Dear Lisa,
Thanks for you beautiful response and understanding.  Looking back, the
isolation is really much favorable, considering my most recent experiences
of being back in a setting of people who are always tired and complaining,
physically,spiritually, and mentally drained.  Of course each person is at a
different level of the above, but few of those around me at this time are
truely healthy in the sense of the word that we know it to mean.  So, the
difference is being connected to people who have found the energies of life
and love and doing everything they can to channel these energies into their
body, mind, and spirit.   And these individuals have a greater propensity to
eat healthy and build up from inside instead of constantly destroying
themselves. So when I meet someone of this nature, dietary differences do
not stand in my way of getting to know them.

I wrote something months ago that reminds me of what I can achieve while
eating raw, giving me strength to continue on this path, regardless of the
isolation issue or the feeling of "alienation".  I'll include it here:

Why do people need to feel acceptance and approval from others?  They need
the attention from others in order to feel whole or significant.  I believe
that the acceptance they establish with others is merely superficial and
propagates low self esteem and an even greater desire to please your fans or
transparent friends.  What I have done is accepted myself for who I am and
do not need the acceptance of others to hold up my esteem and self image.
Whether people of our society knowingly participate in this false community
will take more time to answer.  Some believe that the desire of acceptance
in inherent in humans, but I purpose that this acceptance is a creation of
our society to keep the individual in check and the object of constant
scrutiny by her/his so called peers.
What I desire is someone who knows themselves and is capable standing alone
without the backing of societal constructions.  Someone who does not play
into the game of look at me I'm beautiful, someone who knows they are
beautiful inside and out and does not feel the need to showcase their
talents or assets to everyone they meet.
        The shallowness of common relations between people has become
tiresome.  I am on a quest to find people of substance and people who do not need my
support. People that are self supported.  This is a great challenge and
might not be capable, but I myself am trying to see if it can be
accomplished.  The true loner does not desire to be alone, but desires
someone who can be alone, an individual, a product of their own devices.
Someone who sits in the corner without speaking would be labeled as
antisocial, but I choose to think that person desires these same
relationships that I have previously mentioned.  That person is in a state
of isolation because they no longer want to play the game of communal tag
and is labeled as alienated.  Someone might think because this person is in
the corner they feel alienated, but I believe in order to be a true
individual that person must overcome this so called alienation and simply be
what they are, human.  It's the fake faces, clothes, and attitudes that
cultivate the sense of alienation.  In other words, it's the aliens who
cause the alienation.  They have alienated themselves from what is natural,
instinctual, and created a synthetic world.  While in this synthetic world,
a person will never find happiness, but only attempt to fill the void
through material possesssions and the association with others who are
trapped in this same predicament.

So my advice to you is to step back from the haze and focus on what is real
in your life and you might be fortunate to escape the material prison of our
modern "community".  Look for people of more developed visions that have
surpassed what we have been given by the voice of people that haven't taken
the time to think(better known as the voice of our society).  These are the
robots of the world with more basic programming than your PC.  For
everything you do and think you must know why and don't simply avoid making
a commitment because it will cause to much turmoil in your life or cause a
major adjustment.  We are capable of adapting to any environment, whether
created by nature or ourselves.  Besides, there is a reason a particular
decision would cause so much turmoil, its because you have never made one in
the first place and therefore you are acting as a puppet whos strings are
being pulled by societies nimble fingers.  Make the decision, eliminate the
hippocritical actions that are present and stick to that decision as long as
you feel it is the best for your personal outlook on life.  Good luck myself
included, because I am in the process of forming my own beliefs.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Cormney

>Dear Ryan:
>   Thanks for such a moving and honest triptych... Being both a raw and
>caloric restriced (although one almost implies the other) person, I
>understand the possibility for isolation.  Or, in my case, looked up to for
>having such standards.  It seems like a simple thing to me, each person has
>the privelage and should be respected for their lifestyle choice.  It is
>the heart and soul of each seeking "wholeness" or inner peace that
>hopefully brings us near, not what we eat!  A healthy diet which makes you
>feel stable and strong in body and nerve, light and agile in mind and heart
>is what turns my button!   The Chinese say to "bend like the willow rather than break
>like the oak".