1000 Bananas for God

Back in March, I emailed you an article about Mother Theresa whose level of consciousness allowed her to function in love, joy, peace and enlightenment. Many said they enjoyed that article. Such states of mind—whether they are linked to experiences that are primarily sensory, emotional, psychological, intellectual or spiritual—can only be accompanied by an absence of stress at the physiological or body level.

If you read my emails with any consistency, then you know that there is a solid scientific link between the mind and the body, the psychosomatic or the somatopsychic. It goes both ways. The mind can cause the body to suffer and the body can cause the mind to suffer. Therefore, it makes good sense to take care of both.

I have discussed from time to time the importance of minimizing stress in our lives. When our minds are filled with thoughts and feelings that include the “negative” perceptions and experiences of fear, anger and sadness, we are vulnerable to the creation of excessive bodily acid. Toxic acids are actually secreted from various parts of the body directly into the bloodstream when we are in a negative emotional state.

On the other hand, leading a life that includes more experiences in what we might call the “love zone” is a challenge. The “love zone” includes feelings of affection, joy, compassion, empathy, kindness, happiness and bliss. Living in this zone—as you have probably noticed—is easier said than done. The world seems so often to pull mightily at the most vulnerable areas of our lives and keeps us from entering or staying in the stress-free “love zone.”

There is one thing in particular that we can do to help us frequent this zone as much as possible. And I will back into this concept with a little story which I enjoy. I call this the “1,000 bananas for God” story. It goes like this:

A plantation owner, somewhat foolishly accustomed to bartering with God, prayed for a good harvest. He pleaded thusly:

“Dear God, if You would please bring me a great banana harvest, as a service I will give You 1,000 bananas from the harvest.”

God granted him a great harvest. Thus, the plantation owner loaded up a thousand bananas in his wagon and had his foreman deliver them to the temple. Along the way, the foreman was pestered by two little beggar boys who pleaded for a banana to ward off their hunger. “Shoo, shoo, go away,” said the foreman, knowing that the plantation owner had loaded exactly 1,000 bananas.

The hungry little boys ran along side the wagon and continued to beg. Finally, the hired hand gave each of them a banana. He thought to himself, “Who would count all these bananas and know that two are missing from a thousand?”

But the plantation owner had warned the chief overseer of the temple to count the bananas to make sure that the foreman had not sold some along the way. He found out that two were missing and had been given to beggars and he fired the foreman.

That night the plantation owner had a dream. In his dream God came to him and said, “I have granted your prayer for a great harvest, but you have not kept your agreement.”

The plantation owner pleaded his case, “But God, I took the bananas to you as I said.”

God replied, “Well, I am sorry that you are in error my friend, because so far, I have received only two.”

I think you can see why I enjoy this story. And it has many implications far beyond the simple notion that Divine Providence and charity are related. In fact, we might say that Divine Providence “resonates” to charity.

There is a great deal of emerging evidence and a wonderful, new area of study which says that there is a human field of energy which is very subtle, yet powerful, pervasive and immortal. There is a field of energy which connects every one of us to every one of us. Some refer to this as levels of consciousness—and the study of this energy focuses especially on states of higher consciousness.

Regardless of our personal level of consciousness, we are not only connected to this field of energy, but we are influencing it just as it influences us in return. There is research evidence that says that as our level of consciousness rises, our body has an increasing ability or tendency to heal itself.

In the book “Power Vs. Force,” our “levels” of consciousness (from low to high) are designated as shame guilt, apathy, grief, fear, desire, anger, pride, courage, neutrality, willingness, acceptance, reason, love, joy, peace, and enlightenment. The corresponding emotions at those levels are humiliation, blame, despair, regret, anxiety, craving, hate, scorn, affirmation, trust, optimism, forgiveness, understanding, reverence, serenity, bliss and ineffable.

By contemplating upon these two hierarchies of human levels of consciousness and corresponding emotions, you can easily see the beauty that unfolds as we achieve higher and higher levels of consciousness.

The simple question then becomes, “What is it that I can do to help myself achieve an increasing degree of health and serenity in my own life?”

As I have written before, a healthy and peaceful lifestyle includes choosing an alkaline and nutritional diet, rest and relaxation, doing work which we enjoy, body massage, meditation, and so on. And yet, it can be argued that this alone will not help us to understand or come to terms with the disarray we see in the human condition that surrounds us.

Therefore, what else is it that we can do to feel a greater sense of love or acceptance toward so many people with whom we seem to have nothing in common, little understanding, a different set of values, and with whom we perceive ourselves to operate from a completely different belief system about the world?

How do we come to a sense of “peace” and diminish our reflexive stress—the same stress that causes acidic reactions in our body—to the many seemingly unacceptable human elements that surround us?

I believe that science will soon confirm what some have known over the millennia. Virtually all Holy Scripture is in accordance with the idea that the highest devotion to God—man’s greatest gift to the energy field of the world in which we are all encompassed—is “service to mankind.” Research into higher consciousness tells us that this energy of service is recorded in the universe on into infinity.

One of the greatest stress-releasing gifts we can give to ourselves is to give the “gift of service” to others. Nothing fosters charitable feelings like charitable actions. Nothing fosters more the acceptance of other people than lending a helping hand. Nothing will bring forth the peace and wisdom that we need to create within ourselves more than providing service to the poor, the needy, the uneducated, the downtrodden, and the afflicted.

Look for service projects in your area and take your family into the world to help others. And over time, nothing will help you to diminish the stress inside your own body more than helping to diminish the stress in those around us.

What goes round comes round, and whether your load of bananas means abundant energy, creativity, intelligence, leadership, money or time, for everyone in the world, I know you can figure out how to deliver more than two.

In love and healing light,

Dr. Robert O. Young