On August 11, 2011, a great comedian and one of the foremost champions of civil rights addressed an audience on the stages of Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Understand that we have the power to change this planet.

Mr. Dick Gregory’s stand-up comedy performance followed the live videoconference “World Vegan World Peace: A Conscious Choice” with Supreme Master Ching Hai as the Guest of Honor.

We have the power to change it. And so, in our meditation, as we sit through the meditation, think about, not the hungry people starving, but see them getting up with smiles on their faces, and understand that there’s a love out here that can turn this whole piece around. That’s our job, but you can’t do it with fear. It’s love, love, love, and being lovable.

And so as I sit here and say to Supreme Master, thank you, thank you for being here. First, we’ve always thought this was a men’s job. We always thought, well, the men will come and save it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Human beings have no sex, have no race, when love sits in.

Welcome back faithful viewers to the second installment of our two-part series on Vegetarian Elite featuring Mr. Dick Gregory – a professional comedian with a career spanning five decades, a long-standing human rights advocate, bestselling author, anti-drug crusader, and expert nutritionist.

With his resilient spirit, he has overcome poverty, racial injustice, and cancer. He has participated in over 100 fasts and prayer vigils to raise awareness about human rights and world hunger. As we found out in part one, Mr. Gregory also has a fervent desire to share his fascinating discoveries about where our foods come from and what they do to our bodies.

He has been credited for introducing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s son to vegetarianism who then went on to influence his mother, Coretta Scott King, to become a vegan. Mr. Gregory also practices what he preaches. Instead of lamenting and bowing to traditional treatment when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2001, he went public and helped millions of fans around the globe realize that with a proper lifestyle, cancer is in fact curable. Let’s return now to our insightful interview with Mr. Gregory to learn more about his holistic philosophy.

Well, 99% of my diet is fruit, ripe fruit, nothing in the can. One day, I’ll eat nothing but grapes. Another day, I’ll eat nothing but cantaloupes. Another day, I’ll eat nothing but berries And so basically, I don’t like eating. I can go forever without eating. And about twice a year, I’ll do a 40-day water fast; about three times a year, I’ll do a 12-day fast with nothing, just breathing. When you do that, you cannot be moving around, you can’t be doing any physical fitness, and that’s when you start communicating.

I use it in America where we have more folks die from overeating than under-eating. (Yes.) And then when you go on a fast, even people that don’t agree what you’re fed, every time you sit down and eat, they think about when they get hungry they eat, and so that’s what I use it for, although that’s a violation to use a fast for anything other than purifying (I see.) yourself and your consciousness.

One of the turning points of human health is when we turn to the ancient tradition of detoxing our bodies of all the unwanted substances found in our food and air. Mr. Gregory’s advises on the subject.

So when you start detoxifying, increase the water intake. And then there’s different things out here, different herbs and stuff, different fruits and stuff that you can eat, vegetables that you can eat to help detoxify the body. When I went on my first fast, I could taste stuff that I ate when I was five years old, (Yes.) candies and gum and stuff. (Yes.) And so that’s the first thing you do.

Two, when you really get into detoxification, you’re nature’s operating table, better be still. Well, in our society I can’t take off from work; well when you do that, the minute you get off, you go and rest. We think we can do the same thing that we’re doing and you can’t, the body is purifying. You’ve got 75 trillion cells that are being detoxified at the same time. It comes out, the poison. You see, 85% of the poison in your body comes out through your feet because of gravity pull. (Yes.) And so people who work, walking, they should change their shoes three times a day.

Athletes should never put on that same pair of tennies because all those impurities that stayed in them move back up into the body. And so in detoxification, take foot baths. But don’t get in the tub, take foot baths, because with gravity pull, it pulls it out. Walk in the sand if it’s available. Because if you see people sand blast a house, all at once it becomes white and all the dirt is gone, well the same thing happens walking in the sand. (I see.) And then get information on detox, there’s so much information out here now (Yes.) on detoxification. Get some.

The final stop in human dietary evolution is considered breatharianism or pranariasim – living on the invisible “cosmic energy.” The dietary scale starts at the bottom with eating processed cooked foods that may include meats and dairy, then moves up to the vegetarian diet, to veganism, then to raw food, onto liquidarianism, and finally, breatharianism.

In his revolutionary 1973 book titled “Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin’ with Mother Nature,” Mr. Gregory explains the experience of being food-free as “living entirely on a transcendental plane, breathing in pure air, absorbing the direct light and energies of the Sun, bathing in pure water; in other words living on what some writers call the ‘supersubstantial bread.’ I personally believe breatharianism to be the highest mode of human living and an entirely possible way of life under ideal circumstances.”

I didn’t realize the universe until one day I’m thinking, “If I don’t eat tonight, I won’t die. If I don’t have any money tonight, I won’t die.” If you held my nose and mouth for 30 minutes, I will die. The most important thing on this planet is oxygen. And nobody ever taught me to thank God for oxygen. They tell me to thank God for the sandwich I’m going to eat. (Yes.) Say the blessing over some food (Yes.) I’m going to eat.

But never told me the most important thing on this planet (Yes.) is oxygen. And that once you start then you start having respect. But wait a minute, I can’t see it, I can’t feel it, I can’t taste it. And nobody has ever walked up to me and tapped me and said, “Here’s your oxygen bill.” It’s free. (Yes.) And then the whole body starts to change.

And so consequently, we were meant to be nothing but breatharians. We were meant just to breathe.

Mr. Gregory shares with us his experience of meditation and prayer, which allow for a greater sense of connection with all life forms. Well, first we’ve keep telling people to meditate and we do that wrong. Man, all you’ve got to do is sit quietly, sit quietly. It’s hard to tell people, “Sit quietly, don’t think about anything.” How do you not think about anything? The first part is when you first wake up, you just sit quietly, sit quietly. You don’t have to put any record on. You don’t have to play anything. It gets you back into your spiritual self. (Yes.)

It gets you back to the human part. It gets you back to where I can look at a woman and see another human being. (Yes.) I can look at a child and see another human being. I can look at a tree growing and see something that has life that’s different from me. I don’t know what trees are talking about out there when they’re talking, but there are some people that can hear trees (Most certainly.) and listen to them. Let me tell you what I’ve been doing since I’m a little boy. I hear a siren, I don’t know where they’re going.

I’ve always said a prayer for whoever that was. Who, if it’s somebody in the ambulance; if they’re on their way, firefighters on their way to a fire, I’ve always said a prayer. And then after that I send a prayer of thanksgiving. We have that power, we have that power.

When entertaining a crowd, Mr. Gregory remembers to honor his spirituality before beginning shows.

Thank you. Let me first say we thank and praise God that we’ve all made it here safely today. I pray to God that your return and my return will be equally as safe. First let me just say, I’ve entertained all over the world, I’ve enjoyed it but tonight was something special.

Yes.

Tonight was something special. That’s because you’re special.

In concluding our tribute to Mr. Dick Gregory, one of society’s living legends of peace and freedom advocacy, we’d like to include his loving and supportive thoughts of Supreme Master Ching Hai and her selfless contribution to the world.

First, I’d like to say thanks. When I look at what she’s [Supreme Master Ching Hai] able to put together, she makes it look easy because of the love, the kindness, the peace but to get to where she is, nobody gave her nothing. I feel something that I want to be a part of. How do I start it? It starts from here. So what she has put together is a relay. I give a baton to you. You give it to somebody else. And it eventually comes back to me. And I say, “Okay, we’re going to up the distance. It’s not going to be a 100-yard relay. It’s going to be 440 yards.” And you keep raising the level and keep raising the level.

She’s (Supreme Master Ching Hai) validated by the progress that she sees. She’s validated by taking human beings, not changing them, but taking them back to their original, (Yes.) space. (Yes.) I can trust her because I know her kindness. Peace, she’s already created that to go back and take into me what I had. And so all she’s doing is different because what she uplifts stays in you.

Mr. Dick Gregory, we thank you for your kind-heart and numerous life-saving ways, your quest for the truth, and inspiring and comedic speeches to the multitudes – all of which have brought about a more benevolent and harmonious planet.

To learn more about comedian and activist Mr. Dick Gregory please visit: www.DickGregory.com

Courageous viewers, we trust you’ve enjoyed our two- part series on Vegetarian Elite featuring the legendary and brilliant Mr. Dick Gregory. Coming up next is Between Master and Disciples. May nature’s bountiful blessings bring you inner serenity.