CHAPTER I
FASTING
In order that a clear grasp of the subject matter of the text may be obtained, a short explanation of the fast and of the principles upon which its efficacy in the treatment of disease is based is essential. It will also be necessary, for the purpose of defining the distinction that exists between Fasting and Starvation, to discuss in a following chapter the physiological changes developed in the progress of the latter, since, in the popular mind, the two processes involved are vaguely considered as one and the same.
Fasting is defined as follows:—The voluntary denial of food to a system, which is diseased, and which, because of disease, does not require nourishment until rested, cleansed, and eager again to take up the labor of digestion. Then, and not till then, is food supplied; then, and not till then, does starvation begin. Relieving physical illness by voluntary withholding food is based upon the logical conclusion of the argument herein that, no matter what are the various names attached to the forms in which disease is manifested, there is but one cause for all of its outward and inward signs. The sole source of bodily ills is impure blood. The cause of impure blood is imperfect digestion.
An important distinction in conditions here needs exposition:
Organic disease, whether inherent or the result of continued functional disturbance or physical shock, is that in which one or more of the internal organs of the body is deformed, undeveloped, or otherwise disabled so as to prevent or to curtail its work, a state comparable to that of a machine with a missing cog.
Functional disease is that in which the organs themselves are in condition to do their work naturally, but have become unable to function because of poisonous congestion, the result of food taken into the body beyond the amount which the system needs for maintenance. Such surplus ferments and putrefies in the intestinal canal and elsewhere, producing toxins that are absorbed into the blood, thus impairing its quality and functionally hampering the vital processes. Extra labor is also entailed upon the organs assailed, since they are stimulated in unwonted degree by the presence of substances harmful to their action.
Inherent organic disease is a cause in itself of imperfect digestion, for, when it is present, the organs are partially or entirely crippled from birth. While this form of disease is beyond the hope of cure, its harmful results upon the body may be reduced to a minimum by means of the fast, and a combination of this method of treatment with scientific dieting will lengthen the life of the unfortunate victim to the extent to which a defective organism permits vitality to operate.
Functional disease and its ultimate result, functionally-caused organic disease, are the consequences of digestion impaired by incorrect methods in feeding, by improper selection of food, and by excess supply. In any of these circumstances, as has been said, poisons are produced that injure the system, until finally the condition becomes general and disease is apparent. As a matter of fact, the subject cannot have been ignorant of internal disturbance for some time previous to actual disability, for minor aches and pains have given ample warning. Mild preventive steps, taken when symptoms first appear, shut off by anticipative action later drastic measures. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." The power resident in nature of contending against bodily abuse is limited only by individual characteristics, and a positive halt is not called until, through neglect, the physical machinery has been clogged with food rubbish and its products, and equilibrium has been overturned.
It is possible that at first sight the principles here set down cannot be fully apprehended, but, as important premises to the argument, they are again enumerated for reference by the student in connection with the body of the text : —
The source of all symptoms of disease is impure blood.
Impure blood is caused by impaired digestion.
Impaired digestion results from
(a) Taking into the body food wrongly selected in kind or in quantity, wrongly prepared, or wrongly masticated. (b) Taking into the body food that may have been correctly selected, prepared, and eaten, but in quantity greater than is needed for the repair and growth of tissue cells.
If any of these causes is operative, food ingested ferments and putrefies, generating a circulating poison that creates and continues disease until the producing cause can be cast out by the organs of elimination.
Inherent organic disease and functionally-caused organic disease in its later stages embody defects in form, size, or cell-structure of any one of the vital organs. Except in rare instances, through surgical intervention, such structural deficiencies are beyond the hope of cure, but a scientific dietary, combined with judicious application of the fast and its accessories, will afford relief and prolong existence.
In purely functional disease the vital organs are normally developed and physically perfect in structure, but, clogged and laden with the accumulation of the toxic products of food excess, their functions are impeded or totally arrested. Functional disease is a condition that admits of complete recovery, and, even in its acute forms, cure is a certainty where natural law is permitted its course.
Any symptom of disease in the body is evidence of poison circulating in the blood and deposited in the tissues. The conventional medical method of attack invariably aims at the suppression of the symptom rather than at the removal of its cause.
Hunger and disease cannot exist simultaneously in the human frame, and natural methods of cure take this fact into consideration, assuming first, the unity of disease, and second, the means indicated by nature for restoration of health. When hunger is absent, food is not required, and all animate creation, save man, obeys the primal law of abstinence when the physical scale no longer balances. Recognizing that disease arises from a single source, the method of the fast recognizes as well a unity of cure—rest for organs overworked and abused, and prompt removal by natural mechanical aids of filth productive of substances noxious to health.
To revert to the symptoms of disease—the function of digestion is generally regarded as an extensive and complicated process, and it is so closely related to the functions of other parts of the body that it is difficult to describe the bounds, if any, beyond which digestion has no influence. The digestive apparatus is commonly spoken of as including the alimentary canal and those important glands that contribute secretions to the successive processes involved; but, as absorption and assimilation, on the one hand, and formation and withdrawal of waste products, on the other, are so nearly related to preliminary digestion, it is impossible to form a clear conception of disease of the digestive organs without observing the state of other and contributory parts of the body. While it makes for simplicity of description to exclude those organs not commonly grouped with the digestive apparatus, this does not result in a correct understanding, and therefore, if an explanation is to be found, not only for a disturbed physiological state, but also, in instances, for structural changes in the digestive organs, the field must be widened, and study be directed to the nervous system, including its physical manifestations, to the fluids of the body, to the rebuilding and breaking-down of tissue, and to the eliminative functions as well. Unconsciously, a great part of the importance of this general view is perhaps recognized when it is assumed that good digestion depends upon restful sleep, fresh air, sunlight, physical exercise, and activity of the bowels, kidneys, and skin. Disregarding these essential matters, it is difficult to apprehend the nature of digestive disturbances, or to prescribe for their relief. It may truly be said of an individual that, in a sense, his digestive ailment arises in the brain, in the lungs, in the heart, or in the kidneys, but the distinctions and differences heretofore stated must be clearly kept in mind, lest the idea of the unity of disease be clouded. The study of disease of the stomach is not limited to that organ, but is the expression there of disturbances that may be widely distributed throughout the body. Medicine has sought to give disease specifically classified names based upon locality of symptom, but this, it is seen, is only a relatively justifiable conception. There are no symptoms referable solely to the kidneys, to the heart, or to the blood; the man is sick from a single cause; his illness appears here or there.
The advance toward unity of thought and of action goes on in all scientific fields, and it is logical to believe that the important place occupied in the universe by the body of man should long since have been completely defined, and that the disturbances of the physical functions of the human edifice should have been traced to their single source.
The doctrine of Unity in the Cause and Cure of Disease, as set forth in the text of this work, has been carefully and earnestly investigated through a period of over sixteen years. Thousands of cases have been handled, and each instance has confirmed the conviction that the principle involved is absolutely sound. It has stood all tests. Where death has occurred, the autopsy showed organic defects, inherent, or acquired through years of continued functional abuse. These defects alone made death inevitable, whether the patient be fasting or feeding.
So far as can be accomplished in a work of this size, the fasting method of cure and the results of its application in the regeneration of the body and the mind are fully discussed. All that is asked of the reader is that prejudice be laid aside, and that the subject be approached without bias, keeping before the eye of the mind the words of the Apostle: — "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."