This is the story she told me on the November evening as we sat in Dr. Wilcox’s office.
“When I was a little girl, I was just about like other girls. I had fair health most of the time, though I was visited by the usual so-called children’s diseases.”
“I suppose you had a cold occasionally,” I interrupted.”
“Of course, plenty of them, especially in the winter time,” was the reply. Then she continued: “At about fourteen I began to get fat. My parents, the stocky German type, heralded this acquisition of weight as a sign of health. Of course, I thought the same, as I did feel quite well most of the time.”
“However, I had a voracious appetite and ate not only prodigious quantities of the ‘good staple’ foods, such as bread, meat and potatoes, but great quantities of candies, ice cream, etc., etc. Certainly the most iron-bound constitution must have given way under the load.”
“As the time went on I got fatter and fatter and my complexion, once ruddy and beautiful, began to acquire a sallow yellowish appearance. Blackheads and pimples became numerous. To rid myself of the latter I tried various lotions, cold creams, beauty clays, etc. To restore the roses in my cheeks I tried various highly perfumed toilet soaps and, of course, rouge and powder. When I did not succeed in eliminating the pimples and blackheads by the use of the skin lotions, and when beauty soaps failed to restore the roses to my cheeks I used more and more rouge, lipstick and powder. Of course it never occurred to me that my voracious and unbridled appetite had anything to do with my complexion, though my weight was steadily increasing.”
“Dark rings began to appear beneath my eyes. I began to have headaches, which as time went on became more frequent. At first I sought relief in aspirin tablets, which of course relieved my headaches, but I realized that my condition was growing worse so I began to visit doctors from whom I got pills and prescriptions and orders to have my teeth pulled and my tonsils removed and various suggestions of equally stupid character. Of course I did not realize then that all these things were stupid, though it is true I kept both my tonsils and teeth.”
“If the doctors had been unanimous in their analyses of my case and given the same prescriptions I should probably have followed all of the advice given, but the prescriptions varied so much that it was impossible to follow them.”
“My appetite began to wane. My tongue was heavily coated, especially when I got up in the morning. But I took appetizers and ate highly spiced foods so that I was able to eat in spite of my revolting stomach.”
“My headaches increased and my pains extended to other parts of the body. My legs, my arms and especially my back ached most of the time. As I was now employed with the Westinghouse Electric Company and wanted to be always on the job, I had to force myself to do my duties; force myself to get up in the morning; force myself into my clothes; in fact, force every move that I made. In the end, even eating became a burden to me. The only act I did not force was going to bed at night, but my sleep was never sound and dreamless. Instead I rolled and tossed all night with occasional lapses of consciousness. Whenever I rode on the train and occasionally even at work, I drowsed off into a stupor.”
“Not only because of my suffering and unsightly condition, but because I discovered that while other girls were in demand, I remained a wall flower, I stayed away from dances and social gatherings of young people. I became exceedingly morose and morbid and more and more self-centered. Life had become such a burden to me that many times, in moments of greatest depression, I contemplated suicide, and only refrained because I lacked the courage.”
“When doctors’ medicines failed, the neighbors advised herb teas, mud bath packs, grandmother’s physic, etc., but these home remedies were no more effective than those prescribed by the doctors. Instead of getting better, I got worse.”
“My heart which had been for some time troubling me a great deal, at times thumped so rapidly that it seemed it would jump out of my throat. My breath became short. My pains increased. My flesh became soft and pudgy. My ankles became almost as large as my calves. I was a sight to behold—only one and a half inches over five feet tall, barefoot, and weighing one hundred and eighty-six pounds.”
“Here I was, only eighteen years of age, as big as a baby elephant and saturated with the poisonous wastes from the food I had been eating.”
“As I was about to give up in despair I heard of Dr. Wilcox, ‘the man who cures people with oranges.’ So, without a great deal of hope, but with the feeling that regardless of whether or not he could benefit me, since my condition was so bad that he could not possibly make me worse, I went to him, and for the first time since I had begun doctoring, I was told the real cause of my trouble. I was told that neither my stomach, nor my heart, nor my under-nourished, decaying teeth, but my diet was responsible for my trouble.”
“After a thorough examination, the doctor said, “We’ll just put you on orange juice for ten days as a starter on the cleansing process. Of course this seemed like a long time to do without what I called food, but I was desperate, so I said, ‘All right. I’ll do anything. I might as well be dead as in my present condition.’”
“The results were surprising, not only to me, but even to Dr. Wilcox, who had witnessed so many people doing the same thing. While the first few days were a bit difficult, I began to experience immediate relief, and before the ten days were up I had lost all of my pains and I have never had a headache since. When the ten days were finished, I felt so much better that I decided, upon the doctor’s advice, to try the same diet for ten days more. This was not hard to do, for I felt no desire for other food. At the end of twenty days I felt still better and my fat was rapidly dropping away; so as I still had no desire for other food, I continued on the exclusive orange juice diet.”
“So I went on from one ten-day period to another, and as the days passed into weeks and the weeks into months, as my desire for other foods had not returned, as I had long ago said goodbye to my pains, as my fat was melting away, and my complexion clearing up, I continued my course.”
“Life had taken on a new meaning. I had begun to enjoy living. I no longer drowsed on every occasion when I relaxed. But when I went to bed, my sleep was sound and untroubled, in contrast to the spasmodic sleep that gave me no rest in the days when I was living in the old way. I became active and alert, full of vigor and vitality. Boys and girls alike began to desire my company, and the former especially became increasingly interested in my new found charms.”
“So I continued day after day and week after week until now six months have passed and I am, as you see, completely restored to health. And I want to tell you it is great to be alive I feel like running and dancing and singing all the time.”
To see was to believe. I compared the pictures she showed me of the overfed, overstuffed creature she had been, with the living, breathing reality before me, and I knew her story was true.
“You seem to have gone through this period of purging without pain. This is unusual. People, as a rule, suffer somewhat, especially at the outset of such a restrictive diet. Did you not at times suffer and feel morbid and discouraged?” I asked.”
“No,” she replied, “I improved from the start, and although the first few days were painful, I felt better each day. At about the middle of the period I had a slight running at the nose (Dr. Wilcox called it a period of elimination), but this did not bother me. I kept on as usual with my work in the office of the Westinghouse Electric Company.”
“Then you worked throughout the period of six months that you were on the orange juice diet?” I again interrogated.”
“Yes, and I walked about a mile every day and felt like walking more, but the doctor cautioned against it.”
“You seem to have kept in pretty close touch with Dr. Wilcox throughout the period.”
“Yes, I visited him every day. While he emphasized the fact that not he but the oranges were doing the work, he felt that without his guidance I might go wrong. I probably would have, too
,” she added.”
“What do you eat now?” I asked.”
“Raw foods, altogether, green vegetables and a few nuts. This diet I enjoy much better than did I the old conventional cooked diet,” she added with a smile of conviction.”
And thus ended the story of the wonderful transformation wrought by the daily use of the golden drops of sunshine from the orange.
May it be told again and again. May it be an inspiration to thousands of suffering human beings, that they may be tempted to partake freely of this golden fruit whose substance has imbibed so freely of the life-giving properties of the sun that even the color of its skin bespeaks the gold that lies within.—Correct Eating 1931.
Read over carefully about this girl who began to fatten when she was 14, and how her parents considered it a sign of good health. Then her health began to fade...appetite began to wane, tongue heavily coated...headache increased and pains extended to other parts...heart went bad, breath became short, flesh soft and pudgy, ankles almost as large as calves of her legs.
She was 18 years old, 5ʹ 1½″ tall, and weighed 186 pounds. Ready to give up in despair when Dr. Wilcox put her on orange juice.
Improvement was rapid and surprising. Within ten days she felt much better and continued the orange juice for six months—and was “completely restored to health.”
While on the orange juice diet she carried on her regular work “in the office of the Westinghouse Electric Company.”
Then she changed to a diet of “raw foods entirely, green vegetables and a few nuts.” She said, “This diet I enjoy much more than I did the old conventional cooked diet.”
This young woman made an excellent start on the path to Breatharianism, and no doubt had continued had she been properly advised. But no one knows anything about Breatharianism and the advice she needed no one could give.
The turning of the earth on its axis affects not the body. The fault is not in our body but in our conduct and habits if we grow decrepit. The press of May 3rd, 1936, reported the case of a woman who neither ate nor drank for 56 years, and “at the age of 68 she acts and looks like a child.”
LESSON NO. 21—BREATH OF LIFE
“The Essence of the Universe is in the Infinite Air in eternal movement which contains ALL in itself. Everything is formed by integration and disintegration of the AIR under the Law of Expansion and Contraction.”—Anaximenes.
We saw in the preceding lessons that man eats to die and drinks to die. Now we shall learn that he breathes to die.
Breathing is such an easy, natural function that people give it little attention and regard it lightly.
Until recent discoveries in the field of atoms, only a few realized that the Essence of the Universe is in the Infinite Air in eternal movement which contains ALL in itself.
Man has gone without eating for weeks and lived. It is reported that some people have lived for years without eating. Man has gone without drinking for 30 days and lived. But if he stops breathing for three or four minutes, it is fatal.
This is proof that breathing is the big secret of living. When we stay the Breath we stop the Life.
According to ancient wisdom, the mystery of Life is not in the body’s function, nor in food, nor in chemical changes occurring within the body, nor in the decomposition of the body’s tissues—but in the “Spiritus Nitro-aerius.”
The Breath is the Life (Gen. 2:7). The Spirit of Life animates the body; the flesh profits nothing, remaining a chemical compound of atoms. When the Breath of Life no longer animates the body, it disintegrates and its atomic elements return to their original source (Eccl. 11:2; Jn. 6:63).
That is the philosophy of the Ancient Masters. It sounds sensible and its truth is hourly proven.
Had this ancient secret of Life been lost, the world had nothing to guide it in this important field but the absurd theory of modern science,—that Life is the expression of a series of chemical changes (Osler).
When we recognize that “Breath Is Life,” as Pundit Acharya put it, we have a definite law of biology, psychology and physiology—a law that modern science up to this hour has not.
EARLY THEORIES OF RESPIRATION
The Secret of Life was confined by the Masters to their Mystery Schools, and imparted only to the Initiates. It was unknown to the masses. That accounts for the stupid theories of Respiration that prevailed in the days of Aristotle (384—322 B.C.).
From his day down to the 15th century A.D., it was believed by science that the purpose of breathing was “to draw air into the body to cool the blood.”
Out of this theory came the absurd Galenic doctrine (131-210 A.D.) that—
“Air introduced into the body by breathing served to regulate, to maintain and at the same time to temper, to refrigerate the innate heat of the heart.”
It is shocking to learn how little was known about Respiration by the supposedly intelligent men who laid the foundation of modern science. It was chiefly through the work of a group of Englishmen in the 17th century that occurred the unraveling of some of the secrets of Respiration.
In 1667 the discovery was made that air is absolutely essential to the life of animals, and that the gases of the inhaled air enter into and become part of the blood.
What were men of science doing that less than three centuries ago they knew not that Air is positively essential to the life of animals?
At that time chemical knowledge was so deficient that nothing was known of what occurred after the inhaled air entered into and mixed with the blood.
That secret was explained in the ancient records, some fragments of which Constantine’s army failed to destroy in the 4th century, after it had been decreed at the First Council of Nicea that the Ancient Wisdom must be destroyed, as a result of which destruction the Roman Empire and all its provinces were plunged into a reign of darkness that ruled for a thousand years. Gibbon did not write a true story of the “Decline and Fall” of Rome.
The next step in the dark realm of Life was the discovery that the difference between the dark, venous blood, and the bright red arterial blood is due to the admixture of gases from the air.
Until this discovery, modern science had considered Air as a very simple substance and not a complex compound. It had sneered the statement that “the Essence of the Universe is in the Infinite Air in eternal movement which contains ALL in itself.”
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL THEORY OF RESPIRATION REDISCOVERED
It remained for John Mayow, in 1643, to discover what was well known to ancient science. All the air inhaled is not used by the lungs to influence the blood, but only a certain part, which he called “Spiritus Nitro-aerius,” and which was later termed ‘oxygen’.
Mayow thus discovered part of the ancient secret of animation, and developed the first faint physico-chemical theory of Respiration in modern times. He said:
“With respect to the uses of respiration, it may be affirmed that an aerial something, whatever it may be, essential to life, passes into the blood (from the air). Thus the air expelled by the lungs, these vital particles having been extracted from it, is no longer fit to breathe again.”
This remarkable discovery meant so little to medical art, that Mayow’s work lay neglected and forgotten for almost a hundred years. The secret of animation, of Life, was exposed before their eyes, yet they saw it not.
In 1774 Priestly re-discovered Mayow’s “Spiritus Nitro-aerius” and isolated a gas he termed oxygen. But it remained for Lavisier (1782) to show what oxygen is, thus throwing more light on Respiration, but failing to find the secret of animation.
It was not until the middle of the 19th century, when Gustav Magnus proved the presence of the blood-gases, in different proportions in the blood, that the modern theory of Respiration assumed anything like definite form.
Almost another century was destined to elapse before medical art considered Air sufficiently important in relation to health and life to make a special study of it.
In 1924 a group of physicians work
ing at the St. Louis Infirmary in cooperation with Washington University, concluded from their study of 1000 persons, that better health and longer life for middle-aged people may be achieved by “maintaining the proper level of oxygen consumption in the body.”
The group found that the ideal oxygen consumption occurs in the first ten years of life, when the lungs are in good condition and chest expansion is greatest. Then the rate of oxygen consumption deciles—but the reason why was not stated.
By the time a child is ten, the amount of oxygen consumption begins to decline because shallow breathing begins, because of lung degeneration, because of the polluted air of civilization.
The epoch-making discovery that Air is of paramount importance in matters of Life and Health arrived too late. Text-books had already been filled with the theories to the effect that Life is “The expression of a series of chemical changes”—(Osler), that air has little or nothing to do with the matter.
Until about fifty years ago, air was considered by the doctors as being so dangerous to the sick, that when the medical doctor called, after an examination of the patient, he ordered windows closed and fastened down, and all cracks and air-holes plugged with cotton to keep out the air. He further ordered a heavy blanket hung round the bed so as little air as possible could reach the patient.
It took Dr. Bremer of Germany sixty years to convince people that air is good for the sick. After he forced the doctors of this country to recognize the truth, the medical association sent one of its leading lights into the New York mountains on a “fishing trip.” This doctor “discovered” that outside air is not injurious to the sick, but actually beneficial.
BREATHING PRIMARY FUNCTION
We stated in Lesson No. 12 that while eating and drinking are voluntary and controlled practices, Respiration is an automatic, involuntary process, so far beyond man’s conscious control, that he breathes when unconscious in sleep, or from injury, even better and deeper, more regularly and rhythmically, than when conscious and awake.
Man’s Higher Consciousness Page 18
