MEMBERS & VISITORS

A MYSTERY’S SOLUTION

For several years I’ve lightly sweated over a puzzling mystery. In my late 40s I experienced a slow but gradual degradation in my ability to see close up small things and read small type on paper and on devices like my computer. The optometrist examined me, gave me a set of prescription reading glasses, then pocketed the money for his services, exhorting me to regularly visit him for testing and new glasses if necessary. He said my condition was due to aging and the eye’s decreasing ability to pull and stretch the stiffening lense in my eye. Sigh.

After a good while I became more aware of being surrounded by toxic environments in America: air, buildings, cars, water, processed foods, electromagnetic radiation, environmental chemicals in most manufactured products, medications, water pipes, bottled drinks, clothing, beds & bedding, creams, lotions, make-up, toothpaste, soaps, shampoos, ad nauseum… I needed a break! Sooo, I moved far off-grid to the high desert for two years for nose to toes cleansing and detox (emotional, spiritual, and mental) from the lifestyle most people around me lived.

While in the desert reading from my computer money one bright sunny morning I decided that my dirty disheveled desk needed attention. I picked up my reading glasses from one corner of the desk and noticed that they had a heavy coating of dust on them. When was the last time I wore these suckers?? Gosh, I couldn’t remember. Hmmm, what happened that I no longer needed them for such a long time? Anyway, I quietly rejoiced at being relieved of one of life’s many burdens, at least for now.

OK. Over the next few months I occasionally googled for an answer for this newfound liberation but could not find anything definitive as to why I experienced such a slow but gradual yet dramatic improvement in vision. Well, I recently read an article about a chemical solution of a very temporary nature. You also can read it at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/well/live/eye-drops-reading-glasses-fda.html. Apparently, if the iris in the eye is artificially constricted, vision improves even though the lense remains stiffer than that of a younger person. Apparently, with proper diet and the avoidance of a typical unhealthy lifestyle, the lense can gain some of its original flexibility. Soooo, here I am 25 years later in a MUCH healthier environment in rural East Africa with the same visual acuity I had when I was twenty years old. Will blessings never cease?? And this accompanies significant weight loss. See “Belts Don’t Lie“.

Prof. Oku Singer

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Inner Safari