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PRESENTATION ON MACROBIOTICS
by David Snieckus
April, 2020
Outline
- Introduce self and talk
- About Macrobiotics
- Everything changes
- The Order of the Universe;
- Infinity
- About viruses and bacteria
-History
-Distinction between germ and cell theories
-How to boost/enhance our immune systems the Macrobiotic way
- Cooking
- Dinner
- Conclusion
Introduce self and talk
Hi, I’m David Snieckus, and I found Macrobiotics or Macrobiotics found me in 1977.
The TITLE of my presentation is: Everything is CYCLE LOGICAL. The intent of this presentation is to give you a better understanding of Macrobiotics. In addition, this presentation will possibly help reduce any fear you may have of the corona virus.
Before I address the topic, let me tell you a little about myself:
David Snieckus: History
I was born in 1947 into a fairly strict Catholic family in which Catholism was considered the ONLY true religion. When I graduated in 1965 from Wilby High School in Waterbury, CT, I met an atheist. OMG, someone doesn’t believe in GOD?!! This was the second major shock of my life after the bubble bursting of “WHAT, there is NO SANTA CLAUS?!”
As a 1975 UCONN college graduate, I learned modern philosophy and psychology, with a year in Vietnam in-between.
Vietnam, 1969-1971, in short, was an AWAKENING ADVENTURE, AN EYE OPENER, for a kid from a medium size town, Waterbury, CT, to an experience that gave me an ENORMOUS view of the United States with its HUGE ARMY of soldiers. There I became aware of that lyric by Country Joe and the Fish; “What are we fighting for? Don’t give a damn, off to Vietnam.” There I experienced another shock! I worked for the Army's branch of the NSA (National Security Agency) and would have been shot if the perimeter was compromised because of all the “SECRETS” I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE HAD.
My adventure into Macrobiotics had to have been based on some subconscious notion of Why War? WHO AM I? What is life? Where did I come from? What am I supposed to be doing? Where am I supposed to be going?
In 1977, I started learning about Macrobiotics with a meal by Bill and Joan Spear in Middletown, CT and by reading The Book of Macrobiotics, The Universal Way of Health, Happiness and Peace by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack, a book I refer to even today. I became curious and intrigued, especially when I came upon the concept of The Order of the Universe. I wanted this knowledge, believing it would answer my life’s questions. To pursue the answers to my questions, I left a good paying but not really satisfying Life Insurance J.O.B. to go to Boston to study Macrobiotics at The Kushi Institute at 17 Station Street in Brookline, MA. I studied macrobiotics for years, living at various study houses. I thought I would now know all about life by learning the philosophy of life through this new curiosity, Macrobiotics.
Macrobiotic philosophy helped me through the quagmire of fear and lies and an unhealthy diet of white sugar, dairy products, meat consumption, and white flour, which had brought about my hay fever and confusion in my life. In hindsight, I had been lost, buried under a pile of deceptions and illusions. The Macrobiotic philosophy helped me make better choices on what to eat, do, say, and how to live. For that, I am eternally grateful. After years of study, all made sense. All became very simple and logical. I ventured out into the world teaching and cooking macrobiotics, resulting in many adventures and lots of stories to share.
ABOUT MACROBIOTICS
1.) Everything changes
There are many principles in Macrobiotics and one of them is that everything changes. Everything changes from yin to yang and from yang to yin. In other words, everything changes from an expanding energy to a contracting energy, and from a contracting energy to an expanding energy. A kernel of popcorn when heated (contraction) reaches its final contractibility, then it pops (expansion). A seed like an acorn grows into an oak tree, which eventually rots, and feeds the soil for its offspring, another acorn. A baby incarnates into this world to become a teenager, then an adult, then an old person, then becomes discarnate through the change called death. Day changes into night, and night into day. Summer changes to winter, and winter into summer. People, places, civilizations, nations are all coming and going, NO EXCEPTIONS. Everything has a front and a back, everything has its opposite.
2.) The Order of the Universe; Everything is CYCLE LOGICAL:
I also learned that everything is cyclical in nature and logical in the Order of the Universe. In other words, everything is CYCLE LOGICAL. Not only did I learn this through lectures and book reading, I also learned it through my personal experience.
Some cycles last nano-seconds like the ons and offs of digits in a computer, and some last 200 million years, like our solar system orbiting the Milky Way.
Michio Kushi’s mesmerizing lectures taught us the Biological Development of plants and animals from the gaseous state of the Earth 3.2 billion years ago when there existed bacteria and virus, to today of upright walking humans. See the insert below: Plant and Animal Evolution. (This is explained in more detail on pages 27 and 41 in The Book of Macrobiotics.
With the principle of EVERYTHING CHANGES in mind, I’ll briefly summarize the above chart that I learned from Michio Kushi. Four billion years ago, the Earth was in a humid gaseous state. Over the millions of years, viruses and bacteria formed and roamed the fresh waters. As the fresh water started getting salty, with minerals entering the water, the viruses and bacteria built themselves a wall, called an amoeba, to contain themselves. These amoebas divided about 3.2 billion years ago beginning the evolution of plants and animals. The first indication of a true plant was primitive algae and sea moss. At the same time, these amoebas started the animal evolution with jellyfish-like characteristics. The plant world always preceded the animal world as the animals needed to eat plants to sustain themselves. Plants needed the minerals and elements of the ocean to feed themselves. Many other influences were occurring to evolve the plants and animals: changes in climate, sometimes colder and sometimes warmer; changes in the Earth’s pole shifts, such as the Earth’s North and South Poles going from Star Vega to the North star; changes in celestial energy as the Earth’s solar system was influenced by the increasing and decreasing energy of the Milky Way.
Over time, sea mosses that ate more and more minerals transformed into firmer type of sea vegetables, like wakame, hiziki and kombu. Jelly fish that started eating these sea vegetables transformed into sea animals with a spine, like sea horses. As land appeared, some of the sea vegetables evolved to become the initial land mosses and primitive grasses. Animals that made it out of the ocean became amphibians. Primitive land vegetables grew to the huge ancient plants you might have seen in Jurassic Park. Eventually, those amphibians transformed into huge reptiles, like the dinosaurs seen in Jurassic Park. As the ancient plants transformed into modern plants as the climate became cooler, plants with seeds and fruit trees became abundant. Those large reptiles became smaller and eventually changed into mammals. Then the seed plants changed into modern day cereal grains. The apes that ate grain stood up and became man.
Now that explains how humanity got here. Now... How did I get here?
Understanding “The Order of the Universe”, originally taught by George Oshawa and Michio Kushi, was my core philosophical guide to understanding where I came from on a universal as well as practical level.
The diagram below, The Order of the Universe, (explained on page 21 of The Book of Macrobiotics), shows the stages from the animal world, including humanity, to infinity.
Now, I know I came from my parents, and they in turn came from their parents, ad infinitum. Biologically, humans/animals need to eat from the world of plants. The plant world comes from the world of elements. The elements consist of sub-atomic particles. Sub-atomic particles are made up of endless energy patterns of yin and yang, which comes from infinity! Basically we come from infinity, exist in infinity, and return to infinity!
The food we need to eat as humans for our survival on this planet is the energy that comes from infinity and is available most effectively in plants! As animals, we eat directly or indirectly from the visible world of plants, a manifestation of the four elements: water, soil, air, and fire, (fire in the form of sun rays through the process of photosynthesis.) The quality of these elements affects the quality of our food, which, in turn, affects the quality of our health.
We, and everything else, exist in the moment as pictured in the chart. Everything, no matter where it is in the chart, is changing to the next stage. AND…..everything came from the previous stage. Everything is CYCLE LOGICAL.
Instead of understanding the nature of reality as CYCLE LOGICAL, many believe it is based on our “psychological” thinking in which our thoughts affect our reality, and through reframing, we can change our experience of reality. While this is an important understanding, we can also be overly involved in and take too seriously our thoughts, whether religious, political, economic, or cultural. As well, our “monkey mind” thoughts can have us dwelling on the past or worried about the future.
Further, I learned that our thoughts are affected by the health or sickness of our organs. (Go to pages 134 to 137 of The Book of Macrobiotics for the Five Stages of Physical and Mental Transformations). As an example: A sick or weak kidney will manifest thoughts of fear and depression. While a strong and healthy kidney will manifest thoughts of confidence and courage.
Ultimately though, our continuous thoughts are ever-changing; they are passing, fleeting, impermanent. Even our life here on the planet Earth is a fleeting moment relative to the eternal vastness of the universe. With this learning, I realized it is okay to have thoughts, it does not really matter what they are, and to notice them as thoughts and thoughts only. This allows us to be present and enjoy the moment. For example, in the past, I hated doing the dishes. Now, I enjoy it, always being in the moment. What is real is the grounding of our being; real food, (like plants, grains, vegetables, and beans), the air, the oceans, the trees, the water, the mountains and valleys, and NOW, the present moment. Real as well is fellowship, our profound interconnection!
John Lennon got it right in his song Imagine.
Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try
No hell below us, above us, only skies
Imagine all the people living for today, yah hey yeah
Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for, no
And no religion, too, oh
Imagine all the people living life in peace, yoo ooo
You, you may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one, will be as one
Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man, oh
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one
The following is an excerpt from The Book of Macrobiotics (pages 5-6 of the 2012 edition) on THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE.
“The Order of the Infinite Universe---is nothing but a different name for the living God or the moving infinite creation. When the name of god is used, it is often misunderstood as a static personality, and when the term infinity is used, it is difficult for many people to comprehend. The infinity of God is neither a person nor a phenomenon; it is a universal oneness, embracing everything---every being, every phenomenon---and it is the endless universe itself. Other names for this limitless source or process are Beauty, Truth, Love, Righteousness, and Peace. The universe does not remain in one state, but is changing constantly---transforming continuously, transmitting eternally from the beginning-less beginning to the endless end. The infinite universe is a process of absolute dynamic change within which countless relative changes are arising everywhere, in every dimension, and at all times.....
Unless we know ourselves as a manifestation of the ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE, we are unable to realize our endless dream.
We may see around us injustice practiced upon naive, innocent and good people. We see sickness suffered by those who appear to be practicing the proper way of life. We see people suffering from daily hardships that appear undeserved. We ourselves at any time may met with an unexpected accident, unforeseeable misery or sudden death. We may consider all these things unfair and unreasonable, but actually there is nothing excluded from the Order of the Universe. As infinitesimally small inhabitants of an infinitely large cosmos, we are unable in our ignorance to see the larger currents of cause and effect, the movement of eternal life encompassing our own small existence. Everything and anything happens with a certain order, for a definite cause and process. From the absolute perspective, there is nothing that is unjust, unrighteous, and improper because all things have risen and shall vanish according to the endless Order of the Universe, or what we might call the law of God. Therefore, unless we know that order, or what has been called the justice of the Kingdom of Heaven, and how to practice it, all of what we have been doing in this life, and on this planet, shall turn to ashes.”
3.) Infinity
Another principle in Macrobiotics is that of infinity. The notion of infinity is based on the same precept as the Tao in which the Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao. Same thing with Macrobiotics. I believe infinity is a mathematician’s word for God, and a poet’s word for Love. We are infinite, God (divine), Love.
ABOUT VIRUSES AND BACTERIA
1.
History of viruses and bacteria
History of viruses and bacteria2.Distinction between germ and cell theories
Distinction between germ and cell theories3.How to boost/enhance our immune systems the Macrobiotic way.
How to boost/enhance our immune systems the Macrobiotic way.1. History of viruses and bacteria:
According to Michio Kushi, and other evolutionary scientists, viruses and bacteria first appeared approximately 3.2 to 4 billion years ago having manifested from the world of elements. Viruses and bacteria ruled the world in an ocean of fresh water. As minerals seeped into the fresh water creating a salty saline solution, the viruses and bacteria created a shield or membrane around themselves, called an amoeba with the characteristics of a plant and animal. These amoebas changed very slowly over billions of years, eventually into human beings. We humans are but carriers of the viruses and bacteria and we have to continually keep our immune systems healthy so that the viruses and bacteria do not create sickness or death.
2. Distinction between germ and cell theories:
The following distinguishes the germ and cell theories, according to Walene James in her book, Immunization, The Reality Behind The Myth.
Germ and Cellular Theories by Walene James
GERM THEORY (Pasteur)
1. Disease arises from micro-organisms outside the body.
2. Microorganisms are generally to be guarded against.
3. The function of microorganisms is constant.
4. The shapes and colors of microorganisms are constant.
5. Every disease is associated with a particular microorganism
6. Microorganisms are primary causal agents.
7. Disease can "strike" anybody.
8. To prevent disease we have to "build defenses".
CELLULAR THEORY (Bechamp)
1. Disease arises from micro-organisms within the cells of the body.
2. These intracellular microorganisms normally function to build and assist in the metabolic processes of the body.
3. The function of these organisms changes to assist in the catabolic (disintegration) processes of the host organism when that organism dies or is
injured, which may be chemical as well as mechanical.
4. Microorganisms change their shapes and colors to reflect the medium upon which they feed.
5. Every disease is associated with a particular condition.
6. Microorganisms become "pathogenic" as the health of the host organism deteriorates. Hence, the condition of the host organism is the primary
causal agent.
7. Disease is built by unhealthy conditions.
8. To prevent disease we have to create health.
In summary: According to Walene James and her research on Professor Pierre Jacques Antoine Bechamp, a brilliant scientist (chemist, physician, naturalist and biologist), whose painstaking experiments and astute observations forged a theory of living bodies and their relationship to their environment: “…bacteria are pleomorphic (form changing) rather than monomorphic (form fixed). They reflect the conditions in which they find themselves rather than create those conditions.” “…microzymas can evolve into viruses or bacteria, harmless or harmful depending on their nutritional environment.” “In short, the micozyma has two functions: to build or disintegrate tissue. Another way of thinking about the function of microzyma is: They secrete ferments that aid digestion, and when they encounter dead or damaged cells, they evolve into bacteria.” “…the character (or condition) of the ‘soil’ –-- the health or unhealth of the host organism---determines the character of the microorganismic life within it.” (See the Addendum.)
3. How to boost/enhance our immune systems the Macrobiotic way.
In the words of Hippocrates, “let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.” We are what we eat.
The ideal food for human consumption is organic plant-based whole foods grown in fertile organic soil, fed by quality water and air, and filled with quality chlorophyll made by sunlight.
Eating organic grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds, and some high quality sea salt, in all their abundant variety and in harmony with the seasons, is what has kept me healthy and well and what has given me the confidence of never again getting sick.
COOKING
The practical side to the Macrobiotic philosophy is COOKING.
One of my favorite quotes is by Confucius who says: Knowledge without practice is useless; Practice without knowledge is dangerous. That was the take-away for me in learning about Macrobiotics, it still is today, and I hope it will be for you as well.
Macrobiotics is a philosophy of life that includes the phenomenon of yin and yang, which can be applied to food as follows:
Imagine this line as a soil line: _______________________________________________
Very simply: Root vegetables that grow below the soil (like onions, carrots, and burdock to name a few) are considered more yang (contracting energy) vegetables. Vegetables that grow on the soil (like squash and cucumbers) are more balanced in energy. Vegetables that grow above the soil (like rice, corn, peas, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and fruits of all kinds) are more yin (expanding energy) vegetables.
More yang foods include: sea salt, sea weeds, miso, and umeboshi plum along with cooked warming root vegetables like carrots, burdock and onions. More yin foods include beverages, cooling greens, salads, pickles, and fruits.
Extreme yang foods include poor quality salt, meats, eggs and hard cheeses. Extreme yin foods include alcohol, coffee, white sugar, even drugs, medications, vaccinations, immunizations, our food industry’s genetically modified foods, and processed foods---all of which create severe imbalances that lead to our sicknesses and degeneration!
In order to create harmony on a daily basis, one cooks foods with all three energies and in harmony with the seasons. For example: An onion (a yang or contracting food) cooked with cabbage (a yin or more expansive food) provides perfect harmony. The onion grows downward in layers below the soil and the cabbage grows in layers above the soil. (Onions and cabbage are easy to grow and I believe must have sustained my parents, and their parents for generations in Northern Europe, Lithuania to be specific.)
One take away for cooking is to add a bit of sea salt. I believe it to be Mother Nature’s own antibiotic!
As we learn to balance our foods by understanding their energy, applying heat and/or sea salt to contract foods and water and oil to expand foods, and eating con-sciously in harmony with the seasons, (more warming food in the winter and more cooling food in the sum-mer), we create more balance and greater health within.
May we cook and eat consciously and with love and thereby create the peaceful world that Michio and many of us envision.
Two simple recipes:
Miso Soup:
In a soup pot, water sauté one medium size diced onion until translucent with a ½ teaspoon of sea salt. Add cut- up carrots and cut-up cabbage. Sautee one minute and then add 1 quart of water. When vegetables are tender, add and stir 2 tablespoons of miso. Simmer and serve.
Organic Brown Rice:
In a larger pot, add to almost 2 quarts of water 1 quart of rice that was soaked overnight. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt and bring to a boil. When boiling, lower the flame and with a flame tamer under the pot, cook for approximately 40 minutes until the rice is a desired consistency.
Enjoy!
As for us: Margaret, Abigail, and I have been hosting weekly Friday Night Macrobiotic dinners with various speakers since 2002.
Also, I submitted Legislation in the State of Massachusetts to remove the tax exemption on processed food products, and maintaining the exemption on Whole Natural Foods that grow directly from the soil, like carrots, onions, and cabbage.
CONCLUSION
This is just a simple, quick overview of Macrobiotics. I again encourage you to buy and read The Book of Macrobiotics, The Universal Way of Health, Happiness and Peace by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack. The book gave me the information I needed to have a healthy, whole and complete life, and through the practice of Macrobiotics I learned how to live in the moment. In summary, I am ever grateful for my understanding that everything changes, all is cycle logical, and we come from, live in, and return to infinity. I am also ever grateful for having learned how to prepare healthy wholesome foods for health and well-being. Macrobiotics has made a profound difference in my life, and I trust will in your life as well.
THANK YOU!
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