XIII
IT IS
possible that the more materialistic tendency in medicine may
assume a more spiritually scientific orientation, in respect of three
groups of facts; we shall now consider certain of these groups. The
first includes all facts connected with the origin, development and
possible cure of tumours. The second includes the so-called mental
diseases, and their really rational treatment. And finally there is
the field of externally applied remedies, ointments, salves, and so
on.
We can hardly hope to reach the understanding of tumorous growths,
with their culmination in cancer, by means of merely physical methods,
unless the insight given by spiritual science serves at least as a
guidance. And contemporary psychiatry is in such a sorry state, mainly
because there is no conscious bridge between it and the usual
pathology and therapeutics — though such bridges abound everywhere in
nature — that it is probable that these two special fields will
be the first to approach the standpoint of spiritual science. They
will need to mark all that spiritual science can tell them, and even
now you have only to refer to my publications, to realise that
spiritual science has already told them a good deal. It will be
necessary, in fact, to talk of the intervention of the etheric body,
within the physical organism.
For indeed no one should merely assert that clairvoyance is needed in
order to show how the etheric body acts within the organism. It is
possible to see that the etheric body is not active in a certain way
— or is not adequately active — through the observation of very many
processes which are opposed to the action of the etheric body. In
order to obtain valid representations here, we must take into
consideration all the manifestations associated with inflammation or
developing out of inflammation, and also all that is associated with
the formation of tumours, and spreads its destructive activity through
the human body. In the case of tumorous growths there is today a very
justifiable effort to dispense with the surgeon's knife in the
treatment of tumours. This endeavour is, however, blocked and often
frustrated by social, especially hygienic, conditions which should,
and must, be changed. But we must find a substitute for surgery: both
for what it certainly achieves in some respects, and again fails to
achieve in others. Doubtless there are many persons who at present
advocate operative surgery, for the simple reason that they know of no
alternative, but who would be converted immediately if and when the
alternative were available.
There is no need for me to analyse the whole nature of inflammatory
processes, in their specific forms as affecting the different human
organs. All that I can take as already familiar to you. But the
unifying process, which is common to all inflammations, is not a
matter of familiar knowledge. This unifying common process is perhaps
best characterised as follows: in all cases of inflammation, whether
very slight or very acute, and leading possibly to ulcers, spiritual
science finds that the etheric body of the patient remains as a whole
in working order. Thus we may be sure of being able to do something to
restore the full efficiency of this etheric body, which has become
impaired or impeded in a particular direction; to redistribute its
workings, so as to make it a healing source. Our aim is to direct the
activity of the etheric body in definite directions, whereas the
healthy etheric body acts throughout the organism and permeates it in
all directions. It is possible to set up reactive processes — we
shall deal with them presently — which have power to stimulate the
etheric body in regard to a system of organs in which its activity has
become slack; so that, provided the etheric body as a whole retains a
certain measure of health, it resumes its universal efficiency in this
special direction.
But tumorous formations of every kind are a different matter. They
arise primarily from the actual enmity of certain processes within the
physical body, against the action of the etheric body; these processes
rebel as it were, so that the etheric body ceases to act in certain
regions of the physical body.
The etheric body, however, has very great powers of regeneration and
the methods of spiritual science reveal that if it is possible to
remove the hindrance and to expel the inimical action, the tumour can
be overcome. We may lay down the rule that in cases of tumour, it will
be necessary to simulate through the forces of nature, the removal of
the counteracting physical processes which oppose the etheric body, so
that the etheric body may once more extend its working to the region
where it had temporarily receded.
This principle is particularly important, let us say, in the treatment
of carcinomatous growths. Carcinoma, if objectively studied, shows
plainly, in spite of its great diversity of form, that it is
essentially a revolt of certain physical forces against the forces of
the etheric body. For instance, the characteristic indurations, which
are so perceptible in the case of deep-seated carcinomatous growths,
and though less perceptible still present when the growths are nearer
the surface of the body — these reveal the preponderance and the
encroachments, so to speak, of the physical structure over the etheric
structure, which should be there in the particular region. Careful
study of their contrasting characteristics will lead us to the
conclusion that inflammations, abscesses, and ulcers on the one hand
and tumours on the other, are polar opposites. Of course, I must
remind you that it is quite possible to take a carcinoma situated on
or near the surface of the body, for an ulcer, at least in some
features. As the similarity may be misleading, we must study more
closely the essence of this polarity.
Certain not precisely old but somewhat medieval technical terms are
misleading and unhelpful in this respect — and when I use the phrase
medieval, I refer not to the Middle Ages but to those times which we have
only just passed through. It is not quite correct to refer to tumours as
neoplasms. They are “new” only in the trivial sense of not
having been there before, but they are not “neoplasms” in the
sense of sprouting on the actual soil of the organism, i.e., on its boundary,
the skin. But owing to the vehement opposition developing in some
special process of the physical body, as against the etheric, the body
of man becomes subjected to the outer nature inimical to man; the
formation of a tumour provides an easy passage for all manner of
external influences; and thus we should not neglect the study of the
complementary opposite of this whole phenomenon. For this I refer you
to the study of the extra-human world, let us say, to the formation
of the mistletoe to begin with.
First of all we must observe the precise manner in which the varieties
of mistletoe (viscum) develop on the soil of other plants. But this is
not the main factor under consideration. For the botanist, of course,
the parasitism of such plants as mistletoe is the essential point. But
for the study of the inter-relationships of extra-human nature to man,
it is far more significant that the mistletoe as it grows on trees is
compelled to follow a different yearly rhythm from that of other
plants, its blossoms have been formed before the trees which are its
hosts, begin to put forth their leaves in spring. Thus the mistletoe
is a kind of winter blooming plant, protecting itself under the
shelter of alien foliage, from the extremes of the summer sun's rays,
or better, from the light workings of summer; there is something of
an aristocratic attitude about the mistletoe.
(See
Diagram 24).
The sun must be taken — in the sense of the XI lecture — as being the
representative only of the light workings: but this subject forms a
chapter of physics and does not interest us here; it is unfortunately
impossible to avoid phrases introduced into our language by an
incorrect conception of nature. The whole manner in which the
mistletoe attaches itself to other plants in order to grow and thrive
is the essential point: it acquires and appropriates particular forces
which may be described as follows. Its nature is to oppose all the
tendencies of the straight course taken by the organic forces, and to
urge towards all that to which the straight course taken by the
organic forces is opposed. Let us try to elucidate this by means of a
rough sketch,
(see
Diagram 24)
representing an area in the physical
body of man which revolts against the whole access of the etheric
forces, so that the latter are, as it were, dammed up and stopped and
thus what appears to be a “neoplasm” is formed; and the mistletoe
counteracts this “pocketing” which has been formed and draws the
forces again to the area which they do not want to enter.
You may corroborate this statement by means of a test which can only
take place as occasion offers. You can study the tendency of the
mistletoe against the straight-lined organising forces, by its effect
on the after birth. Mistletoe prevents or delays the emergence of the
after birth from the human body, that is to say, it opposes the
straight course of the organic process. And that is its most
characteristic and significant property, to prevent the normal course
of organic forces. But quite the same tendency of opposition is to be
found in the mistletoe-effect in general.
The counteraction of mistletoe against the etheric body's refusal to
take hold of the physical body may lead one to a certain
administration of viscum; it may happen, then, that the physical body
is taken hold of too strongly by the etheric body, and convulsions may
result. Other cases, on being treated with mistletoe, have the
peculiar sensation of falling (vertigo.) And these symptoms are in
line with a further pharmaceutical effect of mistletoe, i.e., its
stimulation of seminal pollutions.
Thus in all its manifestations, e.g., in connection with epilepsy
also, mistletoe works “against the stream” in the organism of man. And
this is due, not so much to its parasitism, as to its inherent
contrariety: it claims always special indulgencies from nature as a
whole. This plant, for instance, will not thrive in the normal course
of the seasons, blossoming towards the spring and then bearing its
fruit, but during an unusual time, in winter. By so doing, it
conserves those forces which counteract the normal course of events.
If it were not giving too much offense, one might say that nature had
“gone mad” and did everything at the wrong time, in reference to the
mistletoe. But this is just what must be made use of, if on the other
hand the human organism becomes physically mad, i.e., in formation.
Here the need arises to cultivate the understanding of precisely these
connections.
Mistletoe provides, beyond question, a means which — when given in
potencies — should enable us to dispense with the surgical removal of
tumours. The point is only to find out how to treat the mistletoe
fruit in combining it with other forces of the mistletoe plant, in
order to arrive at a remedy. The peculiar “madness” of this plant is
shown in its method of fertilisation, which depends on transport by
birds from one tree to another. The plant would become extinct were it
not for this service of the birds. In a curious way, the fertilising
elements of the mistletoe choose the path through the birds, and are
excreted on another tree trunk or branch, where they “take root” anew.
All these peculiarities illuminate the whole formative process of the
mistletoe. The task is to blend the glutinous substance of the
mistletoe in the right way with the triturating medium, and so
increase gradually the potency of the viscum substance to a very high
degree. Having ascertained the main formula, we should vary it,
specialising according to the requirements of this or that organ; and
also bearing in mind the particular tree on which the mistletoe grew;
I shall make further suggestions in that matter. Another important
point will be to arrive at a co-operation of this glutinous substance
with certain metallic substances this effect can of course be arrived
at also by the metallic ingredients of other plants. But the
co-operation, for instance, of mistletoe from an apple-tree, with
triturated silver salts, could produce something eminently capable of
counteracting all cancers in the hypogastric regions.
These things must be brought forward with caution at the present time.
The trend of which they are manifestations is correct, beyond
question, and based on well-established research in spiritual science.
But on the practical side, we are dependent on the actual blending and
preparation of the mistletoe substance, and have not yet sufficient
knowledge for successful carrying out. Here spiritual science can only
work to our full benefit if it is in continuous contact with clinical
experience. And this interrelationship of spiritual science and
medicine is made very difficult, for the opportunities for clinical
observation and the investigations of spiritual science are kept
widely apart by our contemporary social institutions. But just this
can show that we can only succeed in these matters if and when both
lines of procedure co-operate. Thus it is urgently desirable to
collect experience in this direction, for it will hardly be possible
to convince general public opinion in these matters, unless you can
provide at least verification by external reports from clinics, etc.
It is not so much an internal necessity to obtain such evidence; but
it is an imperative external necessity.
It is quite possible to prove that the therapeutic effect of the
mistletoe is really based on the fact just put before you. It will
only be necessary to proceed methodically. For, as I have already
pointed out the trunk formations of trees are really practically outgrowths
of the proper substance of the earth; they are only little mounds containing
still the vegetable element and from them the other essential parts of all
trees sprout forth. Now, suppose a mistletoe grows on the tree trunk, it sends
its roots earthward, although it takes root on the tree. Now consider those
plants which share the mad “aristocraticism” of mistletoe without
sharing its “bohemianism” of living parasitically. One can expect
to make similar experiences when testing such plants. This is bound to be so.
Examine and test winter flowering plants with reference to their contrariety,
their anti-tendency against the normal tendencies of the human organism,
including, of course, the normal tendency to discase. We must expect the
plants which flower “out of season” to have effects similar to that
of the mistletoe. Extend the experiments to Helleborus niger, the
hellebore, and similar effects will be found. It is, however,
necessary to take notice of the contrast, already outlined, between
the male and female respectively, Helleborus niger will hardly produce
any effect — or any visible effect — if administered to women. But
on men it will show appreciable influence in the case of tumours, if
it is applied in a higher potency arrived at in the way already
suggested for mistletoe.
In choosing plants for therapeutic purposes, it is necessary to bear
in mind whether they flower in winter or summer, and whether their
inherent effects are more due to their tendency to the earth itself
than are those of mistletoe. Mistletoe shuns the earth but hellebore
likes the earth and is therefore more in affinity with the male system
which is akin to earth itself, whereas the female system of forces, as
I have already stated, is more akin to the extra-telluric sphere.
These differences must never be underestimated. We must learn to get a
certain insight into the processes of nature themselves. This is why I
have attempted to characterise with the help of such images as
bohemians, aristocrats, madness and so forth: for such concepts are
not entirely inadequate in describing the forces in play.
After having formed such concepts one will also find out the
characteristic difference between the efficacy of a remedy from
outside and one from within. Before considering this difference, we
must form certain ideas which will lead us to understand this
difference. It will be necessary to study the new forms of disease.
already alluded to yesterday, from the therapeutic point of view. One
can, e.g., try to expose vegetable carbon to the action of marsh-gas
for some time, to immerse it in marsh-gas and then when it is
sufficiently saturated, to produce the trituration. One will in this
way obtain something which is efficacious when prepared as an
ointment, especially in combination with other favorable ingredients.
The technical method of such a thing has to be discovered. If this is
done and talcum suggests itself in this connection, there is no doubt
that an ointment compounded on these principles would have most useful
properties. It is, however, necessary to penetrate such a process. We
shall not penetrate it until we have cleared our vision by learning to
think on sound lines in the matter of psychiatry, as well.
Believe me, the exponent of spiritual science finds the mere phrase
“mental disease”
[Ed: In German: Geisteskrankheit, spiritual
disease.] go against the grain; for it is folly simply to use
the expression “mental disease”; the spirit is always healthy, and
cannot fall sick in the true sense of the term. To talk of mental
diseases is sheer nonsense. What happens is that the spirit's power of
expression is disturbed by the bodily organism, as distinct from a
disease of the spirit or the soul itself. The manifestations in
question are symptoms, and symptoms only.
Now one must sharpen one's eye for the concrete separate symptoms.
Perhaps you will be in a position to see the primary tendency or
disposition, and then the further development of, for example, a
religious mania: — of course the technical terms here are none of
them precise. There is great confusion of terminology in this field,
but let us for the moment use an accepted term. As I have said, these
manifestations are only symptoms. But let us assume that this
condition develops — we must be able to form some picture of how it
develops. And, having found this picture, we shall require to keep a
sharp look-out for any abnormalities in the formative process of the
lung of those individuals who display this symptom of “religious
mania.” Note; not anomalies in the process of breathing but in the
process of lung formation, in the pulmonary metabolism. For even the
current term “brain disease” is not wholly correct; “mental disease”
is a wholly false and misleading term, and “brain disease” at least
half mistaken; for all phenomena of cerebral degeneration are
secondary. The primary elements are never manifested in the upper
organic sphere, always in the lower. The primary factors always lie in
the organs belonging to the four main groups or systems, the liver,
kidneys, heart and lung systems. In the case of an individual inclined
to those forms of insanity in which all interest in the external world
and active life dies out, and man begins to brood and follows
delusions, it is before all things necessary to obtain precise
knowledge of the pulmonary process. This is extremely important.
Again, take such persons as are conspicuous for what may be termed
obstinacy, stubbornness, self-righteousness and all the other facets
of a certain conceptual rigidity, a blind sticking to a certain system
of concepts; in their case we should try to ascertain the state of the
liver process. In such cases, there is always a defect in the internal
organic chemism. Even what is commonly known as “softening of the
brain” is a secondary manifestation. In all the so-called mental
diseases, the primary cause lies in the organic system, although this
is often very hard to detect. And for just this reason it is sad to
note how ineffective so-called mental and mental and spiritual
treatment often proves; so that there is more chance of obtaining a
cure in organic diseases through treatment of the mind and spirit,
than in the diseases termed “mental.” Yes, we must learn to treat
mental diseases with physical remedies. That is a matter of major
importance, and the second field in which external medicine will have
to let its path be sought and found: the path leading to spiritual
science.
The suitable observer in this field will always be the thoroughly
trained and competent psychologist. The life of the soul with its
immense diversity, with its way of often working by mere indications,
is able to reveal very many things and one has to acquire gradually a
capacity to observe it. Take one example! Man is so constructed that
in respect of his faculties and capacities — including the faculties
and capacities based upon the bodily organisation which becomes the
implement of the spiritual organisation — he is not all of one
piece, not of a single mould. It is absolutely possible for an
individual to exhibit qualities which compel us to treat him as
mentally inferior, feeble-minded: nevertheless the same person may
utter things — which are full of life and wit to the point of genius.
That is quite possible. And why? because of the extreme suggestibility
associated with certain types of mental inferiority; a suggestibility
open to all the mysterious influences of the environment and
reflecting them as a mirror. In the field of pathological-cultural
history one can make the most interesting observations. In giving the
results one naturally need not mention names; to refrain may be to
undermine confidence in the statements, but it is not well to mention
names. Especially in the profession of journalism it happens that
mentally inferior people may have success because their mental
inferiority enables them to record the opinion of their time, rather
than to maintain their own restricted view. The opinion of the time is
mirrored. For this reason, the writings of mentally inferior
journalists are much more interesting than that of strong-minded,
independent members of the profession. The former reveal to us much
more what mankind thinks than those who form their own views. The
result is — it is only an extreme case but it often occurs — a
masking of the true nature of the case; one fails to recognise an
actual mental inferiority, because one is faced with utterances which
may even bear the stamp of genius. In the course of everyday life this
does not much matter, for why should not our newspapers be composed by
mental weaklings — provided, of course, that their “news” is good!
But in more extreme cases, the borderline may easily be crossed and
definite morbidity result; and in such cases the healing profession
needs an unbiased — a very unbiased-eye for the diagnosis of
conditions which come under the classification of psychiatry. Here we
cannot always judge from the masks in which the soul's activity
disguises itself; but we must probe for deeper and less obvious
symptoms. And error here is the more possible, because it is of prime
importance for diagnosis, not only to note whether the individual
gives utterance to clever thoughts, but to observe (granted that such
be the case) whether there is a tendency to repeat these clever
thoughts more often than the context requires. The “how” of expression
of thoughts is important. If thoughts are very often reiterated, or on
the other hand omitted, so that there is nothing consecutive or
continuous, we have symptoms of far greater importance than if the
thoughts expressed are either intelligent or stupid. It is possible to
be a very intelligent person and yet at the same time stupid:
physiologically stupid of course, not pathologically so. It is
possible to utter clever ideas, and yet tend to “mental” disease
so-called, and even suffer from it. This condition can be perceived
sooner by the following symptoms than by any others; firstly the
omission of thoughts and secondly their frequent repetition. The
individual who suffers from frequent repetition, has always certain
organic tendencies associated with a defective formative process of
the lungs. The individual who suffers from omission of thoughts has
always certain tendencies associated with defective function of the
liver process. The remaining manifestations stand midway between.
These conditions may be studied from life itself. Take such substances
as have already established themselves as either foodstuffs or
luxuries, but not, as yet, as therapeutic remedies in the accepted
sense of the term. Amongst them I have already often had occasion to
mention coffee — at least in certain circles — as possessing a very
definite effect on the whole symptomatic process of the soul. Now it
is inadvisable to put one's trust in such effects — for if they are
habitually relied on they merely make the soul inert; but they
certainly exist. It is quite possible to supplement a lack of logic in
thought by means of stimulation through coffee: that is to say, a
certain amount of coffee will stimulate the organism, so that it
yields more forces of logic, than without coffee. Therefore it should
be a part of the habits of journalism — which are based on accepted
opinions — to absorb large amounts of coffee in order not to have to
gnaw their pens too much in order to link up their thoughts! — So
much for one part of the phenomenon.
The habit of tea drinking, on the other hand, helps us to avoid
linking up pedantically one thought to another like a professor. For
certain professions which are now in decline, but in their ancient
state were based on wit, there could be given a remedy which would
make people extremely witty — not, indeed, internally witty but quite
externally through a beverage: namely tea. Just as coffee is the drink
for journalists, tea is a remarkably effective drink for diplomats,
materially conducing to the habit of making aphoristic remarks and
hints, which create the impression of intelligence and wit.
These matters are needful to know, for if we know how to estimate them
aright, and possess the requisite ethical attitude, we recognise that
in any ethically responsible life, intelligence and efficiency must be
promoted by other means than this or that form of diet. But in order
to recognise certain connections in nature, such knowledge is very
important. There are also significant cultural aspects. For example,
we may refer to the very small amount of sugar consumed in Russia up
to the present time, as contrasted with the lavish consumption of
sugar in the Western world of the English speaking peoples. And we may
conclude that (if and when soul development does not neutralise
physiological effects) the mental behaviour of men bears the definite
imprint of the substances they eat or drink. Thus the Russian in a way
gives himself up to the surrounding world and has a comparatively
slight ego-feeling, unless it is artificially-supplemented by some
theory; these attributes being associated with their small intake of
sugar. The Englishman, on the other hand, has a strong feeling of his
own Self, and the organic basis for this quality is associated with a
large intake of sugar. Nevertheless in such cases, the fact of taking
in is less important as an indication, than the urge for a certain
diet. For the fact of habitual consumption of any special food
develops from the urge and therefore the urge is the main factor to be
remembered.
Finally; if you fully realise that the real origin of the so-called
mental or spiritual diseases is to be sought in the lower organic
systems of man, you will be made unmistakably aware of interactions
within man which cannot be neglected in the practice of pathology or
therapeutics. These interactions between what I have termed the lower
and the upper man, must be considered always and equally, both in
pathology and therapeutics; otherwise it will not be possible to form
an opinion of the manner in which external influences will affect the
patient. For instance: there is a very great difference between the
application of heat or of water to the head, or to the feet
respectively. But we can find no fundamental principle here, unless we
are aware of the great differences of function in the two bodily
spheres of man; the upper and the lower. For this reason, we will now
proceed to discuss external influences affecting man, so far as is
possible within the scope of these lectures.
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