by Dr. Raymond Bernard
Dr. Raymond Bernard was an American author of numerous esoteric and alternative research books, notably on health and diet. He passed away in 1965.
Part One–The Sexual Regeneration
of Man: The Elixir of Life
,Most of the great religions of the world were founded on one basic doctrine: the value of continence or chastity, usually exemplified in the immaculate sexual life–or rather non-sexual life–of their founders, which was supposed to serve as a model for their followers. In many instances, coupled with this doctrine was that of Parthenogenesis or Virgin Birth, a symbol of the creative life power of absolute sexual continence.
The thesis of this essay is based on a scientific conception of the physiological value of continence as a conservation of valuable sex hormones whose loss is depleting and harmful to body and brain and whose conservation is beneficial.
Dr. J. R. Brinkley, an eminent endocrinologist, expresses the physiological reasons for sex hormone conservation as follows: “I have not swerved from my original conception that the source of all human energy is sex energy, which is another way of saying that the glandular system of man is a chained system of series of connecting loops, mutually assisting or depressing each other. Their secretions, of which series the genital glands seem to have the power of most directly stimulating and in a measure dominating, the human body and mind by their particular kind of hormones. The hormones manufactured by the sex glands and distributed by the blood stream for the nourishment of all the tissues of the body.”
An English physician, Dr. Knaggs, writes on this same subject: “Strict continence enables the essence of these sexual secretions to be reabsorbed into the body. This not only makes for health but also builds up those creative intellectual and intuitive faculties which show themselves in the work we do. Moreover, when we have learned to control this reproductive function, to turn inwards the mighty forces which it represents. We have solved one of the important problems of existence which bring us nearer to that superhuman stage to which we must ultimately attain.”
The medieval alchemists were really endocrinologists and the Magnus Opum which they sought was not the artificial creation of gold out of lead but the sublimation and refinement of sexual energy which when denied a lower outlet, turned into higher brain power through the ascent of the Kundalini Force from the pelvis to the brain. The conservation and transmutation of this vital force was their Elixir of Everlasting Youth and the secret of physical immortality for which they sought.
In our own day, modern physiologists have been engaged in a similar quest. Several decades ago, Brown-Sequards, the great French physiologist, put forward the assertion that the main cause of old age was a diminution in the quantity of absorbed seminal fluid (the internal sex secretion) present in the blood; and that its cure depended upon enriching the blood with this secretion.
If an old man may be temporarily rejuvenated by the implantation of the testicles of a goat or a monkey, surely he would have never grown so old if he had retained his own in a normal condition by a continent life. Senility, which is a product of sterility, or impotence, is an after-effect of persistent sexual indulgence. Weak genital glands, like any other weak part of the body, may be brought back to their normal state by the conservation of their secretions and by the purification of the blood through a natural diet.
Immortality is to be obtained right now, in the physical world, by hygienic and continent living. Resurrection is the transition from a mortal, decaying physiological state to an immortal, non-catabolic one. Most of us are walking around half dead. Four-fifths of our brain-cells are inactive as a result of having been poisoned by injurious foods. By rejuvenating the body through obedience to the laws of nature, we may be raised from the dead; we may be resurrected.
The disease of senility may be permanently cured. Death is not a sudden occurrence; it is the termination of a slow process of dying. This dying, or cellular disintegration, may commence at birth; it is hastened by eating decaying, dead food, and by losing seminal fluid. This fluid, when retained within the body, becomes the elixir of eternal youth.
When a man loses his seed in generation or sex-indulgence, he throws away his creative substance, and, in so doing, hastens death. He may not know the reason for the consciousness of the uncertainty of life, and the fear of death that is ever with him, but it is there, with the average, normal person, if he is honest and will admit it. This state of consciousness is caused by the loss of life… the life which should be retained within the body for its own health and increased vitality, and the strengthening of the mind.
The “punishment” for the waste of life-fluid is not an act of supernatural vengeance, but the physiological consequence of the loss of the power which animates the body. It does not occur suddenly, but gradually. This gradual dying, which we call old age, is the natural result of sex indulgence.
That old age is simply the product of weakened sex glands as a result of previous abuse, is proved by the following statements by Dr, Voronoft: “Decrepit old men are, in reality, eunuchs. They have been emasculated… I have never known a eunuch to exceed the age of sixty.”
“Well before death they have the appearance of old men, and from this one might be tempted to attribute a very advanced age to them, but this would be a pure illusion. They have every appearance of being effectively aged: dry skin, bloated body, dull eyes. They have a stooping gait which gives one the impression that they are centenarians.”
“Their death seems to be the normal end of old age, but verification of the facts usually indicates that they died when between fifty and sixty years of age. Their aspect is the outcome of the fact that, deprived of the essential factor of youth and vigor, they have prematurely aged and have died well before the term ordinarily attained by normal men.”
“Thus, then, the lack of the internal secretions from the sexual glands shortens life. It could not be otherwise; it is unthinkable that a body deprived of the organs the suppression of which renders the blood poor, the bones frail, the muscles feebler, fat more abundant, nutrition imperfect, should not suffer a general enfeeblement, become more vulnerable and less able to struggle against the causes which always bring about death well before the normal physiological time.”
“It may be affirmed then, that deprivation of the interstitial glands internal secretion accelerates the advent of old age and shortens life. On the other hand, the maintenance of this source of vital energy is the best guarantee of longevity. Men who are endowed with active interstitial glands and in whom the functioning of these glands is not extinguished, lived to be very old.”
Part Two–The Physiological
Sublimation of Sex-Energy
Undeveloped men and women believe that sex is a plaything, something which has no other purpose than to afford them amusement. But developed men and women know that this creative power has far more important uses than merely to be wasted in thoughtless indulgence.
The sex glands are the engines of the human body, the generators of organic energy. This energy, if conserved, may become the motive power behind all accomplishments in life.
The popular idea that most geniuses led immoral lives is false… as a study of their biographies proves. The reverse is rather the case, for creative ability, whether along artistic or intellectual lines, is a sublimated expression of the same vital energy which the average individual usually dissipates through sexual channels.
Therefore, the supermen and the great geniuses of the past invariably led strictly continent lives. The few talented individuals who did not may not be classed among the spiritually highest. Their work lacks a certain subtle quality, which is present in a Beethoven symphony or in a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, that only results from a sublimation of sex-energy.
Apollonius of Tyana (who, at the age of twenty) said, “I am resolved never to marry, and to abstain from the company of all women whatsoever.”
The following celebrated individuals led strictly chaste lives: John the Baptist and Jesus, greatest of prophets; Hypatia, Thomas a Kempis, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Theresa of Avila, Joan of Arc and Savonarola, greatest of mystics and martyrs; Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinus, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Locke, Pascal and Kant, greatest of philosophers, Newton, greatest of scientists; Handel and Beethoven, greatest of composers; and Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, greatest of painters.
The following great men lived continently during the creative period of their lives; Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, St. Paul, Plutarch, St. Augustine; Dante, St. Francis, Erasmus, Descartes, Diderot, Milton, and Schopenhauer.
The chastity of the supermen is due not only to spiritual and ethical principles, but also to physiological reasons which constitute a body of physiological facts which deal with the origin and transformations of vital energy, and with the intimate relationship existing between the genital glands and the lymphatic, vascular and nervous systems.
The human body is like a dynamo which draws its electric power, directly from the ether. Through lung and skin respiration, etheric power is absorbed into the body, collecting at the Solar Plexus, the battery of the sympathetic nervous system. From here, this electric energy (the Life-Force) passes to the sex glands where, in combination with elements derived from the blood, it condenses into seminal fluid. It is through this secretion that vital energy is conveyed to the various ductless glands, nerve-centers and organs of the body.
From the Ovaries (in the male, the testicles), the sex secretion is carried by the Oviducts (in the male, the vas deferens) to the Uterus (in the male, the seminal vesicles). The latter organ, which acts as a seminal receptacle, is surrounded and permeated by a network of lymphatic vessels which absorb and draw up sexual fluid as quickly as it is being formed (in both sexes).
This lymphatically absorbed seminal fluid is then collected at the Receptaculum Chyli, from where it is sent up, through the Thoracic duct into the Left Subclavian Vein as it enters the heart. Thus it vitalizes the blood, giving it the capacity to transform inert food material into living tissue, and being carried by it to all parts of the body.
Through the Carotid Artery, the transmuted sex secretion is carried up by the blood to the brain, to nourish and energize its cells. In the Choroid Plexus of the Third Cerebral Ventricle, and in the Pituitary Body, it is transformed into cerebro-spinal fluid and pituitrin, which flow through the cavity of the brain and spine, generating nerve-electricity.
It is for this reason that a persistent loss of seminal fluid, by causing a reduction in the quantity and concentration of cerebro-spinal fluid, produces a devitalized condition of the nervous system, which we call “neurasthenia.” Such consequences follow birth control practices.
Each night, during sleep, a new daily supply of cerebro-spinal fluid is manufactured. Energy absorbed from the ether by the sympathetic nervous system (whose nerve-endings in the skin consist of minute mouths, which rhythmically open and close) is conveyed through the medium of the sex secretion to the central nervous system, which is then electrically recharged.
When this stored energy in the cerebro-spinal fluid, after the day’s activities, is again expended, a condition of drowsiness, or a desire for sleep, ensues. It normally requires from three to five hours for this recharging of the central nervous system to take place. One should then immediately arise, for excessive sleep might cause the newly generated energy to be dissipated (through the uncontrolled cerebral activity of dreams).
It is through the medium of the sex secretion that the elements required for the nourishment of the cells of the brain and the nerves are transformed; from their raw state, as obtained from food, to the vitalized condition in which they may be incorporated into nervous tissue. The sex glands are centers of phosphorus-metabolism; they extract raw phosphorus from assimilated food, chemically transforming it (as their secretion), so that it may be absorbed and utilized by brain cells.
If any of this vital fluid escapes (voluntarily or involuntarily), the blood is drained of phosphorus, and the brain is deprived of its nourishment. Every drop of seminal fluid that is lost from the body brings disease, nervous derangement, mental decline, old age and death so much nearer to us.
Until this loss of vital energy (in the female, the discharge of vaginal and uterine secretions, which is especially pronounced at the beginning and at the end of menstruation) is inhibited, one is like a leaking vessel, continually losing the “Water of Life,” and, therefore, slowly dying. A seminal emission is the escape of incipient brain-tissue.
Physiologists formerly thought that there were two separate sex secretions, an internal one, produced by the interstitial cells, and an external one, produced by the reproductive glands. This, however, was a false assumption… for the secretions of the genital glands (including the glands of the uterus and the seminal vesicles in addition to the ovaries and the testicles) constitute an indissoluble unit, all elements of which are continually being generated and lymphatically absorbed.
Spermatozoa and ova are not produced at rare intervals, when required for reproductive purposes, but continuously. They are absorbed by lymphatic’s into the blood stream, having an internal function to perform.
Any escape of seminal fluid involves a loss of the “internal secretion,” which is nothing else than what has been called the “external secretion” when it is conserved, absorbed and physiologically utilized. There is really only one sex secretion, which is an internal secretion, the so called external one being nothing else than a pathological escape of this.
Dr. Brinkley, the endocrinologist, says: “It is briefly my view that both the external and internal secretions of the gonads (sex glands collectively) are equally valuable to the building up of body tissues, and that the gonads themselves are not merely a link in the chain of the endocrines.”
“The gonads in the chain of the endocrines is the master position, and … the well-being of all the endocrines is exactly dependent upon the well-being of the gonads. Defective thyroid glands can be most easily repaired by repair of the gonads, and so with all the glands of the chain.”
The thyroid, pituitary and pineal glands, which are intimately related to the mental and spiritual life of the individual, are directly activated by the absorbed sex fluid carried to them by the blood. There is an intimate interdependence between the genital and the thyroid glands, as there is between the latter and the brain.
A small thyroid secretion results in the development of a cretin, an idiotic dwarf… even as a diminished sex secretion produces a eunuch, an individual who is physically and mentally undeveloped.
At puberty, when a greater amount of sex secretion is sent into the blood, there is an increase thyroid secretion, accompanied by a rapid physical and mental development. On the other hand, when the sex secretion is lessened, as during senility, the thyroids shrivel, and a degeneration of body and mind results.
Dr. Voronoff writes: “No organ can preserve its vital energy and function to full capacity if its cells are not stimulated and vivified by the genital glands internal secretion.”
“Eunuchs furnish a very clear demonstration of this. All their organs are like those of the rest of humanity, with one exception. Deprivation of this one organ depresses, weakens the functioning of all the others and brings on premature old age.”
“The removal of these organs reacts as much on the brain as on the heart, the muscles, the bones and all the other organs. The moral and physical energies both diminish. Abelard, the brilliant poet, never wrote a line after he was emasculated.”
Dr. Nicholas says: “It is a medical and physiological fact that the best blood of the body goes to form the elements of reproduction in both sexes.”
“In a pure and orderly life this material is reabsorbed. It goes back into the circulation ready to form the finest brain, nerve and muscle tissue. This life of man carried back and diffused through his system, makes him manly, strong, brave and heroic.”
“The suspension of the use of the generative organs is attended with a notable increase of bodily and mental vigor and spiritual life. Nature finds another use for the unexpended sexual energy in employing it for the building up of a keener brain, and more vital and enduring nerves and muscles.”
“In the genital glands of animals and men there are secreted powerful and subtle chemical elements… absorbed into the blood and thence carried to all parts of the organism to energize, invigorate and strengthen the cells, organs and parts of the body… including the brain and nervous system. Some have gone so far as to hazard the opinion that old age is chiefly due to a lessening of the supply of these secretions.”
Nature has ordained that all the secretions of the sex glands, in both male and female, be forever retained within the body, just as are the secretions of the other ductless glands. The sex glands are the only endocrine glands whose secretions may escape; and we must look here for the fundamental cause of glandular derangements with their accompanying pathological symptoms.
The normal development and well-being of body, mind and soul directly depends upon this absorbed sex fluid; and that is why an absolutely chaste life is the only healthy, natural and creative one.
Moses said, “If any man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until even.”