Most everyone can agree that the fundamental intended purpose of nourishment is to sustain life. When living things receive sustenance, the goal is to preserve and produce vitality, and allow all of the parts of an organism to go on functioning the way that they were designed, to prolong life. When you pause a moment to consider whether or not you believe this is truly the case, you might ask yourself why it is then necessary to kill animals in order to produce this sustenance. That does seem like a counterproductive action, when you pause to reflect that killing many organisms each day is the accepted method for preserving the life of a single other for that day. Many animal rights activists have given this same argument, and even expand to reveal the often cruel and barbaric practices that have been developed for this purpose. These individuals have come to a realization about our true need for food and its sources.

This reasoning has been a strong rationalization for vegetarianism for a long time, and the same theory can be applied to those choosing the raw food lifestyle. At the core of this lifestyle, separate from the health benefits that eating foods that have not been cooked provide, there is the fundamental concept of harmony. Harmony in this sense is considered a Primary Law, and it is defined as the combination or adaptation of elements to form a consistent and orderly whole to achieve agreement, accord, and peace. In this vision of the world as striving to reach this level of fundamental harmony, it seems counterintuitive that beings focused on mutual accord would take the life of one organism to provide life to another. One of the most convincing reasons for this perspective is that the earth provides an alternative for our sustenance. Butchering animals is not the only means by which we may have life, even if it is the preference of some. When you consider that there are perfectly acceptable alternatives that may be chosen, this type of killing for food is even seen as primitive, and a path that we may very well be able to evolve past.

If you take this idea farther, expanding the notion of preserving life by preserving life, you can see a higher thinking order begin to emerge. The new harmony is respecting of all life forms and understanding that current behaviors may need to be changed to anticipate positive future results. This standard raises the human evolutionary bar, in terms of wisdom and kindness revealing a different possibility for future interactions between all of the living things on this plane. Chemically, change will occur as we take in the enzymes and other nutrients that our bodies are designed to accept and process ideally. This change that begins with the most basic chemical units of our bodies, DNA, then translates into change on a cellular level. The vibrations that begin their change in these minute ways radiate from us and eventually expand into a shift in energy that will affect the universe.

This concept of harmony will begin as a product of our body's harmony with itself, as all of the elements of who we are function at their ideal capacity and reach equilibrium. We in turn become elements of a larger structure as we function ideally with one another, with the environment, and with the universe. The choice to initiate this level of harmonic existence can begin with the decision to consume the food that best provides our energy: raw food. To take part in this future altering path of consciousness, one must only explore the benefits that receiving only raw food into our bodies delivers, and believe that it is the first step to achieving a balance of harmony on a scale never before experienced. By extension, those working toward this Primary Law as a common purpose will also experience feelings of balance, happiness, and perfect achievement in their lives that they have seldom known by any other means.

Living with raw foods is not just a way to enhance health, wellness, and vitality, although these expressions of the process are obviously enormous benefits. The raw food lifestyle is also a decision to advance the evolutionary process and devote energy toward improving the universe. Taking steps toward education and commitment on this path begin a journey of self-fulfillment in striving toward this larger purpose. Discover for yourself how using raw foods for nourishment can enhance your body, mind, and spirit.

By TTS Cofounder Botanical Chef Omid Jaffari