- Beginner: Plant and fungi based diet based upon individual preferences and likes with little attention to detail.
- Intermediate: Plant and fungi based diet concentrating on nutrient density, avoidance of empty calories and avoidance of vegan "junk food". Some limited fasting or fasting mimicking.
- Advanced: Serious attention to the Five Food Types, their balance, weight and rotation. Five day water fasts each season to remove toxins and regenerate stem cell growth.
Thoughtful Dietary Teachings
In the Living Gods, Let the hallowed Light of Transcendent Truth be praised. Let the Sweet Mystery of Miryai awaken in the heart of hearts.
The
Diet being suggested here is a food system concerning itself with the production,
preparation and consumption of plants according to the theories of ancient
Gnostics like Mani. It is based on the premise that a properly nourished
body enhances the mind and thus assists in the attainment of Individuational
Enlightenment. The philosophy of diet presented here consists entirely
of seasonal plant based foods and fungi, with suggestions that this plant
based diet be eaten according to a five day rotational schedule, with a
five day water fast at the end of certain Season and a emphasis on
balance between five food groups. No meat, dairy, fowl, fish, egg,
insect or laboratory grown meat are allowed.
There are three levels to this approach
to diet: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.
It is important that a sustainable
plant based diet on the Intemediate level be packed with nutrients and
minerals, sufficient calories and healthy oils. This is accomplished by
growing in carefully measured aquaculture or on scientifically remineralized
soil.
Great effort is expended on amending the soil or water to a perfect, or
near perfect, mineral and organic matter profile. Soil and water tests
are performed periodically and various minerals are added as needed. The
levels of these minerals far superceed those used in traditional or organic
produce production. If a needed mineral is not in the soil, it will not
be in the food grown upon it nor in the body of those who eat from it.
It is also considered important to grow food in soil or mineral enhanced water free from slaughterhouse refuse. This is called stockfree in Europe. (Most organic produce in the United States is grown with slaughterhouse refuse: bloodmeal, bonemeal and/or fish based fertilizers.) Care must also be taken that any imported organic matter, hay for example, is free of chemicals and other impurities. The goal is a 100% self contained system where soil fertility is maintained without outside inputs. Crops are ideally rotated thru various plots in a four year rotation plan that minimizes diseases.
The ideal for the Advanced Level
of food production and consumption is proportional between the five
food groups of fire, water, light, wind and zephyr, along with pure water
and fire, making seven offerings or alms. An ancient Manichaean confessional
texts references these:
- "We have been ordered to give reverently
seven kinds of alms for the sake of the pure Law. It has also been ordered
that when the angels of the Light of the Five Gods and the two Appellant
and Respondent Gods bring to us the Light of the Five Gods which is to
go to the Gods to be purified, we should in all things order ourselves
according to the Law." - KHUASTUANIFT
Section 11
The "Zephyr" are grains
and other monocots (corn, oats, spelt...) ; the "Fire" eurasterid
crops are the roots and nightshades (lettuce, carrot, potato, tomato, yam,
peppers,...); "watery" Fabids are podded legume crops and other vines;
the "wind" Malvids are brassicas like broccoli, kale, cabbage, citrus and
the "earthy" Eudicots are avocados, blueberries, quinoa, etc. These are
the five Ziwaneh Buddhas of Mani, and our interpretation of the seven forms
of the "soul" mentioned by Bardesanes:
- "And it is in this connection that
Bardaisan, the teacher of Mani, is found to speak with subtlety, when he
said that of seven Parts the Soul was composed and fixed ... For the numerous
Parts which the Soul gathers and collects, make (possible) many a mixing
of the seven Parts without proper regulation. And because it does not receive
in equal weight from all the foods the Parts of all the Constitutents,
it may happen that the scale of one of the Constituents may preponderate
and overwhelm the rest of its companions ; and this abundance of one is
the cause of the disturbance of all the Constituents. And from the Body
which is without it is possible to learn about the Soul which is within,
that whenever one of its Constitutents preponderates on account of the
quantity of one of the foods, the injury reaches the whole system. " -
Ephraim's Prose Refutations of Mani, Marcion and Bardaisan.
"Bardaisan said thus about the Entities
and their colours; for he said 'the Light is white, the Fire is red, the
Wind is blue, the Water is green,' though these (notions) are stolen by
him from the Greeks. As therefore he declared that each of the Entities
has a colour of its own, so each of them has its own smell, and its own
taste, and
its own texture, and its own voice.
For five aspects each must be found for each of the Entities, corresponding
to the five senses which we have; as he said 'Everything that exists has
its own Power and its own Colour and its own Aspect, and the rest of whatever
belongs to it." - Ephraim's Prose
Refutations of Mani, Marcion and Bardaisan.
Our emphasis on equal portions
of each of the various foods is based upon this teaching: "And
because it does not receive in equal weight from all the foods the Parts
of all the Elements, it may happen that the measure of one of the Elements
may dominate and overwhelm the rest of its companions; and this abundance
of one is the cause of the disturbance of all the Elements." The
balance between each of the five food groups is sought in their weight.
The goal being year round food, both fresh and stored, that provides about
1 pound (454g) or 1/5 of daily calorie needs from Euasterids (nightshades
and tubers); 1/5 from Fabids (legumes); 1/5 from Eudicots (avos, berries);
1/5 from Monocots (grains); and 1/5 from Malvids (brassicas, citrus). This
is based upon local climate and growing conditions, water use, nutrient
density, calorie concentration per square foot, and other practical factors.
Many types of crops are grown to take full advantage of diversity in color,
taste and nutrient profiles. Variety choice leans toward those varieties
which contain the most nutrition, blue over white corn for example, since
blue corns have more antioxidants and protein than lighter colored corns.
In controlled enviroments choices are made on calorie concentration as
well.
The average westerner eats about 5 or 6 pounds of food each day, so a relative balance between each of the five food groups according to this pattern is about a pound from each. A little less for smaller, younger, overweight or older people, a little more for active males. Because mainstream western food is so meat and oil dense, those eating a bulkier low calorie density plant based diet may want to eat more than just 5 pounds a day. There are no strict rules concerning this as long as sufficient calories are consumed and overweight is not an issue. (see Similarities to Edgar Cayce Diet)