Achieving Natural Life Potential

2. Achieving Natural Life Potential

Our study now must turn more to those practices which cause premature death as well as the delineation of those practices normal to our being which assure realization of natural life potential. Your clients will expect your guidance not only in matters of health, but also as an “authority” in related matters, longevity being one of them. This lesson is designed to make you competently conversant with the subject.

2.1 Causes of Shortened Life

In a word, life is shortened in humans when deviation from our biological heritage occurs. Just as the engine life of a car will be shortened by wrong fuels, poor maintenance and abusive use, so too will our bodies become clogged and disabled by wrong foods, improper life practices and applications that deplete energies and faculties. Just as the engine is designed to operate under certain conditions, so too has the human organism developed within certain adaptational parameters. Anything that impairs health also shortens life.

2.2 Primary abuses of modern humans

Unfortunately, human abuse begins before conception. Degenerated men and women conceive in bodies that are almost invariably wracked by the ravages of unceasing toxicosis. While healthy by the pitiful norms of our society, very few parents-to-be have even a modicum of health.

During the fetal period, mothers are likely to get little if any exercise, eat of fare unfit for man or beast and indulge in many toxic habits that are endemic to our country. Moreover, mothers are likely to be drugged frequently in many ways, especially by their physicians. Births are especially fraught with dangers for both mothers and infants because of the “manipulative” drugs employed for hospital/physician convenience. Every antivital act against mother and infant impairs both, undermines health and shortens life.

As likely as not, the baby will be put on some formula that will fail to yield nutrients—formulas are even worse than the milk of diseased mothers.

After babyhood with indisposing and unwholesome formulas, baby usually undergoes introduction to a plethora of unwholesome foods. Junk foods make an early appearance in baby’s diet. Unnatural animal products, meats, and cereals are likely to be added to baby’s diet at from two to four months. These should never be in anyone’s diet in a whole lifetime but, even if they were normal items of human diet, baby shouldn’t be fed anything other than mother’s milk until the time teeth have erupted. Of course, a mother who cannot lactate must either secure the services of a wet nurse (second best), or feed baby raw goat or cow’s milk (third best with goat milk being the better of the two) along with a diet of freshly expressed fruit juices. Inasmuch as sweet fruits undergo no digestion, their sugars are absorbed as they are by baby. Fruits that are well-prepared may be fed to baby but only as a last resort. Fruits, animal milks and nut milks are superior to commercial formulas.

Almost all youngsters suffer the many “usual childhood diseases” because they have been subjected to many usual childhood abuses. All impairing factors, it bears repeating, undermine health and shorten life.

Early in life, youngsters are introduced to corrosive beverages, fried and cooked foods, condiments, side-stream cigarette smoke and a host of other debilitating influences. As likely as not, youngsters will be corralled via the automatic babysitter known as a television set. Instead of becoming active and participating in life, instead of developing and becoming educated and trained in life’s activities, most children are becoming passive misfits. The tragedy of the situation is highlighted by two research projects conducted by a sample of noted physical fitness expert, Bonnie Prudden. In 1954, she tested a sample of our youngsters and found that a shocking 58.6% could not pass a minimum physical fitness test. In 1978, she again made the tests. This time a shocking 86.2% could not pass the same test! If that does not point out the direction in which we’re travelling, the gravity of the problem and the herculean nature of the task before you and other health-aware people, then it’s not likely that anything else will. The tragedy of our children is a national tragedy—a worldwide tragedy!

2.3 Healthful Living as the elixir vitae

That long life can be achieved only by healthy people should be self-evident. That those perpetually encumbered with impairing influences resulting from unhealthful practices cannot survive as long should be equally self-evident. Thus it becomes obvious that humans can realize their life potential by living healthfully and that any deviation will result in suffering and shortened life.

Healthful living involves touching base appropriately with every need of life in all aspects of our being. Our basic requirements are as outlined in the earliest lessons, i.e., pure air, pure water, adequate sleep and rest, sunshine and natural light, foods of our biological adaptation, vigorous activity, temperature maintenance, pleasant environment, a nondistressing lifestyle, belonging to a group of similar disposition and so on.

2.4 Outdoor Life essential to best health

Almost every long-lived person of note has worked out of doors in gardens and orchards. Being a gardener myself, I can assure you that nothing overcomes stress so quickly as a half hour to an hour’s work in the garden. Reestablishing identity with the basic environment and its providence becalms as nothing else can.

Encourage those whom you serve to start gardening, taking walks and hikes in the country or undertake other activities that give them more fresh air, sunshine, exercise and identity with nature. Just as plants that have their roots with earth mostly severed wither and die, so too do humans suffer when they lose touch with those fundamental requisites of life. Just as nonuse of body parts are abuse, so toe is the loss of touch with the outdoors and warm congeniality with peers abuse.

2.5 Living in a distress-free environment

Perhaps it is incorrect to say we should live in a stress-free environment inasmuch as our superb human adaptations have been spurred by stress—by the need to cope. However, distress consists of situations and events with which we cannot cope or which impose great difficulty upon the organism. Continuous distress will speedily exhaust the organism and contribute to its early demise.

In our society the greatest distress arises from our peculiarly rapacious economic system that keeps most of us in more or less constant insecurity. Assurance of life and its means exists for relatively few Americans, even for the affluent. In an exploitative society few have situations that are so secure that distress does not occur. Even those who have ideal situations are potentially distressed by the plight of their brethren. Perhaps no people on earth are more insecure than modern day Americans.

2.6 Rejuvenating measures and influences

An assessment of life and its possibilities in a somewhat detached objective manner establishes a perspective that makes most of our problems trivial. For example, if you’ve read astronomy and you imagine the vast reaches of space, our personal affairs and problems are small in that light, though, subjectively, the whole world revolves around us and our concerns.

Helping establish a philosophical outlook upon the world and the foibles of humans will enable many to better conduct their lives. When we can view most of our brethren objectively as being weak creatures given to inconsequential and dissipating activities for the most part, that gives us the impetus to tune ourselves in with nature and saner peers—to make ourselves more virtuous and exemplary.

Imbuing our lifestyle with the basic essentials of life heretofore presented will enhance health and life expectancy. Perhaps the most important of the essentials is belonging to a peer group. Humans are gregarious and mutual appreciation among peers establishes the condition upon which all can thrive.

Basically, ailing clients can be turned around by such simple steps as fasting, reorienting their lifestyle to include the requisites of life in their best form, and unburdening them of debilitating practices. But the problem usually always extends to the emotional, social and economic planes as well. Hence a philosophical overview should always be explored with clients.

Get clients physically, socially and emotionally active on constructive courses that establish their basic rapport with nature and a peer group. Get them involved in activities such as gardening, hobbies and crafts, etc. that bring their innate human drive to fruition in creativity and meaningful service.

A study of the world’s healthiest and longest-lived peoples reflect a society of individuals rather secure in the needs of life. Sharing, mutual reinforcement and assurance from a peer group does not create the distress and insecurity as exists in exploitative societies.

America is a highly exploitative society wherein few deep and abiding friendships exist. You will find it difficult to help your clients order their lives in contravention of an aggressive economic system that is by its nature divisive. Most healthy and long-lived peoples are close to the land and nature. They secure their livelihood directly from the soil—from Nature. They live in harmony with their relatives and neighbors—they have a society that does not continually assault them with demands that stress and strain them.

The most constructive steps you can assist clients with are in reorienting their living practices to healthful ones. Secondarily, you can set forth the many influences you note in their lifestyle that tend to distress them and cause problems on every plane of their being. The nineteen essentials of life cited and elaborated upon in Lessons 3 and 4 should be taught to every client so that understanding of their importance is assured. Guidance and suggestions as to how these needs of life may be implemented should be undertaken, tailored as much as possible to the peculiar needs of each client.

The most immediately rejuvenating and healthful changes you can effect in clients’ lives involve guiding them to fasting, vigorous exercise and an all-raw diet consisting preponderantly of luscious fruits with a few vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Always keep in mind that, as a practitioner of Life Science, you must strive to imbue your clients with a knowledge and understanding of their needs in every facet of life that bears upon their welfare.

2.7 Advantages of a community of peers

Consciously and unconsciously, in accord with our needs, we all seek the comfort and assurance of life and its means upon reasonable expenditure of physical labor. We seek this amongst those whom we recognize as peers—those with interests and disposition largely paralleling our own.

Establishing identity and standing in a peer group is difficult within the context of a society that places values upon individual economic achievement and standing rather than upon the humanness of merit of every individual. When clients are brought to the realization of the conditions of our society—when they can be imbued with a philosophical overview of their circumstances so that they can better understand and cope with it, than the bases for a less stressful and debilitating existence has been established.

Many individuals of my acquaintance have joined in communities with individuals of similar interests and drive. The experience of facing the world with others rather than facing its imposing awesomeness alone has reawakened their will to live and given them new ambitions and drives. Nothing rejuvenates, enlivens and renews life so effectively as a community of peers who live in cooperation and harmony.