Fundamentals of Therapy
GA 27
VI. Blood and Nerve
[ 1 ] The activities of the several human organisms in relation to the organism as a whole are strikingly expressed in the formation of the blood and nerves. Where the foodstuffs absorbed into the body become progressively transformed in the process of blood-formation, this whole process stands under the influence of the ego-organization. From the processes that take place in the tongue and palate, accompanied by conscious sensation, down to the unconscious and subconscious processes in the workings of pepsin, pancreatic juice, bile, etc., the ego-organization is at work. Then the working of the ego-organization withdraws, and in the further transformation of foodstuffs into the substance of blood, the astral body is predominantly active. This continues to the point where, in the breathing process, the blood meets the air, the oxygen. At this point the etheric body carries out its main activity. In the carbonic acid that is on the point of being breathed out but has not yet left the body, we have a substance which is in the main only living—that is to say, it is neither sentient, nor dead. (Everything is alive that carries in it the activity of the etheric body.) The main quantity of this living carbonic acid leaves the organism; a small part continues to work into the processes that have their centre in the head organization. This portion shows a strong tendency to pass into the lifeless inorganic nature, but it does not become entirely lifeless.
The nervous system shows an opposite phenomenon. In the sympathetic nervous system which permeates the organs of digestion, the etheric body is paramount. The nerve organs with which we are here concerned are primarily living organs. The astral and ego-organizations do not organize them from within but from without. For this reason the influence of the astral and ego-organizations working in these nerve-organs is powerful. Passions and emotions have a deep and lasting effect upon the sympathetic nervous system. Sorrow and anxiety will gradually destroy it.
[ 2 ] The spinal nervous system, with its many ramifications, is the one in which the astral organization primarily intervenes. Hence it is the bearer of everything which is psychological in man, namely the reflex processes, but not of that which takes place in the ego, in the self-conscious spirit.
[ 3 ] It is the actual cranial nerves which underlie the ego organization. In these, the activities of the etheric and astral organization withdraw.
[ 4 ] We see three distinct regions arising in the organism as a whole. In a lower region, nerves permeated from within mainly by the action of the etheric organism work with a blood substance that is predominantly subject to the activity of the ego-organization. In this region, during the embryonic and post-embryonic period of development, we have the starting-point for all organ-formations connected with the giving of inner life to man's organism. In the formation of the embryo, this region, being weak as yet, is supplied with formative and life-giving influences by the surrounding maternal organism. Then there is a middle region, where nerves, influenced by the astral organization, are working with blood-processes which are likewise dependent on this astral organization and, in their upper parts, on the etheric. Here, in the periods of formation of man, lies the starting point for the formation of those organs which are instrumental in the processes of outer and inner movement, this applies not only to the muscles for example, but all organs which are causes of mobility, whether or not they be muscles in the proper sense. Finally there is an upper region where nerves, subject to the inner organizing activity of the ego, work with blood-processes that have a strong tendency to pass into the lifeless, mineral realm. Here lies the starting point, during man's formative epoch, for the formation of the bones and all else that serves the human body as organs of support.
[ 5 ] We shall only understand the brain of man if we see in it a bone-forming tendency interrupted in its very first beginning. And we shall only understand the bone formation when we recognize in it the working of the same impulses as in the brain; in the bone formation, the brain-impulse is carried to its final conclusion and permeated from without by the impulses of the middle organism, where astrally determined nerve-organs are working together with blood-substance etherically determined. In the bone-ash which remains with its particular configuration when the bones are subjected to combustion, we see the results of the uppermost region of the human organization. While in the cartilaginous organic residue which remains when the bones are treated with dilute hydrochloric acid, we have the result of the impulses of the middle region.
[ 6 ] The skeleton is the physical image of the ego-organization. In the bone creating process the human organic substance, as it tends toward the lifeless mineral, is entirely subject to the ego-organization. In the brain, the ego is active as a spiritual being. The capacity of the ego to create form in the physical substance is here overwhelmed entirely by the organizing activity of the etheric, even by the forces proper to the physical. The brain is based only minimally on the ego's organizing power, which here becomes submerged in the processes of life and in the workings of the physical. Yet this is the very reason why the brain is the bearer of the spiritual work of the ego. For, inasmuch as the organic and physical activities in the brain do not involve the ego-organization, the latter is able to devote itself freely to its own activities. In the bony system of the skeleton, perfect though it is as a physical picture of the ego-organization, the latter exhausts itself in the act of forming and organizing the physical, and as spiritual activity, there is nothing left. Therefore the processes in the bones are the most unconscious
[ 7 ] So long as it is in the organism, the carbonic acid which is pushed out in breathing is still a living substance; it is taken hold of and driven outward by the astral activity that has its seat in the middle or spinal region of the nervous system. The portion of carbonic acid which the metabolism carries up into the head is there combined with calcium, and thus develops a tendency to come into the sphere of action of the ego-organization. Through this, calcium carbonate is driven under the influence of the head nerves, motivated inwardly by the ego-organization, toward bone-formation.
[ 8 ] The substances myosin and myogen produced out of the foodstuffs, tend to become deposited in the blood; they are substances astrally conditioned to begin with, and they stand in reciprocal interaction with the sympathetic, which is organized from within by the etheric body. These two proteins are, however, also taken hold of to some extent by the activity of the middle nervous system which is under the influence of the astral body. They thus come into relationship with the breakdown products of albumen, with fats, sugar, and other substances similar to sugar. This enables them, under the influence of the middle nervous system, to find their way into the process of muscle-formation.
VI. Blut und Nerv
[ 1 ] In besonders eindrucksvoller Art finden sich die Tätigkeiten der einzelnen menschlichen Organismen in Bezug auf den Gesamtorganismus bei der Blut und Nervenbildung Indem die Blutbildung in der Fortgestaltung der aufgenomenen Nahrungsstoffe erfolgt steht der ganze Blutbildungsvorgang unter dem Einfluß der Ich Organisation Die Ich Organisation wirkt von den Vorgängen die in Begleitung bewußter Empfindung in der Zunge im Gaumen vor sich gehen bis in die unbewußten und unterbewußten Vorgänge hinein - in Pepsin-, Pankreas-, Gallenwirkung usw. - Dann tritt die Wirkung der Ich-Organisation zurück, und es ist bei der weiteren Umwandlung der Nahrungssubstanz in Blutsubstanz vorzüglich der astralische Leib tätig. Das geht so weiter, bis sich das Blut mit der Luft - mit dem Sauerstoff - im Atmungsprozeß begegnet. An dieser Stelle vollzieht der Ätherleib seine Haupttätigkeit. In der im Ausatmen begriffenen Kohlensäure hat man es, bevor sie den Körper verlassen hat, mit vorzugsweise nur lebender - nicht empfindender und nicht toter - Substanz zu tun. (Lebend ist alles, was die Tätigkeit des Ätherleibes in sich trägt.) Von dieser lebenden Kohlensäure geht die Hauptmasse aus dem Organismus fort; ein kleiner Teil aber wirkt noch weiter im Organismus in die Vorgänge hinein, die in der Kopforganisation ihren Mittelpunkt haben. Dieser Teil zeigt eine starke Neigung, ins Leblose, Unorganische überzugehen, obgleich er nicht ganz leblos wird. Im Nervensystem liegt das Entgegengesetzte vor. Im sympathischen Nervensystem, das die Verdauungsorgane durchsetzt, waltet vornehmlich der ätherische Leib. Die Nerven-Organe, die da in Betracht kommen, sind von sich aus vorzüglich nur lebende Organe. Die astralische und die Ich-Organisation wirken auf sie nicht innerlich organisierend, sondern von außen. Daher ist der Einfluß der in diesen Nervenorganen wirksamen Ich- und astralischen Organisation ein starker. Affekte und Leidenschaften haben eine dauernde, bedeutsame Wirkung auf den Sympathikus. Kummer, Sorgen richten dieses Nervensystem allmählich zugrunde.
[ 2 ] Das Rückenmarks-Nervensystem mit allen seinen Verzweigungen ist dasjenige, in welches die astralische Organisation vorzüglich eingreift. Es ist daher der Träger dessen; was im Menschen seelisch ist, der Reflexvorgänge, nicht aber dessen, was im Ich, in dem selbstbewußten Geiste vorgeht.
[ 3 ] Die eigentlichen Gehirnnerven sind diejenigen, die der Ich-Organisation unterliegen. Bei ihnen treten die Tätigkeiten der ätherischen und astralischen Organisation zurück.
[ 4 ] Man sieht, im Bereiche des Gesamtorganismus entstehen dadurch drei Gebiete. In einem unteren wirken die innerlich vorzugsweise vom ätherischen Organismus durchwirkten Nerven mit der Blutsubstanz zusammen, die vornehmlich der Tätigkeit der Ich-Organisation unterliegt. In diesem Gebiete liegt während der embryonalen und nachembryonalen Entwicklungsepoche der Ausgangspunkt für alle Organbildungen, die mit der inneren Belebung des menschlichen Organismus zusammenhängen. Während der Embryonalbildung wird dieses dann noch schwache Gebiet von dem umgebenden Mutterorganismus mit den belebenden und bildenden Einflüssen versorgt. Es kommt dann ein mittleres Gebiet in Betracht, in dem Nervenorgane, die von der astralischen Organisation beeinflußt sind zusammen wirken mit Blutvorgängen die ebenfalls von dieser astralischen Organisation und in ihrem oberen Teil von der ätherischen abhängig sind Hier liegt wahrend der Bildungsperiode des Menschen der Ausgangspunkt fur die Entstehung der Organe welche die äußere und innere Beweglichkeit vermitteln z B für alle Muskelbildung aber auch für alle Organe; die nicht eigentliche Muskeln sind und die doch die Beweglichkeit verursachen - Ein oberes Gebiet ist dasjenige, wo die unter dem innerlich-organisierenden Ich stehenden Nerven zusammenwirken mit den Blutvorgängen, die eine starke Neigung dazu haben ins Leblose Mineralische überzugehen Wahrend der Bildungsepoche des Menschen liegt hier der Ausgangspunkt für die Knochenbildung und für alles andere das dem menschlichen Körper als Stützorgan dient
[ 5 ] Man wird das Gehirn des Menschen nur begreifen, wenn man in ihm die knochenbildende Tendenz sehen kann die im allerersten Entstehen unterbrochen wird Und man durch schaut die Knochenbildung nur dann wenn man in ihr eine völlig zu Ende gekommene Gehirn Impulswirkung erkennt die von außen von den Impulsen des mittleren Organismus durchzogen wird wo astralisch bedingte Nervenorgane mit ätherisch bedingter Blutsubstanz zusammen tätig sind In der Knochenasche die mit der ihr eigenen Gestaltung zurückbleibt, wenn man den Knochen durch Verbrennung behandelt, sind die Ergebnisse des obersten Gebietes der Menschenorganisation vorhanden In der Knorpelsubstanz, die übrig bleibt, wenn man den Knochen der Wirkung verdünnter Salzsäure unterwirft hat man das Ergebnis der Impulse des mittleren Gebietes
[ 6 ] Das Skelett ist das physische Bild der Ich Organisation Die nach dein Leblos Mineralischen hinstrebende menschlichorganische Substanz unterliegt in der Knochenentstehung ganz der Ich-Organisation. Im Gehirn ist das Ich als geistige Wesenheit tätig. Seine formbildende, ins Physische hinein wirkende Kraft wird aber da ganz vom ätherischen Organisieren, ja von den Eigenkräften des Physischen überwältigt. Dem Gehirn liegt die organisierende Kraft des Ich nur leise zugrunde; sie geht im Lebendigen und in den physischen Eigenwirkungen unter. Gerade das ist der Grund, warum das Gehirn der Träger der geistigen Ich-Wirkung ist, daß die organisch-physische Betätigung da von der Ich-Organisation nicht in Anspruch genommen wird, diese daher als solche völlig frei sich betätigen kann. Das Knochenskelett dagegen ist zwar das vollkommene physische Bild der Ich-Organisation; diese aber erschöpft sich in dem physischen Organisieren, so daß von ihr als geistige Betätigung nichts mehr übrigbleibt. Die Vorgänge in den Knochen sind daher die am meisten unbewußten.
[ 7 ] Die Kohlensäure, die mit dem Atmungsprozeß nach außen gestoßen wird, ist innerhalb des Organismus noch lebende Substanz; sie wird von der in dem mittleren Nervensystem verankerten astralischen Tätigkeit ergriffen und nach außen ausgeschieden. Der Teil der Kohlensäure, der mit dem Stoffwechsel nach dem Kopfe geht, wird da durch die Verbindung mit dem Kalzium geneigt gemacht, in die Wirkungen der Ich-Organisation einzutreten. Es wird dadurch der kohlensaure Kalk unter dem Einfluß der von der Ich-Organisation innerlich impulsiveren Kopfnerven auf den Weg zur Knochenbildung getrieben.
[ 8 ] Die aus den Nahrungssubstanzen entstehenden Stoffe: Myosin und Myogen haben die Tendenz, sich im Blute abzusetzen; sie sind zunächst astralisch bedingte Substanzen, die mit dem Sympathikus in Wechselwirkung stehen, der innerlich vom ätherischen Leib organisiert ist. Diese beiden Eiweißstoffe werden aber auch zum Teil ergriffen von der Betätigung des mittleren Nervensystems, das unter dem Einfluß des astralischen Leibes steht. Dadurch gehen sie eine Verwandtschaft ein mit Zersetzungsprodukten des Eiweißes, mit Fetten, mit Zucker und zuckerähnlichen Substanzen. Das befähigt sie, unter dem Einfluß des mittleren Nervensystems auf den Weg in die Muskelbildung zu kommen.
VI Blood and nerve
[ 1 ] The activities of the individual human organisms in relation to the organism as a whole are found in a particularly impressive way in blood and nerve formation In that blood formation takes place in the further development of the ingested nutrients, the entire blood formation process is under the influence of the ego organization The ego organization acts from the processes that take place in the palate in the tongue accompanied by conscious sensation to the unconscious and subconscious processes - in pepsin, pancreas, bile, etc. - Then the action of the ego-organization recedes, and the astral body is primarily active in the further transformation of the food substance into blood substance. This continues until the blood meets the air - the oxygen - in the breathing process. At this point the etheric body carries out its main activity. In the carbonic acid in the process of exhalation, before it has left the body, one is dealing with preferably only living - not sentient and not dead - substance. (Living is everything that carries the activity of the etheric body within it.) The main mass of this living carbonic acid leaves the organism; a small part, however, continues to work in the organism in the processes that have their center in the head organization. This part shows a strong tendency to pass over into the lifeless, inorganic, although it does not become completely lifeless. The opposite occurs in the nervous system. In the sympathetic nervous system, which permeates the digestive organs, the etheric body predominates. The nervous organs that come into consideration here are of themselves primarily only living organs. The astral and ego organization do not have an organizing effect on them from within, but from without. Therefore the influence of the ego and astral organization working in these nervous organs is a strong one. Affects and passions have a lasting, significant effect on the sympathetic nervous system. Sorrow and worry gradually destroy this nervous system.
[ 2 ] The spinal cord nervous system with all its branches is the one in which the astral organization primarily intervenes. It is therefore the carrier of what is psychic in the human being, of the reflex processes, but not of what takes place in the ego, in the self-conscious spirit.
[ 3 ] The actual cranial nerves are those that underlie the ego organization. With them, the activities of the etheric and astral organization recede.
[ 4 ] You can see that this creates three areas in the organism as a whole. In a lower area, the nerves, which are preferably internally interwoven with the etheric organism, interact with the blood substance, which is primarily subject to the activity of the ego organization. During the embryonic and post-embryonic developmental epoch, this area is the starting point for all organ formations connected with the inner animation of the human organism. During embryonic development, this still weak area is supplied with vitalizing and formative influences from the surrounding mother organism. A middle area then comes into consideration, in which nerve organs, which are influenced by the astral organization, work together with blood processes which are also dependent on this astral organization and, in their upper part, on the etheric This is the starting point, during the period of human formation, for the development of the organs which mediate external and internal mobility, e.g. for all muscle formation but also for all organs; an upper region is that in which the nerves standing under the inner-organizing ego co-operate with the blood processes, which have a strong tendency to pass over into the inanimate mineral During the formative epoch of man, here lies the starting-point for the formation of bones and for everything else that serves the human body as a supporting organ
[ 5 ] The human brain will only be understood if one can see in it the bone-forming tendency that is interrupted in the very first formation And one can only see through the bone formation if one recognizes in it a brain impulse effect that has come to a complete end and is permeated from the outside by the impulses of the middle organism where astrally conditioned nerve organs are active together with etherically conditioned blood substance In the bone ash that remains behind with its own formation, when the bone is treated by burning, the results of the uppermost region of the human organization are present In the cartilage substance that remains when the bone is subjected to the action of dilute hydrochloric acid one has the result of the impulses of the middle region
[ 6 ] The skeleton is the physical image of the ego organization The human-organic substance striving towards the lifeless mineral is completely subject to the ego organization in the bone formation. In the brain the I is active as a spiritual entity. However, its formative power, which works into the physical, is completely overwhelmed by the etheric organizing, indeed by the inherent forces of the physical. The organizing power of the ego only quietly underlies the brain; it is submerged in the living and in its own physical effects. This is precisely the reason why the brain is the carrier of the spiritual ego effect, that the organic-physical activity there is not taken up by the ego organization, which can therefore work completely freely as such. The skeleton of the bones, on the other hand, is the perfect physical image of the ego-organization; but this exhausts itself in the physical organizing, so that nothing remains of it as spiritual activity. The processes in the bones are therefore the most unconscious.
[ 7 ] The carbonic acid that is expelled with the respiratory process is still a living substance within the organism; it is seized by the astral activity anchored in the middle nervous system and excreted to the outside. The part of the carbonic acid that goes to the head with the metabolism is made inclined to enter into the effects of the ego organization through the connection with the calcium. The carbonic acid lime is thus driven towards bone formation under the influence of the head nerves, which are more impulsive internally by the ego organization.
[ 8 ] The substances arising from the food substances: myosin and myogen have a tendency to be deposited in the blood; they are initially astral substances that interact with the sympathetic nervous system, which is internally organized by the etheric body. However, these two proteins are also partly affected by the activity of the middle nervous system, which is under the influence of the astral body. In this way they enter into a relationship with the decomposition products of protein, with fats, with sugar and sugar-like substances. This enables them to enter the path of muscle formation under the influence of the central nervous system.