Vitality
In Chapter Four, we named, as the first of the primary causes of
disease, lowered vitality.
What can we do to increase vitality? "Old School" physicians and
people in general seem to think that this can be done by consuming
large quantities of nourishing food and drink and by the use of
stimulants and tonics.
The constant cry of patients is: "Doctor, if you could only
prescribe some good tonic or some food that will give me strength,
then I should be all right! I am sure that is all I need to be
cured."
We fully agree with the patient that he needs more vitality to
overcome disease, but unfortunately this cannot be obtained from
food and drink, from stimulants and tonics.
Vitality, life, life force, whatever we may call it or whatever its
aspect, is not something we can eat and drink. It is independent of
the physical body and of material food. If the body should "fall
dead," as we call it, the life force would continue to act just as
vigorously in the spiritual body, which is the exact counterpart of
the physical organism.
The physical-material body as well as the spiritual-material body
are only the instruments for the manifestation of the life force.
They are no more life itself than the violin is the artist.
But just as the violin must be kept in good condition in order to
enable the artist to draw from it the harmonies of sound, so food
and drink are necessary to keep the physical body in the best
possible condition for the manifestation of vital force. The more
normal our physical and spiritual bodies are in structure and
function, the more harmonious our thought life and emotional life,
the more abundant will be the influx of vital force into the twofold
organism.
This important subject has been treated more fully in Chapter IV.
Ignorance of these simple truths leads to the most serious mistakes.
Physicians and people in general do not stop to think that excessive
eating and drinking tend to rob the body of vitality instead of
supplying it.
The processes of digestion, assimilation and elimination of food and
drink in themselves require a considerable expenditure of vital
force. Therefore all food taken in excess of the actual needs of the
body consumes life force that should be available for other
purposes, for the execution of physical and mental work.
The Romans had a proverb: "Plenus venter non studet libenter"--"A
full stomach does not like to study." The most wholesome food, if
taken in excess, will clog the system with waste matter just as too
much coal will dampen and extinguish the fire in the furnace.
Furthermore, the morbid materials and systemic poisons produced by
impure, unsuitable or wrongly combined foods will clog the cells and
tissues of the body, cause unnecessary friction and obstruct the
inflow and the operations of the vital energies, just as dust in a
watch will clog and impede the movements of its mechanism.
The greatest artist living cannot draw harmonious sounds from the
strings of the finest Stradivarius if the body of the violin is
filled with dust and rubbish. Likewise, the life force cannot act
perfectly in a body filled with morbid encumbrances.
The human organism is capable of liberating and manifesting daily a
limited quantity of vital force, just as a certain amount of capital
in the bank will yield a specified sum of interest in a given time.
If more than the available interest be withdrawn, the capital in the
bank will be decreased and gradually exhausted.
Similarly, if we spend more than our daily allowance of vital force,
"nervous bankruptcy," that is, nervous prostration or neurasthenia
will be the result.
It is the duty of the physician to regulate the expenditure of vital
force according to the income. He must stop all leaks and guard
against wastefulness.
Stimulation by Paralysis
This heading may seem paradoxical, but it is borne out by fact.
Stimulants are poison to the system. Few people realize that their
exhilarating and apparently tonic effects are produced by the
paralysis of an important part of the nervous system.
If, as we have learned, wholesome food and drink in themselves do
not contain and therefore cannot convey life force to the human
body, much less can this be accomplished by stimulants.
The human body has many correspondences with a watch. Both have a
motor or driving mechanism and an inhibitory or restraining
apparatus.
If it were not for the inhibiting balances, the wound watchspring
would run off and spend its force in a few moments. The expenditure
of the latent force in the wound spring must be regulated by the
inhibitory and balancing mechanism of the timepiece.
Similarly, the nervous system in the animal and human organism
consists of two main divisions: the motor or driving and the
inhibitory or restraining mechanisms.
The driving power is furnished by the sympathetic nerves and the
motor nerves. They convey the vital energies and nerve impulses to
the cells and organs of the body, thus initiating and regulating
their activities.
We found that the human body is capable of liberating in a given
time, say, in twenty-four hours, only a certain limited amount of
vital energy, just as the wound spring of the watch is capable of
liberating in a given time only a certain amount of kinetic energy.
As in the watch the force of the spring is controlled by the
regulating balances (the anchor), so in the body the expenditure of
vital energy must be regulated in such a manner that it is evenly
distributed over the entire running time. This is accomplished by
the inhibitory nervous system [the parasympathetics].
Every motor nerve must be balanced by an inhibitory nerve. The one
furnishes the driving force, the other applies the brake. For
instance, the heart muscle is supplied with motor force through the
spinal nerves from the upper dorsal region, while the pneumogastric
[vagus] nerve retards the action of the heart and in that way acts
as a brake.
Another brake is supplied by the waste products of metabolism in the
system, the uric acid, carbonic acid, oxalic acid, etc., and the
many forms of xanthines, alkaloids, and ptomaines. As these
accumulate in the organism during the hours of wakeful activity,
they gradually clog the capillary circulation, benumb brain and
nerves, and thus produce a feeling of exhaustion and tiredness and a
craving for rest and sleep.
In this way, by means of the inhibitory nervous system and of the
accumulating fatigue products in the body, Nature forces the
organism to rest and recuperate when the available supply of vital
force runs low. The lower the level of vital force, the more
powerful will become the inhibitory influences.
Now we can understand why stimulation is produced by paralysis.
Stimulants precipitate the fatigue products from the circulation
into the tissues of the body. They do this by overcoming and
paralyzing the power of the blood to dissolve and carry in solution
uric acid and other acids and alkaloids that should be eliminated
from the organism. Thus will be explained more fully in the volume on
"Natural Dietetics."
Furthermore, stimulants temporarily benumb and paralyze the
inhibitory nervous system. In other words, they lift the brakes from
the motor nervous system, and allow the driving powers to run wild
when Nature wanted them to slow up or stop.
To illustrate: A man has been working hard all day. Toward night his
available supply of vitality has run low, his system is filled with
uric acid, carbonic acid and other benumbing fatigue products, and
he feels tired and sleepy, At this juncture he receives word that he
must sit up all night with a sick relative. In order to brace
himself for the extraordinary demand upon his vitality, our friend
takes a cup of strong coffee, or a drink of whisky, or whatever his
favorite stimulant may be.
The effect is marvelous. The tired feeling disappears, and he feels
as though he could remain awake all night without effort.
What has produced this apparent renewal and increase of vital
energy? Has the stimulant added to his system one iota of vitality?
This cannot be, because stimulants do not contain anything that
could impart vital force to the organism. What, then, has produced
the seemingly strengthening effect?
The caffeine, alcohol or whatever the stimulating poison may have
been has precipitated the fatigue products from the blood and
deposited them in the tissues and organs of the body. Furthermore,
the stimulant has benumbed the inhibitory nerves; in other words, it
has lifted the brakes from the driving part of the organism, so that
the wheels are running wild.
But this means drawing upon the reserve supplies of nerve fats and
of the vital energy stored in them, which Nature wants to save for
extraordinary demands upon the system in times of illness or extreme
exertion. Therefore this procedure is contrary to Nature's
intent. Nature tried to force the tired body to rest and sleep, so
that it could store up a new supply of vital force.
Under the paralyzing influence of the stimulant upon the inhibitory
nerves, the organism now draws upon the reserve stores of nerve fats
and vital energies for the necessary strength to accomplish the
extra nightwork.
At the same time, the organism remains awake and active during the
time it should be replenishing energy for the next day's work, which
means that the latter also has to be done at the expense of the
reserve supply of life force.
During sleep only do we replenish our reserve stores of vitality.
The expenditure of vital energies ceases, but their liberation in
the system continues.
Therefore sleep is the "sweet restorer." Nothing can take its place.
No amount of food and drink, no tonics or stimulants can make up for
the loss of sleep. Continued complete deprivation of sleep is bound
to end in a short time in physical and mental exhaustion, in
insanity and death.
That the body, during sleep, acts as a storage battery for vital
energy is proved by the fact that in deep, sound sleep the aura
disappears entirely from around the body.
The aura is to the organism what the exhaust steam is to the engine.
It is formed by the electromagnetic fluids which have performed
their work in the body and then escape from it, giving the
appearance of a many-colored halo.
With the first awakening of conscious mental activity after sleep,
the aura appears, indicating that the expenditure of vital force has
recommenced.
In the above diagram we have an illustration of the true effect of
stimulants upon the system. The heavy line A-B represents the normal
level of available vital energy in a certain body for a given time,
say, for twenty-four hours. At point C a stimulant is taken. This
paralyzes the inhibitory nerves and temporarily precipitates the
fatigue products from the blood.
As we have seen, this allows an increased, unnatural expenditure of
vital energy, which raises the latter to point D. But when the
effect of the stimulant has been spent, the vital energy drops from
the artificially attained high point not only back to the normal
level, but below it to point E.
The increased expenditure of vital energy was made possible at the
expense of the reserve supply of vitality; therefore the depression
following it is in proportion to the preceding stimulation. This is
in accordance with the law: "Action and reaction are equal, but
opposite."
The falling of the vital energy below the normal to point E is
accompanied by a feeling of exhaustion and depression which creates
a desire to repeat the pleasurable experience of an abundant supply
of vitality, and thus leads to a repetition of the artificial
stimulation. As a result of this, the expenditure of vitality is
again raised above the normal to point F, only to fall again below
the normal, to G, etc.
In this way the person who resorts to stimulants to keep up his
strength or to increase it, is never normal, never on the level,
never at his best. He is either overstimulated or abnormally
depressed. His efforts are bound to be fitful and his work uneven in
quality. Furthermore, it will be only a matter of time until he
exhausts his reserve supply of nerve fats and vital energy and then
suffers nervous bankruptcy in the forms of nervous prostration,
neurasthenia or insanity.
Such a person is acting like the spendthrift whose capital in the
bank allows him to expend ten dollars a day, but who, instead, draws
several times the amount of his legitimate daily interest. There can
be but one outcome to this: in due time the cashier will inform him
that his account is overdrawn.
The same principles hold true with regard to stimulants given at the
sickbed.
One of the arguments I constantly hear from students and physicians
of the "Old School" of medicine is: "Some of your methods may be all
right, but what would you do at the sickbed of a patient who is so
weak and low that he may die at any moment? Would you just let him
die? Would you not give him something to keep him alive?"
I certainly would, if I could. But I do not believe that poisons can
give life. If there is enough vitality in that dying body to react
to the poisonous stimulant by a temporary increase of vital
activity, then that same amount of vitality will keep the heart
beating and the respiration going a little longer at the slower
pace. Nature regulates the heartbeat and the other functions
according to the amount and availability of vital force. If the
heart beats slow, it is because Nature is trying to economize
vitality.
In the inevitable depression following the artificial whipping up of
the vital energies, many times the flame is snuffed out entirely
when otherwise it might have continued to burn at the slower rate
for some time longer.
However, I do not deny the advisability of administering stimulants
in cases of shock. When a shock has caused the stopping of the
wheels of life, another shock by a stimulant may set them in motion
again.
The Effects of Stimulants upon the Mind
The mental and emotional exhilaration accompanying the indulgence in
alcohol or other poisonous stimulants is produced in a similar
manner as the apparent increase of physical strength under the
influence of these agents. Here, also, the temporary stimulation and
seeming increase of power are effected by paralysis of the governing
and restraining faculties of mind and soul: of reason, modesty,
reserve, caution, reverence, etc.
The moral, mental and emotional capacities and powers of the human
entity are governed by the same principle of dual action that
controls physical activity. We have on the one hand the motor or
driving impulses, and on the other hand the restraining and
inhibiting influences.
In these higher realms appetite, passion, imagination and desire
correspond to the motor nervous system in the physical organism, and
the power of the will and the reasoning faculties represent the
inhibitory nervous system.
The exhilarating and stimulating influence of alcohol and narcotics
such as opiates or hashish upon the animal spirits and the emotional
and imaginative faculties is caused by the benumbing and paralyzing
effect of these stimulants upon the powers of will, reason and
self-control, the brakes on the lower appetites, passions and
desires which fire the emotional nature and the imagination.
However, what is gained in feeling and imagination, is lost in
judgment and logic.
Alcohol, nicotine, caffein, theobromine, lupulin (the bitter
principle of hops), opium, cocaine, morphine, etc., when given in
certain doses, all affect the human organism in a similar manner.
In small quantities they seemingly stimulate and animate; in larger
amounts they depress and stupefy. In reality, they are paralyzers
from the beginning in every instance, and their apparent, temporary
tonic effect is deceptive. They benumb and paralyze not only the
physical organism, but also the higher and highest mental and moral
qualities, capacities and powers.
These higher and finer qualities are located in the front part of
the brain. In the evolution of the species from lower to higher, the
brain gradually developed and enlarged in a forward direction. Thus
we find in the lowest order of fishes that all they possess of brain
matter is a small protuberance at the end of the spinal cord. As the
species and families rose in the scale of evolution, the brain
developed proportionately from behind forward and became
differentiated into three distinct divisions: the medulla oblongata,
the cerebellum, and the cerebrum.
The medulla oblongata, situated at the base of the brain where it
joins the spinal cord, contains those brain centers that control the
purely vegetative, vital functions: the circulation of the blood,
the respiration, regulation of animal heat, etc.
The cerebellum, in front of and above the medulla, is the seat of
the centers for the coordination of muscular activities and for
maintaining the equilibrium of the body.
The frontal brain or cerebrum contains the centers for the sensory
organs, also the motor centers which supply the driving impulses for
the muscular activities of the body, and in the occipital and
frontal lobes, the centers for the higher and highest qualities of
mind and soul, which constitute the governing and restraining
faculties on which depend the powers of self-control.
Thus we see that the development of the brain has been in a forward
direction, from the upper extremity of the spinal cord to the
frontal lobes of the cerebrum, from the low, vegetative qualities of
the animal and the savage to the complex and refined activities of
the highly civilized and trained mind.
It is an interesting and most significant fact that paralysis of
brain centers caused by alcohol and other stimulants, or by
hypnotics and narcotics, proceeds reversely to the order of their
development during the processes of evolution.
The first to succumb are the brain centers in the frontal lobes of
the cerebrum, which control the latest-developed and most-refined
human attributes. These are: modesty, caution, reserve, reverence,
altruism. Then follow in the order given: memory, reason, logic,
intelligence, will power, self-control, the control of muscular
coordination and equilibrium and finally consciousness and the vital
activities of heart action and respiration.
When the conscious activities of the soul have been put to sleep,
the paralysis extends to the subconscious activities of life or
vital force. Respiration and heart action become weak and labored,
and may finally cease entirely.
In order to verify this, let us study the effects of alcohol, the
best-known and most-used of stimulants. Many people believe that
alcohol increases not only physical strength, but mental energy
also. Regular medical science considers it a valuable tonic in all
cases of physical and mental depression. It is often administered in
surgical operations and in accidents with the idea of prolonging
life. I have frequently found the whisky or brandy bottle at the
bedside of infants and on it the directions of the attending
physician.
Watch the effect of this tonic on a group of convivial spirits at a
banquet. Full honor is done to the art of the chef, and the wine
flows freely. The flow of animal spirits increases proportionately;
conviviality, wit and humor rise by leaps and bounds. But the
apparent joy and happiness are in reality nothing but the play of
the lower animal impulses, unrestrained by the higher powers of mind
and soul.
The words of the afterdinner speaker who, when sober, is a sedate
and earnest gentleman, flow with unusual ease. The close and
unprejudiced observer notices, however, that what the speaker has
gained in eloquence, loquacity and exuberance of style and
expres-sion, he has lost in logic, clearness and good sense.
As King Alcohol tightens his grasp on the merry company, the
toasters and speakers lose more and more their control over speech
and actions. What was at first mischievous abandon and merry jest,
gradually degenerates into loquaciousness, coarseness and querulous
brawls. Here and there one of the maudlin crowd drops off in the
stupor of drunkenness.
If the liquor is strong enough and if the debauch is continued long
enough, it may end in complete paralysis of the vital functions or
in death.
Hypnotism and Obsession
Again, we find the seeming paradox of stimulation by paralysis
exemplified in the phenomena of hypnotism and obsession. The
abnormally exaggerated sensation, feeling and imagination of the
subject under hypnotic control are made possible because the higher,
critical and restraining faculties and powers of will, reason and
self-control are temporarily or permanently benumbed and paralyzed
by the stronger will of the hypnotist or of the obsessing
intelligence.
There is a most interesting resemblance between the effects of
stimulants, narcotics or hypnotic control and blind, unreasoning
faith. The latter also benumbs and paralyzes judgment and reason. It
gives full sway to the powers of imagination and thus may produce
seemingly miraculous results.
This explains the modus operandi of faith cures as well as the
fitful strength of the intoxicated and the insane, or the beautiful
dreams and delusions of grandeur of the drug addict.
The close resemblance and relationship between hypnotic control and
faith became vividly apparent to me while witnessing the performance
of a professional hypnotist. His subject on the stage was a young
woman who, under his control, performed extraordinary feats of
strength and resistance. Several strong men could not lift or move
her in any way.
What was the reason? In the ordinary, waking condition her judgment
and common sense would tell her: "I cannot resist the combined
strength of these men. Of course, they can lift me and pull me here
and there." As a result of this doubting state of mind, she would
not have the strength to resist.
However, the control of the hypnotist had paralyzed her reasoning
faculties and therewith her capacity for judging, doubting and not
believing. Her subconscious mind accepted without question or the
shadow of a doubt the suggestion of the hypnotist that she did
possess the strength to resist the combined efforts of the men and
as a result she actually manifested the necessary powers of
resistance.
It is an established fact that the impressions (records) made upon
the subconscious mind under certain conditions as, for instance,
under hypnotic influence absolutely control the activities of the
physical body.
Does not this throw an interesting light on the power of absolute
faith, on the saying: "Everything is possible to him who believeth?"
Blind, unreasoning faith benumbs and paralyzes judgment and reason
in similar manner as hypnotic control or stimulants and in that way
gives free and full sway to the powers of imagination and
autosuggestion for good or ill, for white magic or black magic,
according to the purpose for which faith is exerted.
It also becomes apparent that such blind, unreasoning faith cannot
be constructive in its influence upon the higher mental, moral and
spiritual faculties. These can be developed only by the conscious
and voluntary exercise of will, reason and self-control.
From the foregoing it will have become evident that we cannot
increase vital force in the body through any artificial means or
methods from without, by food, drink or stimulant. What we can and
should do, however, is to put the organism into the best possible
condition for the liberation and manifestation of life force or
vital energy.
The more normal the chemical composition of the blood, and the more
free the tissues are from clogging impurities, poisons and
mechanical obstructions, such as lesions of the spinal column, the
more abundant will be the liberation and the available supply of
vital energy.
Therefore perfect, buoyant health, which ensures the greatest
possible efficiency and enjoyment of life, can be attained and
maintained only by strict adherence to the natural ways of living
and, when necessary, by the natural treatment of diseases.