2008-10-8 04:19:00
by E. T. Tennyson
a "Harvest Publication"
circa 1956
The secret of life has remained a mystery throughout the centuries, and it is generally acknowledged that science is unable to unravel this great secret. But fortunately a record was made of the exact process of giving life in the beginning, and this record has been handed down to us through the centuries. For we must turn to the words of the prophets to find the mystery of life, and there we find it stated so simply and so clearly that even a child can understand. Moses gives us this record of the first life given, and this process of giving life applies to every person upon this earth as he comes forth from his mother's womb:
"And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7)
Note that this method of giving life takes us right back to life-giving OXYGEN! For the "breath of life' simply means the "OXYGEN OF LIFE." When one is given the "BREATH of life" it simply means he is given OXYGEN which gives him life. While it is true that "the life is in the blood," the life that is in the blood is nothing more than OXYGEN which is fed to the blood by the air one breathes and the oxygenated foods one eats. The very purpose of both breathing oxygenated air and eating oxygenated foods is to feed life-giving oxygen to the blood, and when one is given this "oxygen of life" he becomes a living soul. The word rendered "soul" above is from the Hebrew word "nephesh," and its very meaning is "a breathing creature" or "a breather of oxygen."
It is clear then that living is breathing and that oxygen is the source of life. When a babe comes forth from its mother's womb and is given the breath or oxygen of life it becomes a "breathing creature" or a LIFE. Breath or oxygen is called "LIFE" -- the "breath of LIFE" -- and we find this close relationship between LIFE and OXYGEN in every language under the sun. The Greek word for our English "soul," "spirit" or "life" is the word "pneuma," and it too means "a current of clean air (oxygen)," "breath," "breeze," or "the vital principle (of oxygen)." And since this same word "pneuma" is rendered "spirit," as "the Spirit of God" and "the spirit of man," we can be sure that both words "spirit" and "pneuma" mean OXYGEN; and today we call our air-filled automobile tires PNEUMA-tic tires, meaning air-filled, oxygen-filled or spirit-filled. And in the Latin, the Latin word "spira" for spirit or life gives even stronger evidence; for its meaning is "CLEAN FRESH AIR," and clean fresh air is OXYGEN, the most cleansing agent upon this earth!
Our discovery then becomes even more important; for the very meaning of the words nephesh, pneuma, spira, soul, spirit and even LIFE, can be given in just one word, OXYGEN! Oxygen is God-given "spirit" through which he gives life, it is man's only diet, and he must both "breathe" it and "eat" it to have life! And you can now see the appropriateness of the name we have chosen, The Diet of Oxygen! For a "diet of oxygen" would mean a "diet of LIFE"! It is oxygen that gives life, and a diet of oxygen would simply mean a diet of life!
Few today realize the tremendous power of the magical gas called OXYGEN! It is the very source of all life upon the earth, of all vitality, and even of all power, as no mechanical engine or locomotive will run without it! The first thing the doctor does for the critically ill is to rush them to the oxygen tent, and heavy drinkers claim that a few deep breaths of pure oxygen from an oxygen tank will completely eliminate any trace of the familiar "hang-over" on the morning after! Oxygen is always administered in case of heart failure, as it is the very SPIRIT (nephesh, pneuma, spira) that activates life, and without it there could be no combustion, fire would not burn, every man, bird, beast and plant would die, and the whole earth would become desolate and void!
Man is half starved for oxygen today because it comprises only 23% by weight and 21% by volume of our atmosphere, and as proof that every substance on earth is oxygen-starved, many substances, when brought in contact with oxygen, unite with it so violently that light and heat are produced. We have no idea yet as to what mental and physical super-men an atmosphere of oxygen could produce, but it is quite certain that it was oxygen in the pre-Flood atmosphere that made "giants in the earth in those days," and it is not yet known what tremendous vitality and superior strength an abundant supply of it would give man, or to what heights it could lift him physically and spiritually. Science has just begun to study something of the tremendous power of this magical gas, and the following quotation from recent discoveries shows how it gives life to man:
"Oxygen was liquefied for the first time in 1877 by application of intense cold and pressure; it has since then been solidified. It is possessed of very marked chemical activity, having a powerful attraction for most of the simple substances, the act of combining with which is called oxidation. Some substances when brought into contact with this gas unite with it so violently as to produce light and heat. The presence of oxygen is, so far as we know, one of the physical conditions of life. In breathing we receive into the lungs a supply of oxygen; this oxygen is carried by the blood to the various parts of the body, and there deposited to aid in the functions of the organs; the deoxygenated blood then returns to the lungs, and again receives a fresh supply of the necessary oxygen." (The American International Encyclopedia, Volume Eleven.)
Since we have now discovered the source of life -- the exact "fuel" that gives man life -- perhaps we can also learn the secret of life, or the secret of activation. While all of this may be unnecessary just to give a simple diet, it is necessary, we believe, to our faith in the merits of a diet. It is not easy to follow a diet, and unless one understands the scientific principle of it he will not follow it long. Thinking people today do not accept just any theory simply because it is a theory. It must be supported by facts proving the scientific reason for it.
We have already discovered that the source of life is breathing -- inhaling life-giving oxygen from the atmosphere and feeding it to the blood by way of the lungs. But the age-old mystery of life is the mechanics of it. What is the unseen, self propelling force that makes one breathe? For man is an automatist in his breathing, as he breathes automatically, awake or asleep, conscious or unconscious, without effort or thought on his part. This automatic breathing can be explained, and when it is understood it is so simple that its very simplicity will surprise you. The quotation below sums up briefly the latest findings of Medical Science on the essential idea of the lung:
"The essential idea of a lung is that of a sac communicating with the atmosphere by means of a tube, the trachea or windpipe, through which air is admitted to the organ, and through structural peculiarities to its intimate parts, the air serving to supply oxygen to the blood and to remove carbonic acid. In mammalia, including man, the lungs are confined to and freely suspended in the cavity of the thorax or chest, which is completely separated from the abdominal cavity by the muscular diaphragm or 'midriff.'" (The American International Encyclopedia, Volume IX.)
The spongy, honeycomb-like lungs are confined in the cavity of the chest by twelve curved, bony rods on each side called ribs, and by the muscular diaphragm called midriff at the bottom of the cavity. The rubber-like tissues holding together the rib structure and the muscular midriff-diaphragm below make the chest cavity very elastic and capable of very great expansion and contraction, exactly like a bellows (see "diaphragm" in any encyclopedia). The only difference being that the chest-bellows has no "center of gravity," due to atmospheric pressure, as it is either partly expanded or contracted and is never on "center" as long as there is life in the body.
The entire bottom of the rib structure is sealed over by the midriff-diaphragm, forming an airtight, cage-like cavity housing the lungs, and this whole structure is known as the "thorax." The diaphragm is convex or curved upward in the thorax cavity, and of course concave toward the abdomen. With each intake of breath the lungs expand the thorax, and as the rib structure is expanded outward from each side, the convex or curve in the diaphragm stretches out to a horizontal position. But since it is a diaphragm, it will not remain in this cramped position, and it immediately snaps back to its natural convex position, thus again contracting the rib structure and forcing the air out of the lungs. While of course this could not create a "true vacuum" in the thorax cavity, it is evident that the snap action of the rubber-like diaphragm is such that the pressure in the airtight cavity becomes somewhat lower than the outside pressure, for the atmospheric pressure immediately forces another breath of life into the cavity, and thus again filling the lungs.
Herein lies the secret of automatic breathing and hence the secret of life, and it is evident that the greater the atmospheric pressure on the outside, the greater will be the contraction and expansion of the strain-power on the inside, with a corresponding increase in the intake of air or oxygen. Before a baby is born it receives its oxygen from its mother's breathing, and its diaphragm is evidently convex, with its rib structure in a contracted position. For as soon as it is born the atmospheric pressure of more than 14 pounds to the square inch forces air into its thorax, filling its lungs. Sometimes it is necessary for the doctor to hold the baby head-downward or gently strike it so that its breathing tubes will open. As the atmospheric counter pressure forces the first breath of air into its lungs, its rib structure immediately expands, thus activating its diaphragm, and the strain-power of its rubber-like diaphragm snaps it back to its convex position, and the air is again forced out of the lungs. This in turn creates the lower pressure in the airtight thorax, and the atmospheric counter-pressure again forces air into the cavity, giving the baby its second breath of life, and the whole mechanical cycle is repeated just as long as there is life in the body!
It is not difficult to prove this theory. By placing the palms of the hands against the body just below the ribs one can feel the expansion of the bellows-like rib structure and the rubber-like midriff-diaphragm at every intake of breath, and he can feel the snap-back of the muscular structure at every exhale of breath. And all who have been in the mountains where the atmospheric pressure was considerably lower than the 14.7 pounds will recall the difficulty they had in breathing. This is not due to the old theory of low oxygen content of the air; for one can spend hours in a smoke-filled room where the oxygen content of the air is almost nil and he will not experience the same difficulty in breathing as in the low pressure on mountains. We can understand now that the atmospheric pressure on the mountains is too low to force the usual amount of air into the thorax, and the expansion of the bellows-like rib and midriff structure is not great enough to cause the rubber-like muscles to snap back as usual, thus making breathing quite shallow and difficult.
This explains why man's deep breathing in the greater atmospheric pressure prior to the Flood gave him such superior health that he lived almost a thousand years, and it shows the vital importance of practicing daily deep-breathing today! Wise men of the East have known the importance of daily deep-breathing exercises for centuries, and their accomplishments through this simple method seem almost too great for belief. As a matter of fact, the "Adepts" of India and Tibet attribute in large measure their health and long life, as well as many of their so-called feats of magic, to their superior mental and physical energy gained from daily deep breathing. Of course the Western world knows nothing about this, and very little has been done along this line. We have at our disposal the oxygen tent and the oxygen tank, and we have yet to learn what might be accomplished by a few deep breaths daily of pure oxygen. A high medical authority is credited with the statement that "One generation of correct breathers could re-generate the race."
We have definite proof of this effect of atmospheric pressure of oxygen on health and the life span. Other than the fact that man's life span dropped from almost a thousand years in the pre-Flood pressure to less than a hundred in our pressure today, we also have living proof in the mammal. The whale or cetacea is living proof of this fact. The whale is a true marine mammal who suckles its young, has warm blood, and breathes oxygen by means of lungs. But he is not restricted to the low pressure of our atmosphere, as he takes advantage of the water-pressure of the sea. He rises to the surface and expels air so violently that the vapor becomes condensed and resembles a column of water and spray. Then he closes his nostrils which are on the top of his head and descends into the deep, and the water pressure of the sea forces all of the remaining air out of his lungs, compressing his bellows-like thorax, and making the greater contraction that the land mammal cannot get in the low atmospheric pressure. Then he rises to the surface again and with his increased contraction the atmospheric pressure fills his lungs with such a quantity of oxygen that he can remain under water for quite some time.
Thus by taking advantage of the water-pressure of the sea, the whale overcomes the low atmospheric pressure, and he is a very deep breather. The additional oxygen he gets from his non-automatic deep breathing gives him such a long span of life that he has been known to grow to as much as 100 feet in length and 35 feet in circumference. And as definite proof that his long life span is due to his enforced deep breathing by the water pressure of the sea, the life span of his cousin, the land mammal, is so short that he does not attain even a fraction of this size; yet the land mammal in the pre-Flood atmospheric pressure did live so long that he too grew to this huge size. (Note: whales have been known to live over 200 years.)
The tortoise also is living proof of the effect of the pressure of oxygen on health and the life span! Of 225 known species, all but two are either exclusively land species or fresh water species, and none of these grow large for the evident reason that they cannot take advantage of the water pressure of the sea for deep breathing. The two exceptions are the Athecae and the Giant Tortoise, and being strict marine species, it is quite evident they take advantage of the water-pressure of the sea in breathing, exactly like the whale; for the Giant Tortoise grows to as much as four feet in length, and says Encyclopedia Britannica of the Athecae Tortoise: "This creature, the Luth or Leathery Turtle, is a marine, turtle-like animal inhabiting the tropical seas and is the largest living chelonian; it reaches a length of 8 feet and may weigh nearly a ton." (Volume 22, 14th Edition, Page 309) And as proof that its tremendous size is the result of its long life from deep breathing oxygen by the pressure of the sea, when placed in captivity away from the water pressure of the sea, it seldom lives long and its growth is immediately retarded.
Thus the mystery of life is no longer a mystery! The human body is an "engine" operating automatically by a pump system of vital muscular strain-power and counter-atmospheric air-pressure, and its fuel is life-giving oxygen. While the old theory was that the heart -- not the lungs -- was the vital organ, the "pump," these facts seem to prove that it is the other way around. It is the pumping of the lungs that makes man a living, BREATHING creature, and the lungs must start pumping before the heart functions. Many cases are on record where man has been brought back to life by artificial respiration, by artificially operating the "pump." The following quotation shows that the heart functions as a "valve" from the pressure of the blood becoming oxygenated in the lungs:
"The arteries carry the blood from the heart to all parts of the body. They terminate in the capillary vessels, a series of extremely minute tubes which pass over into the veins. The veins are the channels by which the blood passes back from the body to the right auricle of the heart. The blood which is returned from the veins is purplish red, from excess of carbonic acid gas and deficiency in oxygen, and is called venous; that which leaves the heart is bright red, being oxygenated, and is called arterial. The venous blood parts with its excess of carbonic acid and receives new supplies of oxygen in the capillary system of the lungs." (The American International Encyclopedia, Volume VIII.)
These facts indicate that the heart functions by a high and low pressure system, exactly like the valve in any such system, and if the heart is the valve and the lungs are the vital pump of life, the "beating" of the heart would be the contraction and expansion of its valves. While heart failure and heart diseases are almost always treated in the beginning with the oxygen tent, perhaps the treatment with oxygen is not carried far enough; for the above facts might indicate that the trouble is more often in the "pump" -- the lungs -- than in the "valve" -- the heart! Perhaps continued experimentation with life-giving oxygen -- daily deep breathing right from the oxygen tank -- might lead to almost miracle cures in such cases! In fact, this startling discovery might lead us to expect tremendous results in the treatment of almost any disease with experimentation with the magical oxygen tank -- the only source today of the pure OXYGEN OF LIFE!
At any rate, we have seen what a vital force oxygen is in our very life, what tremendous vitality, superior strength and perhaps radiant health an abundant supply of it might give to mankind, and that man is starved for oxygen in both his air and his food. But before we study the diet that can give us more of this vital force, we should understand that the power of oxygen reaches far beyond this scope; for the lack of this Divine-like gas has done much more than shorten our life span. In fact, our low atmospheric pressure of oxygen has been the direct cause of all our woes, and in the next chapter of this book we shall see that an abundant supply of this life-giving, Divine force called OXYGEN could remove forever from this earth everything that hurts and destroys.
-- End Of Chapter Two --
Copyright © 2008 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved