. You can also ip to the ends of the chapters and review the
charts that summarize the mental faculties, emotional qualities,physical features, and problem areas of each type. Once having
decided, look at the pattern of interactions between Phases.
Suppose you feel the greates t anity with Fire. Do you also have
strong responses—either positive or negative—with Metal  or Water?
Use this strong response along the ke sequen ce to conrm or cast
doubt on your hypothetical type designation. The triad of Metal-
Wood-Earth  charac terizes the dynamic of the Wood  type, whereas
the triad of Water-Fire-Metal  characterizes the Fire type. Both types
share tension with Metal, so what can help you distinguish between
being a Wood  or Fire type will be evaluating whether there is greater
tension for you with Water  if you are a Fire type or tension with
Earth  if you are a Wood  type.
This example emphasizes that in determining what type you are,
it is central to look at the interactions and relationships of the
Phases  within you. So, if you suspect that you are a Metal  type, your
pattern of anities, aversions, symptoms, and emotio nal styles
should reect stronger interactions with Wood  and Fire than with
Earth  and Water.The Ke Relationships
FROM THEORY TO  PRACTICE
Recognizing who you are and how you function within the Five-
Phase  paradig m provides a starting point from which to gain access
to the practical benets that Chinese medicine oers. It is a starting
point from which to acqui re the means to preserve or recoverhealth. Five-Phase  thinking can not only help you evaluate your
personal strengths and weaknesses and forecast future diculties, it
can also guide you in the use of therapies such as acupuncture,
medicinal herb formulas, and food recipes.
OceanofPDF.comCHAPTER EIGHT
WOOD
Spring

The water murmurs
In the old stone well,
And, a rippling mirror,
Gives back the clear blue sky.
The river roars,
Swollen with the late rains of spring.
On the cool, jade-green grass
The golden sunshine Splashes.

Sometimes, at early dawn, I climb
Even as far as Lien Shan Temple.
In the spring
I plow the thirsty eld,
That it may drink new life.
I eat a little,I work a little,
Each day my hair grows thinner,
And, it seems,
I lean ever a bit more heavily
On my old thornwood cane.
Liu Tzu-Hui
Sung dynasty, A.D. 960–1278

WOOD IS AS FORC EFUL AND DETERMINED AS THE WIND, AS SUPPLE AS A
spreading aspen stretching into a bright, cloudless sky. Spring, a
time of rebirth, sudden growth, and rapid expansion, marks the
ascendance of this power. Movement surges to the surface, bursting
through the connement of winter. A crescendo of excitement
builds as the life process reawakens. One day the forest appears gray
and lifeless, the next day sunbeams cast warm light upon branches
brimming with buds. This burgeoning of activity stirs tumultuous
feeling. The change is expected yet unpredictable—like the birth of
a child, the precise day or moment remains a mystery;  we know
spring will come but not exactly when. Anticipation fome nts tension
as well as the promise of release.
The Liver, whose Qi is akin to the phase of Wood, instigates
movement and arouses the mind by allowing tension and pressure
to build. As spring initiates the rising of sap in the trees, so the Liver
lifts the Blood  and Qi. Alternately gathering and releasing the Blood,
the Liver modulates the intensity and force of all motion and
process.
THE ARCHETYPE FOR  WOOD: THE PIONEER
Metamorphosis is the organiz ing principle for the Pioneer. Driven by
the adventure of penetrating the unknown, she contends with fate,
deliberately battling adversity to tame the wilderness. Adaptive,cunning, and ercely indep endent, she strikes out on her own,
striving constantly to surpass  her limits. Carving a broad expanse in
which movem ent and vision are free and unfettered takes a
multiplicity of forms. Inexorably drawn to travel roads not yet
mapped, she treks wild mountain ridges, explores star-clustered
heavens in an astronaut’s suit, launches a business from scratch, or
embarks upon research in yet unrecognized elds. Infatuated with
what is new, curious about what is untried, she is eager to innovate,
reform, and revolutionize.
Action compels the Pioneer. She vanquish es resistance with the
thrust of a warrior’s determination. Like a locomotive that gathers
momentum and speed as it hurtles down the track, the Pioneer  steers
an awesome power.
SALLY: EXEMPLAR OF  WOOD
Assertive in forging plans and implementing them, Sally maneuvers
easily and gets things done. Highly motivated, she pursues projects
with outright zeal, shifting  into gear with a strategic  sense of
opportunity. Sally moves with nimble elegance, fully inhabiting her
body. She drives herself hard, works well under pressure, and meets
deadlines. Resourceful and ingenious, she excels at managing
conict and producing solutions. Her strength is not as a visionary,
but as an implementer. Sally takes the ball and runs with it. Once
she sets her goal, she brooks no interference to achieve it. Wielding
power and inuence comes naturally.
Sally’s audacity bolsters her inclination to take the risks necessary
to initiate change. She is willing to forfeit comfort, break with
tradition, and endure hardship, perceiving the sacrice of
contentment and convention not as loss, but as liberation from the
constraints of obligation and rules. With certainty and self-
condence, Sally galvanizes others, infusing them with her own
ambition and optimism. With the conviction that her purpose is
worthy, she expects that all obstacles can be overcome.Impatient with sitting still, Sally can be quiet but never
completely relaxed. Comfortable with perpetual motion, she is wary
and alert, like a cougar stalking the forest with muscular grace,
ready to react,  confront, or change course. Her objective is her prey,
which she hunts with craft and passion. It is no strain for Sally to
sublimate other pleasures for the sake of accomplishment. She
thrives within American culture, where ambition, achieve ment, and
single-mindedness are handsomely rewarded.
Sally’s conde nce is matched by her commitment. Once she has
decided that she wants to do something, she keeps at it until it is
done, working long and hard if necessary. Once the end is in sight,
she is ready to move on, to meet the next test. Others may have
trouble keeping up with Sally’s pace. After an arduous hike up a
mountain, when the rest of her group is ready to sit and sh by the
creek, Sally is o scaling another peak. She feels most herself
striving, advancing, contending: grappling with a problem, initiating
events, guring out novel strategies, and pitting her competence
against the odds. With a passion for the race, the gamble, and the
victory, she is willing to do anything and risk everything—sink or
swim, do or die. Sally is courageous, assuming tasks and
undertaking courses of action that others would fear or deride. She
prefers being the rst, the best, or just one of a kind.
Protective and supportive of her family, Sally prides herself on
being a competent provider. She does not relish hanging out idly at
home, so she keeps busy. Sometimes equating domesticity with
tameness and predictability, she is wary of the constraints that
constant closeness require, like compromising for the sake of others’
needs. She savors being wanted more than being needed. The
dependency of the family can strain her yearning for freedom of
movement and action.
Sally’s perspective is that there is “one way, my way, the right
way.” She doesn’t question her own judgment and authority and
resists the idea that someone else may. When Sally’s self-assurance
becomes inated, she stubbornly thrusts her chin and shoulders
forward, assuming a provocative stance. Her momentum snowballs
beyond her capacity for self-control. She keeps pushing when sheshould back o, tightening up when she should relax, barreling
ahead when she should pause and reect. Ignoring considerations
that may cast reasonable doubt upon her choices, she bolts like a
racehorse wearing blinders. Rushing ahead impetuously and
deantly, she becomes accident-prone, tripping over unseen
hazards, a disaster waiting to happen, injuring herself or others
unintentionally. Feeling invincible and unassailable, she indulges
her impulses as if nothing can or should stop her. This insistence
upon following  her own lead contributes to her triumphs and her
defeats.
When Sally is in the throes of struggle, the muscles of her neck
and shoulders


,	and	symbols.	This	heralded	the
advent	of	Behavioral	Kinesiology,	which	had	much	broader	implications.
The	next	step	was	the	use	of	the	muscle-test	response	to	categorize	and
eventually	numerically	calibrate	the	levels	of	consciousness.	These	had	been
classically	stratified	in	philosophical	and	spiritual	traditions,	as	the	well-
recognized	levels	of	spiritual	advancement	accepted	in	all	cultures.	It	wasfound	that	these	stratified	levels	could	be	calibrated	(logarithmically).A	useful
scale	of	consciousness	emerged	that	correlated	and,	in	fact,	illustrated	man’s
entire	history.	It	was	found	that	on	an	arbitrary	scale	of	1	to	1,000,	anything
that	calibrated	below	the	level	of	200	was	negative,	antilife,	false,	and
universally	experienced	as	destructive.	Consciousness,	then,	could
differentiate	truth	from	falsehood,	which	was	a	major	discovery.
The	next	leap	in	awareness	was	the	discovery	that	the	level	200
differentiated	between	power	and	force,	which	enabled	an	investigation	into
the	different	qualities	of	these	two	contrasting	realms.	Force	is	temporary,
consumes	energy,	and	moves	from	one	location	to	another.	Power,	in	contrast,
is	self-sustaining,	permanent,	stationary,	and	invincible.	The	result	of	these
investigations	led	to	the	emergence	of	the	Calibrated	Scale	of	Consciousness
and	the	publication	of
Power	versus	Force
.	The	different	levels	were
correlated	with	social	phenomena	and	also	with	the	prevailing	levels	of
consciousness	that	were	found	to	dominate	human	consciousness.
Although	the	calibrations	of	these	levels	can	be	denoted	numerically	for
easy	recognition	and	understanding,	it	was	discovered	that	they	actually	refer
to	realms	beyond	the	reach	of	traditional	science.	This	had,	in	the	interim,
become	termed	“chaos	theory”	or	“nonlinear	dynamics.”	The	realm	of
nonduality	is	not	describable	in	terms	of	traditional	mathematics,	such	as
differential	calculus.	The	realm	of	nondualistic,	nonlinear	reality	turned	out	to
be	the	realm	traditionally	described	as	spiritual.	The	power	behind	human
affairs	stemmed	from	these	indefinable,	indescribable,	and	immeasurable
realities	that	constituted	human	motivation,	significance,	and	meaning.
Life	itself	had	been	beyond	scientific	investigation	because	life	is
nonlinear	and	dynamic.	Thus,	the	descriptive	terminology	and
conceptualization	of	linear	Newtonian	physics	and	its	paradigm	of	reality	had
to	be	transcended.
The	measurable,	observable,	physical	world	turned	out	to	be	a	world	of
effects,	with	no	intrinsic	power.	Real	power	resides	in	the	infinitely	powerful
domains	of	the	unseen	and	the	nonlinear.	Reality	was	not	describable	in	terms
of	time,	dimension,	location,	or	measurement	but	existed	independently	in	the
infinite	potentiality	beyond	space	and	time,	traditionally	called	‘Reality’.
These	are	the	infinite	‘domains’	that	had	never	been	described	except	by
exceptionally	gifted	individuals	deemed	to	be	enlightened.
Investigation	of	the	higher	calibrated	levels	of	consciousness	correlated
exactly	with	the	degree	of	enlightenment	of	the	great	spiritual	teachers	of
human	history.	It	was	found	that	no	human	had	ever	lived	who	calibrated	at	a
consciousness	level	beyond	1,000,	and	those	who	did	calibrate	in	such	high
numbers	had	been	accorded	the	status	of	great	teacher,	Christ,	Buddha,Krishna,	Avatar,	Savior,	the	teachers	of	Divinity,	or	the	windows	of	God.	For
thousands	of	years	their	teachings	had	shaped	mankind’s	context	of	reality
and	contextualized	the	total	human	experience.
Of	exceptional	value	is	the	discovery	that	inasmuch	as	everything	in	the
universe,	even	the	smallest	thought,	gives	off	a	calibratable	energy	or
vibratory	track,	these	vibratory	events	were	recorded	permanently	in	the
energy	field	of	consciousness,	which	was	beyond	time	and	space.
Outside	time	or	space,	there	is	no	‘then’	or	‘now’,	no	‘here’	or	‘there’.	All
that	ever	transpired	had	laid	down	a	permanent	record	that	was	calibratable
and	retraceable.	‘All	that	ever	was’	in	the	universe	still	is	and	is	identifiable,
discernible,	and	trackable	by	anyone	anywhere,	at	any	time.
All	supposedly	‘unrecorded	history’	had,	in	fact,	been	precisely	recorded
forever	with	identifying	details.	With	this	realization,	scripture	now	actually
became	verifiable.	The	capacity	to	discern,	discriminate,	and	differentiate
between	truth	and	falsehood	revealed	itself	for	the	first	time	in	human	history.
This	led	to	a	massive	amount	of	research.	The	accuracy	of	the	ensuing
observations	was	subjected	to	academic	standards	of	research	and	published
as	the	dissertation,	“Qualitative	and	Quantitative	Analysis	and	Calibration	of
the	Levels	of	Human	Consciousness.”
The	necessary	preconditions,	background,	and	basis	for	the	evolution	of
this	progressive	understanding	of	human	consciousness	had	been	the
emergence	of	a	transformative,	enlightening	state	of	consciousness	in	1965.
The	brilliance,	peace,	love,	and	profound	compassion	and	understanding	of
the	Divine	Presence	revealed	the	infinite	nature	of	reality	as	the	awareness/
Self	and	source	of	all	existence	beyond	all	time,	form,	conditions,	or
description.
Innate	to	the	Presence	is	an	Infinite,	Timeless	Knowingness	that
illuminates	all	possibility,	beyond	all	opposites	or	causality.	Revelation
presents	itself	as	self-explanatory	and	obvious,	the	essence	of	all	truth.	The
totality	and	completeness	of	the	knowingness	prevails	beyond	time	and	is
therefore	always	present.	One	reflection	of	its	presence	is	the	capacity	to
comprehend	the	incomprehensible	by	its	self-revelation	of	its	essence.
Therefore,	all	stands	revealed.	The	unmanifest	and	the	manifest	are	one	and
the	same.
The	essence	of	truth	is	subjectivity,	which	transcends	duality	and	yet
provides	a	bridge	between.	It	took	years	to	perfect	the	bridge	so	that
communication	of	the	ineffable	to	the	world	of	form	was	made	possible.	The
book,
Power	versus	Force
,	was	the	result.
The	discoveries	thus	far	described	had	profound	implications	and	evolved
into	years	of	research	by	peers	and	then	teams	of	co-investigators	by	whomhundreds	of	thousands	of	calibrations	were	made	of	every	aspect	of	human
life,	events,	and	personages	of	history.	These	included	spiritual	teachings,
literature,	and	teachers.
Out	of	all	this	emerged	lengthy	calibrations	of	human	attitudes,	ideas,
concepts,	and	belief	systems.	The	sheer	mass	of	data	took	years	to	correlate
and	abstract	the	essentials	in	order	to	be	able	to	provide	a	comprehensive
presentation	of	the	information.	The	data	had	obvious	potential	value	to
mankind	as	a	research	technique	for	obtaining	heretofore	inaccessible
knowledge.
The	leap	from	the	Newtonian	paradigm	of	linear	causality,	perception,	and
duality	to	the	nonlinear	reality	that	transcends	perception	is	not	easily	made	in
our	society.	However,	it	is	of	value	to	those	who	work	towards	s


, les scientifiques chinois traditionnels (du couran t dominant – NdT) qui travaillent
à l’aide de la même théorie que les scientifiques dominants occidentaux ont inventé un nouveau
modèle théorique pour le SRAS -CoV-2 et proclamé que c’était un nouveau coronavirus, mais le
tout sans aucune micrographie électronique pour confirmer cela.

Ce processus entier a des parallèles extrêmement intéressants avec le thème  de supercherie de
l’espace  (photos truquées de l’espace – NdT), q u’il soit propagé par la NASA ou par des agences
spatiales d’autres nations. Nous n’avons pas d’images vérifiables de virus  ; nous n’avons pas
d’images entières (non composites) vérifiables de  la Terre, ou de nombreux autres corps célestes
tels que des lunes, planètes, etc.
Au lieu de cela nous sommes gavés de CGI (rappel  : images générées par ordinateur) et on nous
demande de ne pas questionner les autorités. Est -ce que cela est de la science ou du Scientisme
basé sur la foi ? Jusqu’à quel point sommes -nous  manipulés lorsqu’on nous refuse  des
photographies réelles et vraies du Monde qui nous entoure, à la fois sur les plans micro et macro ?
Je dirais dans une mesure massive.

Lanka et le danger des vaccins
Notre manque de compréhension au sujet des virus, des maladies, du système immunitair e, de la
théorie du terrain et de bien d’autres choses est exploité par Big Pharma pour demander des
interventions médicales dangereuses telles que les vaccins.

Voici ce que Lanka a à nous dire sur le dangers et l’inefficacité des vaccins ( vaccines  ) :
« (Une) mixture consistant  en des tissus et cellules morts provenant de singes, de fœtus de
bovins et d’antibiotiques toxiques … est utilisée en tant que vaccin ‘vivant’, parce qu’il est
supposé être composé de soi -disant virus ‘atténués’ … (cette) mixture toxique pleine de
protéine s étrangères, d’acides nucléiques étrangers (ADN/ARN), d’antibiotiques cytotoxiques,
de toutes sortes de microbes et de spores est étiqueté e ‘vaccin vivant’.  Par la vaccination elle (la mixture – NdT)  est injecté e dans les enfant s, principalement dans les
muscles, en quantité telle que s i elle était injecté e dans les veines cela aboutirait immédiatement
à la mort certaine … Les faits vérifiables démontrent le danger et la négligence de ces
scientifiques et politiciens qui affirment que les vaccins sont sûrs, n’ont que peu ou pas d’effets
et protègeraient d’une maladie. Aucune de ces affirmations n’est scientifique et vraie, bien au
contraire  : en se basant sur des analyses scientifiques précises on constate que les vaccins sont
inutiles et la littérature rel ative admet le manque de toute preuve en leur faveur.  »

Pensées finales
L’idée fausse du virus nous a accompagné depuis longtemps. Aussi folle que soit la soumission,
basée sur la peur actuelle, au port du masque et à la distanciation sociale, il y a ces personnes qui
saisissent l’Opération Coronavirus comme une chance pour se réveiller.

Alors que d’autres s’enfoncent dans l’inconscience et cherchent de nouveaux moyens  de
protection ( new protective  products  ) (« optimisez votre masque pour notre bouclier de
protection  (N 95) à air filtré dont le brevet est en cours d’ homologation), d’autres ont vu le coup
d’Etat du coronavirus pour ce qu’il est vraiment  : une chance pour déployer toutes sortes
d’architectures de contrôle pendant que les gens somnambulent par peur. C’est toujours une
bonne idée de mettre en doute les su ppositions de base de toute déclaration gouvernementale,
parce que presque toujours, cela peut d’ouvrir un portail qui mène à la vérité.

Makia Freeman est la rédactrice en chef du média alternatif / site indépendant de nouvelles  The
Freedom  Articles   et directrice de recherche à ToolsForFreedom.com. Makia est sur Steemit.
Traduction  Jean Bitterlin  24 juillet  2020
Sources:
*https://thefreedomarticles.com/deep -down -virus -rabbit -hole-question -everything/
*https://davidicke.com/wp -content/uploads/2020/07/Paper -Virus -Lanka -002.pdf
*https://thefreedomarticles.com/covid -19-umbrella -term -fake-pandemic -not-1-disease -
cause/
*https://thefreedomarticles.com/toxic -vaccine -adjuvants -the-top-10/
 <|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Metabolic Solutions Report
Terry Chamberlin, B.Sc., C.N.C., Bioanalyst                Nova Scotia, Canada                 msibio@ yahoo.com               902-584-3810

The diet thing

I've watched several videos by Chris Wark, who cham pions the Chris Beat Cancer diet.

This is a fellow who had serious cancer and achieve d full remission and improved health by a radical d iet
change. He now spends his time telling other folks how they can also beat cancer with a radical diet c hange.

There are, in fact, quite a few people with stories  like his. They all tend to have certain diet ideas  in common,
but it can be a bit confusing to find that their di ets aren't exactly the same, and indeed, sometimes they are
quite incompatible with each other.

Finding a common denominator between the differing diets seems hard. One diet will emphasize certain
foods that another diet will warn you away from.

But actually, there are certain common denominators, things they all have in common with each other. ( I am
not including any anti-cancer diet recommended by t he medical/pharmaceuticals, because of course, they
don't actually want anyone to beat cancer.)

The common denominators are these:

First, eat a wide variety of whole, unprocessed foo ds. As much as you can, eat organic foods, but eat as wide
a variety of high-quality foods as you can, and eat  lots of them. This includes mostly fruits and vegg ies (with
some whole grains) with some folks; and organic, gr ass-fed, free-range animal products (eggs, meats, d airy)
with other folks.

You will notice that each of these specific diet ch ampions have a collection of success stories, testi monies of
how the diet they ate brought about dramatic improv ements in health and victory over various health
problems like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis an d cancer.

Second, eat high-density nutrition foods (what I've  been calling 'Concentrated' foods).

This includes juicing, sprouting, smoothies and reg ular use of concentrated foods like nutritional yea st and
blackstrap molasses. I tend to include my favorite mineral supplement, Concentrace, in the concentrate d
foods list, even though it is a supplement, because  it is what is missing from modern foods.

I have attempted to give a more specific overview i n my article, "Basic dynamics of health and nutriti on".

One of Chris Wark's videos was about the normal mor ning smoothy he makes. It was almost entirely fruit,
with some greens.

A fruit smoothy affects me the same as a bottle of Coca Cola. Crash and burn.

Many times, someone who is experiencing a major hea lth issue (like cancer) also has very poor digestio n. In
that case, I would discourage eating hard-to-digest  foods (like nuts and nut butters, all meat, cheese ) until
their digestion can be improved.
 A weak point in Chris Wark's message (and this is t rue of almost every anti-cancer diet being champion ed) is
that he communicates that what worked for him will work for everyone, that this is the way EVERYONE
should eat. He assumes that what didn't work for hi m (such as dairy) won't work for anyone else, and h e
recommends avoiding it.

In my experience, a pretty fair percentage of the p opulation would not be helped by a high level of fr uit in
their diet. Another percentage would be poorly affe cted by starchy veggies and even grains (including me).

There is no one-diet-fits-all, because


 white-b lood-cell count as part of my body employing its God-
realized intelligence to heal whatever damage I’ve caused by participating
in psychologically traumatic activities, particularly in my relationships with
loved ones.
So rather than cursing my body’ s innate wisdom, I am in a profound state
of gratitude for all that has come my way, including these elevated blood-
cell counts. The more I assume  the feeling of my I am well; I am strong
assertions in my imagination, the more the universe seems to send me the
right informatio n and the right people to assist me in living a wishes
fulfilled life. One particular incident stands out.
The day that I received the diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, I
“coincidentally” met Pam McD onald, who had flown to Maui to see if I
would be willing to collaborate with her in her integrative-medicine
practice. She’d been using my previously published materials  with great
success, helping her patients heal from a wide variety of diseases and
illnesses—such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer ’s, and many
cancers and addictions that are so widespread they threaten our collective
physical well-being.
Pam is a nurse-practitioner in Northern California. When I told her of the
diagnosis I’d received that very morning, she responded, “Now I know why
I was sent here—not to enlist your aid in my practice, but to serve you.” Onthe very day I received my diagnosis, Pam appeared in my life, committed
to being a primary health-care provider for me.
Pam explained that correcting unhealthy nutritional habits can realign us
with the specific genetic blueprint that we are born with. Amazing healing
takes place with corrective genetic alignment, which treats diseases that are
associated with inflammatory diets and the way our body processes fats and
cholesterol. Whe n we begin to eat consciously, in harmony with our desire
to feel good and be well, the markers for these supposedly incurable
diseases begin to return to normal.
Subsequently, she (all at her own expense) tested my blood for my APO E
gene and even flew to Southern California while I was at the Chopra Center
for Wellbeing visiting Deepak. Step-by-step, she explained an easy-to-adopt
nutritional plan that I’ve followed to a point where two of the eight markers
for chronic lymphocytic leukem ia (CLL) have headed back to normal. Pam
McDonald was an angel sent to me in my time of need. She has toured with
me and spoken to thousands of people at my public lectures.
Pam has become a personal health-care practitioner, and has now helped
me and many thousands of others to improve their health. She’s written a
powerful book,  titled The Perfect Gene Diet, explaining all this in
professional detail. I’m proud to have written the Foreword, testifying to the
beneficial results that are waiting for you if you become conscious of your
eating habits and your food intake so that it aligns with the genetic profile
you’ve inherited. Make a commitment to your own highest state of physical
well-being by becoming aware that everything you eat impacts your ability
to facilitate the healing that your body craves.
I decided from day one to assume the feeling of my wish fulfilled for a
healthy body. The truth is, I feel good, I am well, I am strong, and I
categorically refuse to entertain  any other input that conflicts with my I
ams. I know that when I stay in this place, aligned with my highest self and
the universal one mind responsib le for all of creation, almost magically—in
what Carl Jung called “synchro nicity”—things begin to happe n that can’t
happen when one is thinking and feeling from a non-well-being  state. Pam
showing up that day coincidentally  impacted my health, my outlook, my
well-being, and yes, my healing. Her presence in my life is now affecting
huge numbers of people all over the world, and absolutely could usher in a
new era of well-being for the entire planet.It isn’t a stretch  for me to say that by assuming the feeling of a wish
fulfilled, and using your subjective attention to deflect any and all
naysayers, you and many more like you can literally end some of the
epidemics that threaten the entire population of the world. It’ s that big!
The Movement of Y our Attention and Y our I Ams
You have many ideas concernin g the person you’d like to be, as well as
what you’d like to manifest in your life. Y ou’ve placed those ideas into your
imagination, and you’re willing to live from rather than towar d those ends.
You recognize your opportunit ies to assume the feeling in your body of
those wishes fulfilled—though they’re currently in your mind and not yet in
your everyday material world. You now need to know what to do when the
subject matter of your wishes comes up in any way—be it from other
people, external events, or even you tossing the matter over and over in
your mind. What you do or do not do will make all the difference in the
manifestation of your ideals.
What you do is not necessarily what action you take, but rather where you
choose to place your mental attention. What you do with what is in your
mind is what I mean by your attention.  So do not let your attention  be
affected by anything or anyone, regardless of the tone or feedback being
positive or negative, around where you are in the process of manifesting.
Your I ams planted  firmly in your inner mental sanctum will provide you
with the strength and the power to keep your attention subjectively  focused.
What follows are ways to consider the significance of making  the shift
from objective to subjective in the application of your personal attention.
Your Intention Is to Experience the Healing of Y our Body
When referring to her near death experience (NDE), Anita Moorjani
(introduced earlier in this book)  said, “I was shown how illnesses start on
an energetic level before they become physical. If I chose to go into life, the
cancer would be gone from my energy, and my physical body would catch
up very quickly. I then understood that when people have medical
treatments for illnesses, it rids the illness only from their body but not from
their energy, so the illness return s. I realized if I went back, it would be witha very healthy energy. Then the physical body would catch  up to the
energetic condit ions very quickly and permanently.” Can you be open to the
idea that Anita learned, while in her near-death state, that all illness starts at
an ener getic level?
You don’ t have to know what the state of your ener getic predisposition for
some illness might be—all you need to do is align your subcon scious mind
with the conscious suggestion that you have an energy body, and if you can
heal the energy that presuppos ed your illness, then you can quickly and
permanently heal your physical body. You might say that this is grandiosity,
and it just of fers false hope to those who are incurably ill.
I always loved the words of Michelangelo regarding this subject: “The
greater danger is not that our hopes are too high and we fail to reach them,
it’s that they are too low, and we do.” Hopes are thoughts in your
imagination that you can change into present-day facts. You do so by
assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled and choosing to use your new I
ams as facts that you feel and give subjective attention to.
When you experience any kind of maladjustment in your body, you are
offered a great deal of objective  information to consider. “A friend of mine
died from what you have,” “Here’s some published research describing
what you have as incurable,” “Trust modern medicine rather than these
airy-fairy ideas,” “One-third of the population successfully deals with the
same condition with medication  while your malady gets worse because you
refuse medication”—these and thousands like them are objective offerings.
You need to remain alert to your subjective attention  by going to the I am
that you have placed in your imagination and assume the feeling in your
body of that wish already fulfilled.
Here’ s an offering from The “I AM” Discourses  by Saint Germain: “A
remarkable Statement that would be enormously helpful to the students
would be to say: ‘“I AM” the Miracle-W orking Presence in everything I
require to have done.’”33 This is subjecti ve attention at work in you. You
are the I am presence, if you trust in your highest self. And your highest self
fearlessly proclaims I am God.
Begin to trust in the I am presence—it is your very essence as a spiritual
being having a temporary human experience. Persistently place your
fulfilled wishes in your subconscious mind with sentences like, I am thealmighty governing presence of my life and my world, and I am the health,
well-being, and harmony, self-sustained, which carries me through
everything that confr onts me. Trust in your inner guidance and your Divine
connection to the creator of worlds, rather than giving so much credence to
whatever objectified information appears in your daily life that is an assault
on your spiritual nature.
Your Intention Is to Attract Pr osperity and Abundance into Y our Life
To attrac t appropriate and healthy


 can do is to cast a spell over us, to put
the beauty to sleep. And so she does. But the love inside us
doesn’t die; it just falls asleep for a very long time. In every
fairy tale, the P rince ar rives. His kiss r eminds us who we ar e,
and why we came her e. Prince Char ming is the Holy Spirit,
and He comes, in various guises and in various suits of
clothes, to awak en us with His love. Just when it seems all
hope is lost, when it seems as though evil has triumphed at
last, our Saviour appears and tak es us in his ar ms. He has
many faces, and one of them is Jesus. He is not an idol, or a
crutch. He is our elder br other. He is a gif t.
OceanofPDF.comCHAPTER 4
Surrender
“For in God’s hands we r est untr oubled …”

1. FAITH
“There is no pr oblem in any situation that faith
will not solve.”
What if we truly believed ther e is a God—a beneﬁcent or der
to things, a for ce that’s holding things together without our
conscious contr ol? What if we could see, in our daily lives,
the working of that for ce? What if we believed it loved us
somehow, and car ed for us, and pr otected us? What if we
believed we could aﬀor d to r elax?
The physical body is at work every moment, an ar ray of
mechanisms with a brilliance of design and eﬃciency our
human eﬀorts have never begun to match. Our hearts beat,
our lungs br eathe, our ears hear, our hair gr ows. And we
don’t have to mak e them work—they just do. Planets
revolve ar ound the sun, seeds become ﬂowers, embryos
become babies, and with no help fr om us. Their movement
is built into a natural system. Y ou and I ar e integral parts ofthat system, too. We can let our lives be dir ected by the
same for ce that mak es ﬂowers gr ow—or we can do it
ourselves.
To trust in the for ce that moves the universe is faith.
Faith isn’t blind, it’s visionary. Faith is believing that the
universe is on our side, and that the universe knows what
it’s doing. F aith is a psychological awar eness of an unfolding
force for good, constantly at work in all dimensions. Our
attempts to dir ect this for ce only interfer es with it. Our
willingness to r elax into it allows it to work on our behalf.
Without faith, we’r e frantically trying to contr ol what it is not
our business to contr ol, and ﬁx what it is not in our power to
ﬁx. What we’r e trying to contr ol is much better oﬀ without
us, and what we’r e trying to ﬁx can’t be ﬁx ed by us anyway.
Without faith, we’r e wasting time.
There are objective, discer nible laws of physical
phenomena. T ake gravity, for instance, or the law of
thermodynamics. Y ou don’t e xactly have faith in the law of
gravity, so much as you just know that it is.
There are objective, discer nible laws of non-physical
phenomena, as well. These two sets of laws—those which
rule both the e xternal and inter nal worlds—ar e parallel.
Exter nally, the universe supports our physical survival.
Photosynthesis in plants and plankton in the ocean pr oduce
the o xygen that we need in or der to br eathe. It is important
to respect the laws that rule the physical universe because
violation of these laws thr eatens our survival. When we
pollute the oceans or destr oy plant life, we ar e destr oying
our support system and so ar e destr oying ourselves.
Internally, the universe supports our survival as well—
emotionally and psychologically. The inter nal equivalent tooxygen, what we need in or der to survive, is love. Human
relationships e xist to pr oduce love. When we pollute our
relationships with unloving thoughts, or destr oy or abort
them with unloving attitudes, we ar e threatening our
emotional survival.
So the laws of the universe mer ely describe the way
things ar e. These laws ar en’t invented; they’r e discover ed.
They ar e not dependent on our faith. F aith in them mer ely
shows we understand what they ar e. Violation of these laws
doesn’t bespeak a lack of goodness; just a lack of
intelligence. W e respect the laws of natur e in or der to
survive. And what is the highest inter nal law? That we love
one another. Because if we don’t, we will all die. As sur ely as
a lack of o xygen will kill us, so will a lack of love.
2. RESIST ANCE
“Faithlessness is not lack of faith but faith in
nothing.”
A Course in Miracles  tells us that ‘ther e is no such thing as a
faithless person.’ F aith is an aspect of consciousness. W e
either have faith in fear or we have faith in love, faith in the
power of the world or faith in the power of God.
We’ve basically been taught that it’s our job as
responsible adults to be active, to be masculine in natur e—
to go out and get the job, to tak e contr ol of our lives, to tak e
the bull by the hor ns. W e’ve been taught that that’s our
power. We think we’r e powerful because of what we’ve
achieved rather than because of what we ar e. So we’r e
caught in a Catch-22: we feel powerless to achieve until we
already have.If somebody comes along and suggests that we go with
the ﬂow, maybe lighten up a little, we r eally feel hysterical.
After all, we’r e total underachievers as is, as far as we can
see. The last thing we can imagine doing is becoming any
more passive than we alr eady ar e.
Passive ener gy has its own kind of str ength. P ersonal
power r esults fr om a balance of masculine and feminine
forces. P assive ener gy without active ener gy becomes lazy,
but active ener gy without passive ener gy becomes
tyrannous. An over dose of male, aggr essive ener gy is
macho, contr olling, unbalanced, and unnatural. The pr oblem
is that aggr essive ener gy is what we’ve all been taught to
respect. W e’ve been taught that life was made for
quarterbacks so we e xalt our masculine consciousness,
which, when untemper ed by the feminine, is har d.
Therefore, so ar e we—all of us, men and women. W e’ve
created a ﬁght mentality. We’re always ﬁghting for
something: for the job, the money, the r elationship, to get
out of the r elationship, to lose weight, to get sober, to get
them to understand, to get them to stay, to get them to
leave, and on and on. W e never put away our swor ds.
The feminine, sur render ed place in us is passive. It
doesn’t do anything. The spiritualization pr ocess—in men as
well as women—is a feminization pr ocess, a quieting of the
mind. It is the cultivation of personal magnetism.
If you have a pile of ir on shavings and you want to
arrange them in beautiful patter ns, you can do one of two
things. Y ou can use your ﬁngers and try to ar range the tiny
pieces of ir on into beautiful, gossamer lines—or you can buy
a magnet. The magnet will attract the ir on shavings. It
symbolizes our feminine consciounessness, which e xerts its
power thr ough attraction rather than activity.This attractive, r eceptive, feminine aspect of our
consciousness is the space of mental sur render. In Taoist
philosophy, “ yin” is the feminine principle, r epresenting the
forces of the earth, while “ yang” is the masculine principle,
representing spirit. When God is r eferred to as “ He,” then all
mankind becomes “She.” This isn’t a man-woman issue.
Reference to God as masculine principle in no way impinges
on feminist conviction. Our feminine self is just as important
as our masculine.
The right r elationship between male and female principle
is one in which the feminine sur renders to the masculine.
Surrender is not weakness or loss. It is a powerful
nonresistance. Thr ough openness and r eceptivity on the
part of human consciousness, spirit is allowed to infuse our
lives, to give them meaning and dir ection. In Christic
philosophical ter ms, Mary symbolizes the feminine within
us, which is impr egnated by God. The female allows this


opponent’ s force. Y ield to overcome.
Having said that, “doing nothing” when you are in a state of intense
presence is a v ery powerful transformer and healer of situations and
people. In T aoism, there is a term called wu wei, wh ich is usually
translated as “actionless activity ” or “sitting quietly doing nothing.” In
ancient China, this was regarded as one of the highest achievements or
virtues. It is radically dif ferent from inactivity in the ordinary state of
consciousness, or rather unconsciousness, which stems from fear, inertia,
or in decision. The real “doing nothing” implies inner nonresistance and
intense alertness.
On t he other ha nd, if action is required, you will no longer re act from
your conditioned mind, but you will respond to the situation out of yourconscious presence. In that state, your mind is free of concepts, i ncluding
the concept of non-violence. So who can predict what you will do?
The ego believes that in your r esistance lies your strength, whereas in
truth resistance cuts you of f from Being, the only place of true power.
Resistance is weakness and fear masquerading as strength. What the ego
sees as weaknes s is your Being in its purity, innocence, and power. What
it se es as stren gth is weakness. So the ego exists in a continuous
resistance-mode and plays counterfeit roles to cover up your “weakness,”
which in truth is your power.
Until the re is surrender, unconsc ious role-playing constitutes a lar ge part
of h uman interaction. In surrend er, you no longer need ego defenses and
false masks. Y ou become very simple, very real. “That’ s dangerous,”
says the ego. “Y ou’ll get hurt. Y ou’ll become vulnerable.” What the ego
doesn’ t know, of course, is that only through the letting go of resistance,
through becomin g “vulnerable,”  can you discover your true and essential
invulnerability.
TRANSFORMING ILLNESS INT O ENLIGHTENMENT
If someo ne is seriously ill and completely accepts their cond ition and
surr enders to the illness, would  they not have given up their w ill to get
back to health? The determinati on to fight the illness would not be ther e
anymor e, would it?

Surrender is inner acceptance of what is  without any reservations. W e are
talking about your life  — this instant — not the conditions or
circumstances o f your life, not what I call your life situation. W e have
spoken about this already.
W ith reg ard to illness, this is w hat it means. Illness is part of your life
situation. As such, it has a past and a future. Past and future form an
uninterrupted co ntinuum, unles s the redeeming power of the  Now is
activated through your consciou s presence. As you know, underneath the
various conditio ns that make up your life situation, which exists in time,
there is somethi ng deeper, more essential: your Life, your very Being in
the timeless Now.As there are no problems in the Now, there is no illness either. The belief
in a labe l that someone attaches  to your condition keeps the condition in
place, empower s it, and makes a seemingly solid reality out of a
temporary imba lance. It gives i t not only reality and solidity but also a
continuity in time that it did not  have before. By focusing on this instant
and refr aining from labeling it mentally, illness is reduced to one or
several of these factors: physical pain, weakness, discomfort, or
disability. That  i s what you sur render to — now. Y ou do not surrender to
the idea of “illness.” Allow the suf fering to force you into the present
moment, into a state of int ense conscious presence. Use it for
enlightenment.
Surrender does not transform what is, a t least not d irectly. Surrende r
transforms you. When you  are transformed, your whole world is
transformed, because the world is only a reflection. W e spoke about this
earlier.
If you looked in the mirror and did not like what you saw, you would
have to be mad to attack the image in the mirror. That is precisely what
you do when you are in a state of nonacceptance. And, of course, if you
attack the image, it attacks you back. If you accept the image, no matter
what it is, if you become frie ndly toward it, it cannot not  become
friendly toward you. This is how you change the world.
Illness is not the problem. Y ou  are the problem  — as long as the egoic
mind is in control. When you are ill or disabled, do not feel that you have
failed in some w ay, do not feel guilty. Do not blame life for trea ting you
unfairly, but do not blame yourself either. All that is resistance. If you
have a major illness, use it for enlightenment. Anything “bad” that
happens in your life — use it for enlightenment. W ithdraw time  from the
illness. Do not give it any past  or future. Let it force you into intense
present-moment awareness — and see what happens.
Become an alchemist. T ransmute base metal into gold, suf fering into
consciousness, disaster into enlightenment.
Are you seriously ill and feeling  angry now about what I have j ust said?
Then that is a clear sign that the  illness has become part of your sense of
self and that you are now protecting your identity — as well asprotecting the illness. The cond ition that is labeled “illness” has  nothing
to do with who you truly are.
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES
As far as the sti ll unconscious majority of the population is co ncerned,
only a critical limit-situation ha s the potential to crack the hard shell of
the ego and force them into surr ender and so into the awakened  state. A
limit-situation arises when through some disaster, drastic upheaval, deep
loss, or suf fering your whole world is s hattered and doesn’ t make sense
anymore. It is an encounter with death, be it physical or psych ological.
The egoic mind, the creator of t his world, collapses. Out of the  ashes of
the old world, a new world can then come into being.
There is  no guarantee, of course, that even a limit-situation will do it, but
the potential is always there. Some people’ s resistance to what is  even
intensifies in such a situation, and so it becomes a descent into hell. In
others, t here may only be partial  surrender, but even that will give them a
certain depth and serenity that were not there before. Parts of the ego
shell bre ak of f, and this allows small amounts of the radiance a nd peace
that lie beyond the mind to shine through.
Limit-situations have produced many miracles. There ha ve been
murderers on death row waiting for execution who, in the last few hours
of their lives, experienced the egoless state and the deep joy and peace
that come with it. The inner resistance to the situation they found
themselves in became so intense as to produce unbearable suf fering, and
there was nowhere to run and nothing to do to escape it, not even a mind-
projected future. So they were forced into complete acceptance of the
unacceptable. They were forced into surrender. In this way, they were
able to enter the state of grace w ith which comes redemption: complete
release from the past. Of course, it is not really the limit-situation that
makes room for the miracle of grace and redemption, but the act of
surrender.
So whenever any kind of disaster strikes, or something goes seriously
“wrong” — illness, disability, loss of home or fortune or of a socially
defined identity,  breakup of a close relationship, death or suf fering of a
loved on e, or your own impending death — know that there i s anotherside to it, that you are just one step away from something incr edible: a
complete alchemical transmutation of the base metal of pain and
suf fering into gold. That one step is called surrender.
I do not mean to  say that you will become happy in such a situa tion. Y ou
will not.  But fear and pain will  become transmuted into an inn er peace
and serenity that come from a very deep place — from the Unmanifested
itself. It is “the peace of God, which passes all understanding.”
Compared to that, happiness is quite a shallow thing. W ith this radiant
peace co mes the  realization — not on the level of mind but within the
depth of  your Being — that you  are indestructible, immortal. This is not
a belief. It is absolute certainty that needs no external evidence or proof
from some secondary source.
TRANSFORMING SUFFERING INT O PEACE
I r ead about a stoic philosopher in ancient Gr eece who, when he was
told that his son had died in a n accident, r eplied,


 you and try to figure out their dosha types.
This will help you develop a better understanding of how the doshas
work and make them seem more real to you. Look around; your
plump, placid, matronly neighbo r who is always baking you cookies
is likely to be a kapha type. Your boss, with the perpetually
protruding vein on her forehead,  is probably a pitta personality. Your
stick-thin friend who flits from topic to topic within minutes and can
never seem to decide on anything is Madame vata.
Learning about people and their doshas yields a nice little benefit:
it can help you understand why people behave the way they do. And
to understand, said a wise man, is to forgive. Therefore, the next time
you feel exasperated with your indecisive friend, you can say to
yourself, “It’s not her, it’s her vata in action!” Then, with the help of
chapter 13, “Living Ayurveda, Giving Ayurveda,” you can think up
ways to appease your friend’ s restless dosha.
4. Do remembe r that the dosha s are complex. The lists and questions
are really surface guides to help you understand the ABCs of the
doshas.
In the next chapter, we will study the doshas and their behavi or more
closely. Only after reading that material should you start delving more
deeply into your own doshic personality.OceanofPDF.comWCHAPTER 5
learning the language
of the elements
If the doors of per ception wer e cleansed, everything would appear to man
as it is: infinite.
— W illiam Blake
atch water boilin g in a pot. What makes it start boiling at a particular
moment? On the face of it, it is the intensity of the flame underneath.
But think a little more deeply, and you will come up with many other
factors: the altitude at which the kitchen is located, the width of the pot,
whether or not the pot is covered with a lid, the initial temper ature of the
water, and so on.
Similarly, scores  of factors determine how your doshas behave at any
given point. That is why it is unwise to try to analyze your doshas using
simplistic charts; they’re too complex for that.
Consider the diverse forces that play upon your doshas mom ent by
moment:•   the events of your day
•   the recent events in your life
•   your current lifestyle: diet, sleep patterns, work routine
•   the time of day
•   the season of the year
•   your age
The result: you cannot look on a chart and immediately say, “My sleep
is disturbed so I need to reduce my vata dosha.” The thing to do is to find
out which factors have come together to disturb your sleep. Is it that you
have been nappi ng in the aftern oons? Are you bogged down by work? Has
there been a conflict in your family life? Is your room heate r set to an
uncomfortable temperature? Or is it that you’ve just turned sixty, when
sleep is known to become erratic? Is it just vata, or is it a combination of
doshas at fault here?
Admittedly, discovering this multitude of dosha-manipulating factors
can leave you somewhat bemused, like the centipede in this rhyme:
The centipede was happy, quite
until a fr og in fun
said, “Pray, which leg comes after which?”
which raised her mind to such a pitch
she lay distracted in a ditch
considering how to run.
Don’ t worry! Your dilemma is going to be nowhere as vexing as that of
the centipede. The factors that affect your doshas are quite easy to
understand because, like everything else in Ayurveda, the doshas are based
on common sense and practical logic. In fact, after reading this chapter, you
will have a good  idea of what makes the quality and impact of your doshas
fluctuate.
dosha climate, dosha weatherLet me begin with a somewha t surprising statement: Your dosha type is
really two dosha types, one you are born with and another that changes
constantly. Your original dosha makeup was decided the moment you were
conceived. You were born with it, and it will remain constant throughout
your life. In Sanskrit, your basic dosha type is called your prakriti,  or
nature.
However, season, time, and circumstance constantly act upon and
change this original combination of energies, and this ever-in-flux dosha
makeup is what vaidyas call vikriti,  or distortion.
The difference between prakriti  and vikriti is exactly like that between
climate and weather. The “climate,” or prakriti, of your being consists of the
constant factors: your bone structure, food preferences, and emotional
makeup, to name a few.
But the vikriti, or “weather,” of your personality changes all the time,
affecting such daily rhythms as appetite, moods, and energy levels.
Although the meaning of vikriti  — distortion — might lead you to believe
otherwise, life would be all wrong without vikriti; imagine feeling equally
hungry, happy, lethar gic, or enthusiastic all the time!
In real life, your prakriti and vikriti both affect what you do and how
you feel at any given time. For example, if you were born with a strong vata
dosha, you tend to feel the cold more than others. This affects the choices
you make in daily life. On a cold day, you’ll want to stay indoors and treat
yourself to warm soup while your pitta friend is out skiing.
Different dosha types seek different ways to balance themselves. A tired
pitta finds relief in a cool shower. Vata people benefit greatly from a
moisturizing massage. An easy-paced walk can restore sagging kapha
spirits. Thus, whatever your preferred idea of relaxation, you are essentially
seeking to come closer to your original dosha makeup, or prakriti. This is a
very happy state to be in, for Ayurvedic healers know that living in
harmony with your innate qualities is the key to living a happy, healthy life.
This dosha-friendly approach to living helps in a much broader sense,
too. For exampl e, a person whose basic dosha type is kapha would enjoy
and excel at a relatively low-st ress job, while vata would love a creative
environment and pitta would thrive in a dynamic one.Obviously, then, setting out to “balance your doshas” does not mean
striving for equal amounts of vata, pitta, and kapha in your life; that can
almost never be. Life is so fluid  that dosha balancing just means trying to
get your vikriti as close as possible to your original dosha type, or prakriti.
Once you understand the doshas more fully, this will be easy to achieve.
the doshas around you
Would you ever imagine 2:00 A.M. as being gover ned by a dosha? How
about February being a certain dosha type? The ancient sages who wrote
Ayurvedic texts  imagined just that. Because they saw humans and the
cosmos as an integrated whole, they ascribed the same dosha attributes to
nature and its cycles.
The Doshas in a T wenty-Four -Hour Day
Early in the morning, the sky is bewitchingly beautiful and all of nature
is beginning to fill up with fresh energy. By afternoon, energy levels peak
and appetite is sharp. In the evening we head home from work, while the
birds fly back to their nests. Then comes the night, with its balm of restful
sleep. These natural rhythms echo the qualities of the three doshas — one
restless, another intense, and the third calm. In accordance with these
rhythms, Ayurvedic philosoph y divides the twenty-four -hour day into
distinct dosha zones:
•   Vata Time:  2:00 to 6:00 A.M. and 2:00 to 6:00 P.M. The early hours
of the morning and evening are ideal for active and creative work.
That is why Ayurvedic practitioners recommend rising in “vata
time.” If you sleep late, you will feel dull and groggy because you
have stepped into the next zone, which is “kapha time.”
•   Kapha Time:  6:00 to 10:00 A.M. and 6:00 to 10:00 P.M. Both of
these are periods when your activity levels are either slowly
increasing or slowly winding down. Therefore, rising after 6:00 A.M.
or not going to bed between 6:00 and 10:00 P.M. can cause distu rbed
sleep.•   Pitta T ime:  10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. to 2:00 A.M. Fiery
pitta governs the productive hours from midmorning to the middle
of the day, and again late in the night when the digestive system is
busy processing and assim


 all. Once written material became generally
available, esoteric lore ceased to be written down and was
transmitted orally and only to chosen disciples who could
be trusted with knowledg e that was potentially dangerous
or beyond the limited understanding of the ordinary
individual. Added to this there were practices, formulas
and knowledge which were the result of the exper ience of
those who had made themselves adepts and acquired lore
which they deemed could only be passed on to those of
suﬀicient mental, moral and spiritual calibre. Books, then,
when they became readily available and in general use,
were only for beginners and the uninitiated. A book can be
taken up or put down at will, read carefully or skimmed
through and no discipline is involved; but esoteric
knowledge, imparted by a master, demanded, ﬁrst, the
judgement of the master  that the pupil was of the right
quality and then serious discipline and dedication on the
part of the pupil; these conditions being met, knowledge
could be passed on by personal instruction only.Alchemy is essentially an initiatory science or art and
esotericism runs through all initiatory traditions; religions,
the mysteries, tribal lore, shamans, magicians, secret
societies, all employ a hidden language and symbolism.
Though the secrets were reserved for a privileged elite, it
was not an elite of chance; it was a matter of quality of
understanding and being in the individual, and a matter of
choice in the desire for an understanding and degree of
knowledge which is absent in the vast majority of people
who remain satisﬁed with the outward and exoteric and
are not willin g to undergo serious discipline to develop the
necessary mental and moral qualities. The need for
greater and more signiﬁcant knowledge must be felt and
recognized; nor is it enough merely to desire such
knowledge without having the ability to understand it,
and, in the ﬁrst place, accept it as a valid system.
There were, however, other reasons for esotericism.
During those periods when alchemy was illegal and could
only be practised by imperial permission, alchemy had to
go underground and treatises were written in allegorical
terms; for example, Liu An disguised the transm utation
processes in the following passage, totally unintell igible to
the uninitiated:
When the eﬄuvia [ch'i] from the coastal regions
[East] ascend to the azure heavens, the azure
heavens in 800 years give birth to azurite, azurite in
800 years gives birth to azure quicksilver, azure
quicksilver in 800 years gives birth to azure metal
[lead] and azure metal in 1000 years gives birth to
the Azure Dragon. Ch'i from the bull-lands [South]
ascends to the red heavens in 700 years and gives
birth to cinnabar and in 700 years to red copper and
in 1000 years to the Red Dragon. Ch'i from the weak
lands [West] ascends to the white heavens in 900
years and gives birth to white arsenic, white arsenicgives birth to white quicksilver and quicksilver gives
birth to silver and in 1000  years to the White Dragon.
Ch'i from the cow lands [North] ascends to the dark
heavens in 600 years and gives birth to black
whetstones which give birth to black quicksilv er,
which in 600 years gives birth to black metal [iron]
and in 1000 years to the Black Dragon. These various
Dragons give birth to springs of their own colour and
region, the particles of which, ascending to heav en,
become clouds of yin and yang  then beat on one
another, producing peals of thunder and ﬂy out as
lightning and come down as rain and running water
into various seas—Azure, Red, White and Black.
Another justiﬁcation for keeping the Work secre t was
the universal human weakness of greed and envy, which
operated particularly in respect of two alchemi cal end-
products, gold and power, coveted equally by rulers and
the general mob. In both East and West alchemy was
practised or patronized by people hoping for either riches,
power or immortality. Such a patronage could have
disastrous results for those failing to deliver the goods, so
that it is not surprising that alchemists of every land and
age spoke with one voice of the need for keeping quiet and
warned against getting involved with princes and
potentates. Albertus Magnus wrote in his de Alchemica:
You ought to beware before all else of involving
yourself with princes and potentates in any
operations because of two evils, for if you have
involved yourself, they inquire after you from time to
time and say, ‘Master, how do you succeed? When
shall we see something good?’ and not being able to
wait for the end of the work, they say that it is
nothing, and then you will have the great est
annoyance. And if you have not obtained a goodresult, you acquire everla sting indignation from it. If
however you have obtained a good result, they think
to detain you for ever and will not allow you to go
away, and so you will be ensnared by the words of
your own mouth and entangled by your own
speeches.
It is not surprising, then, that all traditions are
unanimous in giving this warning from the time of the
Yellow Empe ror, three centuries BC, to moder n times.
Tradition says that the Yellow Emperor transmitted the
divine process of making the elixir with the admonition
that: ‘This is a highly essential divine process and must be
transmitted only to those of the highest calibre. Although
an improper person oﬀers jewels piled up mountain-high,
you are not to divulge it.’ K o Hung says:
Taoists prize and keep secret the recipes leading to
hsien -hood. They take pains selecting the very best
pupils, and only after a long time do they give them
the all-important oral instructions... These treatises
will bring unlimited fecility and longevity to the
gentleman of perfect sincerity who obtains and
treasures them. He who reveals them lightly to
others will bring calamities upon all his relatio ns,
close and distant. Nor are they to be spoken of
maliciously, obscuring their tao. Take care not to
copy them to show to the vulgar. Take the measure of
a man's virtue ﬁrst; only when you have clear
indication of it may you teach these treatise to him.
The Ts'an T'ung Ch'i says that the works are not
intended to be understoo d by the uninitiated or to make
sense of them:They are so cautiously worded that they are not
easily unders tood by people of the world... There
are directions for processes, the more important
principles of which shall be set forth, but the details
shall not be divulged... One's projects are only to be
divulged on personal interview... The way is long
and obscure ly mystical... careful reﬂection is in
order, but no discussion  with others should take
place. The secret should be carefully guarded and no
writing should be done for its conveyance.
In the West the hermetic tradition, derived from Egypt,
was developed in the philosophical Hermes of the Greeks,
in the works of Plato and Aristotle and later in the
religious philosophy of the neo-Platonists. This passed into
medieval Christianity, which fused with the Arabic, Syrian
and Hebrew elements, all inﬂuenced by Babylonian and
Chaldean lore. All carry the same instructions. Aristotle
says in his liber Secretorum:  ‘He is a breaker of the
heavenly seal who communicates the secrets of Nature
and of Art... many evils follow the man who reveals
secrets.’ Albertus Magnus in his tract de Alchemica  writes:
‘Wherefore I abjure you, by the Creator of the World, that
you hide this book from all stupid persons. To you indeed I
will reveal the Secret, but from others I conceal the Secret
of Secrets because of the envy of the noble science. For
the stupid despise it because they are unable to grasp it,
and thence hold it hateful and believe it not to be possible,
and so envy those who work it and call them forgers.
Therefore beware lest you reveal any of our secrets in this
operation.’ Roger Bacon says, laconically: ‘Keep this secret
most secret,’ while Alphidius wrote that ‘the philosophers
who have preceded us have hidden their principal
intention under divers enigmas and innumerable
equivocations to the end that the world may not be ruined
by the publication of their doctrine.’The need for esotericism was not only enjoined verbally
in alchemy but was also symbolized by such well-known
illustrations as the Alchemical Citadel of Heinrich
Khunrath. The Citadel stands in a circle which has twenty-
one entrance s, twenty of which have no way out, being
blocked by a great wall. There are twenty sections
enumerating the by-ways in which seekers can go astray.
There is only one true path, but even that is made
hazardous by the di�


. Salt, pepper,
and sugar can be bought in disposable one-time paper packets.

INSOMNIA CONTROL
   For sleep to come easily, the mind and body should be calm and at rest. If the heart is pounding fast
due to excitement, worry, emotion, stimulants, or recen t exercise, it may be hard to fall asleep. A rapid
heart rate and consequent sleeplessness may also be caused by a full stomach and by cold beverages
drunk at bedtime, due to the stomach's requirement for blood circulation to digest the food or warm up
the beverages.
   Preparation for sleep before bedtime is therefore important. These measures have been found to help sleep come easily:

   1. The evening meal should be eaten early, at least two hours before bedtime.
   2. Avoid coffee, tea, cola drinks, nasal inhalers or drops, or any other stimulants for the last three or
four hours before bedtime.
   3. Minimize the amount of fluids drunk at night, to avoid having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Especially avoid any chilled beverage just before bedtime. If you must have some
beverage at bedtime, let it be warm, neither chilled nor extremely hot, and restrict it to a small cupful or
less, even if it is only water.

   4. Relax and take it easy for at least a half hour before sleep time. During this period avoid exciting
or irritating conversation, work, worry, and physical activity. Going to bed a little early with some light reading matter is a good way to do this.

   5. Do your bathing, hair and skin grooming, etc., before this half-hour pre-bedtime period. That kind
of thing raises the heart rate about the same as other kinds of work.     6. Try not to take problems and worries to bed with you. Our thinking ability is so poor at night we
are not likely to work out anything useful, but we certainly can keep ourselves awake trying. Think about pleasant subjects when you want to go to sleep.

   7. Some people put themselves to sleep by tapping their bodies gently with a fingertip and counting
the taps. Better than counting sheep.
   8. There is one last resort which for many people brings on sleep when all else fails, though I have no idea why: A teaspoonful or two of honey taken at bedtime. Some people keep a small jar of honey by
the bed, so they can take a nip of it if they should lie awake in the night.

   Habitual use of sleep-inducing drugs should be a voided or minimized because in time they may cause
injurious side effects.

GENERAL NOTES
   Some people find that eating pork causes them to have indigestion, with a feeling of fullness and a
greasy aftertaste. This is caused by cooking it too fast, with too much heat. Pork is the most delicate meat of all and if highly heated becomes indigestible. If it begins to sputter and pop, it is too hot, and
should be turned over, basted, or the heat reduced. When slowly cooked, as shown on pages 37 and 38,
fresh uncured pork is easily digested and can be enj oyed as often as desired. It should be cooked slowly
until rawness in the center disappears.

INTRODUCTION
   Arteriosclerosis and its kindred miseries have reached epidemic proportions in
modern times, and though it is widely agreed the disease is caused by food, no
successful explanation has previously been av ailable as to why or how it is caused or
by what foods. Conflicting academic theories have been presented, but the killer rages
unchecked, causing up to 10,000 heart attacks a day in the United States alone.
   There is a growing conviction that there is something seriously wrong with modern
food. There is, and the pitiful results of it are to be seen in every hospital, rest home,
cemetery, mental institution, and school for retarded children in the country.
   Some say our people have become dege nerate, that our morals are undermined, and
our civilization is becoming inefficient and decadent. The truth is that the people are
weakened and debilitated by poor food, with many of them so unhappy and miserable
that they vent their frustration and fury in senseless ways, not knowing where the real
hurt lies. But our old bloodlines are unchanged, our natural heritage of high intelligence, physical strength, and courage yet remain, and will quickly once more
find their full flower as in olden times when food deficiencies are corrected. We are not degenerate, only deteriorated.
   Many have blamed modern foods and advocated impractical fad diets but none have
told us what is actually wrong with the food or what we can do about it in every day
life. These riddles have at last been solved by practical scientific experimentation with
animals and humans under realistic life conditions, the only large scale feeding
research on arteriosclerosis ever backed by private initiative. Now science has at last
shown what is wrong and how we can sele ct the right foods from existing stocks.
   This work stems from controlled scientific experiments and the main body of
authoritative scientific knowledge, as may be noted from the appended list of
professional grade literature. It has no connection with faddism or business interests
of any kind.
   The book has been kept short, simple and inexpensive for use as a practical guide by
the general public.

1. HUMANS ARE BUILT AND RE-BUILT FROM FOOD
   Most people think that adult bodies are built once and for all like a machine and that
food is just a fuel. This is far from true, because our bodies are composed of
individual cells like the bricks of a building, each cell having its own life and death.
These cells are constantly wearing out a few at a time, dying and being replaced by new cells, utilizing mostly new material taken in from our food. Your clothes wear
out, but you don't, because Nature has given you the glorious ability to rebuild
yourself day by day from the food you eat. Since we are constantly being rebuilt in any case, if we improve our food our bodies gradually become finer, stronger, and better looking. Of course younger people r eact faster and have a greater range of
potential improvement, but it is never too late to make a worthwhile betterment, while
life remains.
   Experimental feeding of animals and humans has shown that dramatic
improvements even in old debilitated individuals can be made in a few months by
feeding fresh high quality food. And when pregnant mothers and later their young are
thus fed, the improvement in the offspring is even more amazing. The births are easy, and the babies are strong, beautiful, and fast growing. Food makes the man.

2. WHAT DOES OUR FOOD CONTAIN?
   The manufacturers give us an over-simplified answer, saying that food contains
protein, amino acids, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. But ask a bio-
chemist, one of those who spend their lives analyzing materials from living things,
and he will likely draw a deep breath and maybe even sigh a little before replying: Food is from the living bodies of plants and animals, and is the most complex mixture
of different materials ever discovered, a single cut of meat for instance containing
many thousand  different compounds and elements. There are several hundred
thousand different kinds of proteins, the human body alone containing over 50,000 different kinds. There are several hundred diffe rent kinds of fats, oils, and waxes in
various foods, numerous enzymes, hormones, growth factors, natural antibiotics and
so on in almost endless variety. Even more substances in food are being discovered
daily, and it is well recognized that nutrition is a young and immature science. When
one realizes the intricate design which Nature has contrived for the composition of
our bodies and for our natural food materials, it becomes clear that we cannot safely rely on manufactured food which the makers sa y contains what we need. Nature's rule
is that life shall feed upon life,  and only by following this rule can we feel sure of
getting adequate nutrition over long term periods.

3. WHAT IS MAN'S PROPER FOOD?
   All food originally comes from living plants and animals, upon which people lived
directly for many hundred thousands of years as simple food-gatherers and hunters,
eating the tender leaves, nuts, roots and fruit of the plants and the flesh of such fish
and animals as they could catch, for most of this time in a fresh raw condition. This is the kind of food for which Nature designed the human body, and upon which early
men thrived and developed tremendous physical strength with brains fully as large or
larger than ours of today. These things are known definitely from the thick strong bones and skulls of early men and the animals they ate, and from the pictures they drew and chiseled in the caves, found by scientists in many locations. The strength and perfection shown in some of these old skeletons of our ancestors compared with
the thin frail bones, stunted faces and crowded teeth of modern people shows
dramatically that we today have physically deteriorated from a stage reached over
thirty thousand years ago.
   From the bones and various relics unearthed, scientists tell us that men began
farming and living upon grain and domesticated animals less than 10,000 years ago,
which is quite recent compared with man's immensely long history as a hunter and food-gatherer, and much too recent for any change in the basic design of our digestive
organs


 in nature once appeared to happen
above the table, accordi ng to classic Newtonian  theory—
obviously, physicists leave mental events out of the picture
—a few things could not be explained without a detour. The
most obvious was light. Light can behave like A, a wave, or
B, a particle. These two are totally unalike in Newtonian
physics, since waves are nonmaterial and particles are
concrete. But light somehow can act like one or the other,
depending on circumstances, and therefore it must have
taken a detour under the line:To see light as a wave, or vibration, is easy enough. A
prism breaks white light down into the colors of a rainbow;
the reason for this is that white light is composed of
separate wavelengths of light, a fact that becomes apparent
when they are broken apart into a spectrum. The light from
an incandescent light bulb has its own spectrum of
wavelengths, generated when electricity passes  through
the tungsten ﬁlament. But if you turn the light down with a
dimmer switch until just the smallest amount of light can
come out, it will come out not like a wave but like a
particle. (No dimmer switch is this ﬁne-tuned, but
physicists have broadcast light so that it exposes its
“graininess.” Nature has also equipped  our eyes to respond
physically to light at its quantum level—if only a single
photon falls on the retina, a ﬂash is transmitted along the
optic nerve. Our brains, however, do not process just one
ﬂash.)
The word quantum —from Latin for “how much?”—
describes the smallest unit that can be called particlelike. A
photon is a quantum of light, because you cannot split it
into ﬁner particles. The photon manifests when a ﬂow of
electrons hits a tungsten atom; the moving electrons in the
electricity collide with electrons whirling in orbit around
the outside of the tungsten atom, and out of their collision
jumps a photon, a quantu m of light. This quantum is a very
strange particle, because it has no mass, but for ourpurposes, what makes it important is that in order for a
light wave to become a photon, it must take a detour
beneath the table. In an unknown realm not covered by
Newton’s laws, the transformation takes place.
Since we are not trying to explain physics here, I won’t
go into elaborations. It is enough to know that after
Einstein, when Max Planck and other pioneering physicists
at the turn of the centu ry were able to demonstrate the
quantum nature of light, many, many curious conclusions
resulted. Events that we take for granted in the world of
the senses had to be reconciled with strange distortions of
time and space—but reconciled they were. As with the
neuropeptide, the quantum allowed nature to become
ﬂexible enough to permit  the inexplicable transfor mation of
nonmatter into matter, time into space, mass into energy.
Here is the pattern for a basic quantum event; it shows
the detour that always takes place outside the reach of
ordinary events:
Like the thought and the neuropeptide, light cannot be a
wave and a photon at the same time; it is either one or the
other. Yet it is obvious that a tungsten light bulb doesn’t
enter another reality when you turn it down. Somehow,
nature sets up its laws so that light can be either A or B,
and both are kept inside the boundaries of the same reality
by building in a transfo rmation point. (People today stillcasually assume that Einstein overthrew Newton,  when in
fact he saved Newton’s belief in perfect order by expanding
it.)
A strikingly elegant view of mind and body can be formed
from this basic quantum event, requiring only one diagram:
The mind and the body are both above the line. A is a
mental event, or thought; all the other letters are physical
processes that follow from A. If you feel afraid (A), then the
other letters stand for signals to your adrenal glands, the
production of adrenaline, the pounding of your heart,
elevated blood pressure,  and so on. These are B, C, D, et
cetera. All the physical changes that take place in the body
can be connected in a logical chain of cause and eﬀect,
except for the space after A. This is the point where the
transformation from thought to matter ﬁrst occur s—and it
must occur, or the rest of the events will not happen.
At some point in the lineup, there must be a detour. At
that point, the lineup breaks down, because mind does not
touch matter above the table. If you want to lift your little
ﬁnger (point A), a physiologist can trace the
neurotransmitter (B) that activates an impulse that runs
down the axon of the nerve (C), causing a muscle cell to
respond (D), resulting in the lifting of your little ﬁnger (E).
However, nothing a physiologist can describe will get him
from A to B—it requires a detour. The whole picture is likea bucket brigade, where each ﬁreman gets his bucket from
the ﬁreman before him, except for the ﬁrst, who gets his
from nowhere.
“Nowhere” is almost an exact term here, because you
cannot subdi vide the body to arrive at the precise  junction
where a thought turns into a molecule, any more than you
can ﬁnd the station house where photons are fashioned into
light waves. What exactly  happens in the? zone is not
known, eithe r in physics or in medicine. Miraculous cures
seem to be examples of dipping into the? zone, because
the cooperation of mind and matter takes an inexplicable
quantum leap in such cases, but so are other mind-body
dramas that play themselves out in mysterious ways.
Several years ago, a Boston ﬁreman in his mid-forties
came into the emergency room of a suburban hospital one
night complaining of sudden, sharp chest pains. The
resident on call examined him and could ﬁnd no evidence of
irregularity in his heart function. The patient went away
without being reassured, and soon he returned with the
same symptoms. He was turned over to me as senior
physician, but I could ﬁnd nothing wrong with his heart,
either.
Despite his thorough examination, the ﬁreman began to
return to the ER repeatedly, usually late at night. Every
time he came in, he told me with great trepidatio n that he
was certain he had a heart condition, but no test, including
the most sophisticated echocardiograms and angiograms,
detected the slightest defect. Finally, in the face of the
man’s mounting anxiety, I recommended that he be retired
with full disability purely for psychological reasons. The ﬁre
department’s medical examining board refused, on the
grounds that no physical evidence had been oﬀered. Two
months later, the man showed up one last time at the
emergency room, this time on a stretcher, the victim of a
massive heart attack. Within ten minutes of his coronary,which destroyed 90 percent of his heart muscle, he died,
but he had enough strength to turn to me and whisper,
“Now do you believe I have a heart condition?”
What this case so dramatically attests is that the detour
into the? zone is powerful—it can change any physical
reality in the body. I feel I must call what happened here a
quantum event, because it did not follow the cause-and-
eﬀect rules that have been observed and set down by
medicine as the body’s normal state of aﬀairs. Many people
entertain fears that they might have a heart condition, but
they don’t die from them; conversely, many heart attacks
occur without the slightest forewarning from the mind.
Even if we say, in keeping  with mind-body medicine, that a
thought caused the heart attack, how did this thought ﬁnd
a way to carry out its fatal intention?
If you program the concept of “heart attack” into a
computer, you know exactly what you have done. If you
want to retrieve it, the circuits can be activated to bring it
up to the screen, and once it is there, you can use software
to manipulate it. But the thought “heart attack” didn’t act
like this at all in my patient. He didn’t know where the
thought came from; once it came, he was powerless to
escape it; and far short of staying in one place, the thought
invaded his body, with disastrous results.
This is only half of the mystery of a quantum event—the
negative half; the journey into the? zone can have
amazingly positive results, too. Another patient of mine, a
quiet woman in her ﬁfties, came to me about ten years ago
complaining of severe abdominal pains and jaundice.
Believing that she was suﬀering from gallstones, I had her
admitted for immediate surgery, but when she was opened
up, it was found that she had a large malignant tumor that
had spread to her liver, with scattered pockets of cancer
throughout her abdominal cavity.Judging the


 inevitably make you feel older and depleted.
It is esse ntial tha t you transform toxic relationships into nourish ing ones. If
you acce pt that reality is a selec tive act of perception and interp retation, the
most em powering way to transform a relationship is to change the way you
view the other person.
Every re lationship is a mirror th at can show you some aspect of yourself.
When you are engaged in conflict, ask yourself, “What is this situation
telling me about my own nature?” T ry this simple exercise that can be
helpful in revealing the hidden meaning in a dif ficult relationship.
W rite down as m any traits as you can think of that describe th e person
with whom you are having problems.
Now loo k again  at each descrip tive word and see which ones create an
emotional char g e in you. For example, you may have des cribed yourmanager as:
As you review your list, you may see traits that r eally irritate you:
controlling, needy, unappreciative, and stubborn. Now look at y ourself. Are
these words that others might  use to describe you? Do you have the
tendency to reflect these traits? Have you expressed these qua lities in the
past? M ore often than not, the traits that bother you the most in another
person a re the ones you try ha rdest to deny in yourself. As you embrace
these da rker qua lities in your ow n heart, you may find yourself less inclined
to judge someone else for expressing them. As you relinquish your
judgment and interpretation, yo u may open to the possibility that there are
other qu alities t hat may be attr active in the person, which yo u have not
allowed yourself to see.
MEETING YOUR NEEDS
Relationships thrive when both  parties feel their needs are being met and
struggle when they are not. Put very simply: Y ou feel good when your
needs ar e being met and bad when they are not. Not getting you r needs met
leads to stress, t oxic emotions, and toxic relationships. Learning to express
your nee ds and emotions in a healthy way fosters nourishing r elationships
and reverses aging.
As i nfants, we e xpect our caregivers to fulfill our needs, even if we don’ t
know what they are. W e wail a few times and anticipate Mother scrambling
to determ ine if we are hungry, cold, tired, bored, or just want to be held. W e
carry these same desires into ad ulthood and become hurt, frustrated, angry,
or depressed when our lovers, friends, or associates are unable to
immediately figure out what we need and give it to us. Thi s is not anapproach that is likely to be suc cessful. Let’ s explore a more ef fective way
to express your needs and emotions.
THE DIALOGUE OF NEEDS
The humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow described five basic needs
that drive us all. First, we have basic physiological needs, such as food,
water, and protection against extreme heat or cold. Once these needs are
met we are motivated by the n eed for safety and security. W e  all want to
feel prot ected fr om physical and emotional harm. The third need is social—
the n eed for com munity, friendship, love, and belonging. As the se needs are
met we have the need for self-esteem. At this level, achievement, respect,
recognition, and status are sought. The final need is to find meaning,
beauty, and wisdom in life. Mas low called this final step self-ac tualization.
In Eastern traditions this is the state of enlightenment.
Self-actualized people are acce pting, spontaneous, natural, an d simple.
They are dedicated to a life of meaning and creativity. They are as
comfortable alone as they are i n intimate personal relationships. They are
playful and laugh easily. They know how to meet their needs.
In his book Nonviolent Communication, Marshall Rosenb er g describes a
simple process to enhance the ch ances of getting your needs met. Whenever
your needs are not met and you become upset, first ask yourself, “What am
I observing?” Rather than saying  to the other person “Y ou are al ways late to
every date,” say “W e agreed to meet at noon and you did not arrive until
12:30 P.M.” Separate your judgments and evaluation from your
observations and you will be less likely to trigger defensiveness.
The second step is to identify what you are feeling. Develop a rich
emotional vocabulary that does  not make you a victim. A void words that
require s omeone else to be there  for you to experience your emotions, such
as ig nored, rejected, neglected, abandoned, or abused. Y ou are empowered
when yo u say you feel alarmed, annoyed, exhausted, frightened, lonely,outraged, or sad, but you give away your power when you use the
vocabulary of the victim.
The thir d step is to determine w hat you actually need from the situation.
If you cannot be clear on what your needs are, it’ s very unlikely that the
other person is in a better position to figure it out.
The four th step is to formulate a  specific request. Ask for what you need
as specifically as possible. Rather than demanding “Y ou need to spend more
time wi th me or else!,” rephrase it in the form of a request: “Are you
willing t o come home an hour e arly from work W ednesday afternoon so we
can take  a walk together?” Peo ple are much more likely to respond to a
request than a demand.
W e would add a fifth step to Dr. Rosenber g’ s original four. Whether your
request is met o r not, ask yours elf, what is the gift in this situation? What
can you learn from this circumstance about yourself and life? What is the
lesson that can r aise you to a higher level of awareness? Find th e gift, even
if it is not the one you originally anticipated.
Make th e comm itment to communicate your needs consciously, and you
will waste a lot less ener gy in conflict. Accept your dif ferences as a cause of
celebration, rather than finding it necessary to make the other person wrong.
Because we believe that cultivating loving relationships is such an
important component of reversi ng the aging process, we devote an entire
step to it in Chapter 10.
Accept your differ ences as a cause of celebration.
Release T oxic W ork
Most people spend a good portion of their life on the job. So ideally work
should af ford the opportunity  to express your creativity, to interact
meaningfully wi th your coworkers, and to provide the material s ecurity youseek. Un fortunately, many peop le find their workplace to be a source of
stress ra ther than fulfillment, and consequently, aging is accelerated rather
than reversed.
The world would be a better place if we all could do what made us
happy, while expressing our unique talents in service to others and
ourselves. Acco rding to A yurveda, this is the state of living in dharma, or
fulfilling your purpose in life. Even if you are not able to earn a living
doing exactly what you like doing best, see if you can bring some aliveness
to your workplace.
T ry connecting more openly with your coworkers so your work
environment is emotionally healthier.
Observe your environment and see if you can improve the sounds,
sights, or smells that surround you.
Look for opportunities to align your work with your values, needs, and
beliefs.
Life is precious and you have the right to perform work that is
meaningful. A test to see if you  are in your dharma is to notic e how often
you look at the time. If your in ner dialogue tells you that time is creeping
by very slowly and you cannot w ait to get of f work, you are probably not in
a positio n that is fully expressin g your purpose in life. If, on the  other hand,
you find that tim e flies while y ou are engaged, it is a good clue that this
work is the type that can help y ou grow younger. Listen to the  signals that
your body and mind are commu nicating and commit to spending your day
creating greater fulfillment for you and those in your life.
Reversing the Appearance of Aging
The field of ener gy, information, and intelligence commonly known as the
skin is your la r gest and most adaptable or gan. As the bou ndary zonebetween your inner and outer w orlds, the skin protects your tissues, cells,
and mo lecules from the onslaught of microor ganisms, temperature
extremes, ultraviolet and infrared radiation, and chemical pollutants present
in yo ur e nvironment. It constant ly monitors stimuli from your s urroundings
through its innumerable touch, temperature, and pain receptors, and sends
this information  to your brain on a moment-to-moment basis. Y our soft
pliant sk in has the remarkable ability to dif ferentiate itself into the long
strands of your hair or your flat hard nails by rearranging its collagen
molecules. It is the site of vita min D activation, crucial for maintaining
strong b ones. The skin contains sweat glands, oil glands, fat cells, nerve
fibers, i mmune cells, and miles of blood


 question in terms of three distinct force s, yet you
know and sense that somet hing goes out of a marriage that was
present at the beginning; that spark is actually eros. You nd
yourself in a vicious circle and think that marriage is a hopeless
proposition. No, my friends, it is not, even if you cannot as yet
attain the ideal.
The Ideal Partnership of Love
In the ideal partnership of love between two people, all three
forces have to be represented. With love you do not seem to have
much diculty, for in most cases one would not marry if there did
not exist at least the willingness to love. I will not discuss at this
point the extreme cases where this is not so. I am focusing on a
relationship where the choice is a mature one and yet the partners
cannot get around the pitfall of becoming bound by time and habit,
because elusive eros has disappeared. With sex it is very much the
same. The sex force is present in most healthy human beings and
may only begin to fade—particularly with women—when eros has
left. Men may then seek eros elsewhere. For the sexual relationship
must eventually suer unless eros is maintained.How can you keep eros? That is the big question, my dear ones.
Eros can be maintained only if it is used as a bridge to true
partnership in love in the highest sense. How is this done?
The Search for the Other Soul
Let us rst look for the main element in the erotic force. When
you analyze it, you will nd that it is the adventure, the search for
the knowledge of the other soul. This desire lives in every created
spirit. The inherent life-force must nally bring the entity  out of its
separation. Eros strengthens the curiosity to know the other being.
As long as there is somethin g new to nd in the other soul and as
long as you reveal yourself, eros will live. The moment you believe
you have found all there is to nd, and have revealed all there is to
reveal, eros will leave. It is as simple as that with eros. But where
your great error comes in is that you believe there is a limit to the
revealing of any soul, yours or another’s. When  a certain point of
usually quite supercial revelation is reached, you are under the
impression that this is all there is, and you settle down to a placid
life without further searching.
Eros has carrie d you this far with its strong impact. But after this
point, your will to further search the unlimited depths of the other
person and voluntarily reveal and share your own inward search
determines whether you have used eros as a bridge  to love. This, in
turn, is always  determined by your will to learn how to love. Only
in this way will you maintain  the spark of eros in your love. Only in
this way will you continue to nd the other and let yourself be
found. There is no limit, for the soul is endless and eterna l: A whole
lifetime would  not suce to know it. There can never be a point
when you know the other soul entirely, nor when you are known
entirely. The soul is alive, and nothing that is alive remains static. It
has the capacity to reveal even deeper layers that already exist. The
soul is also in constant change and movement as anything spiritual
is by its very nature. Spirit means life and life means change. Since
soul is spirit, the soul can never be known utterly. If people had thewisdom, they would realize that and make of marriage the
marvelous journey of adven ture it is supposed to be, instead of
simply being carried as far as you are taken by the rst momentum
of eros. You should use this potent momentum of eros as the initial
thrust it is, and then nd through it the urge to go on further under
your own steam. Then you will have brought eros into true love in
marriage.
The Pitfalls of Marriage
Marriage is intended by God for human beings, and its divine
purpose is not merely procreation. That is only one aspect. The
spiritual idea of marriage is to enable the soul to reveal itself and to
be constantly on the search for the other to discover forever new
vistas of the other being. The more this happens, the happier the
marriage will be, the more rmly and safely it will be rooted, and
the less it will be in danger of an unhappy ending. Then it will fulll
its spiritual purpose.
In practice, however, marria ge hardly ever works that way. You
reach a certain state of familiarity and habit and you think you
know the other. It does not even occur to you that the other does
not know you by any means. He or she may know certain facets of
your being, but that is all. This search for the other being, as well as
for self-revelation, requires inner activity and alertness. But since
people are often tempted into inner inactivity, while outer activity
may be all the stronger as an overcompensation, they are being
lured to sink into a state of restfulness, cherishing the delusion of
already knowing each other fully. This is the pitfall. It is the
beginning of the end at worst, or at best a compromise leaving you
with a gnawing, unfullled longing. At this point the relationship
turns static. It is no longer alive even though it may have some very
pleasant featu res. Habit is a great temptress, pulling one toward
sluggishness and inertia, so that one does not have to try and work
or be alert any more.Two people may arrange an apparently satisfactory relationship,
and as the years go by they face two possibilities. The rst is that
either one or both partners become openly and consciously
dissatised. For the soul needs to surge ahead, to nd and to be
found, so as to dissolve separateness, regardless of how much the
other side of the personality fears union and is tempted by inertia.
This dissatisfac tion is either conscious—although in most instances
the real reason for it is ignored—or it is unconscious. In either case,
the dissatisfact ion is stronger than the temptation of the comfort of
inertia and sluggishness. Then the marriage will be disrupted and
one or both partners will delude themselves into thinking that with
a new partner it will be dierent, particularly after eros has perhaps
struck again. As long as this principle is not understood, a person
may go from one partnership to another, sustaining feelin gs only as
long as eros is at work.
The second possibility is that the temptation of a semb lance of
peace is stronger. Then the partners may remain togethe r and may
certainly fulll something together, but a great unfullled  need will
always lurk in their souls. Since men by nature embody more of the
active and adventurous principle, they tend to be polygamous and
are therefore more tempted by indelity than women. Thus you can
also understand what the underlying motive for men’s inclination to
be unfaithful is. Women tend much more to be passive because they
carry more of the receptive principle and are therefore better
prepared to compromise. This is why they tend to be monogamous.
Of course, there are except ions, in both sexes. Such indelity is
often as puzzli ng to the active partner as to the “victim.” They do
not understand themselves. The unfaithful one may suer just as
much as the one whose trust has been betrayed.
In the situation where compromise  is chosen, both people stagnate,
at least in one very import ant aspect of their soul development.
They nd refuge in the steady comfort of their relationship. They
may even believe that they are happy in it, and this may be true to
some degree. The advantage s of friendship, companionsh ip, mutual
respect, and a pleasant life together with a well-established routine
outweigh the unrest of the soul, and the partners may have enoughdiscipline to remain faithfu l to one another. Yet an important
element of their relationship is missing: the revealing of soul to soul
as much as possible.
True Marriage
Only when two people do this can they be puried together  and
thus help each other. Two developed souls can fulll one another by
revealing them selves, by searching the depths of each other’s soul.
Thus what is in each soul will emerge into their consci ous minds,
and puricatio n will take place. Then the life-spark is maintained so
that the relationship can never stagnate and degenerate into a dead
end. For you who are on this path and follow the vario us steps of
these teachings, it will be easier to overcome the pitfalls and
dangers of the marital relati onship and to repair damage that has
occurred unwittingly.
In this way, my dear friends, you not only maintain eros, that
vibrating life-force, but you also transform it into true love. Only in
a true partnership of love and eros can you discover in your partner
new levels of being you have not heretofore perceived. And you
yourself will be puried also by putting