Curative Education
GA 317
5 July 1924, Dornach
Lecture X
And now we must go on to say something about the cases you have with you at Lauenstein.1Curative home in Jena-Lichtenhain, founded by Franz Löffler, Siegfried Pickert, and Albrecht Strohschein.
I would like to speak first of that eldest boy of yours, who is sixteen years old, and in whom we can clearly recognise an inferiority occasioned by the failure of the I and astral body to penetrate the physical organisation. He was given into your care comparatively late; you did not, I think, have him with you until he was in his sixteenth year? So you have here a case with antecedents that have already undergone marked development. If the boy could have been taken in hand earlier on and given the advantage of Waldorf School education, then, in the time between the change of teeth and puberty, he would have experienced the principle of authority in the right way. Care would also have been taken, first of all, to watch all the time and see what things really interested him, and then, starting from these, to extend his field of interest. Had this been possible, and if in addition the boy could at the same time have been given lead in gently administered doses, then notwithstanding his inherent difficulties the boy's soul would be today on quite a different level. For it is plain, the boy has interests. He has moreover definite ability. You will however have seen from the quite simple test that we put to him, where the lad's trouble lies.
You will remember, I set him a comparatively simple sum in arithmetic—a problem in subtraction, put in the form that accords with the methods of Waldorf School education. For we always ask, you know: What have I to take from a given number in order to leave another given number as remainder: Thus, we do not, as is usually done in teaching arithmetic, give the minuend and subtrahend, but instead the minuend and the remainder, leaving the subtrahend to be found. This way of stating the problem puts the condition of mind and soul to severer test; on the other hand, the child is helped far more in his development when he has to tackle the problem in this form, than when it is put to him the other way round. As you saw, the boy was able to do the sum, but not able to do it at once. As soon as he had solved the problem, he came up to me with great delight; but it must have been an hour and a half later. He took thus an hour and a half to do the sum, and was happy and delighted when he had found the answer. There was therefore no doubt about it, the boy had the necessary ability, he was able to do the sum. All the members of his organism were in readiness to be directed to the task; there was, so to speak, no “fault in the contact”. The trouble with him is only that he needs longer time. And the reason for this is, that from the very outset his ether body and his physical body offer resistance; they fail to unfold the activity that is proper to them, in spite of the fact that the possibilities for the activity are there all the time.
Follow carefully how the boy's interests work. You will find they remain in the head organisation; they cannot make their way down into the rest of the body. This fact was clearly demonstrated in a little incident that took place during my visit. You saw how the boy came up to us with his little Kodak and wanted to take our photograph. He managed it quite well, carrying the whole thing through with intense interest. Afterwards I tried to suggest to him that he should make another exposure. This would have necessitated his going to fetch a new film; his interest would have had to reach beyond what lay immediately to hand. He resisted the idea, and nothing would persuade him to listen to it. When an interest seizes hold of him in the very movement, here and now—he is ready for it—he is “all there”: but if the situation requires that he should bring the interest down into his metabolism-and-limbs system, then at once his ether and physical bodies set up a powerful resistance. What should one do in such a case?
With a boy already in his teens, it is of course much more difficult than it would have been earlier; we should however set ourselves even now to intervene with our pedagogical therapy. Taking as our starting point things that the boy follows with a certain interest, we should go on from these, widening the circle of his interest in all directions. A great deal can be achieved by recognising and appealing to an entirely healthy instinct that the boy undoubtedly possesses—despite his difficulties. For you must realise that even in persons who are abnormal, healthy instincts are yet always present. And with this boy, you will find that as soon as you draw his attention to objects and processes that call for skilful handling, he will at once begin to experience a widening of his circle of interests.
The boy has, you see, difficulty in following the road that leads from the head organisation to the metabolism-and limbs organisation, and thence, as I have explained to you, out again beyond. This latter part of the journey he accomplishes only with great difficulty, since there is in him no capacity to perceive what is going on there. Even the slight measure of perception that is present in a normal human being is in his case lacking. Once, however, he can be brought to see, he has an object plainly before him, the skilfulness of his own limbs, the sight will fill him with joy. You must get him to do things which will bring this about. An excellent plan will be to give him Curative Eurythmy exercises, to be done with legs and hands, but especially taking care to see that the toes and fingers move with great energy. Then draw the boy's attention to these movements that are going on in his limbs, let him watch himself making the movements.
If it should happen that you have to do with younger children who already show signs of this kind of difficulty, where what has been decided upon by the head does not easily find its way down into the rest of the organism, try getting them to touch their feet with their head. In the case of the boy we are considering, it is too late for this, but you may any day receive into your Home quite little children with the same disability. Try it yourselves; you will find it is no easy matter! But for small children it is a very good exercise; they can be brought even to kiss their own toes. Another thing that never fails to help in such cases—and it could prove a real blessing even to your boy—is to get the child to hold a pencil between his great toe and the next, and with the pencil contrive to trace out some letters of the alphabet, and so have the enjoyment of discovering that he can write with his feet. It is quite possible that even at his age this boy of yours could receive very great benefit from such an experiment. For in cases such as his, Curative Eurythmy—and writing with the toes is a kind of Curative Eurythmy!—can be of the very greatest help. Whether also a course of treatment with lead will at his age afford him the help he stands in need of, we shall discover when we begin to make trial with it and note its effects.
All that I have been saying will have demonstrated to you the imperative need for a delicate and fine power of observation. The simple calculation that took the boy an hour and a half to make, the reluctance to go back into the house to fetch a new film—facts like these may seem trifling and insignificant, and yet it is just this kind of thing that we must learn to make the object of careful observation. As we come to do so, we shall realise what an invaluable aid it can be to the educator of backward children if he is sensitive to every little thing that happens with the child he wants to help.
And now you will be wanting to say to me: It looks as though the education of backward children is going to take up all one's time; one will have to be perpetually giving one's whole attention to the children, and will have no time left to meditate, no time in fact to do anything else whatever! That is not the case; and the esoteric nature of a life-work such as you are undertaking should not allow you ever to admit for a moment this point of view. What is wanted is not that you should all day long be constantly on the watch—not that at all, but rather that you should acquire a quick sense for characteristic happenings. If one has already learned how to watch quite a number of children and knows how to make the right use at every turn of one's powers of perception, it is, under certain circumstances, quite possible to carry out a thorough investigation of a single child in five or ten minutes. It does not depend at all on the length of time one devotes to the matter, but wholly on the degree to which one is able to unite oneself inwardly with the act of perception. If people would only realise that one has to really connect oneself inwardly with the phenomena in question then a great deal of time would be saved, especially for those who work in the professions.E1Rudolf Steiner visited Lauenstein on 18th June, 1924, almost immediately after the Home was opened. The children were brought to him; and having first had a good look at each in turn, talking with the child and enquiring into the history of the case, he explained to us how this or that condition had come about, and gave indications for therapeutical treatment and education.
The explanations and advice given by Rudolf Steiner on the occasion of this visit were noted down, and provide in each case a most valuable addition to the words spoken by him in this course. Wonderful, above all, was the example Rudolf Steiner set us in the whole way in which he met the children, entering with loving and devout interest into every single detail of their condition. For the little group of us who were taking part together in these first beginnings of the work of Curative Education, the whole visit was a deep experience, and the memory of it continues to be cherished in the “Institutions for the Education and Healing of Children in Need of Special Care”. Some of the indications and instructions given by Rudolf Steiner will be added here as Notes to the Course.
As regards this boy, Rudolf Steiner told us that he is lacking in brain sand (the calcareous concretions of the pineal body). The convulsions and the whole general condition must go back to some fright to which the mother had been subjected during pregnancy. (Enquiry afterwards confirmed this.) He added that one must, in such cases, always ask how things were with the mother during pregnancy. The convulsions, he said, were a secondary effect.
For therapy, Rudolf Steiner prescribed injections of thyroid gland secretion. The medicament must enter the body in a centripetal direction, in order to evoke a reaction that works centrifugally. The preparation should still contain epithelial cells. On the day following the injection, the fever curve, also the pulse and the breathing, should be measured, quantitatively and qualitatively.
In addition, the boy should drink a full glass of Levico water in the course of each day, diluted in the proportion 1:8.
Curative Eurythmy: O, I (ee), L.
Now, there was at Lauenstein another boy, a typical case, a fifteen-year-old epileptic. You could see the same type in the boy we had here before us the other day; only, your boy at Lauenstein is several years older. The first thing that claims our attention in his case is the difficult situation created by the fact that he is at the age of transition to puberty. He has been castrated, has he not? Now what we are concerned with is the process of attaining puberty as it has to go forward in the whole organism. The fact that the boy has been castrated, means that in his case we have to reckon with a phenomenon that manifests in him with extraordinary vehemence—namely, the reaction that is induced as a result of this unnatural influence that has been brought to bear on the evolution of sex. The boy gives indeed every appearance of one in whom the transition to puberty is going to prove difficult. The gradual attainment of puberty is, as we have said, a process that belongs to the whole organism; and the sole significance that castration possesses for the boy at the present time consists in the reactionary influence it has in him upon the attainment of puberty.
The first thing to do therefore is to see that the boy is placed where he will be sure of being treated in the way that is right and necessary for boys who are attaining puberty—that is to say, where care is taken to provide conditions under which such boys have their interest aroused in all the processes that go on in the world in which they find themselves. Boys who are at the age of puberty urgently need Waldorf School education. This boy must not be left to the mercy of his own impulses and emotions; we must try to bring it about that he is continually occupied with something outside himself, and takes a keen interest in the objects and processes that he finds around him. Tell me, how is he getting on at school? Perhaps you can tell me this?
(S. “He can neither read nor write. During the past year we have not even made a beginning with school for him. Frau F. did once begin to teach him reading and writing; it was on the Montessori method, and he did not get on at all, he seemed unable to make any progress. His school attainments have really to be counted as nil.”)
He shows, you see, a certain obtuseness to external impressions. We shall here be under the necessity of applying Waldorf School education in the way we are accustomed to do with quite little children—taking our start, that is, from painting, and so providing the opportunity for the boy to put out into colour whatever is tormenting him inwardly. Get him to paint, and you will see what can be got rid of this way. And then you can go farther with him in whatever direction his own inclinations and abilities indicate.
There can moreover be no question but that we must intervene here also with our therapy. We have not, I think, up to now, prescribed any medicaments? The boy should have algae and belladonna. Therapeutical treatment will consist then of these two remedies. You probably understand in a general way the nature of algae injections, but you will do well to enter a little more deeply into the significance of them; for you should, you know, be ready to make use of them on your own responsibility, in individual cases. Why do we propose for this boy algae injections?
In the algae we have plants that have neither strongly developed root formation nor strongly developed flower formation. It is indeed almost as though flower and root had been telescoped. The leaf organisation is the main thing; everything else is produced from it. In algae therefore, since foliage preponderates, we find no very near relationship to the earth. Nor, on the other hand, is there any very near relationship to the outer cosmos. There is however a relationship to the watery and airy elements that are active immediately over the surface of the earth. Algae—and the same applies also to mushrooms—are plants that are, as it were, completely steeped in the interplay of air and water. And these two kinds of plants have in addition this characteristic in common, that they are strongly attracted to the minute quantity of sulphur which is to be found everywhere today in water as well as in air. Consequently, when these plants are introduced into the rhythmic organism of man, they are peculiarly adapted to restore harmony between astral body and ether body. And harmony between astral body and ether body is precisely what is lacking in a boy of this type.
In cases where we perceive a disturbance due to the ego organisation making too great demand upon the astral body and not allowing it to enter into the etheric body, we must have recourse rather to the mushroom type of plant. The algae, which come nearer to the ordinary plant, are to be used when the physical body and etheric body refuse to allow the astral body to enter—that is to say, when the disharmony is due not to an excessive attraction exerted by the ego organisation, but to a special resistance put up by the ether body.E2When this poor feeble-minded boy, who was as a rule excessively restless, was brought to Rudolf Steiner, he became for the moment quite peaceful and at rest, and the finer side of his nature, which was generally overlaid and hidden, suddenly revealed itself in a truly beautiful manner. Rudolf Steiner took particular interest in the boy's sense-perceptions, and proved to us that he cannot see far into the distance. When his bad teeth were alluded to, Rudolf Steiner pointed out that his finger nails also were soft and weak. The following notes of the conversation were made at the time: “Did you not notice anything particular about the mother? This is a case where we can see evidence of a remarkable karma. The astral body is over-ripe. Something is working in from the preceding incarnation. The time between death and new birth has been quite short, with the result that the soul has brought into this incarnation something of the astral body of the former incarnation. The boy still has even now strange dreams at night. This fact will reveal itself to you in strange and disconnected remarks that he makes after waking up. Supposing he has at some time or other seen snakes, then it may be that now he will see them coiling and uncoiling themselves. It is a case of a poor astral body, that has its seat mainly in the back of the head.” (Here Dr. Steiner laid his hand, with a gesture of the most intense interest, on the back of the boy's head, which was thickly covered with stubborn black hair. “This condition has to be met by introducing a counter-astrality; and that we can do by the use of algae. For algae draw in the astral forces of the surrounding air. Mushrooms do this still more; but we had better not begin with the strongest influences. All parasitic plants draw in astrality. By means of algae injections, healthy astrality will be attracted—astrality, that is, which is opposite in quality to the astrality already in the body; for there the astrality is bad.
The therapy will therefore be: Algae inoculations D 5; Belladonna D 4, D 10, D 15, D 20, D 30.”
Dr. Steiner was shown the record of the fits. The suggestion having been raised that their occurrence might be running parallel with the rhythms of the Moon, Dr. Steiner said that the influence of the Moon could not in this case be the direct cause of the fits; at the most, it could affect only the consciousness.
Eurythmy should be done, especially with the legs.
Then there was a girl you had at Lauenstein. Perhaps you would kindly describe her for us, in accordance with the indications I gave at the time?
(S.: “I too have seen this girl only on that one occasion—a girl with protruding lips. You pointed out that something very serious must have happened to her astral body between the ages of 3 and 4; the child must, you said, have had at that time a violent attack of itching and scratching. The mother confirmed afterwards that high temperatures had occurred at that age, accompanied by irritation and itching. For treatment, nicotiana enema was prescribed; and if that did not help, nicotiana injections were to be given. The girl is fifteen years old.”)
So we have here a girl who has attained the age of fifteen, and in whom we can see quite clearly that the astral organisation has made very weak connection with the organism as a whole. The girl is obviously of that type.E3Dr. Steiner said at Lauenstein: “She has a kink in her astral body; its form has no unity or coherence; above, it is weak, whilst below, it is stronger.” One notices at once that the astral organisation is far too weak to restrain the ego in face of the temptation that always assails man when he eats—the temptation to enjoy the eating too much, to revel in the sweet and pleasant taste of the food. When the astral body is not sufficiently active in the lower region of the face, then the lips will be found to protrude noticeably—a symptom that is due to the excessive pleasure experienced in tasting food and also in the initial process of digestion, that takes place in the mouth. Phenomena such as these have far-back antecedents; obviously they cannot be making their appearance for the first time at this somewhat late stage of childhood. As has been said, I stated at the time that an irregularity must have occurred in the child's development about the 3rd or 4th year.
How can you learn to perceive such facts for yourselves? You can find your way to such perceptions if you set out to do so with the love that I have described to you and upon which you will remember I laid such stress. You must never say: In order to perceive such things, I should have to be clairvoyant. To say that betokens an inner laziness—a quality that must on no account ever be found in one who undertakes the task of education. Long before you attain to the clairvoyance that is required for spiritual research in general, you can beget in yourself the faculty simply to perceive what is really the matter. The power to do this can be born in you, if you approach with loving devotion all that shows itself in the child, and especially just those developments that come with abnormal conditions. What you say to yourself at that moment will be true. There is of course need here for esoteric courage. This esoteric courage can and does develop in man—provided only that one thing does not stand in the way.
It is strange, and at the same time significant, that these inner intuitions are so little noticed by the very people who are, comparatively speaking, well able to have them. Anthroposophists have many an opportunity to pay heed to such inner intuitions! For they have these intuitions, far more than is supposed, but they fail to attend to them—the reason being that in the moment when they should do so, they find themselves assailed by a vanity that is hard to overcome. With the discovery of faculties not known before, all manner of impulses that spring from vanity begin to crop up in the soul. Along with the other characteristics of our age that I described for you in my lecture yesterday, as well as on several other occasions, we have to reckon also a tendency to grow vain and conceited, for it is a tendency that is terribly prevalent in present-day mankind.
This is a matter that should receive serious consideration from those of the present-day Youth—and you yourselves are of course among the number—who are devoting their lives to some great and noble calling. There is in our time great need that young men and women should rise up among us and exercise a regenerating influence upon mankind; and what I am now going to say is not said out of misunderstanding of the Youth Movement of our day, nor from lack of understanding, but out of a true understanding of it. It is a necessity, this Youth Movement, it is something of quite extraordinary significance; for those older people who can understand it, the modern Youth Movement is interesting in the highest degree. Not a word shall be uttered here against it. Nor shall we attempt to deny that there is only too often a deplorable lack of readiness on the part of the older generation to understand this Youth Movement, and that a great many plans have suffered shipwreck just because the Movement has not been taken seriously enough, just because people have not troubled themselves to look into it sufficiently. But the Youth Movement does need to beware of one thing when it sets out to undertake specific practical tasks; and it is incumbent on those of us who have had experience in the matter to call attention to it, for it makes one seriously apprehensive for the whole future of the Movement. I mean a certain vanity that shows itself there on every hand.
This vanity is not so much due to a lack of education and culture, but is rather the consequence of an inevitable situation. For the will to action necessitates of course a strong development of inner capabilities, and then it follows all too easily that under the influence of Ahriman vanity begins to spring up in the soul. I have had opportunity in my life to make careful and intimate observation of persons who were full of promise—persons too of the most various ages of life—in whom one could see again and again how with the dawn of the Age that has followed Kali Yuga, vanity began to grow and thrive in their souls. It is not, therefore, only among the Youth that the vanity shows itself. What concerns us at the moment however is the special form of it that manifests in the Youth and that has in point of fact hindered them from developing the right and essential character that lies inherent in present-day Youth, waiting to be developed. Hence the phenomenon with which we are so familiar, this endless talk of “missions”, of great tasks, with all too little inclination to set to work upon the details, to take pains about the small things that require to be done in carrying out these tasks.
These will emphatically be need in the future for what has been described in simple words as devotion to detail.
Devotion to detail and to little things is something which the Youth of our time need to develop. They are far too apt to revel in abstractions; and this revelling in abstractions is the very thing that can then lure them with irresistible force into the snare of vanity. I do beg you to bethink yourselves of the difficulties that beset your path on this account. Make it a matter of esoteric striving to master this tendency to vanity; for it does indeed constitute a real hindrance to any work you undertake.
Suppose you want to be able to speak to some fellow human being from out of an intuitive power of vision. The things you need to behold in him are by no means written plain for all to see; and you may take it that statements made about backward children from the ordinary lay point of view are generally false. What you have to do is to see through what lies on the surface, see right through it to the real state of affairs. If therefore you want to come to the point of being able to say something to him out of intuitive vision, what do you need for that? You need to tell yourself with courage and with energy—not just saying it at some particular moment, but carrying it continually in your consciousness, so that it determines the very quality and content of your consciousness:—“ I can do it.” If, without vanity, in a spirit of self-sacrifice, and in earnest endeavour to overcome all the things that hinder, you repeat these words, not only feeling them, but saying them to yourself over and over again, then you will begin to discover how far you are able to go in this direction. Do not expect to find the development of the faculty you seek, by spinning out all manner of theories and thoughts. No, what you need to do is to maintain all the time this courageous consciousness, which develops quite simply of itself when once you have begun to fetch up from the depths of your soul what lies hidden there, buried (metaphorically speaking) beneath an accumulation of dust and rubbish.
Generally speaking, people are not able to achieve anything of this kind in the realm of pedagogy. They could do so if only they would set themselves seriously to bring to life within them a certain truth. Let me explain to you how this can be done.
Try to accustom yourselves to live your way every evening into the consciousness: In me is God. In me is God—or the Spirit of God, or what other expression you prefer to use. (But please do not think I mean just persuading yourself of this truth theoretically—which is what the meditations of the majority of people amount to!) Then, in the morning let the knowledge: I am in God shine out over the whole day. And now consider! When you bring to life within you these two ideas, which are then no longer mere thoughts, but have become something felt and perceived inwardly, yes, have even become impulses of will within you, what is it you are doing?
First, you have this picture before you: In me is God;

and on the following morning, you have this picture before you: I am in God (see Figure 3, right). They are one and the same, the upper and the lower figure. And now you must understand: Here you have a circle (yellow); here you have a point (blue). It doesn't look like that in the evening, but in the morning the truth of it comes to light. And in the morning you have to think: Here is a circle (blue); here is a point (yellow). Yes, you have to understand that a circle is a point, and a point a circle. You have to acquire a deep, inner understanding of this fact.
But now, this is really the only way to come to a true understanding of the human being! You remember the drawing I made for you, of the metabolism-and-limbs man and the head man (see Figure 1.). That drawing was nothing else than a realistic impression or record of what you have before you now in this simple figure for meditation. In the human being it becomes actual reality; the I-point of the head becomes in the limb man the circle—naturally, with modifications. Adopting this line of approach, trying, that is, to understand man inwardly, you will learn to understand the whole of man. You must, first of all, be quite clear in your mind that these two figures, these two conceptions, are one and the same, are not at all different from one another. They only look different from outside. There is a yellow circle; here it is too! There is a blue point; here it is too! Why do they look different? Because that drawing is a diagram of the head, and this a diagram of the body. When the point claims a place for itself in the body, it becomes the spinal cord. It makes its way in here

and then the part it plays in the head organisation is continued in the spinal cord. There you have the inner dynamic of the morphology of man. Taking it as your starting point, you will be able, by meditation, to build up a true anatomy, a true physiology. And then you will acquire the inner intuition that can perceive in how far the upper and lower jaws are limbs; for you will begin to see in the head a complete organism in itself, sitting up there on the top of the human being, an organism whose limbs are dwarfed and have—in process of deformation—turned into jaws. And you will come to a clear perception of how teeth and toes are in polarity to one another. For you have only to look at the attachments of the jawbones, and you can see it all there before you—the stunted toes, the stunted hands and feet.
But, my dear friends, meditation that employs such pictures as I have been giving can never take its course in the kind of mood that would allow us to feel: Now I am going to settle down to a blissful time of meditation; it will be like sinking into a snug, warm nest! No, the feeling must be continually present in us that we are taking the plunge into reality—that we are grasping hold of reality.
Devotion to little things—yes, to the very smallest of all! We must not omit to cultivate this interest in very little things. The tip of the ear, the paring of a finger-nail, a single human hair—should be every bit as interesting to us as Saturn, Sun and Moon. For really and truly in one human hair everything else is comprised; a person who becomes bald loses a whole cosmos! What we see externally—we can verily create it inwardly, if only we achieve that overcoming which is essential to a life of meditation. But we shall never achieve it so long as any vestige of vanity is allowed to remain—and vestiges of vanity lurk in every corner and crevice of the soul. Therefore is it so urgent, if you want to become real educators, and especially educators of backward children, that you should cultivate, with the utmost humility, this devotion in the matter of little things. And when you have made a beginning in this way in your own sphere, you can afterwards go on to awaken in other circles of the Youth Movement this same devotion to little things.
And then it will indeed become possible for you to receive, for example, indications that are afterwards verified from external evidence—as happened, you remember, in the case we are considering. And here I must say in connection with this very case, I have occasion to find grave fault. The same kind of thing happens only too often in connection with the various undertakings that have been begun within our anthroposophical movement. The situation was as follows. Here was a girl concerning whom I told you that a kind of abnormality must have occurred in her development between the third and fourth year. You question the mother, and the mother confirms that it was so. What did you do then? Please tell me, honestly and sincerely: What did you do, when the mother confirmed the fact? (Silence.) Please be esoterically honest and tell me the truth, you three: what did you do? (Silence.) If you had done the right thing, you would now be telling me: “We danced and jumped until we made a hole in the ceiling!” And the after-effect of this jumping for joy would be still expressing itself today—and not merely in words, it would be shining out from you like a light.
That is what you need—enthusiasm in the experience of truth. This enthusiasm is an absolute sine qua non: you cannot get on without it. For years it has been so terribly painful to me, the way the members of the anthroposophical movement stand there as if they were rooted to the spot—and the young too, almost as much as the old. But now consider what it means, That they can stand there so impassively. Look at Nietzsche! What a different sort of fellow he was—even if he did get ill from it! He made his Zarathustra become a dancer. Can't you become dancers—in the sense Nietzsche meant it? Why, you should be leading lives of joy—deep inner joy in the truth! There is nothing in the world more delightful, nothing more fascinating, than the experience of truth. There you have an esotericism that is far more genuine, far more significant than the esotericism that goes about with a long face. Before everything else—and long before you begin to talk about having a “mission”—there must be this living inner experience of truth.
The girl had, when three or four years old, an occult fever. It is even called that in the medical world—one of those instances where medicine has retained an earlier form of speech. When a doctor does not know what is the cause of a fever, he calls it an “occult” fever. This occult fever, then, made its appearance. During the period round about the third and fourth years, the astral body was particularly weak. The physical body and the ether body reacted to this and developed too strongly; and then the astral body was unable to keep up with them. It is exceedingly important that we take cognisance first of all of this fact: at the age of three the growth of the astral body suffered a significant check, the child's astral body became stunted and cramped within itself. I must come to its aid. It must receive help to make up for what has been lost; and this help can be given through education, by awakening the child's interest in many directions. Tell me now, how has it been with this girl at school?
(S.: “We are not having the girl with us in the Home, she will come only for treatment. She was in a school for giving special help to backward children up to the beginning of her sixteenth year, and can read and write, and work with numbers up to about a thousand. In all other respects we have really no knowledge of the girl, we had her there only in order for you to see her. Enema containing nicotiana was prescribed.”)
It will be important to treat this girl with Curative Eurythmy.E4At Lauenstein the following prescription was given: Nicotiana enema, a five per cent decoction, twice a week. If this does not help, then Nicotiana injections D 6. Curative Eurythmy: F, M, UT (oot), TU (too).
As a result of the stunting of the astral body, a strong tendency to deformation has, you see, made its appearance in the upper organism. The child has about her an extraordinarily animal look, the reason being that all that part which belongs to the organs of mastication is deformed. We have already been making very careful tests here in the Clinic of the influence of nicotiana juice in counteracting deformation; and this girl is just a case in point, where it will be able to do its good work. So you see it will be possible right away to begin—slowly—to make some progress. The nicotiana juice is given by the mouth, to start with; and then one has to watch carefully—one must acquire an eye for such things—to see whether the organs of mastication are beginning to come more under the control of the organism. For, as it is, the organs of mastication lie almost entirely outside the realm of the child's control. They just hang there—limp. The child can thus be treated with nicotiana juice given by the mouth in suitable decimal of dilution, beginning with the sixth and going up to the fifteenth. If it should turn out that this does not work strongly enough, we shall have to resort to injection of nicotiana juice in a high potency into the circulation, so that it may make direct contact there with the astral body and enable us to achieve in this way what we failed to achieve when we administered nicotiana juice by ingestion.
I have also a further suggestion to make. The nicotiana juice is intended to work within the astral body and remain there, and it will perhaps be good if we try to prevent its influence from entering too powerfully into the ego organisation—if we try, that is, to arrest it before it reaches the ego organisation. This result can be induced by giving—not often, perhaps only once a week—a weak sulphur bath.
Tomorrow we will speak about the other cases that you have at Lauenstein, and I shall be particularly glad to be able to consider with you the interesting phenomenon of albinism, which we have opportunity to study in two of your children. One of them is fifteen years old and the other a much younger sister of hers. (Dr. Steiner asked Dr. Vreede [the original leader of the Mathematical-Astronomical Section at the Goetheanum] if she had drawn their horoscopes, and she handed them to him. The dates were 6th December, 1909, approximately 4 a.m., and 18th May, 1921, approximately 3 a.m., both at Jena.) How does Uranus stand? Did you not find any special constellations? (Dr. Vreede replied that she had—namely with Uranus and Neptune. In the case of the elder girl, Neptune was in opposition to Uranus.)
Such children always show two main characteristic peculiarities: fair hair; and poor sight, with the variation in the eyes. These are the essential phenomena of albinism. No more than a superficial study is required to discover that in albinos we have to do with an organisation that is very feeble at assimilating iron, but on the other hand assimilates sulphur with the greatest ease. The organisation resists iron; it resists dealing with it, and this applies especially to the periphery of the body; assimilation of iron stops short of the periphery. Sulphur, on the other hand, is driven to the periphery; and not only so, but driven even out beyond it. That is how it comes about that in the region of the hair, you see, all around, a sulphur-aura, which pales and bleaches the hair and takes the strength out of it. And in the eyes (which are formed comparatively independently, being built into the organism from without, in the embryo time)—in the eyes you have a still more striking manifestation of a sulphur-aura. Here it has the effect of fairly forcing the eyes to betake themselves out of the etheric into the astral. In such children we see the eye plucked right out of its “grotto”, the etheric body of the eye left disregarded and its astral body very much to the fore and fully engaged.
Very important questions arise at this point. If we consider the “forming” of man, we find that he stands in connection on the one hand with the telluric forces that divulge themselves to us in the substances of the earth, and on the other hand, with the whole cosmos. He is dependent on both. Both sets of forces are present in the individual process of evolution, as well as also in the stream of inheritance. Let us take first, in considering these two children, the stream of inheritance. Neither in the case of the father nor of the mother is there any indication of albinism. They are both perfectly normal human beings. There was however somewhere in the antecedents—was it a grandmother, of whom it is reported that she had signs of albinism? (Frl. Dr. K.: “It was a sister of the mother.”) An aunt, then. Albinism has been known in the family; that is all that need concern us at the moment. A tendency to albinism is present in the antecedents. And did you not tell me that there had been other cases in the Saal region, also at Jena? (Frl. Dr. K.: “Yes, two children; and one adult, aged thirty-two, who is already married. Of these three, in only one case had there been albinism before in the family history.”) It would seem, therefore, that albinism is in some way endemic to a certain part of the country, but meets also with many counter-influences. And so in fact it makes its appearance quite sporadically! Only under certain circumstances will an albino be born there. The equation will immediately suggest itself: How does it come about that an albino is born in a particular territory?
In the case of an albino we have, as we have seen, a sulphurisation process working outwards, so that little sulphur islets occur in the aura, in the periphery. And now we look round in the native environment of the children to see where we can find sulphur. The whole valley of the Saal abounds in iron sulphide. Iron and sulphur are thus present in combination. You can study first the presence of iron in the neighbourhood, and then again the presence of sulphur; and you can take special note of the whereabouts of the beautiful pyrites (iron sulphide). These delicate and lovely cubes of pyrites with their beautiful golden gleam are a characteristic product of the valley of the Saale. Other regions nearby yield gypsum. Gypsum is, as you know, calcium sulphate with 20 per cent water. So that here again we have an opportunity to study sulphur—this time in combination with calcium. This kind of study of the soil will throw light for us on all that lives in the atmosphere etc.; and so we shall have first of all to give ourselves to the study of that which comes out of the ground and is connected with the absorption of sulphur and iron. For we have here a territory that is also very rich in iron, and the question arises: How does this opposite relationship come about in this territory in regard to earth and man, in the earth has a great power of attraction for iron, while the human being cannot attract iron at all, or only with difficulty? What constellations must be present to cause the human being to be particularly disposed to reject the iron and accept the sulphur?
Here we come into the realm of the cosmic; we have to set about investigating the constellations that were present at birth (we cannot of course do it for conception). And this will lead us to ask whether there were not in the case of these children who are albinos, quite special constellations, constellations moreover that can only seldom occur. We shall have to find what we can learn, not from the planets that move more quickly, but from the constellations of the planets that take a long time to revolve, such as Saturn and Uranus. You see, therefore, to what kind of questions such cases will lead us. We must first find the right questions to ask; when once we have the questions, then we are ready to begin our study.E5When the children were brought to Rudolf Steiner at Lauenstein, he particularly enquired whether there had not been some weakness or debility in the mother. The mother declared that she had never been seriously ill, but admitted that she had suffered from chlorosis as a girl and had in general been very anaemic. Rudolf Steiner: “So the mother, you see, was evidently, earlier on, in a delicate state of health.” The father too had in his youth been weak and ailing. Their first child, at whose birth the mother was twenty years old and the father twenty-two, died young of pneumonia. The second was the elder of the girls we are considering. The third, a boy, is entirely normal. Then came, as fourth, the younger of our two albinos.
Rudolf Steiner also made enquiries about the geological conditions of the district in which the children had been born. Information was given of the presence of pyrites and gypsum, to which allusion is made in the lecture. He then asked whether the people of the district were strikingly blond. This was denied; on the contrary, they are inclined to be dark. Lastly, he enquired whether the parents were relatives of one another; the answer was in the negative.
Rudolf Steiner then explained to us the connection of the albinism with the sulphur. “These children”, he said, “are completely sulphurous. In them, sulphur processes are permeating the entire body.” The children are “all eye”; processes which ought to be going on in the eye alone are here taking place throughout the body. The quivering in the eyes and the furtive glancing hither and thither are due to oscillation between ether body and astral body.
Now, for these children also, I would like to prescribe a little course of treatment, basing it on the indications I have given today. We will talk of that tomorrow.
I gather from a remark that was made to me this morning, that you are wanting something more than is contained in the lectures. These (you feel) go too much in the direction of “devotion to detail”—too much, that is, in the direction that you need! But I am really entirely ready to meet you in this matter, and propose to use here the new method I have been using with the workmen at the Goetheanum. For there I have allowed it gradually to come to this—that I ask them on what I am to speak; so that, ever since a certain date, the workmen themselves have been specifying the themes they want dealt with in the lectures. And now they can never complain that they do not get lectures on subjects they want to hear about.
Zehnter Vortrag
Es wird sich zunächst darum handeln, daß ich mit einigen Bemerkungen zurückkomme auf die Fälle, die Sie selber am Lauenstein vorliegen haben.
Da möchte ich zunächst besprechen jenen ältesten Buben, den Sie haben, der sechzehn Jahre alt ist und der im wesentlichen eine Minderwertigkeitsform dadurch gerade zeigt, daß er mit seinem Ich und astralischen Leib durch seine physische Organisation nicht durchkommt. Er ist Ihnen ja in verhältnismäßig spätem Alter erst übergeben worden. Ist es nicht so, daß Sie vorher nicht um ihn waren, Sie haben ihn erst im sechzehnten Lebensjahre bekommen? Daher liegt natürlich ein Fall mit deutlich entwickelten Antezedenzien vor. Hätte man den Knaben früher so behandelt, daß er einfach hätte fühlen können die Prinzipien der Waldorfschul-Pädagogik, also das Autoritätsprinzip zwischen Zahnwechsel und Geschlechtsreife, und wäre er geführt worden unter fortwährender Beobachtung derjenigen Dinge, für die er sich interessiert, hätte man dann, ausgehend von diesen Dingen, für die er sich interessiert, das Interessenfeld weiterziehen können, hätte man in diesem Lebensalter gerade mit einer sanft angebrachten Bleikur gewirkt, so hätte man den Jungen doch heute auf einem andern Seelenniveau. Denn der Junge hat ja, wie sich deutlich zeigt, Interessen. Hat auch ein ganz bestimmtes Können, aber Sie haben gesehen an der Probe, die da gemacht worden ist, wie die Sache liegt. Die Probe war eine verhältnismäßig einfache, aber an dieser ganz einfachen Probe konnten Sie sehen, was eigentlich vorliegt. Nicht wahr, der Junge bekam von mir eine ganz einfache Rechenaufgabe. Eine Subtraktion, wie man sie gewöhnt ist, nach der Methode der Waldorfschul-Pädagogik zu machen. Daß also gefragt wird: Was muß man von einer andern Zahl abziehen, damit eine bestimmte Zahl herauskommt? — Daß also nicht, wie es im gewöhnlichen Rechnen geht, ein Minuend und ein Subtrahend gegeben wird, sondern daß man den Minuend und den Rest gibt, der Subtrahend zu suchen ist. Das ist, was besonders hineinzieht in die Verfassung des seelischen Lebens, aber auf der andern Seite zur Entwickelung außerordentlich viel mehr beiträgt, als wenn man das Umgekehrte macht.
Nun, Sie haben gesehen, daß der Junge die Aufgabe lösen konnte, aber er konnte sie nicht im Augenblick lösen. Er kam ganz erfreut, nachdem er sie gelöst hatte, nachdem ich ihm gesagt hatte, in eineinhalb Stunden müsse er sie gelöst haben. Er hatte das Spatium von eineinhalb Stunden und war ganz erfreut, daß er die Aufgabe gelöst hatte. Da haben Sie klar gesehen, der Junge konnte die Sache. Alle Glieder seines Organismus sind eingeschaltet auf die Sache. Er braucht nur einen längeren Zeitraum, um die Sache auszuführen, das heißt sein Ätherleib und sein physischer Leib stemmen sich sofort entgegen, sie entfalten nicht ihre Funktion, trotzdem die Möglichkeiten zu dieser Funktion da sind.
Nun handelt es sich darum, daß der Junge, wenn man verfolgt, wie sich seine Interessen abspielen, durchaus die Interessen hat so, daß sie in der Kopforganisation bleiben. Sie können nicht hinunter in die übrige Organisation.
Für diese Sache ist ein kleines Stückchen ganz bezeichnend. Sie sahen, er kam mit seinem kleinen Kodak und wollte uns aufnehmen, er besorgte das ganz ordentlich und besorgte es mit tiefgehendem Interesse. Nun versuchte ich ihm nachher zu sagen, er solle noch eine andere Aufnahme machen. Dazu wäre aber nötig gewesen, daß er sich erst den Film geholt hätte, daß das Interesse weitergegriffen hätte als das, was unmittelbar nahe lag. Da sträubte er sich. Dazu war er nicht zu bringen. Wenn ihn ein Interesse im Augenblick ergreift, ist er ganz da. Soll er aber das hinunterbringen in das Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßensystem, sträuben sich sein Ätherleib und physischer Leib ganz mächtig. Und gerade da ist es notwendig, daß in diesem Lebensalter immer mehr, trotzdem es schwieriger wird wie früher, immer mehr mit einer pädagogischen Therapie eingegriffen werden muß, was notwendig macht, daß man diejenigen Dinge, die er mit einem gewissen Interesse verfolgt, als Ausgangspunkt nimmt, von da aus aber durchaus weitergeht, um den Interessenkreis nach allen Seiten hin zu erweitern. Man wird bei diesem Jungen ganz besonders viel erreichen, wenn man den immerhin ganz gesunden Instinkt berücksichtigt, den er trotzdem in sich hat. Man sieht nämlich immer, daß gesunde Instinkte bei abnormen Organisationen dennoch vorhanden sind. Der Junge wird sogleich eine Erweiterung des Interessenkreises erfahren, wenn man ihn hinleitet auf Dinge, zu denen Geschicklichkeit notwendig ist.
Er kann zunächst jenen Weg, der gemacht wird von der Kopforganisation zu der Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßenorganisation und, wie Sie gehört haben von mir, darüber hinaus, er kann diesen Teil des Weges schwierig besorgen, weil da keine Perzeptionsfähigkeit vorhanden ist. Auch nicht jene leise, die bei einem normalen Menschen vorhanden ist. Dagegen, sieht er das, was er selber vor sich hat, sieht er die Geschicklichkeit seiner eigenen Gliedmaßen, wird er daran große Freude haben. Man muß ihn also Sachen machen lassen, an denen er die Geschicklichkeit seiner eigenen Gliedmaßen sieht. Das wird insbesondere dadurch gefördert werden können, daß man ihn heileurythmische Übungen machen läßt mit Beinen und Händen, aber dabei in einem ganz energischen Maße die Zehen und die Finger zur Beweglichkeit bringt und ihn seinen Blick auf diese ganzen Bewegungsvorgänge der Gliedmaßen richten läßt, sich also selber ansehen läßt.
Es ist für solche Kinder, die deutlich schon zeigen, frühzeitig, daß sie diese Schwierigkeiten haben, daß sie dasjenige, was der Kopf ausmacht, nicht in den Organismus hinuntergehen lassen, für solche Kinder ist es gut — bei diesem Jungen ist es schon zu spät, aber Sie können ja immer solche Kinder bekommen -, da ist es ganz gut, wenn man versucht, erstens sie mit ihrem Kopfe ihre Füße erreichen zu lassen. Wenn Sie das selber probieren, werden Sie sehen, daß das eine schwierige Prozedur ist. Aber es ist gut, wenn man Kinder, die es schwer haben in dieser Hinsicht, dazu bringt, daß sie ihre eigenen Zehen küssen können. Dann ist es auch gut — und es wird immer wirken, es könnte sogar bei diesem Knaben noch außerordentlich segensreich sein —, wenn man solche Kinder veranlaßt, daß sie zwischen der großen Zehe und der nächsten Zehe den Bleistift halten und damit einzelne Buchstabenformen zuwege bringen und dann daran ihre Freude haben, zu schreiben mit dem Fuße. Das könnte vielleicht auch noch bei diesem Jungen ganz gute Dienste leisten. In solchen Fällen wird ihm dann — und das ist auch eine Art Heileurythmie, wenn er lernt mit den Zehen zu schreiben -— die Heileurythmie große Dienste leisten können. Nun, ob auch noch eine Bleikur bei diesem Alter die nötigen Dienste leistet, das wird sich ja zeigen, wenn man beginnt, die Dinge zu probieren und die Wirkungen ansieht,
Gerade aus dem, was ich gesagt habe, sehen Sie, daß eine feinere Beobachtung da notwendig ist. Man muß solche scheinbaren Kleinigkeiten, wie dieses Ausrechnen nach anderthalb Stunden, wie dieses Nicht-Wollen-ins-Haus-Zurückgehen, sich den Film holen und dergleichen, man muß dieses zu einem Gegenstand fortwährender Beobachtung machen. Dann geht eben daraus hervor, daß ein Wesentliches in der Erziehung von minderwertigen Kindern auch dadurch in die Hand des Erziehenden gegeben ist, daß diese Erziehenden sich angewöhnen müssen, einen Sinn zu haben für alles dasjenige, was mit dem betreffenden Kinde vor sich geht. Sehen Sie, Sie werden sagen: Ja, welche Zeit nimmt denn die Erziehung von minderwertigen Kindern in Anspruch? Man muß immer seine Aufmerksamkeit darauf verwenden, man kann gar nicht meditieren, man hat gar keine Zeit, etwas anderes zu tun. — Das ist nicht der Fall, und diese Ansicht innerlich zu bekämpfen, gehört schon zu der Esoterik einer solchen Lebensaufgabe. Es handelt sich gar nicht darum, daß man den ganzen Tag gewissermaßen auf Auslug steht, sondern daß man sich einen Sinn erwirbt für charakteristische Vorkommnisse. Unter Umständen kann derjenige, der eine Anzahl von Kindern beobachten gelernt hat, in verhältnismäßig kurzer Zeit, in fünf oder zehn Minuten ein Kind durchaus durchschauen, wenn er überall den Blick richtig anwendet. Nicht darauf kommt es an, wieviel Zeit man mit den Dingen verbringt, sondern wie stark man sich innerlich damit verbindet. Viel Zeit wird gerade in geistigen Berufen erspart werden, wenn man berücksichtigen wird, daß man sich innerlich mit den betreffenden Erscheinungen wirklich verbinden muß.
Nun war da auch ein Knabe, ein typischer Fall, ein fünfzehnjähriger epileptischer Knabe. Für diesen Knaben haben Sie den typischen Fall an demjenigen, den wir hier gehabt haben, nur ist er wieder eine Anzahl von Jahren älter, der Ihrige. Da handelt es sich darum, daß man die Schwierigkeit berücksichtigt, die dadurch gegeben ist, daß man bei Ihrem Knaben den Übergang in die Geschlechtsreife hat. Wurde er nicht kastriert? Der Vorgang im ganzen Organismus liegt vor. Und da der Junge kastriert ist, hat man es um so mehr mit einer außerordentlich vehementen Erscheinung zu tun, nämlich mit der Reaktion, die durch diesen künstlichen Einfluß auf die Geschlechtsentwickelung ausgeübt wird. So wie der Junge sich darstellt, stellt er sich dar als ein Junge, bei dem sich gerade der Übergang in die Geschlechtsreife außerordentlich schwierig ergeben wird. Denn das Geschlechtsreifwerden ist ja ein Vorgang im ganzen Organismus. Und für ihn hat jetzt die Kastration gar keine weitere Bedeutung noch, als daß sie reaktiv zurückwirkt auf die Geschlechtsreife. So daß es sich bei diesem Jungen einfach darum handeln wird, zu berücksichtigen, daß er in einem Stadium steht, wo es notwendig ist, ihn so zu behandeln, wie man im Geschlechtsreifealter stehende Knaben zu behandeln hat: sie nämlich sorgfältig in Zusammenhang bringen mit allem demjenigen, was ihnen Interesse für die Vorgänge der Welt, in die sie hineingestellt sind, beibringt. Vor allen Dingen handelt es sich darum, daß man Waldorfschul-Pädagogik auf sie anwendet. Daß man versucht, ihn nicht seinen innerlichen Erregungen zu überlassen, sondern daß man versucht, ihn nach außen hin fortdauernd zu beschäftigen, so daß er für äußerliche Dinge und Vorgänge ein intensives Interesse entwickelt.
Schildern Sie mir, wie weit der Junge im Schulmäßigen ist. Vielleicht können Sie das schildern, wie weit er im Schulmäßigen ist.
Albrecht Strohschein: Er kann weder lesen noch schreiben, es wurde überhaupt noch gar nichts angefangen in bezug auf das Schulmäßige im vorigen Jahr. Im vorigen Jahr hatte Frau F. mit ihm angefangen das Lesen und Schreiben, aber mit diesem Montesso rikasten; er kam durchaus nicht weiter, konnte keine Fortschritte machen, und so ist er eigentlich im Schulmäßigen auf dem Nullpunkt.
Er zeigt eine gewisse Stumpfheit gegenüber den äußeren Eindrükken. - Nun, wir haben da gerade die Notwendigkeit, die WaldorfschulPädagogik so wie bei ganz kleinen Kindern anzuwenden, also vom Malerischen auszugehen und ihn einfach dahin zu bringen, daß er dasjenige, was ihn innerlich quält, in die Farben hineinlegt. Man läßt ihn zunächst malen und wird sehen, was er dabei herausbekommt. Und von da aus geht man dann weiter in demjenigen, was sich aus seinen eigenen Veranlagungen da ergibt.
Es wird gerade bei diesem Jungen aber unbedingt notwendig sein, therapeutisch einzugreifen. Wir hatten doch noch keine Therapie besprochen? Er sollte Algen bekommen und Belladonna. Also dies würde das Therapeutische sein, was da einzugreifen hätte. Die Algeninjektionen, die können Sie ja ihrem Wesen nach verstehen, aber es ist gut, wenn Sie über diese Dinge tiefer nachsinnen, weil Sie sie ja selbständig in den einzelnen Fällen anwenden sollen. Warum kann man in einem solchen Fall an Algeninjektionen denken? Bei der Alge haben wir es zu tun mit einer Pflanze, die weder stark ausgebildete Wurzelbildung hat, noch stark ausgebildete Blütenbildung. Es schieben sich eigentlich Blüte und Wurzel zusammen. Und das hauptsächlichste ist eigentlich die Krautorganisation, die alles übrige aus sich hervorbringt. Das Blatt überwiegt, so daß bei dieser Pflanze kein sehr intensives Verhältnis zur Erde da ist. Auf der andern Seite ist auch zum äußeren Kosmos kein intensives Verhältnis vorhanden, sondern es ist ein Verhältnis zu alledem vorhanden, was sich abspielt im wäßrigen und luftförmigen Element, unmittelbar an der Erdoberfläche. Algen und Pilze sind diejenigen Pflanzen, die ganz eingetaucht sind in die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Luft und wäßrigem Element. Nun ist das Eigentümliche dieses, daß diese Pflanzen zu der sehr geringen Menge von Schwefel, der heute überall verbreitet ist, sowohl im Wäßrigen wie in der Luft, daß sie zu diesem eine starke Anziehung haben. Dadurch eignen sich diese Pflanzen, wenn man sie in den rhythmischen Organismus hineinbringt, ganz besonders gut dazu, die Harmonie herzustellen zwischen dem astralischen Leib und dem AÄtherleib. Nun, das fehlt gerade bei einem solchen Jungen.
Nun merkt man, daß man es zu tun hat mit einer Störung, die davon ausgeht, daß die Ich-Organisation den astralischen Leib zu stark in Anspruch nimmt und nicht hineinläßt in den ätherischen Leib, dann muß man mehr zu den Pilzen greifen. Zu den Algen, die sich mehr nähern den gewöhnlichen Pflanzen, wird man greifen, wenn sich der physische Leib und der ätherische Leib weigern, den astralischen Leib hineinzulassen, wenn die Disharmonie dadurch zustande kommt, daß von dem Ätherleib aus der Widerstand kommt, wo nicht eine überwiegende Anziehung der Ich-Organisation da ist, sondern vom AÄtherleib aus der besondere Widerstand kommt.
Dann war ein Mädchen da. Können Sie das nicht schildern nach den Angaben, die ich gemacht habe?
Albrecht Strohschein: Ein Mädchen mit aufgeworfenen Lippen. Da wiesen Sie darauf hin, daß zwischen dem dritten und vierten Jahr etwas Besonderes geschehen sein müsse mit dem Astralleib, daß es ein starkes Jucken und Kratzen hat haben müssen. Die Mutter bestätigte uns nachher, daß hohe Temperaturen aufgetreten sind und daß Jucken da war. Für die Therapie ist angegeben: Nikotinklysma, und wenn das nicht hilft: Nikotininjektionen. Sie ist fünfzehn Jahre alt.
Nun, nicht wahr, wir haben ein Mädchen, das fünfzehn Jahre alt geworden ist, das aber deutlich zeigt, daß in einer wenig intensiven Weise die astralische Organisation in den ganzen Organismus eingegriffen hat. Der ganze Typus des Mädchens zeigt das. Vor allen Dingen “erweist sich die astralische Organisation als viel zu schwach, das Ich festzuhalten gegenüber jenen Versuchungen, die beim Menschen entstehen, wenn er ißt, das Essen, das Schmecken gar zu süß, zu lieblich, zu wohltuend zu empfinden. Wenn der astralische Leib nicht genügend tätig ist in der Region des unteren Antlitzes, dann werfen sich die Lippen besonders am Munde auf, weil eine zu starke Wollust mit dem Schmecken, mit dem Verarbeiten der Speisen schon im Munde vorhanden ist. Solche Erscheinungen haben lange Antezedenzien und es kann natürlich so etwas auftreten in irgendeinem Zeitraum, der verhältnismäßig spät liegt. Nun, nicht wahr, ich gab dazumal an, daß eine Unregelmäßigkeit in der kindlichen Entwickelung aufgetreten sein müßte zwischen dem dritten und vierten Lebensjahr.
So etwas zu bemerken, können Sie natürlich von sich selber erst verlangen, wenn Sie sich mit der eben geschilderten Liebe, auf die ich ja so großen Wert legen muß, in solche Dinge überhaupt erst einleben. Sie dürfen eigentlich nie die Ausrede gebrauchen: Ja, um solche Dinge wahrzunehmen, muß ich erst hellsehend sein. - Das ist eine innere Faulheit, die derjenige, der einen Erzieherberuf ergreift, eigentlich gar nicht haben darf. Sondern es handelt sich darum, daß Sie lange, bevor Sie jene Hellsichtigkeit erlangen, die zum Beispiel für die Forschung im allgemeinen notwendig ist, daß Sie durch die liebevolle Hingabe an dasjenige, was aus dem Menschen herauskommt, was sich entwickelt gerade in abnormen Zuständen, daß Sie durch die liebevolle Hingabe in sich die Fähigkeit erzeugen, hinzublicken einfach auf das, worauf es ankommt. Sie sagen sich in dem Momente selber das Richtige. Natürlich gehört dazu der esoterische Mut. Dieser esoterische Mut, der wird im Menschen entwickelt, wenn ihm nicht eines gegenübersteht.
Sehen Sie, es ist ja eine merkwürdige Erscheinung, daß diese inneren Intuitionen von den Menschen, die sie verhältnismäßig gut haben können, so wenig bemerkt werden. Die Anthroposophen haben doch so viele Gelegenheiten, auf diese inneren Intuitionen achtzugeben, sie haben sie auch viel mehr, als man glaubt, aber sie geben nicht acht darauf, weil sie sich hingestellt finden in dem Augenblick, wo sie auf so etwas achtgeben sollen, vor eine beim Menschen schwer besiegbare Eitelkeit. Nicht wahr, mit diesem Entdecken von Fähigkeiten sprossen herauf alle möglichen Eitelkeitsimpulse, und zu all den Dingen, die ich zum Beispiel vom heutigen Zeitalter gestern geschildert habe, die ich auch bei andern Gelegenheiten geschildert habe, gehört auch die Neigung, die ungeheure Neigung der heutigen Menschheit, zu Eitelkeiten zu kommen.
Sehen Sie, da liegt schon etwas vor, was insbesondere diejenigen berücksichtigen müssen, welche aus der heutigen Jugend heraus — und dazu gehören Sie ja auch - sich irgendwie einem großen Beruf widmen, wie sie schon eigentlich entstehen müssen und die wieder regenerierend auf die Menschheit wirken müssen. Es ist wirklich nicht mit Mißverständnis oder Unverständnis von der heutigen Jugendbewegung gesprochen, sondern aus einem wirklichen Verständnis heraus, wenn ich Ihnen das Folgende sage: Die heutige Jugendbewegung ist eine Notwendigkeit, ist etwas außerordentlich Bedeutsames, auch etwas für die verständigen Älteren im höchsten Grade Interessantes. Also gegen die Jugendbewegung soll gar nicht das Geringste gesagt werden. Es soll auch nichts dagegen gesagt werden, daß die ältere Generation so wenig Anlage hat, die heutige Jugendbewegung zu verstehen und daß gerade daran vieles gescheitert ist, weil man sie zu leicht nimmt, nicht genügend eingeht auf sie. Aber auf der andern Seite muß dann, wenn es sich in der Jugendbewegung darum handelt, konkrete, bestimmte Aufgaben zu ergreifen, etwas berücksichtigt werden von der Jugend selber. Natürlich müssen diejenigen, die in solchen Dingen Erfahrung haben, darauf aufmerksam machen. Von der Jugend muß etwas berücksichtigt sein, was ungemein erschwerend ist für alles, was aus der Jugendbewegung hervorgehen soll. Das ist eine gewisse Eitelkeit. Eitelkeit ist auf dem Grunde der Jugendbewegung überall vorhanden, weniger vorhanden aus irgendeiner Ungezogenheit als vielmehr aus jenem Grunde, welcher das wohl notwendig macht: weil gerade, weil das Wollen notwendig macht eine starke Entfaltung innerer Fähigkeiten, einfach durch ahrimanische Einflüsse die Eitelkeit in einem hohen Maße heraufdämmert. Sehen Sie, ich habe in meinem Leben viel hoffnungsvolle Menschen der verschiedensten Lebensalter beobachten können. Es war mir möglich, manche Erscheinung auf diesem Gebiete ganz intim zu beobachten, aber man konnte sehen, daß mit dem Heraufkommen des Zeitalters, das auf das Kali Yuga folgte, die Eitelkeit — nicht bloß bei der Jugend, aber hier interessiert uns jetzt diese spezielle Form, die bei der Jugend heraufkommt - ganz besonders stark aufsprießte und die Jugend selber hindert, die Eigenschaft zu entwickeln, die eben im heutigen Jungsein liegt. Daher die Erscheinung, die so häufig eintritt: das allgemeine Reden von Missionen, von großen Aufgaben, und die geringe Neigung, auf die speziellen kleinen Dinge, die man dazu braucht, einzugehen.
Man wird gerade in der Zukunft brauchen das, was einmal auf einem außerordentlich philiströsen Territorium, aber aus einer gewissen Intuition heraus, genannt worden ist: die Andacht zum Kleinen. Das ist etwas, was sich gerade die Jugend aneignen müßte. Sie schweigt zu stark in Abstraktionen. Das ist aber das, was mit Wucht hinaufreißt in die Eitelkeit.
Sie müssen bedenken, was für eine Schwierigkeit da vorliegt und müssen das zum Inhalt Ihres esoterischen Strebens machen. Sie müssen daran denken, welche ungeheure Schwierigkeit da vorliegt. Derjenige, der dazu kommen soll, daß er aus intuitivem Blick heraus einem Menschen irgend etwas sagt — auf der flachen Hand liegen die Dinge ja nicht, und das, was der Laie sagt, ist in der Regel falsch gegenüber minderwertigen Kindern, es kommt darauf an, daß man durchschaut auf dasjenige, was da eben ist —, braucht etwas dazu, dazu braucht er, daß er in energischer, mutvoller Weise sich selber sagt, nicht bloß im Augenblick, sondern es zum fortdauernden qualitativen Inhalt seines Bewußtseins hat: Ich kann das. - Wenn Sie das ohne Eitelkeit, sogar mit Opferwilligkeit, mit Überwindung derjenigen Dinge, die dagegen sind, wenn Sie sich das immer wieder und wieder sagen, nicht bloß empfinden, dann werden Sie sehen, wieviel Sie nach dieser Richtung gerade können. Also nicht im Spintisieren, nicht in Gedankengeweben das suchen, was sich entwickeln soll, sondern in diesem fortdauernden mutvollen Bewußtsein, das sich dadurch einfach entwickelt, daß man in der allereinfachsten Weise dasjenige, was von ungeheurem Schmutz und Sumpf und Torfmoor bedeckt ist, bildlich gesprochen, aus seiner Seele heraufholt.
Die Menschen können im allgemeinen auf dem Gebiete der Pädagogik nichts erreichen, weil sie nicht ernsthaftig jemals eine Wahrheit in sich rege gemacht haben. Die besteht darin, daß Sie sich am Abend einleben in das Bewußtsein: In mir ist Gott, in mir ist Gott, oder der Gottesgeist, oder was immer — aber sich dieses nicht bloß theoretisch vorschwätzen, die Meditationen der meisten Menschen bestehen darin, daß sie sich etwas theoretisch vorschwätzen -, und am Morgen so, daß das hineinstrahlt in den ganzen Tag: Ich bin in Gott. — Bedenken Sie nur, wenn Sie diese zwei Vorstellungen, die ganz Empfindung, ja Willensimpulse werden, in sich rege machen, was Sie da eigentlich tun. Sie tun das, daß Sie dieses Bild vor sich haben: In mir ist Gott — und daß am nächsten Morgen Sie dieses Bild vor sich haben: Ich bin in Gott. - Das ist eines und dasselbe, die obere und untere Figur (siehe Tafel 12). Und Sie müssen einfach verstehen: das ist ein Kreis, das ist ein Punkt. Es kommt nur abends nicht heraus, es kommt nur morgens heraus. Morgens müssen Sie denken: das ist ein Kreis, das ist ein Punkt. Sie müssen verstehen, daß ein Kreis ein Punkt, ein Punkt ein Kreis ist, und müssen das ganz innerlich verstehen.
Sehen Sie, damit kommen Sie überhaupt erst an den Menschen heran. Denn wenn Sie sich erinnern an die Zeichnung, die ich Ihnen vom Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßenmenschen und vom Kopfmenschen gegeben habe, bedeutet diese Zeichnung gar nichts anderes als die Ausprägung und Verwirklichung dessen, was jetzt in einer einfachen Weise in einer Meditationsfigur vor Sie hingestellt wird. Im Menschen ist das verwirklicht, daß der Ich-Punkt des Kopfes im Gliedmaßenmenschen zum Kreis wird, der natürlich konfiguriert ist. Und Sie lernen verstehen überhaupt den ganzen Menschen, wenn Sie in dieser Weise an ihn herangehen, wenn Sie versuchen, ihn innerlich zu verstehen. Aber zuerst müssen Sie dieses haben, daß die zwei Figuren, die zwei Vorstellungen ein und dasselbe sind, daß sie gar nicht unterschieden sind voneinander. Nur von außen angesehen sind sie verschieden. Da ist ein gelber Kreis, da ist er auch. Da ist ein blauer Punkt, da ist er auch. Warum? Weil das die schematische Figur des Kopfes ist, weil das die schematische Figur des Leibes ist. Aber wenn der Punkt sich behauptet in den Leib hinein, dann wird er eben zum Rückenmark; wenn der Punkt hier sich hineinbegibt, wird dasjenige, was er sein soll in der Kopforganisation, dann eben Rückenmarkansatz (siehe Tafel 12). Die innere Dynamik der Morphologie ergibt sich Ihnen einfach dadurch. Sie können eine Anatomie, eine Physiologie bekommen, indem Sie von dem ausgehend meditieren. Dann kriegen Sie schon die innere Intuition, inwiefern Ihr Oberkiefer und Ihr Unterkiefer Gliedmaßen sind, inwiefern der Kopf ein ganzer Organismus ist, der aufhockt oben - seine Gliedmaßen sind verkümmert -, in der Verkümmerung sie umbildet zu Kiefern, und Sie bekommen die Anschauung, wie in einem polarischen Gegensatz Zähne stehen und Zehen. Sehen Sie sich nur einmal die Ansätze der Kieferknochen an, so werden Sie die verkümmerte Zehenbildung, die verkümmerte Fuß- und Handbildung darin wahrnehmen.
Aber es darf eben die Meditation, die in solchen Dingen wirkt, nicht die Stimmung haben, meine lieben Freunde: Ich will mich innerlich in ein warmes Nest legen, es soll mir immer warm und wärmer werden -, sondern es muß die Stimmung vorliegen, daß man in die Wirklichkeit untertaucht, daß man die Wirklichkeit ergreift. Andacht zum Kleinen. Ja zum Kleinsten. Es darf nicht das Interesse für dieses Kleine ausgetrieben werden, meine lieben Freunde. Es muß so sein, daß Sie das Ohrläppchen, der abgeschnittene Fingernagel, ein Stück des menschlichen Haares ebenso interessiert, wie Saturn, Sonne, Mond. Denn schließlich ist in einem solchen menschlichen Haar alles andere darinnen, und derjenige, der kahlköpfig wird, verliert ja tatsächlich einen ganzen Kosmos. Es ist tatsächlich so, daß innerlich erschaffen werden kann dasjenige, was äußerlich sichtbar ist, wenn man nur jene Überwindung hat, welche im meditativen Leben eben notwendig ist. Aber diese Überwindung trifft man nie, wenn irgend Spuren von Eitelkeit auftauchen, und die tauchen eben an allen Ecken und Enden auf. Deshalb, meine lieben Freunde, ist es notwendig, wenn Sie wirklich Erzieher, besonders minderwertiger Kinder werden wollen, daß Sie diese Andacht im Kleinen in der allerallerbescheidensten Weise entwickeln, und davon ausgehend, dann auch wiederum diese Andacht zum Kleinen in der übrigen Jugendbewegung erwecken.
Dann kommen eben diese Möglichkeiten, auf so etwas hingewiesen zu werden, was ja dann — wie es ja auch in diesem Falle geschehen ist — äußerlich verifiziert wird. Da muß ich nun sagen, da sehe ich die größten Fehler, die bei den Unternehmungen innerhalb unserer anthroposophischen Bewegung geschehen. — Sehen Sie, da liegt also der Fall vor: Bei dem Mädchen sagte ich Ihnen, es müsse eine Art von Abnormität dagewesen sein zwischen dem dritten und vierten Lebensjahr. Sie fragen die Mutter, die Mutter bestätigt Ihnen das. Was haben Sie nachher getan? Wollen Sie das einmal ganz ehrlich und aufrichtig schildern, was haben Sie getan, wie Ihnen die Mutter das bestätigt hat?
Schweigen.
Wollen Sie einmal ganz esoterisch ehrlich sein, Sie drei? Was haben Sie getan?
Schweigen.
Wenn Sie das Richtige getan hätten, würden Sie sagen: Wir sind gesprungen darüber, daß der Plafond ein Loch bekommen hat! — Dann aber würde auch noch heute der Reflex von diesem Sprung nicht nur sprechen aus Ihnen, sondern leuchten.
Das ist es gerade: der Enthusiasmus im Erleben der Wahrheit! Das ist dasjenige, was da sein muß. Das ist dasjenige, was mir seit Jahren in einer so furchtbaren Weise in der anthroposophischen Bewegung Schmerz macht, daß die Menschen so fest auf den Beinen stehen, die Jungen fast genau so fest wie die Alten. Und denken wir darüber nach, wie sie fest auf ihren Beinen stehen können! Sehen Sie, da war im Grunde genommen der Nietzsche doch ein anderer Kerl, wenn er auch krank darüber geworden ist. Er hat seinen Zarathustra einen Tänzer werden lassen. Werden Sie doch Tänzer, in dem Sinne, wie es bei Zarathustra gemeint ist! Leben Sie mit innerster Freude an der Wahrheit! Es gibt ja nichts Entzückenderes als das Erleben der Wahrheit. Das ist etwas, was eine viel wichtigere und wesentlichere Esoterik ist als das, was mit den langen Gesichtern herumläuft. Dieses innere Erleben der Wahrheit, das ist das, was lange vorangehen muß allem übrigen SichEinreden von einer Mission.
Bei dem Mädchen zwischen drei und vier Jahren trat ein okkultes Fieber auf. Das nennt man auch in der Medizin okkultes Fieber. Das ist eine derjenigen Stellen in der Medizin, wo diese ihre frühere Sprachweise beibehalten hat. Wenn irgendein Arzt nicht weiß, woher das Fieber kommt, nennt er das ein okkultes Fieber. Dieses okkulte Fieber trat auf, es war eine besondere Schwäche in diesem Zeitraum vorhanden zwischen dem dritten und vierten Jahr, es war eine besondere Schwäche des astralischen Leibes. Der physische Leib und der Ätherleib machten eine Reaktion, und es entwickelten sich diese dann zu stark, es konnte nicht mehr nach der astralische Leib. Daher ist es bei diesem Kinde ganz besonders notwendig, daß man erstens weiß: hier tritt mit dem dritten Jahre ein ein merkwürdiges Verkümmern, In-sich-Verkrampfen des astralischen Leibes; ich muß dem nachhelfen. Dem muß ordentlich nachgeholfen werden, und das kann man auf pädagogische Weise dadurch, daß man das Interesse beweglich macht. Nun schildern Sie, wie war es bei diesem Mädchen mit dem Schulmäßigen?
Albrecht Strohschein: Das Mädchen werden wir nicht in der Anstalt haben, es wird nur zur Behandlung kommen. Es war in der Hilfsschule bis zum sechzehnten Jahr, kann lesen und schreiben, und rechnen mit Zahlen bis ungefähr tausend. Sonst kennen wir das Mädchen weiter nicht, es war nur zur Vorstellung oben. - Es wurde angegeben Klysmamit Tabak.
Es wird sich darum handeln, daß es mit Heileurythmie behandelt wird.
Warum ist das? Das ist aus dem Grunde, weil infolge des Verkümmerns des astralischen Leibes bei dem Kinde eine sehr starke Neigung zur Deformation des oberen Organismus eingetreten ist. Das Kind hat ein außerordentlich brutales Aussehen, weil sich alles, was nach den Kauwerkzeugen hin liegt, deformiert. Nun gerade in diesem Falle wird die nun wirklich von dem hiesigen Klinisch-Therapeutischen Institut so sehr sorgfältig ausgeprüfte antideformierende Wirkung des Nikotinsaftes seine gute Wirkung tun können. Man kann dann auch zunächst langsam vorwärtsgehen, gibt es zuerst per os und beobachtet dann sorgfältig; man muß sich einen Blick dafür aneignen, ob die Kauwerkzeuge anfangen, mehr in die Herrschaft des Organismus zu kommen. Hier liegen sie fast ganz außerhalb des Bereiches dessen, was das Kind mit der Seele ergreift. Sie lagern nur da. Das Kind kann durch die Beibringung von Nikotinsaft per os in einer entsprechenden Dezimale man kann anfangen mit der sechsten und bis zur fünfzehnten gehen behandelt werden. Findet man aber, daß die Wirkungen zu schwach sind, bringt man den Nikotinsaft in Hochpotenzen in die Zirkulation, so daß unmittelbar durch die Zirkulation der astralische Leib ergriffen wird dadurch, und man wird sehen, daß man das, was man durch das innerliche Eingeben nicht erreicht, auf diesem Wege erreicht.
Es ist aber vielleicht gut — das muß ich noch nachträglich hinzufügen -, wenn man dann versucht, die Wirkungen, die da innerhalb des astralischen Leibes erhalten bleiben sollen, nicht zu stark in die IchOrganisation heraufspielen zu lassen, sie stoppt vor der Ich-Organisation. Das kann dadurch erreicht werden, daß man, wenn auch selten, vielleicht nur in der Woche einmal, ein Bad mit einem schwachen Schwefelzusatz verabreicht, ein schwaches Schwefelbad.
Sehen Sie, wir werden noch morgen die andern Fälle besprechen, die da waren, und es wird mir eine besondere Befriedigung sein, die interessante Erscheinung, die ja gerade dort bei Ihnen sich besonders studieren läßt, die interessante Erscheinung der Albinos ins Auge zu fassen. Wir hatten zwei solche Menschenkinder, ein älteres mit fünfzehn Jahren und ein ganz kleines Schwesterchen vorliegen. Haben Sie vielleicht davon die Horoskope gemacht?
Frage an Dr. Elisabeth Vreede, welche die Horoskope übergibt.
Das ist das ältere Mädchen, das ist das jüngere. — Wie steht der Uranus? Konstellationen haben Sie nicht besondere gefunden?
Dr. Elisabeth Vreede: Doch, hier gerade bei Uranus und Neptun. Neptun in Opposition zu Uranus, bei dem älteren Mädchen.
Sehen Sie, nicht wahr, nun sind diese Kinder da. Überall, wo man diese Kinder sieht, zeigen sich ja zwei Haupterscheinungen. Die ganz hellen Haare und das schlechte Sehen mit der Veränderung der Augen. Diese zwei Erscheinungen sind die Urphänomene. Das weist aber schon bei ganz oberflächlicher Betrachtung darauf hin, daß man es zu tun hat bei den Albinos mit einer gegenüber der Eisenverarbeitung sehr schwachen Organisation, und daß man es zu tun hat mit einer Organisation, die ungeheuer leicht den Schwefel verarbeitet. Also die Tatsache liegt da vor, daß die Organisation sich sträubt gegen das Eisen, und zwar namentlich sich sträubt gegen das Eisen in der Verarbeitung zur Peripherie hin, es stoppt vor der Peripherie; und es wird gerade der Schwefel nach der Peripherie hingetrieben und über die Peripherie hinausgetrieben, so daß man sieht in der Region der Haarbildung überall die Schwefelaura, die die Haarbildung bleicht, ihnen ihre Kraft herausnimmt. Und in der verhältnismäßig selbständigen Augenbildung, die sogar embryonal von außen in den Organismus hineingebildet werden, sieht man erst recht die selbständige Schwefelaura, die die Augen förmlich dazu drängt, aus dem Ätherischen heraus in das Astralische hinein ihr Wesen zu treiben. Man sieht geradezu bei solchen Kindern das Auge aus seiner Felsenhöhle ausgerissen, den Ätherleib unberücksichtigt gelassen, den Astralleib im Auge ganz besonders stark in Anspruch genommen.
Nun entstehen da sehr wichtige Fragen. Der Mensch steht auf der einen Seite in bezug auf seine Bildung im Zusammenhang mit denjenigen Kräften, die in der Erde sind, und die sich uns verraten durch die Substanz der Erde, und er steht im Zusammenhang mit dem ganzen Kosmos. Von beiden ist er abhängig. Beide sitzen sowohl in der individuell-karmischen Fortentwickelung wie auch in der Vererbungsströmung. — Nun die Vererbungsströmungen. Bei den zwei Kindern, die präsentiert worden sind, liegen weder bei Vater noch bei Mutter etwas von Albinoerscheinungen vor. Nichts, gar nichts, normale Menschen. Dagegen in der Aszendenz gab es irgendwo eine Großmutter, von der gesagt wird, daß sie auch Albinoerscheinungen hatte.
Dr. Ilse Knaner: Es war eine Schwester der Mutter dieses Kindes.
Also eine Tante. Es liegt eben in der Aszendenz. Wir brauchen nur auf das einzugehen, daß in der Aszendenz durchaus eine Neigung dazu vorliegt. Sagten Sie mir an diesem Tage nicht, daß sich noch andere Kinder ergeben hätten, auch in Jena, aus der Saalegegend?
Dr. Ilse Knauer: Zwei Kinder und ein Erwachsener, Zweiunddreißigjähriger, der bereits verheiratet ist. Unter diesen dreien findet sich bloß ein Fall, wo ein Albino in der Aszendenz vorhanden war.
Sie sehen, daß die Sache auftritt, man möchte sagen, in einem gewissen Sinne endemisch gebunden an das Territorium. Aber von einer andern Seite aus scharf durchkreuzt. Ganz sporadisch, unter gewissen Umständen wächst aus dem Territorium ein Albino heraus und sonst nicht. Da liegt also die Frage vor: Wie wächst der Albino heraus aus einem Territorium?
Wir wissen, daß es eine Verschwefelung bis nach außen hin ist, so daß kleine Schwefelinfarkte in der Aura auftreten, in der Peripherie. Dann suchen wir in der Umgebung, wo Schwefel auftritt. Nun ist das ganze Saaletal versehen mit Schwefelkies, und Sie haben also die Verbindung von Schwefel und Eisen in einer solchen Art vorhanden, daß man studieren kann: wie ist das Eisen in der Umgebung, wie ist der Schwefel in der Gegend, wo besonders in dieser Gegend die wunderbar schönen Pyrite auftauchen, die in der Saalegegend sind. Diese schönen, feinen, goldglänzenden Pyritwürfel tauchen in der Saalegegend auf (siehe Tafel 12). Die andern Gegenden dort in der Nähe sind gipshaltig. Gips ist, wie Sie wissen, mit zwanzig Prozent Wasser schwefelsaurer Kalk. Also wieder haben wir die Möglichkeit, den Schwefel zu studieren in seiner Bindung in dem Gips. Das wirft Licht auf alles dasjenige, was in der Atmosphäre lebt und so weiter, so daß man zunächst eingehen muß auf alles dasjenige, was aus dem Boden heraus mit der Schwefel- und Eisenabsorption zusammenhängt. Sie haben auch sonst ein sehr eisenreiches Territorium und die Frage entsteht: Wie bildet sich ein gegenseitiges Verhältnis heraus zwischen Erde und Mensch, so daß die Erde das Eisen stark heranziehen kann, der Mensch aber nicht oder nur mit Schwierigkeit? Welche Konstellationen müssen da sein, um den Menschen besonders geeignet zu machen, Eisen zurückzuweisen und den Schwefel aufzunehmen? — Da kommen Sie auf das Kosmische, da untersuchen Sie die Konstellationen, die vorhanden sind — bei der Konzeption kann man das nicht — bei der Geburt bei einem solchen Kinde. Da wird sich zeigen, daß die Frage herantritt, ob bei diesen Kindern, die als Albino auftreten, ganz besondere Konstellationen vorliegen, und zwar so vorliegen, daß sie nicht so auftreten können, daß sie nur selten auftreten können. Da werden wir das Entsprechende nicht zu suchen haben bei denjenigen Angaben, die hervorgehen aus Planetenumdrehungen, die schnell vor sich gehen, sondern wir werden bei denjenigen Planeten die Konstellation zu suchen haben, die lange brauchen, bis sie sich umdrehen, also bei Saturn und Uranus. Sie sehen also, wie sich die Fragen stellen in einem solchen Falle. Erst muß man die Fragen haben, dann kann man eingehen auf einen solchen Fall.
Nun möchte ich eine kleine Kur auch hier angeben. Ich werde also das, was hier angedeutet ist, auch hier anwenden. Ich werde das morgen hier besprechen.
Nach dem, was mir heute morgen gesagt worden ist, wollen Sie noch etwas anderes, als die Vorträge enthalten, weil sie zu stark nach der «Andacht zum Kleinen» gehen, nach dem, was Sie brauchen; ich möchte Ihnen auch da in der stärksten Weise entgegenkommen, indem ich ebenso die neue Methode anwende, wie ich sie bei den Arbeitern angewendet habe. Da habe ich die Vorträge nach und nach so auslaufen lassen, daß ich frage, über was ich sprechen soll, so daß von einem gewissen Punkt an die Themen, die sie besprochen haben wollen, von ihnen selber gestellt werden. Jetzt können die Arbeiter niemals schimpfen, daß ihnen nicht über das vorgetragen wird, was sie wollen.
Tenth Lecture
First, I will return with a few comments on the cases you yourselves have at Lauenstein.
First, I would like to discuss your eldest son, who is sixteen years old and who essentially displays a form of inferiority complex in that he cannot get through with his ego and astral body through his physical organization. He was only handed over to you at a relatively late age. Is it not the case that you were not there for him before, that you only got him at the age of sixteen? Therefore, this is naturally a case with clearly developed antecedents. If the boy had been treated earlier in such a way that he could simply have felt the principles of Waldorf school education, that is, the principle of authority between the change of teeth and sexual maturity, and had he been guided under constant observation of the things that interest him, had one been able to broaden his field of interest based on these things that interest him, had one acted at this age with a gently applied lead cure, then the boy would be at a different soul level today. For the boy clearly has interests. He also has a very specific ability, but you saw from the test that was carried out how things stand. The test was a relatively simple one, but from this very simple test you could see what is actually going on. Isn't that right, I gave the boy a very simple arithmetic problem. A subtraction, as one is accustomed to doing, according to the Waldorf school teaching method. So the question is: What must be subtracted from another number to get a certain number? — So that, unlike in ordinary arithmetic, a minuend and a subtrahend are not given, but rather the minuend and the remainder are given, and the subtrahend must be found. This is what particularly draws one into the constitution of the soul life, but on the other hand contributes much more to development than if one does the reverse.
Now, you saw that the boy was able to solve the problem, but he couldn't solve it right away. He came back very pleased after he had solved it, after I had told him that he had to solve it in an hour and a half. He had the space of an hour and a half and was very pleased that he had solved the problem. You saw clearly that the boy was capable of doing it. All the parts of his organism are geared towards the task. He just needs a longer period of time to carry it out, which means that his etheric body and his physical body immediately resist, they do not perform their function, even though the possibilities for this function are there.
Now, if you follow the boy's interests, you will see that they remain in the head organization. They cannot descend into the rest of the organization.
A small detail is very telling in this regard. You saw that he came with his little Kodak and wanted to take pictures of us. He did this very neatly and with deep interest. Afterwards, I tried to tell him that he should take another picture. To do so, however, he would have had to get the film first, which would have required his interest to extend beyond what was immediately at hand. He resisted. He couldn't be persuaded to do it. When something interests him in the moment, he is completely absorbed. But when he has to bring it down into the metabolic-muscular system, his etheric body and physical body resist very strongly. And that is precisely why it is necessary at this age, even though it is more difficult than before, to intervene more and more with educational therapy, which makes it necessary to take the things he pursues with a certain interest as a starting point, but then to go further from there in order to broaden his range of interests in all directions. One will achieve a great deal with this boy if one takes into account the healthy instincts that he nevertheless has within him. For one always sees that healthy instincts are still present in abnormal organizations. The boy will immediately experience an expansion of his circle of interests if he is guided toward things that require skill.
At first, he may find it difficult to follow the path from the head organization to the metabolic-limb organization and, as you have heard from me, beyond that, because he lacks the ability to perceive. Not even the subtle perception that is present in a normal person. On the other hand, when he sees what he has in front of him, when he sees the dexterity of his own limbs, he will take great pleasure in it. So you have to let him do things where he can see the dexterity of his own limbs. This can be encouraged in particular by letting him do eurythmy exercises with his legs and hands, but at the same time energetically moving his toes and fingers and letting him focus his gaze on all these movements of his limbs, in other words, letting him watch himself.
For children who show clear signs of these difficulties at an early age, who do not allow what the head constitutes to descend into the organism, it is good — it is already too late for this boy, but you may always have children like this — it is very good to try, first of all, to let them reach their feet with their head. If you try this yourself, you will see that it is a difficult procedure. But it is good to encourage children who have difficulty in this regard to kiss their own toes. Then it is also good — and it will always work, it could even be extremely beneficial for this boy — to encourage such children to hold a pencil between their big toe and the next toe and use it to form individual letters, and then enjoy writing with their feet. This could perhaps also be very helpful for this boy. In such cases, eurythmy therapy can be of great service to him — and learning to write with his toes is also a kind of eurythmy therapy. Now, whether a lead cure will still be effective at this age will become apparent when we begin to try things out and observe the effects.
From what I have said, you can see that more careful observation is necessary. One must make such seemingly minor details, such as calculating after an hour and a half, not wanting to go back into the house, getting the film, and the like, the subject of constant observation. Then it becomes clear that an essential part of the education of inferior children is also placed in the hands of the educator, in that these educators must accustom themselves to having a sense for everything that is going on with the child in question. You see, you will say: Yes, but how much time does the education of inferior children take? One must always pay attention to it, one cannot meditate, one has no time to do anything else. — That is not the case, and to combat this view internally is already part of the esotericism of such a life task. It is not a matter of being on the lookout all day, so to speak, but of acquiring a sense for characteristic occurrences. Under certain circumstances, someone who has learned to observe a number of children can see through a child in a relatively short time, in five or ten minutes, if they apply their gaze correctly everywhere. It is not a question of how much time one spends on things, but how strongly one connects with them inwardly. A lot of time will be saved, especially in intellectual professions, if one takes into account that one must really connect with the phenomena in question.
Now there was also a boy, a typical case, a fifteen-year-old epileptic boy. For this boy, you have the typical case that we had here, only he is a number of years older than yours. The point here is to take into account the difficulty presented by the fact that your boy is going through puberty. Was he not castrated? The process is taking place throughout the entire organism. And since the boy is castrated, we are dealing with an even more vehement phenomenon, namely the reaction caused by this artificial influence on sexual development. As the boy presents himself, he presents himself as a boy for whom the transition to sexual maturity will be extremely difficult. For sexual maturation is a process that affects the entire organism. And for him, castration now has no further significance other than that it has a reactive effect on sexual maturity. So with this boy, it will simply be a matter of taking into account that he is at a stage where it is necessary to treat him as one treats boys of sexual maturity: namely, to carefully connect him with everything that teaches him to take an interest in the processes of the world in which he finds himself. Above all, it is important to apply Waldorf education to them. To try not to leave them to their inner agitations, but to try to keep them constantly occupied with the outside world, so that they develop an intense interest in external things and processes.
Describe to me how far the boy has progressed in school. Perhaps you can describe how far he has progressed in school.
Albrecht Strohschein: He can neither read nor write; nothing at all was started in terms of schooling last year. Last year, Mrs. F. began teaching him to read and write, but with this Montessori method; he made no progress at all and so he is actually at zero in terms of schooling.
He shows a certain dullness towards external impressions. - Well, we have the necessity here to apply Waldorf school pedagogy as we do with very small children, that is, to start from the picturesque and simply bring him to the point where he puts what torments him inwardly into colors. First, let him paint and see what comes out of it. And from there, continue with what emerges from his own predispositions.
However, it will be absolutely necessary to intervene therapeutically with this boy in particular. We hadn't discussed therapy yet, had we? He should be given algae and belladonna. So this would be the therapeutic intervention that would be necessary. You can understand the nature of the algae injections, but it is good to reflect on these things more deeply, because you will have to apply them independently in individual cases. Why might algae injections be considered in such a case? With algae, we are dealing with a plant that has neither strongly developed roots nor strongly developed flowers. The flowers and roots actually grow together. And the most important thing is actually the herbaceous organization, which produces everything else. The leaves predominate, so that this plant does not have a very intense relationship with the earth. On the other hand, there is also no intense relationship with the outer cosmos, but rather a relationship with everything that takes place in the watery and airy elements, directly on the earth's surface. Algae and fungi are plants that are completely immersed in the interactions between air and watery elements. Now, the peculiar thing about these plants is that they are strongly attracted to the very small amount of sulfur that is widespread today, both in the watery and in the air. This makes these plants, when brought into the rhythmic organism, particularly well suited to establishing harmony between the astral body and the etheric body. Now, this is precisely what is lacking in such a boy.
Now, if one notices that one is dealing with a disturbance that stems from the ego organization placing too much demand on the astral body and not allowing it to enter the etheric body, then one must resort more to fungi. Algae, which are closer to ordinary plants, should be used when the physical body and the etheric body refuse to let the astral body in, when the disharmony arises because the resistance comes from the etheric body, where there is no predominant attraction of the ego organization, but rather a special resistance coming from the etheric body.
Then there was a girl. Can't you describe that based on the information I have given you?
Albrecht Strohschein: A girl with upturned lips. You pointed out that something special must have happened to the astral body between the third and fourth years, that it must have had severe itching and scratching. The mother later confirmed to us that high temperatures had occurred and that there was itching. The recommended therapy is: nicotine enemas, and if that does not help: nicotine injections. She is fifteen years old.
Well, we have a girl who is fifteen years old, but who clearly shows that the astral organization has intervened in the whole organism in a less intense way. The whole type of girl shows this. Above all, "the astral organization proves to be far too weak to hold the ego in the face of those temptations that arise in humans when they eat, when they find the food, the taste, too sweet, too lovely, too pleasant. If the astral body is not sufficiently active in the region of the lower face, then the lips protrude, especially at the mouth, because there is already too much sensual pleasure in tasting and processing food in the mouth. Such phenomena have long antecedents, and of course something like this can occur at any time, even relatively late in life. Well, didn't I say at the time that there must have been an irregularity in the child's development between the ages of three and four?
Of course, you can only expect to notice such things yourself if you first familiarize yourself with the love I have just described, which I must emphasize is so important. You should never use the excuse: Yes, in order to perceive such things, I must first be clairvoyant. That is an inner laziness that someone who takes up the profession of educator should not have. Rather, it is a matter of developing, long before you attain the clairvoyance that is necessary for research in general, for example, the ability to look at what is important through loving devotion to what comes out of the human being, what develops especially in abnormal conditions. At that moment, you tell yourself the right thing. Of course, this requires esoteric courage. This esoteric courage is developed in human beings when they are not confronted with anything.
You see, it is a strange phenomenon that these inner intuitions are so little noticed by people who are relatively well equipped with them. Anthroposophists have so many opportunities to pay attention to these inner intuitions; they have them much more than one might think, but they do not pay attention to them because, at the moment when they should be paying attention to such things, they find themselves faced with a vanity that is difficult for human beings to overcome. Isn't it true that with this discovery of abilities, all kinds of impulses of vanity sprouted up, and among all the things I described yesterday about the present age, for example, which I have also described on other occasions, is the tendency, the enormous tendency of today's humanity to become vain?
You see, there is something here that must be taken into account, especially by those who, coming out of today's youth — and you are one of them — are somehow dedicating themselves to a great profession, as they must actually arise and have a regenerative effect on humanity. It is really not with misunderstanding or incomprehension of today's youth movement that I say the following, but out of a real understanding: Today's youth movement is a necessity, something extremely significant, and also something of the utmost interest to sensible older people. So there is nothing negative to be said about the youth movement. Nor should anything be said against the fact that the older generation has so little aptitude for understanding today's youth movement and that much has failed precisely because it is taken too lightly and not sufficiently addressed. But on the other hand, when it comes to the youth movement taking on concrete, specific tasks, something must be taken into account by the youth themselves. Of course, those who have experience in such matters must draw attention to this. Something must be taken into account by the youth that is extremely difficult for everything that is to emerge from the youth movement. That is a certain vanity. Vanity is present everywhere at the heart of the youth movement, less because of any ill-manneredness than because of the reason that makes it necessary: precisely because the will necessitates a strong development of inner abilities, vanity simply dawns to a high degree through Ahrimanic influences. You see, in my life I have been able to observe many hopeful people of various ages. I was able to observe some phenomena in this area very closely, but it was clear that with the advent of the age that followed the Kali Yuga, vanity — not only among young people, but here we are interested in this particular form that arises among young people — sprouted particularly strongly and prevented young people themselves from developing the qualities that lie in being young today. Hence the phenomenon that occurs so frequently: the general talk of missions, of great tasks, and the lack of inclination to deal with the specific little things that are needed to achieve them.
In the future, we will need what was once called, in an extremely philistine territory but out of a certain intuition, devotion to the small. This is something that young people in particular need to acquire. They are too silent in abstractions. But this is what leads to vanity with a vengeance.
You must consider what a difficulty this presents and make it the content of your esoteric striving. You must remember what an enormous difficulty this presents. Anyone who wants to be able to say something to a person based on intuitive insight — things are not obvious, and what the layman says is usually wrong when it comes to inferior children. it is important to see through to what is actually there — needs something for this, he needs to tell himself in an energetic, courageous way, not just in the moment, but to have it as the continuous qualitative content of his consciousness: I can do this. If you say this to yourself again and again without vanity, even with a willingness to make sacrifices, overcoming the things that stand in the way, if you say this to yourself again and again, not just feel it, then you will see how much you are capable of in this direction. So don't search for what should develop in your imagination or in your thoughts, but in this continuous courageous consciousness, which develops simply by bringing up from your soul, in the simplest way, that which is covered by enormous dirt and swamp and peat bog, figuratively speaking.
People generally cannot achieve anything in the field of education because they have never seriously awakened a truth within themselves. This consists in settling into the consciousness in the evening: God is in me, God is in me, or the spirit of God, or whatever — but not just talking about it theoretically, because most people's meditations consist of talking about something theoretically — and in the morning, so that it radiates throughout the whole day: I am in God. Just consider what you are actually doing when you activate these two ideas, which become feelings, even impulses of the will, within yourself. You do this by having this image before you: God is in me — and by having this image before you the next morning: I am in God. This is one and the same thing, the upper and lower figures (see Plate 12). And you simply have to understand: this is a circle, this is a point. It only comes out in the evening, it only comes out in the morning. In the morning you have to think: this is a circle, this is a point. You have to understand that a circle is a point, a point is a circle, and you have to understand this completely inwardly.
You see, this is how you approach the human being in the first place. For if you remember the drawing I gave you of the metabolic-limb human being and the head human being, this drawing means nothing other than the expression and realization of what is now presented to you in a simple way in a meditation figure. In human beings, this is realized in that the ego point of the head becomes a circle in the limb man, which is naturally configured. And you learn to understand the whole human being when you approach them in this way, when you try to understand them inwardly. But first you must understand that the two figures, the two ideas, are one and the same, that they are not at all different from each other. Only when viewed from the outside are they different. There is a yellow circle, and there it is too. There is a blue dot, and there it is too. Why? Because that is the schematic figure of the head, because that is the schematic figure of the body. But when the dot asserts itself into the body, it becomes the spinal cord; when the dot here enters, what it is supposed to be in the head organization then becomes the spinal cord base (see plate 12). The inner dynamics of morphology simply reveal themselves to you in this way. You can gain an understanding of anatomy and physiology by meditating on this. Then you will already gain an inner intuition of how your upper and lower jaws are limbs, how the head is a whole organism perched on top – its limbs are atrophied – and in their atrophy they transform into jaws, and you will gain an insight into how teeth and toes stand in polar opposition to each other. Just look at the bases of the jawbones, and you will perceive the stunted formation of toes, the stunted formation of feet and hands in them.
But the meditation that works in such things must not have the mood, my dear friends, of wanting to lie down in a warm nest, wanting it to become warmer and warmer — rather, the mood must be one of immersing oneself in reality, of grasping reality. Devotion to the small. Yes, to the smallest. The interest in these small things must not be driven out, my dear friends. It must be so that the earlobe, the cut fingernail, a piece of human hair interest you just as much as Saturn, the sun, and the moon. For ultimately, everything else is contained in such a human hair, and those who go bald actually lose an entire cosmos. It is indeed the case that what is visible externally can be created internally, if only one has the strength of will that is necessary in a meditative life. But this strength of will is never achieved if any traces of vanity appear, and these appear everywhere. Therefore, my dear friends, if you really want to become educators, especially of disadvantaged children, it is necessary that you develop this devotion in small ways in the most modest manner, and from there, awaken this devotion to small things in the rest of the youth movement.
Then come these opportunities to be made aware of something that is then verified externally, as happened in this case. I must say that this is where I see the greatest mistakes made in the undertakings within our anthroposophical movement. — You see, this is the case: I told you that there must have been some kind of abnormality in the girl between the ages of three and four. You ask the mother, and the mother confirms this. What did you do afterwards? Would you describe quite honestly and sincerely what you did when the mother confirmed this to you?
Silence.
Would you three be completely esoterically honest? What did you do?
Silence.
If you had done the right thing, you would say: We jumped over the fact that there was a hole in the ceiling! — But then even today, the reflex of this jump would not only speak from you, but shine.
That's exactly it: enthusiasm in experiencing the truth! That's what has to be there. That's what has been causing me such terrible pain for years in the anthroposophical movement, that people stand so firmly on their feet, the young almost as firmly as the old. And let's think about how they can stand so firmly on their feet! You see, Nietzsche was basically a different kind of guy, even if it made him ill. He let his Zarathustra become a dancer. Become a dancer, in the sense that Zarathustra meant it! Live with the innermost joy of truth! There is nothing more delightful than experiencing the truth. This is something that is a much more important and essential esotericism than what goes around with long faces. This inner experience of truth is what must long precede all other persuasion of a mission.
This is also called occult fever in medicine. This is one of those areas in medicine where the old terminology has been retained. If a doctor does not know where the fever comes from, he calls it occult fever. This occult fever occurred; there was a particular weakness in this period between the third and fourth years, a particular weakness of the astral body. The physical body and the etheric body reacted, and these then developed too strongly, the astral body could no longer cope. Therefore, with this child it is particularly necessary to know, first of all, that at the age of three a strange withering, a cramping of the astral body occurs; I must help this along. This must be properly assisted, and this can be done in an educational way by stimulating interest. Now describe how this girl fared at school.
Albrecht Strohschein: We will not have the girl in the institution; she will only come for treatment. She was in special education until the age of sixteen, can read and write, and calculate with numbers up to about a thousand. Otherwise, we know nothing else about the girl; she was only there for the presentation. – Klysmamit tobacco was indicated.
She will be treated with curative eurythmy.
Why is that? It is because the atrophy of the astral body in the child has led to a very strong tendency toward deformation of the upper organism. The child has an extremely brutal appearance because everything below the jaw is deformed. In this particular case, the anti-deforming effect of nicotine juice, which has been carefully tested by the local Clinical Therapeutic Institute, will be able to have a beneficial effect. One can then proceed slowly at first, administering it per os and observing carefully; One must learn to recognize whether the chewing apparatus is beginning to come more under the control of the organism. Here they lie almost entirely outside the realm of what the child grasps with its soul. They just lie there. The child can be treated by administering nicotine juice per os in an appropriate decimal; one can start with the sixth and go up to the fifteenth. However, if the effects are found to be too weak, the nicotine juice is introduced into the circulation in high potencies, so that the astral body is immediately affected by the circulation, and one will see that what cannot be achieved by internal administration can be achieved in this way.
However, it may be good — I must add this retrospectively — not to allow the effects that are to remain within the astral body to play too strongly into the ego organization; they stop before the ego organization. This can be achieved by taking a bath with a weak sulfur additive, perhaps only once a week, even if it is rare.
You see, tomorrow we will discuss the other cases that were there, and it will be a particular satisfaction for me to consider the interesting phenomenon that can be studied particularly well there with you, the interesting phenomenon of albinos. We had two such human children, an older one aged fifteen and a very little sister. Have you perhaps made their horoscopes?
Question to Dr. Elisabeth Vreede, who hands over the horoscopes.
This is the older girl, this is the younger one. — How is Uranus positioned? Have you found any special constellations?
Dr. Elisabeth Vreede: Yes, here, specifically with Uranus and Neptune. Neptune in opposition to Uranus, with the older girl.
You see, now these children are here. Wherever you see these children, two main phenomena are evident. Very light hair and poor vision with changes in the eyes. These two phenomena are the primary phenomena. However, even a very superficial observation indicates that albinos have a very weak organization in terms of iron processing and that they have an organization that processes sulfur extremely easily. So the fact is that the organism resists iron, and in particular resists iron being processed towards the periphery; it stops before the periphery; and it is precisely sulfur that is driven toward the periphery and beyond the periphery, so that in the region of hair formation one sees everywhere the sulfur aura, which bleaches the hair formation and takes away its strength. And in the relatively independent formation of the eyes, which are even formed embryonically from outside into the organism, one sees even more clearly the independent sulfur aura, which literally urges the eyes to drive their essence out of the etheric and into the astral. In such children, one can actually see the eye torn out of its rocky cave, the etheric body ignored, and the astral body in the eye particularly strongly affected.
Now very important questions arise. On the one hand, in terms of their education, human beings are connected to the forces that are in the earth and that reveal themselves to us through the substance of the earth, and they are connected to the entire cosmos. They are dependent on both. Both are present in individual karmic development as well as in the stream of heredity. — Now, the streams of heredity. In the case of the two children who have been presented, neither the father nor the mother show any signs of albinism. Nothing, absolutely nothing, normal people. On the other hand, somewhere in the ascendant there was a grandmother who is said to have had albinism.
Dr. Ilse Knaner: It was a sister of this child's mother.
So an aunt. It's in the ancestry. We only need to consider that there is definitely a tendency for this in the ancestry. Didn't you tell me that day that there were other children, also in Jena, from the Saale region?
Dr. Ilse Knauer: Two children and one adult, a thirty-two-year-old who is already married. Among these three, there is only one case where an albino was present in the ascendant.
You see that the condition occurs, one might say, in a certain sense endemic to the territory. But from another point of view, it is sharply contradicted. Very sporadically, under certain circumstances, an albino grows out of the territory and otherwise not. So the question arises: How does the albino grow out of a territory?
We know that there is sulfurization to the outside, so that small sulfur infarcts occur in the aura, in the periphery. Then we look in the area where sulfur occurs. Now, the entire Saale Valley is covered with pyrite, and so you have the combination of sulfur and iron in such a way that you can study: what is the iron like in the area, what is the sulfur like in the area, where, especially in this area, the wonderfully beautiful pyrites appear, which are in the Saale region. These beautiful, fine, golden-shining pyrite cubes appear in the Saale region (see plate 12). The other areas nearby contain gypsum. As you know, gypsum is sulfuric acid lime with 20 percent water. So again we have the opportunity to study sulfur in its bond with gypsum. This sheds light on everything that lives in the atmosphere and so on, so that we must first consider everything that is related to sulfur and iron absorption from the soil. You also have a very iron-rich territory, and the question arises: How does a mutual relationship develop between the earth and humans, so that the earth can strongly attract iron, but humans cannot, or only with difficulty? What constellations must be in place to make humans particularly suited to reject iron and absorb sulfur? — This brings you to the cosmic, where you examine the constellations that are present — this cannot be done at conception — at the birth of such a child. It will become apparent that the question arises as to whether these children, who appear as albinos, have very special constellations, and indeed such that they cannot appear, that they can only appear rarely. We will not have to look for the corresponding information in the data that emerges from planetary revolutions, which take place quickly, but we will have to look for the constellation in those planets that take a long time to revolve, namely Saturn and Uranus. So you see how the questions arise in such a case. First you have to have the questions, then you can deal with such a case.
Now I would like to give a little cure here as well. So I will apply what is indicated here to this case as well. I will discuss this here tomorrow.
According to what I was told this morning, you want something else to be included in the lectures because they lean too heavily toward “devotion to the small,” toward what you need; I would like to accommodate you in the strongest possible way by applying the new method as I have applied it with the workers. I gradually phased out the lectures by asking what I should talk about, so that from a certain point on, the topics you wanted to discuss were set by you yourselves. Now the workers can never complain that they are not being told what they want to hear.