Jean-Louis
>Many religions and philosophies' main theme is the fall from paradise:
>the original man lived naked, without social classes, without
>frustrations in a warm place where plenty of natural food was
>available. Isn't it the exact description of our mother's womb? At
>least, in my humble opinion, our intuition of lost innocence, lost
>harmony, corruption from society comes from infancy.

Impostor ! Do not charge most innocent Nature,
As if she would her children should be riotous
With her Abundance. She , good catress,
Means her provision only to the good,
That live according to her sober laws,
And holy dictate of spare Temperance

John Milton  " Paradise lost "

"Imposteur ! N'accuse pas la Nature dans sa grande innocence
De vouloir que ses enfants mènent une vie de débauche,
De par son abondance. Elle, qui pourvoit à tout,
N'entend subvenir qu'aux plus sages,
Qui vivent selon ses lois modérées,
Et les saints preceptes de la frugale Temperance."

(special translation by dpeyrat for the french anonymous alco...lurkers)

Indeed, Mr YOU, not only religious leaders and philosophers, but  poets have
been longing too for this "paradise lost". A paradise epitomized by the
unfettered ways of children, acting instinctinvely according to the Laws of
Nature (or so it looked...)

 "If instinct principles  may suffer variation from adventitious notions, we
must then find them clearest and most perspicuous nearest the fountain, in
children and illiterate people" John Locke.

However there seems to be have been  wide disagreement over the kind of
paradise we actually lost in the process of civilizing ourselves ... In the
lack of any inspired crudivore version of the lost paradise, I will just
quote the "vegetarian paradise" according to the great, the immense Shelley :

"MY BRETHREN, WE  ARE FREE ! The fruits are glowing
Beneath the stars, and the night winds are flowing
Over the ripe corn. The birds and beasts are dreaming.
Never again may blood of bird or beast
Stain with its venomous stream a human feast.

To the pure skies in accusation steaming;
Avenging poisons shall have ceased
To feed disease  and fear and madness;
The dwellers of the earth and air
Shall throng around our steps in gladness,
Seeking their food or refuge there..."

Shelley "Laon and Cythna"

"Mes frères, nous sommes libres ! Les fruits brillent
Sous les etoiles, et les vents de la nuit soufflent
Sur les mais murs. Les oiseaux et les betes revent.
PLus jamais le sang d'un oiseau  ou d'une bete
Ne souillera  d'un filet venimeux le festin de l'homme.

(Quand)Vers les cieux purs accusant de leurs fumées
Les poisons vengeurs auront cessés
De nourrir maladie et peur et folie;
Les habitants de la terre et des airs,
Se presseront à nos portes dans la joie,
POur venir chercher nourriture et refuge."

[Oh Percy, are you gonna play one of those thickheaded vegetarian ? I told
you not to "feed" the wild animals, even if they throng at your steps. You
damn well know that animals can be trained to reject their natural aliment,
if domesticated. I've read it in your prose....
Oh well. Never mind. You'll always be dear to my heart anyway...]

>The central theme in the Essene Gospel of Peace is that man is at the
>same time rooted in Mother Nature and aspiring to higher spiritual
>levels. Thus, he first has to live accordingly to laws of Nature, as
>our ancestors did, before being able to receive God Father's teaching.
>With a proper nutrition, he will be healthy and get rid "Satan" (in
>modern language, he will detoxify).
>
>The same theme, revisited by Burger's scientific mind, became instincto-
>nutrition: for him, the Paleolithic was a kind of Golden Age when humans
>had no illnesses, lived maybe 140 years, perhaps even 969 years like
>Methuselah. They lived in harmony with Nature, since millions of years
>of Darwinian selection resulted in a perfectly adapted instinct. With
>raw food, we will get rid of abnormal molecules that have accumulated
>in the body (cf "Satan").

Goodness me , Jean Louis. You've read too much of that hygienist crap.
Should read some good philosophy one day. I would recommend you to  have a
look at the "Timaeus" as a start, and then proceed upwards throughtout
History staying on the same bright side of " philosophy street" (do not
loose time  with Aristotle, he is just a smooth operator... ) If you don't
falter, you will make great discoveries.. and your sources on Essene
litterature (SZEKELY ?) will soon  look like old hat.


>The Buddhist and Taoist theories are not centered on nutrition, but on
>the "lost innocence" aspect. The idea is to empty our mind, get rid of
>our masks and reach the center, dissolve the ego in the universe and
>reach the state of mind of an infant: empty, innocent, without conflicts.

Ok but if we don't praise  Reason, and if we quit  Ego, we 'll have nothing
left to rely on. Since we cannot rely on an "ego-less" man to quit  the
cooking habit by himself , our only hope of improving the common lot is to
appeal to the reason of our fellow human beings. In principle buddhism is
not opposed to resorting to  science as a guide to human conduct.
Nevertheless  we have to acknowledge the fact that, were it only for the
buddhists, our knowledge of nutritional sciences would be...well I don't
really know what it would be...
This is just to say christianity, for all its shortcomings, is probably the
most meaningful framework for a scholarly  discussion  on instinct  and
temperance during the past centuries.


>It seems that we perpetually have to search a compromise between our
>instinctual and our intelligent parts.

This compromise is being sought after by individuals. But the economic world
couldn't  care less about whether we find this daily compromise acceptable
or not. Everybody knows that self sufficient people need to be hard pressed
to go to work..

Jean Louis
>Every artificial behavior can destroy the original "harmony". But should
>every artifact be considered as a denaturation? In other words, should we
>equate natural=good, artificial=bad? Should we share our fruits with
>worms and birds? Eat Aflatoxin-contaminated grains? Consume plants that
>produce carcinogenic toxins? Probably not.
>(...)While my scientist's mind rejects such a simplistic (or even animistic)
>idea, I will just point out that biologists haven't understood the
>process of ageing yet. And I reject the idea that sprouted grains increase
>lifespan more than (say) salads. Even if grains contributed in slowing
>down the process of degeneration (which is not proved), grains are not
>without inconvenients (flatulences, purines, trypsin inhibitors, phytates,
>gluten, thick hulls and so on)

You seem to be dreaming to live forever. I think the day will come  when all
my friends will have disappeared, and I will be looking forward to die.
There's no reason to be sad or scared about death. So why all this questions
about what will prolong one life or shorten it ? Reduce one's daily intake
is certainly one of the best way to prolong one's life, and it would seem
that instincto is not the best way to reduce one's daily food intake...

>
>Two major artifacts are agriculture and meals at regular hours. A truly
>instinctive nutrition would require IMO eating monomeals, randomly, and
>only when hungry. Interestingly, the Essene Gospel of Peace and Burger's
>dietary recommendations on the subject are the same: eat twice a day,
>the first meal at noon and the second one at 6 p.m. (approximately).

Burger's suppression of breakfast is no news for raw eaters. I think Ehret
or somebody else  already recommended a "no breakfast plan" at the turn of
the century.
As for the Essenes, their dietary  habits left much to be desired by
instinctive standards at least. As per their contemporaries, Philo of
ALexandria and Josephus (the latter stayed three years within their community):

"they eschew pleasures as vicious"
"food and drink are measured out for them"
"they believed in the healing power of stones"
"the baker and the cook distributed the food to each in order of his status"

Cheers
Denis