Who Is Trying to
Exterminate Mankind?
We learn how animals are guided by
nature to eat foods that are good for them. When sugar levels are low they
crave something sweet and equilibrium is realized. And so the animal maintains
health by allowing his cravings to guide his eating pattern. Everything in
nature is good for him. He craves what his body lacks and health is maintained.
Then along comes man with his
scientific knowledge. Rats and mice become a menace to his lifestyle. Mosquitoes
and other insects annoy him. These unwanted creatures are a menace to our
health so we attempt to exterminate them. We do this by creating foods that
these creatures will crave but they will not keep them healthy. In fact they
contain deadly poisons that are designed to kill them.
It seems logical that this approach
would not be used on humans, but we see increasingly foods being developed to
which we can become addicted. We have
cravings for these foods but they do not increase our health. In nature, the
foods we crave have ingredients that satisfy this craving by restoring the body
to a healthy equilibrium. When artificial foods are created they do not satisfy
the body and the cravings do not go away. This is a very good marketing scheme,
but very bad for our health. We have become like rats being enticed by rat
poison.
It would appear that the food
industry does not what to exterminate us. They need us to keep buying their
products and have therefore limited the poisonous effects of the food they sell
us. In that way we can look forward to poor health and a long agonizing death,
but up to the last we will continue to support the industry that has produced
the foods we have become addicted to. One thing the food industry is not
counting on is the fact that humans have intelligence and may figure out their
strategy. Now that we have figured it out it is time for change. Unless the
goal is to rid the world of humanity, we need food and medical professionals to
develop food that will satisfy our cravings while maintaining health. This will
be very good for humanity but not so good for capitalism. Instead of eating
more food we would eat less. Instead of keeping doctors busy keeping our obese
unhealthy bodies alive, we would have lean healthy bodies that do not need
medicine. The money that is not spent on excess food and medicine could then be
used to fix many of our other world problems. Everyone could live a more
relaxed life style as employers would see less sick days taken by their employees.
Working hours could be reduced as more people become available to work and, being
healthier, they will be able to work more efficiently. This would create more
jobs in the leisure activity field as people would need to do things during
their leisure times.
It is my belief that cooperation is
better than competition. The capitalistic view that we must compete to earn
more money and that will bring happiness is completely wrong. Those who believe
that money brings happiness are engaging in another addictive behaviour. When
they have money and are still not happy they believe that more money is the answer.
Just as in the case of foods that do not contain the ingredients that our body
needs, money can never satisfy our craving for it. Money, although sweet to the
taste, does not satisfy our craving for happiness. Happiness comes from caring
for others and being sure that the needs of all are met. Those who amass wealth
by exploiting others to do so become the most miserable of people. Wealth itself
is not bad. If we have money it gives us control to do good or bad. What we
choose to do with it is what makes the difference in our own lives. How we earn
it also makes a great difference in our enjoyment.
My uncle was a farmer and a great
philosopher. He told me that there were two ways to make money. One was to work
to earn it and the other was to take it from those who had worked to earn it.
It seems the harder we work to earn
anything the more we enjoy it.
When I was much younger I had
helped my uncle bringing in hay one day. I worked alongside my cousins all day
heaving bales of hay. At the end of the day I participated with them in the
greatest meal I ever had. The work of the day made this meal taste so much
better. I do not remember what was served but that didn’t matter. The main
ingredient that made it taste so good was the hard work I had done to earn it.
If modern society can work hard to
cooperate with one another, this would be conducive to happiness. If medical
and food industry professionals could cooperate to give us healthy food that
satisfies our cravings, this would lead to happiness. If nations that are dying
of obesity could cooperate with those dying of starvation, this would go a long
way to solving the world’s problems. Happiness for all is within our reach. We
just need to exert a little effort to achieve it.
The world has exerted a lot of
effort into destruction and war. Let us turn that around and use that energy
toward building and peace.
The food industry has put a lot if
effort into making the industry profitable by making foods addictive. Let us
see that effort turned to providing healthy food for all the world.
The medical industry continues to
put a lot of effort into keeping us alive. Let us see if they can put as much
effort into keeping us healthy.
Happiness is within our reach. When
someone comes to us with a grievance, we need not go to war with him. We can
hear him and reason with him. We need not assert our superiority and the
correctness of our ways. We can humbly defer to others at times and choose the
best from all the world. A part cannot exceed the whole an we are at a time
when knowledge can be derived from all the world so long as we are not so proud
as to reject truth when it comes from another source.
I started by asking the question, “Who
is trying to exterminate mankind?” If we look only at the bad we may think that
humanity should be exterminated. However we all have good and bad attributes.
We can choose which we want to bring out in ourselves and which we want to
encourage in others. We can criticize and condemn the world for all its wrongs
or we can see new beginnings of goodness and encourage that to prosper. When we
choose to destroy evil we end up with destruction. When we choose to build
goodness it will naturally replace evil.
In this I issue a challenge to all.
Use your talents for good. If you are in the food industry do your best to make
your food healthy. You can still make it taste good but be sure it has the
nutritional ingredients to satisfy our craving. Whatever industry you work in,
use your work to the best of your ability to the betterment of mankind. If you
are a garbage collector, be the best garbage collector you can be. If you see a
garbage collector doing a great job, be sure to compliment him on his efforts.
Yes, we need to encourage one another to bring out the best in each other.
Constant criticism only brings a person down to a point where the feel that life is not worth living. Encouragement
is needed to bring out the best and to let each individual know that he or she
is appreciated.
We are spiritual as well as
physical beings, and just as our bodies need to maintain a healthy equilibrium,
our souls also need to maintain a healthy balance. In order to do that we need
to encourage others and surround ourselves with encouraging people. We need to
know our work is appreciated. We need to
strive to do our best and be encouraged to keep striving for perfection. When
someone comes to us with a problem we need not criticize him for getting
himself into such a mess, but offer encouragement to help him see the way out.
Reading this one may be inclined to
think that I am one of the happiest well adjusted people alive, but this is not
the case. Necessity is the best teacher. I come not offering solutions out of
my abundance of knowledge, but asking for solutions out of my abundance of
needs. Not being purely selfish I desire these things not only for myself but
also for others who may be in similar or worse conditions. Yet I am thankful
for my needs as they have pointed out to me the needs of others. The only way I can solicit encouragement is
to offer encouragement to others. The only way for me to avoid being criticized
is to refrain from criticizing those around me.
I try my best to use my own situation to teach myself to be a better
person. If I can shed any light on the subject to others, that is a bonus.
I find the words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to
be very encouraging and it is the following passage that got me started on this
present writing.
HEALING BY MATERIAL
MEANS
Yesterday at table we spoke of curative treatment and
spiritual healing, which consists in treating maladies through the spiritual
powers.
Now let us speak of material healing. The science of
medicine is still in a condition of infancy; it has not reached maturity. But
when it has reached this point, cures will be performed by things which are not
repulsive to the smell and taste of man -- that is to say, by aliments, fruits
and vegetables which are agreeable to the taste and have an agreeable smell.
For the provoking cause of disease -- that is to say, the cause of the entrance
of disease into the human body -- is either a physical one or is the effect of
excitement of the nerves.
But the principal causes of disease are physical, for the
human body is composed of numerous elements, but in the measure of an especial
equilibrium. As long as this equilibrium is maintained, man is preserved from disease;
but if this essential balance, which is the pivot of the constitution, is
disturbed, the constitution is disordered, and disease will supervene.
For instance, there is a decrease in one of the constituent
ingredients of the body of man, and in another there is an increase; so the
proportion of the equilibrium is disturbed, and disease occurs. For example,
one ingredient must be one thousand grams in weight, and another five grams, in
order that the equilibrium be maintained. The part which is one thousand grams
diminishes to seven hundred grams, and that which is five grams augments
until the measure of the equilibrium is disturbed; then disease occurs. When by
remedies and treatments the equilibrium is re-established, the disease is
banished. So if the sugar constituent increases, the health is impaired; and
when the doctor forbids sweet and starchy foods, the sugar constituent
diminishes, the equilibrium is re-established, and the disease is driven off.
Now the readjustment of these constituents of the human body is obtained by two
means -- either by medicines or by aliments; and when the constitution has
recovered its equilibrium, disease is banished. All the elements that are
combined in man exist also in vegetables; therefore, if one of the constituents
which compose the body of man diminishes, and he partakes of foods in which
there is much of that diminished constituent, then the equilibrium will be
established, and a cure will be obtained. So long as the aim is the
readjustment of the constituents of the body, it can be effected either by
medicine or by food.
The majority of the diseases which overtake man also
overtake the animal, but the animal is not cured by drugs. In the mountains, as
in the wilderness, the animal's physician is the power of taste and smell. The
sick animal smells the plants that grow in the wilderness; he eats those that
are sweet and fragrant to his smell and taste, and is cured. The cause of his
healing is this. When the sugar ingredient has become diminished in his
constitution, he begins to long for sweet things; therefore, he eats an herb
with a sweet taste, for nature urges and guides him; its smell and taste please
him, and he eats it. The sugar ingredient in his nature will be increased, and
health will be restored.
It is, therefore, evident that it is possible to cure by
foods, aliments and fruits; but as today the science of medicine is imperfect,
this fact is not yet fully grasped. When the science of medicine reaches
perfection, treatment will be given by foods, aliments, fragrant fruits
and vegetables, and by various waters, hot and cold in temperature.
This discourse is brief; but, if God wills, at another time,
when the occasion is suitable, this question will be more fully explained.
(Abdu’l-Bahá,
Some Answered Questions, p. 257 - 259 )
