Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/75

 bodily energy finally are cleared sufficiently for function. This occurs when nature asserts herself, as she often does, in spite of the drug. When the sign of distress appears upon the surface of the skin, attempts are at once in order, not to remove the inward cause, but to eradicate the outward appearance, "to drive it in." Orthodoxy refuses to admit the unity of disease, and hence neglects to assist in the cleansing process of nature, which, recognizing the cause, ignores the symptom, or uses it solely as a guide. The thought and hope of the physician trained to heed the warnings of disease from a natural viewpoint is this that the organs of the body of his patient may prove equal to the work of elimination, and this they can accomplish only when they are structurally intact. In spite of the mildness or the severity of its manifestation, it is through bodily purification alone that disease can be cured.

Since the physiological changes involved in the application of fasting for the cure of disease need to be made gradually, the ideal method of approach to the period of abstinence is to prepare the system by a gradual lessening of the food supply; but, whether begun in this manner or without preparation,