	for	your	physician	to	do.	I	can
speak	about	the	current	research	in	a	more	general	way,	however,	if	that	is	of
any	help	to	you.”
“Yes,”	she	said,	“that’s	what	I	wanted.”
I	told	her	a	little	bit	about	the	China	Study	and	about	the	important	role	of
nutrition.	I	told	her	that	just	because	a	person	has	the	gene	for	a	disease	does
not	mean	that	they	are	destined	to	get	the	cancer:	prominent	studies	reported
that	only	a	tiny	minority	of	cancers	can	be	solely	blamed	on	genes.I	was	surprised	at	how	little	she	knew	about	nutrition.	She	thought
genetics	was	the	only	factor	that	determined	risk.	She	didn’t	realize	that	food
was	an	important	factor	in	breast	cancer	as	well.
We	talked	for	twenty	or	thirty	minutes,	a	brief	time	for	such	an	important
matter.	By	the	end	of	the	conversation	I	had	the	feeling	that	she	was	not
satisfied	with	what	I	told	her.	Perhaps	it	was	my	conservative,	scientific	way
of	talking,	or	my	reluctance	to	give	her	a	recommendation.	Maybe,	I	thought,
she	had	already	made	up	her	mind	to	do	the	procedure.
She	thanked	me	for	my	time	and	I	wished	her	well.	I	remember	thinking
about	how	often	I	receive	questions	from	people	about	specific	health
situations,	and	that	this	was	one	of	the	most	unusual.
But	Betty	wasn’t	alone.	One	other	woman	also	talked	to	me	regarding	the
possibility	of	her	young	daughter	undergoing	surgery	to	remove	both	breasts.
Other	women	who	already	had	one	breast	removed	wondered	whether	to	have
the	second	breast	removed	as	a	preventative	measure.
It’s	clear	that	breast	cancer	is	an	important	concern	in	our	society.	One	out
of	eight	American	women	will	be	diagnosed	with	this	disease	during	their
lifetimes—one	of	the	highest	rates	in	the	world.	Breast	cancer	grassroots
organizations	are	widespread,	strong,	relatively	well	funded	and	exceptionally
active	compared	to	other	health	activist	organizations.	This	disease,	perhaps
more	than	any	other,	incites	panic	and	fear	in	many	women.
When	I	think	back	to	that	conversation	I	had	with	Betty,	I	now	feel	that	I
could	have	made	a	stronger	statement	about	the	role	nutrition	plays	in	breast
cancer.	I	still	would	not	have	been	able	to	give	her	clinical	advice,	but	the
information	I	now	know	might	have	been	of	more	use	to	her.	So	what	would	I
tell	her	now?RISK	FACTORS
There	are	at	least	four	important	breast	cancer	risk	factors	that	are	affected	by
nutrition,	as	shown	in
Chart	8.1
.	Many	of	these	relationships	were	confirmed
in	the	China	Study	after	being	well	established	in	other	research.
CHART	8.1:	BREAST	CANCER	RISK	FACTORS	AND
NUTRITIONAL	INFLUENCE
Risk	of	breast	cancer	increases
when	a	woman	has…
A	diet	high	in	animal	foods	and
refined	carbohydrates…
…early	age	of	menarche	(first
menstruation)
…	lowers	the	age	of	menarche
…	late	age	of	menopause
…	raises	the	age	of	menopause
…	high	levels	of	female	hormones
in	the	blood
…	increases	female	hormone	levels
…	high	blood	cholesterol
…	increases	blood	cholesterol	levels
With	the	exception	of	blood	cholesterol,	these	risk	factors	are	variations	on
the	same	theme:	exposure	to	excess	amounts	of	female	hormones,	including
estrogen	and	progesterone,	leads	to	an	increased	risk	of	breast	cancer.	Women
who	consume	a	diet	rich	in	animal-based	foods,	with	a	reduced	amount	of
whole,	plant-based	foods,	reach	puberty	earlier	and	menopause	later,	thus
extending	their	reproductive	lives.	They	also	have	higher	levels	of	female
hormones	throughout	their	lifespan,	as	shown	in
Chart	8.2
.
According	to	our	China	Study	data,	lifetime	exposure	to	estrogen
1
	is	at
least	2.5–3.0	times	higher	among	Western	women	when	compared	with	rural
Chinese	women.	This	is	a	huge	difference	for	such	a	critically	important
hormone.
2
	To	use	the	words	of	one	of	the	leading	breast	cancer	research
groups	in	the	world,
3
	“there	is	overwhelming	evidence	that	estrogen	levels	are
a	critical	determinant	of	breast	cancer	risk.”
4,	5
	Estrogen	directly	participates
in	the	cancer	process.
6,	7
	It	also	tends	to	indicate	the	presence	of	other	female
hormones
8–12
	that	play	a	role	in	breast	cancer	risk.
6,	7
	Increased	levels	of
estrogen	and	related	hormones	are	a	result	of	the	consumption	of	typical
Western	diets,	high	in	fat	and	animal	protein	and	low	in	dietary	fiber.
3,	13–18CHART	8.2:	DIETARY	INFLUENCE	ON	FEMALE	HORMONE
EXPOSURE	OVER	A	WOMAN’S	LIFETIME	(SCHEMATIC)
The	difference	in	estrogen	levels	between	rural	Chinese	women	and
Western	women
19
	is	all	the	more	remarkable	because	a	previous	report
20
found	that	a	mere	17%	decrease	in	estrogen	levels	could	account	for	a	huge
difference	in	breast	cancer	rates	when	comparing	different	countries.	Imagine,
then,	what	26-63%	lower	blood	estrogen	levels	and	eight	to	nine	fewer
reproductive	years	of	blood	estrogen	exposure	could	mean,	as	we	found	in	the
China	Study.
This	idea	that	breast	cancer	is	centered	on	estrogen	exposure
3,	21,	22
	is
profound	because	diet	plays	a	major	role	in	establishing	estrogen	exposure.
This	suggests	that	the	risk	of	breast	cancer	is	preventable	if	we	eat	foods	that
will	keep	estrogen	levels	under	control.	The	sad	truth	is	that	most	women
simply	are	not	aware	of	this	evidence.	If	this	information	were	properly
reported	by	responsible	and	credible	public	health	agencies,	I	suspect	that
many	more	young	women	might	be	taking	very	real,	very	effective	steps	to
avoid	this	awful	disease.THE	COMMON	ISSUES
Genes
Understandably,	women	who	are	most	afraid	of	this	disease	have	a	family
history	of	breast	cancer.	Family	history	implies	that	genes	do	play	a	role	in	the
development	of	breast	cancer.	But	I	hear	too	many	people	say,	in	effect,	that
“it’s	all	in	the	family”	and	deny	that	they	can	do	anything	to	help	themselves.
This	fatalistic	attitude	removes	a	sense	of	personal	responsibility	for	one’s
own	health	and	profoundly	limits	available	options.
It	is	true	that	if	you	have	a	family	history	of	breast	cancer,	you	are	at	an
increased	risk	of	getting	the	disease.
23,	24
	However,	one	research	group	found
that	less	than	3%	of	all	breast	cancer	cases	can	be	attributed	to	family
history.
24
	Even	though	other	groups	have	estimated	that	a	higher	percentage
of	cases


 won't always succeed,
that's ok ay, you should for give yourself, and if you don't
succeed in accepting what is, you accept that you can't
accept what is at that moment, so you have another level of
acceptance behind the non-acceptance. I can accept that
anger is arising in me at that moment, it is what is; I could
also deny it and think: "Oh, I should be accepting- why can't
I accept the pr esent?"! Or better yet: a conversation in the
mind, as if it wer e two people: "Why can't you do this? See,
you can't do it! Y ou failed again!" This is the ego's soliloquy.
Instead, we should have compassion; if we can't accept, we
should acknowledge it and allow the emotion to be ther e;
then we still have some "width" ther e. And ther e is grace,because grace is br eadth; (r hymes in English with grace-
space) grace happens when e xpanse, as unconditioned
divine consciousness, comes into life, and that's why the
quick est way to invite that grace into one's life is, as I
sometimes e xpress it, to accept being that moment,
whatever for m it tak es, because "it is" anyway "lik e that", so
why not say "yes" because "it is" That doesn't mean that
you can't do something. But at that point, it's lik e that. In
other wor ds, we follow the pr overbial e xpression of walking
with the river of life and the river is always her e and now,
never go against it and the point of entry is always the
being-ther e of this moment.

With this acceptance, the gate is opened and grace can
enter. If one complains about the diﬃculties or the
unsatisfactory natur e of the pr esent moment, the gate
remains closed or, in other wor ds, the shutters ar e down,
the sun cannot enter. This does not mean that one is mor e
powerful than the sun, the shutters ar e equal to the sun.
When one goes into denial, one is somehow against the
present moment, or one uses it as a means to get to a mor e
important place, because one wants to go thr ough it, and
then grace can no longer act in one's life, or one r eceives
only a dr op, just enough to go further, occasional dr ops,
when one per ceives for e xample something: "L ook at that
sunset!"and for a moment the complaining entity goes away
and grace can enter, and you live for 3 weeks: a sunset. But
it's only a dr op of water, of course, and so moving fr om for m
to for mlessness is achieved by accepting whatever for m
appears in the pr esent moment, whatever for m that
moment is. Y ou immediately say to yourself, "Ok ay, this is
how it is now." With the acceptance of for ms, the
formlessness opens up within. And the ultimate truth of that
can be seen in the image of the cruciﬁxion, which to me is
beyond r eligion; some people have an aversion to that andsay, "Oh, I don't lik e that image with that man on the cr oss,
it's connected to so much suﬀering and unhappiness" and
so on. But ther e is a deep meaning ther e which per haps
could not be e xpressed in an abstract way for a long time,
and that meaning is: her e is the image of the absolute
suﬀering of a man; he is nailed to a cr oss, and it is an
instrument of tortur e, and this man is able to sur render and
accept: "Not my will but yours be done!", and then the
instrument of tortur e suddenly becomes a symbol of the
divine. Isn't that strange? The instrument of tortur e
becomes a symbol of the divine. Everything that is
consider ed an obstacle or something hor rible is transfor med
by acceptance. Any situation that is fundamentally accepted
- and if it is a big deal lik e a cruciﬁxion, then the acceptance
has to be very deep - then an immediate transfor mation
takes place.

Grace is also hidden in what seems so ter rible; the ter rible
suﬀering that we see all ar ound us - it is ther e! And grace is
hidden ther e - and you can only see the truth of that in
yourself; I'm not saying that everyone should just believe it.
You have to discover for yourself that grace is hidden in the
seemingly hor rible things; even in the little things that go
"wrong", but even mor e so in the big things that go "wr ong";
and eventually you r ealize that it's not "wr ong" at all; it just
looks lik e it is when you judge it. And that's how you invite
grace into your life, you bring a deep "yes" into the pr esent
moment and then personal development accelerates and
the mor e you do that, the less you need the disasters
because you'r e working with the unfolding consciousness;
the consciousness wants to unfold in that dimension. So it's
really about welcoming what is. That was my str oke. I was in
the hospital, and I saw all the doctors and nurses talking to
my family, my friends...all shaking their heads and saying,
"You're having a str oke?!" and I could feel how somethingquite ter rible had happened to them, and on the wall was a
pictur e of Maharashi. That str oke was grace. Ther e are three
guys her e - my medical team - I would never have met
them. I wouldn't have met them; we philosophize together,
we talk about medicine. But I had a str oke and it was grace.

Befor e I had this str oke, I read a book called "How Can I
Help". I felt lik e I could r eally help. A fter the str oke, I had the
title of the book in my head, "How can I help? I never
thought it was possible, that... I was so addicted; and so
trapped in myself; I lear ned a lot about addiction. And it was
positive. Many of you have pr obably seen the movie that
was made about R am Dass' life, called "F ierce Grace." I love
that title, because when something bad lik e that happens,
it's really "violent" and those who can sur render to it r eally
go far. So when a kind of "violent grace" comes into a life,
there is at the same time the possibility of going very deep
and this violent grace bur ns the illusory self. It is the ﬁr e in
which the ego is bur ned. But it can just as easily str engthen
the ego by saying, "T errible, ter rible, what happened to
me?" "How could life do this to me? How could God do this
to me? Why did this happen to me?" And so then what
would have actually been a huge opening and an
opportunity to bur n through the accumulations of maybe
thousands of years is block ed. This may be good to know for
those who ar e facing a very big challenge in their lives right
now.I have one last question for both of you: R am Dass, you
mentioned several times your r elationship with Maharashi
and the importance he had in your life. I know that some
people look at the two of you and see you as a guru ﬁgur e
to them personally. Whether you believe it or not. I've seen
the pictur es in people's homes and I wonder : if someone
looks at you that way, how do you think they can get the
most out of that r elationship?
 - ECKHAR T TOLLE: Oprah said to me, "Y ou're not a guru,
are you?" And I said, "No, of course not!". Of course, I don't
consider myself a guru. I know some people look at my
pictur e-at ﬁrst I was shock ed when someone told me they
had a pictur e of me on their desk-and I thought, "What for?"
But then I r emember ed the pictur e of R amana Maharshi that
I have myself, ther e's a pictur e of R amana Maharshi in
which ther e's an incr edible light coming thr ough, his eyes,
and I r emember when I look ed at that pictur e years ago, I
felt this silence, and this deep peace and liveliness, and
what I knew was that it was not in the for m that I was
looking at, it was in me, I could feel it, and I could also
perceive this r eﬂection of peace and liveliness in the photo.
So it was a self -knowledge, it work ed a bit lik e a mir ror, and
it was a self -knowledge, this mir ror doesn't r eﬂect the outer
form back to you, but


 and  go in a direction that
will be good for our whole body.

Someone will ask, I’m sure, why we use coffee enemas if coffee breaks down the acidophilus? If one is in need of a coffee ene ma,
chances are that the acidophilus is already gone, and the benefits ob tained by its stimulation of elimination are very worthwhile.
We re -establish the flora with implants after the cleansing. This takes courage, determination, perseverance and faith in the
ultimate, unseen outcome. Yet, by following the right path, by looki ng to nature as our model, we realize that our choice has the
best potential for health and happiness. It calls for a commitment to give up the old familiar, easy, toxic habits and take u p the
new, unknown, seemingly difficult unfamiliar ones. Changing hab its is the hardest task in the world to accomplish. It’s as if we
were made of quick -setting jelly, fresh and pliable right out of the jar, but soon to turn hard and brittle. There is a fear factor
involved in giving up an old habit. Even though it’s bad f or us to keep it there is still the comfortable feeling in knowing it. A bird
in the hand is worth two in the bush - but if the bird in the hand is a vulture, it may end up eating you some day. Don’t commit
intellectual suicide by closing yourself off to a lternative possibilities, for after all, if what you know and do now is killing you,
then you are suffering from a lack of knowledge and wisdom and the saving answer to your problem is to be found in the new,
unfamiliar territories.

Alvin Toffler in Futur e Shock aptly states that man’s current and future task for survival is in his ability to adopt new ideas and
habits very quickly, in fact. much more quickly than he has ever managed in the past. Is he up to it’? Can he let go of the l ife-
snuffing old ways  quickly enough to recover from past and present mistakes in order to grab hold of a correct and viable
alternative? No one knows. We are in the midst of finding out. We should not accept anything that is not in balance with natu re
into our bodies. We cann ot improve upon God’s perfect order. It is suicide to try. It serves no good purpose and is destructive in all
ways. Whole, natural and raw is the absolute perfection that our bodies require and respond to best. Anything else is a cheat  and a
robber. Proce ssed, white sugar, for example, literally leaches out of the body certain substances. It requires energy and metabolic
substances pulled from the body’s bank account of nutrients to deal with it once ingested. In return, the sugar gives an incr edible
nothi ng. That’s correct, ‘nothing.’ In fact. it takes more to get rid of it than it gives and is therefore a thief of potent propo rtions.

CHEMICAL IMBALANCES
When the body begins to lose its balance in any sector, there is a reverberation throughout the whole organism that feels that
vibration of imbalance. Illness and disease are states of disharmony in the body. One of the subtlest forms of imbalance in t he body
that I know of is a chemical or nutritional imbalance. It’s like not seeing the forest for the tre es. We live in it, on it, and by it,
immersed in it to the point of non -recognition, especially if it is a chronic condition as it so often is. Chemical deficiencies and
imbalances are at the root of many ills. W e can even say that the imbalances extend i nto the atomic level and even on into the
electromagnetic levels of cellular function.

Why is radiation so dangerous? Because of the disturbance it causes in the tissues on an atomic level. The chemical processes  are
upset and influenced disharmoniously. The natural, God -given, peaceful, beneficial order is broken. When we have toxic
substances in the colon seeping into body tissues, it’s like having a time -release poison in your bowel. It works slowly,
imperceptibly wearing down the vitality, resistance a nd health of body tissues and organs. It’s sort of like having our own personal
chemical dump that we carry around with us all the time. It’s always working as long as the toxins are present, serving out i ts
lethal microdoses. Never before has man been in such a toxic, poisonous environment. The air, water, food, soil, clothing and
everything he touches has potential or real toxic substances that eventually find their way into the body.

People are more toxic today than ever in known history. The levels of it and the extent of it are becoming a nightmare as illness
walks the land. The need to detoxify and cleanse the body has never been greater than right now. Nearly all the patients I se e have
a toxicity problem that has to be cared for first. Restoring bal ance, peace and harmony is the physician’s job. That is the task he
has chosen to do. It cannot be done effectively or lastingly in a body that is breaking down due to an accumulation of toxic
materials in the body: i.e., autointoxication. When the bowel f ails, the whole body goes into a nutritional crisis. Metabolic shock
waves flow to every cell and tissue.

It’s often said that you are what you eat. I say that you are what you absorb. You can eat the finest foods and still starve to death if
the digestiv e and absorptive processes are not functioning properly. When we cleanse and remove the toxic debris, feed the body
good, healthy, vital foods and stop poisoning ourselves, the body will respond with healing and reversal of disease processes.

We find that  the bowel wall needs sodium, which neutralizes acid The average person produces much acid in the body and this
draws sodium out of the body, through the tissues of the bowel and stomach. Furthermore, we know that potassium is very
necessary, because it is  a muscle element. The average person does not realize that potassium neutralizes acids. To neutralize acids
in the body, potassium is taken from the bowel wall. I believe that the bowel wall is the most maltreated tissue of the body,
functioning in a cons tant state of semi -starvation for chemicals which are consumed in day -to-day living, The most important
elements found in the bowel wall must be kept in constant supply or we will suffer the consequences. In addition to the blood  and
chemical elements, we must discuss some of the foods we put into the body. Bran is very popular now in this country. We should
have been using bran all along. Why did we give it up? We have thought a great deal about “junk foods,” and we talk a lot abo ut
them. We talk about sch ool lunches; we talk about hospital snacks that are available while you’re trying to get well. We find that
so many of the sweetening materials in drinks today rob the body of the vital health producing elements that are stored in th e
bowel.

CARE FOR THE MUCOUS LINING
The bowel wall has a mucous lining, and this mucous lining throws off toxic material, acids and catarrh. In order to get rid of the
catarrh, the mucous lining has to come off along with it. In most cases, it does not. We find that the mucous lining is not moving
out the accumulations as it should, and in fact, it clings to the bowel wall itself. We find that we have to take care of tha t mucous
lining. The bowel wall may also have an inherent weakness. When I say that I’ve never found a patient  who didn’t have an
inherent weakness in the bowel itself, I’m not saying that the whole bowel has an inherent weakness, but only sections of it.  This
shows up as slow and underactive functional ability. If we have food that does not go through our system as fast as it should, we
find that it will go still slower and be even more underactive in moving through an inherently weak section of the bowel.

CHEMICAL STRUCTUREA healthy bowel contains sodium, potassium and magnesium for proper functioning. These thr ee
chemical elements are lacking in our civilized foods more than anything else. Sodium is a chemical element that neutralizes

acids and it is found in the lymphatic system. It is required in tissue that is pliable, active and movable; i.e., joints, li gaments and
tendons. Potassium is the great alkalizer in the body and found more in the muscle structure than anywhere else. Potassium is
found in our bitter vegetables, which so few people ever eat anymore. Sodium and potassium are found more in salad vegeta bles
than anywhere else. Salads have been left out more and more in our food intake in recent years and the soft foods taken in th eir
place have increased. Could this occurrence be partially responsible for much of our diverticular and bowel problems today?

We find that magnesium is the relaxer in the bowel; it is also the element most necessary to have good bowel movements. Milk of
Magnesia, which is probably one of the most prominent of all drugs being used today, is a good peristaltic stimulator; howeve r, we
are using a drug that only gives symptomatic relief. I do not believe that the magnesium used in its drug form is particularl y
favorable to remaking


phasize too strongly the  power  of imaginative  love.
Imaginative  Love,  that is my subject next Sunday morning  when I shall
speak  for Dr. Bailes while  he is on his holiday. The  services will be  held as
always at the  Fox Wilshire Theater  on Wilshire Boulevard, near La  Cienega
at 10:30. "As the  world  is, so is the  individual," should  be changed  to, "As
the individual is so is the  world."
And I hope  to be able to bring  to each of you  present the  true meaning  of
the words of Zechariah, "Speak  ye every man the  truth to his neighbor
and let none  of you  imagine  evil in your hearts against his neighbor."
What a  wonderful challenge  to you  and to me. "As a  man thinketh in his
heart so is he."  As a man imagines so is he. Hold  fast to love  in your
imagination. By creating  an ideal within your mental sphere  you can ap -
proximate  yourself to this "ideal image" till you become one and the same
with it, thereby transforming  yourself into it, or rather, absorbing  its quali -
ties into the  very core  of your being. Never, never, lose  sight of the power
that is within you. Imaginative  love lifts the  invisible  into sight and  gives
us water  in the  desert. It builds for the  soul its only fit abiding  place.
Beauty, love  and all of good  report are  the garden, but imaginative  love is
the way into the  garden.
Sow an imaginary conversation, you  reap an act; Sow  an act, you reap a
habit; Sow  a habit, you  reap a character; Sow  a character, you  reap your
destiny.
By imagination, we are  all reaping  our destinies, whether  they be  good,
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenbad, or indifferent. Imagination has full power  of objective  realization and
every stage of man’s progress or regression is made by the  exercise  of
imagination. I believe  with William Blake, "What   seems to be, is, to
those  to whom it seems to be,  and is productive  of the  most dreadful
consequences to those  to whom it seems to be,  even of torments, de -
spair, and  eternal   death. By imagination and  desire  we become  what
we desire  to be. Let us affirm to ourselves that  we are  what we imagine.
If we persist in the  assumption that we  are what we  wish to be, we will
become  transformed  into that which we  have imagined  ourselves to be.
We were born by a natural miracle  of love  and for a brief space  of time
our needs were  all another’s care. In that simple  truth lies the  secret of
life. Except by love, we  cannot truly live  at all.
Our parents in their separate  individualities have  no power  to transmit
life. So, back  we come  to the  basic truth that life  is the  offspring  of love.
Therefore, no love, no life.
Thus, it is rational to say that, "God  is Love."  Love is our birthright. Love
is the  fundamental necessity of our life.  "Do not go seeking  for that which
you are. Those  who go seeking  for love  only make manifest their own
lovelessness and  the loveless never  find love. Only the loving find love
and they never  have to seek  for it."
More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenRadio Lecture
Answered Prayer
Radio  Talk, Station KECA, Los Angeles, July, 1951.
Have you ever had a prayer  answered?
What wouldn’t men give  just to feel certain that when they pray, some -
thing definite  would  happen. For this reason, I would  like to take a little
time to see why it is that some  prayers are  answered  and some  apparent -
ly fall on dry ground. "When ye  pray, believe  that ye  receive,  and  ye shall
receive."
Believe  that ye  receive  – is the  condition imposed  upon man. Unless
we believe  that we receive, our prayer  will not be  answered. A prayer -
granted  – implies that something  is done  in consequence of the prayer
which otherwise  would  not have  been done. Therefore, the  one who prays
is the  spring  of action – the directing mind – and the one  who grants the
prayer. Such  responsibility man refuses to assume,  for responsibility it
seems, is mankind’s invisible nightmare.
The whole  natural world  is built on law.  Yet, between prayer  and its an -
swer we see no such relation. We  feel that God  may answer  or ignore  our
prayer, that our prayer  may hit  the mark or may miss it. The  mind is still
unwilling  to admit that God  subjects Himself to   His own laws. How  many
people  believe  that there  is, between prayer  and its answer, a relation of
cause and effect?
Let us take a  look at the  means employed  to heal the  ten lepers as relat -
ed in the  seventeenth chapter  of the  Gospel of St. Luke. The thing that
strikes us in this story is the method  that was used  to raise  their faith to
the needful intensity. We  are told that the  ten lepers appealed  to Jesus to
"have  mercy" on them –  that is –  to heal them. Jesus ordered  them to go
and show themselves to the  priests, and  "as they went, they were
cleansed." The  Mosaic  Law demanded  that when a  leper recovered  from
his disease  he must show himself to the  priest to obtain a  certificate  of re-
stored  health. Jesus imposed  a test upon  the lepers’ faith and supplied a
means by which their faith could  be raised  to its full potency. If the  lepers
refused  to go –  they had  no faith –  and, therefore, could  not be healed.
But, if they obeyed  Him, the  full realization of what their journey implied
would   break  upon their minds as they went and  this dynamic  thought
would  heal them.
So, we read, "As they went, they were  cleansed."
You, no doubt, often have  heard  the words of that inspiring  old hymn -
More Free Books Law of Attraction Haven"Oh, what peace we often forfeit; oh, what needless pain we  bear, all be -
cause  we do not carry everything  to God  in prayer." I, myself, came  to
this conviction through experience, being  led to brood  upon the  nature  of
prayer. I believe  in the  practice and  philosophy of what men call prayer,
but not everything  that receives that name  is really prayer.
Prayer  is the  elevation of the  mind to that which we  seek. The  very first
word of correction is always "arise."  Always lift the  mind to that which we
seek. This is easily done  by assuming  the feeling  of the  wish fulfilled.
How would  you feel if your prayer  were answered?
Well, assume  that feeling  until you  experience in imagination what you
would  experience in reality if your prayer  were answered. Prayer  means
getting  into action mentally. It  means holding  the attention upon the  idea
of the  wish fulfilled  until it fills the  mind and crowds all other  ideas out of
the consciousness. This statement that prayer  means getting  into action
mentally  and holding  the attention upon the  idea of the  wish fulfilled  until
it fills the  mind and crowds all other  ideas out of the  consciousness, does
not mean that prayer  is a mental   effort –  an act of will. On the  contrary,
prayer  is to be  contrasted  with an act of will. Prayer  is a surrender. It
means abandoning  oneself to the  feeling  of the  wish fulfilled.
If prayer  brings no response  – there  is something  wrong  with the prayer
and the fault lies generally in too much effort. Serious confusion arises in -
sofar as men identify the  state of prayer  with an act of will, instead  of
contrasting  it with an act of will. The  sovereign rule  is to make no effort,
and if this is observed,  you will intuitively fall into the  right attitude.
Creativeness is not an act of will, but a  deeper receptiveness –  a keener
susceptibility. The  acceptance of the  end – the acceptance of the  an-
swered  prayer  – finds the  means for its realization. Feel yourself into the
state of the  answered  prayer  until the  state fills the  mind and crowds all


 what the body is saying.
You are eating without being there: that creates the problem.
Be there, and every process will be slowed down. The body will itself say, "No more!" And when the body says it, that
is the right moment. If you are aware, you cannot trespass the body's order. Yo u will stop.
So allow your body to say something. The body is saying things every moment, but you are not there to hear it. Be
alert and you will hear it.

CHAOS BECOMING SYMPHONY
The emphasis is on feeling because the emphasis is on a "lived" experience. When you start feeling things, you grow:
your being grows.

 copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass   (718) 648 -1500    www.drbass.com  16

Right now you are chaotic because there is no arrangement: the arrangement comes in when you start being aware.
Just by being aware things start falling in line, and this chaos that you are becomes a symphony.

MEDITATION OVER FOOD
For those who practice meditation, the use of eating as a meditation is the easiest of all meditations to master. We,
as all livi ng creatures, are thoroughly experienced in eating, a practice we have done all our lives, several times a day
since birth. It does not involve difficult concentration as ordinary meditation techniques do.
The pleasure involved in eating, automatically hol ds the interest of attention, almost effortlessly. This is the reason
why this eating technique of meditation has been held in especially high regard by the most ancient practitioners of
Tantra - since its practice leads to a profound transformation in a r elatively short period of time, with a minimum of
effort.
Every time you eat, several times a day, you'll be practicing meditation and this leads to rapid progress and
attainment when done with your full attention.

CONCLUSION
The great pleasure resulting from satisfying such a most basic instinct as eating leads to a tremendous inner peace,
joy and bliss which spreads over all the feelings and emotions, both conscious and subconscious. The resulting
happiness leads to a persistent satisfaction with all of life, which keeps constantly growing and spreading in intensity.
It may seem greatly exaggerated to most persons, but it must be actually experienced, not intellectually considered, to
be believed. The idea that such a simple practice could lead to such pr ofound changes in feeling is difficult to
conceive. Yet, these results are the legacy experienced by the unsophisticated and unintellectual creatures or all
creation.
Why not reach out and claim your birthright of sheer joy and bliss!
www.drbass.com/diagno sis.html
How Important is Diagnosis?

"Even if a person has a baffling, rare disease and the diagnosis is unknown, if he or she eats
properly, or fasts if necessary in addition, the body will surely heal itself, as long as sufficient
vitality is present."

CAUSE OF DISEASES
Barring injury, emergencies, or complications resulting from injury, such as hemorrhaging, broken bones, etc.., let us
begin with conditions that are classified as diseases.
Generally speaking, diseases are caused by any or all of 3 fact ors - namely enervation, toxemia or deficiency.

TOXEMIA - TOXIC SUBSTANCES IN THE BODY
There are 2 sources of toxemia:
(a) Toxemia which is caused by the ingestion and accumulation of substances which are foreign to the body and toxic
in nature, such as c hemicals, drugs, etc. These produce irritation, inflammation and pathology in bodily organs and
systems.
(b) Toxemia which is due to the accumulation of toxic wastes resulting from the food and beverages we eat and drink;
unnatural food or natural food in excess beyond what the body can use at the moment. Retention of this excess leads
to decomposition of the food and the production of irritating and toxic chemical wastes, which provide a fertile field for
the growth of microbes and various species of bacte ria, which further increase the toxic state.

DEFICIENCIES
Deficiencies: The insufficiency of necessary food substances, such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals,
vitamins, enzymes etc., lead to breakdown of cells, tissues and organs which is given names of diseases, according
to its location.

ENERVATION AND TOXEMIA CYCLE
John Henry Tilden, M.D., formulated a theory of the cause of disease as due to a recurring cycle of enervation and
toxemia.
Enervation is the reduction or loss of energy occasioned  by the lack of rest or sleep, or the excessive use of emotion,
negative thoughts, worry, stress, or the overdoing of physical actions, overeating etc. Enervation leads to a reduction
of the body's ability to digest, absorb, assimilate and excrete body was tes - thus leading to a retention of wastes in the
cells and tissues and thereby causing disease.
Disease, in turn, causes a depletion of the body's energies, requiring more energy to maintain the normal state of
homeostasis than ordinarily needed. This ex cess expenditure of power leads to a slowdown in bodily function, which
is followed by an increased retention of bodily toxins in a cycle as follows:

 copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass   (718) 648 -1500    www.drbass.com                                               17

This ingenious cycle of enervation and toxemia as being the cause of all diseases (barring accidents or trauma) may
be regarded as absolutely true if you add the additional factor of defici encies (which is omitted in the theory).

FUNCTION OF THE BLOOD AND LYMPH
The next important thing to be understood is this - the function of the blood and its circulation. Related to this is the
understanding of the lymph circulation, the collateral circu latory system.
All food and beverages which are consumed finally enter the bloodstream and are circulated in an endless flow to all
bodily parts. All the food nutrients are supplied to every cell and all cellular wastes are removed in this unceasing dual
function.

WEAKEST ORGAN BREAKS DOWN FIRST
Now, if disease occurs in one bodily organ or part from the presence of toxins or food excesses or uneliminated
cellular wastes and excretions, you may be certain that these same wastes are being carried to all bod ily organs and
cells by this same bloodstream.
The weakest organ breaks down first manifesting disease. In time, the next weakest or overworked organ indicates
malfunction, and is given a name of disease. The important thing to remember is that all bodily parts and cells are
affected at the same time, with the weakest part manifesting first, followed by the next weakest.

DETOXIFICATION
Likewise, in the reverse manner, when you detoxicate the body by reducing the amount of food ingested, either
partially (by a restricted diet or juice program), or totally, (by fasting or abstaining from all food except for the use of
water), the blood removes all excessive wastes from all bodily parts and cells at the same time, a certain amount
each day.

NAMES OF DISEASE S CREATE ILLUSION
Diseases are named according to the organ or part that they manifest in, creating the illusion that one disease is
different from an other. For example, if an inflammation, called "itis," affects the bronchial tubes, the disease is called
"bronchitis". If a nerve is inflamed, it is called "neuritis" etc., yet the same cause, the irritating toxins manifesting in
different parts are given different names. If you were to give the same putrified food to many different peopIe, some
would vomit;  some would have diarrhea; others would get headaches or fever or rashes or colds, each symptom
depending upon which parts of each person were most sensitive. The point here is that the same cause would
produce different and individualized symptoms in each  person.

REMOVING CAUSE OF DISEASE
The important thing to understand here is that whenever you remove all causes of disease, beginning with what a
person eats and drinks, which is usually the most important and basic cause of all diseases, the body begins  to heal
itself, no matter where the disease is located.

EXAMPLE OF PATIENT
When I began a study of disease for about 20 years at the age of 16, after which I practiced for an additional 40 years
as a chiropractor and nutritionist, when taking a case hist ory of all the problems a patient has ever had up to the
present, I would write all this down at the first visit.
For example, a patient would say, "I have arthritis in my fingers with deformity, and I also have hardening of the
arteries, high blood pressure and frequent headaches." After evaluating the lifestyle and diet, I would remove the
undesirable foods from the diet and give a much higher quality diet, with proper food -combining, sequence of feeding,
and amounts. In periodic visits, I would con tinue upgrading the quality of the diet progressively.

ARTHRITIS EXAMPLE
In the case of a 55 -year-old woman who had arthritis with deformed and crooked fingers, after 8 months I noticed that
the fingers were straight and all knots were gone. I was puzzled  and asked her, "Weren't your fingers crooked when I
first saw you 8 months ago


ATTILL, H. A. The oxidative destruction of vitamins A and E. J.A.M.A., 89:1505, 1927.
6. LEASE, E. J., et al. Destruction of vitamin A by rancid fats. J. Nutrition, 16:571, 1938.
7. HOYGAARD, A. Some investigations into the physiology and nasology of Eskimos from
Angmagsslik in Greenland. Oslo, Dybwad, 1937.
8. PEDERSEN, P. O. Investigations into dental conditions of about 3000 ancient and modern
Greenlanders. Dent. Rec., 58:191, 1938.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 17
ONE ORIGIN OF PHYSICAL DEFORMITIES
FACES are classified on the basis of physical characteristics and appearances which identify
them as having a common ancestry. The constant reproduction of ancestral patterns constitutes
one of the fundamental laws of heredity. We are concerned here with the divergences from the
normal course of reproduction.
    The precision with which Nature reproduces widely distributed racial stocks demonstrates how
deeply seated and controlling are the Mendelian laws. In Fig. 98 may be seen four young men of
the Melanesian race born on four different islands. They have never seen each other, yet they look7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 182/250like brothers. Similarly, in Fig. 99 are shown four Polynesian girls. Here again they look so much
alike that they might readily be taken for sisters. Yet, they live in four different groups of Polynesian
islands; the Hawaiian, the Samoan, the Tahitian, and the Rarotongan.
FIG. 98. These four Melanesian boys born on different
islands look like brothers but are not blood relations. They
illustrate the role of heredity in reproducing racial type.
Heredity, however, can only operate normally when the germ
cells have not been injured.
7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 183/25099. These four Polynesian girls live on different islands and
are not related though they look like sisters. They record
their racial type by undisturbed heredity.
    The blending of different racial stocks produces typical characteristics of either or both ancestral
patterns. When, however, marked divergences appear without mixing of racial stocks, the result is
not due to heredity, but occurs in spite of heredity. In the previous chapters, I have shown that in
the modernized groups of various primitive racial stocks, ccrtain individuals developed marked
changes in facial and dental arch form from the racial pattern. We are interested to know the
nature of the forces responsible for this distortion of the ancestral pattern. In a study of 1,276
skulls of the ancient civilizations of Peru, I did not find one with a typical divergence from normal
such as we find in modern whites or in children of primitive racial stocks after the parents have
adopted the foods of our modern civilization. It is important that we study this phase in further
detail.
    In Fig. 100 are shown two Indian fathers and their sons, whom we studied in Peru. The father
and son shown above lived at Talara, in a highly modernized Indian colony. The father worked in
the oil fields on the coast. This district is an arid desert into which practically all food has to be
shipped for the large colony engaged in the oil industry. The father was born while his parents were
using the native foods of the coast, including an abundance of sea foods. The son was born to his
parents after they had adopted the foods of modern civilization. The father and son shown below,
lived in the high Sierras. The father is an Indian descendant of the Incas and was born while his
parents were living on the native dietary of the high plateau country, near Cuzco. After the
adoption of the modern foods by the parents, the son shown to the right was born. It is important
to keep in mind that the marked change in these fathers and sons has occurred in the first
generation after the parents have adopted the white man's foods, and has occurred in spite of
heredity.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 184/250FIG. 100. Disturbed heredity. Above, father a primitive
coastal Indian of Peru with normal facial and dental arch
development. Son at right presents distortions of both facial
and dental arch form. Below, father a primitive Andean
Indian with excellent facial and dental arch form. His son at
right has not reproduced the racial pattern. Both sons are full
blood.
    In Fig. 101 above is shown a Wakamba father in central Africa, a man who is working for the
railroad company which contributed largely to the food supply for the laborers. The boy shown at
the right was born after the parents had adopted the imported foods. In the lower picture, in Fig.
101, is seen a Fiji Islander and his son. The father was born to parents living on the native foods,
and his son was born after the adoption of the white man's foods. All these are typical cases of the
inhibition of Nature's normal procedure. We have additional data which indicate that our problem
is associated with a progressive lowering of reproductive capacity on the part of one or both of the
parents.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 185/250FIG. 101. Disturbed heredity. Above, the father is a primitive
Wakamba of Central Africa. His son at right has not
reproduced the tribal pattern. Below, the father presents the
typical Fijian primitive facial and dental arch form. His son at
right has a narrowed arch and change in facial form. Both
sons are full blood.
    In photographing the members of modernized families, regardless of racial stocks, we frequently
find that changes in facial expression appear in the younger members of the family. This change in
facial contour within a family does not occur in the primitive races, while on their native dietary.
    In contrast with this we see, in Fig. 102, two sisters and two brothers. In each pair there is a
marked change in the facial form of the younger. The arches and the nostrils of the younger child
are narrower and there is a marked lack of development in both the middle and lower thirds of the
face.
7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 186/250FIG. 102. Disturbed heredity. Quichua Indians. Note the
marked change in shape of the face and dental arches of the
younger sister at the right. Also of the younger brother at
the right. These families demonstrate a lowering of
reproductive capacity of the parents with the later born
children.
    Very striking illustrations of this progressive degeneration in the children of a given family were
found among the modernized aborigines of Australia. Two views of brothers are shown in Fig. 103
(upper). The father and mother of these two boys were born in the Bush. They were living, when
photographed, in one of the reservations, on the imported modern foods which were provided by
the government. This is also illustrated in the lower photograph. Note the marked
underdevelopment of the middle third of the face of the girl.
FIG. 103. Disturbed heredity. These children are Australian
Aborigines. Note the marked change in facial and dental arch
form in the younger child at the right in both families. This is
depressed reproductive capacity of the parents.
7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 187/250depressed reproductive capacity of the parents.
    Striking instances were frequently seen among the modernized Maori of New Zealand. Two
sisters presenting two extremes of facial form are shown in the upper section of Fig. 104. The girl
to the left is the older. She has the typical tribal pattern which has been completely lost in her
younger sister to the right.
FIG. 104. Above, two Maori girls in New Zealand and below,
two white girls in Peru. Note the facial change in the girls at
the right compared with their older sisters.
    If the change in facial form were the result of racial admixture, we should not have the types of
deformity patterns that these cases show. Indeed, in the same family we should not find several
different deformity patterns. The lack of development downward of the upper anterior incisors and
the bone supporting them is illustrated for the younger child, in Fig. 103 lower right. It will be noted
that when this girl's molar teeth are in contact her front teeth still miss occluding by a considerable
distance.
    Members of the white race are affected in a similar manner. In Fig. 104 (lower) are shown two
sisters; the younger to the right reveals strikingly the lack of development of the middle and lower
third of the face. The fact that this condition so frequently shows a progressively severe injury in7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/020025


, pumps it up; gives it life. The
willingness to relinquish that, that’ s what you have to surrender to God. Not
positionality, because the minute you let go the secondary gain that you’re
getting out of that position, the ego positionality will disappear of itself.
You’ll laugh at it. It will let go of itself. The thing to search for is: “What
kind of satisfaction do I get out of that?” I get the satisfaction of being
wronged. “W ronged” is wonderful, is it not? Whole countries go to war, and
they’re wronged. They’re righting the wrong of Versailles. What wrong of
Versailles? The kaiser did the same thing that Hitler did and lost. Now
Hitler says that was an injustice. What injustice? Nobody asked the kaiser
to invade Europe and kill people, did they?
So, it feeds of f that injustice. The whole German people—40 million
people died in World War II. I was in World War II, and it’ s more of a
reality to me than [to] many younger people. It was a reality in which 70
million people died, out of the juice, out of the juice of being wronged.
The pleasure that one gets out of the juice of the ego justifies everything.
It justifies mass murder; genocide; if allowed to, the final killer bomb if
they lost the war. The final killer bomb was big enough to eliminate all of
mankind. All of mankind was going to be eliminated by the final killer
bomb if Russia lost a nuclear war with the United States. Luckily, there
were enough Russians to stop them before it became a reality, but the
megalomania behind it, as you see, is unstoppable.The dif ficulty with the reasonable ego of the Western world is that it
presumes that other people are going to operate within the lawful confines
and reasonableness of the ego. Other people are not. People say, “Well, he
wouldn’ t do that. It would cost him all his countrymen.” Of course he
would do that!
So, the weakness of our position as you see it in the world is the
presumption by the naive that other people are going to be ruled by reason.
The 400s is the level of reason. We say, “Well, nobody would do that; that’ s
irrational.” There are lots of people in the world that think rationality is
stupid. You want something, you take it, man—what’ s the problem? There
are whole cultures. You know how that culture thinks: “W ell, she left her
purse there, so she deserves it.” I treat them all week long—Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday morning. “If I can get away with it, they deserved
it” is the justification. In the 400s, you don’ t buy that, but down in the lower
part of the world, that’ s justified.
“They deserve to die because they are killable.” Whoa! Do you realize
what that means when people come from that space? Because they’re
killable—that’ s why they deserve to die. The dinosaur doesn’ t need
justification to eat the smaller animal. He kills it because it’ s chewable, I
guess. So now you understand a little bit more about the ego.
You don’ t have to be afraid of it. You have to be honest that it’ s there.
And that it owes its survival to the payof f it gets out of its positions. The
payof f—the way to get rid of it is, first, be honest and admit it. “Y eah, I
enjoy... whatever. Now, am I willing to let that enjoyment go for some
higher purpose?” Well, you can only take the word of people who have
done so whether the sacrifice is worth it. Because it does seem to the ego to
sacrifice all of that glory and fame and justification and revenge and all is a
big sacrifice. Don’ t kid yourself. To the ego, it is a big sacrifice. It is a big
sacrifice to let go “being right,” to let go... not nurturing that wrong, to let
go of that hatred. It is a big sacrifice—don’ t pretend it’ s a small sacrifice.
There’ s a lot of pseudo, nongenuine spiritual work that people attempt, and
it doesn’ t work. Why? Because they are unwilling to face the nitty-gritty,
the nitty-gritty facts.
Radical truth means you’ve got to take the mask of f everything and be
willing to see it for what it is, and now handle it from the viewpoint of
emotional honesty. There is a big, massive payof f in ego positions, or you
wouldn’ t be sitting here in a body today. You would have karmically goneoff into the mists of the higher realms. And therefore, the fact that one is
back here in a body again means that one has sold out spiritual truth for the
gratifications of the ego over and over again. But in this lifetime, it’ s
coming up to be questioned. In this lifetime, you say, “Was it worth it? Is
the experience of the Presence of God worth sacrificing all that I get out of
my ego?” The answer can only be gotten by faith, actually. Experientially,
no. Experientially, you’ve got nothing upon which to say that giving it up
would be a better deal. Anything in your experience telling you that giving
up the pleasure, resentments, and hatreds and satisfactions of winning is
worth it? Not experientially, no. Faith, yes. Based on faith. Based on the
teaching of some entity who has gone through the whole trip and tells you
that the end result, the experience of God, is so incredible, beyond all
description—so beyond the totality of all the values of all of mankind
throughout all of history. All the pleasures and all the values and all the
acquisitions, emotionally and materially of all of mankind throughout all of
history, are like a speck compared to the Presence of God. Nothing is even
in the same domain. Therefore, you’re asked to sacrifice that with which
you are familiar in hopes of entering a dif ferent domain. And in that
domain, you only have the traveler that’ s been there. Marco Polo tells you
what the Chinese are like, but you have to take his word for it.
So, we have the inspiration, then, of the spiritual teacher. The value of the
guru is primarily one of commitment to absolute truth, out of which comes
an integrity which is so profound and convincing that one buys that
integrity. See, truth cannot be ar gued. It cannot be defended, and it has no
answers for any ar gument. Its authority is absolute. It is the Absoluteness of
the Presence that defies any question and against which any question falls
flat, because there is no room for question. That which is All That Is is
beyond all questioning.
To let go and surrender the known for the unknown—we call it the
Institute for Advanced Spiritual Research. Every spiritual aspirant is a
researcher. You have no idea what you’re really going to experience when
you let a certain thing go. You only find it by doing it. You only find it by
doing it. Just like the explorer, you can go by the compass, but you don’ t
really know until you get there that that’ s an absolute fact. So, each one of
us evolves based on faith. The faith of the conviction of the integrity of
whatever spiritual teacher or church or spiritual tradition, whatever guru,
whatever. One’ s inner direction leads one to that which you’re able to hangon to with absolute certainty. When I was an atheist, I’d already got the
absolute certainty of the truth of the Buddha. I was an atheist at the time,
and I knew that what he said was absolutely so. So the intuitive
knowingness was there, many years prior to the validation experientially.
Karma Is What You Are
That leads us up to the next topic, which is the part karma plays in all of
this. To avoid the whole subject of karma is, again, the fallacy of many
religious positions which say, “I don’ t believe in karma.” I don’ t want
anybody to believe in karma at all. I don’ t want anybody  to believe in
karma. I don’ t believe in karma. Karma is what you are. You ask, “How do
you let go of the ego?” Well, the ego is the accumulated karma of all of life
through all of time, through all of history as it presents itself now in the
reality of that which you are at this moment. Somebody says they don’ t
believe in karma; in that case, you don’ t exist, because you’ve got two ears,
two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. If that ain’ t karmic, what is it? I mean, you
didn’ t come up with four ears and three eyes and two mouths, you know. So
obviously, this moment then represents the accumulated ener gies and
effects in form throughout all of time.
You can’ t pretend that somehow the evolution of consciousness
throughout all of time and throughout all forms of life has somehow
bypassed you and you have magically escaped karma. No way.


inner	guests	from	their	seats;	black	Hollywood	stars	began	dancing	with
native	Africans	to	their	native	beats.	Lifetimes	loosened	before	my	eyes,	and	I
felt	privy	to	a	genuinely	prophetic	moment.	Watching	modern	and	ancient
worlds	share	molecules,	I	felt	God	stretching	out	His	hand	in	what	felt	like	a
final	offer	to	humanity.	We’re	being	assigned	a	task	that,	if	performed	well,
carries	such	fundamental	redemption	potential	that	it	will	cancel	out
otherwise	inevitable	and	terrible	consequences	of	our	behavior	as	a	species.
I	got	it.	I	saw	it.	I	heard	it.	I	felt	it.	A-F-R-I-C-A.	There’s	something	about
saving	the	mother	continent	that	will	help	save	her	children	everywhere.
Dear	God,
In	these	momentous	times,
please	pave	a	path
by	which	the	world
can	repair	itself
before	it	is	too	late.
Use	me,
in	any	way	You	wish,
to	turn	the	dark	into	light..
Amen
T
HE	POVERTY	IN	THE	WORLD	TODAY	IS	STAGGERING
:	350	million	children	in	this	world	go
to	sleep	hungry	every	night.	The	amount	of	sheer	human	despair	on	this
planet	makes	the	status	quo	unsustainable.
We	are	now	in	the	midst	of	a	great	revolution,	a	quantum	leap	from	one	era
of	human	history	to	another.	Things	are	going	to	be	radically	different	over
the	next	few	years,	as	we	will	enter	either	a	new	age	of	darkness	or	a	new	age
of	light.
I	remember	when	Barbra	Streisand	used	to	sing	“The	Best	Things	in	LifeAre	Free.”	And	so	are	the	most	powerful	things.	Compassion.	Reading	to
children.	Mercy.	Tender	touch.	Sweet	thoughts.	Forgiveness.	Prayers.
Meditation.	Love.	Respect.	Peace.
These	things	cost	a	lot:	B-52s.	Long-range	missiles.	Military	helicopters.
Tanks.	AK-47s.	Artillery	guns.	Field	cannons.	F-16s.	Rotary-wing	aircraft.
Littoral	combat	ships.	Joint	strike	fighters.	Artificial	limbs.	War.
The	chilling	truth	is	that	if	we	do	not	end	war,	war	is	likely	to	end	us.	In	the
words	of	Albert	Einstein,	“I	know	not	with	what	weapons	World	War	III	will
be	fought,	but	World	War	IV	will	be	fought	with	sticks	and	stones.”
In	a	world	where	the	means	and	amount	of	means	of	mass	destruction	are
so	extraordinary	(the	destructive	capacity	of	the	entirety	of	WWII	is	like	a
grain	of	sand	compared	to	our	destructive	capacity	today),	war	is	no	longer	a
sustainable	or	even,	in	the	long	term,
survivable
	option	for	the	human	race.	In
the	words	of	Congressman	Dennis	Kucinich,	“We	must	challenge	the	belief
that	war	is	inevitable.”	It	is	the	moral	task	of	our	generation—not	our
children’s	generation	or	their	children’s	generation	(there	is	no	time	for	that)
—to	take	a	stand	for	a	world	that	has	moved	beyond	the	insane,	self-
destructive	militarism	that	dominates	international	relations	today.	I	can’t
believe	that	even	now,	American	leaders	are	talking	about	war	like	it’s	a	little
boy’s	set	of	Legos.
In	truth,	war	only	creates	victims.	The	people	who	are	killed	are	victims
and	the	people	who	are	sent	to	do	the	killing	are	victims	as	well.	Post-
traumatic	stress	means	not	only	the	trauma	of	remembering	having	seen
people	killed;	it	just	as	often	means	the	trauma	of	remembering
having	killed.
War	is	monstrous	and	should	be	seen	as	such.	To	go	into	war	as	anything
other	than	a	truly	last	resort,	much	less	for	cooked-up	reasons—or	to	greet	it
with	rallying	cries	like	it’s	a	sports	event—are	the	signs	of	a	nation	having
lost	its	heart,	for	sure,	and	possibly	its	mind.
This	attitude	is	not	pacifism	per	se.	We’re	living	in	an	era	that	poses	a	new
set	of	questions.	Other	generations	could	argue	about	the	moral	validity	of
this	war	or	that	war;	we	don’t	have	the	luxury	of	that	debate.	Our	moral
challenge	is	to	move	beyond	war,	period.
Some	seem	to	think	that	we	can	continue	to	manufacture	more	nuclear
bombs,	put	weapons	into	outer	space,	create	ever-more-pernicious	methods	of
chemical	warfare,	and	make	further	sales	of	arms	to	other	countries	to	the
tune	of	hundreds	of	millions	of	dollars—not	to	mention	embark	on	further
military	misadventures—without	ultimately	starting	to	lose	our	own	cities	andour	own	people	in	massive	numbers.	Such	people	are	either	in	such	denial,	or
so	blind,	or	possessed	of	such	cold	hearts,	that	they	should	never	again	be
endowed	with	either	our	governance	or	our	trust.
Anyone	who	doesn’t	understand	the	wave	of	new	thinking	and	enlightened
perspective	that’s	sweeping	the	planet	today	is	someone	whose	time	in	power
should	end.	There’s	a	new	conversation	in	the	air,	and	all	of	us	should
contribute	our	voices	to	it	as	best	we	can.	It	is	time	to	redesign	the	world—not
along	traditional	economic	geopolitical	lines,	but	along	deeply	humanitarian
ones—in	which	the	amelioration	of	unnecessary	human	suffering	becomes	the
new	organizing	principle	of	human	civilization.
It’s	easy	to	laugh	at	baby	boomers	when	we	say	such	things.	After	all,	isn’t
that	what	we	said	in	the	’60s?	And	what	did	that	lead	to?	Well,	it	led	to	the
end	of	one	war,	and	that’s	not	nothing.	And	it	arguably	would	have	led	to
much	more,	had	Bobby	Kennedy	and	Martin	Luther	King,	Jr.,	not	died	in	part
for	believing	it.	The	mistake	of	the	’60s	generation	wasn’t	that	we	didn’t	have
the	right	goal;	it	was	that	we	didn’t	yet	realize	that	we	ourselves	must	be	the
means	by	which	the	goal	is	achieved.	In	the	words	of	Gandhi,	“The	end	is
inherent	in	the	means.”	We	must
be
	the	change	we	want	to	see	happen	in	the
world,
because	otherwise	the	change	will	not	happen.
	We	didn’t	know	that
then	but	we	know	it	now.	We’re	more	sophisticated	about	politics,	and	we’re
more	sophisticated	about	love.	We’re	becoming	what	author	Andrew	Harvey
calls	“sacred	activists.”	We	got	here	late,	but	we	got	here.
We	arrive	with	gray	hair	and	irony:	The	generation	that	declared	war	on
hypocrisy	has	become	among	the	most	hypocritical	of	all;	the	generation	that
sought	to	replace	guns	with	flowers	has	more	often	replaced	flowers	with
guns;	and	looking	at	the	clock,	we	have	about	ten	minutes	left	to	awake	from
our	stupor	and	retrieve	our	moxie.
Our	greatest	failure	now	isn’t	one	of	politics


 is so
highly developed that it can mimic almost any natural flavor or scent. What it cannot do is to fool
the human organism into responding to these fakes as if they were the genuine article, and only
delivers chemicals of varying toxicity instead of essential nutrients.
 The most widely used additives include sodium nitrite, saccharin, caffeine, olestra (a
fat substitute), artificial colorings and flavorings, antioxidants, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers,
thickening agents, aspartame, transfats and monosodium glutamate—plus unhealthy amounts of
sugar, salt and fat. They can cause a multitude of allergic reactions, such as fatigue, behavioral
problems, mood swings, and after long-term use may even lead to heart disease and cancer.
Aspartame
Aspartame, old as NutraSweet, Spoonful, Neotame and Canderel deserves special scrutiny,
because it is present in over 5000 food items including fizzy drinks, jam, breakfast cereals,
vitamins, diet and diabetic food, and much else. It contains no calories and is therefore attractive
to weight-conscious people with a sweet tooth. After its discovery in the U.S., having first been
sold as an ant poison, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) refused to license it for eight
years, considering it unsafe for human consumption. However, after years of lobbying by the
manufacturers, in the early Eighties, despite the misgivings of scientists, aspartame was officially
sanctioned as a food additive.
 Aspartame contains some 6 chemical substances, including methanol (wood alcohol), a
cumulative poison, which converts into formaldehyde, a known carcinogen; DKP, which in
animal experiments has produced brain tumors, and phenylalanine, which can produce severe
neurological problems. As for its claim to help people control their weight, the epidemic of
overweight and obesity al over the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere contradicts that claim.
 More alarmingly, reactions among large-scale consumers of aspartame in, for instance,
diet coke, can mimic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, depression, diabetes, lymphoma,
arthritis, Alzheimer’s, panic attacks, epilepsy/seizures, Parkinson’s and hypothyroidism. Diabetes
specialist Dr. H. J. Roberts, M.D., of The Palm Beach Institute for Medical Research, has coined
the phrase “Aspartame disease” to cover the many pathological conditions among his patients.
Nearly two-thirds of his patients improved as soon as they excluded aspartame from their diet.
MSG (Monosodium glutamate)
This flavor enhancer, which is tasteless by itself, was developed by a Japanese food chemist
in 1907. In its original form it was a salt derivative of a natural amino acid called glutamate,
a common substance found in every plant and animal species. Eventually, turned into MSG, Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 3 7Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comit found its way into almost every kind of convenience food, from soups, canned gravy, salad
dressings and frozen ready meals to potato chips, and into the meals served in the world-wide
chains of fast food restaurants. (On food labels it often hides behind the name of Hydrolyzed
Vegetable Protein).
 The reason for this lavish use of MSG was discovered by John Erb, a research assistant at the
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont., Canada, when he found out that laboratory mice and rats,
used for studies on obese animals, had to be injected with MSG soon after birth, to make them fat.
Under natural circumstances no rodents become obese. They only do so when the injected MSG
triples the amount of insulin their pancreas produces. Once fat, they are known as “MSG-Treated
Rats.”
 Away from the research laboratory, MSG is added to human food for its addictive effect.
As long ago as 1978 it was scientifically proven to be an addictive substance. Since the food
manufacturers lobby openly states that the purpose of MSG is to make people eat more, this
additive clearly plays a major role in the current obesity epidemic. That is bad enough, but
huge numbers of people suffer from the serious ide effects of MSG, which include headaches,
palpitation, vomiting, nausea, numbness, chest pain, drowsiness, facial pressure and weakness.
Some of these are also referred to as Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.
 John Erb summed up his findings in “The Slow Poisoning of America,”  his book on the
harmful activities of the food additive industry. Although the dangers of MSG have been widely
known for decades, the FDA has set no limits on how much of it may be added to food.
Transfats
Transfats: Described variously as the world’s unhealthiest food and/or as heart attack in a
box, these ubiquitous food components are produced by hydrogenating vegetable oil, so as to turn
a liquid into a solid substance. Transfats or HVOs (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils) are known to
increase the levels of LDL or “bad cholesterol,” while reducing those of HDL, the “good” variety.
They leave fatty deposits in the arteries, cause digestive disorders, and reduce the absorption rate
of essential vitamins and minerals.
 Transfats. are created by heating vegetable oil to a very high temperature, turning it solid,
so it can be used in margarine, pastry, pies, ice cream, confectionery and countless convenience
foods. (Uninformed shoppers often fall for advertisements, which claim that margarine, made
from sunflower oil, is healthier for the heart than, say, butter; they don’t stop to wonder just
how the golden liquid oil had become snow white and solid….) Hydrogenated fat is cheap, has
no flavor and secures any product a long shelf life, hence its popularity in the food industry.
However, recently evidence has piled up to show that far from protecting the heart, Transfats
actually damage it, are essentially toxic, cause obesity and have even been linked to some forms Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 3 8Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comof cancer. A long-term study carried out at the Harvard School of Public Health on 18,555 healthy
women trying to get pregnant found that for every 2% increase in the amount of calories a woman
got from Transfats, her risk of infertility increased by 73%. The British Transfat expert Dr. Alex
Richardson commented, “Transfats shouldn’t be in our diet. They are toxic and have no known
health benefits and many known health risks.” The World Health Organization has recently urged
consumers to exclude Transfats from their food intake, and in Britain all the leading supermarket
chains have pledged to ban hydrogenated oils from their own-brand foods and drinks as fast as
possible
 The Harvard School of Public Health has estimated that at least 30,000 people and more,
probably 100,000 die every year in the US from cardiovascular disease, caused by eating HVOs
found in most convenience foods. The American nutritionist Mary Enig has stated that Transfats
disrupt the cellular function of the body, weakening its power to expel wastes and toxins. This
opens the door to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, poor immunity and obesity.
 The good news is, that since January 2006, under US Government regulations food
manufacturers must state the amount of Transfats contained in their products. Some of them have
already started to remove Transfats from their output. And the British Soil Association, flagship
of the organic movement in the UK, has recently declared that all additives, including Transfats,
MSG and aspartame are absolutely banned from all organic products.
The only way to exclude these and countless other harmful additives from one’s diet is to
avoid all manufactured foods, and take the more labor-intensive but health-restoring path of
eating only fresh organic natural foods, and limit restaurant meals to rare occasions.
 But additive-filled junk food doesn’t just harm the body: it is also a powerful trigger for anti-
social behavior. Researchers both in California and in England have run experiments in prisons
housing young male criminals, giving them supplements containing vitamins, minerals and
essential fatty acids over several months, and monitoring their behavior. In both countries minor
offences dropped by 33%, and serious ones, including violence, by 37-38% 6.  Take those findings
out of the prison setting and it becomes obvious that much anti-social behavior in society can be
ascribed directly to harmful toxic food additives—yet another powerful argument for avoiding
junk foods of all kinds.
Fluoride
Among the factors undermining the body’s defenses this substance deserves special attention,
because while exorbitant dental health claims are made for it by commercial interests, in fact it is
a dangerous poison, an industrial waste containing small amounts of lead, mercury, beryllium and
arsenic. The official reason why the US Government promotes the compulsory addition of fluoride
to drinking water is to improve children’s dental health, which, as common sense recognizes, is
not undermined by shortage of fluoride, but by an unhealthy diet, insufficient dental


 called pH factors. The pH
means “potential of hydrogen.” The pH scale is 0 through 14—with 0 being
the most acidic, 7 being neutral, and 14 the most alkaline. Since each number
on the scale represents a logarithm, there is a 10-fold difference between each
number. This can be very significant when you understand that the pH of the
blood should be 7.4, or slightly alkaline. Coma and death can take placewhen the hydrogen atoms in the blood lower (by adding hydrogen atoms) the
pH to 6.95. The opposite can also be true. Convulsions and spasms can occur
when the pH becomes too alkaline (less hydrogen atoms), which is rare. It is
important to note that most convulsions and spasms are caused by mineral
utilization problems.
All the food that humans eat can be divided into the above two
categories: they are either acid-forming or alkaline-forming. This depends
upon the ash left after their digestion, and upon the food’s dominating
inorganic minerals, which affect the pH of our body’s fluids. Acid foods
leave more phosphorus, iron and sulfur compounds, which push out alkaline
minerals like calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Acids crystallize,
thus irritating and inflaming tissues. These crystals are deposited throughout
the body causing inflammation, irritation and stimulation or agitation. Uric
acid, for example, is a by-product of meat metabolism and/or fungal growth
in the body. Uric acid buildup causes gout and other inflammatory conditions
throughout the body.
There are many other acids formed during food digestion. These include
sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, butyric acid, lactic acid, acetic acid and
pyroracemic acid, to name a few. These acids, if not converted to salts by
electrolytes, will cause damage to tissue. The more acidic your body
becomes, the more damage you create within it.
Men and women today eat mainly acid-forming foods, e.g., meats,
grains, pasteurized dairy products, eggs and cooked tomatoes. As acidity is
hot, these acids and compounds cause inflammation in tissues. Inflammation
causes cellular weakness and an inability of the cell to transport nutrients
across its membrane wall via cellular respiration, eventually leading to cellular
death.
As previously stated, the only acid chamber in homo sapiens is the
stomach, where protein digestion begins. Note: Immediately after the stomach
contents move into the small intestines, bile and sodium bicarbonate are
secreted to alkalize this mixture now called chyme. The rest of digestion is
alkaline.
The accumulation of acids and toxic foreign proteins in tissues causes an
immune response called inflammation. This inflammation is then diagnosed
as an “itis” of some sort, e.g., gastritis, colitis, cystitis, nephritis, bursitis, and
arthritis. These are not diseases, but inflammatory responses to acidosis. This
is why the treatment of these conditions with more acid-forming drugs orsteroids is ludicrous and will eventually lead to further degeneration of your
tissues. It makes much better sense to alkalize and detoxify, that is, remove
the acids and foreign proteins that are causing the problem in the first place.
CNN recently reported that researchers at various universities have proven
that the genetic pattern of cells (DNA and chromosomes) can and is being
altered by acidosis, which weakens a cell, causing many changes in its DNA
and chromosome structure.
ABOUT CONSCIOUSNESS AND DISEASE

Cells respond to states of consciousness just as we do. In other words, if
someone walks up
to you angry, you can get angry; if you hang around sick
people, you can get sick. Everything
is
 energy and everything
gives off
energy.
There are unlimited levels to energy. From a spiritual perspective, anger
is a lower level of energy whereas love is a high level of energy. In spiritual
circles we call energy “consciousness” or “awareness.” God, or “total
awareness,” has been compared to a large mirror, while creation is thought of
as that mirror divided up into unlimited pieces, or various states of awareness
or consciousness. As I understand it, all life forms are merely pieces of this
mirror expressing themselves in various individual states of consciousness or
awareness. With birth into creation, we start out basically unconscious or
unaware, and become gradually more conscious in response to life around us.
As a computer that is being set up with more software, or programmed with
more data, is therefore able to perform more functions, so each individual
piece of the “mirror of creation” will expand its ability to express itself the
more it awakens to its true nature. Since we humans are pieces of this mirror,
we act in the same way—that is, the more we experience, the more we
awaken or grow in consciousness.
While it is very difficult to express these things in words, if you look
within yourself and at nature you can appreciate that all things are reflections
of the same essence; that is, all are a reflection in some way of God and all of
God’s creation. Your cells are no different. They possess consciousness.
They are subject to the laws of cause and effect, just like you are. What you
put in, you get out. Your cells’ DNA and chromosomes carry memory
patterns far beyond those of simple genetics. They also include the traces of
the day-to-day “experiences” that the cell goes through, much as yourmemory records your daily experience.
Viruses are proteins that affect the consciousness or life of a cell. They
weaken a cell, setting it up for an immune response. As stated earlier, nature
never procreates the weak, it eliminates it. Many proteins (like viruses, etc.)
are the stimulus for this mechanism that allows the body to eliminate these
weaknesses, so that it can replace the weak cells with the strong.
The problem for the cells is that the typical fuels and building materials—
the foods that most people are consuming—can no longer support a refined
level of consciousness or awareness. Most of the food we eat today is very
low in energy and vibration or consciousness, which lowers the cell’s energy
and thus the body’s overall energy, thereby creating disease and death. This
low-energy lifestyle also lowers human awareness in general, which is why
we have so much hate, gossip and deceit instead of love.
The role of parasites in disease processes should also be mentioned here.
(See
Parasites Good or Bad?

Module 5.2
.) Even though parasites are
secondary causes of disease, they are contributing factors to the
consciousness and vibration of a cell, thus affecting its DNA memory.
Human stupidity in introducing live or even dead pathogens (parasites) into
toxic bodies via the “vaccination” has led to a landslide of genetically
weakened and mutated cells. (For a more complete discussion of vaccinations
see Chapter Four,
Toxic Habits.)
 Many “diseases” are created or inspired by
vaccinations, including ADD, AIDS, and most importantly, cancer. We have
allowed science to hurt, maim, or kill us, and then we have become
conditioned by false propaganda that indicates that we are to blame, not
science. Scientists play Russian roulette with human lives, all in the name of
“progress” and under the guise of protecting us. We must move past these
dark medical and chemical times where so much destruction of the species
has taken place.
THE SIMPLE SOLUTION

It is time to awaken and get back to simplicity and the ways of God and
nature. Nature has
supplied us with all the herbs and the foods we need to
clean, rebuild, and revitalize our physical and spiritual bodies.
Health is very simple: eat within the scope of your species; eat your
foods fresh, ripe, raw and unprocessed, as all other animals do; rest and getplenty of sunshine; clean your body out of all the toxins, including chemicals,
heavy metals, antibiotics, excessive hormones, excessive proteins,
unnecessary mucus, destructive parasites, pesticides and the like. Basically,
alkalize yourself with your diet. We humans have the highest neurological
development of any species, and fruits are the highest electrically-alkaline
foods on the planet. I have seen fruits regenerate the nervous system where
vegetables did not.
Use herbs to rebuild tissue and promote tissue function. Use freshly-
made fruit and vegetable juices as “power” supplements to your diet. Add a
super-food complex or blend to your diet to enhance deficient foods. A
super-food, as its name implies, is one that contains some of nature’s most
nutritious and energetic foods, like royal jelly, wheat grass powder, and
alfalfa powder, in a capsule, pill or powdered form.
If you do all of the above, you will see your body kick into action. It will
clean itself out and rebuild itself, regardless of the disease you may have. As
a health professional, I’ve never seen a case of any disease that did not
respond to this program. Every person I have worked with has greatly
improved, and in most cases their diseased conditions have been entirely
eliminated.
Always try. I don’t care how advanced or immobile you are. I’ve seen
complete spinal cord severations repair themselves after years in which the
patient was almost completely immobilized. I have seen the body realign and
reshape itself from various deformities. If you follow nature’s laws, you will
find that


control” which the conscious mind recognizes. This nervous system, of
course, is the autonomic. We shall try to understand better its activity in the
body and primarily how it relates to the other two systems: the
cerebrospinal and the sensory.
The term uncontr olled, of course, is inaccurate when applied to the
bodily functions that are ruled by the autonomic nervous system. It is
important that we realize that these functions, in reality, are controlled
within ourselves. They are not under the direction of the conscious mind.
Thus, by definit ion, they must be under the rule of the unconscious mind.
The emotions of the body interfere with autonomic function to a minor
degree at times and in a drastic manner at other times. Thus, again by
definition, our emotions must be classified with the unconscious mind. Our
conscious thinking mind with its choice, on the other hand, rarely interfereswith bodily function. Only occasionally is conscious thought of such a
nature and direction that it breaks down the barrier between the conscious
and unconscious and stirs the emotions.
Yet, emotional interference with various functions of the body implies
that there is another direction of an integrative nature that regulates life
activities within the body and maintains—we hope—a state of health most
of the time.
This direction, this control, this mind can be located anatomica lly in the
various nerve plexuses and ganglia which make up a portion of the
autonomic nervous system, just as the brain is considered to be the
anatomical location of the conscious regulating mind of the “controlled”
activities of the body. This mind is called, in our present unde rstanding of
the body, the unconscious mind. It contains not only the emotio ns, desires,
drives, and instincts which are considered to be basic to human  nature, but
also the inherited tendencies which we see as racial and familial
characteristics.
In addition, the unconscious mind contains the ideals and high purposes
which seem to be inherent in those individuals who have striven to great
heights of accomplishment and service to their fellow human  beings. All
these attributes—and undoubtedly more—are part of our unconscious mind
and represent that which, in reality, rules the portion of the body
functionings which we have just termed the “uncontrolled.”
This act of grouping body, mind, emotion, and aspiration gives a more
comprehensive picture of what might be going on within our bodies at an
unconscious autonomic level and gives us a comprehensive picture of this
particular nervous system as we investigate it and try to understand it.
Reede, in 1918, published a fascinating discussion of the autonomic
nervous system as it relates to dermatology.45 Here is his opening
statement:
“The archetype of the vegetative or autonomic nervous system is
found in the ganglionated or metameric nervous systems of the lower
vertebrates, in which in the absence of a forebrain and prior to the
development of intelligence or consciousness the necessary functions of
life are carried out through a few simple ganglions and nerve fibers. In
[humans] this primitive nervous system has been long disregardedbecause lost sight of in the study of the evolutionarily superimposed
forebrain or cortex, with its highly organized association systems and
central nervous system extensions. The activity of the vegetative
nervous system still takes place below the level of consciousness and
independent of intelligence, but it nonetheless sways the very
foundations of life.”
We can see from the above quotation how we, in our evolutionary
relationship to the lower verteb rates, have developed the forebrain which
becomes the means by which consciousness or choice or whatever factor
that allows us to be dominant over all the other animals of the earth can be
experienced. It also reminds us that many of the functions of life, learning,
aspiration, and direction which we find in ourselves can be demonstrated
without the higher consciousness symbolized by the forebrain. Remember
that lower vertebrates lived, functioned, caught their prey, and escaped from
enemies without the higher integrative centers.
The endocrine glands are directly involved with autonomic function as
they are also deeply related to emotional expression. In performing its
function to regulate and coordinate metabolic activities in the body, the
autonomic nervous system acts not only through direct nervous impulses of
its own, but also through its association with the endocrines. These ductless
glands have a certain degree of autonomy, but the larger part of their
activity is in direct response to the call of the vegetative nerves.46
Not only does a ductless gland respond to the stimulus of the nerve, but
its secre tion, in turn, reacts on the nerve, making it still more sensitive in
function. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the medulla of the
adrenal gland, which is the gland of “fight or flight” of the sympathetic
division of the autonomic nervous system, morphologically corresponds to
a sympathetic ganglion.47 The medullary hormone is known as adrenaline.
This substance is also found mediating the dischar ge of sympathetic nerves,
along with a closely allied substance, norepinephrine (demethylated
epinephrine), in varying proportions throughout the body.48
Much could be written about the relationship of the sympathetic and the
parasympathetic nervous systems. To summarize it or conden se it leaves
many questions unanswered, in addition to those which physiologicalresearch has not yet solved. Present-day physiology and pharmacology
perhaps see these two portions of the autonomic nervous system as
basically antago nistic functional units but working together all the time,
while we are awake or asleep, to keep a physiological balance in the body.
The sympathetic nervous system  equips the body, in its full action and
through the phenomenon know n as irradiation, for the intense muscular
action required in offense or defense. It is a mechanism of war which
mobilizes all of the existing reserves of the body.49 It accelerates or
heightens function and prepares one for emer gencies or emotional crises of
any sort and becomes, in this way, an exploiter of energy. However, it is not
always intensely active; rather, most of the time it is controlled in its
function, creating a constructive force throughout the body in a balance
with its counterpart, the parasympathetic.
During hours of sleep the sympathetic activity is at a low ebb. This can
be ascertained by looking at the absence, while asleep, of the results
physiologically which can be observed in the body when the sympathetic
mobilizes for action. In sympath etic stimulation, the eyes dilate and the rate
and force of the heart are incre ased. The muscles, heart, lungs, and brain
receive a markedly increased flow of blood as the blood pressure is
increased; but the blood vessels  are constricted and the blood supply to the
other internal organs of the body is markedly decreased; the hair stands on
end and sweat pours from the sweat glands of the skin; body temperature
usually increases. The sphincter s are contracted and the intestina l peristalsis
is inhibited.
These changes in the body are obviously absent when a person is resting,
at peace with the environment, or asleep. This condition points up the rather
interesting functions of the parasympathetic nervous system. When the
sympathetic is relatively dormant, then its counterpart, the parasympathetic
has to be relatively dormant. Thus we find the heart rate slowed, the body
temperature decreased, the blood pressure lowered, the pupil constricted,
the blood suppl y shifted from the muscles, heart, lung, and brains to the
organs of digestion, assimilation, and excretion, and the motor activity to
these structures increased. This allows for proper elimination of wastes,
proper utilizatio n of the saliva and digestive juices and the activities ofdigestion, and the further proper absorption or assimilation of digested
material into the bloodstream and lymphatics of the body.
All these activities come abou t through the functioning of both the
cranial and the sacral portions  of the parasympathetic. The sacral gives
innervation to the large intestine  from the splenic flexure distall y and to the
generative organs, the sphincters, and the lower urinary tract. Generally
speaking, the cranial division supplies nerve energy to the rema inder of the
functioning organs. Thus we can see why it has been said that the cranial
division of the parasympathetic nervous system performs the tremendous
service of building up body reserves and fortifying the body against times
of stress and need, while the sacral division supplements the cranial by
cleansing the body through ridding it of its urinary and intestinal wastes.50
Because of the intricate functional make-up of the two parts of the
autonomic nervo us system, we tend to group them as separate entities, so to
speak. We shoul d hesitate, however, to do this simply because the source of
the neurons is dif ferent and the function is apparently antagonistic.
We note, for instance, that they are not really so antagonistic as one
would think on first consideration. Rather they augment each other by their
reciprocity51—like two hands holding a basketball. We also see that there
are areas of the body which receive both adrener gic and cholinergic (as
parasympathetic stimulation is called) supply through the medium of the
sympathetic nerves.52
Functionally, we see a difference in


incss at this moment consists largely in
reviewing happy memories and expectations,  I am
but dimly aware of this present. I shall still be dimly
aware of the present when  the good  things  that  I
have been expecting come to pass. For I shall have
formed a habit of looking behind  ancl  ahead, mak -
ing it difficult for me to attend to che here and  now.
lf, then, my awareness of the past and future makes
me less aware of the present, I must begin to wonder
whether  I am actually  living  in the real  world.
After ali, the future is quite mcaningless ancl un -
important unless, sooner or later, it is going to be -
come  the present.  Thus  to plan  for a future  which
is not going to become present  is hardly more ·absurd
than  to plan  for a future which,  when  it comes to
me, will find me  "absent,"  looking fixedly over its
shoulder  instead  of into  its face.
This kind oE living in the fantasy of expectation
rather than the reality of the prcsent is the special
trouble of those business roen who live entircly to
make money. So many people of wealth understand
much more about making and  saving money  than
about  using  and enjoying  it. They  fail to live be-
35 THE  WISDOM  OF INSECURITY
cause  lhey  are always  preparing  to live.
Instead  of earning a living they are mosliy
earning an earning.  and lhus  when  thc lime
comes  lo relax  they  are un- able  to do so. Many  11
·'successful"  man  is bored  and miserable when
he rclires,  and returns lo his  work  only lo prcvent
a younger  man  from  taking his  place.  From still
anothcr point of vicw  thc way  in which  we use
memory  and prediction  makes  us less,  rather
than  more,  adaplablc  to life. If lo enjoy  cven  an
cn- joyable  present  wc must  havc  thc
assurance  of a happy  {mure,  we are "crying for
thc moon." Wc  have  no such  assurancc.  The best
prcdictions  are still  matters  of probability  rather
than  ccnainty,  and to the best  of our  knowlcdgc
every  one of us is going  to suffcr  and die. If,
then,  we cannot  livc happily  withoul  an
assurcd  future,  we are ccrtainly  not adapted  to
living  in a finitc  world  whcrc,  despitc  thc best
plans,  accidents  will happen,  and where  dealh
comes  al the end.
This, thcn, is thc human problem: lhere is a
price  to be paid for every increase in
consciousness. Wc cannot be more sensitive to
pleasure without being  more sensitive to pain.
By rcmembering the past  we can plan for lhe
Ílllure.  But the ability to plan  for pleasurc is
ofiscl by the "ability" to dread pain  and to fcar
the unknown. Furthermore, the growlh  of an
acUle sense of the past and the future gives us  a
correspondingly dim sense of the present. In
other  words,  wc seem  to rcach  a point  where
lhe advan - PAIN  AND  TIME
tages  of being conscious are outweighed by its
disad - vantages,  where  extreme  sensitivity  makes
us un- adaptable.
Under these circumstances wc fcel in conflict
wich  our own  bodies and  thc world around  thcm,
and it is consoling to be able to think that in this
contra - dictory world we are bue "strangers ancl
pilgrims."  For if our dcsires are  out of accord with
anything  that  the finite world can offcr,  it mighc
seem that  our nature is not of this worlcl, that our
hcarts are  made, not for che  finitc, but for infinity.
The dis- content o( our souls would appear to be
the sign and  seal  of cheir  divinicy.
Ilut docs the desire for something prove that
che thing exists?  We know  that  it does  not
necessarily  do so at ali.  le may  be consoling  to
think  that  we are cicizens  of anothcr  world  than
this,  and that  after our exilc upon carth we may
return to che true  home of our heart's desire. Ilut
if we are citizcns of  chis world, and  if chere can  be
no final  satisfaction  of che soul's discontent, has
not nature, in bringing  forth  man,  rnade  a serious
mistake?
For it would seem that, in man, life is in
hopeless  conflicc with itsclf. To be happy, we must
have what  we cannot have. In man, naturc has
conceived dc - sircs  which it is impossible to
satisfy. To clrink more  fully of che foumain of
pleasurc, it has brought forth  capacities which
make man che more susceptible to pain.  It has
givcn  us thc powcr  to control  che future
37 THE  WISDOM  OF INSECURITY
but a little -the price of which is the frustration of
knowing that we must at last go clown  in defeat.
If we find  this absurd,  this is only to say  that
nature  has conceived intelligence in us to berate
icself for  absurdity.  Consciousness  secms  to be
nature's  in- genious  mode  of self-torturc.
Of course  we  do  not want  to think  that  this is
true.  But it would  be easy to show that  most rea -
soning to  the contrary  is but wishful  thinking -na-
turc's method of puuing  off suicide so that the
idiocy  can continuc.  Reasoning,  then,  is not
enough.  We muse go decper. Wc must look imo
this lifc, this na- turc, which has bccome aware
within  us, and find  out whether it is really in
conflict with itself, whether  it actiwlly desires thc
security and the painlessness  which  its individual
forms  can never  enjoy.
III. THE  GREAT  STREAM

W E SEEM  TO BE LIKE  FLIES  CAUGHT  IN  HONEY.  BE·
cause life is sweet we do nol  want to give it up,
and yet the more we become involved  in it,  the
more  we are trapped, limited, and fruslrated.
We lave it  and hate it at the same time. We fall
in!'ove with  people and possessions only to be
torlured by anxiety  for them.  The  conAict  is not
only  belween  oursclves  and the surrounding
universe; it is between our - selves and
ourselves. For imractable nalUre is both  around
and within  us. The exaspcrating "life" which  is at
once lavable and perishable, pleasant and pain -
ful, a blessing  and a curse,  is also the lifc of our
o w n bodies.
lt is as if wc were  dividcd  into  two  parts.  On
the
one hand therc is the conscious "l," at once
intrigued  and baffled, the creature who is caught
in Lhc trap.  On the other  hand  there  is  "me,"  and
"me"   is a part of nature -the wayward flesh with
all its concur - rently beauti(ul and frustrating
limitations. 'T' fan - cies itself as a reasonable
fellow, and is forevcr crit- icizing "me" for its
pen,crsity -for having passions  which get "l"
into troublc, for being so easily sub - ject to
painful and irritating diseascs, for having or -
gans that wear out, and for having appetites
which  can never  be satisfied -so designed  that  if
you try to
39  THE  WIS0OM  OF INSECURITY
allay  them  finally  and fully  in one big "bust,"
you get sick.
Perhaps the most exasperating thing about
"me,"  about nature and the universe, is that it will
never  "