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You
are What You Eat
Nutrition in food supplies the necessary building blocks for the body and
determines among other things the quality of the blood. It is well
known that blood carries the human soul. There is therefore an
unmistakable link between nutrition and the human being who consumes
it.
A
major part of the food we eat must be broken down before the body
can process the nutrients contained in it. Within the digestion
system, the foodstuffs are broken down and the food particles thus
released are separated according to the laws of polarity. Whatever
is useful for the body is kept and stored as `building blocks.' And
whatever is unusable is rejected and eliminated from the system.
Metabolism therefore proceeds according to the law of
opposites, just as everything else on earth. The human being is
participating in an alchemical metabolism which leads him back to
the point of departure, namely to that point in which he left the
divine creation and began to create his own world of opposites. The
Bible explains that he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil and that this was the reason he was forced to leave
Paradise.
This story points to the moment in which the unity of
microcosm and the divine consciousness was broken. The human being
fell into an existence in which he had to choose continually between
the divine and that which was in conflict with the divine. Through
the violent electromagnetic disturbances that this bipolarity caused
within his system, it became more and more difficult to consume the
higher vibrations of the divine streams of life, the Holy Foods. The
process of descending down into the world of opposites lasted aeons.
Since then, all the processes within the human being and within his
environment are subject to the law of opposites, and he is forced to
choose continually.
The balance is becoming increasingly disturbed
In this process of identifying himself with nature, man is
attempting to be the creator himself. He is manipulating nature and
is changing the genetic structure of plants and animals – and his
own – in an attempt to better the species and to remove or inhibit
harmful influences. With this, for example, parts of our food are
removed so that these may become less harmful or easier to digest.
Other elements are added to the food to enhance their taste, to make
them cosmetically better looking, or to lengthen their shelf life.
These methods are as old as humanity itself. But in the modern,
materialistic world, man is going to extremes, usually with an eye
on profits. The balance of nature is becoming more and more
disturbed. The entire nature order has become fundamentally impaired
because of this aspect of human behaviour.
However, actions cause reactions. Our bodies are gradually
beginning to resist cleverly manipulated foods. Initially, the body
fights against depleted food, but then it is forced to follow along
at some point. Refined white sugar removes calcium from of the
skeletal system, for example. The price we pay for this and other
good-tasting foods is paid for by the body with degeneration and
destruction by diseases.
Our metabolism is being attacked
In the first half of the last century, Dr. F.X. Mayr
determined that the human digestive system is no longer functioning
correctly1. This led him to treat his patients as if
their intestinal functions were sick. He assumed that bad nutrition
and parts of the food were still left in the intestine and were
poisoning the system. He also observed that thinking and feeling
influenced digestion. Fear and stress influenced not only the
psyche, but also the stomach and the digestion. Whether the
nutrition in food has been changed or has degenerated was, in his
opinion, of secondary importance.
Besides this, he found out that the mentality of a person is
expressed in the way he eats. Whoever is standing in the torrents of
modern, hectic life won’t give himself enough time to eat properly
and to take the proper nutrients which he needs into his body. He
holds discussions, reads the newspaper or his mail, or even makes
telephone calls while he is eating. This is why it’s not too
difficult to see that the modern human being is attacking his own
metabolic system and is no longer in a position intuitively to
choose those things he needs in order to get the correct nutrition.
On top of this, the digestive system needs its own time and rhythm
to function properly. So, it is not very intelligent to let oneself
be led by the impulses of one’s own taste buds. So-called `fast
foods' are lacking many valuable elements the body needs, and
usually they are pre-cooked. Just a few moments in the microwave –
and the meal is ready! Naturally doctors are still discussing
whether the microwave is a healthy tool for the preparation of food.
Heart and head are led by the lower instincts
Our modern, hurried way of life shows how much we are
controlled by our abdomen and the lower parts of our physical body.
We are led mostly by the desires, needs and wishes of our pelvic
consciousness. This takes place at the cost of the harmony between
abdomen, heart and head. The heart and the head play a secondary
role to the lower life centre in man. Within this cycle, the entire
system cannot thrive and grow. The author Jan van Rijckenborgh
writes in Dei Gloria Intacta:
`This degenerative cycle has
caused, from the beginning, an organic modification and a total
change of the being, a decadence that has never yet come to a
standstill, proving itself every day in the world to be an ever more
fatal severance from the true Spirit, and that is maintained in man,
moreover, by a subconscious-autonomous activity of the body.'2
Originally, the heart was the central point in the human
being and corresponded to the divine nucleus in the microcosm. From
this consciousness a hunger for divine nourishment for the Soul
emanates. If this desire can gain a lasting place in the
personality, and he is able to change his conditions of life so that
he is able to receive this nourishment, he will be able to
understand that food for the soul and food for the body are not the
same. We cannot eat ourselves into heaven, not even with the best of
all diets. Nevertheless, we must pay the greatest attention to the
things we eat, and choose the type of food required by the body for
its optimal health.
The first priority, however, is to purify the heart
consciousness. In the Gospel of Mark (7:20-21) Jesus says: `What
comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of
the heart of man, come evil thoughts.' To which the Hermetic
philosophy can add that the human world cannot bring forth Absolute
Goodness. Or, as Jesus says, `No
one is good, except for the Father.'
The consciousness and the mode of life which arises from it
influences among other things the circulation of hormones, and this
expresses itself in the blood, the digestion and finally within the
entire metabolic system. Seen from this aspect, the food one
consumes works the best in those who have a purified consciousness,
because they are able to extract the highest, purest energy from the
food. Food does not consist solely of its material aspect, but also
of ethers that are necessary for the construction and maintenance of
the body. Small children are able to grow well, without having to
eat a lot, because their systems are able to assimilate to the
maximum. Besides this, they are still fed by the ethers that they
receive from their mothers.
`I have food to eat, of which you do not know'
As the Apostles asked Jesus to eat, He said: `I
have food to eat of which you do not know.'3 This
holy food is the spiritual essence, which radiates from the Spirit.
It serves the growth of the new soul, which puts on immortality. But
the normal biological human is not able to feed himself with this
food. The accent in his life must be shifted to the consciousness of
the heart. His mode of life must be brought attentively and
continually from the pelvic sanctuary to the heart, because only the
heart is able to attract the holy foods. In the Gospel of John
(4:34) Jesus goes on: `My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his
work.' In order to complete the will of the Father, the heart
must be cleansed of self-maintenance. Then there will be room for
the holy foods.
The body is a temple of the Spirit
When the human begins to see that the material body belongs
to a larger system, he will begin to think more about that with
which he feeds himself and how it is digested. And when the New
Consciousness has become active, the holy foods can serve to nourish
the new soul body. This new soul body carries with it a holy, healing Spirit. One is directly connected with the Spirit of
God.
In this Light, the body receives its true meaning as a Temple
of the Spirit back again. The human who has been nourished in this
way, will no longer be led solely by the care and attention of the
physical body. His nourishment and its digestion will be at the
service of the eternal life, because he has seen that his body is a
temple which must be inhabited by the Spirit.
1 De
darmreiniging volgens Dr F X Mayr (Intestinal purification
according to Dr F X Mayr), E Rauch. Published by Uitgeverij De
Driehoek, Amsterdam, 1992.
2 Dei Gloria
Intacta, p.56, Jan van Rijckenborgh, Rozekruis Pers, Haarlem,
The Netherlands, 1962.
3 John 4:32.
Transfiguration is the ideal metabolism
`On frequent occasions it has been established that every cell of our
bodies is renewed within a certain number of years. It is a fact
that within a period of seven years a totally new physical structure
is brought into being and that as soon as this new structure has
been completed, another process of renewal has already started. This
metabolic process becomes slower and slower as we advance in years
and our vitality gradually decreases, until sclerosis and other
forms of degeneration make their appearance. The time inevitably
comes when the mechanism definitely ceases to work and reaches its
lawful end.
The result is zero, absolutely zero. Then there is no question
of death ending in victory.
How different this is in the case of the endura through
transfiguration! This process is likewise connected with metabolism;
but what a metabolism it is! Through transfiguration the atoms and
cells of the entire personality are changed and charged with Mercury
power, the power for a human being to attain Immortality. Through
this metabolism the dialectical personality loses its nature-born
character and the entire being gradually changes. The Mercury power
is mainly concentrated in the head sanctuary, where it transforms
almost all the organs of the brain, resulting in a new consciousness
faculty.
This transformation proceeds to the utmost limits of a very remarkable
faculty, so that almost all of the typical character of the
dialectical self disappears. The dialectical self loses its grip on
the whole microcosm. It can no longer hold fast to its own nature.
It has been neutralised. Simultaneously, as if driven by a mighty
fire, the Flame body of the Soul Man is set free.'
Transfiguration,
Catharose de Petri, pp.12-13. Rozekruis Pers, Haarlem,
The Netherlands.
©
Lectorium Rosicrucianum 2000.
Article
from Pentagram Vol 22 No 4, 2000 |