The Breath of Life and the Cycle of Nutrition

NOTE: The following four pages were originally published in Dr. Stone's APPENDIX TO THE NEW ENERGY CONCEPT OF THE HEALING ART (Copyright 1956). Most of the other material that originally comprised that Appendix was later incorporated into his other books, and hence the Appendix as a separate publication has been allowed to go out of print.

Air and its latent energy is life to every cell in the human body because this exchange of energy flow links every particle to the Whole. Without it there would be suffocation. The process of breathing conveys this vital energy in the air to every cell in the system through the blood stream and its circulation. It is stated in the Bible (Lev. 17:11): "For the life of the flesh is in the blood."

The vital energy of man is a combination of breath - air - (warmth or fire of the sun) and fluids - water - (flowing through his earthy nature). These energy essences lie hidden in the cosmic air. Without these, the body of earthiness and matter cannot live, move or be a vehicle for the consciousness within, which is the living soul in the body. In Gen. 2:7 of the Holy Scriptures we find: "And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

"The dust of the ground" is the essence of the earthy principle, which returns to earth at the end of man's life on earth. "Dust" is raised by the wind, when the air moves as energy currents under the impulse of the fiery sun and the expansion of air through heat meeting cold waves of air which are under the influence of the moon energy of contraction. Thus, storms arise and the dust flies! The loose earth is moved by the air in its onward sweep of waves which activate the earth essence by energy stimulus.

These two subtle energy currents of expansion and contraction are pictured as two serpents entwined on a staff, referred to as the Caduceus by the writers of ancient wisdom. The staff represents the spinal cord, called the Tree of Life in the body of man. On the right side of the body the positive energy of the sun prevails. This positive energy is called the 'Pingala' by the Hindus and the 'Yang' by the Chinese. On the left side, the negative energy of the moon rules the body. This negative energy is referred to as the 'Ida' [irda] by the Hindus and as the 'Yin' by the Chinese.

This dual energy principle and its secret knowledge was also pictured as the "Staff of Hermes", the god of the Air and of Wisdom. It was the sign of the physicians of old, who understood the workings of these fine energy principles in Nature and in man. When the body is ill, it is out of tune and wave length with these two dual forces in Nature's storehouse and cannot draw on them for sustenance and the impulses of life. It is up to the good doctor to re-establish this broken link of energy currents between the patient's own forces and Nature's supply house.

In illness the rhythm and the wave length of a man's breath is out of proportion to the media of circulation through which it flows. The pulse beat clearly reveals this story. That is why the Chinese of old and all the ancient systems of healing, like the Ayurvedic System of Vedic times, gave such importance to the pulse beat and its meaning. They had an elaborate method of reading the pulse, and knew at once which wind prevailed, which life breath was functioning and which pole of energy was in excess or which one was blocked and needed balancing. This is a lost art nowadays, known and recognized by probably only a single individual here and there, even though the Staff of Hermes is still the sign of the physician. (Please see page 33 of Book I (ENERGY) for the illustration of the Staff of Hermes.)