Trophology (or the Art of Food Combinations)

A common misconception about a healthy diet is that it consists solely of eating healthy foods. But there is perhaps an even more important aspect of our diet than what we eat: what we eat it with.

Anyone who has had an elementary course in chemistry will know what happens when certain compounds are mixed together in an aqueous solution. If a reaction occurs it is because the elements are mixing and matching, breaking apart and forming new compounds. The same thing happens inside our stomachs; the only thing is we cannot see what is going on… or can we?

Sure science may catch up, and there is a branch of it called “trophology” or the study of food combinations, but it is mostly ignored by the mainstream anything; you kind of have to stumble upon it in order to learn about it. But perhaps there is another way to get insight into proper food combination: through the spiritual work.

One such person who could seemingly pierce the veil of the physical form without using a scalpel was a man named Edgar Cayce. Often called the “sleeping prophet” or the “father of holistic medicine”, Cayce was a man who, growing up in Kentucky, U.S.A. in the late 19th/early 20th centuries discovered (kind of haphazardly over a series of events) that he could put himself into a trance and when he was ready a person present in the room could ask him questions about just about anything. His work began by helping people physically with health problems, but he began to dig into their past lives, talk about Atlantis, and after a while people began to ask him about many things from the pyramids to future events to many other vast areas, and they found no matter what they asked him, he would have keen knowledge on it–and all this from a farm boy with an 8th grade education! He gave over 15,000 of these “readings” by the time he died in 1945, and left a legacy into which many have been studying to this day. I myself have been studying his well-documented readings on and off for about 17 years.

The focus of this article is on his health advice. When he would advise on diet, of course he advised plenty of fruits and vegetables, and against things such as fried foods, pork, red meat in excess, and so on–all things we are pretty aware of these days. But more importantly, almost always he would remind the reading recipient of proper food combinations. The mixing of certain foods he said was often more detrimental than just eating poorly to begin with. Some of the primary combinations he advised us to avoid are so common in modern diets that it is no wonder people have such unhealthy gastrointestinal tracts. What happens when we eat poor food combinations is that they don’t really digest properly, and when these formed toxins hit the intestines, there is a defense mechanism which blocks the toxins from being reabsorbed into the body: a mucous that lines the walls of the large intestines. After some time of eating poorly, this mucous builds up layer over layer and the old mucous doesn’t get washed out, it hardens… successfully blocking both toxins AND nutrients. This would result in improper assimilation. At that point even eating well would do little for us as we can’t even absorb the nutrients. Therefore, food combination is extremely important. It may not seem as though we are affected by some of the following food combination no-no’s but if they have been common in our diets it could just be that we are used to them and have a nice thick wall of mucous tar in our intestines. Seriously, this is a known fact. Years ago, Oprah even had some doctor peeling this tar away from an unhealthy intestinal wall of a cadaver on television to show the seriousness of it.

Some of the huge combination no-no’s according to Cayce are:

  • Citrus + cereal
  • Citrus + dairy
  • Meat + starch   (huge no-no! meat and taters anyone?!)
  • Meat + dairy (didn’t harp on this as much as meat+starch)
  • Raw apples + anything (raw apples only to be taken if the only source of food for 2 or 3 days as part of the apple diet)

Of course, there are many things which seem to mix well with almost anything, such as most vegetables. Also note that high quality whole grain breads are similar to light proteins in digestion, so they do not fall under the meat+starch category as much as something like potatoes, white bread, etc. Raw pears mix with most foods and are much better than apples and were often recommended by Cayce as an easy way to alkalize the system. Bananas were only recommended if very ripe. Tomatoes which are not vine ripened are said to be toxic, while tomatoes which are vine ripened are very good. Of course lettuce, celery, and carrots are the dietary staple which if eaten daily in generous amounts will, according to Cayce, make us virtually immune to most illnesses.

Time, Abilities, and Opportunities

Time, abilities, and opportunities are given to us on loan from the Universe, from our Creator, to see what we will do with them. It is not wise to be proud of such things. Time will take everything away if we don’t use it wisely. But if we use what we have, God will give us more. I have tried to apply this to every aspect of my life and found it to be true with no exceptions. Be grateful for every second you are given. Spend it wisely, and use what you have in hand to do the Lord’s will, for He does have a will for each one of us. We each exist for a reason. The more we explore that reason and sacrifice ourselves to that reason, the more peace and happiness we will have, and the more we will have to share. That kind of peace and happiness emerges from inside, not from outside.

It’s the Small Things

We’re always looking for the big things to set us free, to save us from our miserable inner states. But what about the small things? This is where the work occurs, and if we don’t see this then we can stay stuck for an indefinite length of time. So we have to take one day and see it for what it is. No one is coming to save us. There is no magical alignment of the heavens that will instantly change the very nature of who and what we are. That choice is ours every day, and when we make that choice then the help comes, but only when we utilize that which we have in hand day by day. It’s when we learn to see the daily opportunities and use them to get closer to Divinity within ourselves and through our actions toward others that we are given more opportunities. But we can’t expect to move forward until we treat life itself as the battlefield for the work–every event, every interaction.

There is no space for a “normal” life for a Gnostic. It is not okay to just sit around complaining like everyone else. It’s not okay to ignore the people around us and our responsibilities toward them. It’s just not okay to be “normal” like that. These things are not for someone who wishes to progress in the spiritual work, yet they are traps we all fall into when we convince ourselves that we’re just waiting for the right opportunity to really do the work, right? You know we do this. We think, oh this ordinary day, what an ordinary day in an ordinary life, and right then in that thought we stop seeing reality. We fail to see that life itself is precisely where the work takes place.

It is a lonely struggle, but we can find friendship in it with others who are doing the same, and this friendship gives strength.

We have to suffer silently and see the traps of the various egos which exploit our weaknesses daily. It is intense, but it is the only way to true peace.

Outer Harmony Does Not Imply Spirituality and Vice Versa

bouguereau_flagellation_of_christ_lens_flare_smallBeing spiritual does not imply outer harmony. If it did, then Jesus never would have marched His way to the cross. He never would have been spit on, mocked, beaten, and murdered. He never would have been laughed at or called names. He never would have felt pain or anguish. He never would have had to avoid crowds and hide away. But we know that He did all these things. We know that though being perfect in every way, His outer life was far from any easy experience.

Yet what do we do when we approach the spiritual work? We might be wanting a healthy body, a healthy mind, a harmonious family environment. We might be looking for a conflict-free world where we get along with everyone around us. We might be trying to fabricate a life which we believe will bring us happiness. We might even think that when we get these things that it means we are being spiritual, that we are spiritual, and that our life is spiritual. But this is not the case. Spiritual life has absolutely nothing to do with outer circumstances. When chaos arises in the outer world, the first place to look is not how to fix the outer world but how to fix our inner chaos which has arisen in response. When this happens, when we harmonize inwardly, then the outer may or may not follow.

Contentment comes and goes. It is not the same as spiritual feelings. Yes there is contentment that comes with a healthy body and mind. Yes there is contentment that comes from a clean, healthy, constructive environment. Yes there is contentment with a period of rest, with having all our needs met, with being able to provide for our families. Yes there is contentment in all these things. But contentment is not happiness. Complications will always arise, and if we are attentive inwardly then we realize the complications are not much different than the contentment. They are both transitory, fleeting. It is the inward harmony and cleanliness that brings happiness throughout either outer experience.

Spirituality is not found in pleasure, pain, or contentment, but it is also not about denying ourselves the experiences of these things. Why run away from pain? We know it is transitory; there is nothing to run from. If we feel anguish, we do not have to write it off or try to smother it with positive thinking. We just have to go through it, seeing it for what it is, and being spiritual inwardly with faith. Remember with Jesus the two experiences become one, the marriage of Human with Divine. There was the Man who felt pain in the trials and tribulations (don’t forget Gethsemane), then there was the inner Man, the golden Man, free from both pain and pleasure, at true oneness with God, and this is something permanent.

Jesus did not seek to free Himself from that cross, did He? He could have if He wanted to, if our Father wanted Him to, but He did not, and this is a lesson worth reflecting on deeply. Why is our first reaction to pain in life to escape it? We say and pretend as though we put the spiritual first, but then we secretly think and behave as though we must fix the outer first in order to be spiritual. But the spiritual is not dependent on time or space or circumstances. The spiritual is in the here and now. Many people expend great amounts of physical and psychic energy to put on a harmonious outer life while in secret they are inwardly miserable in their dependence on outer harmony. They have forgotten that the spiritual is not something one has to show to anyone else, that it is not found in the fairy-tale life or the perfect job or at the next yoga retreat. It is not a display of anything nor is it an external experience in any way. Spirituality is a personal communion with God in our inner sanctum, when the heart and brain are ablaze with the fire of His Love. By walking with God, we know that He will provide the experiences we need in order to better walk with Him, that any complications which may arise outwardly are only temporary, and that this fire is what is true and everlasting, the fire of Being, acquired only by means of internal struggle free from dependence on any external thing.

Will exascale computing really solve more “real-world” problems?

ImageJesus didn’t need exascale computing to heal the blind, to reconstruct the soldier’s ear, and to master the forces of life and death. He didn’t require quadrillions of hours of man-power to achieve these things. I really think we give too much credit to science. For every problem science seems to “solve”, several more problems are born. Then science goes to attack those problems and in turn creates even more. This is obviously an exponential growth of problems.

I think the frame of mind must shift. Not what can I do to further science, but perhaps we should be asking ourselves, how do I become like Jesus? The answer is not easy to find, but for someone who keeps asking sincerely and searching, they will find the keys to walking the spiritual path. And then when we find, we do, and that is where our energy is expended. After exascale computing (in the next 10 years or so), do you really think that we will have fewer problems? Yet how many hours of mental exhaustion will go into it? Yet how many of those investing this time and energy will ever truly search how to become like Jesus, Buddha, the saints from the various religions? Not just a belief, go to church, come home, do science, but really expend the effort internally to go beyond the easy path. How many hours will be spent on that? Not that many comparatively. And so, here is your world, science. You can expect to undergo chemo sometime in your life, or get diabetes, or alzheimer’s. You may have to get a chunk of yourself removed. You probably have horrible allergies, or joint pains. If you are not blind or deaf, you can expect to go blind or deaf later in life. Science can sort-of correct these problems sometimes, but often it is science which has created these problems, at least to the scale that it is COMMON to have a major illness.

Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with technological development, but I find that technological development in the name of so-called “medical science” or “real-world problems” is often self-contradicting. Medical problems are simply not solved by larger and faster computers. I heard someone today argue that high-performance computing was good for vaccine testing and that this is a service to humanity. Yeah, I’ll believe that as soon as you prove the argument that vaccines are a good thing.

Anyhow, what about fun? Why doesn’t anyone just develop solely for the purpose of expressing their God-given creativity? Those who preach the “real-world-problem-solving” benefit of supercomputing tend to ignore or even scoff at the idea of powerful computational power improvements for the sole purpose of better cell phones and tablets. But why not? The spiritual work provides all those things necessary for discovering and correcting the real problems the body, the mind, and the world face. With it, one knows where to be and when to be. One can predict with precision the things that matter for them to predict. With it, one does not die, even if he decides to leave the body, he does not experience death and rebirth and death and rebirth (unless he chooses to do so). Instead, he experiences eternal life, and he does not depend on an exascale computer for it!

Take Time to Be Spiritual

It is a poor excuse to say that we are too busy to be spiritual. Of course, being spiritual does not mean just doing some spiritual practice; it is actually an entire way of life. Every moment must become spiritual. But taking the time to do a spiritual practice does come with its benefits. Some egos like to take advantage of our intellectual center, and they (we) will insist to us (ourselves) that we do not have time to do a spiritual practice, that we are too busy. But this is often an illusion, because when we take time to do even a short 10-minute meditation, it can really hasten the other things that we do. Time is awfully relative when it comes to our lives. If we go about things in a poor spiritual state, then we achieve haphazard and inefficient results. Days can be wasted on things that could realistically be accomplished in a few hours from a calm, spiritual state. So if we take just a few minutes here and there to relax and find stillness, it is not a waste of time, because the spiritual within us is so much more intelligent and efficient than the normal way of being. We save much more time in the long run by taking time to be spiritual.

The Promise That Has Ever Been Present

Trials, misunderstandings, misconstruction of purposes, misconstruction of ideas or desires in self and on the part of others may arise; and if the ideal has been set in material things, then indeed these become overburdening to a mind, a body, a soul. If the ideal has been set in the spirit of truth, then it may be found that there is the promise that has ever been in the time of trouble, and in the time of joy, present.

~Edgar Cayce, 520-3

On Gurus and Saints

Often times we hear of this or that person abusing a status as a so-called spiritual figure–yogis sleeping with numerous women, priests molesting little boys, old men checking up girls’ skirts for “demons,” and so on. Then we hear about rape and molestation outside of the religious scene, and we connect them. We think, “There is no difference between this ‘spiritual’ person and anyone else.” And we connect the dots of ignorance to take away all sense of recognition, but that sense does not come from an intellectual assessment, nor is it easy to develop. It takes keen inner observation, and a true inward desire for God. If that is not there, then we are just subject to the games of this world, where we determine that we cannot distinguish the real saints from the fake ones, and we conclude that they all most likely just want to get in our panties.

This is a shame, for we are closing ourselves off from true teachings which can lead us to real happiness and inner peace. But at the same time, this can also have its value in that it prevents us from being too open to any one person until they have rightfully proven in our minds that they are worthy of our respect. And this can be helpful, as long as we don’t make false accusations against those who we know nothing about. Do not go into things with the irrational fear that everyone just wants in your panties! Jesus said that you will know them by their fruits, and by fruits he means works. By an evil tree, good works cannot grow. This is his warning against false prophets. Yet, does Jesus warn that no one can prophesy? Nay! We know that there have been truly spiritual men throughout history who gave their entire lives wholeheartedly to helping humanity; unfortunately it is only a small group which usually realizes this while the person is still alive. The rest follow the hypnotic opposition which arises from the evil in this world. Jesus Himself is a prime example of such a person–strongly opposed in His life, even to the death, with only a relatively small number of supporters. But the great thing is, once we have found a good tree, it will often lead us to other good trees and away from bad ones, if we are putting their teachings to practice rather than trying to formulate them into a religion. For instance, through Samael Aun Weor’s teachings, I am able to destroy many negative aspects of myself and lift myself up to spiritual states utterly unimagined by common man, and through Samael’s continued legacy through Belsebuub, I became aware of such wonderful spiritual goldmines as the Nag Hammadi Library and The Flight of the Feathered Serpent. And through my associations with those who practice these teachings, I became aware of the master Yogananda (someone I know received teachings from him in the astral plane) and his wonderful book Autobiography of a Yogi. (Follow preceding links for free books.) And so, being on the inside, in a practical sense, one can come to recognize other saints.

But recognition is not possible for ordinary people. They are either on one side of the coin or the other. They either accept anyone as a guru who feeds them exactly what their countless egos wish to hear, or they reject any spiritual figure until he or she is long dead. This happens because they do not have the eyes to see nor the ears to hear. These are spiritual eyes and ears to which Jesus refers. In all truth, most people do not have these. These parts are painstakingly formed through an intense inner spiritual work and a singular focus on the path to Divinity. Some people have them from past lives, but they may not be very active due to the murkiness of the personality and ordinary state of mind. I must admit, I have long had a keen spiritual eye for saint recognition. Shortly have I been distracted here or there by some false figure of hope or spirituality. The real Men I have known have shown through good works to be truly Men of God. And though friends and family have rarely understood what I saw at first, these Men (and Women) have truly stood the test of time, and most of those I know who railed at first now understand the truth and good works behind these Men, as they have become more aware of their works through me. And hopefully, my life stands as a testimony to all those whom I hold in the highest regard.

Now for every real Man, there are a hundred and fifty men pretending to be a real Man, so be smart! (That’s just a figurative ratio. Statitistics would not know how to approach such a study!) Many men know how to fool the masses. These are the kind of people who you would see on Oprah or at a book signing, spouting just the right things to fill the masses with a false sense of hope. Their words are like poison wrapped in flowers. They are fragrant and sweet, yet more damaging to the soul than if one had never listened to anyone at all. It is better to be dead than to be a disciple to this kind of person, for they will wrap you in layer upon layer of illusion and drive you into spiritual complacency. They will drag you down to the abyss along with themselves, and you will not realize this until the day you die for you will be blinded, thinking the blind man is leading you to salvation, because you are addicted to the false hopes his words bring you, which you think you need in order to combat your despair. But you see, hope and despair are but a game of the mind. They have no substance. A real teacher will lead you to salvation and his words will aid in the development of spirit molecules within yourself which do not belong to time or duality, and this is not always a pleasant process. In fact, it is generally an unpleasant process but it is the one with true spiritual rewards. Revolutions are not pleasant, even inner ones, but that is what a real spiritual teacher will lead you toward. And this will increasingly strengthen your powers of election. As Judas states: we always recognize our own. (The Flight of the Feathered Serpent) Until then, focus intently on what you do know to be true, those great and sublime teachers who have stood the test of time, but do NOT become one of those who tries the living examples of spirituality to only realize the mistake at the end of your life; neither be one who tests a disciple who can see with his own eyes and hear with his own ears. Those who did not know St. Joan lumped her with any other deluded religious zealot. But those who actually knew her were different. But the truth did not out until her life had already been ended by the judgment of the masses. The same can be said of Jesus, and for many many Christian martyrs who came later. Many saints were strongly opposed in this life, and lies were spread about them. (Half-truths formulated to mislead are also lies.) This will be your loss, for it will cut you off from seeing and hearing the living words on Earth today, and few they are and difficult they are to find if one is not living for God wholly and with all his or her being. But blessed is the person who can recognize a true saint from the imposters, for he will receive that saint’s blessing, and he will, through his efforts and familiarity with his teachings, become one with that saint, and all saints are in communion with God, and communion with God is the highest goal anyone can have.

May the Lord bless you with the power of election so that you can find those words which will spur you truly and unapologetically Godward.

All Is Number

I like to think of myself as a mathemagician and true scientist. To that, I think there is much more than what meets the eye.

There are many so-called “scientists” out there who come up with all kinds of nonsense, and they seem proud of their intellect and false reasoning. The one major fail that they make is the ignorance to the inner psychic life. The science of knowing oneself, truly.

Where does one come from? Where does one go? Sure, we can say these questions don’t matter because regardless of where we came from, we are here and that’s all we can know. But if you don’t know where you came from, then how do you know where you are going? Time and existence – this is a strange and elusive subject in itself for any scientist. One can say how something exists in a certain state because of this or that process or set of processes, but why does something exist at all? From what motivational spark and creative source does something come into existence at all? How does time turn, life begins and dies, etc. Certainly, we pride ourselves on our little history in our blink-of-an-eye-in-the-face-of-eternity lifespan, but who are we really?

These are questions that a fake scientist will never be able to account for — why? Because they will not find the answer in an outer science. How can one have a memory of a past life? It’s not in the brain, but yet one can, and I say this because I, being a scientist, have investigated things and been open to things inside of myself, inside my psyche. And this has led me to experience things that the ordinary person cannot dream of, inner states which are so magical and perfect that one couldn’t ask for anything more than to just simply exist in this state all the time. Granted, I do not live in these states all the time, and perhaps it is not for us to; I would not assume so at least. But I have been places and am open to new experience unexplainable by the pseudo-rational mind, and this is what life is about to me, knowing myself. Experience itself is the science. All the formulas in the world will not be able to explain why you exist, or tell you where you were before you were born, because trust me, you were somewhere. You have been in many forms before this one, and it is possible one day you will remember so.

I got to thinking about all of this and how to say what I want to say by means of some conversations on Facebook. One person, who I only know through his comments on a friend’s page and is always trying to be scientific, had made the assumption that surely extraterrestrials have not visited us because they would not be interested in us. Another person, who I also only know in the same way but was also trying to be scientific, had said that “some guy who claims to understand Einstein’s work” says that if a lifeform were to be so advanced for interstellar travel, they would most likely be hostile because they would see us like we see ants. How absolutely unscientific are both these assumptions?! I have met extraterrestrials out-of-body and I know other people who have met them OBE as well. I also know someone who has met them in person. And of all these people, there are a couple groups (from very different parts of the world) who see UFOs very regularly now.

Why them and not you? Well, they are part of a group whose sole purpose is to walk the path to inner knowledge. And in my experience (and theirs) that is why the extraterrestrials are here, to help us. When I spoke with them telepathically out of body, they were so clear and direct, their knowledge and direction didn’t seem to be governed by extraneous thoughts like ours are. In fact, they seemed slightly perturbed at something I had done which was not exactly from an intelligent inner state. So yeah, I think that’s why them and not most other people. They are trying, they are open, and they want to be True individuals, and so extraterrestrials want to help them/us, those of us who realize we need help from our idiocy.

The other thing that got me thinking about these things was commentary regarding Whitney Houston’s death. Sure, many people might overreact and glorify people. But the other side (the self-glorifying pseudo-scientists) has reacted in the way of glorifying all who die as a soldier of some country they respect. For instance, many of the top images on imgur.com for a couple days were badmouthing Houston and her drug addiction while glorifying what the majority seemed to agree were the “true heroes”: dead soldiers. Now, tell me, these users who would pride themselves so much on their infallible “science” would glorify people they don’t know just for dying in some useless war? So the scientist in me asks, what about the other side? Are they heroes too? If so, then what are all these so-called “heroes” doing killing each other? Or is someone only a hero if they’re dying for your side? And how exactly is it more noble to go kill people than to use your talent for making beautiful music? Which is more beneficial to an individual? Right, anyway, it just seems quite absurd that those who pride themselves in science are so far from what it actually means to be a scientist, and they will never know the truest heights of human knowledge and experience.

So, pseudoscientists, I hate to break it to you, but you’re missing out on the only source of true happiness, which comes from existing inwardly in absolute Truth and knowledge (or at least working toward that). Fools in love with themselves and full of tiresome “scientific” data, they will die knowing less than a child. They will bray like donkeys at the sound of Truth, calling it fallacy, and never knowing that they themselves are the wicked ones, further from Truth than they can ever imagine.

I’m not lying, nor am I stretching the Truth. I have seen and known so many things that the pseudoscientist likes to mock and spit on, but they are the ones at a loss. They are the ones who do not know anything at all. They are the ones who, when personality disappears at the end of the life, are left helpless and at the mercy of their ignorance until next time when maybe they will remember what it was like between lives and how mistakenly they had lived their lives.

Science and mathematics, ALL IS SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS. Or, as Pythagoras might have said, “All is number.”

Sometimes I think, perhaps they will come around some day. Perhaps they will understand. Maybe I used to be like that. But no, actually, I was never like that.

To Die Is to Live

As I lay here observing, how thoughts and states zap and drain certain energies inside of me, I see a play of fear and pride so undeniable. Fear of what? It only takes something small, but it threatens who I am or who I think I am, who others want me to be, who I think others want me to be, limits and expectations of how I define the “me myself”. And as soon as this little morsel of fear appears, pride comes to swallow it up, to reassure itself that its existence is crucial, that the “me myself” is of utmost importance and must justify an array of thoughts, emotions, and most of all attitudes that come up in response to drown out the fear.

Fear of change, fear of not being anything, fear of not having a rule or an image to go by, fear of just letting go. Fear that if I let go, I will disappear.

But I am so much deeper than this. I am deeper than a thought, an emotion, an observation. Releasing the old, dying to the old to again become new is difficult but it is the only way. Let go. Release yourself from the bondage of the Ego. Release yourself from the old ways and be born again into a life of meaning and truth, into a life where thoughts and observations are not Truth in and of themselves but where Truth is an experience so unpredictable and spontaneous that it can never be packaged into a formula. This is how I want to live my life. This is how I want to be. This is who I want to be. Not the afraid little boy putting on a front to cover up his fear of death. Dying. We all must die. Psychologically, to die is to live, and to hold on is to lose. It’s ironic I know.

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