Table Of ContentLONGEVITY,
AND
m
IMMORTALITY
W.
Charles Johnson,
Jr.
Fasting, longevity, and immortality
RM 226.5 .J65 4 7 6 86
illlililii
Johnson, Charles W.
CIIS LIBRARY
and
Souls?
FASTING,
LONGEVITY,
AND
IMMORTALITY
W.
Charles Johnson,
Jr.
Calif. Institute of Integra]
studies
foo Ashbury
San
Francisco, CA
94117
Calif. Institute of Inte' • ..js
765 Ashbu ^
'
CA
San Francisco, b-ill?
"Alas for you (social leaders), who have taken away the key to
knowledge: You have not gone in yourselves, and have prevented others
—
going in who wanted to" Jesus Christ, as quoted in Luke 11:52.
It should not be necessary (but in today's legal climate it isTto point out
that the reader assumes the credits for any benefits he may gain from
fasting or from reading this book. The reader also assumes the blame for
any "bad trips" he may get out of fasting, or out of reading this book.
This author believes that the benefits of fasting/or outweigh the risks. I
have tried to record both the good news and the bad news about fasting.
—
Much more research is needed. It isn't being done. So you're on your
own. Good luck.
Anypart of this book may be reproduced for educational, inspirational,
non-profit purposes, no strings attached. (Proper credit might constitute
an additional service to the intended recipients of such reproductions,
however.) In particular, it is hoped that the fasting-inspired poems in the
appendix may be considered part of the public domain.
Praise God,
Charlie Johnson
'x.
Copyright © 1978 by Charles W. Johnson, Jr.
Published by SURVIVAL, Turkey Hills, Haddam, Connecticut 06438
PREFACE
In the 1940's, experiments proved that rats live
significantly longer if they fast every third day of their life.
In the 1920's experiments with cattle demonstrated that
cattle can fast for as many as 21 days with little loss of
strength or psychological stress. However, cattle on halfra-
tions become both physically weakened and seriously
stressed psychologically. In 1912, a Malta attorney came to
America and proved to Boston scientists that his I.Q. went
up during a 31-day fast. For more than a hundred years a
dedicated but small group of health cultists have been try-
ing to tell us that fasting will cure many of the diseases with
which we are presently afflicted. Since the beginning of
recorded history, most religions have testified that fasting
enhances our psychic powers, leading to divine inspiration,
accurate prophecy, healing of disease, and physical or
spiritual salvation for individuals, groups, cities, and even
nations.
Does fasting rejuvenate the cells of our body and promote
greater longevity? Does fasting promote PANS (Parasym-
pathetic Autonomic Nervous System) dominance over
SANS
(Sympathetic Autonomic Nervous System) and
thereby promote the good emotions of faith, hope, love, and
tranquihty over the bad ones of doubt, despair, hate, and
turmoil? Will fasting develop and bring forth our psychic
abilities as many religious traditions insist? Can fasting
erase the scars of life planted in M-RNA (memory-type
ribonucleic acid) by wrong eating and environmental pollu-
111
DDT
tion? Can it remove from our body's fatty tissues,
cholesterol deposits from our artery walls, and viruses from
their hiding places of mischief?
Could fasting be used to help isolate a long sought
"psychic" energy, and can this help us demonstrate a scien-
tific case for man's potential immortality? These ideas are
explored in this book. Evidence is collected to help the
reader reach his own conclusions. A plea is made for
research into all these aspects of fasting.
Why
has the religiously important discipline of fasting
fallen into almost complete disuse? Is mankind really that
spiritually degenerate? Are we really that uninterested in
our own physical health? Perhaps this book will help you
turn the tide in mankind's favor. Perhaps it will even inspire
you to improve your physical and spiritual life through
fasting. The author hopes so!
'^*W
IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS
—
Chapter One Introduction 1
—
Two
Chapter Fasting in the Bible 6
—
Chapter Three Personal Fasting Experiences 13
Table of Fasts of the Author 69
—
Chapter Four Review of the Fasting Literature 72
Life's Important Opposites (poem) 128
—
Chapter Five Fasting and
—
Immortality Speculations 129
—
Chapter Six Summary and Conclusions 161
Some Fasting Clinics 168
Fasting Bibliography 170
General Bibliography 174
Author's Biographical Sketch 178
Fasting Photos 180
Appendix: Fasting-Inspired Poetry 185
About Fasting
What do you know aboutfasting?
Is it goodforyour immortal soul?
Will it help you live life long-lasting?
Will it help you achieve life's goal?
Will it heal health and rejuvenate?
Will it add grace to your decision?
Willfasting even remunerate
By adding strength to precision?
Will it add to the power ofprayer
And
lead to a prophetic voice?
Will it help you to dispel despair
And
guide you to just the right choice?
Will it heal the mind and the body
For today and all time to come?
Will it change a life that is shoddy
And
in all ways improve you some?
Will it increasefaith in your maker,
Give you peace and solace serene?
Will it make you a best partaker
In all that the world comes to mean?
Yes, fasting can improve society,
Add
to the worth of the world,
And
provide a greater propriety
For all worthy causes unfurled.
So learn all you can aboutfasting
And
practice it eagerly, too.
It can lead to life everlasting,
And make you a person more true.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The poem About Fasting may be an example of the over-
advertising we are so guilty of as a society. I say "may be"
because I believe that the significance of the fasting phe-
nomenon is potentially very great in today's world.
Many questions remain unanswered. Many mysteries of
fasting remain unsolved. Much research remains to be
done, and little interest is manifest in accomplishing this
research.
I would like to express the speculation that our many
world problems exist because we deserve them. We cannot
—
solve these problems political, economic, medical, moral
—
until we are deserving of their solution. Perhaps we can
become more deserving through the physiological and psy-
chological improvements that we can experience through
We
fasting. may also benefit from longer, healthier lives,
and from an increased chance for "immortality."
To substantiate these claims in part, I am about to record
my my
still-incomplete research in fasting. I do this before
research is complete because I may never be satisfied
enough to call my research complete. In addition, I hope
that you, the reader, may be able and willing, by your own
my
personal fasting experiences, to add something to
searching efforts in this fascinating area. You may benefit
greatly and help the discipline of fasting "break loose" from
social stigma into its potential place of great social
usefulness.
From my own experience I am convinced that, as in most
1
research, the ''Hterature survey" must be augmented by
"laboratory experience." I urge the reader to view suspici-
ously those experts, either pro or con, who have little or no
personal fasting experience. They appear to be a best
source of bad information. It must be confessed that the
testimony of experienced fasters also contains a great deal
of contradiction. Fortunately, there is, none the less, a
strong stream of consistency holding this testimony
together.
An important characteristic about the fasting experience
must be stressed. Although it would seem to be a very
physical type of experience, tradition leads us to believe
that it has important spiritual aspects. The very subject of
fasting arouses such an emotional reaction that it is difficult
to write about it or read about it in an objective manner. In-
deed, most of what has been written about fasting emo-
tionally expounds its value for health or for spiritual
benefits, but not for both. "Fasting for health" exponents
usually deny that fasting fosters spiritual growth, while
"fasting for spiritual enrichment" exponents often feel that
fasting for health is a misuse and desecration of a spiritual
exercise. Perhaps this book can help the reader decide the
issue.
Fasting's subjective connotations are so strong that it is
almost a forbidden subject within the most "legitimate"
circles of our society. In modern vernacular, fasting is re-
jected by the "establishment," even as a topic of popular
publication. Only the larger libraries have any books listed
under "fasting." (Even these are often listed under
"Fasting and Feasting"! Almost no "establishment"
— —
publishing house has an "in print" or out of print book
to offer on the subject of fasting (1973).
Shouldn't we seriously question how this can come about,
when the fasting tradition is an important part of all great
religions? Has a Godless element surreptitiously woven its
way into the very core of our communications network?
As this literary effort evolves, it will perhaps appeal most
