Health and Illness, Volume II

Spiritual research explains the health hazards of nicotine, alcohol, and cocaine In 1922 the hundreds of workers from 17 nations engaged in the construction of Rudolf Steiner's first Goetheanum building arranged for Steiner to give them a daily lecture after their morning coffee break. Rudolf Steiner not only had the workers set the lecture themes but also welcomed their questions and comments. This second volume of nine of these talks retain the vital, colloquial, and spontaneous qualities of the first volume. The workers continued to show a special interest in therapeutics and health, but phenomena from all the kingdoms of nature as well as their cosmic origins were also touched upon. Thus, Steiner was able to shed new light on a wide spectrum of topics, including the effects of healing metals and other substances on the human body, pregnancy, beaver lodges and wasp nests, crossed eyes, vegetarian and meat diets, and various specific diseases such as jaundice, rabies, hemophilia, and influenza. The Austrian-born Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was a respected and well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, when just after the turn of the century he surprised his academic colleagues by turning toward the esoteric spirituality of the Theosophical Society. In 1913 he founded the independent movement, Anthroposophy, under the aegis of which he continued research out of his trained seership for the renewal of the twentieth century society. Steiner's multi-faceted genius has led to radically new, holistic approaches in medicine, science, education, religion, philosophy, economics, history, agriculture (Bio-Dynamic method), architecture, drama, the new art of eurythmy, and other fields. ISBN 0-88010-020-6