author
is describing  a piece of apparatus or trying to convey
a fragment of doctrine.
This oval or round vessel as the egg is a universal
symbol of creation. Its function is the bringing of new life;
it encloses the whole universe and is the Potential; as such
it is also the womb. In Chinese alchemy this is known as
the luted vase; it is the place of metamorphosis from which
new life emerges. The womb is also equated with the
mine, the earth, the Earth  Mother, the ore being in embryo
in her. The alchemist is, as has been said, the midw ife who
brings the embryo to birth. The T'ai I Chin Hua Tsung
Chih, a work in the Taoist Canon, says: ‘The work must be
directed to the warming and nourishing of the spiritual
embryo.’ Thus the foetus or embryo represents thespiritual development which grows until full maturity
when it is born spiritually as the True Man. The womb
naturally leads to the symbolism of water; the waters
being the fundamental material of creation, the life
substance, the ‘waters of life,’ the prima materia, the great
yin power. Its yang  opposite is, of course, ﬁre; together
they are the two great principles, the passive and the
active; they represent all the contraries in the elemental
world; both are creators  and destroyers. As Burckhardt
says, it is through the union of these opposites that ‘the
soul becomes  “ﬂuid ﬁre” or “ﬁery water”, and at the same
time also acquires the positive qualities of the other
elements, so that its water becomes “stable” and its ﬁre
“non-burning.”’ The alchemical ﬁre does not burn and
destroy but viviﬁes; it is a divine power. Fire can stabilize
and harden, as in the potter's kiln, or make ﬂuid in
smelting, but it must be contained and controlled since
any excess becomes destructive. The sixty-third hexagram
of the I Ching  combines the trigrams for ﬁre and water
and symbolizes the cauldron of water heated over the ﬁre;
hence alche mical fusion. The Taoist Canon says: ‘The
essence of yang  is ﬁre; that of yin water. When yin and
yang  control each other, water and ﬁre are mutually
upholding.’
In this conne ction mercury, or quicksilver, is partic ularly
signiﬁcant as it contains both the elements of ﬁre and
water, being liquid yet luminous. It can be represented as
a metal, but because of its ‘volatile’ nature it is also
regarded as spirit. Its dual nature makes it symbolic of the
tensions of the complementary opposites, expressed by
such symbols as the ‘contending dragons’ and the
caduceus, containing and uniting the opposites. It
represents the ﬁrst and the last as the prima materia
which divide s into the opposites of all dualism, to be
reunited in the conjunctio  and to emer ge in the ﬁnal unityof the spirit. Exoterically, it is the quicksilver of the
laboratory alchemist; esoterically, it is the spirit concealed
in base matter. Mercury, regarded as a spirit, is volatile
and transforming; it ‘whitens all metals and attracts their
souls... having in itself the principle of all liquidi ty, when
it has undergone decomposition, it changes colours
everywhere,’ as Synesius said in commenting on the
Physics and Mysteries of the pseudo-Democritus. This
dissolving power of quicksilver is the feminine in its
terrible aspect, its sign is dominated by the feminine lunar
symbol as the Earth Mother, the womb of all meta ls, but it
is also the triad in unity
  incorporating the cross, circle
and crescent symbols; again, it is ‘burning water’ and
‘non-burning ﬁre,’ the androgynous.
The alchemist succeeded in joining the two great powers
of ﬁre and water; sulphur, the hot and dry, the spirit of ﬁre,
was the colour of gold, but gold could be fused and
reduced to liquid and so also had the spirit of water, the
moist and the cold; the contraries were thus made one in
gold. But the ﬁre must be controlled and this introduces
the symbolism of the bellows by which the ﬁre was
regulated. Fire must not be allowed to burn too ﬁercely at
ﬁrst; it must be kept steady and quiet in the early stages of
the work; nor may it be allowed to die down, this being
symbolic of indolent or intermittent eﬀort, and of
destruction. Once the ﬁre is fully controlled the ‘quick ﬁre’
can be brought into play that ignites the bright inner ﬁre
of illuminatio n. It is easy to see that the bellows are a
natural symbol for the controlled breathing exercises of
alchemical yoga. The Patriarch Lu Tzu said: ‘Only those
who know what ﬁre, cauldron and bellows really mean can
use them eﬀectively.’
Flight, which plays a minor role in western alchemy,
assumes a major one in the East where powers of ﬂight
appear in all yogic traditions: the Rishis of India, theArhats of Buddhism and the Immortals of Taoism, all
manifest the power. The feather is the natural symbol of
ﬂight and typically shamanistic. In early Chinese alchemy
the hsien  was ‘the feathered scholar,’ or ‘the feathered and
transformed


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http://www.harpercollins.com<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Soil and Health Library
This document is a reproduction of the book or other copyrighted material you
requested.  It was prepared on for the exclusive use of Oriana, whose email address is
orianaoriana@gmail.com.
This reproduction was made by the Soil and Health Library only for the purpose of
research and study.  Any further reproduction or distribution of this copy in any form
whatsoever constitutes a violation of copyrights.   A NEW DIETARY
DISCOVERY

STALE FOOD
-vs-
FRESH FOOD
BY ROBERT S. FORD
President, Magnolia Laboratory
 — MEMBER —
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CEREAL CHEMISTS
THE INSTITUTE OF FOOD TECHNOLOGISTS
A.H.A. COUNCIL ON ARTERIOSCLEROSIS
AMERICAN OIL CHEMISTS' SOCIETY
P. M. P. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
AMERICAN AGING ASSOCIATION
   AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

DEDICATION
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO A BETTER LIFE FOR ALL

THIS BOOKLET IS AVAILABLE FROM MAGNOLIA LABORATORY
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MAGNOLIA LABORATORY DOES NOT SELL FOOD, AND DOES NOT TREATOR
ADVISE INDIVIDUALS. IF YOU NEED HELP, TAKE THIS BOOKLET TO YOUR FAMILY
DOCTOR.

   Copyright © By R. S. Ford
1969 Second Edition Copyright © By R. S. Ford 1969
 Third Edition Copyright © By R. S. Ford 1970
Fourth Edition Copyright © By R. S. Ford 1971
Fifth Edition Copyright © By R. S. Ford 1975
Sixth Edition Copyright © By R. S. Ford 1977
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  PREFACE TO SIXTH EDITION
   Thousands with the good sense and will power to change their eating habits say they have been
greatly helped by the discoveries described in this now-famous booklet, and are enjoying good health
again. They say they have cleansed their arteries, avoided surgery, and become free of anginal pain in
the chest and legs. Circulation in the head and neck have improved so as to clear up dizziness and ear
noises, and enhance mental clarity. Likewise, visual disturbances and blackouts have ended. Blood pressure, cholesterol, and tri-glycerides have been  reduced far more effectively than by drugs or low-
cholesterol diets. Many people say they have never before eaten so well, and with so little kitchen
work, yet their weight and figure are improved. They sa y such things as: "I am back to work again", or
"No more standing still while the pain fades". Some are even frank enough to say "Sex is a joy again". Many say their diabetes is controlled without drugs on this diet. Since it is always a pleasure to see
people enjoying the use of one's discovery, these results make all our hard work seem very much
worthwhile. See how it all started, on inside back cover ( at the end of this booklet in the internet
version).

THE BASIC CAUSE OF COMMON ARTHRITIS
   It is widely agreed among medical scientists th at common arthritis starts with deterioration of the
synovial membrane. As shown in the drawing on the rear cover, this membrane encloses the moving parts of the joint like a bag. Nature provides this membrane bag containing a clear white lubricating
fluid to keep blood out of the joint space, because the delicate red cells of blood would be quickly crushed between the weight bearing surfaces. Since there is no blood circulation inside the joint space
or in the cartilage, the clear white lubricating fluid must play another role as well, nourishing and
carrying away the wastes of the cartilage as it constantly grows to repair wear and tear. In a healthy joint, the lubricating fluid does this very well by a process called dialysis, by which it interchanges
essential nutritive materials and wastes with the bloodstream coursing through a rich network of tiny
blood vessels in the walls of the bag. The joint fluid is secreted by special cells lining the bag, utilizing
materials taken from the bloodstream, and is thus c onstantly made afresh as required. Excluded from
the life-giving bloodstream, the joint cartilage is entirely dependent on the services of the membrane
bag for its lubrication, nourishment, waste dispos al, and microbic protection by means of the special
joint fluid. If the joint fluid is not thus constantly freshened by interchange with the blood, the cartilage
must starve, weaken, be worn away, and perhaps be come infected by invading microbes. Healthy joints
are to a large degree self-repairing due to the consta ntly growing cartilage, but are sure to deteriorate
when not properly supplied with joint fluid.

THE BASIC CAUSE OF COMMON ARTHRITIS
   This diagram shows how a typical joint is enclosed by its
membrane bag, which makes a clear white fluid from blood to
lubricate and nourish the working surfaces. When blood circulation
through the wall of this membrane bag is choked by fatty rubbish from stale food, the joint fluid can no longer be properly made. The
joint is thus starved and begins to  fail. Various forms of arthritis
can then develop from wear and tear, infection, self-repair
reactions, etc. See text page 1.

   Medical authorities agree that the network of fi ne blood vessels in the membrane bag is subject to
being choked with fatty rubbish the same as other arteries. Also, the fibrous walls of the membrane
resemble the walls of the arteries, and the entire membrane tends to become thickened, hardened, and


 found himself in Vietnam.
He fought in combat and survived, but when he bounced
back onto the street again two years later, he was hooked
on heroin, which many soldiers used to make the war less
traumatic. Unlike most soldiers, Walter had no reason to
quit when he got home. Eventually the police caught him,
and by order of the court he came under my care at the V.A.
hospital for his addiction.
Our main focus was simply to detoxify Walter. In the
normal cours e of things, he would have passed through the
revolving door and back out onto the street. But while he
was staying in the hospital I began visiting with him. It was
clear that he was an exceptional person. Despite his
desperation, he did not seem eaten up by inner violence,
and he was courageously willing to ﬁght his habit. Walter
made friends with me. He also made quick progressmedically, and a year after detox he was still holding a
steady job and talking eagerly about the norma l life he
longed for and loved.
Then a strange incident occurred. One day Walter’s car
broke down, forcing him to take the subway to work, which
he hadn’t done in several months. He got on the train to
Dorchester, an old, clattery line with screeching rails. He
hated the noise and couldn’t manage to ignore it. The fan
was broken, and it was July. Within a few minutes of being
shut up in the hot, stiﬂing compartment, he found  the train
intolerable. He went from feeling uneasy to agitated to
extremely agitated, and by the time he got oﬀ he was in a
completely wild, irrational state. Nothing he could do
would make his agitation go away. By the time I saw him,
two days later, Walter was completely hooked on heroin
again, and this time he had hardly any will to recover.
What happen ed to this man? A chem ical explanation for
the train incident is not suﬀicient. I keep thinking of him
wearing his pinstriped business suit, conﬁdently outﬁtted
for a new life, but then having to step onto the same train
that he had ridden when he was troubled and addicted. In
some treacherous turn of memory lane, the past came
back, and with it came his craving. Where did the craving
hide out for a year before it returned? In some way that
medicine is just beginnin g to unravel, a cell’s memory is
able to outlive the cell itself.
At any point in the bodymind, two things come together—
a bit of information and a bit of matter. Of the two, the
information has a longer life span than the solid matter it is
matched with. As the atoms  of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen,
and nitrogen swirl through our DNA, like birds of passage
that alight only to migra te on, the bit of matter changes,
yet there is always a structure waiting for the next atoms.
In fact, DNA never budges so much as a thousandth of a
millimeter in its precise structure, because the genomes—the bits of information in DNA—remember where
everything goes, all 3 billion of them. This fact makes us
realize that memory must be more permanent than matter.
What is a cell, then? It is a memo ry that has built some
matter around itself, forming a speciﬁc pattern. Your body
is just the place your memory calls home.
This conclus ion is diﬀicult to argue with, in light of all
that we now know about forms of chemical intellig ence, but
medicine stubbornly resists these implicatio ns. For
instance, it is generally believed that people who are
addicted to alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs have a “chemical
addiction,” meaning that their cells are hooked on nicotine,
alcohol, heroin, et cetera. But if you look at the level of the
body’s chemistry, you ﬁnd that heroin or nicotine ﬁts into
the same receptors on the cell walls that everyone has. An
addict does not have receptors that exhibit abnormal
cravings.
By analogy, a fat man’s stomach lining isn’t addicted to
food—it just accepts what is given to it. The truth seems to
be that the cell’s memory for the addictive substance is
what is hooked, and it keeps creating distorted cells that
reﬂect its weakness. In other words, an addiction is a
distorted memory. It is just our material bias that keeps
looking to the cell. (These pernicious memories may be
inherited, since addiction runs in families, but even if there
is a speciﬁc “addiction gene,” one is forced to consider the
nonmaterial conditions that caused the DNA to express the
gene. Your ears are formed because a gene encodes them,
but the reason the ear was developed in the ﬁrst place,
millions of years ago, was certainly nonmaterial—some
organism started to respond to sound.)
If you take an addict, detoxify his body, and keep him
away from alcohol or drugs for several years, all the old
cells that used to be “chemically addicted” are totally gone.
Yet the memory persists, and if you give it a chance, thememory will latch onto the addictive substance once again.
A good friend of mine, a cardiologist from Colombia, gave
up smoking ﬁfteen years ago. This spring he went back
home and happened to go to a movie, a rare event in his
life. He is an extraordinarily busy man, even for a heart
doctor, and had not seen a movie since he could remember.
There was an intermission in this particular show, and
when he walked into the lobby he was seized by an almost
uncontrollable urge to smoke.
“You see, when I was a teenager in Bogotá,” he told me,
“we used to smoke in the lobby between movies. All I did
was step back into that scene, and the urge to smoke came
back in a ﬂash. I found myself in front of the cigarette
machine fumbling for change, and only by clutching myself
inside and repeating, ‘This is crazy, you’re a cardiologist,’
was I able to resist.” Even so, he had to rush out of the
theater and now wonders ruefully how the movie ended.
What makes any addiction so frightening is that the
brain’s receptors are always willing to cooperate with the
mind’s instructions. Think back to the stress reaction
where a car backﬁres and adrenaline is released into your
bloodstream. We noted that as part of the overall reaction,
the stomach and intestines stop digesting food. As long as
the stress reaction is temporary, this is a completely normal
and correct thing for the body to do, and it happens
automatically.
However, if you choose to stay in an environment where
there is constant stress, the time must come when your
body wants to return to digesting food. Then a deep conﬂict
will arise, because the stress reaction will still be saying
“no” to the stomach while another part of the brain
(probably the hypothalamus) is saying “yes.” The resulting
turmoil ties the stomach in knots and churns up the
intestines. These organs  begin to lose their natural rhythm,
and if you do not give them a chance to return to it, theywill become victims of wrong memory, just as surely as an
addict does. The stomach  will start pouring out gastric
juice at the wrong times, the colon will go into spasms, and
the smooth linkage between the whole gastro intestinal
system will collapse. Hence the burning ulcers  and chronic
irritated colon experienc ed by many people under high
stress.
In the case of the addic t, one of the reactions that is
blocked by drugs is the ability to think rationally and
perceive clearly. As long as his receptors are full, the addict
will feel euphoric and his perceptions will be a woozy blur,
a cond ition that may be pleasant in the short run but
devastating over the long term—without clear perception,
the brain cannot issue the most basic instructions for
thinking, eating, working, relating to other people, and so
on. All of life requires clear thinking, clear thinking
requires a host of diﬀerent neurotransmitters, yet the
addict has seized on only a few and clings to them
desperately.
—
Likewise, a strictly physical explanation for cancer is not
convincing. It must be tied in to a distortion that is more
abstract; perhaps a distorted memory can occur at the
cellular level. Let us say that a doctor takes a patient’s X
ray and discovers a malignant tumor, then a year later
another X ray is taken and the same tumor show s up. The
doctor is in fact not accurate in calling this the same
cancer, because the cells that showed up the year before
have been entirely replaced.
What he is really seeing is the result of a memory that
has persisted, reincarnating again and again in a new
tumor. Cancer is not so much a wild, runaway cell as the
distorted blueprint of that cell, a set of wrong instructions
that turns normal cellular behavior into the suicidal maniaof cancer. When we are fortunate, the body deals with this
situation from a prima ry level. The DNA senses any
dev


 that can limit them. Things that increase free
radical formation include:
Smoking
Environmental pollution
Alcohol
Radiation, including excessive sunlight exposureBarbecued and smoked meats
Aged and fermented foods
Chemotherapy drugs
High intake of saturated and hydrogenated fats
Stress and stress hormones
W e have evolved a sophistica ted system to neutralize the d amaging
ef fects of free radicals on our bodies. This is called the antioxidant system
and it involves m any dif ferent enzymes, vitamins, and minerals.  When your
antioxidant syst em is fully operational, you are able to deactivate the free
radical molecules before they do harm.
Things you can do to enhance your antioxidant system include:
Eat more antioxidant-rich foods—fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts,
and beans.
Use antioxidant-rich herbs and spices liberally—dill, coriander,
rosemary, sage, thyme, mint, fennel, ginger, and garlic.
T ake antioxidant vitamins—A, C, and E.
Eliminate tobacco, excessive alcohol, and nonessential drugs.
Reduce your stress—meditate.
The accumulation of toxins in the body/mind
system accelerates aging.

Relinquishing T oxic SubstancesHuman beings have this curious  propensity to be attracted to things that are
not good for them. Part of this af finity is chemical, for nicotine, illicit drugs,
and alco hol mimic natural biochemicals in doses that create cravings when
the substance is withdrawn. Part of this tendency may be our childlike
resistance to authority figures te lling us what is good and bad. W hatever the
explanation, once a toxic habit is established, the ritual itself provides
reinforcement fo r the behavior. For example, just the familiar act of pouring
a drink or lighting up a cigarette may soothe anxiety. The problem, of
course, is that the short-term relief provided by the behavior may
predispose us to long-term suf fering.
Our experience at the Chopra Center has taught us that in order for
someone to release something  that is not serving them well, several
components must be in place. In order to unravel a toxic conditioned pattern
and rep lace it with a nourishing one, you will need to sy stematically
reinforce the transformation wit h your thoughts and choices. There are four
critical steps to relinquishing something toxic in your life.
THE INTENTION T O DET OXIFY
The firs t import ant step is to form a clear and str ong intention. If you are
not convinced that your life will be better as a result of eliminating
something toxic, you will not have the motivation or will to make the
change. It is best to formulate your intention in a positive ra ther than a
negative way. If you want to sto p smoking, state your intention as “I want
to breathe more easily and feel comfortable in my body without the need for
tobacco,” rather  than “I need to get rid of these horrible cigarettes from my
life.” If your desire is to stop drinking alcohol, formulate the intention that
you wis h to feel safe and cente red without the need for self-m edication. If
you wan t to lose weight, formulate the intention that you want a  healthy, fit
body. Create a clear vision of how your life will be better as  a result of
letting g o of the toxin. If you are  struggling with an addiction th at you have
the c lear intention to release, tr y the “Envisioning Wholeness”  process on
the next page.If you are habitually consuming  a toxic substance that you know is not
serving you well, make the commitment now to release it. Form a clear
intention and reinforce your af firmations:
I commit to r eleasing ______ fr om my life, once and for ever.
W ithout ______ in my life,
I look and feel a healthy _____ years old.

Throughout the day, practice your af firmation and the envisioning of
your life free fr om the toxic ha bit until your body/mind is sp ontaneously
resonating with this vision for your life. Develop a clear vision of your new
reality and create it through all your daily choices.
Envisioning Wholeness
Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and for several minutes quiet your
inner dialogue through meditation. If you have not been instructed in
Primordial Sound Meditation, practice the breathing awareness
meditation as described in Chapter 3. Now, begin to envision your life
free from the negative ef fects of the life-damaging habit. Imagine your
home and work environment, unencumbered by the addiction. Picture
how your body looks, smells, and feels free from the toxic ef fects of the
dependency. Imagine the nourishing relationships with your friends and
loved ones. Experience on the screen of your consciousness the vitality,
comfort, and sense of competence you have, liberated from the negative
pattern that is impacting your life. Allow this vision of wholeness to
permeate every cell in your body.
PRACTICE MINDFULNESSThe second step is to turn the toxic behavior into a mindful meditation. This
means shifting into a mode of witnessing awareness while you are
performing the action. If you want to eliminate smoking, focus your full
attention on the action. Sit quietly and observe yourself as you s lowly reach
for y our pack, r emove a cigarette, light up, and inhale. Feel th e sensations
in your body and stop when your need has been fulfilled.
V ery few  people actually enjoy their first smoke or taste of whiskey,
which re flects the inherent wisdom of the body. It is only afte r you have
overridden your  body’ s signals with false mental messages—“I look cool
when I smoke.” “Drinking alcohol makes me grown-up.” “Doing drugs is
hip.”—that your physiological impulses stop being sent. In its ef fort to
conserve ener gy, if we do not heed our internal signals, the body stops
sending them. Performing the habitual action with “beginner ’ s awareness”
will help you experience the honest ef fects of the substance.
SYSTEMICALL Y DET OXIFY
The third step is  to start a general detoxification pr ogram. Set a stop date
and use  the opportunity to clear both your mind and body. F ocusing on
purification will help shorten the period of withdrawal discomfort and help
your min d and body shift into a healthier mode of functioning. D rink lots of
fresh fruit and vegetable juice s during this time. T ry fruit juices in the
morning, mixed  fruit and vegetable juices during the day, an d vegetable
juices and blended vegetable so ups in the evening. W e often recommend
gingerroot tea, prepared by adding one teaspoon of freshly grated root to a
pint of hot water. Simplify your diet for a few days, favoring whole grains,
steamed vegetables, and lentil soups. T ake hot baths or go to a sauna or
steam room to encourage the removal of toxins through your skin. Spend at
least some time every day walking in a park or along a stream, lake, or
ocean. Inhale fresh air, feel the sun on your face, and wiggle you r feet in the
sand or grass. Directly connect with nature’ s purifying influence.This is a good time to start a healthy daily routine. Commit to m editating
twice a day, getting to bed before 10:30 P.M. and rising at su nrise. Drink
plenty o f water. Begin a regular exercise program. Get some body work to
help mo bilize th e toxins from your body. Start a healthy diet. The more
positive things you introduce int o your life, the easier it will be to eliminate
whatever is toxic.
Panchakarma
A yurveda reco mmends a total detoxification program known as
Panchakarma, which means th e purifying actions. The full program as
of fered at the C hopra Center prescribes a systematic process to identify,
mobilize, and eliminate stored toxins in the body. Luxurious oil massages
are followed by heat treatme nts and then some type of eliminative
procedure to dischar ge toxins through the digestive tract or nasal passages.
Y ou can  perform a gentle detox ification program at home by following
these steps:
Follow a simplified diet for five days with plenty of steamed
vegetables, grains, and lentil soup. Eliminate fried foods, fermented
foods, dairy, animal products, and refined carbohydrates during this
time.
For three days eat sesame seeds and golden raisins to lubricate your
digestive tract. Prepare a one-to-one mix of ⅛ cup of white sesame
seeds and ⅛ cup of golden raisins. Ingest a teaspoon of the mixture one
hour before or two hours after each meal. If you have any trouble
digesting seeds, take ½ teaspoon of sesame oil with three to four
raisins three times a day.
Drink plenty of gingerroot tea by grating one teaspoon of fresh
gingerroot per pint of hot water and sipping it throughout the day. It is
easiest if you get a thermos bottle so you can keep the tea with you.
T ry drinking at least one liter per day.On the evening of the fourth day, perform an oil massage (see pages
54–55) and soak in a hot bath.
Around ten P.M., take a teaspoon of yogurt with a dose of standardized
senna


 never saw before, although they were not necessarily
concealed. You understand exactly how the quarrel came into
existence in the rst place, what led to it, what its history was long
before its actual manifestation. With such discoveries you gain
insight into the very nature of the relationship. You learn about
yourself and the other, you increase your understanding of the laws
of communication. The more vision you gain, the freer, stronger,
and more secure you feel. This vision not only eliminates this
particular conict and shows  the right way to straighten it out, but
it also reveals  important aspects of your general diculties and
makes their elimination easier through this understanding. Thevibrant peace that comes from this extended understanding is of
lasting value. It aects your self-realization and your daily life.
What I described is a typical example of unied, intuitive
understanding: of knowing the truth. After the initial apparent need
for courage and the momen tary resistance to seeing a wider truth
than the egotistic one, your path becomes so much easier than the
struggle that ensues on the either/or plane of the dualistic life.
Before you can bring yoursel f to the unied way of thinking and
being, the tension will mount, for as long as you remain on the
dualistic plane, you struggle against unication because you falsely
believe that the moment you admit and see where you are wrong
and the other is right, you submit and enslave yourself. You become
nothing, worth less, pitiful—and from there it is only a step to
annihilation in your fantasy life. Hence, you feel that leaving your
dualistic plane is the greatest danger. The tension will mount as
your conicts escalate. But the moment you are willin g to be in
truth, the moment you are eager and prepared, not merely to see
your way, your little truth, not to give in to the other’s little truth in
fear of the consequences if you do not, but when you wish to
possess the larger, more encompassing truth, which transcends both of
your little truths, a specic tension will be removed in your psyche.
The way toward the manifestation of the real self will have been
prepared.
Obstructions to Finding the Real Self
Let me recapit ulate here: The two most signicant obstructions to
the real self are ignorance of its existence and the possibility of
connecting with it; and a tight, cramped psychic state with tight,
cramped soul movements. These two factors make contact
impossible with the real self, and therefore with a unied state of
existence. As long as you are on a dualistic plane, you must be in a
constant soul cramp. When you ght against one dualistic aspect
and press for the other, observe your soul movements. Supercially,
you may lean on the apparent justication of the position  you pressfor. You may say, “Am I not perfectly justied in combating this
wrong in the world?” On the dualistic plane this may indeed be so.
But with this limited outlook you ignore that this very wrong exists
only because of your dualistic approach to the problem and your
prevalent ignorance that there is another approach. The resulting
tension blurs the view that other aspects exist which both unify
what you deem right and what you deem wrong, regardle ss of what
the wrong actually is.
This simple act of wanting the truth requires several conditions,
the most important being the willingness to relinquish what one
holds on to, whether this be a belief, a fear, or a cherish ed way of
being. When I say relinquish, I merely mean questioning it and
being willing to see that there is something else beyond this outlook.
This brings us back to why you are terried to relinquish the ego
state, hence the dualistic, painful way of life. Why do you resist so
much committing yourself to this deep inner center, which unies
all good and is instantly accessible? It is, however, beyond the
personal, little considerations of the ego.
Your Ego Versus Your Divine Center
The dualistic plane is the plane of the ego. The unied plane is
the world of the divine center, the larger self. The ego nds its
whole existence on the plane in which it is at home. To relinquish
this plane means to give up the claims of the little ego. This does
not mean annihilation, but to the ego it seems to mean just this.
Actually, the ego is a particle, an isolated aspect of the master
intelligence, the real, inner self. It is not dierent from it; there is
simply less of the real self in it. Since it is separate and limited, it is
less reliable than what it stems from. But this does not mean that
the ego has to be annihila ted. In fact, the ego will eventually
integrate with the real self so that there is one self, which will be
fuller, better equipped, wiser. It will have more and better assets
than you can imagine.But the separated ego thinks this development means
annihilation. In its ignorant, limited way, the ego exists only as a
separated being; hence, it pursues further separateness. Since the
limited conscio usness ignore s the existence of the real self—even if
it is accepted as a theory, its living reality will be doubted as long as
personal misconceptions are not eliminated—it fears letting go and
relaxing its tight hold, the very soul movement that leads to the real
self. This is the constant struggle of the ego until it ceases ghting
against an opposite through repeated recognitions of a wider truth
in every small personal issue.
The real self cannot manifest  as long as personal problems are not
straightened out. But the process of doing this and the rst inklings
of self-r ealization often overl ap; the one furthers the other. This way
of looki ng at your basic human struggle may help you considerably.
As long as you are totally  identied with your ego, you will
continue to cultivate more separation, and self-idealization must be
the consequence. Self-glorication and idealization seem, from this
point of view, the apparent salvation and guarantee to assuage your
existential fears. The ego thinks, “If everyone around me considers
me special, better than others, smart, beautiful, talented, happy,
unhappy, or even bad”—or whatever specialty you have chosen for
your idealized  self-gloricati on—“then I will receive the necessary
approval, love, admiration, agreement that I need in order to live.”
This argument means that somewhere deep down you believe that
you can exist only through being noticed, armed, and conrmed
by others. You feel that if you go by unnoticed, you cease to live.
This may sound exaggerated, but it is not. It explains why your
idealized self-image is so destructive. You feel more condent when
you make yourself noticed than when you make positive eorts.
So your salvation seems to lie in others who would acknowledge
your existence  only if you are special. At the same time, the
misinterpreted message from the real self wants you to master life,
but you maste r it on the wrong plane and believe that you must
vanquish every resistance that is in your way. Each personal pseudo-
solution  is a way you have to eliminate your obstructions on the way
to specialness. Which pseudo-solution you have chosen depends onindividual character traits, on circumstances and early inuences.
Whatever they are—and there are three basic ones: the aggressive,
the submissive, and the withdrawal solutions —they are destined to
triumph over others and establish your freedom and fulllment.
Your existence seems to be guaranteed when you are totally
loved, accepted, and served by others, and you hope to attain this
by trium phing over them. You can now see that you are governed
by a succession of wrong conclusions, which are all completely
dierent in reality.
Of course, all your reactions  and beliefs can be ascertain ed only
when you have learned to admit them. You also need to question
the meaning of a particular reaction and look behind the facade,
beyond what it pretends to mean. Once you admit this, it is easy to
verify that all these misconceptions govern you and rob you of the
beauty of reality. You will further come to see—not as a theory, but
as a reality— that your life does not depend on other people’s
armation of your existence; that you do not need to be special and
separate from others; that this very claim traps you in loneliness and
confusion; that others will give you love and acceptance only when
you do not wish to be bette r than they are, or special or dierent
from them. Also this love will come when your very life no longer
depends on it.
When you have truly attaine d knowledge, your accomplishment,
in whatever eld this may be, cannot have the eect on others that
it has when accomplishment serves to set you apart. In the one case
your accomplishment will be a bridge to others, because  it is not a
weapon agains t them. In the other instance it will


but smile and  employ the same argument  as have
the homoeopaths.  Let me substantiate  my argument  with a few facts.
It so happens that  my grandfather  was rather well  known in the sixties
and  seventies  of last century  for his way with  horses, dogs, etc.,  and  it
was from him I Iearned that urine and  even cow‐dung were his
favourite remedies  in successfully  treating the ailments and  injuries of
animals. He thought  nothing of fasting cows, horses and  dogs up to a
month on water and  cow's urine, to administer  which  he used a horn;
though when thirsty they  would drink  without  this adjunct. Having 103
 learnt much from my grandfather,  I treated animals  myself. It was often
a long and laborious  job, and  some adventures  I could quote are not
without  their humorous  side.  I remember  I once  fasted  a cow, which
had tetanus, for 120 days, during which  I rubbed it for eight hours  a day
with the urine (caught in buckets) of other  cows. To drink  I gave it its
own urine (at first it was thick, yellow and  concentrated  as mustard)
and  the urine of healthcows.  It also  drank plain cold water. My vaccine
patient lost all its hair, went to skin and  bone, but made a complete
recovery,  regaining  its natural  weight on grassfeeding  in about two
months.
I have also treated dogs by the urine‐therapy  fast. One method of
inducing a dog to drink urine (though  they  will often drink a bitch's
urine) is to fasten the animal  to a tree and  then syringe its head with a
fine spray of the vital fluid. I used my own newly passed  for the purpose.
As the urine drips  down over its face the dog will lap it up.
Case‐history. Airedale terrier " Rough. " Treated him for a swelling in his
abdomen  which  developed  after he had  been run  over by the back
wheel of a motorcar.  He fasted  19 days on my urine and  cold water
when desired, and  finally broke his fast on a little raw  beef. When
animals  are ill, they have the sense to fast until hunger reasserts itself.
During his fast I washed him all over with old, strong,  greasy urine, and
although he lost many of his old hairs during the process, he finished up
with a beautiful coat.
Although the following  experience  with poultry does not strictly come
under  the heading of urine‐therapy,  sine: hens  do not urinate and  no
urine was  used, t is instructive  none the less as showing what a fast will 104
 do even for birds. I had 60 hens  at the time (October,  1916) but not one
of them had laid an egg for weeks, although they  had been well  fed and
stimulated  with condiments.  As some of them were ill, many
"authorities"  had given me free or professional  advice. Finally, I decided
to put half  of them on a fast, with nothing but plain water. The result
was remarkable,  for on the fourth day I found several eggs.
Subsequently,  I fasted the  remaining  half, with the  same gratifying
result ‐eggs in plenty. The fast  in each case lasted  a week. I then
changed ‐what had been the previous  diet consisting  of "anything  and
everything"  to nothing but whole grain wheat ‐for which  the hens  had
to work in ashes for every morseland  raw  greens, which I gave them
twice  a day. This, plus the grass they could peck from my orchards  was
all they  got.  The result was an average of 250 eggs a week from 60 hens
for 18 weeks without  a break, and at the negligible  cost  of ⅓ d. per egg.
Treatment  of a foal's leg for laceration.  The foal in question  had tried  to
force her way through a thick thorn hedge  with disastrous  results. She
suffered  a large  slash  in the flesh of one of her back legs at the knee‐
joint, and the gash resembled  a great lip hanging down. I was  advised
to call in a vet. and  have it stitched up, but I declined, knowing that
such a measure  would only leave unsightly marks and much reduce  her
value. I therefore  bound up the wound with a soft clean woollen cloth,
(undyed) under  a piece  of tree‐ply flexible wood, ind filled up the space
between the flesh and  the wood with cow‐ dung, finally drawing the
poultice tight at the bot.om with broad  tape so as to keep the dung in
place and  let the foal  have her run.  Twice a day I called  the animal  so
that I might pour a pint  or more  of urine into the top of the poultice in
order to keep the properties  of the dung active. This process I kept up 105
 for a fortnight.  Then at length I undid the bandages ‐ and lo and behold!
the wound was perfectly  healed, and without  leaving a trace of a scar.
Truly there  are lessons  to be learnt from Nature. The first, second  and
third are‐work with Nature  and she will do the work!

 106
 CHAPTER  XVII.
THE RATIONALE  OF RUBBING  AND URINE PACKS

A correspondent  who asked  a number  of intelligent  questions  surprised
me on that account  by asking


 rience. You
are inundated each day with an unending stream of sights, sounds, tastes,
smells, and touches. If we are going to explore what it is like to be You, the
conscious being living within,  we need to take the time to thoroughly
understand the outside world since it makes up such a major part of your
life. What is actually out there, where did it come from, and what is your
relationship to it?
Let’s begin by exploring your relationship to the world around you.
We’ll start by making a statement that you probably will not agree with: The
moment in front of you right now has absolutely nothing to do with you.
Before you disagree, just look at the moment in front of you. Don’ t do
anything with it. Don’ t meditate on it or try to be positive about it. Just
notice that there is a moment in front of you. Now, look to the left; there’ s a
different momen t in front of you. Look to the right; there’ s yet another
moment in front of you. Those moments were there before you looked at
them, and they will still be there when you’re done looking. How manymoments exist in the world right now that you are not looking at? How
about in the entire universe? You must admit that those moments have
nothing to do with you. They belong to themselves and their relationship to
all that surrounds them. You didn’ t create them, and you don’t make them
come and go. They are just there. The moment in front of you is just another
moment in the universe that exists even when you are not looking at it. It is
completely impersonal.
Nonetheless, the moment in front of you doesn’ t seem impers onal; it
seems very personal. That is why it can cause so much trouble. You suffer
when the mome nt in front of you is not the way you want, and you rejoice
when it matches  your preferences. As we will explore in later chapters, this
is because of something you are bringing into the momen t—it is not
something intrinsic to the moment itself. All moments in the universe are
simply moments in the universe; you are the one bringing your personal
preferences into these impersonal moments and making them seem
personal.
This is our first encounter with seeing how difficult it is to surrender
our habitual way of looking at things. We are perfectly willing to admit that
what is going on in T imbuktu right now has nothing to do with us. Likewise,
we have  no problem admitting that the rings of Saturn, the big storm on
Jupiter, and the sands of Mars have nothing to do with us. In other words,
more than 99.99 999 percent of the universe has nothing to do with us, but
somehow the.00001 percent does. Which.00001 percent does? The part
that’s in front of you. Somehow, because you’re looking at it, it’s no longer
part of the impersonal universe. It has become personal.
The problem is, you have made a really big deal out the mom ent in
front of you throughout your life by bringing your personal preferences into
that moment. Notice that the billions of people who are not looking at the
moment in front of you don’t have any problem with it. They couldn’ t care
less about it. It’s not stirring up their thoughts, and it’s not stirring up their
emotions. When  you’re no longer experiencing that moment, it generally
won’ t be bothering you either. Instead, the moment you turn to next will be
bothering you. “Why is she sitting there?” “Who’ s she talkin g to?” “The
lights are way too bright.” All of a sudden this new moment starts affecting
you because you’re looking at it. The truth of the matter is, it existed exactly
the same before you looked at it. One of the most amazing things  you will
ever realize is that the moment in front of you is not bothering you—you arebothering yourself about the moment in front of you. It’s not personal—you
are making it personal. There are countless moments unfolding in the
universe at any given time, and your relationship to all of them is exactly
the same: you are the subject, they are the object.
Once you realiz e this truth intellectually, it still won’ t look that way in
your everyday life. To help, let’s take a field trip out to Fisherman’ s Wharf
in San Francisc o, overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean. While you’re
gazing out there, ask yourself whether what you see in front of you has
anything to do with you. You see waves, you see spray, you may even see
some whales or sea lions. That just happens to be what is unfolding in front
of you at that moment. If you had come on a different day, or even a
different hour, what you’d see would be quite different. But this would not
bother you. It would only bothe r you if you came to the whar f with some
personal prefere nces: “I want to see a whale.” “I want to see the giant waves
people told me about.” With these preferences, you will have a very
different experie nce than someone who simply came to see what the Pacific
Ocean looked like that day. One person can simply enjoy the experience; the
other has to struggle to make the experience match their personal
preferences.
In the case of the ocean, it is not difficult to see that the moment  before
you has nothing to do with you, and you have the right to simp ly enjoy the
experience. Because you don’t generally identify yourself with the ocean,
this is easier to do than with the rest of your life. But let there be no doubt,
your relationship to what is in front of you is always the same, whether you
are looking at the ocean or at your life. These moments are just what
happens to be happening at that particular time and place in the universe
where you happen to be standing. None of it is personal. But since you seem
to take the moment in front of you so personally, let’s continue our
exploration of the outside world by looking at where that moment came
from and why it is the way it is.Chapter 7.
The World You Live In
If you want to know where the moment in front of you came from, it makes
sense to go to our scientists. They have inquired about this as far back as
Aristotle and Plato. From the beginning of our existence, humans have
pondered: Wher e did all of this come fr om? What made it?  Why is it here? If
we ask scientists today, they will say that what you are looking at when you
look at the outside world is actually a blending of much smaller objects.
Your eyesight and all your senses are averaging molecular structures. As
we’ve already explored, you are not actually looking out at the world; it is
coming into you through your senses.
To see how this works, let’s examine the nature of color. When you
look at the world, it certainly appears to have color. But other than light,
itself, objects have no color. The only reason you experien ce color is
because the light bouncing off the objects has color. You see this when
examining a prism. If you shine light through a prism, you will get different
colors. It is called the electr omagnetic spectrum.  Light has different
wavelengths, and you perceive each visible wavelength as color. Remember
ROY -G-BIV : red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. They make up
the colors of the visible part of the light spectrum. When light waves hit a
physical object, the different atoms and molecules of that object absorb
some frequencies of the light and reflect others. Objects themselves have no
color; it is the light reflecting off them that has the differen t colors we
perceive. This is a perfect example of how truth is not always what it
appears to be. We will see this time and again as we examine the true nature
of what consciousness experiences.
Scientists used to think the atom was the smallest possible unit, and it
could not be subdivided any further. Today we understand that an atom is
composed of electrons, neutrons, and protons. It forms the basic unit ofeverything we look at every day. We could stop right here and have some
fun with the very personal way we look at things. For example, what exactly
do you mean when you say you like something? What is it you claim to be
liking? If you like the color of the wall, that’s like saying you like part of the
electromagnetic spectrum and not other parts. Likewise with any outside
object. Do you really like some atoms and not others? It gets a little weird,
doesn’ t it? This truth is very powerful because all you’re ever looking at is a
bunch of atoms with light bouncing of f them.
After hundreds of years of study, scientists have told us that atoms get
pulled together into molecules through the laws of covalent and ionic bonds.
This may sound  complicated, but they are really just the laws of magnetism
determining which atoms will bond together. These laws, in turn, determine
what you will see in the outside world. Certainly at this level you can see
that it’s not personal. It has nothing to do with you. You don’t decide


 establishment Dr. Lee writes about that is brainwashedabout Premarin. They certainly were not about to help me.
I knew I needed to find an endocrinologist outside the Kaiser
system who agreed with Dr. Lee’s ideas and was ready to buck thewhole system regarding Premarin. But where do you find someonelike that? My entire life’s experience had taught me that doctorswere, for the most part, like Stepford wives; they were cheerleadersfor a system that reduced reality to a few simple clichés. I was alsoleery of exposing myself to more insults from doctors. Whenever Iwould go in for these consultations about my weight, I could seeexactly what these doctors were thinking. Whether they said it or193 BATTLING THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT not, they gave me the feeling that they thought I was some kind of
binge eater looking for a shortcut or a miracle.
I started feeling trapped; I had the same discouraged, sort of
Kafkaesque sensation like I’d gotten back in my 30s.
But then, over New Year’s, my husband and I were at our condo
in the desert and I saw Dr. Platt on television. Everything he saidmade so much sense that I made an appointment to see him!
I brought my Kaiser folder to Dr. Platt, and he did a battery
of hormone tests. I found him easy to talk to. He also had meconsult with one of his nutritionists. At first I was cynical abouttalking to another nutritionist. I have been through a lot ofnutrition classes sponsored by Kaiser. That’s another insultingthing they do when you are looking for help with weight loss: theymake you take these classes. I’ve been through umpteen nutritionclasses and cholesterol classes and so forth. You name it and Kaiserwants to put you through it.
Dr. Platt’s team is welcoming. They really have knowledge
that helps you and a way of sharing it that I understood.
Dr. Platt told me that when I lost weight my cholesterol
would go down. My cholesterol was 293 when I went in there.Kaiser had wanted me to take Zocor for my high cholesterol,which is one of about three or four statin drugs on the market. ButI said no. Dr. Platt and I are working on my cholesterol withniacin and thyroid. Within the first two months of starting withDr. Platt, my cholesterol dropped 50 points.
When the hormone tests came back, Dr. Platt and I sat down
and went over them. My low thyroid was still there, and Dr. Plattadjusted my thyroid, giving me T3 in addition to T4. Heexplained to me why the Synthroid by itself wasn’t helping me. Itmade me angry to think I had been faithfully taking this stuff for20 years and it had been doing nothing for me.
As I lost weight I gained energy. It became easier to do just
about anything. So far I’ve lost 38 pounds. I weigh 202 now. But194 THE MIRACLE OF BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONES  I’m wearing a size 16 and there’s no flab! I used to feel impaired,
but I’m not impaired anymore. I have no problems getting up offof the sofa or in and out of a restaurant booth.
I’ve always been an active person even when it was a struggle
to move around. I still work in a gift shop every day, sing in achoir, volunteer at my T emple, teach piano privately at home, andcook with my husband every night. My ideal weight is 141. I amconfident I will get there.
NEAR MISSES
Over the years I’ve seen a lot of patients like Margaret—very
smart people who try to approach their weight problemsintelligently but still can’t lose weight. I find their situationsespecially poignant. With all of their reading and detectivework, they’re nonetheless thwarted by our popular culture ofdieting and our uninformed medical system. Margaret madesome good inroads, but she just didn’t take the right path to getto where she wanted to go. She had read Dr. Lee and under-stood the value of natural progesterone. Unfortunately, the typeof progesterone he promotes is not in a high enough strength.He recommends the over-the-counter type of progesterone,which is 20 milligrams, and a woman generally needs about200 milligrams a day.
Margaret also suspected that she had a thyroid problem,
and her doctors determined that it was true. But they placedher on the wrong thyroid medication. This is extremelycommon, as you’ve already seen with Brenda J. and Rhonda Y.She was given the T4-only hormone Synthroid when she alsoneeded T3. That’s the most common error made by conven-tional doctors when treating over-weight people with under-active thyroid glands. They don’t realize that people can have195 BATTLING THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT normal levels of T4 and still be hypothyroid. Few doctors look
at a patient’s T3 levels, T3 being the active hormone thatregulates metabolism. The logical question here is: Why don’tdoctors start looking at T3 levels so they can cover all the basesfor their patients suffering from hypothyroidism?
YO-YO DIETING AND WEIGHT LOSS
Margaret is the type of person who has the most difficult
time losing weight. Her long history of repeated diets hadturned her body into an extremely efficient, sophisticatedfat-storing machine.
The body does not know about weight loss—it only
understands the threat of starvation. Its main concern issurvival. When insufficient quantities of fuel are consumed, itnaturally thinks it may be facing starvation, so it begins tocreate and store fat in a highly efficient manner.
This is an important point that bears repeating. People
interested in losing weight need to understand how their bodyoperates. The body likes fat. It likes to create it and hold ontoit and does not like to burn it.
When people go on starvation weight loss programs, most
of the weight loss that occurs is muscle loss—the body doesnot want to burn fat when it is starving. Muscle weighs at leastthree times as much as fat, so people lose weight rapidly, whichmakes them happy. This happiness, unfortunately, is short-lived because there is a rapid regaining. Less muscle tissuemeans less room for carbohydrate (sugar) storage (as glycogen),so any excess is apt to be stored in the fat cells. And lessmuscle means less fat is burned, since muscle is the fat-burning tissue of the body.196 THE MIRACLE OF BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONES  Added to this, the body becomes even more efficient at stor-
ing fat. The bottom line is: cutting calories is probably not thebest weight loss approach for long-term weight management.
Fat is a very efficient fuel—it burns at nine calories per
gram—and the body wisely reserves its most efficient fuel forlast. A good example of this is Karen Carpenter, the singer whodied of anorexia nervosa. This was a woman who placed herbody in a continuous state of starvation. When they did herautopsy, they discovered she had almost no heart muscle. Herbody had eaten its most vital organ rather than give up its lastounce of fat.
A MORE ENLIGHTENED APPROACH
Could anyone have been more proactive, determined, and
methodical in her search for weight management thanMargaret? And yet her search went on, unsuccessfully, for 37years. That’s how difficult it is to get help with obesity in thisculture! It is time to change our assumptions about whypeople’s bodies store fat. And it’s time to offer patients a moreenlightened and helpful approach to weight loss.197 BATTLING THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT WHY WE DON’T HA VE
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
IN THIS COUNTRY
chapter TWENTY–FOUR
Preventive medicine is almost non-existent in this country.
When you talk to some doctors about preventive medicine,they think you’re talking about giving flu shots. However, manypeople assume “preventive medicine” refers to preventing heartattacks, strokes, cancer, diabetes, and other serious conditions.
If we look at statistics, it becomes clear that over the past
60 years the incidence of these medical conditions has notdiminished. Despite the proliferation of drugs and newmedical technology, nothing much has changed.
NO PROFIT MOTIVE
Almost everything doctors learn in medical school about
treating patients is based on research done by drug companies.This is why most doctors have little basic knowledge of naturalhormones—drug companies cannot patent natural products.Even endocrinologists, who specialize in hormones, for themost part only feel comfortable using the synthetic hormonesproduced by drug companies, not natural bio-identical
199hormones that match the hormones produced by the body.
Along these same lines, doctors learn little preventive
medicine in medical school because drug companies have nointerest in preventing disease—why should they? There’s noprofit for drug companies in treating the root causes of heartattacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer. The entire medicalestablishment is geared toward treatment, not prevention. Forthe most part, drug companies develop drugs to treatsymptoms of disease. Antibiotics are the only drugs thatactually address and cure the disease itself.
Even insurance companies—which have the most to gain
from doctors practicing effective preventive medicine—playinto this system by discounting the importance of properscreening procedures. By and large, insurance companies areloath to pay for simple screening tests, the kind that could helppatients head off diseases they might be prone to developing.When a doctor or patient requests coverage for a blood test orany other study, the insurance company normally responds byasking for a diagnosis


 write a letter or a poem. You don’t
have to send it; the exercise is for you, to stimulate the state of love in
every cell. But sending it is preferable, for you want to hear
expressions of love in return. Don’ t let your love be something taken
for granted. Put a note for your loved one to find in his or her pocket
or on the kitchen table.
3. Seek out love. This is possible in many ways. Intimacy in our
society is closel y identified with sexual encounters, but it is an act of
love to give help to the homeless and the sick, to deliver a sincere
compliment, or to write a note of thanks and praise. People like to
hear that they are loved and appreciated, and if you seek out
opportunities to fulfill their needs in this area, their gratitude will be
mirrored in your physiology as the bliss of being loved in return.
4. Encou rage love. As parents we often teach our children that being
openly affectionate and loving is appropriate for babies and toddlers
but not for anyo ne older than that. In teaching manners and respect,
we often  create a gap that love is too sensitive and shy to cross. We
inflict this sense of separation on our children because it was inflicted
on us. The story  of almost everyone is a story of love waiting to be
coaxed out, of affection that has to wait in silence because it is afraid
to emer ge.
So take it as your duty to give those around you permission to love.
Encourage their affection by showing it yourself, without regard for what
you may get in return. Real love gains complete satisfaction  simply by
flowing out to what is loved; if love comes back, that is an added joy, but it
isn’t required or demanded. Love that has no ulterior motive is rare—all the
psychological theories based on selfish love certainly are confirmed by
what we observ e all around us. But even the most demanding  and selfish
love is love of a sort. It is a drop taken from the ocean, and if you encourage
it, it can swell to become the ocean.
The education of love begins in a moment and ends in eternity. It is
sparked by feelings of delight and resolves into the peace that belongs toBeing itself. In some haunting lines of poetry Kahlil Gibran expressed this
truth:
Yet the timeless in you is aware of life’ s timelessness
and knows that yesterday is but today’ s memory and
tomorrow
is today’ s dream
and that which sings and contemplates in you is still
dwelling
within the bounds of that moment which scattered the stars
into space.
Use love as your mirror of the timeless; let it nurture your certai nty that you
are beyond change, beyond the memory of yesterday and the dream of
tomorrow. There are infinite ways to discover your true Bein g, but love
holds the brightest torch. If you follow it, you will be guided beyond the
limits of age and death. Come out of the circle of time and find yourself in
the circle of love.
OceanofPDF.comABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deepak Chopra is the author of more than fifty books translated in
over thirty-five languages including numerous New York Times
bestsellers in both the fiction and nonfiction categories.
www.deepakchopra.com
OceanofPDF.comALSO BY DEEPAK CHOPRA
Reinventing the Body, Resurr ecting the Soul
The Ultimate Happiness Pr escription
Available fr om Harmony Books wher ever books ar e soldThe Third Jesus: The Christ W e Cannot Ignor e
Life After Death: The Burden of Pr oof
Why Is God Laughing? The Path to Joy and Spiritual
OptimismThe Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desir e:
Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence
The Book of Secr ets:
Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Y our Life
How to Know God:
The Soul’ s Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries
Available fr om Thr ee Rivers Pr ess wher ever books ar e sold
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OceanofPDF.com<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>PYROLURIA  and CANDIDA
Twin Causes of Modern Diseases
by W alter Last
Introduction
This article shows that Pyroluria, an inherited or acquired liver defect, in combination with Candida overgrowth, are key factors in
causing our modern diseases. Pyroluria is a common metabolic condition in which pyrrole, a key component of haem (as in
haemoglobin), is overproduced in the liver, thereby causing a wide range  of symptoms. The severity of this condition ﬂuctuates widely
as it is strongly related to stress levels. Symptoms range from liver and gastro-intestinal problems, to mental-emotional and
neurological diseases, disorders of the blood and circulation, skin and muscle problems, and other connective tissue disorders.
Candida overgrowth, most commonly caused by antibiotic therapy, is the second factor. In this article the term "Candida" is only used
as shorthand for a syndrome that includes intestinal dysbiosis; leaky gut syndrome or intestinal permeability caused by the invasive
hyphal form of Candida; fungal meta bolic chemicals affecting blood, muscles, nerves and brain, often blocking the oxidative energy
metabolism in parts of the body, and a wide range of mycoplasmas and other pleomorphic microbes and parasites now invading the
body as the immune system becomes increasingly inef fective due to the continuing assault by the hyphal Candida.
"Hyphae" are long, branching ﬁlamentous structures which grow through the intestinal wall, causing inﬂammation and making it
permeable to intestinal toxins. In this fungal form Candida is much more dangerous than its easily treatable yeast-form.
Two Conditions Making Health Problems Much W orse
Pyroluria and Candida, just like other modern diseases, have greatly increased in recent decades. However, I have now come to the
conclusion that they are not just normal diseases but rather the underlying causes for the epidemic increase of many or most of our
modern diseases. Pyroluria and Candida not only cause very similar disease symptoms, they also encourage each other's
development, and if both are present together they make any health problems very much worse.
Pyroluria is a common metabolic condition in which pyrrole, a key component of haem as in haemoglobin, is overproduced in the liver
and bone marrow. The surplus binds to vitamin B6 and zinc and is excreted in the faeces and urine, but part of it tends to remain in
the body as obstructive waste resid ues. This creates severe deﬁciencies in B6 and zinc, and to a lesser degree in some other
nutrients, such as niacinamide, gamma linolenic acid (GLA), biotin, and sometimes manganese; also other B-vitamins, especially
vitamins B2, B3 and B5, may be low.
Vitamin B6 and zinc are essential for producing enzymes that are required for building all proteins, be they other enzymes,
hormones, and neurotransmitters, components of the immune system, muscles, organs or connective tissue. Another major problem
is that pyrrole waste chemicals tend to inhibit the conversion of pyridoxin e, the common form of vitamin B6 in food, into its active form
pyridoxal-5-phosphate or P5P. In a vicious circle deﬁciency of P5P reduces the synthesis of haem and haemoglobin, and increases
formation of pyrrole wastes.
Other names for pyroluria are pyrro luria,  pyrrole  disorder, and mauve factor or Mauve.  Initially it was thought that the compound
causing the colour change in urine is Kryptopyrrole  or KP, but newer research found the mauve factor to be the closely related
derivative hydroxyhemopyrrolin-2-one or HPL. However, in addition many other pyrrole derivatives may be excreted as well.
It has been estimated that the prevalence of pyroluria in the general population is about 10% and in those with chronic diseases and
unexplained health problems closer to 50% and up to 80%, especially in the acute stages of mental-emotional problems such as
ADHD/hyperactivity, anxiety disorders, autism/Asperger syndrome, bipolar disease, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and
schizophrenia, but also with cancer, especially bowel cancer, dementia and liver diseases. With criminal behaviours it can test up to
71% (criminality a deﬁciency disease?), and with   all porphyrin disease s it is 100% (1). This reference also has a list of diagnostic
laboratories.
Pyroluria is widely accepted and treated in natural medicine but not recognised by conventional medicine which basically ignores it.
Conventional medicine uses instead  the term "Porphyria" for a rare form of liver disease in which one of 8 different enzymes needed
for the production of haemoglobin and other haem proteins is deﬁc ient, causing 7 different types of porphyria. These cause
somewhat different sets of symptoms, mainly with abdominal pain, colic, neuropathy, psychiatric disorders,