Introduction
Sharing my experience of doing OMAD for 7+ years, my two previous posts addressed (1 and 2) the plan’s application for bodybuilding and improving daily living and mental health and performance. Building on that, this will focus on OMAD’s utility in different ways of spiritual development.
The Animal Soul
One of the first things students of Hermetic Qabalah learn is that the human soul is divided into four segments. Being the lowest and associated with the Freudian Id, the Nephesh encompasses basic instincts and desires (like those for sex and food).
It’s said that Nephesh is a source of psychosexual energy. And when hungry, it does everything possible to sabotage your work. Also referred to as the animal soul and the individual unconscious, the Nephesh must be reconciled and incorporated with all others. So, it can serve your greater good.
Failing to understand this, numerous people spent a lifetime in a permanent conflict with the Nephesh.
Though not the same, I believe this partially resembles Gurdjieff’s concept of the “four bodies” or “rooms.” And how (by only living in the lowest) most people never get to crystalize the upper three, spending their lives as “mindless machines” (permanently) programmed by basic urges and other influences.
If into classic self-help, then you’ll likely recognize this as similar to not mastering the three basic appetites to obtain self-discipline, as outlined in N.Hill’s Outwitting the Devil. The three basic appetites are for food, sex, and expressing loosely organized opinions.
Based on meditations and experience, nailing the third comes mostly from mastering the first couple. Since an elaborate explication of this is in my book’s third section, I’ll add that while NoFap and devices like cyclical celibacy are indispensable (in achieving this), the same applies to the OMAD plan that works on a different aspect of the same thing, i.e., getting the Nephesh under control.
Two Opposites
Now… Let us consider Dr. Benjamin Bikman’s comparison of insulin and glucagon to Yin and Yang. And how that corresponds to the Qabalistic Tree of Life.
Something immediately recognized in the latter are its three pillars. Called Boaz and Jachin, the side two are (those of) Mildness and Severity. Being the masculine principle, the white symbolizes growth, expansion, building, etc. On the other hand, the black pillar is feminine and represents discipline, destruction, and harshness. While some intricacies behind this arrangement are addressed in a video on my other channel, here I’ll touch on a fundamental lesson conveyed by the ageless glyph.
Namely, wellness and prosperity aren’t obtained by denying one of these opposites. Instead, that is achieved through their permanent reconciliation/integration. This is what the Middle or the Pillar of balance is about: appreciating the world and oneself in their totality. Having a balanced attitude and “not swinging the pendulum too much in one side or the other” as written in the Kybalion.
Although this is recognized everywhere in nature, i.e., the day and the night, the seasons, the ocean tides, etc., humans tend to keep themselves sick and miserable by adopting very destructive one-sidedness.
Like most people believe in “all good anthropomorphic god” to be usually depicted as an old abusive father figure, they also have eating habits keeping their bodies in a highly insulinogenic state. Thus they entirely miss the point neglecting the second principle or one-half of the totality.
Now, since that’s how nature made it, I think it makes a pretty solid sense to let my body use both insulin and glucagon, applying this reconciliation. And this is another which the OMAD plan does automatically.
I work, exercise, and take care of stuff throughout the day, letting glucagon do its job, burning stored energy. When the night approaches, I enter the realm of nourishment and relaxation. I eat my meal, аctivating insulin, and building and recovery processes. Then I fall asleep and repeat this cycle the next day.
My Nephesh has its time to fully enjoy food and entertainment. And my conscious mind (or Ruach) has the resources available to do what it does. Although I might be wrong, I feel they are both satisfied operating in agreement. And that’s something I would like you to think about.
Thank You for your Time!
