||The Health of Man -
From Herbert Shelton's book, Health for the Millions
True happiness depends upon the health of the whole man. We have all but
forgotten the importance of the principles expressed in the ancient words: mens sana in
corpore sano. Indeed, modern man has accepted disease as a norm of existence. Our culture
fosters weakness and disease. Instead of preparing us for a life of health, it devotes a
large share of its resources and much of its energy and skill to caring for a growing army
of sick men, women, and children. Under the tutelage of the medical profession, we have
become convinced that disease is inevitable and health impossible.
Human functions are designed to sustain life. All vital processes
have as their objective the perpetuation of life. Man is tough and difficult to kill, and
sometimes succeeds in living under the most unfavorable circumstances. He recovers from
wounds and disease, even in spite of the most crucifying treatment.
In the introduction to his Aesculapian Tablets, written March 6,
1834, Sylvester Graham said: "...disease never results from the constitutional and
legitimate operation of the human system. The end of every such operation is health, and
only health; and therefore, if the body be in all respects correctly treated, it will
continue, from birth till worn out with old age, free from disease and in the full
enjoyment of health. If then the body becomes diseased, it is always the result of some
disturbing, some offending cause; and the disease can only be kept up while such a cause
continues to prevent the healthy operations of the system; and health can only be
recovered by the healthy operations of the system. The system, therefore, does not require
the application of any causes of health; for it exclusively possesses those in its own
If we can grasp tht health is the natural result of the normal
functions of life, we can fully understand that its permanence rests upon satisfaction of
the basic needs of existence and a careful avoidance of the conditions antagonistic to it.
The maintenance of health becomes, on this principle, as Graham stated in this same book,
"a way of health" or, as we would express it today, a way of life. His disciples
well understood that they had to "live strictly on the system", rather than
depend upon what he so appropriately called the "mere drugging cult."
Health is the outstanding evidence of biological integrity. When man
is taught how to live within his biological limitations and adequately, but not
excessively, supply his biological requirements, then will advanced age become the only
serious cause of death, for health will reign supreme.
The normal state of man, as of plants and animals, is one of
uninterrupted health. A healthy birth, a robust and happy infancy, a joyous youth, a
vigorous maturity, a calm old age, and a painless death are the normal state of man. It is
the existence man is fitted for by anatomy and physiology. It is in harmony with all
nature around him. Every pain we feel, every distress we suffer is evidence that some law
of life has been violated.
As we view the passing throng, we are stunned by the realization
that those who look well and appear well are only so by comparison with those who are
still worse. Our standard of healthiness is a low one, useful only in measuring varying
degrees of ill health. We regard a man as well, even though he has been bedridden for
years, if he improves enough to be able to walk a mile. We think of the ordinary man as
well if he can run a mile.
If the man who has had jaundice for months is sufficiently improved
that he is no longer yellow, we think of him as well. Perhaps he has his "bilious
attacks" only once a month, rather than once a week, now that he has improved, but we
regard him as well. Another man who has always been unconscious of his internal organs but
who may be always on the very edge of trouble, is regarded as well, only because he shows
no marked signs or symptoms of ill health.
Being well is by most of us understood relative to how badly we
might be. We are so accustomed to being in poor health and living in a sea of death that
we have set up and accepted a false standard of health. It implies bad conditions are
Unaccountably, we refuse to think that man should be as healthy as
are wild animals. Yet, why shouldn't he be? Indeed, since he is a more highly organized
animal with a more complex structure and greater resources at his command, why should his
standard of health not be much higher than that of the healthiest of wild animals?
We marvel at the strength, speed, endurance and agility of lower
animals; we even marvel at these same qualities in exceptional civilized individuals. We
marvel at an Indian running a hundred miles a day; we think that he must be very swift of
foot and as enduring as the strongest animal, that he may thus outrun the swiftest horse.
But the obvious fact is that our standard of health is so low that we have lost the
strength and endurance, grace and agility, that we so much admire in others. The Indian
has no special qualities. There is no reason why civilized man may not have the same
health, strength and endurance.
In the beginning man too was a splendid animal, possessing all the
desirable animal qualities of health, strength, endurance, grace, agility, and poise. If
civilized man is half dead, even when he thinks that he is enjoying good health, this is
not the fault of his original constitution. Conditions and factors he has imposed upon
himself are inimical to health and life.
We have no means of knowing in full mankinds primitive standard of
health. How strong, how vigorous, how resistant, how long-lived were our primitive
ancestors? We cannot use ourselves as a standard or a measuring rod by which to judge the
health of our primitive ancestors. An occasional specimen of present-day man may provide
us with a gleam of light, but it's radiance is dimmed gby factors absent from the life of
our primitive forebears.
The health of modern primitives may provide us with some insight
into the health of the past, but this is but a flickering and evanscent indication of what
may have been mankind's original state of physiological excellence. Myth and tradition may
provide a glimpse into the past, but this too, is faint. Even animal life has suffered
from the steady encroachment of civilization upon it's domains. It presents us with a
faded picture of the vigor and health that belonged to our pristine modes of existence.