Legend
< On the Food of the Theosophist* (continued from page 10-287) >
diet for those Theosophists who are anxious for the highest development of their souls. Body and soul are so intimately connected, that the attempt to divorce them appears to me to be a cause of many of our troubles. The Church too much considers the soul only, and too often treats the body as if it were an encumbrance. The effect of this treatment is painfully evident on reading the lives of the Saints. Our Physicians, again, in only seeing the body, and ignoring the soul, cannot ever he more than half physicians.
Jesus Christ, when found fault with by the Pharisees, for saying to the blind man, “Thy sins be forgiven thee, added, “Which is easier to say, thy sins he forgiven thee, or to say, arise and walk?” As if to shew that the body could not he diseased without the soul being out of order too. So to be a perfect healer, one ought to be Priest as well as Physician. The ancients, understanding this, combined the two offices in one; but then their Priests were adept-men, who by long training had become pure, both in body and soul.
We read that when the Israelites went out of Egypt, “there was not one feeble person among their tribes;” so we, when we arise to go to the Father, to go out of darkness, into His marvellous light, ought to be pure and healthy in body, so as to undergo, without undue suffering, the successive births and deaths of that regeneration, which is the term the Church has given, to what in old times, used to be called the “Mysteries.”
Redemption of the body would appear to be the distinctive feature of the Christian dispensation, Christ having come to glorify the body; and nothing short of this ought to satisfy us, for we see it is possible to have the strength of a Samson, the goodness of a Daniel, and the wisdom of a Solomon, and yet for our senses to betray us.
St. Paul looked for the regeneration of the body, for he says, “We, who have received the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of our body;” not realizing that it would take time for Christ’s Positive Kingdom to be shed abroad before his Negative, or in-drawing Kingdom could be entered. The Church was to be founded on Peter’s Faith; but, when he is converted, that is, when Faith becomes merged in Love, as Swedenborg tells us it was in the ancient Church: then we may lift up our eyes, and rejoice, for our redemption draweth nigh.
Awaiting this happy time, which many still think is in the dim future, we can at least, by right living, and right food, endeavour to make our bodies as pure and as Spiritual as may be. And these terms need not imply want of force. The Greeks could not conceive beauty without strength, and in accordance with this idea, they always represented the psychic type of beauty, as we can see by their statues. A muscular Christian, therefore, ought not to be such an anomaly after all. The Greeks, as did Moses, learnt their wisdom in Egypt, whose wise men taught their disciples to take care of the body, to eat simple food, but not to fast, as did their brothers of India, who, often carried this practice to an extreme.
Many people think, because they have always been delicate, they can never hope to be strong; but, physiologists tell us our bodies are altogether renewed in seven years, and some say, even in three years. If so, is it not possible for them to be renewed on improved lines, if we only give Nature the means. To do so, she requires first, such food as will make good blood, nerves, and bones. Wheat makes all these; therefore, bread is called the “staff of life,” but, unfortunately, our bread is only a broken staff, for it is made of the inner part only of the grain, and all the bone making particles are eliminated from it. If possible, we should make our bread at home, of good whole wheat flour, and without yeast. The flour needs only to be mixed with a little milk or water, and with or without, a very little butter, rolled out, about half an inch thick, and baked in a quick oven, which will cause it to rise quickly, and prevent its being heavy. Wheat meal makes good porridge, and is liked by some better than that made with oatmeal, as it is less heating. All farinaceous foods are healthful and nourishing, either plainly boiled as porridge, or made into puddings with milk and eggs. Stewed fruits of all kinds can be eaten by those, who, at first, through delicacy or dislike, are prevented from touching fresh fruit; which, however, after a time becomes a most necessary part of our diet. The juices of fresh fruit are water of Nature’s distilling,—that universal solvent which is most curative; and in these days, when there is such difficulty in getting pure water, the Theosophists’ chief drink, wine being forbidden,—it is a good thing to be independent of the water companies. Tea and coffee are allowed, and the latter is a most valuable addition to our food, when taken in moderation. It has many curative qualities, and counter-<... continues on page 10-289 >