We live in a society where duplicity, lying, deceit, and not
being honest are common. We are inundated with people that say one thing to
your face and another behind your back. And, God forbid, if they get found out
they make you the enemy.
In the past few years, this has happened to me almost on a
daily basis due to me being on the radio and simply being honest. But there
were three occurrences that were bold.
Two happened in Hawaii with a Dr. Bill Harris and Karl Seff,
a science professor at the University of Hawaii, who are both Directors of the
Vegetarian Society of Hawaii ([email protected]).
I used to write articles for the VSH until they appointed an
envious person to manage their newsletter. I submitted an article about GMOs to
the VSH and was asked by Mr. Seff what was wrong with GMOs? He also stated that
he ate them and I could not resist telling him that that fully explains why he
is like he is. His point that followed was that the VSH was an organization
espousing vegetarianism, which had nothing to do with GMOs . I explained to him
that the last time I looked GMOs were vegetables and since vegetarians eat
vegetable how is it not applicable?
He became incensed and blew me off and added me to his
“shitlist”. Ironically, about a year or so later at a GMO opposition hearing,
Directors of the VSH spoke about the dangers of and their opposition to GMOs.
A short time after that incident I submitted another article
to Dr. Harris. He told me that the newsletter person who was a volunteer would
not accept any of my articles and since his position was a volunteer position
they could not force him to accept the article for fear of his quitting.
I knew Dr. Harris was full of crap and trying to simply look
like the good-guy. So I told him that if the newsletter guy quit because of
taking my article, I would volunteer and take over the newsletter duties.
That was the last time anyone in the VSH had anything to do
with me despite the incident happening at least three years ago.
The irony of all of this is I have been a vegetarian since
1975 and a vegan since 1990. My weekly radio show in Honolulu started in 1981,
which centered around eating a plant-based diet to obtain maximum health. The
show began well before the VSH was formed. When it was formed, several of their
Directors would call-in on my show talking about who their upcoming guests would
be. Oh yeah, I have spoken to that group
at least three times. But, false ego (the tendency to never look bad)
supersedes honesty.
Recently, I have been toying with the idea of starting an
internet radio show so I can reach more people. There’s a man, Patrick Timpone, that has been
doing internet radio for a long time. A mutual friend put me in touch with
Timpone, who I had hoped would be able to help by getting me started.
While speaking with Mr. Timpone I talked about the benefits
of a plant-based diet causing Mr. Timpone to become very defensive. Obviously,
he felt that I was threatening his lifestyle so I shortened the call but mailed
him a copy of my book, “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”. What happened after
that was a mind-blower.
Our mutual friend tried to get Mr. Timpone to loosen up and
hear me out. The following are the words of actual emails.
Mr. Timpone to our mutual friend:
I talked to Hesh for a while sometime back. Nice fellow, but
I don’t really thing (more about this misspelling later on) he has anything new
or interesting to bring to the table.
This was inadvertently sent to me by the mutual friend when
he copied me on his email to Mr. Timpone. In the mutual friend’s email to me he
tried to get me to try to reconcile with Mr. Timpone by having him on my radio
show.
My response to this was:
I’ll find someone else to help me with internet radio. Why
would I have a hypocrite and someone who thinks very little of me on my show?
He made it very clear that he thinks very little of me and is very judgmental.
If he wants to do a radio show with me he should ask me to be on his show. At
least that would display a semblance of humility. The guy is such a know it all
and as such I cannot bring anything new or interesting to the table. So, what’s
the point?
I then sent a response email to Mr. Timpone (Patrick
@1radionetwork.com) in response to what he said to our mutual friend, which was
inadvertently sent to me:
Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words. It must be
hard being a know-it-all with little tolerance for difference. It will be
interesting to see how long it takes for you to have a stroke or a heart
attack, or erectile dysfunction or type 2 diabetes before you figure out that
succumbing to the dictates of your tongue, which overrides the intelligence, is
a recipe for disaster. Had I known you knew everything I would not have wasted
the postage in sending my book to you as I’m sure you knew all about what it
encompassed and would not learn anything new by reading it. And so the
Baskin-Robbins legacy continues with its 31 flavors. You make me so thankful
that I have an open mind. Oh yeah, you misspelled think. But I’m sure you knew
that and wanted to see if anyone would catch it. I am so sorry that “I can’t
bring anything new or interesting to the table”.
Timpone’s response to our mutual friend:
What on Earth were you thinking? Was it in any way cool to share my private
email with you concerning Hesh? And after reading his last email to me I am
obviously right on target in not wanting him anywhere in my space. Please be
more discrete with our personal conversations.
Then, again, our mutual friend sent Timpone’s email to me.
Any my final email to Timpone was: I don’t blame you. Nobody likes getting
busted.
There were two choices in both instances. 1 – being honest
in all respects and 2 – being duplistic to not seem like a bad guy.
I put in the respective email addresses in case anyone had
comments for them. I welcome all, pro and con. It helps me to grow.
Anyway, I am sure that many of you have had similar
experiences that ended in disappointment and frustration. The way to overcome
this is by taking stock in and of your behavior.
We cannot use the examples set by many in so-called
religiosity. We have Catholic priests that are pedophiles. Instead of
punishment they are assigned to other parishes.
We have ministers that marry their boy friends instead of truly heeding
their alleged Lord’s words. And then, in the past, we have had world-renowned
clergymen getting busted for cheating on their wives.
What I like to refer to are the words in the ancient text
Bhagavad-gita As It Is where the qualities of the Bramanas set the tone for
civilization to follow. In the East Indian culture the Bramanas are the spiritual
guides to the others and as such have learned and made a part of them certain
qualities for others to strive to act by.
The actual quote from Bhagavad-gita As It Is is as follows:
“The Blessed Lord said: Fearlessness, purification of one’s
existence, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity, self-control,
performance of sacrifice, study of the Vedas, austerity and simplicity,
nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquility,
aversion to fault-finding, compassion, freedom from covetousness, gentleness,
modesty and steady determination, vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness,
freedom from envy and the passion for honor – these transcendental qualities
belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.”
Interestingly enough there are explanations of these words
that are far removed from our perception. For example, charity should only be
undertaken for the furtherance of God consciousness. Otherwise it’s a waste of
money. Self-control refers to the control of the senses and trying to limit sex
life to the propagation of children.
Non-violence, or ahimsa, relates to not checking anyone’s progressive
life. It goes on to say that animals are also making progress in their
evolutionary life by transmigrating from one animal life to another. If an
animal is killed, then his progress is checked. And if an animal is staying in
a particular body for so many days or so many years and is ultimately killed,
then he has to come back again in that form of life to complete the remaining
days in order to be promoted to another species of life.
Imagine what the world would be like if people exhibited
these qualities. No wars and no pimps or hookers of any kind, corporate or
human. The problem is that few people are in the mode of goodness, way more are
in the mode of passion, and the bulk are in the mode of ignorance, having no
glimmer of spirituality.
It goes on to say that activities in the mode of goodness
are considered auspicious for progress on the path of true liberation, while
those acting in the modes of passion and ignorance will have to continue their
existence in the material world as human beings, or they will descend among the
species of animals or even lower life forms.
The human form is the only form that allows one a choice. The
choice being, either to cling to the world with its endless frustration of
sense gratification and bear the consequences of repeated birth and death, in
the forms described above, or to develop a relationship with God and never take
birth in the material world again.
To put it another way, whatever material enjoyment one
achieves in his/her lifetime, such as wealth, fame or beauty, does not
automatically carry forward to one’s next life in the material world because
the next form depends upon the consciousness or desires one accumulates in
his/her lifetime. For example all humans
and creatures exhibit four similar behaviors. They eat, sleep, mate and defend.
What separates the two is consciousness. But, and there is always but, if one
embarks on a God-centered spiritual path, that individual will pick up where
he/she left off, in the previous life, in a guaranteed human form. Somehow, in
this lifetime, when I came in contact with this philosophy I had no problem
with its acceptance and adherence.
Unfortunately, many people do not believe this, never heard
of it before, or think that developing a relationship with God would turn them
into a boring, dried-up person. Ignorance is bliss!
About 500 years ago a very saintly person said, “One should
feel himself lower than the straw in the street, more tolerant than the tree,
and ready to offer respects to all not requiring any in return”.
In other words, humility far exceeds arrogance.
Aloha!
Bhagavad Gita-As-It-Is
The Bible
Just to put things in perspective, after I graduated from Weequahic High School and before going to Seton Hall University, I had a part-time job working for a butcher. I was the delivery guy and occasionally had to go to the slaughterhouse to pick up products for the store. Needless to say, I had no consciousness nor awareness, as change never came then despite the horrors I witnessed on an almost daily basis.
After graduating with a degree in accounting from Seton Hall, I eventually got married and moved to a town called Livingston. Livingston was basically a yuppie community where everyone was judged by the neighborhood they lived in and their income. To say it was a “plastic” community would be an understatement.
Livingston and the shallowness finally got to me. I told my wife I was fed up and wanted to move. She made it clear she had to be near her friends and New York City. I finally got my act together and split for Colorado.
I was living with a lady in Aspen at the end of 1974, when one day she said, ” let’s become vegetarians”. I have no idea what possessed me to say it, but I said, “okay”! At that point I went to the freezer and took out about $100 worth of frozen, dead body parts and gave them to a welfare mother who lived behind us. Well, everything was great for about a week or so, and then the chick split with another guy.
So here I was, a vegetarian for a couple weeks, not really knowing what to do, how to cook, or basically how to prepare anything. For about a month, I was getting by on carrot sticks, celery sticks, and yogurt. Fortunately, when I went vegan in 1990, it was a simple and natural progression. Anyway, as I walked around Aspen town, I noticed a little vegetarian restaurant called, “The Little Kitchen”.
Let me back up just a little bit. It was April of 1975, the snow was melting and the runoff of Ajax Mountain filled the streets full of knee-deep mud. Now, Aspen was great to ski in, but was a bummer to walk in when the snow was melting.
I was ready to call it quits and I needed a warmer place. I’ll elaborate on that in a minute.
But right now, back to “The Little Kitchen”. Knowing that I was going to leave Aspen and basically a new vegetarian, I needed help. So, I cruised into the restaurant and told them my plight and asked them if they would teach me how to cook. I told them in return I would wash dishes and empty their trash. They then asked me what I did for a living and I told them I was an accountant.
The owner said to me, “Let’s make a deal. You do our tax return and we’ll feed you as well”. So for the next couple of weeks I was doing their tax return, washing their dishes, emptying the trash, and learning as much as I could.
But, like I said, the mud was getting to me. So I picked up a travel book written by a guy named Foder. The name of the book was, “Hawaii”. Looking through the book I noticed that in Lahaina, on Maui, there was a little vegetarian restaurant called,” Mr. Natural’s”. I decided right then and there that I would go to Lahaina and work at “Mr. Natural’s.” To make a long story short, that’s exactly what happened.
So, I’m working at “Mr. Natural’s” and learning everything I can about my new dietary lifestyle – it was great. Every afternoon we would close for lunch at about 1 PM and go to the Sheraton Hotel in Ka’anapali and play volleyball, while somebody stayed behind to prepare dinner.
Since I was the new guy, and didn’t really know how to cook, I never thought that I would be asked to stay behind to cook dinner. Well, one afternoon, that’s exactly what happened; it was my turn. That posed a problem for me because I was at the point where I finally knew how to boil water.
I was desperate, clueless and basically up the creek without a paddle. Fortunately, there was a friend of mine sitting in the gazebo at the restaurant and I asked him if he knew how to cook. He said the only thing he knew how to cook was enchiladas. He said that his enchiladas were bean-less and dairy-less. I told him that I had no idea what an enchilada was or what he was talking about, but I needed him to show me because it was my turn to do the evening meal.
Well, the guys came back from playing volleyball and I’m asked what was for dinner. I told them enchiladas; the owner wasn’t thrilled. I told him that mine were bean-less and dairy-less. When he tried the enchilada he said it was incredible. Being the humble guy that I was, I smiled and said, “You expected anything less”? It apparently was so good that it was the only item on the menu that we served twice a week. In fact, after about a week, we were selling five dozen every night we had them on the menu and people would walk around Lahaina broadcasting, ‘enchilada’s at “Natural’s” tonight’. I never had to cook anything else.
A year later the restaurant closed, and somehow I gravitated to a little health food store in Wailuku. I never told anyone I was an accountant and basically relegated myself to being the truck driver. The guys who were running the health food store had friends in similar businesses and farms on many of the islands. I told them that if they could organize and form one company they could probably lock in the State. That’s when they found out I was an accountant and “Down to Earth” was born. “Down to Earth” became the largest natural food store chain in the islands, and I was their Chief Financial Officer and co-manager of their biggest store for 13 years.
In 1981, I started to do a weekly radio show to try and expose people to a vegetarian diet and get them away from killing innocent creatures. I still do that show today. I pay for my own airtime and have no sponsors to not compromise my honesty. One bit of a hassle was the fact that I was forced to get a Masters Degree in Nutrition to shut up all the MD’s that would call in asking for my credentials.
My doing this radio show enabled me, through endless research, to see the corruption that existed within the big food industries, the big pharmaceutical companies, the biotech industries and the government agencies. This information, unconscionable as it is, enabled me to realize how broken our health system is. This will be covered more in depth in the Introduction and throughout the book and when you finish the book you will see this clearly and it will hopefully inspire you to make changes.
I left Down to Earth in 1989, got nationally certified as a sports injury massage therapist and started traveling the world with a bunch of guys that were making a martial arts movie. After doing that for about four years I finally made it back to Honolulu and got a job as a massage therapist at the Honolulu Club, one of Hawaii’s premier fitness clubs. It was there I met the love of my life who I have been with since 1998. She made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. She said,” If you want to be with me you’ve got to stop working on naked women”. So, I went back into accounting and was the Chief Financial Officer of a large construction company for many years.
Going back to my Newark days when I was an infant, I had no idea what a “chicken” or “egg” or “fish” or “pig” or “cow” was. My dietary blueprint was thrust upon me by my parents as theirs was thrust upon them by their parents. It was by the grace of God that I was able to put things in their proper perspective and improve my health and elevate my consciousness.
The road that I started walking down in 1975 has finally led me to the point of writing my book, “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”. Hopefully, the information contained herein will be enlightening, motivating, and inspiring to encourage you to make different choices. Doing what we do out of conditioning is not always the best course to follow. I am hoping that by the grace of the many friends and personalities I have encountered along my path, you will have a better perspective of what road is the best road for you to travel on, not only for your health but your consciousness as well.
Last but not least: after being vaccinated as a kid I developed asthma, which plagued me all of my life. In 2007 I got exposed to the organic sulfur crystals, which got rid of my asthma in 3 days and has not come back in over 10 years. That, being the tip of the iceberg, has helped people reverse stage 4 cancers, autism, joint pain, blood pressure problems, migraine headaches, erectile dysfunction, gingivitis, and more. Also, because of the detoxification effects by the release of oxygen that permeates and heals all the cells in the body, it removes parasites, radiation, fluoride, free radicals, and all the other crap that is thrust upon us in the environment by Big Business.
For more, please view www.healthtalkhawaii.com and www.asanediet.com.
Namaste!
