When the Great Inventor first thought of the idea it seemed relatively simple.

He would invent People. Separate individual souls or spirits which could evolve independently, observing, thinking things out, making decisions, coming to conclusions, and generally doing their own things, sometimes good, often not so good, but always new, original and creative, thus adding richness and diversity to the sum total of the Great Universal Experience.

But like all Great Ideas, what started out as something simple gradually grew in complexity.

Each soul or spirit would need some kind of a box or container or shape, a physical form in which to manifest itself. The container would need incoming channels to receive sense impressions of sound, sight and touch; and it would need computing power to analyze situations and decide on courses of action.

So the People would have to be created as heads, with brains, noses, ears and eyes. But a row of heads sitting around like cabbages in a field would not be able to do much experiencing or interacting. They would have to be mobile, and that meant legs. Arms and hands would be needed as all-purpose instruments, and a body to hold it all together. All of which would now require a self-support system.

Just as a thousand miners in the old silver-mining towns needed an army of non-miners to provide food and entertainment and all the other support services, so the human spirit now needed its own services to provide nourishing and cleaning and general maintenance facilities.

Finally, the whole complex would need a source of energy for two purposes: activity and renewal.

We know that we need energy for physical and mental activity. But we also need energy for bodily renewal too. Every part of the body, from brain cells and body tissue to teeth and toe nails is in a process of continuous renewal, of disposal and regeneration. Traditional Buddhist teaching has long held that the physical body renews itself totally and completely every seven years, which means that the physical You of today has absolutely nothing physically in common with the You of seven years ago!

So we have to take in energy, convert it, and circulate it. This is undertaken by the body's support system. We need many different kinds of energy which we receive from several different sources.

From the sun we get vitamin D. Sunlight also feeds tiny photo receptors in our eyes which take the sun's energy and feed it down to our nerves. We also get energy from spring water which has not been chemically processed, from good clean fresh air, and from trees and plants. Pine trees are particularly beneficial. In addition we receive spiritual energy from the Universe - or we may do so if our channels are open. This is a wholly different field of study which those interested may pursue through the many sources of knowledge now available to us.

However most of our bodily energy requirement is derived through the intake of food. But then food had to be Invented too!

The Great Inventor's solution to this problem was a system in which plants re-create themselves, and humans nourish themselves, through a mutually beneficial collaboration.

Plants need to spread and implant their seeds. To achieve this many of them produce fruits.

The fruit is there for the taking. It signals when it is ripe and ready by turning an attractive red, orange, yellow or purple. It contains all we need - fiber, vitamins, minerals, and a natural balance of solid and liquids. A selection of fruits will nourish the system, cleaning and purifying at the same time. And it will leave no damaging or clogging residue or deposits.

That's what fruit does for us. We in turn serve the fruit bush or tree by carrying, spreading and implanting the seeds which are enclosed within the fruit.

An altogether excellent arrangement for all concerned.

But things were to become more complex still.

Humans were to become lazy and aggressive, a combination which led them into the unfortunate habit of killing animals, birds, fishes, and yes, even one another, for food.

The senses of taste and smell, given to us primarily so that we could enjoy the scents of the flowers, and more practically so as to avoid fruit which was over-ripe, became a source of sensuality which led us into the development of recipes for food treatment specifically designed to titillate the senses with their richness. This development culminated in the French art of haute cuisine in which smell, taste and richness became the prime attraction.

As we became more developed and the pressures of civilization grew, so we came more and more to eat foods as emotional consolation - especially foods rich in concentrations of fats and sugar.

And finally, as food became cheap, plentiful and highly processed, we were able to obtain for consumption far more in quantity than our systems needed or could tolerate, and our diets soon became unbalanced as we came to eat more and more highly refined foods created for pleasurable sensation and instant convenience rather than for serious nutrition.

And so we find ourselves at the table of a typical middle-class family in the developed world today. We eat things because they're there, available in supermarket, freezer and home. They are conveniently packaged, easy to buy, easy to open, ready and easy to eat. We kill animals, birds and fishes (or rather, we pay people to do this for us), thus alienating other life forms, generating fear, and feeding ourselves with unnatural and unhealthy substances. We eat incorrectly, and we eat excessively. Our food has no natural balance, so to one kind of inappropriate substance - for example the typical stodgy and fatty plate of meat, hamburger, bun and fried potatoes - we add quantities of "soft drinks" which contain carbonated water, sugar, artificial flavors and colors, diluting the gastric juices, bloating the stomach, and contributing nothing of nutritional value whatsoever.

Then we become fat, out of condition, and sick. And we wonder why. Too much fat and stodge can often cause headaches. Pressure of unhealthy food and drink on the kidneys causes backache. So how do we respond? Our solution is to take yet more unhealthy substances in the form of concentrated chemicals - those pills with strange names which give instant relief for all ills mainly by the simple expedient of dulling those senses which feel pain and send us its warning messages. Many people respond by taking exercise, by jogging or `working out' in a gym or with some kind of expensive home walking machine. But exercise should be a pleasurable reward for a fit body, not a remedy for being overweight. It would be better, and would place much less strain on the heart, to diet first and then when you're fit, to keep fit by continuing the diet and enjoying your new-found health and lightness with an early-morning jog.

We take our bodies for granted because we live in them, we have always lived in them, we grew up in them. We take completely for granted their complexity and the wonders they perform for us day by day, moment by moment. We think we're brilliant because we can put people in space or make computers which can think with the speed of light or because we can put a symphony orchestra on a small disc and recreate its full majesty at will in our homes or send color pictures through the airwaves. We think we're brilliant to do all this, and so we are. But one thing we can't do is build the physical body of the fully functioning human being which invented all this brilliance. We can't, and probably never will.

The human being with its body, nervous system and brain is the world's most complex machine. It is far more complex than the motor vehicle we drive around in. And yet we know and care more about the function and the needs of an auto engine than we do about our bodies.

We know that radiators need water, engines need oil, bearings need grease. We know what kind of gasoline we have to put in; no one would dream of putting leaded fuel into the tank when the engine is built for unleaded.

If we paid half as much attention to the understanding and supply of our bodies' needs we would all be healthier, we'd live longer and happier lives, hospitals would empty and health care costs would plummet. Thousands of animals, birds and fishes would live much happier lives, and the auras of ourselves individually, as well as the collective aura of our planet, would become clearer as we ceased to generate fear through the mass slaughter of living beings.

But we appear neither to know nor care what our complex bodily machines need. And clearly we care even less that our gastronomic pleasure demands the death of others.

We eat sugar and fats to console ourselves, "haute cuisine" to be sociable or clinch a business deal and to give an impression of culture, we eat meat to build a macho image, and we eat too much. Then we correct our errors with further errors. And to cap it all we have even learnt to isolate substances which actually cause malfunctions and distortions of the mind. What a pity. It all started so well!

Why become a fruitarian?

If you're already vegetarian (either full- or part-time!), your reasons for becoming vegetarian make a good starting point for the fruit plunge.

Why vegetarian? Generally there are two major reasons: first, you don't like killing animals. And second, you believe that a vegetarian diet is lighter and healthier.

So also with fruit, only more so.

As a vegetarian you won't be killing animals, birds, fishes insects or humans for your dinner. But you probably will be killing a cabbage, or a lettuce, or a stick of celery. Hey, just a minute, I hear you cry in lightly concealed anguish. Self-masochism can go too far! I'm already a vegetarian and that's quite virtuous enough for one incarnation.

OK. Let's take another tack. Consider fruit for a moment. What is it exactly? The answer is that fruit is a tasty, delicious, nutritious substance offered to you, yes offered to you by a plant or tree. You don't have to kill anything or anybody. You don't have to take a leaf or a branch which doesn't kill but surely hurts. You don't have to ask, or apologize. In fact it's the plant or tree which does the asking, and you are doing it a favor. Why? The fruit is not tasty and delicious and nutritious and appealing for no reason; it's a cunning plot to attract animals and humans, anything that can move (which of course a tree or plant cannot). Why? The plant wants us `mobiles' to take the fruit as a reward for spreading its seeds which are located within the fruit. When we eat fruit we are truly `working with nature'. The fruit is nutritious so that we will be tempted to eat it.

Eating fruits involves neither killing nor maiming. We are working with the trees and plants in acts of mutual cooperation and mutual benefit. And because there is no death or injury involved, our food comes to us without that aura of fear which persons sensitive to such things tell us pervade the dead bodies of meat, chickens and fishes. Our vibration rates are not dragged down by the pain of others - we do not ingest pain and suffering into our systems.

As to our health, fruit is lighter, and well balanced particularly in its moisture content. It nourishes and refreshes at the same time.

Another very, VERY significant point was made to me by my intuitive chef who started us on "this fruit business". He said: "Ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of any and all human illness of any kind whatsoever (he was very positive on this!) is caused by blockages in your pipework - from the large arteries that pump blood around the body and through the heart, to the tiny capillaries in the brain." He paused, indicating the importance of the punch-line to follow. "And no artery large or small ever got blocked by fruit. Indeed, most fruits actually clean, scour and purify the passages."

Blockages in the fine capillaries in and around the brain result in Altzheimers - what in earlier days was simply called `hardening of the arteries'; more seriously, the deprivation of blood to a section of the brain which is thus damaged will cause a stroke.

And yes, we all know what happens when the blood vessels and arteries around the heart get blocked. But to put a figure on it: heart disease is the biggest cause of death for Americans. It kills 750,000 every year - despite $100 billion expended on diagnosis and treatment.

I had an elderly friend (95 years old) who was a bit of a grumpus (but nice underneath!). She was fed up with living and impatient to die. Anyway, she got a poisoned toe, which poisoned her foot and threatened to move up the leg. The doctor was talking about amputation, though that never came about because death intervened. The Chinese Herb Doctor explained to me what had happened. An artery to the toe muscle had got blocked and the muscle had died, then festered. You see: blocked arteries again!

So. There you have it. The full case for a fruit diet. Or almost so. I would only add that like anything it seems strange at first, and it is surely best to take it slowly. We began the move from vegetarian to fruitarian four years ago and it took a year to get there! But once you're hooked on fruit... well, I can tell you from current experience that when you abandon fruit even just for one meal you feel heavy, you miss that refreshed, cleansed after-feeling that only comes from a fruit meal.

Fruit is "given"; it is created specifically to be nutritious; it is healthy, it is light, it will help raise your vibration rate, it is non-clogging and cleansing. And once you get used to it, other food tastes dry and solid after fruit.

If you are not convinced you should try to become a fruitarian, or if you are convinced but lack the willpower, well, maybe we'll meet up again some time.

If you ARE convinced at least to give it a try, then read on and I will tell you a little of how to go about it.

Fruits. What are they?

Well, the obvious ones are obvious. But when you start listing them you realize what a tremendous variety there really is.

There are the citrus fruits: oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits. The berries: raspberries, red and black currants, gooseberries, cherries. Apples, pears, plums, apricots and nectarines. Dates. Grapes red and green, seedless if you can get them. Melons: delicious red water melons, sweet honeydews, cantaloupes, and the many fancy varieties. Mangoes and papayas. Cucumbers, green and red peppers, marrows, courgettes and dark crimson eggplants also fall into this general category along with pumpkins. Bananas provide vital nutrients. Avocadoes and tomatoes are also fruits.

Fruitarians eat mainly fruit, but with the addition of grains, beans and nuts. There is no death involved here.

Nuts: well, whatever you can find at a reasonable price, depending on season or whatever your local store may have "on special". Keep a lookout and stock up when the going's good! Nuts should preferably be taken in the morning (great with breakfast fruit), rather than evening as they are not so easily digested. Sunflower seeds are among the cheapest nuts and are very nutritious. Soya nuts too are cheaper than most others. It is good to mix your nut intake a little, for each of the many varieties of nuts has different nutrients to offer.

Fruits are basically - well, fruity, which in general means, if not always sweet, at least not savory. Actually there are exceptions as already noted: tomatoes are a fruit. So is avocado. And cucumber. But there's not too much that's really savory in the fruit line. So if you want savory, there's an armory of additives (if you'll pardon the expression). They're quite harmless ones of course, in fact beneficial really.

Fortunately fruits themselves are not too hard to find in plentiful quantity and variety.

Now for the tools of your trade.

You will need a good chopping board (you'll be doing lots of fruit chopping!), and whatever knives you find suitable (it's important to have good knives which are well balanced, sharp, and do the different jobs properly). You'll need a decent grater too, for grating that wonderful zest from the skins of citrus fruits. It's worth getting decent equipment for the job.

Also absolutely essential is an upright, goblet-style liquidizer - what we call a whizzer. This is not the same as the flatter type of food processor which doesn't puree things so well (though you need a food processor too, preferably one with a grater and a shredder attachment).

So much for the basics. Now you're all set. Or almost.

I mentioned earlier (though you may have skipped it - we often skip things we don't like to accept!) that we eat for many different reasons. Ego-building and emotional consolation after a rough day are two major reasons. Becoming a fruitarian is not just a change in diet, it is a change in attitude. Indeed the change in attitude really comes first, or at least it runs a few paces ahead. You can't change your diet without this change in attitude.

The change in attitude means relaxing, gradually altering your lifestyle if necessary to ensure that you are doing what you really want to do, eliminating tensions, and trying to get into closer touch with your intuition so that you can "go with the flow of evolution" rather than clinging to things you have outgrown or allowing your ego to dominate your thinking. As you change, so your tastes in food will change. And as you eat lighter food, so your body will change and your intuition will awaken. The two work together, one helping the other.

Becoming a fruitarian requires that you look at yourself, your thoughts and emotions, your lifestyle in general, check what you're doing, and ask yourself precisely why you are doing what you're doing. Particularly, in the present context, why you eat what you eat. Once you begin to examine and identify your motives you can begin to control them, you can begin to select foods which provide your body and spirit what it needs, without overloading or excess.

The reason I have dwelt on that subject is to prepare you, or try to do so, for the less-sensual foods which fruitarianism will require you to prepare and to consume. And it's really a double-bombshell, because fruit is much better taken uncooked, so we're looking at much more uncooked meals. Cooking food reduces its nutrients and condenses it, thus fooling the body into taking too much. Even before you become fruitarian you would do well to take as much uncooked food as possible, though avoiding of course those vegetables which are indigestible when taken raw.

Fruits do not naturally lend themselves to cooking, so fruitarianism and not-much-cooking tend to go together. I am only warning you because uncooked foods are less inherently sensual than cooked foods, so be prepared!

I can only say, having given these dire warnings, that although your future fruit diet may sound spartan and uninteresting, I would never go back to the rich, sensual foods I used to like. And I was quite a gourmet in my old, pre-fruit days. In fact I'm still a gourmet now, and I hope that with some prompting and a little invention on your part you will soon come to prepare and enjoy fruit as much as or preferably more than whatever sensual indulgences you may enjoy at present! Remember also that one of the major pleasures (yes, pleasures) of fruitarianism is getting up after a meal and not feeling all the fullness and solidity in the system which you often feel after a large, rich cooked meal. Much of the pleasure in today's foods comes from the eating; much of the pleasure we fruitarians enjoy comes both during, and after the meal.

Just take it slowly, using more fruit all the time, cooking less and less, reducing the quantity of your intake. Give it a year, why not? We did. The body wasn't built for sudden change, and doesn't react well to it.

So dear reader, I leave you with, I hope, the conviction that you should begin along the path to fruitarianism. Take it slowly. Add more fruit as you go. I still sometimes have a mixed salad with a lettuce base - but I always add fruit, perhaps some chopped orange or grapefruit. We've got used to it now and like the balance. Without the fresh, juicy lubrication of fruit, the digestion doesn't seem to work so well.

Finally, back to lifestyle, as I leave you with a Thought.

Always make your food look good when you present it at table. Table? Yes. Lay the table properly with nice china and cloth or mats, make everything look as attractive as possible.

That in turn requires that you set aside proper times and space for meals, not just rush through the kitchen and grab something on the run. No time? Get up earlier. Make time. It's worth it for the peace of mind and relaxation it brings. I knew someone who always rushed through meals... then took Tai-chi classes to... relax. I said "forget the TaiChi and use the time for a proper sit-down breakfast" She tried it and it worked!

Enjoy nice meals at regular times with a nice table setting, meals that are presented with care and an artistic eye. And give time to the digestive process, which is really what eating should be all about. Remember that you are eating to benefit the body, not just to titillate the taste sensations.

Chew well and slowly, appreciate and enjoy the food, the fact that fruit trees and bushes have produced it for you, the fact that the universe has seen fit to feed you (most people in the world are not so fortunate). Then swallow, remembering that it is only now that the real work starts. Don't rush your food, and after each course, allow a few moments for the digestion, and the appreciation, to catch up. If the setting is relaxed and harmonious, if the food looks as if it was prepared with care, then you will eat in a careful and relaxed way, and your digestion will be that much more effective.

After the meal, sit awhile. We often listen to a little baroque classical music (there are other kinds for those who so wish, but avoid the roudier varieties which are counter-productive digestion-wise), before going out for a half-hour digestive stroll. On Sundays we have breakfast with Bach cantatas or choral music along with some special baked treat and home roasted coffee (we very successfully roast green coffee beans in a hot-air popcorn roaster). You see what a lot of odd people there are in the world! The only thing is, we are relaxed and healthy, which is more than a lot can say, and we look ten years younger than we are, which is more than others can say. Not boasting, just recommending that you treat your personal domestic lifestyle, and especially the eating parts, with as much care and attention as you give to your best business clients. Why? Well let's face it, you are your best business client. If you lost you, there wouldn't be much left, would there?