SNIPPETS: Fruitism By Jérémie Daoust

Fruitism also had a major impact on the way science was portrayed in our society. We have been able to understand the psychological effects of the fruits on the human mind and how it affected our decisions taking process in the history of Fruitism. That religion as completely different beliefs from many other cults and it led to some practices that followers now do and have done as part of their lifestyles for centuries. It is also interesting to take a look at spirituality and how it has evolved over the years.

Fruitism began in Tyre, a city close to the Mediterranean Sea in the Fertile Crescent (Arthistoryworlds, nd). Five thousand years ago, the Great Sage and his disciple discovered the magical aspect of fruits. According the disciple’s writings, during a hot day in the summer, his master passed out. He was physically dead. As a big crowd was wondering what could have happened to him, it was said that a fruit fell down from a tree and dropped a few centimeters next the Great Sage’s head as the juice of the fruit spilled over his face, flowing into his mouth. 

At that specific moment, the spirit of the fruit brought the Great Sage back to life. It was written that the god of a now extinguished fruit took over possession of the body of the old man, helping him to survive by taking over the control of his body. By doing that, he also started giving the instruction to the people in order to expand and teach the rudiments of the newborn religion. “The resurrection was the process through which he was restored to the original state as intended by the divine being.” (Exposition of the Divine Principle Translation, 1996) It was therefore obvious that fruits had magic properties and, apparently, the fruit decided to make of the Great Sage its spiritual leader. After this episode, it was easier to convince people to follow his path because they realized that he was not an ordinary man, but someone way more powerful. According to the Great Sage’s writings, he would have got all the knowledge necessary at the specific moment of his resurrection to teach to his future followers the instruction needed. Basically, the resurrection of the Great Sage was the trigger for the creation of the Fruitism.

Magic helps explain the unexplainable, thus giving importance to the religious speaker’s voice. It has been part of Fruitism since its beginning and, even today, it has never stopped being part of it. People never tried to ensure it and kept having faith over the centuries. It helped people understanding better why they believed and it affected positively the worshipping of fruits. In agreement with Shaykh (2006) beliefs are really important to people: “the strength and the prolonged existence of any structure are directly co-related to the strength and depth of its foundation.” No one can build something durable and strong with no great founding. It is the main reason why people adhered to it a very long time ago and kept doing so up to now. Magic and beliefs helped people feeling as being a part of a group and a lot more secure. “Belonging is a psychological lever that has broad consequences. People’s interests, motivation, health and happiness are inextricably tied to the feeling that they belong to a greater community that may share common interests and aspirations” (Enayati, 2012). The health benefits on the psychological side of being part of a group that has a strong founding are numerous. That’s a reason why people did not hesitate to follow the Great Sage’s path. Nonetheless, beliefs are also really important to Fruitisists in many ways.

Fruitisists share certain beliefs that are essential to their faith. They believe in the existence of many gods: one for each fruit, to be exact. Beliefs are proven to have a great positive impact on mankind. ”The strength of one's belief lightens the spiritual load on a person and offers him peace of mind. It also makes light of the difficulties faced by a person in the way of worshipping the divinities” (Shaykh, 2006). In some way, it is really beneficial to have some beliefs because people will be psychologically feeling better with themselves. It helps to understand the purposes of life. 

Also according to Shaykh (2006), there is a great pleasure that one can feel by worshiping a god. It is somehow a “spiritual reward” and it helps believers to feel better. The spirituality associated with Fruitism also has an impact on people’s lifestyle. It is said that everyone is spiritually linked to a god that will be able to guide him back afterwards. The supernatural link that Fruitisists have with their god is beneficial to them in many ways. The god of the fruit which people are predestined to be sponsored by is going to assist physically and mentally his protected. On the psychological side, the god is going to help the people that are spiritually related to them through their decision making process, through their mental equilibrium and through the love that the fruit will give to the person concerned. 

In Ancient Fruitism, there is one god for each fruit and many factors are having an impact on the attributes of each of them. The effects of fruits over the sensory system are the things that had the biggest impact on the “personality” and the “values” of each god. The visual aspect of the fruit is really important in order to determine the character of a god. “The exposure of many colored lights has various effects on human bodily functions” (Gage, 1999). Depending on which color the fruit is, it has more chances to evoke a particular feeling and, in general, that feeling is one of the characteristics linked to the personality of that specific fruit. For example, we can see that “red is the color of energy, passion, action, ambition and determination. It is also the color of anger and sexual passion” (Empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com, nd). 

Considering that, it is easier to understand why someone sponsored by the apple will be more likely to have one of these characteristics than someone with another color. Nevertheless, the color of the fruit is not the only visual aspect that has an impact on the personality of gods and people. The texture of the fruit, which can also be considered as a touching sensory aspect, has something to do with it too. If we take the kiwi for example, its soft skin shows a characteristic that is also applicable to people that are guided by the god of kiwis. People in relation with that fruit are known to be gentle with people and not aggressive at all. A soft surface is not really an evocation of intensity. It is more related to relaxation, in contrast with the pineapple, for example, which is rough and could be representative of someone who would be more aggressive or difficult of approach, but sweet inside like pineapples as people get to know that person better. The taste and the smell are also senses to be considered. In a study made in order to look at how humans could perceive odors and tastes, Ache, Cain, Laing and McBride (1989: 187) discovered that “the detectability (of odor) may still interact with cognitive aspect of the stimulus.” It basically showed that particular tastes or smells had an impact on our intellectual reactions and psychical processes related to the spirit such as memory, movement coordination, recognition, etc.

The Great Sage was one of the most important figures for the Fruitism because he is the one who brought it to people and is said to be one who, thereby, helped indirectly many people to find their way over the years. “The spiritual leader’s task is to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be” (Staples, 2009). People are still grateful to him in these days for donating his own “second-life” to the people and showing them the path to follow. He is portrayed in Fruitism as the father of everyone as he would have been caring on everybody since he first introduced the new movement. He played a major role in the creation of the religion because he had to start from nothing and make people believe in his way of thinking. After the completion of his book with his disciple, he disappeared. In spite of that, his teachings have never been forgotten and are still being of actuality today. According to what he wrote, he was the first one to understand the supernatural link between the god of the fruit and himself. He also claimed that the spirit of the god is the one who guided his way in his “after-resurrection” life. Although the fruit that he was linked with does not exist anymore, it is told that his sponsoring god was one of the greatest with regards to the peaceful and generous aspect of it.

All Fruitisists have to read the Fruitism Holy Book in order to acquire the knowledge needed to either understand themselves and to see how the religion has to be worshipped. In agreement with The American Psychological Association (2003) the book states, for example, that ‘’people eating less fruits could suffer from “greater stress because of traffic noise, antisocial behavior, and lack of facilities.” This is one of the numerous examples given in the book’s content mentioning good things associated to the practice of Fruitism. In a certain way, by the reading of it, it seems to try to bring people to understand that there are concrete statements related to the benefits of worshipping the fruits. It shows followers that there are nice reasons to adhere to the religion. 

Even over the years, “science has not been able to explain everything about life” (Haris, 2008), in contrast to the Fruitism Holy Book which gives an answer and a meaning to life. The teachings from its founder show that Fruitism has to be respected because it has been written directly from the gods through a human body. In the eye of the follower, this as a lot of importance and in would be a sacrilege to go over the will of the book, which is the religion itself. As the time went by, the book gave a greater authority to the religion and it helped to spread the movement all over the world, gaining in importance more and more. Even nowadays, the book convinced many atheists to believe in its religion because of its ease to be practiced in the current lifestyle people are following. It does not ask believers to give a lot of time to the practice of the religion, it only mentions that believers have to always stay in touch with their god in order to be well guided psychologically and to take the best decisions to succeed in life.

As indicated in the Fruitism Holy Book, fruits have to be worshipped by followers by praying their respective god. “Rituals are immensely comforting. They bring stability to life. They help individuals’ process shock, trauma, and uncertainty” (tassos-oak.com, nd). Practices will help the Fruitisist to reach a higher level of spirituality in order to be closer to the god linked to him. It was told that, as ‘’the fruit gives protection to the seed’’ (Shukla, 2010), the god protects people throughout their lives. They would guide people’s choices and also help them to understand themselves and feel better with themselves.

People have to practice their prayers by themselves at home. In order to get in contact with their god, believers have to clear their mind of useless thoughts and think about their god (or its fruit). The contact is said to be fairly easy to make for people who truly believe in the religion. The more someone is giving attention to the god linked with him, the more his god will give him back protection. For example, people asking for help or just keeping in touch everyday have shown to get a greater protection than people that would neglect their god. However, no matter if people believe or not in Fruitism, the god linked to them loves his protected. It is told that the god will always be open to someone that waited a long time before turning to Fruitism. There is no special place of worship for Fruitism since the religion has not been accepted by everyone over the years. It was transmitted from word to mouth for thousands of years. In addition, the consumption of the fruit liked to you is highly recommended as often as possible to make the connection easier.

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Jérémie Daoust is presently studying at Champlain College Lennoxville located in Quebec, Canada. Fruitism and Fruitism Commercial was written as part of an assignment for Vampires, Witches and Werewolves... Oh My! in the Department of Humanities.

Audrey Corriveau is presently studying at Champlain College Lennoxville located in Quebec, Canada. Fruitism Commercial was written as part of an assignment for Vampires, Witches and Werewolves... Oh My! in the Department of Humanities.

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