The process of healing can also be illuminated
as a seven stage process. First we need to consider the phenomenon
of the healing process being a recapitulation, in reverse, of
each individual's process of disease. The healing process is one
of 'retracement'. If you look at the diagram showing the stages
of disease 1-7, and, as an example, a person begins their macrobiotic
dietary practice when they are in stage four of the disease process.
He or she begins eating the narrow, delineated cooked whole grains
and vegetables diet, represented in the diagram band delineated
with the yin and yang symbols overlapping one to look like the
Star of David(the symbols of yin and yang overlapping one another
represent the food groups lying in the Area of Balance of the
Spectrum of Human Food-see Fig. 1 in the Introduction).
Speaking imaginatively, the instant we place the first mouthful
of cooked whole grains in our mouth, a 'mirror' arises up from
the ground in front of us, and reflected in the mirror is the
reverse image of the stages of disease we have individually experienced,
albeit unawares, up until that moment. As we continue eating our
macrobiotically oriented dietary program, we experience this 'retracement'
as a recapitulation in reverse order of the stages of disease
as we personally experienced them, each 'episode' being relived,
in a muted form and for a shorter period of time.
It will have occurred to the attentive reader everyone, whether
they realise it or not, is eating, in terms of yin and yang, technically
speaking, macrobiotically. Most of us are ignorant of this fact,
and therefore our eating habits are uninformed, whimsical and
conditioned by family and cultural prejudices. In our example,
the person is fortunate enough to discover macrobiotic information
when they have reached stage four of the process of the disease.
The beginning of the conscious taking of responsibility for his
or her health is by adopting their macrobiotic dietary practice
and this is the transition period when 'retracement' occurs.
As an example of what I mean, a man I counseled had start his
macrobiotic practice because he had cancer in his left lung. After
two years on the restricted macrobiotic diet his lung was free
of cancer and about three years after he had started his macrobiotic
practice he called me one morning in an agitated frame of mind,
telling me 'something terrible had happened'. I asked what the
matter was and he told me he had developed symptoms of paralysis
of the left side of his face, a syndrome called Bell's Palsy.
I reassured him I did not think there was any way this could be
attributed to eating a macrobiotic diet. So, I asked him if he
had ever experienced these symptoms before starting his macrobiotic
practice.
He told me 12 years before he was diagnosed with the cancer he
had Bell's Palsy. I asked him what had been done about it and
he said it had been treated with cortisone and after a few weeks
it had cleared up. I said the treatments had driven the symptoms
deeper into his body and they were now resurfacing as part of
his healing process and he shouldn't do anything different with
his diet and in a few days the paralysis would disappear. He called
me four days later to say the paralysis had gone.
The general rule of thumb is it takes as many months as we are
old when we start our macrobiotic practice for our body to undergo
the major part of healing; if we are thirty five years old when
we start, it takes thirty five months; if we are fifty six years
old, it takes fifty six months, up to a maximum of eighty four
months or seven years. I therefore recommend following the strict,
circumscribed macrobiotic dietary practice for at least the
length of time in months of a person's age when they begin their
macrobiotic practice.
Once we have been eating the strict macrobiotic dietary program
for the length of time in months according to how old we are when
we start, then we are through the 'transition' period, and it
is time to begin widening our dietary practice to include foods
which lie outside the 'area of balance', while always maintaining
cooked whole grains and vegetables as our staple daily foods.
The maximum length of time it takes for the body to heal itself
of the imbalances induced by a standard modern conventional diet
of meat, eggs, refined sugar, processed food etc., and its associated
life patterns, is seven years, because it takes seven years for
all the cells of the body to complete a life-cycle. From the time
we begin our macrobiotic dietary practice, it takes ten days for
the blood plasma(the fluid in which the blood cells circulate)
to be cleaned out, as it has a ten day cycle. The white blood
cells have a thirty to sixty day cycle, and the red blood cells
have a one hundred and twenty day cycle. From this time on, approximately
four months into the macrobiotic dietary practice, with entire
bloodstream renewed and revitalized, the healing process is a
mystery yet to be unravelled.
We as yet, to my knowledge, do not know the details of how the
pattern of the cycle of healing unfolds in the period between
the one hundred and twenty day cycle of the red blood cells and
the seven year cycle of the whole body. I feel it is a reasonable
hypothesis to suggest that each organ and tissue of the body has
a life cycle, but the length of the cycle in each case, of liver,
of large intestine, of gall bladder etc., I do not know. A possible
suggestion is indicated by Rudolf Steiner where he says some of
the organs of the body are the manifestation of the same spiritual
forces which manifest as the planets, as follows:
The spleen is the "Inner Saturn".
The liver is the "Inner Jupiter".
The gall bladder is the "Inner Mars".
The heart is the "Inner Sun".
The lung is the "Inner Mercury".
The kidney is the "Inner Venus".
So it may be reasonable to suggest the cycles of these organs
are tied in some way to the cycles of the orbits of these planets
with respect to the earth ecliptic, but this idea will need further
research to determine if it is a fruitful line of enquiry. I should
note Steiner does not mention the stomach, small intestine, large
intestine or bladder in regard of the above idea, only to say
the nutritional system and the deposition of substances are expressions
of the physical body, in distinction to the etheric and astral
bodies.
To my knowledge, as we begin our macrobiotic practice, various
bodily events occur indicating the body is healing itself, and
although there may well be a cyclical pattern and general order
in which the organs heal, my feeling is each individual undergoes
the healing process in their own unique way. The pattern of healing
of each person expresses itself differently according to the uniqueness
of birthdate, place of birth, family relationships and upbringing,
and a plethora of other aspects of the way a person conducts his
or her life, including karma and destiny.
Generally speaking, the more acute a condition a person has when
beginning their macrobiotic dietary practice, the more dramatic
are the expressions of healing they experience, which are referred
to as discharges or detoxifications; the more chronic and long
standing the condition, the slower the healing process. In all
instances, unless several factors, to be discussed later, mitigate
against the possibility of healing, the healing process unfolds
in a wave-like fashion, in that we experience peaks and valleys;
the peaks are when we feel so much better, we have more vitality,
calmness, lightness, clarity of mind etc.,etc., and the valleys
are when we feel somewhat run down, lacking in vitality, our appetite
is less, we may be experiencing various symptoms like headaches,
fevers etc., etc. The general trend of the healing process is
gradual improvement in our physical, emotional and psycho-spiritual
condition, and as time goes on the peaks and valleys become more
and more even, and more widely spaced apart until they are no
longer experienced. However, following the dietary practice alone
is not sufficient to bring about the experience of true, deep
healing, which amounts to a radical self-transformation, such
that we are not the same as we were when we started the dietary
practice in profoundly subtle ways; it must be accompanied by
a thorough and persevering re-education of ourselves, work on
the psycho-spiritual aspects of healing, which I will address
later.
The basic superficial symptoms of healing which tend to occur
in everyone are increased urination, increased bowel movement
and weight loss. Of these, weight loss seems to cause the most
consternation, which I find very ironic and amusing. It is ironic
in that the American public spends four to five billion dollars
every year on hundreds of different weight loss programs of one
kind or another, and none of them actually work. In other words,
no one can sustain these diets for any length of time, so although
weight loss may occur with these diets, as soon as people abandon
them, for since they are artifices of the intellectual mechano-scientism
of the day they are impossible to sustain as daily fare for life,
people gain their weight right back.
In the case of someone going on a macrobiotic dietary program,
which, strictly speaking, is not a diet but a daily way of eating
based on macrobiotic principles of yin and yang, the general experience
is to lose weight, and the weight loss is always beneficial, a
sign we are getting rid of a lot of excess toxins which are stored
in fat deposits.
It sometimes a person gains weight on a strict, circumscribed
macrobiotic dietary program, which merely means they needed to
gain weight, except in certain circumstances. These are people
who have difficulty in losing weight on a macrobiotic dietary
program. They are, generally - speaking more likely to be women
with what is referred to as yang constitution, who have not planned
their dietary intake accordingly. Men generally lose weight more
easily than women because men have a more yin constitution than
women.
Weight loss can be considerable in a short period of time - I
have known people who have lost 1- 11¦2 lbs a week. The
weight loss will continue until it bottoms out at about 5 lbs
under what our ideal weight is on a whole grains and vegetable
diet, for our height, body type, level of activity, type of work
etc., and, after a year or two, comes up to our ideal weight.In
my case, I lost 65 lbs, between November 1975 and March 1976,
from 195 lbs to 130 lbs (I am five feet, ten inches tall), and
my weight went up to 135 lbs after two years of eating the strict,
circumscribed macrobiotic dietary program. Since then, and after
three and half years I began to widen my macrobiotic diet considerably
to where I now eat whatever I want while maintaining whole grains
and vegetables as my staple food, my weight has fluctuated between
130-140 lbs, depending on the season.
As to what types of symptoms, in addition to the increase in frequency
and amount of urination and bowel movement, and weight loss, we
can expect to occur which indicate our body is undergoing the
physical healing process, these vary considerably from person
to person. However, generally speaking, these 'discharges' can
be any of the following:
Coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge, fevers and flu-like
symptoms, various aches and pains including headaches,
fatigue, skin breakouts like pimples, rashes etc., diarrhoea
and/or constipation, in extreme cases vomiting, and in
women it is common to get vaginal discharges and cystitis
type symptoms.
We can also experience emotional 'discharges' as part of our healing
process, and these are any of the following(these emotional discharges
correlate with the different organs):
anxiety, nervousness, anger, irritability, worry,
depression, sadness, frustration, doubt, loss of
confidence, cynicism, and impatience.
As regards the conventional response of anyone experiencing these
symptoms, it is to get alarmed because they mean "something
is wrong with me", run to the doctor or pharmacy, get the
medicine that is "going to make me well", and if it
happens to work, the symptoms indicating the body is healing itself
are suppressed, the disease is driven deeper into the organism,
you may feel better eventually, but fundamentally you are worse
off because the diseased condition is not addressed. Every one
I have seen for counseling has a medical record as long as your
arm, beginning from their childhood. Once we start our macrobiotic
practice, the idea, in this regard, is we never see another doctor
again because we realise the truth we are the only ones who can
take care of ourselves, and if we cannot, we certainly cannot
take care of anyone else.
After all, what is the main reason why the medical-scientific-pharmaceutical
industry has such a firm stranglehold on this culture? It is because
we have abrogated our responsibility for our individual physical,
emotional, mental and spiritual well-being to the medical profession.
And now it is becoming dimly evident to many people that the costs
of treating the increasingly sick and diseased populace is getting
out of hand - the notion we have any health care is utterly absurd
(modern techno-scientific medicine cannot but be both impotent
and impertinent with respect to the problem of health and disease)
- what we want to do is get the federal government to take care
of the costs of our personal irresponsibility and ignorance. This
is not what all the various branches of the disease-treatment
industry want, because they do not want the federal government
to control the subsidization of the multi-billion industry, as
it is now by so-called health insurance.
Health insurance is bogus insurance because it doesn't insure
your health at all. What you are really saying when you buy into
a health insurance plan is that you have no clue as to how to
take care of your health, so you will put money every month into
a prepayment plan for the costs of treating the sickness you know
you are inevitably going to get someday in the future.
When you start a macrobiotic dietary practice and you start to
get these symptoms of the body detoxifying itself (and without
a doubt many of these toxins being excreted are all the pharmaceutical
medications and antibiotics, trace element and vitamin pills you
have taken over the years!), this means your body is undertaking
its healing process (it as well to remind you these symptoms also
mean your body is attempting to heal itself when we are eating
meat, eggs, refined, processed, chemical foods etc.) and what
we do is allow these healing detoxifications to unfold without
doing anything about them, if at all possible. If we can allow
these healing 'discharges' to run their course without interfering
with them in any way, then our body's healing forces and immune
functions get stronger and more vital as they work on getting
the toxins out of the body. If it is necessary to do anything,
there are many food combinations which can be put together, based
on yin and yang and the Five Transformation Theory which are used
to aid the various organs and tissues in their healing process.
The major question is how do we know when these symptoms of detoxification
mean we are, in fact, getting better, or we are in the throes
of a serious illness, a crisis which requires the attention of
techno-medical medicine, the crisis medicine par excellence, since
it has developed over the years of dealing with people asleep
at the wheel of taking responsibility for their health, so modern
techno-medicine has had no choice but to adopt a cut, burn and
poison medicine in attempting to put out the symptoms of a person's
crisis illness. Macrobiotic practice, including but not limited
to daily eating of a macrobiotic dietary program, is fundamentally
to do with consciously becoming informed of how and why to take
care of ourselves, so that we live creatively developing a healthy
body, soul and spirit, in so far as this is possible (what I mean
by this is through karma and destiny it may not be possible for
a number of people to thoroughly revitalize and rehabilitate a
diseased organism, though I feel this is no reason for not trying.
Karma should not be confused with fatalism). I should emphasise
macrobiotic dietary practice is far removed from any notion of
preventing disease, since this is not possible. I am reminded
of the bumper sticker often seen in the Bay Area which has Albert
Einstein's quotation "You cannot both prevent and prepare
for war" which I have amended to read "to prevent war
is to prepare for the inevitability of war"; and so it is
with disease, to attempt to prevent disease is to prepare for
its inevitable appearance. This is amply demonstrated by the history
of vaccination, the use of preventative antibiotics etc., etc.
There are what I call the four cardinal signs, the presence or
absence of which will determine whether or not, when we experience
these symptoms of detoxification, whether or not we should consider
the possibility of availing ourselves of techno-medicine. The
cardinal signs are:
Appetite.
Nausea.
Vitality.
Sleep patterns.
If, when we are experiencing our 'discharge' symptoms, these four
are generally positive, in that we have a good appetite, we do
not feel sick, our level of vitality is okay, and we sleep well
on retiring at night - yes, it is quite normal during the healing
process to have a fever of 104°F, while bringing up copious
amounts of mucus, and not feel sick while enjoying a hearty appetite,
while our vitality is strong enough to carry out our daily work
etc., and sleep soundly when retiring. This has occurred in my
life several times since starting my macrobiotic practice. These
four signs being positive while we are going through a healing
episode indicates we are in sound shape and we will rejoice and
be grateful when we experience them, because we know they signify
our body is healing itself. I must repeat myself many times in
regard of these symptoms of what has been widely regarded by humanity
for hundreds of years as symptoms indicating something is wrong
with us as indicating quite the opposite, because it is one example
of the many received prejudices ingrained in us by our cultural
upbringing of which we have to purge ourselves if we are to have
any hope of restoring sanity to world destiny.
Before we consider the possibility of going to the doctor while
experiencing the symptoms of detoxification, I feel all four have
to be negative; that is, we have no appetite, we feel sick, we
have no vitality and we cannot sleep properly. There can be many
explanations of why any three of the four may be negative, and
yet we are not in any real danger. In any case, anyone thinking
of starting a macrobiotic practice is strongly encouraged to seek
out people who have several years of macrobiotic practice, so
if we are unsure of what is happening to us, we can ask them.
All I have dealt with thus far happens unconsciously, in that
the body knows how to heal itself, and once we begin our macrobiotic
practice the process of healing happens 'mechanically', meaning
the unconscious spiritual processes occur which lead to the manifestation
of the symptoms of detoxification of the body. This is the mechanical
stage of the healing process.
The next stage of the healing process also occurs unconsciously,
in that there is the gradual improvement in the sensitivity and
acuity of the senses - taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell.
According to the Five Transformation Theory the five senses are
linked to the condition of the internal organs, with the kidneys
ruling the sense of hearing, the lungs the sense of smell, the
liver the condition of the eyes, the stomach the sense of taste,
and the heart the sense of touch. Thus, as these organs undergo
their healing, the senses correlated with them also heal. Our
sense of direction, orientation in space and time improve and
we become more aware of, sensitive to and interested in events
and phenomena happening around us, becoming more attuned to and
in harmony with the weather, the seasons, the rhythms of the moon
and so forth. Our thinking processes become clearer, more dynamic
and clearer. This is the sensory stage of the healing process.
The next stage is the emotional stage which occurs both consciously
and unconsciously, in that in addition to physical symptoms of
detoxification of the body healing itself are are included emotional
symptoms. These I have have already discussed at length in the
chapter on the ginger compress. These emotional discharges are
usually episodic and short-lived, receding in intensity and extent
as the healing of the relevant organs proceed.
Now, it must not be assumed that once we have healthy organs that
we will never feel anger, sorrow, frustration, fear etc., again.
These are spiritual realities which affect our soul life and in
addition, there are many events and deeds being done in the world
today which are justifiable sources of sorrow, anger, and worry.
I do not need to spell these out since you can read about them
every day in the newspaper. The question is how do we respond
to the anger we feel, or the sadness, or the worry and anxiety
we may have about the state of the world? What we need to learn
to do is to both acknowledge our emotions and at the same time
not to give vent to them, because if we do, then these emotions
control us; rather it is to learn to control these emotions so
that we channel the vitality they contain into positive, constructive
activities.
If we face the realities of the sickness of our culture as manifested
in the symptoms of gang violence, the so-called 'war on drugs',
social divisiveness as manifested in racism, the militia movement
etc., etc., despoliation of the forests, the pollution of the
soil and water, acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer, etc.,
etc. ad nauseam, we cannot but be angry, sad, worried and anxious
about the future. However, the way most people respond is to be
indifferent to these problems, to cynically say to themselves
this is the way things are and there is nothing I can do about
it, to blame it all on someone else, or to protest in ways which
run the gamut from outright terroristic activities to marching
and rallying and asking the government to enact this and that
legislation. However, none of these are going to make one bit
of difference to the problems confronting humanity unless and
until each and everyone of us realizes we individually bear the
burden of responsibility for all these problems, and we turn to
the real task at hand, which is to transform ourselves from the
sick, diseased human beings we are to healthy, creative, moral
and productive human beings. The first crucial step in beginning
to heal ourselves is to change our way of eating to one based
on eating cooked whole grains and vegetables in season.
One emotion which needs further comment is fear. There can be
no doubt fear is endemic in modern culture, and it is not exaggerating
to say it really is a fundamental driving force for just about
everything people do today. People act basically out of fear.
The reasons for fear are many and varied and it lies outside the
scope of this page to discuss fear in detail, for it take another
book to do justice to the subject.
Briefly, we are fearful because we are insecure and we do not
know what we are; and since we are so mesmerized by materialistic
thinking, we act on our fear and insecurities by seeking to protect
ourselves with a wide variety of vapid walls of security, like
degrees, job security, life-long tenure, pension funds, home ownership,
social security, health insurance, and so forth. Everyone is enslaved
to the delusion that these offer security, whereas they do nothing
of the sort.
The truth of the matter is there is no 'safety net' yet devised
by humanity that can provide any degree of security. There is
only one true 'safety net' and that is to restore our balance
and harmony with the great rhythms of nature (physical comfort)
and also with the spiritual cosmos. This means we must undertake
the arduous task of knowing ourselves and our place in creation.
To the degree and extent we are out-of-balance, dis-eased with
respect to nature and the cosmos, to the same degree and extent
are we fearful and insecure.
So, looking at today's dietary habits in terms of yin and yang,
a dietary intake which has no center, because few if any of the
foods in the 'area of balance' are being eaten, necessarily means
we are being swung violently from one pole of extreme yin to the
other pole of extreme yang on a daily basis. Thus, with no dietary
center, we are literally being tossed back and forth on this wildly
oscillating pendulum on a daily basis, and we busily run around
frantically trying to shore up our centerless existence with religion,
money, sex, alcohol and drugs, power, force, insurance policies,
status, investment strategies etc., etc., ad nauseam, when in
fact all these do is increase our insecurity because there is
nothing there to fill up the emptiness of our rudderless, centerless
lives, and we become addicted to these diversions.
If we wish to replace fear and insecurity with confidence and
consummate equanimity as we face what the future holds in store
for us, we need to place ourselves on firm foundations, both physically
and spiritually.
(Part Two)