The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

are collected and brought together in confusion, the result is an imperfectdiet which draws away from nature."Within one thing lie all things, but if all things are brought togethernot one thing can arise." Western science is unable to grasp this preceptof eastern philosophy. A person can analyze and investigate a butterfly asfar as he likes, but he cannot make a butterfly.If the Western scientific diet were put into practice on a wide scale,what sort of practical problems do you suppose would occur? Highquality beef, eggs, milk, vegetables, bread, and other foods would haveto be readily available all year around. Large scale production andlong-term storage would become necessary. Already in Japan, adoptionof this diet has caused farmers to produce summer vegetables such as lettuce,cucumbers, eggplants, and tomatoes in the winter. It will not belong before farmers are asked to harvest persimmons in spring andpeaches in the autumn.It is unreasonable to expect that a wholesome, balanced diet can beachieved simply by supplying a great variety of foods regardless of theseason. Compared with plants which ripen naturally, vegetables andfruits grown out-of-season under necessarily unnatural conditionscontain few vitamins and minerals. It is not surprising that summervegetables grown in the autumn or winter have none of the flavor andfragrance of those grown beneath the sun by organic and naturalmethods.Chemical analysis, nutritional ratios, and other such considerationsare the main causes of error. The food prescribed by modern science isfar from the traditional Oriental diet, and it is undermining the health ofthe Japanese people.141