The Spiritual Dimension of Life Extension

© 2010 Matthew J. Pallamary

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Recently Life Extension Foundation’s Bill Faloon honored me and a few others

with an invitation to attend a scientific anti-aging conference sponsored by Life

Extension, hosted by David Kekich’s Maximum Life Foundation. The "Manhattan

Beach Project" is an ongoing targeted assault on the human aging process that convenes

once a year in Manhattan Beach, California.

This was no ordinary anti aging conference; it was a high-powered brainstorm

session to figure out how to reverse aging. Top researchers from around the world

combined their genius and expertise to further their efforts at creating a scientific

roadmap toward full age reversal.

Each scientist represented a separate discipline from diverse fields such as stem

cell research, genomics, nanotechnology, cryobiology, biochemistry, biomedical

gerontology, molecular biology, and information technology. Just as the Manhattan

Project was designed in 1942 to build the atomic bomb to end WW II, the Manhattan

“Beach” Project which originated on June 23rd, 2000 is an all-out assault on the world’s

biggest killer – Aging.

As I sat listening with rapt fascination to these brilliant minds, I wondered how

did I get there, and what did I have to contribute? As each speaker gave his presentation

I heard about nuking aging, this “disease” called death, and a multitude of strategies that

could possibly overcome it. Amidst the miracles, I felt something missing, causing me to

puzzle over the question of humanity’s hubris, specifically with the question; are we

playing God?

As far as I am concerned, dying is part of living, and when the time comes, I am

prepared to embrace my death for the magical, transformative moment that it is. I look

forward to what the Great Mystery has in store for me.

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So what was I doing at an anti-aging conference and where was the piece that

eluded me?

The primary reason I was invited is that I am a platinum member of Life

Extension and truth be told, I am sometimes embarrassed at the number of supplements

that I take. When questioned I tell my friends and family that I am a walking science fair

experiment, but the reality of my choices goes much deeper.

The missing piece that I sought came from Dr. Joseph Mercola when someone

asked him about what to look for in an anti-aging doctor. His first response was to

correct them, saying, “I am not an anti-aging doctor, I am a wellness doctor.” Dr.

Mercola’s statement validated my connection with the spiritual dimension of life

extension and catalyzed my reasons for participating in the Manhattan Beach Project.

I have spent years exploring the jungles, mountains, and deserts of North, Central,

and South America researching ancient knowledge. Much of my research has been in the

Peruvian Amazon working first hand, studying shamanic plant medicines and indigenous

cultures. Most of my teaching has come from doing extended jungle plant diets in

prehistoric traditions. I have also traveled throughout the Peruvian Andes studying Incan

and Pre-Incan cultures, and in Mexico studying the Maya and Huichol cultures, as well as

those of North American Indians.

I was drawn to ancient healing practices and shamanism after learning that

shamans were the first medical specialists in indigenous communities whose traditional

methods are known to be effective in treating both physical and psychological ailments.

For thousands of years, indigenous groups have made extensive use of the materials

contained in the rainforest to meet their health needs. Shamans employ a whole body,

(w)holistic, system oriented approach to healing, not the divide and conquer mentality

championed by modern day institutionalized western medicine.

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Some years ago I had the good fortune to work with an aging healer in the

Peruvian Amazon who told me he was a “plant man” like his father before him, and his

father’s father before that, and still more fathers going as far back as could be

remembered. He took me on a jungle walk pointing out the healing properties of plant

after plant as well as their preparation, use, and the synergistic ways of combining them.

What drew me into Life Extension and their healing modalities is the way that

they also combine different plant essences for maximum synergistic effects. I saw the

ongoing evolution and research of Life Extension’s formulas as twenty first century

shamanism.

Ancient wisdom from many cultures tells us that our body is our temple. One of

the most profound, densely packed storehouses of wisdom on our planet is contained in

the temple of Amun-Mut-Khonsu in Egypt. This Temple of Anthropocosmic Man at

Luxor is architecturally rendered to exhibit within its design and artwork the same

proportions as the proportions of Man, as well as the mathematical and geometrical

structure of the Cosmos and its locale within human consciousness. Pharaonic

Consciousness not only recognized Man as the center of the Universe, it could formally

equate it as well.

In concert with this, prehistoric shamanic wisdom teaches us that our heart is the

sun that is the center of and the giver of life in the Universe that we inhabit, and that our

personal sun is connected in a holographic manner to the sun that gives life to our planet,

and that sun is connected successively on up the line through more suns, all the way back

to Source. When I see Life Extension’s illustration of the seventeen daggers that impact

the heart, I don’t see the daggers. I see seventeen ways of loving my heart, the center of

my universe.

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If I believe like the ancients that my body is my temple, then everything that I put

into it is an offering to divinity. I have trillions of cells in my Universe all doing their

best to keep me alive and thriving. I want to be a beneficial, loving caretaker and give

them the best that I can in return for their dedication, loving this magical Universe that I

inhabit down to the molecular level and beyond if possible. I don’t do this because I

want to live forever. I do this because I follow in the footsteps of the ancients whose

wisdom has led me to embrace the spiritual dimension of life extension.

Bibliography

McKenna, Terence Food of the Gods. New York: Bantam, 1993

Pallamary, Matthew J. Land Without Evil. Los Angeles: Charles Publishing, 1999

____________________. Spirit Matters. Carlsbad: Mystic Ink Publishing, 2008.

Schwaller de Lubicz, R.A. The Temple of Man. Rochester: Inner Traditions, 1998.

Winkelman, Michael. Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of

Consciousness and Healing. Westport: Bergin & Garvey,

2000

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BIO

Matthew Pallamary’s historical novel Land Without Evil, received rave reviews along with a San Diego Book Award for mainstream fiction. Matt also received the Man of the Year 2000 award from San Diego Writer's Monthly Magazine. Dreamland a novel about computer generated dreaming, written with Ken Reeth, won the 2002 Independent e-Book Award in the Horror/Thriller category.

His memoir Spirit Matters detailing his journeys to Peru, working with shamanic plant medicines took first place in the San Diego Book

Awards Spiritual Book Category, and was an Award-Winning Finalist in the autobiography/memoir category of the National Best Books 2008 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News.

WWW.MATTPALLAMARY.COM

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