What's your opinion about Breatharian or non eating ideas?

[Froglet]

Hello,

So I recently found a free e-book (can be found at www.breatharian.info) about breatharianism, the idea that you can live without food and I would also suppose water.  The idea stems from the idea that eating is simply an addiction and because of this you can slowly ween yourself off.  Now, I'm not saying I KNOW this is true.  I'm open minded to it and have been reading this book.  To me biologically at the level we are at scientifically, I can understand how it would work, granted I only have 2 college semesters of Biology.  If anyone with more back ground as a doctor or biology type person would like to share their opinion I would like to hear it.  But the Author's Explaination is very Esoteric in Nature and seems to be just fine from that stand point.  The Author also claims having been a non eater or Breatharian... basically, He didn't eat between sept 2001 and march 2003.  The Book is just a way to show you how you could if you wanted be able to achieve this.  

Disclaimer:
Now I will say read this with common sense and don't just stop eating.  The Author himself advises not to just suddently stop eating.  

Any opinions are welcome.

James

[Kazbadan]

i am not interested on becoming a breatharian, because i like to eat, but i just dont get how can one become a breathrian (if that is true, which i dont believe...but still get my mind open).

[Kodemaster]

Ummm...I think you would die...LOL

[Kodemaster]

http://www.rickross.com/groups/breat.html

[Ybom]

Are we spiritually ready as humans to give up the concept of food? I guess a few may be...but the chance of death is pretty high I would expect, at least for the majority of humankind.

I'd say the best way to start out would be to start increasing the amount of fruit/vegetable based proteins in your diet. I doubt drinking more orange juice and eating more bananas would really hurt anyone; a good replacement for 'starches'.

[malganis]

there are people who are on prana. Also i have heard about solar joga. You stare in the sun for forty minutes per day and you dont have to eat and you get rid of all diseases. But unprepared you would just harm your eyes and might get blind.

[NickJW]

If you ask me it is IMPOSSIBLE to live that long without food, not to mention that you would become very unhealthy and I don't see the spiritual benefits so whats the point in the first place.

More mystic b/s.

[Makaveli]

If this were possible I still wouldn't want to go without food.  I don't see any good reasons to start this diet which is probably unhealthy and difficult.  It's better to just eat healthy.

[James S]

I like your comment Froglet about the author's explanation being very esoteric. Does that mean he can't explain it in a way that would (scientifically) hold any water?

Our bodies have evolved / been designed to function in a particular way, and part of that way is to derive energy from biological matter. Sure there are other forms of energy around us, but to try and use these other forms of energy to fuel the biological machine we call our physical body would be like sticking a ni-cad battery in the sunlight and hoping it will charge.

An interesting opposing view to the breatharians would come from yoga or Reiki masters who will tell you of the importance of good nutritional food.

But then we all know that breatharians are just full of air.


James.

[James S]

Thanks for the link Jen.

It's interesting reading - not from the fluf that Jasmuheen is trying to put forward, but from teh fact that she's never been able to proove that she goes without food as she says she does.

Also interesting, if you do a Google images search on Jasmuheen, she's got a pretty good figure for a 40something who eats nothing!
She obviously looks after herself quite well, but maybey telling people how she really does it is not nearly as profitable!


James.

[Kazbadan]

Thats an amazing post runlola! If that is true, scientists must start study human body with different ways.

Even so, i must ask:
1) Could it be true the source of information?
2) I dont know if i understood very well, but: the man was under obsv. for 10 years? Is that so?

3) (not a question) i read many storys of tibetan monkeys living in caves and in the forests and only eating small bags and herbs from times to times.

4) About the palate: what is the relation bewteen the palate problem and about eating? How does that palate thing make the old man being able for not eating for so many years?

5) If this inof is true, why i never see such kind of info on news? Its irritating that only from times to times (at least here in Portugal) that i will see on TV News, news like these or about ufos, ghosts and the like. It would be more interesting if they could pass more news about things like that, or scientific news, and less news about death, war and blood (as usual).

[Ybom]

I like your comment Froglet about the author's explanation being very esoteric. Does that mean he can't explain it in a way that would (scientifically) hold any water?

Our bodies have evolved / been designed to function in a particular way, and part of that way is to derive energy from biological matter. Sure there are other forms of energy around us, but to try and use these other forms of energy to fuel the biological machine we call our physical body would be like sticking a ni-cad battery in the sunlight and hoping it will charge.

An interesting opposing view to the breatharians would come from yoga or Reiki masters who will tell you of the importance of good nutritional food.

But then we all know that breatharians are just full of air.


James.

Last I checked, the human body is very adaptable, moreso than any NiCad battery out there. I would like to see a group of people that have gone beyond thinking about food to focus on other things.

[James S]

I would like to see a group of people that have gone beyond thinking about food to focus on other things.

They're called online gamers.  

[Ybom]

I would like to see a group of people that have gone beyond thinking about food to focus on other things.

They're called online gamers.  

No, they eat, they just don't go to the bathroom. Tis why the majority of them are a tad overweight methinks.

[James S]

Runlola,

That was a very interesting read!
There is the belief that our bodies were designed to be fully regenerative, and mostly we've lost that ability through "toxic" living. I wonder if this fakir could be existing by this means?

Certainly would save on grocery costs.

[edit]
Ybom,
You've got a good point there! Kinda gross isn't it?

[Ybom]

I think if you gave me something to chew on and you gave me something to do that was just so interesting as to divert my attention away from hunger, I could probably follow this path.

Just like if you take a running leaping dive towards the ground and during the last instant before you hit, you get distracted or divert your attention away from it, you start to fly. (anyone know where this concept comes from?)

I'd like to be able to do almost anything, but at the point where there's no point to which we could progress further, I would be very sad, or maybe happy I dunno yet. But probably sad.

[Souljah333]

Our bodies are very much ready for this move away from food, and interestingly enough...it coincides with there not being much food available; little with any nutritional significance left that is. We're basically being fed overly-refined, empty caloric kibble. Keeps us very 3-D.

I think that Ybom's last post sums up the general mentality. That it would seem more plausible if one were given just as good a distraction to replace food. So what is food, if not a distraction?!?
I always find it interesting in "alternative minded" areas such as this, that the majority of people are so conventional in their thinking. How difficult it seems to get around such a simple concept. Forgetting how powerful the mind can be in manifestation. Of course it isn't true, if you don't believe it.

I'd be interested to know how many people that have responded to this thread have "fasted", how long, and the outcome of thoughts on that?

I'll go first: Longest Fast: 21 days
During which I felt more alive, more energetic then I ever have. Increased senses/metabolism/awareness & psychic ability.

333

[James S]

A thought occurred to me this morning.

It's all very well for people of our society to say we're ready to be able to give up food, how "alive" we can feel as a result, charge or spend good money for books and whatnot so we can learn how to become breatharian, or look in awe at some mystic who's lived 10 years with no food.

But has anyone asked people who live in communities like those in parts of Africa and India who are starving to death? Has anyone thought to ask them if humans are ready to live without food? Has anyone tried to point out to them how better off they are not being encumbered with the need to eat regularly, how "alive" they must feel?  Has anyone offered to teach them how they might become breatharians?

Sorry, but when we high and mighty well fed westerners start talking about how evolved we could be by becoming breatharinains, I now think of those not so high and mighty third worlders starving to death, and  what a sewage treatment plant full of fast food generated excrement it really is!

James.

[Souljah333]

i always look forward to your particular perspective dear james.
yes it's very much something to think about. i wasn't trying to come off as holier-than-thou.

it's discomforting the extremes between the haves & have-nots, and on top of that (even more disturbing) that "westerners" have such a "victimized", slave-type, pity me mentality on the whole. i've been thinking about that a lot lately...how that happened? where it comes from? but that's another thread.

yes it's sad that people should be starving "to death", but my personal perspective has always tended to place those so-called "third world" cultures & it's people above whatever the hell we're doing as "civilized" people. mostly bcuz they function closer to nature, magic, faith, family, community, etc. they haven't over-complicated everything. of course there are pockets of those who are more than willing to exploit that simplicity to their own personal gain, but i don't exactly know what to do about that?!?

yes i suppose the average westerner would consider them-self privileged to be able to shove food & drink into down their gullet wherever & whenever they feel like...but i don't see that as better off or more advanced. i don't see where this race toward convenience aids us in ascension.

someone that walks a few miles for potable water instead of turning on a tap or cracking open a bottle, someone that has to build a fire (make fire) to cook instead of turning a knob, someone that works from sun up to sun down using the light 'when it's available', rather than flipping a switch, and those that take seriously the value of herbal medicine, bcuz the nearest hospital is a five day WALK...for some reason in my mind those people seem much better off to me. i don't think anything will change my mind on that. some of those people might very well be self-motivated, but it's out a need for survival. as westerners we are more "self-absorbed", and pretty much i believe without reason.

fasting is very much a part of heightening ones self. that can't be denied. so too is abstinence in other forms & the path of self-discipline.
it absolutely doesn't hurt in this "new rome". i'm not too much into defending my mind set this morning. so i'll leave off by saying that so many people never push themselves outside that "comfort zone" to learn anything new. even in regards to the astral...westerners are not one to appreciate the work or struggle involved to gain insight.
it's all based on immediate gratification & escape.

you didn't mention whether you've ever fasted at all?!?
& how it made you feel?
soul

[Kazbadan]

Eating is so good! Specially if the "food" is young, with 20 to 30 years ....(i think i shouldnt say that:)).

Talking in a more serious way, i love the buddhist idea of "the path of the midle" (whatever, dont know the exact translation to english). That idea says that we shouldnt follow radical paths. Neither 8, neither 80 (like we say in Portugal).

So, eating to much its bad, but eating to little or nothing is bad too. There is no need fo rthat. For some reason our body have a mouth, a stomach and so on...

Sometimes its nice to abuse and eat to  much (from times to times, like in partys and the like) and sometimes its good to eat little and even do some fasting (for "opening" the body-mind a little more to spirituality, for example) if you know how to do it.

Just my humble opinion.

[Ybom]

My longest fast? Probably a day or so. I have no particular need or desire to fast at this point in time for extended periods. It also doesn't help that my grandfather (bigoted as he is) is next door and he constantly is saying "ya need to eat, son" whether you just ate or not.

However, I have the ability to eat too much and not gain weight, I generally cannot eat too little and not lose it. This probably is because of my grandfather's words. I remember when I was younger he would use the "ya need to eat or you'll dry up and blow away" so I still have the childish mental image of turning to dust when I go for too long without eating. Simply put, my grandfather is probably the one to blame for how I subconsciously won't let myself off the food hook for too long; no I still blame myself for letting it get to me like this.

I hope that one day everyone will have the ability to eat, or not eat, depending on how they feel.

[James S]

Ahh, don't mind me too much Souljah, I was feeling a little belligerent when I typed up that post.  

Thanks for the compliment by the way, and definitely ditto with your posts.

No I don't see what you are saying as holier than thou, and I'm sorry if my post came across as being picky. Fasting is obviously something that works well for you, and I really don't have a problem with that at all.

My beef is with people like this Jasmuheen who's trying to make money off people through the breatharian cult at the same time that other people in the world are dying from lack of food.

yes it's sad that people should be starving "to death", but my personal perspective has always tended to place those so-called "third world" cultures & it's people above whatever the hell we're doing as "civilized" people. mostly bcuz they function closer to nature, magic, faith, family, community, etc. they haven't over-complicated everything.

I was thinking the exact same thing myself! Many native cultures are very much in tune with nature and with Spirit, so what gets me is what is it about these breatharians that make them so clever?

Or mabey the harsh reality of the places where famine exists makes the people who live there concerned with day to day survival for themselves and their families, rather than being concerned with reaching some kind of higher spiritual existance.

As for fasting, I used to fast for a few days at a time on a regular basis when in the christian church, but I never really got the point of it. It was a case of fasting because that was the done thing. For me, even now, I still don't see a point in trying to fast, it really does nothing for me, except make me hungry.

For some reason I've always been able to see directly to the core of a concept, and somehow mentally go right to that core, bypassing the "rituals" (for want of a better word), such as the need in abstain in some things to achieve a result, except when my body is telling me its time for a de-tox.
Maybey I've always naturally walked that middle ground Kazbadan spoke of.

I know, not terribly exciting when you're not going to extremes from time to time.

Many blessings,
James.

[Ybom]

I know, not terribly exciting when you're not going to extremes from time to time.

James,
Sometimes when you go to an extreme in one direction, you find a new stability point.

[Kazbadan]

Ybom, i have the same problem as you: even if i eat like a tiranossaur, my weight will be always the same. Thats a problem, because i will start to pratice muscles, in order to develop my body, but i get nothing. Even if i eat 221412 pounds of horse meat in a day, and pratice like a professional lifter, my muscles and my weight will be exactly the same...


In the other hand, if i eat to little i will not decrease my weight.

[Souljah333]

Kazbadan/Ybom & James:
Have enjoyed the last few posts very much; guess bcuz I'm a "Middle of the Row" type gal. I agree for the most part...you gotta follow your gut (pardon the pun), but don't let that gut take over, or get too damn lazy.

I don't know much about this Jasmuheen person. I'll have to do some reading. I have a lot of issues with guru in general.
JZ Knight really bothers me as well.

Funny Kaz...you brought up horse meat. I'm not sure most people here are acquainted with the delicacy, but it brings up an interesting change of topic...to lighten the morbidness of hunger (or maybe not).

What are people's opinions about eating alternative forms of meat?
I've tried just about everything from seal to silkworms, rattlesnake, dog, bear...i'd be surprised if someone could out do me on this one. The worst experience was my uncle's "fluffy bunny" cacciatore. I've eaten a lot of rabbit, but the trauma was actually in playing with them all day first (thinking they were pets) and then seeing them run around the yard skinned and headless!    Needless to say I fasted that night.

I was a vegetarian for ten years...just to note.

Q: is if you eat cow, are you opposed to eating horse? if you eat chicken, do you see any problem with eating squirrel? etc, etc.

Just interested
Soul