Lecture V
Dornach, April 15, 1921
These studies will have to culminate in a
description of the nature of the remedies we have arrived at
and which we then need to bring into more common use. But it
will not be possible to speak properly about what one must
know and master with regard to these remedies if we have not
fully prepared ourselves. This must be done first. Therefore
today we will study a few of those things that can guide us
into the whole web of man's being, which results from the
cooperation between ego, astral body, etheric body, and
physical body. I have already mentioned that, by means of a
certain effect of arsenic, one can drive the astral body
further into the organs than is otherwise the case in the
human being. Of course, the astral body draws the ego in with
it.
By driving
the astral body further into the organs, we enhance the
mineralizing process in the organs. And if we notice that the
organs are indicating a proliferating etheric, are too active
vitally, developing life forces that are too strong, then the
introduction of arsenic would have a healing effect. One can
even designate something that occurs inside the human being
by means of an outer process that has a certain affinity with
the human process. If you want to express this affinity of
the astral body with the etheric body — and thereby
with the physical — you may speak of
“arsenizing.” A gentle “arsenizing”
is continually taking place in the human being and is
especially strong at the moment of waking. We must realize
clearly that the human organism has within itself, as a
system of forces, that which lies in the metals. This
affinity between the human being and his earthly-cosmic
environment is certainly present; certain processes that
unfold outside and come to an end in the metals, for example,
also occur in the human being. Hence, when we speak of
“arsenizing” the human being, you must not think
of the arsenic as directly active; rather the human being is
itself active within in the way that arsenic is active
outside.
Through this
one attains insight into the way to assist such effects in
the human being. When you study this “arsenizing”
process — I might also say this
“astralizing” process — in the human
organism, you will notice that when it is too active it finds
expression in a kind of warming in the region of the stomach,
whereby digestion and assimilation become facilitated. When
these become excessively facilitated, it can become a serious
problem, because difficulties then arise as reactions to such
processes that occur with too great a facility. All this is
connected with a certain mineralizing process in the human
being. This is a direction to pursue in our research. But
such research must be done in the right way, taking all the
other factors into consideration. The bodies of people who
“astralize” too strongly, i.e.,
“arsenize” strongly in their organic physical
processes, do not decompose so readily as those of people
whose astral bodies are weakly connected with their organs.
This is certainly something that ought to be observed.
Indeed, one sees the extreme form of this tendency in bodies
poisoned by arsenic; they tend to mummify and do not
decompose easily.
Now the
question is: What can we do if this “arsenizing”
(or “astralizing”) process is too strong, that is
when the person mummifies himself while alive, so to speak?
One must have an eye for such things. If a person is
mummifying too intensely, how can we counter this process? If
I may express myself radically, I would say that then one
must make the whole human being partly into a tooth. This is
something that can give us many clues into the mysterious
working of the human organism. One must make the whole human
being into a tooth. In some way or other one must try to give
him the radiating force of magnesium, taking the whole
organism into account. He must be given some preparation of
magnesium, thus introducing into his whole organism the
radiating force of magnesium, which Professor Römer has
described. This is something that leads us deeply into the
relation between the astral body (which is also carrying the
ego) on the one hand and the etheric and physical bodies on
the other.
Let us now
consider the opposite condition in the human being, in which
the astral body and the ego have an inadequate tendency to
permeate the organs. The organs, in so far as they are
nurtured by the physical and etheric influences, begin to be
left to themselves. The expression of this condition is that
there is no proper connection between things that should work
reciprocally, between the reciprocal nourishment of the human
being by his environment and the inner organic processes. The
inner organic processes begin to develop their vital forces
too strongly. They receive no influence from outside; the
permeation of the food-substance by the forces of the ego
diminishes. The astral body, in consequence, has to be too
active in one direction and cannot reach the etheric body
properly. A proliferation of physical and etheric activity
occurs, expressing itself in diarrhea, which is essentially
connected with such phenomena. Blood is found in the stool,
and the inner vital activity becomes so strong that small,
organic tissues peel off from the intestinal walls. These are
also found in the stool, which takes on the appearance of a
fluid resembling beef bouillon. Finally protein is drawn into
the process and excreted without being worked through in the
proper way. Such phenomena clearly indicate that the vital
force is proliferating, unhindered by the
“astralizing” force.
The astral
body and the ego must work into the physical and etheric
human being if these half-conscious movements of the
digestive tract, that are necessary for the organism, are to
occur. Now imagine that the astral body and the ego are not
inserted in the right way and that the etheric body and the
physical body remain active by themselves. There then arises
a nervous need to relieve the bowels, which is characteristic
of such conditions. The farther you follow this matter, the
farther you are from ordinary diarrhea and the nearer to
dysentery. The farther you proceed with the description of
this clinical picture, the more you find yourself describing
in all these phenomena the opposite of
“arsenization,” or “astralization.”
And as the astral body is strongly implicated in all this,
you will be led, by the matter itself, to the conclusion that
the antidote to be used is in everything that comes from
arsenic, i.e., that one must oppose these conditions by
“arsenizing.”
I believe
that we can deeply enrich and intensify our ideas in relation
to such things if we make clear to ourselves that there are
processes in the outer world corresponding to everything that
takes place in the human being. And even if it must sound
dreadful to one who has passed through the educational system
of today, I do not want to avoid using certain expressions
that have a serious meaning for spiritual science and which,
if understood correctly, can lead us very deeply into these
matters.
You see, the
“arsenizing” (or “astralizing”)
process observed in the human being, the mummification of the
physical organism, its becoming brittle, is basically the
same process as that which takes place when the earth forms
rocks. Wherever rocks are in process of formation the earth
is, in a sense, poisoned by arsenic or in the early stages of
poisoning. Imagine, on the other hand, that the outer
astrality that surrounds the earth everywhere (as I suggested
in the last course of lectures), succeeds in avoiding the
surface of the earth and rests directly on the water. Imagine
that it avoids playing its part in bringing forth the
blossoms, the growth and the emergence of the plants from the
earth into the atmosphere. The outer astrality penetrates
below the ground, and in these areas the earth gets
dysentery. The process I am now describing ought to be taken
into account, for there is much that is real behind it. It
should be considered, because it gives information as to the
connection of what takes place under the earth with a
phenomenon such as dysentery, for example. In dysentery, we
observe an effect on the human being of what lies under the
ground, particularly in water, and it must be studied from
this viewpoint. The essential thing to consider is that the
astral body is very much involved in the matter, and hence to
cure it it will be necessary to use intermediate potencies,
because the efficacy of the astral body is through the middle
system in the human organism.
Now phenomena
such as those that take their course like diphtheria are
especially able to teach us about certain subtleties in the
human organism. Such diseases should be studied more
precisely, if only for the sake of discovering remedies. I
believe the opinion that has arisen from materialistic
conceptions is still held that diphtheria must be treated
locally as much as possible. Of course, numerous opposing
opinions have also been expressed regarding this. The
significance of the emergence of diphtheria — and to
everything related to it — leads us to make some
additions to what we studied in the last course, because at
that time we were not yet able to deal so precisely with this
interaction of the four members of the human organism.
In another
context I have indicated that the child's acquisition of
speech is accompanied by various organic processes. While he
is learning to speak, and therefore while something special
is taking place in his breathing organism, something also
occurs polarically in his circulatory organism, which also
receives into itself the metabolic processes. I also pointed
out, in yet another context, how what at puberty appears in a
reciprocal relationship of the human being to the outer
world, takes place inwardly in learning to speak. Thus this
push of the astral body, which at puberty takes place from
within the human being outward, takes place from below upward
in the astralizing process. The capacity for acquiring speech
also develops from below upward. So here too we have an
astralizing process, and we will be able to see clearly that
an interaction occurs where the respiratory and circulatory
systems meet
(see drawing).
The astralizing process working from below upward (yellow)
encounters the developing organs of speech working from above
downwards (red). In this encounter the organs of speech
become stronger in their capacity for speech. It is what is
taking place simultaneously below that especially interests
us here: this tends to work upward. The whole process is one
from below upward (yellow arrows). Now, if the astrality
presses upward too strongly while the child is learning to
speak, we have a predisposition to diphtheric conditions. It
is certainly important to pay proper attention to this.
Let us now
consider the outer earthly process that has a certain
selective affinity for the process I have just described. Let
this be the surface of the earth
(see drawing above).
In a plant that behaves appropriately in relation
to the cosmos, the earth plays a part in the formation of its
roots. With growth the influence of the earth diminishes and
the extra-terrestrial influence becomes stronger and
stronger, unfolding especially in the blossoms
(see drawing, red).
What develops here is a kind of external astralizing of
the blossom, which then leads to the formation of fruit. If
this process, which ought to occur in the normal course of
the world processes, takes place below
(see drawing below),
it can only insert itself into the water,
and we have what I have just called “dysentery of the
earth.”
But we can also have another situation:
What takes place when a plant develops properly — the
blossom unfolding always a little above the earth's surface
— can develop right on the earth's surface
(see drawing below, red).
Then fungi arise; this
is the basis for fungus formation.
And now you
will begin to guess that, if fungi arise from such a special
astralizing process, the same process must take place from
below upward when, as in diphtheria, this remarkable
astralization occurs in the human head. This is actually the
case. Hence you find in diphtheria the tendency to fungoid
formations. It is most important to consider this tendency to
fungoid formations in diphtheria, and it will also show you
that a truly occult process is taking place there. Everything
external is really only a sign that irregular astral currents
are prevailing within the human being. This will suggest to
you how a pathology, willing to consider merely outer
symptoms, can know only the outer manifestations of the whole
process; it then regards this process as local, for it sees
only the outer aspects and does not consider what is pushing
from within outward in such cases. The whole skeptical
attitude adopted toward this process is certainly explicable
if we trace it back to what we have just discussed.
As a matter
of fact, the risk of infection in diphtheric conditions is
very great. Why is it so great? Because diphtheric conditions
clearly arise in connection with the acquisition of speech.
Because of this they occur primarily in children from age two
to four. Later the risk is very much less. However, every
process that occurs as the normal course of events in the
human organism at some time or other can also arise
abnormally. Thus, this process, which is simply a concomitant
of childhood, can also occur at another period of life,
although somewhat modified or metamorphosed. Nevertheless,
when a type of diphtheria occurs at a later stage in life,
there is something of an infantile nature at work in the
individual. The fundamental characteristic of the infantile
stage is, as you know, the tendency to imitate. When
expressing the facts of spiritual science about infants, it
is only necessary to speak of the more psychological aspect,
the external manifestation of the childhood stage is
certainly this imitative aspect. The organism itself is
forced to become imitative when it becomes diphtheric.
Infection is due to a person becoming an imitator. Indeed,
there is a very delicate sensitivity involved in this
imitating. When this condition is studied with the methods of
spiritual science, one finds that the ego actually plays a
certain role in infection with diphtheria. For this reason,
the parasitic aspect, what develops as fungoid growths, is
more infectious than in other diseases. This is because the
human organism, by virtue of its imitative tendency, comes to
meet the trouble, adjusting itself in an imitative, receptive
way as soon as it “perceives” the diphtheric
poison. Hence a psychological rebuke, when it is possible in
the initial stages, and psychological support by
encouragement may well have a favorable effect.
But when, as
here, the processes work so deeply into the organism, much
more will naturally be achieved by trying to find the
specific remedy with which to oppose the particular process
at work. I am not aware of whether any steps have been taken
to find, even empirically, a specific remedy for diphtheric
conditions. One should try intermediate potencies of
cinnabar. In cinnabar we will find effects that counteract
all the phenomena I have mentioned. Cinnabar expresses this
even in its outer appearance. The outer appearance of
substances, however, is only of use when we supplement it
with inner perception. The old “Doctrine of
Signatures” was based on an instinctive, inner
perception, and it has perished because people today no
longer have the capacity to observe such things. Nonetheless
it is important to be able to study these inner activities
manifesting in all external appearances in the world. We
ought not become involved in all sorts of mystical notions;
if instead we acquire a sound understanding of such things we
will recognize that cinnabar through its vermilion color is
something that in a certain way brings to expression this
activity opposed to the fungoid process. That which is
approaching the colorless can become fungoid. While too
strong an astralization of the earth's surface plays a part
in the formation of fungi, in cinnabar there is a
counter-reaction to this astralization and thus this
reddening. Wherever a reddening appears in natural processes,
we find a powerful counter-effect to the astralization
process. You could express this in a moral formula:
“The rose in blushing works against
astralization.” These domains of
pathological-therapeutic study are really interconnected in a
certain way. They guide us into this peculiar relationship of
the ego and astral body to the other organs, to their laying
hold of organs, to their emancipation from organs, or to
manifestations of the excessive working of the astral from
below upward.
In this way
insight can gradually be gained into the whole human body.
This can be understood more thoroughly if one takes these
studies to a further stage. Here you will have to take into
account something that I would like to add now to what I
presented to you last year. It is remarkable that the human
ego, studied in its spiritual, psychical, organic, and
mineral activities, is a kind of vehicle, you could say, for
phosphorus. The ego creates the phosphorus-vehicle in such a
way that with this vehicle it extends to the periphery of the
organic human being. The phosphorization of the human
organism is an activity of the ego. Through the ego, this
phosphorus distribution is extended to the outermost borders,
to the very periphery of the organic human being, in a most
ingenious way. To a certain limit — which must not be
exceeded, however — the ego can only carry phosphorus
through the organism by first combining it chemically to
other substances. The ego in essence hinders the chemical
liberation of phosphorus by carrying it through the organism.
This is one of the ego's tasks, to hinder the chemical
liberation of phosphorus, of all but the traces of phosphorus
required by a certain special process. This process would
occur on a large scale if the ego did not succeed in
preventing the liberation of the phosphorus taken in.
If the
phosphorus were to be set free, inducing an intensive effect
in the human organism, there would be definite consequences.
I have told you in the course of these lectures that when the
human being enters the world, that is, when his pre-existing
soul-spiritual aspect comes into corporeality, the imprints
of the etheric body, astral body, and ego are first created.
I also said to you that everything constituting the imprint
of the ego is actually to be found in dynamic systems, the
systems of movement that are brought to an equilibrium. This
is something to which we must pay special attention at this
point in our considerations.
The ego
requires phosphorus to bring about equilibrium between
unbalanced states or those in which the balance has been
disrupted. When I take a step forward, my equilibrium is
disturbed and I must restore it again, but through the help
of inner processes. This task in the human organism is
accomplished essentially with the help of phosphorus. When
the ego does not exhaust its phosphorizing activity in making
static what is dynamic within the human being, it brings
phosphorus to the imprint of the ego already present, to this
process of making static what is dynamic. I have frequently
drawn your attention to the fact that in addition to our
solid constituents we must also consider the fluid man, the
aeriform man, and the warmth man. Picture to yourselves the
fluid man, that which is expressed in the imprinting of the
ego, of the astral body, and then the ego itself, in the
etheric body. This means that in the etheric body something
dynamic, something not in a state of equilibrium, must
continually be brought into equilibrium.
What we are
speaking about here has to do with extraordinarily delicate
effects. And these delicate effects are regulated by the
presence in the human body of free-floating globules that are
nevertheless connected with the whole movement of the
organism, including the inner movement. These are the blood
corpuscles. Against these blood corpuscles must beat the
activity of the ego within the body's mobility —
including, for example, the mobility of warmth. These blood
corpuscles are not really little globules but are essentially
constituted so that even their form shows that they are
intended to guide movement over into equilibrium. What the
ego does in working into the capacity for movement of the
human organism reaches its limit at the blood corpuscles.
Here it has to stop, and that most intimate interaction
between the human ego and the whole human organism must
occur. Here too occurs what I might call the most hidden
battle between the continual phosphorizing process in the
human being and the formative process of the blood. Thus, if
phosphorus is brought into the human being in the free state,
the blood corpuscles are destroyed by the phosphorizing
process.
This is
something that can lead us pictorially to this remarkable
reciprocal action of the ego, which is a spiritual entity.
Indeed, the ego is spiritual through and through, but it
continually interacts with the physical through the blood
corpuscles. In this respect, “blood is a very special
fluid,” as an old saying — not Goethe —
tells us. For in the blood the outer physical part of the
human being interacts with his most spiritual member, the
first that he carries with him, the ego. It is in the blood
that the most injurious processes can arise when the ego
enters into this interaction improperly. A great deal in the
physical body can be ruined by such an incorrect interaction:
destruction of the epithelium, fatty degeneration extending
to the muscle fibers — especially the striated muscle
fibers, for the ego acts especially on these —
disintegration of the blood corpuscles, and so on. Indeed,
this corporeal process of degeneration can extend into the
bones if the phosphoric effects are not in order.
This
interplay between the ego (which, of course draws the astral
body with it) and the physical body (which then draws the
etheric body with it), shows us clearly that there is a
constant striving toward a normal and an abnormal state. The
normalizing tendency attains a certain culmination and is
then followed by a decline. We see this manifested when we
have to do with a case of poisoning by phosphorus, for
instance. In phosphorus poisoning, you will find that in the
first place the astral body and the etheric body resist what
is occurring in the physical body and the ego. They resist,
they defend themselves with all the force, with the strongest
force, of the etheric body. The etheric body tries to stand
up to the over-activity of the ego; it tries to counter this
by strengthening its own forces. Therefore there is an inner
similarity between the process of the first stage of
poisoning by phosphorus and another process, namely, the
occurence of the review of life after death. As you know,
this can last for a day and a half, or for two to three days.
During this review the etheric body is held within the astral
body. In a sense, they cling together. This also happens in
the human body when phosphorus poisoning occurs. Everything
that can develop through the cooperation of the astral and
etheric bodies, which takes place during this review after
death by means of the etheric body, is developed now. Hence
through these forces that are expended in the first stage of
phosphorus poisoning, an improvement will set in after a
lapse of as long a time as such a review would last. There
will be a kind of fatiguing or recession, and then after this
recession the abnormal influence of the ego will set in with
even greater intensity. An actual case of phosphorus
poisoning is extraordinarily difficult to treat, because it
can only be combatted by trying to find a way of inducing in
the whole organism an intense cooperation of the astral with
the etheric. This could be achieved by opposing the
phosphorus poison with a strong application of drawing
plasters applied to various parts of the body. You would
certainly achieve results in this way. Of course something
must be known about these things, and one has to have a
feeling for how far to go.
Thus the
physical organism, when the ego intervenes in it, can be
intensely engaged by being involved in what we may call
“phosphorization” of the human being. However,
when the ego intervenes strongly in the physical organism,
— that is, in a destructive way — the polar
opposite must necessarily occur: what the ego normally does
in the human organism, when it does not intervene too
strongly, must suffer. Hence you will find a phosphorization
that is too powerful accompanied by states of insomnia, due
simply to an excessive proclivity of the astral body and ego
to the physical. You could deduce this from everything I have
said. You will find headaches and all the conditions usually
accompanying paralysis. These conditions naturally arise in
connection with what I have said about the interaction with
the blood. What lies in the middle, and what therefore
appears with phosphorization (when the ego attacks the blood
corpuscles and is repelled again in the alternating process
described) comes to expression in conditions of jaundice. In
fact, in jaundice we can also observe an interplay of the
psychological and the physical.
From what I
have presented to you, you will see that the process
constituting the human being is essentially a cooperation of
the ego and astral body with the forces of the outer world,
within the space enclosed by the skin. It is a process
working in from without, and one must be able to study
correctly how this process can be regulated, how one can
acquire a kind of control over it.
Certain
dietetic measures that would be effective occur to one when
studying ailments with this perception as a foundation. If
the ego is working too strongly in the human being, causing
irregularities in the stomach, but at the same time an
overvitalization is at work in abnormal diarrheal conditions
and the like, it is necessary to combat this by appropriate
dietetic measures. The actual ego process and the process of
the astral in the human being are a kind of analyzing
process; they fragment what is synthetically present in the
outer world. Whereas we have a kind of primary synthetic
process in the physical and etheric bases of the human
organism, we have an analytic process in the ego and astral
activities. This analytic process is a part of the normal
activities of the human being, and its unusual character is
expressed strongly in the necessity of keeping it within
bounds. If the ego becomes too active an analyst regarding
phosphoric salts, it decomposes them as far as the phosporus,
and this then begins to be unhealthy for the human organism.
In last year's lectures I referred to this analyzing process
carried as far as iron: this is the farthest point to which
analysis can be carried without harm. This process of
analysis carried as far as iron is connected with the iron
content of the blood. In many respects this is the polar
opposite of analysis with respect to other metals, where the
analytical process must, in a certain sense, be
restrained.
Today I
wanted to show you how outer phenomena in fact give us
pictures of what is developing from the inner spiritual
aspect. On this account the outer view of the human being in
states of health and illness must be supplemented by what one
can learn of the inner, of the spiritual human being. We now
have a basis for understanding our remedies and answering
many of the questions that have been asked.
We will deal
with these as much as possible in the remaining lectures.
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