A true story by someone else;
That
chilly day in December, 2001 when I first heard X speak, I had no idea
that I was entering upon the most important phase of my life. An “earth shaking”,
“mind-blowing”, “life altering”, reason for being!! After the seminar my new
friend and I celebrated our meeting and sharing of experiences by going to
my favorite restaurant for dinner. I remember enjoying a Mai sandwich, little
did I know that this delicacy would fade into nonexistence for me. I remember
giggling about where we were headed – “Beautiful Fountains of Youth!” It all
seemed so easy – they would just give us these alignments and we would meditate,
bring in these rays and then (like a Fairy God Mother had waved her magic
wand – Poof, we would have our beautiful bods – sure sounded good to me).
I
went home and did all of the things that I believed would help me become the
person that deserved such a wonderful gift as the “Fountain of Youth”. It
all seemed a bit grandiose, but it still had a ring of the strangely familiar,
so I worked harder at eating the right foods, you know – less red meat and
more veggies. It wasn’t too long and the instructions changed to, “stop eating
meat”. I thought, “I can do that!” (by now I realized that this was serious
business and that this was God’s Business!). I observed the people around
me – some were also overweight and some were older (like me). Being 55, I
knew that I would have to observe the rules more carefully than a young twenty
something person, so I dug in and quit the “meat thing”. I remember a conversation
with another attendee. “I bet that cheese is going to be eliminated soon”.
Sure enough….. NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS!! By then, we were so set on the path that
it seemed as if it was the natural thing to eliminate! Since the whole idea
of the diet is to eliminate animal products from our bodies we have also added
fasting to our lives. Being of sound mind and cells full of animal products,
I decided that I had better get busy and push the garbage out.
Now
the crunch: where, oh where are the vegan restaurants when you want them??
I live in a small California town – far from the vegan restaurants. I first
tried the veggie burgers (forget that). I found a Thai restaurant that served
a mean vegetable curry. After several trips there I found out that they used
chicken broth to make the sauce. I have become much more vigilant with my
choices of food, for I realize that , “what goes in – must come out!”. I have
come to adore the waitresses who honor me with their thoughtfulness and willingness
to find a vegan item on the menu. Or the owner of a small Chinese buffet who
thoughtfully went through the different dishes and checked the ingredients
only to come back to me and say, “I am so sorry, but I don’t have anything
that is made without animal products”. I could have hugged him.
When
working to ascend and lose animalistic thoughts and actions I also began to
see more clearly my animalistic food habits. Even though I am a strict vegan
I have to work on portion control and remember that food does not equate with
happiness. As most people, I equate food with good times; when growing up
we always had lots of delicious food to gather around at meal time.
This
spring when I was visiting in L.A. we stopped at a little Falafal restaurant.
I scanned the menu on the wall and asked about the vegetarian dishes. Although
the communication was not the best the man behind the counter said “yes, it
is all vegetables. As I thought about the choices he jovially reached into
the greasy pile of deep fat fried potatoes and handed me a huge grease laden
slice of potato. I remembered the deep fat fried potatoes that my Mom used
to make and smiled, bit, chewed. Somewhere in my brain I expected to feel
my Mother’s arms around me, instead the old familiar grease gathered on the
top of my mouth. I hurridly chewed, bit again, chewed and gulped the huge
potato slice. As it went down I regretted my action. While swallowing I asked
“what is the oil that you fry them in? He replied “Natural”. I said like…like…
“pig grease?”, he said, “yes, yes, natural!”. Now, why didn’t I ask that question
before I bit? Was it maybe because I knew the answer and really wanted to
taste that “pig grease?” I even fleetingly thought about running to the bathroom
and trying to retrieve the “pig grease”. No, just remember that 50 + years
of animalistic living does not go away over night. I was disgusted with myself,
but now I smile and remember that I still have a ways to go in eliminating
old habits. I have found that for me changing my diet and fasting has been
the easiest part of working towards ascension. I guess that I like the strictness
and the challenge of “staying the course”. Of course, there is so much more
to my ascension than just what I put (or don’t put) into my mouth. We each
approach our individual challenges with courage and faith. Faith that we are
moving forward (with the help of our friends) and courage to get back up after
we stumble. I decided that every bite counts and the stakes (not steaks) are
really high, so therefore if someone tells you that just a little bit of animal
in our body won’t kill you. My answer would be “oh, yes it may”.
.
