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With great appreciation to Bill Tara

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Perhaps many of you are already on facebook and have read this - it's a jewel of mb wisdom, to be framed and posted to all mb concerns. In Judaism, we have a saying, teach the student according to his ability. Bill puts it quite well, there are so many factors to be considered when teaching, and most important, what does the student relate to - and also important, realizing that changes. There were lots of comments (and I expect will be more) but I included Fred's because of the importance that food is one element we can control (well, idealistically!!!!!!!), so yes, it is one of the reasons it is so

emphasized. I think there are other reasons, but that's for another discussion. Enjoy. Feel free to share. (hope Bill doesn't mind my saying so) Klara

Bill Tara posted toMACROBIOTICS

WHAT IF MACROBIOTICS WAS REALLY SIMPLE?MANY STREAMS LEAD TO ONE RIVERI meet people all the time that tell me that macrobiotics is really difficult and/or confusing. These statements usually fall into two categories: the first category is that they feel they are too busy or too lazy to cook (the lazy part is most often the real reason).... After all, we live in a fast food world filled with “quick and easy†food options that can be popped into the oven or microwave and presto - a tasty treat. Those who simply don’t know how to cook at all also populate this section of the challenged. To them, the stirring in the right direction and the cutting for correct energy alignment and the introduction of strange roots and seaweed may be information over-load. This confusion is easily over come by introduction to a common sense cooking teacher who can just get them into the kitchen where they can rise above the fear of tofu and learn to cook simple and delicious meals. There they can experience the fun and adventure of cooking as well as the great health benefit that good cooking can produce. The second category of the confused are those who have read a book, attended a class or visited an online discussion group and been presented with the “real macrobioticsâ€. This is the realm of the philosopher kings. This is where the dialectics and the spirals and the seven levels of just about everything congregate. This is where common sense, magical thinking and mans endless desire to explain everything come together in one great conceptual tornado. Talk about confusion! Don’t get me wrong I love that stuff. I love nothing better than to get into the old Yin and Yang with a group of eager students. I think that many of Ohsawa’s models about health and consciousness and even history are interesting and can be helpful. I also know that the beautiful map of the London Underground, which lays out the whole system in a simple graphic, is great when traveling on the tube and is useless if you are on foot above ground. Above ground you realize that the distances and directions have been altered for the sake of convenience, there are no hills on that map, no canals or parks. It is designed for a very particular kind of traveller. Here lies the rub. We encourage many different kinds of traveller into the macrobiotic fold but often we want them to walk when they would prefer to ride on the tube. We seem to have a problem with conflicting desires and goals all trying to march under the same flag. Like many of my friends and associates who teach I have the pleasure to meet people with different motivations in my work. Some of them are students who want to transform their lives with great conviction. They want to put on Ohsawa’s magic eye glasses and hit the highway. I see them in the programs in Portugal, Spain, London or Croatia where intensive courses are offered. Other students want a piece of that but simply want to be of service in helping others with their health needs. They may have already done a lot of personal development; perhaps they already work in the healing arts. The Coaching Course that and similar courses that others offer suits their needs – it is focused on practical solutions to health and healing. Monthly we offer public programs at Penninghame House here in Scotland, where we attract folks who have specific health problems and want to be empowered to take control of their health and their life. Some of their problems are life threatening and some are more prosaic. They need to know how to cook, how to make compresses, how to make the best choices for their personal healing. All these groups deserve to have help and support - all require a different approach. All of these different groups need to have some foundation of information as to why they are doing what they do. The philosophy may be the same but the expression needs to fit the student and the goal. It is not unusual for a person to move from one goal to another if they experience great benefit. It is sometimes said or implied that there is only one way to express the truths of macrobiotic thought – how sad. How demeaning to the goal of contributing to the health of the world and the creation of a peaceful society if there is a litmus test as to the worth of their personal aspirations. What we are teaching is simple. THE SIMPLICITY OF NATURAL LAWMacrobiotics is firmly based on natural law. We often hear the word universe used but I wonder if we don’t take ourselves a little too seriously when we use it. The ancients discovered the laws of nature by observing water and wind, plants and animals and the people around them. I guess it makes us feel smarter to talk about the universe but the natural world is where our learning happens. I know, I know - as above so below. We live in the universe but we still put our pants on one leg at a time. It is not universally true but most people who will give macrobiotics a serious try share several assumptions even if they are not aware of it. Most would agree that nature has a design - it is not chaos. This is not about a Supreme Being with a tool-kit; this is about a creative power that operates with particular laws. We may ascribe purpose to this process of creation or to the laws but it is not essential. Another assumption that I believe is common in people who are interested in macrobiotics is that we see that everything within the creative power of nature is connected – from the tiniest particle to the planet as a whole. We are part of that whole, a strand in the web. Many of the problems we face today are an outcome of forgetting that simple fact. Our despoiling of the seas, the air and soil are all indications that we do not see or feel that connection. We can clearly observe that when nature operates outside the hand of man the system seems self-sustaining. We can also see that when we disturb the integrity of nature (including our own body) it produces sickness and degeneration. This is really important since it is by conforming to the laws of nature that we can improve our health and happiness.This cause and effect is apparent in human sickness, particularly in the “developed nationsâ€. It is not a question of punishment or blaming (lets’ rethink judgment) but simply “what goes around comes aroundâ€. Since everything is connected the domino effect is very common. Biological insensitivity = Fast Food = Obesity = Diabetes = Human Misery + Rising Health costs = Economic Failure – the game goes on. It is the simple concept of cause and effect that most challenges modern thinking. At the same time if we characterize that process as always starting with what we eat we are being childish. Environment, Emotion, Education, Financial Stability, Genetics and any number of different causes come into play. When we reduce the options down to one factor we sell ourselves short. All of these things are simple and seem to lie at the core of macrobiotic belief. They all point to the desirability of creating a particular state of balance that we say is our goal. Because natural law is greater than any concept we might have of it, yin and yang is helpful when it is helpful. When it is not use something else. Even our choice of foods can be just as easily explained by the economics of Gandhi as the Yin and Yang of Ohsawa. Ecological principles are equally powerful (sometimes more so) when discussing the relative value of grain, beans, dairy food or meat in the diet. This is true because those truth will always be a reflection of natural law, no matter how it is framed.There is an open invitation from the world for macrobiotic people to discover that the principles that guide our thinking need not be used as a hammer to knock sense into a resistant population. We do not know all the answers but are capable of asking many of the right questions. Our principles rotate around the understanding of change. Those principles provide great insights into the existential questions of life but should not be an anchor that holds us in one place while the world changes around us. If we are creative and exercise our ability to change our expression when it suits the larger dream of a healthy and peaceful world we will be functioning as if life mattered - as a hopeful balance to the elaborate suicide that society is now engaged in.

Fred Pulver

Great article, Bil, clearly and cogently expressed. I would just qualify your statement, "At the same time if we characterize that process as always starting with what we eat we are being childish." I generally agree with that statement; ...however, as Ohsawa pointed out, other factors such as those you mention (Environment, Emotion, Education, Financial Stability, Genetics and any number of different causes) are much more difficult to control. I think one reason why Ohsawa focused on diet, and why I agree diet as pivotal, is because it is one thing we CAN control in a world where forces largely beyond our control are taking us on a one-way trip to oblivion. When I talk to people who are not macrobiotic, I often feel that something vital and crucial is missing. I think I know precisely what that missing thing is, and I feel a strong desire to share it. That is of course the Macrobiotic foundation upon which we can rebuild a sustainable future world community. So whenever possible, I try to slip it in, like a prayer in the Wailing Wall, into that missing place, that should be a foundation from which we all endeavor to base our efforts to save the world, one person at a time.

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