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My story and my philosophy:
It has been five years since I first opened
my organic food shop. Before this time my health was failing, I was becoming
increasingly dependent on medication, and increasingly unhappy. My switch to an
organic lifestyle was a direct result of these deteriorating conditions I was
suffering from. Within a year, I was off medication, my health had greatly
improved and my mind began to clear. However, I felt this was not enough. I
wanted to transform my entire life, and so developed a philosophy to live
by. My philosophy, which had been developing slowly throughout my life, stemmed
from more than just my suffering health, but everything I had experienced
throughout my life. I was born in Lebanon and grew up in a
family of ten; my mother, my father, four sisters and three brothers. As I grew
up I eventually lost touch with most of my family, as I became increasingly busy
in my own life. I was awoken from this trance when I heard news that my father,
whom I had not seen for eleven years, had suffered from sunstroke while tending
his garden, and suddenly died. I became angry and upset and decided it was time
to see the rest of my family once again. During this time, however, Lebanon was
involved in conflict and war. I did not feel safe or secure. Guns, weapons and
bombs had become part of the daily life, and I was disturbed by what I saw.
However, I could not conceive the severity of their danger was until I became
involved in a bomb accident myself and lost one of my arms. This event marked a
point in which my life would never be the same. My physical and mental health
began to decline. I suffered for many years until I realized I had to change
something or else would live in misery the rest of my life. This is when I began eating organic.
Before this time I had been, as many of us today are, locked inside myself. I
was not sharing life with my worldwide family. I was not encouraging peace. I
had forgotten that, all along, I was my own locksmith. I had the ability to
create the key to open the door to happiness. As I began to rid my life of
harmful chemicals, my life took an amazing transformation. Despite this, I still see that much of the
world suffers from problems similar to those that I had. Just as I, myself do
not want to live in pain, I do not want to see my brothers and sisters suffer as
well. I experienced first hand the benefits of an organic lifestyle, and truly
believe it holds the power to improve the quality of our lives. Today I see more
bad than good in our world, but I know that we can change this. Although I
realize this letter is a very small step, I am confident it is a step in the
right direction and can spread and create a better future for all my brothers
and sisters worldwide. Presently though, it seems as though the world we have created has become weighted down by separation and division. We are not living as one. We have created enough weapons to completely destroy our planet not just once, but time and time again, yet still do not have enough food to feed our planet. But this can change. Our militaries today have been trained to destroy and separate our global family. Soldiers today are trained to go to war and kill their enemies. But in reality, we are all in one boat, all one family, and our soldiers have been taught to kill their own family. If we continue to fight against one another, we will never find peace. If we all want happiness, why have we not taught the world to work together? We have so much power in the military today. Why are we not putting this power toward the creation of peace? We continue to encourage the wrong thing. Each day, in my shop, customers come in asking for capsicums. I have to tell them I have none. There is a shortage. But there is a surplus of chemical weapons. This however, is not what they are looking for. These weapons do not nourish or help them, as the capsicum will. What we need today is not chemical weapons, but food and life for our brothers and sisters. If we were to take each bullet we had created to destroy life and exchanged it with one seed to create new life, and each person then, were to look after their own seed and nourish it into a healthy plant, we would have a surplus of food for all. If we could replace these weapons and the energy put into their creation with something as peaceful, replenishing and green as plants, the lungs of our earth could once again begin to breathe. Peace for our world is not a question of whether or not it can be done, for we have shown, through the creation of powerful chemical weapons, modern technology and scientific advancements, that we are quite capable of turning complex ideas such as these into realities. The question is rather a judgement of ethics. Why are we putting so much energy, money and resources into the production of violence and destruction? We have the ability to accomplish the unthinkable, and have done so in the past. But we need to stop feeding power into harmful actions, and instead take a step towards peace. Since we are all one worldwide family, all originating from the same mother and father, we are all brothers and sisters. In order for you to be right where you are today, the conditions of life have been configured just so. The succession of people born before you have enabled you to come to life as you are today. Upon this realization that we are all interrelated, all from one original seed. I can confidently say that love toward your mother, father, sister and brother are equal. Because of this, love for everyone, all of humanity, becomes equal. Bearing in mind our lives are forever interrelated, if we took all the leaders of the world - all the prime ministers, the presidents, the leaders of all religions - from all communities worldwide, and sat them down together to decide who was the closest to the centre of the universe, we would realize that they are all at equal distances. We are all the same! Throughout our history we have experienced a division between man and woman. Claims that man came before woman have been made throughout time, dividing us from one another. I believe the man and woman were created at the same time and should not celebrate their division from one another, but rather their unity. Like the positive and negative wire needed to create light in the light bulb, man and woman are of equal importance to life. If the positive wire is broken, our room remains dark. If our negative wire is broken, our room remains dark. Without man, there is no woman, and without woman, there is no man. Both must come together to create new life, create happiness and light in our world. We need both to create life. We have to share this life together and forget divisions we have put upon one another. No one wants pain. No one wants to suffer, but we must work together to achieve this. From the beginning of time to our present day society we have repeatedly heard talks about peace. Our world has been in pain for many years. We have experienced sadness and violence for too long. It is time to stop talking and start acting. Everyday we work to produce money and material goods. But, in the eyes of peace, money has no value. Money cannot feed the hungry. Money cannot bring us peace. For years now, we have been encouraged to donate our money to the poor. They need jobs, they need security and they need food. If we put this together, and had the poor work on farms growing food, we could solve this problem. We all need food, all need love and all need to begin to share our land with one another. Peace spreads it makes a difference. The time to take action for peace is now, today, this minute!Each day we are given another chance for this. Each day, millions of babies are born worldwide. Each of these tiny humans represents a new generation. In this sense, we are given a new chance to start again, a new beginning for our future, each morning. The opportunity is there. Peace is right in front of us, we just have to act upon it. Peace can come about in many ways: we change our lives not only by what we put into our bodies mentally, but physically as well. The increasing amounts of chemicals, drugs and poisons we put into our bodies have contributed to the increase in violence we are currently experiencing. Chemicals have begun to destroy our physical and mental health, and loose ourr ability to see clearly. When we clear our bodies, through a chemical free lifestyle, we can finally begin to understand one another.Eating organic foods enables us to easily rid our bodies of these chemicals. Many have claimed that by washing our fruits and vegetables we can avoid consuming unwanted chemicals used during the production of these plants. However, these chemicals are not only covering the plants exterior, but have been absorbed into the plant's "bloodstream", from its root system, as well. As these chemicals fall onto the ground, they are absorbed into the soil. They are then absorbed by the root system and finally absorbed by our own bodies, upon consumption. When we eat these fruits and vegetables we essentially are clogging our bodies with these chemicals. Organic foods promote not only increased nutrition in the physical body, but increased mental nutrition as well. Oddly enough, as opposite as they are, organic foods and drugs are related in the fact that they both bring happiness to our bodies. However, while drugs are harmful to our bodies, organic foods nurture and care for our bodies. The increasing violence in our society can be attributed to this consumption of chemicals, drugs and poisons. By ridding our bodies of these chemicals, we are able to enjoy the present with better health and a clearer mind. In addition to absorbing chemicals from our foods, our bodies have the ability to absorb energies as well. Each living being has an energy, has life. In the same way that humans feel pain, animals do as well. In this way, pain is universal. To murder a human or an animal does not matter. You are taking life both ways. In food production, when an animal is killed, it is harmed. It dies in pain, it dies suffering, angry and afraid. When you consume this food, you are consuming some of its energy as well. You are ingesting its fear, its suffering and anger. You absorb these energies and, essentially become them. Refraining from these foods brings peace of mind and body to not only the animal, but yourself as well. I call my ideas Joe's organic philosophy simply because they are organic, encouraging peace and happiness for all, in body and spirit. Some of these ideas may frighten and upset you. They are not meant to cause harm. I do not want to upset the world, but join it together and bring it happiness. We need to forget our past! We need to live together! And most importantly, we need to start today! With love to you all, Joe
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