The G.I. Tract:
"The symbolism of the G.I. (Gastro-intestinal) Tract is essentially that of the path which one charts through life. In a symbolic way, each person starts out on his path and, it is hoped, ascends higher and higher through many vicissitudes, changes, and meanderings. This can be compared to tacing the path of the G.I. Tract beginning at the bottom end and rising up through the colon and small intestine with their many folds and changes of direction."
"When one has met all of the various experiences of the first half of the life, it is expected that a period of 'digestion' and 'assimilation' will take place, during which the earlier experiences will be distilled and refined. This phase, extending from about age 28 to about age 42 , is represented by the stomach. The great incidence of stomach difficulties in this age bracket is testimony to the correctness of this symbolic relation, for the occurrence of any major stomach problem (like ulcers, for example) is always meant to signify to The Higher Self that some important soul lesson or experience has yet to be properly assimilated, learned, or understood."
"From the stomach, the esophagus rises in a relatively straight path up to the mouth, which is intended to signify the hope that, after life's major lessons have been properly assimilated, soul-progress can proceed in a very straight-forward manner. The esophagus thus denotes the part of the life after about age 42. Further symbolic meaning can be attached to the voice-box (larynx), the tongue, and the teeth, but these represent stages of achievement along life's path which only a handful of sages have ever attained and need not be given here in detail."
"In an early era (for the human lifestream) the digestive tract consisted of the esophagus, the stomach, and the small intestine. The large intestine (the colon) was absent, and the small intestine emptied directly into the rectum along a short tube. When the decision was made to insert the colon between the small intestine and the rectum, the result was to leave the short tube as a blind appendage at the bottom of the small intestine, and this is now called the appendix."
"Why was the colon introduced? Primarily, it was to provide to the human life-form an organ which was especially able to absorb the spiritual vibrations of foods, principally the various fruits that were then being introduced to The Earth. Now, when a human eats a fruit of any kind, the spiritual essence of that fruit is also assimilated into the body along with the physical atoms. However, prior to this digestive change, the human life-form did not possess any organ capable of assimilating this refined essence, and therefore the spiritual value of the fruit could not be taken in."
"At that time, the civilization had reached a point where it was necessary to increase the capacity for rational cogitation and thought. This leads to the reason for the introduction of the great quantities of fruits to The Earth, mostly imported from other Planets. It was decided by The Guides of Humanity (The Spiritual Hierarchy) that the time had come for man's rational faculty to be awakened to the point where He could grasp scientific principle."
"It is well known that thinking requires a large dose of 'fuel' for the brain. This fuel is in the form of blood-sugar or glucose. At present some 50% of the sugar intake is used to operate the brain. The remainder fuels the muscles. In effect, the sugar is 'burned' by being oxidized, thus releasing energy."
"Before the introduction of the new fruits, there were some rudimentary berry bushes and beet-like plants that stored sugars in their roots. These and the starches in the grains were enough to provide all the 'fuel' then required by the human life-form. However, the plan to stimulate the rational, cognitive faculty in Mankind required a sudden increase in carbohydrate sources and resulted in a decision to introduce a large number of high-yield fruits to The Earth, along with a superior form of sugar beet, potatoes, and a vegetable much like the present yam."
"The Guides of Humanity perceived clearly that the awakening of the rational faculty would have to be accompanied by a parallel rise in the level of spiritual awareness, for otherwise there was grave danger of a misuse of the new rationality for negative purposes. They, therefore, arranged for the addition of the colon so that maximum advantage could be taken of the new fruit gifts."
The Stomach:
"In the stomach, the main work of breaking down food into its different components takes place. And here too, the food is prepared for assimilation. Some assimilation occurs directly through the stomach walls, while other phases must take place through the intestinal walls."
"The meaning of the stomach, in spiritual and symbolic terms, is that of digesting and assimilating experience. The stomach signifies the part of the individual that can learn the lessons which are held out constantly by reality and which is able to accept that which is taught. Many people resent others to such an extent that the ability to learn lessons in an incarnational experience is impaired. The resentment clouds the inner perception, and, as a result, little improvement is made during the life-pattern in The Earth Plane."
"Because resentment, bitterness, and dislike are the principle blocks to assimilation of the lessons which earth-life was meant to teach, it often happens that stomach illness intervenes for one who has allowed these traits to invade him. Ulcers are the principle manifestation of resentment in the present phase of earth experience. However, any form of indigestion, distention, or gas must be looked on as possibly signifying something akin to resentment."
"In certain cases, the tendency responsible for the gastric problem is not resentment per se but rather an agitation and tenseness due to the pace of life, the demands which a busy existence makes, and the multiple expectations of others. All such harassment tends to interfere with the quietness of mind which is necessary to allow the introspection that alone can lead to a full grasp of one's life-lessons."
"Thus, even though the immediate cause of gastric difficulties is often tension, worry, resentment, and the like, the true reason why these inner traits lead to stomach problems is that they interfere with the main goal of life: to learn that which improves the soul, to master the lessons for which earth-life was undertaken."
"Thought-forms in The Aether are attracted back to the body of the person who generates them and tend to settle in parts of the body (at The Aetheric Level) which are close in vibration to the thought-forms themselves. The aetheric forms related to anger and resentment almost always home in on the digestive tract, principally the stomach and the colon. When these thought-forms are being continuously reinforced by habits of anger and resentment, i.e. when such emotional episodes erupt almost daily, they acquire an extremely powerful energy which ultimately can have pronounced effects on the organs which they have occupied (in The Aetheric Body)."
"The most common organ to be adversely affected by the emotions of anger and resentment on a regular or daily basis is the stomach of The Astral Body. The stomach is that which normally assimilates positive, health-giving substances, but when The Astral Body -- which feeds upon emotion -- is given only negative, destructive nourishment in the form of resentment, hatred, and the like, the stomach of that higher vehicle literally wastes away due to the fact that its normal function cannot operate. It cannot take in the resentment being fed to The Astral Vehicle, and so it ceases to function altogether. When the astral stomach begins to waste away, there is a delayed effect (about 9 months) which is transferred to the physical stomach."
The Small Intestine:
"The intestinal areas can be looked on as an extention of the assimilative functions of the stomach. Since the intestines too are principally involved with the assimilation of food, it stands to reason that illness and malfunction in these areas likewise points to a failure to learn the lessons of life from a spiritual point of view."
The Colon:
"Mankind has raced ahead in its rationality and its understanding of the physical world without rising equivalently in spiritual perception. This has happened despite the gift of fruit and despite the presence of the colon. To a considerable degree, Man has deprived Himself of the wonderful spiritual elevation that could have been gained from the eating of fruit by fouling the colon with decaying matter from the remains of animals. When Mankind began to eat the cadavers of the great Kingdom That He was given to protect and teach, the gradual loss of this avenue to spiritual perfection began."
"Today, there remains a close link between the colon and the degree to which one's spiritual perspectives can broaden. A colon fouled with old compactions of decaying flesh cannot fulfill its proper function. Moreover, it is easily observable that those who indulge heavily in the eating of animal cadavers tend to dislike fruit and eat little of it. Why? Simply because the spiritual vibration of the fruit is too high for a body that has been coarsened by the excessive consumption of flesh."
"So connected is the colon with spirituality that those who have fallen very far away from the life of The Spirit, through disbelief or through indulgence in the various excesses that the world makes available, find themselves very prone to developing cancer of the colon. Indeed, if a person must have part or all of his colon surgically removed, he will find it very hard to open himself in the spiritual sense. We do not say that it cannot be done but that the way is very, very hard."
"And We do not hesitate to recommend the practice of colonic irrigation through the taking of water-based enemas on a regular basis. A quantity of luke-warm water is placed in the colon through the anal canal, retained for several minutes, then expelled. This treatment will work wonders in removing ancient compaction from the colon."
"The rampant increase in cancer of the colon is directly the result of heavy meat-eating, particularly red meat. This connection is now known to conventional medical science, and it a stark comment on the refusal of Humanity to give up its self-indulgences that even this proven correlation has not significantly lowered the eating of animal cadavers."
"Naturally, the colonic cancer victim is also being shown something else through his disease, namely that his basic ability to learn and assimilate the lessons of his life-pattern is very poor. The fact that he has developed colonic rather than stomach cancer, for example, is due in most cases to the fact that he was a heavy red-meat eater prior to the onset of the cancer. The matter is judged on the basis of which part is weakest at the time of inspection (by The Guides). Some have weak colons genetically. Others predispose the colon to illness through a heavy diet of meat. In others, it is the stomach which is the weakest due to the harboring of resentment and dislike."
The Pancreas:
"The pancreas has a number of functions, but one of the most important is that of allowing the body to balance the sugar (glucose) level in the blood. With the great availability of sweets in The Earth today, the pancreas has been called upon to secrete far more insulin than was the case in past ages when sugar was not so readily available in the refined state. Few are aware of the ravages to which they subject their bodies through the ingesting of refined sugars in any form."
"It is the case that Man was meant to have sugar as a part of his dietary intake. However, the wise Shepherds of The Race -- Those Who designed the physical vehicle and provided the means in Nature by which it could be sustained -- did not intend that Man should debase natural forms of sugar by refinement. The carbohydrates which Man can find in Nature basically include fruit sugars and starchy vegetables. In the latter category are potatoes, yams, bananas, beets, grains, and other sources. The digestive system which Man was given is ideally suited to absorb properly these natural materials, whether in the raw or the cooked state."
"When the human body takes in a whole fruit, it does ingest the sugar which the fruit contains. This was planned. However, the fruit contains much more than merely the sugar. It contains numerous enzymes, minerals, and other factors at the physical, Astral, and Aetheric levels which contribute importantly to the task of digesting the sugar. Without these additional materials, the digestive system is literally not able to digest the sugar content in a healthy way."
"Thus, when Man strips away these additional factors, for example through the refining of the sugar cane, the refined sugar which results is not something for which the human body was designed, and its ingestion can only be harmful. Naturally, it is a question of quantity. Small portions of candy or the like, made with refined sugar, will only cause marginal damage, but the average North American eats far too much of this dangerous material and has caused serious ravages in his system by the time he reaches age 30."
"One of the most grievously damaged parts of his body is the pancreas. Because of the inordinately high sugar intake, the pancreas has had to overwork for years, and in many people this produces a weakening of its ability to perform its function. For some, the result is a chronic oversecretion of insulin, leading to cases of low blood sugar or Hypoglycemia. In most such cases, the person has over-indulged in sweets in a previous life, and the result is a congenitally weak pancreas in the present physical body. In other cases, the pancreas simply gives up and cannot any longer secrete sufficient (or any) insulin. Diabetes is the result. Again, the illness is usually prepared in a previous life of over-indulgence in sweets."
"This brings Us directly to the symbolic meaning of the pancreas per se. It is that of over-indulgence or self-indulgence. But the meaning is not restricted to food. In other words, he who has a problem with his pancreas may be self-indulging in emotional excess, or in violence, or in any of the other areas of negative self-expression, and this may be at the root of pancreatic illness or malfunction. The seeker who wishes to get to the bottom of any case where the pancreas is inadequate or diseased will have to become familiar with the whole life-pattern of the victim."
The Liver:
"This organ is that which corresponds to the idea of balance, equilibruim, and normalcy. In many ways, it represents the concept of good sense and sanity in terms of The Higher Self. We should point out that, in connection with sanity, for The Higher Self there is no such thing as mental illness."
"Mental illness is normally defined as a certain inability to cope with the requirements of a normal productive life. Those who suffer in the mind are usually unable, to a greater or lesser degree, to manage the details of their lives properly. A certain lack of the sense of reality is also a part of many mental imbalances, in the sense that the victim is not able to distinguish that which arises from within his mind from that which has an objective reality apart from the observer. We do not wish to enter into a philosophical discussion as to what constitutes 'objective reality'. It is enough to point out that there is a general consensus as to what constitutes the normal objective world and that those afflicted in the mind often do not share that consensus."
"We have said that in The Higher Self there is no mental illness. This affliction arises only in the earth personality and is almost always due to a mismatch between the mental nature of the lower self and that of The Higher Self. When the divergence becomes too great, the energies of The Higher Self cannot enter the lower personality to support mental activity at The Earth Level, and, as a result, the capacity for rational perception and sane judgement becomes impaired."
"It should be pointed out that, in many cases diagnosed as mental aberration, the cause is also chemically related. Because of the mismatch between the higher mind and the lower minds that have been projected in past incarnations, it sometimes happens that The Soul (Higher Self) is not able to properly form the brain of the fetus while it is in the womb. When this occurs, a hormonal or chemical imbalance arises, and it is this which places the extra pressures on the lower mind. Indeed, it is this which, in large part, stands in the way of a full and proper communication between the higher and lower minds of the individual."
"We have digressed into the question of mental illness for an important reason, namely to explain that at The Higher Self Level no one is ever mentally ill. Having said this, however, it remains true that some higher minds of certain individuals, while not irrational, are nonetheless quite lopsided in their emphasis -- so much so that when it comes time for That Higher Self to project another earth personality, the body itself, and specifically the liver, tends to be improperly formed in some way."
"We cannot over-emphasize the importance of the liver to the correct functioning and healthy life-pattern of every individual. The liver is known by medical science to be responsible for scores of different functions, all of them of great importance to the health of the body. The known functions are only at The Material Level. There are additional functions at The Aetheric and Astral Levels which the liver also performs, and these are every bit as essential to the health of the individual as those which occur at The Material Plane."
"Thus, the presence of disease, malformation, or dysfunction in the liver, regardless of the nature of the problem, always points to a present or previous lopsidedness in The Higher Self at the mind level. We say previous because there are many cases in which a person is born with a defective liver or has a lingering condition due to some liver illness that is now in the past, and that person has fully managed to correct the lopsidedness in his Higher Part. However, because of the inertia of all matter at The Physical Plane of being, any formerly diseased part can linger on in a state of illness or sensitivity until the mind and the visualization ability, working together, have corrected the structural problem at The Physical Level."
"Nonetheless, We should emphasize that any acute liver condition, including the gall bladder, should normally be taken as a pointer to a concurrent imbalance or lopsidedness in the mental portion of The Higher Self, probably reflected in the thought patterns or attitudes of the lower personality as well."
"Also, guilt, being a negative emotion, causes damage to man's various bodies, including the physical. Principally, it is the liver which is affected most strongly by prolonged feelings of guilt."
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