Would death interfere with your lifestyle?
Published: Wed, 10/10/18
Many years ago I read a book entitled ‘A Time To Heal’ by Beata Bishop. In this volume the author recalled her diagnosis of life threatening cancer and her decision to undergo Gerson therapy treatment in Mexico in the 1980s. The Gerson therapy works with a rigorous approach to nutrition and detoxifying the body. The idea being to cleanse the body of toxins and massively stimulate the immune system. Apparently Ms Bishop was still alive and well thirty years after undergoing the Gerson treatment which had to take place in Mexico because such alternative treatments are illegal in the USA.
‘A Time to Heal’ is both very interesting and inspiring. One particular incident which the author recalls involved an American woman who had crossed the border from California to undergo the Gerson treatment for her cancer. Less than two weeks into the regime this woman apparently announced that she could not continue with the Gerson therapy any longer as it would interfere too much with her lifestyle. The author wondered if death would not interfere with it even more?
A good question but I also have some sympathy with the unnamed American woman. We all have to decide what our priorities are. Beata Bishop made a decision to commit to the Gerson therapy and, as well as curing her cancer, it also made her completely reevaluate her life and values, give up smoking and drinking and write a book which I found fascinating and is still being discussed on Amazon today. On the other hand if the most important things in life are living in (say) New York, eating in expensive restaurants and focusing on a glamorous career then six months of extreme austerity in Mexico might be too high a price to pay for restored health and vitality. We all die one day anyway so does it matter too much when?
The most important human responsibility is deciding our own priorities. The most difficult thing as a human being is deciding the basis for those priorities. The biggest temptation we should avoid is judging other people’s choices. If we believe in freedom then we have to accept that all any of us can do is recognise our Orlog or destiny and live it out as successfully as we can. Whether we recognise that we have a personal destiny or not we will still be living it out. It is just a matter of whether we are living it out consciously or not. Personally I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn Stav and have been able to develop and continue a practice for over 25 years now. I would like to teach others and bring them the same benefits I have had. It is not hard to find people who think Stav training might be good for them. It is very difficult to find anyone who can actually commit to regular training without a myriad of
factors taking priority. I do get frustrated but the best thing I can do is practice non-judgement, I have failed in too many things myself to judge anyone else’s level of success.
On the other hand, on Saturday I taught a day Stav seminar in Somerset, four people came, a long term student of mine from Salisbury and three people I left behind to carry on training after I moved last year. There has been good progress and one lad has major learning difficulties. When he started about 3 years ago he could hardly move and had massive confidence issues. On Saturday he trained all day without showing any sign of fatigue and he is confident and obviously feels a real sense of accomplishment. Okay, he is never going to be a great martial artist, however you would measure such such a person, but Stav training has certainly made a difference to his life as it has the other three who were present.
An opportunity for you to train if you are in the USA, I will be teaching at a seminar hosted by Allen Reed in Leaf River, Illinois on the 18 and 19th of May next year, we have not sorted out the details yet apart from the date but let me know if you would be interested and we will keep you posted.
In the UK there is the chance to learn about the runes and a particular focus on the trees associated with the runes at the Rune Retreat in Norfolk in June next year. Website here http://rr.stavcamp.org/ full details with prices etc later in the week.
regards
Graham
PS I have finally revised and automated the Self-protection programme, nine modules of text and video covering the essentials of self-defence. More on how to get access to that in the next couple of days.