And.... we're off!!!
Walk, run, skip, through the chaotic streets of Bangkok, look at that fuchsia dragonfruit, ew, sticks of sick meat, don't look that orange juice vendor in the eyes, she's ready to open a bottle and shove it in your face! That temple over there, with shiny gold flames coming out of the sides, a Buddha alter over here, smell the sweet smell of incense wafting away from it, dogs laying sprawled half-moon across sidewalks beside street cafes, little kids are chasing each other and hiding in between folds of clothing for sale on the sidewalk beside the cafe. Duck into the temperature-controlled safety of an internet cafe to find yourself surrounded by teenagers excitedly yelling to each other as they engross in the universe of internet gaming, infinitely exciting and colorful and bonding them to each other like old men over soccer games.
Did I say safety? I mean a noisy schoolyard full of little child deamons. Who, me?? Of COURSE I love children!!! Stairs really are smaller and doorways are indeed shorter and I am much enjoying the feeling of being a "large" person when my feet dangle off the end of the bed. My first day in Asia and I run into two random people from my past as I walk the sidewalks of Khao San Road in the Traveler's Ghetto: The first, a guy I still can't quite place who went to Evergreen and his face is as familiar an imprint on my mind as the zing of peppermint on the tongue. The second, a guy named John who I last saw (and met) on Isla Ometepe in Nicaragua 3 years ago. Then today I met up with some other Rainbow warriors sitting on a sidewalk outside of the Tourist Police Station whom I plan to accompany to the Gathering tomorrow.
Apparently quite a few other folks are here for 4-6 months and are intending to travel to India as well. More on this as I discover it. Phlegm and congestion aside, I am recovering nicely from my flirt with death-inducing bacteria, and I think it's probably a good thing to start my return to the Third World with antibiotics coursing through these veins. Those deadly little bacteria sure do become cute and harmless thanks to the advents of modern science. Which is a good thing, because I hear they're on permanent vacation in tropical nations like Thailand. Time's up, folks, and my ears hurt. Until next time's exciting and enthralling edition, here's to helping you procrastinate from whatever else it is you're avoiding.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
May 2003 College Research Paper
My writing's come a long way since 2003! Slightly outdated, basic, & supercilious, but the topic is still interesting & thought-provoking. Enjoy :)
“We appear to be individual bodies, but this individuality is also a constant state of equilibrium between a true personal authenticity and a continuous participation with the collective energy of all humanity and all existence.” –Richard Moss
Here in the Western World of mechanization, fast food, big money, and scientific medicine, the general population knows very little about health and well-being. In my personal experience, most people as well have very little conscious interest in pursuing such knowledge. Just 1% of children ages two to nineteen meet the federal recommendations for a healthy diet and more than half a million children were taking anti-depressants in 1997, a statistic steadily rising (Cousens 2000:205, 206). Americans drink 450 million cups of coffee everyday, 2.7 gallons of alcohol per person per year, and we spend $238 billion dollars annually on alcohol and drug abuse (Cousens 2000:205). The United States has the highest murder rate of any developed nation in the world (Schumacher 2002), as well as 97 million overweight citizens (Dixon, et. al). More than 40 million Americans are depressed (Cousens 2000:218). Cancer rates continue to increase dramatically, along with allergies and the relatively recent development of ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in 2-8% of American children (Cousens 2000:213). With all of these deficiencies so prevalent in our culture, perhaps it is time we start adopting a more holistic approach to our health.
Western health care appears to lack the tools to comprehensively cure and improve many of its patients with basic ailments, not to mention the heartbreak that so many people are without access to healthcare at all. These facts becomes more understandable when we consider that allopathic medicine is only a few hundred years old; an infant in scope. In contrast, Eastern systems like Ayurveda of India and Chinese medicine have been practiced effectively for 4,000 years at least, and continue to be so.
The fundamental difference between the Eastern approach and that of Western medicine is that Eastern theories emphasize that the human is a holistic being, connected by its body, soul, spirit, and mind with the substances we ingest, the world we live in, and the Cosmos beyond. Much of Western health philosophy still seems to maintain that there is little, if no, connection between human behavior, social and political states, food, and least of all Universal impact, with the human body. We seek to cure illness and disease primarily through the use of chemical medications, mechanical devices, and surgery rather than proper nutrition, environmental and psychological factors, exercise, plant use, etc. It is my feeling that until we go to the depth of understanding that the human body and mind are connected to our environment at large and the substances we ingest - just as a hand connects to the arm - we will continue to degrade further into inferior states of health and consciousness. As author Tom Monte (1993:3) sums up beautifully in his book World Medicine:
One of the shortcomings of the modern approach to healthcare is the belief that we are victims of either our body’s planned obsolescence or of germs…Most treatments are designed to suppress symptoms or kill the invader. How often do we stop to think that perhaps those symptoms are really the body’s way of telling us that something in our behavior is causing an underlying disease…How many of us believe that the body has the power to heal itself?
Perhaps the most tangible way to understand this is by looking at our diet. Food is a concrete (yet mysterious) substance that most people have ingested every day of our lives from birth, yet do not understand. We view food as a utilitarian necessity to carry out the tasks of everyday life, not as a physical, spiritual, or mental adjuster. As a utilitarian substance, most people do not differentiate drastically between whether their food comes from McDonald’s or Safeway, Albertson’s or Pizza Hut. We distinguish food we like via taste because we have so many choices, not by how it affects our bodies and minds. Yet interestingly, people are often most addicted to those foods to which they are allergic (Cousens 2000:164).
A fine example of this point is the fact that 10-70% (depending who the statistics come from) of Americans are to varying degrees hypoglycemic (Cousens 2000:173). Diabetes has skyrocketed to 120 million sufferers worldwide, and this number is expected to increase by 100 million by 2010 (Plesman 2000:9). Why is this? When one considers that most food available to consumers in the United States is high in processed sugar, fat, synthetically or genetically modified ingredients, heavily processed grains, and animal products and derivatives, it is no wonder that we find ourselves with so much obesity, hypoglycemia, and allergies to name a few. The foods that specifically combat these conditions include fresh vegetables, leafy greens, proteins and fats from whole-food sources, and complex carbohydrates, all of which one is hard-pressed to find in many American diets. Even the FDA’s recommendation appearing on most food labels for 9-11 servings of grains compared to 4-5 servings of fruit and vegetables daily reflects a diet unhealthful for human beings but beneficial for the powerful grain industry. This just reinforces the overwhelming dominance of sugar and carbohydrate products filling our grocery shelves and stomachs.
As Rudolf Hauschka (2002:8) explains in Nutrition: A Holistic Approach: “Man is connected with the surrounding world in three distinct ways: through his senses, his breathing, and his nutriment”. With increased pollutants and less oxygen in the air than in the last century due to fossil fuel burning, and highly modified, toxic, unnatural foods occupying the majority of our diet, is there any reason to question why humans are increasingly disconnected from and alienated by the nature from which we originate?
One well-known health impact in food is that of hydrogenated oil. This substance is an integral ingredient in most commercial sweets, bread products, snacks, nearly all margarine, even ice cream. Hydrogenated oils are treated at very high temperatures under pressure, using hydrogen and nickel as catalysts to convert the liquid oil into a creamy, solid fat (Hauschka 2002:58). The resulting product is a fat that cannot be assimilated by the human body due to it’s extremely high melting point and remains in the human body, clogging arteries and digestive tracks, ultimately causing a wide array of illness and disease, not to mention mental and physical discomforts of varying degrees. The ubiquitous use of hydrogenated oils is one of the many detrimental factors contributing to the U.S. ranking 21st in life expectancy out of all developed nations (Cousens 2000:166).
Another item consumed by most Americans is dairy. Many people are allergic to dairy, not to mention the fact that many individuals lack the digestive enzymes to process this food. One of the reasons for this is pasteurization. As a safety requirement of the FDA, most dairy products must be pasteurized for sale. Pasteurization essentially means cooking the product to a temperature at which all bacteria and microorganisms die, making it safer for commercial, long-distance sale. This means that many of the nutritional aspects of the product die as well, in particular enzymatic activity (raw foods are often more nutritious), rendering it a non-living food and also making it much more difficult to digest. This explains the widespread lactose intolerance experienced in this country (Hauschka 2002:54).
The development of modern medicine marked the move away from a holistic health perspective and into a limited definition where the body exists as a single, closed entity, untouched by external forces. The American Medical Association defines health as “the absence of physical and mental disease” (Monte 1993:11). Is this definition taking into account a person’s level of happiness? Perhaps most important to consider, does this definition really take into account a person’s whole well-being and quality of life?
In actuality one’s emotional and mental states are most drastically related to the foods they eat. As early as 1951, some people were aware that the pesticides and herbicides that we spray on nearly all non-organic crops were highly poisonous and detrimental to human beings and that “innumerable deadly illnesses have been caused by this method” (Hauschka 2002:165). Synthetic and poisonous chemicals in our food also have serious ramifications on the human brain, with symptoms from irritability, decreased clarity, and poor concentration (Cousens 2000:428). Aside from drastically increased susceptibility to cancer, this is one of the most important reasons for people to eat organic, minimally processed whole foods. The human body- although highly adaptable and able to withstand a lot of abuse- was not designed to eat Twinkies or Big Macs, or even white bread, while continuing to perform well.
Speaking of Twinkies, hypoglycemia, as mentioned above, is a serious issue in the United States. Hypoglycemia is in fact not a disease, but a symptom of a general imbalance due to pancreas, liver, allergies, or gland stress (Cousens 2000:173). The reason this condition is so prevalent in American society is that most of these imbalances stem from our environment and the stressful, aggressive, overextended lifestyle that includes high levels of synthetic and processed foods like fast food, coffee and artificial stimulants, wheat, and most of all, white sugar. What most people do not think about is that true raw sugar is brown, and in order to refine it into white sugar, petroleum processing is necessary. This unnatural substance is ingested on an average of 125 pounds per person, per year in this country (Cousens 2000:173). With such an astounding number, it makes sense that so many suffer from emotional instability, unexplained crying, panic attacks, drowsiness, low energy, and poor concentration (Cousens 2000:174).
An especially interesting aspect of food and mind is that of mental illness. Most people in our society would be shocked to know that many severe cases of schizophrenia have been cured or greatly improved through diet adjustment. It is possible that 60-70% of all psychosomatic symptoms are actually extreme manifestations of poor adaptation to foods, chemicals, and inhalants (Philpott et al 1980:16). It was found that 92% of schizophrenics developed serious symptoms related to exposure to irritating foods and chemicals like wheat and petroleum gases and products (Philpott et al 1980: 16). In fact, a 39-year-old woman was tested for wheat allergy after a four-day fast using nothing but spring water. Upon ingesting the wheat, the woman experienced a pounding heart, marked depression and loss of judgment and perception. She also said that she felt like punching someone. Three weeks later she was given the same wheat product but was first injected with vitamin C, folic acid, and several other B vitamins. She experienced no symptoms (Philpott et al 1980:51,52). This goes to show that the body responds directly to what we feed it (mentally as well, I might add), and our bodies have the ability to heal themselves quite dramatically when we provide them with the necessary tools.
How do we provide those tools? In order to answer this question we first must understand our eating evolution. The impacts of food and other ingestible substances on our bodies are undeniably reflected in our society at large, and ultimately in the whole of the universe. As human culture first came into being, ours was one of unity; a group mindset ensured that each individual worked as an integral part of the whole community. (Hauschka 2002:22). With simple eating habits and consciousness streaming directly from the spirit world and not from that of the Self, each person acted as that which we really are: A direct channel “…through which the divine breath pulsated” (Hauschka 2002:22).
I refer to the universal energy that gives us life, sustains it, and births it into something new again when it leaves our body (in death). In China they call this energy ‘qi’, in India it is ‘prana’, in Japan it is ‘ki’ and in Greece, ‘pneuma’ (Monte 1993:7). No matter what you call it, this is the energy about which humans have had some level of consciousness forever, and to deny it as we do in today’s Western world will only work to draw us further away from our true being. This denial comes in infinite forms in today’s society whether through our heavily processed food diet, addiction to chemical substances, the attempt to compartmentalize every aspect of life into definable terms- the list goes on. However, one thing is certain: “…As interest in things of earth quickened, contact with the spiritual world grew dimmer” (Hauschka 2002:22). Our self-centered, mind-driven Western society is a direct result of our increasing distance from the Spirit and nature, and into the world of mechanization.
It is particularly interesting to evaluate this point by considering the history of sugar. As mentioned earlier, our culture is saturated with petroleum-processed bleached white sugar that is surely one of the most unnatural, nutritionally devoid forms of carbohydrate. This form of sugar is also extremely agitating to conditions of hypoglycemia and diabetes and on its own can cause weight gain, intestinal toxemia, mood swings, violence, anger, and actual physiological cravings (Cousens 2000:184). What did humans do, before the machine? The earliest and purest form of sugar is honey. For thousands of years humans have extracted honey by hand from the comb of beehives and used it as a sweetener and healer for digestion, healing cuts and wounds, and so on (Hauschka 2002:62). Sugar cane has been in use nearly as long, and was first cultivated by Indians, followed later by Arabs who developed a technique to crystallize the sap from the cane using simple techniques (Hauschka 2002:63). However, much later, it was realized that sugar beets contained exploitable amounts of sugar but would require quite a bit of mechanized processing in order to access it. It was in the early 1800’s that this exploitation process began, which I should note here, is synchronized with the beginnings of the industrial revolution in Western societies. This processing has climaxed with intense refinement processes, from raw sugar cane sap into bleached white sugar, the genetically modified high fructose corn syrup, and perhaps the most synthetic form of sugar, dextrose, which is essentially starch treated with sulphuric acid (Hauschka 2002:66). This progression of human eating habits reflects that of human culture, and vice versa: A path towards more mechanized, less spiritualized techniques allowed by large businesses, and further away from a personally-enabled way of living.
Honey comes from the essence of a plant’s flower combined with the digestive enzymes of a bee and requires no human-driven processing to consume. Raw honey also contains many health benefits and healing properties, including components scientists have not even yet identified (Burns 2000). Sugar cane is a starchy stalk of a plant and can be eaten raw as well, also containing many nutrients. Molasses, which also comes from the sugar cane, is an excellent source of iron. How does an average person make dextrose or high fructose corn syrup? Why would one choose these over such healthful options like natural sugars? It is obvious in this case that a more simple, healthful diet and lifestyle is not only closer to the capacities of an individual, but also better for them. Interestingly, though, we find ourselves in a position now where those capabilities feel beyond the reach of many. With Safeway right down the street, why would one choose to grow one’s own food? Why would I spend hours to extract honey from a comb when I can spend one minute and one dollar on a bag of sugar processed mechanically? These types of questions are extremely important for each person to evaluate, if we are to make choices consciously instead of assuming that there is only one way to get what we want.
With so much instant gratification surrounding us and our whole culture enveloped within that framework, making conscious decisions about our holistic well-being are difficult to say the least:
“…The dietary patterns of a social group affect the spiritual consciousness of that group” (Cousens 2000:164). The concept that consumes our world currently, that of individuality and “every person for her/himself” has worked tremendously to break apart the patchwork fabric of our culture. But like everything, these rips are not irreparable nor are they permanent. Contrary to the common worldview of individuality, humans need to support and nurture one another in order to achieve anything in this world, rather than trampling each other to “get ahead”. Like wolves, we are social to the very core of our beings. The more often we may realize this and act on it with integrity and honor for our nature, the more steps we take in a positive direction towards self-fulfillment, gratification, and peace that we constantly seek out in external, imposing sources like processed foods, television and movies, alcohol, drugs, sex, and so on. It is my feeling that humans are most peaceful and content when working cooperatively with one another and their surroundings. By choosing to treat one’s body with deeper respect, greater thoughtfulness, and careful observation, one enables the well-being of the body and of the community of which one is a part- both in the realm of the Earth and beyond.
“Order is found in things working beneficially together.” –Bill Mollison
Bibliography
Cousens, Gabriel. Conscious Eating. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2000.
Burns, Karima. “Health Benefits of Prophetic Condiments”. Islam Online Health & Science. 12 June 2000 http://www.islam-online.net/English/Science/2000/4/article7.shtml. 27 May 2003.
Dixon, Kim et al. “Body as Commodity”. Body Icon. Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 1999. http://nm-server.jrn.columbia.edu/projects/masters/bodyimage/commodity/fat_page1.html. 23 May, 2003.
Hauschka, Rudolf. Nutrtition: A Holistic Approach. East Sussex: Sophia Books, 2002.
Monte, Tom et al. World Medicine: The East West Guide to Healing Your Body. New York: Perigee Books, 1993.
Philpott, William H. et al. Brain Allergies: The Psychonutrient Connection. New Canaan: Keats Publishing, Inc., 1980.
Plesman, Jurriaan. “Fenugreek Stabilizes Blood Sugar Levels in Hypoglycemics and Diabetics”. The Hypoglycemic Health Newsletter. Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia. March 2000: 9.
Schumacher, Geoff. “America the Violent”. Las Vegas Mercury. 7 November 2002. http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2002/MERC-Nov-07-Thu-2002/19995230.html. 24 May, 2003.
“We appear to be individual bodies, but this individuality is also a constant state of equilibrium between a true personal authenticity and a continuous participation with the collective energy of all humanity and all existence.” –Richard Moss
Here in the Western World of mechanization, fast food, big money, and scientific medicine, the general population knows very little about health and well-being. In my personal experience, most people as well have very little conscious interest in pursuing such knowledge. Just 1% of children ages two to nineteen meet the federal recommendations for a healthy diet and more than half a million children were taking anti-depressants in 1997, a statistic steadily rising (Cousens 2000:205, 206). Americans drink 450 million cups of coffee everyday, 2.7 gallons of alcohol per person per year, and we spend $238 billion dollars annually on alcohol and drug abuse (Cousens 2000:205). The United States has the highest murder rate of any developed nation in the world (Schumacher 2002), as well as 97 million overweight citizens (Dixon, et. al). More than 40 million Americans are depressed (Cousens 2000:218). Cancer rates continue to increase dramatically, along with allergies and the relatively recent development of ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in 2-8% of American children (Cousens 2000:213). With all of these deficiencies so prevalent in our culture, perhaps it is time we start adopting a more holistic approach to our health.
Western health care appears to lack the tools to comprehensively cure and improve many of its patients with basic ailments, not to mention the heartbreak that so many people are without access to healthcare at all. These facts becomes more understandable when we consider that allopathic medicine is only a few hundred years old; an infant in scope. In contrast, Eastern systems like Ayurveda of India and Chinese medicine have been practiced effectively for 4,000 years at least, and continue to be so.
The fundamental difference between the Eastern approach and that of Western medicine is that Eastern theories emphasize that the human is a holistic being, connected by its body, soul, spirit, and mind with the substances we ingest, the world we live in, and the Cosmos beyond. Much of Western health philosophy still seems to maintain that there is little, if no, connection between human behavior, social and political states, food, and least of all Universal impact, with the human body. We seek to cure illness and disease primarily through the use of chemical medications, mechanical devices, and surgery rather than proper nutrition, environmental and psychological factors, exercise, plant use, etc. It is my feeling that until we go to the depth of understanding that the human body and mind are connected to our environment at large and the substances we ingest - just as a hand connects to the arm - we will continue to degrade further into inferior states of health and consciousness. As author Tom Monte (1993:3) sums up beautifully in his book World Medicine:
One of the shortcomings of the modern approach to healthcare is the belief that we are victims of either our body’s planned obsolescence or of germs…Most treatments are designed to suppress symptoms or kill the invader. How often do we stop to think that perhaps those symptoms are really the body’s way of telling us that something in our behavior is causing an underlying disease…How many of us believe that the body has the power to heal itself?
Perhaps the most tangible way to understand this is by looking at our diet. Food is a concrete (yet mysterious) substance that most people have ingested every day of our lives from birth, yet do not understand. We view food as a utilitarian necessity to carry out the tasks of everyday life, not as a physical, spiritual, or mental adjuster. As a utilitarian substance, most people do not differentiate drastically between whether their food comes from McDonald’s or Safeway, Albertson’s or Pizza Hut. We distinguish food we like via taste because we have so many choices, not by how it affects our bodies and minds. Yet interestingly, people are often most addicted to those foods to which they are allergic (Cousens 2000:164).
A fine example of this point is the fact that 10-70% (depending who the statistics come from) of Americans are to varying degrees hypoglycemic (Cousens 2000:173). Diabetes has skyrocketed to 120 million sufferers worldwide, and this number is expected to increase by 100 million by 2010 (Plesman 2000:9). Why is this? When one considers that most food available to consumers in the United States is high in processed sugar, fat, synthetically or genetically modified ingredients, heavily processed grains, and animal products and derivatives, it is no wonder that we find ourselves with so much obesity, hypoglycemia, and allergies to name a few. The foods that specifically combat these conditions include fresh vegetables, leafy greens, proteins and fats from whole-food sources, and complex carbohydrates, all of which one is hard-pressed to find in many American diets. Even the FDA’s recommendation appearing on most food labels for 9-11 servings of grains compared to 4-5 servings of fruit and vegetables daily reflects a diet unhealthful for human beings but beneficial for the powerful grain industry. This just reinforces the overwhelming dominance of sugar and carbohydrate products filling our grocery shelves and stomachs.
As Rudolf Hauschka (2002:8) explains in Nutrition: A Holistic Approach: “Man is connected with the surrounding world in three distinct ways: through his senses, his breathing, and his nutriment”. With increased pollutants and less oxygen in the air than in the last century due to fossil fuel burning, and highly modified, toxic, unnatural foods occupying the majority of our diet, is there any reason to question why humans are increasingly disconnected from and alienated by the nature from which we originate?
One well-known health impact in food is that of hydrogenated oil. This substance is an integral ingredient in most commercial sweets, bread products, snacks, nearly all margarine, even ice cream. Hydrogenated oils are treated at very high temperatures under pressure, using hydrogen and nickel as catalysts to convert the liquid oil into a creamy, solid fat (Hauschka 2002:58). The resulting product is a fat that cannot be assimilated by the human body due to it’s extremely high melting point and remains in the human body, clogging arteries and digestive tracks, ultimately causing a wide array of illness and disease, not to mention mental and physical discomforts of varying degrees. The ubiquitous use of hydrogenated oils is one of the many detrimental factors contributing to the U.S. ranking 21st in life expectancy out of all developed nations (Cousens 2000:166).
Another item consumed by most Americans is dairy. Many people are allergic to dairy, not to mention the fact that many individuals lack the digestive enzymes to process this food. One of the reasons for this is pasteurization. As a safety requirement of the FDA, most dairy products must be pasteurized for sale. Pasteurization essentially means cooking the product to a temperature at which all bacteria and microorganisms die, making it safer for commercial, long-distance sale. This means that many of the nutritional aspects of the product die as well, in particular enzymatic activity (raw foods are often more nutritious), rendering it a non-living food and also making it much more difficult to digest. This explains the widespread lactose intolerance experienced in this country (Hauschka 2002:54).
The development of modern medicine marked the move away from a holistic health perspective and into a limited definition where the body exists as a single, closed entity, untouched by external forces. The American Medical Association defines health as “the absence of physical and mental disease” (Monte 1993:11). Is this definition taking into account a person’s level of happiness? Perhaps most important to consider, does this definition really take into account a person’s whole well-being and quality of life?
In actuality one’s emotional and mental states are most drastically related to the foods they eat. As early as 1951, some people were aware that the pesticides and herbicides that we spray on nearly all non-organic crops were highly poisonous and detrimental to human beings and that “innumerable deadly illnesses have been caused by this method” (Hauschka 2002:165). Synthetic and poisonous chemicals in our food also have serious ramifications on the human brain, with symptoms from irritability, decreased clarity, and poor concentration (Cousens 2000:428). Aside from drastically increased susceptibility to cancer, this is one of the most important reasons for people to eat organic, minimally processed whole foods. The human body- although highly adaptable and able to withstand a lot of abuse- was not designed to eat Twinkies or Big Macs, or even white bread, while continuing to perform well.
Speaking of Twinkies, hypoglycemia, as mentioned above, is a serious issue in the United States. Hypoglycemia is in fact not a disease, but a symptom of a general imbalance due to pancreas, liver, allergies, or gland stress (Cousens 2000:173). The reason this condition is so prevalent in American society is that most of these imbalances stem from our environment and the stressful, aggressive, overextended lifestyle that includes high levels of synthetic and processed foods like fast food, coffee and artificial stimulants, wheat, and most of all, white sugar. What most people do not think about is that true raw sugar is brown, and in order to refine it into white sugar, petroleum processing is necessary. This unnatural substance is ingested on an average of 125 pounds per person, per year in this country (Cousens 2000:173). With such an astounding number, it makes sense that so many suffer from emotional instability, unexplained crying, panic attacks, drowsiness, low energy, and poor concentration (Cousens 2000:174).
An especially interesting aspect of food and mind is that of mental illness. Most people in our society would be shocked to know that many severe cases of schizophrenia have been cured or greatly improved through diet adjustment. It is possible that 60-70% of all psychosomatic symptoms are actually extreme manifestations of poor adaptation to foods, chemicals, and inhalants (Philpott et al 1980:16). It was found that 92% of schizophrenics developed serious symptoms related to exposure to irritating foods and chemicals like wheat and petroleum gases and products (Philpott et al 1980: 16). In fact, a 39-year-old woman was tested for wheat allergy after a four-day fast using nothing but spring water. Upon ingesting the wheat, the woman experienced a pounding heart, marked depression and loss of judgment and perception. She also said that she felt like punching someone. Three weeks later she was given the same wheat product but was first injected with vitamin C, folic acid, and several other B vitamins. She experienced no symptoms (Philpott et al 1980:51,52). This goes to show that the body responds directly to what we feed it (mentally as well, I might add), and our bodies have the ability to heal themselves quite dramatically when we provide them with the necessary tools.
How do we provide those tools? In order to answer this question we first must understand our eating evolution. The impacts of food and other ingestible substances on our bodies are undeniably reflected in our society at large, and ultimately in the whole of the universe. As human culture first came into being, ours was one of unity; a group mindset ensured that each individual worked as an integral part of the whole community. (Hauschka 2002:22). With simple eating habits and consciousness streaming directly from the spirit world and not from that of the Self, each person acted as that which we really are: A direct channel “…through which the divine breath pulsated” (Hauschka 2002:22).
I refer to the universal energy that gives us life, sustains it, and births it into something new again when it leaves our body (in death). In China they call this energy ‘qi’, in India it is ‘prana’, in Japan it is ‘ki’ and in Greece, ‘pneuma’ (Monte 1993:7). No matter what you call it, this is the energy about which humans have had some level of consciousness forever, and to deny it as we do in today’s Western world will only work to draw us further away from our true being. This denial comes in infinite forms in today’s society whether through our heavily processed food diet, addiction to chemical substances, the attempt to compartmentalize every aspect of life into definable terms- the list goes on. However, one thing is certain: “…As interest in things of earth quickened, contact with the spiritual world grew dimmer” (Hauschka 2002:22). Our self-centered, mind-driven Western society is a direct result of our increasing distance from the Spirit and nature, and into the world of mechanization.
It is particularly interesting to evaluate this point by considering the history of sugar. As mentioned earlier, our culture is saturated with petroleum-processed bleached white sugar that is surely one of the most unnatural, nutritionally devoid forms of carbohydrate. This form of sugar is also extremely agitating to conditions of hypoglycemia and diabetes and on its own can cause weight gain, intestinal toxemia, mood swings, violence, anger, and actual physiological cravings (Cousens 2000:184). What did humans do, before the machine? The earliest and purest form of sugar is honey. For thousands of years humans have extracted honey by hand from the comb of beehives and used it as a sweetener and healer for digestion, healing cuts and wounds, and so on (Hauschka 2002:62). Sugar cane has been in use nearly as long, and was first cultivated by Indians, followed later by Arabs who developed a technique to crystallize the sap from the cane using simple techniques (Hauschka 2002:63). However, much later, it was realized that sugar beets contained exploitable amounts of sugar but would require quite a bit of mechanized processing in order to access it. It was in the early 1800’s that this exploitation process began, which I should note here, is synchronized with the beginnings of the industrial revolution in Western societies. This processing has climaxed with intense refinement processes, from raw sugar cane sap into bleached white sugar, the genetically modified high fructose corn syrup, and perhaps the most synthetic form of sugar, dextrose, which is essentially starch treated with sulphuric acid (Hauschka 2002:66). This progression of human eating habits reflects that of human culture, and vice versa: A path towards more mechanized, less spiritualized techniques allowed by large businesses, and further away from a personally-enabled way of living.
Honey comes from the essence of a plant’s flower combined with the digestive enzymes of a bee and requires no human-driven processing to consume. Raw honey also contains many health benefits and healing properties, including components scientists have not even yet identified (Burns 2000). Sugar cane is a starchy stalk of a plant and can be eaten raw as well, also containing many nutrients. Molasses, which also comes from the sugar cane, is an excellent source of iron. How does an average person make dextrose or high fructose corn syrup? Why would one choose these over such healthful options like natural sugars? It is obvious in this case that a more simple, healthful diet and lifestyle is not only closer to the capacities of an individual, but also better for them. Interestingly, though, we find ourselves in a position now where those capabilities feel beyond the reach of many. With Safeway right down the street, why would one choose to grow one’s own food? Why would I spend hours to extract honey from a comb when I can spend one minute and one dollar on a bag of sugar processed mechanically? These types of questions are extremely important for each person to evaluate, if we are to make choices consciously instead of assuming that there is only one way to get what we want.
With so much instant gratification surrounding us and our whole culture enveloped within that framework, making conscious decisions about our holistic well-being are difficult to say the least:
“…The dietary patterns of a social group affect the spiritual consciousness of that group” (Cousens 2000:164). The concept that consumes our world currently, that of individuality and “every person for her/himself” has worked tremendously to break apart the patchwork fabric of our culture. But like everything, these rips are not irreparable nor are they permanent. Contrary to the common worldview of individuality, humans need to support and nurture one another in order to achieve anything in this world, rather than trampling each other to “get ahead”. Like wolves, we are social to the very core of our beings. The more often we may realize this and act on it with integrity and honor for our nature, the more steps we take in a positive direction towards self-fulfillment, gratification, and peace that we constantly seek out in external, imposing sources like processed foods, television and movies, alcohol, drugs, sex, and so on. It is my feeling that humans are most peaceful and content when working cooperatively with one another and their surroundings. By choosing to treat one’s body with deeper respect, greater thoughtfulness, and careful observation, one enables the well-being of the body and of the community of which one is a part- both in the realm of the Earth and beyond.
“Order is found in things working beneficially together.” –Bill Mollison
Bibliography
Cousens, Gabriel. Conscious Eating. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2000.
Burns, Karima. “Health Benefits of Prophetic Condiments”. Islam Online Health & Science. 12 June 2000 http://www.islam-online.net/English/Science/2000/4/article7.shtml. 27 May 2003.
Dixon, Kim et al. “Body as Commodity”. Body Icon. Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 1999. http://nm-server.jrn.columbia.edu/projects/masters/bodyimage/commodity/fat_page1.html. 23 May, 2003.
Hauschka, Rudolf. Nutrtition: A Holistic Approach. East Sussex: Sophia Books, 2002.
Monte, Tom et al. World Medicine: The East West Guide to Healing Your Body. New York: Perigee Books, 1993.
Philpott, William H. et al. Brain Allergies: The Psychonutrient Connection. New Canaan: Keats Publishing, Inc., 1980.
Plesman, Jurriaan. “Fenugreek Stabilizes Blood Sugar Levels in Hypoglycemics and Diabetics”. The Hypoglycemic Health Newsletter. Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia. March 2000: 9.
Schumacher, Geoff. “America the Violent”. Las Vegas Mercury. 7 November 2002. http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2002/MERC-Nov-07-Thu-2002/19995230.html. 24 May, 2003.
The Dance
7/17/07
There I am, dancing the dance of the Universe making love with the music and it occurs how easy it is to give myself into the music, give myself into the flow… stop pushing against the current of sound waves, trying to pretend they’re not there or that they are something else or that I’m not controlling things properly… A voice is soothing in the mind, controlling is futile, how much more pleasant, ecstatic, blissful, peaceful to let go through a leap of faith that the current will carry me softly, buoyantly, lusciously.
This friend of mine has been an inspiration for a particular aggravation today and as I began to lay into the flow of the music, the sound stroked artfully at my being and onto it was said that my selfishness, my insecurities, and ultimately my complete compromising self-obsession was the source of all irritation, having nothing to do with any perceived shortcomings of the Other. Tensions melted away like liquid from its casing, in sighting that I am the source and also the destination, a pleasant knowing that the shadows and companionships and fullness I’m always seeking, are always with me as I seek them. The sound continued wrapping me in the warmth of playful experimentation, liberation through physical interaction, and again came a wisp of simplicity that languidly twisted through me, the Dance soothes and food nourishes and flowers smile and people challenge, naturally these pleasures are meant for practice, presenting themselves in such agreeable manners to the being. Again I have been pushing against the currents of time and spirit and space in futile attempts at self-woe, redirection, reformation, deprecation. For one who creates, should not the creator be at work in day-to-day livelihoods? Can there be any other way to peaceful & progressive flirtation in the ocean of One?
I relax further into it and smile to observe and then become a passing moment of perfection.
There I am, dancing the dance of the Universe making love with the music and it occurs how easy it is to give myself into the music, give myself into the flow… stop pushing against the current of sound waves, trying to pretend they’re not there or that they are something else or that I’m not controlling things properly… A voice is soothing in the mind, controlling is futile, how much more pleasant, ecstatic, blissful, peaceful to let go through a leap of faith that the current will carry me softly, buoyantly, lusciously.
This friend of mine has been an inspiration for a particular aggravation today and as I began to lay into the flow of the music, the sound stroked artfully at my being and onto it was said that my selfishness, my insecurities, and ultimately my complete compromising self-obsession was the source of all irritation, having nothing to do with any perceived shortcomings of the Other. Tensions melted away like liquid from its casing, in sighting that I am the source and also the destination, a pleasant knowing that the shadows and companionships and fullness I’m always seeking, are always with me as I seek them. The sound continued wrapping me in the warmth of playful experimentation, liberation through physical interaction, and again came a wisp of simplicity that languidly twisted through me, the Dance soothes and food nourishes and flowers smile and people challenge, naturally these pleasures are meant for practice, presenting themselves in such agreeable manners to the being. Again I have been pushing against the currents of time and spirit and space in futile attempts at self-woe, redirection, reformation, deprecation. For one who creates, should not the creator be at work in day-to-day livelihoods? Can there be any other way to peaceful & progressive flirtation in the ocean of One?
I relax further into it and smile to observe and then become a passing moment of perfection.
A Grand Conclusion: Brushing Death & Breathing Life
Hello little seeds and saplings of enlightenment,
...From exotic Norristown, Pennsylvania. Never heard of it? It's a remote village in the southeast corner of this expansive state in the great and mighty crumbling empire of the United States of America. (Is that an oxymoron?) Maybe, like me, you are surprised that I am here... and not inIndia, overlooking humbling Himalayan mountains and sipping chai. I'll give you the long-but-short of it:
The day was April 19th and after seeming to improve in health and vitality for several days, I had now been deteriorating for several days; First I woke up one morning with a continual headrush when standing, and intestinal bleeding. I went back to my doctor and she told me I had low hemoglobin and was weak, and recommended healing foods to eat and told me I had probably just eaten some "dirty" food (a favorite explanation in India!), and sent me on my way with my 2nd weeks' dose of antibiotics. Then a fever returned. By the 19th, when Matti came to visit me for lunch, (we had split up to seperate guesthouses a few days before, to take space from each other) I was weak and utterly dizzy and had a temp. of 102 again. But it seemed like the right thing, to go eat with him... So I hazily walked behind him down the steps and a short walk down the road to a restaurant and we ate.
Like a ton of bricks, dizziness was overwhelming me. I found myself, forthe second time in 3 days, laying down unable to sit up on a restaurant bench, and after 1/2 hour with no improvement, Matti asked me if he should fetch the doctor and I vaguely told him "that would be good". When they returned, the doctor told me to stand up and I knew I was going down if I did. But I noticed a taxi waiting out front for us, and after taking a few steps with the help of Dr. Naveen, the next thing I knew I felt like I was floating away from my body and then I heard Matti say "I'm sorry!" as my head bumped the door of the taxi and I came to, cradled in his arms in the back seat of the taxi.
At the hospital in Rishikesh with an IV in my arm again, I was told I was going to need blood, which they couldn't provide there, so I would need to transfer to the big hospital near Dehradun. Around 11 PM they wheeled me into an ambulance and Matti rushed to our guesthouses to grab all of our things and check out and by midnight or 1 we were in the ER in Dehradun after a nauseous and bumpy ambulance ride.
This is when surreality took over. I can't really describe yet what a strange reality it was, to be conscious and communicative but simultaneously so close to Death... after taking blood samples, everyone was alarmed to discover that I was severely anemic: While the average healthy woman should have hemoglobin levels between 12-16 g/dl, mine was dangerously low at 4.7, coupled with a fever of 104 and Typhoid that had progressed into its later stages of extreme infection, Matti was told that he was now responsible for my life and making decisions in the absence of any family members, and meanwhile I was poked and prodded in every orifice of my body, shivering under two wool blankets next to a heater, getting shots in my butt and a tube stuck down my throat (this was by far the most painful of any treatment, and it proved to be unnecessary), x-rays and ultrasound and stool samples and oxygen and dozens of different nurses and doctors asking me questions, telling me to take pills, taking my blood pressure and sticking thermometers in my armpits, all the while I'm scared and perhaps slightly delirious, but ironically for the most part unawareof the seriousness of my condition.
Matti sat by my side all night long and held my hand and listened to me whispering my philosophical insights into the meaning of the experience unfolding for us in between tears and attempts at sleep and rest, while the flourescent lights pierced me and the tube rubbed at the back of my throat, making it more sore. The next day more psychological pain ensued, which I'm sure was a sign of my improvement, but still the fever lingered and weakness persisted as I continued to loose blood and we waited uneasily for the fever to come down so that the blood transfusions could be performed... I always wanted to know my blood type, and now I knew: I am O negative.
I've never believed in angels, pixies perhaps seem more plausible to me, but there's really no other way to describe Matti's role in my life...what can be done to repay the debt of life to another person who has saved it? And not only saved it, but nurtured it... from rubbing my back to asking the doctors questions they didn't want to answer, to getting my drugs (in India the patients' family is responsible not only for their personal care in the hospital, but for procuring drugs and supplies from the pharmacy before the nurses can administer them!!) and fetching food for me, helping me drink water and eat when I was very weak, and arranging the pillows behind my back when I was able to sit up... communicating with my parents and his, gathering information, emptying my bedpan and vomit, giving chocolate to the nurses, making me laugh and pulling me out of the depressed mindstates that ensued, rubbing mosquito repellent on me at night, giving blood so that I could receive more (in India they also try to trade blood for blood, since doners are in short supply), convincing and policing me to eat when I had no desire... he wasn't just a rock, but a big, towering granite boulder that I could lean against, rest upon, feel the warmth from like it had sat absorbing the heat of the sun all day long. Matti served me selflessly in a way I never imagined possible. I didn't realize human beings could treat each other in such a manner...with such a level of integrity... how can we ever doubt the true nature of humanity, that so many dozens of people have contributed so willingly, so fluidly, to assure the continued existence of just one single person???
If this experience has secured in my thoughts one thing, it is that we ARE seeds of enlightenment... and the qualities of purity, piety, integrity,and selflessness can be cultivated in the most tiny of actions, to have massive effects like tsunamis across an ocean. What efforts could be more important in ANY life, than cultivating such noble attributes for one's own benefit, and for the benefit of so many others? And while I came close enough to Death to hear it's whispers, quickly I ricochet back into Life and interestingly I find that although the two coexist like opposite sides of the same coin, it is very difficult to maintain the connection to the other while existing within its contrast.
Matti's incredible attentiveness continued when he realized that I was going to need more help and for that my parents would need to come to India to retreive me. After much communicating, my mother arrived on a Tuesday night bearing flowers and a Reed's Ginger Ale. For a woman who works in coorporate America and lives on the 35th floor of a Manhattan coorporate apartment and eats at 5-star restaurants, my mother demonstrated a courageous determination in coming to India, sleeping on a hospital cot, and eating dal and rice with me for 5 days while taking over all of the other duties that Matti had been fulfilling. Four kinds of antibiotics, three blood transfusions, 12 pounds of weight loss, and9 days in the hospital later, I was released. Marge (my mom) and I took a heinus 7-hour, 200-kilometer drive to Delhi and arrived at the sickly-extravagant Radisson hotel late at night and flew out to NYC the next afternoon.
Weak, underweight, and still anemic (my hemoglobin level went from 4.7 to9-something, so now I have to build it up to 12) but feeling stronger and more grounded every day, I have months of recovery ahead. I won't be traveling much and I won't be climbing any mountains anytime soon, and I won't be filling your inboxes with any more travel journals for awhile. Maybe I'll write that book... be a little introverted for awhile...reconnect with my love of cooking and gardening and try as hard as I can to stay put, and reflect on my new life, giving thanks to the dozens of nurses, doctors, family, and friends (and my own personal angel, of course), who gifted it to me. Give a call if you want to come visit suburb- err, village life in Norristown, Pixie's done with making rounds to everyone else for a while. May you all feel the flood of whatever moves you to live, to be vital, to serve, to give yourself up to the spirit of Oneness that underlies every atom of the Universe.
love love love Pix
...From exotic Norristown, Pennsylvania. Never heard of it? It's a remote village in the southeast corner of this expansive state in the great and mighty crumbling empire of the United States of America. (Is that an oxymoron?) Maybe, like me, you are surprised that I am here... and not inIndia, overlooking humbling Himalayan mountains and sipping chai. I'll give you the long-but-short of it:
The day was April 19th and after seeming to improve in health and vitality for several days, I had now been deteriorating for several days; First I woke up one morning with a continual headrush when standing, and intestinal bleeding. I went back to my doctor and she told me I had low hemoglobin and was weak, and recommended healing foods to eat and told me I had probably just eaten some "dirty" food (a favorite explanation in India!), and sent me on my way with my 2nd weeks' dose of antibiotics. Then a fever returned. By the 19th, when Matti came to visit me for lunch, (we had split up to seperate guesthouses a few days before, to take space from each other) I was weak and utterly dizzy and had a temp. of 102 again. But it seemed like the right thing, to go eat with him... So I hazily walked behind him down the steps and a short walk down the road to a restaurant and we ate.
Like a ton of bricks, dizziness was overwhelming me. I found myself, forthe second time in 3 days, laying down unable to sit up on a restaurant bench, and after 1/2 hour with no improvement, Matti asked me if he should fetch the doctor and I vaguely told him "that would be good". When they returned, the doctor told me to stand up and I knew I was going down if I did. But I noticed a taxi waiting out front for us, and after taking a few steps with the help of Dr. Naveen, the next thing I knew I felt like I was floating away from my body and then I heard Matti say "I'm sorry!" as my head bumped the door of the taxi and I came to, cradled in his arms in the back seat of the taxi.
At the hospital in Rishikesh with an IV in my arm again, I was told I was going to need blood, which they couldn't provide there, so I would need to transfer to the big hospital near Dehradun. Around 11 PM they wheeled me into an ambulance and Matti rushed to our guesthouses to grab all of our things and check out and by midnight or 1 we were in the ER in Dehradun after a nauseous and bumpy ambulance ride.
This is when surreality took over. I can't really describe yet what a strange reality it was, to be conscious and communicative but simultaneously so close to Death... after taking blood samples, everyone was alarmed to discover that I was severely anemic: While the average healthy woman should have hemoglobin levels between 12-16 g/dl, mine was dangerously low at 4.7, coupled with a fever of 104 and Typhoid that had progressed into its later stages of extreme infection, Matti was told that he was now responsible for my life and making decisions in the absence of any family members, and meanwhile I was poked and prodded in every orifice of my body, shivering under two wool blankets next to a heater, getting shots in my butt and a tube stuck down my throat (this was by far the most painful of any treatment, and it proved to be unnecessary), x-rays and ultrasound and stool samples and oxygen and dozens of different nurses and doctors asking me questions, telling me to take pills, taking my blood pressure and sticking thermometers in my armpits, all the while I'm scared and perhaps slightly delirious, but ironically for the most part unawareof the seriousness of my condition.
Matti sat by my side all night long and held my hand and listened to me whispering my philosophical insights into the meaning of the experience unfolding for us in between tears and attempts at sleep and rest, while the flourescent lights pierced me and the tube rubbed at the back of my throat, making it more sore. The next day more psychological pain ensued, which I'm sure was a sign of my improvement, but still the fever lingered and weakness persisted as I continued to loose blood and we waited uneasily for the fever to come down so that the blood transfusions could be performed... I always wanted to know my blood type, and now I knew: I am O negative.
I've never believed in angels, pixies perhaps seem more plausible to me, but there's really no other way to describe Matti's role in my life...what can be done to repay the debt of life to another person who has saved it? And not only saved it, but nurtured it... from rubbing my back to asking the doctors questions they didn't want to answer, to getting my drugs (in India the patients' family is responsible not only for their personal care in the hospital, but for procuring drugs and supplies from the pharmacy before the nurses can administer them!!) and fetching food for me, helping me drink water and eat when I was very weak, and arranging the pillows behind my back when I was able to sit up... communicating with my parents and his, gathering information, emptying my bedpan and vomit, giving chocolate to the nurses, making me laugh and pulling me out of the depressed mindstates that ensued, rubbing mosquito repellent on me at night, giving blood so that I could receive more (in India they also try to trade blood for blood, since doners are in short supply), convincing and policing me to eat when I had no desire... he wasn't just a rock, but a big, towering granite boulder that I could lean against, rest upon, feel the warmth from like it had sat absorbing the heat of the sun all day long. Matti served me selflessly in a way I never imagined possible. I didn't realize human beings could treat each other in such a manner...with such a level of integrity... how can we ever doubt the true nature of humanity, that so many dozens of people have contributed so willingly, so fluidly, to assure the continued existence of just one single person???
If this experience has secured in my thoughts one thing, it is that we ARE seeds of enlightenment... and the qualities of purity, piety, integrity,and selflessness can be cultivated in the most tiny of actions, to have massive effects like tsunamis across an ocean. What efforts could be more important in ANY life, than cultivating such noble attributes for one's own benefit, and for the benefit of so many others? And while I came close enough to Death to hear it's whispers, quickly I ricochet back into Life and interestingly I find that although the two coexist like opposite sides of the same coin, it is very difficult to maintain the connection to the other while existing within its contrast.
Matti's incredible attentiveness continued when he realized that I was going to need more help and for that my parents would need to come to India to retreive me. After much communicating, my mother arrived on a Tuesday night bearing flowers and a Reed's Ginger Ale. For a woman who works in coorporate America and lives on the 35th floor of a Manhattan coorporate apartment and eats at 5-star restaurants, my mother demonstrated a courageous determination in coming to India, sleeping on a hospital cot, and eating dal and rice with me for 5 days while taking over all of the other duties that Matti had been fulfilling. Four kinds of antibiotics, three blood transfusions, 12 pounds of weight loss, and9 days in the hospital later, I was released. Marge (my mom) and I took a heinus 7-hour, 200-kilometer drive to Delhi and arrived at the sickly-extravagant Radisson hotel late at night and flew out to NYC the next afternoon.
Weak, underweight, and still anemic (my hemoglobin level went from 4.7 to9-something, so now I have to build it up to 12) but feeling stronger and more grounded every day, I have months of recovery ahead. I won't be traveling much and I won't be climbing any mountains anytime soon, and I won't be filling your inboxes with any more travel journals for awhile. Maybe I'll write that book... be a little introverted for awhile...reconnect with my love of cooking and gardening and try as hard as I can to stay put, and reflect on my new life, giving thanks to the dozens of nurses, doctors, family, and friends (and my own personal angel, of course), who gifted it to me. Give a call if you want to come visit suburb- err, village life in Norristown, Pixie's done with making rounds to everyone else for a while. May you all feel the flood of whatever moves you to live, to be vital, to serve, to give yourself up to the spirit of Oneness that underlies every atom of the Universe.
love love love Pix
You Are Beautiful in Rishikesh
That's right, YOU. Actually, you are beautiful no matter where I am. 'Cause that's where I am- Rishikesh. You can be beautiful just about anywhere, except maybe places where the law of gravity is different because then your body im/explodes and your mind- well, none of us really knows where that goes, but that is the beautiful part and something tells me it doesn't remain in its cohesive and beautiful state. But maybe one of you out there is bound to prove me wrong (Adam Wollenberg).
~~~
I love my toothpaste. For $3 a tube I can look forward to months of squeaky teeth. Dr. Burt really has his shit together, actually, because when I was in Laos suffering from poison oak carried from California, little dabs of this toothpaste saved my hands and feet from further itchy infestation. Thanks also to the inspiration of a very beauty-savvy Vanessa Charles, many a pimple have been dessimated by applying Dr. Burt's as well. What's his secret? I venture a guess with bentonite clay. And lavender- you can be sure lavender plays her part. I feel good about Burt's Bees as a company, too- as good as one might feel about a corporate entity. Their products- my toothpaste included, of course- are packaged in mostly-recycled materials, and encourage people to recycle (in rich countries where recycling facilities actually exist)... and as a company they can be credited with pioneering the spread of "natural", crapless body products into the far corners of drug stores, gift shops, and supermarkets across America.
You can imagine my dismay when, on day 2 or 3 of a 10-day Vipassana course in Jaipur, India, I realized the last squirts of toothpaste were fast approaching and I would need to request that management provide me with a new toothpaste. Having not used "regular" toothpaste, i.e. Crest/Colgate sugar-fluoride-teeth-rotting-cocktail for a decade, I assumed writing on my request form "herbal toothpaste" would suffice to guarantee a decent Ayurvedic brand of some sort. My confusion was apparent when, later that day, a server brought me a tube of Colgate Herbal Toothpaste, combining the best of the natural world with the healing technologies of Colgate/Palmolive: for 50 rupees (just over $1) I had in front of me a massive tube of fluoridated, sugared, colored chamomile-myrrh-eucalyptus toothpaste. I wondered to myself how this could be possible. And then quickly the answer came: This is India... A country where people still place high value on the power of herbs, who inherently revere the Natural World. And this is a major multi-national corporation, Colgate. A defining characteristic of any multi-national company is the ability to shapeshift. They adjust price and product to reflect the nature of the people they sell to, to successfully compete in the market. Pizza Huts across India offer traditional Indian floor seating. Frito-Lay manufactures snacks made from rice meal and cheap, rancid vegetable oil that I'm sure they would deem "authentic", in flavors like "Punjab Spice", "Hyderabadi Hot", and "Delhi Mix". Coca-Cola produces a mango-flavored "juice" that school children prefer over the real thing. Somehow corporations caught on that India is a BIG market, and they're flooding it.
So there I was in Jaipur, sitting the Vipassana course as the heat was getting hotter and more unbearable everyday and the monkeys came to take refuge in the shade of the trees and guest rooms and the birds screeched and hollered in daily symphonies of deafening crescendos and my mind boiled and bubbled to bursting points. For the first 6 days I wanted to leave, and okay let's be honest, pretty much every day after that, too. For some reason I was having an incredibly difficult course and it was all I could do just to stay put and keep sitting, not to mention the sorry state of disorder and chaos occupying my mind. Finally day 10 came and I saw the change in Matti's face and met lovely people and got a bit freed-up from the cage of the mind. The next day Matti and I got spit out into Jaipur, a city of 2+ million, rough and tough and very stereotypically-Indian with aggressive beggars and rickshaw drivers and noise and dirty, dirty air etc. We passed the afternoon eating pasta and pizza in an Americanized joint geared towards rich young Indians that looped the same CD over and over again and then BAM!!!!! I have a temperature of 103.
One day passes as we try somewhat urgently to get the hell out of Jaipur... the train is booked up for a week so Matti gets his wish of taking a sleeper bus to Haridwar and then I get my wish of going to an Ayurvedic hospital where I'm told I have sensitivity to heat and climate, and they give me Ayurvedic medicines to help with the discomfort and send me on my way. A bus to Rishikesh... two days, three days, four days, to a hospital in Rishikesh and I get hooked up to an IV with antibiotics and fever-reducers, sent home and that night have intense sweats and chills and wake up with a temp of 105 feeling like I'm dying. Matti serves again and calls the doctor and fetches a Jeep and I'm at the hospital again getting hooked up to an IV in a hazy-but-irritable daze between waking and sleeping. Three days in the hospital and a blood test later, finally my exact sickness is determined when the Typhoid test comes back positive. I have Typhoid. By the time I finally leave the hospital, I'm going crazy from laying in a bed in the waiting room and being around people and flies and eating kitcheri and chai and having a needle stuck in my arm and I feel like I've just lost a week of my life.
I'm recovering nicely now and everyday I feel stronger, more human. Where would I be without Matti? Probably stuck in Jaipur breathing toxic air and recovering much more slowly than here at the base of the mighty Himalayas alongside the great Ganga where people come to evolve spirit. I've never had someone serve me so selflessly, except of course for my parents, and there have been many excellent lessons accompanying this sickness. How does one who has been conditioned not to let people help her, allow love and support and HELP in? Well, having a high fever helps speed up the process and help becomes more of a necessity and less of a luxury. Not to mention the challenge of vulnerability and asking for things I need- true signs of emotional maturity that have illuded me throughout life but I'm now creating more and more opportunity for practice.
Give thanks, you beautiful people, for within every moment awaits the opportunity for growth and expansion, for reaching nearer and nearer peace and happiness... and not just superficial happiness that comes from outside, but the real ooey gooey stuff that comes from deep inside, in
fact the only kind that will sustain us, liberate us. I'm grateful that so many of you have been writing to me, however randomly, travel is a great gift because it motivates people to write where they might not otherwise, and I love hearing about the daily lives that all of you maintain in whatever format, nomadic or sedentary, quiet or tumultuous, happy or sad... all are part of the global web we're all weaving together all the time, a big fat vuluptuous web of being...
loving light
Pix
~~~
I love my toothpaste. For $3 a tube I can look forward to months of squeaky teeth. Dr. Burt really has his shit together, actually, because when I was in Laos suffering from poison oak carried from California, little dabs of this toothpaste saved my hands and feet from further itchy infestation. Thanks also to the inspiration of a very beauty-savvy Vanessa Charles, many a pimple have been dessimated by applying Dr. Burt's as well. What's his secret? I venture a guess with bentonite clay. And lavender- you can be sure lavender plays her part. I feel good about Burt's Bees as a company, too- as good as one might feel about a corporate entity. Their products- my toothpaste included, of course- are packaged in mostly-recycled materials, and encourage people to recycle (in rich countries where recycling facilities actually exist)... and as a company they can be credited with pioneering the spread of "natural", crapless body products into the far corners of drug stores, gift shops, and supermarkets across America.
You can imagine my dismay when, on day 2 or 3 of a 10-day Vipassana course in Jaipur, India, I realized the last squirts of toothpaste were fast approaching and I would need to request that management provide me with a new toothpaste. Having not used "regular" toothpaste, i.e. Crest/Colgate sugar-fluoride-teeth-rotting-cocktail for a decade, I assumed writing on my request form "herbal toothpaste" would suffice to guarantee a decent Ayurvedic brand of some sort. My confusion was apparent when, later that day, a server brought me a tube of Colgate Herbal Toothpaste, combining the best of the natural world with the healing technologies of Colgate/Palmolive: for 50 rupees (just over $1) I had in front of me a massive tube of fluoridated, sugared, colored chamomile-myrrh-eucalyptus toothpaste. I wondered to myself how this could be possible. And then quickly the answer came: This is India... A country where people still place high value on the power of herbs, who inherently revere the Natural World. And this is a major multi-national corporation, Colgate. A defining characteristic of any multi-national company is the ability to shapeshift. They adjust price and product to reflect the nature of the people they sell to, to successfully compete in the market. Pizza Huts across India offer traditional Indian floor seating. Frito-Lay manufactures snacks made from rice meal and cheap, rancid vegetable oil that I'm sure they would deem "authentic", in flavors like "Punjab Spice", "Hyderabadi Hot", and "Delhi Mix". Coca-Cola produces a mango-flavored "juice" that school children prefer over the real thing. Somehow corporations caught on that India is a BIG market, and they're flooding it.
So there I was in Jaipur, sitting the Vipassana course as the heat was getting hotter and more unbearable everyday and the monkeys came to take refuge in the shade of the trees and guest rooms and the birds screeched and hollered in daily symphonies of deafening crescendos and my mind boiled and bubbled to bursting points. For the first 6 days I wanted to leave, and okay let's be honest, pretty much every day after that, too. For some reason I was having an incredibly difficult course and it was all I could do just to stay put and keep sitting, not to mention the sorry state of disorder and chaos occupying my mind. Finally day 10 came and I saw the change in Matti's face and met lovely people and got a bit freed-up from the cage of the mind. The next day Matti and I got spit out into Jaipur, a city of 2+ million, rough and tough and very stereotypically-Indian with aggressive beggars and rickshaw drivers and noise and dirty, dirty air etc. We passed the afternoon eating pasta and pizza in an Americanized joint geared towards rich young Indians that looped the same CD over and over again and then BAM!!!!! I have a temperature of 103.
One day passes as we try somewhat urgently to get the hell out of Jaipur... the train is booked up for a week so Matti gets his wish of taking a sleeper bus to Haridwar and then I get my wish of going to an Ayurvedic hospital where I'm told I have sensitivity to heat and climate, and they give me Ayurvedic medicines to help with the discomfort and send me on my way. A bus to Rishikesh... two days, three days, four days, to a hospital in Rishikesh and I get hooked up to an IV with antibiotics and fever-reducers, sent home and that night have intense sweats and chills and wake up with a temp of 105 feeling like I'm dying. Matti serves again and calls the doctor and fetches a Jeep and I'm at the hospital again getting hooked up to an IV in a hazy-but-irritable daze between waking and sleeping. Three days in the hospital and a blood test later, finally my exact sickness is determined when the Typhoid test comes back positive. I have Typhoid. By the time I finally leave the hospital, I'm going crazy from laying in a bed in the waiting room and being around people and flies and eating kitcheri and chai and having a needle stuck in my arm and I feel like I've just lost a week of my life.
I'm recovering nicely now and everyday I feel stronger, more human. Where would I be without Matti? Probably stuck in Jaipur breathing toxic air and recovering much more slowly than here at the base of the mighty Himalayas alongside the great Ganga where people come to evolve spirit. I've never had someone serve me so selflessly, except of course for my parents, and there have been many excellent lessons accompanying this sickness. How does one who has been conditioned not to let people help her, allow love and support and HELP in? Well, having a high fever helps speed up the process and help becomes more of a necessity and less of a luxury. Not to mention the challenge of vulnerability and asking for things I need- true signs of emotional maturity that have illuded me throughout life but I'm now creating more and more opportunity for practice.
Give thanks, you beautiful people, for within every moment awaits the opportunity for growth and expansion, for reaching nearer and nearer peace and happiness... and not just superficial happiness that comes from outside, but the real ooey gooey stuff that comes from deep inside, in
fact the only kind that will sustain us, liberate us. I'm grateful that so many of you have been writing to me, however randomly, travel is a great gift because it motivates people to write where they might not otherwise, and I love hearing about the daily lives that all of you maintain in whatever format, nomadic or sedentary, quiet or tumultuous, happy or sad... all are part of the global web we're all weaving together all the time, a big fat vuluptuous web of being...
loving light
Pix
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