The Spiritual Property of Food

The Spiritual Property of Food

REAL PURPOSE OF FOOD

I N THESE days when so much is being published about diets, it seems strange that
the subject of the spiritual effect of food is overlooked. Perhaps the lack of
appreciation of the spiritual effects of food is due to the fact that few people
understand the real purpose of food. The popular idea is that food is eaten solely to
maintain the chemical and physical constitution of the body. But even here, the subject
is not dealt with properly, for the chemical effect of food cannot be measured
exclusively in its relationship to our purely physical side.
People have a physiochemical constitution, as well as a spiritual-conscious nature. In
the oldest of the secret writings regarding the nature of personality and character, there
are many references to the fact that the spirit manifests through the physical body and
that the spiritual aspect is dependent upon the condition of the physical body for its
expressions and its manifestations.
SPIRITUAL MAN
We might compare this idea with the electric light within the electric bulb. The
real source of the light is in the wires within the glass bulb, but the manifestation of
that light is dependent, to a great extent, upon the nature of the bulb that envelops
it. A frosted bulb will give a greater amount of light compared to colored bulbs of
the same wattage.
The physical body is more than a mere envelope or covering for the great spiritual
light within the human body. It is an instrument or a machine by which the spiritual
aspect within, manifests its power, intellect, and divine attributes. Without the physical
body the spirit within would not be able to manifest more than a small percentage of the
power that it possesses. The body is a necessary instrument for the carrying out of
spiritual qualities.
THE EMOTIONS
Few people realize that there are many emotional centers in the human body. Most of
these are concerned with the glands and with the psychic centers, or chakras, of the
nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is particularly concerned with the
expression of emotions. Emotionally, each one of us is precisely what our glands and
psychic centers are manifesting. N ot only is our health affected by the proper or
improper functioning of the glands, but our emotional and spiritual condition as well.
These nervous and mental conditions producing emotional and psychological effects
have more to do with peaceful living, success in life, and the enjoyment of life than
most people realize.

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SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS
Our spiritual nature, manifesting through these glands and psychic centers and carrying
o n its activities through the sympathetic nervous system, is much like the electricity
that is flowing through the wires in your home . The psychic centers and glands are like
electric fixtures where the light and electric motors are connected. No matter how good
the lights may be or how perfect the motors, or how well cared for the electric
machinery may be, if something is interfering with the supply of electrical energy in the
wires, the lights and the machinery will not function properly.
Spiritual energy, or Vital Life Force, is a divine essence carrying with it life, vitality, and
consciousness. It comes into the human body through various sources. It is supplied to all
parts of the body through the blood circulatory system, the sympathetic nervous system
and the spinal nervous system. It is controlled by the glands and psychic centers.
Our spiritual nature is a thing separate and apart from most of our physical side. It
tends to be religious, but it has a far more important place in life than its association
with religious doctrines. Long before we ever invented or interpreted any of the
religious doctrines, we had a good comprehension of our spiritual nature. It is that
nature which keeps us attuned with the Cosmic forces and the universal energies. It
develops intuition and foresight. And eventually brings the awakening of the powers of
clairvoyance and clairaudience. It makes God and the spiritual tendencies of the divine
consciousness comprehensible to us. It leads to the greatest degree of evolution. In
fact, it is our spiritual part that leads and directs our evolution and takes us gradually
away from the animal kingdom toward a more spiritual type of being. Primitive man
would never have advanced out of his crude ways of living, narrow ways of thinking,
and limited ways of understanding, had it not been for the development and evolution
of the spiritual side of his being.
Our physical body, brain, and all of the chemical, material elements of our existence
follow the spiritual progress going on within. It is the spiritual self that is the leader. It
constantly seeks to lift itself higher and onward. It makes us more humanitarian and
more brotherly in our actions toward all Mankind.

THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUALITY

When we come to analyze the source of our spirituality, we find, that there are two
ways in which this spirituality enters the physical body. One is through the air we
breathe. And the other is through the foods we eat, and drink.
Through these two sources, we add two important elements to the physical body.
Namely, the purely chemical, physical, material elements and, secondly, a certain form
of the spiritual elements that nature provides for us in the form of food.

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Nutrition from food is taken into the circulatory system. Blood vessels lead from the
intestines to the liver. Here it is filtered, purified, and formed into the negative polarity of
of the Vital Life Force in the blood. From the liver these "Negative Elements" pass into the
vein carrying blood to the heart. Then the "Negative Elements," in the blood, enter the
right side of the heart and from there they are sent through the two "pulmonary arteries" to
the lungs, where the negative polarity attracts the positive polarity taken in through
breathing. From the lungs this vitalized blood returns to the left side of the heart and there
it is pumped out through the arteries to all parts of the body. As this Positive blood, travels
through the system it uses up its Positive Polarity and again becomes Negative in polarity.
The Negative blood must, therefore, return once more to the heart and from there be sent
again to the lungs to be vitalized. This is a continuous process. This process is much like
the process of distributing oxygen throughout the body, but oxygen is not the same as the
Vital Life Force.
In many of our breathing exercises we attempt to take more of the positive polarity into our
body than in the normal process of breathing. The negative polarity of the blood will attract as
much positive vitality as we take in through breathing. In normal breathing, we merely take in a
small amount of the positive polarity, which reaches the negative cells of the blood and charges
only a small portion of the negative with the positive. By deeper breathing, or by holding the
breath, as explained in our monographs, we cause more of the negative polarity in the blood to
become charged with the positive vitality of the air and thereby make our blood greater in its
vitality. Breathing exercises allow us to take on an additional amount of positive energy for psychic
experiments and for special healing work. It is important however, to realize that the negative and
positive polarities must be balanced for optimum health. We can bring in the positive energy for
healing and spiritual uses through special breathing, but we must balance that energy afterwards.

This is done by first doing negative breathing, followed by positive breathing. Negative breathing
is accomplished by taking a deep breath, and immediately exhaling the breath completely and
holding it out as long as comfortable. Then repeating it for about five minutes. The effect can be
enhanced by putting the hands together in the “prayer position” and keeping the feet together, flat
on the floor. Then you perform positive breathing. Which is done by taking a deep breath,
holding it as long as comfortable, then exhaling. Then repeating it for about five minutes. The
hands and feet are kept apart As an alternate to these two breathing practices, neutral breathing
can be done. This is simply breathing deeply and regularly for five or ten minutes. Another
alternative, is to do square breathing; Which is basically combining the negative and positive
breathing together. You would inhale deeply, hold the breath for a few seconds. Then exhale
completely and hold the breath out for the same amount of time that you held it in. Ideally, the
inhalation, exhalation, and holding will all be the same amount of time for each. Then repeat this
for five or ten minutes. It is best to do the breathing exercises outside or near an open window if
possible.

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The best way to perform the special breathing, or normal breathing for that matter, is to use
diaphragmatic or belly breathing. Instead of using the muscles of your chest to breath, use the
diaphragm instead. The diaphragm is located just under the lungs, above the stomach. By
expanding the belly outwards, and then relaxing it, the lungs will be driven like a bellows. This
allows for deep breathing for an extended time, since this is the natural way to breath. This is the
way babies naturally breath. If we become tense, we tend to use our chest muscles to breath. This
make for shallow, tense breathing.
In fact, it is best to get into a habit of normally breathing with the diaphragm, during the day. By
doing this, you can breath somewhat deeper all the time. It is important not to strain when you
start to breath more deeply. If you feel a tenseness or straining around your collar bone, you are
breathing too deeply to be sustainable. The affect should be to make you feel vitalized and relaxed.
If you become tired from the breathing in a few hours, you are breathing too deeply. After about a
month of remembering to breath deeply with your diaphragm, it will become a habit and you
won't have to think about it. The idea is to breath in more of the positive Vital Life force all the
time so your body can use this extra Life Force to make itself into a more useful vehicle for spritual
development. This, in conjuction with eating more green leafy vegitables will give you the extra
spiritual energy you need.

Magnetizing Water

A technique to enhance the vitalizing effect of positive breathing, is to charge or magnetize pure
water and drink it. The process is as follows:
Take a bowl filled with pure water and hold it at the level of your solar plexus, placing your hands flat
against the opposite sides. If you wish, you may use a glass. The advantage of a bowl is that you have more
room for the placement of your hands.
Close your eyes and, while concentrating on the psychic consciousness of your hands, perform deep
positive breaths. After concentrating in this way for about three minutes, slowly drink the contents of the
bowl or glass.
In this way, the water becomes impregnated with the positive magnetism emanating from your hands.
This enhances the power of purification and regeneration of the water. This practice provides a surplus of
vitality to your body and it provides a feeling of well-being. It is quite effective for revitalizing you when you
feel tired or have engaged in intense physical or mental activity. The best results are obtained by doing it every
morning, just after awakening, or in the daytime between meals.

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THE WRONG FOOD

In our modern world, the tendency has been to alter nature's products before we eat
them. Primitive man began to cook some food in order to make it more more
palatable. Only a few foods were cooked. Most of them were eaten raw. Then gradually
civilization invented ways and means of altering nearly all foods so that today very little
of the food we eat enters our bodies in its natural condition. The moment we add fire
or heat to our food, we change it so greatly that it no longer represents what nature
intended us to eat. It may be more tasteful, may look more delicate, and may be more
refined in many ways; but it has lost, much, if not all, of the spiritual essence in it,
through heat and cooking. Fire, as the alchemists knew, is a destructive agency as well as
constructive one. But its nature is always to change things. Fire and water, said the
ancient alchemists, were the two great forces in the universe for producing the millions
of changes we see going on. Water is a solvent and dissolves things or changes the
nature of things through solvency. Fire, on the other hand, raises the rates of vibrations
and changes the nature of things in a different way. Cooking any kind of food changes
its original nature, and if we eat an abundance of cooked food we are not deriving the
proper benefit from the food.
On the other hand, eating raw food exclusively is not recommended. A moderate,
medium course should be pursued in the preparation and eating of food
Another serious condition regarding the modern preparation of food is that either in
cooking or preparing the food, so much of the better part of the food is removed. We
are all familiar with the fact that the most nutritious part of the potato is the skin. In
the ordinary process of peeling a potato, the thin layer just beneath the skin, is cut away
and destroyed. Only the center pulp of the potato is eaten. This center pulp will build
up the chemical side of the physical body, but it will not build up the spiritual side.
But when it comes to the cooking of green things, or those things of a green-leaf nature,
people commit the greatest error in the preparation of food. By cooking, stewing, or boiling
these greens, the most important essence, the electromagnetic juice containing the Vital Life
Force, is boiled out and changed in its nature. And when the boiling water is drained off, the
very best part of the food is cast aside.
The ancient mystics who went into this subject very deeply have preserved their discoveries,
and we find them in the ancient writings of the various schools of spiritual thought.
According to these ancient ideas, all living vegetable life that has stems and branches and
foliage rising above the surface of the earth, is filled with a large amount of spiritual essence
which the leaves and stems have received from the sun and the moisture in the air. This
essence, flowing in the leaves and stems of the vegetables or plants, constitutes a vital energy
that is necessary to the spiritual side of life.

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Without this Vital Life Force, the food we eat is just dead matter. It will satisfy the chemical
elements necessary for physical health, but it will not supply the subtle vitality which is also
needed for health and spiritual growth.
The real, fundamental cause of disease lies in an abnormal composition of the polarity
of the body, thereby weakening the nerve energy. And in an improper functioning of
the glands because of a lack of the proper energy. The proper energy and vitality for the
blood can be supplied through only two ways; Namely, the negative energy contained in
the right kind of food and the positive energy brought into the body through breathing.
VEGETABLE FOOD
An important point is that these green cells in green vegetation are not destroyed
by chewing, and are not soluble in water. But are injured by heating and boiling. No
matter how these green plants may be eaten and chewed, they retain their form and
their pure vital essence if they are not boiled or modified by heat. Therefore, these
millions of little green cells, highly charged with spiritual essence, go directly
through the digestive system of the mouth and stomach into the blood stream and
there they discharge their vitality and energy.
The only way to correct the effects of modern diet, is to add plenty of fresh, green
vegetables.
SUMMARY
From all of the foregoing, we see that food is not only a means of building up and
maintaining the physical and material strength of the body, but it is a means of
maintaining the proper spiritual qualities within the physical body so that character and
personality may evolve and the higher spiritual faculties may unfold and function.
We see that proper breathing, along with exercise, wholesome liquids, and vital
foods are essential to life. We see that eating meat is something that must be regulated
and it must not overshadow the eating of vegetables. Absolute abandonment of meat-
eating is not necessary in order to develop a normal body, but an excess of meat-
eating, like an excess of the eating of cooked vegetables, is not in our best interests.
As for which types of vegetables are the best, this must be left to the individual. Water cress
and dandelion are excellent as raw foods and help make other foods tasteful. Celery, green-
leaf lettuce, and similar vegetables with green leaves can be enjoyed as a salad. Uncooked
green peas and green beans are also excellent and absolutely necessary as part of the daily or
weekly diet. The amounts to be taken are to be determined, first, by the enjoyment one
derives from eating these things and, second, by the sense of increasing vitality and energy
experienced after the first few weeks of regulating the diet in this manner. The important
point is that the best results are obtained by eating those green vegetables you enjoy. If
you force yourself to eat food you dislike, it will not be as beneficial.