Be Kind to the Temple, Part II

Fasting
Jon Heinrich
Published 2/14/04

To Part I

Pills, specialists, HMOs, diets, antibiotics, immunizations, and surgery: These are the ways that Americans treat their ills. Let’s not forget however that fundamentally we are animals, and evolution has not brought us all this way because our bodies need assistance just to survive.

In the age of capitalism and convenience, the human animal encounters more toxicity and detrimental environmental conditions than ever. While you can break the core of survival down to four areas—food, shelter, heat and clothing—there are many more catastrophic elements to deal with now than ever. For example, the age of profit margins has introduced such nasty substances into our everyday lifestlye, such as high fructose corn syrup, aspertame, and M.S.G., not to mention proven carcinogenic chemicals such as bovine growth hormones, and DDT (the active ingredient in agent orange.) Unless you either grow all your own food or buy it from a bona fide organic health food store, you consume these toxic substances everyday of your life.

Brian Haas, the revered piano player for the provocative jazz trio, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, knows the story. His mother was given just a five percent chance of survival after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Consider that 42 percent of Americans wind up with cancer. With statistics like that, you might as well consider yourself guaranteed with malignant cells unless you do something to combat that probability. What are you doing for your health that raises you above the 42rd percentile health rating? If you are doing nothing, you might consider what you want on your untimely headstone.

The buildup of toxicity is overwhelming, but the way to counter it is by being conscious of what you intake. One of the largest sources of these nasty chemicals is factory meat—the stuff you buy in the grocery store and in restaurants. Unless you seek out organically raised meat, you are constantly consuming massive amounts of pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and saturated fat—all prime predecessors to the big C: Cancer.

In the winter issue of Meniscus Magazine, we examined how a vegetarian diet can drastically reduce your chances of the plague of the 21st century. Now let’s look at a way to clean house, and take control of your future health.

The Cleansing Fast
One of the best ways to allow your body to cleanse is by fasting. By abstaining from food for significant periods of time, your body has a chance to turn its immune attention towards breaking down toxins in the system that, if left unattended to, could manifest into any number of cancers.

Fasting has been around for centuries. Most people only hear of it in regards to the 40 days of fasting Jesus performed during lent, in preparation of his public ministry. The bible describes the fasting experience as a personal matter: “But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden.”

Traditionally, fasting is viewed as a spiritual experience. By abstaining from all solid food, you are taking control of the robot that is your body, by not letting it control you. When this occurs, you begin to see through the cycles of everyday life and realize what is truly important in the world. By choosing to let the spirit guide us, and not the flesh, you break through materialism and realize the body’s addiction to food and harmful substances we consume everyday.

In the Essene Gospels, Jesus explains, “the body is the temple of the spirit, and the spirit is the temple of God. Purify, therefore, the temple, that the Lord of the temple may dwell therein and occupy a place that is worthy of him.

“Renew yourselves and fast. Go by yourself and fast alone...great shall be your reward.... Fast and pray fervently, seeking the power of the living God for your healing.”

Fasting: Why do it for your health?
As Paul Bragg explains in The Miracle of Fasting, there is a Vital Force that is used every day of your life to maintain your body’s processes. In addition to pushing blood through millions of filters in your kidneys and exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide in your lungs, a large percentage of this energy goes towards digesting food through your 30-foot digestive tract. Once you stop eating, this Vital Force begins recharging and is freed up tove move throughout the body breaking down poisonous residues that have built up. Even after just 24 hours, the body is able to begin rebuilding Vital Force.

With the aid of lots of water and a herbal laxative, fasting also allows your body to pass the remaining food that has accumulated in the colon over years. The average person on a western diet has up to eight partially digested meals residing in their digestive tract at any time. Think about that! This undigested food does exactly the same thing it would if it weren’t in your body: it rots. If you’re wondering what that would look like, try taking a bowl of freshly cooked food and instead of eating it, put it in a moist 98.6 degree environment and check on it in three days.

What if you have cancer right now?
Now that we’ve looked at the natural powers the body has, you can apply it to life, and help save loved ones that suffer from debilitating diseases such as cancer.

Brian Haas, in the midst of spreading consciousness expanding music with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, explains what he would do if the human being he loved the most, was diagnosed with cancer. “The first thing I would tell her, is to never go back to the hospital.”

With a demanding severity in his voice he continued, “Never talk to another doctor; never take another test; and never set foot in another western medical facility.” Then he would remove from her diet, anything that feeds the malignant cells in the body including four main items: sugar, dairy, carbohydrates, and alcohol. This leaves vegetable, and organically-raised meat protein as the sustaining diet while the body boosts its own healing abilities. Throughout the process take a trace mineral supplement, and juiced wheat grass, what Haas considers to be nature’s best medicine.

Then, over five days time, diminish the solid food intake until you were consuming only juiced fruits and vegetables. At the conclusion of this five-day rev down process, Haas would have her fast, consuming nothing but water, for two weeks . After this treatment, he is emphatic in his stance that the cancer would be gone.

Would controlling my diet to control cancer work, you may ask? At age 60, with no grey hair to show, his own mother has survived a bleak 5 percent chance given by her doctors. Haas’ mom is a testament that it can be done.

Fasting is certainly one option among many, that allow your natural body to take care of itself. The most important thing to realize, is that your vessel has remarkable healing capabilities. Next time your doctor prescribes a pill for a common ailment, consider that the human race has not made it this far being dependent on pharmaceuticals. The flip side of the coin however, is that we have never been bombarded by such a health-caustic environment. Drastic measures may be required for such drastic environmental conditions—like pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and saturated fat. “It is natural to eat meat,” you may say. Yes, but how many natural animals have you hunted down in the forest to satisfy your diet?

You choose everyday whether you like it or not. Please, think about what you put into your temple, for the sake of your loved ones, and for the sake of evolution.

Jon Heinrich

>--To "Be Kind to the Temple, Part I"-->