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"Woe
to you hypocrites...
First, cast out the log from your own eye,
so that you will be able to see well enough
to get the little splinter out of your
brother's eye."
(Matthew 7:35; Luke 6:42 )
Breatharianism:
by
Ahmen Heaven
(also
known as Bob Silverstein)
"I'm
not against eating...
I'm not
against MacDonald hamburgers...
I'm not against the establishment...
I'm
not against anything!!!
and I'm not
looking for any followers."
- Wiley Brooks
I had read about "breatharians" (people who live without eating) in a few esoteric health books, but never considered it a possibility for myself, or for any modern man or woman in the western world. Then I heard about Wiley Brooks, a self-proclaimed breatharian, who made national news in the late 70's, claiming that he had been living without eating for about twenty years.
Brooks, who was 50 years old at the time, came to Hawaii in 1983 to give a talk and then a 3-day seminar. I attended both. Besides the subject matter, I was very impressed by his deep penetrating voice, his ability to stay calm, centered, relaxed, and focused, even under hostile questioning from the audience, and by his obviously limber and lithe body for a man of his age.
I came to the 3-day "breatharian" seminar in Hawaii, but without the $300 fee to attend. Wiley asked me: "If you can't find $300, then how do you expect to find God?" Within 15 minutes, I had the $300.
At first, I was the biggest skeptic, and
prodded Wiley at every opportunity, trying to find fault
wherever I could. I forgot the
saying: "As you seek, so shall you
find." Since I had been
looking for error, I found it wherever I
could. However, had I been seeking
for the truth, I would have found plenty of
that as well. Finally, after a
couple of days at the seminar, I was
converted, at least in my beliefs if not
actions. I became convinced that
Wiley was telling the truth, and that "breatharianism"
is a revolutionary and important concept.
As Wiley says: "They laughed at the Wright brothers... and they
ridiculed Thomas Edison..."
Wiley Brooks is an intelligent human being with much goodness in his heart, and wants to
help people experience an increased sense of
well-being and joy, which comes from
not-eating, rather than eating as we have been
told.
Later that year, Wiley was caught in a scandal. The newspaper headline read: "Breatharian caught eating." It seemed so interesting and comical that it made local papers all over the U.S. and even the national news. Wiley simply denies the story entirely, and I think he may have staged the whole event so as to keep himself from being thrown in a nut-house. What happened was that his lady friend (lover and business partner), with whom he had just broken off a romantic relationship, claimed that she saw Wiley sneaking into a "7-11" late at night, to buy some twinkies! There are several variations to the same story -- although it is hard to believe any of them, since I have actually met Wiley and spent 3 or 4 days with him, as well as spoken with him, and listened to him, for many hours. I am not here to prove breatharianism, or to disprove it, only to establish the truth. [Wiley denies the whole story about the twinkies at 7-11, and claims that his ex-lover/business partner made up the whole story just to discredit him, because he had just broken off his romantic relationship with her].
The thing about breatharianism, which Wiley emphasizes, is that it is a way to great happiness, as well as to physical well-being. From my own personal experience, as well as from observation of others, I am convinced that "fasting" (in general) is good for one's health and happiness, and not just for losing weight.
I have found that really great happiness, as well as exceptional mental clarity, and even increased sex drive, comes from fasting, rather than from eating. Arnold Ehret (author of "Rational Fasting" and "Mucusless Diet Healing"), who did many public fasts in the latter 1800's and early 1900's, also noted his rapid hair growth during fasts. Dr. Ronald Klatz, president of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, and author of "Grow Young with HGH" (i.e., Human Growth Hormone) (published 1997) also notes that one of the human actions that will increase the secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), is fasting from food. HGH is considered rejuvenating, and many people are spending thousands of dollars a month taking HGH supplements or injections... The same effect can come naturally, from fasting.
Wiley has explained many times how he "discovered" breatharianism through numerous experiences with fasting, in the 1960's: "Every time I fasted, I felt great... My mind became clear, and I got stronger, felt lighter, younger, and healthier... but whenever I went back to eating, my mind got less clear, I got tired, and all the old symptoms returned again."
Wiley admits that everybody is not going to be a breatharian, and that most people aren't even interested. He also says that he "doesn't care if anybody is interested or not interested"... "But for those people who ARE interested, in being healthy and happy, then breatharianism can certainly help you get there in a hurry. It is very FAST and very EFFICIENT."
Wiley is not a dogmatist, which is another attraction. He suggests that any way we can purify our blood, we should use that method, but he also adds that he has been looking for a better system than his, 24 hours a day, and that if he hasn't found it by now, it just doesn't exist.
Wiley says that he sleeps about one hour a night, or just one night a week. He relates sleeping and eating. The more you eat, the more you must sleep. As we already spend a third of our entire lives in sleep, this appears to be a way to significantly lengthen our waking lives.
A day or several days spent in fasting, seems to take a long time, while there is abundant mental energy for meditation, introspection, and prayer..
Fasting, then, seems to make time last longer, and increases the time available to experience more, as well as improves our ability to appreciate it all.
What does Wiley do then, if he doesn't eat or sleep? Does he ever get bored? Wiley says: "I assure you, there is nothing boring about being a breatharian. There are thousands of things to do."
"You can eat if you want to;
that's your prerogative... I used to
play that game... I know what it's
like... But I'm just not interested in
it any more... I'm not interested in
going out, and working for the money to buy
the food, then shopping for it, then going
home and preparing it, then eating it, then
washing the dishes, then just letting it all
out in the toilet... and in
the end, you end up in a box, in the ground,
on the outside of town."
Meanwhile,
we can't figure out why we don't feel that
good, or why we don't have enough energy
(another reason many people mistakenly eat
more), or why we don't look that good... and
then we spend billions of dollars annually on ways
to lose weight. In the Bible, Jesus reminds us that
"Food goes into the
belly, and is cast out into the sewer."
Wiley admits to eating on a number of occasions, in the first 20 years after he became a breatharian. But he says that the food left him feeling sick every time, and obviously did not sustain him, or give him life. Wiley says: "Life comes only from life, and there is only one source of life, which is God." But he says "these liquids and solids, which we call food, do not give us life, or health, or beauty," as we are programmed to believe by the food industry.
The food-industry is the largest industry in the world, but it is unlikely that "breatharianism" will ever put a dent in food-industry profits, since eating is such an intrinsic aspect of society, as well as an addictive and accepted, pleasurable behavior (although it is also accompanied by a lot of pain).
What may happen, however, is that there is a possibility that there might come a time in the foreseeable future when there just isn't any food to eat. "The food supply on the planet is getting less and less, and the quality is getting worse and worse... It would be wise to look into breatharianism, just in case you are ever confronted with a time when you don't have any food to eat." (Wiley suggests that the best thing to do in such a situation is to empty your intestinal tract, rather than fight over any remaining food.)
Wiley does not recommend jumping intro breatharianism immediately, but he does suggest that we should rejoice just knowing that purification of the blood is the secret to health, happiness, and long life..."This is the secret you've been looking for."
Wiley is not the first or only breatharian. There are a number of cases of people who have lived without eating. One of the most famous, and most well-documented case of a breatharian, was Terese Neumann, a German nun, who did not eat anything at all for 35 years, between 1922 and 1957. There are at least seven books about her life. One of the best of these books is by an author named Johann Steiner. In these books, several other cases of "food abstainers" are referred to, and the one trait they all had in common was that they all had the uncommon gift of clairvoyance. (Even Wiley claims to be psychic, and able to see into the future).
For all these reasons, I find nothing objectionable, or extra-ordinary, or incredulous, about breatharianism. After all, it has been estimated that about 10% of all teenage girls in America are anorexic. Wiley says: "It doesn't take any discipline to be a breatharian... all it takes is understanding... It doesn't take any discipline to keep from standing in the middle of the road when cars are passing by... and I can assure you, that when you UNDERSTAND that the food you are eating is NOT giving you life and vitality, with increased energy, health and happiness, it won't take any discipline to STOP taking it."
"Breatharianism is just a simple understanding of how the human body works." Then someone asked him what is the purpose of the alimentary canal. "The purpose of the alimentary canal is to get rid of wastes from the body." Even Wiley admitted to going to the toilet every few months, proving the usefulness of this organ. "But if food is so good for you, how come the body keeps trying to get rid of it?... Man was not designed to be a garbage can like he is."
Wiley says he sees "a lot of people who are waiting to get their happiness in heaven, but meanwhile are suffering like hell, here on earth."
