LONGEVITY,

m AND
IMMORTALITY
Charles W. Johnson, Jr.

Fasting, longevity, and immortality

RM 226.5 .J65 476 86
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Johnson, Charles W.
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 FASTING,
LONGEVITY,
AND
IMMORTALITY
Charles W. Johnson, Jr.

Calif. Institute
of Integra]
studies
fooAshbury
San Francisco, CA
94117
 Calif. Institute of Inte' •
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San Francisco, CA b-ill?

"Alas for you (social leaders), who have taken away the key to
knowledge: You have not gone in yourselves, and have prevented others
going in who wanted to" — Jesus Christ, as quoted in Luke 11:52.

It should not be necessary (but today's legal climate it isTto point out
in
that the reader assumes the credits for any benefits he may gain from
fasting or from reading this book. The reader also assumes the blame for
any "bad trips" he may get out of fasting, or out of reading this book.
This author believes that the benefits of fasting /or outweigh the risks. I
have tried to record both the good news and the bad news about fasting.
Much more research is needed. It isn't being done. So — you're on your
own. Good luck.

Any part of this book may be reproduced for educational, inspirational,

non-profit purposes, no strings attached. (Proper credit might constitute
an additional service to the intended recipients of such reproductions,
however.) In particular, it is hoped that the fasting-inspired poems in the
appendix may be considered part of the public domain.
Praise God,
Charlie Johnson

'x.

Copyright © 1978 by Charles W. Johnson, Jr.

Published by SURVIVAL, Turkey Hills, Haddam, Connecticut 06438

 PREFACE
In the 1940's, experiments proved that rats live
significantly longer if they fast every third day of their life.
In the 1920's experiments with cattle demonstrated that
cattle can fast for as many as 21 days with little loss of
strength or psychological stress. However, cattle on half ra-
tions become both physically weakened and seriously
stressed psychologically. In 1912, a Malta attorney came to
America and proved to Boston scientists that his I.Q. went
up during a 31 -day fast. For more than a hundred years a
dedicated but small group of health cultists have been try-
ing to tell us that fasting will cure many of the diseases with
which we are presently afflicted. Since the beginning of
recorded history, most religions have testified that fasting
enhances our psychic powers, leading to divine inspiration,
accurate prophecy, healing of disease, and physical or
spiritual salvation for individuals, groups, cities, and even
nations.
Does fasting rejuvenate the cells of our body and promote
greater longevity? Does fasting promote PANS (Parasym-
pathetic Autonomic Nervous System) dominance over
SANS (Sympathetic Autonomic Nervous System) and
thereby promote the good emotions of faith, hope, love, and
tranquihty over the bad ones of doubt, despair, hate, and
turmoil? Will fasting develop and bring forth our psychic
abilities as many religious traditions insist? Can fasting
erase the scars of life planted in M-RNA (memory-type
ribonucleic acid) by wrong eating and environmental pollu-

111
 tion? Can it remove DDT
from our body's fatty tissues,
cholesterol deposits from our artery walls, and viruses from
their hiding places of mischief?
Could fasting be used to help isolate a long sought
"psychic" energy, and can this help us demonstrate a scien-
tific case for man's potential immortality? These ideas are

explored in this book. Evidence is collected to help the

reader reach his own conclusions. A plea is made for
research into all these aspects of fasting.
Why has the religiously important discipline of fasting
fallen into almost complete disuse? Is mankind really that
spiritually degenerate? Are we really that uninterested in
our own physical health? Perhaps this book will help you
turn the tide in mankind's favor. Perhaps it will even inspire
you to improve your physical and spiritual life through

fasting. The author hopes so!

'^*W

IV
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One — Introduction 1

Chapter Two — Fasting in the Bible 6

Chapter Three — Personal Fasting Experiences 13
Table of Fasts of the Author 69
Chapter Four — Review of the Fasting Literature 72
Life's Important Opposites (poem) 128
Chapter Five — Fasting and
Immortality — Speculations 129
Chapter Six — Summary and Conclusions 161
Some Fasting Clinics 168
Fasting Bibliography 170
General Bibliography 174
Author's Biographical Sketch 178
Fasting Photos 180
Appendix: Fasting-Inspired Poetry 185
 About Fasting

What do you know about fasting?

good for your immortal soul?
Is it
Will it help you live life long-lasting?
Will it help you achieve life's goal?
Will it heal health and rejuvenate?
Will it add grace
your decision?to

Will fasting even remunerate

By adding strength to precision?
Will it add to the power of prayer
And lead to a prophetic voice?
Will it help you to dispel despair
And guide you to just the right choice?
Will it heal the mind and the body
For today and all time to come?
Will change a life that is shoddy
it

And in all ways improve you some?

Will it increase faith in your maker,
Give you peace and solace serene?
Will it make you a best partaker
In all that the world comes to mean?

Yes, fasting can improve society,

Add to the worth of the world,
And provide a greater propriety
For worthy causes unfurled.
all
So learn all you can about fasting
And practice it eagerly, too.
It can lead to life everlasting,

And make you a person more true.

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
The poem About Fasting may be an example of the over-
advertising we are so guilty of as a society. I say "may be"
because I believe that the significance of the fasting phe-
nomenon is potentially very great in today's world.
Many questions remain unanswered. Many mysteries of
fasting remain unsolved. Much research remains to be
done, and little interest is manifest in accomplishing this
research.
would like to express the speculation that our many
I

world problems exist because we deserve them. We cannot

solve these problems — political, economic, medical, moral
— until we are deserving of their solution. Perhaps we can
become more deserving through the physiological and psy-
chological improvements that we can experience through
fasting. We may also benefit from longer, healthier lives,
and from an increased chance for "immortality."
To substantiate these claims in part, I am about to record
my do this before my
still-incomplete research in fasting. I

research is complete because I may never be satisfied

enough to call my research complete. In addition, I hope
that you, the reader, may be able and willing, by your own
personal fasting experiences, to add something to my
searching efforts in this fascinating area. You may benefit
greatly and help the discipline of fasting "break loose" from
social stigma into its potential place of great social
usefulness.
From my own experience I am convinced that, as in most

1
research, the ''Hterature survey" must be augmented by
"laboratory experience." Iurge the reader to view suspici-
ously those experts, either pro or con, who have little or no
personal fasting experience. They appear to be a best
source of bad information. It must be confessed that the
testimony of experienced fasters also contains a great deal
of contradiction. Fortunately, there is, none the less, a
strong stream of consistency holding this testimony
together.
An important characteristic about the fasting experience
must be stressed. Although it would seem to be a very
physical type of experience, tradition leads us to believe
that it has important spiritual aspects. The very subject of
fasting arouses such an emotional reaction that it is difficult
to write about it or read about it in an objective manner. In-
deed, most of what has been written about fasting emo-
tionally expounds its value for health or for spiritual
benefits, but not for both. "Fasting for health" exponents
usually deny that fasting fosters spiritual growth, while
"fasting for spiritual enrichment" exponents often feel that
fasting for health is a misuse and desecration of a spiritual
exercise. Perhaps this book can help the reader decide the
issue.
Fasting's subjective connotations are so strong that it is

almost a forbidden subject within the most "legitimate"

circles of our society. In modern vernacular, fasting is re-
jected by the "establishment," even as a topic of popular
publication. Only the larger libraries have any books listed
under "fasting." (Even these are often listed under
"Fasting and Feasting"! Almost no "establishment"
publishing house has an "in print" — or out of print — book
to offer on the subject of fasting (1973).
Shouldn't we seriously question how this can come about,
when the fasting tradition is an important part of all great
religions? Has a Godless element surreptitiously woven its
way into the very core of our communications network?
As this literary effort evolves, it will perhaps appeal most
to the person of rational religious faith. This is the person
who, though can tolerate an interaction
spiritually oriented,
of science with religion. Secondarily, it is to be hoped that it
may also interest even the true atheist. This is the person
who, for seemingly rational reasons, cannot believe in God.
The true atheist recognizes that his lack of belief introduces
a loss into his life as compared to that of the person of ra-
tionally religious faith.
Nevertheless, the false atheist, the evangelical atheist,
the person who must constantly quell a strong inner impulse
by incessant atheistic preach-
for conversion or repentance
ments, may well be offended by much of what we have to
say here. This person of doubt rather than faith, of despair
rather than hope, of hate rather than love, might be well ad-
vised to seek less offensive reading elsewhere. Doubtless,
however, few such people our title. Fasting,
will get past
Longevity, and Immortality, unless they give extra emphasis
to "longevity." Indeed, many "lost souls" are, for obvious
reasons, very preoccupied with prolonging this, their only
life.

Since we are dealing with a topic that has important tradi-

tions in many religions, we should hope for some teleology
or purposiveness in fasting. Perhaps there is a natural plan
for fasting in the material as well as in the spiritual world.
Is fasting natural or unnatural, and, if natural, can we
assume from a nature-existing teleology that fasting is even
intended to be useful? We can argue that in a primitive
state, fasting is almost as natural as hibernation, or as
natural as the differing seasons which naturally create
seasonal food shortages. Man's digestive system may well
have been designed to benefit from the sometimes pro-
longed fasts imposed by a harsh yet benevolent nature. Man
might learn much from the world around him if he would
but seek out the teleology on disputed issues of human nutri-
tion, or indeed on the disputed issues of all social and physi-
cal sciences. The important point to realize is that civiliza-
tion is not natural, and in the natural state, fasting, and
sometimes starvation, are natural. We hope we can later in-
dicate the difference between beneficial fasting and harmful
starvation.
Recognizing that we are dealing with a mysteriously emo-
tional issue, we will feel somewhat relieved of the burden of
excessive proofs of all we write. The intended reader will
not require this, and the cynic would ignore even such ex-
cessive proofs. A primary motive here is to develop a wide-
spread interest in a topic of potentially great benefit to
mankind, but a topic mysteriously ignored by a world inor-
dinately interested in feasting, but not in fasting. In addi-
tion, we hope to incorporate as much of the available infor-
mation on fasting as possible, with the view of encouraging
fasting experiences by the more courageous (or foolhardy?)
readers. Fasting might be the poor man 's cure for disease!
We should mention that although fasting, and especially
unwise breaking of fasts, may be dangerous, the sum total
damages done to mankind by feasting far outweigh any poten-
tial damage unwise fasting might do. In addition, the benefits

which can be derived from fasting far outweigh any occa-

sional harm that might result. This is admittedly a value
judgment on my part and on the part of almost all who have
fasted and/or written about fasting. Supporting statistics
have not been preserved. Perhaps we can now, belatedly,
start to accumulate such statistics.
Let us briefly review the format we intend to follow to
justify our value judgments about fasting. We hope to re-
peat minimally what can be readily referred to elsewhere
and to list these sources for reference. We hope to achieve a
balance in making a case for fasting as a rejuvenating ex-
perience, as a mechanism for curing disease, as a means of
gaining increased mental clarity and creative thinking ca-
pacity, and as a spiritually enriching experience enhancing
psychic powers. This last factor should be of great interest
to theologians and parapsychologists who have thus far ig-
nored fasting's relevance to their fields of interest.
To begin developing our case, we will review some of the
many references to fasting in the Holy Bible. Here we will
find fasting utilized for almost all aspects of psychic enrich-
ment and spiritual guidance. Then we review with the
will
reader the notes on our personal fasting experiences and ex-
periments. These encompass many of the complications
and a few of the physical benefits that one might expect
from the fasting experience. Then we propose to abbreviate
the notes we have made on thirty or more books and articles
we have read on fasting. These will emphasize, by their
sometime contradictions, the great need for more research in
this area.
With this foundation of testimony, we can do some
speculating about the mechanism whereby fasting affects
our autonomic nervous system to produce its beneficial
results. This can lead to some ramifications into fasting's
place in the world of parapsychological research. We can
then wander almost outside our field of relevance and
theorize about immortality. This will incorporate some con-
cepts from the field of physics. Is there a gravito-psychic
field to complement the electromagnetic field? Finally we
can return to the better understood part of our world and
discuss fasting's place in modern technology. The scope of
our case for fasting should be such as to provide something
of interest to most readers.
 CHAPTER TWO

FASTING IN THE BIBLE

When one becomes interested in the subject of fasting, it
is frustrating to note the obvious omissions of fasting infor-

mation in hbrary file indexes, on bookstore shelves, in en-

cyclopedias, and so on. It is, therefore, gratifying when one
can come across a convenient listing of Biblical fasting
references such as is given under "fasting" in "The New
Topical Text Book," Billy Graham Crusade Edition, In-
troduction by R.A. Torrey. We will use this as a guide for
our discussion in this chapter.
"The spirit of fasting" is explained in Isaiah 58:6-7. In
fact, most of the 58th chapter of Isaiah is about fasting, but
many translations can be taken as critical of physical
fasting, while advocating a display of spiritual traits which
properly motivated fasting can induce. There is much cause
here and elsewhere in Biblical translations to want to know
more about the translator and his personal prejudices.
Would even a cleric, opposed to physical fasting (and
perhaps, as a cleric, inwardly feeling guilty about this op-
position) be able to translate accurately passages relevant to
and favorable to fasting? Would such a translator be an-
tagonistic to fasting's power to produce very real spiritual
benefits? Fasting is mentioned enough in the Holy Bible and
in the scriptures of other religions to assure it an important
place as a religious discipline. (Fasting is not important in
the "weak" religions of today — perhaps weak because
they do not utilize fasting — but it has been important in the
past and will, I believe, become important in the future, if,

6
indeed, man ishave a future.)
to
The point is that fasting is indeed an emotional subject;
therefore, some of the most interesting BibHcal passages
concerning fasting raise interesting questions about the
translator's motivations.
At any rate, the first part of the 58th chapter of Isaiah
makes the point that the spirit of fasting can produce either
positive or negative psychic qualities depending upon the
basic nature of the individual. Thus, these first verses of
Isaiah 58 criticize quarreling, fighting, and even penance
associated with physical fasting if wrongly undertaken. The
same passages extol charity and justice, perhaps induced
without any physical fasting. (But does the practice of chari-
ty and justice come easier to the faster? I believe it does,
when fasting is properly undertaken and motivated. We will
say more about this in a later, more speculative chapter.)
It is important to recognize that fasting, like LSD, or

Yoga breathing good

exercises, can produce bad as well as
psychic results, depending upon the motivation and the
This writer's
spiritual quality of life of the individual faster.
personal opinion is that fasting has a strong tendency to
first produce the "purity of mind" needed for a "good trip."
This contrasts fasting to short-cut methods of achieving
altered states of consciousness. In addition, fasting usually
produces no sharply defined altered state of consciousness.
A slow, orderly transition may be experienced during and
after the fast.
Getting back to Isaiah 58, verses 8-12 list, again, depend-
ing upon the translation, either symbolic or actual rewards
of fasting and/or charity. These can be paraphrased as heal-
ing, righteousness, answer to prayer, inspiration, rejuvenation,
protection, joy, and even wealth.
Enough ambiguous pronouncements
of the important but
of Isaiah 58. Many of us are familiar with the preachments
of Matthew 6:16-18, which maintain that fasting should not
be made the subject of display. By implication we can
assume that fasting in itself is condoned and considered
meritorious. Both Zechariah 7:5 in the Old Testament and
Matthew 6:18 in the New Testament make the point that
fasting should be "unto God" (i.e., for spiritual
enrichment?)
Psalm 69:10 advocates fasting for chastening the soul,
and Psalm 35:13 advocates fasting for humbling the soul.
These are similar concepts, both offered by David, an ex-
perienced faster. Did his fasting help him to become a king?
He started life as a shepherd and as a youngest son!
The prophet Joel mentions fasting (Joel 1:14 and 2:12, 15)
as an act of penance, inducing a return to a close relation-
ship with God. II Samuel 1:12 and 12:16 recommend fasting
to alleviate public calamity (the death of King Saul, his son,
Jonathan, and much of his army) and private afflictions
(David's futile seven-day fast to save Bathsheba's first
child). Esther 4:16 relates an interesting three-day fast by
all the Jews of Susa (in Persia). They fasted to be saved

from persecution and death in this foreign land. As we all

know, they were saved.
Acts 13:3 and 14:23 prescribe fasting and prayer at the
ordination of ministers and church leaders. Does this add
strength to the church and its leaders? Is there something
here worthy of the attention of today's all-too-weak and
divided Christian Church?
Ezra 8:21, 23 also combine the words fasting and prayer
for efficacious results. In Ezra, we are told, the people
fasted and prayed for God's favor against their evil
enemies. We are also told that their petitions were granted.
The prophet Daniel (see Daniel 9:3) utilized fasting and
prayer to enhance his prophetic capacity. In Daniel 10:2,
Daniel talks about a 21-day fast from meat, wine, and all
savory food — a diet perhaps something like a modern vege-
tarian or fruit juice diet. This again was undertaken in con-
junction with enhancing his prophetic powers (by means of
seeing visions).
Of course, the most famous fast in the Bible, for Chris-
tians, is Christ's 40-day fast related in Matthew 4:2. We

8
should note that Christ was hungry at the end of this fast,
indicating that he fasted until "natural hunger" returned.
(This is considered a complete or "conquest" fast among
modem fasting exponents. It was considered very impor-
tant, early in the twentieth century, to fast hunger till this
signal returned. This "signal" is supposed to indicate com-
pletion of all beneficial aspects of fasting, and the start of
"starvation.") At the return of the "natural hunger" we are
also told that Christ was tempted by the devil. (In our
speculative chapter we will try to relate this to a distinct
change autonomic nervous system balance.) We should
in
also note that Christ's 40-day fast marked the beginning of
his ministry.
In the Old Testament Moses went through two 40-day
fasts (Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 9:9, 18). These fasts
produced what we could interpret as a psychic event
wherein Moses received the Ten Commandments. If we ac-
cept the idea that these fasts of Moses included abstinence
from water as well as from food, we have to accept them as
"miraculous," or outside the scope of modern science's
ability to explain. A future, more enlightened science, how-
ever, might do better, especially if it tries.

Elijah is also reputed to have fasted 40 days, in the moun-

tains Kings 19:8). The significance of the fast is obscure.
(I

It was, however, undertaken by a holy man, and this is

significant in itself. This may be one of the more important

applications of fasting. It may produce, or enhance, or in-

dicate a psychic or inspired personality.

We have already indicated the examples of Christ,
Moses, Elijah, and David. We can also mention Nehemiah,
who prayed and fasted in mourning upon hearing of the
distress of the remnant Jews in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:4).
Matthew 9:14 relates that the disciples of John the Bap-
tist fasted, for spiritual enrichment, we may assume. In

Luke 2:37 we are told that the prophetess Anna, an elderly

widow, spent much time praying and fasting in the temple.
In Acts 10:30 Cornelius prayed (and fasted?) three or four
days to receive divine guidance about the relationship be-
tween Jewish and non-Jewish Christians. It is interesting,
and evidential, to note that here as in Mark 9:29 and Mat-
thew 17:21 the word fasting has been omitted from many of
the most up-to-date translations (and re-introduced in at
least one — Moffet, Mark 9:29 only). Thus the confusion
about fasting's relevance to the spiritual life continues.
The issue of these omitted references to fasting is espe-
cially relevant here in pointing up the controversial nature
of fasting even two thousand years ago. At that time some
scribe or translator initially chose to insert (or omit) the
word /<25^/w^ in association with prayer. Our oldest available
manuscripts — still quite distant from originals — omit
fasting. Thus newest translations also often omit it, but the
issue is far from settled. It is especially critical to ascertain
whether prayer and fasting dive applicable, as suggested in
Mark 9:29 and Matthew 17:21, for the cure of "demon
possession" (or some forms of schizophrenia, which the
Russians are now using fasting to cure!) We should also ask
whether fasting should be done by the patient or by the
psychic healer. The latter is most usually understood to be
Christ's inference, but the former idea is more in con-
formity to modern-day fasting dogma. Perhaps both would
be efficacious. We should find out.
II Corinthians 11:27 relates that hardships and fastings

were imposed upon St. Paul. Are such conditions conducive

to spiritual development? Are they perhaps even necessary?
Are we sacrificing something important to our spiritual
development —
perhaps even to our capacity for immortality —
by our modern-day efforts to minimize hardships and fastings?
The appHcation whole population in order
of fasting to a
to gain spiritual power or a favorable judgment from God is
an interesting Biblical phenomenon. Does it have important
but ignored modern applications? We have already noted
the successful application of the principle by Esther and the
Jews of Susa. Here a three-day group fast produced a favor-
able judgment from the King of Persia and saved the Jews'

10
lives. Wehave also referred to Ezra 8:21, 23, in which a
large group of Jews returning to Israel from Babylon under
Ezra gained protection from their enemies along the way by
an initial period of fasting.
We might also remember, from the well-known story of
Jonah and the whale, that the people of Ninevah fasted
(Jonah 3:5, 8) as a token of repentance and humility. They
thereby saved their city from its "predestined" destruction.
The most difficult part of the story to believe is that a whole
city of wicked people could be persuaded to fast. Perhaps
there is hope for today's world, too! There is an indication,
in this incident, that fasting can even change "destiny" or
"fate." Since destiny is a function of time and since time is
"unreal" in the psychic world, this should, indeed, be
possible!
In the book of Judith we are told that one of the
"weapons" that Israel used against overwhelming military
odds was national fasting (Judith 4:13). Israel won. Judith, a
widow, the heroine of this book, also did extensive personal
fasting. Did this fasting help her become a saintly per-
sonality and a heroine as well?
National fasting to placate the Lord is mentioned in
Jeremiah 36:9. We can also read (I Samuel 31:13) that after
the warriors of Jabesh-Gilead had recovered, cremated, and
buried the body of Saul, they fasted seven days. The
benefits of national fasting are not recorded by modern sci-
ence i.e., there is nothing to record. Does the condition of
today's world suggest that we are more intelligent or more
spirituallyknowledgeable than the ancients? Could national
fasting produce a better America? Could, it save us from possi-
ble nuclear destruction?
We have made just a quick review of some of the many
references to fasting made in the Holy Bible. The sacred
literature of most great and lasting religions contain similar
teachings. An interesting feature of fasting in religious tra-
dition is that while most religions promote fasting as a
religious discipline, Zoroastrianism forbids fasting. By for-

11
bidding it, rather than simply ignoring it, we must again be
reminded of the strong influence attributed and to fasting
the strong negative emotional reaction that sometimes
arises in dealing with this mysterious subject.
It is a strong element of tradition that fasting heightens
man's psychic capacity and brings him closer to that
mysterious dimension of life the existence of which the
atheist, the unimaginative, and the "lost" deny. As a scien-
tist, we cannot propose that the preceding testimony is in

any way conclusive. We do propose that it is worthy of at-

tention in the same book in which other, more mundane,
more empirical, and more scientific testimony is also of-
fered. When testimony is added, we conjec-
this additional
ture that the brief but ancient testimony of this chapter ac-
quires a primacy in its value to our case — our case for
Fasting, Longevity, and Immortality.

12
 CHAPTER THREE

PERSONAL FASTING EXPERIENCES

My ownpersonal fasting experience starts twenty-five
years ago, when I was twenty-six years of age. Since then I
have exposed myself to many of the variations and options
open to the faster. I have enjoyed and suffered through
many of the possible results. can most convinc-
I believe I
ingly and most efficiently convey to the reader much
of the
mechanics of fasting simply by gleaning all that seems rele-
vant in the notes on my own fasting experiences.
Most of mytwenty-five years of fasting experience pre-
cedes my extensive reading into the fasting literature. This
was most unwise and dangerous. The reader can best judge
how unwise and how dangerous from the following narra-
tive. It is very important to realize that while
many of my
fasting experiences are what most people should
expect
from fasting, some
of these experiences are rather rare, as
indicated in the fasting literature. In the final analysis
fasting is an individual experience, to be explored and
"felt
out" by each individual carefully dind prayerfully. (Tradition
does claim they go together, does it not?)
I started my first fast, an 8-day
fast, on July 2, 1954. 1 was
halfway through Upton Sinclair's short 1911 book entitled
The Fasting Cure. I was working full time on the midnight
shift of a large factory. My job involved riding a bicycle,
sometimes loaded with heavy parts, around forty acres of
this factory. In addition,
I was taking a full load of summer

school college courses. Thus I had two full-time jobs,

one
physically taxing and one mentally taxing, during this initial

13
8-day This would be strongly criticized by most fasting
fast.
exponents. (Most of us, however, will never get the time to
fast if we wait for a one-to-six-week period in our life when
we can completely rest.)
Near the end of my first fast I realized that I was pedaling
my bike at work with the same lack of energy that was
always manifest in those of my co-workers who smoked too
much. However, I also felt that I experienced a greater
mental clarity in my daytime college courses. After the
fourth or fifth day of fasting I began to notice the unique
and unpleasant body odor that the Upton Sinclair book had
forewarned me to expect. This body odor and a "fuzzy feel-
ing" mouth (teeth and tongue) are alleged to be symptoms
of the body's successful effort to eliminate poisons accumu-
lated in the body over years of unhealthy overeating and
wrong eating. For a person fasting in a closed environment,
with other people present, this odor phenomenon would be
a slight disadvantage of fasting, meriting consideration. It
helped induce me to break my first fast after eight days. If
my memory serves me well, I also had some pain in the
heart area which made me suspect that losing twenty
pounds in eight days (165 to 145 pounds) was too much, too
fast. This large weight loss, with heart pain, also en-
couraged me to break this fast after only eight days, rather
than attempt to fast until the return of "natural hunger."
Fasting "experts" might argue that these heart pains
were indicative of a chronic heart problem of which I was
unaware. They would suggest that this pain was indicative
of a curative or corrective process induced by fasting.
Since, at birth, I was a "blue baby," this hypothesis might
have some value, but no doctor has ever told me that I have
a defective heart. Subsequent fasts have produced almost
no heart pains. Subsequent fasts have also produced almost
none of the unique, unpleasant body odor characteristic of
some fasting. Thus we may hypothesize that my first fast
removed most of the stored impurities of my body's cells
and subsequent fasts had little purifying left to do! I believe

14
this may be an over-simplified explanation. "Poisons" in
the body are eliminated through many avenues during a
fast.
I broke this eight-day fast with a cup of cream of tomato
soup. This tasted exquisitely delicious. I argue that the
gourmet does not know the true feeling of tantalized taste
buds until he has broken a fast of at least several days on
any simple food that appeals to him at that moment. (I do
not now recommend any canned or processed foods for fast-
breaking, however).
I continued eating at hourly intervals with soup, fruit

juice, milk, baby food, and so on. I overate (a very difficult

thing not to do when breaking a fast) and in less than eight
days my weight was up to and "stuck" to 160 pounds. My
before-fasting weight had been a slightly overweight 165,
and I had hereby apparently verified another claim of the
Upton Sinclair book. This claim maintains that after a fast
we "bounce" back to our "ideal" weight, sometimes less
and sometimes more than that before the fast. Upton Sin-
clair himself, as indicated by before and after photos on the
book jacket of The Fasting Cure, changed himself after
several fasts from a very slim "ectomorph" to a quite ath-
letic "mesomorph."
In my case, my "ideal" weight of 160 pounds stayed with
me through several weeks of overeating, but I finally began
again to put on a Httle excess weight by continued over-
eating.
Another important aspect of this first fast was what I in-

terpreted as insomnia at the time. I now know that there is

simply a marked decreased need for sleep after the first few
days of fasting. My personal sleep needs seem to drop from
seven hours (normal) to four hours (after several days of
fasting). For the first few days of a fast sleep requirements
may increase, however.
For me the most pleasing aspect of this reduced sleep re-
quirement is that during a fast after four hours of sleep, I
am wide awake and eager to get up and start my day's men-

15
talwork. When not fasting and sleeping seven hours, I am
not always eager to arise. Thus two important and mysteri-
ous aspects of fasting are its effect upon the mysterious pro-
cess of sleep and its effect upon our enthusiasm for living.
This might be an appropriate place to state that I keep
track of most of the dreams that I am able to remember,
both while fasting and while eating. To maximize the
number of such recorded dreams, I keep notebook, pencil,
and flashlight close at hand while sleeping. I find that I
record only two or three dreams per month while not fast-
ing. When I am two or three
fasting, this increases to
dreams per week. This might suggest that one gets less
deep (non-dreaming) sleep while fasting. Of course, we now
believe that we all get almost two hours of REM (rapid eye
movement) or alpha wave brain rhythm sleep per night (in
seven to eight hours of total sleeping time). Most of us sim-
ply remember very little of our dream life.
The subject of dreaming is relevant here because there is
a distinct possibility that fasting can sometimes produce
more psychically meaningful dreams. There is both an an-
cient and a modern tradition that fasting propitiously af-
fects our dreams. (Remember that the prophet Daniel in the
Old Testament of the Holy Bible fasted partly to improve
his ability to interpret the King's prophetic dreams.)
My first fast had instilled in me a considerable interest in
fasting. I was particularly impressed with the greater men-
tal clarity I felt I had experienced in this eight-day fast. (I

have since been exposed to the information that both

Socrates and Plato fasted regularly, seven to ten days at a
time, to increase their mental clarity!)
Hardly three months after ending my first fast I found
myself again fasting. This time I was on a three-month
leave of absence from my midnight shift factory work and
was devoting full time to my last semester of undergraduate
college work. Working full time, while going to college full
time, had produced a mediocre record of grades. To gain
admission to graduate school, I would have to finish

16
"strong." A might help, both by producing greater
fast
mental clarity and by giving me more of my twenty-four-
hour-per-day time allotment for study. I would save the
time I normally spent eating. I would save even more time
by the reduced sleep requirement of the faster.
My second fast started October 14, 1954, and lasted 16
days. My weight went from 162 to 136 pounds. On my first
day of fasting I went to the third in a series of ten weekly
visits to a chiropractor. I mention this because many fasting
exponents disapprove of mixing fasting with any other heal-
ing art and specifically mention back manipulations as
something to be avoided while fasting. On the other hand,
many chiropractors seem to approve of fasting for its thera-
peutic value.
My chiropractor visits were largely motivated by experi-
mental curiosity. The spinal column is a very vital and cen-
tral part of the autonomic nervous system that is being
manipulated and possibly "energized." Theoretically,
chiropractic stands on very shaky ground, and empirically,
the statistics of cure versus non-cure have not been pre-
served in unbiased fashion. The mysteries of the function-
ing of the autonomic nervous system, probably closely
related to the mysteries of fasting and the mysteries of
psychic phenomena, make chiropractic a legitimate area of
interest to someone myself much interested in fasting,
like
parapsychology, and an interrelated autonomic nervous
system interaction.
Moreover, I also had a neural dermatitis (initially an al-
lergy to the nonflammable oil put on most engine parts at
the factory where I worked), and I hoped that either the
fasting or the chiropractic treatments might eliminate this
skin allergy or neural dermatitis that had bothered me for
several years. (I took antihistamine pills — pyrabenzamine
— much of the time while not fasting. If I omitted the pills, I
broke out in a bad rash. While fasting, I did not take and did
not need to take these pills. Indeed, medication taken dur-
ing a fast can be very dangerous as we will attempt to dem-

17
onstrate shortly.)
Let me get way ahead of my story and admit that, after
twenty-five years of fasting experiences and well over three
hundred days of fasting, I still have some manifesta-
total
tions of the old, ambiguously labeled allergy, or neural der-
matitis. I admit this shortcoming of the fasting "cure-all" as
an inadequate counterbalance for the enthusiasm for fasting
that pervades much that I herein write. I must also admit,
however, that fasting exponents would blame my over-
eating and incorrect eating immediately after the fast for
this failure of fasting to cure my skin problem permanently.
In addition, I should also state that fasting may have had a
more permanent effect on a moderate acne problem that I
had at the time; but acne often goes away by itself even
before the age at which I started my fasting experiments.
Many of the books on fasting indicate that fasting is quite
effective in curing acne and less successful with the more
serious and more mysterious skin problems.
In this second fast I fasted long enough to reach that point
where dizziness occurs when one sits up or stands up too
quickly. This lack of blood to the brain symptom is at least
partly due to low blood pressure that develops after a short
period of fasting. Another characteristic of fasting body
is a
temperature lowered by 1-2 °F and a pulse lowered from
about 80 to 60 beats per minute, in my case.
The only book I had at that time read on fasting, i.e.,
Upton Sinclair's The Fasting Cure, had stressed that daily
enemas are very important during the fast. Allegedly, 25%
or more of the beneficial results were lost if this procedure
were not adhered to. In this second fast I respected this
advice, but discovered that my second enema got little
results and my third none. The fasting literature points out
that some people get significant results from enemas
throughout long fasts. Such people may well benefit from
enemas while fasting. The predominant philosophy today —
as opposed to that of fifty years ago — is that enemas are
both superfluous and overly enervating during a fast.

18
 Another significant factor in fasting, which my first fast

made me suspect and my second fast verified, was a notable

decrease in Hbido or sex drive, along with the general phy-
sical energy decrease. Being single and wanting to concen-
trate on my college studies, I considered this just another
benefit of fasting. Fasting exponents representing both the
health field and the spiritual field specify that sex activity
during, and even just before and just after a fast, should be
curtailed even when not actually inhibited by the fasting
itself.

Although my general level of vigor was reduced during

these first two fasts (and all subsequent ones), I seemed to
have considerable energy when swimming in the college
pool. The water seemed invigorating enough to overcome
the weakening effect of fasting.
During these first two fasts, and many subsequent ones, I
found it expedient to chew gum. At first I chewed chloro-
phyll's gum to help overcome the bad odor produced by
fasting. Subsequently, when the odor problem was a thing
of the past, I chewed gum to overcome the restlessness that
sometimes occurs while fasting. It is hard to visualize how
much we rely on mealtime to break up the routine of the
day. Thus, the faster may quickly come to miss mealtime
breaks for their psychological stimulation as much as for
their nourishment value. Gum chewing can help here a
little. (I spit out most of the saliva produced by the initial

half minute of gum-chewing in order to get rid of most of

the sugar and additives that the gum contains.) If some of
the merit of fasting involves a lack of stimulation of the taste
buds, gum chewing would defeat this beneficial attribute of
fasting. This is just one of many aspects of fasting that re-
quires scientific research.
During this second fast I grew the first of what turned out
to be a series of beards (this was in 1954 when beards were
not "the thing," as many dagger looks told me). While one
is fasting, a beard does obscure a thin face which would

otherwise give the faster away. At that time this was not a

19
consideration in my beard growing. Today it is.
Concurrent with my second fast, I also started using a
wire recorder to induce autosuggestive improvements into
my life during sleep. In particular, I tried to improve my
study and sleep efficiency. Both these goals were motivated
by the shortage of time I experienced due to having two full-
time jobs —
college student and factory worker. These wire
recorder experiments continued for some time after the end
of the 16-day fast. They were finally terminated when I

became convinced that they making me restless

were just
and costing me sleep. Science now seems to believe that
only during certain stages of sleep (i.e., during Alpha or
REM or dream sleep) can we benefit from such teaching
suggestion recordings. My notes of this
16-day fast indicate
that I felt I was studying and concentrating better, but I
now attribute this to fasting, not to recorder suggestions.
During both my 8- and my 16-day fast I experienced some
hoarseness and an "almost" sore throat. This was definitely
not a cold. According to the fasting literature it is almost im-
possible to catch a cold, or any disease, while fasting. This
throat condition has continued to manifest itself in most of
my subsequent fasts. According to fasting dogma this sug-
gests that something is chronically wrong with my throat.
The manifestations during fasting would be considered a
curative process. This hoarse throat problem I experience
could be an after-effect of pneumonia at age nine, involving
complications and many drugs.
Yet another constant symptom in my fasts is a left ear
that sometimes seems to almost plug up, especially during
jaw movement. Could my fasting be trying to alleviate pos-
sible future, inherited hearing problems? Both my grand-
fathers were hard of hearing in their later years. Will I be
free of this hearing defect in old age because I fasted while
young?
I broke my second fast carefully at first but within a few

hours I was overeating and in less than 24 hours I had con-

sumed too much, and not all of it liquid. My stomach hurt!

20
But in48 hours my notes indicate that I was back to normal.
This is one of the real problems of fasting, however. Once
one breaks a fast, a monster of appetite is turned loose, and
it is very difficult to control. If not controlled, much of the

fasting benefit can be lost and significant harms can result,

if the reports of many fasting exponents are correct.

Again, in the second fast, my weight jumped back to its

"ideal" 160 pounds and stayed there through almost a
month of overeating before it started to creep upward into
an overweight condition.
I waited a year and a half before starting my third fast on

February 16, 1956. I had graduated from college and was

putting my degree in physics to work as a junior engineer at
a research and development project dedicated to developing
a nuclear-powered airplane. My college degree was in
physics, but I had been put to work in test engineering. I
found my work mentally challenging, partly due to this mis-
match between academic education and actual technical
work requirements. Would a fast again improve my mental
clarity in a time of need?
During my first two fasts I was living on a college campus
where my eating had been done either at the college or the
factory cafeteria. No one really noticed that I had stopped
eating. No one could be concerned. Now, however, I was
out of college and eating with a mother and a sister, both of
whom were very apprehensive about my fasting experi-
ment.
I got a slight headache after 24 hours of fasting. This is a

common experience at the start of a fast, but it was my first

such headache. Aspirin is very inadvisable while fasting, so
one must just grin and bear it, which I did. This fast, in cold
February, made me realize that a faster has less insulation
(i.e., fat) to protect him from the cold. (Now, when fasting in

winter, I fight this problem with warm underwear and

multi-layers of clothing.)
At the end of 8 days of fasting, although all was going well
and I was eager to continue, I broke my fast. I found this ex-

21
pedient due to mother's strong disapproval of my fast-
my
ing. My weight had dropped from 158 to 140 pounds. This
fast acquainted me with the serious problem of society's
uninformed and hostile attitude toward fasting. More im-
portantly, it made me problem afforded
realize the severe
the faster if elements in his home environment strongly dis-
approve of his fasting. While this was the only real new
knowledge I gained from this fast, it was a very important
lesson. Truly a more general knowledge and understanding
are required with regard to the mysteries of fasting.
My third fast had at least exposed my mother to the idea
of fasting and helped her realize that people don't "drop
dead" from fasting. Thus two years later, on March 14,
1958, I was able to start a 21-day fast with greatly reduced
domestic resistance. At work I had just switched from test
engineering to analytical engineering and reactor physics
analysis. The new work was interesting and challenging,
and I believe the fast contributed to my easy adjustment to
this new work. I had also started to attend church regularly.
(Did my first three fasts induce in me a greater appreciation
for things spiritual and help lead me back to the church?) It
seemed appropriate Lenten season.
to try fasting during the
Perhaps the spiritual qualities that I felt were still strongly
lacking in me would come more to life by thus fasting dur-
ing Lent.
My notes indicate that after two weeks of fasting I experi-
enced some noticeable irritabilities. I also smoked a cigar,
which I do not habitually do and should not have done, dur-
ing a fast, even if someone's wife did have a baby. I twice
felt some pain in the upper lung area, a possible aftereffect
of pneumonia at age nine. My dizziness upon standing
quickly was more noticeable than in shorter fasts, and I
used two sticks of chlorophyll gum per day to take the
"fuzzy feeling" and taste out of my mouth.
I broke the 21-day fast on Good Friday morning. This

gave me a long holiday weekend to readjust to eating before

returning to work. I broke the fast with eight ounces

22
of grape juice. This was too much and my stomach hurt for
a few minutes. An hour later I had some pea soup and, idiot-
ically, some nuts so that my stomach hurt some more. I was
listening to my appestat and it was misguiding me, perhaps
because I had again failed to fast till "natural hunger"
returned. My notes continue with an unbelievable list of
foods that I put into a digestive system just back from a
21 -day vacation. 36 hours after breaking the fast I had some
sauerkraut and pickled green tomatoes. At this point my
normally "cast iron" digestive apparatus told me in no un-
certain terms that it had had too much —
and it got rid of
the "too much." This was the Saturday night before Easter
Sunday. I was "off feed" until Tuesday p.m., but I was feel-

ing wonderful during this whole period, despite my diges-

tive upset.
Such is the miraculous power of the fast to produce "un-
quenchable exuberance" and enthusiasm for hfe, especially
for a period immediately after breaking the fast. At the
time, I attributed the enthusiasm to meditation, breathing
exercises, and autoconditioning that I was experimenting
with during the fast. Subsequent fasts would seem to indi-
cate that the fasting experience itself deserves the credit.
Perhaps the ill-advised (at that time in my hfe) Yoga type
experiments only helped induce me to break this fast more
unwisely than any preceding one.
Itwas 5V2 years before I was again impelled to fast. In
November, 1963, while my mother was in the hospital dying
with cancer, I started fasting, but quit after four days, due
to headaches and general discomfort. My interest in fasting
had been revived by the realization that fasting might save
my mother's otherwise hopeless case. She had had three
years warning and had lived 2V2 years longer than her
doctor thought she would. (At the beginning of the final
three years of her life I put water that I had brought back
from the healing springs of Lourdes, France, into her
orange juice on three successive days. Did this help prolong
her hfe by 2V2 years?)

23
 My mother had watched her son fast for no apparent good
reason, but she knew that I beheved that fasting might af-
ford a cure for much that is medically incurable. Neverthe-
less, my mother did not fast nor even express an interest in
fasting. She simply died, in great pain.
Some fasting enthusiasts claim fasting will cure all cancer
except that in which the has been seriously damaged.
liver
Other fasting advocates claim only that fasting will greatly
alleviate the terrible pain some kinds of cancer cause near
the end. In a terminal case what can a person lose by fast-
ing? Still, people in need won't give fasting a try, even when
someone close to them has demonstrated how easy it is.
This is also one of the important mysteries of fasting. On
the other hand, the social sanction against fasting and the
medical profession's antagonism toward it resolve much of
mystery.
this particular
Being single and having lived frugally while earning a
good salary as an engineer, I had accumulated some sav-
ings. had also accumulated a considerable pile of unread
I

books. In early 1964 I decided to "retire" for a year or two.

(This expanded to eleven years!) I intended to do some pri-
vate research into the many areas of interest that I had. I

found that society and the "establishment" did not share

these interests with me. Social institutions could not, there-
fore, be expected to support my areas of interest with the
kind of research effort in which I had just been involved.
(However, Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion had already failed,
and the research project itself had only another year and a
half to live.) My unorthodox interests were parapsychology,
underground homes, high temperature fast breeder reac-
tors, gravity research, biorhythm cycle research, UFO re-
search, sound stock market investment, "survival" garden-
ing, and, of course, fasting.
So, being uninhibited by an employment work schedule, I

planned to fast very early my

premature retirement ex-
in
perience. (I was not quite 36.) For the first time in my fast-
ing experience I would have no work schedule to which to

24
adhere and could fully relax if successful fasting really re-
quired this.
I started a 40-day fast on February 17, 1964, during Lent,
the Monday after Ash Wednesday. My starting stripped
weight was 168 pounds, 8 pounds above what then con- I

sidered my "ideal" weight. As in all of my fasts, a previous

anticipation of starting a fast at a pre-determined time had
apparently conditioned me so that I was spared the one to
two days of hunger that most fasters must experience at the
start of a fast. (A person who believes in reincarnation
might want to hypothesize that my strong interest in fasting
and my ability to fast without experiencing hunger even
during the first day or two of the fast indicate that I am a
reincarnation of a monk or of someone used to much fast-
ing. Since my interest in reincarnation phenomena stops at
the point of recognizing them as very important para-
psychological events, evidencing the validity of man's ESP
or psychic faculty, I cannot so hypothesize.)
This was the first fast in which I noted a very dry throat
feeling. The fasting literature indicates this is a common ex-
perience. A rather general itching that had only moderately
bothered in previous fasts was more pronounced this time,
and a poison ivy type rash eventually broke out along the
middle of my spinal column. Fasting books claim that this is
another common indication of poisons being eliminated
from the body. It could also be indicative of vitamin B
complex deficiency, but one of the mysteries of fasting is
supposed to be a lack of any vitamin deficiencies. Fasting
experience in general seems to support this claim of no
manifest vitamin deficiency symptoms while fasting. The
mystery of the rather common occurrence of rash outbreak
while fasting is left unexplained, except that it reflects the
body's expelled poisons. I would certainly like to see some
medical research verify this assumption.
This spinal column rash continued to harass me in almost
all subsequent long fasts. It might be noted that the central

part of the spinal column is an area of sympathetic autonom-

25
icnervous system (SANS) predominance. This part of our
autonomic nervous systems will come up for discussion in
our speculations chapter. There we will try to relate SANS
with negative psychic forces, with evil, and even with the
devil!
Another common fasting problem which I first encoun-
tered in this, my sixth fast, was difficulty in taking an enema.
(While fasting I sometimes take enemas about once a
still

week, for the first two or three weeks.) Fasting books sug-
gest that "nervousness" sometimes prevents water from get-
ting past the sigmoid flexture. During a fast some of the
water introduced into the system by enema seems to be ab-
sorbed through the intestine walls. Is it possible that this is
undesirable and that therefore the system resists the enema
procedure? I have had quite consistent trouble with enemas
in all recent fasts, except the most recent ones, wherein the
mystery is resolved. I am convinced that, for me at any rate,
they are unnecessary during a fast.
My notes show that I broke my 40-day fast on March 28,
1964, but four days before, on the thirty-sixth day of
fasting, I put in a hard day's work getting the garden ready
for planting. From March 22 to 28 my weight stayed at
135-136 pounds. This brings up what may be the most im-
portant mystery of fasting.
We can calculate the energy that is needed to keep our
heart, breathing mechanism, and brain functioning. Adding
in a little for minimal physical activity, we can conclude that
a moderately inactive faster should lose almost a pound of
weight per day. That is, in the absence of food to burn for
energy, the body must burn, or catabolize, almost a pound
per day of its own weight to "keep going." During most of a
fast this is a typical weight loss figure. Nevertheless, here I
was, near the end of a 40-day fast, feeling more energetic
than earlier in the fast, doing more physical work, and los-
ing no weight! Impossible, of course, and I foolishly ignored
the fact — the absence of weight loss — assuming it to be
the result of faulty measurement or observation. (How

26
often do we miss something important of this sort
scientists
simply because we know it is impossible and therefore refuse
to notice it.) Subsequently, however, I read that others had
noted the same phenomenon, and in some cases with great
consternation.
There appears be a clear-cut violation of a sacred law of
to
physics here — the law of mass-energy conservation. Some
mysterious source of energy is supplying its energy for our
body's use. Is this mystery of fasting related to the mysteri-
ous psychic energy involved in the psychic phenomena of
parapsychology? Is it related to the mysterious healing
power of fasting itself, and of so-called faith healing? Surely
important research remains to be done here.
I broke this 40-day fast with four ounces of prune juice at

3:45 A.M., the day before Easter. My notes and my

memory tell me that the prune juice and the V8 juice that
followed three-fourths of an hour later were supremely
delicious. I continued on soup, juice, fruit, pudding, baby
food, ice cream, yogurt and so on. I was overeating and
"wrong" eating again. As in previous fasts, I would gain
back most of my lost weight much more quickly than I had
lost it. I also realized this time that although I was
overeating, I was not eating and drinking enough to justify
my weight gain. The violation of mass-energy conservation,
manifest in the last days of the fast by lack of weight loss,
was continuing now that I was eating. It was now taking the
form of greater weight gain than my food and water intake
could justify.
One of the items of food I ate the first day after my 40-day
fastwas a 43/4-ounce jar of strained spinach baby food.
Three days had some rhubarb. I know now that swiss
later I

chard, spinach, and rhubarb are good things to avoid right

after a fast. Perhaps they should always be avoided since
they allegedly contain oxalic acid, which can upset our body
mineral metaboHsm — especially calcium, sodium and po-
tassium.
On the eighth day after breaking my 40-day fast, my legs

27
developed an edema condition — swollen ankles in particu-
lar. This is a potential hazard of the fast-breaking experience

and is variously ascribed to overeating, of which I was cer-

tainly guilty, or to too much liquid, or to too much or too little

protein.Perhaps we just do not know what causes this

edema after fasting and perhaps we should find out. When
the phenomenon arises in a non-fasting situation, salt restric-
tion is advisable, as sodium and water retention by the body
are indicated. Since have had this edema trouble after
I

several subsequent fasts and also after eating swiss chard

and rhubarb shortly after breaking each of these fasts, I ten-
tatively ascribe my edema complication to these foods.
But minor complication of fasting,
to offset this relatively
I may have finally and unintentionally produced a "miracu-

lous" cure as a result of this 40-day fast. At birth I sustained

an eye and brain injury that probably accounts for some of a
myriad of eye problems that still afflict me — ambliopia of
the right eye, plus slight strabismus, myopia, astigmatism
and gross nystagmus. The nystagmus seems related to the
strabismus (crossed eyes) and ambliophia (lazy eye), and
these three conditions are probably related to the eye and
brain injury at birth. Brain injury is, of course, irreversible,
except to the extent that other areas of the brain can take
over the functions of the damaged area. At the time of my
40-day fast I and my nystagmus were 36 years old. (Nystag-
mus is similar to the REM, rapid eye movement, that we all

experience during the dreaming part of our sleep.) Only

rarely does nystagmus occur conspicuously in a person,
while awake. However, the condition tended to bother me
when I tried to focus on a person's face while talking, or
when I tried to read aloud, or when I strained to see
something in a dim light. Since it sometimes bothered me
while I was avoided night driving. Now,
driving at night, I

however, a month or two after breaking this 40-day fast, I

realized that my nystagmus
had sustained a step-function
improvement; i.e., it was so much better, in such a short
time, that time alone could not be credited with the change.

28
Almost certainly, fasting should get the credit. I was
reminded that fasting is alleged to be a cure for epilepsy,
another mysterious brain misfunctioning problem. Can
fasting correct uncorrectable brain defects and damage?
Again the research is lacking.
I had still failed to fast till natural hunger had returned. I

was still very much interested in exploring the discipline of

fasting, and if possible, in unearthing its mysteries. To the
best of my knowledge, no one was exploring the fasting
discipline for its possible relevance to parapsychology.
Thus, here also I had work to do. At the very least, I would
have to fast again and try to experience the return of natural
hunger. I also very much wanted to learn to control my ap-
petite after breaking the fast. These were both requisites
for a more complete spectrum of personal fasting experi-
ence. I had still read very little on fasting except Sinclair's
book and some browsing in the New York City Public Li-
brary. All of these references seemed to insist that fasting
should last until "natural hunger" returned. They also
usually insisted that the fast should be broken very cau-
tiously, with a fruit juice diet period. This requirement
seemed almost impossible to me. (It can be inserted here
that a foremost fasting clinic that has for many years in-
sisted on fruit juice fast-breaking for at least the first two
days is now seriously considering breaking all fasts on
solids, not juices. Perhaps this is in reaction to edema prob-
lems that can arise from excessive liquid intake at this
"delicate" time of fasting. It may be noted that nature
would offer only solids upon which to break a naturally in-
duced fast.)
So I started a 38-day fast that may, when I review my life
years from now, turn out to be my most life-influencing fast.
It is certainly an important event in my life. I started this

38-day fast on October 5, 1964, six months and one week

after breaking my 40-day fast.
My notes indicate that I took four enemas during this fast
and that in three of these I had trouble getting water past

29
the sigmoid flexure. (The best procedure here, I beheve, is
not to apply pressure. Just wait, or quit.) After only a few
days of fasting, my back started itching and shortly there-
after a rash appeared, as in some previous and subsequent
fasts. Within two weeks I had very dry mouth sensations,
but I was not thirsty! I had weak cold symptoms at the start
of the fast, including the "almost" sore throat that seems to
be a consistent part of much of my fasting experience. At
the end of eleven days I reported feeling vicious and venge-
ful for a couple of days. On the 23rd day I gargled with salt
and baking soda in hot water, for a bad sore throat. Two
days later I had a good deal of mucous in nose and throat,
but the cold, if such it was, seemed remarkably unbother-
some and short-lived. I had some urinating trouble — a
common problem in fasting for some people, but a new
problem in my fasting experience. In another two days I
had laryngitis for three days. This was the first time I had
had laryngitis in my whole life, so the psychological impact
was somewhat annoying, but again I want to emphasize
that my mental attitude toward all physical problems was
much more relaxed and tranquil than would have been the
case had I been eating. I am stressing these possible phys-
ical experiences and disturbances of fasting simply for the
reader's maximum edification and possible preparation.
My notes show that my back rash, which had stayed with
me for much of the fast, was especially bothersome at the
time of the laryngitis attack. On the 31st day of the fast, the
laryngitis was gone, but the very dry mouth was especially
pronounced, and I also felt quite faint for a short period. On
the 32nd day I was fairly active and cheerful. For the next
two days the sore throat returned, and on the 35th day I felt
quite tired and experienced mild stomach pain. I wondered
whether this were the start of the return to "natural
hunger." Fasting books, however, specify that true hunger
is felt in the mouth and throat, not the stomach. Would a

dry mouth and a sore throat obscure these "true" signals if

they tried to appear? I had experienced some return of libi-

30
do or lust four and days before this, and this possibly
six
was another indication that a fast should be terminated.
My weight had now stabilized at 125 pounds as I went
through that "impossible" period of no weight loss. Then,
on the morning of the 36th day my weight was 122 pounds,
a sudden three-pound loss. It was back to 125 pounds for
the last two days of the fast! This may reflect faulty func-
tioning of cheap weighing scales but it is worthy of record-
ing here because on this same 36th day of fasting, my notes
indicate that I felt light headed three times, almost as
though I could go into trance if I wanted to.
During these last few days of this fast (I had already
stocked my refrigerator with orange juice, oranges, yogurt,
and so on). I called two doctors in search of one not totally
negative on the subject of fasting. I hoped to have a physical
examination, believing that both I and the doctor could
learn something about fasting that only such a medical ex-
amination might uncover. Whether these two doctors were
simply lacking in curiosity or unwilling to get involved with
anything as unorthodox or "dangerous" as fasting, I will
never know. They simply seemed to feel, without even see-
ing me, that they could be of no help to me.
Near the end of the 38-day period of fasting, and ten
pounds lighter than after 40 days of fasting a few months
before, I realized that I was again going to have to break my
fast before "natural hunger" returned. But when should I
break the fast? Fate resolved the problem for me, a bit
harshly, I believe.
A state trooper showed up at my
door and, upon coming
in, proceeded to accuse me of making "unusual" phone
calls, and, in addition, threatening phone calls. The threat-
ening phone calls involved a neighbor. The "unusual" ones
were to doctors. I told the officer about my several attempts
to interest doctors in giving me a physical examination, but
this was not what he had in had called
mind. Allegedly, I

two different doctors in three separate phone calls and com-

plained to the doctor's nurse or his answering service

31
that because I was had lost my sex drive. I also
fasting, I

allegedly claimed, in these phone calls, to be interested in

anatomy, especially female anatomy. (Although I felt sure I
had made no such calls I was impressed by the fact that
fasting does suppress the sex drive, and by the fact that in
vocational agricultural college I had studied the female
anatomy of both cows and chickens quite intensively, as
part of my education.) Of course such phone calls, which I
still doubt that I made, were hardly criminal offenses, espe-

cially when directed at a doctor or his representatives.

The threatening phone calls (which were admitted to be
in awoman's voice) were another thing. (Years later, these
phone calls were attributed to a specific woman.) I talked to
the state trooper extensively about my fasting experiments
and about my friendly relationship with the family receiving
the threatening phone calls. He was unsatisfied, so I agreed
to follow him in my car as we went to see a regular M.D.,
and then a psychiatrist. The trooper spoke to the psychia-
trist in private, and, I convinced the doctor that I
feel sure,
was responsible for both the unusual and the threatening
phone calls. Since I admitted that I had been fasting 37 days
(which about ten percent of all psychiatrists would consider
sufficient evidence of psychosis in itself), and since I was
single at age 36 (non-conformist), unemployed, and retired
at this premature age (very non-conformist), and had a
beard (very, very non-conformist in 1964), the psychiatrist
felt that I belonged in the nearby state mental hospital.

I was shocked and momentarily horrified, but then ration-

alized that it might be useful to break a long fast under

medical supervision. Perhaps they could help me control
the typical impulse to overeat during this fast-breaking
period. I inquired about the possible effect of a mental
hospital record upon my future career as a scientist or
engineer, but the doctor simply brushed this inquiry aside.
(I now know any
that such a mental hospital record destroys
such career, at least during the decade of the 1960's, and is
also detrimental where experience background requires

32
employment at large research efforts run by large com-
panies.)
I was checked into the nearby state mental hospital at
about 10 P.M. by a not too friendly doctor of Oriental ex-
traction. His command of English was distressingly defec-
tive. The next morning I refused the standard breakfast of-
fered me (toast,dry cereal, hard boiled egg, doughnut,
coffee, juice), thinking someone had made a mistake to
offer me such a meal after a 38-day fast. Surely the medical
profession would not condone a largely solids meal to break
a long fast, especially such unhealthy soHds. I had also, on
similar grounds, refused, before breakfast, to take some
powerful tranquilizer medication.
When a doctor later that morning informed me that this
was exactly how he expected me to break my long fast, I
suddenly realized that I had no defense against his abysmal
ignorance of fasting. So I broke my fast on two powerful
tranquilizers, trilofon and thorozine, and an hour later had a
noon meal of chicken, lettuce, boiled potatoes, and so on.
The drugs powerful as LSD, but with opposite effects)
(as
were given orally three times a day, before meals. At meal
time, I soon learned how to go through the line twice to get
six instead of three meals a day. Thus I did not experience
any benefit of an intelligent, medically supervised fast-
breaking experience. In fact, I believe the desire to overeat
was enhanced by the tranquilizers I was taking. I had never
overeaten as severely in any preceeding fast. On the other
hand, the drugs and the unpleasant environment seemed to
prevent me from efficiently gaining back my lost weight,
and my "ideal" weight has never since been as high as 160
pounds.
It took seven weeks during this triple holiday season for

my sister, my minister, and my lawyer to get a court hear-

ing for me and get me out of that evil place. (I must call it
"evil" because most of the "mentally sick" people that I
was exposed to were not benefiting from their "incarcera-
tion" experiences. They were simply rotting in storage. Nor

33
could Iconvince myself that even half of them were in
unusual need of psychiatric help. I could have listed quite a
number of more needful candidates for help among acquain-
tances in society at large. Admittedly, however, I was with
a group of mental patients considered "least sick.")
Due to the solid food diet and the drugs, I was extremely
constipated throughout the entire seven-week stay. The
hospital personnel were most courteous and considerate,
but this did not prevent the basic atmosphere of the institu-
tion from being one of despair; drug induced, I believe. My
own attitude was not despair, but sheer lethargy. Drugs
have a very profound effect on a person, either during or
after a long fast. This is probably because the liver has
become too small to perform effectively its function of de-
stroying poisons (including drugs) that enter the digestive
system. Thus the two strong tranquilizers had made almost
a "vegetable" out of me. After leaving the mental hospital,
it took two full weeks to get this depressing lethargy out of

my system.
By far themost immediately depressing aspect of this
mental hospital experience was the return, after three
weeks in the hospital, of my nystagmus (REM — rapid eye
movement) condition. It was only months before, after my
40-day fast, that I had "miraculously" gotten rid of this
lifelong problem. Now it was back, much worse than ever. I
could hardly see to eat and I felt dizzy much of the time.
Truly those powerful tranquilizers were having a profound
effect upon a body supersensitized by fasting.
I have no stomach for dwelling long upon this mental

hospital experience. Many controversial and contradictory

books have been written in this area of too little social
concern. I must protest that it is idiotic for society to expel
from social usefulness that portion of potentially useful
creative thinkers who happen to have mental hospital
records simply because their social nonconformities fateful-
ly came to society's attention at unpropitious times. My per-
sonal solace and justification have been Romans 8:28: "We

34
know that God makes all things work together for the good
of those who have been called according to his decree." My
subsequent fasting research and this book might not have
been possible but for this frightening experience of social
misunderstanding.
It is only important, in a book on fasting, to point out that

some ten percent of psychiatrists consider fasting, of itself,

an adequate proof of psychosis, and many other psychiatrists

would consider it a symptom have
of serious neurosis. I

read, but am reluctant to believe, that some states even leg-

islate that fasters are psychotic and may or must be hospi-
talized.
Fasting has a long tradition for producing psychic or
mystic experiences. Many cultures and many religions have
advocated fasting to achieve enlightenment or to achieve a
trance experience. I would like to believe that my fasting
experiment had, indeed, produced such a trance state, even
if I had misused it to make "unusual" phone calls. If I could

convince myself that I had made such "split personality,"

i.e., unremembered, phone calls, my apprehension about

being misunderstood, and even wronged, by society, would

be greatly alleviated. More important, it would afford me a
very personal conviction of fasting's profound potential for
producing psychic experiences. However, I am 99% con-
vinced that I made no threatening phone calls during the
last days of my 38-day fast, and I am over 50% convinced
that I made no "unusual" phone calls either. The possible
alternate explanations for these phone calls are completely
irrelevant to the topic of fasting and, in addition, would not
be very pleasant to deal with. (I should note, however, that
two of the three "unusual" phone calls attributed to me oc-
curred at 6:10 and 6:20 P.M. on a weekday when I know I
was watching an exciting TV western drama. Would I go
into trance and leave such entertainment to make two suc-
cessive, ten-minute-apart, "unusual" phone calls? It seems
most improbable to me. On the other hand, since fasting can
induce such reactions in very rare cases, the fasting en-

35
thusiast must be aware and beware of this.)
I believe three important facts can be learned from this
particular fasting experience: (1) Society often misunder-
stands the faster. (2) The medical profession in general is

blatantly ignorant about fasting. (3) The fasting experience

can produce mystic, psychic, and psychotic experiences
(and the medical profession often cannot distinguish among
the three). One more lesson will be developed some pages
hence.
In the meantime would the reader believe that I was
cured of interest in fasting for almost two years? Indeed, if I
had not been having some lower back pains, I might have
lacked the motivation to fast even then. Because of my
"unhappy" 38-day fast, I did not, in the first subsequent
fasting experiment, fast with the totality that had marked
my earlier fasts. I fasted intermittently for almost two
months, starting on August 29, 1966. By October 19, I had
reduced my weight to 128 pounds, within three pounds of
my weight at the end of the ill-fated 38-day fast. I ate at
least one or two meals on Sunday (so that my sister would
not realize I was and therefore worry). I also often
fasting,
ate a meal or two in the middle of the week, again to prevent
friends or relatives with whom I was supposed to eat from
realizing that I was fasting. My beard hid my thin face.
Since I never fasted over three or four days at a time, I had
no problem accommodating any reasonable meal in break-
ing these short intermittent fasts. (Living through the
ridiculous fast-breaking procedure at the mental hospital
had made me a little reckless on this point, I presume.)
Again, I perhaps inappropriately mixed chiropractic
treatments with fasting. I also very inappropriately mixed
some cigar smoking with the fasting. At one point, early in
this fasting period, my notes report intense itching after
going to bed, a possible reaction to the cigars as well as the
fasting. (I got up and took a bath to stop the itching). My
back trouble did not go away until a month or more after I
had ended my intermittent fasting, but it went away soon

36
enough me, with some help from the remembered
to allow
mental hospital experience, to avoid fasting experiments for
four more years.
During this period of time I very belatedly began search-
ing out and reading all the literature I could find on fasting.
This literature, although difficult to find and acquire,
nonetheless was rather profuse. It was also quite contradic-
tory in many respects. This literature will all be summa-
rized in the next chapter.
The realimpact of breaking a long fast on powerful tran-
quilizer drugs in the mental hospital caught up with me 5V2
years after that event. I have already testified that spinach,
Swiss chard, and rhubarb (for completeness we could also
add plums, and two kinds of "sourgrass," and even to a
slight extent tomatoes) because of their oxalic acid content
can upset body mineral metabolism, if taken shortly after
breaking a fast. For me, these foods can lead to edema or
water retention in the legs, even though these food do not
bother me when eaten sometime after a fasting period. I
have tentatively related this problem to the atrophied liver
that one has at the end of a fast. Thus, "poisons" have extra
power to harm at the end of a long fast. (And yet, I believe
the body is more resistant to some kinds of trouble — from
bacteria and viruses, for example — during and after a fast.)
But back to the story of the serious after-effect of breaking
my 38-day fast on strong tranquilizer drugs.
The psychiatric branch of the medical profession is only
now coming to realize that there is about a 10% probability
that approximately five years after a mental patient is taken
off these powerful tranquilizers, he will have visual disturb-
ances and perhaps retinal detachment problems. Normally,
the mental patient must have been on these strong drugs for
one or two years, but I believe in my case the power of fast-
ing to magnify a known effect is herein manifest. (Here is a
possible technique for more effectively testing new drugs —
test them on fasting animals. Any possible adverse effects
should be magnified and more easily detected!)

37
 Admittedly, I had been irritating my eyes with a year and
a half of contact lens usage, but in my mind a primary cause
of my detachment trouble in the summer of 1970 re-
retinal
verted to my being forced to break a 38-day fast on Trilofon
and Thorozine tranquilizers in a state mental hospital, 5V2
years previous. Opthalmologists only say, noncommittally,
that they do not know what causes retinal detachments. I
have bought and read four medical books about retinal
detachment and again come up with nothing more concrete
than "metabolism disturbance" as a cause.
I required three retinal detachment operations in less than

twelve weeks time. The first two were performed locally, in

a small-city hospital. The third was done by the "experts"
in Boston. This third operation was performed on Septem-
ber 18, 1970. Shortly after getting home from the hospital I
decided to try fasting as a means of reversing the "metabo-
lism deficiency" that was causing my retinal detachment
problem. Since fasting had initially, indirectly, exposed me
to the strong tranquilizer drugs that were now probably
causing this metabolism problem and since fasting had even
given these "evil" drugs greater power over me, it seemed
especially suitable to call upon fasting to correct the
trouble.
In 1970, on October 21, November 9, and No-
October 12,
vember 25, 1 started a series of fasts 5, 6, 7 and 3 days long.
My apprehensions of long fasts is again obvious. I was
especially apprehensive because I was still using eyedrops
to facilitate the healing from the third operation. These eye-
drops, containing epinephrine ( a SANS — sympathetic
autonomic nervous system — stimulator), scopolomine (a
PANS — parasymphatetic autonomic nervous system —
depressant) and prednisolone, to promote fast healing, kept
my eye pupil dilated. When I stopped using these eyedrops,
a month or more after this series of four short fasts, my
pupil stayed dilated for two months instead of returning to
normal intwo weeks as it should have. Is this another exam-
ple of the augmented misbehaving power of drugs when

38
mixed with fasting? Take note of the fact that the eyedrops
stimulated SANS
and suppressed PANS, and question this
a Httle as we speculate, two chapters hence, upon the place
of SANS and PANS in a world of evil and good.
After these four successive short fasts and in furtherence
of what was becoming a rather broad spectrum of personal
fasting experience, I fasted every Friday until Lent of 1971.
My notes for this period indicate all kinds of visual
manifestations: "light" areas, cloudy vision, spots in the
visual field — all indications of the massive trauma intro-
duced into my only good eye by these three successive op-
erations.Even my amblyopic right eye was manifesting
"sympathetic" symptoms. These manifestations are rele-
vant to fasting only to the extent that fasting may have
alleviated them. But "time" probably deserves most of the
credit. Damage to the vitreous (as manifested by floating
spots and "streams") is irreversible according to medical
dogma. If I could eliminate the residual vitreous damage, by
fasting, Imight again demonstrate fasting's power to
perform "miracles." (I have not yet succeeded in eliminat-
ing all vitreous damage even though my most significant
fasts have yet to be related.)
I also hoped my fasting would again alleviate my REM or

nystagmus problem. As I have already reported, I achieved

a "miraculous" improvement in this bothersome condition
shortly after a 40-day fast in the 1964 Lenten season. The
nystagmus had returned, at much aggravated intensity,
under the influence of tranquilizer drugs at the mental
hospital. It had again almost disappeared as the drug effect
wore out of my system. However, my three retinal detach-
ment operations had produced serious scar tissue muscle
damage, and a resulting vertical strabismus. (Mild horizon-
tal strabismus — crossed eyes — had been a causative in-
fluence of my earlier nystagmus.) With the new vertical
strabismus, the nystagmus was back to an annoying degree.
My first concentrated effort to reduce both vitreous
damage and nystagmus disturbance began with the 1971

39
Lenten season. The very timing of the fast rather clearly
suggests that I was back to my earUer efforts to utilize
fasting also as a spiritual exercise. I was still wary of long
fasts. From the religious tradition standpoint I was in-
trigued by the claim that early Christians fasted five to six
days per week during Lent. Whether they ate both Satur-
day and Sunday or just Sunday, or Saturday afternoon and
all day Sunday is not clear. I chose the latter, intermediate

course and started to fast on Ash Wednesday, February 24,

197L
Because of eye trouble, my notes of the fasting
my recent
period are again heavy with notations of visual manifesta-
tions not relevant to the topic of fasting. By this time I had
read a great deal about fasting and my interest in the
subject broadened. So did my observations. The fasting lit-
erature indicates that some body impurities not ordinarily
voided, are voided in the urine during a fast. Thus I began
to note that, when fasting, my urine sometimes contained
five or more percent sediment or solids. This could be readi-
ly detected only by saving samples and allowing five to ten
hours for the solids to settle. I checked with hospitals and
private medical laboratories in hopes of getting an analysis
of these solids. Were
they early stage kidney or gall stones
being effectively dissolved away by fasting? Or were they
products of protein breakdown produced as the body cata-
bolized muscle and fat in lieu of food? But I found that state
law required any such urine analysis to be done through an
M.D., and with my past record of "misunderstanding" with
the medical profession regarding fasting, I certainly could
not risk such a "cooperative" venture, even if I were wiUing
to spend the extra money for the doctor's fee.
I also began keeping track of urine Ph or acidity, using

Squibb 's Nitrazine Paper. (I got this idea from a non-fasting

book, Dr. Jarvis's best seller Folk Medicine.) Thus I noticed
that urine Ph was very acid during much of the fasting
period but was more apt to be alkaline, especially during the
daytime, when not fasting.

40
 Although medical physiology text-books extensively
discuss the subject, I hypothesize, related as it is to electric
forces (Ph is a measure of hydrogen ion concentration and
ions are elements with unbalanced electric charge), that it

may also be related to an electromagnetic, gravito-psychic

interacting set of force fields. Perhaps we can correlate a
very physical urine Ph with not only physical health, as Dr.
Jarvis tries to do in Folk Medicine, but also psychic health.
Can such a mundane measure indicate, with perhaps just a
little accuracy, our status in a scheme of immortality? We

discuss this further in our speculative chapter.

I started this 1971 Lenten season fast at the somewhat

light weight of 143 pounds. (Remember, I had been fasting

every Friday for several months before.) The day before
Easter Ireached a low of 120 pounds. During the last few
weeks of Lent it was typical for me to lose twelve pounds
during the fasting part of the week and gain ten pounds
back in 1 V2 days of weekend eating. I doubt that this kind of
rapid weight cycling does a person a bit of good, but I was
amazed that I was able, with no trouble, to start right in
fasting again after awakening a ravenous hunger in break-
ing the previous week's fast. "Preconditioning" may
deserve the credit. I had planned this fast in advance, in-
cluding its alternation with eating on weekends, so I knew
in advance what I was asking of myself.
I did discover that this alternate fasting and eating was
more than straight through fasting would have
difficult
been. The first few days of a fast are the toughest and I
went through these "first few days" six weeks in a row. On
the other hand, the first few days of eating are extremely
pleasant, and I enjoyed IV2 days of this experience each
week. I wondered what percentage of the early Christians
had actually practiced this fasting procedure during Lent.
During the latter part of this 1971 Lenten fasting experi-
ment I obtained equipment to check my blood pressure.
Typical blood pressure while eating on weekends was
130/85, a reasonable value for a meat-eater in his mid-

41
forties.Near the end of the fasting week, and especially
near the end of the overall fasting period — for example on
Good Friday — blood pressure was quite low, but not at all
dangerously so (105/70).
After regaining my normal weight (as usual, faster than I
had lost it), I went back to fasting one day per week, largely
for weight control. I had become convinced that I was most
energetic and healthy at 145-150 pounds, but I kept creep-
ing over the 150 pounds mark, because of too much food
and too little physical exercise. Note that this 145-150
pound level is well below the 160 pound "ideal" weight that
I quickly bounced back to after my
few fasts.
first

I would like to believe that fasting one day a week has

spiritual benefits as well as weight control and health

benefits. At first I fasted on Friday as there is a religious
tradition for fasting on this day. But Friday night is a night
of social activities that always involve eating. Therefore, I
began fasting on Thursday or sometimes Thursday and half
of Friday if the extra half day of "weight control" was
needed.
During the transition from Friday to Thursday fasting I
fasted, on several occasions, from Thursday noon to Friday
noon. (This is only 24 hours of fasting instead of over thirty
hours when fasting is done all day and both a preceding and
following night.) It was on a Thursday evening when I had
only fasted since noon that I felt an uncomfortable feeling of
paralysis of hands and solar plexis. I wondered if this was
an "almost entering into trance" situation, or a possible
OBE — out of body experience! This raises the question of
how long one must fast to bring about the possibility of
trance induction, which, of course, has serious dangers as
well as promising benefits.
I must emphasize that such trance experiences seem to be

very rare in the fasting experience. Yoga breathing exer-

cises are probably more efficacious in inducing a trance
state, if one is foolish enough to seek such an experience.
Let me again suggest that fasting can better induce the kind

42
of personality that can most benefit from any altered state
of consciousness that might be produced.
In the 7V2 years since the fast that had ended with my
being in a mental hospital,had performed extensive short
I

fasts. I was now ready for another attempt at a complete

fast, i.e., a fast till natural hunger returned. I started such a
fasting attempt on June 25, 1971, only 2V2 months after my
5V2-day-per-week Lenten fasting experience and experi-
ment. Again much of my motivation was a desire for heal-
ing of the serious eye damage my three eye operations had
produced. Again, my notes on this fast are filled with, for
us, irrelevant visual manifestations. But in addition to the
"spots" and "lights," I had a "whirlpool of motion" effect
(pseudo-palpillae) in the central field of vision on my dam-
aged eye. This indicated muscle tissue improperly adhering
to the optic nerve. It probably reflects doctor error during
the second retinal detachment operation. The damage was
done, but could it be alleviated by fasting? Again I have no
concrete results to report. The condition seems better, but
not gone. Time probably deserves credit for the improve-
ment. However, on behalf of fasting, I must testify that
typically after three retinaldetachment operations in close
succession on the same eye, serious visual impairment
results. I have been told by several opthalmologists that I
am very lucky to have about the same visual acuity now, but
with stronger glasses, as before the operations. Perhaps the
luckiness takes the form of my interest in, and practice of,
fasting!
I broke this June-July, 1971, fast after 32 days, and before
the return of natural hunger. My excuses: (1) my weight
was down to 110 pounds, a new low, by 10 pounds, from
any previous fast. I didn't want to overextend myself into
"new territory." (2) My garden, very large for a one-man
family, was beginning to produce quantities of food. (3)
Throughout this fast I had kept on mowing lawns and roto-
tilling gardens, but now felt too weak to continue, and the

lawns needed mowing again. My weight in this 32-day fast

43
had dropped from 148 to 110, my waist from 33 inches to
less than 27, my chest from 38 to 35, my thighs from 19V2 to
16 V2 and my ankles from 9 to 8V2. This last measurement,
of a bone, shows that during a fast bone, as well as fat and
muscle, is catabolized for energy. My blood pressure,
122/80 just before the fast, gradually dropped to 100/70 at
the end. My body temperature, usually almost normal, dur-
ing this hot season of the year was never more than 1 °F
low. In previous fasts during the spring and fall, my body
temperature was sometimes more than 2 °F below normal.
Three days before breaking this fast my notes report that
I needed a normal seven hours of sleep instead of the four I

had been finding adequate. Was this a signal, I wondered,

that "natural hunger" was about to return? I also recorded
two heart stab pains, and complete clearing up of urine sedi-
ment; however, the still bothersome back rash perhaps indi-
cated that my
body was still expelling poisons.
The next to the last day of the fast, I report a strong feel-
ing of suffocation at 7 A.M. I mention this possible near-
trance experience because it may be relevant to the fact
that on the last two days and on the first day and
of the fast
a half after the fast, my eyeglasses were most unsatisfac-
tory as a vision aid. They were much too strong! The "since
birth" refractory error in my vision seemed to have been
spontaneously corrected more than half way to normal.
Alas, after a day and a half of eating, my glasses again
became quite essential for adequate vision.
However, such visual experiences, with allegedly perma-
nent results, are reported in the fasting literature. What is
lacking is statistics. What percentage of people who must
wear glasses could throw away their glasses after a long
fast or a series of long fasts? We should also admit, for com-
pleteness of evidence, that some schizophrenics, during
schizophrenic attacks, find they do not need their othertime
necessary But science already knows that
glasses.
schizophrenia, in some of its manifestions, represents
superior physical and mental performance, so perhaps this

44
should not surprise us either.
The second day after breaking my 32-day fast my notes in-
dicate that I overate. I overcome this whenever I felt
tried to
hungry by drinking lemonade, made from whole lemons and
honey. I had broken this fast, as usual, with orange and grape
juice. But on the first day of eating, I had also had a half
pound of cherries and some rhubarb and honey. On the sec-
ond day I added yogurt and also some squash and swiss
chard out of my garden. I have discussed the problem of
oxalic acid in swiss chard, spinach and rhubarb before, but it
was only after this fast and the leg edema that developed
after three days of eating that I finally came to suspect what
was causing my swollen or waterlogged legs. This edema
condition, as it affected the ankles and feet, made putting on
shoes a challenge. As my knees were affected it was
sometimes impossible to kneel and weed the garden. In con-
junction with this edema condition, I experienced for the first
time a peculiar "sick" odor in my nostrils and perhaps on my
body Perhaps the lungs and skin were expelling
in general.
poisons that the atrophied liver could not yet combat.
At the end of four days of eating, my weight gain was 22
pounds from (110 to 132), but at least 5 pounds of this
weight was just water inappropriately stored in my lower
legs. The edema lasted almost a week. It was never painful
or distressing, and I probably could have stopped it with
another few days of fasting. I could have easily returned to
fasting for a few days, as I had seemingly regained most of
my strength within a few hours of breaking my fast. My
libido or sex drive did not, however, seem back to normal
for about three weeks. Was my rather persistent fasting
cutting down on the intensity of lust? As a single person I
could well afford to hope so.
Over the years I had exposed myself to the Adele Davis
type of seemingly good nutrition advice. Now, some of the
fasting literature that I was reading was giving me an often
diametrically opposed philosophy of nutrition. For example,
the ideas of Dr. Herbert Shelton and his Health School in

45
San Antonio, Texas, and the related ideas of the American
Natural Hygiene Society of Chicago advised a fresh fruit
and vegetable diet with protein derived largely from nuts.
Since I personally sought teleology in nature, this diet
seemed have merit, so I
to tried it to the extent practical and
practicable. (Anyone who tries it will realize why I have to
add these qualifications.) When eating with others, I ate
what was offered. Even when eating alone, I ate yogurt,
canned fish — usually salted, unfortunately — and
sometimes eggs, as I was initially sceptical about getting
adequate protein from nuts. Perhaps because of this largely
vegetarian diet, my
blood pressure remained a quite low or
very youthful 110/70. I believe it fair to credit fasting with
some rejuvenating, and the fruit and vegetable diet with
maintaining this new rejuvenation.
About five weeks after this midsummer fast, with my
weight again about 150 pounds, I re-instituted my all day
Thursday and Friday A.M. fasting. This amounts to 40
hours of fasting. More than 24 hours of fasting exhausts the
liver's supply of glycogen and the body must thereafter
obtain its energy by a "shifting of gears" in metaboHsm.
Whether 40-hour fasts are more or less beneficial than 24 or
30-hour fasts is something /w/wr^ research should determine.
My notes report that at the end of one of these 40-hour
fasts I experienced a loud cracking noise in my neck, such
as a chiropractor sometimes produces. Since it was not
painful, I assumed that it might have some good connota-
tions. However, the next morning I experienced a very brief
but very sharp pain in the colon (lower intestine) area. I
relate all these details of my fasting experience, especially
unpleasant ones, because although I want to interest the
reader in having personal fasting experiences, I want him to
be prepared for many usually minor but discomforting sur-
prises. These surprise symptoms, as they occur to the
faster, should be noted, and remembered. They may have
useful diagnostic significance. We will, of course, need
much more fasting research before we can intelligently

46
interpret their significance.
During this same period, I started taking Vitamin E,
building up to 800, 1000 and eventually 1200 units of Alpha
Tocopherol per day. This was a continuation of my efforts
to clear up the vitreous congestion in my eyes. This in turn
may have been partly related to the massive scar tissue that
had been produced by the diathermy technique used on
three successive occasions to "weld" my detached retina
back into place. Vitamin E is controversially recommended
to heal scar tissue in the hearts of heart attack victims.
Vitamin E is also believed to help the body more efficiently
utilize oxygen. This aids blood circulation and reduces the
probability of heart attack and strokes. In addition. Vitamin
E is claimed to have application in some cases of sterility, in
allergy cases, skin disease cases, arthritis cases, and in
many others. I had come to hope that Vitamin E might be
the "lazy" man's answer to the fasting cure. The person
who lacked the physical or mental or moral strength to fast
might take Vitamin E and get similar physical healing
results for many disease problems! I wondered if some of
the efficacy of fasting resulted from the fact that during a
fast the body produces its own vitamin needs. Does the
body produce massive amounts of Vitamin E during a fast,
especially if there is a healing need to be met? Such conjec-
ture can only be verified by unaccomplished and at present
unplanned research.
During the month of January, 1972, I was visiting with
and eating with my father. My 40-hour-per-week fasting
and my vegetarian diet were abandoned, but I continued on
1000 to 1200 units of Vitamin E per day and my typical
blood pressure reading was 115/75. Back at home in New
England, after my Florida visit with my father, I had only
two weeks to prepare for a long anticipated Lenten fast,

perhaps a fast till natural hunger returned. My diet these

lasttwo weeks of eating was vegetarian except for yogurt.
During the last five days of eating I reduced my Vitamin E
intake from 1200 units to zero. (I believe that vitamins

47
should not be taken during a fast. They may circumvent
some beneficial aspect of fasting by preventing the body
metabolism from "shifting gears" to produce its own
vitamins. In addition, massive overdose of vitamins, such as
1200 units of Vitamin E, might act as a drug or a poison on
the fasting body and actually do harm.) As I decreased the
Vitamin E, my blood pressure rose to about 125/80 and con-
tinued to register this high at times for the first two weeks
of my Lenten fast. This was after I had lost about 25
pounds.
As one might expect, when my blood pressure dropped,
my dizziness upon standing up quickly started. Paradoxical-
ly, this tendency toward dizziness goes away immediately

upon breaking the fast, but blood pressure stays low for
some time. (I believe blood pressure could stay "low" in-
definitely if a largely vegetarian diet were maintained.
There would then be no dizziness, just "permanent" re-
juvenation! This suggests that the dizziness of fasting is not
low blood pressure of fasting.)
directly a result of the
I started my 1972 Lenten fast on Ash Wednesday, Feb-

ruary 16, 1972. During this fast, my water intake was

almost entirely filtered and boiled water. This was the
closest I could come, at this time, to accommodating those
fasting enthusiasts who insist that only distilled water
should be used during the fast. During this fast, for the first
time, I also kept track of water intake and excretion. My
water intake, dictated by thirst, was about % quart per day.
I voided a quart or more each day for the first week and

thereafter not much more than a pint per day for the rest of
the fast. Thus water excretion exceeded intake for about a
week and then became somewhat less than intake. The
very important loss of water through perspiration went
unmeasured and unrecorded.
The switchover, after about a week of fasting, from more
to less water excreted than ingested may indicate some
basic change in metabolism at this time. This is also about
the time when the need for sleep seems greatly reduced. It

48
is the time of the fast that the Russians claim is most dif-

ficult, because body metabolism is changing (see Agnew,

Fasting Bibliography This intake-outgo imbalance should be
relevant to the decreased rate of weight loss as the fast pro-
gresses, but I feel certain that it cannot explain the
mysterious phenomenon in some long fasts wherein no
weight loss is experienced for several days.
After 2V2 weeks of fasting, I experienced two days of
edema odor, but no edema; i.e., I smelled, and even
"tasted" the somewhat unpleasant "sick" odor that I had
experienced during the leg edema manifestation eight
months previous, several days after breaking my 32-day
fast. I wondered whether my body were healing some
potential latent problem left by that past edema experience.
(This may point up the importance of continued fasting ex-
periences, especially where fasts are broken with "over-
eating.") During the same 15 to 20 days of the fast I ex-
perienced some warm buzzing sensations or tingling around
the rim of my head. This may be another indication of
potential trance experience, or at least heightened psychic
awareness. (EEG — electro-encephalogram tests in a later
fast indicate that this was intense Alpha — 7 — 14 cycles per
second brain rhythm!) It now seems to me that these poten-
tially mystic experiences can appear at any stage of a fast.
I had now been keeping track of urine Ph, both while

fasting and while eating, for over a year, since I wanted to

determine wheather urine Ph anomolies could correlate
with "critical" days of the 23, 28, and 33-day biorhythm
cycles claimed by some to exist in man. My results seem
slightly positive in confirming the existance of these
biorhythm cycles — a 23-day physical stamina cycle, a
28-day emotional stability cycle, and a 33-day intellectual
performance cycle. In our speculative chapter we will also
try to relate this to psychic energy and therefore to our
psychic lives.
The fasting pattern of these Ph records is best ex-
emplified by this 51V2-day, 1972 Lenten season fast.

49
After the first day of fasting the normally fluctuating acid to
alkahne Ph of the urine became very acid (Ph 4.5 - 4.9) for a
week or more. Then, concomittant with the appearance of
at least 5% solids in the urine, the Ph became less acid (Ph
5.5-5.9). The sediment in the urine went away in about a
week, but the urine Ph slowly started to recede toward
strongly acid only after another week of fasting. Not until
about the 40th day of fasting did the Ph get below 5.0. It
then became very stable at 4.8. It is my strong belief that
one can avoid damage from over-fasting, by fasting into
i.e.,

what we should label a starvation period, by watching this

urine Ph. When, after the high acid period I had reached
above, the urine turns alkaline (Ph about 7.0), then body
damage and starvation start. "Natural hunger," a clean
feeling mouth, a return of pulse and temperature to normal,
and a return of the sex drive would also concurrently in-
dicate that the fast should be ended. For those who do not
completely trust these latter signals (and I do not, because I
have never experienced them), I suggest that the urine Ph
analysis test may be foolproof. This test is easily conducted
with Squibb 's Nitrazine Paper, available at drug stores.
After terminating a fast, the very acid urine returns
within a week to fluctuating acid manifestations (usually at
night) and alkaline manifestations (through the day,
usually). A and vegetable diet, heavy in citrus
strictly fruit
fruit, might keep the urine always acid. Dr. Jarvis, in Folk
Medicine, claims this is a "healthy" indication.
Near the end of my experienced a good
51V2-day fast I

deal of sore throat manifestations, with some hoarseness

but little discomfort. I was somewhat concerned that these
throat sensations might mask the return of "natural
hunger" which is also felt in the mouth and throat. The
urine Ph test was welcome assurance that I had not reached
the "ideal" time to end my fast.
However, the time outdoor spring cleaning
to start the
and garden tilling was upon me, and my weight was down
to a new low of 106 pounds, 41 pounds below my starting

50
weight of 147, and 4 pounds below my previous low for
fasting. I had lost less weight per day, partly because this is
typical of long fasts, and partly because I had been less ac-
tive than in most of my previous fasts. It appeared that I
again would break my fast before "natural hunger" re-
turned.
First,however, I must relate that near the end of this fast
I gargled with salt water and even with honey and home-

made wine in hot water. I hoped thus to alleviate my sore

throat symptoms. This gargling brought up quite a bit of
mucous and sometimes caused pain. Something seemed
wrong with my throat, but if it was an incipient cold, it
never came. My notes point out that the sore throat only
manifested early in the A.M. and late in the P.M., i.e., when
the sunwas not in the sky. Possibly this is a clue.
Perhaps it was the gargling, especially with salt, that led
to a swelling of thyroid and/or parathyroid and pituitary
glands. At any rate, I some lumping and tenderness at
felt

the side of my throat and the back of my neck. This was not
too bothersome, but at thought perhaps a growth or
first I

tumor was developing. Fasting is supposed to eliminate, not

develop such growths. The fasting literature gives me
assurance that this swelling and tenderness were simply
several endocrine glands acting up, something that some-
times happens in fasting. Supposedly it is no cause for
alarm, but would Hke sound physiological explanations of
I

what was occurring. The endocrine glands are a most vital

part of our body. Furthermore, they are, loosely speaking,
part of the autonomic nervous system which, I believe, con-
tains and hides much of the mystery of psychic phenomena
as well as the mysterious, often efficacious power of
fasting. Any disturbances of this autonomic nervous system
may be relevant to solving some of the mysteries of psychic
phenomena and of fasting.
At noon, the Friday after Easter, 5IV2 days after the Ash
Wednesday start, I broke this fast more carefully than any
previous one. I had almost no solids for two days and prac-

51
ticed comparatively light eating. planned lots of light
I

physical yard work to divert me from thoughts of eating. I

also planned to chew gum as a substitute for eating, but
found I had no taste for gum chewing, although I had had 3
to 10 sticks per day while fasting. Things were going won-
derfully, although it took about 30 days for me to recover
my strength completely and my "sore" throat stayed with
me for several days of eating.
One possibly foolish item of diet I ate was fresh pineapple.
I ate this about 50 hours after breaking my fast. was prob-
It

ably responsible for the very painful bowel movements I

had for more than a day. (Because I had taken only 2 to 3
enemas, near the beginning of the fast, bowel movements
started as soon as 36 hours after breaking the fast. How-
ever, because I did take these few enemas, bowel move-
ments did not start sooner than this 36 hours.) What
"poison" does fresh pineapple contain that my healthy,
normal-sized liver would have normally neutralized? Many
questions, few answers exist for the mysteries of fasting.
At the end of four days of eating, I noted the odor
associated with one of my edema experiences — although
there was no edema this time. On the fifth day of eating I
had the last of my wisdom teeth pulled with the aid of
sodium pentathal anesthesia. Five hours later, in spite of the
fact that I had been almost fasting all that day, a left leg
edema started to develop. Although an incipient edema
problem probably exists after many fasting experiences, I
believe the sodium pentathal precipitated this particular
attack. The condition never became serious, as in previous
fasts, but it seems to be a mild, on and off, chronic condition
to this date (about six years — including a 10-and an 11 -day
fast, plus a46-and 49-day fast — after breaking the 51-day
fast). When manifesting, it has an inhibiting effect upon my
running speed. Its primary concern to me, however, is its
adverse testimony for repeated, long fasts.
I am reminded of recent research that shows the powerful

postoperative suggestion effects of remarks heard by a pa-

52
tient,supposedly unconscious, under anesthesia. I had told
the dental surgeon's assistant about my previous edema
trouble, since this information was asked for on their ques-
tionnaire. Did she discuss this with the dental surgeon while
I was under anesthesia? Was a remark inadvertently made
that suggested to me, five hours later, the beginning of this
chronic left leg edema condition? Probably not — but an in-

teresting and annoying speculation.

Asthe time to break this 51-day fast had approached, I
seriously considered going to any one of several fasting
clinics that I knew about. The oldest and perhaps best
known, Dr. Shelton's Health School, San Antonio, Texas,
seemed fairly convenient to reach by air. The two in Florida
of which I then knew. Dr. Esser's at Lake Worth, and
Shagri-La in Bonita Springs, seemed less accessible by air.
Bus trips would also be required and after 40 to 50 days of
fasting I did not feel up to complex transportation in-
volvements.
went to a fasting clinic perhaps it should be more local
If I
— something I could drive to in a few hours. (If you drive
while fasting, power steering and power brakes are very
helpful.) I knew of two such local places. The first one I
called wanted nothing to do with me when it was revealed
that I was already about 45 days into a fast. The person to
whom spoke maintained that fasting should be done under
I

competent supervision. He further maintained that people

like myself only gave fasting a bad reputation, since we often
got ourselves into trouble with our incompetent, personally
supervised fasting. Since there are not nearly enough fasting
clinics and fasting experts to serve all the people who can
benefit from fasting, and since going to a fasting clinic
changes fasting from a poor person's to a rich person's
curative procedure, it is my hope that this book will make it
possible for the braver kind of poor person to fast on his own.
Such can thus pick their own fasting dogmas from the
choices herein given, rather than having a specific set of
dogmas, perhaps unsuitable ones for them, imposed upon

53
them by the dogmatic procedures of most fasting clinics.
Some of theseprocedures are suspiciously similar to
penances imposed by religious dogmas. (I do not oppose
such penances so long as they are properly labeled as such.)
When I called the alternate choice of health and fasting
clinics, I found I would be welcome there. I finally decided,
however, that I would be best advised to break this fast, as I
had all others, under my own supervision. Most fasting
clinics are staunch advocates of very light eating after a
fast. I was not sure this would be possible or even good for
me. I could concede that the typical overeating of which I
was guilty when breaking a fast was possibly harmful and
certainly not ideal, but teleology, as I hoped it was being ex-
pressed by my "appestat" and my appetite, suggested
something more than "very light" eating.
I did, nevertheless, spend three days at this alternate

fasting cHnic, starting ten days after breaking the 51-day

fast. I hoped even then to curb the evereating that was
threatening to erupt in me. However, meals at this clinic
were buffet style, and fruit was between meals, so
available
that I overate and thus antagonized the moderate leg edema
problem that I had. Enthusiast that I am about fasting, I felt
disappointed with what little I knew about these two local
clinics with which I have dealt. Perhaps this disappointment
gives me added incentive to write this book in order to max-
imally inform the potential faster. Thus he can, with in-
creased safety, fast under his own supervision. For those
who still want to "go with the experts," a list of some
fasting clinics is given at the end of the book. It is in no way
a complete list, as I have only begun to track down these
places.
Eighteen days after breaking my
51-day fast, I caught a
cold. Fasting advocates claim it is almost impossible to

catch a cold either while fasting or immediately after a fast.

I think they are almost right. My cold lasted less than three

days and caused a minimum of discomfort although I lost

my sense of taste for a day. That loss annoyed me as I was

54
 very much enjoying eating. However, my fast-breaking
still

procedure had not been proper enough for me to complain

or in any way pick on fasting itself. The fast should be
broken properly, and maybe I will be able to accomplish this
some day. Certainly sodium pentathal five days after a
51 -day fast and overeating for three days at a fasting clinic
only 10 days after the fast do not qualify me this time.
The next fast on which I want to report here was a short
10-day fast during which I allowed myself postum, with
honey and cream! I also had hot water diluted with small
amounts of fruit juice. A primary purpose of this fast was to
eliminate the leg edema. During the two months and five
days before this fast, but after the 51-day fast, my blood
pressure stayed below 110/70. During this 10-day fast my
weight went from 150 to 135 pounds. The slight but seem-
ingly chronic edema did not go away. (How could it when I

was maximizing by making it more palatable

liquid intake
with taste stimulants?) The last day of this 10-day fast was
the first day that my sleep requirements were reduced well
below normal.
I knew that two days after breaking this fast I would be

attending a seven-day Writer-Reader Conference, at which

I would be fed a typical American diet. This would include

foods not considered healthy even by conservative nutri-

tionists, while my nutrition ideas were exploratively in the
radical direction. However, a 10-day fast is quite trivial for
one who has just completed a 51-day fast, so I quickly put
myself on a solid diet, a few hours after breaking the fast,
and in two days, at the beginning of the Writer-Reader Con-
ference, I was ready for any food offered me.
The day before the conference I was offered a straw-
berry -rhubarb dessert which I quickly, hungrily and un-
thinkingly ate. Could this small mistake account for the
slightly aggravated left leg edema I experienced throughout
the seven-day conference period? Or is this edema problem
that follows some fasts for some people founded in some-
thing more basic, something we should know more about,

55
something that research has yet to estabhsh?
My leg edema was significantly relieved when I got back
home to my But since I had broken
fresh, vegetarian diet.
the 10-day fast, both for expedience and experiment, very
inappropriately and "unhealthily," I knew I should and
would undergo another short fast, hopefully before the
garden got too productive.
This next fast turned out to be an 11 -day regimen. On the
sixth to ninth day I took a Mind Control course, hoping to
gain more from it with the help of fasting. It is too early to
report on the subject of mind control, a subject much too
large to discuss here. Five days after breaking the fast, I
again experienced several days of moderate left leg edema.
This continues to be a mysterious, chronic, on-and-off con-
dition.
By the end of August, 1972, had completely recovered
I

from my 51 -day Lenten fast and from my subsequent

10-and 11 -day fasts in June and July. I therefore started
fasting 40 hours per week — usually all day Thursday and
Friday till about noon.
These fasts were partly for weight control. My notes in-
dicate that at 6 P.M. on one of these Thursdays (November
30, 1972), I had a ten-second near-trance experience.
Perhaps my fasting was getting me closer to useful
"psychic" discoveries!
As winter approached and as I continued to try to find a
pubHsher for the initial version of this manuscript, I became
increasingly concerned by the many unanswered questions
raised herein. Perhaps I could yet provide some of the
answers through my own continued fasting experience.
In a temperate chmate, and in a primitive state of social
development (such as would exist after an all-out nuclear
war) man might run out of food early in the winter and have
to fast until he could dig such root crops as parsnips or
salsify out of the ground in the spring. The most natural
time for fasting seemed, therefore, to be mid to late winter.
I decided to start fasting with the new year — again hoping

56
finally to be able to fast till "natural hunger" returned.
I what turned out to be a 46-day fast on January 1,
started
1973. My starting weight was 150 pounds. I had headaches
the first two days of the fast and took Excedrin to stop
them. I suspected that these headaches were caffeine
withdrawal headaches as I had been drinking coffee for
several months before the fast. Excedrin, by supplying caf-
feine, as it does, quickly erases such a headache until the
next day; then the caffeine withdrawal pains (from the caf-
feine in the Excedrin) start all over again. I took medicine
for these headaches only because I had activities planned to
which I could not do justice with a headache. Medicine
should not normally be taken during a fast, especially after

the fast is well in process.

By the tenth day of the fast my "dermatitis"was bother-
ing me quite a bit. I also started using mouthwash several
times a day to take the fuzzy feeling out of my mouth. After
two weeks of fasting, I started feeling a tingling on my head
— sometimes at the top and front, sometimes in a rim
around my head. This would manifest for a few minutes
several times a day for two or three days and then go away
for a week or so. My notes show that about the 40th day of
the fast, this sensation was especially conspicuous. I had
come to wonder whether this might be alpha brain waves.
(These are 7-14 cycle per second electromagnetic waves
that typically occur while we are dreaming. Zen adepts and
advanced Yogis can generate these brain waves, under con-
trol, while awake. Alpha brain waves are believed to cor-

relate with creative thinking and enhanced ESP ability, but

this is undergoing experimental verification.)
still

During this fast I started to check for protein and

ketones in the urine. I found the ketone readings became
very high starting 24 to 48 hours after the start of the fast.
This high ketone condition ended abruptly a few hours after
breaking the fast. Protein did not show up for several days
and then only in trace amounts. Typical readings in the
later stages of the fast were 20-30 mg. per gram. This is not

57
too high a value considering that the body is having to
cataboHze some protein (muscle) for energy, in addition to
fat catabolism. Since the transition from fasting (beneficial)
to starvation (harmful) occurs when the body runs out of fat
to catabolize, these two tests are two more checks — in
addition to the urine acidity test — to indicate surely and
safely when a fast must be broken. Ketones in the urine are
a by-product of catabolized fat. When the ketone test stops
showing "hi-ketone," stop fasting. At this same time the
protein output of urine (from muscle catabolism) should
show a significant increase, again indicating time to break
the fast. In addition, as previously indicated, the acid urine
of fasting should become alkaline as "starvation" begins.
During this 46-day fast I coughed up an unusual amount
of mucous, and also had some sore throat manifestations.
This may have been caused by some old mouth-wash that I
tried to use. Before getting up in the morning, I had some
painful manifestations in my left ankle several times, in the
form of muscle spasms.
On about the 40th day of this fast I had my private initia-

tion session into Transcendental Meditation. began to I

practice this meditation technique regularly for twenty

minutes two times a day, although I soon abandoned my
private mantra in favor of the prayer-phrase, "Praise God."
Near the end of the fast I increased my enema intake from
two to four quarts in the belief that thus doubling the intake
constituted what is called a high enema. Although this is
supposed to be much more effective, I did not find it so. It
was, however, a lot more uncomfortable. I was still having
quite a bit of trouble getting the water into the intestines,
but I discovered, in my next fast, that this was due to lying
on my back, an incorrect position. On hands and knees, in
face-down position, I now have no trouble. Thus what had
been a mystery to me for many years was resolved. Some
may find lying on their side more efficacious. Perhaps no
fixed rule is applicable to all individuals. Again, I repeat
that the enema is probably unnecessary during a fast.

58
 Toward the end of this fast a significant but not severe
pain developed in the area which may have indicated inter-
nal genital involvement. went away two weeks after the
It

fast had been broken. Was some future trouble in this area
circumvented by this fast? Or is fasting making future trou-
ble for me as many cynics must feel? I also had sporadic
mild edema indications behind the left knee several times
during this fast, thus maintaining this mystery of chronic
edema even during the fast, when it does not normally oc-
cur. Am I much that I am a
fasting so victim of malnutri-
tion, a state where edema is common?
The last several days of this 46-day fast gave blood
pressure readings of 93/71, 92/70, and 90/68. I felt that the
differential here of only 22 mm-Hg was too small and
perhaps responsible for a lack of oxygen feeling or suffoca-
tion feeling that I was sometimes experiencing. Previous
fasts had not registered systolic and diastatic pressure so
close together. I was afraid this might be dangerous, and,
since my weight was only down to 108 pounds and I had an-
ticipated having to get down to about 100 pounds for
"natural hunger" to return, I felt apprehensive about the
seeming necessity of fasting for another 10 days or more in
order to achieve my goal, the return of natural hunger.
I have since been informed, by a leading fasting super-
visor, that during prolonged fasts a differential of only 10
mm-Hg between systolic and diastolic blood pressure is
neither dangerous nor uncommon.
On the night of February 16, I went to bed with no
thought of breaking my fast for at least a week. It was about
the time of full moon. I felt unbelievably restless and could
not get to sleep. I believe that this was not a legitimate
return of natural hunger. None of my urine tests so in-

dicated. Nevertheless, found it necessary to get up and

I

break my fast at 2 A.M. on some "organic" apple-apricot

juice. It tasted awful. Two hours later I had some white
grape juice. It also tasted awful. Past fasts had all been
broken with some planning and forethought, and the food

59
eaten had usually tasted exquisitely delicious. Thus I felt
this fast was rather more of a failure than any other might
have been. In addition, the edema problem arose immedi-
ately. This did have the beneficial effect of motivating me
to control my eating better than in previous fasts.Less than
one week after breaking the fast I went to a Full Gospel
Business Men's Saturday morning breakfast and ate a ham
and egg and fried potato breakfast. This again made the
edema quite serious, but careful eating for several days
again got the condition under control. (I had gone to my first
Full Gospel Business Men's breakfast and inspirational talk
only a month earlier and had sat there and watched 300
people eat, while I was fasting for about the 27th day! I do
not recommend that one "tease" oneself this way, however,
while fasting.)
Two weeks after breaking this fast I started having daily
headaches for a full week. This had never occurred before
and did not occur at the end of the next long fast to be
reported on. Thus, even for the same individual, each fast
may have some unique manifestations. Another new feature
of this fast compared to past fasting experience was its
effect on my dream life. During the fast I remembered and
recorded no dreams after the first few days. In previous
fasts I had recorded an increased number of dreams, as
compared to non-fasting.
About two weeks after breaking this 46-day fast (and the
49-day fast quickly following it) I found that I was having a
very spectacular dream life; usually however, I forgot the
dreams even as I was about to record them.
My "neural dermatitis" rash came back with unusual in-
tensity in less than a month of eating, but fasting exponents
would account for this by the fact that in 37 days of eating I
gained back all 42 pounds lost in the 46-day fast, plus an ad-
ditional three pounds!
Because my 46-day fast had ended so unexpectedly,
because I had again failed to achieve return of "natural
hunger," because I had recovered all my lost weight

60
although not all of my strength, because my skin rash was
giving me difficulty, because I had much more to learn
about fasting, and because warmer weather in which fast-
ing is less burdensome was approaching — for all these
reasons I decided to add to my fasting experiences by put-
ting two long fasts quite close together. Perhaps in this way
I could more readily achieve the elusive "return of natural

hunger" and even the state of "cosmic consciousness" that

I hoped might go with it!

Therefore, on March 26, 1973 (my 45th birthday), I

started what was to be a 49-day fast. My starting weight
was 153 pounds.
During the fast, as in the previous 46-day fast, I drank
distilled water. I continued to use mouthwash and again
added the use of sugarless chewing gum, three to six sticks
per day. I spat out as much of the chemical additives as
possible.
On the 6th day of the fast my
two Trancendental Medita-
tive sessions seemed to go unusually well. On the 9th day of
this fast I felt the first indication of Alpha frequency brain
waves, while wide awake. These waves recurred with ever-
increasing intensity and longevity in the 18th, 19th, 28th,
29th, 30th, 31st, 37th, 38th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, 45th, 46th, and
48th days of the fast. The 40th and 48th days were especially
intense with the waves seeming to manifest almost 50% of
the 40th day and perhaps 90% of the 48th day. On the 41st
day of the fast I was able to get a university psychology
department professor interested in what I was doing. My
EKG and EEC were analyzed with instrumentation available
to him. What I had been surmising might be Alpha brain
waves were indeed Alpha! In addition, my heart beat was ex-
tremely and uncommonly stable. After breaking the fast, I
continued to experience this Alpha during the day, often
even when talking to people, but its occurrence was less fre-
quent as I continued to regain my weight. The challenge for
further personal fasting was clear!
During the fast I continued my about-weekly enemas,

61
using four quarts of warm water instead of the two quarts
used previously. Although I found this no more effective in
removing wastes, it produced an unusual result. Of the four
quarts (8 pounds) of water taken in, apparently about V2 (4
pounds) was absorbed through the intestinal walls into the
blood and thence to the body cells. This was reflected by in-
creased body weight. Then, for the following two nights the
excess water was removed through the kidneys and
bladder. Three days before ending this fast, my notes in-
dicate I had some alarming heart pains, something I had not
experienced since my first 8-day fast 19 years before.
I had now come to entertain the idea that full moon has a

disquieting effect on the faster. My previous fast had ended

unexpectedly during full moon, and on the 18th to 20th days
of both that fast and this 49-day fast, I had noted consider-
able unrest. Would I be able to get past this obstacle and go
on to a legitimate end of the fast? During the fast I had read
Ancel Keys, et al, Biology of Human Starvation and had
decided to break this fast on fruits rather than on juices. To
minimize the edema which surely must bother after break-
ing the fast, as it was ever almost present even while fast-
ing, I wanted to restrict water intake. Thus, I got some
apples, oranges, and pears and had the pears at an ideal
state of ripeness should I have to break the fast premature-
ly.

On the 49th day of the fast, at a new low weight of 102

pounds, and a day or so before full moon, I tried to get to
sleep at about 11 P.M. Usually I go to sleep immediately,
whether fasting or not. At 2 A.M. I was still awake. I could
almost taste that ripe pear in the refrigerator! I could feel
the hunger in my mouth
and throat as is supposed to be the
case when natural hunger returns. However, my urine
tested still quite acid (Ph 5.4 to 5.5), the ketone test was still
very high, and protein in urine was only 30 mg/gram, indi-
cating that I was still catabolizing mostly fat, not muscle,
for my needed body energy. Thus, I do not know if I achieved
the return of natural hunger or not, but at 2 A.M. I gave

62
up the mental struggle, got up,and ate the pear. I did take a
bath first to see if this would help me relax and forget about
eating, but it did not. After eating the pear, which was,
indeed, delicious, at 2 A.M., I ate an apple and some fig
juice at 4 A.M. At 6 A.M. I had a tomato and some brewer's
yeast and a therapeutic dose-level general vitamin pill in
hopes of overcoming the edema which I could already feel
building up in my legs. For about 10 days it was touch-and-
go — controlling the overeating, limiting the salt and water
intake and getting plenty of B vitamins, especially thiamin.
I also made sure I got reasonable amounts of protein — at

first yogurt, but quite quickly nuts also. Essentially, I was

eating solids (but watery fruit and vegetable solids) from the
very start of breaking the fast. I don't think this caused me
any trouble. However, as in my 51 -day fast of the previous
Lenten season (1972), I did experience about a 24-hour
period of very painful bowel movements after an initial
24-hour period of apparently very normal and satisfactory
bowel movements. Another mystery to resolve. This time I
tentatively blamed it on too many poorly digested parsnips.
The day that I broke the fast I recorded experiencing in-
tense Alpha brain waves during my P.M. Transcendental
Meditation session. One would normally expect that if one
experienced Alpha brain waves of high intensity other than
during dreaming, it would be during meditating, but I had
found, to my dismay, that while fasting and experiencing
high intensity Alpha, this Alpha generation stopped when I
did my meditating. Thus, I was pleased with this more ex-
plicable Alpha generation during meditating, right after
breaking the fast. However, except for the P.M. session
three days later, this did not continue to manifest in subse-
quent meditating sessions.
On the 5th day after breaking the fast experienced some
I

pain in the temples, especially when chewing. Was this

muscle fatigue of atrophied muscles not used to chewing, or
was this indicative of too much B-complex vitamins, which I
was taking to try to minimize the ever-threatening

63
edema problem?
more about this edema complication,
In an effort to learn
I went, about one week after ending my 49-day fast, to Ann

Wigmore's Hippocrates Health Institute in Boston for two

days. I expected that this change of environment would also
help to take my mind off food and overeating, and it did.
The mild edema manifestations did not go away, and "Dr.
Ann" attributed the edema to malnutrition. She does not
believe in long fasts such as I had twice undertaken in the
140 days preceding my visit to her. Her therapeutic tech-
niques involved eating "live" food — fruit, nuts, and
especially sprouts. Most important, she prescribed an
ounce or two of wheat grass juice, freshly pressed, taken
several times a day. This is taken, diluted with the slightly
fermented "water" (or "rejuvenate") used to soak and
sprout wheat seed. If, as many do, one finds the wheat grass
juice completely unpalatable, its nutrient and healing prop-
erties can be absorbed into the system by taking it as an
"implant" or enema, retaining it for about 20 minutes while
the walls of the large intestines pass some of its elements in-
to the blood stream. I tried only the oral method of ingestion
in my
two-day stay. The first two doses tasted quite good
but very sweet; the second and last two made me quite
nauseous. Thus I did not feel tempted to place an order for a
wheat grass juice squeezer or press (made in
Czechoslovakia). Indeed, I tried to rationalize that "Dr.
Ann" (D.D., N.D.) was a proficient "psychic healer" who
was unwittingly using unusual though mostly sound nutri-
tional methods to expedite her psychic heahngs. Even a
country boy like myself would have to admit that her Hip-
pocrates Health Institute radiated a pleasant atmosphere,
although I do not greatly enjoy the night lights and 24-hour-
a-day noise of big cities.
Since both my fasting interests and my parapsychology
interests involve mysterious healing phenomena, I next at-
tended a one-day Psychic Healing Seminar in New York
City and a two-day convention of the Jersey Society of

64
Parapsychology in hopes of furthering my knowledge and
my contacts these important interrelated fields. Needless
in
to say, fasting did not even come up for mention, although
psychic healing was an important topic at both events. I
could not help feeling that a very fundamental element of
psychic healing was being completely ignored. Jesus,
Mohammed, and Buddha would all agree, I beheve.
The last week of June, 1973, I attended, for the second
year, the Suf field Writer-Reader Conference at Suf field,
Connecticut. Immediately after this conference, at which I

hoped to get some ideas for expediting publication of this

book, spent four days at a Spiritual Frontier Fellowship
I

Retreat at Northfield, Massachusetts. To save money and

avoid eating food (especially meat) which did not conform to
the nutritional ideas I was practicing on myself,
decided I

that this would be a good time to try a so-called grape juice

"fast." As the situation evolved, this experiment turned out
to be quite a success. In addition to an average of 24 ounces
of bottled grape juice per day, I did, however, over the
entire 11 -day period, also consume one apple, seven
oranges, half a pound of grapes, a 14-ounce can of sauer-
kraut juice, and a 24-ounce bottle of fig juice; the latter two
were taken to determine their possible effect on an almost
empty digestive system. (There were no noticeable effects.)
I would estimate my calorie intake at 500-700 calories per

day. I also took a therapeutic dose level vitimin almost pill

every day. I lost 18 pounds of weight (from 147 to 129 lbs.).

This is about as much as I would have lost in a water fast. I
consumed no water in this grape juice fast, so my total
liquid intake was equivalent to less than a quart a day, con-
sistent with my measured thirst requirements in my more
recent fasts. (Indeed, in my most recent long fast, the
49-day fast starting March 26, 1973, my distilled water
intake averaged hardly more than a pint per day.)
Between the 7-day Writers Conference and the 4-day
Spiritual Frontier Fellowship Retreat, I went to my home
for a half-day and a good night's sleep. I took a fairly effec-

65
tive 4-quart enema and found my blood pressure was a quite
low 95/65.
During the entire 11-day "fast," but especially the last
few days, I found sleeping quite difficult. This was partly
due, undoubtedly, to the reduced sleep requirement during
fasting, and partly due to the fact that I was sleeping in my
car to effect some necessary economy, in view of all the
conferences, seminars and retreats I was attending in quick
succession on a no-income budget! On two successive
nights, near the end of the fast, my left wrist and then my
left ankle and leg felt very strange and uncomfortable, as
though under peculiar tension. This may have been caused
by the cramped quarters of my car, but at the time I noted it
as possible attempted "possession," whatever that might
mean. Could juice fasting be even more dangerous in this
respect than complete water fasting?
During this grape juice fast my urine consistently tested
acid after the first two days, as I had expected. However,
ketone and protein readings remained negative, contrary' to
results in water fasting.
This fast probably went as smoothly as it did, with no
psychological discomfort except the insomnia, because I
was very busy with lectures and work-shops all the time. In-
deed, my liquid consumption was somewhat restricted due
to lack of opportunity to get back to my car to quench my
thirst. (My grape juice was not refrigerated, but did not fer-
ment in the short 20-30 hours before being consumed.)
Perhaps the most important result of the "fast" was the
occurrence of a large amount of Alpha brain wave mani-
festations on the 11th day and afterv\'ards on the first day of
eating. This Alpha brain rhythm seemed quite high in inten-
sity and occurred during much (up to 50%) of both days. For
me, this opens up an important new aspect to fasting.
However, I was practicing Transcendental Meditation*
twenty minutes, twice a day, and this may be a contributing
factor, although while meditating, I usually do not ex-

•But using the prayer-mantra, "Praise God."

66
perience high intensity, and therefore clearly detectable,
Alpha brain waves. Perhaps, with continued fasting experi-
ments, even including less debilitating juice fasting experi-
ments, I can learn to "turn on" strong Alpha and put it to
some good use, whatever such use might be. Such use and
its degree of safeness have yet to be determined by science.

I should indicate that often the Alpha I "feel," after its in-
itial more localized manifestations, covers the entire scalp.

Earlier in this grape juice fast, I also experienced some

Alpha while listening to poetry readings and to piano and
guitar practice.
During grape juice fast, the chronic edema condition,
this
although ever threatening, was never serious nor even
bothersome. When I broke the "fast," I avoided juices to a
considerable extent, eating fresh fruits, vegetables, yogurt,
seeds, and nuts. Thus, the edema seemed completely gone
for about two weeks heavy eating.
of quite I now realize,
however, that it is still a factor with which to contend as
well as a mystery still to be solved.
Toconclude this chapter of fasting adventures and mis-
adventures, it seems requisite to summarize the benefits I
may have received from fasting, since I believe the negative
results have been amply displayed throughout the chapter.
The most impressive change in me, and one which I ten-
tatively attribute to fasting, is a change from an agnostic to
a theistic life orientation. Carl Jung would consider this
very important for emotional health, and so do I. Coincident
with this is a greater enthusiasm for Hfe and, I hope, a
greater emotional maturity.
A second important fasting effect was the significant im-
provement in my visual gross nystagmus condition after my
40-day fast. This gave me personal evidence of fasting's
mysterious power to cure the "incurable." The reduced
sleep requirements while fasting, the enhanced mental
clarity, and the savings in food expense were all transient
but useful benefits.
The unfortunately temporary (3V2 days) but significant

67
improvement to visual refractory error powerful
(less

glasses needed) gives me hope that something more perma-

nent may beachieved in a future fast. The fasting literature
augments this hope.
The generation of intense Alpha brain waves, after many
long fasts, may be by far the most significant result of my
fasting experiences. This, however, remains to be devel-
oped and proved.
Finally, the most important result of my fasting experi-
ences, can reach a significant number of people with this
if I

narrative, may be with its providing me the data and the in-
centive to write this book. Thus, others, hopefully, might
learn to benefit from the fasting experience. It is my sincere
and strong conviction that a very needful world can greatly
benefit from intelligent and wisely motivated fasting, if
practiced by large numbers of people.

68
 Tabulation of the Fasts
of
Charles W. Johnson, Jr.

Date
2/24/71 to
1973 — Other short fasts, so that one-third of the days of 1973 were spent
fasting.

1974 — Fasted every third day throughout the year. (Water was also
sometimes omitted.)

1975-1978 — Fasted till suppertime, one day per week.

1977 — 13-day grape juice "fast" in June. (No intense alpha brain
waves.)

71
 CHAPTER FOUR

REVIEW OF THE
FASTING LITERATURE
We have reviewed the more significant fasting references
in the Holy Bible, and I have outlined my own fasting exper-
ience. We have one more long foundation chapter to cover
before getting into some speculative ideas. These specula-
tive ideas will attempt to show fasting's place in under-
standing nature's probable plan for human immortality!
Although my interest in fasting dates back 25 years, most
of my reading in this important area of interest has been
done in the past 10 years. When I read a book, I usually
take brief notes. Notes taken from books on fasting tend,
however, to be lengthier than average, partly because of the
interest and involvement I have in the subject. Moreover
these fasting books are also often filled with concrete facts
or claims, and such soHd statements, not pretty phrases, are
what I seek, and note, in all my reading. Once I have read
and made note of something worth recording, I am apt not
to duplicate this recording when I come upon the same fact
in a future reading. Thus, many ideas that I ascribe to a par-
ticular book are probably also mentioned in some of the
other books I review. For the most part I do not attempt to
give the relative merit of these books. Indeed, some of them
are not readily available anyway, and I mention a number of
probably good references which I myself have not been able
to obtain and read.
I want to take the reader through these notes of mine,

covering about forty books or booklets and fifty total refer-

ences, and thereby provide for him further "intuitive feel"

72
for the subject of fasting. The previous chapter, involving
one man's personal fasting experience, could not possibly
present adequately the complete spectrum of experience.
The following literature survey will give the experience of
many others. It is hard to put this review of fasting books
into a logical order. Our result may seem to be and perhaps
is hit-or-miss. Not all books we read are worthwhile.

An unusual literary style will be adapted throughout

much of this chapter. The page numbers upon which inter-
esting facts about fasting were found will be noted. This
will interfere somewhat with reading ease, but reading ease
is not a priority of this book. If you are interested in person-

ally trying a fast (and that is part of what this book is about),
you may want to check some of my notes for accuracy, on a
detail important specifically to you. Indeed, this might be a
good idea, as these notes were sometimes made brief, and
are poorly legible, so that some errors may be recorded. An
additional reason for recording page numbers in the follow-
ing is to facilitate checking by genuine, legitimate research
efforts (and that is what this book is all about).
also part of
We hope this constant mention of page numbers will not be
too great an annoyance to the casual reader.
I will begin, for nostalgic reasons, with Upton Sinclair's

book. The Fasting Cure, published by Mitchell Kennerley in

1911. Reprints of this 100-plus page book are still available
from Health Research, Inc., Box 70, Lafayette St.,
Mokelumne Hills, Calif., 95245. This pubhsher is also a
source for many of the other fasting books that we will
review here.
My first reading of Sinclair's book was in July, 1954. My
notes say only "very interesting." I reread the book in
March, 1964, with the following notes: page 26, the signal
to end a fast is unmistakable. The tongue clears and hunger
reasserts itself. (In my personal fasts my mouth and teeth
feel fuzzy, but have never experienced what I
I would call a
"coated tongue.") Page 145 adds "pure breath" to these
"end of fast" signals, and on page 148 the claim is made

73
that these signals indicate all body poisons have been ex-
pelled. Would it not be nice if we had some scientifically ac-
ceptable verification of this pleasant idea?
Page 42 recommends a pint of cool water foi an enema (I

use 2 or 4 quarts of warm water; some people would want to

use even more). Page 149 states that use of enemas hastens
the fasting cure by 25%. (This seems possible, but I think it
is untrue. Research is needed here.) Page 47 states that

fasting affords the least trouble for the most needful. I

simply do not believe this. It seems logical that the sicker

one is, the more healing they need, and the more discomfort
their "curing fast" is likely to cause them. Page 56 men-
tions a fast in which pulse went as low as 35, much below
the 55-60 beats per minute low that I experienced. On page
76, fasting is recommended to improve mental workman-
ship. I am fasting as I write this in hopes that this claim is
true. Socratesand Plato practiced 7-10 day fasts to improve
their mental clarity. On page 152 one finds a definition:
"Appetite is craving, while hunger is desire." Appetite is a
false signal existing throughout the fast. More specific
information on "true hunger" will appear later in these
notes. This completes my notes on Sinclair's The Fasting
Cure. Before going on to another book on fasting, I want to
mention that Alexis Carrel, in his book, Man, the Unknown,
1935, 1939, states on page 229 that fasting purifies and pro-
foundly modifies our tissues. Isn't it unfortunate that this
M.D. and Nobel prize winner in physiology has been ig-
nored by his fellow M.D.'s on this important pronounce-
ment? He had, of course, become very controversial and
quite unpopular with his fellow M.D.'s as a result of his in-
vestigation of the alleged miracle cures occurring at the
Catholic shrine at Lourdes, France. There, he had had his
scepticism turned to belief by his own observations. When
he concerning his findings to the world, his own
testified
profession disowned him and all his ideas, even his valuable
statement about fasting.
The next fasting book I want to review is Vitality,

74
Fasting, and Nutrition, by Here ward Carrington, Ph.D.,
published by Rebman Co. in 1908. Reprints of this 600-plus
page book are also available from Health Research. This is
an interesting book, and I am intrigued that the author, who
wrote some twenty good books in the field of psychic phe-
nomena, never listed the fasting book among his writings
when listing his books on parapsychology. Could he have
been unaware that fasting is intimately related to parapsy-
chology? Perhaps he was only aware that fasting is a "for-
bidden" subject most social circles. But why is this?
in
In Carrington's 1908 book he often waxes philosophical,
but we avoid most of this in our notes. On pages 5, 21, 59,
Carrington insists that disease is simply a curative action of
"vital force." On page 27 he states that a toothache will
stop after 24 hours of fasting. He also talks about
rheumatism and gout cures by fasting. On page 91, he
points out that Plutarch in ancient times said, "Fast a day in-
stead of using medicine. " Page 111 recovavnends fasting as a
cure for alcoholism. Page 123 tells us that people are thin
from overeating. They are overtaxing their digestive
system and therefore inefficiently utilizing their food.
Fasting will rest and then correct their digestive
metabolism. They will then gain more weight after the fast
than they lost during the fast. Adding credence to this idea
are the book jacket photos of Upton Sinclair's book. The
Fasting Cure. Here we see "before and after" photos of
Sinclair. "Before" he was a very thin person. "After"
recovering from several fasts, he was quite athletic or
muscular-looking, conspicuously heavier.
Page 196 about vomiting and, rarely, even a few days
tells
of insanity, during some fasts. From page 208 to 248 vari-
ous remarks are made about the mysterious energy source
invoked by fasting. More weight is gained when breaking a
fast than food intake can justify (page 208). More energy is
gained from V2 pound of food per day at the end of a fast
than from IV2 pounds per day before the fast (page 266).
Carrington argues that food only replaces tissue and does

75
not supply body energy or heat (page 248). On page 309 he
hypothesizes that this unknown source of energy is a
cosmic energy that we tap while sleeping. (We will offer

some alternate, yet similar speculations in our next chapter.

If weabsorb cosmic energy while sleeping, and also while
fasting, perhaps fasting provides a substitute for some of
our sleep time, thus explaining why we need less sleep
while fasting.) Page 321 mentions a specific case where no
sleep was needed for 21 days during a fast. (A very few
cases are recorded in recent annals of mankind where non-
fasters needed no sleep. This is, at present, scientifically in-
explicable. For almost all of us, some sleep is required, even
while fasting.) Page 320 points out that Mark Twain be-
lieved in fasting's benefits. Apparently, however, he fasted
only one or two days at a time. Page 397 makes a point
which could but will not be repeated in many of the
references to follow. No water (or even liquids) should be
taken with meals. (But Carrington maintains that IV2 to 2
quarts of liquid should be consumed per day — between
meals.) Allegedly liquid interferes with digestion, when
taken at mealtimes. How diametrically opposed to present
eating practice and much modem nutrition theory.
Wouldn't it be beneficial to know which philosophy is right?
For the faster who keeps track of pulse and temperature,
page 462 states that 1 ° F increase in body temperature
leads to ten extra heartbeats per minute. Page 414 specifies
three successive enemas to be taken, each day. First, one
cup of warm water, then a quart of warm water while lying
on the left side, then two to eight quarts of cool water while
lying on the right side. This is supposed to clean out the in-
testines maximally. Today's fasting advocates tend to
discourage enemas. Allegedly, bowel contents become
sterile after a few days of fasting. (Those saints and others
whose bodies refused to decay after death may have been
fasting at the time of death. This might help account for this
inexplicable phenomenon of body preservation).
Page 452 indicates that body temperature returns to nor-

76
mal as a signal that fast-breaking time has arrived. Page
463 points out that Carrington finds fasting pulse elevated
while Bemarr Macfadden (another reputed fasting expert)
reports slowed pulse. I can rationalize this discrepancy by
pointing out that in my fasts I found my pulse lower than
normal when resting (about 60), but that only moderate ex-
ertion, such as standing up, raised my pulse to 90, above the
average value of 80 when not fasting. Perhaps Carrington
and Macfadden were measuring "standing up" and "sitting
down" pulse, respectively.
Page 469 mentions a week-Ion^ fast where exact
measurements recorded a 3/4-pound gain in weight. Im-
possible but .... Page 474 points out the zero weight loss
at the end of a typical long fast and maintains that we can
safely lose two fifths of our weight. (Some other, more con-
servative authorities allow loss of one-third of an "ideal"
weight condition). For me, with an "ideal" weight of about
150 pounds, I can safely fast to a weight of 100 pounds.
Hopefully, at or before getting to this low weight I would
experience a return of natural hunger. Pages 479-80 again
emphasize the violation of mass-energy conservation laws
both near the end of a long fast and at the beginning of the
fast-breaking period. This is probably the most important
mystery and the most important ignored clue in the whole
fasting phenomenon. The basic structure of present theo-
retical physics may be jeopardy here!
in
Page 492 claims that the voracious appetite disappears a
few days after breaking the fast. Other authorities, and my
own experience, would claim up to 30 days of impulsive
overeating, if one is not rigidly disciplined. Page 501 points
up an important and unfortunate fact affecting the general
efficacy of fasting. A person must want to fast to do it suc-
cessfully and profitably. Many lose out right here. Page 501
also claims that one's sex drive completely dead during a
is

fast (not quite true) and that the sex drive returns at the end
of a "complete" fast, i.e., a fast till "natural hunger"
returns. The return of libido, or lust, is another signal that

77
the fast complete and should be broken.
is

Page 515 claims that the brain pulsates with respiration

(13 to 18 times per minute). This may be relevant to the effi-
ciency of Yoga breathing exercises. Page 533 recommends
hot water to clean out the stomach if vomiting spells persist
while fasting. Page 549 claims that normal hunger is felt in
the throat and mouth, not in the stomach. Page 588 states
that Ben Franklin meant, "If you stuff a cold, you will get a
fever and have to starve it to get rid of it," when he said, too
tersely, "Stuff a cold, and starve a fever." Page 598 recom-
mends that we should stand up to eat. This aids digestion.
These notes on Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition were initially
made in a March 1966 skimming and a June 1970 reading.
The same Hereward Carrington, Ph.D., has written a
much shorter and updated book on fasting, paper bound,
140-plus pages, entitled Fasting for Health and Long Life,
available again from Health Research. Much of the material
is repeated, but there are also some new points. On page 7

we are told that food is a stimulant that gives us a false

sense of strength. This seems hard to accept, but later
references will indicate some remarkable exploits of
strength while fasting. Page 11 claims laziness is a sign of
disease. (Therefore, fast to cure it!) Page 16 mentions that
Dr. Dewey, an early fasting exponent, claims that "soul
power" is lost in the damage of overeating. Page 21 says
that strength increases during the fast, especially if one is ill

at the beginning. This claim is made by others, but is incon-

sistent with my experience. I feel weaker, but more clear-
minded, while fasting.
Page 52 claims that a headache beginning of the
at the
fast is an indication that the fast was needed. In almost one
half of my fasts I have experienced headaches after 15-20
hours of fasting. Were the non-headache fasts unneeded?
This would include my first two fasts, the ones which
should have been the most needed. Page 52 also quotes, "A
man who can control his stomach can control himself." This
is a pleasant-sounding philosophy to one much experienced

78
in fasting.Page 55 claims every nervous patient has gas and
every patient with gas is nervous. Perhaps true, but remem-
ber Carrington is trying to create clients for the fasting
cure. Pages 56-57 claim that fasting is permissible for chil-
dren, the aged, pregnant women, and lactating mothers, al-
though only short fasts are recommended for this last cate-
gory. Page 63 says, "The sicker the patient, the more im-
perative the fast."
Page 64 points out that the reserve vitamin quantity and
location are not known, but seem adequate for a fast till
"natural hunger" returns. Carrington claims that rickets
(from calcium and vitamin D shortage) is benefited by fast-
ing. On page 78 we note a change in Carrington's view since
his 1908 book. Now he says that enemas are encouraged but
not required. He further states that 60 days are the
minimum needed to starve to death. (Psychological factors
can induce much quicker death seemingly due to starvation.)
Page 83 claims that the coated tongue condition of fasting is

indicative of the condition of mucous membrane throughout

the alimentary canal. (Perhaps this explains my sore and
mucous throat condition while fasting, even though I do not
experience the coated tongue.)
Page 99 claims that attention, memory, concentration,
association, thinking, imagination, and inspiration are all

improved during the fast. Page 101 claims that inorganic

body elements are preserved in a fast. Page 103 tells us that
a sickness seemingly cured in the past may return during a
fast to be actually cured. (This is certainly an interesting
idea, in view of the many trivial but annoying nuisances I
experience while fasting.) Page 106 makes the point that
vomiting during a fast, especially after the first two days of
fasting, is serious. One should apply heat and do not break
the fast. Page 113 is somewhat frightening with the remark
that trouble from overeating at the end of the fast may take
months or years to show up. (Could this account for the per-
sistent edema I now experience when breaking a fast? Cer-
tainly I have overeaten after every fast.) Page 146 makes

79
references to M.K. Gandhi's book,
Ethics of Fasting, 1949.
have not read this book, but will later report on Gandhi's
autobiography.
The Metabolism of the Fasting Steer, by Francis G.
Benedict and Ernest G. Ritzman, published by Carnegie In-
stitution of Washington, in 1927, is not an exciting book to
read. Nevertheless, it contains some useful information.
The early part of the book gives examples of experimental
fasts of horses, cattle, rabbits, geese, and dogs, usually with
no observed ill effects. Page 14 tells of a rabbit fast of 37
days, wherein no water was consumed and the rabbit lost
60% of its initial ten-pound weight. Page 20 tells us that
some animal species need water during a fast, while other
species experience detrimental effects if given water while
fasting.
Page 48 claims that herbivore urine is alkaline except
when fasting. (With humans, on a vegetarian diet, this
would be true only if the diet consisted largely of grains and
legumes. Fresh vegetables and fruit should produce acid
urine.) The book gives a good deal of information on feces
and urine analysis of the several steers that were the sub-
jects of the experiments. Page 124 states that although man
experiences acidosis and ketone production while fasting,
steers do not. Data is given to calculate weight loss as a
function of nitrogen excretion. (This reflects protein
breakdown.)
On page 136 we learn that the steers broke their fasts on
hay. However, they were very uneager to eat, requiring
four to seven days to return to a normal eating rate. (If only
man, when breaking a long fast, could experience such in-

stinctive protection against overeating.)

Perhaps the most helpful lesson of this pedantic research
book is its finding that steers could fast for up to 21 days
and show no physical weakness. (They were less active,
however.) Indeed, after the first day or two, no nervousness
or unrest was manifest. By sharp contrast, steers that were
fed half normal rations quickly manifested both physical

80
weakness and severe nervous unrest.
There is a lesson here for mankind relevant to those areas
of the world that must subsist on a starvation diet. Surely
these people would be less disease prone and lethargic if
they alternately fasted and ate adequately. They would thus
utilize or metabolize their limited and inadequate food sup-
ply more efficiently. But perhaps only experimental cattle
are worthy of such practical — and humane — considera-
tions!
Let us examine next Scientific Fasting, by Linda B. Haz-
zard, D.O., a 1963 reprint of the fifth edition. This is again
available from Health Research. This book was originally
published in the early 1900 's and entitled Fasting for Cure of
Disease. Linda Hazzard ran fasting clinics in Washington
state, New Zealand, and Minnesota and supervised more
than 30,000 fasts. She lost only 22 patients to death
although many of her patients were considered hopeless.
Nevertheless, one of these deaths resulted in her 1912 Seat-
tle, Washington, conviction for manslaughter. She served a

two-year prison term but in 1916 was granted a full pardon

by the Governor of Washington and returned to supervising
fasting. My notes on her book are as follows:
Page 83 notes a fasting case where the faster started at
145 pounds, went down to 105 pounds and then, in two
months of eating, went to 175 pounds. Is this another too
thin person turned athletic? Pages 87-88 claim that fasting
in (early?) pregnancy helps the fetus. (Tradition, in India,
agrees with this.) Page 102 states that vegetable broths are
best to break a fast. (Orange juice seems the favorite among
today's "experts.") Page 111 maintains that fasting helps
"cure" the coffee and tobacco habits. Page 112 allows one
half a lemon, a spoon of honey, and a pint of water several
times a day during a fast; or even a ripe fruit at noon. (But is
this really fasting?) Carrington, intwo books just
his
reported on, allowed 2-3 drops of orange or lemon juice in a
cup of water, //"needed, to make the water palatable.
Page 123 states that an apparently clear tongue that is ac-

81
tually acid is only di false indication of ending the fast. (My
own "clear" tongue was indeed quite acid to Squibb's
Nitrazine paper Ph test while I was fasting, and often when
not fasting. Saliva normally alkaline, I believe, but acid
is

while fasting. Perhaps it turns alkaline when the urine does,

and signals the time to end the fast.) Page 148 warns that
vivid green or black vomit while fasting affords a bad pro-
gnosis. Retching to clean the stomach may be desirable.
Page 129 points out that much tissue lost in the fast is pure-
ly waste. Page 148 claims that short fasts for diabetics and
for the overweight are being "newly discovered." (In the
1920's! Whatever happened to the new rediscovery?)
Page 168 relates colon obstruction with mental distur-
bance, and page 230 indicates that trouble in getting enema
water past the sigmoid flexture is due to gas or "nerves." I
find the remark interesting, but I want more information. (I
have recently discovered that one's position while taking
the enema is important and differs with individuals.) Page
173 insists that return of "natural hunger" is certain while
fasting, if the faster is only patient. Page 227 indicates up to
20 quarts of water should be used in successive enemas
each day. (Linda Hazzard sustained damage to her large in-
testines as a young girl and had to take enemas. Is this
related to her "mania" for making her patients take so
many?) Page 270 claims that, during a fast, white blood cell
count decreases almost to zero. This should be an important
clue to pursue. But is it true? A later reference contradicts
it! On pages 272-3 the work of Prof. Morgulis, University of

Nebraska, as reported in his book Fasting and Undernutri-

tion is quoted as admitting that fasting increases resistance
to disease. (A good way to ward off epidemics?) Morgulis
was basically anti-fasting. I have not read his book, since
many of these good, but old books just are not available.
Page 313 maintains that the insane and the criminal are
helped by fasting. (For those psychotics and criminals who
might voluntarily undergo this discipline, what could we
lose, as compared to our presently too expensive, yet

82
woefully inadequate and ineffective prison and mental
hospital establishments?) Page 347 points out that putrifica-
tion of a dead body is slow if the person was fasting before
death. Page 350 indicates that heart, lungs, and brain are
unaffected by the fast. (I believe this is true only of the
brain, and there only in that no brain weight loss is ex-

perienced. If epilepsy represents misfunction of the brain,

and sometimes cured by fasting, then fasting can af-
if it is

fect the brain. Both heart and lungs sustain some weight
loss in fasting, and fasting, if the fasting literature is to be
believed, can sometimes apparently cure heart disease and
even lung cancer.)
Another good fasting book is Bernarr Macfadden's,
Fasting for Health, about 200 pages, pubhshed by Bernarr
Macfadden Book Co., New York, N.Y., 1935. Macfadden
ran fasting clinics and health culture programs in New York
state for many years. Page 17 of Macfadden's book quotes
Yeo on starvation: to starve we must lose 97% of our fat,
30% of our muscle, 17% Page 21 suggests
of our blood.
faster animal growth can be attained by 1-3 day fasts fol-
lowed by enough eating days to recover from the fast.
Again we are exposed to the idea of approximately equal
alternate periods of fasting and eating. (During the eating
period the digestive system is maximally efficient, because
the body needs the nutrients.) Some potentially sound
economics are suggested here for beef, swine, lamb, and
capon production. Has the Department of Agriculture
followed up on this and would a conservative humane
society such as ASPCA allow experimentation?
Page 25 claims sometimes (rarely — unfor-
that doctors
tunately) use fasting to cure syphihs. Page 64 states that Dr.
Rabagliati used fasting in the 1930 's to cure cancer. Today
we spend a great deal of money for cancer research. Is any of
this research money directed toward examining the efficacy
of fasting in the cure of disease? Should we be reluctant to
give economic support to medical research that ignores the
possible relevance of fasting to its research prob-

83
lems? Page 44 notes that the digestive system becomes
sterile during a fast. Page 71 says that fasting acts as a dose
of alkah, while starvation acts as a dose of acid. (Since urine
Ph reaction seems to be opposite to general digestive
system reaction, this is consistent with my behef that a
"foolproof" indication of time to end a fast is when urine Ph
goes from acid to alkaline.)
Page 85 indicates that the headache of the early fast is
caused by impurities removed from the organs. They go
into the blood and thence through the brain. Page 99 recom-
mends getting rid of these headaches by neck, eye, and
forehead massage. Page 95 maintains that old diseases
come out of the body as diarrhea and rash. (I wonder what
old disease my "while fasting" back rash represents?) Page
97 claims that dizziness during the fast is due to a lazy sym-
pathetic nervous system. This allows excess blood to go to
the organs and not enough to the brain. Somehow I like this
explanation better than the low blood pressure explanation
previously offered and then contradicted. The speculation
chapter should make my preference here more obvious.
Page 135 cautions us to keep the feet warm while fasting.
Page 155 specifies breaking a fast cautiously on fruit juice
for two days, then switching to as much as six quarts of
milk per day! Such a heavy calorie intake, in the form of a
food product of controversial merit for adults, seems very
ill-advised to me. It is little followed today. It certainly
would lead to quick weight gain after the Page 197
fast.

mentions a vision cure attributed to fasting. Both eyes were

restored to good vision. One was only sympathetically
faulty due to the fellow eye. Again statistics are needed.
What percentage of eye trouble can be alleviated by
fasting?
The next book in my notes was initially summarized very
quickly. It Professor Arnold Ehret's Rational Fasting,
is

published by Ehret Literature Publication Co., Beaumont,

Calif., 1938. My notes indicate that this book dogmatically
disagrees on many points with other fasting exponents. Do

84
not read this book as your only guide to fasting!
In view of these inadequate notes from an initial reading
years ago, it is fortunate that I have been very recently ex-
posed to a more current reprint of this book, and have thus
reread it. (But it may be unfortunate for the would-be faster
that this particular book about fasting became the bene-
ficiary of such reprint!) This book. Rational Fasting, by Ar-
nold Ehret, translated from the German by Benedict Lust,
M.D., N.D., D.O., and published by Benedict Lust Publica-
tions, New York City, 1971, was originally published in
1914. At that time Ehret had supervised several thousand
fasts at his clinic in Germany. Page 15 of the book claims
that the author himself fasted for 126 days in a 14-month
period. This included a 49-consecutive-day fast. (He was
primarily experimenting — on himself — just as am doing
I

60 years later.)
Page 31 claims that wounds heal fast for vegetarians,
faster for fruitarians, and fastest for the person who is fast-
ing. Page 49 tells us that Pope Leo XIII was a great faster
and had a resulting "transparent" complexion. (Encyclope-
dic references of this Pope fail to mention his faculty for
fasting. Is this more censorship of even the mention of
fasting?)
Page 50 recommends bananas, nuts, figs, and dates for
muscle building. Page 51 maintains that fruitarians have no
need of fasting. Page 62 suggests fasting for voice and sing-
ing improvement. Page 70 admits that long fasts ofen fail to
produce the desired beneficial results. (A refreshing bit of
honesty.) Page 76 claims that drugs harmfully stored in the
body for up to 40 years can subsequently be removed by
fasting. Page 77, 79, and 86 offer critical remarks about
long fasts, especially for fat people and for meat-eaters. In
addition, meat-eaters are warned not to break a fast on fruit
and juices. Sauerkraut and stewed spinach are among the
foods recommended for these people. For non-meat-eaters,
page 79 advises breaking a fast on non-nourishing, laxative
fruit — grapes, cherries, prunes, etc. Eat plenty to obtain a

85
bowel movement as soon as possible! Page 83 allows lemon-
ade and honey — up to two quarts a day — while "fasting."
Page 116 tells us that the mucous (solids) in the faster's
urine are phosphates, fats, uric acid, and poisons (drugs).
Page 163 insists that it is a crime to advise constipated peo-
ple to fast till their tongue is clean.
So much for an interesting book, which, unfortunately,
often disagrees with the general consensus of the fasting
literature. Surely research is needed if the reader and I are
safely to obtain the great benefits that fasting has to offer.
A very informative fasting book is that by Harold K.
Brown, The Fast Way to Health and Vigor, published by
Thorsons Pubhshers of London in 1960 and 1961. I believe
Mr. Brown and his fasting work originate in South Africa.
In his book he states (page 22) that the anabolic or building
up process of the fast is more important than the catabolic
or voiding of impurities. He claims that nerves, muscles,
and bones grow during the fast. This seems unlikely to me,
but it should be acknowledged that weight loss during
fasting is not due to loss in number of body cells but rather
to each individual cell losing weight. By losing superfluous
extracellular weight, these cells could be stimulated to
mitotic division affording actual growth in cell numbers,
even while body weight is reduced. Such cell reproduction
could help explain the mysterious healing power fasting
sometimes displays. Another unexplored aspect of fasting
research is suggested.
On page 24 Mr. Brown admits that deep-seated organic
diseases are usually incurable, even with fasting. On page
25 he us that periodic week-long fasts are better than
tells

long fasts in overcoming skin troubles, and on page 41 he

says that skin diseases are most amenable to the fasting
cure. (This has not been my personal experience, as I re-
lated in the previous chapter. The "allergy" or "neural der-
matitis" always came back a month or so after the fast.
Wrong diet?) Page 26 claims that in a long fast the body
loses 97% of its fat, 63% of its spleen, 56% of the liver, 30%

86
of its muscle tissue, 17% of its blood, but no nerve tissue.
These figures look suspiciously like Macfadden's figures
for starvation (quoted from Yeo), but the line between a
"complete fast" and starvation could be narrow. At any
rate the percentages give good relative weight loss values
for various body tissues.
On page 29, a 50-day fast is recorded in which weight loss
was great during the last eight days. This seems very
unusual to me. Page 30 lists two cases wherein fasting im-
proved vision. Page 38 says hunger of the whole organism
asserts itself as a signal to end the fast. Page 46 advises
diluted fruit and vegetable juice every three hours during
the fast. (Perhaps this incomplete fasting accounts for his
having to admit earher — page 24 — that deep-seated
organic diseases are usually incurable. Does fasting, with
only water allowed, "shift gears" in body metaboHsm in a
way not experienced in partial fasting? Another question
that needs answering.) Page 48 warns that disaster results
if a fast is broken because severe difficulties have arisen.
Page 51 asserts that the coated tongue experience is worse
at the end of about three weeks of fasting and indicates
fermentive stomach material and toxic matter in the alimen-
tary canal. (Can any material be in the atrophied stomach
after three weeks of fasting? Only if one is having some fruit
and vegetable juice each day!)
Page 51 states that no tongue coating during the fast im-
plies high acid body secretions. It also claims that body
pulse and temperature change are a function of body acid or
alkaline condition. (Is this another possible explanation for
Carrington's and Macfadden's disagreeing upon whether
pulse goes up or down during Page 53 points up
the fast?)
the importance of the liver in expelling foreign matter from
the body. (This should again remind us of the importance of
judicious eating when first breaking a fast and when the
liver is very reduced in size.) Page 55 points out that consti-
pation impairs liver function. (A point in favor of enemas
during the fast? On the same page we are told that a mucous

87
discharge from the bowels, after 3-4 weeks of fasting, in-
dicates the near end of the fast.)
Page 57 informs us that systoHc blood pressure can safely
fall to 70 mm-Hg
during the fast. (My blood pressure on a
few, low, non-representative readings dropped to 90, i.e.,
90/60, at the end of my 32- and 51-day fasts. Ninety is the
conservative safe low limit, as practiced by a fasting clinic
not too far from my southern New
England home.) On the
same page we are told that if we have a fever (while not
fasting) we should fast, as no digestive juices are produced
during fever. Page 60 labels syphilis and gonorrhea as func-
tional diseases curable by fasting. Page 61 points out that
flat worms are rejuvenated by fasting; i.e., their metabolism

is increased. (Perhaps this is indicative of fasting's effect on

individual cells of our body.) Page 62 mentions a specific

case of a person overeating after a fast and thereby losing
the benefits of the fast.

Page 67 maintains that diseased organs of the body show

distress in the third or fourth week of fasting. This, it is

said, may force termination of the fast. (But for trouble

early in the fast most authorities agree: Don't break the
fast!) Page 68 recommends one day per week fasts to pro-
mote longevity. Page 70 tells us that four months may be
the limit of abstinence from some vitamins. Page 72 assures
us that long fasts are safe for pregnant women, up to the
fourth month of pregnancy. Page 73 relates that fasting
kills the sex drive in man, but that male seals and elk fast
during their very active mating season! Page 78 warns us
against heavy exercise for at least three days to a week
after breaking a long fast. (My rule is to do what I can but
try not to overtax myself. My enthusiasm for life, at the fast
breaking time, makes restraint difficult.)
Page 84 seems to give a sensible enema regime for those
who are willing to bother with this inconvenience. Take an
enema the first and sixth day and then one per week
throughout the fast. Thin people need no enema after the
third day of the fast. But, says Mr. Brown, the large gut of

88
the heavy person must be empty. Therefore, this person
needs enemas. Enemas should be pure water — no soap
suds. (The body may absorb, for nutrition, anything it can
get hold of, even through the intestinal walls and the skin.
Therefore, beware of using "toxic" materials in enemas, or
even on skin rashes, while fasting.) Page 90 encourages us
to avoid exercise during the fast, but adds that deep breath-
ing will encourage the skin to give off impurities.
Page 93 recommends sunbaths early and late in the day to
maximize ultraviolet light intake. This allegedly is good for
the central nervous system. MetaboHsm is influenced by
chemical reactions beneath the skin, induced by ultraviolet
light. Page 94 recommends only hot sitz baths during the
fast. (Some fasting exponents insist on frequent bathing to
wash away impurities, while others recommend only
sponge baths so that nutrition won't be washed away. My
own experience is that too hot or too long a bath is very
enervating and probably not good. On the other hand, a
short warm bath, even daily, seems helpful to me until the
late stages of the fast, when I often feel too weak to bother.
I also find swimming very exhilarating during the early
stages of the fast, if the water is not too cold. In this
disputed area of fasting procedure competent research is
again called for, but individual differences may produce op-
posite procedures for different people.
Page 97 claims that long fasts are not for the aged. (Prob-
ably a good general rule, but certainly many exceptions
exist.) Page 131 claims that food intake indiscretions after a
fast may bring back any ailments that were cured. This is
apt to happen in four to ten weeks time.
Page 131 maintains that fasting stimulates thought,
tolerance, good will, stoicism, patience, relaxation, and
honesty with oneself. Page 132 recommends the reading of
Behaviorism by Watson, and Scientology by Hubbard, while
fasting. (I would personally seek more clearly spiritual
reading during the basically spiritual or religious experience
of fasting. However, while fasting I also read difficult

89
books, scientific texts, and so on, as my concentration and
comprehension are much improved during a fast.) The
recommendation to read Watson's Behaviorism and Hub-
bard's Scientology seems to me to reflect a real problem
within the establishments of fasting proponents. Such read-
ing is too divorced from orthodox religion, which in turn is
too divorced from the important discipline of religious
fasting! My hope is that this book may bridge a gap between
the two.
Let us continue with a short book entitled Therapeutic
Fasting by Arnold DeVries, published by Chandler Book
Co., Los Angeles, in 1963 and 1949. Page 9 tells us that dur-
ing the fast the non-nucleus part of the cell decreases, in-
ducing a more youthful, large nucleus to total cell ratio.
Page 15 points out that Dr. Tanner (more in later
references) developed psychic powers during his three
40-plus-day fasts. In a later fast of about 70 days, Dr. Tan-
ner also allegedly turned his white hair back to a youthful
shiny black. Tanner was in his 70's at the time. (There are a
few grey hairs in my reddish blond head and beard, and
they do not go away with fasting!)
Page 24 claims leukemia cures from fasting. Page 26 sug-
gests fasting for cancer. Page 27 maintains that fasting af-
fords a safer, faster recovery rate than does surgery for a
burst appendix. (But who would have the courage to try
this, except where surgery was not available?) Page 29
recommends fasting for mental disorders. Fasting is also
recommended for varicose veins although complete success
can only be expected by the young. Page 33 states that
eczema and serious skin diseases require /o«^ fasts. (Harold
Brown's book recommended many short fasts for the same
problem!) Smallpox, mumps, and scarlet fever are claimed
to be quickly cured by fasting.
Pages 37-39 indicate that either hunger or clearing of the
tongue signals that the fast should be broken. This should
occur in four to seven weeks. Page 45 claims that water log-
ging or tissue edema results from excessive salt or food

90
after a fast. Page 48 admits that one person in forty does not
lose his hunger during a fast. (Therefore, be alert for your
own individual differences attempting self-supervised
if

fasting.) Page 49 warns us to break the fast and apply heat

in case of a sudden rapid fall in body temperature. One
should also break the fast if experiencing either very high or
low erratic pulse. Page 58 says break the fast if experienc-
ing chills or cold extremities. Page 52 tells us that a raw
fruit and vegetable diet before the fast may restrict the need
for enemas.
Page 61 warns us not to mix fasting with spinal manipula-
tions, Turkish or cold baths, electrical treatments, and so
on. Page 66 invokes a 3-day juice diet after a 9-15-day fast
and a 6-day juice diet after a 35-day fast. I myself have
found this seemingly unnecessary and, indeed, impossible,
as well as unnatural. Page 77 admits that most physicians
are unaware of the efficacy of fasting. DeVries wrote this
treatise to correct this problem, and, since he failed to get
his message across to the doctors, here I am trying to get it

across to everyone else.

Let us turn to another short book. Fasting for Rejuvena-
tion, by Julia Seton, M.D. This is published by Health

Research with no date. Page 21 of this booklet recommends

one meal every two days for ten days. Water and sleep are
reduced in the later part of this modified fast. Page 31
claims epilepsy is cured by fasting. Page 49 claims that be-
tween 3 and 5 A.M. the "vibration" of the earth changes.
(When I am fasting, this is, indeed, when I wake up.) Page
51 states that reduced sleep, as in fasting, intensifies the
astral body, the second of seven bodies we supposedly have.
Page 61 recommends cathartics, not enemas, in the fast.
Page && suggests deep breathing to increase body oxygen
by 25% and to stop headaches and indigestion. Page 76
maintains that color and sound perception is intensified dur-
ing a fast. Page 77 claims that our aura contains vibrations
that produce smells and reveal character. In spite of the
medical background of this author, this book is heavy in

91
mysticism and falls somewhat outside the main stream of
fasting literature. At the time I read it (January, 1964) I
was not favorably impressed, but with my now greater in-
terest in parapsychology, I find my notes on the book in-
teresting.
Let us briefly review another fasting reference. In the
New York City Library I found Herbert A. Musurillo's
treatise. The Problem of Ascetical Fasting in the Greek
Patristic Writers, Fordham University Press, 1956. Page
31 of this document claims that only humility drives out
devils. (But will fasting help produce humility?) Page 47
notes that St. Paul fasted three days immediately after his
conversion (and immediately before regaining his sight!)
The very use of the words problem and ascetical in the ti-

tle of this document well exemplifies the problem of con-

vincing the typical non-faster, even clerics, of the possible
efficacy of fasting.
Let us look at another short work. Health Through New
Thought and Fasting by Wallace E. Wattles, published by
Health Research in 1968 and copyright by Elizabeth Towne
in 1908. Page 44 book reminds us that the more we
of this
dream the less revitalization we gain from sleep. (If I
remember my dreams better when fasting, does this mean I
am dreaming more and gaining less from sleep? Or, if I need
less sleep while fasting, does this indicate more efficient
sleep?) Page 45 claims it is best to heal when awake rather
than when asleep. (I wonder why?) The end of the book
advertises a reference Fasting and Man 's Correct Diet by
R.B. Pearson, a book which I have not read.
We now come to the two books which I believe are the
most valuable fasting references, the most economical in
terms of information contained, and probably the most
readily available. They are by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton, the
director of a health school and fasting clinic in San Antonio,
Texas. By dealing with the longest book first, we can ab-
breviate our remarks on the second, shorter paperback.
Remember that my notes are abbreviated and that in my ini-

92
tial note-taking I omitted much which was important, but
which I knew was in my notes from another reference. In
making my remarks here I am
doing some further condens-
ing because of what I have already adequately reported in
preceding pages.
The book now to be discussed is Fasting and Sunbathing,
Volume 3 of the Hygiene System-Orthotrophy, by Dr.
Herbert M. Shelton, 541 pages, published by Dr. Shelton's
Health Ranch, San Antonio, Texas, First edition, 1934,
Fourth edition, 1963. This book is available from the
American Natural Hygiene Society, 205 W. Wacker Drive,
Chicago, 111., 60606, for $5.50 (in 1972). The dates between
the first and fourth editions, 1934-1963, are only partly in-
dicative of the span of years over which Dr. Shelton has ac-
quired fast-supervising experience. (A fifth edition, 1978,
under a new title, The Science and Fine Art of Fasting, is

now available.)
Page 10 book points out that fasting originates in
of this
instinct, not religion. Page 11 mentions the experimental
work of Frederick Hoelzel and Dr. Anton Carlson with
regard to fasting rats and so on. These experiments are
labeled "trivial." (Later, however, we will review an article
by Hoelzel and Carlson which has considerable potential
significance for mankind's longevity.) On page 16 Shelton
mentions Benedict's Study of Prolonged Fasting, Carnegie
Institute #203, 1915. I have only skimmed this useful
reference. It is similar to but much longer than Herbert S.
Langfield's important 1914 publication, which I will also
review. On page 16, Dr. Jennings is said to be the first
"modem" public advocate of fasting, starting in 1822.
Page 19 refers to Dr. Sergius Morgulis' book, Fasting and
Undernutrition. This is a 1923 publication of the University
of Nebraska. Dr. Morgulis is negative about fasting. (I have
not read this book.) Morgulis notes that rats and pigeons ex-
perience some opposite effects from fasting and also from
some drugs. (This may be a valuable clue for speculation,
but we will not.) He notes that fasting worsens diabetes in

93
dogs but alleviates man. Page 21 mentions Dr.
it in CM.
Jackson's book, Inanition and Malnutrition, 1925. It is la-

beled a "valuable reference." It is Dr. Jackson, M.D.,

among others, who maintains that impossible to catch a
it is

cold while fasting. (I have found it almost impossible, and, if

you do catch one it should give you surprisingly little trou-
ble.)
On page 27 Dr. Shelton expresses his personal opinion
that hypnosis induces tension and is an unmixed evil. Page
34 points out that some spiders fast for the first six months
of their life, and page 35 notes that many fish fast during
their breeding season. Page 36 says that penguins and male
geese fast in the breeding season. On page 37 we find that
fasting restores the male in some "low" species after the
strictly female parthenogenic reproduction that is promoted
by eating. Page 48 says that if caterpillars freeze and then
thaw very slowly, they live. Page 49 maintains that bears
gorge before hibernating, but have empty stomachs and in-
testines while hibernating.
Pages 51-52 note that some plant-eating animals aestivate
in hot,dry weather. If they also hibernate in cold weather,
they fast over 50% of the time. Page 57 maintains that
fasting spiders produce webs of greater mass than their
own bodies. (Again, a seemingly clear case of mass-energy
conservation violation. Energ>' must be entering the picture
from an unknown source!) The pages following 57 mention
frog fasts — 16 months; fish — 20 months; snake — 2 years;
and beetles — 5 years (while losing 99.8% of their weight).
Page 76 records a 65-day fast by Marion Crabtree of Il-
linois, in 1911, at the age of 101. Shelton maintains here
that reports of human beings fasting for years are all frauds.
(I believe he being overly dogmatic here and perhaps
is

throwing out the baby with the bath water.) Among others,
he specifically mentions the case of Teresa Neuman. Ac-
tually, it seems possible that this case and many other less
documented ones indicate that in rare instances people can
shift permanently into that state of metabolism in which

94
energy is coming entirely from a "psychic" phase. This idea
is developed in the next chapter.

On page 83 Shelton notes that he has supervised 35,000

fasts in 44 years. Six were more than 60 days; the longest
was 90 days. Pages 91, 106, 111, and 112 note that, if they
fast, female birds and fish re-absorb their unlaid eggs. Also
noted is the fact that man's thymus atrophies or autolyses at
puberty. It is then claimed that tumors autolysed by fasting
are permanently cured, but that if they are removed by
surgery, cancer may develop. Warts and cysts give variable
results from the fasting cure, while moles are not affected
by fasting. Page 133 tells us that both red and white blood
cell count goes up during the fast. (The Linda Hazzard
reference stated that white cell count went almost to zero.)
Page 135 claims that while fasting the blood is more acid
but the system less acid. Page 137 maintains that there is no
bone loss in fasting. Indeed, bones may grow. Teeth are
also said to improve. (My own fasting experience does not
support either of these contentions. Measurements of ankle
and wrist bones before and after long fasts showed distinct
decrease, and tooth decay seems to be accelerating over my
recent period of intensive fasting. Again, needless to say,
statistics are necessary to rule out the effects of fasting on
"unusual" individuals.)
Page 139 tells us that lung tissue heals rapidly.
Therefore, shorter fasts are required for lung healing. Page
144 indicates that muscle and blood lose sodium to the
brain, and liver during a fast. In the muscles,
spleen,
sulphur, phosphorus, and protein decrease, and calcium in-
creases. Potassium increases in the soft parts of the body.
Page 145 claims that a fasting child healed fast in surgery
due to the "clear blood" of the faster. Page 146 points out
that the beard softens in a fast and less hair falls out. Page
158 tells us that during a fast catabolism (tearing down of
tissue) is reduced more than anabolism (building up of
tissue).
On page 178 Shelton tells us that in treating epilepsy by

95
fasting, he has had only two cases of relapse. Unfortu-
nately, he does not say how many total cases of epilepsy he
has treated. (I think we could assume that fasting is a good
probable cure for this presently "incurable" disease.) On
page 180 Shelton disavows the claim of Dr. Henry Lind-
laker that abnormal psychism may be induced by fasting.
Since Shelton has supervised many thousands of fasts, he
should know. On the other hand, the references to fasting in
the Holy Bible and the testimony of many fasters suggest
that psychic experiences can result from
This has to
fasting.
be emphasized because these psychic experiences may be
falsely labeled psychotic.
Page 185 admits that fasting may sometimes temporarily
weaken the eyes, but then improve them. Page 188 claims
that normally alkaline saliva turns acid while fasting. Page
189 maintains that a high protein diet leads to high bile and
causes trouble when fasting is instituted. Page 191 contains
information important to me. It claims that urine is acid dur-
ing the fast but turns alkaline at the end of a complete fast,
i.e., when natural hunger returns. Page 192 maintains that

ash in the urine decreases to one-fifth normal, but that

creatinine and other organics increase.
Page 194 quotes a fasting doctor who during a fast experi-
enced approximately a two-quart intake and outgo of water.
On page 195, Shelton labels enemas "evil." Page 201 main-
tains that the colon doesn't absorb nutrients. (I personally
doubt this. Some enema water certainly seems absorbed; if
nutrients were inappropriately dissolved in this water, they
also should be absorbed. Ann Wigmore, D.D., of Boston,
Mass., seems to believe that nutrients can be put into the
system in this way since she sometimes uses enemas con-
taining green wheat grass juice to provide nutrition and en-
zymes to sick fasters.)
On page 204 we learn that bear flesh at the start of hiber-
nation is inedible, but is excellent at the end of the hiber-
nating period. Page 208 suggests that the human male's
fasting can lead to degenerate progeny while the female

96
fasting leads only to malnourished progeny. This pro-
nouncement seems inconsistent with most fasting
literature. Perhaps starving, not fasting, is meant. On page
215, Shelton disagrees with Hoelzel when the latter main-
tains that little rejuvenation can result if the faster is over
35 years old. On page 216 reference is made to the book
Senescence and Rejuvenescense by Professor Child. Page 222
mentions instances of boxers, fencers and weightlifters
fasting for a week before an athletic contest, and then often
winning!
Page 229 lists an unusual case of Shelton 's where an over-
weight woman, fasting for 50 days, lost only 12 pounds! It is
asserted that Dr. William L. Esser and Dr. Christopher
Gian-Cursio report similar rare cases of very low weight
loss. Page 233 suggest a pound per day is a typical fasting
loss for the typical diseased body. A 12-ounce-per-day loss
is more ideal. Page 239 tells us that "sore eyes" are apt to

be the result of too much carbohydrate (sugar) in the diet.

Page 259 mentions a book. In Defense of National Fasting,
by Geo. S. Weger, M.D. This book also claims that one can-
not catch a cold during or immediately after a fast. Page 261
notes that acetone leaves the breath and urine at the end of
a fast. Page 263 points up a disagreement between Dr.
Shelton and Dr. J.H. Kretzer, M.D., in which the latter
claims that fasting leads to tooth decay. Page 265 records
another dispute. Frederick Hoelzel maintains there is hid-
den edema in fasting which can be brought out by salt and
water. Shelton refutes this, and further asserts that edema
is rare after fasting. Shelton says edema is induced by pro-

tein restriction. (Our South African fasting expert, Dr.

Harold Brown, attributed edema to too much protein. Now
what do we do? The medical literature, written for and
about non-f asters, agrees with Shelton, but the f aster's
metabolism is sometimes opposite to that of non-f asters.
The issue is unresolved in my mind, and as I am one of
those "rare" persons that often experience edema after a
fast, I need it resolved for my own personal fasting benefit.

97
 I believe my protein intake is adequate, yet not excessive,
when I am experiencing edema after a fast. Research —
please.)
Page 267 points out that of all fasting exponents, only
Gandhi recommends salt in water during the fast. All others
disapprove. Page 266 maintains that edema results from
carbohydrates retained as glucose rather than as glycogen.
This seems sensible, and a good advertisement against
overeating right after a fast when the atrophied liver cannot
play its full part in glycogen storage. Page 228 insists that
true hunger always returns when the patient gets well.
Page 291 offers the clue that true hunger persists. It also
admits of a few fasting cases where the tongue never coats.
Page 293 states that a long fast is better than several short
ones.
Page 296 Cannon's Bodily Changes in Pain,
refers to
Hunger, Fear, Rage as an excellent book. Pages 203, 206,
208, indicate that "true hunger" is selective for specific
foods (but not finicky); that hunger is experienced in the
throat and mouth; that most eaters never experience this
real hunger sensation due to their constant overeating; that
true hunger is taste- and smell-related, is not unpleasant,
and involves mouth watering. Page 332 advises us to kill an-
noying appetite (false hunger) with massage, heat, water,
and purge. Page 346 admits of the dry mouth sensation in
fasting and imputes it to decreased saliva flow.
. On page 349 Shelton insists that vomiting during the fast
is wo/ a danger signal. (Examples are given of vomiting after

four and seven days of fasting.) On page 350 he admits that

a person must avoid dehydration. Therefore, broth must be
taken if water cannot be kept down. Page 355 admits that
persistent extreme weakness is a danger signal in fasting.
(Therefore, cautiously break the fast.) On page 367 we are
told that fasters must be kept warm. (Since much fat and
muscle insulation is lost in fasting, this requires extra atten-
tion and usually extra clothing.)
Page 369 mentions George H. Johnston of New York

98
City, who fasted 30 days. Then
months later, he fasted
3V2
20 days while walking 578 miles from Chicago toward Pitts-
burgh, This was a stunt from which the faster sustained no
harm, but page 370 points out that Gandhi, on his second
14-day fast, did a great deal of walking and sustained much
leg damage. Shelton's conclusion: no heavy work in fasts
longer than ten days. Page 371 claims that bathing while
fasting may wash away nutrients. Therefore do not bathe;
or take only sponge baths.
On page 372 Shelton comes out against gum chewing but
gives no good reason, except that it is a waste of energy. Of
course, it can also lead to a fair amount of calorie intake. I

find it releases the tension sometimes experienced while

fasting. (But does it increase tooth decay and impair the
fasting experience by stimulating the sense of taste?) On
page 374, Shelton advocates minimizing water intake and
gives examples of going 3-5 days on none. On page 377 he
points out that rodents and herbivores do not need water.
On page 380 Shelton approves of the layman's self-
supervised fasting for simple troubles. On page 383 we are
advised that V2 ounce epsom salt daily, as a purge, to clear
the small intestines, it allowable, but not necessary. On
page 385 Shelton admits that during the first five years that
he supervised fasting he prescribed 2-3 enemas per day for
all fasting cases. Page 386 points out another unnecessary

but sometimes used cleaning technique for fasting. A tube

may be run down into the stomach to wash it out or to in-
duce vomiting.
Page 392 lists another set of end-of-fast indicators: nor-
mal saliva, better vision, no body odor. Page 394 is critical
of the idea of feeding according to the patient's instinct
after a fast. (I wish I could take issue with this as, ideally,
one's instinct should tell us what is best for us. However,
this did not seem to work too well for me. Perhaps a lifetime
of induced unwise food preferences hopelessly distorts our
appestat, or perhaps one must fast till "natural hunger"
returns in order to get rid of a lifetime of poor nutrition

99
preferences.) Page 396 warns that for two or more weeks
after a fast we are in danger of impulsive overeating. Page
402 suggests that periodic fasting makes man heavier,
although salamanders become lighter after repeated
fasting. (I am 10-15 pounds lighter now at "optimum"
weight than I was 25 years ago when I started my fasting
experiments, and my optimum weight then appeared to be
160 pounds. Dick Gregory, the comedian, is an even
sharper contradiction. Before any fasting he weighed 285
pounds. After many fasts and on a liquid diet, he weighs
barely 100 pounds!)
Page 408 points out H. Carrington's idea that for a
healthy person, "fasting" is really "starving"; i.e., Car-
rington believed that only the sick should fast. It seems un-
fortunate that an illustrious fasting exponent such as Car-
rington should have failed to note the rejuvenating power of
fasting for those already healthy. Page 426 suggests stop-
ping disease epidemics by "anticipating fasts"; i.e., the
healthy person should fast for protection against disease,
and the diseased person should fast for healing.
Page 446 quotes a Russian, Dr. VonSeeland, as ad-
vocating fasting for education. (I have already testified that
Socrates, Plato, and myself all agree that fasting produces
I

mental clarity!) The last 50 pages of this book are about

sunbathing and are not germane to the topic of fasting.
Shelton's paperback book. Fasting Can Save Your Life, is
available at many health food stores for $1.45 (1973). It is
pubHshed by the Natural Hygiene Press, Chicago, in 1964,
1965, 1973. We have already covered much of what is in it,
but we can note pages 40-41, 132, 182, which assert that
fasting will not cure cancer. Again some discrepancy exists
among the experts. Does "expectancy" or "faith" make the
difference?
On page 69 we find interesting qualifications about the
return of "natural hunger" to signal the end of the fast.
Here we are told that in curable cases and in normal people,
hunger never fails to return to end the fast. Page 83 takes

100
note of a 48-day political fast in 1960 by Tara Singh, India,
at the age of 76. Because of the beneficial effects of this
political fast, the doctors attribute an extra ten years to this
faster's life span.
Page 101 tells us that food is often instinctively rejected
by the insane. We "sane" people like to assume this is sim-
ply further indication of insanity, but is it, rather, an effort,
instinctively, to overcome insanity? The cost of mental
hospitalization strongly recommends that we seek out the
answer. A possibly economic, efficient, and fast cure for
some mental disease may exist in fasting.
One of the oldest available books on fasting is Dr. Edward
Hooker Dewey's The No Breakfast Plan and the Fasting
Cure, put out as a reprint by Health Research, Mokelumne
Hills, Calif., in 1962. It was originally published about 1900.
Some "before-and-after" fast measurements are given in
this book, and on page 150 we are given daily weight loss
results from 209 to 133 pounds, with a mysterious 7-day
stop at 145 pounds.
Another old book on fasting, not readily available, is The
Fast Way to Health, by Dr. Frank McCoy. This book was
published by McCoy Publications, Los Angeles, first edi-
tion, 1923, nth edition 1927. In this book we find much
that is controversial. On page 25 a 10-day fast is described,
after which 16 vegetables, including swiss chard and
spinach, were used to break the fast. (Am I unjustly blam-
ing these two leafy vegetables for the edema in my personal
fasting experience?) Page 31 claims complete success in ap-
pendicitis treatment by fasting, but admits it may take
weeks and maintains that enemas are required.
Page 35 relates the completely changed disposition of a
child, after fasting. The child became "joyful." Improved
dispositions are commonly claimed after the fast.
(Criminals, psychotics, and their caretakers should note.)
Page 47 maintains that lower spine pain is an especially
good candidate for the fasting cure. Page 55 recommends
milk of magnesia during the fast to counteract acid urine.

101
(I cannot imagine why weshould want to counteract acid
urine, since this would simply obscure the one solid indica-
tion we have for determining proper time to end the fast.)
Page 38 claims that hardening of the arteries comes from
starch and sugar, not from meat.
Page 86 lists onions, garlic, dry beans, pastry, cabbage,
spices and artifically ripened bananas as unhealthy foods.
Page 102 recommends a fast, except for gelatin dessert six
times a day, to cure excessive menstruating and tumors.
Page 109 makes the point previously explained about Ben
Franklin's axiom, "Feed a cold, and starve a fever." The
axiom is claimed to be pro-fasting not anti-, with respect to
cold treatment. Page 168 claims that rheumatism is caused
by mixing fruit with other foods at meals. Cure rheumatism
by "fasting" on a fruit diet. Pages 185-6 note that
vegetarians manifest more poise and calm, but rarely are
able to stick to their vegetarian diet for very long. Page 205
claims that lobsters, with milk and cheese, are impossible to
digest. Page 209 is critical of heart, kidney and liver as food
items since they contain the body's poisons, removed from
circulation, but not yet excreted.
Page 219 admonishes us not to use tomatoes or vinegar
with starches. Page 236 suggests celery, blanched, and
cooked for two hours, as a "best" vegetable. Page 24
recommends pumpkins as a good, non-starchy vegetable.
Pages 263-6 warn us not to eat citrus with meals. Nor
should we mix fruit and starch. But page 275 tells us that
toasting dextrinizes starch so that we can mix it with
anything. Page 293 gives a simplified summary of food-
mixing rules. "Don't mix tiger's food and cow's food at the
same meal."
Next, let's look at a booklet put out by Health Research in
1956 and entitled Hints on Fasting Well. This is co-authored
by Marie Phelps and Hereward Carrington, Ph.D. Page 24
of this short book recommends hot and cold sitz baths for
the retained urine problem that may arise near the end of a
fast. Page 25 attributes the bad taste in the mouth during a

102
fast to H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide).Page 31 teases us with
the information that Dr. Dewey fasted a "very prominent"
person for 60 days, in the course of his therapeutic fasting
practice. Page 41 emphasizes that "natural hunger" is felt
in the glands of the throat and mouth, not in the stomach. In
addition, natural hunger is characterized by watering of the
mouth for a particular food. Page 56 informs us that the
quinine in grapefruit makes it an unacceptable food for a
few people, during the first few days of fast-breaking.
Page 57 warns that mashed potatoes, beef, and in-
travenous feeding, if used to break a fast, can kill a person.
Page 59 recommends that lentil stew or other legumes
(beans, peas) be limited in the diet to two times a month,
and then only in the winter. (The widespread objection
among some health food people to peas, beans, peanuts,
cashews, and legumes in general is that they constitute a
hard-to-digest starch and protein combination. Protein must
undergo much digestion in the stomach, or be "thrown
away" by the liver. Starch must "rush through" the
stomach or be subjected to undesirable "fermentation."
Starch is digested in the small intestines. Mixing starch and
protein supposedly presents the digestive system with an
impossible dilemma with regard to efficient digestion.) On
page 63 we are directed to Richard Condon's Pleasures of
Fasting and told of a patient at John Hopkins who fasted
180 days in 1963. (I have yet to look into either of these
items of information.)
In the process of reprinting much of the older literature
on fasting. Health Research, of Mokelumne Hills, Cahfor-
nia, has also compiled two books which assemble some of
the better ideas of several outstanding fasting exponents.
The first of these is The Fasting Story #i, put out in 1953
and revised in 1962. Page 8 of this booklet tells us that it is

less expensive to our "vital economy" to "use our body,"

(:atabolize) rather than to digest raw foods. Page 23 advises
against fasting for some male hernia cases, chronic
paralysis, advanced cancer of the liver, and for diabetes

103
after two years on insulin. But page 67 tells us it is not
dangerous to fast a diabetic. Page 42 relates the 40-plus day
fasts of Dr. Henry S. Tanner. In the first of these three long
fasts, Dr. Tanner had no water for the first 14 days.
(However, he had daily enemas, and probably absorbed
needed water into his system through the intestinal walls.)
A slightly longer book, The Fasting Story, #2, Health
Research, 1956, again consists of excerpts from books by
fasting exponents, and "experts." Page 23 of this spiral-
bound book tells of a woman's 42-day fast wherein 22
pounds were lost in the first 21 days of the fast and only 2V2
pounds were lost in the second 21 days. Again we have that
mysterious lack of weight loss, invoking a need for some
unknown source of sustaining energy. Page 25 tells us of
some ancient fasting customs: Aryans fasted one day in
seven; Mongolians, one day in ten; Zends, one day in five.
The Japanese allegedly fast 1-5 weeks for prosperity and
luck. We are told on page 26 that Trappist monks fasted
often and considered disease as due to the negligence of
fasting.
Page 27 admonishes us to master proper breathing before
undertaking long fasts. Page 31 tells us that while fasting
we must change our clothes daily and our socks three times
a day. (I can not imagine any necessity for this, but perhaps,
if one's system is really filled with "poison," it will be ex-

pelled so profusely as to make this advisable.) Page 41

claims the existence of a Himalayan community in India
where longevity often exceeds 200 years — on a diet of nuts
and berries, with milk as the only animal protein source.
Page 44 mentions Huxley's experiment with fasting worms.
Here, fasting worms lived while 19 generations of their
eating relatives lived and died. Page 56 advises us that a
vegetarian diet of grain alone will lead to hardening of the
arteries and tooth decay. (And then there is Zen macro-
biotics which recommends a 100% cereal diet as ideal!)
On page 59 we read about an English fast, in 1932, under
the supervision of John W. Armstrong. In the 109-day fast,

104
the faster went from 191 to 132 pounds. On page 60 we are
told af Giovanni Succi who in 1938 had, over the previous
ten years, fasted 80 times for 30 days and 20 times for 40
days. This is 3200 days of fasting in 3650 total days elapsed.
This was stunt fasting, and the reader may supply his own
salt! Page 125 quotes Carrington as maintaining that
hereditary diseases are easier to cure by fasting. Can
chromosomes be changed? This is an idea for our specula-
tive chapter. Page 129 maintains that man needs only IV2
ounces of protein per day, not the three to four ounces
quoted in nutrition text-books. In view of the world protein
shortage, we should devoutly hope that this is so.
Another interesting, old, short book on fasting is The
Philosophy of Fasting, by Edward Earle Purinton, published
by Benedict Lust in 1906. Page 60 of this book informs us
that during a "conquest fast" (a fast till "natural hunger"
returns) our taste for the unnatural disappears. On page 80
the author claims to have attained "cosmic consciousness"
from fasting. On page 83 the author further claims that
fasting changed his prose style, developed a poetic gift, and
disclosed his life work. (Should I admit, to the possible
discredit of fasting, that the poem at the beginning of this
book, and the poem at the beginning of the next chapter
were both written at the end of a recent 10-day fast?)
Pages 92 and 101 maintain that a "conquest fast"
restores the solar plexus to its natural condition and
awakens our dormant instincts and repressed desires. (Such
a claim would make fasting relevant to psychiatry. It is con-
sistent with other testimony that offers fasting as a cure for
mental disease.) Page 117 tells us to use only half rations
after a fast. (It does not tell us how!) My overall comment on
this book after reading it in October, 1964, was "verbose
but well versed, cynical but witty." I would like to believe
that fasting would cure us of verbosity and cynicism, but I
myself may be an example to the contrary.
A recent but undated fasting booklet combines religious
ideas with personal fasting experience. It is Julia Lee and

105
Martha Boehl's The Gateway to Life Eternal. This is pri-
vately pubhshed from the co-authors' address at Box 42,
OWS Road, Yucca Valley, CaHfornia, 92284.
Page 31 points out that prayer is active and leads to truth,
fasting is passive and releases error. Page 62 suggests that
Jesus anointed his head with oil while fasting and also sug-
gests such treatment for the skin. This might be a valuable
idea, or adangerous one, if the wrong kind of oil is used; it
will be absorbed through the skin. Again, more knowledge
is needed. Pages 72-74 specify fresh orange, grapefruit, and

tomato juice to break the fast. This restricted liquid diet

should be continued until bowel elimination is satisfactory.
Then, about the third day, milk or yogurt or milk soured
with lemon juice may be used to solidify the bowels. A
proper balance of juice and dairy product will assure best
elimination. (After a fast it is difficult to avoid either diar-
rhea or constipation, except by careful eating. The above
may be a good prescription). Page 80 admits that for one of
the co-authors, much fasting failed to clear up a bad,
chronic skin rash. A vegetarian diet finally resolved the
problem. (For her, but not for me!) The same two West
Coast women, Julia Lee and Martha Boehl, have written a
booklet. The Truth About Fasting, which is an interesting
testimony of their own quite extensive personal fasting ex-
perience.
A less informative booklet, but one backed by more su-
pervisory fasting experience, is the East Coast work of Ann
Wigmore, D.D, N.D. Fasting, the Secret of Youth, published
by Hippocrates Health Institute, 25 Exeter St., Boston,
Mass., 02116 (no date).
Of the books reviewed here, one with much academic or
"establishment" stature is Anorexia Nervosa, by E.L. Bliss,
M.D., and C.H.H. Branch, M.D., of Utah University,
published by Paul B. Hoeber, Inc. (Harper's Medical) in
1960. Anorexia is a disinterest in eating. This book is

primarily about such disinterest as it arises through psychic

trauma, for example, as mourning of death. Most of the

106
book is for doctors, especially psychiatrists, and is not rele-
vant to our distinctly different motivations for fasting, i.e.,
fasting for health, rejuvenation, spiritual guidance, mental
clarity, and so on. These motivations the medical profession
seems to completely ignore. This is primarily why this most
modem medical book on fasting is so inadequate.
Page 3 of Anorexia Nervosa reminds us that in many
cultures fasting is related to dreaming. Page 4 points out
the importance of fasting in Catholic tradition to control
passion, but labels this as pathogenic. Page 5 admits that
"saints" and the "devil possessed" seem to need no nour-
ishment! Page 6 lists cases of seeming fasting lasting for
years. Page 7 points out the reduced sleep requirement of
the faster, listing a case example of five weeks with no
sleep. Pages 8-11 warn that too much study and meditation
can lead to anorexia. Page 18 then warns that anorexia may
evolve into schizophrenia. Page 23 admits of the "unknown
miracle of sustaining energy" during the fast.
Page 100 claims that edema is latent in fasting and needs
only sodium and water to make it manifest. Page 102 ad-
mits that no vitamin deficiencies seem to develop in anor-
exia or in fasting. Page 105 further admits that as of 1960,
basic metabolism studies of fasting are yet to be done. Page
111 seems to suggest that a fast can be broken with high
and normal calorie intake. (I managed to Hve through this
"unwise" procedure 14 years ago. It must be admitted that
"natural fasting," in a primitive and nature-enforced situa-
tion, would involve breaking the fast on whatever food
became available. If this available food were inappropriate
or taken in too great quantity, it would most likely be
vomited. In our controlled fasting situations, we can do
better.)
The Biology of Human by Ancel Keys, Josef
Starvation
Brozek, Austin Herschel, Olaf Mickelson, Henry Long-
street Taylor, in 2 volumes (1385 pages) is a 1950 Univer-
sity of Minnesota publication. The work was belatedly
undertaken better to understand the starvation and

107
malnutrition caused by theSecond World War. The
research was partly financed by the Church of the Brethren
and the American Society of Friends. For 11 months in
1945 thirty-two male conscientious objectors served as sub-
jects for starvation experiments. It must be emphasized
that these men were not fasting. They were eating about 1/2
their actual calorie needs. Many of these experimental
results have no relevance to fasting and may even give op-
posite results from those obtained from fasting. However,
studies of malnutrition and inadequate food consumption,
especially during World War II, give ample testimony that
serious nutrition inadequacies do not of themselves result in
serious permanent health impairment. Rather, they may
even produce a mysterious increased resistance to many
diseases and body malfunctions (like diabetes) that may, in
a final analysis, be largely due to overeating or wrong-
eating. When the men who underwent these experiments
were returned to an uncontrolled diet, they manifested
seemingly "uncontrolled" appetites, yet they required 6
months to regain approximately their pre-experimental
stamina. These observations are corroborated by studies of
returned prisoners of war. Vitamin supplements and extra
protein did not change these results.
Pages 187 to 191 suggest, from famine studies in India,
that on a starvation diet, the brain does lose up to 10% of its
weight. It is suggested further that brain edema may some-
times obscure or mask this brain weight loss. Page 194
maintains that kidney weight loss, percentage wise, is only
1/2 that of the whole body and that kidney function is com-
pletely preserved. The common view that heart function is
minimally affected by fasting is challenged (page 202). Page
227 argues that malnutrition does not harm the teeth, but
that milk in the diet does!
One of the subjects of the Minnesota tests had
acne his
clear up during the experiment, but it returned twelve
weeks after returning to an uncontrolled diet (page 243).
Page 256 points out the conflicting results of fasting ex-

108
periments where the leucocyte count was checked. A case
is listed where normal count was 14,000, but on the 7th day

of a fast it was 900. Other investigators of fasts do not note

any leucocyte count change, however.
Page 298 notes that protein requirements are low in both
the starvation diet and the recovery diet. It is pointed out
(page 300) that the diet to which the subject is adapted is
important in understanding his food utilization. We are also
told that contrary to common belief, a pre-mortal rise in
nitrogen excretion does not necessarily take place. (This
could invalidate my "fool-proof" urine tests that I hoped
would indicate time to end a fast. But page 489 offers
another test. Cholesterol level goes down during a fast, but
up just before death by starvation.)
Page 322 says that children starve differently from
adults. They lose more fat. Elsewhere it was pointed out
that they lost more weight and had a higher mortality under
serious malnourishment conditions than under fasting. We
read (page 507) that females suffer more from fasting,
because of their higher ketone production. (They also lose
more weight, but have a lower mortality rate, page 758).
Page 511 points out that hard work increases ketosis. It is
pointed out (page 491) that in the 31-day Levanzen fast,
1100 cal/day were burned and 900 of these (representing
100 gms.) were from catabolyzed fat.
Much is made of the edema problem characteristic of mal-
nutrition (but rare in fasting). Page 578 notes that polyurea
(excessive urinating) and nocturea (excessive night urinating)
are common in edema. Vol. II has a full chapter on the edema
problem which can be summed up as "we don't know."
Edema sometimes reflects a protein shortage in blood
plasma, but additional protein in the diet does not resolve the
problem. Massive doses of thiamin, or all B-complex
vitamins (as in brewer's yeast) will resolve a few cases.
Reduced salt and water intake always helps. The causative
mechanism, however, is basically mysterious. This massive
research work was very informative in one important re-

109
spect, since emphasized how httle we know and how
it

great are the contradictions in what we think we know in

this very mysterious field of fasting.
An interesting, short book on fasting is About Fastinghy
Otto H.F. Buchinger, M.D., translated from the German by
G.A. Dudley and published by Thorsons Publishers, Ltd.,
London, 1961, 1966. Page 15 of this booklet advises fasting
for nervous complaints, but not for insanity. Page 23
specifies that fasting is counter-indicated for slipped discs.
Page 26 recommends fasting for prevention and cure of
apoplexy (again a possible brain effect). Page 62 points out
that 86% of T.B. patients have had their tonsils removed.
The inference: correct tonsilitis by fasting, not surgery.
A very short booklet on fasting is How to Fast by Ken S.
Jaffrey, naturopath, published in Townsville, Australia, in
1967. Page 10 warns us against chiropractic and vitamins
during a fast. Page 11 recommends celibacy from one week
before until two weeks after the fast.
Another very short booklet about fasting is Scientific
Fasting and Natural Living, by Dr. N.S. Hanoki, published
at Miami Beach, in 1953. This booklet notes some
Berkeley, California, work that attributes aging to de-
creased circulation in the muscles. I did not find this booklet
rewarding reading.
Another short, and to me The Greater
useless, booklet is

Miracle of Life (Fasting) by Morris Krok, published by

Essence of Health, 112 Field St., Durham, South Africa.
The Story of My Experiment with Truth by Mohandas K.
Gandhi, Beacon Press, Boston, 1957 (originally two vol-
umes, 1927, 1929) is autobiographical and contains a few in-
teresting ideas on fasting. Page 210 claims that extinction
of the sex passion is impossible except through fasting.
Page 231 maintains that the esprit de corps of the vegetarian
diet Tolstoy farm society was due to their practice of fast-
ing. Page 343 insists that much water is needed in the fast,
even if it is found to be nauseating. (These incessant and
profound contradictions by fasting experts could easily

110
frighten the timid away from whole subject! But
the
perhaps fasting is not for the timid. We need research. That
is a primary message of this book.)

Another book written by M.K. Gandhi is Fasting in

Satyagraha (Its Use and Abuse) published in 1965 by the
Navajevan Publishing House. This is primarily concerned
with fasting's place in a nonviolent effort to correct world
problems. The book (page 7) tells us that Buddha, Jesus and
Mohammed fasted to "see God" face to face. It also says
that fasting cannot be just mechanical but must be from the
soul. For this reason, true fasting is rare. In several places
in the book Gandhi makes the point that fasting is an intrin-
sic part of him and that his concerned friends must simply
adjust to this fact and stop being concerned for his welfare.
Gandhi used fasting (pages 11, 12) to show his displeasure
with others' behavior. He fasted as a penance for those in
his charge who had done wrong. He also recommends
fasting and prayer (page 8) as an antidote for irremovable
distress. On page 17 he maintains that physical, or health
fasting affords no spiritual benefit. On page 19 and 20 he in-
sists that our right and duty to fast as penance exists only if
we are the wronged (or wronging) party in the situation. If
we are to obtain the desired purification, complete compas-
sion is required while thus fasting.
On page 27, Gandhi offers the provocative philosophy
that many may die in Satyagraha-type fasts, when fasting
"to the death," if a desired social correction is not made to
accommodate their wishes. This, Gandhi says, is spiritually
good. But on page 44 he offers the advice that we must ig-
nore the fasts of others if they are unworthily undertaken,
even if they are "unto death." (He does not tell us how to
distinguish between rightly and wrongly undertaken fasts!)
We are told (page 29) that mortifying the flesh has merit
only when the flesh is in rebellion with our spiritual needs.
On page 46 he admits of his confusion when his Protestant
Christian friends became so alarmed and even repulsed by
his fasting. He states on page 49 that we must not use fasts

111
to try to convert others to our ideals, and on page 56 he
points out that we can use our fasts as instruments to
reform only those who love us. We cannot use a fast to re-
form our enemies. Page 53 tells us that the only way to part-
ly repair body damage produced by overeating is by fasting.
We are also informed (page 52) that fasting should involve
all the senses and should be considered to include meagre

eating even when not physically fasting. Gandhi admits that

he takes salt, "soda," and sour limes in some of his fasts.
He tells about a 14-day fast in 1914 where he walked 3
miles, 2 or 3 days after breaking the fast and thereby did
permanent damage to his legs and health (page 72). The
following pages point out that he uses 30 grains of salt, 30
grains of soda, and IV2 quarts of water per day in a typical
fast. He breaks his fasts on orange and grape juice and, in a
day or so, starts using diluted milk, building up to one and
one half or more quarts per day. He states that he lives on a
fruit and milk diet much of the time. He tells us that his
maximum weight "since getting out of prison" was 112
pounds. On the last page of the booklet (page 77) he advises
us that the "soul grows as the flesh is subdued."
The Miracle of Fasting by Paul C. Bragg is a very recent
health-oriented book on fasting. It is published by Health
Science, P.O. Box 310, Burbank, Calif., 91503, in 1970
(thirteenth edition). Page 19 of this paperback book claims
that we can de-salt our body in four days of fasting. Page 54
insists on use of only distilled water during the fast. Page 59
indicates English and American fasting resorts go for
30-day fasts, as compared to the 21-day fasts promoted by
German fasting resorts. Page 128 recommends 5-10 minute
hot epsom salts baths every few weeks but not while
fasting. Page 160 recommends sleeping on one's back, legs
uncrossed. (I can't seem to do this, but perhaps because I
sleep on the floor and therefore have no form-fitting support
for the center of my back.) This book also recommends
fasting one day per week for rejuvenation.
The opposite of this fasting-for-health type of book is

112
David R. Smith's Fasting, first published in 1954 and re-
issued in 1969 by Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Wash-
ington, Penn., 19034. This rehgiously oriented book tells us
on page 10 that our duties in life are to give alms, to others;
prayers, to God; and fasting, to ourselves. Page 15
us that
tells

the value of fasting is in the sacrifice of personal will.

(Where does that leave those of us who fast as an expres-
sion of our own free will, and in defiance of social pressure?)
Page 26 refers to John Wesley's "Sermon on Fasting."
Early Methodism had a strong tradition of fasting, especial-
ly for its ministers. Page 31 suggests that the lions did not
eat Daniel, nor did the whale digest Jonah because of the
protection these men received from their fasting. Page 35
points out that a national fast was considered in 1853 in the
United Kingdom to contend with a cholera epidemic. Page
51 warningly tells us of a minister's fasting for his congre-
gation's religious revival and ending in a mental hospital.
Page 56 makes reference to another fasting book which I
have not as yet procured: Revival Now through Prayer and
Fastinghy Gordon Cove, pubhshed by Nelson in 1957. Page
58 tells us of an early Christian tradition of fasting till 3
P.M. every Wednesday and Friday. This eventually was
modified to no meat on Friday. Then fish was allowed on
Friday. Now, nothing remains of required fasting in Chris-
tian practice.
Another Christian Literature Crusade fasting publication
is God's Chosen Fast by Arthur WaUis, 1968. Page 29 of this

paperback book emphasizes the exhilaration of the fasting

experience to the spiritually oriented. Page 30 refers to II
Chronicles 7:14, which maintains that God will heed a na-
tional fast. Page 51 says fasting seems to compel us to over-
come the devil. Page 83 asserts that headaches acquired
during fasting are symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. Page
90 refers us to I Kings 13 wherein we are told that breaking
a fast before God dictates it leads to disaster.
Another good, religiously oriented fasting book is The
Fasting Prayer by the Reverend Franklin Hall, Box 11157,

113
Phoenix, Arizona, 85017. This book dated 1947, 1954,
is

1967. Page 11 indicates that Calvin considered fasting a

necessity. Page 12 points out that John Wesley extracted
promises to fast from early Methodist ministers. Page 14
asserts that the ancient Persian Mithraic religion required
50-day Page 29 seems to imply that the author brought
fasts.
down a tornado upon a Texas community that failed to afford
him and his fasting ideas adequate hospitality!
Page 47 tells of a woman experiencing the "glories of
fasting" from the 39th to the 64th day of a fast. On page 70
we learn of a nine-year-old boy fasting five days and leaving
his body for five hours! (Astral projection? Astral projection
and levitation are sometimes encountered in conjunction
with fasting — parapsychologists, take note. This is a clue.)
Page 99 claims that the Biblical book of Daniel is a product
of fasting and prayer. Page 106 mentions that as a cancer
cure, some doctors in San Francisco and Chicago supervise
12-15 day fasts, followed by a raw fruit and vegetable diet.
Page 109 tells us that if we stay below 500 calories per
day, after a fast, we will feelno hunger. (A lot of qualifying
is needed here, I beheve.) Page 110 recommends orange
juice for quick strength, needed, while fasting. (This will
if

probably work except in extremely long fasts. The feeling

of strength is almost instant, after this drink, and with disci-
pline, the fast can be immediately resumed, as the strength-
requiring situation is passed through.) Page 117 quotes a
study by Estes which indicated longevity for meat-eating
Indians was 60 years; for maize- and nut-eating Indians,
106-180 years. Page 124 advocates two teaspoons of salt in
a quart of warm water to clean the bowels at the start of a
fast. On page 135 the author admits of seeing "cloven
tongues like fire" thousands of times, while fasting. On
page 137 the claim is made that non-Caucasians are better
adapted to fasting.
Page 140 claims that the purified blood of the faster gets
to the body tissues more easily and thus facilitates healing.
Page 144 points out that there is no anemia in fasting and

114
that the pancreas good condition, whereas in starvation
is in

it is destroyed. Page 150 maintains that the faster ex-

periences a big spiritual fight after about 30 or 40 days of
fasting. Page 158 recommends a thin salted grain gruel to
break a fast that has been complicated by vomiting. Page
160 maintains that any weakness in fasting is an aftereffect
of drug consumption. Lights and specks in the eyes, while
fasting, are attributed to liver, kidney, or bowel troubles.
Page 166 quotes Proverbs 30:8: "Feed me with food conve-
nient for me: lest I be full and deny thee." (Does our
overeating account, in part, for our indifference toward
religion? Will fasting restore our spiritual orientation in life?
I believe it has helped this writer and scientist a great deal
in this respect.) Page 167 offers a remedy for bloating
(edema) after the fast: stop food and water, and use hot
baths.
Another fasting manuscript Reverend Franklin
of the
Hall is a short booklet. Because of Your Unbelief. Written
about 1946, it claims to be the first of the fasting-faith
books.
Continuing with religiously oriented fasting books, we
have Why Did Jesus Fast? hy the Reverend Herman Arndt.
This is a 1962 Health Research pubHcation. Page 17 of this
booklet offers the answer to the question in the title. Jesus
fasted to obtain perfect faith. Before this we are told that
Calvin believed that fasting helped avoid sin, but that it did
not induce grace. (I would like to disagree, but grace is not
well defined for the scientist.) We are also told (page 12)
that early Methodist ministers fasted weekly. Page 26
points out that Dr. Tanner, in his three more than 40-day
fasts had "worlds beyond" revealed in the last half ofeach
fast. (Again the "frightening" psychic dimension in
fasting.)
Pages 28-31 maintain that Francis Schlatter became a
healer after a 40-day fast, with prayer. Page 35 quotes
Mohammed as saying, "Fasting is the gate to religion."
Page 37 tells us that if we fast for a cause we are invincible.

115
Page 43 points out that a consecration fast is not also a
health fast. (Could this pinpoint my problem, i.e., dual
motivations for fasting?) Page 50 utilizes some of Hudson's
Psychic Science writings to speculate that fasting helps
memory and deductive, but not inductive reason. This
seems an unhkely hmitation to place on fasting, as fasting
seems strongly to promote creative thinking, which in-
volves inductive reasoning. Page 53 claims a 20-100 times
increase in receptivity and reason, while fasting.
Page 64 suggests fasting to save incompatible marriages.
Page 86 recommends another fast-breaking prescription: a
cup of fresh peaches and double cream, three times a day!
This prescription certainly seems better than the popcorn
craze for breaking a fast. This idea was suggested 100 years
ago and keeps cropping up from time to time. It is supposed
to "clean out the bowels." If popcorn has merit in breaking
a fast, a whole new field of inquiry is opened.
Another book to deal with in this chapter is the very re-
cent Natural Way to Health Through Controlled Fasting, by
Carlson Wade, an Arc Book, originally published in 1968 by
Parker Publishing. This book, by a New York City literary
agent and health field writer, is filled with nutritional hints.
The book often talks about "partial fasts," better labeled a
restricted diet. Page 122, for example, suggests use of
Fenugreek seeds to make a tea. This is used for 30 days as
an allergy remedy. It was on page 204 of this book that I
first obtained the clue that oxaHc acid in spinach, swiss
chard, and rhubarb might be interfering with my body
mineral metabolism, after a fast, to cause my waterlogged
or edemic legs. This same page says kale and escarole are
all right in this respect. (So in my garden right now I have
rows of these two leaf vegetables.)
In the process of continuing my search for fasting litera-
ture, I tried to at least look at everything available in the
New York City Public Library. One of the obscure refer-
ences found there was a Catholic University of America
I

Canon Law Studies, #374, "Fast and Abstinence in the

116
First Order of Saint Francis," by the Reverend J.J.
Sullivan, Catholic University of America Press, 1957. This
document pointed out that St. Francis led a life of almost
continual fast, but "on the road" ate anything put before
him. Fasting was not imposed upon his order. I found this
work pedantic and trivial.
Another library reference was Psychological Monograph,
Volume 16, #5, July 1914, #71 "On the Psychophysiology
for a Prolonged Fast" by Herbert S. Langfield of Harvard.
This is a classic fasting study of Agostino Levanzin, a Malta
attorney who fasted for 31 His weight went
days under test.

from 134 to 106 pounds. In a previous fast he had gone from

180 to 140 pounds. His height was five feet, seven inches.
He was given 750 cc. of distilled water per day. Maximum
hand-grip strength was recorded on the 14th to 20th day of
the fast (page 40). However, page 48 indicates a loss of
muscle strength at the end of the fast, a possible gain in sen-
sual acuityand a decidedly increased efficiency of "central
processes" (I.Q.). Page 43 notes a jump change in visual
acuity from 17 feet to 37 feet. Note that this occurred in a
fast that followed a number of previous fasts that appar-
ently also did not permanently correct the visual refractory
error. It is amazing that this 1912 work is the primary objec-
tive study of a fast usefully recorded. It is even more amaz-
ing that the questions it raises have gone unanswered for 60
years.
Study of a Prolonged Fast by Francis Gano Benedict,
published by the Carnegie Institute of Washington, in 1915,
is a much longer, 413-page, account of the A. Levanzin

31 -day fast in 1912. 1 had the opportunity to skim through a

badly worn copy of this book in the St. Louis Public Library
very recently. In the hour that I had before library closing
time, I was able to learn that Levanzin had regularly experi-
enced irregularly improved vision while fasting. The im-
provement was not permanent. (This is consistent with my
own experience to date.) Levanzin, somewhat like myself,
believed that fasting is a panacea. Also like myself, he was

117
interested in parapsychology and vegetarianism. A tedious
amount of medical detail was recorded in this 31 -day fast.
Indeed, it fills this 413-page book. The subject of the fast
comes through as an underactive, overweight fellow of
uneven disposition, a disappointment to someone like
myself who would like to believe that fasting will improve
the personality. (Of course, fasting may have improved him
physically and spiritually from his before-fasting status!)
A quick reference can be made to "Fasting and Prophecy
in Pagan and Christian Antiquity," by R. Arbesmann, from
Traditio, Volume 7, 1949-51. This document notes that
worldwide fasting customs are based on no common
motives. (Shelton has claimed that fasting is based on in-
stinct.)
A
book that appears in my file of fasting notes, although
not a book about fasting, is Biochemistry, Endochrinology,
and Nutrition, by Professor D.F. Horrobin, G.P. Putnam
Co., 1972. Page 47 of this book points up the function of the
liver in destroying harmful drugs in the body. Page 51 notes
that vitamin K is made by gut bacteria. (If these bacteria die
during a fast, when the digestive tract becomes sterile,
some other mechanism must take over this vitamin K pro-
duction, since we believe that no vitamin deficiencies
develop during a fast.) Page 66 relates the mystery of the
edema that develops in the final stages of starvation, but not
during legitimate fasting. This happens only when all the
body fat is used up and protein alone is being catabolized.
Page 67 notes that the liver destroys all amino acids not
quickly utilized. Therefore, all essential amino acids must
be ingested at once. (But what about the rule of some nutri-
tionists against mixing several protein sources at one meal?
If that rule is wrong, then nature may have "mis-designed"

the world, for in nature we would not usually be apt to find,

and mix, several protein sources at one meal!)
We now come to an article in Volume 31 of the Journal of
Nutrition, 1946, pages 363-375. It is "Apparent Prolonga-
tion of the Life Span of Rats by Intermittent Fasting" by

118
Anton Carlson and Frederick Hoelzel. As old as these ex-
J.
periments are, they appear only now to be recognized for
their possible significance. Here we find that rats that
fasted every third day of their life lived 15% (female) to 20%
(male) longer. Rats that fasted every second or every fourth
day of their life also lived longer than the control rats that
did no fasting.Perhaps the critical question that remains is
that of determining whether man is worthy of such in-
creased longevity, or should the benefits be restricted to
laboratory rats? (This writer fasted every third day of 1974
and found it "feasible.")
Another interesting fasting article, by Blake Clark, ap-
peared in the November, 1962, Reader's Digest, "A Swift,
Sure Way to Take Off Weight," pages 115-118. The fasting
done here for weight loss allowed tea, coffee, and vitamins,
indicating the serious divergence of opinion between the
well-educated, under-experienced medical profession and
the highly experienced fasting exponents whose ideas are
not accepted within the medical or scientific estabHshment.
Other statements of "fact" in the article disagree with com-
mon fasting experience (for example, the statement that the
faster is content with 500 to 1500 calories per day for several
days after breaking the 10-day fasts herein described). Here
again, the real mystery is the lack of follow-up on a useful
(and possibly best) weight control technique.
The religious publication Guideposts has had articles pro-
moting spiritually motivated fasting in the February 1971
and 1972 issues, just before Lent. These articles, while talk-
ing about real fasting, also promote partial fasting, such as
skipping one meal a day or omitting some items of food.
The October, 1971, issue of Scientific American contains
an article, "The Physiology of Starvation" by Vernon R.
Young and Nevin S. Scrimshaw. The use of the word "star-
vation" rather than "fasting" in the title suggests that these
establishment-oriented researchers have the typical "hang
up" against the term fasting, a term associated with religion
and health cultists, but also a "correct" term for

119
much of their work here. The article is informative and indi-
cates that the human brain needs about 500 calories (125
grams day to function. This article also in-
of glucose) per
dicates that a cup of water intake per day is adequate during
the fast, if minimized. We
perspiration-inducing activity is

also learn that during a fast three-fourths of brain energy

comes from fatty tissue breakdown, in a fashion unique to
fasting metabolism. A study of actual starvation (of labora-
tory rats and children in starvation areas of the world) indi-
cates that starvation interferes with cell division and makes
for a permanent shortage of total cell numbers in the brain.
{Fasting does not have this effect and, according to some
fasting enthusiasts, even increases cell numbers while de-
creasing extra-nuclear cell mass.)
In a monthly feature entitled "Russian Press Reports on
Soviet Science," the August, 1972, edition Science Digest
features the story "Soviets Approve Hunger Cure." This
short article tells about 20- to 40-day fasts approved by the
U.S.S.R. Ministry of Pubhc Health, for cure of some
diseases. A rebuttal by a U.S. medical authority admits of
the possible efficacy of fasting for cure of disease and ad-
mits that large medical research establishments in America
are not researching this unorthodox treatment, but sug-
gests that some small research establishments are. (Where,
I wonder?) American medical authorities never fail to make
the point that fasting should be done only under medical
supervision, but where can we find this competent medical
supervision, when such a vast majority of doctors are either
ignorant about fasting or actually antagonistic to it (which
antagonism, I believe, only emphasizes the ignorance). It is
my personal conviction that if 70-80% of the American peo-
ple could be induced to fast 10-20 days per year, a day or
two at a time, or all at once, America's medical bills could
be cut in half. I am not sure the medical profession would
approve of such an event!
Since the initial writing of this book, several interesting
books on fasting have come to my attention, and this seems

120
to be the best place to them in. Let us first review Health
fit

Secrets from Europe, by Paavo 0. Airola, M.D., pubHshed by

Parker Pubhshing Co., West Nyack, N.Y., in 1970, 1972. It
is also available now in paperback in many health food
stores.
Page 27-28 of this book claim that much fasting is done in

Europe. Indeed, it claimed that fasting is a "national

is

sport" in Sweden. Two 300-mile, 10-day (30 miles/day)

fasting marches are recounted. In Sweden, in 1954 and
1964, such fasting marches were undertaken by two groups
of people. The 1964 march was medically approved, and
tests showed that sugar and protein in the f asters' blood re-
mained normal throughout the strenuous 10-day march.
Page 35 recommends raw juices and broth (but never
mixed together) during the "fast," to provide an alkaline
balance to the acid produced by fasting. Page 57 suggests
fasting as a cortisone withdrawal treatment. Page 73 gives
a case example where one week of fasting per month was
required to maintain a psoriasis cure. Pages 75-77 advise a
low animal protein diet for best health. It is claimed that 50
grams of vegetable protein are superior to 100 grams of
animal protein. Page 79 refers to a report of the Inter-
national Society for Research on "Nutrition and Vital Sub-
stances." This report claims, "Each plant protein has a// ex-
ogenous essential amino acids."
Pages 80-81 cite examples of vegetarians' out-performing
meat-eaters in strenuous endurance exercises and athletic
events. Page 90 comes out against too much juice, espe-
cially citrus, as part of the daily diet. Page 96, however,
recommends a three-week juice fast to eliminate high blood
pressure (by reducing sodium in the body). Indeed, page
140 tells us that high blood pressure is the malady most
amenable to the fasting cure. Page 100 claims that high
temperature (fever) fights virus and therefore is a great
"medicine." Page 162 warns us against taking individual
B-vitamins. The whole, properly balanced vitamin B family
is needed. Page 193 informs us that pumpkin seeds and oil

121
are the only nutritional remedies for prostate troubles. Page
198 recommends liberal use in the diet of yogurt, sour milk,
sauerkraut, and pickles.
The same author, Paavo 0. Airola, has written a shorter,
paperback booklet entitled How to Keep Slim, Healthy and
Young with Juice Fasting. This is published by Health Plus
Publishing, P.O. Box 22001, Phoenix, Ariz. 85028. Page 29
of this booklet claims that after three days of juice fasting
we feel stronger, even including our sex drive. (I did not
find this to be true during an 11 -day grape juice fast.) Page
33 suggests that a water fast may break down body-stored
DDT too fast, and thereby cause trouble. Page 38 goes on
to insist that juice fasting is superior to water fasting. Page
43 warns us to take enemas while fasting or risk damage to
our kidneys, as they are forced to expel too much poison.
An example is offered (page 44) of such damage, with re-
sulting edema, experienced at an American water-fasting
clinic. Page 58 recommends pear juice and dandelion juice
to overcome edema. Page 69 is critical of distilled water
usage in fasting. Thus the contradictions continue.
Journal of a Fast, by Frederick W. Smith, a recent (1972)
Ballantine Books paperback, is quite a good advertisement
against fasting. We are given a day-by-day account of a
31-day fast, with much philosophy interspersed. This Col-
orado faster is a middle-aged man, with his own skilled-
labor type of business. He is married and has almost grown
children and raises some of his own food on his small home-
stead. He relates all kinds of fasting troubles, such as
weakness, much mucus discharge, nausea, and so on. He
felt a need for encouragement, but got mostly negative

response from his wife. The faster is much interested in

oriental religionand philosophy. He is experienced with
very short fasts and had undertaken a 35-day fast, many
years ago, which apparently was an even worse experience
than the fast described in 'Journal of a Fast. " His
this
"after-the-fast" results were also mostly negative (greater
lethargy, less agility, less enthusiasm, i.e., the opposite

122
results of my own fasts). The author's motivation for
fasting was claimed be primarily spiritual.
to
The Grape Cure, by Johanna Brandt, published by the
Provoker Press, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, recounts
fasting and grape cure experiences up to about 1927. The
author subjected herself to much fasting, during a nine-year
battle against cancer.She is critical of long fasts (page 22).
She claims to have once fasted past the point of return of
natural hunger. She feels that the grape cure is superior to
the fasting cure (page 115).
On page 19 the author says that fasting brought out her
subliminal self and improved her hunches. Page 13 relates a
criticalcase where fasting led to leg edema. This, she
claimed, was the end of the cure, as the poisons had concen-
trated in a relatively harmless place. (An encouraging idea,
but I would still prefer not to experience the leg edema that
I do, after fasting.) With reference
grape cure (which
to the
involves a diet exclusively of grapes and grape juice), we
are advised that we should eat only some of the grape skins
and seeds. One to three pounds of grapes daily are recom-
mended. Page 86 advises us to fast before undertaking the
grape cure, to eliminate any possible bad reaction to the
grapes. Page 145 tells us that the grape diet affects urine
Ph, but pages 146 and 156 seem to disagree.
Fasting for Renewal of Life by Herbert M. Shelton,
Natural Hygiene Press, Chicago, 1974, is an abridged and
updated version of Fasting and Sunbathing already re-
viewed. (An unabridged fifth edition, 1978, is now available
as The Science and Fine Art of Fasting.)
Page 161 in this book points out that Dr. Virginia
Vetrano, who works
with Dr. Shelton, is changing the
regimin at their fasting clinic in San Antonio, Texas, so that
f asters now break their fasts on fruit, rather than fruit juice.

Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting by Derek

Prince, Fleming H. Revell Co., Old Tappan, N.J., 1973, is

based on Bibhcal Scripture. It contains the valuable idea

that fasting can improve our dangerous world situation.

123
 Remarkable Miracles by Guy C. Bevington, Logos Interna-
tional, Plainsfield, NJ., 1973 (originally about 1923), is a
reprint of an old autobiographical book relating many
"miracles" attributed to the author's fasting. These
miracles include healing crushed ribs, finding lost people,
and unlocking doors. The author is a Holiness preacher.
Fasting, the Ultimate Diet by Allan Cott, M.D., with
Jerome Agel and Eugene Boe, Bantam Book, 1975, is writ-
ten by a psychiatrist who has visited Russia and observed
their use of fasting in the treatment of schizophrenia. His
book takes note (page Dick Gregory's observation
18) of
that prison inmates who fast have better behavior records
(and some disease cures as side effects). Page 42 tells us
that exercise is a must while fasting. Page 110 states that
we should not fast more than one-third of the time. (This
stipulation interests me as I fasted for one-third of the days
of 1973 and 1974 and agree that that is about the limit!)
Page 113 tells us that we can retard fluid loss while fasting
with a daily gram of bi-carbonate of soda.
Fasting, the Super Diet hy Shirley Ross, Ballantine Books,
1976 (originally Martins Press), is a book containing some
useful technical data. Page 35 claims that after about ten
days of fasting, a basic metabolism shift increases fat
cataboHsm and decreases nitrogen (protein) loss. A typical
30-day fast costs a typical male two and a half pounds of
protein. (This is eleven pounds of lean tissue.) Total weight
loss in a long fast is fifty percent water and thirty-seven per-
cent fat. There is a mineral loss with the water, mostly
sodium and potassium. Page 39 says potassium pills should
be taken during a fast. On page 41 we are advised to control
edema with aldesterone (after the fast), or by taking sodium
chloride and potassium chloride during the fast. Blood and
urinemust be monitored, we are told, so an M.D. is needed.
Page 60 debunks the idea of fasting cures, "salvation"
through fasting, and the idea that fasting catabolizes sick
cells. (But does fasting catabolize poisons — DDT, salt, etc.,
out of sick cells, to make them healthy?) Also debunked is

124
the idea that hunger returns to signal the end of a fast. (But
Matt. 4:2 us that Christ "fasted for forty days and forty
tells

nights after which he was very hungry." J.B.) Page 50

maintains that at least a thirty-day fast is needed to cure
compulsive eating.
Biofeedback, Fasting and Meditation by Gary Null (and
Steve), Pyramid Books, 1974, also contains helpful tech-
nical data and useful references. Page 47 takes note of the
"mystery" of excessive sodium excretion during a fast. (Or
do we use too much salt and therefore have too much
sodium in our bodies at the start of the fast?) Page 48 notes
that feeding extra sodium increases the potassium loss. The
sodium-potassium balance is regulated by vitamin Be, and
page 50 warns that this vitamin is excreted in a fast and is
apt to become deficient in the body. Page 141 suggests that
blood pressure readings of 100/60 up to 140/90 constitute a
"normal range." A diastoHc reading below 60 makes it dif-
ficult for the kidneys adequately to excrete their waste pro-
ducts. Page 144 points out that brain cells cannot
reproduce. (Does fasting reduce brain cell death by re-
juvenating them, thereby delaying senility?)
How to Keep Healthy and Happy by Fasting by Salem Kir-
ban, 2117 Kent Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, 1976,
is written from both the religious and health viewpoints.

Page 19 suggests that since God rested on the seventh day,

in the Creation story, perhaps we should fast (rest) one day
in seven. Like almost all recent books on the subject of
fasting, this book emphasizes that fasting should be done
under a doctor's supervision. Also, like these other recent
books, it does not tell you how to find a doctor who is sym-
pathetic toward fasting or who actually knows much about
the subject. This seems to be today's biggest fasting prob-
lem.
Fasting: Fastest Way Superb Health and Rejuvenation by
to

Hannah Allen, Healthways Publ., Sheltrano Hygienan

Paradise, Pearsall, Texas, (no date, but mid-1970's), is a
good 79-page booklet for the reader who does not want to

125
wade through should be available from the
a longer book. It

American Natural Hygiene Society in Chicago.

Who Is Teresa Neuman? by Rev. Charles M. Carty, Tan
Books and Publ., Rockford, Illinois, 1974,
about a devout
is

German woman who lived from 1898 to 1962. For the last
33 years of her life she ate no food except the Blessed
Sacrament, which she took about once a week. She lost
about four pints of blood (from "stigmata wounds of
Christ") almost every Friday over most of these 33 years.
There is a gross energy deficit problem here that could
motivate us to throw out the whole story (the easy way out),
or this case can help us realize that we have much to learn
about energy, physics, and parapsychology. This harder
path will be pursued in the next chapter.
The Adventure of Fasting hy James Lee Beall, Fleming H.
Revell Co., Old Tappan, N.J., 1974, is very much in the reh-
gious vein. The author points out that the two 40-day fasts
of Moses, and the 40-day fast of Elijah are "miraculous," as
they were fasts from both food and water. (The Teresa
Neuman book, just previously reviewed, should make us
less eager to throw out these waterless fasts as "erroneous
tradition.") Page 91 suggests that group fasting is needed
for some world problems. Page 101 claims that effective in-
tercession requires identifying with both God and the
needy. Page 120 reminds us that fasting should turn our at-
tention from "self" to "others." This is one reason why
fasting is so spiritually beneficial.
The Fast-Diet Book by Bub Redhill to Robert E.
told
Rothenberg, M.D., Grosset and Dunlap, 1971, is about a
242-pound "slob" who in 53 days fasted and dieted his way
down to 200 pounds. Since this faster-dieter's ideal weight
is stated to be 183 pounds, he was still substantially over-

weight at the end of his "fast," We might note an idea men-

tioned in some fasting books, to the effect that "true
fasting" involves starting the non-eating process at an ideal
weight and reducing from there. Perhaps only then can really
therapeutic and spiritual benefits be obtained. At any rate,

126
this entertaining book, while possibly useful to one who
wants to use fasting for weight reduction, is not represen-
tative of the fasting I wish to explore in Fasting, Longevity,
and Immortality. The fasting was very intermittent, and
foods in the diet, such as coffee, were not very constructive,
healthwise. This fast-diet was done under the supervision of
a doctor who apparently wrote the book. The doctor's strict
control (and mis-control?) of the fast might induce some of
the book's readers to elect to fast "on their own," although
the opposite effect is certainly intended by the book.
Wants Me
Help, Lord, the Devil Fat! by C.S. Lovett, Per-
sonal Christianity, Baldwin Park, CA 91706, 1977 (with op-
tional suggestive and inspirational tapes), is designed for
the overweight person and is intended to strengthen this
faster's resolve during his fast. Page 68 emphasizes that,
while weight reduction is attained, the real goal of fasting is
to produce a better attitude (to destroy Satan's stronghold).
Page 91 notes the excellent safety record of fasting.
Thus ends the testimony of the fasting literature to which
this writer has been exposed. However, in our contem-
porary world we sometimes hear of celebrities who fast.
Dick Gregory, the comedian, is experienced at fasting, as is
Cesar Chavez, the head of the United Farm Workers Union.
I am sure that both these men feel that fasting is beneficial

to them. Tony Agapaoa, the psychic healer of the Philip-

pines, feels that extensive fasting is at least partly responsi-
ble for his psychic healing abilities. Many other less
publicized fasters could be called forth to testify — but
enough is enough.

127
 Life's Important Opposites

Faith adds dimension to our life.

Doubt only introduces strife.

Hope gives meaning to all we do.
Despair destroys all that is true.
Love is ultimate in this plane.
Hate is an evil most insane.
Charity brightens the deeds you do.
Selfishness hurts the world and you.
Humility introduces grace.
Arrogance throws our life off pace.
Joy stays with us through all our years.
Fun is transient and disappears.
Repentance saves immortal souls.
Guilt only keeps us from life 's goals.
Admiration sets examples.
Envy on our heartstring tramples.
Tranquility happens to the good.
Turmoil results from right, withstood.
So life's emotions, as we can see,
Are good, or bad, as they ought to be.
They are good if from God
and a higher sphere.
But bad if from fraud
and an unhealthy fear.
They are good if they heal.
They are bad if they harm.
The right should appeal.
The wrong should alarm.
Only one of each pair we will find satisfying.
Because, in the end, they mean living or dying.

128
 CHAPTER FIVE

FASTING AND IMMORTALITY

SPECULATIONS
The poem "Life's Important Opposites" affords us a
strategic place to begin a discussion of fastingand immor-
tality. The poem points up sharply those positive and nega-

tive emotions that, by religious tradition and dogma, are

alleged to lead to "salvation" or "damnation," to eternal
Hfe, or to death and extinction. With just a little forcing,
these same emotional opposites can also be related to the
dominant influence of the two portions of our autonomic
nervous system. The Parasympathetic Autonomic Nervous
System (PANS) tends to dominate when the "positive" or
good or God-related emotions are prevailing. (Note that
PANS is a pluralized, for emphasis, form of the Greek
prefix meaning "all" — acronym for
surely a suitable
something God-related!) The opposite or "negative" emo-
tions tend to dominate when the Sympathetic Autonomic
Nervous System (SANS) is dominating over PANS. (Note
that SANS is the French preposition meaning "without."
This is surely a suitable acronym for what evil, or the devil,
leaves us with!)
We should next note that PANS is typically busily in-
volved in the supervision ofour digestive processes. If we
are fasting, however, PANS is afforded a vacation from this
important part of its work load and may, if properly guided,
foster the development of all those important positive emo-
tional responses to life suggested in our poem. In other
words, if PANS does not have to expend energy in supervis-
ing our digestive processes, it can more readily attain the

129
dominance of its positive emotions over the opposing nega-
tive emotions of SANS. It must be admitted that fasting
may (perhaps when wrongly motivated) seemingly foster
some negative emotions, especially those of doubt, despair
and turmoil. The preponderance of evidence and tradition,
however, points towards fasting's power to induce good
into our lives, and through a process of PANS dominance
over SANS.
We will assume, and hope, that to the extent with which
we can maintain PANS dominance over SANS in our fast-
ing experience, positive is dominating over negative, or
good over evil, or God over the devil. This may seem a little
arbitrary now, although our poem has certainly established
a "prejudice" in the right direction. We will hope to
strengthen our case as we proceed. We may also assume
that positive rather than negative psychic phenomena are
more likely to be induced by fasting. Positive psychic
phenomena would constitute healing, accurate and signifi-
cant prophecies, and useful manifestations of clairvoyance.
In addition, socially useful creative thinking should be
enhanced by right-motivated fasting. Levitations and astral
projections that sometimes accompany fasting, as a nui-
sance by-product, may be neutral or actually negative
psychic manifestations, but these are very rare.
Fasting-induced trance is likely to be PANS dominant
and, therefore, hopefully beneficial; however, states in-
duced by LSD, marijuana, or even alcohol, or caffeine (and
perhaps sodium pentathol), all induce SANS dominance
over PANS and should be suspect as undesirable or evil.
An acute philosophical and moral issue arises in this kind
of hypothesizing. Should we label the opposites we are dis-
cussing as good and evil, or should we accept both sides of
the balance as equally desirable attributes to be properly
balanced in life, if maximum health and happiness are to
prevail? This has been a basic problem in religion and philo-
sophy since their recorded beginning. Our Judeo-Christian
background strongly favors the good and evil labels, and

130
our poem certainly reflects this preference. The idea of im-
mortality almost demands this opposition of good and evil.

Oriental philosophies (which favor reincarnation over im-

mortality) deny the existence of an absolute evil, such as we
are tentatively hypothesizing in typical SANS dominance.
This Oriental philosophy is consistent with the idea of rein-
carnation, wherein an individual keeps getting another
chance (i.e., another life) to improve upon his moral
character. On the other hand, if life is a "once through"
event, with salvation or damnation ("life" or extinction) at
its end, the case for absolute good and evil strengthened
is

(i.e., "evil" is that which harms or destroys our immortal soul).

Thus the reality of "reincarnation" versus "heaven and

hell" seems a root issue in a dispute between "relativity"
dominating moral values, as opposed to absolute good or
evil in moral values.
An interesting and presently "popular" example of
Orient-originated philosophy is that expressed in Zen
Macrobiotics. This philosophy is worth a quick review here
because it sets up opposites which it seeks to keep in
balance. Zen Macrobiotics maintains that everything can be
classified as containing varying amounts of the opposing
Yin and Yang elements of life. Unfortunately, as outlined in
Zen Macrobiotics, by George Ohsawa, published by Ohsawa
Foundation, 1434 N. Curson Ave., Los Angeles, in 1965,
the breakdown of Yin and Yang does not seem amenable to
any attempt at scientific analysis. Yang is labeled as con-
tracting, introverted, hot, heavy, positive in charge, animal,
cereal, male and PANS dominant yet sodium-oriented in
body chemistry. Yin is, of course, opposite, and therefore
vegetarian, female, SANS dominant, and potassium-orient-
ed in body chemistry. There is a complete obscuring of the
scientific divisions we might attempt to draw. Zen Macro-
biotics seems based on Oriental tradition and necessity. It
will not fit in with any of the many conflicting Western
nutrition ideas. The most important problem in the Yin-
Yang division just offered seems to be that of putting the

131
body and cell activating element, sodium, with PANS, and
the pacifying elements, potassium, with SANS. The rela-
tionship should be opposite. Because of this reversal,
macrobiotics can praise, rather than condemn, the use of
salt. we recognize salt as SANS-activating, the philo-
If

sophy we are expounding in this whole chapter would sug-

gest restriction of salt in the diet. Salt may help farm
animals grow faster and more profitably, but through ac-
tivated SANS. In man, we argue, this may have an adverse
and animal with
spiritual result. Similarly, relating cereal
PANS and salad and vegetable with SANS, seems re-
versed. In addition, the very idea that apples and other
fruits are undesirable except in small quantities (and then
only for healthy people) flies in the face of most brands of
Western nutrition ideas.
We might further note that the choice of cereal or grain as
a diet mainstay is a necessity in much of the impoverished
Orient; but this choice may not be "natural," or best for
man. A fruit and nut diet seems more natural for primates
and primitive man. Hard grain is best suited for the birds,
who happen to have gizzards and crops to grind and digest
it efficiently. When man grinds his grain to make it digesti-
ble, he also makes it spoilable unless he takes out the most
nutritious part, the germ or nucleus of the grain kernel. Of
course, the storabihty of unground grain, "artificially" pro-
duced in large fields, is one of the first results of civilization.
We might note that storable grain eliminates the seasonal
necessity of fasting. Grain can be made available year round
as contrasted with more seasonable fruits and vegetables.
Nevertheless, we should still ask ourselves whether our
digestive system is really designed to digest grain and,
more important, whether it is designed to benefit from
regular seasonal fasting, to maximize health and longevity.
Does our digestive system need regular fasting rests? The
medical profession would say no, but the medical profession
does not tell us how to avoid all the digestive troubles with
which we are afflicted, such as ulcers, liver problems,

132
diabetes, gall stones, kidney stones, appendicitis, cancer,
and so on. Regular fasting should greatly reduce all these
problems and the many other body diseases that are often
secondary effects of digestive system overwork and
malfunction.
Anextremely interesting assertion of Ohsawa, in his
book, is that the body makes its own chemical elements by
transmutation of elements. The example is given of the
cow's low calcium diet (grass) which requires the cow's
metabolism to convert potassium into calcium (K^^ + H^ ^
Ca*°). While Western science is not prepared to accept such
transmutations, in view of the extreme energy input re-
quired, the very suggestion points up the need to discover
how the /aster's body provides for all his needs. In addition,
if a person can sometimes live healthily on cereal grains
alone, as Zen Macrobiotics maintains, then some mecha-
nism is at work here also, to provide necessary nutrients
that are not found in a strictly grain diet. (See Biological
Transmutations by Louis C. Kervran, for a more pro-
vocative discussion of this idea.)
While Zen Macrobiotics seems completely unadaptable to
Western usage, so far as its nutritional ideas are concerned,
or even so far as the relativity of morals is concerned, an im-
portant idea is contained within it from which we may
benefit. Zen Macrobiotics tries to divide world forces into
two opposing forces. We might hope to separate out the
components of these forces more appropriately and find
them respectively related to the spiritual world and to the
material world; perhaps to salvation and damnation (i.e., im-
mortality and extinction.)
Another important concept of Zen Macrobiotics is the
idea that the physical food we eat has a profound effect not
only upon our physical health but also upon our moral or
spiritual life. Indeed, to what extent do the eating patterns
of a society reflect and influence the moral character of that
society? Which is cause and which is effect? Does moral
behavior encourage healthy eating, or does healthy eating

133
promote moral health? Perhaps it works both ways, setting
up a mutually reinforcing cycle. Likewise, it is probable that
foolish eating patterns foster moral degeneracy which en-
courages foolish eating habits. Perhaps the fetish for
feasting and gluttony in the materially advanced areas of
feed-back mechanism be-
civilization reflects this positive
tween the spiritual and material world. Perhaps the com-
plete lack of agreement concerning correct nutritional
values further reflects our physical, moral, and even in-
tellectual degeneracy.
Let us now look at another set of unorthodox nutritional
ideas, this time American originated. They are best ex-
emplified by the literature of the American Natural Hygiene
Society, whose headquarters are in Chicago. These ideas
conform to those of Dr. Herbert Shelton and his Health
School in San Antonio, Texas. This is the same Dr. Shelton
who has written three of the best and most readily available
books about fasting. In a book about fasting, such as we are
writing here, it is most appropriate to look at the nutrition
ideas of outstanding fasting exponents, even though these
ideas are sometimes conflicting. We
have already made al-
lusion to many of these divergent ideas in our preceding
chapters. Now we will look at one coherent pattern of ideas
and see whether they offer clues in our search for fasting's
place in a teleological scheme leading to longevity and im-
mortality.
The American Natural Hygiene Society supports a vege-
tarian diet composed oi fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts.
The more lenient practitioners of this nutritional philosophy
may allow yogurt or other minimally offensive animal pro-
tein foods, but protein is supposed to come largely from
nuts and vegetables such as greens. Products of fermenta-
tion or bacterial action (yogurt, cheese, vinegar, wine, and
so on) are frowned upon. Grain consumption, including
wheat germ, is discouraged. (As previously stated, grain is

alleged to be bird food, because only birds have the nec-

essary digestive apparatus to assimilate it properly.) Unfor-

134
tunately, use of legumes such as peas, beans, soybeans,
peanuts, cashews, and so on, is also discouraged, as they
constitute a hard-to-digest mixture of protein and starch.
Thus the best (other than nuts) source of non-animal protein
is from the diets of "natural hygienists."
also eliminated
(However, some beans, and other seeds used for sprouting
are allowable and desirable by natural hygienist standards
and are excellent sources of proteins, vitamins and en-
zymes.)
The most difficult part of the natural hygienist diet is not
its vegetarianism, but food mixing ideas. These ideas are
its

so contrary to the typical American nutrition concepts of

mixed, balanced meals, that all of us, exposed to a lifetime
of these conventional ideas, must feel discomfort at the idea
of minimum mixing of foods. Typically recommended is a
breakfast of fruit (a minimum of variety and no mixture of
citrus with the extra-sweet fruits such as bananas, dates,
and figs); a lunch of raw and cooked vegetables, with some
starchy food; and a night meal concentrating on protein,
with more vegetables but no starch. The restrictions on
food mixing are very limiting when viewed in the context of
the typical American meal.
If we try to get a "right answer" from nature, we are
forced to admit that animals typically find some specific
edible food and eat their on this item, which apparently
fill

supplies all their nutritional requirements for that time

period. At a later time or date they may fill up on a com-
pletely different food item. (Most animals, however, have a
diet of very restricted variety.) At any one feeding, primates
would most typically fill up on fruit from a particular tree.
(By regularly providing ourselves with a "balanced" mixed
diet, do we destroy a "natural capacity" of the body to syn-
thesize all essential nutrients from any simple, healthy
single food item?) We might note that thirst satisfaction
would be accomplished separately in time and place. Natu-
ral hygienists might be right in strongly criticizing the
"civilized" habit of drinking liquid with meals, but there

135
certainly is a divergence of dogmatic assertion on this point.
Does liquid taken with meals help or hinder the digestive
process? Nature does not typically place water holes next to
fruit trees. This might be a clue as to how nature designed
our digestive apparatus to function best.
There are many interesting facts of natural hygiene nutri-
tion philosophy about which we could discuss and argue.
Any such elaborate discussion cannot usefully serve our
purpose, but some illustrative items may usefully be ex-
pounded. Dr. Shelton is against both the honey and the
vinegar that is almost the whole of Dr. Jarvis's Folk
Medicine treatment of disease. Honey is alleged to be hard
to digest and unsuitable when mixed with other foods.
(However, many health food enthusiasts use honey as a sub-
stitute for refined sugar, as I do, and believe it to be
especially easy to digest.) Vinegar, even natural apple cider
vinegar, is held to be an undesirable, fermented (or rotted)
food item. It might be noted that the Zen Macrobiotic book
previously quoted is also very critical of Jarvis's Folk
Medicine honey-and-vinegar cure. Ohsawa maintains that
honey and vinegar are very Yin and are therefore suitable
for only a few very Yang persons, and then only for a short
time. (I find this interesting because I have tried vinegar
and honey (1-2 teaspoons of each) in a cup of hot water,
several times a day, to see if it would keep my urine acid all
the time, as Jarvis claimed. It would not.) I found that after
initially developing some tolerance and taste for the drink,
after a few days I soon found it completely unpalatable. I
assume my "appestat" (natural inclination for "right" food)
was at first "turning me on" to something my system
needed, and then "turning me off" when these needs were
fulfilled and possible harm to health might result from fur-
ther excessive consumption. Hopefully, this emphasizes a
need to develop a healthy "appestat" to protect us from
many dogmatic nutritional ideas to which we are exposed.
(But will our "appestats" function correctly if we eat
wrongly and persistently and do not subsequently adjust

136
them by multiple fastings?) The merit of the vinegar-and-
honey diet supplement Hes in its high potassium and low
sodium content. Thus, it may encourage PANS dominance
over SANS, Its tendency to produce acid urine would also
tend to indicate this. My "natural" revulsion toward this
drink after a few days suggests a saturation effect is
reached which restricts the usefulness of this whole philo-
sophy. However, some people seem to maintain a strong
liking for the vinegar and honey drink. For them, it is
perhaps beneficial, possibly to counteract a too-high salt
intake.
Another interesting idea that can be developed from natu-
ral hygiene nutritional dogma is built upon the assertion
that tomato, an acid fruit, should never be mixed with
starch. Where does that leave the many fine macaroni or
spaghetti and tomato sauce meals especially conspicuous in
the Italian cuisine? (We may also note that the strong spices
characteristic of these tasty Italian meals are also forbidden
items in natural hygiene diets.) Reflecting upon the idea
that our food diet affects our character, may we also reflect
upon the power and influence of the Roman Empire
2,000
years ago, when the Romans probably enjoyed a higher pro-
portion of fruits and vegetables in their diets. Is the lesser
Europe today at all related to a diet that
Italian influence in
mis-mixes tomato and starch, as a high proportion of its
diet? Whether or not there is relevance here, the question
points up a need to examine a possible influence of diet
upon an individual's life and character and even upon a
nation's Hfe and character.
So let us take a close look at the diet that the natural
hygienists would impose upon us. Just as the Zen Macro-
book classifies foods with variable intensities of Yin
biotic 's
and Yang, so natural hygienists have their charts that in-
dicate the alkaline-acid effect of foods on the digestive
system. AlkaHne-producing foods are desirable;" acid-
producing foods, undesirable. Surprisingly, the foods that
fall into these respective categories are often the opposite of

137
what would be expected. Furthermore, foods that have an
alkahne effect upon the digestive system produce acid
urine, and foods that have an acid effect upon the digestive
system result in alkaline urine. Thus citrus and most fresh
fruit and vegetables have an alkaline or "good" effect upon
the digestive system and produce acid urine. Meat, dairy
products (except yogurt, raw milk and buttermilk), sugars
and starches (except honey), eggs, most protein foods, nuts
(except almonds, raw cocoanut, and roasted chestnuts),
spices, drugs (coffee, alcohol, and so on) — all these are acid
producing or undesirable. These foods tend to produce
alkaline urine. In a vegetarian diet it is almost impossible to
avoid all these "undesirable" food items, especially grains
and legumes, for economic reasons, and nuts for nutritional
reasons. The more lenient natural hygienists allow these
nutritional but nonetheless acid-forming food products to
constitute up to 20% of the diet.
If we remember back to the effect of fasting on urine Ph,
we can recall that fasting, like a fresh fruit and vegetable
diet, produces acid urine (indicating an alkaline digestive
tract). We contend that this is also a partial indication of
PANS dominance over SANS in our autonomic nervous
system. We should remember that most observers testify
that a vegetarian diet produces less aggressive and more
tranquil individuals and life-styles. (Fasting has the same
effect but, of course, cannot be sustained for long.)
I have personally found it impossible to keep the urine

testing acid all the time, when not fasting (except for about
a week after a long fast). This can often be attributed to a
"wrong diet." A meal heavy in meat and potatoes, or too
much bread or pastry, or a meal of baked beans, is all it
takes to start a cycling urine Ph, acid at night, alkaline
during much of the day. Would we be better people, more
self-controlled people and (as Jarvis maintains in Folk
Medicine) healthier people if our food intake were such as to
keep our kidney waste products always acid? This might, in
turn, indicate a more dominant PANS over SANS.

138
 Let us emphasize that we only hope to suggest possible
statistical trends in the road toward longevity and immortali-
ty. Furthermore, the very speculative immortality aspect of
the situation is not rigidly related to the longevity element.
Evil people sometimes live long, healthy lives, and saints
can be sickly and die young. Tradition and, I believe, statis-
tical evidence suggest the opposite is the more prevalent
rule.
Even case for immortality requires an energy source
so, a
and type not now part of our present scheme of physics and
fasting often manifests such energy. These mysterious
energy manifestations include lack of the necessary amount
of weight loss during the latter part of a long fast; a greater
weight gain than food and water intake can justify, for
several days after breaking a fast; inexplicable cures of in-
curable disease while fasting (perhaps invoking some
psychic healing energy); occasional psychic manifestations
of levitation and astral projection while fasting; psychic
energy manifestions as exemplified by fasting in religious
tradition (Moses' receipt of the Ten Commandments,
Daniel's enhanced prophetic powers, and so on); modern
cases, such as Teresa Neuman, where fasting has appar-
ently been maintained for years and even decades; and ex-
amples from lower animal life {fasting spiders producing a
great mass of spider web; or female sea elephants nursing
their young, and yet losing little weight, though fasting
throughout the nursing period.) Orthodox science, by ignor-
ing these mysteries, is only mocking itself and, in addition,
quite possibly robbing mankind of the hope intrinsic in an
absolute knowledge of immortality's possibility. For such
may be the portent of this new energy so closely related to
religion's most difficult-to-believe events.
Before trying to pinpoint any possible source of immortal
psychic energy, can we find "immortal" physical energy
manifestations? We know from empirical experience that a
perpetual motion machine is impossible. (This is, however,
only an empirically determined limitation. Physical theory

139
does not tell us why a perpetual motion machine is impossible.
Therefore, we must keep our minds open.) We have an in-
teresting and perhaps relevant phenomenon called super-
conductivity, which occurs at extremely cold temperatures
in special conducting materials. In this superconducting elec-
tromagnetic situation, all energy of the electromagnetic
field isfound in the magnetic field. Thus electric flow can
dissipate no energy. It exists in a non-resistant circuit and,
therefore, a permanent or "immortal" magnetic field can be
maintained. Of course, in laboratory practice, a great deal of
energy expended in maintaining the cryogenics (very cold
is

refrigeration) system required to sustain such magnetic

fields,but the theoretical implications are there for us to
build upon. A physical condition, analogous to psychic im-
mortahty, seems available. Upon this foundation we can
seek some useful symmetries. This may lead us to a justified
acceptance of psychic immortality, dependent upon the
physical-spiritual lives we lead.
We have already noted that our lives are probably in-
fluenced by the food we eat and that our food may affect our
spiritual as well as our physical life, but let us confess that
maintenance of an acid urine for health and longevity may
be much too simplistic. In addition, the idea that an acid
urine test may statistically correlate with PANS dominance
and a tendency toward spiritual development ("saint-
liness"?) may indeed be too extravagant a claim. However,
where something as important as immortality is involved,
surely all possible clues should be considered. Ph, or
relative acidity-alkalinity relate to electric potentials, which
must surely interact with any gravito-psychic energy field
we might postulate. But we are getting ahead of ourself, so
let's catch up.
Where, within the framework of modern theoretical
physics, can we find the "hiding place" of our psychic
energy fields? We
have already noted the mechanism
whereby energy can be transferred between interacting
electric and magnetic fields. It is by thus transferring all

140
energy out of the more physical electric field into the less
tangible magnetic field that we achieve an "immortal" elec-
tromagnetic field at cryogenic temperatures (usually less
than minus 450 °F.). Within the framework of modern
theoretical physics, we have a very anomolous force with
which to deal. It is the force we call gravity. To fit neatly
into an otherwise symmetric picture that the force fields of
physics give us, gravity badly needs an interacting force
field. (Several imaginative writers on the subject of gravity
have indeed suggested an undiscovered force field, interact-
ing with gravity —
see the General Bibliography, Gamow
and also Brillouin.) Is it not convenient then that we have
this other loose end, psychic energy, and the mysterious
energy sometimes manifest in fasting to fill this void? It is
doubly convenient when we consider the age-old dispute
about the nature of the world. Is it material, or spiritual, or
dual in nature?
energy can be interchanged between the electric and
If

magnetic fields, then why not between the gravitational and

psychic fields, the interacting existence of which we have
just hypothesized. Thus, the world is physical, material and
transient under certain conditions (related, in man's life, to
SANS dominance?) and psychic, spiritual and immortal
under alternate conditions (related, in man's Hfe, to PANS
dominance?). At least this gives us a place to start in our
theorizing and a means of tying together many loose ends in
the worlds of physics, philosophy, and religion. Interesting-
ly, we might note that in fasting we are reducing our gravi-

tational mass and, in the process, tapping extra energy from

a mass-interacting psychic field.
Weshould note that of the four interacting fields we are
discussing —electric, magnetic, psychic, and gravitational
— only the last involves "mass" and therefore only the last
requires man 's limiting conception of time and space. In other
words, magnetic, and (we will assume) psychic
electric,
fields exist in the world of the "speed of light." In this
"speed of light" world, mass as such cannot exist, and time

141
and space are basically meaningless concepts. Otherwise
expressed, time is eternal and space ceases to exist within
the frame of reference called "the speed of light." This
must be God's "real," omniscient world.
Indeed, we might note some symbolism between the
religious concept of a Trinity of the Godhead (and a quarter-
nity of total spiritual forces when the "fallen force" called
the devil is included) and the four field "physical" world we
have just hypothesized. Thus we have God, the Creator or
Father, as manifest in electric forces of which our world
seems basically constructed. We have God, the Redeemer
and Son, as manifest in magnetic forces always found in
conjunction with moving, creating electric forces. We have
already noted how these magnetic forces can redeem or
"immortalize" electromagnetic energy in a superconduct-
ing environment. The psychic field is readily related to God,
the Holy Spirit, the only part of our pantheistic picture not
heretofore fitted into physic's basic structure. Our fourth
force, gravity, "fallenenergy" in the form of time and space
dependent mass, makes up the quarternity of the basic
forces of nature. Christian tradition acknowledges a quar-
ternity of spiritual forces which include the "devil" as a
lesser, fallen force. Emphasis is on the Trinity. As herein
related, we think we can find symbolic physical significance
for both the Trinity of God (or time-less, space-less) forces,
and the quarternity of total world forces. A poem in the ap-
pendix expresses this idea in verse.
We can amplify upon this theme by reference to ancient
Hindu concepts as expressed in their religious scripture, the
Upanishads. Here we have a trinity of gods: Brahma, the
creator (electric force?), Vishnu, the preserver (magnetic
force?), and Siva (or Rudra), the destroyer of ignorance
(psychic force?). Here also we have a chief "popular" god,
Indra, representing this material, "awake," "right eye"
world (gravity forces?). In alternate symbolism, we find the
concept of the all-embracing god. Brahman as symbolized
by the Gayatri, which has four feet. Three feet are in heaven

142
(timeless, spaceless electric, magnetic and psychic forces?);
the fourth foot (gravity, and time and space dependent
mass?) covers all physical things. Would the people of India
be materially and spiritually improved if they did not have
to exist on a grain diet inducing SANS dominance in their
digestive systems, and if they worshipped more the Trinity
Godhead (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva) in preference to the
more worldly, material Indra? Just another speculation.
The important point of the preceding pages is that only
the gravity force, only the world of "degenerate" mass
energy, requires the thought concepts of time and space.
Electromagnetic forces and psychic forces (we assume) are
not functions of time and space as viewed from within their
own frame of reference (i.e., from within the "speed of
light" frame of reference). Our assumption, in placing
psychic forces in the same frame of reference as elec-
tromagnetic forces, is simplistic, but further complications
we do not need at this point. On this simplistic assumption
we can still advance. With this trinity of force fields, the
concepts of omnipotence and omniscience are intrinsic.
In my attempts to fit dogmatic religious ideas into a
framework of physical forces, at least symbolically, I in no
way desire to undermine the important force of faith that
many are capable of feeling when they accept religious
dogma. However, many, like myself, have been so indoctri-
nated with science that the deductive approach to accepting
religious dogma purely on faith is less effective than the
present welfare of the world requires. For it is scientists,
deahng in concepts of nuclear energy and even more ad-
vanced potentials for destruction, who may well destroy our
world. This will come about to the extent that scientists
lack a spiritual orientation toward life and toward the world.
Perhaps we can reach some of these scientists here.
For the increasing number of science-indoctrinated
people, let us continue an examination of specifically Chris-
tian dogma, to see what clues it may contain about the new
psychic force field that almost has to exist to account for the

143
mysteries of fasting, the energy requirements of psychic
phenomena, and the justification for beUef in immortahty.
We have speculated that an interacting gravito-psychic
field represents certain aspects of evil and good. We have
also hypothesized a PANS versus SANS, good verses evil,
design within our autonomic nervous system. It would seem
appropriate to relate SANS with the mass or gravity field
(and its physical wave equations) and PANSwith our still
unexplored psychic field (and any wave equations we might
generate for it).
Let me set the reader's mind at ease. We are not going to
wax mathematical here. Instead we will continue our ex-
ploration of religious dogma in search of clues about the
PANS-SANS or God-devil influence within us. For exam-
ple, a virginal or parthenogenic reproduction in man is en-
tirely possible, but an atypical functioning of PANS is re-
quired to bring it about. To produce a male by partheno-
genic reproduction would probably require two successive
generations of such reproduction, as the first generation
should be a female. It is relevant here to note that early
Christian tradition claimed both Christ and his mother,
Mary, were the result of virginal conceptions. Thus we
might infer that Christ's whole life, from the very begin-
ning, was PANS dominant in a unique way. (So keep trying
to imitate him but know that you can not succeed. Therefore
do not despair of your shortcomings.) With an intimately in-
teracting gravito-psychic field and a God-man in complete
control of this interaction, we should be able to explain
legitimately turning water into wine, walking on water,
calming storms, withering fig trees, healing the organically
and functionally sick, and even raising the dead, without
recourse to rationalizations that belittle these so-called
miracles. We
might further expect that, by dying in great
pain (which he certainly could have avoided or subdued, for
his own best interests), Christ produced an effect on our in-
teracting PANS system and on the psychic dimension of the
world. Tradition tells us that the psychic benefit (immortali-

144
ty) is available to all who are willing to make the effort to
tap it. Surely, research, with prayer and fasting, is justified in
this area.
We should again point out that Christ fasted forty days,
until he was hungry or until SANS, or devil dominance,
tried to take over in his body metabolism. We are specifical-
ly told in Matthew 4:2 that Christ became hungry and was
tempted by the devil. This is at least symbolic of the SANS
over PANS reversal that occurs when "natural hunger"
returns after a long fast. Perhaps it should make us question
thewisdom of fasting quite this long, although many fasting
exponents recommend it. Here we have another question
for unaccomplished research to answer.
On the other hand, has some research already been done
to substantiate existence of a psychic force field interacting
at right angles with the gravitational and
field? (Electric
magnetic fields interact at right angles. To satisfy sym-
metry we would expect gravity and psychic fields to in-
teract at right angles if they form a gravito-psychic force
field.) We are aware of the levitation phenomena that af-
flicts some saints in prayer, some yogas in trance, some

mediums or objects in a seance, some T.M. meditators after

intensive exercises, but this evidence is usually shrugged
off by scientists unable to better deal with it. Let us instead,
then, just mention Parapsychological Monograph #11, of the
Parapsychology Foundation, 29 West 57th Street, N.Y.C.,
10019. This work is entitled "Mind, Matter, and Gravita-
tion," by Haakon Forwald, a Swedish electrical engineer.
This monograph outlines the empirical discovery of a mind-
controlled force field acting upon the roll of dice and acting
at right angles to the interacting acceleration field (i.e.,

gravity-like field) of the rolling dice. This is just a beginning

of much work be done.
to
Let us turn to other evidences of inadequately examined
force fields that may act upon man. Our sun is certainly the
most dominant influence acting in our lives. Its gravita-
tional energy holds our planet in place. Its electromagnetic

145
radiation fosters on earth and gives us our total energy-
life

supply. Does the sun generate any lesser energy influence

upon us? Are there any perturbations in a basic gravito-
psychic sun energy that we might detect even if the basic
psychic energy were physically undetectable? Let us start
our investigation with the sun's rotational periods. We
know that electromagnetic fields are produced by rotation
of electric currents, and we know that the sun contains
massive electric current flows and resulting fields. Thus a
rotating sun must produce some sort of cyclic disturbance to
life on earth.

The picture is complicated by the fact that the sun is a

gaseous or plasma entity. Thus various regions of the sun
slip on each other and rotate with differing periods. The
surface of the sun, near its equator, rotates with a period of
24 days. We believe that the very core of the sun rotates
much faster, perhaps within a period of less than two days
(Dicke — Princeton). Thus, we might expect that an in-
fluential volume of the sun, just below its unimportant,
nebulous, equatorial surface, would have a period of about
23 days. The more polar regions of the sun, again at the sur-
face, have a rotational period of 34 days, and again we
might infer that a more influential part of the polar rota-
tional effect would be emitted from just below the thin
almost mass-less surface and reflect a period of 33 days. We
can further conjecture that the sun's equatorial influence
upon earth's life would be "physical," reflecting the in-
fluence of a gravitational field pointing at us. The polar
regions of the sun would radiate these physical gravity
waves angles to the earth. However, a psychic com-
at right
ponent of this polar sun gravito-psychic influence would
radiate at right angles to the gravity component and
therefore radiate to earth and affect earth life "psychically"
— with a 33-day period.
Is it not interesting and relevant that we have been ex-
posed since about 1900 to the assertions of several European
scientists that they have empirically discovered in man a

146
23-day physical cycle, a 28-day emotional cycle, and a
33-day intellectual cycle? The exponents of these biorhythm
cycles claim that our physical stamina waxes and wanes
every 23 days, our emotional stability likewise cycles every
28 days and our intellectual capacities vary with a 33-day
cycle. These cyclic effects are, obviously, only slight pertur-
bations, difficult to detect. Nevertheless, their exponents
claim to have correlated accidents and sickness with "criti-
cal" days of these cycles, days when the cycles were going
from charging (or positive) to discharging (or negative) and
vice versa.
On an even more mundane level, they also claim to be
able, by biorhythm cycle theory, to explain the paradoxical
results of the several heavy-weight championship fights
between Floyd Patterson and Ingmar Johannsen, over a
decade ago. These fights showed first one, then the other
fighter to be clearly superior. I might note that in the (first)
Mohammed Ali (Cassius Clay) versus Joe Frazier heavy-
weight championship fight, Frazier, the winner, had a clear
advantage in his 23-day physical biorhythm cycle. In fact,
these two fighters' physical cycles are exactly out of phase
so that they can never have a "fair" fight, in which neither
has a physical biorhythm cycle advantage over the other.
We should also recognize the relevance of these cycles in all
sports, including animal sports such as horse or dog racing.
These cycles have at least a slight and sometimes a decid-
ing influence. (Birthdates of racing horses and dogs,
however, are not available at the race tracks!)
We can speculate that if these cycles really exist, no
American president should plan a summit meeting without
at least taking note of his biorhythm cycles for that period
of time. No serious but time-adjustable hospital operation
should be performed without at least noting the plot of that
individual's biorhythm cycles (and the performing doctor's
cycles as well). Once we link these 75-year-old empirically
discovered cycles with the theoretically postulated cycles
resulting from the sun's rotation, it becomes very difficult

147
to refute their existence. We should note that biorhythm
cycle theory is much more respected in Europe and Japan
than in America.
The literature on the subject (see General Bibliography:
Thommen and Wernli) suggests that the physical cycle af-
fects our muscles; the emotional, our autonomic nervous
system; and the intellectual, our brain. This could be impor-
tant in tracking down the nature of this mysterious sun-
originated energy influence. In addition, the physical cycle
("masculine") induces more alkaline blood. A woman is
more apt to conceive a male fetus when her physical cycle is
high. Similarly, when her 28-day emotional ("feminine") cy-
cle is high and her blood slightly more acid, she is more apt
to conceive a female fetus. Again we have a potentially
significant Ph measure and its electrical force connotations.
Our primary interest should be in the 28-day emotional
cycle and the 33-day intellectual cycle, because these cycles
affect our creative thinking capacity and almost certainly
our psychic ability as well. Probably the existence of these
cycles accounts for the mysterious variation in psychic abili-
ty of any given psychic from one week to the next. (Another
clue that has not been looked at yet. However, if one were
going to have a psychic reading, he might want to choose a
time when the psychic's 28-day emotional and 33-day in-
tellectual biorhythm cycles were both positive!)
We have apparently discovered a perturbational influence
upon our psychic capacity and an influence emanating from
the polar regions of our sun, possibly as a component of a
gravito-psychic force field. This should be a useful clue in
tracking down the "psychic" energy we are seeking to
isolate. This is not only the "psychic" energy that is respon-
sible for psychic phenomena, but also the related energy
manifestation we need to explain the mysteries of fasting.
This same psychic energy may afford us a promise of im-
mortality.
We have tried to offer logical physical causes for the em-
pirically estabhshed 23-day physical and the 33-day intellec-

148
tual biorhythm cycles. The 28-day emotional cycle may be
taken as an interacting effect of the other two cycles, or as
an influence of an intermediate region of the sun rotating
with a 28-day period, or as a moon influence. It could also be
a complex combination of effects. It remains a useful clue to
be investigated. We can better understand the physical,
emotional, and intellectual nature of man when we better
understand the causative influences of these still too
mysterious biorhythm cycles.
In our search for an "unknown energy," we must not
overlook clues within our own physiology. We have already
insisted that primary attention be given to the opposing
actions of PANS and SANS, within our autonomic nervous
system. An important part of our autonomic nervous
system is our endocrine glands, especially the pituitary,
pineal, thyroid, adrenal, and gonads. Of this list the pineal is
perhaps the least understood. It is located near the base of
the brain, is not vital to "physical" Hfe, and is apparently in-
volved in our sexual development. (It decreases in size but
becomes active at puberty.) It has an ancient tradition of
being the seat of man's immortal soul. In basic structure it
is very similar to the retina of the eye. It may therefore be

considered a vestigial third eye, or alternatively, it may be

considered a receptor organ for psychic energy waves, gen-
erated concurrently with gravity waves, but not as yet
physically detectable by man. This latter view is more con-
sistent with the ancient tradition that the pineal is the seat
of man's immortal soul.
Perhaps there is some back-handed way whereby we can
infer the existence of psychic, potentially immortalizing
energy that transmitted to us, at least in part, through our
is

pineal receptor. Since the pineal can be destroyed without

loss of the physical life of an entity, since it is involved with
our sexual maturation (and our ability to unite two "immor-
tal souls" by sexual union?), and since sexual monogamy
seems naturally inculcated in the highest evolved forms of
most animal life, perhaps a study of the effect of "un-

149
natural" sexual promiscuity, in normally monogamous
species, would be instructive. Whether or not the destruc-
tion of the pineal was a prerequisite to induce and produce
this promiscuity in say, porpoises, super-simian apes,
crows, and so on, would also be relevant information. In
Konrad Lorenz's classic book, On Aggression, some studies
have already been recorded regarding the "social mischief"
produced by geese who developed unnaturally promiscuous
life-styles because of the early accidental death of their in-
itial mates. A re-orientation of these studies, to accom-

modate our hypothesis, might be relatively easy.

Quite independent of its possible functional relationship
to the pineal, the place of sexuality in the scheme of poten-
tial immortality both religiously and biologically signifi-
is

cant. Can we gain only that form of immortality involved in

passing our genetic make-up on to our progeny or, alter-
natively, can we damage our chances of personal immortali-
ty by violations of strict and quite uniform religious taboos
against sexual promiscuity? Does man unite his immortal
soul with his mate by sexual union, and must this soul-
uniting union be "till death do us part"? Why do the higher
forms of animal life seem naturally to mate monogamously?
Is this part of a process of spiritual evolution by which the
end product, man, can achieve immortality if he respects his
monogamous instinct? Certainly many of us have emotional
needs restricting us from examining this idea too closely.
Its verification would portend too negative a prognosis for
our own individual place in the scheme of immortality. (But
remember the couplet in our poem which says:

Repentance saves immortal souls.

Guilt only keeps us from life's goals.)

We started the speculative discussion of this chapter with

the admission that the existence of absolute good and evil
might well depend upon the existence of immortality and
even upon what form this immortality takes. If reincarna-

150
tion is good and evil are
a valid concept, then the idea that
relative gains strength. Today's mistakes, even if serious,
can be corrected in a future life and simply become part of
our total evolution to "perfection." Let us then examine
reincarnation phenomena, ghost occurrences, UFO inci-
dents, and poltergeist manifestations to see if they are
related, but primarily let us examine manifestations of
SANS dominant interactions of our psychic world invading
our physical world (i.e., in dogmatic religious parlance, are
they manifestations of the devil?).
First, we should recognize that the most valid statistical
way to examine these phenomena is to examine all

phenomena in each class, not just those impressive ones

that support the theories we espouse. By examining all
alleged reincarnation cases available to us, we find that they
cover a wide range of plausibility. Indeed, they cover a con-
tinuum from "reality" to "unreality," much as we ex-
perience in our dreams. Such seems to be the mode of mani-
festation of our creative thinking faculty when intermixed
with our more clearly psychic abilities such as clairvoyance.
Some reincarnation cases seem very real and certainly con-
stitute proof of man's psychic ability. For some seemingly
very real reincarnation cases, see the General Bibliography:
Stevenson. Note, however, that the investigator. Dr. Ian
Stevenson, does not himself seem to be converted to belief
in reincarnation. However, split personality incidents and
cases of "possession," in which the recently deceased
sometimes manifest their memory patterns through the still
living, place a heavy burden of suspicion upon reincarnation
incidents as constituting proof of actual reincarnation.
Man's memory bank of life may well be stored in the
M-RNA ("memory" type of ribonucleic acid) and be readily
available through a misfunctioning of SANS or PANS in the
psychic dimension of our gravito-psychic world. (For some
very imaginative but not too "real" reincarnation testi-
monies see the General Bibliography: Hubbard.)
In like manner we note the wide range of plausability of

151
UFO incidents. They seem to fall into a psychic class with
sometimes very real ghost and poltergeist phenomena (and
perhaps Mr. Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Abominable Snow-
man sightings). These may all offer us clues to our gravito-
psychic interacting world, where a psychic "dimension"
produces seemingly very real physical manifestations, even
to the production of sounds, odors, radar echo returns, elec-
tromagnetic effects and serious emotional reactions, in ad-
dition to clear sightings. The wide variance in UFO shapes
and in UFO occupant descriptions clearly suggest man's
fantastic creative thinking powers again at work. Our
psychic "dream" world seems determined to trespass into
our physical world of gravity forces.
Perhaps, in the particular case of UFO's, we can add to
our remarks by further speculations. Poltergeist phenome-
na seem to represent misspent creative energy of an emo-
tionally disturbed adolescent. Poltergeist almost seem to
represent sick forms of procreativity. Ghost phenomena may
often represent a byproduct of strong guilt feelings of living
persons, engendered by the harsh death of the deceased
"apparition." (Starving to death, i.e., fasting too long, has
been known to produce a "ghost" manifestation of the
starved person. Do the feelings of living people involved in
this starvation provide the psychic energy necessary for
such apparitions? Modern parapsychological thinking tends
to favor such reasoning.)
Now let us note, for its possible symbolic significance, that
"entities" in the spirit world, awaiting reincarnation, testify
that they search out ideal parents to further their Karmic
development. If a "discarnate spirit" found such ideal
parents, but was foiled in its efforts at rebirth by birth con-
trol practices, could this situation produce a "ghost" before
the beginning of life? Having no actual body form, could
such manifestations be the "lights" of more primitive
UFO's? These could sometimes evolve into mechanical
shapes through man's creative thinking abilities. Since I
personally doubt the validity of actual reincarnation, I have

152
to offer the preceding as a strictly "symbolic" rationaliza-
tion, based on the storehouse of reincarnation, UFO, and
apparition data that exists in mankind's collective sub-
conscious mind. This data can be built upon by unhealthy
guilt reactions. Thus a couple, feeling guilt about their birth
control practice, might draw upon this symbolism to pro-
duce the unhealthy alternate creative manifestation, a
UFO, instead of a child.
Before behttling this far-fetched idea, let us note that
UFO's are not often seen in India, a land in serious trouble
due to lack of birth control. On the other hand, the France
of two decades ago was experiencing a very heavy density
of UFO sightings. This was the same France that had ex-
perienced over a generation of very slow population growth,
due to the practice of considerable birth control. In a
basically Roman Catholic nation, we might expect this to
generate considerable guilt feeling, with an occasional
"misfiring" in the SANS psychic "dimension." This, we
suggest, can intrude a psychic projection (of guilt) into our
physical world, and we often label that manifestation UFO.
Our connection is admittedly tenuous, but when com-
bined with religious tradition (and personal enlightment
from much fasting?). I beheve a case exists for labeling
UFO's, ghosts, poltergeists, and probably reincarnation in-
cidents as undesirable SANS (devil?) originated psychic
manifestations, trespassing into the physical part of a
gravito-psychic interaction. This certainly in no way belit-
tles the importance of all these "negative" psychic
manifestations. We should not ignore them because they
are not "physically" real. What can be more important, or
more worthy of research, than man's innermost dimen-
sions? Is there any field of research more important, yet
more ignored? The main point is that, in our efforts to
localize a psychic energy and justify a case for immortality,
we must beware of false clues. We should be especially
wary of negative psychic manifestations that may be
counter-productive to our potential immortahty. Some

153
psychic forces may be actually "soul-destroying," even
though manifesting through the world of "immortal"
psychic energy. This emphasizes the need for research.
Religious traditions abound and should be accepted as
evidence, but rehgious traditions are not too consistent in
this area.
Now us examine another aspect of things psychic.
let

Yoga excercises, originating in India, have spread around

the world.These various exercises are known to promote
psychic manifestations. Are such manifestations from
PANS or SANS over-stimulation? We should suspect that
breathing excercises emphasizing fast, short, "activating"
breaths might stimulate SANS and be undesirable, as
SANS dominance tends to encourage this kind of breathing.
Long, deep, relaxing breaths should stimulate PANS and,
hopefully, help produce useful psychic states. Similarly,
Yoga postures that stimulate the central part of the spinal
column should stimulate SANS more that PANS. Perhaps
such back bending postures should be avoided. On the other
hand, exercises that stimulate either extremity of the spinal
column are more apt to stimulate PANS. They may promote
useful psychic states. Thus, we must suspect Yoga exer-
cises of not being an undivided good. Perhaps an applica-
tion of occidental science to oriental wisdom and tradition
can help produce more uniformly good results, while reduc-
ing the very real psychic danger from misused Yoga exer-
cises.
Unfortunately, the same line of reasoning condemns
athletics, especially where over-practice and "perfection"
are sought and where competitive aggressiveness is em-
phasized. Developing a "perfection" of any physical perfor-
mance probably involves an unwise expenditure of psychic
energy, at the expense of spiritual development. The ag-
gressive, competitive element should be typically even more
damaging to our psychic or spiritual self. We should ask
ourselves, however, whether dull, repetitive (and almost
"meditative"), useful, physical work might foster PANS

154
stimulation and psychic meditation, while competitive, "ar-
tificial" exercise might arouse SANS activation, in a psychi-
cally damaging way. Let us emphasize that we are dealing
with statistical probabilities, with perhaps only slim correla-
tions. Many skilled athletes are fine people with healthy
psychic lives.Mental attitude toward any physical exercise
or work should have a dominant effect upon its influence on
us. The merit or worthwhileness of the exercise or work
should also influence PANS-SANS balance, in a world
where the psychic and the physical interact so completely.
The primary handicaps in pin-pointing the mechanisms of
interaction between our physical and our psychic world
seem to stem from two quite independent sources. The
most serious of these two is a "psychic" one and involves
the powerful negative social input created by "lost soul"
types. These people have strong emotional needs for ob-
scuring any research effort directed at better understanding
man's immortal soul. The best defense against this problem
is to point it out, and then realize the futility of trying to in-

terest this "negative" type of individual in this kind of

research. The
research must go on, in spite of opposition,
and this research should not be wastefully directed toward
the impossible task of convincing the emotionally sceptical
that this research is vital.

Another important impediment to adequate scientific

progress in the psychic and physical-psychic worlds,
however, is the lack of scientific knowledge upon which to
build. For example, only in the past decade has important
knowledge been obtained about RNA and DNA. With these
important foundation materials of life and inheritance, the
unknown still far outweighs the known. The importance of
this area of research, the importance of psychic research,
and the importance of the fasting research I am herein at-
tempting to promote, all suggest that we try to interrelate
them. This should simplify the overall mystery of the picture.
We have recently learned that low forms of life (worms)
can "learn" to respond to a given stimulus by ingesting,

155
cannibal fashion, the cells of other worms that have been
taught to respond to that stimulus. Thus, each cell of the
body seems to have some sort of memory bank. We also
know that, theoretically, by a process called cloning, any
living cell of our body could be used produce another
to
identical "us." Again, each cell of our complex body con-
tains a complete memory, or genetic bank, of every minute
detail of our particular physiology. We must suspect that
the lung tissue cells of a cigarette smoker "remembers"
each cigarette and stores an accumulative memory of
damage, until, in ten or more percent of cases, a cell reac-
tion called cancer develops. We even know, in studying
DNA and RNA, that there are at least three kinds of the
more primitive RNA, one of which we refer to as M-RNA or
memory RNA. Does each cell of our body consist of a com-
plex "computer memory" of everything we intrinsically are
(DNA — inheritance) and every influence we are exposed to
in life (M-RNA — environment)? Can we erase the "memo-
ry" traces that reflect cell damage or defect without endan-
gering those M-RNA memory traces that represent useful
learning? Can we distinguish fasting from starvation most
fundamentally by fasting's ability to correct environmental
M-RNA damage (and perhaps DNA chromosome defects),
while starvation only produces more damage? Can we really
rid our body of cell damage that might develop into cancer,
T.B., arthritis, skin problems, and so on, and can we
perhaps even correct harmful genetic mutations by some
poorly understood mechanism of PANS-SANS balance?
Such seems to be the claim, and the often demonstrated
results for fasting, as well as for psychically induced
"miraculous" cures (and even for massive vitamin dosage,
especially vitamin E).
It certainly seems that there is merit in seeking out ra-

tional scientific explanations for the mystery of fasting's

often great benefits. How does fasting, as it decreases cell
mass, affect M-RNA and perhaps DNA to effect cure of
disease? Here is a point of departure for research. For

156
research into the possibihty of immortahty, it is relevant to
note that some researchers beHeve that complex organics
like RNA and DNA may end the search for "room tempera-
ture superconductors" (see the General Bibliography: Gala-
siewicz). Such a finding necessary if we are to
may even be
succeed in scientific justification for the concept of immor-
tality. This finding could certainly help account for "super-
conducting" transfers of telepathic, clairvoyant, and
precognitive information, and for all psychic memory trans-
fer manifestations. These phenomena are "super-conduct-
ing" in the sense that they are not inhibited by space and
time displacements. They may also be non-energy dissipat-
ing.
We need to know much more about the PANS-SANS au-
tonomic nervous system balance. Can it be legitimately
labeled spiritually good and bad as I have herein tried to do?
If this area of neurophysiology contains important rele-
vances to our historic ideas of God and the devil, we surely
could benefit from its better understanding. It often seems
that SANS stimulation is good for us physically or
psychologically, at least temporarily. SANS stimulating salt
might sometimes seem nutritionally desirable. Nerve-sooth-
ing cigarettes (or alcohol or marijuana, and so on) seem to
have a partly positive effect on some. Many medicines stim-
ulate SANS, or supress PANS. The
high protein diet fad is
a SANS stimulating diet that temporarily helps some.
However, we are here-in suggesting that these all represent
a transient "devil" dominance over God, within us, to use
religious parlance. Over the long term, they are all suspect oi
being spiritually degrading and therefore physically harm-
ful.

At present, however, the picture is quite confusing. Many

PANS nerve endings operate from each extremity of the
spinal column, while SANS
nerve endings dominate the
central portion of the spinal column, but there are excep-
tions. Likewise most PANS nerves are chemically activated
by cholinergic influences while SANS is adrenergic acti-

157
vated, but there are exceptions. has been suggested that
It

the ultimate distinction may be found to be frequency of

electrical impulse (and possibly a variable interaction with a
gravito-psychic field?). (See the General Bibliography:
Burns.) This smacks of the "vibrations" of mystics but
should also remind us of the recently delineated brain wave
vibrations that vary with our level of consciousness. These
are labeled as follows: Delta waves (0-4 cycles per second)
representing unconscious deep sleep; Theta waves (4-7 cps)
representing deep sleep and deep anesthesia, where
"thought" is Alpha waves (7-14 cps) experienced
possible;
in dream sleep or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep; and
Beta waves (14-21 cps), the brain wave dominant while
-f-

we are awake and active.

We are only now discovering that by enhancing Alpha
waves while we are awake, but relaxed, we can enhance our
ESP faculty, our creative thinking ability, and our healing
powers for self and others. We also find that skilled Yogis
are generating greatly increased Alpha waves when Medi-
tating. It would seem likely that Alpha waves foster passi-
vity and PANS dominance, while Beta waves encourage ac-
tivity and SANS dominance. Activity is important in getting
things done in this physical world, but physical passivity
has more relevance to the psychic world and to the concept
of immortahty.
Perhaps it would be most appropriate to close our series
of speculations with a brief examination of this concept of
immortality. There an abundant tradition concerning
is

man's potential immortahty. This tradition deals with the

kind of life-style required, if we are to develop the level of
psychic awareness necessary to achieve this permanent
state of life. The basic requirement seems to be unselfish-
ness or social responsiveness. I wonder how many of us, in
our materially too rich American culture, can look hopefully
upon the concept of immortality, even if it can be scientifi-
cally shown to be a possibility?
Let us take note of a trivial but representative example of

158
our selfishness and poor judgment. We presently require,
by law, that $30-$50 worth of safety seat belt equipment be
put in each of the ten million new cars put on the American
highways each year. Most of this equipment goes unused by
the indifferent public. {Perhaps only the neurotic and the
"damned," i.e., those legitimately afraid of death, are suffi-
ciently motivated to use these devices.) The economic in-
vestment is largely wasted. The same monetary invest-
ment, put into bicycles, could, each year, provide about ten
million poor people of the world with a mode of transporta-
tion faster than walking. Admittedly we might also have to
sacrifice those massive and often superfluous steel guard
rails we install on our superhighways, in order to provide
the economic resources for these same poor people of the
world to improve their footpaths into bicycle trails.
If we were really interested in our safety and were not af-

flicted with a poor judgment resulting from selfishness, we

might, for a lesser economic investment than safety seat
belts represent, effect greater safety on highways by man-
dating the use of radial ply tires. They seem much safer in
terms of traction and yet they wear so much longer that
they are more economical per mile of use. Only the initial in-
vestment is greater. Thus we get safety, especially since
tires, unlike seat belts, cannot go unused, and effect eco-
nomic savings as well.
We could find an almost infinite number of laws, tradi-
tions and customs to illustrate mankind's selfishness and
resulting poor judgment and degeneracy. I have used the
preceding illustration instead of more obvious ones, such as
mental institution or penal institution improvement (again
with resultant great economic savings, after an initial big in-
vestment) because I believe it may better expose the reader
to his own poor judgment. Why has the reader not objected
to wasteful, required, safety seat belts, or insisted upon re-
quired, safer radial ply tires? Why has the reader not insist-
ed that we, as a nation, do much more to help the backward
areas of the world? Why is the typical American so con-

159
spicuously involved in heaping up very transient treasures
in this world, to the detriment of his chance of acquiring a
place in a permanent spiritual world?
Selfishness and unselfishness, SANS and PANS are all

positive feed-back in nature. We must either drive

ourselves more and more into the transient, material, devil-
influenced world of SANS or more and more into the im-
mortal, spiritual, God-ruled world of PANS. Let us search
both objectively and prayerfully for reasons why even the
pillars of society often fail to manifest a more spiritual glow
or aura. We may find that our attachment to SANS activity,
and feasting, and our detachment from PANS tranquility,
and fasting, are two of the very basic root causes of man's
imminent downfall. Is it too late to change our course of
disaster? The reader has the answer at hand this very mo-
ment. As we complete our collection of evidence about fast-
ing and its probable benefit to longevity and immortality,
the reader needs but ask himself if he feels a completely
negative (SANS?) reaction to our case. Or is there yet a
spark of interest in him for fasting, to alter his too SANS
dominant neurophysiology and put him on PANS (and
God's) road to immortality?
(If we have so far failed to arouse your interest in fasting,

beware! We will try again in our next and final chapter.)

160
 CHAPTER SIX

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

A feeling of inadequacy invades my contem-
spirit as I

plate the potential importance of the subject of fasting, and

the wholly incomplete and inadequate manner in which I am
able to deal with it. In Chapter Two I invoked many Biblical
references to fasting. I hope thus to challenge society's
present disinterest in the subject. These Biblical references
almost uniformly present fasting as a powerful weapon for
invoking our psychic powers and for increasing our affinity
to God.
In Chapter Three I went on to relate my own personal ex-
perience with fasting. This acquainted the reader with
many of the complications that can befall the faster. Hope-
fully, thischapter also indicated that the writer has some
credentials to write about this important, but socially ig-
nored fasting discipline. In Chapter Four I went on to re-
view some fasting literature, most of it not available at the
usual library or bookstore. Thus, together, we saw the
many points of disagreement among the fasting exponents
and so-called experts. This should strongly emphasize the
great need for intelligently oriented research into the fasting
discipline. Only thus can we resolve these many points of
disagreement and make fasting personally acceptable to a
majority of people.
The real need for fasting research, however, is more
meaningfully indicated by the many speculations we have
offered in our speculative chapter. We must again empha-
size that in that chapter we were trying to point out possible

161
statistical trends. These trends might be as small and as dif-

ficult to establish as those typically dealt with in statistical

parapsychology studies. The fact that fasting and a vege-
tarian diet (of fresh fruit and vegetables) produce acid urine
may have no significance or correlation with a "positive"
psychic life; on the other hand it may, and the question is
important. It is also potentially a subject for any individual's
personal research.
If, by better understanding of the underlying mechanics
of "immortality," we could increase the number of people
achieving this state from perhaps 1% (an arbitrary estimate)
of the population to 1V2%, surely this would be worthwhile;
it would affect 1,000,000 additional Americans. If the
achievement of immortality could be raised from 10%
(another, different, arbitrary estimate) to 15%, 10,000,000
additional Americans would benefit.
Similarly the idea that Parasympathetic Autonomic Ner-
vous System (PANS) dominance is good or God-oriented,
while Sympathetic Autonomic Nervous System (SANS)
dominance is undesirable or devil-oriented is a speculation,
with some supporting data. The importance of longevity to
most people and the extreme significance of the concept of
immortality suggest a strong need to follow up on any scien-
tific clues. This seems especially true in this area where

dogma has reigned too long, partly because science has re-
fused the challenge.
Can we, for example, by studying PANS dominant neuro-
physiology in man, even make Soteriology (doctrine of sal-
vation through Christ — or redeeming magnetic forces) scienti-
fic, in conjunction with parapsychological events? Could we

find interlinked electromagnetic and gravito-psychic forces

that do not require degenerate mass-energy manifestations?
Such findings, in conjunction with advances in DNA and
RNA analysis, could support the concept of immortality. As
a by-product of any such research, we must come to under-
stand better the religious concepts of evil or sin (or SANS
dominance?) as perhaps manifest in the materialistic selfish-

162
ness of our present world.
Taking cognizance of this "What's-in-it-for-me" type of
world in which we Hve, any book such as this has to offer
something for that "materialistic" world, if it is to achieve
publishing success and have an opportunity to reach the
religiously inclined, but scientifically oriented, that we pri-

marily hope to impress. I believe this condition has been

amply fulfilled as follows.
Many people in the world are existing on what we label a
starvation diet, and this situation may be getting worse.
There are dire predictions for the future by many of the ex-
perts who study the world food supply situation. Food can
be utiHzed much more efficiently by the body metabolism
that is exposed to approximately equal, alternate periods of
fasting and periods of adequate eating. This food consump-
tion procedure would also produce less lethargy, greater
mental clarity, and probably improved spiritual insights, for
the people who now must suffer from a "starvation" diet.
(The same eating regimen would even more greatly benefit
those of us who perpetually "feast" or overeat.)
A second important "material" benefit of large scale
fasting should be especially obvious from our chapter re-
viewing the fasting literature. Medical science has many dis-
eases with which it cannot cope and many others where it
must use dangerous drugs to hold off disaster. Fasting has a
long tradition of curing a statistically undetermined number
of such sick people. Perhaps mankind deserves research into
the fasting discipline to determine its true place in the heal-
ing arts. Let us state just a few examples. Will fasting
eliminate a life-long cholesterol buildup in our arteries that is
otherwise irreversible? Will fasting eliminate from our fatty
tissues the DDT that is otherwise permanently stored there?
Will fasting, like Vitamin E, heal scar tissue in damaged
hearts? Will fasting reverse the irreversible degeneration
that sometimes occurs in the vitreous humor of our eyes,
leaving us with streaks and spots in our vision? The strong
possibility that these questions have, at least some-

163
times, positive answers, demands research.
A thirdmassive social benefit from fasting can be sug-
gested. Will fasting change and improve the mental atti-
tudes of mental hospital patients and prison inmates, so that
we can "heal" many of these "wrong-thinking" people and
return them to social usefulness? The double profit (addi-
tional useful citizens and less mental and prison institution
expense) makes it vital for us to find out.
A more restricted fasting benefit can also be suggested.
Since fasting produces increased mental clarity and re-
duced need for sleep, in addition to reducing digestive sys-
tem function almost to zero, it should have application in
our space program for missions up to a month long. The
benefits on such missions of not having to provide for diges-
tive system requirements are obvious, and an additional
gain should accrue from increased disease resistance and
possible reduced susceptibility to radiation damage. For very
futuristic missions, involving possible deep freezing of the
body, fasting before deep freezing should be beneficial and
perhaps necessary. Again, research is needed.
And what about fasting's potential value in time of
nuclear disaster? In such a time many people may have to
fast. As a matter of national defense education, we should all
know that fasting is possible, and perhaps we should all
have a little personal fasting experience. Otherwise, panic
and hysteria will produce many deaths long before starva-
tion can take its toll. It is also quite possible that a fasting
person is less susceptible to the damage and sickness ef-
fects of radiation.
Now, however, us look at fasting's potential in its area
let
of most promise. The potentially most important science in
today's world is parapsychology. Yet this science is barely
recognized as such and its place in our academic world is al-

most Could this be partly because parapsychologists

nil.

themselves are ignoring too many significant clues in their

field of science and are therefore not making an adequate
case for their cause? Religious and cultural tradition clearly

164
indicates that fasting enhances the psychic faculty, but we
find nothing about fasting in parapsychology libraries and
no interest in fasting among parapsychologists.
And what about fasting in religion? Traditionally it has
always had a place here, but in today's world, fasting's
place in organized "establishment" religion has reached the
zero level. We can improve today's world only as we im-
prove ourselves. Improving ourselves should be expedited
through help from organized religion. If we restore fasting's
important place in religious discipline, can this importantly
help us to improve the world through our organized reli-
gions?
Having now made our offering to the self-interests of the
"this-worldly" reader, let us conclude our summary with
some more speculations. Over recent years, this writer has
experienced considerable confusion as he has read contra-
dictory ideas about fasting and about nutrition. We have
tried to pass some of this confusion on to the reader, along, I
hope, with some enlightenment. But what is the right diet
when not fasting? Perhaps we can exclude the present high
protein diet fad, because of its anti-teleological nature. We
know that world food resources cannot begin to provide a
high protein diet to all the people on earth. Those of us to
whom fasting has given a teleological orientation toward
the world (we could say a theistic or spiritual orientation
also) must reject a food diet that requires others to starve.
(To produce high protein food requires the expenditure of
large quantities of lower protein foods. Dairy products,
eggs, and meat require three to ten times total nutrient in-
put for the output received. The lower protein food input,
fed directly to hungry people, would keep them from starva-
tion.) Itcannot be denied that protein is needed in body me-
tabolism, but much less is probably needed than the
average American diet contains. Certainly a lot less protein
is needed than is contained in the high protein diet.

Unfortunately, the same line of reasoning must be applied

to most "health food" and "organic food" diets. World re-

165
sources cannot produce such foods for all. Would a just God
of all mankind create a world where only a small percentage
could enjoy good health? Where then do we go from here?
Hopefully, fasting again offers us the way out. Admitting
that our commercially produced foods are badly deficient in
nutrients and liberally spiced with "poisons," we can do
what is sensibly possible to minimize their damage to us and
then fast regularly to expel accumulated poisons and erase
any damage done. For mankind as a whole, then, fasting
might offer the only sound material salvation. ("Regular"
fasting could involve one day per week, plus one week per
season, plus one longer, yearly fast of 20-40 days. The
reader, inexperienced in fasting, may view this as severe,
but it may actually be too lenient for maximum longevity.
The fasting rats reported on earlier fasted every third day
for maximum longevity, and rats have no "immortal souls"
to be helped by fasting.)
The glutton, however, allowed by his fate-awarded super-
ior place in the world picture to continue his feasting at the
expense of the starving, should be reminded of a universal
religious truth. It is who does the wrong, not the one
the one
who is victim of the wrong, who suffers damage to his im-
mortal soul. This is the all-important message we should get
from our religious traditions. (The message is emphasized
by a poem in the Appendix.) The same message should
come from any scientific research into the mysteries of
psychic energy. It is a message which modem systems of
justice completely fail to recognize. We never feel sym-
pathy for the wrong-doer, who has damaged or destroyed
his all-important immortal soul. We never recognize that
the people wronged, especially if they were wronged while
standing up for right, improve their place in the psychic or
spiritual world. I do not here propose to expound the cause
of a more rational and a more merciful judicial system,
worthy as that cause is. But I must point out that the glutton
by his feasting causes others to starve and thus invokes a
judgment from an irrevocable spiritual law of cause and effect.

166
This law is closely related to man's conception of God. This
law dictates that the selfishness of the materialistically or-
iented must be rewarded by an all too mortal life and an all
too soon extinction.
Is this what we seek with all our feasting? Could a little
fasting guide us to a better way? Can fasting increase lon-
gevity and help produce the kind of spiritual life that leads
to immortality? Religious tradition says yes. Many ex-
perienced fasters in today's world add their testimony. But
the scientific research remains to be done. Perhaps you can
help.
"Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righ-
teousness, and all these other things [material needs] will be
given you as well," Jesus Christ, Matthew 6:33.

167
 SOME FASTING CLINICS
Dr. J.M. Brosious, D.C. 18207-C9 Gulf Blvd., Redington Shores, St.
Petersburg, Fla. 33708.

Mrs. R.J. Cheatham, Shangri La Health Resort, Bonita Springs, Fla.

33923
Prof. James A. Dooling, III, New England Conservatory of Health,
Hesperus Circle, Magnolia, Mass. 01930
Dr. Wm. L. Esser's Hygienic Rest Ranch, P.O. Box 161, Lake Worth,
Fla. 33460
Dr. Robert Gross, Ph.D., PauHng Health Manor, Box 401, Hyde Park,
N.Y. 12538.
Bernard Jensen's Hidden Valley Health Ranch, Route 4, Box 822, Escon-
dido. Calif. 92025

Dr. Scott's Natural Health Institute, office at 17023 Lorain Ave., Cleve-
land, Ohio 44111, fasting at 19160 Albin Rd., Strongfield (Cleveland),
Ohio 44136.
Dr. Shelton's Health Ranch, P.O. Box 1277, San Antonio, Texas 78206,
Dr. Virginia V. Vetrano, Associate Director.

David and Marlene Stry, Villa Vegetariana Health Resort, Box 1228,
Cuernavaca, Mexico, (location: Km 70 Carretera Federal, tele:
2-16-00)

Ann Wigmore D.D., N.D., National Medical-Physical Research Founda-

tion Inc. (also Hippocrates Health Institute), 25 Exeter St., Boston,
Mass. 02116
Dr. Wilborn's Health Manor, Mokelumne Hills, Calif. 95245.

ALSO:

Keki R. Sidhwa, N.D., D.O., "Halimar," First Ave., Frinton-on-Sea,

Essex Eo. 13-9E7, England.
Alec Burton, D.O., Ph.D., D.Orthp., "Kawana," Cobah Road, Arcadia
N.S.W. 2159, Australia.

168
A. Mosseri, Hotel de Cure, Rigny a Nonneuse, 10290 Marcilly le Hayer
(Aube), France.

Jay Dinshah, Suncrest, American Vegan Society, Malaga, N.J. 08328.

Buchinger-Klinik am Bodencee, 777 Uberlingen, Lake Constance, West
Germany.
Clinica Buchinger, Marbella, SA, Marbella (Malaga), Spain.

Dr. Albert Cormellot Clinic, Paraguay 3358, (Lauta ro 93) Buenos Aires,
Argentina.

Privat-Klinik Bircher-Benner, Keltenutr 48-CH8044, Zurich,

Switzerland.

Dr. Lytton-Bemard, Rio Caliente Spa, APDO 1187, Guadalajara, Jalisco,

Mexico.

169
 FASTING BIBLIOGRAPHY
Agnew, Irene, "Soviets Approve Hunger Cure," Science Digest, August,
1972, page 78.

Airola, Paavo O., Health Secrets from Europe. Parker Publishing Co.,
West Nyack, N.Y., 1970, 1972; also, same author. Hoic to Keep Slim,
Healthy, and Young with Juice Fasting, Health Plus Publisher, P.O.
Box 22001, Phoenix, Ariz. 85028.
Allen,Hannah, Fasting: Fastest Way to Superb Health and Rejuvenation,
Healthways Publ., Sheltrano Hygienan Paradise, Pearsall, TX, no
date (but mid-1970's).

Arbesman, R., "Fasting and Prophecy in Pagan and Christian Anti-

quity," Traditio Vol. 7, (1949-61)

Arndt, Rev. Herman, Wh\ did Jesus Fast?, Health Research, Mokelumne
Hills, CaHf., 1962.

Beall,James Lee, The Adventure of Fasting, Fleming H. Revell Co., Old

Tappan, N.J., 1974.
Benedict, Francis Gano, Study of Prolonged Fasting, Carnegie Institute of
Washington, D.C., 1915.
Benedict, F.G. and Ritzman, E.G.. The Metabolism of the Fasting Steer,
Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1927.
Bliss, E.L., M.D., and Branch. C.H.H., M.D.. Anorexia Nervosa. Paul B.
Hoeber (Harper's Medical), 1960.
Brandt, Johanna, The Grape Cure, The Provoker Press, St. Catherines,
Ontario, Canada.

Bragg, Paul C, The Miracle of Fasting. Health Science, P.O. Box 310,
Burbank, Calif. 91503, 1970.
Brown. Harold K.. The Fast Wa\ to Health and Vigor. Thorson's Publ.,
Ltd., London. 1960. 1961. 3rd ed.

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don. 1961. 1966.

Carlson, Anton J., and Hoelzel, Frederick, "Apparent Prolongation of

170
 Life Span of Rats by Intermittent Fasting,'' Journal of Nutrition. Vol.
31, 1946, pp. 363-375.

Carrel, Alexis, Man the Unknown, Harper Bros., N.Y.C. 1935, 1939.
Carrington, Hereward, Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition, Rebman Co.,
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Carrington, Hereward, Ph.D., Fasting for Health and Long Life, Health
Research, Mokelumne Hills, Calif., 1953.
Carty, Rev. Charles M., Who Is Teresa Neuman?, Tan
Books and Publ., Rockford, 111., 1974.

Clark, Blake, "A Swift Sure Way to Take Off Weight," Reader's Digest,
November 1962, pp. 115-18.

Cott, Allan, M.D., with Jerome Agel and Eugene Boe, Fasting, the Ul-
timate Diet, Bantam Books, NYC, 1975.
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Calif. 1963 (also 1949).

Dewey, Edward Hooker, M.D., The No Breakfast Plan and the Fasting
Cure, Health Research, Mokelumne Hills, Calif. 1962 reprint (origi-
nally about 1900).

Ehret, Prof. Arnold, Rational Fasting, Ehret Literature Publ. Co., Beau-
mont, Calif. 1938, later edition by Benedict Lust Publications, New
York City, 1971 (original publication in 1914, Germany).
Fasting Story #i, compiled by Health Research, Mokelumne Hills, Calif.
1953, 1962.

Fasting Story #2, compiled by Health Research, Mokelumne Hills, Calif.

1956.

Gandhi, Mohandas K., Story of My Experiments with Truth, Beacon

Press, Boston, 1957.

Gandhi, M.K., Fasting in Satyagraha (Its use and abuse), Navajevan Publ.
House, Ahmidabad, 1965.
Ghost, Sandra, "The Power that Comes by Fasting," Guideposts, Feb.
1972, pp. 21-25.

Hall, Rev. Franklin, The Fasting Prayer, Box 11157, Phoenix, Ariz.,
85017, 1947, 54, 67.
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Ariz. 85017, no date.

Hanoki, Dr. N.S., Scientific Fasting and Natural Living, privately pub-
lished at Miami Beach, 1953.

Hazzard, Linda Burfield, D.O., Scientific Fasting, Health Research,

Mokelumne Hills, Calif., 1963 {reprint of 5th edition).
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171
 Putnam, New York City, 1971.

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173
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177
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Almost forty years ago Alexis Carrel said, in his book,
Man, the Unknown, that an advanced social system requires
and should sponsor a large contingent of full-time scholars.
Charles W. recognized the merit of this idea
Johnson, Jr.
and, for lack of social sponsorship, decided at age 35 to
retire from paying employment and sponsor himself to
research into some unorthodox fields of endeavor that
science seemed to be ignoring. He
brought to this work
seven years of college credits, a B. A. degree as a physics
major, eight years of experience as a scientist-engineer, and
an I.Q. that allows him membership in Mensa. (Mensa is an
international organization that requires, for admittance,
that its members score in the top two percent of the popula-
tion on an I.Q. test.)
He has spent more than a decade at his unorthodox
research, and has even published a book, Several Drops in
the Future, by Joyst
Jonsun (pseudonym). Pageant Press,
J.
New York City, 1967. This book is a popularized progress
report of the first two years of his personally sponsored
research.
While some of this research effort has been expended on
underground homes, responsible stock market invest-
ment, and "survival gardening," much of his effort has
been spent on parapsychology and its many related but in-
adequately explored areas, such as autonomic nervous
system functioning, religious dogma, gravity research,
biorhythm cycles, sex, love, UFO-logy, and fasting. This

178
 CHARLIE JOHNSON
Experimenting
Fasting
Scientist

CHARLES W. JOHNSON, JR.

Practical
Eating
Engineer

area of research is summarized in his article, "The Unex-

plored Area of Parapsychology," published in the Spring,
1972, issue of Spiritual Frontiers. (Vol. 4, #2, pp. 95-105).
This article is reprinted in: Frontiers of Consciousness, John
White, ed., Julian Press, NYC, 1974, pp 169-180. Two addi-
tional articles have been published in Spiritual Frontiers, the
journal of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, Evanston, 111.:
"Christianity for the Skeptic," Vol. 4, #1, Winter, 1972, pp.
36-41 and "The Mysteries of Fasting," Vol. 5, #1, Winter,
1973, pp. 44-51.
Mr. Johnson is reluctantly single, but recognizes that his
non-paying research efforts may require this lonely marital
status. Although he has subsidy published the above in-
dicated "scientist's progress report" book, early in his
private research efforts and has also published the more re-
cent articles indicated above, he has, for the most part, been
"hiding his light under a bushel."

179
 BEFORE 46-DAY FAST OF
JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1973
WEIGHT: 150 POUNDS
42ndDAY OF 46-DAY FAST
WEIGHT: 110 POUNDS
AT END OF 49-DAY FAST (MAY 14, 1973)
WEIGHT: 102 POUNDS
 NORMAL (145 pounds)

FASTING (108 pounds)

EDEMA (130 pounds)

 FASTING, LONGEVITY,
AND IMMORTALITY

APPENDIX
Fasting- Inspired Poetry

CHARLIE JOHNSON
DICKINSON ROAD
HADDAM, CONNECTICUT 06438
 The Lord's Prayer

Divine Creator and Protector,

Hope and source of our Salvation,
Act as evil sin 's deflector.
Bring us into your relation.
Provide us with our daily needs,
Forgive the wrongs that we have done,
Help us forgive those "dirty" deeds
We've known, since our life was begun.

Free us from sin and (its) temptation

Protect us in our daily trials.
Help mankind and each good nation,
And lead us to more pure life-styles.

Yours is all we hope and strive for.

All that's good does come from thee.
Your willwhat we are alive for,
is

From wrong and sin pray set us free.

can be sung to the tune of "Finlandia"

Credo

If you follow the Good

And do all that is right,
If you live as you should
And keep God as your light.

You know what is true.

shall
This will make you so free
You will gain a true view
Of life that is to be.

186
 Privacy

Privacy what we ask for

is

After we have sinned, you know.

We think it will help us mask more
Of our dirt, so it won 't show.

But, from God, our deeds aren 't hidden,

And he shows them to all others.
If of our sins we would be ridden.
We must make all men our brothers.
*

By being truthful of our sins,

We clear our spirit world of turmoil.
The policy that always wins
Is openness, the devil's foil.

So quit your privacy and guilt.

They but destroy your world and you.
They tear down all that you have built.
You 're healed and free by being true.

or:

We confess the sin that smothers.

187
 Scared of Death?

Are you scared of death and dying

And extinction that seems implied?
Forgive I am prying,
me if
But perhaps you have too much pride.

A pride that is really conceit

Can destroy your immortal soul.
Our world's history is replete
With those who have paid this high toll.

Other traits lead to this ending:

Lust, envy, doubt, turmoil, despair;
These all lead to life that's lending
To that which we should most beware.

Once we're healed of wrong emotions.

We are free from fear of dying.
When we acquire sound devotions.
Life becomes just eager trying.

This is the road to Salvation,

And death need be feared no more.
This is the road to elation,
Joy and tranquility are in store.

If you're scared of final judgment,

You 've some changes to make in your life.
Your fear is a message, God sent.
Change, to peace, from your way of strife.

188
 Taxes

"Taxes are too high, " we all say.

Yet we all want mueh more, for less.

Isn't this how we all betray

Our inability to guess
That taxes are really too low?
This therefore makes our world run wrong.
Our selfishness makes us too slow
To see, in truth, where we belong.
We need better roads and schools.
And adventures into the mind,
We need intellectual tools.
Our spiritual world to find.

We need charity, here and abroad.

And help for the poor and the sick.
We must also cut down on fraud.
But that's poor excuse for the trick

Of saying, "Taxes are too high,"

So we can selfishly buy trifles.
While people in poverty sigh,
In an atmosphere that stifles.
We shall surely all burn in hell
As our selfishness causes pain.
As our too low taxes dispel
The chance of right causes to gain.
Do we really need that new car.
Big house, snowmobile, or new suit,
If it's going to cost a war,
Andof many evils be the root?
If the world can 't afford it for all,
Are we all that special to God?
Can we ignore a "higher taxes" call.
While trouble the world does defraud?

189
 A Chanting Prayer

Help mc, God, to heal my soul.

Help me, God, and make me whole.
Help me, God, to help (my) neighbors.
Help me, God, in (all) my labors.

Guide me to the path of right.

Guide me to the way of light.

Guide me so that I will pray.

Guide me each and every day,

Mold me. Lord, to your design.

Mold me. Lord, to yours, not mine.
Mold me, Lord, and make me pure.
Mold me. Lord, and make me sure.

Keep me in your loving care.

Keep me free from hell's despair.
Keep me from all harm and woe
Keep me from all deadly foe.

Tell me how to live my life.

Tell me how to keep from strife.
Tell me when to go and where.
Tell me, and I will be there.

See me through my daily toil.

See me always to you loyal.

See me through in all I do.

See me being true to you.

Hear me when I need your aid.

Hear me ivhen I seem dismayed.
Hear me when I call your name.
Hear me! I will do the same.

190
 Touch me with your power divine.
Touch me so my sun will shine.
Touch me, God, that I may grow.
Touch me, God, and I will know.

Heal me from all sickness. Lord.

Heal me by your mighty Word.
Heal me so that I may live.
Heal and teach me how to give.

can be sung to the tune of "Hallelujah"

The Joy of Home

Oh, the world is a great place to wander,

And I love o'er its landscapes to roam,
But when by my fireside I ponder,
I know there's just no place like home.

When 'er the great seas I go sailing,

The thrill of adventure I yearn,
But joy could not be more availing
Than when, to my home, I return.

So come sit by my fireside and listen.

I will tell you the secret of joy.
Beware of the things that may glisten.
But are only a useless alloy.

True joy is the family and home.

Don 't forsake them for things far away.
For no matter how far you may roam,
Joy stays at your home every day.

(Can be sung to the tune of "Red River Valley")

191
 The Trinity of God
Let Hs suppose that God is pantheistic,
Embracing all there is to be or know;
And even thoughseems not altruistic,
it

Let symbols help our intellect to grow.

Can we surmise a three-fold God, in One.
A force that's free from time and space-like bounds,
Relate this force to physics now well done.
Explain this force on these familiar grounds?

We know our world is electromagnetic,

With gravity thrown in to more confuse.
We won Y fail to note, or here forget it,

We claim a psychic force there's yet to choose.

Gravito-psychic we call these latter.

They finish out the fields we hope to use.
It shows us the spirit, and the matter
One, or the other, we must always lose.

our King,
Electric, creating Father,
Magnetic, redeeming Son, and our Lord,
Psychic Holy Spirit, now new, we bring.
And the three together make up the Word.
Gravity's left, with the mass it entails,
A prisoner of time and space, quite unreal,
A fallen force, like the devil, it trails
Behind the Trinity, but trying to steal.

Symbolically done, the Trinity's true,

It reflects the true world that exists;
The world of the spirit, where mass can 7 go,
(And that's) no matter how hard it persists.
I hope this has helped explain Trinity,
The E-M and psi fields together.
And warned you beware of mass-gravity,
For spiritual man it 's a (devil 's) tether.

192
 Pity the Criminal and Sinner

Pity the wronger, not the wronged

Should be our admonition.
His is the trouble, double-pronged
Unless he feels contrition.
Sorrow comes into his daily life
By a law of cause and effect.
Wrong judgments he makes by rule of rife
And God his way will reject.

Prefer to be owed than to owe,

To be wronged than to do wrong.
Expect that nature will bestow
Good where it does belong.
Know that misfortune ever follows
Him who crime or sin commits.
Pity him as his life hollows.
A sick aura he emits.

The murdered goes to his reward.

The killer earns but censure.
If robbed, your loss you can afford.
The stealer has indenture.
The lied to might indeed befooled.
The liar is quite buried
In laws that can 't be over-ruled.
His fall cannot be queried.

Pity the criminal and sinner.

They lose the most by far.
They can never be a winner.
Their deeds create a deadly scar. *
In the spiritual world of most import
They hold no place at all.
They have no cause, and no retort
To break their deadly fall.

*or:

For with themselves they are at war.

193
 None of My Business?

Is it none of my businesswhen you have to smoke,

And it gets into my lungs and my eyes?
Should I really just think it a big joke
When my premium for you buys
insurance
Health treatment, so you won Y properly croak?
No, this all justice and logic defies.

Is it none of my business when you cheat on taxes,

And my taxes go up in proportion.
To take up the slack as yours relaxes.
And I'm victim of this sad distortion?
Don Y you see how your wanes and my waxes
Only leads to my income's abortion?

Is it none of my business if you practice free love,

And my wife or my daughter are sharing?
Must I ignore this kind of lovey-dove
If there's only a risk of such pairing,
Can Y you imagine a power above
Who, like myself, would also be caring?

Is it none of my business when you use drugs

And can't hold up your place in my world,
And finally God, in frustration, shrugs
And the end of the world is unfurled?
Surely this thought at your heartstring tugs
As we all into hell may be hurled.

Is it none of my business if you favor abortion

And damage the soul of my nation?
Must I view complacently this contortion
Of everyone's place in salvation,
While you, with values out of proportion
Lead us all to the devil's cremation?

194
Is it none of my business if you deny God
And are thus subject moral decay?
to

When I see the risk that you may defraud

And know you can't even help me to pray,

Though the world's in need and Satan will laud,

Is there nothing at all I can say?

Bicycling

One speed, three speed, five speed, ten speed,

Peddling down the street,

Seeking to find where it will lead

Or seeking friends to meet.
Seeking exercise and vigor,
Seeking sights and sounds and smells.
Embracing all that outdoor rigor
And the joy that it impels.

If your journey seems all coasting.

You are happy in your life.
You are free of need for boasting.
You know how to handle strife.
If your journey seems all uphill,
A
pessimist are you.
Keep peddling and exploring until
You can see a better view.

What goes up can coast back down

Is bicycling's clear rule.
So while you're pumping, do not frown;
Your bicycle's a jewel.
It gives you exercise and health
And lessons for sound living.
With it you have no need of wealth;
You 've found the joy of giving.

195
 An Underground Home
I want to live in an underground home,
where noise and the world are erased,
where even though limited to where I roam,
My home will seem amply spaced.

Because I'll be free from harsh sight and sound,

From foul air and the heat and cold,

I'll be free from smells that often abound

In the home of typical mold.

I'll be free from the glare of poor lighting

And free from the noise of the road,
Free from the sounds of snarling and fighting
of neighborhood's typical mode.

I'll be snug in winter, cool in summer,

And the cost will be so much less.
It seems to me a person s much dumber
To live above ground, in this mess.

With engineered lighting and filtered air,

I'll be healthy, happy and hale.

And if our world heads, in fits of despair,

Should at futile peace efforts fail,

I might survive in my underground home.

Me, and all others like quartered.
While most of mankind has nowhere to roam,
As the world becomes unmortared.

So why is it, tell me, if you but can

That we don 7 build underground homes?
Do you suppose it's because species, man.
Is irrelevant, like our poems?

196
 Put Your Trust in the Faith

Every time I look

Into the Holy Book
I feel inspired,
For it gives to me
A message to be
Most desired.
But the good and the bad
Are so mixed it is sad,
And temptations therefore begin,
And it gives me pain
When I remain
In sin, in sin.

Chorus:
Put your trust in the faith of the Christ
who walked on water.
Put your trust in the faith of the God
who tamed the sea.
Be at peace with yourself and you will find
the world at peace with you.
When you trust in God, the best shines through in you.
Through in you.

Oh, I learned to pray

On a great young day
Of my living.
And I'm grateful for
My earthly store
Of others giving.
And I hope that I
Can in kind reply
To good they 've done to me.
the
I'm sure going to try.
That should get me by.
You will see, you will see.
Can be sung to the tune of: Put Your Hand in the Hand

197
 Heaven

Heaven our goal in life,

is

A reward for how we live.

It is the opposite of strife.
It depends on how we give.
Heaven is like peace on earth,
Or like joy within our heart.
It is a measure of our worth.
It sets the good and had apart.

Chorus:
And when I take it as my only goal,
I feel its mighty power in my soul.
It is the only thing that we should need,
The Heaven of the truly fre-e-d.

Heaven is the way of love,

Making all the world sublime
Kingdom of our God above
Free from our worldly grime,
all
Heaven holds our faith and hope.
Sends it down to us below.
It is the goal for which we grope,

For it sets our hearts aglow.

Alternate words for tune of Heaven Is My Woman's Love, recorded by Tommy

Overstreet —a "top ten" country and western song in December, 1972.

198
 Conspicuous Consumption

Down with conspicuous consumption

It will destroy us all

If we don 't develop the gumption

To bring about its fall.

Do we need fireplaces just for looks,

And diamonds for display,
Expensive paintings and showy books
Our dumbness to betray?

Do we really need many trifles,

Oversized houses and cars,

Almost never used hunting rifles.

Smelly, smoking cigars?

Or safety seat belts that we won 't use?

(We know we 're not deserving).
Extravagant habits we won't lose
Because we are unswerving.

So let us swerve and save our poor souls

And change our prideful ways.
What we must do is change our life goals
So we can earn some praise.

Conspicuous consumption is wrong.

Let's get it out of sight.
Let's put our values where they belong,
Or try with all our might.

199
 Breast Feed to Four: It Might Stop War
There are "backward" societies
That nurse their young to age of four.
They seem free from anxieties
And know quite well their ancient lore.

They know nothing of birth control

But siblings come five years apart.
Doesn 't it really seem quite droll?
These folks on us have quite a big start.

Science could us if it tried

tell

That ample nipple stimulation

Stops a mother's cycle in stride.
*
All for her young ones relation.

Siblings close spaced fight and compete,

But those well spaced cooperate.
Teleology demands we treat
This matter with importance great.

Mother and child both learn to love

By symbiotic relation
A plan fostered by God above
To limit the population.

This develops love in the young,

With teeth so sharp, they must not bite.
Mother's feelings they must not wrong.
"Respect others, " they learn, is right.

Only thus can real love evolve,

Promote psychic health through life.
Without it our world will dissolve.
Look around you and see the strife.

200
To save our world, and set it right,
We should breast feed our young till four.
They thus learn love, and so don't fight.
And that is the end of all war!

•or:

long, long after her gestation.

Born to Win
Born to win, Fve lived my life in Joy.

I'm a worker in my God's employ.

All my life Fve always been so glad.
Born to win, I praise all that Fve had.

Born to win, oh, what a joy to live.

Bom to win, oh what a gift to give.

Fm so thrilled to see a rising sun.
And to work on things that should be done.

Born to win, it seems so good to cheer

For a world that can be freed from fear.
All we need are thoughts that have been freed
From the awful grip of gruesome greed.

Born to win, you too can learn of Joy,

Just by working in your God's employ.
All your you too should feel so glad.
life

Praise the Lord for all that you have had.

Born to win, the future too is bright.

When we're walking with the God of Light.
Born to win the gift Eternity.
Born to win, we are forever free.

(Can be sung to the tune of "Born To Lose.")

201
 Discrimination

We need more discrimination

If we are to survive.
An attitude of hibernation
Will not keep us alive.

We must give much more foreign aid

To make this world more sound.
Our selfishness has us betrayed
And God on us has frowned.

We know we get what we deserve,

Even expensive wars.
Why throw our leaders a wrong curve
And blame them for our sores?

We need more balanced education

The whole wide world across
It can surely mean salvation,
Save us from being lost.

Only understanding can heal

And take our hate away.
Only thus can we come to feel
Evaporated dismay.

We need harder work from us all

A nd fair reward for each,
Or else society will stall.
This lesson we must preach.

Let's place rightness over friendship

And justice thus promote.
This way we don't require a whip.
We all a fair load tote.

202
Discrimination is way
the
To discern right from wrong.
Discrimination saves the day,
Tells us where we belong.

A Beard

A Beard should be grown by a boy, when he can.

When the Beard is full-grown, it will show he 's a man.
The Beard is a part of the Almighty's plan,
So grow a Beard if you think that you can.

// will always be with you to pillow your sleep.

It will be there to hide in whenever you weep.
It will shelter your face through the thick and the deep.
And show the world that your style's not asleep.

A Beard you from cold and from heat.

will protect
It keeps out the rain and the snow and the sleet.

Good folk your bearded image will greet.

But from the "old-fashioned" you may take some "heat."

A Beard is the style set by Lincoln and Christ.

It will last through the ages and can 't be out-priced.
If to evil you can't be enticed,
living
A Beard may give you the Image of Christ.

(Can be sung to the tune of "Golden Wildwood Flower.")

203
 Survival and Salvation

Throughout our whole wide nation

And through all the lands afar,
All seek their God's Salvation,
All hope to prevent war.
We all want Joy and Glory,
We all need Love and Peace.
We like to hear the story
That life will never cease.

Why can we get together

't

And make our dreams come true?

We all would like 'fair weather,"
We all want skies of blue.
We'd better learn to listen
To the voice of God within,
And of our own volition
Give up our life of sin.

We've got to love that "neighbor"

That's half a world away
We also have to labor
For those who 've gone astray.

We're on a "boat" together

We've got to make it sound.
We'd better put a tether
On the wrong things that abound.

Survival is our motive,

Salvation better yet.
We willbecome devotive
to that which can beget

The goal of Peace and Glory,

The prize of Joy and Love,
Escape from purgatory,
And Home up high above.
(Can be sung to the tune of "Wabash Cannon Ball")

204
 Faith, Hope and Love

Faith is a power
That God will bestow,
A great rising tower
To set our souls aglow.

Faith is the victory

That overcomes this world,
Devil contradictory.
But God's power unfurled.

Faith is the evidence

Of things yet unseen.
Proof of a providence,
Assurance of esteem.

Hope is our solution

To life's bitter woes,
Salve for sin 's pollution.
Exit out of throes.

Hope is a beacon
To guide us in the dark,
A feeling we speak on
To give our life a spark.

Hope is a white light

To destroy all our fears.
It makes a night bright;
It drives away our tears.

Love isan absolute,

A power we must obey.
Not just a drab salute
To feelings that won 't stay.

205
Love is forever,
The best that is in man.
"Love endeth never,
Best of God's great plan.

Love is the measure

Of life 's greatest worth.
The ultimate treasure
Leading to rebirth.

The Trinity God

Praise God, the Father, the creating power;
Praise God, the Son, a redeeming force.
Praise the Holy Spirit, its gifts to shower.
Praise the Trinity God, our omnipotent source.

Praise humility and tranquility.

Let us repent and overcome our guilt.
From Almighty God comes our ability
Let us use it to the very hilt.

Praise the creative power of our Father, God.

Praise the redeeming force of God, the Son.
Praise the Holy Spirit, a disciplining rod.
Praise the Trinity God, the Three in One.

Praise faith and hope and love and joy.

Stop doubt and despair, anger and hate.
Wrong feelings we try to destroy.
As for God Kingdom we await.
's

(Can be sung to the tune of "Wolverton Mountain.")

206
 Your Faithful Heart

Your faithful heart

Will make you glad.
Great joy will start,

You can 't be sad.

And joy will stay
Your whole life through
When you display
A heart that's true.

No tears can fall

When you are right.
You 're walking tall

In people's sight.
So keep the faith
You can 't go wrongs-
Retain the place
Where you belong.

Your faithful heart

Will warm your soul
And make you part
Of a great goal:
A life of worth,
A life of peace,
A new rebirth,
A great increase.

Your star will rise

When you go straight.
And blue, blue skies
For you await.
Resist the wrong
Of faithless love
And then your song
Will reach above.
(Can be sung to the tune of "Your Cheating Heart")

207
 Take These Sins —
Take these sins from my mind.
Then I can find
The clear thought
That is brought
By being kind,
For the mind is often blind,
As our fears just won't unwind.
Take these sins from my mind
A nd make me kind.
Take these sins from my heart.
Just them part.
let

Take them away,

Far away
And make me smart.
Help me change to sweet the tart
And to others then impart
The great joy of a healed heart.
The Bible chart.

Take these sins from my soul.

Remove the toll.

Let me believe,
Then achieve
Your highest goal,
So that I can then erase
All the sins that I must face.
Take these sins from my soul
And make me whole.

(Can be sung to the tune of: "Take These Chains From My Heart")

208
 Fm Dreaming of a Christ Christmas

I'm dreaming of a Christ Christ ynas

Like one I have not ever known,
Where churches thunder
With sounds of wonder
As honor to our God is shown.
I'm dreaming of a Christ Christmas
One that will fill the world with peace.
Where prayer and song
Together belong
So Christmas spirit will increase.

I'm dreaming of a Christ Christmas

One that will fill my home with grace
But let us ponder
The world up yonder
Where Christ we wish some day to face.

I'm dreaming of a Christ Christmas

With every fiber of my soul,
Where love expands
To all demands
Toward salvation, our one goal.

I'm dreaming of a Christ Christmas

One that will praise God's only Son
With glory greater
Both now and later
When Heaven on earth has been won.
I'm dreaming of a Christ Christmas
Oh, that the world would share my dream
Of peace and good cheer
Through all the new year
And joy on earth would be our theme.

(Can be suiig to the tune of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas")

209
 Better and Better and Better

''How going?" oh, you may inquire.

is it

"Better and better, " I then will inspire.

You may act confused and think I'm a liar.
Could it be only a wishful desire?
Better and Better and Better.

But let us suppose that itwasn 't so.

just
I'd say that it was, because I do know
That by a process that sometimes is slow
It surely would help my great world to grow
Better and Better and Better.

But surely you know it is, oh, so true.

Expect, and then much better view.
get, a
It's a better world for me and for you,
A much better world, clear through, through, and through.
Better and Better and Better.

Better and better leads right to the best,

The goal of even the greatest oppressed.
Try it and give it a big, happy test.
It surely will put your soul right at rest,

Better and Better and Better.

Shout, shout it right out, so clear, firm and strong.

Can you just see that it cannot be wrong.
't

Now put it into a bright, joyful song.

Let everyone know that you too belong.
Better and Better and Better.

(Can be sung to tune of "Rocking Alone in an Old Rocking Chair,") Chorus: La La

La Ti Ti Ti Do Do.

210
 Don Y Eat Meat
Do not eat meat, though you may crave
This food for your desire;
It will deplete, it will deprave,
For health, you should inquire.
It harms your mind, it harms your soul,
It harms your body, too.
You 'II surely find its awful toll.
Just search your conscience through.

Hard to digest, meat weakens you.

Digestion strains for days.
your speaking, too.
It will infest
In warfare-making ways.
So stop the killing and the pain
That hurt you every day.
Be ever willing to attain
The vegetarian way.

Do not harm life when there 's no need,

Your health on fruit can thrive.
Give up the strife and plant the seed
That keeps us all alive.
This seed is love, the thrill of life,

Respect life all you can.

And God above will stifle strife,
Reward us man for man.

Can you eat meat and still love peace,

When killing is a style
That will repeat and so increase.
The whole world to defile.
Stop bloodshed now, and willing say,
Bring Heaven unto earth.
We can 't allow the killing way
To hamper our rebirth.
(Can be sung to the tune of "Amazing Grace")

211
 Life's Important Opposites

Faith adds dimension to our life.

Doubt only introduces strife.

Hope gives meaning to all we do.
Despair destroys all that is true.
Love is ultimate in this plane.
Hate is an evil most insane.
Charity brightens the deeds you do.
Selfishness hurts the world and you.
Humility introduces grace.
Arrogance throws our life off pace.
Joy stays with us through all our years.
Fun is transient and disappears.
Repentance saves immortal souls.
Guilt only keeps us from life's goals.

Admiration sets examples.

Envy on our heartstring tramples.
Tranquility happens to the good.
Turmoil results from right withstood.

So life's emotions, as we can see.

Are good or bad as they ought to be.

They are good if from God,

And a higher sphere.
But bad if from fraud.
And an unhealthy fear.
They are good if they heal,
They are bad if they harm.
The right should appeal,
The wrong should alarm.
Only one of each pair we will find satisfying
Because, in the end, they mean living or dying.

(Can be sung to the tune of "Mocking Bird Hill" or "Life in the Finnish Woods")

212
 Fasting

What do you know about fasting?

good for your immortal soul?
Is it
Will it help you to live life long-lasting?
Will it help you achieve your life's goal?
Will it heal health and rejuvenate?
And add grace to your decision?
Will fasting remunerate,
By adding strength to precision?

Will it add to the power of prayer,

And lead to a prophetic voice?
Will it help you to dispel despair,

And guide you to just the right choice?

Will it heal the mind and the body
For today and all time to come?
Will it change a life that is shoddy,
And in all ways improve you some?

What do you know about fasting?

Isgood for your immortal soul?
it

Will it help you to live life long-lasting?

Will it help you achieve your life's goal?
Will it increase faith in your maker?
Give you peace and solace serene?
Will it make you a best partaker.
In all that the world comes to mean?

Fasting can improve society,

And add to the worth of the world,
And provide a propriety
For all worthy causes unfurled.
So learn all you can about fasting
And practice it eagerly too.

It can lead to life everlasting.

And make you a person more true.

(Can be sung to the tune of "The Old Rugged Cross")

213
 RM226. 5 Johnson, Charles W.
J65 Fasting, longevity,
and inunortality.
(^

DATE LOANED

Fasting, longevity, and immortality /

RM 226.5 .je--, 47 6 86

Johnson, Charieo W.
CIIS LIBRARY
 PARAPHRASES
Hippocrates: Instea(i of
taking medicine, fast for a

Mohammad: Fasting is the

'
foundation of all religion.

Alexis Carrel: Fasting

profoundly modifies and
purifies the body tissues.

Charlie Johnson: Fasting

can save lives — and souls.