The following is a response to several letters that were received differing with an editorial in the Order of the Universe entitled, "Food Precedes Body and Spirit." The general tenor of these letters was informed by a view that maintains that body and spirit are separate;
food, therefore was felt to be unimportant to spiritual progress. "Ninety percent of it is controlling the life force and the other 10 percent food,"
objects one writer, and another says that "Food is that material which an organism needs in order to maximize its existence as a living form.
But this food is not the source of life, except in a very superficial view of things....If you have this consciousness, there is no need to worry about illness for your form will be sustained by the consciousness—not the other way around." The follozving article is intended as a specific response to these letters and also as a general approach to the questions they raised.
Thank you very much for your interest and your response to our point of view. Since many seem to be perplexed by the points you mention, we have decided to include our reply in the Order of the Universe. There will be many pages in coming issues that should clarify our philosophy concerning the importance of food and the relation between body and spirit. In the meantime, please think about the following points, and see if they help:
Have you ever read, and tried to understand, this passage from the Taittiriya of the Upanishads?
"Out of Brahman, who is the Self, came ether; out of ether, air; out of air, fire; out of fire, water; out of water, earth; out of earth, vegetation; out of vegetation, food; out of food, the body of
man. The body of man, composed of the essence of food, is the physical sheath of the Self.
"From food are born all creatures, which live upon food and after death return to food. Food is the chief of all things. It is therefore said to be medicine for all diseases of the body. Those who worship food as Brahman gain all relative objects. From food are born all beings which, being born, grow by food. All be-ings feed upon food, and then they die, food feeds upon them."
Often we speak of our human spirit without realizing that everything has spirit. Have you ever considered whether our daily food of grains and vegetables has soul or spirit? If not, then how did they grow? If they do, how do they turn into our soul?
You may have some hint from these words of Jesus:
"If the flesh has come into existence because of the spirit, it is a marvel; but if the spirit has come into existence because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels." (From The Gospel According to Thomas)
We should not restrict our meaning of food to that which we take through our mouth, for we are also eating vibrations in the form of sound and light, and with our intuitive judgment we receive directly from infinity. We eat infinity, and our daily food is a condensed form, a manifestation of, the infinity. There are some who do not eat through the mouth and who continue to live; but we must remember that they ate while they were grow-ing and that they are still eatgrow-ing food in many forms with other parts of the body, as we all do.
As George Ohsawa, the founder of modern macrobiotics, said, universal consciousness, or supreme judgment, is always with us, for we are always within infinity no matter what we do.
How we experience this infinity, however, is another matter; it depends on our health, on the quality of our blood which nour-ishes our organs and determines our perceptions, and this is built and maintained by our daily food. Besides the food we chew and swallow, of course there is the exercise of our imagi-nations and our judgment, our study and the regulation of our daily lives, our meditations and our activity, and all of these are governed by yin and yang. We must emphasize food, however, because without the proper balance on this level none of the others can operate properly.
Finally, consider this: if we separate our soul or spirit from the body and grant it an independent existence, we must explain the following questions:
1. How and where did soul or spirit arise? How were they born?
2. Does the spirit have a birth, a period of growth, does it change, does it die? If it changes, by what mechanism?
3. What is the actual relationship between the spirit and the body, mind, and consciousness?
4. Is mental sickness a sickness of the body or the mind, or the soul, or the the spirit? How can it be cured?
The questions could go on, for dualism raises many prob-lems. As you note, we divide everything into two categories, such as yin and yang, or you may say, Shiva and Shakti; but we have a very definite idea about the relationship between these polarities, as outlined in the Appendix, which together with our cosmology, can answer these questions.
It is difficult to accept the profound influence that food has on us. For many this seems to be a negation of freedom; actually, it is just the beginning of true understanding of man's free ori-gin. Please think about these things and write us again if you are not convinced. You are voicing the doubts of an entire genera-tion, and we welcome the opportunity to discuss them with you in this way.
Chapter 15
Polarities
Did you know that brown rice has seven layers? The first is a transparent covering which is resistant to chemicals, but not to physical attack. When this is punctured, air enters and lowers the quality of the grain, turning it white. Examine the rice you buy very carefully. Good rice, stored well, can last for thousands of years, maintaining its ability to sprout when planted. Food should be life—and to eat is to change one life into another.
The other layers of rice contain fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins, all of the ingredients necessary for a healthy life. The center is composed of starches and carbohydrates. At the end of the grain one can see a dark spot, or "hiaga" in Japanese; these are the poles of the magnetic energy that flows through this most sensitive of plants, around which infinite feeling polarizes. Our midbrain works in the same way, and when we eat brown rice our brain cells begin to duplicate this structure. The result is clear thinking, a sense of direction, and a sure knowledge of the purpose of life.
Mouths
The orifices in our head, through which we take the vibra-tions of infinity in many different forms, are very interesting. We have two eyes, two ears, two nostrils—but only one mouth! We might say that it is through our mouth that we unify our whole being—it is here that we disclose the inseparability of spirit and body.
The navel is our mouth for animal food. Through it we take our mother's blood, which is rich in iron. After we are born our food should become more yin, and, appropriately, the mouth we use also becomes more yin, changing from the central yang
loca-tion of the navel. The basic element of our daily fare should now be carbon, which we take in the form of carbohydrates.
The atomic weight of iron is 56; that of carbon is 12. When we take in more animal foods we must become heavier, more yang, nearer to the center of a spiral that melts into infinity at its periphery. The distance from the navel to the mouth is just this, then: iron minus carbon.
Through our nose we eat oxygen. There is just one inch be-tween the two, but this space makes quite a bit of difference. The less the space between the mouth and the nose, the smaller our capacity of perception and the narrower our personality will be.
Another inch higher and we begin to eat vibrations. The vi-brations our ears receive are very long. Another inch yet, and our eyes begin to receive light, which is made of much shorter waves. Finally, through our midbrain, one inch above the eyes, we receive the shortest waves, the infinite expansion, which is the primary source of all vibrations. Matter, on the lower levels is nothing but a transmuted form of vibrations, and this includes our blood and our entire body. There is no distinct borderline between matter, soul, and spirit.