Subcultures and Social Trends: Breatharians and Sungazers – When All You Need Is a Little Air, Sunshine (and an Occasional Double Quarter Pounder With Cheese) to Live
Feasting on the bounty of the sun; forty four minutes of direct sun gazing each day for spiritual and biological nourishment along with subsistence on water, air and love so the body can metabolize all the nutrients it needs and sustain oneself off the Hindu vital life force, Prana.
It is an international movement of people who believe true health can only be achieved by giving up all solid food and subsisting only on energy, light and in some cases water.
Welcome to the subculture of the Breathairian.
A Brief History of Breathairians
Modern Brethairianism is not a novel and unique invention of modern day subculture. The roots of extreme fasting, and by extension Bretharianism, can be traced back to the 1670s Rosicrucian Enlightenment Movement. In the Rosicrucian text Comte de Gabalis, extended fasting and renunciation of food and water is attributed to a 16th century physician and occultist, Paracelsus who was said to have lived, “…several years by taking only one half scruple of Solar Quintessence.”
The Rise of Breathairianism to the Minstream
The Brethairian Institute of America was founded by Wiley Brooks in the early 1980s, after he appeared on the American Television Show, That’s Incredible!. This spawned an entire subculture with Jasmuheen rising to the fore in 1990, claiming she could go for month and months without anything but a cup of tea. In 1999, she was featured on the television news series 60 minutes.
Hira Ratan Manek has laid claims he has subsisted only regular sungazing in addition to water and occasionally tea, coffee and buttermilk since 1995.
Prahlad Janti was an Indian sadhu, who claimed both that he had managed to live for 70 years without food or water and claimed he was investigated by doctors in both 2003 and in 2010.
Breathairianism has also laid claim to main stream celebrities. Michelle Pfeiffer, during an interview for The Sunday Telegraph’s Stella Magazine, revealed after moving to Los Angeles at the age of 20, she was swept up into the subculture. While filming the movie, The Moonies (about the Reverend Moon Sun-Myung’s Unification Church), “…she said that while she was helping him with research ‘on this cult’ she realized: ‘I was in one.’” Madonna was reportedly a practitioner of Breathairianism as well.
Leadership Hypocrisy and the Fall of Breathairianism to the Fringe
In every movement steeped in deep spirituality, a question of conviction arises at some point. Breathairianism would be no different. The personalities most key to the rise of this subculture would hold the keys to the fall of this subculture and its relegation to a fringe cult.
After Wiley Brooks reportedly left a Santa Cruz 7-Eleven with a Slurpee, a hot dog and some Twinkies in 1983, the Breathairian Institute of America suffered mass resignations within the organization. Wiley Brooks subsequently modified the central tenant of the Brethairian subculture and on the 5D Q & A section of his website Mr. Brooks stated that,
“… cows are fifth-dimensional (or higher) beings that help mankind achieve fifth-dimensional status by converting three-dimensional food to five-dimensional food (beef).”
Later in the same section of the website, Mr. Brooks went into further detail regarding the special properties of the McDonalds Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Diet Coke,
“…the ‘Double Quarter-Pounder with Cheese’ meal from McDonald's possesses a special ‘base frequency’ and that he thus recommends it as occasional food for beginning [B]reatharians. He then goes on to reveal that Diet Coke is ‘liquid light’. Prospective disciples are asked after some time following the junk food/magic word preparation to revisit his website in order to test if they can feel the magic.”
I think McDonalds coined the phrase, “Big Mac Attack” for that 5D base frequency.
During that 60 minutes interview with Jasmuheen, interviewers discovered her house was stocked with food. She claimed the food was for her husband and daughter. She was subsequently monitored by the 60 minutes crew for a one week period. By day 3, she was having difficulty and asked to be moved from the city, blaming polluted air as the reason she could not absorb nutrients.
The crew relocated her to the countryside, and by the fourth day Doctor Berris Wink of the Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association had to stop the test, due to severe dehydration (about 11%) and threat of kidney failure.
On the positive side, Jasmuheen was awarded the Bent Spoon Award by Australian Skeptics in 2000. The award is presented to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle.
Hira Ratan Manek was caught on camera, in the 2011 documentary Eat the Sun feasting on a large meal in a San Francisco restaurant and questions would swirl around the “results” of the tests from Prahlad Janti. It was discovered he was allowed to meet with devotees, leave the sealed test room to sunbathe and move out of the view of the CCTV camera views at certain points during the experiment.
In the immortal words of Darth Vader, a Jedi devotee, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”
The Second Coming of Breathairianism
After being relegated to second tier cults (below cults such as The Heaven’s Gate Society and Aum Shinrikyo), in recent times, the subculture has experienced a rebirth and received a spokesperson in living doll, Valeria Lukyanova- The Human Barbie.
With her endorsement and the explosion of social media, Breathairianism had a small rebirth within a niche fringe movement of pro-anorexia.
What exactly are Breathairians?
There is a long and deep history of voluntary fasting across all strata of religion with varying rules. The single, unifying thread is the voluntary fast is temporary for very specific spiritual significance or for political reasons, such as a hunger strike out of protest. The key difference with the Breathairian subculture is the period of voluntary fast is for the complete life of the individual.
The Dark Side of Breathairianism and Its Endorsement by the Pro-Anroexia Nervousa Subculture
Throughout the pro-anorexia community, forums are dedicated to the Bretharian subculture. The popular belief appears to be Breathairianism has revealed humans do not consume food for nutritional value, but rather it serves only to provide pleasure and sensation.
It would appear the consensus belief is,
“Breathairianism is about having the choice of whether to eat or not to eat. To never hunger or starve when food is not around, to never feel dependency or attachment to food, and to have found what is there once food is no longer in the way of our perception and focus. This is what Breatharianism is about. True happiness, and a full freedom of choices. To feel fully alive, safe, independent, and happy.”
Frightening.
The Brethairian Subculture in the Media
The Breathairian subculture has received some mainstream media attention over the years:
- VICE Media, March 16, 2014 (http://www.vice.com/read/breatharian-leader-wiley-brooks-lives-on-light-air-and-quarter-pounders)
- The Daily Beast, March 2, 2014 (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/02/introducing-breatharianism-the-dumbest-diet-of-all-time.html)
- Esquire Magazine, February 28, 2014 (http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a27563/human-barbies-are-coming-with-diet/)
- The Inquisitr, November 5, 2013 (http://www.inquisitr.com/1019725/breatharianism-cult-leader-jasmuheen-advocates-living-without-food-or-water-but-why/)
- LiveScience, May 10, 2010 (http://www.livescience.com/8224-indian-mystic-claims-eat-70-years.html)
- The Guardian, September 28, 1999 (https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/sep/28/millennium.uk)
Out of respect for how deeply linked this subculture is with pro-anorexia nervosa and the danger of extreme fasting, I will not perform an analysis of, or include links to, social media or marketplaces which would perpetuate this subculture.
References
Wikipedia. “Inedia.” August 29, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia
Brooks, Wiley. “Breathairian Institute of America. Np. http://www.breatharian.com/wileybrooks.html
Neputin, Matt. “Living Without Eating? A Skeptical Look at Breatharianism and Sungazing.” RealtivelyInterestig.com. April 18, 2013. http://www.relativelyinteresting.com/skeptical-look-at-breatharianism-and-sungazing/
Duffin. Claire. “Michelle Pfeiffer: The Day I Realized I was Part of a Cult.” The Telegraph. November 2, 2013. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/celebritynews/10422883/Michelle-Pfeiffer-The-day-I-realised-I-was-part-of-a-cult.html
Campbell, Christopher. “’Eat the Sun’ is an Extremely Fascinating Doc About the Unbelievable World of Sungazing.” Indie Wire. June 21, 2011. http://www.indiewire.com/2011/06/eat-the-sun-is-an-extremely-fascinating-doc-about-the-unebelievable-world-of-sungazing-226777/
McCasker, Toby. “Breathairian Leader Wiley Brooks Lives on Light, Air and Quarter Pounders.” VICE Media, LLC. March 16, 2014. http://www.vice.com/read/breatharian-leader-wiley-brooks-lives-on-light-air-and-quarter-pounders
The Guardian. “Let Them Eat Air…”. September 28, 1999. https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/sep/28/millennium.uk
Ana Belles, The. “Reasons Not to Eat.” Blogspot. August 16, 2015. http://theanabelles.blogspot.com/2005/08/reasons-not-to-eat.html
Image References
Neputin, Matt. Living Without Eating? A Skeptical Look at Breathairianism and Sungazing. Relatively Interesting. April 8, 2013. http://www.relativelyinteresting.com/skeptical-look-at-breatharianism-and-sungazing/
Sitterson, Aubrey.Breathairian Barbie. Geek.com. November 23, 2015. http://www.geek.com/news/11-of-the-best-new-religions-of-the-last-century-1640078/
SupplementCentre. Portrait of a Beautiful Arab Woman Breathing Fresh Air. Np. May 5, 2014. http://blog.supplementcentre.com/bonkers-diets-2014/portrait-of-a-beautiful-arab-woman-breathing-fresh-air-with-raised-arms/
Very interesting article. I have heard about Bretharianism a while ago, but never looked into it... It seems that they are as twisted as I expected.
I do think that temporary fasting (a day or so) has many benefits.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. I do apprecite it.
Medical literature does show evidence of health benefits associated with periods of limited, voluntary fasting. Obviously, when taken to extremes, such as in Brethairianism, it can be fatal.
I did not go into the stories of people who starved to death while involved in this subculture and it's now intimate association with pro-anorexia groups is a bit frightening.
Yeah, wow. It's amazing the lengths people will go to gain a feeling of significance or to justify their actions. I do believe there are great benefits in fasting though, both physical and spiritual, but it's definitely not something I find easy to embrace.
Subculture is a strange thing. Sometimes it's cool, sometimes it's dark. My hope with this series is to touch on all the different aspect of subcultures, not just the pleasant ones. Generally it seems to be about tribes, coalescing of power and acceptance. Human beings are funny creatures.
In terms of fasting, intermittent fasting has already been proven to be beneficial to humans. Lifetime fasting can only end one way. I am just amazed people would be willing to indulge in cognitive dissonance and risk death for perceived beauty and perceived nirvana.
Well said. It's definitely an interesting and insightful series.
thanks for sharing this material, I like what you posted. Thank you so much
Thank you for both reading and commenting. I think every writer innately wants to have a dialogue with their audience. It's what keeps writers writing when rewards are not there.
If you like this piece, it's part of a continuing series I am writing on subcultures and social trends. Please follow me if you'd like to see more.