proper and balanced helps tremendously in maintaining health. Cayce said it in one reading like this:
. . . [if] the assimilations and the eliminations would be kept nearer normal in the human family, the days might be extended to whatever period as was so desired . . .
311-4
But one great concept empowered me in my growing understanding of the body: the idea that the human body, if encouraged to return back to normal, will inevitably overcome any illness, if the right kind of aid is available and the patient is willing to continue applying those aids patiently, persistently, and consistently. The aids always include dietary adjustments and corrections. They nearly always include the use of the mind in changing attitudes and emotional patterns. But the goal is possible, if the directions are followed.
The first years of my practice expanded my medical school training into a variety of concepts—a horizontal kind of reaching out with my mind. In more recent years, Edgar Cayce has brought me into an understanding of the body—an in-depth vertical, spiritual study, which adds richness to exploring why we need to pay attention to the food we eat.
Much of what has been discussed here will be dealt with more extensively later on in the book, as we move first to an understanding of what the rules really are.
2
Many Diets—Many Values
This book came into being not because I really wanted to write about diet—in medical school we were never taught about foods, diets, or nutrition except that dietitians were trained to teach our patients about how they should eat. The book really came about because I recognized the reality inherent in the Edgar Cayce readings—and because I felt the importance of sharing what I had realized of that quality, as it relates to what we feed our physical bodies during this time we spend on the earth.
Such an approach might be typified by the current bit of wisdom that says, “If it works don’t fix it.” It’s not what you would call a scientific approach. Rather, it is an attitude toward something that says, “This is obvious! Let’s go ahead.”
Several years ago, a physician lectured about nutrition at the American Holistic Medical Association’s annual meeting. He was of the opinion that there were as many diets now available as there were physicians and self-appointed nutritionists.
Physicians do offer diets to their patients to treat this or that disease, and the medical profession has now grudgingly agreed that certain diets protect the human being from colon cancer and heart disease. People follow diets to lose weight, to gain weight, to stay healthy, and to improve their bodies, especially if they have fallen ill.
We probably don’t think of it often, but all of us are on a diet of one sort or another, whether we realize it or not. Most often, the diet is imposed on us by our appetites, not through the conscious action of choosing to eat in a certain way.
In looking at the field of nutrition, obviously we would not offer the same diet to a six-month infant that we offer a grown man. Nor would we expect a 220-pound man to eat the same diet that his 105-pound wife would need for maintaining health. We may know, for instance, that chocolate is not good for a clear complexion, but we like chocolate and so we eat it. Our unconscious wins out over our conscious knowledge because of patterns we call appetites.
In the light of the Edgar Cayce material, one should not only take these obvious facts into consideration, but also expand the picture by painting humankind in a different hue. Each of us, according to this body of information, is a spiritual being first and foremost. Each was created in the image of God, as a soul, made up of spirit, mind, and will. Then we came into the earth dimension as body, mind, and spirit, on an adventure to find our way back to where we started.
All of us have been here over and over, one lifetime after another, gaining spiritually in one life, losing in another. Within each of us, then, has been built a memory bank of information, habits, attitudes, and beliefs that indeed makes each of us unique among all the billions of individuals on the earth.
It makes sense, then, that our appetites would be our own, that our attitudes toward what we think would be a good diet also would be unique. In our unconscious minds each of us has built appetites from eating, over and over again, foods that we like. These then become habits that we call appetites. The foods we like are not necessarily the foods that would be best for us. We know that to be true in all of our experiences. So we need to find out what is constructive for our bodies, and we must develop habits of liking that rather than being obedient to habit patterns from the unconscious mind that may disturb the health of our bodies.
That’s the kind of common sense to be found in the Cayce readings. And my own experience working with these concepts says that this is practical and usable. In one reading, Cayce had this to say:
First—the physical body is the temple, the encasement of the mind and soul of the entity. It has its virtues, its faults, its weaknesses, its strengths. Yet, as is understood, he that is wholly—mentally, spiritually—in accord with the oneness of the Christ Consciousness may expect and may live and may know within self the proper course for the activities to bring the best welfare for the body . . .
Thus, not such a diet as to be contrary to natural laws, but that which is in keeping with the manner in which the body exerts self—so that there may be brought the better resuscitating influences and forces.
1662-1
In using the Cayce readings, it is important to realize that Cayce (in his physical readings) communicated directly with the unconscious mind of another individual and collected his information while he was in an altered state—much like the disciple John experienced when he wrote the book of the Revelation. Cayce did this almost nine thousand times, always making contact with the person seeking help.
In making that contact, Cayce apparently found that the food that would be best for an individual was that which would influence the physiology of the body in a manner that was most constructive. And it was always in accord with that person’s physical-mental-spiritual makeup. Cayce’s recommended diet was also determined by the kind of illness or dis-ease or physiological imbalance that was to be found in the individual’s body.
Cayce did not see illness as a true reality. Rather he saw the human being as an entity in time and space, with illnesses coming about because of lessons the individual needed to learn. Or because of failing to obey the laws of function of the human body or perhaps the laws of the universe itself. Or of the mind. Or even of the spirit.
Thus, the suggestions about diet depended most definitively upon the person for whom the reading was given, rather than upon the problem facing the individual at the time. The problem was secondary. Even the diet was not of prime importance. The human being was always accorded first priority. There are numerous instances of how this kind of a concept might be illustrated. This is one:
(Q) Should I have a special kind of diet?
(A) As indicated, a generally well balanced diet, adhering to the warnings indicated in order to keep a balance, stressing certain characters of foods. But do not become so diet-conscious as for the diet to become master, rather than the self being master of the diet.
2454-1
It is important to recognize that a disease process is often associated with or caused by certain dietary habits (where the diet became master) that may be deeply ingrained in a person’s consciousness.
