CHAPTER II.

KNOW THYSELF.

The foregoing pages present an outline in the elementary anatomy and physiology of the brain and nervous system, to those who are not acquainted with its structure. To all who are interested in the intelligent care of the body it is of prime importance to obtain practical knowledge of the principles underlying the control of the body. The proper development of the individual is a steady growth. It resembles the unfolding of a flower, through the partaking of proper food, water, air and sunshine. A normal human being enjoys merely being alive. This is Nature’s law. The shortest road to happiness is to regard the body as the present dwelling-house of the eternal, and not merely to dream of the possibilities of becoming perfect in some future state of existence. Our physiological body constitutes the source from which the immortal man receives its strength. In order to have a healthy mind, all the body must work together harmoniously. The quality and quantity of the fluids must be right, there must be no leakage, the wires or nerves must lie in perfect harmony with the structures resting on a perfect foundation. Only in this way can the oxygen undergo the highest modification.

A seed requires the power of the sunshine in order to utilize the elements which it takes from the earth, and in the same sense the spiritual man receives his nutriment from the spirit through its elementary forces. God gave us these bodies, and unless we are willing to care for the temple which our spirit inhabits, we are not worthy of a better body in this world or in the one beyond. The primary course for most ailments can be traced back to hereditary weaknesses, developed through wrong environment, bad habits and improper feeding. We cannot develop a fashionable disease of typhoid, small-pox or diphtheria unless our lymphatic glands are storing up excessive waste matter produced by continuously overeating or wrong eating of unclean combinations of foods. Neither can right eating alone, without right thinking, physical exercise, fresh air and sunshine, produce health. The air we breathe is filled with healing power. The water we drink is from the fountain of life.

Deep philosophy combined with material science and practical work will lead to the understanding of the divine laws of nature. An individual who is suffering from a chronic ill which he is unable to correct by following a physician’s advice at home, should seek refuge in a sanitarium and be educated in the divine laws of God or Nature.

“No soul helps flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul!”—Browning’s Rabi Ben Ezra.

Spirit, also called essence, light, mind, or soul, is dependent upon matter for its expression. In other words, structure precedes function.

Example: To produce light we need to act upon a mechanism. As the striking of a match or the pressing of a button produces light, so the action upon the brain cells by the ether of the blood produces light or spirit.

Pure air and raw vegetables are rich in ether, and therefore are a necessity for a healthy mind or spirit.

Mental exercise or “thought” is necessary to convey the blood to the cell mechanism. Obstruction of blood vessels, preventing blood flow, produces death, partially or wholly.

STIMULANTS—THEIR EFFECT UPON THE BODY.

Sugar, tobacco, alcohol, and sweetened beverages in the form of coffee, etc., produce a stimulating effect upon the sympathetic ganglia near the base of the brain and through these arouse the emotional nature, exciting the nerves of sociability, the facial muscles, the sense of sight, the sense of speech and the nerves controlling the organs of reproduction and those of muscular action. Excitability of one set of nerve fibres will always produce a morbid condition upon the opposites, and these are the finer instincts and sensualities.

An individual with a delicate, nervous structure or one who has bony displacement or contracted tissue in the cervical region interfering with normal blood flow, would therefore be more injured by such irritants or stimuli than one whose structures and functions are working harmoniously. A person who, in addition to these physical defects, has weak kidneys and intestinal obstruction interfering with the glycogenic functions of the liver will suffer far more often in spite of total abstinence from all such stimulants because he indulges in foods such as canned, watery cooked fruits in combination with yeast bread, potatoes and a variety of cooked foodstuffs which his eliminating organs are not able to manage, and alcoholic fermentation is the result. The blood, instead of being a transparent, homogeneous, and alkaline fluid, resembles in appearance sour milk. The coagulated constituents of the blood clog the fine capillaries and infiltrate the structures of the lower body, allowing the watery contents to circulate in the tissues of the brain and chest, exciting the nerves and vital organs and producing an undue pressure upon the glandular secretions of the suprarenal capsules, tyroid and pituitary body, leading to diabetes or dropsy. The symptoms of such conditions are similar to those of chronic alcoholism.

Persons of the latter class should avoid all artificial stimulants, and use natural stimulants such as sweet fruits and honey in very moderate quantities (during the winter only), and never at the morning meal. They should restrict themselves to a diet of dry natural foods, including a considerable amount of fats properly combined with acids and raw greens in the form of salads. In addition to these they may use legumes in moderate quantities, raw or plain boiled cereals without sugar, also nuts several times per week. Clabber milk and cottage cheese are also good. Fresh milk, if agreeable, should be modified with one-third water and milk sugar added, heating to 170° F. The heating of the milk to this point prevents fermentation. During hot summer months when the skin is active, there is less tendency to fermentation by such people, and heating of milk, if fresh, is generally unnecessary. (However, this is not the case with infants or people who have a tendency to diarrhea.)

Artificial sweets, white bread and poisonous beverages develop butterflies that crave excitement and artificial life. The world is full of people that are without substance, power or principle. They earn their living the easiest way they can. Wrong feeding is responsible for such conditions. Social reformers and humanitarians cannot solve problems until they have learned how to feed the race.

=The “Dreadnaught”—Stimulant.= (Quoted from Dr. Axel Emil Gibson’s Work.) The ruling stimulant of the world today is not the coffee, tea, beer nor even whisky—but the innocent-looking, pleasant-tasting, alluring white powder known as sugar. Its stimulating power is greater than that of the alcohol, because it is the parent and generator of the alcohol.