The Barefoot Professor: An Issue of Safety? Really?

The Barefoot Professor: An Issue of Safety? Really?: "warning: I was a *tad* angry when I wrote this! I recently saw a news clip* of a British Columbian teen who was left stranded at a bus station ..."

[Note: I, L'Jn, did not write anything in this post but this sentence that you are reading right now.]

Random Thoughts

 Restored post

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Emotion Code by Dr. Bradley Nelson says, “Trapped emotions actually consist of well-defined energies that have a shape and form. Although they are not visible, they are very real.” He also compares the energy of thought to electricity. It is real, yet cannot be seen.

I have some thoughts about this idea that everything is ultimately energy. We are told that if we go deeply enough into our bodies, we eventually come to energy; that we are basically a bunch of nothing with nothing whirling around us. Well, technically, empty space with energy whirling around it and through it.

So, if our physical bodies ultimately consist of nothing but energy and our thoughts and emotions are the same thing, then - it seems to me - that nothing is incurable. If we can get our thoughts to contact those whirling energy winds, they might just listen to us. In fact, a lot of books and people are saying, nowadays, that that is exactly what they do. They listen to us.

The catch is, they listen to what we are really saying to them. So, if we say something we don’t believe or mean, they won’t listen. But, say some people, if you say something often enough, your whole self will begin to get the drift and work with you.

I have often thought of the scriptures where God/Jesus tell us to be one. Officially, we are taught that it means to be nice to each other: don’t fight, don’t gossip, don’t steal, don’t hit, don’t cause pain, don’t be mean - all of it applying to how we treat other people. I’m not denying that this is important, but I’m of the opinion that the base is deeper than that. One with our society, with our religious congregation, with our extended family, with our immediate family, with our spouses - great! I’m all for it.

BUT, I don’t think any of that is truly possible, from the “gut level” if each person involved is not one with him/herself. How can we be kind to others if we are torn apart by anger, guilt, fear? If we feel those things, something is not whole within us. We don’t have something we think we should have. We think we should be better than we are being. We know we have done something incongruent with our true selves. We are trying to live a lie; i.e., we have been taught that we should be what our souls are not (a doctor or lawyer or cheerleader when our inner self is an artist, a mother, or an interpreter) and we are trying to live by the choices others have made for us.

We need to be true to our own souls.

I was blessed. I had a mother who had no problem with her children being who they really were. The pressure came from society in general, and from the micro-societies I grew up in (cities/towns, schools, church, extended relatives). Also, life gave me some serious wounds, which also seems to separate people from who they really are. They create mental tricks to survive emotionally and sometimes physically.

So, then our energy selves become looped, warped, insane, tangled. Perhaps pieces are missing. How, then, are we to fix the mangled mess our lives can be/are by the time we are adults?

According to what I’ve studied, it is possible to be one with ourselves and each person is selling a different way to do it. “Ooh, me! Pick me! I’m the only expert and it’ll only cost you a hundred dollars an hour!” “Me! Me! Pick me! For only a thousand dollars (and sundry other items), you will also be an expert in this.” “I’ve figured it out! Buy my knowledge/products and you’ll be fixed!” “This came to me in a dream [or an insight], but don’t you try to gain your own insight. The invisible world have given this only to me and, for a price, I will share it with you.” Hm, what being said, “You can have anything in this world for money.”? Clue: It wasn’t God.

Of course, most of these “healers” are careful to give obeisance to the great god of healing, that idol most humans worship. If they didn’t include a disclaimer, the priests of the great god would take away their freedom and their belongings, oftentimes harshly.

Which brings me to some of these disclaimers written by natural healers. I love some of them. They say that the wicked priests demand this obeisance and they let you know that they are only writing the disclaimers because they are being forced to. It’s obvious that they don’t believe in the great god of healing. Dr. Robert Mendelsohn was the best anti-priest of this great god that I have come across.

By the way, the great god of healing isn’t really a god of healing but a god of disease and death.

So how do we find the truth? How do we find the path to physical and emotional healing? I think a big clue lies in the scriptures (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price). In several places, it is pointed out that you get what you desire. If you desire what isn’t good for you, what isn’t “expedient” for you, it will “turn to your condemnation”. Why? Because, if you really want something badly enough, you’ll get it.

And what limits do the scriptures put on getting what you desire? None, that I can see. Jesus healed every person who came to him and believed he could do it, as far as we have a record. Moving mountains. Making the earth rotate backwards so the day is longer. Keeping armies at bay (even wiping them out at times). Food. Water. Clothing that doesn’t wear out, even after wearing them for forty years. Protection from wild animals. These are all physical things. What about non-physical?

How about devils being cast out? I, personally, think these were a mixture of literal devils, emotional wounds, living a lie, malnutrition, and even - at times - diseases such as epilepsy.

How about peace? Also, how could one work the mighty physical miracles if that person wasn’t one with himself?

So to be one, one must be one? Okay. How about desire? If you want something badly enough, you’ll get it. That is a theme I’ve seen over and over again. I wanted my kids and I got them. Unfortunately, the wounds inside myself, the splits and crevasses and boils, prevented me from getting anyone who respected me and truly loved me. In fact, he was a terror to live with and the next one was better in some aspects and worse in others.

But, if one’s desire is to be one with oneself, I think it can be done without spending thousands of dollars (a genuine no-win-situation for those whose inner selves prevent them from even having enough money to pay the rent or buy enough to eat). I desire to learn French. What has happened? At some sacrifice (and a layaway plan), I was able to get my first good French book many years ago. It was French for Latter day Saints. A few days ago, I transferred the cassettes to my computer. I also was able to get Power-Glide French, levels one and two, along with CD’s (if I don’t put an ‘ before the “s”, my program automatically un-capitalizes the “D” - so, even though it irritates me to do so, I put an apostrophe there. The function is helpful more often than it is irritating, so I don’t disable it. On the other hand, automatically capitalizing the first letter of what the program deems a sentence, I find extremely irritating, so I have disabled it.).

Just a few days ago, I found a free French book that was an updated version of what I had in a university. Unfortunately (at that college), there was a mixup about financial aid and I withdrew, not realizing until I did that the aid was still there (they just hadn’t bothered to tell me that they had transferred the aid from a loan to work-study, as I had requested: no acknowledgment whatsoever - perhaps, an example of bringing poverty into our lives, perhaps not). The book had two CD’s in it that went with the book. It doesn’t tell how to say everything in the book, but enough.

Plus, I have gotten free French textbooks with CD’s from another college (they were sent to them as a sample but they were no longer teaching French at that particular satellite).

So, I have plenty of French to practice from. And what stops me from practicing every day for a couple of hours? Well, there is less resistance now but, mainly, I feel lazy. I’m wasting my time. I’m not making money. Even during times I didn’t need to make money, I felt like I was lazy and wasting my time. Yet, if I was doing the exact same thing at a college or university, it would be socially acceptable.

You see, teaching yourself is lazy, unacceptable, wrong, taboo. But paying a company (colleges and universities are usually in it for the money - and the textbook publishers definitely are in it for the money; charging a hundred or a couple of hundred dollars for a book that cost about five to twenty dollars to make - at the extreme most); paying them is socially acceptable and look how diligent she is!! She isn’t staying home on her butt learning this stuff on her own, she’s going to school!!! Heck, people will even pay you for learning from a company, but not if you do it on your own. No scholarships for people who learn just as much or more on their own; no paying their living expenses.

We actually live in a strange world. It revolves around money and gimmee, gimmee, gimmee! Anything that can be done cheaper or for free is either looked down on, minimized, or outlawed. It’s crazy! It’s insane! Being home with your kids is taboo, but hiring someone to pretend they care about your kids as much as you do, is applauded because then you are doing something with your life! Women pretending to be men and doing what men “traditionally” [not!!] do is applauded, but women who want to do what women “traditionally” do (have babies, have them at home, breastfeed them, home/un school them, etc. are criticized, even punished at times).

A note about my [not!!] comment. Traditionally, men did not go out and work for a company. They didn’t own their own businesses, wherein they left the home and let mom do everything there. If you start with Adam and Eve, you’ll see that men and women were “in it” together. In primitive societies (which I doubt truly exist these days), men may go out and hunt. In some, both men and women garden. In others, one sex does one and one another. But they are both their for their children and they are both there to uplift each other.

This “leaving home to be gone all day every day” is neither male nor female tradition. It is divisive to the family, which is the most important organization on, under, in, and above this planet. It is more important than schools, banks, governments, “doctors”, and anything else we are taught to revere, obey, and fear. It should take precedence and the parents should have ultimate control over how to teach and care for their children. Only in sick societies such as our “civilized” nations are parents dangerous to their children (in this, I include religious practices all over the world that cut or mutilate their children, even if they aren’t “technically” considered “civilized”). Only in sick societies, is it considered dangerous to follow one’s natural instincts about carrying, birthing, rearing, healing, and teaching one’s young.

So, if what we truly believe brings to us what we want, brings to us great power, I suggest that each of us go deeply into our own souls. Find out what it is you truly want. Search for it with as much power as you have - not as much as you think you have or that you should have. Be gentle with yourself, but don’t give up. Don’t let the dichotomies and breaks in your soul trick you into believing that you have to follow the pain you’ve been taught you have to have.

It’s time for a revolution. By the way, Satan is a real person and he has, literally, a hell of a lot of “angels” at his service. In case you were not aware, they have an intense hatred and profound jealousy for us and get really excited and joyous whenever we are in pain or confusion. The greater the pain, the more they like it. The reason it’s unpopular to believe in him today is because he rules so much of our society. “I am no devil for there is none.”

Heck, if I tell you I don’t exist and you believe me, I can run rampant through your house, your family, your society and do anything I please. I can steal, plunder, rape, kill, and do anything I want. You won’t hold me accountable because you don’t think I’m really there.

On the positive side, God is real and so is Jesus. A lot of people feel obligated to pussyfoot around this issue even more than they do around Satan’s existence. I’m telling you that God is real. You can imagine him to look like anything you please. You can pretend you have power to change his gender (usually women who have been extremely hurt by evil men do this, because they cannot comprehend there is such a thing as a safe male), but the fact remains that he exists. No matter what you do, you cannot change that. You cannot change what he is, what his power is, nor what he has done, can do, and will do. You cannot shut his mouth and you cannot open it.

I guarantee that, one day, each of us will know without a shadow of a doubt that he is real and that he has been by us in our most distressing times. We will see what we have done to shut him out and what we have done to bring him in.

I would like to end with my very strong opinion that our lives are between us and God. Ultimately, we answer only to him. It is vital that we find out what is in our souls. It is vital to push beyond Satan’s tricks, the false teachings we may have received, and the false “feel-good” teachings we may have embraced to avoid facing, head-on, the pain this life has brought us. We can do it. We can.

We Live in a Time of Fear; How Can We Possibly Be Safe?

Restored post

Monday, August 9, 2010

In Sunday School, yesterday, we studied 2 Chronicles in the Old Testament and applied it to our day. (I will be leaving out the ellipses that show I have left out words. If you want to know all that was said, go to 2 Chronicles and begin reading from chapter 29, King James Version.)

Hezekiah said to the people, “Sanctify now yourselves and sanctify the house of the Lord and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place, for our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs.

“Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes; for, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.

“Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.”

They sent forth a decree that said, “Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren which trespassed against the Lord god of their fathers, who therefor gave them up to desolation, as ye see. Now be ye not stiffnecked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary [the temple], and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land; for the Lord you God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.”

The reaction was interesting. Some laughed them to scorn and mocked them, but some listened and obeyed the advice given. They came and they broke down the images and groves, everything that had to do with idol worship (I leave it to you to decide what, in your life, constitutes idol worship - most people become very angry if their “sacred cows” are attacked; so you find your own sacred cows; I’m not about to point them out to you.)

And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God and in every work that he began in the service of the house of God and in the law and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

Then comes the test. Sennacherib invades Judah and besieges her cities. Hezekiah’s response was to tell his people, “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”

And the people rested (relied) on the words of Hezekiah.

But good ol’ (not!) Sennacherib sends his servants to try the type of thought control that has been happening in this country for years. In part, the people are told, “Hezekiah is persuading you to die in this siege by telling you that your God is going to deliver you. Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to the people of other lands? Were their gods able to deliver those people from my hand? Noooo. If their gods couldn’t deliver them, why in the Sam Hill do you think your God is going to deliver you?” (Of course, Sennacherib would have only used the lower case G for Israel’s God, but do I think he deserves that respect, to copy him and put in lower cases for a person who really exists? No)

“C’mon, guys, your God can’t deliver you. Hezekiah is feeding you a pipe dream. He’s deceiving you. Seriously, don’t believe him. No god of any nation has been able to deliver their people from me. I mean, look at my batting average, for Pete’s sake. A hundred out of a hundred. You can’t get better than perfect, believe me. I promise you, Hezekiah’s God doesn’t have any more power than anyone else’s. Make it easy on yourselves. Give up before you all starve to death. I mean, how can you be my slaves and pay tribute to me if you’re dead? Think about it. He’s feeding you a farce, a dangerous one, by the way.”

This guy even sends letters around, flyers, posters, sky-writing, whatever works. The radio is going and there he is. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my drift. He used all the media available at the time to get his point across.

The spoke in the Jews’ native tongue so that everyone could understand, and why? To scare the pants off them, to trouble them, to make them doubt. That’s how Satan works, you know. If we can be made afraid, anxiety-ridden, tense, doubtful, then we just might shut down and/or be easily coerced into doing what is most definitely not the right thing for us to do.

So what did Hezekiah and Isaiah do? They prayed, folks. Plain and simple. They cried to heaven, so this wasn’t just prayer #346; this was real, true, from-the-heart praying.

Then what happened? The Lord sent an angel that cut off the enemy. We aren’t told how. Could have been dysentery. Could have been anything. The point is, the Lord did it. He fought the battle. The people didn’t even have to come out from their walls. They weren’t really a match for these enemies, though I expect God could have strengthened them. But these people, these people who had destroyed their own idols and had worshiped faithfully in the Lord’s temples were delivered miraculously.

And old Sennacherib returned “with shame of face” to his own land. And what happened to him there? He went to the house of his god and his children (I presume “sons” or maybe even “grandsons”) killed him with a sword while he was there.

The Lord, the scripture says, “saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others and guided them on every side.” And what did the children of Israel do? They were grateful; they humbled themselves.

In our class, this was likened unto us: if we cast away our idols from us and worship in God’s holy temples, God will give to us a very real protection. I don’t know if anyone has noticed yet (facetious, here) but we live in very frightening times. Our freedom is pretty much gone and what little is left is being eaten away. No matter how much we have voted or gotten involved in politics, our freedoms have been eaten away by “conspiring men”, hidden in a treaty here, a bill there, an executive order elsewhere, and so on.

We are in very real and physical danger - of starving, of being killed, of suffering from diseases and manmade catastrophes. We have been told that it is vital to attend the temples in these last days and I had my witness to the fact that it can help us in our struggles with temptation.

There's a man on one of the forums I frequent whose username is Mateo. He gave me permission to quote the following:

I realize that I must write a book on my experience of overcoming same-sex attraction. So many members and non-members are struggling with this. It is very disheartening.

I used the ARP program that the Church offers to overcome this addiction and others that have plagued me.

"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" I emphatically declare, no! If we are willing to lay our sins upon the altar, he will help us overcome them.

I am a living testimony of how the power of God can change a man's life.

I once had a friend of mine say to me, "Mateo, I wonder if you will teach others how to overcome same-sex attraction. Imagine if in the next life, someone were to say, I couldn't overcome it, it was too difficult. The Savior could very well turn to you and say, well my son Mateo did it. If he did it, so can you."

Temple attendance is vital in this fight against the adversary. I look forward to serving in the temple each Wednesday night!

Temple attendance can help us, can give us power in some very real ways.

One of the things Satan and his minions do is try to convince us we are not worthy of going to the temple when we are and, in fact, going often would help us overcome the things S/minions convince us can never be changed. Heck, he’ll put thoughts into our minds, then tell us, “Look what you’re thinking! Shame on you! You’re so evil! There’s no hope for you now. You might as well just give up.” And if we need help from a bishop or a stake president S/minions will tell us that they are our enemies, or that we can’t bear to have them know the truth about us/think badly of us. Sometimes, there are “bad” or uncompassionate leaders out there, but I think we need to trust God on this. I think he can lead us to the right people, if we need them to help us. At the same time S/minions will be trying to put hurtful people in our path, trying to convince the good people to say and do hurtful things often “for our own good”.

Trust God. That’s the bottom line. The atonement of Jesus Christ is very, very real and very, very powerful. That, I promise you. He’s there. He is always there.

On the Idea of Success

So what makes a person a success? I, personally, would like to be successful in my own eyes. To do that, I first need to define what success is to me. I would think one of the things would be to wear clothes that exude self-confidence, as well as a hairstyle and body language that say the same.

What clothing would shout "loser" to the world? Underwear on the outside, pants hanging down to the crotch, holes in the clothing, stains. To me, successful clothing would be automatically pleasing to the eye. If I'm successful, I don't think my clothing needs to shout out "individuality! Look at me!" because I would be secure in myself. I would follow modest clothing styles because that would reflect what I consider tasteful.

My thoughts, words, and actions would also need to reflect my perception of what success is. I would speak grammatically correct, a thing I have long gotten out of the habit of because most of those around me do not do it. Yet, my friends Jeremy and Eraina speak how I consider successful people to speak, so drawing on those memories would help. How they managed to use the words they use in light of the ill grammar that surrounds them is a wonder to me.

Slow to anger, controlling one's tongue, speaking plainly and without attack, not having a "chip on one's shoulder" - these are marks of someone I would highly respect, someone I would want to hang around, someone I would easily have a crush on because these are the behaviors of the immensely powerful and power is attracting. Perhaps that is one reason I have liked the idea of Superman throughout my life. Here was a man who was immensely powerful, yet was not a bully and was so profoundly self-controlled that no one had a clue who he really was.

As a real life example, Christ was the ultimate in self-control. Self control is powerful, attracting, addicting. I am speaking as one who is looking from the outside in, yet I really do believe that those with true self control are the most powerful people there are. I long to emulate that.

What about career? What careers shout "Success" to me? I think any career a person does that reflects their soul's desire. I, personally, would love to own or co-own a publishing/printing company. As part of that, I would like to be fluent in several languages besides my native language. I would also like to learn many, many different varieties of healing massage. To me, career success is not about how many people are in awe of you nor about how wealthy you are. Career success is about how well you love your work and how well it fulfills you and helps others. It seems to me that money should come as a part of that, plenty of money for your needs plus enough to help others if that is what you desire.

Socially adept instead of socially backwards, clean in body. Stench does not equal success to me, neither does having no idea how to adequately communicate with a variety of people.

I have felt as opposite of success as one can get - from the kind of man I attract to the kind of work I have managed to have. I am ready for change. I am ready for in-depth study and definite change. I am ready to succeed.

On Superman and Jesus Christ

Restored post, with comments

Sunday, July 25, 2010

My sister in law and I have been watching a lot of “Lois and Clark”, a television series about Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane. We have watched from two to six shows a day. As I watched (and envied the emotionally healthy way Lois and Clark became friends, then deeper friends, then best friends, then began to love each other and eventually got married), I began to see some similarities between Superman and Jesus.

But, first, some differences: Superman rescues everyone even when they should do it themselves. Jesus lets people struggle (which gives them strength) and only helps when he is asked. Jesus, as a resurrected being, has all wisdom and all power. According to the scriptures, he had a lot of power and a lot of intelligence before but not as much as he did later. Jesus has already vanquished the “bad guy” and there is not an endless supply of “bad guys” who keep cropping up and try to kill him. At the moment, it looks like the “bad guy” is winning because we are still struggling, but he is not all powerful. God is in charge and God is keeping the “bad guy” within certain bounds.

Now for the similarities:

*Both are morally clean.

*Both have clean language.

*Neither of them cheat nor steal.

*They don’t hurt people, though the ones who do wrong are punished.

*Both want to save every soul on the planet and both do all they can to accomplish that desire.

*Traditionally, only one thing can kill Superman though the media has invented other ways. Only one thing could kill Jesus: his willingness to die when someone tried to kill him.

*Both are very powerful.

*Both fight “bad guys” who are too powerful for us.

*Both are considerate, loving, and kind.

*People around them don’t recognize who they really are except those very, very close to them.

*The biological father of both was not a native of earth.

*Both biological fathers arranged for an earth father to help raise their son.

*Both grew up in a small town.

*Both grew up among people who didn’t know who they really were.

*Both respect women and children.

*Both can move mountains.

*Both can cause mighty winds, ice, fire, and so forth.

*Both honor and respect their parents.

Similarities between Superman and the resurrected Christ:

*Both are impervious to heat, cold, and fire.

*Both can see through things (though Superman is limited by lead and Christ is not limited at all).

*Both can smite with “the glance of his eye”.

In saying Superman is morally clean, I am ignoring the stupid movie made that portrayed him as getting Lois pregnant then leaving for several years. That does not fit the Superman persona. The Superman persona is of a man who is clean in every way.

Jeremy said... Hmmmmmmmmm, perhaps you should reevaluate "the stupid movie" about superman. You may find there is more there than you are seeing. July 29, 2010 10:14 AM 

L'Jn said... Yes, I admit I am prejudiced. I probably could learn something from it.

I think there is so much we can learn from the stories people write, whether in book form, movie form, or some other form. August 3, 2010 1:43 PM 

L'Jn said... I guess I just don't like the idea of Superman's personality being changed so drastically.

But, the subject of similarities between Superman and Christ . . . I found the similarities intriguing. Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Toni’s Apotheosis, Nonpareil, Paragon Way, Means, and Path of Consuming and Dining

Okay, I could have labeled that more creatively, more artistically: Toni’s Ideal Tao of Eating. Toni’s Apotheosis, Nonpareil, Paragon, Perfect way, means, path of eating, consuming, dining. Some of those are good, but I still think the computer’s thesaurus lacks a little creativity in some areas. Okay, I am changing the title from “The Ideal Diet” [booorrrriiinnnngggg] to Toni’s Apotheosis, Nonpareil, Paragon way, means, and path of consuming and dining. Done!

Actually, just before I began writing, I was looking at Maggie Pureland’s Soap Nuts. I wanted to make them and use them for laundry, skin and so forth. But, even before that, I was thinking about making a way of eating. Everyone and her/his dog has a book out on the correct way to eat, so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon in my own little corner of the world. I had been reading something I had printed out that had prophets and apostles’ words on the Word of Wisdom. Lately, I had begun to be swayed by people claiming one should eat meat year round. They roundly and soundly degraded and demeaned vegetarians. I didn’t think that was very nice. After all, in the Millennium we will all be vegetarians, even the animals.

So, anyway, here goes: the first line, part, step (seriously, that thesaurus has got to be replaced by something better - I thought of “part” and “line” to replace “step” and don’t like any of them but the thesaurus on this computer was no help at all - my brain comes up with more than it does most of the time!) — Anyway, the first thing or item to put down is the necessity that one must only eat what one grows. If one does this then one knows when something is “in season” and one will also know it has not been tampered with/poisoned/refined and so forth. The second thing is to use organic fertilizers and nutrition such as grass, leaves, manure - preferably from trusted sources. Sand soil is preferable to clay soil because it is easier for certain plants, such as fruit trees, to adapt to and nutrition needs to be added to both types.

Never, ever, ever use store-bought top soil, potting soil, or dirt. Seriously, I have had so many problems with these. Okay, one time I bought dirt from CMC hardware and had no problems but the potting soil nearly always attracts white flies/fruit flies/gnats or else the eggs are already in the stuff and the “top soil” needed to be added to dirt. If you don’t, it kills your plants and you’ve got to add at least 50% dirt. Well, hello? If I had dirt, I wouldn’t need to buy it. We just have clay in the present living space and it needs to be wet to dig it, plus it is filled with tumbleweed seeds . . . way bad news.

So, I guess the first real step is to live where you have real dirt or sand. Only have rock or clay where your house sits, not where you want to grow stuff unless you have a rototiller that will mix organic matter in with the clay to dilute it. I don’t know if that would work for trees, though, since their roots go down below the tilled level and I, personally, don’t want to drown my trees in clay that stays wet and does not have the air pockets that sand does.

Second step is to choose what you want to grow and plan the landscape. Remember to group plants together that have similar tastes. For example, put plants that like a lot of water in one area and, in a different area, those that only need to be watered once a month, even in deserts (and will die if watered more often – some only need a little water, yet love it when you give them tons of it). Plants that like shade should be together, unless a sun-loving plant can shade a shade-loving plant. Some plants will kill others or stifle their fruiting. Other plants love to be together. Some, like tomatoes and potatoes are so closely related that they attract the same pests. By the way, tomatoes should be planted among peppermint. The peppermint is invasive but harmless and hides the tomatoes from tomato worms. Remember that some plants like acid soil and some like alkali. Some plants take away nutrients from the soil, big-time and some add nutrients (beans, peas, legumes, clovers). Some plants cross and you may not want that. Some plants will cross and it won’t matter if you don’t plan on saving the seeds.

I would have berry vines and bushes. Blackberry, blueberry (if I could - it likes acid soil), strawberry, red raspberry, “black” raspberry, and yellow raspberry. Grapes, but not slip-guts (concord types) – most seedless and some seeded. Gooseberry, black currants and red currants, and probably some kinds I’m not thinking about right now. Banana, citrus, fig, olive – all in green houses. (Okay, olives are trees).

Fruit trees. I’d recommend assorted paw paws, apple, peach (definitely elberta), some pear, plum, mulberry (away to keep the mess from places I don’t want it), apricot (dwarf, so I could thin them – thinning makes the remaining apricots larger — not thinning them can make them tiny, indeed).

Nut trees such as butternut, almond, pecan, black walnut, English walnut, chestnut (the tastiest kind I could find), filbert/hazelnut, and perhaps another kind or two that is rarely seen.

Of course, I’d have my edible flower garden and my herb gardens (some of which are trees).

Then the annuals and greens. Greens: chard, kale, loose leaf spinach, etc. Annuals: tomatoes, potatoes, squashes, cucumbers, melons, corn, beans, peas, radishes, onions, garlic. Asparagus is a biennial. I’m not sure about artichokes. They’d need a green house in this present climate I’m in, I expect. Carrots, cabbage, perhaps broccoli and cauliflower. Watercress. That would be in my water garden. An edible-water-plant garden separate from the non-food one.

So, anyway, once all that is decided, the ground is prepared and the plants inserted. I’d recommend plastic or a heavy mulch to keep the weeds out/down especially around here in tumbleweed heaven and I’d recommend cement or stone sidewalks to connect from garden to garden. I’ve given up watering some plants because of the physical pain of trying to get past tumbleweeds. Tumbleweeds grow fast, the seeds are invisible, and they have thousands of “prickers” on each stem. Not to mention the fact that they, apparently, carry a “blight” that torments and destroys tomatoes. The wind blows it on tomatoes. I have discovered that if I plant tomatoes on the east side of a house, they don’t get the blight. That’s because the wind comes from the southwest around here.

So, now you’ve got your garden. The plants are coming up. The food is becoming ready. What now? This is where I really fall short: eating the harvest. I don’t seem to be smart enough or energetic enough or something enough to pick the produce right when ready. Corn can be picked and eaten immediately. In our society, it is common to steam it for a few minutes but if it is young/green enough, eating it raw is fine and probably more healthy.

Most vegetables can be steamed, cultured, or eaten raw. I would only eat radishes and watercress raw - and possibly tomatoes, ideally, anyway. I understand that cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and some other greens need to be lightly steamed or fermented to properly digest.

We must also remember grains. I think an acre of assorted grains would be nice. I have no idea how much would be needed for a family of four (for example), yet I’m sure I read it once. I would want to grow hard red winter wheat, hard white wheat, pastry/soft white wheat, oats, rye, sesame (okay, technically it isn’t a grain), popcorn, perhaps kamut, quinoa, and millet. Amaranth might be nice. Obviously, not an acre of each of these and, I’m wondering, would hard white wheat be considered natural enough for our purposes (health, independence, survival)?

Pure, good water straight from the earth. I suppose, ideally, it would have minerals in it from plant sources (organic). Plus a solar distiller would be good for cleansing toxins from the system, as well as using for teas/infusions, colemas, and other things one would want distilled water for.

A few chickens for eggs might be a good idea. I’m not really sure where eggs, honey, and milk products fit in. The Word of Wisdom doesn’t mention any of those products. I’m thinking that, since milk is a baby food, it would be all right to take while healing as long as it was raw from healthy, preferably grass-fed, cows and fermenting it would be even better (yogurt, kefir, etc.). But, once one was healthy, there shouldn’t be a need for it any longer. Honey is a super-concentrated food for a species pretty far removed from us. It probably should not be used, though it is good as a topical anti-biotic. Eggs. Hmm. Chickens lay eggs even if they will never turn into babies, so I’m not sure about this one. If they only laid eggs that had been fertilized, I’d say they fall into the category of meat (eat sparingly and only in times of cold or hunger). If you have hens and a rooster, how do you know which eggs are fertilized and which aren’t?

Fish are animals but they are not often included in the “meat” group. I, personally, think they should be eaten, not too much. After all, they are living beings, too. But so are plants, so it could get really sticky here if you followed that line of thinking. But plants just might be fine with being eaten. I know that if I don’t harvest my mint, feverfew, fennel, sage, thyme, etc. in the fall/autumn the sticks will just stay there all winter and the new plants will come up from the roots. Lilacs also like to be cut. If the flowers aren’t cut, they turn to seeds and don’t give out blossoms the next year. The ideal thing to do for them, I think, is to cut most of the blossoms off and leave a few if you think the plant wants seeds.

If wild harvesting (wild crafting) or taking cuttings (flowers, leaves, stems, roots) from your own herbs, I would make sure I did not take so much that I weakened or killed the plant. It is sharing and really needs to be allowed to stay alive. In the fall, I would cut all the tops off the herbs that come up from the roots the next spring.

Seriously, I would think twice about cooking all of my food. I think we don’t need to cook much. I like the way Dr. Christopher advises to cook grain: put some in a good thermos, poor boiling water on it, put on the lid, leave for 8 or so hours. My friend, Jeremy, showed me how he read to cook veggies. Pour boiling water over the cut/grated veggies and they’re done.