 for the dicu lty
some people have in awakening with vigor and enthusiasm. Conversely, excessive Kidney Qi may manifest as increased stiness
and pain in the lower back during the peak hours of Bladder  and
Kidney  function, between three and seven P.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: According to the text, what is the maximum phase of anabolic or regenerative processes during the day?,
A: Sleep
Q: What is the purpose of the Heart Network, according to the text?,
A: The Heart Network is responsible for maintaining awareness and consciousness, as well as governing the relationship between the inner and outer world.
Q: What is the role of the Spleen, according to the text?,
A: The Spleen regulates the digestion and assimilation of food, generates Qi and Blood, and maintains the integrity of the body by absorbing and distributing uids and uids.
Q: What is the relationship between the Spleen and the other Organ Networks, as described in the text?,
A: The Spleen is the minister of agriculture, overseeing the production and distribution of resources, and is responsible for the formation of the blood, the synthesis of Nutritive Essence, and the distribution of Qi.
Q: According to the text, what is the purpose of the Kidney Network?,
A: The Kidney is responsible for conserving and storing the Qi, and is the source of our imagination, creativity, and the ability to envision the future.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>The
Pioneer  is action-oriented, whereas the Philosopher, who
characterizes Water, is preoccupied with seeking  truth and exploring
the hidden mysteries through the medium of his own imaginative
mind. The Peacemaker, stable, centered, and relaxed, personies
Earth, drawn  toward being a mediator in the service of harmony and
unity. The Wizard, embodying Fire, is magnetic and exciting,
inspiring faith that dreams can be realized and desires fullled. The
Alchemist, who personies Metal, observes, studies, and analyzes
phenomena to extract fundamental laws and principles in the
service of a universal order. The rocks in the river can shift, redirecting the water’s  course,
altering the shape of the riverbanks, but inexorably the river,
twisting and turning, follows the gravitational pull from the
mountains to the sea. In that sense the river, like our identity, does
not change its fundamental direction of ow. How we live out our
lives may shift and vary, but the primacy of one Phase  as our
organizing force remains; we change, but our type does not. One
Phase  fashions the context within which we evolve and acts as our
primary frame of reference, guiding our instincts and how we live
them. Knowing whether the power  of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water
is preeminent sheds light on the goals we set, the risks we take, the
competence we manifest, the postures we adopt toward people and
projects, the expectations we have, the things that most threaten us,
and the satisfactions from which we derive the greatest rewards. Our pattern also explains the otherwise mysterious conguration of
our particular symptoms, why our stress manifests as sinus
congestion, our friend’s as ts of irritability with neck tension, andour child’s as lethargy and a stomachache. It reveals under what
circumstances we feel conic t and why we prefer certain solutions,
where there is resistance and bound-up energy and where there is
collapse and emptiness. Whic h of our talents and facultie s are most
developed and which remain stunted and neglected? In what
context do we ourish, and in what context do we suer,
experiencing frustration and disappointment? For example, Wood  does well under the intense competitive
pressure that upsets Earth  and paralyzes Water. Water  prefers to
have time to think things through, and Earth  feels most comfortable
when people are working together cheerfully. So Wood  thrives on
the challenge and fast pace that threatens Water  and Earth. Metal
appreciates the same order that can hastily be cast aside by the
impulsiveness of Wood  and the excita bility of Fire. Earth  can be hurt
and discourage d in attempts to be warm and friendly with Metal  and
Water  types who remain detached and withdrawn. Yet Earth  may
also be just the animated, imposing social force these types need to
be included in events that would otherwise pass them by. We gravitate toward an environment that suits our character;
similarly, it’s easiest to develop in areas where we have natural
talent. Maslow’s phrase “When the only tool you have is a hammer,
you treat everything as if it were a nail” describes typica l xations
of character. For Wood  it is easy to interpret any circumstance as
requiring audacious action. Fire might perceive gratication  as the
end goal of any situation. Metal  adheres to rules and protocols even
when these have become a hindrance. Water  may prefer to cogitate,
perhaps losing the opportuni ty to realize or fulll those visions. And
Earth  may be so concerned with establishing balance and harmony
that the dynamic tension essential for movement and change is
neutralized. The Five Phases, corresponding to the ve seasons, can be
portrayed as ve people. Composite characters for each Phase—
Sally, Hector, Dorothy, Louis, and Kate—act out each archetypal
destiny. Since our English language is gender specic, each type is
alternately male and female. Yet the qualities and charac teristics of
each type appear in male and female alike. The distinguishingfeatures of each of the Organ Networks  are embodied in each of the
ve character types. Although one Phase predominates as our organizing force, we
exist as a complex amalgam of all the Phases  in continuous interplay
—so all Five Phases  exist within every person. Like our DNA, the
pattern of these relationships is the tao of our individualized
process, the template that molds our internal and external
behavior. 7 When action is demanded, our Wood  kicks into gear. When it is time to take pleasu re in the achievement of our goals, the
Fire aspect takes charge. When we let go of old habits and values to
prepare for a new stage of our life, the power of Metal  enables us to
sigh deeply and release. When our labors demand that we stop, rest,
take stock of what we have done, and rededicate ourselves to a fresh
purpose, our Water  aspect gives us the renewed vitality and will to
carry on. When the vicissitudes of our lives threaten to overturn or
deect us from our path, our Earth  aspect returns us to an even keel. TYPOLOGY  IS NOT EQUIVALENT TO  PATHOLOGY
Our patterns of disease and health both correspond to the Phase  that
typies us. That is why the Five-Phase  system can be used to
simultaneously examine not only the process of sicknes s, but also
the process of health. Pathology and ontogeny are both expressions
of our instrinsic self-or ganizing process–one undermining,
fragmenting, overwhelming, devolving, and the other arming,
integrating, enlivening, and evolving. One way of applying Five-Phase Theory  has been simply to equate
pathology with typology—ailments alone are then the basis of
typing. Within this reasoning, the Organ Network  in which you have
the most symptoms becomes synonymous with your type. For
example, if your symptoms are puy eyes, backache, chilly hands
and feet, and paralysis of motivation, all these problems are
associated with the Kidney Network, so you are considered a Water
type. However, the Phase  corresp onding to the greatest number of
our symptoms is not necessarily the one that organizes us.Symptoms often appear not only in our primary Phase, but in those
in conict with or being dominated by it. Each Phase and Organ Network  is like a political leader who can
be benevolent and socially responsible or greedy and self-
aggrandizing: each one can serve the greater good of the body as a
whole or its own narrower self-interest. 8 We can think of the body
as a political entity in which each Network  functions like a
Department of State. The Liver is like a strate gic minister of defense,
the Heart  the royal monarch, the Spleen  a minister of agriculture and
trade, the Lung a minister of justice and secretary of state, and the
Kidney  a minister of interior and natural resources. Each of these has
a political role to play in serving the state of the organis m, as well
as an individual need for maintaining its own existence. Each primary Phase  can subjugate or inhibit parts of ourselves
that are less developed. Our core Phase  can be a bully, injuring other
Phases  by its domin ation. Or it can become weak, neglecting to
provide the leadership we rely upon for direction and guidance, and
in turn be encroached upon by the Phase  that controls it. We can be
thwarted as well as served by our core Phase. The Phases  that restrain or are restrain ed by our primary Phase
are the ones likely to manifest the


 Many people go through the world and eat three meals a
day until they have marked off their three score years and ten,
and never know the real taste of the commonest article of
food. The use of condiments, the pouring of some mixed-up
mess of something over foods just before we eat them, in the
vain hope of making them better,  seems to be a sort of weird
superstition. It seems to have become a kind of unaccountable
insanity. Of all the errors and stupid blunders that people have
made in their foolish effort to fix up foods, the condiment
habit has the least excuse for existence. Think of taking a
pure article of food and pouring over it a muddy colored
liquid that was made somewhere in Europe out of—well, here
we are compelled to call a halt. The imagination fails, and if it
did not, language would. Most individuals in polite society are extremely careful
about their persons. Their dress must fit just so, it must be
made of certain choice material, the linen must be spotless,
the colors with which they  bedeck themselves must
harmonize. They are extremely careful about their
companionship. Their house must face a certain way and the
furnishings must be just right. They are very cautious about
what they say. They are very jealous of their opinions. They
select with much care their language. They will not venture
out in threatening weather. They restrict themselves in every
conceivable useless thing. They put the chain upon nearly all
their liberties, and try hard so metimes to manacle the liberty
of others. But these same wise people will sit in a fashionable cafe
and dine upon an undrawn, cold-storage turkey that has been
a year dead, and pour over its ancient flesh a tar-colored fluid
that has been upon the shelf of  a grocer several years—until it
has reached that limit of delic ious decay suggested by the
green, slimy mildew in Roquefort cheese. All condiments, especially stock sauces and dressings,
vinegar, mustards, and such things, possess absolutely no
constructive property, but all of them possess to a very large
degree the elements of decay and destruction. The great
increase in stomach and intestinal  diseases referred to by the
best medical authorities in the country is very largely due to
the habit of using condiments. The use of condiments is followed by two very
pronounced evils: First, they cause fermentation of foods, and
irritation of the mucous membranes of the stomach, which
excites a false appetite and causes overeating—the origin of a
great many stomach ills. Second, they deprive the taste-buds of their rights, thus
lessening the desire for perfect mastication. One of the first steps in adopting a reform or hygienic
dietary is to eliminate from the bill of fare all condiments, hot
sauces, and such stuff. Remember  their origin was not very
respectable. They seem to have  been created for the purpose
of covering up something which we instinctively regard as
unclean. HOW TO EAT. TO the average individual who eats everything in sight, who
accepts as correct anything that is jumbled together and
dished up by cunning Chinamen, greasy Africans and
uneducated foreigners, knowing as little of the chemistry of
foods and their nutritive value as they do about the
inhabitants of Sirius, this  title will be amusing. They will no doubt regard it as presuming upon their
intelligence. They will expect to see on the next page
instructions as to how to draw th eir breath, though the fact is
that but few people know how to do either. The majority use
about one-third of their lung capacity and eat with less
intelligence than a cornfield goose. There are several thousand taste-buds called "papillae"
on the top and root of the tongue. There are six groups of
salivary glands that work in harmony and in pairs. The two
largest groups are called the parotid glands. They are located
in front of the ears on each side of the mouth. When the mouth receives food that is approved by the
taste-buds each motion of the jaw in mastication pumps out
of these glands small particles of saliva which pour it into the
mouth. The most delicious thing to the taste, therefore, is that
thing which will exercise—put into operation or call into
activity the greatest number of these tasters. Therefore, the
combining or mixing of foods in the mouth becomes not only
of paramount importance, but the principal factor in
digestion, and in the enjoyment of what we eat. One article of food may call into use but one set of
tasters, while two or three articles whose properties
chemically agree, may put into use the entire six groups. Hence the logical place to mix and make combinations of
food is in the mouth. It is the crucible in which everything
that goes into the stomach should be tested and prepared, for
the obvious reason that the taste-buds occupy the very
important position of being the police of the stomach. If they
have not been perverted, and abused, they will stand ever on
guard to see that nothing goes into that strange factory
without protest except that which will make good blood,
muscle, bone and brain. They will perform this service for us perfectly if we train
and treat them decently; but if we abuse and pervert these
delicate organs by heaping upon them and forcing them to
accept stimulating, irritating and unnatural things, they cease
to perform their functions, and sullenly accept almost
anything we choose to load upon them. Luigi Cornaro was a Venetian nobleman and
philosopher. He became a physical wreck at 40. He ceased
philosophizing about ethics and such things and decided to
ascertain why. He very soon solved the problem. It was overeating. He
began by restricting himself to 12 ounces of solid food per day. As he advanced in age he still further reduced his daily
ration, until he partook of only one egg a day, in addition to a
very little wine and water. After adhering to this custom for many years and
enjoying perfect health, he one  day partook of two ounces of
solid food, an experiment which nearly cost him his life. Some of his best works were written between the ages of 86
and 95. He lived to be 103 years old, while the best medicine
men of his day told him at 40 that he could never reach the
age of 50. In subsisting wholly upon uncooked food, the natural
tendency is for all the organs that are employed in converting
food into energy to become normal, and make no demands
except those required by nature. They require more
mastication, which is natu re's greatest guard against
overeating; but until the system adjusts itself to the new
regime, it is best to partake of only about half the quantity
one would eat were the foods cooked, but masticate them
twice or three times as long. If people would masticate their food until it ceased to
taste, removing from the mouth the residue, if any, and
involuntarily swallowing the liquid (soup) therefrom, it
would quadruple the pleasure of eating and eliminate forever
from the catalogue of human ills indigestion, constipation and
overeating. In commencing the use of uncooked foods, one must not
fail to remember that the taste and appetite so long fed on
fired and devitalized foods must be reckoned with. If they
accept the new diet, all is well; but should they rebel, give
them some of the old charcoal and ashes now and then. But
give them plenty of live, vita l foods again, and they will soon
accept them. Then will one begin to live in a new world. Until taste and hunger are sufficiently well trained to
demand such food as the system needs, it is well to employ
our learning to aid them. We should avoid the continuous use
of such things as contain similar nutritive elements, that is to
say, we should not eat too much of any one thing. We should
acquaint ourselves with the composition of the leading
articles of diet, which will enable us to select intelligently our
daily menu until abnormal appetite  is changed to natural
hunger. No greater question can possibly command the thoughts
of people than the study of nature's infallible laws of feeding. When the proper energy and vita lity are given to the body by
correct food a certain amount of motion becomes imperative. We would not need to take lessons in physical culture. We
would be forced to obey the demands of the body, thus
sending to the lungs an extra amount of blood, which would
cause deep breathing, or extra oxidation of waste matter. Therefore, if the great natural law of feeding was obeyed,
we would instinctively carry out the laws of motion and
breathing, which would give us not only perpetual insurance
against disease, but emblazon the way to perfect health. MASTICATION. THE stomach has no teeth. Teeth were the product of
necessity. They were placed in the mouth by nature for the
specific purpose of emulsifying food, so that it could be
absorbed by the body. This process we call digestion. Food that is not thoroughly pulverized by mastication
must be reduced to solution by the stomach


	sells	newspapers”;
“Being	right	is	more	important	than	being	truthful,”	or,	“Profit	justifies
any	human	behavior. ”	Even	the	spirit	of	the	law	is	undermined	by	using
the	letter	of	the	law	to	defeat	it. Q:	Why	is	all	this	negativity	so	pervasive. A:	The	purpose	of	enumeration	was	to	overcome	denial. In	our	current
society,	the	mass	media,	including	certain	types	of	merchandising,	tend	to
enhance	and	support	negativity	and	target	primarily	young	people	who	are
thereby	directed	to	the	use	of	drugs,	irresponsible	and	violent	behaviors,suicide,	contempt	for	authority,	playing	victim,	projecting	blame,	and
embracing	moral	depravity. The	media	are	dishonest	in	that	they	claim
they	have	no	responsibility. They	also	disclaim	any	negative	influence. If
the	media	had	no	influence,	then	why	would	advertisers	spend	billions	of
dollars	annually	on	media	programs	and	broadcast	them	to	the	populace. The	same	conditions	ensue	from	playing	grotesque	killer	video	games	that
entrain	the	mind	into	a	hypnotic	state	where	it	is	unconsciously
programmed. This	produces	teenage	killer	robots	that	‘act	with	no	reason’. In	some	states,	there	is	actually	a	special	open	season	for	juveniles	to	hunt
with	guns	and	telescopic	sites	to	kill	prairie	dogs,	doves,	or	squirrels	‘for
fun’. It	is	difficult	for	anyone	to	be	human,	and	most	do	so	by	wearing
blinders	to	avoid	being	confronted	by	the	obvious. The	reconstitution	of
integrity	is	the	first	step	across	the	threshold	from	Negativity	to	Truth. In
order	to	succeed,	it	is	necessary	to	remove	the	sheep’s	clothing	from	the
wolf	and	realize	that	we	are	not	talking	about	‘sport’,	‘just	business’,	or
‘it’s	what	people	want’. In	all	this,	society	is	both	the	perpetrator	and	the
victim. Q:	You	have	given	much	attention	to	these	matters. A:	It	is	because	of	an	important	point	covered	in
Power	versus	Force
	called
‘critical	factor	analysis’. In	a	system	of	considerable	complexity,	there	is	a
very	precise	point	where	even	a	small	amount	of	energy	applied	brings
about	a	major	change. A	giant	clockworks	has	a	vulnerable	point	at	which
even	a	slight	pressure	stops	the	whole	works. A	giant	locomotive	can	be
halted	if	you	know	exactly	where	to	place	your	finger. The	great
clockwork	of	human	society	likewise	has	points	where	major	changes	can
occur	as	a	result	of	a	slight	amount	of	pressure. Do	you	realize	the	impact	of	the	press. Imagine	what	would	happen	if
they	had	focused	on	Franklin	Delano	Roosevelt’s	crippled	legs	or	the
infirmities	of	Harry	Truman	or	Winston	Churchill	at	the	height	of	World
War	II. At	that	point,	the	stature	of	these	world	leaders	was	the	critical
rallying	point	that	saved	the	free	world. On	several	occasions,	Hitler	was
only	a	few	months	away	from	winning	the	war. Q:	Why	such	focus	on	social	issues. A:	Integrity	is	power. To	refuse	negativity,	it	first	has	to	be	exposed. If	the
press,	for	instance,	once	had	integrity,	it	can	make	a	turnaround	and	regain
it. The	current	Pope	(John	Paul	II)	has	been	a	stunning	example	and	an
inspiration	to	the	world	that	one	reestablishes	spiritual	integrity	by	owningerror	and	carrying	it	into	an	inspiration	to	reach	higher	spiritual	levels	and
regain	true	power. Thus	did	the	Pope	not	only	symbolically	but	literally
reflect	the	truth	back	to	mankind	that	the	Dark	Ages	were	finally	over. Q:	Why	do	people	find	it	so	difficult	to	change. A:	They	identify	with	their	personality,	which	can	be	like	an	addiction. Styles
are	modish,	popularized,	and	glamorized. Each	style	has	its	advantages	to
impress	or	control	others. There	is	a	secret	payoff	and	satisfaction	in	being
the	victim,	martyr,	or	loser. Each	persona	is	a	way	of	manipulating	a
specific	social	response. The	social	image	is	a	way	of	influencing	opinion,
and	it	reflects	a	person’s	positionalities. These	self-images	also	have	a
strong	karmic	component	that	is	simultaneously	a	self-casting	and	a
dramatization. These	personality	styles	are	influenced	by	the	media,	and	each	has	its
gain	as	well	as	a	price. They	are	cultured	stereotypes	embedded	on	a	given
culture. These	styles	change	with	time. The	‘tough	guy’,	the	sophisticate,
the	charmer,	and	the	‘no-nonsense,	down-to-earth’	types	are	all	social
castings. The	Dudley-Do-Right,	the	rebel,	the	outlaw,	the	mobster,	etc.,
also	reflect	group	identifications. People	become	addicted	to	a	style	even
to	the	point	of	death. The	danger-prone	‘macho’	image	often	results	in	a
violent	final	ending. The	extreme-sports	fanatic	keeps	going	faster	and
faster	until	he	hits	the	wall. Innate	to	those	images	is	the	desire	to	be	a
hero. People	cherish	their	image	and	get	lost	in	their	identification	with	it. These	influences	are	unconscious	and	often	rigid	self-definitions	that	resist
change. CHAPTER	15
Clarifications
Q:	What	is	the	relationship	between	spirituality	and	consciousness. A:	The	domain	of	spirituality	is	that	of	the	realm	of	consciousness. Spiritual
development	and	revolution	are	therefore	facilitated	by	an	understanding
of	the	nature	of	consciousness	itself. Spiritual	progress	is	accomplished	by	aspects	of	consciousness	that
become	more	powerful	when	it	is	recognized	that	they	are	not	personal
attributes	but	specific	qualities	having	to	do	with	the	nature	of
consciousness	and	not	aspects	of	‘me’,	or	‘mine’,	or	the	common	‘I-self’. Spiritual	inspiration,	understanding,	and	the	awarenesses	that	arise	from
compassion	are	not	personal	qualities	but	operate	as	catalysts	by	virtue	of
the	innate	quality	of	their	essences. They	are	activated	by	spiritual
motivation	and	intention. They	are	actually	aspects	of	God’s	grace	that
become	operational	by	consent	of	the	seeker’s	will. They	are	facilitated	by
humility	and	surrender	of	the	vanity	and	domination	of	the	ego/mind	and
its	belief	that	it	‘knows’. In	actuality,	the	ego/mind	can	only	‘know	about’;	it	cannot	actually
know	anything	in	the	full	sense	of	the	term. To	truly	‘know’,	it	is
necessary	to	‘be’	that	which	is	ostensibly	known. Q:	What	is	meant	by	the	term	‘mystical’. A:	All	states	of	spiritual	awareness	are	actually	mystical	in	that	they	are
subjectively	profound	and	transforming	but	cannot	be	conveyed	to	others
in	an	objective,	rational,	or	(to	the	skeptic)	convincing	manner. All
profound,	subtle,	or	significant	awareness	occurs	within	the	nonlinear
levels	of	consciousness,	which	are	not	describable	within	the	ordinary
Newtonian	linear	causality-limited	paradigm	of	reality	(which	ends	at
calibrated	consciousness	level	499). The	conventional	world	is	confined	to
the	limited	level	of	form	reflected	in	language	and	mechanistic
determination. The	worlds	of


 the shadow self. Another way to cultivate light is to commune with others
in a holy space. In spiritual gr oups joined in love and
devotion—r eligious or otherwise—a ﬁeld of love is magniﬁed
so that it lif ts all members in the gr oup up to a higher
vibration. When you ar e at chur ch, synagogue, twelve-step
meetings, or other gr oup meditations, listening to your
heart seems natural. Y our shadow self seems far away,
neither evident nor trigger ed. The temptation to enter your
shadow still e xists and needs to be dealt with, but one of
the ways the shadow is diminished is by joining with others
in the sear ch for light. When we’r e with other people who ar e saying, “I want to
listen to my heart, I need to ask what the most loving thing
would be, I want to be ethical, I want to hear God’s voice,”
then it becomes easier to live that way. Like any habit, it
becomes easier to cultivate when we’r e around others doing
the same. In developing the habits of spiritual practice, you
ground yourself in the light of your true being. If you do not
so gr ound yourself, do not be surprised when you say or do
things that you later r egret.On an average day in the life of an average person, the
number of shadow thoughts that come up is astr onomical. We do our best, we try to be good, but our brain is
constantly active, and the tendency towar d fear -based
thought is always ther e. But the Illuminator is ther e as well. And the Illuminator is authorized by God to give us whatever
help we need. Talking to my therapist one day, I was sharing with him
that I felt in a very negative place. I told him I was in a place
of self -loathing. He ask ed me, “What is your case against yourself?”
I said, “I hate myself because I’m so negative.” I could see
the ir ony, but I couldn’t laugh. Or maybe I did. He suggested that I try something. “ Be in the ﬂow of
gratitude,” he said. “Whenever you ar e having that kind of
negative thought, go into naming all the things you have to
be grateful for.”
And I found that technique to be very powerful. F or hours,
I’d been on a rampage of negativity, but as soon as I began
the ﬂow of gratitude, it was as though my shadow
disappear ed the way the W icked W itch melted when
Dorothy thr ew water on her. And it was the same
phenomenon, r eally. The shadow isn’t even r eal. It just
appears so. And as soon as it’s e xposed to light, then the
darkness disappears. The pr oblem, then, was not just the
presence of my negativity, but the absence of my positivity! As soon as I ﬁlled my mind with gratitude, the shadow trait
of self -hatr ed could no longer e xist. In the pr esence of love,
fear is gone. But let us not under estimate the power of the shadow. It’s
not enough to just meditate sometimes; we should mediate
daily. It’s not enough, if you’r e a recovering addict, to attend
a meeting every once in a while; you should attend a
meeting every day. It’s not enough that we for give a few
people; we must try our best to for give every one, for only
love is r eal. If I withhold it fr om anyone, then I withhold itfrom myself. And it’s not enough to love only when it’s easy;
we must try to e xpand our capacity to love even when it’s
hard. The shadows that ar e lurking today, in our own
circumstances and ar ound our planet, demand nothing short
of sacr ed illumination if we ar e to cast them out. And each
of us can add to the light by adding to our love. Of course
we love our childr en, but it’s no longer enough to just love
our own childr en. W e must lear n to love the childr en on the
other side of town and the other side of the world. It’s easy
enough to love those who agr ee with us and tr eat us well. We must lear n to love those with whom we do not agr ee and
who have not necessarily tr eated us justly. Just as we work
to build up our muscles, we must work to e xpand our
capacity to love. There is only one thing that can triumph over our lower
self, our shadow self, and that is our higher self. And the
higher self dwells within the highest love of all: the love of
our Cr eator, in whom ther e is no darkness, no suﬀering or
fear. It is psychologically unr ealistic to under estimate the
power of the shadow, but it is spiritually immatur e to
under estimate the power of God. P rayer is not just a
symbol; it is a force. Meditation is not just something that
relaxes us; it is something that har monizes the ener gies of
the universe. F orgiveness doesn’t just mak e us feel better; it
literally transfor ms the heart. All the powers that emanate
from God ar e powers that will set us fr ee. To the shadow, the light is an enemy. But to the light, the
shadow is nothing. It simply does not e xist. BY THE W AY, IT’S ON THE MO VE
Consciousness is a dynamic, cr eative ener gy. It is not inert,
it is not stagnant. It is always e xpanding in whatever
direction it’s moving. Love will always build on love, andfear will always build on fear. The shadow is an ine xorable
drive towar d suﬀering and pain. Yet how does this thing—which itself is an illusion, which
itself has no life—act as though it does? The answer to that
is that although fear itself is not r eal, the power of thought
that car ries it is. Fear is lik e an e xplosive device, and
thought is the missile on which it rides. The mind is cr eated
to be a conduit of the divine, delivering e xplosions of love,
but fr ee will means we can dir ect it otherwise, should we
choose. Your mind is always either e xtending love or pr ojecting
fear as well as subconsciously planning how to do mor e of
the same. The shadow is your own mind tur ned against
yourself. Just as L ucifer was the most beautiful angel in
heaven befor e he fell and a cancer cell was a nor mal
working cell befor e it went haywir e, the shadow is your own
thinking tur ned in the wr ong dir ection. It is your self -hatr ed
masquerading as self -love. Y our shadow is as intelligent as
you ar e, because it is your own intelligence co -opted for
fear’s purposes. It has all the attributes of life, because it
has attached itself to your life. And lik e all life, it seeks to
preserve itself. Whenever love is near, the shadow becomes particularly
active in or der to guar d against its own demise. It knows
that love is its only r eal enemy. When the shadow senses
love, when it senses the light in you, it literally runs for its
life. The shadow will try, in whatever way possible, to
invalidate, suppr ess, mak e wrong the good in you—for it
knows that once you r emember the light of your true self,
it’s gone. And so it ﬁghts. Thus the well-known phrase, “ Love brings up everything
unlike itself.” You met someone with whom your soul feels is
a sacr ed connection? Bewar e, you’r e likely to do something
stupid in that person’s pr esence. Y ou have an e xtraor dinary
chance to manifest your dr eams? Bewar e, you’r e likely tosabotage the opportunity. And that is the shadow : the evil
twin of your better self. Until ther e is a conscious movement away fr om fear
towar d love, the dynamic ener gy of fear will be acting as a
destructive for ce that tak es no prisoners. It can lead to
something as seemingly small as an incident in which you
say something stupid but har mless or as consequential as
an action that could actually ruin your life. W e should
neither under estimate its power nor doubt its viciousness,
for the shadow is on a rampage—sometimes in a slow and
long drawn- out fashion and sometimes mor e quickly—but it
is always intentional in the dir ection of pain. In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is said that alcoholism is a
“progressive disease.” What this means is that it will not
stay put; if you’ve got a pr oblem with alcohol today, then
you’ll have even a bigger pr oblem with it tomor row unless
you deal with it. And its ultimate goal is destruction, even to
the point of death. An addiction such as


 on overall body function. *   **Blood pressure increases**, contributing to cardiovascular diseases such as hypothyroidism or thyroid enlargement;
    * Heart muscle weakening due to reduced oxygen supply from congested arteries, which may cause cardiac arrest

However,

• No direct correlation exists between cholesterol & HDL/LDH/VHD lipid fractions with an increased risk for coronary artery blockades;

      - Statistically significant correlations have been identified among gallstones' impact factors like poor digestion/clear lymph flow hindering immunity systems. Overall, there's no conclusive evidence supporting any link whatsoever when considering statinin-based therapies against these disorders related solely because they fail at addressing root causes while causing further side effects by restricting liver performance. What do you think about this rewritten version. Please let me know if changes need adjustments according your preferences before final submission. Also please note some figures were not included here since space constraints limited my response but those numbers will be provided upon request. Edit suggestion:

From what i understand so far,you're looking forward to creating an excellent recap without losing crucial data points. Here'syour current edit proposal based off our discussions :

`Summary:` [Explain]

"Extreme concentration"
[ Explain ]
Increased Pressure → Hypertrophy + Enzymatic Functions Failured Digest system, inability to digest food properly resulting toxic waste accumulation"

Reduced Oxygen Supply → Cardiac Arrest |

No Link Between Lipiod Fractions |Statuin Therapy Fails |
Address Root Causes ``

Let us refine more together.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the primary reason why high concentrations of protein in the blood hinder the distribution of important nutrients?,
A: The high protein levels in the blood prevent the distribution of oxygen, glucose, and other essential nutrients to the cells.
Q: What is the main cause of high blood pressure and heart disease?,
A: Excessive amounts of proteins in the blood, which can lead to blood thickening and heart disease.
Q: What is the role of "bad" cholesterol in the body?,
A: "Bad" cholesterol helps to prevent blood clotting and damage to the heart by coating the blood vessel walls.
Q: What is the primary cause of heart disease, according to the text?,
A: The text states that heart disease is not caused by high cholesterol levels, but rather by blood clotting and the accumulation of waste products in the body.
Q: What is the role of the lymphatic system in the body?,
A: The lymphatic system plays a crucial role in the removal of waste products and toxins from the body, and its malfunction can lead to a range of diseases, including lymphedema, arthritis, and cancer.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>The	consistent	increase	of
gallstones	in	the	liver,	a	common	factor	among	middle-aged	men	in	affluent	societies,	is
one	of	the	major	reasons	for	lymph	blockage	in	this	vital	part	of	the	body. Venerealdiseases	occur	when	the	exposed	parts	of	the	body	reach	a	high	level	of	toxicity. Microbial
infection	is	preceded	by	major	lymph	congestion. The	collapsing	capacity	of	the	lymphatic
system	(which	includes	the	immune	system)	to	repel	invading	microorganisms	is	the	true
reason	for	most	reproductive	and	sexual	disorders. When	all	gallstones	from	the	liver	are	removed	and	a	healthy	diet	and	lifestyle	are
maintained,	lymphatic	activity	can	return	to	normal. The	reproductive	tissue	receives
improved	nourishment	and	becomes	more	resistant. Infections	subside;	cysts,	fibrous
tissue,	and	tumors	are	broken	down	and	removed;	and	sexual	functions	are	restored. Disorders	of	the	Skin

Nearly	all	skin	diseases	such	as
eczema,	acne,
	and
psoriasis
	have	one	factor	in	common:
gallstones	in	the	liver. Almost	every	person	with	a	skin	disease	also	has	intestinal
problems	and	impure	blood,	in	particular. These	are	mainly	caused	by	gallstones	and	the
harmful	effects	they	have	on	the	body	as	a	whole. Gallstones	contribute	to	numerous
problems	throughout	the	body—particularly	in	the	digestive,	circulatory,	and	urinary
systems. In	its	attempt	to	eliminate	what	the	colon,	kidneys,	lungs,	liver,	and	lymphatic
system	are	unable	to	remove	or	detoxify,	the	skin	becomes	flooded	and	overburdened	with
acidic	waste. Although	the	skin	is	the	largest	organ	of	elimination	in	the	body,	it
eventually	succumbs	to	the	acid	assault. The	toxic	material	is	deposited	first	in	the
connective	tissue	underneath	the
dermis
. When	this	“waste	depot”	becomes	saturated,	the
skin	begins	to	malfunction. Excessive	amounts	of	noxious	substances,	cell	debris,	microbes	from	different	sources
(such	as	gallstones),	and	various	antigens	from	improperly	digested	foods	congest	the
lymphatic	system	and	inhibit	proper	lymph	drainage	from	the	various,	living	layers	of	the
skin. The	toxins	and	putrefying	protein	from	damaged	or	destroyed	skin	cells	attract
microbes	and	become	a	source	of	constant	irritation	and	inflammation	of	the	skin. Skin
cells	begin	to	suffer	malnourishment,	which	may	greatly	reduce	their	normal	interval	of
turnover	(about	once	every	month). This	may	also	cause	extensive	damage	to	skin	nerves. If	the	sebaceous	glands,	which	pour	their	secretion,
sebum,
	into	the	hair	follicles,
become	nutrient	deficient,	hair	growth	becomes	abnormal	and,	in	particular,
scalp	hair
may	fall	out. When	the	body’s
melanin
	supply	becomes	deficient,	the
hair	turns	gray
prematurely. Sebum	deficiency	alters	the	healthy	texture	of	the	hair	and	makes	it	look	dull
and	unattractive. On	the	skin,	sebum	acts	as	a	bactericidal	and	fungicidal	agent,	preventing
the	invasion	of	microbes. It	also	prevents	drying	and	cracking	of	the	skin,	especially	when
exposed	to	sunshine	and	hot,	dry	air. A	genetic	predisposition	toward	developing	baldness	or	any	other	skin	disorder	may
play	a	role	but	is
not
	a	major	causative	factor,	as	is	often	assumed. Healthy	skin	functions
are	often	completely	restored	and	hair	growth,	particularly	among	women,	is	returned	to
normal	once	all	gallstones	are	removed	and	the	colon	and	kidneys	/bladder	are	kept	clean. (For	details	regarding	colonic	irrigation	and	kidney	cleansing,	refer	to	my	book
Timeless
Secrets	of	Health	and	Rejuvenation.
) Conclusion

Gallstones	are	a	major	cause	of	illness	in	the	body. They	impair	the	functioning	of	one	of
the	more	complex,	active,	and	influential	organs	of	the	body—the	liver. Nobody	has	ever
devised	an	artificial	liver,	because	it	is	so	complex. Second	only	to	the	brain	in
complexity,	the	liver	masterminds	the	most	intricate	processes	of	digestion	and
metabolism,	thereby	affecting	the	life	and	health	of	every	cell	in	the	body. When	a	person
removes	the	obstacles	that	prevent	the	liver	from	doing	its	job	properly	and	efficiently,	his
or	her	body	can	return	to	a	state	of	continuous	balance	and	vitality. CHAPTER	2

How	Can	I	Tell	If	I	Have	Gallstones	? During	my	research	with	thousands	of	patients	suffering	from	almost	every	kind	of	illness,
including
terminal	diseases
,	I	found	that	each	person	had	large	numbers	of	gallstones	in
the	liver	and,	in	many	cases,	also	in	the	gallbladder. When	these	people	eliminated	these
stones	through	the	liver	cleanse	and	introduced	simple	health-forming	habits	and
supportive	measures,	they	recovered	from	diseases	that	defied	both	conventional	and
alternative	methods	of	treatment. What	follows	is	a	description	of	some	of	the	more	common	signs	indicating	the
presence	of	gallstones	in	the	liver	and	gallbladder. If	you	have	any	of	them,	you	will	most
likely	derive	great	benefits	from	cleansing	your	liver	and	gallbladder. In	my	practice,


 mor e. Instead of r esponding with a full
tilt, “I’m ﬁne,” the “I’m ﬁne” came out a little mor e timidly,
lest they’d stop rubbing my neck. I had bought into—
enter ed into agr eement with—the idea of my physical
vulnerability in or der to r eceive the payoﬀ of love and
attention. I paid a high price for my “sin,” i.e. loveless per ception. My per ception was wr ong-minded in the sense that I saw
myself as a body rather than a spirit, which is a loveless
rather than loving self -identiﬁcation. Choosing to believe I
was vulnerable, even for an instant, made me so. Thus my
sore throat. Great, I thought. I got it! “ God,” I said. “I totally
understand how this happened. I r eturn my mind to the
point of my er ror, and I atone. I go back. I ask that my
perception be healed, and I ask to be r eleased fr om the
eﬀects of my wr ong-minded thinking. Amen.” I closed my
eyes at a r ed light while I said the prayer, and fully e xpected
to be fr ee of my sor e throat when I opened them again.The prayer over, I opened my eyes. My thr oat still hurt. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Now mor e depr essed than
ever, I went into the cafe wher e I was to meet my friend and
took a seat at the bar. I noticed as I enter ed that ther e was a
man at the other end of the bar, looking at me in a
ﬂirtatious kind of way. He was anything but my type. I
looked at him as though to say, “ One mor e look my
direction, buddy, and you’r e dead.”
“Can I help you?” ask ed the bartender. “Yes,” I whisper ed hoarsely. “I want some brandy, some
honey and some milk.”
The man at the other end of the bar watched as the
bartender r eturned with the items I’d r equested. “What ar e
you trying to do?” he ask ed. I did not want to speak to this man. I wanted him to go
away. But once the Course has gotten into your system, you
never again have guilt-fr ee bitchy thoughts. “ He’s your
brother, Marianne,” I said to myself. “He’s an innocent child
of God. Be nice.”
I softened. “I’m trying to mak e a hot toddy,” I said. “I
have a very bad sor e throat.”
“Well ﬁrst of all, that’s not the way to mak e a hot toddy,”
he said, “and secondly, that’s not what you want anyway. You pr obably need some penicillin.”
“That’s true, I do,” I said, “Erythr omycin would cur e this
but I just moved to L.A. and I don’t know any doctors who
would pr escribe it to me.”
The man got up and walk ed over to wher e I was sitting. He put a cr edit car d on the bar and beck oned the bartender.“Come on, let’s go ne xt door,” he said to me. “I can get you
some Erythr omycin.”
I look ed at him lik e he was crazy, but I also noticed that
the cr edit car d said “ Dr.” on it. “What’s ne xt door?” I ask ed. “A Thrif ty drugstor e.”
And so it was. W e walk ed ne xt door to Thrif ty and my
new friend the doctor pr escribed the medicine I wanted. After thr owing one pill into my mouth, I became ecstatic. “You don’t understand,” I said to him, practically jumping
up and down. “ This is a miracle! I prayed for healing, and I
corrected my thoughts but the Holy Spirit couldn’t give me
an instantaneous healing because I’m not advanced enough
yet to r eceive it—it would be too thr eatening to my belief
system—so He had to enter at the level of my
understanding, and you wer e ther e, but if I hadn’t opened
my heart to you I would never have been able to r eceive the
miracle because I wouldn’t have been open!”
He handed me his business car d. “Young lady, her e’s my
number,” he said. “I’m a psychiatrist and I haven’t
prescribed an antibiotic in twenty -ﬁve years. But trust me,
you should give me a call.”
As I told the good doctor, I ask ed that my misper ceptions
be healed—I accepted the A tonement—but the healing
could still only enter at the level of my r eceptivity. The
Course tells us that the Holy Spirit steps aside in the
presence of fear. Most of us, wer e we to have a br oken leg
healed instantly upon hearing the wor d Jesus, would ﬁnd the
healing mor e depr essing than the wound. That’s because, if
such a thing is possible, the entir e world is something other
than we think it is. Giving up our limited understanding of
the world, which we e xperience as a kind of pseudo -contr ol,is mor e of a thr eat to us than a br oken leg. Some people,
says A Course in Miracles, would rather die than change
their minds. The Holy Spirit ﬁnds ways to e xpress His power
through vehicles we can accept. Medicine is such a vehicle. There is a saying in Alcoholics Anonymous that “Every
problem comes bearing its own solution.” Crisis comes
bearing its solution in that it tak es us to our knees, our most
humble thinking. If we had been ther e to begin with—if we
had placed the power of God befor e our own, putting love
befor e all personal ambitions—then our pr oblems would not
have developed. An epidemic such as AIDS is a collective heartbr eak,
pulling millions of people into its painful vorte x. But this also
means that it brings millions of people to their knees. As
soon as enough of us get ther e, as soon as love r eaches a
critical mass or, as the Course says, enough people become
miracle-minded, ther e will be a sudden br eakthr ough in
consciousness—a raptur e, an instantaneous healing.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        If we wait for the
world’s per mission to shine, we will never r eceive it. The
ego doesn’t give that per mission. Only God does, and He
has alr eady done so. He has sent you her e as His personal
representative and is asking you to channel His love into the
world. Ar e you waiting for a mor e important job. Ther e isn’t
one. There is a plan for each of us, and each of us is pr ecious. As we open our hearts mor e and mor e, we’r e moved in the
directions in which we’r e supposed to go. Our gif ts well up
inside of us and e xtend of their own accor d. We accomplish
eﬀortlessly. How could L eonar do da V inci not have painted. How
could Shak espear e not have written. In Letters to a Y oung
Poet, Rilk e tells a young writer to write only if he has to. We
are to do what ther e is a deep psychological and emotional
imperative for us to do. That’s our point of power, the
source of our brilliance. Our power is not rationally or
willfully called forth. It’s a divine dispensation, an act of
grace. 4. MONEY
“Joy has no cost. ”
Do what you love. Do what mak es your heart sing. And
never do it for the money. Don’t go to work to mak e money;
go to work to spr ead joy. Seek ye ﬁrst the kingdom ofHeaven, and the Masaratti will get her e when it’s supposed
to. God doesn’t have a poverty consciousness. He doesn’t
want you to have a boring life or a boring car eer. He doesn’t
have anything against the things of this world. ‘Money isn’t
evil; it’s just nothing. ’ Lik e anything else, it can be used for
holy or unholy purposes. I once had a small bookstor e. A man came in one day
and told me that he was going to teach me how to mak e
money. “Every person that walks in that door,” he said, “is a
potential sale. And that’s what you should silently say to
yourself whenever a customer walks into the stor e: Potential
sale, potential sale. ”
His advice sounded e xploitative to me. He was advising
me to view other people as pawns in my own scheme. I
prayed and r eceived these wor ds: “Y our stor e is a chur ch. ”
Church, esoterically, means the gathering of souls. It’s not


 en opens up. Suddenly, a great stillness arises within you, an
unfathomable sense of peace. And within that peace, there is great joy. And wit hin that joy, there is lov e. And at the innermost core, there is the
sacred, the immeasurable, That which cannot be named. I don’ t call it finding God, because how can you find that which was
never lost, the very life that you are? The word God is limiting  not only
because of thousands of years of misperception and misuse, but also
because it implies an entity other than you. God is Being itself, not a
being. There can be no subject -object relationship here, no duality, no
you and  Go d. God-realization is the m ost natural thing there is. The
amazing and incomprehensible fact is not that you can  become conscious
of G od b ut that you are not  conscious of God. The way of the cross that
you mentioned is the old way to enlightenment, and until recently it was
the only  way. But don’ t dismiss it or underestimate its ef ficacy. It still
works. The way of the cross is a comple te reversal. It means that the worst thing
in your life, your cross, turns into the best thing that ever hap pened to
you, by forcing you into surren der, into “death,” forcing you to  become
as nothing, to become as God — because God, too, is no-thing. At this time, as far as the unconscious majority of humans is concerned,
the w ay of the cross is still the only way. They will only awaken  through
further suf fering, and enlightenment as a collective phenomenon will be
predictably preceded by vast upheavals. This process reflects the
workings of certain universa l laws that govern the growth ofconsciousness and thus was foreseen by some seers. It is d escribed,
among o ther places, in the Boo k of Revelation or Apocalypse, though
cloaked in obscure and som etimes impenetrable symbology. This
suf fering is inflicted not by God but by humans on themselves and on
each other, as well as by certain defensive measures that the Earth, which
is a living, intelligent or ganism, is going to take to protect herself from
the onslaught of human madness. However, there  is a growing number of humans alive toda y whose
consciousness is suf ficiently ev olved not to need any more suf fering
before the realization of enlightenment. Y ou may be one of them. Enlightenment t hrough suf fering  — the way of the cross — means to be
forced into the kingdom of heaven kicking and screaming. Y ou finally
surrender becau se you can’ t sta nd the pain anymore, but the pain could
go o n for a long time until this happens. Enlightenment consciously
chosen m eans to relinquish your attachment to past and future and to
make the Now the main focus of your life. It means choosing to dwell in
the state of pres ence rather than in time. It means saying yes to what is. Y ou then  don’ t need pain anymore. How much more time do y ou think
you will need before you are able to say, “I will create no more pain, no
more suf fering”? How much more pain do you need before you can
make that choice? If you think that you need more time, you will get more time — and
more pain. T ime and pain are inseparable. THE POWER T O CHOOSE
What about all those people who, it seems, actually want to suffer? I
have a friend whose partner is physically abusive towar d her, and her
pr evious r elation ship was of a similar kind. Why does she choose such
men, and why is  she r efusing to get out of that situation now? W hy do so
many people actually choose pain? I k now that the  word choose  is  a fav orite N ew Age term, b ut it isn’ t
entirely accurate in this context. It is misleading to say that somebody
“chose” a dysfunctional relationship or any other negative situation in hisor her life. Choice implies consciousness — a high degree of
consciousness. W ithout it, you have no choice. Choice begins the
moment you disidentify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the
moment you become present. Until you reach that point, you are
unconscious, spi ritually speaking. This means that you are compelled to
think, fe el, and act in certain wa ys according to the conditioning of your
mind. T hat is why Jesus said: “For give them, fo r they know not what
they do.” This is not related to intelligence in the conventional sense of
the word. I have met many highly intelligent and educated people who
were als o completely unconscious, which is to say completely i dentified
with their mind. In fact, if mental development and increased knowledge
are n ot c ounterbalanced by a corresponding growth in consciousness, the
potential for unhappiness and disaster is very great. Y our friend is st uck in a relation ship with an abusive partner, and not for
the first  time. Why? No choice. The mind, conditioned as it is by the
past, alw ays see ks to re-create w hat it knows and is familiar with. Even
if it is p ainful, at least it is fa miliar. The mind always adheres to the
known. The unknown is dange rous because it has no control over it. That’ s why the mind dislikes and ignores the present moment. Present-
moment awaren ess creates a gap not only in the stream of mind  but also
in the past-future continuum. Nothing truly new and creative can come
into this world except through that gap, that clear space of infinite
possibility. So your  friend, being identified with her mind, may be recreating a
pattern learned in the past in w hich intimacy and abuse are inseparably
linked. A lternatively, she may be acting out a mind pattern learned in
early childhood according to w hich she is unworthy and deserves to be
punished. It is possible, too, tha t she lives a lar ge part of her life through
the pain-body, which always s eeks more pain on which to feed. Her
partner has his own unconscious patterns, which complement hers. Of
course h er situation is self-created, but who or what is the se lf that is
doing the creating? A mental-em otional pattern from the past, no more. Why m ake a self out of it? If you tell her that she has chosen her
condition or situation, you are reinforcin g her state of mind
identification. But is her mind p attern who she is? Is it her sel f? Is her
true ide ntity de rived from the past? Show your friend how to be the
observing presen ce behind her thoughts and her emotions. T ell h er aboutthe pain-body and how to free h erself from it. T each her the art of inner -
body awareness. Demonstrate to her the meaning of presence. As soon as
she is able to ac cess the power of the Now, and thereby break  through
her conditioned past, she will  have a choice. Nobody chooses  dys function, conflict, pain. No body chooses  insanity. They happen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the
past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. Y ou are not fully h ere. Y ou
have no t quite woken up yet. In  the meantime, the conditioned mind is
running your life. Similarly, if you are one of the m any people who have an issue with their
parents, if you still harbor rese ntment about something they did or did
not do, then you  still believe th at they had a choice — that they could
have act ed dif ferently. It always looks  as if people had a choice, but that
is an illusion. As long as your mind with its conditioned patterns runs
your life, as long as you ar e  your mind, what choice do you have? None. Y ou ar e not even there. T he mind-identified state is severely
dysfunctional. It is a form of insanity. Almost everyone is suf fer ing from
this illne ss in varying degrees. The moment you realize this, there can be
no more  resentment. How can you resent someone’ s illness? The only
appropriate response is compassion. So that means n obody is r esponsible for what they do? I don’ t like that
idea. If you are run b y your mind, although you have no choice you  will still
suf fer the consequences of your unconsciousness, and you will create
further suf fering. Y ou will bear the burden of fear, conflict, problems,
and pain. The suf fering thus created will eventually force you out of your
unconscious state. What yo u say about choice als o applies to for giveness, I suppose. Y ou
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GERSON THERAPY SUPPOR T GROUPS
THE GERSON  THERAPY  PATIENT  SUPPOR T NETWORKThe Gerson Institute offers a means of contacting others who are currently
on the Gerson Therapy as a means of exchanging ideas, tips, and hints
during the difficult recovery period. If a Gerson patient wishes  to be listed
for communication with others and receive their names and locations,
please contact the Gerson Institute to receive the appropriate release and
authorization for disclosure and distribution. CONT ACTS  FOR A GERSON  THERAPY  SUPPOR T GROUP
A number of Gerson Therapy Support Groups exist in the United States
and throughout the world. These groups are organized by long-term
recovered patients. They offer local seminars, orientation programs and
advice to callers considering or doing the Gerson Therapy. The Gerson
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own. OceanofPDF.comTHE ROOT CANAL AND DENT AL AMALGAM COVER-UP OF
CANCER AND OTHER DEGENERA TIVE DISEASES
The Root Canal Coverup  (ISBN 0-945196-19-9, U.S.$23) is a 1993 book
written by Geor ge E. Meinig, D.D.S., F.A.C.D. It is availabl e from him
directly by sending payment to his company, Bion Publishing, 323 East
Matilijia Street, #110-151, Ojai, California 93023. The book can also be
obtained from the Gerson Institute. Dr. Meinig admits to having installed many root canal fillings  while he
practiced dentist ry and founded the Association of Root Canal Specialists,
which he chaired for many years. What the dentist learned when he
eventually studied the work of oral scientist Weston Price, D.D.S., changed
his thinking and professional life forever. Dr. Meinig discovered that
patients treated with root canal fillings suffer from a variety  of serious
chronic illnesses. In order  to treat the root of a tooth, or an abscess that forms at the base of
this root, a dentist must drill any loose or infected material from the canal
that houses the tooth’ s nerve. Then the dentist can treat the abscess. But
once a nerve is dead and removed, this tooth also dies. Dr. Meinig’s book
gives the background of extensiv e and detailed research done on root canals
by W eston A. Price, D.D.S., F.A.C.D. When Dr. Meinig became aware of the dangers inherent in the accepted
root canal treatment, he renounced his position at the Associat ion of Root
Canal Specialists. Now he spends his time and energies makin g the public
as well as dentists aware of the research conducted by Dr. Price. The first indication of problems due to root canals came from one of Dr.
Price’ s patients who was bedfast and virtually paralyzed due to rheumatoid
arthritis. For necessary reasons, her root-canal-filled tooth was removed
although it looked healthy and normal on X rays. Within a few weeks the
patient was up; and after some months, she could walk and her health was
totally restored—no more rheumatoid arthritis. Curious at the patient’ s positive response, Dr. Price recovered that
extracted tooth from storage, sterilized it thoroughly, and implanted it under
the skin of a rabbit in an in vivo experiment. Within five days, the rabbit
was victimized by the same disease, severe rheumatoid arthritis. And in tendays it died of this disease. Dr. Price implanted the same tooth under the
skin of thirty-th ree rabbits. In each case, the tooth caused arthr itis to occur
in the rabbit and killed the animal. Going even further, Dr. Price performed more experiments with trying to
clear the apparently infectious material from extracted teeth. He autoclaved
them (sterilized by steam pressure, at 250°F, or 121°(C). This made no
difference. Each rabbit with the “sterilized” (autoclaved) tooth implanted
still developed the disease and died, usually within ten days. Then, as a
control, Dr. Price implanted a healthy tooth under the skin of a rabbit. The
rabbit lived without showing any signs of problems for fifteen years, its
normal life span. He published the results of this laboratory finding. Subsequen tly, many
other patients had root-canal-filled teeth extracted—some suffering from
kidney disease, others from cancer, heart disease, or arthritis. In virtually all
cases, the patien ts showed considerable improvement or even total recovery
after their offending teeth were removed. However, in each case, the rabbit
receiving the tooth died of the same disease that the patient exhibited. To explain: When the nerve is removed from a tooth, it’s no longer living
or supplied with nutrients. It is dead. However, the normal structure of the
tooth includes tiny “canules” (similar to the capillaries in every human
tissue) that carry nutrients to the living tooth. Once the tooth is dead,
nutrients stop circulating throug h these canules; instead the canules become
infested with bacteria or viruses. Not only that, but the filling of the nerve
canal shrinks a tiny bit, enough for more microor ganisms to lodge there too. None of this infection shows on dental X rays. A dead tooth is thus a
potent source of bacterial and viral toxins that spread throughout the body. Many people with a good immune system and powerful defenses can live
with this constant source of trouble without showing any symptoms. For
others—about 25 percent of all persons having root canals— chronic illness
sets in. They come down with various severe diseases or other health
difficulties. Carefully taken and scrutinized, X rays eventually show “cavitation”
(hollowing out of the surrounding jawbone) around the root-canal-treated
tooth. As the resistant patient ages or is weakened by accidents, colds, flu,
or severe stress, the ability to overcome this “focal infection” is reduced and
can cause or contribute to a chronic degenerative disease such as cancer. Unquestionably, cancer can come from root canals in your mouth.CANCER


Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cooper, J. C. (Jean C.) author. Title: Chinese alchemy : T aoism, the power of gold, and
the quest for immortality / J.C. Cooper. Description: San Francisco : W eiser Books, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. Identiﬁers: LCCN 2015042587 | ISBN 9781578635771 (5
× 7.75 pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: T aoism--China. | Alchemy. Classiﬁcation: LCC BL1923.C66 2016 | DDC 299.5/14--
dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042587Cover design by Graham Lester
Text design by Jane Hagaman
Printed in the United States of America
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OceanofPDF.comC O N T E N T S
Acknowledgments
1. Origins
2. Alchemy East and W est
3. Hsien
4. Longevity and Immortality
5. The Elixir
6. Medicines
7. Minerals and Plants
8. The Alchemist as Midwife
9. Astrology
10. The Five Elements
11. Ch'i
12. Y oga
13. Magic
14. Allied Symbolism
15. The Esoteric and Exoteric
16. The T wo Great P owers
17. The Real Alchemy
Notes
Bibliography
Index
OceanofPDF.comA C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
I am greatly indebted to Professor Needh am for
permission to quote, and use illustrations, from his
monumental work Science and Civilization in China. My
thanks also to Mr. W. Greenhalgh for reproducing
photographs from old slides taken in China. OceanofPDF.comIn memoriam
Francis Clive-Ross
OceanofPDF.com– 1 –
O R I G I N S
There is little in Chinese alchemy that cannot be
associated with Taoism and although the exact origins of
that alchemy  may still be in dispute in the light of present
incomplete evidence, it is not questioned that it grew and
was nourished in the soil of popular and religious Taoism. It is also recognized that there are two distinct branches
of Taoism: the classical Tao Chia, the mystical,
metaphysical aspect, stemming from Lao Tzu and Chuang
Tzu, and the popular, religious, magical, alchemical side,
the Tao Chiao, which arose traditionally with the Yellow
Emperor and his Three Immortal Ladies, or Maids, who
taught him magic, mysticism and love. Lao Tzu and
Chuang Tzu probably represented a movement against
these earlier  animistic-m agico practices and founded the
Tao Chia as a protes t, or rather a correction, at a time
when such practices had lost their original meaning and
become loaded with superstition. Yet another viewpoint is that classical Taoism  was
original but was too austere and rareﬁed for the general
populace and later, meeting the shamanism which
ﬂourished in the tribes of the regions north and west of
China proper, absorbed shamanistic-animistic lore and
degenerated into the religious, ritualistic, magical and
alchemical branch, the Tao Chiao, which fulﬁlled the day-
to-day needs of the people and which still exists in modern
times as a popular religion. Thus, from being abstract
philosophy, it became a concrete religion with a
ceremonial Church, having a priesthood, liturgy and
theology, a Pope, and a Trinity known as the Three PureOnes. From the original non-theistic mysticism it became
not only theistic but polytheistic, adopting the pantheon of
popular Buddhism. While the origins and dates of Chinese alchemy are still
being resea rched and debated (there are literally
hundreds of Taoists texts as yet untranslated) it is known
for certain that it ﬂourish ed well before 144 BC, for at that
date the Emperor issued an edict which ordered public
execution for anyone found making counterfeit gold. The
making of counterfeit cash was also proscribed. However,
in the year 60 BC the then Emperor appointed a well-
known scholar, Liu Hsiang, as Master of the Recipes so
that he could make alchemical gold and prolong the
Emperor's life. He failed  to make the gold and so was
disgraced. This points to an already well-establis hed and
widespread practice in alchemy. It was also said to have
been practise d in the fourth century BC by Tsou Yen, who
had a reputation as a miracle-worker and a following
among the aristocracy. He was also reputed to have been
the ﬁrst alchemist to combine the search for the Elixir
with the search for gold. The Later Han dynasty (AD 25-220) was a time of great
interest in science, astronomy, botany, zoology and
medicine and in this period there appeared the ﬁrst book
on alchemy, the Ts'an T'ung Ch'i of Wei Po-yang. Its date
was about AD 142 and its title is translated as ‘The Book of
the Kinship of the Three,’ but it was written in terms
which were too diﬀicult for the understanding of all but
initiates. But most of the alchemical texts derive from the
T'ang dynasty (AD 618-960), which maintained this
interest, especially in the alchemical branch of T aoism. The language of the Ts'an T'ung Ch'i being too
complicated and esoteric to be of general use, it is to Ko
Hung that we must turn for the earliest complete treatise. He lived about AD 260 to 340 and is regarded as the mostfamous of writers on Chinese alchemy. He is supposed to
have written  several hundred books but his known work is
the Pao P'u Tzu nei p'ien, usually referred to as the Pao P'u
Tzu, though this was, in fact, a pseudonym he adopted and
can be translated as ‘The Master who preserves his
pristine simplicity,’ which has also been rendered as ‘Old
Sobersides.’ The work is in two parts, the nei p'ien,
comprising some twenty scrolls, and the wei p'ien, some
ﬁfty. He says: ‘My nei p'ien, telling of gods, genii,
prescriptions and medicines, ghosts and marvels,
transformations, mainten ance of life, extension of years,
exorcising evils and banishing misfortune, belong s to the
Taoist school. My wei p'ien, giving an account of success
and failure in human aﬀairs and of good and evil in public
aﬀairs, belongs to the Confucian school.’1
It was Ko Hung who was responsible for the delightful
deﬁnitions of classical Taoism and Confucianism. He was
asked: ‘Of Confucianism and Taoism, which is the more
diﬀicult?’ He replied: ‘Confucianism is diﬀiculty  in the
midst of facility; Taoism is facility in the midst of
diﬀiculties; in it all annoyances are lifted with an inner
harmony that grows of itself; perfect freedom of action and
thought; no fear, no grief.’ Taoists ‘reject specialization in
worldly matters, wash away all trickeries, forget wealth
and neglect honours, block repression and encour age free
expression, are not concerned about the loss of anything,
do not glory in success and are not saddened by
denigration and take no delight in praise.’
Ko Hung regarded the existing scrolls for medicines as
incomplete, confused and often lacking in treatment for
many critical illnesses. He said that they employed
expensive ingredients only available to the rich, whereas
his scrolls would be found to mention all the medicines
and give full treatment for all serious illnesses: ‘Any
household possessing this book can dispense with theservices of a physician. Further, it is not always possible to
ﬁnd a physician at a moment's notice and when you do ﬁnd
one he may not wish to come immediately.’ (This strangely
modern passage was written nearly 2000 years ago!) Chinese alchemy, being more concerned with longevity
and immortality than with the making of gold, was
naturally involved with ﬁnding the Elixir of Immortality
and with prescriptions  for prolonging life. When
challenged that he was attempting the impossible in trying
to overcome  mortality in this life, Ko Hung replied that
although the deaf could not hear thunder or appreciate
music, and the sun and the splendour of the Emperor's
robes were invisible to the blind, it did not mean that these
things did not exist. His recipe for long life was the use of
appropriate medicines, breathing exercises and
philosophical thought. Alchemy, like all esoteric lore, had
to


-be shed a few tears, and then said to me, “I prayed for di vine
guidance. This might be the answer for He never faileth.”
That was her reaction—faith in God and all things good. She had no
bitterness in her heart because as she said, “It must not have been right
action because my prayer was for right action for both of u s.”
Someone else having a similar experience would have gone into a
tantrum, have had an emotional fit, re-quired sedation, and perhaps
needed hospitalization. Tune in with the infinite intelligence within your subcon-scious
depths, trusting the answer in the same way that you trusted your
mother when she held you in her arms. This is how you can acquire
poise and mental and emotional health. 182  • It is wrong to marry. Sex is evil and I am evil
Some time ago, I talked to a young lady aged twenty-two. She was
taught that it was a sin to dance, to play cards, to swim, and t o go out
with men. She was threatened by her mother who told her she wou ld
burn eternally in hell-fire if she disobeyed her will and her  religious
teachings. This girl wore a black dress and black stockings. She wore no rouge,
lipstick, or any form of make-up because her mother said t hat these
things were sinful. Her mother told her that all men were evil, and that
sex was of the devil and simply diabolic debauchery. This girl had to learn how to forgive herself, as she was f ull of guilt. To forgive means to give for. She had to give up all these f alse beliefs
for the truths of life and a new estimate of herself. Whe n she went out
with young men in the office where she worked, she had a deep sense
of guilt and thought that God would punish her. Several eligible young
men proposed to her, but she said to me, “It is wrong to marry. S ex is
evil and I am evil.” This was her conscience or early c onditioning
speaking. She came to me once weekly for about ten weeks, and I taught her
the workings of the conscious and subconscious mind as set forth i n
this book. This young girl gradually came to see that she had been complet ely
brainwashed, mesmerized, and conditioned by an ignorant,
superstitious, bigoted, and frus-trated mother. She broke awa y
completely from her family and started to live a wonderful life. At my suggestion she dressed up and had her hair at-tended to. She
took lessons in dancing from a man, and she also took driving lessons. She learned to swim, play cards, and had a number of dates. She
began to love He. She prayed for a divine companion by claimi ng that
Infinite Spirit would at-tract to her a man who harmonized with he r
thoroughly. Eventu-ally this came to pass. As she left my off ice one
evening, there was a man waiting to see me and I casually i ntroduced
them. They are now married and harmonize with each other perfectly. 183  • Forgiveness is necessary for healing
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any ...
MARK 11:25. Forgiveness of others is essential to mental peace and radian t health. You must forgive everyone who has ever hurt you if you want perfec t
health and happiness. Forgive your-self by getting your thoughts i n
harmony with divine law and order. You cannot really forgive
yourself completely until you have forgiven others first. To ref use to
forgive yourself is nothing more or less than spiritual pride  or
ignorance. In the psychosomatic field of medicine today, it is being consta ntly
stressed that resentment, condemnation of others, re-morse, and
hostility are behind a host of maladies ranging from arthritis t o cardiac
disease. They point out that these sick people, who were hur t,
mistreated, deceived, or injured, were full of resentment and hatred for
those who hurt them. This caused inflamed and festering wounds in
their subconscious minds. There is only one remedy. They have to cut
out and discard their hurts, and the one and only sure way is by
forgiveness. • Forgiveness is love in action
The essential ingredient in the art of forgiveness is the willing ness to
forgive. If you sincerely desire to forgive the other, you are f ifty-one
percent over the hurdle. I feel sure you know that to forgive the  other
does not necessarily mean that you like him or want to associat e with
him. You cannot be compelled to like someone, neither can a
government legislate good will, love, peace, or tolerance. It is quite
impossible to like people because someone in Washington iss ues an
edict to that effect. We can, however, love people without liking them. The Bible says, Love ye one another. This, anyone can do who
really wants to do it. Love means that you wish for the other he alth,
happiness, peace, joy, and all the blessings of life. There i s only one
prerequisite, and that is sincerity. You are not being magnani mous
when you forgive, you are really being selfish, because what you wish
 184  for the other, you are actually wishing for yourself. The reason i s that
you are thinking it and you are feeling it. As you think and fee l, so are
you. Could anything be simpler than that? • Technique of forgiveness
The following is a simple method, which works wonders in your life
as you practice it: Quiet your mind, relax, and let go. Think o f God
and His love for you, and then affirm, “I fully and freely for give
(mention the name of the offender); I release him mentally and
spiritually. I completely forgive everything connected wit h the matter
in question. I am free, and he/she is free. It is a marvelous fe eling. It is
my day of general amnesty. I release anybody and everybody who has
ever hurt me, and I wish for each and everyone health, happiness,
peace, and all the blessings of life. I do this freely, joyous ly, and
lovingly, and whenever I think of the person or persons who hurt me, I
say, ‘I have released you, and all the blessings of life are yours.’ I am
free and you are free. It is wonderful!”
The great secret of true forgiveness is that once you have  forgiven
the person, it is unnecessary to repeat the prayer. Whenever the person
comes to your mind, or the particular hurt happens to enter your mind,
wish the delinquent well, and say, “Peace be to you.” Do this as  often
as the thought enters your mind. You will find that after a few d ays
the thought of the person or experience will return less and  less often,
until it fades into nothingness. •The acid test for forgiveness
There is an acid test for gold. There is also an acid test for
forgiveness. If I should tell you something wonderful about someone
who has wronged you, cheated you, or defrauded you, and you sizzled
at hearing the good news about this person, the roots of hatred woul d
still be in your subconscious mind, playing havoc with you. Let us suppose you had a painful abscess on your jaw a year ag o,
and you told me about it. I would casually ask you if you had any pai n
now. You would automatically say, “Of course not, I have a memory
of it but no pain.” That is the whole story. You may have a memory  of
 185  the incident but no sting or hurt any more. This is the acid test, and
you must meet it psychologically and spiritually, otherwise,  you are
simply deceiving yourself and not practicing the true art o f
forgiveness. • To understand all is to forgive all
When man understands the creative law of his own mind, he ceases
to blame other people and conditions for making or marring his li fe. He  knows that his own thoughts and feelings create his destiny. Furthermore, he is aware that externals are not the causes and
conditioners of his life and his experiences. To think that others  can
mar your happiness that you are the football of a cruel fate that you
must oppose and fight others for a living—all these and others  like
them are untenable when you understand that thoughts are things. The
Bible says the same thing. For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. PROV-ERBS 23:7. • Summary of your aids to forgiveness
1. God, or Life, is no respecter of persons. Life plays no favorit es. Life, or God, seems to favor you when you align yourself with the
principle of harmony, health, joy, and peace. 2. God, or Life, never sends disease, sickness, accident, or suffe r-
ing. We bring these things on ourselves by our own nega-tive
destructive thinking based upon the law as we sow, so shall we reap. 3. Your concept of God is the most important thing in your life. If
you really believe in a God of love, your subcon-sc


 yet known what the upper age limit could be under
optimum conditions; but from work with animals, in which it has been demonstrated
that the life period may be doubled, we have reason for believing that this might also be
achieved in connection with human existence. At no time in the history of the human race has there been any nation or any group
that existed on optimum diets. At no time in the history of the human race up to the
present time has it been known what constitutes a normal, scientific dietary intake. In no
period or time in history have we understood the physiology or dietary action of even one mineral such as iron, iodine, or calcium. Since vitamins are a recent discovery, of course nothing has been known in a scientific way about them. As has been shown here, even the persons who have devoted a good deal of time to nutritional affairs have not
had any proper conception of the nutrition of the population as a whole. Individual
workers and individual universities have concentrated on individual parts of the
problem. Williams and Spies have concentrated on vitamin B
1; McCollum and Johns Hopkins
on vitamin A; Steenbock has focused on vitamin D; Sure, Bishop and Evans have given
much of their attention to vitamin E; Sherman has devoted his attention to vitamin G; Hanke, of Chicago University, worked with great enthusiasm on vitamin C; Plummer
did a good deal of work on iodine. Dr. Alice Bernheim worked long and patiently on
calcium. Various workers too numerous to mention have worked on iron. In no case has
a right and proper correlation of all this work been achieved, not even in any branch of the government where such correlation should take place. The only possible correlation of all this new knowledge of nutrition is in the hands of
the man who is engaged in the clinical practice of medicine. The data emanating from the laboratory worker who has no clinical experience are not only likely to be wrong,
but are almost sure to be wrong. An example of this is a new book by an author who is a
Ph. D. but not an M. D. He gives some interesting information in regard to vitamins, but the book is guilty of many omissions; makes wrong statements in regard to the relation
between proper nutrition and heart disease, and in the relation between proper nutrition
and catching cold. This is an example of a scientist venturing beyond his proper field. At the present time some men engaged in the clinical practice of medicine are still
using single synthetic vitamins in the treatment of disease. The synthetics have
potentialities for danger. Since the nature of our dietary sins makes single vitamin
deficiencies impossible, there is never any indication for prescribing any one synthetic vitamin alone. There is never an indication for prescribing thiamin or niacin-amide or
pyridoxine or pantothenic acid by itself. If the natural sources of these elements are used instead of the synthetics, it would be impossible to prescribe them alone, as they do not
exist alone in nature. There is no question but that in a well-nourished body the vitamins and minerals exist
in a certain optimum balance. For instance, a body may be well nourished in every other
respect, but the person may be thrown into a condition of water-logged overweight by taking too much common salt. The taking of salt in excess of the body needs permits too
much sodium in relation to potassium and calcium. This allows the body to become
permeated by water. In such a case the excretion of water is not properly balanced with
intake, and serious disease results. In clinical work, it is not uncommon to see these
water-logged overweight women whose chief dietary sin is too great an intake of
sodium chloride (common salt). The number of persons who may be benefited by the so-called no-salt diet is
enormous. The same beneficial results may be brought about by giving these persons a
salt mixture instead of plain salt, the mixture containing the same relative proportions of
mixed alkaline salts as Ringer's solution. This salt compound, while it contains 70 per cent sodium chloride, also contains calcium, potassium, and magnesium, so that it can
be taken without the mineral balance being disturbed. The pathological condition known as acidosis is due to a reduced alkalinity in the
body. The opposite condition--alkalosis--is not at all uncommon, and is due to too much
alkalinity in the blood, or a preponderance of some particular alkali such as sodium,
calcium, or potassium. In persons eating natu ral foods, these disturbances of mineral
balance never occur. A diet composed of meat, milk, eggs, cheese, whole wheat, honey, and sea food will never produce either alkalosis or acidosis. It is only by the taking of
artificial factory-made foods that these conditions are brought about. Since the preponderance of any one mineral puts the mineral supply out of balance
and disturbs metabolism, it is undoubtedly true that this same sort of a diseased
condition may be brought about by an out-of-balance preponderance of any one
vitamin. Physicians who have prescribed extra large doses of thiamin have noticed
muscular weakness and nervousness afterwar ds. The author was one of the first to
notice that toxic conditions and disturbance of rhythm of the heart may result from
administering vitamins A and D together and alone in too large a dosage. It was found
that large dosage of A and D could be continued in the same patients with complete
freedom from the same symptoms previously experienced if the vitamin B complex
were given also in a large dose along with A and D. Dr. Agnes Fay Morgan of California University has shown that symptoms of pellagra may occur when large doses
of thiamin are given. This is because the B
2 complex is put out of proper relation to the
amount of B 1. A relative B 2 deficiency (pellagra) is produced. In the use of ordinary cod-liver oil, excessive dosages are not common, owing to the
bulk of the dose necessary to produce results. However, since the advent of concentrates, there has been a tendency to over-dosage. This over-dosage when not
accompanied by the vitamin B complex undoubtedly produces some bad effects. To illustrate the increase in the understanding of basic facts in connection with the
problem and the failure in the application of the new facts to the fullest extent in human
nutrition we cite from a recent book which is supposed to be a digest of the new facts on
nutrition. In "Vitamin Therapy in General Practice," by Gordon and Severinghaus, on page 52,
the statement is made that beriberi is not a thiamin deficiency, but that there exists also
a lack of other factors. (True: but does not go far enough.) On page 54 it is stated that heart pain, rapid heart, and difficulty in breathing are very
often cured by the use of vitamin B, if the disease has not gone on to an organic change. Since the term "vitamin B" is used, we may suppose that the author means the whole
vitamin B complex. The description fits that of a beriberi heart and should be treated with B plus other vitamins. On page 55 the statement is made that peripheral neuritis is caused by lack of vitamin
B. The author has found that these cases are more permanently benefited by a
combination of vitamin B with the other vitamins and minerals. On page 56, under a discussion of the polyneuritis of pregnancy, he states that this is a
deficiency condition identical in many ways with beriberi. This statement should be
changed to say that the disease is true beriberi, and that the optimum treatment is not vitamin B alone, but the whole vitamin group, with special emphasis on vitamin B. On page 57, discussing the vomiting of pregnancy, he states that one should think first
of a vitamin deficiency. This statement is true but it does not go far enough. It is
practically always a vitamin deficiency, and is  a multiple deficiency having to do with
both vitamins and minerals. The woman who has vomited a good deal has lost in the liquid vomitus much of her physiological minerals. In this she loses particularly
calcium, and sodium chloride. There must be some replacement of these minerals along
with vitamin treatment in order to handle these cases properly. It should be
remembered, and it is emphasized in this book, that the pregnant woman's needs for
vitamins and minerals are much greater th an the non-pregnant woman's because of the
requirements of the fetus. On page 61 the statement is made that there is dependable evidence that a lowering of
the intake of vitamin B
1 is associated with a general lowering of resistance to all kinds
of infection. This should be changed to read "vitamins and minerals" and not B 1. alone. One of the widespread fallacies connected with the introduction of vitamin treatment
has been the oft repeated statement that niaci n-amide is a cure for pellagra. On page 87
of the book the statement is made that niacin alone can not be considered a cure for
pellagra. It must be supplemented by the use of riboflavin, thiamin, vitamin B 6, and
some of the unidentified principles of the complex, as well as by vitamin C and vitamin A. This statement shows that some improved thinking has been going on in connection
with vitamin treatment, but the statement is not complete. The victim of pellagra also
needs attention to the deficient mineral intake. The author has known victims of pellagra
to go to their grave dosed with enormous doses  of niacin, or enormous


 the mind,  must be solved on a diﬀerent plane, beyond
the physical. OceanofPDF.comRecently a young woman in her late twenties, a part-time
model, came  to my oﬀice  in Boston. After years of hiding
the fact that she had an eating disorder, her family had
ﬁnally persua ded her to seek treatment. Since adolescence
she had been obsessed with her ﬁgure, and over time this
concern had become more and more abnormal until it
blossomed into a double sickness, anorexia nervosa and
bulimia. Looking at this attractive, bright woman, who to all
appearances was normal, I was not lulled into thinking that
her problem was easy. Despite extensive resea rch and
publicity in recent years, both anorexia and bulimia remain
highly puzzling. Why should young wome n, many of them
well educated and from high-income backgrounds, nurture
an uncontro llable obsession with diet and weight? Anorexics develop a fear of food and a horror at the act of
eating. Conﬁned to a rigidly ritualized pattern of behavio r
that leads them to voluntary starvation, they will deny that
they are too thin, even to the point of death.The companion disease, bulimia, can be separate from
anorexia or can coexist with it, as in this woman’s case. In
bulimia, the horror of food takes a weird turn in the form of
bingeing. The secret food binges that a bulimic goes on are
often enorm ous—anywhere from 2,000 to 50,000  calories
at a sitting (2,000 calor ies is enough food to sustain a
vigorous 150-pound perso n for a day). This huge amount of
food is then vomited back up, causing tremendous stress on
the digestive system and the body as a whole. This particul ar woman’s  disorder had advanced to the
point where she was vomiting every day in order to
maintain the normal but still low weight needed  for her
work. The very sight of a dessert, she told me, caused her
to break out in a cold sweat and sent her heart racing. She
was extremely intelligent and listened closely when I said
that at the root of her disorder was a mistake in her self-
image. Because our society is obsessed with the ideal of
thinness, many women try to live up to an inner image of
their bodies that is simply not right for their physical
makeup. In her case, however, the image was not saying, “I
have to be thin.” It was saying, “I can never be thin
enough.”
To explain this paradoxical illness, one has to drop the
distinction between mind and body and think of one
system, the “bodymind.” This is because an eating disorder
is a holistic disease, the cruel opposite of holistic health. In
anorexics, the distorted idea, “I must be thinner,” takes
over the bodymind like a malevolent and elusive phantom. Even after long hospitalization and exhaustive psychiatric
treatment, the patient rarely eats like a normal person. A
normal person would have to struggle to starve himself—
once the body went past a certain point of deprivation, its
hunger signa ls would take precedence over everyt hing else
in the bodymind, until the desire for food became
overpowering. For someone with anorex ia, the same thinghappens but in reverse—the compulsion to avoid eating is
all but irresistible. As I was talking about this, the young woman looked at
me sorrowfully and whispered, “So there really are such
things as ghosts, aren’t there?”
I was startled, and after a moment I answered, “It’s true,
but this ghost can be exorcised.” What we were talking
about is a ghost of memory, a memory picked up and stored
in the body. Memory sounds very abstract, while food is
very concrete. But the memory is far more real in this case. Whether a person is compulsively too thin or too fat does
not depend primarily on how much food he takes in. This is
true for conditions that are less bizarre than anorexia. For
centuries, obesity has been seen as a ﬂaw in character,
which religious ages called the sin of gluttony. The
implication was that if fat people were just strong enough
and used a little self-discipline, they could be as thin as the
rest of us simply by eating less. Now it is generally recognized that for the chronically
obese, diets  do not solve the problem (just as, at the
opposite extreme, ﬁlling an anorexic with food does not
solve that problem), because the brain of a fat person is
actually sending out overpowering signals for too much
food. How these messages are triggered and how to turn
them around  are open questions. Unless some  degree of
control is gained at a very deep level, obese people can
spend their whole lives forcing themselves to diet, a self-
defeating tactic that only makes the mental distortion
worse. The loss of 10 pounds is registered in their brains as
a famine, and the next time food is oﬀered, the brain will
not stop until 15 pounds is put back on, adding an extra 5
as a safety margin against the next famine. Obese people
have been known to gain weight on diets where no extra
calories are oﬀered beyond the bare minimum to sustain
basal metabolism. The reason for this is that the brain canactually alter the metabolism in such a way that the
calories are stored as fat instead of being burned up as
fuel. No one knows why the intellect is so powerless to change
these distortions in self-image. The ghost gets stronger the
more you ﬁght it. Although anorexics will persistently deny
that they have a proble m, once the doctor pierces this
defense, it is clear that a profound split in the bodymind is
involved, with one part of the system struggling to maintain
rationality while another sends up wildly irrational
impulses. I once spent an hour counseling another anorexic woman
in her thirties who weigh ed less than 80 pounds, had given
birth at that weight, and was going into rapid physical
decline (10 percent of anorexics die from deliberate
starvation or from causes related to malnutrition). Her case
was made particularly bizarre by the fact that she loved
nothing better than going home to cook for her large Italian
family, doling out pasta and olive oil to a dozen brothers,
sisters, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Our conversation had been rather eerily reasonab le until
she suddenly snapped at me, “Do you really think you can
talk me out of this? I alrea dy understand the whole thing
perfectly, you know, and it hasn’t done me a damn bit of
good. Leave me alone. This is how I have to eat.”
She glared at me with unconcealed hostility. “Tell me,”
she demanded, “how many people do you cure of smoking
by talking to them? They know what nicotine  does and the
danger of lung cancer and all that. It doesn’t do them any
good to talk, and you won’t do me any good, either.”
I sat back, feeling the cold blasts of despair and the hot
blasts of hatred in what she had said. How horrible to have
to live with both, in a weird, poisonous tangle. “The real question isn’t whether I can help you, is it?” I
pointed out after she calmed down. “It’s whether you canhelp yourself.” She started to soften just a little, and I
added gently, “You know, you’re not hurting me by not
eating. You’re not hurting anyone real at all, but someone
who is an image. It is all inside you, and that is the part
that is so tough, both for you as a person and for me as
your doctor.”
This story does not have an immediate happy ending. Certainly my patient was right about the futility of talking
about her disease. She remains  a very hostile, confused
person, and my best hope  is that joining a peer group with
other anorexics and bulimics will help. To get her to
exorcise the ghost of memory, she will have to reach the
level where the ghost lives. Until the ghost is gone, patients
like her do not feel that they have a disease—they  are their
disease. I mean this quite literally. What happen s to you when you
see a snake  and jump out of its way? The frightened
thought, Look out, a snake! comes  to mind at exactly the
same instant  as adrenaline makes you jump. Usually the
thought and the action are so closely tied together that the
conscious thought doesn’t even have time to say its words
—you just see the snake and you jump. So there is no space
where you can drive in a wedge between the two. In the
case of an anorexic, the mere sight of food sets up a wave
of revulsion. Perhaps the sight and smell of a fresh loaf of
bread sends the thought, Ugh, I can’t eat this, while at the
same time the stomach turns, the salivary glands dry up