Evolution of love

THE NATURAL FOOD, DWELLING AND COMPANY OF MAN

"To understand what natural living is, it will be necessary to distinguish it from what is unnatural. Living naturally depends upon the selection of (1) food, (2) dwelling, and (3) company. To live naturally, the lower animals can select these for themselves by the help of their instincts and the natural sentinels placed at the sensory entrances... the organs of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste."
"With men in general, however, these organs are so much perverted by unnatural living from very infancy that little reliance can be place on their judgments. To understand, therefore, what our natural needs are, we ought to depend upon observation, experiment, and reason."
"First, to select our natural food, our observation should be directed to the formation of the organs that aid in digestion and nutrition, the teeth and digestive canal, to the natural tendency of the organs of sense which guide animals to their food; and to the nourishment of the young."
"By observation of the teeth we can find that in carnivorous animals the incisors are little developed, but the canines are of striking length, smooth and pointed, to seize the prey. The molars also are pointed; these points, however, do not meet, but fit closely side by side to separate the muscular fibers."
"In the herbivorous animals the incisors are strikingly developed, the canines are stunted (though occasionally developed into weapons, as in elephants), the molars are broad-topped and furnished with enamel on the sides only."
"In the frugivorous animals all the teeth are nearly the same height; the canines are little projected, conical, and blunt (obviously not intended for seizing prey but for exertion of strength). The molars are broad-topped and furnished at the top with enamel folds to prevent waste caused by their side motion, but not pointed for chewing flesh."
"In omnivorous animals such as bears, on the other hand, the incisors resemble those of the herbivorous, the canines are like those of the carnivorous, and molars are both pointed and broad topped to serve a twofold purpose."
"Now if we observe the formation of the teeth in man we find that they do not resemble those of the carnivorous, neither do they resemble the teeth of the herbivorous or the omnivorous. They do resemble, exactly, those of the frugivorous animals. The reasonable inference, therefore, is that man is a frugivorous or fruit-eating animal."
"By observation of the digestive canal we find that the bowels of carnivorous animals are 3 to 5 times the length of their body, measuring from the mouth to the anus; and their stomach is almost spherical. The bowels of the herbivorous are 20 to 28 times the length of their body and their stomach is more extended and of compound build. But the bowels of the frugivorous animals are 10 to 12 times the length of their body; their stomach is somewhat broader than that of the carnivorous and has a continuation in the duodenum serving the purpose of a second stomach."
"This is exactly the formation we find in human beings, though Anatomy says that the human bowels are 3 to 5 times the length of man's body... making the mistake by measuring the body from crown to the soles, instead of from the mouth to anus. Thus we can again draw the inference that man is, in all probability, a frugivorous animal."
"By observation of the natural tendency of the organs of sense... the guideposts for determining what is nutritious... by which all animals are directed to their food, we find that when the carnivorous animal finds prey, he becomes so much delighted that his eyes begin to sparkle; he boldly seizes the prey and greedily laps the jetting blood."
"On the contrary, the herbivorous animal refuses even his natural food, leaving it untouched, if it is sprinkled with a little blood. His senses of smell and sight lead him to select grasses and other herbs for his food, which he tastes with delight. Similarly with the frugivorous animals, we find that their senses always direct them to fruits of the trees and fields."
"We find that when extraordinary means such as excessive fasting, scourging, or monastic confinement are resorted to for the purpose of suppressing the sexual passions, these means seldom produce the desired affect."
"Experiment shows, however, that man can easily overcome these passions, the archenemy of morality, by natural living on a nonirritant diet, above referred to; thereby men gain a calmness of mind which every psychologist knows is the most favorable to mental activity and to a clear understanding, as well as to judicial way of thinking."
" Something more should be said here about the natural instinct of propagation, which is, next to the instinct of self-preservation, the strongest in the animal body. Sexual desire, like all other desires, has a normal and an abnormal or diseased state, the latter resulting only from the foreign matter accumulated by unnatural living as mentioned above."
" In the sexual desire everyone has a very accurate thermometer to indicate the condition of his health. This desire is forced from its normal state by the irritation of nerves that result from the pressure of foreign matter accumulated in the system, which pressure is exerted on the sexual apparatus and is at first manifested by an increased sexual desire followed by a gradual decrease of potency."
"This sexual desire in its normal state makes man quite free from all disturbing lusts, and operates on the organism (awaking a wish for appeasement) only infrequently. Here again experiment shows that this desire, like all other desires, is always normal in individuals who lead a natural life as mentioned."
"The sexual organ... the junction of important nerve extremities, particularly of the sympathetic and spinal nerves (the principal nerves of the abdomen) which, through their connection with the brain, are capable of enlivening the whole system... is in a sense the root of the tree of life. Man well instructed in the proper use of sex can keep his body and mind in proper health and can live a pleasant life throughout."
"The practical principles of sexual health are not taught because the public regards the subject as unclean and indecent. Thus blinded, mankind presumes to cloth Nature in a veil because she seems to be impure, forgetting that she is always clean and that everything impure and improper lies in man's ideas, and not in Nature herself."
"It is clear therefore that man, not knowing the truth about the dangers of misuse of the sexual power, and being compelled to wrong practices by nervous irritation resulting from unnatural living, suffers troublesome diseases in life ultimately becomes a victim of premature death."
"Secondly, about our dwelling place. We can easily understand, when we feel displeasure on entering a crowded room after breathing fresh air on the mountain top or in the expanse of field and garden, that the atmosphere of the town or any crowded place is quite an unnatural dwelling place."
"The fresh atmosphere of the mountain top, or field or garden, or of a dry place under trees covering a large plot of land and freely ventilated with fresh air is the proper dwelling place for man according to nature."
"And thirdly, as to the company we should keep. Here also, if we listen to the dictates of our conscience and consult our natural liking, we will at once find that we favor those persons whose magnetism affects us harmoniously, who cool our system, internally invigorate our vitality, develop our natural love, and thus relieve us of our miseries and minister peace to us."
"If on the other hand we disobey the warning of Mother Nature, without listening to the dictates of our pure conscience, and keep the company of unwholesome people, an opposite affect is produced and our health is impaired and our life shortened."
"Thus natural living is helpful for the practice of Yama. (Noninjury to others, truthfulness, nonstealing, continence, and noncovetousness.) Purity of mind and body being equal important in the practice of Niyama, (Purity of body and mind, contentment, and obedience.) every attempt should be made to attain purity."