“Understanding Consciousness - Part 1” - Is The First Of Two Lectures By Michio Kushi On Consciousness Now Available On YouTube. Notes And References Are Below
Michio Kushi’s lecture, “Understanding Consciousness - Part 1”, recorded on January 28, 1984 at the Kushi Institute is now available for viewing on YouTube. Notes and references are included below.
Now available for viewing on YouTube is the two-hour long lecture by Michio Kushi, “Understanding Consciousness - Part 1”, filmed on January 28, 1984 at the Kushi Institute in Brookline, MA. You can view the lecture here:
In “Understanding Consciousness - Part 1”, Michio Kushi thoroughly explores how consciousness is formed, how our brain evolved and how we can free ourselves from our delusions. Michio first starts his talk with a request and plea to the audience:
Learn And Teach Cooking
Michio Kushi begins his 1984 talk on “Developing Consciousness” by asking all persons in the audience to learn how to cook and teach others to do so as well. Michio explains that cooking reveals one’s condition, personality and consciousness. Michio asserts that cooking is the highest and the most practical art, above all others, and is directly connected to life including physical and mental health and spirituality.
Michio further asserts that cooking to develop one’s mind and spirit requires a sensitivity that is delicate and subtle and is beyond just being able to cook for health. This subtle yet crucial difference that Michio is suggesting everyone learn and teach with regard to cooking.
AIDS And The Evolution Of Life (And Consciousness) On Earth
Michio mentions AIDS (which dominated the news at the time as a deadly disease with no cure) as an opportunity to reflect on the origin and development of life on earth.
Michio then begins by talking about how gaseous elements, with the help of electromagnetic charges, fused together to form heavier elements and in water created a vibrant primordial soup leading to the formation of life. Michio proceeds to draw the following chart of life’s evolution from the beginning to the creation of humans.
Michio’s evolution of life diagram illustrate how the changing conditions on earth created and produced different plant life which, in turn, caused the evolution of animals by eating those plants. Last to appear are cereal grains followed by the appearance of humans. Michio points out that humans developed their upright walking position due to eating cereal grains which grow upright and vertical which then allowed them greater conscisouness. This diagram also illustrates and reflects the evolutionary development of consciousness on earth.
Some things to note about this diagram is that the approximate duration of the evolution life in the ocean was about 2.8 billion years followed by evolution on land which has been about 0.4 billion years. This is ratio of one to seven. This one to seven ratio is reflected in the structure of the human body (head to body ratio).
Also it should be noted that the expansion and contraction periods on earth are the result of the journey of solar system traveling around the galaxy and the movement of the galaxy itself.
The Three Brains
Michio then correlates the evolution of life to the development of the brain which can be divided into three parts: the reptile brain, the mammalian brain and the primate or human brain as illustrated in the below diagram:
(See: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/triune-brain )
Michio mentions how spirallic formations and yin and yang (e.g., peripheral vs. internal) factors are present throughout the human body everywhere including down to every single cell and in the parts of the brain. Each section of the brain have a yin (outer) part and a yang (inner) part. The different parts of the brain are stimulated by different foods.
Michio reiterates that humans developed consciousness with their ability to stand upright, thereby receiving “heaven’s” force directly and a result of eating whole cereal grains. Humans, with his greater consciousness, discovered how to use fire and could adapt to the colder earth.
Fire and it’s use and misuse - our freedom and our delusions
With fire humans energized their food and could adapt to any environment. With the consumption of fire-energized foods humans became more active and could exist almost anywhere on the planet and began to creating civilizations.
However, with the freedom gained by using fire, humans also became susceptible to its misuse. If foods were not properly cooked then they could become sick, for example. The misuse of fire in cooking and other ways lead to various delusions including the delusion that enemies exist and are out to destroy us.
The search for enemies around us on a microscopic level has become known as, “science” and the search for enemies in the form of abstract concepts, like “the devil” is called, “religion”. In this way never-ending wars began and leading to our own self-destruction. Michio asserts that all of these delusions came from the misuse of fire, especially in our cooking. Michio claims there is no solution today to solve this problem.
The Modern Approach To Cancer - as an example of delusional thinking
Until recently all cancer researches saw cancer as an enemy to be destroyed. They never considered that food had anything to do with it. They also never looked at how cancer is protecting the body and one’s health by localizing excesses and toxins into one area. Where do these delusions came from? Michio asserts that it is because of the misuse of fire and forgetting to eat whole cereal grains. Instead people greatly increased their animal food intake and developed a “madness” which he estimates currently affects 90% of the world’s population (including maybe himself!).
What Is Reality? What Is Truth? What Are Illusions/Delusions?
These are some illusions/delusions that exist only in our minds and no where else:
All nations are illusions/delusions
1+1=2 and other math concepts (e.g. two identical things do not exist in reality)
All social promises - democracy etc
All data/informational concept
Churches/Beliefs/Religions - all religions and beliefs
Ownership of land/house and everything else - the idea of ownership of anything including your body is a delusion
The illusion of ownership is the foundation of economy therefore:
All of modern civilization is a delusion
To Develop Consciousness Then We Must Do The Following:
Step One: Eliminate all these delusions - there are so many
Michio comments on how major religions are all delusions as well as places like Washington, D.C., the Kremlin and so on. People are truly mad/insane, Michio laments.
Step Two: Examine what kind of foods are people eating and how it stimulates there various brains centers. People who overeat animal foods, or too much fruits and so on, stimulate parts of the reptile brain or mammal brain, instead of eating whole cereal grains, which stimulate the human brain. Michio discusses how various foods stimulate various parts of the reptile and mammal brain instead of the human part of the brain.
Michio explains that, overtime, people who continue to eat non-human foods lose the use of their human brain and therefore begin to see delusions everywhere.
Brain Function and Anatomy
Michio then discusses brain anatomy including the “Fissures of Rolando”:
(See: https://www.anatomyatlases.org/AnatomicVariants/NervousSystem/Images/05.shtml )
Michio then draws a superior view of the head indicating various areas and functions of the brain:
Michio explains that the right side of the brain involves more mechanical, theoretical and basic thinking while the left side involves more aesthetic, artistic and abstract thinking. Front is more yin (expansive), and back is more yang (contracted). The inner brain covers more impulsive thought and actions while the periphery involves greater consciousness and awareness. Overtime through the evolution of all life, consciousness develops from more mechanical, instinctive thinking to more theoretical, ideological thinking as we become humans. Backside of the brain deals more with time and the front more with space.
Eating yin foods (salad, fruits, soda, butter, honey, marijuana etc) activate the front part of the brain. They think about the “new age” - for example. Eating yang foods (salt, eggs, steak, baked foods, etc) activate the backside of the brain. They think the “new age” is nonsense and think more about tradition and conservatism. These opposite ways of thinking can cause conflicts and wars and yet people have no idea that these are all delusions caused by what they are eating which activates different parts of the brain.
Michio summarizes that what they believe is absolutely true is merely being a slave (or product) of what they have been eating. If they change their diets then they would naturally think differently.
In conclusion, Michio states that humans acquired freedom through the use of fire but then created a world of delusions through its misuse. People forgot how to properly use fire. Therefore people must relearn how to use fire in order to gain back their freedom instead of becoming a slave to the delusions caused by its misuse. People are free and can change their thoughts and ideas. There are no fixed ideas. Even yin and yang don’t exist.
(Note: This misuse of fire goes back to his original point of asking people to learn cooking.)
Michio likens consciousness to the fleeting appearance and disappearance of clouds in the sky. They come and go but behind the clouds is the nothingness of the blue sky. Freedom of consciousness means that you are free to create and erase whatever cloud you wish. Michio cautions us not to confuse the clouds as truth. They are merely illusions that we creates.
A problem of the modern world is that people conflate what are relative illusions as absolute truths. These include scientific theories, religious doctrines and so on. They are all temporary dreams and illusions, like the song, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” where life is but a dream ( a favorite song of Georges Ohsawa’s). Michio cautions everyone not to be attached to any of these illusions. He criticizes macrobiotic students who are conceptually attached to the concept of eating brown rice and reiterates that these ideas are all relative and not absolute. When conditions change then ideas should change.
What is the “blue sky” behind the clouds of illusions?
The blue sky is the nothingness out of which clouds of illusions appear and disappear. What is that blue sky? Michio asserts that if you do not know what is that “blue sky” then you can never be free from delusions. What is it?
(At this point there is short jump in the video where there is a short break and the blackboard is cleared)
Michio resumes and explains the steps needed to develop and understanding our consciousness and thought:
The shape and form of our head should be like a grain
Michio asserts that, among all whole grains, brown rice is the most evolved. Our head should be in shape of a grain. If a person eats, for example, chicken all the time, then the shape of their head and body will start to turn into that of a chicken. Michio asserts that eating brown rice regularly promotes the highest form of consciousness.
Left and Right Inclination of the Head
A head titled to the right stimulates the left artistic side of the brain while titled to the left stimulates the right more mechanical, theoretical side of the brain
Front and Back Inclination Of The Head
Front involves future thinking, back involves past thinking
Location of the Head Spiral
The head spiral is magnetic North Pole of the head. If the spiral is toward the left side of the head then a person thinks more conceptually. If it is on the right then it is more practical thinking. If the spiral is in the center then the person thinking is more balanced. Likewise, if the spiral is located towards the back then the person is more conservative in thought and if toward the front then the person is more progressive in thought.
Face - Contracted Or Expanded
If the triangular area of the face is more narrow then a person has more narrow thinking. Too narrow then they become stubborn. If the area is more wide then they think and see more broadly. If too wide then their thinking is scattered.
Slanted eyebrows pointing downward to the center is more narrow while eyebrows slanted in the opposite direction is more wide. Noses can be thin or wide and the same with mouths.
Michio asserts that 90% of mouths today are too wide. A normal mouth should be no wider than one’s nostrils.
(The video again skips here as Michio asks his audience members to look at each other)
Spirals of Thought
Michio resume and reiterates that thinking is like clouds. When you think you are forming spirals that emanate from your head in various shapes and forms which form smaller spirals in their orbits. This happens any time one is thinking. Different thoughts create different spirals. Michio explains various sizes and scopes of thoughts and the spirals they create.
(Above diagram is just an approximation)
You are free to create and dissolve whatever size and type of spiral you wish. This is freedom of consciousness.
In order to gain full freedom over one’s consciousness then one must fully learn, understand and manage the following:
What kind of foods create what type of consciousness?
What types of cooking creates what type of energy and consciousness?
Michio suggests that if one can freely manage these two factors then they will become the “highest’ person on earth because and are no longer slave to any one type doctrine or conceptual delusion. You can be completely free - a free person who is the creator of their own consciousness.
Important things to remember:
Chew very well
Eat less - don’t over eat
These two points are absolutely essential to gain your freedom of consciousness.
“Understanding Consciousness - Part 2” will be available for viewing on YouTube on Friday, December 13, 2924