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World History in the Light of Anthroposophy
and as a Foundation for Knowledge of the Human Spirit
GA 233

30 December 1923, Dornach

Lecture VII

The last great incision into the historical evolution of mankind is the one that took place—we have often spoken of it—in the first third of the 15th century, and that marks the transition from the evolution more particularly of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul to that of the Consciousness or Spiritual Soul. For we live in an age when the evolution of the Spiritual Soul is taking place, and it is an age that is entirely bereft of true insight into the connections of the human being with the deeper impulses and forces of Nature, or rather of the Spirit that is in Nature. To-day, when we speak of man and his constitution as physical man, we speak, for instance, of the chemical substances, enumerating them under the heading of what the chemist calls the elements. But it is of about as much value for a man to know that something he eats contains carbon and nitrogen as it is for a watch-mechanic to know that the watch he has in his hand consists of glass and, shall we say, silver and some other substances. All this kind of knowledge that traces back the real substance of man's nature to these material abstractions—hydrogen, oxygen and the like—affords no true knowledge of the human being. The mechanism of the watch has to be understood by seeing in it a connected system of forces; and similarly, if we would understand the nature and being of man, we must recognise how the various impulses that are to be found working in all the kingdoms of Nature work in the human being;—for there they work differently than in the other kingdoms of Nature. In modern times however there is no longer any true vision of the connection of man with the Universe. Until the 14th or 15th century this vision and knowledge persisted; though degenerate, it was still present in greater or less degree, and instinctively gifted natures were able still to make use of it. But later on, save for a few men like Paracelsus, Jacob Boehme and others, the true insight into man's connection with the Universe, little by little, died completely away.

What does the newer Natural Science, that has gradually grown up since the 15th century, know of the relation, let us say, of the plant world or of the animal world to the human being? The scientist examines the plants in their chemical constitution and tries by some means or other to study these same chemical constituents of the plant as they appear in man. Finally perhaps he tries to form an idea—generally he fails!—of the influence of the substances on the healthy and on the diseased human being. All this investigation however results in a darkening of knowledge. The important thing to-day, if we are really desirous of going forward in our knowledge of man on the foundation of historical insight, is that we should learn to know again what is the real relation of the human being to the Nature that he finds around him.

Until the time of the last great revolution in men's consciousness that took place in the 15th century, there was still a clear perception of the great difference that exists in the metals, as between those that are found in the human being and those that are found in Nature. When we set out to consider the various substances in man's physical nature, certain metals show themselves in greater or less degree. For example, iron is present in the human organism, in combination with various other substances; magnesium is also present, and we could name many others. Before the 15th century men were keenly alive to the difference between such metals as these we have mentioned, that are found when we examine the human organism, and such metals as are present in external Nature but are not at any rate quickly apparent in the human organism. The men of these earlier times said: Man is a microcosm; whatever is present in the world outside him, in the macrocosm, is present in some form or other in him. And this was for them no mere general principle in the abstract: had they gone but a little way in initiation knowledge, it followed inevitably from what they knew of the nature of man and of the nature of the Universe. They knew that we can only come to a true understanding of man when we bring together in one the whole of Nature, with all her impulses, with all the substances that she contains. Then we have a picture, an imagination of the being of man. And a disturbing element enters the picture when we meet with something outside in Nature that cannot be found in man.

So thought a student of Nature of the 9th, 10th or 11th century. In those times, however, something else was known, namely, that that which man receives by way of physical nourishment is only a part, perhaps not even the most important part, of all that serves to maintain his physical organism, or rather his whole human organism throughout.

Now, to go beyond physical nourishment and include also breathing presents no difficulty to the man of the present day; for breathing too is a form of assimilation. But it would not occur to him to go any farther. The earlier student of Nature went farther. It was clear to him that when man uses his eye to perceive things, he does not merely see with the eye, but during the process of perception he receives through the eye in infinitely minute quantities something of the substance of the World-All. And not through the eye alone, but through the ear and through other portions of the organism. And the medieval student of Nature was fully aware of the very great importance of those substances which occur in a slight measure only in the human organism, such as, for example, lead, and which man receives in infinitely minute quantities that may be found where we little suspect their presence.

Lead is a metal that cannot immediately be demonstrated as occurring in man. But lead is, as a matter of fact, distributed throughout the entire physical Cosmos in a state of very fine dilution, and the human being takes up lead from the Cosmos by means of processes that are many times more delicate than the process of breathing. The human being is perpetually excreting substances, throwing them off from the periphery. You not only cut your nails, you continually throw off substances from your skin. But whilst substance is thus given off, other substance is taken up and received into the organism.

This was the kind of thought in which a student of Nature lived, who belonged to medieval times,—to the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th century. He had no balances, he had none of the coarser measuring instruments with which to determine how the substances and forces worked; for him it was a matter of entering deeply into the inner qualities of Nature, of understanding her inner impulses and her connection with the human being. And men were able in this way to know many things that they will one day begin to know again. For, if truth be told, nothing is known to-day of the real nature of the human being.

You know how when we investigate the constitution of man, we sum it up in the following way,—in order to have some kind of classification and plan: man is composed of physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego, or ego-organisation. Well and good. In the first instance these terms are mere words: but it is good to begin with them, each person can form from them some small idea of the truth. But if we want to make use of this classification in practical life, especially if we want to use it in medicine—admittedly a highly important ‘practice’ in life, and one that depends at every step on our knowledge of the human being,—then we cannot possibly remain at the words, we must enter into that which is behind the words and gives them their content. We ask first: what about the physical body? How can we gain a true idea of it? (You will see presently why I am developing this line of thought). Take any object on the Earth, outside the human being; let us say, for instance, a stone. A stone falls to the ground. We say, the stone is heavy, it is attracted by the Earth, it has weight. We discover other forces working in the stone. If it is formed into a crystal, then form-building forces work in it. These too are related to the earthly forces. In short, when we look around in the world, we find all about us substances that are subject to the earthly nature.

Keep that clearly in mind: we have, to begin with, substances that are subject to the earthly nature.

Someone whose thoughts on these things are not clear, will perhaps come and show you a piece of coal, a piece of black coal. What is it in reality? In the neighbourhood of the Earth, it is coal; but the moment you were to take it but a short distance—comparatively speaking—away from the Earth, it would cease to be coal. What makes it coal is nothing but the forces of the Earth. Thus you can say: Here is the Earth, and the forces of the Earth are within it; but the forces of the Earth are also in every single object that I find here on the Earth. And the physical body of man, although of course it is marvellously combined and held together, is nevertheless essentially such an object, standing in subjection to these physical forces of the Earth, the forces that come from the centre of the Earth. The physical body of the human being can therefore be described as that which is subject to the forces coming from the centre of the Earth.

Now there are other forces on the Earth besides. These other forces come from the whole environment of the Earth, from the far circumference. Imagine for a moment that you are going out and out, away from the Earth into unmeasured distances. From these unmeasured distances forces work upon the Earth, working inwards to it from every direction. Yes, it is a fact, such forces do exist, coming from all directions of the Universe and working in everywhere towards the centre of the Earth. It is possible to gain quite a clear and concrete picture of them in the following way.

You will remember that the most important substance that forms the basis everywhere of the organism, whether it be of plant, animal or man, is albumen. And albumen also forms the basis for the germ of a new plant, animal or human organism. From a fructified germ cell proceeds that which evolves into an organism, and the substance of the germ is albumen. In these days, instead of pursuing true science, men build up all kinds of imaginations, and they make a picture to themselves of this albumen as composed of substances in intricate chemical combination. It is composed, so they say, of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and a trace too of phosphorus, all in complicate combination. And so the atomist comes to see in albumen the example par excellence of chemical combination. The atoms and molecules have to be thought of as arranged in a most complicated manner. And in the mother-animal or mother-plant arises this complicated albumen-molecule, or whatever you choose to call it; it develops further and the new animal comes to birth from it, arising, that is, purely through inheritance.

From the spiritual point of view, all this is sheer nonsense. The truth is that the albumen of the mother animal is not a complicated chemical combination at all, it is all broken up, destroyed and reduced to chaos. The albumen that is otherwise contained in the body is still to some extent organised, but albumen that forms the basis for propagation is distinguished by this very characteristic, that it is in a condition of complete disorganisation. The substances that are contained in it are reduced to chaos and are in no sort of combination, they are tossed and jumbled together to form a mere accumulation without order or proportion; and on this very account the albumen is no longer subject to the Earth. So long as the albumen can by some means or other be held together in inward cohesion, so long is it subject to the forces that work from the centre of the Earth. The moment the albumen is inwardly split up and destroyed, it comes under the influence of the whole sphere of the Cosmos. Forces work in upon it from every quarter. And then we have the tiny particle of albumen that forms the basis for reproduction. This tiny particle is an image of the entire Cosmos, because albumen substance has been split up, destroyed and reduced to chaos—converted, that is, into cosmic dust and thereby fitted to become exposed to the working of the entire Cosmos.

Of all this men have to-day simply no knowledge at all. They imagine the old hen has the complicated albumen. This is included in the egg, and thence arises the new hen. It is the albumen continued, it has gone on evolving. Then the germinal substance is developed once again; and so it goes on from hen to hen. In actual fact it is not so. Every time the transition takes place from one generation to the next, the albumen is exposed to the whole Cosmos.

On the one hand, therefore we have the earthly substances, subject to the earthly or central forces. But we can also imagine these earthly substances exposed in certain circumstances to the forces that work in from all quarters, from the farthest limits of the universe. The latter forces are the ones that work in the human etheric body. The etheric body is subject to the forces of the Cosmos. These are real conceptions of physical body and etheric body.

Suppose you stand there and ask, what is my physical body? The answer is, it is that body which is subject to the forces proceeding from the centre of the Earth. What is my etheric body? It is that in you which is subject to the forces streaming in on all sides from the periphery. You can even show it in a drawing. Imagine that this is the human being. His physical body is the one that is subject to the forces that go towards the centre of the Earth. His etheric body is the one that is subject to the forces streaming in from all sides, from the ends of the Universe. Here we have a system of forces in man. There are forces that pull downward,—they are really present in all organs that are upright,—and there are forces that pour in from without, tending inward. You can actually perceive in the form of man where the one kind and the other are more represented. Study the legs and it is obvious, their form is due to the fact that they are more adapted to the earthly forces. The head is more adapted to the forces of the periphery. In like manner you may also study the arms, and this is not uninteresting. Hold your arms close to your body, and they are subject to the forces that go towards the centre of the Earth. Move them in a living way, and you yourself will be subjecting them to the forces streaming in from all sides of the periphery.

Such indeed is the difference between arms and legs. The legs are invariably subject to the central forces of the Earth, while the arms are so only in a certain posture, that is to say, conditionally. Man is able to lift them out of the domain of the earthly central forces and place them in the midst of those forces which we call the ethereal forces, the forces pouring in from the periphery. And so you can see for all the single organs, how they are placed in the whole cosmic system. Here then you have your physical body and your etheric body.

How is it with the astral body? In space, there is no other kind of forces besides these two. The astral body receives its forces from beyond space. While the etheric body receives them from everywhere, from the periphery, the astral body receives them from beyond all space.

We can actually find certain places in Nature where the physical forces of the Earth enter into the midst of the etheric forces that stream in from all sides. You may imagine albumen to begin with as a substance present in the physical Earth. So long as sulphur, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are in any way chemically recognisable in it, the albumen is in fact subject to the earthly forces. But the moment it enters the sphere of the reproductive process, it is lifted out of the physical forces. The forces of the circumference of the Universe begin to work upon it in its disorganised condition. New albumen comes into being as an image of the whole Universe.

But you see, sometimes the following situation emerges. The disorganisation, the breaking down of the albumen cannot go far enough. You may have albumenous substance of this kind in connection with some animal for instance. For reproduction to take place, it should be possible for it to be divided, broken down entirely, so that it may submit itself to the forces of the whole Cosmos. But the animal is somehow prevented from delivering, for purposes of reproduction, such albumenous substance as would be able straight-away to submit itself to the whole macrocosm. To be capable of reproduction, albumenous substance must submit itself to the whole macrocosm. But the animal in this case is in some way unable to form albumenous substance capable of reproduction without further assistance. This is how it is with the gall-fly. What then does the gall-fly do? It lays its egg in some part of a plant. Again and again you may find these galls, in oaks, and in other trees where the gall-fly lays her eggs. In the leaf, for instance, you can see these strange formations. Within each one is the egg of a gall-fly. Why does it happen so? Why is the egg of a gall-fly laid in an oak leaf, with the result that the oak-apple is formed, holding within it the egg, which is now able to develop? The reason for this is as follows. The plant-leaf contains within it an etheric body, which is adapted to the whole cosmic ether. It comes to the assistance of the egg of the gall-fly. Left alone, the gall-fly's egg is helpless. Hence the gall-fly lays it in a portion of a plant which contains already an etheric body included in the whole system of the cosmic ether. The gall-fly therefore approaches the oak in order to get help in the breaking down of its albumen, so that the world-periphery may be able to work via the oak leaf, via the oak. Alone, the egg of the gall-fly would be doomed to destruction, for it cannot be broken down, it holds together too strongly.

Here we can gain an insight into a strange working of Nature. But this same working is present in Nature in other places too. Suppose for instance that the animal is not merely incapable of providing germ substance which can expose itself to the cosmic ether for the sake of reproduction; suppose it is not even able to transform any substances within it into inner means of nourishment, that is, to use them for its own inner nourishment. The example of the bee lies near at hand. The bee cannot eat anything and everything. It can only eat what the plant has already prepared for it. And now observe something very strange and remarkable. The bee goes to the plant, seeks out the honey juice, absorbs it, assimilates it within itself, and then builds up what we admire so, the wonderful cell structure of the beehive. Here we observe two most strange and wonderful processes: the bee sitting on the flower outside and sucking in the juice, and then, having gone into the beehive, building up from within itself in co-operation with the other bees the cells of wax that will be filled with honey.

What is it that really takes place? You must look carefully at the shape of the cells. They are like this and here comes another joined on to it, and so on, and so on. They are small cells, and similar in form to something else we find in Nature, only there the hollow space is filled up; they are shaped like quartz crystals, like the crystals of silicic acid. If you go into the mountains and examine the quartz crystals, you will find you can draw them, too, in that form. The drawing will, it is true, show some irregularity of shape, but in the main the form will be similar to the form of the bee-cells that are arranged side by side. Only, the cells of the bee are made of wax and the quartz is made of silicic acid.

When we follow up the matter, we find that long ago at a certain point of time in the evolution of the Earth the quartz-crystal was first formed in the mountains. It was formed under the prevailing etheric and astral influences, with the aid of silicic acid. There you have forces that come from the circumference, working, as ethereal-astral forces, and building the quartz crystals in the siliceous substance. Everywhere in the mountains you will find these crystals with their wonderful hexagonal forms. What you find in the solid crystals, you find again as hollow forms—as hollow spaces—in the cells of wax, in the beehive.

For what happens? The bee takes from the flower that which once upon a time brought the quartz crystal into being. The bee fetches it up out of the flower and makes with the substance of her own body imitations of the quartz crystal. A process thus takes place between bee and flower that is similar to what took place long ago in the macrocosm.

I tell you these things that you may understand how necessary it is not merely to take cognisance of the presence of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen, all of which analysis is piteously abstract, but to observe and note the marvellous formative processes, the intimate inner conditions that prevail in Nature and her processes. Once, long ago, science was instinctively built up on such observation. But that all passed away in the course of the historical evolution of mankind; it came to an end about the 15th century. We must win it back. We must find our way again into the intimate connections of Nature and of her relation with man. Only when we are able once more to recognise such connections can we hope to find again a true insight into the healthy as well as into the diseased human being. Otherwise all pharmacology remains merely a matter of testing and experimenting, without any perception of the inner connections that are at work.

The period from the 15th century until now may be described as an unfruitful period in the evolution of the human spirit. It has borne man down beneath its weight. Man has looked out upon plant and animal, upon human being and upon mineral, and all the while without any real knowledge of them whatsoever; he has been brought right out of connection with the world and the universe. Now at length it has landed him in chaos as far as his relation with the great world is concerned; he lives without knowing that he is in any sort of connection with the world around him. In the days when men pondered and meditated upon such things, it was known that every time reproduction took place, the whole macrocosm speaks. In the germ or seed that is capable of reproduction comes to birth a minute image of the whole macrocosm. All around is the great world; and in the tiniest germ is an offspring of the influences that stream in from the great world from every direction.

In the human being we may see working together, first of all the forces that are the physical-central forces of the Earth. These forces work in all the organs of the human being. But everywhere in him work also, in an opposite direction, the forces that stream in from all sides, the etheric forces. Look at the liver, for example, or the lungs: you will only understand them when you know that in them are working together the forces that come from the centre of the Earth and the forces that come in from every direction from the circumference of the Universe. Then we have also certain organs that are permeated by the astral body, or again by the ego-organisation, whilst others are less permeated by these higher members. In the condition of sleep, of course, the human being as a whole has not his astral body and ego-organisation in him at all. Now imagine that some organ, let us say one of the lungs has through some circumstance become too strongly affected by the forces that stream in everywhere from the Cosmic All. The lung will in consequence become diseased, for a certain harmony and balance is necessary between that which works in the lung from the centre of the Earth and that which streams in upon it from all parts of the circumference. If you can succeed in finding mineral substances which will provide a counterpoise in the lung to the too strongly working etheric forces, then you will have a remedy wherewith to eliminate their over-activity. The reverse may also happen. The etheric forces may become too weak, and the physical forces that work from the centre of the Earth grow correspondingly too strong. This time you will search the whole kingdom of the plants to discover something that shall strengthen the etheric forces in the organ where they are weak; and then you will have your remedy for this condition. It is quite impossible to find even the slightest remedy by an observation of the physical body alone, for the physical body of man has in itself no ground for telling anything about its own constitution. The so-called normal process that goes on in the physical body is a process of Nature. But the process that goes on in illness is likewise a process of Nature. If you have what is called a normal healthy liver, you have a liver in which processes of Nature take place. And if you have a liver in which there is an abscess, you have also a liver in which processes of Nature take place. The difference can never be found by investigating the physical body. All you can do from investigation of the physical body is to establish the fact that the appearance is different in the one case from the other. You can learn nothing of the cause. If you have an abscess on the liver, you will only be able to discover the cause of it when you know that in such a case, for example, the astral body enters much more powerfully into the liver than it should. What you have to do is to drive out of the liver the astral body, which has taken possession there too strongly. From all this it is clear that there is really no possibility of speaking about the healthy and the diseased human being in a way that accords with the facts, unless we go beyond the physical body and include also in our consideration the higher members of man's being. We shall indeed only regain a pharmacology when we go beyond the physical body, for the nature of illness is simply not demonstrable from the physical body alone.

At the present time my purpose is merely to set forth these things in their historical aspect and connections. It must, however, be pointed out that with the gradual dimming and darkening of that which has been brought over from olden times, all real knowledge of the human being has died right away. And now to-day we are faced with the necessity of acquiring once again a knowledge of the human being. Such knowledge will be attainable when we are once again in a position to understand the relationship of the human being to the surrounding kingdoms of Nature.

Suppose, then, we take our start from the ego-organisation of the human being. If, through initiation science, we have attained to imaginative cognition and are able to perceive the ego-organisation of man, then we may ask ourselves: With what portion of the human organism (in its present state) does this ego-organisation stand in especially near relation? It stands in an especial relation with all that is mineral in the human being. Hence when you receive into yourself some essentially mineral substance,—for example, when you take some salt on your tongue—it is the ego-organisation in you that immediately pounces upon this mineral substance. And as the substance is carried further into the body, all the while,—even when the salt substance is in the stomach—the ego-organisation remains with it. The salt goes still further, it undergoes various changes, it passes through the intestines,—never once does the ego-organisation leave hold of her salt! They behave like two closely related things, two things that belong to one another: the ego-organisation, and the salt that enters the human being.

It is quite another matter when you eat, for example, a poached egg, or any substance of a similar—albumenous—consistency. The ego-organisation is very little concerned when you have a piece of poached egg on your tongue. Afterwards, as it slips down into the stomach, the astral body concerns itself with it, but again only to a very small extent. Then it goes further. And now, first the etheric and then the physical body begin to act intensively upon it. They break down within you the albumen that you receive into your organism with the egg. The egg itself is now made entirely of mineral within you. It is broken down and destroyed. All life is driven out of it. It is destroyed within you. At the walls of the intestines the albumen substance that you have taken into you from outside ceases to be albumen in any sense, becomes entirely mineral in character. And now it passes over into the ego-organisation; from this point the mineralised albumen is taken up by the ego-organisation.

Thus, the ego-organisation concerns itself only with what is mineral. And all mineral substances are changed through its action; in the human organism they become different from what they were outside it. No mineral substance can remain the same within the human organism as it is outside. The ego-organisation has to look after this in a very thorough manner. Nor is it only such substances as cooking salt and the like that are seized upon by the ego-organisation and inwardly changed to something quite different. The human being is surrounded by a certain condition of warmth, but that external condition of warmth must never be allowed to penetrate the human being. You can never have your finger full of that which is all around you as external warmth. This warmth can but act as a stimulus, you yourself must create and produce the warmth that you have within you. The moment you are merely, so to say, an object and do not yourself create your own warmth or cold, but let the warmth from outside extend its influence into you exactly as it does into any external object,—in that moment you become ill. The external warmth,—not even a substance, but the warmth itself makes you ill. Suppose you have here a towel or a sponge, and over there is a fire. The warmth of the fire, which can spread out all around quite easily, will permeate the towel or the sponge. The towel or sponge only carries a little further the radiating warmth of the fire. When, however, the warmth of the fire reaches the skin of the human being and acts upon the senses, stimulating them, then it must no longer simply spread in this way; then the reaction must come, the inner warmth must be created from within. If a person catches cold, his condition results from the fact that he has not merely let himself be stimulated to create his own inner warmth, but has let the external cold enter to some extent beneath the skin. Thus he does not take his place in the world as a fully active human being who fills himself with his own activity and his own impulses, but plays rather the part of an object that lets the activities and influences of the outer world pass through him. That is the essential nature of the ego-organisation that it takes up into itself what is mineral and completely changes it from within, converting it into something altogether different.

Not until we have died does the mineral turn back again into the mineral of external Nature. So long as we are alive on the Earth, and have the mineral enclosed in our skin, so long does the ego-organisation continue to change it perpetually. Similarly, whatever we take up into ourselves that is of a plant nature is perpetually changed by the working of the astral body. It is in everything of a mineral nature that the ego-organisation brings about a thorough metamorphosis; not merely in the solid mineral, but also in the liquid and gaseous mineral, and the mineral that is in the state of warmth or heat.

Of course, when we speak in quite an ordinary way, we may say: Here is some water. I drink it. Now I have the water inside me. The truth is, however, that the moment my organism receives the water, then by reason of the action of my ego-organisation, the water inside me is no longer the same as the water outside. It only becomes the same again when I give it off in the form of perspiration, or in some other way convert it into water. Inside my skin water is not water, it is living fluid.

In this manner we shall have to alter our thought about a great many things. To-day I have only been able to give you small indications. Think them over. Think how the albumen has to be broken down and disorganised in order that it may be exposed to the influences of the whole macrocosm. Think how the water I drink becomes in me living fluid and is no longer the inorganic water it was before, but is water permeated by the ego-organisation. Think how, when you eat cabbage—outside you it was cabbage, inside you the astral body receives the cabbage into itself and transforms it into something new. And here we come to the consideration of very important processes in the human body. We learn to perceive how we have in our metabolic system processes that are only one evolutionary stage removed from the metabolisms that we have, for example, in our brain—the metabolisms that go to make up the nervous system, and so forth. I will speak further on this tomorrow and make clear, in connection with these processes, the radical difference between men of the 12th and of the 20th century. We shall thus come to see the necessity for new impulses to enter in, if there is to be progress in the understanding of health and disease, and if the knowledge of man is not to die out altogether and nothing more ever be known of the healthy or of the diseased human being.

Blackboard 11 Blackboard 12

Siebenter Vortrag

Der letzte große Einschnitt in der geschichtlichen Entwickelung der Menschheit ist der ja oftmals erwähnte im ersten Drittel des 15. Jahrhunderts etwa, wo der Übergang stattfindet von dem, was man nennt die Entwickelung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele in die Bewußtseinsseele hinein. Wir leben ja in einem Zeitalter, in dem in der Menschheit vorzugsweise die Entwickelung der Bewußtseinsseele stattfindet, und in diesem Zeitalter ist verlorengegangen eine wirkliche Einsicht in den Zusammenhang des Menschen mit den tieferen Impulsen und Kräften der Natur, das heißt des Geistes in der Natur. Wir reden heute sogar, wenn wir vom Menschen und seiner physischen Konstitution reden, zum Beispiel von den chemischen Stoffen, wie sie der Chemiker heute feststellt als sogenannte Elemente. Aber es hat für die Erkenntnis des Menschen ungefähr nicht mehr Wert, zu wissen, daß irgendein Nahrungsmittel Kohlenstoff, Stickstoff und so weiter enthält, als für die Mechanik der Uhr, zu wissen, daß diese Uhr aus Glas und meinetwillen Silber und einigen anderen Stoffen noch besteht. All dieses, was das Substantielle zurückführt auf diese äußerste stoffliche Abstraktion, Wasserstoff, Sauerstoff und so weiter, liefert im Grunde genommen keine wirkliche Erkenntnis des Menschen. Geradeso wie der Mechanismus der Uhr erkannt werden muß aus einem Kräftesystem-Zusammenhange, so muß die Wesenheit des Menschen erkannt werden aus der Art und Weise, wie die verschiedenen Impulse der Welt, die in den Reichen der Natur verteilt sind, die in anderer Weise in der Welt wirken, nun im Menschen gerade zur Geltung kommen. Aber dasjenige, was verhältnismäßig noch, wenn auch schon degeneriert, doch so vorhanden war, daß instinktiv gut angelegte Naturen bis ins 14., 15. Jahrhundert etwas damit machen konnten, das ist, mit Ausnahme einiger Menschen wie Paracelsus, Jakob Böhme und so weiter, nach und nach völlig verlorengegangen: ein wirkliches Hineinblicken in den Zusammenhang des Menschen mit der Welt.

Was weiß zum Beispiel die neuere Wissenschaft, die sich allmählich seit dem 15. Jahrhundert herausgebildet hat, über die Beziehung, sagen wir, der pflanzlichen, der tierischen Welt zum Menschen! Sie untersucht eben die Pflanzen auf ihre chemischen Bestandteile und versucht dann irgendwie die Bedeutung dieser chemischen Bestandteile auf den Menschen zu studieren; versucht dann eventuell, sich Vorstellungen zu bilden — meistens unterläßt sie es auch - über die Wirkung der Substanzen auf den gesunden und kranken Menschen. Aber all dies liefert im Grunde nur Erkenntnisfinsternis um den Menschen. Es handelt sich heute durchaus darum, wenn man auf Grundlage geschichtlicher Einsicht in Menschenerkenntnis vorzurücken geneigt ist, die Beziehungen des Menschen zur außermenschlichen Natur wiederum kennenzulernen.

Bis zu dem letzten großen Umschwung, bis ins 15. Jahrhundert herein, haben die Menschen ein deutliches Gefühl davon gehabt, welch großer Unterschied besteht zwischen Metallen in der äußeren Natur und Metallen, die in irgendeiner Weise zum Vorschein kommen, wenn man das Substantielle des Menschen, das Stoffliche des Menschen ins Auge faßt, sagen wir zum Beispiel das Eisen in seinen verschiedenen Bindungen im menschlichen Organismus oder die Magnesia oder dergleichen. Für dieses, daß es solche Metalle gibt, die sich auch zeigen, wenn man den menschlichen Organismus selber untersucht, und solche Metalle, die in der äußeren Natur vorhanden sind, die sich nicht finden zunächst, wenn man den menschlichen Organismus untersucht, für diesen Unterschied in der Metallität der Erde hatte man bis ins 15. Jahrhundert eine tiefe, gründliche Empfindung. Denn man sagte sich: Der Mensch ist ein Mikrokosmos. In irgendeiner Weise findet sich in ihm alles, was sich draußen in der Welt im Makrokosmos findet. — Dies ist ja nicht irgendein allgemeines abstraktes Prinzip, sondern es folgt für den, der irgendwie jemals der Initiationswissenschaft nahegetreten ist, als mit dem Wesen des Menschen und dem Wesen der Welt notwendig verbunden. Denn man kommt nur zu einer wirklichen Erkenntnis des Menschen, wenn man die ganze Natur mit allen ihren Impulsen und substantiellen Inhalten zusammenträgt; dann bekommt man ein Bild, eine Imagination vom Wesen des Menschen. Und in diesem Bilde, in dieser Imagination störte es, wenn man irgend etwas draußen in der Natur hätte, das im Menschen selber sich nicht finden könnte. - So dachte eine Persönlichkeit, die im Beginne, sagen wir, noch des 9., 10., 11. nachchristlichen Jahrhunderts Naturforscher war. Aber man wußte ja damals auch, daß dasjenige, was der Mensch aufnimmt durch seine physische Ernährung, nur ein Teil dessen ist, wodurch der Mensch seine physische Organisation und überhaupt seine Organisation unterhält, vielleicht gar nicht einmal der wichtigste.

Nun, nahe liegt es ja, aufzusteigen von der physischen Ernährung zu der Atmung, die ja auch ein Stoffwechsel ist. Aber weiter aufzusteigen fällt dem heutigen Menschen nicht ein. Dem Naturforscher vor dem 15. Jahrhundert war es klar, daß der Mensch, wenn er sein Auge anwendet zum Wahrnehmen, nicht bloß sieht mit dem Auge, sondern daß durch das Auge während des Wahrnehmeprozesses in unendlich feiner Verteilung Substantielles aus dem Weltenall aufgenommen wird. Und so durch das Auge, so durch das Ohr, so aber auch durch andere Organisationsbestandteile des Menschen. Und als etwas Allerwichtigstes sah man an, daß der Mensch dasjenige, was er nicht in grober Weise in sich enthält, sagen wir zum Beispiel Blei, daß er das aufnimmt aus der unendlich feinen Verteilung, in der es vorhanden ist da, wo man es zunächst nicht vermutet. Blei ist ein Metall, das der Mensch zunächst nachweisbar nicht in sich hat. Aber Blei ist ein Metall, das ausgebreitet ist, in sehr großer Verdünnung ausgebreitet ist im ganzen, für den Menschen in Betracht kommenden Kosmos. Und das Blei nimmt der Mensch auf aus dem Kosmos durch viel feinere Prozesse, als es der Atmungsprozeß ist. Der Mensch sondert fortwährend in peripherischer Richtung von sich Substanz ab. Sie schneiden sich nicht nur die Nägel, sondern Sie sondern von der Haut fortwährend Substanz ab. Aber das ist nicht nur ein Fortgehen, sondern während die Substanz fortgeht, wird andere Substanz aufgenommen.

Sehen Sie, in diesen Gedankengängen lebte so ein Naturforscher des 9., 10., 11., 12. Jahrhunderts noch im Mittelalter. Für ihn war es ja noch nicht die Waage, waren es noch nicht die groben Meßinstrumente, durch die er bestimmte, wie die Substanzen, wie die Kräfte wirken, sondern es war ein Eingehen auf die inneren Qualitäten der Natur, auf die inneren Impulse der Natur und den Zusammenhang der Natur mit dem Menschen. Dadurch wußte man viele Dinge bis zu diesem 15. Jahrhundert, die man anfangen wird müssen wiederum zu wissen, denn im Grunde genommen weiß man heute über den Menschen gar nichts.

Wir sagen ja zunächst, indem wir die Konstitution des Menschen aufsuchen, um, ich möchte sagen, eine Art Klassifizierung, eine Art allgemeinen Plan zu geben: Der Mensch ist zusammengesetzt aus dem physischen Leib, dem ätherischen Leib, dem astralischen Leib, dem Ich oder der Ich-Organisation. —- Gut, das sind ja zunächst Worte. Es ist gut, wenn man bei diesen Worten anfängt; ein bißchen etwas kann jeder sich darunter vorstellen. Aber will man diese Dinge gebrauchen in der Lebenspraxis, will man sie namentlich gebrauchen in der Heilkunde, die ja die wichtigste Lebenspraxis ist, die aus der Erkenntnis des Menschen folgen kann, dann kann man bei den Worten nicht stehenbleiben, dann muß man eingehen auf dasjenige, was die Worte mit einem wirklichen Inhalte ausfüllt. Da fragen wir zunächst: Physischer Leib, wie kommen wir zu einer Vorstellung des physischen Leibes? — Sie werden gleich nachher sehen, warum ich diesen Begriff entwickle. Wie kommen wir zu einer Vorstellung des physischen Leibes? Nun, wenn wir irgendeinen Gegenstand auf der Erde haben außer dem Menschen, sagen wir einen Stein: er fällt zur Erde. Wir sagen, er ist schwer, er wird von der Erde angezogen, er hat ein Gewicht. Wir finden noch andere Kräfte, die wirken. Wenn der Stein sich zum Kristall bildet, wirken in ihm formbildende Kräfte. Die sind aber verwandt den irdischen Kräften. Kurz, wir haben, indem wir um uns blicken in der Welt, Stoffe, die dem irdischen Wesen unterworfen sind. Halten wir das fest: Wir haben Stoffe, die dem irdischen Wesen unterworfen sind.

Wer solche Dinge nicht ordentlich ins Auge faßt, der wird kommen und wird einem ein Stück Kohle zeigen, schwarze Kohle. Was ist das in Wirklichkeit? Es ist dies schwarze Kohle nur in der Nähe der Erde, denn in dem Augenblicke, wo man diese Kohle auch nur eine verhältnismäßig kurze Strecke von der Erde weg hätte, wäre sie nicht mehr so. Alles, was an ihr die Kohle zur Kohle macht, sind die Kräfte der Erde. Sie können also sagen: Wenn ich hier die Erde habe, dann sind die Kräfte der Erde hier im Irdischen, aber auch in jedem Gegenstande, den ich hier auf Erden habe. Und der physische Leib des Menschen ist zwar sehr zusammengesetzt, aber im Grunde genommen auch ein Gegenstand, der diesen physischen Kräften der Erde unterworfen ist, den Kräften, die vom Erdenmittelpunkte kommen. Das ist physischer Leib des Menschen, was unterworfen ist den Kräften, die vom Erdenmittelpunkte kommen (Pfeile nach auswärts). - Nun sind auf der Erde aber auch andere Kräfte. Diese Kräfte kommen vom Umkreis (Pfeile einwärts). Denken Sie sich einmal, ich gehe in ganz unbestimmte Weiten hinaus. Dann wirken von den unbestimmten Weiten her Kräfte, gerade umgekehrt den Kräften der Erde. Die wirken von überall herein. Ja, es gibt solche Kräfte, die von überall hereinwirken, die von allen Richtungen der Welt überall hereinwirken gegen den Mittelpunkt der Erde zu. Man kann eine ganz bestimmte konkrete Vorstellung von diesen Kräften bekommen, und zwar auf folgende Art.

Die wichtigste Substanz, die dem Organismus zugrunde liegt, dem pflanzlichen, dem tierischen, dem menschlichen Organismus, ist das Eiweiß. Das Eiweiß liegt aber auch zugrunde dem Keim eines neuen pflanzlichen, tierischen, menschlichen Organismus. Von einer Keimzelle geht das aus, von einer befruchteten Keimzelle, was sich als pflanzlicher, tierischer, menschlicher Organismus entwickelt. Die Substanz ist das Eiweiß. Man stellt sich heute vor, weil man überall phantasiert, statt wirkliche Wissenschaft zu treiben: Das Eiweiß, das ist halt eine kompliziert zusammengesetzte Substanz aus, wie man sagt, Kohlenstoff, Sauerstoff, Wasserstoff, Stickstoff, Schwefel, etwas Phosphor - recht kompliziert zusammengesetzt. So dafl man eigentlich schon das Ideal einer Zusammensetzung, wie der Atomist denkt, im Eiweiß hat. Man müßte ganz kompliziert da die Atome und Moleküle hineinzeichnen. Und dann, dann bildet sich im Muttertier oder in der Mutterpflanze dieses komplizierte Eiweißmolekül, oder wie man es nennen will; das entwickelt sich dann weiter, und es entsteht das neue Tier daraus durch reine Vererbung.

Aber das ist ja alles vor dem geistigen Blicke der reine Unsinn. In Wirklichkeit ist es so, daß das Eiweiß des Muttertieres nicht kompliziert zusammengesetzt ist, sondern völlig korrumpiert wird und chaotisch wird. Das Eiweiß, das der Körper in sich sonst enthält, das ist noch einigermaßen geordnet, aber ein Eiweiß, das der Fortpflanzung zugrunde liegt, das ist gerade dadurch ausgezeichnet, daß es innerlich völlig chaotisch durcheinandergerüttelt ist, daß die Materie vollständig zurückgeführt wird ins Chaos, gar keine Struktur mehr hat, sondern eben ein Haufen von Substanz ist, die dadurch, daß sie ganz in sich zerschlissen, zerfetzt, zerstört ist, nicht mehr der Erde unterworfen ist. Solange das Eiweiß noch irgendwie innerlich zusammenhält, so lange ist es den zentralen Kräften der Erde unterworfen. In dem Augenblick, wo das Eiweiß innerlich zerklüftet wird, kommt es unter den Einfluß der ganzen Weltensphäre. Die Kräfte wirken von überallher herein, und es entsteht das kleine Eiweißklümpchen, das der Fortpflanzung zugrunde liegt, als ein Abbild des ganzen, zunächst uns überschaubaren Weltenalls. Jedes einzelne Eiweißklümpchen ist ein Abbild des ganzen Weltenalls, weil die Eiweißsubstanz zerklüftet, zerstört, ins Chaos übergeführt wird und dadurch gerade als Weltenstaub geeignet gemacht wird, dem ganzen Kosmos unterworfen zu werden. Davon weiß man heute nichts mehr.

Heute glaubt man: Nun ja, das alte Huhn, das hat eben das komplizierte Eiweiß. Es wird in das Ei hineingebtacht. Dann entsteht das neue Huhn, das ist das fortgesetzte, weiterentwickelte Eiweiß. Dann wird wiederum Keimsubstanz, und so geht das weiter von Huhn zu Huhn. - Aber so ist es eben nicht. Jedesmal, wenn der Übergang von einer Generation zu der nächsten ist, wird das Eiweiß ausgesetzt dem ganzen Kosmos. So daß wir sagen müssen: Wir haben auf der einen Seite die irdischen Substanzen, die unterworfen sind den irdischen zentralen Kräften, aber wir können sie in gewissen Verhältnissen auch unterworfen denken den Kräften, die von den Grenzen des Weltenalls her überall hereinwirken. Diese Kräfte, die letzteren, das sind nun diejenigen, die im menschlichen Ätherleib wirken; der ist unterworfen den Kräften des Kosmos. - Sehen Sie, jetzt haben wit reale Vorstellungen vom physischen Leib und Ätherleib. Stellen Sie sich jetzt die Frage: Was ist Ihr physischer Leib? - Er ist derjenige, der den Kräften unterworfen ist, die vom Mittelpunkt der Erde ausgehen. Was ist Ihr Ätherleib? - Es ist dasjenige an Ihnen, was den Kräften unterworfen ist, die von überall her aus der Peripherie hereinkommen. Sie können es auch zeichnen. Denken Sie einmal: Wir haben hier den Menschen. Sein physischer Leib ist derjenige, der, wenn es da dem Mittelpunkt der Erde zugeht (rot), den Kräften unterworfen ist, die nach dem Mittelpunkte der Erde gehen. Sein Ätherleib ist der (grün), welcher den Kräften unterworfen ist, die überall von dem Ende des Weltenalls hereinkommen. Jetzt haben wir ein Kräftesystem im Menschen: die Kräfte, die hinunterziehen, die eigentlich in allen Organen sind, welche senkrecht stehen, und diejenigen Kräfte, die von außen hereinkommen, die eigentlich in dieser Weise tendieren (siehe Pfeile). Das können Sie aus der Form des Menschen förmlich ablesen, wo die eine Art und die andere Art mehr vertreten ist. Wenn Sie die Beine studieren, so werden Sie sagen: Die Beine haben ihre Form selbstverständlich aus dem Grunde, weil sie den Erdenkräften mehr angepaßt sind.

Der Kopf ist mehr den Kräften der Peripherie angepaßt. - Ebenso können Sie die Arme studieren. Das ist ganz besonders interessant. Halten Sie die Arme an den Körper angedrückt: sie sind unterworfen den Kräften, die nach dem Mittelpunkte der Erde hingehen. Haben Sie die Arme in lebendiger Bewegung, dann unterwerfen Sie selber Ihre Arme den Kräften, die von überallher aus der Peripherie hereinkommen.

Sehen Sie, das ist der Unterschied zwischen Beinen und Armen. Die Beine sind eindeutig unterworfen den zentralen Kräften der Erde, die Arme sind nur bedingungsweise in einer gewissen Haltung unterworfen den zentralen Kräften der Erde. Der Mensch kann sie herausheben aus den zentralen Kräften der Erde und hineinfügen in die Kräfte, die wir die ätherischen nennen, die von der Peripherie überall herkommen. So kann man aber auch für die einzelnen Organe wirklich überall sehen, wie diese Organe eingefügt sind dem Weltenall.

Nun haben Sie physischen Leib, Ätherleib. Was ist es aber mit dem astralischen Leib? Im Raume gibt es ja keine dritte Art von Kräften mehr. Die gibt es nicht mehr. Der astralische Leib, der hat seine Kräfte von außerhalb des Raumes. Der ätherische Leib hat sie von der Peripherie überall herein, der astralische Leib, der empfängt sie von außerhalb des Raumes.

Man kann geradezu an gewissen Stellen der Natur aufsuchen, wie sich die physischen Kräfte der Erde hineinfügen in die ätherischen Kräfte, die von allen Seiten herankommen. Denken Sie einmal: Eiweiß, das ist zunächst in der physischen Erde vorhanden. Solange im Eiweiß chemisch irgendwie konstatierbar sind Schwefel, Kohlenstoff, Sauerstoff, Stickstoff, Wasserstoff, so lange ist das Eiweiß eben den physischen Erdenkräften unterworfen. Kommt das Eiweiß in die Sphäre der Fortpflanzung, dann wird es herausgehoben aus den physischen Kräften. Die Kräfte des Umfanges des Weltenalls beginnen auf das zerklüftete Eiweiß zu wirken, und es entsteht neues Eiweiß als Abbild des ganzen Weltenalls.

Aber sehen Sie, manchmal stellt sich folgendes heraus: die Zerklüftung kann nicht weit genug gehen. Es kann Eiweißsubstanz da sein, die müßte, damit zum Beispiel bei irgendeinem Tiere Fortpflanzung geschehen kann, im abgelegten Ei zerklüftet werden können, damit sie sich fügen kann den Kräften des ganzen Weltenalls. Aber das Tier ist in irgendeiner Weise verhindert, solche Eiweißsubstanz zur Fortpflanzung zu liefern, die einfach sich einfügen kann in den ganzen Makrokosmos. Fortpflanzungsfähige Eiweißsubstanz muß sich in den ganzen Makrokosmos einfügen. Das Tier, sagen wir, ist verhindert, fortpflanzungsfähige Eiweißsubstanz ohne weiteres zu bilden, zum Beispiel die Gallwespe. Was tut daher die Gallwespe? Die Gallwespe legt ihr Ei in irgendeinen Pflanzenteil hinein. Sie haben überall diese Gallen an den Eichen, an anderen Bäumen, wo die Gallwespen ihre Eier ablegen. Dann sehen Sie an dem Blatt zum Beispiel diese merkwürdigen Gallen: da drinnen ist ein Gallwespen-Ei. Warum geschieht das so? Warum wird da das Ei der Gallwespe, sagen wit, in das Eichenblatt hineingelegt, so daß dieser entsteht, in welchem aber das Ei drinnen ist, das sich jetzt entwickeln kann? Frei könnte es sich nicht entwickeln. Das ist aus dem Grunde, weil das Pflanzenblatt in sich einen ätherischen Leib hat. Der ist angepaßt dem ganzen Weltenäther, und der kommt zu Hilfe dem Ei der Gallwespe. Das Ei der Gallwespe kann allein sich nicht helfen. Daher legt es die Gallwespe in einen Pflanzenteil hinein, wo schon Ätherleib drinnen ist, der sich einfügt dem ganzen Weltenäther. Also die Gallwespe kommt an die Eiche heran, um ihre Eiweißsubstanz zur Zerklüftung zu bringen, damit die Weltenperipherie auf dem Umwege durch das Eichenblatt, durch die Eiche, wirken kann, während das bloße Gallwespen-Ei zugrunde gehen müßte, denn es kann nicht zerklüftet werden, es hält zu fest zusammen.

Sehen Sie, das gibt eine Möglichkeit, sogar hineinzusehen, wie merkwürdig in der Natur gearbeitet wird. Aber diese Arbeit, die ist auch sonst in der Natur vorhanden. Denn nehmen Sie an, das Tier sei nicht nur nicht fähig, Keimsubstanz zu liefern, die dem Weltenäther ausgesetzt werden kann zur Fortpflanzung, sondern das Tier sei nicht imstande, in sich selbst beliebige Stoffe in innere Nahrungsmittel zu verwandeln, zur inneren Ernährung zu verwenden. Naheliegend ist ja gleich das Beispiel der Biene. Die Biene kann nicht alles fressen. Die Biene kann nur dasjenige fressen, was ihr von der Pflanze schon zuerteilt wird. Nun aber sehen Sie sich etwas sehr Merkwürdiges an. Die Biene geht an die Pflanze heran, sucht sich den Honigsaft, nimmt ihn auf, verarbeitet ihn in sich, baut dasjenige auf, was wir so bewundern müssen bei der Biene, baut auf den ganzen Wabenbau, den Zellenbau im Bienenstock. Wir schauen auf diese zwei ganz merkwürdigen, wunderbaren Vorgänge hin, auf die Biene, die draußen auf der Blume sitzt, den Blumensaft saugt, dann hineingeht in den Bienenstock und aus sich heraus im Zusammenhange mit anderen Bienen die Wachszellen auferbaut, um sie mit Honig zu füllen. Was geschieht denn da? Sehen Sie, diese Zellen müssen Sie der Form nach ansehen. Sie sind so geformt (siehe Zeichnung, rechts), da ist die eine, die zweite daran und so weiter. Es sind kleine Zellen, deren Hohlräume so geformt sind, wie, ausgefüllt allerdings mit Substanz, etwas anders geformt, wie geformt sind die Quarzkristalle, die Kieselsäurekristalle. Wenn Sie ins Gebirge gehen und die Quarzkristalle ansehen, so können Sie sie auch so zeichnen. Sie kriegen zwar eine etwas unregelmäßige, aber eine ähnliche Zeichnung wie bei den Bienenzellen, die nebeneinander sind. Nur sind die Bienenzellen aus Wachs, der Quarz ist aus Kieselsäure.

Geht man der Sache nach, so findet man: Unter dem Einflusse des allgemeinen Ätherischen, Astralischen wurde in einer bestimmten Zeit der Erdenentwickelung mit Hilfe der Kieselsäure der Quarzkristall in den Gebirgen gebildet. Da sehen Sie einmal Kräfte, die aus dem Umkreis der Erde herankommen, die wirken als ätherisch-astralische Kräfte, die Quarzkristalle im Kiesel aufbauend. Sie finden sie überall draußen in den Gebirgen, finden ganz wunderbare Quarzkristalle, diese sechseckigen Gebilde. Das, was da diese Quarzkristalle sind, das sind als Hohlräume die Bienenzellen in den Bienenstöcken. Die Biene holt nämlich aus der Blume dasjenige heraus, was einstmals da war, um die sechseckigen Quarzkristalle zu machen. Das holt die Biene aus der Blume heraus und macht durch ihren eigenen Körper Nachbildungen der Quarzkristalle. Da geht zwischen der Biene und der Blume etwas Ähnliches vor wie das, was einstmals draußen im Makrokosmos vorgegangen ist.

Ich erwähne diese Dinge, damit Sie sehen, wie notwendig es ist, nicht bloß hinzuschauen auf dieses ganz jämmerlich Abstrakte, das in Kohlenstoff, Stickstoff, Wasserstoff, Sauerstoff und so weiter vorhanden ist, sondern daß es notwendig ist, hinzuschauen auf die wunderbaren Gestaltungsprozesse, auf die inneren intimen Beziehungen in der Natur und in den Naturvorgängen. Und solches lag wirklich einmal instinktiv der Wissenschaft zugrunde. Das ist verlorengegangen im Laufe der geschichtlichen Entwickelung der Menschheit gegen das 15. Jahrhundert hin. Das muß wiedererobert werden. Wieder müssen wir in die intimen Beziehungen des natürlichen Daseins und seines Verhältnisses zum Menschen hineingelangen. Nur dann, wenn wiederum solche Beziehungen erkannt werden, wird eine wirkliche Einsicht in den gesunden und kranken Menschen wiederum dasein können. Sonst bleibt es bei aller Heilmittellehre lediglich beim Probieren, ohne daß man den inneren Zusammenhang einsieht.

Es ist eine Art unfruchtbarer Periode von dem 15. Jahrhundert bis heute in der Entwickelung des menschlichen Geistes dagewesen. Diese unfruchtbare Periode hat auf die Menschheit gedrückt. Denn diese unfruchtbare Periode, wo man Pflanzen anschaute, Tiere anschaute, Menschen anschaute, Mineralien anschaute und eigentlich von allem nichts mehr wußte, diese Periode hat den Menschen überhaupt herausgebracht aus allem Weltzusammenhang. Und schließlich ist er eingetreten in jenes Chaos, in dem er heute gegenüber der Welt lebt, wo er sich nicht mehr in irgendeinem Zusammenhang weiß mit der Welt. In det Zeit, in der solche Dinge überlegt wurden, wußte ja der Mensch: Jedesmal, wenn Fortpflanzung geschieht, spricht der ganze Makrokosmos. In dem fortpflanzungsfähigen Keim oder Samen entsteht ein Abbild des ganzen Makrokosmos. Da ist die große Welt draußen, aber im kleinsten Keim ist ein Ergebnis der Wirkungen, die von überallher von der großen Welt kommen.

Im Menschen wirken nun zusammen zunächst diejenigen Kräfte, die die physisch-zentralen Kräfte der Erde sind; sie wirken in allen Menschenorganen; aber es wirken ihnen überall entgegen die Kräfte, die von überallher kommen, die ätherischen Kräfte. Sehen Sie sich irgendwie die Leber an, die Milz, die Lunge, Sie begreifen sie zunächst nur, wenn Sie wissen: Da wirken die Kräfte zusammen, die aus dem Mittelpunkt der Erde kommen, und jene, die überall aus dem Umkreis der Welt herkommen. - Dann aber werden gewisse Organe durchsetzt vom Astralleib, von der Ich-Organisation noch, während andere Organe weniger von diesen höheren Gliedern durchsetzt werden und der Mensch im schlafenden Zustande überhaupt in sich nicht seinen astralischen Leib und seine Ich-Organisation hat. Nehmen Sie einmal irgendein Organ - die Lunge (siehe Zeichnung Seite 119, rechts oben): Durch irgend etwas ist das eingetreten, daß die Kräfte, die überall aus dem Weltenall hereinkommen (Pfeile), zu stark auf die menschliche Lunge wirken. Sie werden die Lunge krank machen, weil ein gewisser harmonischer Gleichgewichtszustand bestehen muß zwischen dem, was in der Lunge wirkt vom Mittelpunkt der Erde aus, und dem, was von allen Seiten des Umkreises kommt. Gelingt es Ihnen nun, zu wissen, wie Sie mineralische Substanzen finden können, welche den zu stark wirkenden Ätherkräften ein Gegengewicht in der Lunge geben, dann haben Sie das Heilmittel, wodurch Sie die zu stark wirkenden ätherischen Kräfte eliminieren. Und so kann auch das Umgekehrte vorliegen: Die ätherischen Kräfte können zu schwach werden, die physischen Kräfte, die vom Mittelpunkte der Erde aus wirken, würden zu stark. Sie werden im Umkreise des Pflanzenreiches suchen, was auf den Menschen so wirken kann, daß es verstärkt die ätherischen Kräfte durch irgendein Organ, und Sie bekommen das entsprechende Heilmittel.

Es ist unmöglich, durch die bloße Betrachtung des physischen Leibes allein irgendwie auch nur das geringste Heilmittel zu finden, denn der physische Menschenleib hat an sich gar keinen Grund, etwas zu sagen über seine Konstitution. Denn der sogenannte normale Prozeß, der in ihm vorgeht, ist ein Naturprozeß, aber der Krankheitsprozeß ist auch ein Naturprozeß. Wenn Sie eine sogenannte normale Leber haben, haben Sie eine Leber, in der nur Naturprozesse vor sich gehen. Wenn Sie aber eine Leber haben, in der ein Geschwür ist, haben Sie auch eine Leber, in der nur Naturptozesse vor sich gehen. Der Unterschied kann niemals aus dem physischen Leib gefunden werden. Aus dem physischen Leib kann man nur die Tatsache konstatieren, daß es das eine Mal anders ausschaut als das andere Mal, aber über die Ursache kann man nichts wissen. Aber haben Sie ein Geschwür in der Leber, so werden Sie nur dann die Ursache der Geschwürbildung finden, wenn Sie wissen, daß in einem solchen Fall zum Beispiel der astralische Leib viel mächtiger in die Leber eingreift, als er eingreifen sollte. Sie müssen den astralischen Leib, der bei einer Geschwürbildung der Leber stark eingreift in die Leber, wiederum aus ihr austreiben. Und so gibt es überhaupt keine Möglichkeit, real zu sprechen über den gesunden und kranken Menschen, wenn man nicht über den physischen Leib hinaus in die höheren Glieder der Menschennatur geht. So daß man eigentlich sagen kann: Eine Heilmittellehre wird es überhaupt wiederum erst geben, wenn man über den physischen Leib des Menschen hinausgehen wird, denn das Wesen der Krankheit ist einfach nicht einzusehen aus dem physischen Menschenleib heraus.

Ich habe diesmal nur die Absicht, die Dinge in historischer Beziehung darzustellen. Aber es ist eben so, daß, als immer mehr und mehr verglommen ist, was aus alten Zeiten in die neuere heraufgetragen worden ist, überhaupt jegliche Menschenkenntnis verlorenging. Und heute stehen wir vor der Notwendigkeit, wiederum Menschenkenntnis zu erwerben. Diese Menschenkenntnis wird sich nur erwerben lassen,wenn man wiederum die Beziehung des Menschen zu den umliegenden Naturreichen zu fassen vermag.

Gehen wir einmal von der Ich-Organisation des Menschen aus. Hat man zunächst, sagen wir, durch imaginative Erkenntnis aus der Initiationswissenschaft eine Anschauung von der menschlichen IchOrganisation, dann kann man sich fragen: Zu was im heutigen menschlichen Organismus steht denn diese Ich-Organisation in besonderer Beziehung? - Diese Ich-Organisation steht in besonderer Beziehung zu demjenigen, was im Menschen minetalisch ist. Wenn Sie daher ein Mineralisches, ein wesentlich Mineralisches aufnehmen, zum Beispiel Salz auf die Zunge bringen, sogleich ist es die Ich-Organisation, die sich über dieses Mineralische hermacht. Dann wird das Mineralische weiterbefördert, kommt in den Magen. Die Ich-Organisation bleibt dabei, auch wenn die Salzsubstanz im Magen ist; die Ich-Organisation bleibt dabei. Das Salz geht weiter, macht ja allerdings Veränderungen durch, geht durch den Darm, geht weiter: aber niemals wird Ihr Salz von der Ich-Organisation verlassen. Die benehmen sich wie recht zusammengehörige Dinge, die Ich-Organisation und das Salz, das in den Menschen hineinkommt.

Sehen Sie, so ist es nicht, wenn Sie zum Beispiel ein Spiegelei essen, das hat noch etwas von Zusammenhalt mit der Eiweißsubstanz. Da kümmert sich nur ein wenig die Ich-Organisation, wenn Sie die Spiegeleisubstanz auf der Zunge haben. Dann kümmert sich schon sehr wenig der astralische Leib noch darum, während es hinunterschlüpft in den Magen. Dann geht es weiter; dann wirkt intensiv der Ätherleib, dann der physische Leib. Diese zerklüften inIhnen selber die Eiweißsubstanz, die Sie mit dem Spiegelei in Ihren Organismus hineinbekommen. Und jetzt wird das Spiegelei in Ihnen selber ganz mineralisch gemacht. Es wird zerklüftet. Alles Lebendige wird aus ihm ausgetrieben. Es wird in Ihnen zerklüftet. An den Darmwänden hört diese äußerlich aufgenommene Eiweißsubstanz auf, irgendwie noch Eiweiß zu sein, wird ganz mineralisch. Da geht es nun über jetzt wieder in die Ich-Organisation, und von da aus wird das mineralisierte Eiweiß von der Ich-Organisation aufgenommen.

Und so können wir immer sagen: Die Ich-Organisation gibt sich nur mit Mineralischem ab. Aber jedes Mineralische wird durch die Ich-Organisation im menschlichen Organismus etwas anderes, als es außerhalb ist. Es darf nichts im menschlichen Organismus so bleiben, wie es außerhalb dieses menschlichen Organismus ist. Dafür muß die Ich-Organisation in radikaler Weise sorgen. Nicht nur, daß solche Substanzen wie, sagen wir, Kochsalz und dergleichen, von der IchOrganisation erfaßt und innerlich zu etwas ganz anderem gemacht werden, als sie äußerlich sind, sondern es darf nicht einmal, wenn der Mensch von einem gewissen Wärmezustande umgeben ist, der äußere Wärmezustand den Menschen irgendwie durchdringen. Sie dürfen nicht Ihre Finger ausgefüllt haben von dem, was sich als äußere Wärme ausbreitet. Die Wärme darf auf Sie nur als Reiz wirken, und Sie müssen die Wärme, die Sie in sich haben, selber erzeugen. In dem Augenblick, wo Sie bloß Gegenstand sind, sich nicht Ihre Wärme oder Kälte selber erzeugen, sondern wo irgendwo in Ihnen die Wärme so weiterwirkt, wie zum Beispiel bei irgendeinem äußeren Gegenstande, da werden Sie krank - von der äußeren Wärme selbst, nicht einmal bloß von der Substanz, sondern von der äußeren Wärme. Denken Sie sich einmal, da wäre irgendein Tuch oder ein Schwamm, und da wäre ein Ofen. Die Ofenwärme, die darf ganz ruhig sich ausbreiten, durch das Tuch oder den Schwamm durchgehen. Das Tuch oder der Schwamm setzt nur fort, was da als Ofenwärme sich ausbreitet. Das darf die Ofenwärme nicht tun, wenn sie bis zur Haut kommt. Wenn die Ofenwärme den Sinnenreiz ausübt, dann muß die Reaktion kommen: die Innenwärme muß von innen aus erzeugt werden. Erkältungszustände beruhen gerade darauf, daß man nicht sich bloß reizen läßt, um seine innere Eigenwärme zu erzeugen, sondern daß man die äußere Kälte etwas unter die Haut kommen läßt, so daß man sich selber nicht in die Welt stellt als der voll tätige Mensch, der sich mit seinem Wirken, seinen Impulsen selbst ausfüllt, sondern der sich wie einen Gegenstand hinstellt und durch sich die Wirkungen der Außenwelt durchziehen läßt. - Das ist das Wesen der Ich-Organisation, daß es in sich aufnimmt das Mineralische, aber es innerlich ganz und gar ändert, in etwas anderes verwandelt.

Erst wenn wir gestorben sind, ist das Mineralische wiederum Mineralisches der äußeren Natur. Während wir auf der Erde leben, das Mineralische innerhalb unserer Haut haben, verändert die Ich-Organisation das Mineralische fortwährend. Das Pflanzliche, das wir aufnehmen, wird durch die astralische Organisation, durch den astralischen Leib fortwährend verändert. So daß wir sagen können: Die Ich-Organisation des Menschen metamorphosiert gründlich um alles Mineralische, nicht nur das fest Mineralische, auch das Wäßrige, auch das Luftförmige, auch das Wärmeartige. - Man kann ja natürlich, wenn man grob spricht, sagen: Hier irgendwo ist Wasser. Ich trinke. Ich habe das Wasser jetzt in mir. - Aber in dem Augenblicke, wo mein Organismus das Wasser aufnimmt, ist das, was ich in mir habe, durch meine Ich-Organisation nicht mehr dasselbe, was das äußere Wasser ist. Das ist es erst wiederum, wenn ich es ausschwitze oder auf eine andere Art zu Wasser mache. Innerhalb meiner Haut ist Wasser nicht Wasser, sondern ist etwas, was lebendige Flüssigkeit ist.

In dieser Weise muß immer unendlich vieles umgedacht werden. Ich konnte Ihnen heute nur kleine Andeutungen geben. Aber wenn Sie das durchdenken, wenn Sie wissen, wie das Eiweiß zerklüftet werden muß, um in die Wirkung des ganzen Makrokosmos zu kommen, wie das Wasser, das ich trinke, innerlich lebendige Flüssigkeit ist, nicht mehr das unorganische Wasser, sondern von Ich-Organisation durchdrungenes Wasser ist, wenn Sie bedenken, indem Sie Kohl essen: Draußen ist es Kohl, innerlich nimmt der astralische Leib sogleich den Kohl in sich auf - wenigstens den wirklichen, den physischen Kohl - und verändert ihn in etwas ganz anderes, so kommen wir hier an die Betrachtung außerordentlich bedeutsamer Vorgänge, dringen vor bis zu der Anschauung, daß wir in unserem Stoffwechsel Vorgänge haben, die nur um eine gewisse Stufe der Entwickelung verschieden sind von den Stoffwechselprozessen, die wir zum Beispiel im Gehirn haben, die das Nervensystem da ausmachen und so weiter. Darüber werde ich dann morgen weiterreden, um an diesen Vorgängen nun den ganz radikalen Unterschied der Menschheit noch des 12. nachchristlichen Jahrhunderts und des 20. Jahrhunderts hervorzuheben, um davon her dann die Notwendigkeit zur Einsicht zu bringen, wie im weiteren Fortschritt für den gesunden und kranken Menschen neue Impulse kommen müssen, damit nicht alle Menschenkenntnis überhaupt verlorengehe und man nichts mehr wisse über den gesunden sowohl wie über den kranken Menschen. Davon also morgen dann weiter.

Blackboard 11 Blackboard 12

Seventh Lecture

The last great turning point in the historical development of mankind is that often mentioned in the first third of the 15th century, where the transition takes place from what is called the development of the intellectual or emotional soul into the consciousness soul. We are living in an age in which the development of the consciousness soul is taking place in humanity, and in this age a real insight into the connection of the human being with the deeper impulses and forces of nature, that is, the spirit in nature, has been lost. Today, when we speak of man and his physical constitution, we even speak of chemical substances, for example, as chemists today identify them as so-called elements. But it is of no more value for the knowledge of man to know that some food contains carbon, nitrogen and so on, than it is for the mechanics of the watch to know that this watch consists of glass and, if you like, silver and a few other substances. All this, which reduces the substantial to this utmost material abstraction, hydrogen, oxygen and so on, does not in fact provide any real knowledge of man. Just as the mechanism of the clock must be recognized from a system of forces, so the essence of man must be recognized from the way in which the various impulses of the world, which are distributed in the realms of nature, which work in other ways in the world, now come into their own in man. But that which was still relatively present, albeit already degenerated, but still present in such a way that instinctively well-inclined natures were able to do something with it until the 14th, 15th century, has, with the exception of a few people such as Paracelsus, Jakob Böhme and so on, gradually been completely lost: a real insight into the connection of man with the world.

For example, what does modern science, which has gradually developed since the 15th century, know about the relationship, let's say, of the plant and animal world to man! It examines the plants for their chemical constituents and then somehow tries to study the significance of these chemical constituents for man; it then possibly tries to form ideas - and usually fails to do so - about the effect of the substances on healthy and sick people. But all this basically only provides a darkness of knowledge about the human being. Today, if one is inclined to advance in the knowledge of man on the basis of historical insight, it is certainly a matter of getting to know the relationship of man to extra-human nature again.

Until the last great change, up to the 15th century, people had a clear sense of the great difference that exists between metals in external nature and metals that come to light in some way when one considers the substantiality of man, the materiality of man, let us say, for example, iron in its various bonds in the human organism or magnesia or the like. Until the fifteenth century there was a deep and profound feeling for this difference in the metallicity of the earth, for the fact that there are such metals, which also show themselves when one examines the human organism itself, and such metals that are present in external nature, which are not found at first when one examines the human organism. For it was said: Man is a microcosm. In some way, everything that is found outside in the world in the macrocosm can be found in him. - This is not some general abstract principle, but for anyone who has ever approached initiation science in any way, it follows that it is necessarily connected with the essence of man and the essence of the world. For one only arrives at a real knowledge of man if one gathers together the whole of nature with all its impulses and substantial contents; then one gets a picture, an imagination of the essence of man. And in this picture, in this imagination, it would be disturbing if there were anything outside in nature that could not be found in man himself. - This was the thinking of a personality who was a naturalist at the beginning, let us say, of the 9th, 10th, 11th century AD. But at that time it was also known that what man takes in through his physical nourishment is only a part of that through which man maintains his physical organization and his organization in general, perhaps not even the most important.

Well, it is obvious to ascend from physical nourishment to respiration, which is also a metabolism. But it does not occur to modern man to ascend any further. It was clear to the natural scientist before the 15th century that man, when he uses his eye to perceive, does not merely see with his eye, but that through the eye, during the process of perception, something substantial is absorbed from the universe in an infinitely fine distribution. And so through the eye, so through the ear, but also through other organizational components of the human being. And it was regarded as something of the utmost importance that man absorbs that which he does not contain in a coarse form, let us say lead, for example, from the infinitely fine distribution in which it is present where it is not initially suspected. Lead is a metal that man does not initially have in himself. But lead is a metal that is spread out, spread out in very great dilution throughout the entire cosmos that is relevant to man. And man absorbs lead from the cosmos through much finer processes than the respiratory process. The human being continually secretes substance from himself in a peripheral direction. Not only do you cut your nails, but you also continually separate substance from your skin. But this is not just a departure, but while the substance departs, other substance is absorbed.

You see, a natural scientist of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th century still lived in the Middle Ages in this way of thinking. For him it was not yet the balance, it was not yet the rough measuring instruments by which he determined how the substances, how the forces worked, but it was a consideration of the inner qualities of nature, of the inner impulses of nature and the connection of nature with man. As a result, many things were known up to the 15th century that we will have to begin to know again, because basically nothing is known about man today.

We begin by looking at the constitution of man in order to give, I would say, a kind of classification, a kind of general plan: The human being is composed of the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, the I or the I-organization. -- Well, these are words to begin with. It is good to start with these words; everyone can imagine a little something by them. But if you want to use these things in the practice of life, if you want to use them especially in medicine, which is the most important practice of life that can follow from the knowledge of man, then you cannot stop at the words, you have to go into what fills the words with a real content. First we ask: Physical body, how do we arrive at a conception of the physical body? - You will see in a moment why I am developing this concept. How do we arrive at an idea of the physical body? Well, if we have any object on earth other than the human being, we say a stone: it falls to earth. We say it is heavy, it is attracted to the earth, it has a weight. We find other forces at work. When the stone forms into a crystal, formative forces are at work in it. But these are related to the earthly forces. In short, as we look around us in the world, we have substances that are subject to the earthly being. Let us note this: we have substances that are subject to the earthly being.

Whoever does not look at such things properly will come and show you a piece of coal, black coal. What is it in reality? It is black coal only in the vicinity of the earth, for at the moment when this coal is only a relatively short distance away from the earth, it would no longer be so. All that makes coal coal is the forces of the earth. So you can say: If I have the earth here, then the forces of the earth are here in the earthly, but also in every object that I have here on earth. And the physical body of man is indeed very composite, but basically it is also an object that is subject to these physical forces of the earth, the forces that come from the center of the earth. This is the physical body of man, which is subject to the forces that come from the center of the earth (arrows pointing outwards). - But there are also other forces on earth. These forces come from the periphery (arrows inwards). Imagine for a moment that I go out into quite indefinite distances. Then forces act from the indeterminate expanses, just the opposite of the forces of the earth. They come in from everywhere. Yes, there are such forces that work in from everywhere, that work in from all directions of the world towards the center of the earth. You can get a very specific idea of these forces in the following way.

The most important substance underlying the organism, the plant, the animal, the human organism, is protein. But protein is also the basis of the germ of a new plant, animal or human organism. What develops as a plant, animal or human organism starts from a germ cell, from a fertilized germ cell. The substance is protein. Today, people imagine because they fantasize everywhere instead of doing real science: Protein is a substance with a complicated composition of, as they say, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, a little phosphorus - a very complicated composition. So you actually already have the ideal composition, as the atomist thinks, in protein. You would have to draw the atoms and molecules into it in a very complicated way. And then this complicated protein molecule, or whatever you want to call it, is formed in the mother animal or mother plant; it then develops further and the new animal is created from it through pure heredity.

But this is all pure nonsense in the mind's eye. In reality, the protein of the mother animal is not composed in a complicated way, but is completely corrupted and becomes chaotic. The protein that the body otherwise contains within itself is still somewhat orderly, but a protein that underlies reproduction is characterized precisely by the fact that it is completely chaotically shaken up internally, that the matter is completely returned to chaos, no longer has any structure at all, but is a heap of substance that is no longer subject to the earth because it is completely torn apart, shredded, destroyed. As long as the protein still somehow holds together internally, it is subject to the central forces of the earth. The moment the protein is internally fissured, it comes under the influence of the whole world sphere. The forces come in from everywhere, and the small protein clump, which is the basis of reproduction, is created as an image of the whole universe, which is initially comprehensible to us. Each individual protein clump is an image of the whole universe, because the protein substance is fissured, destroyed, transformed into chaos and thereby made suitable as world dust to be subjected to the whole cosmos. Nothing is known of this today.

Today we believe: Well, the old chicken has the complicated egg white. It's incorporated into the egg. Then the new chicken is formed, which is the continued, further developed egg white. Then it becomes germ substance again, and so it goes on from chicken to chicken. - But it's not like that. Every time there is a transition from one generation to the next, the protein is exposed to the whole cosmos. So that we have to say: On the one hand we have the earthly substances, which are subject to the earthly central forces, but we can also think of them as being subject, in certain proportions, to the forces that work in everywhere from the boundaries of the universe. These forces, the latter, are those that work in the human etheric body, which is subject to the forces of the cosmos. - You see, now we have real concepts of the physical body and the etheric body. Now ask yourself the question: What is your physical body? - It is the one that is subject to the forces that emanate from the center of the earth. What is your etheric body? - It is the part of you that is subject to the forces that come in from everywhere from the periphery. You can also draw it. Think about it: we have the human being here. His physical body is the one that, when it approaches the center of the earth (red), is subject to the forces that go to the center of the earth. His etheric body is the one (green) that is subject to the forces that come in everywhere from the end of the universe. Now we have a system of forces in the human being: the forces that pull downwards, which are actually in all organs that are vertical, and those forces that come in from outside, which actually tend in this way (see arrows). You can literally read this from the form of the human being, where one type and the other type are more represented. If you study the legs, you will say: The legs naturally have their shape because they are more adapted to the forces of the earth.

The head is more adapted to the forces of the periphery. - You can study the arms in the same way. This is particularly interesting. Hold the arms pressed against the body: they are subject to the forces that go towards the center of the earth. If you have your arms in lively movement, then you yourself are subjecting your arms to the forces that come in from everywhere from the periphery.

You see, that is the difference between legs and arms. The legs are clearly subject to the central forces of the earth, the arms are only conditionally subject to the central forces of the earth in a certain position. Man can lift them out of the central forces of the earth and insert them into the forces that we call the etheric forces, which come from the periphery everywhere. In this way you can also really see everywhere for the individual organs how these organs are inserted into the universe.

Now you have the physical body, the etheric body. But what about the astral body? There is no longer a third kind of power in space. They no longer exist. The astral body has its powers from outside of space. The etheric body has them from the periphery everywhere, the astral body receives them from outside of space.

You can actually see in certain places in nature how the physical forces of the earth blend into the etheric forces that come in from all sides. Just think: protein is initially present in the physical earth. As long as sulphur, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen can somehow be chemically ascertained in the protein, the protein is subject to the physical forces of the earth. When the protein enters the sphere of reproduction, it is lifted out of the physical forces. The forces of the circumference of the universe begin to act on the fissured albumen, and new albumen is created as an image of the entire universe.

But you see, sometimes it turns out that the fissuring cannot go far enough. There may be protein substance which, for example, in order for reproduction to take place in some animal, should be able to be cleaved in the deposited egg so that it can submit to the forces of the whole universe. But the animal is in some way prevented from supplying such protein substance for reproduction, which can simply fit into the whole macrocosm. Reproductive protein substance must fit into the whole macrocosm. The animal, let us say, is prevented from forming reproducible protein substance without further ado, for example the gall wasp. So what does the gall wasp do? The gall wasp lays its egg in some part of the plant. You have these galls everywhere on the oaks, on other trees, where the gall wasps lay their eggs. Then you see these strange galls on the leaf, for example: there's a gall wasp egg inside. Why does it happen like that? Why is the egg of the gall wasp, let's say, laid in the oak leaf, so that this gall is formed, but in which the egg is inside, which can now develop? It could not develop freely. This is because the plant leaf has an etheric body within it. It is adapted to the whole ether of the world, and it comes to the aid of the gall wasp's egg. The egg of the gall wasp cannot help itself. Therefore the gall wasp lays it in a part of the plant where the etheric body is already inside, which fits in with the whole world ether. So the gall wasp approaches the oak in order to bring its protein substance to fissure, so that the world periphery can work in a roundabout way through the oak leaf, through the oak, while the mere gall wasp egg would have to perish, because it cannot be fissured, it holds together too tightly.

You see, this gives you an opportunity to see how strangely nature works. But this work is also present elsewhere in nature. For suppose that the animal is not only incapable of supplying germ substance that can be exposed to the world ether for reproduction, but that the animal is also incapable of transforming any substances within itself into inner food, of using them for inner nourishment. The example of the bee is obvious. The bee cannot eat everything. The bee can only eat what the plant has already given it. But now look at something very strange. The bee approaches the plant, looks for the honey juice, takes it in, processes it, builds up what we have to admire so much in the bee, builds up the whole honeycomb structure, the cell structure in the beehive. We look at these two very strange, wonderful processes, at the bee sitting outside on the flower, sucking the flower sap, then entering the hive and building the wax cells out of itself in connection with other bees in order to fill them with honey. What happens there? You see, you have to look at the shape of these cells. They are shaped like this (see drawing, right), there is one, the second one next to it and so on. They are small cells whose cavities are shaped like quartz crystals, silica crystals, but filled with substance, shaped a little differently. If you go into the mountains and look at the quartz crystals, you can also draw them like this. You get a somewhat irregular pattern, but it is similar to that of the bee cells, which are next to each other. Only the bee cells are made of wax, the quartz is made of silica.

If you look into the matter, you will find that the quartz crystal was formed in the mountains with the help of silicic acid under the influence of the general etheric and astral forces at a certain time in the earth's evolution. There you see forces that come from the earth's environment, which act as etheric-astral forces, building up the quartz crystals in the pebbles. You can find them everywhere outside in the mountains, you can find quite wonderful quartz crystals, these hexagonal formations. These quartz crystals are the cavities of the bee cells in the beehives. The bee extracts from the flower what was once there to make the hexagonal quartz crystals. The bee takes this out of the flower and makes replicas of the quartz crystals through its own body. Something similar to what once took place outside in the macrocosm is going on between the bee and the flower.

I mention these things so that you can see how necessary it is not just to look at this very pitiful abstractness that is present in carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and so on, but that it is necessary to look at the wonderful formative processes, at the inner intimate relationships in nature and in natural processes. And this really was once the instinctive basis of science. This was lost in the course of the historical development of mankind towards the 15th century. It must be regained. Once again we must enter into the intimate relationships of natural existence and its relationship to man. Only then, when such relationships are again recognized, will a real insight into the healthy and sick human being be possible again. Otherwise, all the teaching of remedies remains merely a matter of trying things out without understanding the inner connection.

There has been a kind of barren period in the development of the human spirit from the 15th century until today. This barren period has put pressure on humanity. For this barren period, when people looked at plants, looked at animals, looked at people, looked at minerals and actually knew nothing more about anything, this period has taken man out of all world context. And finally he entered the chaos in which he lives today in relation to the world, where he no longer knows himself in any connection with the world. In the time in which such things were considered, man knew that every time reproduction occurs, the whole macrocosm speaks. In the reproductive germ or seed, an image of the whole macrocosm is created. There is the great world outside, but in the smallest germ is a result of the effects that come from everywhere from the great world.

Those forces that are the physical-central forces of the earth now work together in the human being; they work in all human organs; but the forces that come from everywhere, the etheric forces, work against them everywhere. If you look at the liver, the spleen, the lungs, you will only understand them if you know: The forces that come from the center of the earth and those that come from all around the world work together there. - But then certain organs are still permeated by the astral body, by the ego-organization, while other organs are less permeated by these higher members and the human being in a sleeping state does not have his astral body and his ego-organization in himself at all. Take any organ - the lungs (see drawing page 119, top right): Something has caused the forces coming in from all over the universe (arrows) to have too strong an effect on the human lungs. They will make the lungs ill, because there must be a certain harmonious balance between what acts in the lungs from the center of the earth and what comes from all sides of the circumference. If you now succeed in knowing how you can find mineral substances that counterbalance the etheric forces that are acting too strongly in the lungs, then you have the remedy by which you can eliminate the etheric forces that are acting too strongly. And the reverse can also be true: The etheric forces can become too weak, the physical forces acting from the center of the earth would become too strong. You will look around the plant kingdom to see what can act on the human being in such a way that it strengthens the etheric forces through some organ, and you will receive the corresponding remedy.

It is impossible to find even the slightest remedy by merely observing the physical body alone, for the physical human body has no reason in itself to say anything about its constitution. For the so-called normal process that takes place in it is a natural process, but the disease process is also a natural process. If you have a so-called normal liver, you have a liver in which only natural processes take place. But if you have a liver in which there is an ulcer, you also have a liver in which only natural processes are going on. The difference can never be found from the physical body. From the physical body you can only state the fact that one time it looks different from the other, but you cannot know anything about the cause. But if you have an ulcer in the liver, you will only find the cause of the ulcer formation if you know that in such a case, for example, the astral body intervenes in the liver much more powerfully than it should. You have to expel the astral body, which intervenes strongly in the liver when the liver is ulcerated. And so there is no way at all to speak in real terms about the healthy and sick human being if one does not go beyond the physical body into the higher members of human nature. So that one can actually say: There will only be a doctrine of remedies when one goes beyond the physical body of the human being, because the nature of illness simply cannot be understood from within the physical human body.

This time I only intend to present things in a historical context. But the fact is that as more and more of what had been carried over from ancient times into modern times faded away, all knowledge of the human being was lost. And today we are faced with the necessity of acquiring knowledge of human nature again. This knowledge of man can only be acquired if we are able to grasp the relationship of man to the surrounding kingdoms of nature.

Let us start with the ego organization of the human being. If, let us say, through imaginative insight from the science of initiation, we first have a view of the human ego organization, then we can ask ourselves: To what in today's human organism does this ego organization stand in a special relationship? - This ego organization has a special relationship to that which is mineral in the human being. Therefore, if you ingest a mineral, an essentially mineral substance, for example, if you put salt on your tongue, it is the ego-organization that immediately takes hold of this mineral. The mineral is then transported further and enters the stomach. The ego organization stays with it, even if the salt substance is in the stomach; the ego organization stays with it. The salt goes on, undergoes changes, passes through the intestines, goes on: but your salt is never left by the ego organization. They behave like things that belong together, the ego organization and the salt that enters the human being.

You see, it's not like that when you eat a fried egg, for example, which still has something of cohesion with the protein substance. The ego organization only cares a little when you have the fried egg substance on your tongue. Then the astral body takes very little care of it while it slips down into the stomach. Then it goes on; then the etheric body works intensively, then the physical body. These break down the protein substance in you, which you get into your organism with the fried egg. And now the fried egg is made completely mineral in you. It becomes fissured. Everything living is expelled from it. It is fissured inside you. On the intestinal walls, this externally absorbed protein substance ceases to be protein in any way and becomes completely mineral. It now passes back into the ego organization, and from there the mineralized protein is absorbed by the ego organization.

And so we can always say: The ego organization only deals with minerals. But every mineral becomes something different through the ego organization in the human organism than it is outside. Nothing in the human organism may remain as it is outside this human organism. The ego-organization must see to this in a radical way. Not only that such substances as, let us say, common salt and the like, are seized by the ego organization and made into something quite different internally from what they are externally, but not even when the human being is surrounded by a certain state of warmth may the external state of warmth somehow permeate the human being. You must not have your fingers filled with what spreads as external warmth. The warmth may only act on you as a stimulus, and you must generate the warmth you have within yourself. The moment you are merely an object and do not generate your own warmth or cold, but where the warmth continues to act somewhere within you, as for example with some external object, then you become ill - from the external warmth itself, not even merely from the substance, but from the external warmth. Imagine there was some cloth or a sponge, and there was an oven. The heat from the oven is allowed to spread, to pass through the cloth or the sponge. The cloth or sponge only continues what is spreading as oven heat. The oven heat must not do this if it reaches the skin. If the oven heat exerts the sensory stimulus, then the reaction must come: the inner warmth must be generated from within. Cold states are based precisely on the fact that one does not merely allow oneself to be stimulated in order to generate one's own inner warmth, but that one allows the outer cold to get under the skin, so that one does not place oneself in the world as the fully active person who fills oneself with one's activity, one's impulses, but who places oneself like an object and allows the effects of the outer world to pass through oneself. - This is the essence of the ego-organization, that it absorbs the mineral into itself, but changes it inwardly completely, transforms it into something else.

Only when we have died is the mineral again the mineral of external nature. While we live on earth and have the mineral within our skin, the ego organization is constantly changing the mineral. The vegetable that we take in is continually changed by the astral organization, by the astral body. So that we can say: The ego-organization of man metamorphoses thoroughly around everything mineral, not only the solid mineral, also the watery, also the airy, also the warmth-like. - Of course, if you speak roughly, you can say: "There is water here somewhere. I am drinking. I have the water in me now. - But the moment my organism absorbs the water, what I have inside me is no longer the same as the outer water due to my ego organization. It is only the same again when I sweat it out or turn it into water in some other way. Inside my skin, water is not water, but something that is a living liquid.

In this way, an infinite number of things must always be rethought. I could only give you small hints today. But if you think this through, if you know how the protein must be broken down in order to come into the effect of the whole macrocosm, how the water I drink is inwardly living liquid, is no longer inorganic water, but water permeated by ego-organization, if you consider eating cabbage: Outside it is cabbage, inside the astral body immediately takes the cabbage into itself - at least the real, the physical cabbage - and changes it into something quite different, so we come here to the consideration of extraordinarily significant processes, advance to the view that we have processes in our metabolism which are only different by a certain stage of development from the metabolic processes which we have, for example, in the brain, which make up the nervous system there and so on. I will talk about this further tomorrow in order to use these processes to emphasize the quite radical difference between humanity in the 12th century AD and the 20th century, in order to bring to light the need for insight into how new impulses must be given to healthy and sick people as progress continues, so that all knowledge of human nature is not lost and we no longer know anything about healthy or sick people. So more about that tomorrow.

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