Towards Freedom

Let us begin by establishing the fact that Jesus made vegetarianism a requirement of discipleship and that he was himself a vegetarian In the Essene New Testament, Jesus declares:

Verily I say unto you, they who partake of benefits which are gotten by wronging one of God's creatures, cannot be righteous: nor can they understand holy things, or teach the mysteries of the kingdom. whose hands are stained with blood or whose mouths are defiled with flesh….Wherefore I say unto all who desire to be my disciples, keep your hands from bloodshed and let no flesh meat enter your mouths.

We see above that Jesus required vegetarianism from anyone who desired to become his disciple. Likewise, we read in another verse from the same manuscript:

A disciple of Jesus asked him a question, saying, "Master, if there come to us any that eat flesh… shall we receive them?"

And Jesus said unto him, let such abide in the outer court till they cleanse themselves from these grosser evils; for till they perceive, and repent of these, they are not fit to receive the higher mysteries.

Of course, Jesus practiced what he preached; he was himself a vegetarian. In fact, in the following verse he describes himself not only as a vegetarian, but as an Essene Fruitarian. Before sharing that verse with you, I will briefly define the term Essene Fruitarian (a bit later we will more fully define it). An Essene Fruitarian eats only the parts of a plant that can be eaten without killing the plant. This includes obvious fruits such as apples and oranges, but also includes anything else you can eat without killing the plant: squash, corn, cucumbers, etc. We will expand on this definition soon, but let us now consider the following verse in which Jesus describes himself not only as a vegetarian, but as an Essene Fruitarian :

For of the fruits of the trees and the seeds of the earth alone do I partake, and these are changed by the Spirit into my flesh and my blood. Of these alone and their like shall ye eat who believe in me, and are my disciples, for of these, in the Spirit, come life and health and healing unto man.

In the above excerpt, the term "and their like" refers to "other similar vegetarian foods" ; but it is quite clear that though Jesus only required basic vegetarianism from new disciples, he certainly strongly encouraged his veteran disciples to go on to become Essene fruitarians. That is made clear in the following excerpt from The Essene New Testament; Jesus said:

God giveth the grains and the fruits of the earth for food; and for righteous man truly there is no other lawful sustenance for the body…. For God is just and bountiful who ordaineth that man shall live by the fruits and seeds of the earth alone.

Now a more detailed definition of the term Essene Fruitarian. We have already stated that an Essene Fruitarian eats only the part of a plant that can be eaten without killing the plant. Thus, not only the typical "fruits" can be eaten - grapefruit, grapes, figs, dates, etc. - but also corn, squash, broccoli, almonds, sunflower seeds, AND ANY OTHER VEGETARIAN FOOD YOU CAN EAT WITHOUT KILLING THE PLANT . Lettuce can be eaten if harvested correctly : simply pick the outer leaves of the lettuce, rather than uproot the plant. The lettuce will continue to grow more leaves and you can continue to harvest the outer leaves every few days. Eventually it will go to seed; you can harvest the seed for your next planting. Even grains such as wheat can be eaten, since it is not necessary to uproot the grass to harvest the grain. Although many Essene Fruitarians will choose to be vegan (a vegan is a vegetarian who eats no animal products at all, including dairy products), it is possible to eat dairy products on this diet since the animal is not killed and the milk comes from grass that need not be uprooted. However, it is important that the dairy product be from animals that are loved and well cared for, and that the animals are not killed when they grow old and non-productive. Jesus permitted his Essene Fruitarian disciples to have milk products; but in those days that meant RAW milk from animals you or your neighbors loved and cared for, as they had no cruel factory dairy farms back then. And the milk would have been from sheep or goats, not cows. The milk of sheep and goats is far easier to digest than the milk of a cow. The milk you buy at a typical grocery store in modern America IS NOT THE MILK ENDORSED BY JESUS! Grocery store milk is not raw, is not from animals well cared for, and is not from sheep or goats. Again, one can choose to be a vegan Essene Fruitarian. But in order to support my assertion that Jesus permitted his disciples to use RAW dairy products, I quote from The Essene Gospel of Peace:

Wherefore, prepare and eat all fruits of trees, and all grasses of the fields, and all milk of beasts good for eating For all these are fed and ripened by the fire of life; all are the gift of the angels of our Earthly Mother. But eat nothing to which only the fire of death gives savor, for such is of Satan.

Jesus' reference above to foods that are "ripened by the fire of life" is a reference to raw foods. His reference to "the fire of death" is a reference to cooked foods. Above, we see that he specified that not only milk, but all our other Essene Fruitarian foods as well, should be raw - uncooked - if at all possible. Jesus' emphasis on raw food vegetarianism is made clear in the following excerpt from The Essene Gospel of Peace:

But I do say unto you: Kill neither men, nor beasts, nor yet the food which goes into your mouth. For if you eat living food, the same will quicken you, but if you kill your food, the dead food will kill you also. For life comes only from life, and from death comes always death. For everything which kills your foods, kills your bodies also…. Therefore, eat not anything which fire, or frost, … has destroyed I tell you truly, live only by the fire of life, and prepare not your foods with the fire of death.

The fact that the term "fire of life" means foods heated only by the rays of the Sun, with no other cooking, is made clear in the following passage. The following passage is also significant in that Jesus gives his own bread recipe! It is this recipe that gave birth to the Essene Bread (sprouted grain breads) sold in modern health food stores, though the health food stores cook with an oven rather than the Sun that Jesus insisted on:

"How should we cook our daily bread without fire, Master?" asked some with great astonishment.

Jesus replied, "Let the angels of God prepare your bread Moisten your wheat, that the angel of water may enter it. Then set it in the air, that the angel of air also may embrace it. And leave it from morning to evening beneath the sun, that the angel of sunshine may descend upon it. And the blessing of the three angels will soon make the germ of life to sprout in your wheat, Then crush your grain, and make thin wafers…. Put them back again beneath the sun…. And the same sun which with the fire of life, mode the wheat to grow and ripen, must cook your bread with the same fire. For the fire of the sun gives life to the wheat, to the bread and to the body. But the fire of death kills the wheat, the bread and the body."

When it comes to cooking with the sun, Jesus had a big advantage over many of us: He lived in a desert! Personally, I live in Oregon where it rains much of the year, and cooking with the sun is not always possible. However, a food dehydrator will accomplish the task. You see, the reason Jesus wants us to cook the bread in the sun rather than in an oven is that he knows the living enzymes in the wheat will be killed if the bread is cooked at a temperature of 118 degrees or more. This is true not only of wheat, but of all food: anything you cook at a temperature of 118 degrees or more will have its enzymes destroyed! And as Jesus knew 2,000 years ago and as modern science has now confirmed: ENZYMES ARE ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TO YOUR HEALTH! And besides the destruction of enzymes, cooking food destroys many other nutritional elements and creates cancer causing toxins. BUT YOU CAN PREPARE YOUR BREAD IN A FOOD DEHYDRATOR AND THE LIVING ENZYMES AND NUTRIENTS WILL BE PRESERVED.

Jesus has made it clear that he wants us to eat raw vegetarian foods. Now let us ask: WHY? We began to see in the above paragraph that health is one reason; let us explore that reason in more detail and then search for other reasons. In his excellent book Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet, Gabriel Cousens, M.D., writes:

We need to examine the effects of cooking on ourselves and on the food During normal cooking, enzymes are destroyed the active forms of vitamins and minerals are partially destroyed pesticides and fungicides break down to form toxic compounds, and there is an increase in free radicals….

On the physical level, all our life processes depend on the functioning of enzymes They are the physical agents of life, important for digestion, for detoxification from internal pollution and external ecological pollution, and for maintaining our immune systems and all our metabolic and regenerative processes… Dr. Howell, the pioneer of food enzyme work in this country, says the quantity of enzymes we have in our systems is the equivalent to what we call life energy or vitality, and thinks of our enzyme level as indicative of our health status… Raw natural food seems to come loaded with the enzymes…. when we process foods by heating them above 118 degrees… there is 100 percent enzyme destruction…. Therefore a raw food diet can actually add enzyme energy and material to the system.

… most researchers indicate at least a 50 percent loss of vitamin B in cooked foods. Some losses, such as thiamine, can be as high as 96 percent… Biotin losses can be up to 72 percent, folic acid up to 97 percent, inositol up to 95 percent, vitamin C up to 70 to 80 percent Viktoras Kulvinskas estimates that the overall nutrient destruction or loss of bio-availability after cooking is approximately 85 percent Along with this, the Max Plank Institute for Nutritional Research in Germany has found cooked proteins have only 50 percent bio-availability as compared to uncooked proteins. In general, it can be said that cooking foods coagulates the bioactive protein chelated mineral forms, disrupts RNA and DNA structure, and produces free radicals (the agents that cause cancer) in fats and protein….

Cooking food in these modern times has an added danger. Dr. William Newsome of Canada's Department of Health and Welfare Food Research Division, Bureau of Chemical Safety, found that cooked fungicided tomatoes had 10 to 90 times more ETU a mutagen and cancer-causing compound than raw fungicided tomatoes from the same garden. He found that EBDC fungicides break down under heat to form ETU He felt that the amount of ETU in chemically treated vegetables (all types of vegetables, not just tomatoes) is 50 times greater than the same vegetables served raw.

The above excerpt from Dr. Cousens' book demonstrates that modern science has proven Jesus Christ correct in his claim that the raw vegetarian diet is more healthy than cooked foods. Not only do healthy people become even more healthy on this diet, but sick and diseased people often become well. Indeed, thousands of people have been cured of "incurable" diseases - including cancer - by switching to a raw food vegetarian diet. In his splendid book Conscious Eating, Dr. Cousens reports:

The use of live foods for creating health has had a strong foundation of medical support in the last 100 years. One of the first clinics to adapt a row food for health approach was the Bircher-Benner clinic started in 1897 in Zurich, Switzerland. Its founder, the world famous Max Bircher-Benner, MD., discovered the power of raw foods when he experimented upon himself his own healing. He found that live foods healed his jaundice and inability to eat. Later, he had a patient who was unable to digest anything, including cooked foods, and who was slowly degenerating in his health. In his studies; Dr. Bircher-Benner discovered that the wise teacher, Pythagoras, who lived in 500 B.C., had used raw foods to heal people with poor digestion. He applied Pythagoras' cure to the patient and he recovered…. Bircher-Benner began to investigate the properties of live foods and found that regardless of the seriousness of the disease, the living food treatment was a powerful healing approach. Based on these principles, his clinic became one of the most respected healing centers in the world.

In the early part of this century another great physician, Max Gerson, MD., also discovered the healing power of live foods. First for the healing of his own migraines, and then later for the supposedly incurable disease called lupos. He then applied this approach to every sort of medical disease, from clogged arteries to mental disorders. He believed that a live food and live juice diet was more than just a specific cure for certain diseases. He said that eating row foods was a way of eating which restored the diseased body and mind's ability to heal itself… In 1928, he was even able to cure Albert Schweitzer's wife of tuberculosis with this diet. Later, he put Albert Schweitzer on a raw food diet for his diabetes. As a result of this, Schweitzer was cured of diabetes and was able to stop using insulin. Dr. Gerson also found that a live food diet high in potassium would restore the potassium-sodium balance and improve cellular respiration as well as enhance the immune system. He began to apply this principle to the treatment of cancer with great success. This work was highlighted by his extensively documented book A Cancer Therapy, Results of Fifty Cases , which he published in 1958. His successful cancer clinic, using these live food principles, is (today) successfully under the direction of his daughter, Charlotte Gerson, in Mexico….

The Danish physician, Kristine Nofi, switched to row foods to heal herself of breast cancer. Based on her positive experiences with herself and her patients, she started the successful Humlegaarden Sanatorium in Denmark

Dr. Cousens goes on to describe other healers and physicians who have had thousands of clients become well on the raw food vegetarian diet, including Dr. Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas of the famous Hippocrates Health Institute, Dr. Paul Bragg and Dr. Norman Walker. Dr. Bragg was as fit as a teenager when he was killed in a swimming accident at age 96. Dr. Walker lived to be 108. The ancient Essenes, following this raw food vegetarian diet, lived to be an average age of over 100, many reaching the age of 120, even though they lived in an era when most people lived to be only about 45 years of age.

Perhaps the greatest modern example of a healer using the raw food vegetarian diet to treat people with various ailments was Dr. Edmond Bordeaux Szekely. In 1929, as a graduate student, he discovered and translated The Essene Gospel of Peace, an ancient text (we have already quoted from it) which includes Jesus' teachings on raw foods. Using the principles outlined by Jesus, Dr. Szekely cured many lepers at a leper colony in Tahiti, then opened a health clinic in Mexico. At his clinic, he conducted what he called The Great Experiment, treating 123,600 people over a 33 year period with the health program given by Jesus. Approximately 17% of the clients came with the medical diagnosis of "incurables", 90% of the 123, 600 people regained full health, including many of the supposedly incurable.

All of the above is quite impressive. Clearly, there are amazing health benefits to eating a raw, vegetarian diet. You can become a raw foodist and feel better and younger than you have in many years, as well as prevent and heal various diseases - even those considered incurable. But enhanced health is only one reason that Jesus advocated the raw diet. His primary reason was spiritual. In fact, his advocacy of vegetarianism in general was primarily based on the spiritual ethic of compassion, as illustrated in the following passage from The Essene New Testament:

Jesus, speaking of animals, said, "And whatsoever ye do unto the least of these my children (the animals), ye do it unto me. For I am in them, and they are in me. In all their joys I rejoice, in all their afflictions I am afflicted. Wherefore I say unto all who desire to be my disciples, keep your hands from bloodshed and let no flesh meat enter your mouths."

While the above passage illustrates Jesus' primary reason for not only raw food vegetarianism but vegetarianism in general - COMPASSION - there are certain spiritual advantages to raw food vegetarianism over cooked vegetarianism. And when raw food vegetarianism is practiced in the context of Essene Fruitarianism, the spiritual advantages are even greater. I will explain.

The universe is a cosmic school system for the training and evolution of spiritual beings. Like all school systems, there are various levels in the cosmic school system: first grade, second grade, third grade, and so on…. We are all enrolled in the cosmic school system. When we learn the lessons at one level of the universe, we graduate to a higher level of the universe where we will learn more advanced lessons. One of the subjects we study in the cosmic school system is nutrition. We learn that the process of spiritual nutrition is an ongoing, PROGRESSIVE ASCENSION into ever-less-dense, ever-more-light, ever-less violent forms of diet. There are three primary spiritual reasons to give up eating the bodies of butchered animals:

1. Compassion , as illustrated in the above quotation from Jesus;
2. Enhanced Communion with God;
3. To better serve God.

While cooked food vegetarianism is a big step in the right direction, ALL THREE OF THE ABOVE LISTED SPIRITUAL REASONS FOR VEGETARIANISM ARE MUCH MORE FULLY ACCOMPLISHED ON A RAW FOOD ESSENE FRUITARAN DIET. Let us consider the second and third reasons listed above, and then, in the light of that consideration, we will return to number one.

My dear Essene friend and co-worker Dr. Gabriel Cousens, whom I have already liberally quoted in this article, has written by far the best book on this topic, Spiritual Nutrition and The Rainbow Diet . In that book he describes how the majority of people live to eat , white the health conscious minority eats to live . But he then describes an even higher motivation - a spiritual motivation - for eating: ENHANCED COMMUNION WITH GOD. He writes:

When we eat in a healthy, harmonious way, our ability to attune and commune with the Divine is enhanced With this perspective, I suggest that rather than 'living to eat', or 'eating to live', WE EAT TO INTENSIFY OUR COMMUNION WITH THE DIVINE Our hunger for the Divine then becomes the overwhelming appetite.

A key to understanding the wholistic paradigm of nutrition lies in the concept of what I call Subtle Organizing Energy Fields (SOEFs) …. Historically and culturally the idea that the human system is organized around an energy pattern that determines its functioning has been with us for thousands of years. The Chinese science of acupuncture is based on the subtle energy fields called meridians and the subtle energy called Chi. In India, bath the sciences of yoga and Ayurvedic medicine use the word prana to describe the subtle energy of bodies and the life force in other living fields….

By accepting the concept of the preeminance of SOEFs in both plant and human systems, we can take an expanded view of food which has body, life force, and Subtle Organizing Energy Fields (SOEFs) similar to the human system. It is the dynamic interaction of these human and plant SOEFs that is important in understanding the new paradigm of wholistic nutrition …. These SOEFs resonate with the unlimited virtual state energy, transferring it through various step-down systems that eventually transduce it into the energy fields of the human body. The SOEFs thus resonate with and energize the body-mind complex. Virtual energy is omnipresent, thus we are always resonating to some extent with this cosmic energy. Most of the time we have only indirect or brief experiences of this, but at certain stages of spiritual evolution it is possible to experience this resonance in direct attunement, consistently and consciously… As we become more aware of and resonant with this virtual energy state, our minds merge and identify with this awareness as the unchanging truth and the reality of our existence. The awareness becomes part of our conscious awareness in our everyday activities. Eventually, it becomes a continual awareness and attunement with the cosmic energy. This is known as cosmic consciousness…. If we damage the functioning of our system as an accumulator and a superconductor of cosmic energy by destructive diet and lifestyle, the free flow of cosmic energy cannot occur…. One implication of this is that without the stimulating forces of the raw foods, the organs of assimilation are not energized or exercised and therefore begin to atrophy… when cosmic energy is sufficiently condensed it arrives on our plates as food. As whole, raw food it maintains its S0EF

In other words, Dr. Cousens is saying that we will have an intensified, enhanced communion with the Divine if our Subtle Organizing Energy Field (also known as Aura ) is healthy and vibrant. He is also saying that the primary food for our SOEF (Subtle Organizing Energy Field) is the SOEF of plants, AND THAT COOKING DESTROYS - KILLS - THE PLANT SOEF BEFORE OUR SOEF HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO ASSIMILATE IT. Thus, raw foods feed our aura, cooked foods do not, and a healthy aura intensifies and enhances our communion with the Divine. On a diet of cooked foods, vegetarian or not, our subtle anatomy is dramatically weakened. Even before we manifest obvious symptoms of physical disease, we will be cut off from the more subtle levels of reality within and around us. Telepathy, clairvoyance, and other subtle abilities which are our birthright, will not be fully experienced as a living reality. But worse yet, our experience of God will become a thing of dogma and head knowledge RATHER THAN A LIVING COMMUNION . Dr. Cousens goes on to devote entire chapters of his book to supporting each of these assertions with scientific evidence, as well as providing detailed descriptions of the various aspects of our subtle anatomy, including the sheaths of the soul and the chakra system. He is very convincing; I suggest you read the entire book. For the purpose of this article, though, we will consider Dr. Cousens' point to have been made: A DIET OF RAW VEGETARIAN FOODS, DUE TO ITS VITAL SUBTLE ENERGIES WHICH FEED OUR AURA, WILL ENHANCE AND INTENSIFY OUR DIRECT COMMUNION WITH GOD AND COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS.

I know the above to be true because I have personally experienced it. After several years on a raw food diet, I had a profound sense of walking with God ALL THE TIME , rather than just while meditating or having a peek experience. There is a big difference between merely talking or thinking about God, AND ACTUALLY EXPERIENCING GOD . After seven years on a raw diet, I began to see auras, experience telepathy and clairvoyance, have past-life recall, and do out of body travel. All of those things are our birthright as human beings. And the most important birthright of all is to WALK WITH GOD IN PERPETUAL COMMUNION . So, I know via personal experience that Dr. Cousens is correct in his assertion that a raw vegetarian diet will intensify our communion with God for the various reasons he outlined. But I also know that there is another reason - a very profound reason - that eating a raw vegetarian diet enhances our communion with God: DIVINE OBEDIENCE. It is the will of God for humanity that we eat a raw vegetarian diet (Genesis 1:29). And whenever we are in harmony with the will of God - the laws of the universe - we experience the presence of God within and around us. And when we disobey the will of God, we create a self-imposed barrier between us and the presence of God. This is well illustrated in the following excerpt from The Gospel of Thomas:

His disciples asked, "When will you appear again to us? When will the Kingdom of God come so that we will again see you?"

Jesus answered: "When you shed your shame, and take your clothes, place them on the ground and trample them underfoot like little children. Then you will see the Son of the Living One, and will not be afraid"

As with most of the sayings of Jesus that appear in The Gospel of Thomas, the meaning of the above saying is not on the surface. Rather, one must work with the saying. One must dig deep looking for the mystical meaning. We will now do so, together. First, Jesus is asked a question: The Disciples want to know when he will come again (the second coming of Christ), and when will come the Kingdom of God in which, according to prophecy, Christ will rule on Earth. They expect an answer having to do with space and time: a geographic location (space) and a certain date (time). But, as is typical in The Gospel of Thomas, Jesus does not give them the type of answer they expect; rather, he gives them what, at first glance, appears to be a bizarre answer: "When you shed your shame, and take your clothes, place them on the ground and trample them underfoot like little children Then you will see the Son of the Living One, and will not be afraid" Upon deep reflection, Jesus' answer is not bizarre; it is core truth. Consider the following:

QUESTION: What religion were all or most of Jesus' disciples?

ANSWER: Being Jews, their religion was Judaism (even his Essene disciples were connected to Judaism, as the Essenes were a mystical branch of Judaism which evolved into Christianity).

QUESTION: In the scriptures used by Jews, when did human beings (represented by the allegorical Adam and Eve) first begin to wear clothes?

ANSWER: In the Garden of Eden Just before being exiled from the Garden).

QUESTION: Why did Adam and Eve begin wearing clothes?

ANSWER: Guilt. After disobeying God, Adam and Eve clothed themselves and attempted to hide from the presence of God. The Bible says, "Adam and Eve heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden, and they hid from Yahweh God." They hid from God because their consciences felt guilty, due to their disobedience of the law of God (they ate from the Tree of Duality - Good and Evil - rather than only from the Tree of Life). And one of the ways they attempted to hide themselves from God was putting on clothes. They then attempted to hide behind trees and put other barriers between themselves and God. (The clothes and other barriers represent spiritual and psychological barriers.)

In the light of all the above, let us again examine the response of Jesus. He said that to see Christ and not be afraid, and to experience the Kingdom of God wherein Christ rules, is not a function of space and time; rather, it depends on an inner condition. And he said we will experience that inner condition only when we shed our shame, take our clothes off and place them on the ground and trample them under our feet like little children. Only then can we see Christ and "not be afraid". He spoke these words to Jews who were very familiar with the Bible story about Adam and Eve first wearing clothes due to guilt from their disobedience of the law of God. Thus, the deep meaning of this mystical saying from The Gospel of Thomas is as follows. Human beings are capable of seeing Christ here and now and living in the Kingdom of God here and now . To do so, is to return to the allegorical Garden of Eden wherein human beings LIVED IN COMMUNION WITH THE PRESENCE OF GOD . But to do so, we must reverse the process: We must take the spiritual and psychological barriers we have placed between us and the presence of God - symbolized by clothes - and trample them under our feet. And we must return to obedience to the law of God.

What, you may ask, does this have to do with the raw food vegetarian diet? Everything! Whenever we disobey the laws of God we will suffer the natural consequences. The laws of God are the very laws of the universe. You cannot escape the laws of the universe; they are encoded into the very fabric of being. The laws of the universe are within you and all around you. Even if you are not aware of a particular law of the universe, you are still subject to it: you may not be aware of the law of gravity, but if you jump off a cliff you will experience the result of that law! But the situation is even worse if you are aware of a law of God and knowingly choose to violate it. That is worse because it leads to the type of guilt experienced by Adam and Eve. When we disobey the will of God, we create a self-imposed barrier between ourselves and the presence of God. But the beautiful thing is that the reverse is true: When we obey the laws of God (are in harmony with the laws of the universe) our communion with the divine is intensified and enhanced. THE LAW OF GOD FOR THE HUMAN DIET IS EXPRESSED IN THE FOLLOWING WORDS FOUND IN BOTH THE MAINLINE BIBLE AND THE ESSENE BIBLE:

GOD said, "I give YOU all the seed-bearing plants that are upon the earth, and all the trees with seed bearing fruit; this shall be your food" (Genesis 1:29)

Certainly, Christian and Jewish Bible readers are familiar with this law of God for the human diet. But not only Christians and Jews are responsible for implementing this dietary injunction; for the Bible - both Essene and mainline versions - declares that God has engraved his law upon our hearts. In other words, encoded into our hearts, minds, consciences, and digestive anatomy, is the dietary injunction of God. (In regard to digestive anatomy, there is clear proof that the human being is meant by God and Mother Nature to be vegetarian. Consider the evidence: meat-eating animals have an intestinal tract only three times the length of their body, but vegetarian animals - and humans - have an intestinal tract twelve times the length of the body. Also, meat-eating animals have acid saliva; vegetarian animals - and humans - have alkaline saliva. Meat-eating animals have no pores on their skin; they perspire through their tongue. But vegetarian animals - and humans - perspire through millions of pores on the skin. Meat-eating animals have small salivary glands; vegetarian animals - and humans - have well developed salivary glands. Meat-eating animals have very strong hydrochloric acid in their stomach to digest meat; vegetarian animals - and humans - have 20 times less hydrochloric acid in their stomachs.) Deep inside, at the core of our being, we know it is wrong to murder animals for food. Deep inside, we hear the voice of God saying: "I give you all the seed-bearing plants upon the earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this shall be your food." If we do not hear God speaking these words at the core of our being, we must GET NAKED WITH GOD . We must strip off all of our clothes- all self-imposed spiritual and psychological barriers between us and the presence of God - and trample them under our feet. Then we will hear the voice of God, and will not be afraid. Jesus said so.

It was this dietary injunction of God (Genesis 1:29) that Jesus was referring to and upholding when he declared:

Verily I say unto you, for this end have I come into the world that I may put away all blood offerings and the eating of the flesh of the beasts and the birds that are slain by men.

In the beginning, God gave to all, the fruits of the trees, and the seeds, and the herbs, for food; but those who loved themselves more than God or their fellows, corrupted their ways, and brought diseases into their bodies, and filled the earth with lust and violence. (Essene New Testament)

When we GET NAKED WITH GOD per Jesus' previous instructions in The Gospel of Thomas , we hear and lovingly obey the dietary injunction of God. This DIVINE OBEDIENCE leads directly to an ENHANCED COMMUNION WITH GOD .

It is important to note that the dietary injunction of God is not only a call to vegetarianism, but a call to RAW ESSENE FRUITARIANISM . After all, when God spoke the words of Genesis 1:29, there was no such thing as ovens and even fires for cooking were not known. A vegetarian is in partial compliance with the dietary injunction of God and will experience partial blessing and partial communion with God. A raw food vegetarian is in much fuller compliance and will receive much more blessing and much more communion with God. A raw food vegetarian who is also an Essene Fruitarian (vegan version) is in full compliance with the dietary injunction of God and will experience a full blessing and full communion with God, unless he or she is out of harmony with God in some other area of life.

Communion with God is better than anything you can imagine. It is better than good music. It is better than delicious food. It is better than sex…. Communion with God is the ecstasy of the soul. It is a sort of PERPETUAL SPIRITUAL ORGASM . But our becoming Essene Fruitarians is not only so that we can more frilly commune with God; rather, we obey the dietary injunction of God so that WE MAY BETTER SERVE GOD . There is much pain and suffering in the world around us. God wants love to replace hate, light to replace darkness, truth to replace falsehood, forgiveness to replace resentment. We are the hands and feet of God on earth. Because we love God, we wish to serve God. And we can best serve God when we are at our best. We are at our best -physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, - on an Essene Fruitarian raw diet.

While the primary spiritual reason for vegetarianism - cooked or raw - is COMPASSION , a raw food vegetarian is better equipped to ACT IN RESPONSE TO THAT COMPASSION . As explained over the course of this article, there are very real physical and spiritual advantages to the raw diet. Those advantages translate into being better equipped to respond effectively - out of compassion - to the world around us. But when it comes to compassion, THE ESSENE FRUITARIAN PATH IS FAR TRANSCENDENT TO BASIC RAW FOOD VEGETARIANISM. So that you may understand how that is so, it is time for us to take a very deep look at Essene Fruitarianism.

First, we will look at the nuts-and-bolts of Essene Fruitarianism. We will learn that there are three phases of the Essene Fruitarian diet. We will examine each of those three phases. We will discuss the types of foods eaten by an Essene Fruitarian, as well as describe the other dietary disciplines of this path such as fasting and proper food combining. Then we will make clear just how, when it comes to compassion, the Essene Fruitarian diet is far transcendent to basic raw food vegetarianism. In the context of doing all the above, we will move from the nuts-and-bolts of this diet on up to the heavenly realms: we will discuss such related esoteric topics as the Fall of Mankind, Angelic Ascension, Resurrection, Transmutation, and Breatharianism.

We have previously defined Essene Fruitarianism as the practice of eating only the part of the plant that you can eat without killing the plant. By this definition, an Essene Fruitarian may eat not only the obvious fruits such as apples, oranges, and avocados, but also less obvious fruits like cucumbers, squash, and corn. Many vegetables, herbs, and grains can potentially be eaten without killing the plant. Even greens such as lettuce, kale, and chard can potentially be eaten without killing the plant, if we but harvest the outer leaves and permit the plant to go to seed. In the non-vegan version of this diet, even raw milk can potentially be used. The key word in the above three sentences is "potentially". For instance, though lettuce can potentially be eaten without killing the plant, if you purchase a head of lettuce at the grocery store you can be certain that the lettuce plant was uprooted and killed at the time of harvest. The same is true for many of the other foods that can potentially be eaten without killing the plant; it is possible to harvest certain foods without killing the plant, but easier and more efficient for the farmer to uproot the plant. This is one of the chief reasons that I have developed a three phase approach to Essene Fruitarlanism. In PHASE ONE of Essene Fruitarianism, which can be considered the easiest or beginning phase, we are required to eat only foods that can potentially be eaten without killing the plant. But in PHASE TWO of Essene Fruitarianism, we are required to eat only foods that we can reasonably assume were actually harvested without killing the plant. In Phase One the key word is potentially , but in Phase Two we are dealing with actuality. For example, in Phase One of Essene Fruitarianism, we can eat a head of lettuce purchased at the store because, potentially , lettuce can be eaten without killing the plant. But we realize that in actuality the farmer probably uprooted the head of lettuce, killing the plant. In Phase Two of Essene Fruitarianism, we cannot eat any food unless we can reasonably assume that the food was actually harvested without killing the plant. Thus, Phase Two is more demanding than Phase One. PHASE THREE is even more demanding. In Phase Three we must have actual personal knowledge that the food we eat was harvested without killing the plant; unlike Phase Two, in Phase Three a reasonable assumption is no longer adequate. (What is meant by the term "reasonable assumption" is clarified in subsequent paragraphs.) Thus far I have only provided a few details about each of the three phases; below I list each phase with a full description.

Phase One allows us to make a gradual transition into Essene Fruitarianism. All of the foods we eat must potentially be able to be eaten without killing the plant. Because the requirement is only that we eat foods that can potentially be eaten without causing the death of the plant, this permits us to get used to eating the type of foods on the Essene Fruitarian Phase Two diet, while still shopping at grocery stores wherein we have no personal knowledge of exactly how the foods were harvested. This is important because, due to the dead food that most newcomers to Essene Fruitarianism have been eating for years, few have the energy to leap directly into Phase Two. The Phase One diet is so vastly superior to the diets folks have been on, that it is bound to increase their vitality and energy level, making an eventual transition to Phase Two very possible. And, in fact, many of the foods in our Phase One diet probably were harvested without killing the plant, especially fruits.

On the Phase One Essene Fruitarian Diet, we must attempt to eat mostly organic foods. (On the Phase Two diet, as we shall see, we are required to eat mostly organic, and at Phase Three we are required to eat only organic.) "Organic" means different things to different people; for us, it means that the plant was grown without pesticides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, etc. in other words, we are referring to produce that is free from poison!

On the Phase One Essene Fruitarian Diet, a minimum of 2/3 of our food must be raw (uncooked), with the goal of eventually achieving 100% raw. (Phase Two requires 100% raw.) It is okay to warm the food or use a dehydrator, as long as the temperature does not reach 118 degrees. (Scientific tests have shown that a few foods can handle a bit higher temperature without complete enzyme death, but the general consensus amongst raw food experts is that all foods can handle up to 118 degrees; thus that is the temperature we have selected as our ceiling.) Even if you never achieve the goal of 100% raw, the more raw foods you eat, the better off you are.

On the Phase One Essene Fruitarian Diet, we should become aware of the additional requirements of Phase Two and Phase Three and begin, step-by-step, to incorporate those elements as able. Essene Fruitarianism is an ongoing pilgrimage. Some Essene Fruitarians will reach full compliance with Phase Two or even Phase Three this incarnation; others will achieve only partial compliance this lifetime. But remember, even basic cooked-food vegetarianism is a great step to make this lifetime; most humans won't make that step. And the only requirement to become an Essene disciple of Jesus Christ is basic vegetarianism. So, even if you were to only achieve compliance with Phase One of the Essene Fruitarian Diet, you would be at a much higher octave of diet than almost all of the rest of humanity, even a higher octave than most Essenes reach. (The majority of our membership do not go much beyond basic vegetarianism, still eating mostly cooked foods.) But do your best to incorporate as many elements of Phase Two and Phase Three as you are able, during the course of your lifetime. The first step is to become aware of those additional elements; you can do that by studying the paragraphs below.

On Phase Two of the Essene Fruitarian diet, we are required to eat only foods that we can reasonably assume were actually harvested without killing the plant. At the grocery store, there are many foods we can assume were harvested without killing the plant: all the fruits and nuts that grow on trees, various varieties of squash cucumbers, melons, grains, etc. Obviously a farmer does not cut the tree down alter harvesting nuts or fruits; and the other plants listed above - and many not listed - have essentially run their life cycle and are withering away by the time their last crop is harvested. The farmer will not likely uproot them prior to their ending their cycle of productivity, which is when many non-perennials whither and die anyway, naturally. Granted, the only way to be absolutely certain that the plant is not killed before its natural time would be to grow it yourself or personally know the person who did grow it. On Phase Three of the Essene Fruitarian diet, that is exactly what is demanded. However, on the less demanding Phase Two, all that is required is a reasonable assumption that the food was harvested without killing the plant. We can reasonably assume that the sorts of foods listed above - foods that would typically be harvested without killing the plant - have actually been so harvested. That assumption is good enough for Phase Two, but not good enough for Phase Three, as we will see when we describe Phase Three in depth. We can never reasonably assume that grocery store lettuce was harvested without uprooting and killing the lettuce plant; that assumption would be contrary to what is typical on a farm. Thus, while we could eat grocery store lettuce on Phase One, we can no longer do so on Phase Two. Which is why we encourage all Phase Two Essene Fruitarians to grow as much of their own food as possible, especially greens such as lettuce.

On the Phase Two Essene Fruitarian Diet, we are required to eat mostly organic foods. By "mostly" we mean "whenever possible". In other words, we must always make a sincere effort to buy organic, whenever organic is available. (At the more demanding level of Phase Three, we are required to always eat organic; which may mean moving to an area where organic food is always available.) Although organic produce is usually more expensive (unless you grow it yourself), it is worth the extra money. Consider the following information from Why Panic? Eat Organic!!, a book by Beau Loveglo:

The benefits discovered by scientific research show many advantages of organic over nonorganic, chemically grown foods. They include more usable protein, more vitamin C, more fiber, more trace minerals, and less nitrates and other carcinogens. A study showed higher amounts of usable protein in organic crops; 50% more protein in many cases. Chemically grown foods have been shown to have less vitamin C (as little as half as much), low levels of which have been implicated in health problems ranging from mental disorders and cancer, to colds and less effective protein and mineral utilization…. Organically grown foods have been shown to consist of a higher fiber content Fiber is considered a nutrient because of its ability to cleanse the intestinal tract, taking with it bile acids that prevent the absorption of important proteins, vitamins and minerals. … Greater absorption of protein (tryptophan) and vitamins (B1, B3, B6, and C) produces a brain-chemical (serotonin) that lowers the hunger drive (via the hypothalamus). The body receives more nutrition with organic foods, and thus requires, and therefore craves, less. (For those overweight, organic food is good news) The use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and so on has also been found to create a higher pH (alkalinity) in the soil; which prevents the absorption of soil nutrients, particularly sulfur and trace minerals, by the vegetation. Trace minerals are important for many reasons; one is aiding the electrical and biochemical activities of the body and mind. Studies on the importance of selenium and iron are good examples of the importance of such trace minerals. Studies have shown that areas with low selenium levels in the soil also had higher cancer rates. Iron too is less available in the non-organic foods we eat when the body is deprived of the necessary supply of iron, a condition is created whereby lead or cadmium is absorbed both of which are toxic in small amounts, leading to mental and physical disabilities…. Iron and other trace minerals are important for regulating brain functions, and a deficiency in such always impairs mental and physical functions. Typically chemical growing methods only consider the 8 minerals essential to plant growth. But humans need at the very least, 27 minerals…. Chemical fertilizers also result in the presence of higher levels of nitrates and nitrites in foods, both of which are cancer causing, as well as toxic. They also deplete the body's utilization of vitamin A, a necessary nutrient which aids in the functioning of the liver, pancreas, adrenal glands, eyes, mucous membranes and so on…. Foods grown by non-organic methods, using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and other artificial substances, have been shown to contain noticeable levels of toxic residues in 50% of all such produce. Much of the commercial produce sold today, such as garlic, onions, potatoes and grains, has been stored for several years. Other types of produce are stored for many months. The concerns heighten when one realizes that stored foods such as these linger amongst, and are fumigated with, dangerous pesticides when stored… It's not surprising that foods are tested for toxic residues before they are stored since afterward they may permeate the food more so!

After reading the above, do you have any doubt that it is worth paying more money for organic produce? Just think of all the money you will save in future medical bills! And because your body and mind will be working so much better, you will be able to earn more income - doing creative things that you brainstorm! Anyway, on Phase Two of the Essene Fruitarian Diet, we are required to eat mostly organic foods.

On the Phase Two Essene Fruitarian Diet, we are required to eat 100% raw. This includes the ingredients in our salad dressing. This includes our seasonings. This includes our beverages. At this level, WE EAT 100% RAW, with no compromises.

On the Phase Two Essene Fruitarian Diet, we are required to implement Jesus' instructions to fast one day per week. In The Essene Gospel of Peace, Jesus declares:

And for get not that every seventh day is holy and consecrated to God. On six days feed your body with the gifts of the Earthly Mother, but on the seventh day sanctify your body for your Heavenly Father. On the seventh day eat not any earthly food, but live only on the words of God, and be all the day with the angels of the Lord in the kingdom of the Heavenly Father. And on the seventh day let the angels of God build the kingdom of the heavens in your body, as you labor for six days in the kingdom of the Earthly Mother. And let not food trouble the work of the angels in your body throughout the seventh day. And God will give you long 1ife upon earth.

While Jesus is likely referring to a water fast, on Phase Two we are required merely to abstain from solid food one day per week; raw juice is permitted. (At the level of Phase Three, the requirement will be a one day water fast, no juice permitted.) In regard to the term "one day", Jesus is referring to the ancient Hebrew way of calculating a day: each day begins at sunset and ends at the next sunset. For instance, the day which begins at sunset on Monday evening, ends at sunset on Tuesday evening. In regard to the term "the seventh day", Jesus is referring to the Jewish Sabbath: Friday evening (sunset) to Saturday evening (sunset). Thus, the one day fast that Jesus was describing would begin at sunset on Friday evening and would end at Sunset on Saturday evening.

On the Phase Two Essene Fruitarian Diet, we are required to become aware of and attempt to implement, proper food combining. (Although proper food combining was not mentioned at Phase One, it was stated that all Phase One Essene Fruitarians are expected to become aware of the additional requirements of Phase Two and Phase Three, and to implement as many of those requirements as able. Proper food combining is a discipline that even Phase One Essene Fruitarians should seek to implement. But at the level of Phase Two, awareness of proper food combining becomes a requirement.) In regard to proper food combining, Jesus, in The Essene Gospel of Peace, says:

And desire not to devour all things which you see around you. For I tell you truly if you mix together all sorts of food in your body, then the peace of your body will cease, and endless war will rage in you.

And we can be certain that this war in your belly will include plenty of heavy artillery! In other words, GAS! There are many good books on vegetarianism and raw foods that include handy charts which illustrate proper food combining. Some general guidelines are:

• Do not combine protein foods with fruits or starches. You can combine protein foods with most vegetables.
• You can combine starches with vegetables.
• Do not combine starches with fruits.
• Do not combine acid fruits with sweet fruits.

Consult a food combining chart for full details.

On the Phase Two Essene Fruitarian Diet, we are required to make every effort to obey Jesus' admonition not to overeat. In fact, Jesus calls on us to undereat. In The Essene Gospel of Peace, Jesus instructs:

And when you eat, never eat unto fulness. Flee the temptations of Satan, and listen to the voice of God's angels. For Satan and his power tempt you always to eat more and more. But live by the spirit, and resist the desires of the body…. So give heed to how much you have eaten when your body is sated and always eat less by a third….

A Phase Two Essene Fruitarian should make every effort to obey the above. Rather than eat until feeling sated, eat less by a third. As hard as that may seem, recent scientific studies have shown that under-eating increases longevity - as long as all of the essential nutrients are included in the diet. And your mind will be much clearer for spiritual activities such as meditation. Let us now examine the more demanding disciplines of Phase Three Essene Fruitarianism.

It is not practical to attempt to fully embrace Phase Three while living a normal American lifestyle. Phase Three is definitely not for the normal American - or normal earthling; rather, one must be very abnormal to practice such a demanding diet. Of course, in a world in which murder and mayhem are normal occurrences every day in big cities and eating the body of a dead cow is considered normal some of us earthlings - especially us Essenes - aspire to such abnormality! IN FACT, SUCH ABNORMALITY IS OUR GOAL! (Do you really want to be considered normal in the midst of a group-consciousness insane asylum?) The first Christians humorously referred to themselves as "fools for Christ" because, by following Jesus' radical teachings - including Essene Fruitarianism - THEY CERTAINLY APPEARED TO BE FOOLS, in the eyes of the "normal people". So, you should only read this section on Phase Three of Essene Fruitarianism if you suspect that you may be a fool, or at least a bit abnormal!

On the Phase Three Essene Fruitarian Diet, we are required to actually know that the food we eat was harvested without killing the plant. On Phase Two, we were permitted to make a reasonable assumption. The only reasonable assumption that is sure enough to meet the stricter criteria of Phase Three is in regard to tree-grown fruits and nuts; we know those are harvested without uprooting the tree. But other than tree-grown fruits and nuts, we must have actual personal knowledge that each food item we eat was harvested without killing the plant. Clearly, this means that most Phase Three Essene Fruitarians must be involved in growing much of their own food. Just as clearly, most will live in an area where organic farms are prevalent and can be personally visited, even if this means moving. I know from personal experience, local organic farmers are usually very happy to let you harvest your own produce and pay them on the spot. They are also usually quite willing to tell you which of their crops are harvested without killing the plant. (Our goal, as explained in our discussion of Phase Two, is that each plant be permitted to at least reach the point in its natural life-cycle that it has gone to seed and begun to wither; at that point, its seed can be harvested and it can be uprooted. The seed can be planted; thus, the uprooted plant may be reborn. Before going on to describe the other requirements of Phase Three Essene Fruitarianism, I think an explanation is needed in regard to WHY we would care if a plant were uprooted and killed. Most readers will assume - correctly - that it has something to do with our previously described motives of compassion and enhanced communion with God. But most readers will not fully grasp the dimension of our motives without some further explanation. This explanation will lead us into a discussion of such esoteric topics as The Fall of Mankind, Angelic Ascension, Resurrection, and Breatharianism.

Essenes use ancient scriptures which describe a time when human beings were radiant beings of light, without dense physical bodies, existing on subtle energies such as air and light WITHOUT THE NEED FOR DENSE FOOD. These beings lived in a heavenly realm which vibrated, like they did, at a much faster vibratory frequency than our current physical universe and planet earth. Due to disobedience (lack of harmony) to the laws of that realm, some of those beings fell into a dense realm - and dense bodies - of a much slower vibratory frequency. But they were told by Christ that, as an act of mercy, he would incarnate into their dense physical realm AND TEACH THEM AND THEIR FUTURE CHILDREN THE WAY TO RETURN TO THE HEAVENLY REALM. In fact, this entire story appears in the most ancient version of the Adam and Eve story. I will share excerpts from that ancient manuscript with you, but first, a bit of background information. Although this version of the Adam and Eve story is more ancient than the version in the mainline Bible and provides much more detail, it does not contradict the Bible story. Rather, it illuminates the Bible version. One scholar, Dr. J.J. Hurtak, in his book The Scrolls of Adam and Eve, states:

The Scrolls of Adam and Eve are scrolls which convey a fuller exposition to the first chapters of the Scroll of Genesis. They do not contradict the biblical scroll but, rather, bring to light a more in depth explanation of the origin of Adam and Eve and how the drama of the 'Fall' came about.

Another scholar, Dr. Ruthefford Platt, in his introduction to this most ancient version of the Adam and Eve story published in The Forgotten Books of Eden, writes:

Present day controversy that rages around the authenticity of the scriptures and how human life began on this planet must pause to consider the Adam and Eve story. Where does it come from? What does it mean? The familiar version in Genesis is not the source of this fundamental legend….

The version which we give here is the work of unknown Egyptians. Parts of this version are found in the Talmud, the Koran, and elsewhere, showing what a vital role it played in the original literature of human wisdom.

It is important to realize that not only this most ancient version of the Adam and Eve story, but all versions of the story, use the names "Adam" and "Eve" in a symbolic way: "Adam" represents the male human archetype; "Eve" represents the female human archetype. Thus, Adam and Eve are simply male and female archetypes of our species; they symbolize all of our ancient ancestors. We could just as well refer to them as "Man" and "Woman". With this understood, I will now share with you some significant excerpts from this most ancient version of the Adam and Eve story. Again, this is a more ancient version than is found on the pages of the mainline Bible. We pick up the story just alter Adam and Eve have fallen out of the Paradise of Light (heavenly realm) into the Dark Cave (dense physical realm). They are sorry and amazed that now they must eat physical food and drink water, whereas in the Paradise of Light they had no need to eat or drink:

And Adam said "Oh God while we were in the Paradise of Light, we did not require to drink this water; but since we came to this physical realm, we cannot do without it" Then God said to Adam, "while you were in obedience to my laws you were a bright angel; you had no need for this water. But after you disobeyed my laws and fell from the Paradise of Light into this cave of Darkness, you must drink this water; for your body is now like that of a beast"

Then God looked upon Adam and saw his weeping and groaning and said unto him: "Oh Adam, when you were in my Paradise of Light, you knew neither eating nor drinking… neither had you need of sleep. But now that you have fallen into this realm, all these trials have come upon you…."

Then God commanded an Angel of Light to give to Adam and Eve some figs to feed their beastly bodies. The angel obeyed and brought two figs from the same trees that Adam and Eve had hidden behind when first they had separated themselves from God and had attempted to hide themselves from the presence of God. The angel had to throw the figs to Adam and Eve from a great distance, for their animal bodies would be burned as by fire were they to come close to the Light Body of the Angel. Then Adam drew near and took one fig, and Eve also came and took the other. And as they picked them up, they looked at them, and knew that they were from the trees amongst which they had hidden themselves from God.

Then Adam said to Eve, "These figs are from the trees behind which we attempted to hide from the presence of God when we lost our bright nature of light. We know not what misery may come upon us by eating this solid food. Therefore, let us restrain ourselves and not eat them; let us instead ask God to let us eat from The Tree of Life." And they called out to God with their request And God said "Oh Adam and Eve, when the time is ripe I will send the Christ into the realm you now occupy, and he will give you and your children the fruit of the Tree of Life. And when you eat from the Tree of Life, only then will you be restored to your bright nature. Now, I give to you the fruit of the trees to eat, including the figs from the frees you did hide amongst For your animal body cannot now be without earthly food to strengthen it…." And Adam and Eve sat in their dark cave, weeping because of the alteration in their nature. And they both knew that they were altered beings, and that they could not now live in the Paradise of Light; for any bodies that require food and drink for their existence cannot live in that Paradise.

The above is the most ancient account of the first fall of Adam and Eve (archetype humanity). That first fall was from a heavenly realm wherein no dense food was eaten, to a physical realm in which food was required. It is at that time - the time of coming into physical bodies - that God gave the dietary law for human beings on planet earth: the Essene Fruitarian diet of Genesis 1:29:

God said "I give you all the seed-bearing plants that are upon the earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit,' this shall be your food."

Unfortunately, humanity did not obey this law for long. For soon, mankind began to kill and eat animals. THE FALL INTO THE FLESH DIET WAS THE SECOND FALL OF MANKIND, the first having been the fall into the physical realm. The second fall of mankind - the fall into a flesh diet - is described in the following excerpt from The Covenant of Love (a version of The New Testament reconstructed with help from the Dead Sea Scrolls):

And God said unto man: "Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed and every tree in the garden bearing fruit… to you it shall be for meat…." But alas!…. The will of God was no longer obeyed Divine principles were overcome by sensual desires…. The most sacred of trusts of all time was annulled by the lusts of the appetite, and the blood of an innocent creature stained the hands of man.

The Tree of Life was rent with pain. Its leaves hung limp in sorrow…. Fear and foreboding grasped the heart of every living creature. The bold became vicious and the meek fled in terror, and the carcasses of dead beasts became the abomination of carnal appetite…

Farther and farther man strayed from the truth of God. More and more did his power of choice become dominated by greeds and lusts. Weaker and weaker became his will to resist the cravings of the senses. Greater and greater grew the separation between the way of God and the way of man. And the True Light was obscured by the denseness of man's own maleficent designs, and he no longer recognized the Divine Presence. Man thereafter began to invent his own God or Gods…. They spilled the blood of virgins, of children, and of the gentle lamb and the faithful ox upon the temple altars to satisfy a lustful God.

In the light of the above, it can be clearly seen that Essene Fruitarianism is an effort to reverse the second fall of mankind, the fall from the fruitarian diet to the flesh diet. Phase Three of Essene Fruitarianism is a full return to the pre-second fall diet, while phases one and two are transitional steps. But the process does not end here. The ultimate goal of a Phase Three Essene Fruitarian is to reverse even the first fall: TO BECOME AN ANGELIC BEING THAT EATS NO BODY-PARTS OF ANY OTHER LIVING ENTITIES, INCLUDING PLANTS. Most will not achieve that ultimate goal this incarnation; but we know that our progress this lifetime will follow us into our next incarnation. (Essene theology includes the doctrine of reincarnation, with the goal of eventually transcending the need to reincarnate. We transcend the need to reincarnate - (the "wheel of birth and death") when we reverse the first fall and become angelic beings. Jesus declares that what we do this lifetime, does in fact follow us into our next incarnation; in The Essene New Testament we read:

And as they have sown in one life, so shall they reap in another. Jesus said "The soul is purified through many births and experiences…. As all creatures come forth from the unseen into this world so they return to the unseen, and so will they come again till they be purified…."

In The Book of Thomas the Contender, Jesus confirms that as long as we devour the bodies of other creatures, our bodies must die also:

These physical bodies survive by devouring the bodies of other creatures; the result is that these bodies are impermanent. These bodies will decay and perish, for they are bestial.

Phase Three Essene Fruitarians choose to be "fools" in the eyes of the bestial world in order to get closer to our goal of not eating the bodies of any other life forms. In short, we intuit a higher level of existence in which beings do not eat the bodies of other beings in order to sustain themselves. Not eating the bodies of animals is a step in that direction. Essene Fruitarianism is a further step in that direction. But the ultimate step is to not eat the body of any living entity, including plants. To achieve that goal is to experience ANGELIC ASCENSION, as described by Jesus in The Essene New Testament:

As Jesus sat to the west of the Temple with his disciples, behold, there passed some men carrying a dead man to buried And a man asked Jesus, "Master, if man die, shall he live again?"

And Jesus replied, "I am the resurrection and the life…. As in Adam all die, so in the Christ shall all be made alive. Blessed are the dead who die in me, and are made perfect in my image and likeness, for they rest from their labors and their good works do follow them. They have overcome evil, and live in the Heavenly realms of God. They need not leave the heavenly realms, for they have found the peace of God…. Over them the repeated death and birth have no power, the wheel of birth and death revolves no more, for they have attained the heavenly realms…."

"They shall be as the angels of God in Heaven and die no more, neither need they be born anymore, for death and birth have no more dominion over them."

In other words, once we reach that level of evolution we will have angelic bodies that never die. We will have reversed the second fall. We will have experienced ANGELIC ASCENSION. Above, Jesus makes clear that this angelic ascension is experienced by those that take on his "image and likeness". And that is accomplished by following his teachings, including, but not limited to, his dietary instructions. In the passage quoted above, Jesus referred to himself as the "resurrection". He means that he came to earth to be a pattern for us; if we follow the pattern, WE TAKE ON HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS AND EXPERIENCE THE RESURRECTION. In The Gospel of Phillip, we learn that we must work to experience the resurrection now, while we have an opportunity:

Adam ate from the tree which bore animals. He became an animal and brought forth animals….

Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If they do not receive the resurrection while they live, when they die they will receive nothing.

Although we must take seriously the command to follow Jesus in the resurrection now, this lifetime, and though he has made clear that our eventual goal is to reverse even the first fall by becoming angels in heaven that eat no other life forms, HE EXPECTS AND REQUIRES ONLY THE FOLLOWING DIETARY PROGRESS TO OCCUR THIS LIFETIME:

1. We must become vegetarians to enter his fold of disciples;
2. Our task after achieving vegetarianism is to work toward achieving the level of Essene Fruitarianism. In other words, our main task for this incarnation is to reverse the second fall - the fall from Essene Fruitarianism into flesh eating. Jesus never says in any of the ancient literature that he expects us to reverse the first fall this incarnation, only the second fall. But he does make clear that the reversal of the first fall is our ultimate goal, and that we will not achieve angelhood until then. Until then, we reincarnate.

However, there is fascinating evidence that some human beings - albeit a small minority -are in fact close to reversing even the first fall. These individuals were probably advanced fruitarians in their previous lives, and so are now ready for the next stage in human evolution. I am going to share the information I have about these rare individuals with you, but first some words of caution: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step! Do not try and take several steps in dietary evolution all at once or you may fall flat on your face! (Seriously, this is why Jesus permits vegetables and even raw milk: he doesn't want you to go too fast and lose your teeth and hair - as some have done.) Now that you have been warned not to prematurely emulate these rare individuals, I will share their fascinating stories.

My dear friend and fellow Essene teacher, Viktoras Kulvinskas, in his classic book Survival Into The 21st Century, provides the following excerpt from an article that appeared in the London Chronicle newspaper:

A woman of 50, who looks like she is 30, claimed yesterday that she… has beaten old age, and expects to live at least 150 years. She has set out to do it by giving up food. Twenty years ago she ate three normal meals a day. Slowly for 12 years she reduced her eating until she was keeping fit on one meal a day of grass, chickweed, clover, dandelion and an occasional glass of fruit juice. Five years ago she switched entirely to juices and raw tomatoes, oranges, grasses and herbs. Now she drinks nothing but a glass of water flavored with a few drops of lemon juice.

She says, "There is much more in sunlight and air than can be seen with the naked eye or with scientific instruments The secret is to find the way to absorb that extra - that cosmic radiation - and turn it into food." Each year she goes to Switzerland for the better air and climbs mountains on a diet of water from the streams. "You see", she explains, "my body cells and blood have changed considerably in composition. I'm impervious to heat, hunger or fatigue. Winter or Summer, even in Switzerland, I wear only a short sleeved jumper and skirt. In cold weather people stare at me. while they shiver in furs, I am warm. I'm as strong as a man, and need only three hours sleep for mental relaxation. As my body is free of toxins, I'm never ill. I had to advance slowly from vegetarianism to uncooked fruit and then to liquid. Now I'm working toward cosmic food (Air). I've passed the eating stage and could not eat if desired as my alimentary canal has changed considerably. It is no longer a filthy tube and is unable to handle any fiber. Instead of thinking my life will end in ten years, I'm growing younger."

It is important to note that Barbara Moore, M.D., the woman described in the above excerpt, made her amazing transition over a many year period. Keep that in mind! Also in Survival Into The 21st Century, Viktoras Kulvinskas provides an excerpt from a book by Dr. Morris Krok, written in 1961, titled Conquest of Disease. In that excerpt, Dr. Krok reproduces part of a speech given by Dr. J. Moore:

By experimenting on myself I've found that neither energy nor body heat comes from food. It's a fact, paradoxical, yet true, that I spent three months in the mountains of Switzerland and Italy eating nothing but snow and drinking only snow water. I was climbing mountains daily, not just fasting and sitting down reading a book or gazing at the sky. No, I was hiking daily from my hotel to the mountains, often 15 miles, climbing up to seven or eight thousand feet, then coming down and walking another 15 to 20 miles to my hotel.

When I discovered this I went a step further. I wanted to see whether I could live without food at all not for two or three months, but for a longer period I found this also possible, but not quite on an ordinary level as it were. I can do that in the mountains, but it is more difficult when I come down to an ordinary level. I find the air is different. I hope in time to live entirely on air.

Viktoras then briefly reports on a number of Breatharians:

Marie Frutner, a Bavarian girl who lived on water without food for 40 years, was under observation for a time in Munich in 1835…. Dr T. Y. Yan gave the following report on Yand Mel age 20, who hasn't eaten for the last 9 years: She shows no signs of starvation, leads perfectly normal life except having lost her desire for food. Her alimentary tract has become dormant and rudimentary; she takes no water…. Caribala Dasi, has been living for the past 40 years without taking food or water…. Dhanalak Shumi of Marcara, India, age 18, for over a year took no food or water…. Teresa Avila, Bavarian peasant, born 1898, has taken no food no water and no sleep since 1926, she is not thin or sickly, works in her garden, and is described as one of the happiest persons…. Giri Bala, Bahar, West Bengal, now over 70 years, has taken no food or fluid since she was 12. She has never been sick, is an expert at yoga, is always happy, looks like a child does normal housework, has no bodily excretions.

As previously stated, Jesus only requires that one become vegetarian in order to become his disciple. That is a partial reversal of the second fall of mankind, and a satisfactory step for this lifetime. As vegetarians, at least we do not murder and eat animals. But Jesus' hope is that we will go on to become Essene Fruitarians and completely reverse the second fall, by returning to the diet of Genesis 1:29. By doing so, we are preparing ourselves to eventually reverse even the first fall of mankind and return to residence in heavenly realms in which beings do not eat the bodies of other beings, - not even the bodies of plants. While that is our goal, most of us will not achieve that this lifetime. But if we reverse the second fall this lifetime, - by becoming Essene Fruitarians - maybe we can reverse the first fall in our next lifetime! After all, the above examples demonstrate that Breatharianism is possible even on planet earth! (In the heavenly realms we will be Lovearians, depending on no outside fuel - not even air - to sustain us. We will be fueled by love, which, the more you put out, the more you have.)

Essene Fruitarians do not want to kill anything, because we love everything. We don't even want to kill plants. Hey, we don't even want to kill insects or bacteria, which is why we are headed for the heavenly realms wherein we will have angelic bodies of light that require no killing of anything. We are fools… for Christ! While we believe our dietary path is healthy, we realize it is not without risk. We willingly take the risk of departing from mainline dietary practice because we are tired of being killers. We want to become lovers. To truly become lovers, we must mutate. Transmutation is our prayer. Angelic ascension is our answer.

Phase Three of Essene Fruitarianism is mature Essene Fruitarianism. We have already stated that it is not practical to attempt to frilly embrace Phase Three while living a normal modern lifestyle. We have also stated that, at the level of Phase Three, we are required to actually know that the food we eat was harvested without killing the plant. You will recall that at the level of Phase Two we were permitted to make a reasonable assumption that our food was harvested without killing the plant. But the only reasonable assumption that is sure enough to meet the stricter criteria of Phase Three is in regard to tree-grown fruits and nuts; we know those are harvested without uprooting the tree. But other than tree-grown fruits and nuts, we must have actual personal knowledge that each food item we eat was harvested without killing the plant. As pointed out previously, this means that most Phase Three Essene Fruitarians must be involved in growing much of their own food. Also, most will live in an area where organic farms are prevalent and can be personally visited, even if this means moving. Having reminded you about the things we said about Phase Three several pages ago- before we went on our long excursion into esoteric topics such as the Fall of Mankind and Breatharianism -we will now consider the other requirements of Phase Three of Essene Fruitananism.

Whereas at Phase Two we are required to eat mostly organic, at Phase Three of Essene Fruitarianism we are required to always eat organic. As with the situation described in the above paragraph, this requires living in an area where organic farms are prevalent and, best of all, growing much of your own food. Again, as described above, this may mean moving. The optimum situation would be to live in an Essene intentional community that specializes in growing organic produce. (Essene Church of Christ, of which I am the founder, has just established the first of what we hope will be a global network of such Essene farm communities. We have established the first community in Arizona, and are now attempting to establish one in Oregon near our headquarters. Contact me if interested in more information on this project.)

As with Phase Two, Phase Three of Essene Fruitarianism is 100% raw. But at Phase Three we add the requirement that the food be VERY FRESH. Obviously, this is always a good idea, even at Phase One and Phase Two; but at Phase Three it is REQUIRED. In The Essene Gospel of Peace, Jesus declares:

For… frozen and rotted foods will… freeze and rot your body also…. From the coming of the month of Ijar, eat barley; from the month of Sivan, eat wheat, the most perfect of all seed-bearing herbs…. And from Tammuz, eat the sour grape, that your body may diminish and Satan may depart from it. In the month of Elul gather the grape that the juice may serve you as drink. In the month of Marchesvan, gather the sweet grape, dried and sweetened by the angel of sun, that your bodies may increase, for the angels of the Lord dwell in them. You should eat figs rich in juice the months of Ab and Shebat… And the herbs which come after rain, these eat in the month of Thebet, that your blood may be cleansed of all your sins. And in the same month begin to eat also the milk of your beasts, because for this did the Lord give the herbs of the fields to all the beasts that render milk…. Eat not unclean foods brought from far countries, but eat always that which your trees bear.

In other words, EAT WHAT IS FRESH AND IN SEASON. Do not eat raw foods that have been frozen and kept in storage for weeks or months. While this may not seem very practical, remember: Phase Three is not practical! (It is not practical in the context of the modern, fast-pace lifestyle. Of course, in the context of health, well-being and spiritual transcendence, Phase Three is indeed practical!) IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE ABOVE WORDS OF JESUS BE PROPERLY INTERPRETED. Jesus was telling folks in ancient Israel to eat the foods that were in season there; he is not telling you to eat Barley in the month of Ijar - unless that happens to be what is in season in your neck of the woods! Jesus is telling you to eat what is fresh and in season WHERE YOU LIVE. Perhaps, due to today's fast transportation system, certain organic foods from distant locations might arrive at your health food store fresh; however, you still must be certain they are organic - which is rather difficult when the grower is far away. Certainly, you can be much more certain that a food is fresh and organic when the grower is YOU and the time of harvest is NOW.

Why all the fuss about freshness? Kirlian photography has demonstrated that the fresher a fruit or vegetable is, the more powerful is its subtle organizing energy field (SOEF). A fruit or vegetable photographed by the Kirlian technique within several minutes of being harvested displays a powerful, radiant aura of blazing light. The same fruit or vegetable photographed by the Kirlian technique several hours after harvest still displays a decent energy field, though it has definitely diminished from when it was harvested. The same fruit or vegetable photographed two days after harvest, still has a bit of an energy field, but not much. The same fruit or vegetable photographed a week after harvest has no discernible energy field. Thus, the fresher the fruits and vegetables are that you eat, the more powerful is their subtle organizing energy field (SOEF). And as Dr. Cousens made clear in a previous section of this article, the SOFFs of fruits and vegetables feed the human SOEF. A healthy human subtle organizing energy field (SOEF) is the key to physical well being, as well as spiritual unfoldment.

As with Phase Two, at Phase Three of Essene Fruitarianism we are required to eat 100% raw. This includes our seasonings and salad dressing. This includes our beverages.

As with Phase Two, at Phase Three we are required to fast one day per week. As with Phase Two, we may use the ancient Hebrew method of calculating a day: from sunset to the next sunset equals one day. Whereas at Phase Two we could choose any day of the week to conduct our fast, at Phase Three we must follow Jesus' specific instructions to fast on the Sabbath: Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Whereas at Phase Two we may fast on either juice or water, at Phase Three we are required to fast on water.

On Phase Two we were required to "become aware of and attempt to implement," proper food combining, but at Phase Three of Essene Fruitarianism we drop the word "attempt". At Phase Three we must become aware of' and implement, proper food combining.

On Phase Three of Essene Fruitarianism, we are required to eat no more than two major meals per day (a piece of fruit or glass of juice is not counted as a major meal). We must eat no solid food before noon (juice okay before noon) and our last solid food of the day must be eaten around sunset. While we are permitted as many as two major meals per day, some may achieve the level whereat they eat but one major meal per day. All of the requirements listed in this paragraph are adapted from the following words of Jesus, as found in The Essene Gospel of Peace:

Eat only when the sun is highest in the heavens, and again when it is set. And you will never see disease, for such finds favor in the eyes of the Lord And if you will that the Angels of God rejoice in your body, and that Satan shun you afar, then sit but once a day at the table of God. And then your days will be long upon the earth, for this is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

Phase Three Essene Fruitarians should attempt to save one or more seeds from each fruit or vegetable they eat, for later planting. With some foods this is more feasible than with other foods. This is not a requirement, but an invitation to advanced ahimsa (harmless-ness). When we eat from a plant or tree and then in return take responsibility to plant its seed, we are manifesting the true spirit of Essene Fruitarianism: LOVE.

Although I have divided Essene Fruitarianism into three separate phases, it is okay to take elements from each phase and create your own hybrid. For instance, you may be ready and willing to eat only twice per day, but not ready and willing to eat 100% organic. Or, you may be willing to follow most of the rules of Phase Two, but eat 75% raw instead of 100%. All sons of combinations of the various elements of the three phases are possible. But if you create a hybrid, be honest and call it a hybrid. For clarity of communication, let us honor the definitions of each phase given herein; if you are practicing a mix of the elements of Phase One and Phase Two, say so, rather than call it Phase Two. Likewise, if you are practicing a mix of the elements of Phase Two and Phase Three, say so, rather than call it Phase Three.

It has been stated that an Essene Fruitarian eats only the part of a plant that can be eaten without killing the plant. So, what specific plants can't we eat? We can eat most above ground fruits and vegetables, BUT CANNOT EAT MOST UNDERGROUND VEGETABLES. Such root vegetables as carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, rutabagas, etc., are off limits to Essene Fruitarians. There may be some exceptions to the ban on root vegetables. For instance, if you do the harvesting yourself; potatoes can be harvested without killing the plant: The root system of a potato is extensive and has many potatoes connected to it; dig around it and only harvest a few, leaving the rest so that the plant does not die. (This is similar to the way the ancient Essenes harvested honey; they were only permitted to take a tithe of 10% of the honey from each hive, so that the bees would not die.) Thus, a Phase One Essene Fruitarian who still eats some cooked food can have a baked potato. Probably the biggest sacrifice is carrot juice! (A friend told me that the ends of carrots can be cut off, put in a glass of water until they grow new root systems, and then replanted in soil. He therefore claims that carrots can potentially be eaten without killing the plant. I have not yet attempted this process of replanting the ends of juiced carrots; but, if it works, maybe you can still have your carrot juice!) With above ground fruits and vegetables, most can potentially be eaten without killing the plant, but, at Phase Two and especially at Phase Three, we must pay attention to how each particular plant was actually harvested in order to make our determination.

Because our above descriptions of the three phases of Essene Fruitarianism are spread out over so many pages, I will now provide a convenient "at-a-glance" synopsis of each. But don't ever limit yourself just to the following abbreviated descriptions; much of the important information about each phase is available only in the body of this essay. Alter providing a brief synopsis of each phase, I will conclude this article by giving some sample daily meal plans.

SYNOPSIS OF PHASE ONE - Phase One allows us to make a gradual transition into Essene Fruitanarism. - All of the foods we eat must potentially be able to be eaten without killing the plant. - We must attempt to eat mostly organic foods. - 2/3 of our food must be raw with goal of eventually achieving 100% raw. - We should become aware of the additional requirements of Phase Two and Phase Three and begin, step-by-step, to incorporate those elements as able.

SYNOPSIS OF PHASE TWO - We are required to eat only foods that we can reasonably assume were actually harvested without killing the plant. - We are required to eat mostly organic foods. - We are required to eat 100% raw. - We are required to fast one day per week. (Can be the ancient Hebrew day: sunset to sunset.) Can be any day of the week. Raw juices and/or water permitted. - We are required to become aware of and attempt to implement, proper food combining. - We are required to make every effort not to overeat.

SYNOPSIS OF PHASE THREE We are required to have actual personal knowledge that the foods we eat were harvested without killing the plant. (In the case of tree-grown fruits and nuts a reasonable assumption is still permitted.) - We are required to always eat organic foods. - We are required to eat 100% raw. - We are required to eat food that is fresh and in season. - We are required to fast on the Sabbath: Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. (Water only, no juice permitted.) - We are required to become aware of and implement, proper food combining. - We are required to eat no more than two major meals per day. (A piece of fruit or glass of juice, etc., does not count as a major meal.) - We are required to eat no solid food before noon. (Raw juice is okay before noon.) - We are required to begin our last major meal of the day no later than sunset. - We should attempt to save one or more seeds from each fruit or plant we eat for later planting. (This is not a requirement, but an invitation to advanced Ahimsa.)

The following are only a few sample daily meal plans, not an exhaustive list. These several examples are intended just to give you the general idea of the foods one might eat on a typical day at each phase of Essene Fruitarianism.