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Breatharianism is the American movement founded by Wiley Brooks in the early ‘80s that believes humans can live just fine by replacing food with sun and the passive inhalation of cosmic micro-dust. It moved slightly in from the fringe recently when Valeria “The Human Barbie” Lukyanova revealed herself to be one of Breatharianism’s followers.

For obvious reasons the sun and dust diet is fast becoming a trend in pro-anorexia communities and Lukyanova’s viral endorsement is leading the resurgence. To be clear, if you try to live off of light and air, commonsense says you will die.

Wiley Brooks isn’t dead, he’s 77, which for some will be a giveaway he’s no longer practicing what he’s still preaching. We called him on his personal Arizona hotline—he doesn’t use Skype because it’s “monitored by the NSA”—to talk about the downsides of his followers starving to death and the time he got busted eating a pie.

VICE: Hi Wiley. I heard you mention having a few past lives.

Wiley Brooks: The only reason why I’m alive today is because I came into the world with a lot of knowledge about what to do, because I’m continuing a process that was started with Christ and before that. One of my past lives, if you’ll notice, was John the Baptist.

You have also identified previously as Jesus Christ.

[pauses] Well, it’s really complicated, yes, but I carry that frequency. The energy called “Christ” just means light. It’s a light energy that was created at the beginning of creation and is the foundation of all creation. It’s like the energy that holds creation together. It has got to constantly keep being renewed in different civilisations.

What does this have to do with breatharianism?

It’s just a take on what one does, eats—like vegetarian, fruitarian. Breatharian is basically air. Everybody does it, so everybody’s a breatharian. Here’s a complicated matter, here’s where the crux of the whole thing is: You notice on my website I say, “I am the Lord thy God and creator of this universe?” That is the truth.

I’m not 100 percent sure that it is.

The first problem is, people don’t know what God looks like and who He is. Why in the hell couldn’t it be me? Why couldn’t it be you and why couldn’t it be the dog on the street? We all come here through the birth canal basically, but I came a little different, I came a little older. I came through the birth canal, but I came in with a lot more power than the average person has. I was aware that I came from somewhere else to begin with.

Where did you come from?

I’m referring to another planet. That’s not important now. My problem is, being here on this planet and keeping as many people as possible alive to move into the new world. How do I get the people into that new world? I am actually in the fifth dimension as I talk to you at this moment.

What’s it like?

[laughs] Well, it’s just like the world you’re in. You wouldn’t wanna go there, because you don’t know it exists, and you’ll never be able to get proof it exists until you do what’s necessary to get there. Normally the universe evolves constantly and you cannot stop that. We should’ve been moving along with the earth as the earth gets hotter and as things get hotter. The bodies of the humans have been kept at the point where they cannot move up, and that’s why all the chemtrails stuff is dropped on the earth and everything, to keep us from moving to that level.

So why is only surviving on light and air important?

It has nothing to do with basically living on light. That’s what Christ is. The Christ energy is energy that lives and is the creation of the next stage of life, which is breath. It’s the breath that keeps the universe going, not just people. That’s why breatharianism is actually everybody on the planet. You can choose to eat of course, that’s one thing. But the other thing is that when you do that, it pulls you down into the world that everybody’s trapped in now, the 3D world.

Maybe the problem I’m having is the high prices you demand for enlightenment. Like this $10,000 bottle of water. That’s expensive.

Not for this water it’s not, because you don't know what it is.

Sell me.

Look, it’d really be more important to sell you on what the ultimate fast cure is, because the water would do you no good at this point. First you have to be anchored into the new energy of the world.

So I should take your $1,000,000 immortality workshop before I drink your water?

That’s exactly right, otherwise it would be useless. And I mean, well, it wouldn’t be useless, it would probably cause so much pain. It might even kill you. It’s got so much energy. I haven’t tried to give it to anybody that didn’t take the workshop, because it causes the body to flush out all the bad stuff at such a rate that’s just devastating. One other thing I may point out here: Every substance on the planet, every food on the planet except my water contains radioactive energy. You cannot get rid of it, it’s impossible—except with that water. That’s why that water is so expensive

Why do you advocate people only eat double quarter-pounder with cheese meals and drink diet Coke?

Because they’re the only things that are not radioactive.

McDonald’s fast food?

Now, you see the mistake you’re about to make? I didn’t say “McDonald’s fast foods.” I said, one sandwich, and one meal, with one type of diet Coke, and I tell you which ones to take. That’s it.

I thought you only lived on air and light.

Well, this is what I’m trying to tell you: I am living on air and light. But I wouldn’t be on this planet and you wouldn’t be able to talk to me if I didn’t keep my energy within the energy of you. And since you do eat, and since it’s you I came to help—you and other people—I have to be visible so that I can deal with you.

But people take breatharianism literally, followers have died from starvation.

Well no, they don’t take that from me. I mean, I’ve nev—

You’re the founder. This is your thing.

I’m the founder of breatharianism, but that has nothing to do with what other people do. The Illuminati, I’m sure they’ve got thousands of people out there who call themselves breatharians. As a matter of fact, if you look out in the world, you’ll see all kinds of breatharians, but you probably won’t see me at all. I don’t get invited to places to talk and stuff like that. Who in the hell would invite a guy who says he’s God?

If that’s not what you teach, what happened in the ‘80s?

What did happen in the ‘80s? Well, the Illuminati-

You got caught sneaking a pie and your followers all left.

[laughs] They never got the picture of what I said. Up until my fifties, I was vegetarian and I ate fruit. Then I started looking older. I couldn’t figure out what was going on with that, so then as I noticed that the energy was going up, I was getting in more and more pain. It finally got so bad that I had to leave. I was in LA, and I had to leave all the cities because the electricity became so deadly for me. At that time I realised the food I was taking was poison. From that day on, I said, “I no longer eat food. I eat poison.” But as far as breatharianism is concerned, I never, ever said anybody could live on breath – on this planet. So that was the problem.