Illusory Illness and the Feverish Pursuit of Health
GA 56
3 December 1907, Munich
Illusory Illness
In the course of his life man finds himself set between two powers. There is the current of events, the steady flow of facts, around him that make the most varied impression on him. Opposed to this stands man's own power within his inner being. One need consider life but superficially to have it dawn upon one that man must find a necessary balance between the forces and facts that storm in from all sides, and what unfolds in his inner life. When in his everyday life the human being has taken in impression upon impression, then he yearns to be alone, to collect and compose his soul. He feels that only in the right balancing of outer and inner will he find salvation in life.
A penetrating aphorism of Goethe expresses this for the depths and breadth of life, indeed, as the very riddle of being:
For every force sweeps outward into space
To live and work; here, there and everywhere;
While on the other hand the teeming world
From every side confines and takes away!
Between the inner strife and outer conflict
The spirit hears a word slow comprehended:From powers that fetter every living being
That man is free who overcomes himself.—The Secrets
In these last two lines of Goethe lies life-wisdom. To the inner being of man that moves forward stormily, to this potentiality in him that is continually developing and unfolding, there stands opposed what approaches us from the outside. When we overcome ourselves, we find a balance. These we can take as themes for the considerations that will occupy us here. Both themes belong together. First, we will devote ourselves to the subject of illusory illness, and, as a necessary complement, then consider the feverish pursuit of health.
Only in the course of our considerations can these words be justified. They lead us into the spiritual streams of the present and into that with which spiritual science confronts them, with which spiritual science has to set itself as a task against them.
In connection with the words, “illusory illness,” men think at first of the fact that someone really feels pain and discomfort based on a more or less self-induced illness. Right, here we have an area into which spiritual science, with its cultural calling, must step. Important things depend on this activity. Before we go into detail about what spiritual science has to say by way of comment on this, let us observe some pictures out of the life of the present. All the illustrative material I shall present is taken from life.
On one of my journeys (it was on the way from Rostock to Berlin) there were two other persons in my compartment, a lady and a gentlemen,, who soon began conversing. The gentleman behaved in a remarkable way. After but a few words he laid himself out on the seat and said that only so positioned could he bear living. The lady recounted how she came from east of where they were and had been to a Baltic spa. The day before she had been struck with home-sickness and had decided to go home. Then she burst into tears. Because of the lady's crying the gentleman hit upon the idea of recounting the story of his health.
“I suffer from many illnesses and journey from sanitarium to sanitarium without finding health.”
Whereupon the lady replied, “I, too, understand much about illness. Many people in my homeland thank me for their health and life.”
The gentleman told of one of his numerous illnesses, whereupon the lady, from her heart's wide knowledge, gave him a prescription that the man wrote down. After a few minutes the second illness was recounted, etc., until, beaming, be had written down thirteen prescriptions. The gentleman had but one sorrow.
“We'll be arriving in Berlin at nine. Will it still be possible to have the prescriptions filled?”
The lady comforted him saying that it Would still be possible. Strangely enough, it never occurred to the gentleman that the lady herself was ill. The lady remarked further that yes, she had much sympathy, and she counted up her own illnesses and told of all the places to which she had gone to be healed. The gentleman recommended a book by Lahmann to her. Thereupon she told of her second illness and the second brochure was recommended, until she had noted the titles of five or six brochures she would buy the next day. Finally, she wrote down Lahmann's address. Meanwhile they had arrived in Berlin. Each had written down the other's recommendations and gone off satisfied.
Whoever observed these people with an eye for the situation under consideration soon saw that there was something not quite right about the lady. As for the man, he only lacked the will to be healthy. Had he summoned the will to be healthy, he would have been in good health. Here we have something symptomatic of what meets us frequently at present, and the scrutinizing glance will be able to pass from this picture to another.
Were we to travel in mountainous country, we would see old fortresses, decaying castles, etc., that remind us of old times when striving for spirit strength existed or where outer power ruled. These fortresses have fallen into ruins, but everywhere in the vicinity of these monuments to power one can see sanitaria, one near the other. This picture presented itself to me recently in an area especially rich in these institutions, when I found it necessary to stop at such a sanitarium for a short time. The “inmates” were just taking their midday meal. The conviction I gained was that of the hundreds there, no one really needed the sanitarium life.
Let us now move on to the more intimate pictures that we find in the accounts of thoughtful present-day physicians. Fortunately, there are some doctors who concern themselves also with the soul in the body. I choose an example by a doctor who would surely look upon everything theosophical as madness. His kind are most surely those who are without doubt not to be influenced by what spiritual science may have to say. Such a prominent physician has recorded many different cases of people such as those in the train I mentioned only as a specially grotesque example. This physician was called to attend a girl who showed all the symptoms of meningitis. But the physician had a good clinical sense. When he was alone with her he questioned her with such questions as were suitable under these circumstances, but all his questions elicited no pertinent answers. Finally, it came out that the young lady was to leave school. In the following year, however, there were to be especially interesting lectures that she wanted to hear. Since all the family opposed her wish to remain in school, she fell ill. The physician said, “I shall intervene that you may still remain in school, but you must get up out of bed immediately and come to the table.” This she did. After a few minutes the young lady appeared at the table and was no longer ill.
Let's take another example. Another physician, a skillful one and well-known, for whom I have always had a certain regard, had to perform a knee operation. The patient's brother was present. During the operation the knee cracked, whereupon the brother suffered excruciating pain. The operation went off well, but the brother became ill. A whole year went by before he was again well.
Thus one can see what power fantasy and perverted imagination can have on the soul, and how, from out of the soul, imitations of disease resembling a truly genuine disease picture can arise. But the physician may not go too far in this. The one just mentioned was very skillful. He did not allow himself to be deceived by accepting that matters forever continue as they first appear. A lady came to him one time who, since her husband's death, was suffering unbearable pain in her knee. She had been treated by many doctors who always came to the conclusion that her sickness was associated with soul aspects, had to do with the impact of her husband's death upon her. Not that the physician of healthy outlook sought for some soul aberration. He found that in this case, a large corn on the heel was the provocation. After the operation he sent the lady to convalesce at Gastein in order not to appear to expose his colleagues too much.
So now we see the situation illumined by a variety of pictures. You see how strongly the illusion, the soul picture, can react on the bodily organism. One could well say that in this instance it is not a question of actual illness, but of illusory illness. Whoever has come to the realization, however, that everything corporeal is the expression of spirit, that everything that meets our senses is an expression of the spirit, will not take the matter so lightly. Even in seemingly quite remote matters we find that it is often a question of soul influences on the body. The illusion, which at the beginning appears trivial and ridiculous, when it then turns into pains, often leads to the beginning of an actual illness, and often to further stages.
Such illusions are more than something to be disposed of with a mere shrug of the shoulders. If we are to penetrate more deeply into these occurrences, we must call up before the soul the oft-presented picture of the nature and being of man. To spiritual science, what the human being presents at first glance is only an outer aspect. The physical body is a member among other members of the human being that he has in common with all other beings around him. Beyond the physical body he has the body of etheric forces that penetrates the physical body, as is true for every living being. This ether body battles against the destruction of the physical body. The third member is the astral body, the bearer of desire and apathy, joy and sorrow, passion and sensual appetites, of the lowest drives as well as of the highest ideals. This body man has in common with the animal world. That whereby man is the crown of creation, whereby he differentiates himself from all other beings, is his “I,” his ego. We must consider these four members as constituting the whole man.
We must, however, be clear that all that makes itself visible to our eyes derives from the spirit. There is no material thing that does not have a spiritual basis.
Now for a more frequently-used analogy. A child shows us some ice. We say, “This is water in another form.”
The child will then say, “You say that it is water but yet it is ice.”
Whereupon we will say, “You do not know how water becomes ice.”
So it is for him who does not know that matter is condensed spirit. For the student of spiritual science, however, everything visible is derived from the same realm as the astral body we carry in us. Etheric and physical body are successive condensation products of the astral body. Here is another picture: We have a mass of water and convert part of it into ice. Thus we have ice in water. So it is that the etheric and physical bodies are condensed out of the astral. The astral body is the part that has retained its original form.
Now, when something or other comes upon us, be it health or illness, we may then say that it is the expression of certain forces that we see in the astral body. Of course, we are speaking now only of illnesses that originate within, not of those that arise through outer influences, such as a fractured bone, an upset stomach, or a cut finger. We are speaking of those diseased conditions that spring from the human being's own nature, and we ask ourselves if there is not only an enduring connection between the astral and physical bodies, but also a more immediate connection between the inner soul events, desire and pain, and the physical condition of our bodies. May we say that in a measure, the outer health of the human being depends upon these or those feelings that he suffers through, these or those thoughts he experiences? We will be able herein to cast light upon important occurrences that should be valuable to people today.
The human being of our time has lost the capacity to rouse himself to the knowledge that the physical body is not his only body. It is not a question of what the human being believes theoretically, but it is a question of what the attitude in his innermost soul is to the higher members of his being. In order to penetrate into what is really involved, let us bring to mind the quarrel between Wagner and Carl Vogt, that is, the Vogt who wrote Blind Faith and Science. Wagner represented the spiritual viewpoint, while Vogt saw in man only a conglomeration of physical things, of atoms. For him, thoughts were but a precipitation of the brain, a blue vapor that arose from brain movements. At death, the substances ceased to develop this blue vapor of thoughts. To this Wagner replied in approximately such a way that one had to believe that if some parents or other had eight children, it followed that the parents' spirit divided itself into eight parts, one part going to each of the children. Thus Wagner pictured the spirit to himself in quite a material way, perhaps as many people do, as a mist formation. But it is a question of swinging oneself up with one's attitudes, impressions and feelings, in order really to grasp the spirit. There may be many today who want none of this materialism, yet they grasp the spirit in a material way. Even many theosophists think of spirit as finely-divided matter. Even in theosophy much timid materialism is hidden.
When it is impossible for someone to lift himself to spirit heights, after awhile there appears for such a person an inner desolation, an emptiness, a disbelief in anything that goes beyond matter. When this takes hold of the feelings, when this eats its way into all beliefs, into all feeling of the soul, when the human being looks out into the world and no longer has the capacity to be impressed by what is back of what he sees, there comes to light what gradually leads him to the crassest physical egoism in which his own body becomes evermore important to him, thus placing him ever further from Goethe's response:
“From powers that fetter every living being
That man is free who overcomes himself!”
At this juncture we come to an important aspect of spiritual science that will not be fully disclosed for some time unless spiritual science succeeds in enabling man to conquer himself. For if the human being continues to grasp with his intellect only what his senses perceive, then, as a result, there would follow for the human being's health something quite different from what would result were the human being to perceive in phenomena nothing but the spirit's sense expression. Materialistic thinking and spiritual scientific thinking have a great effect on the human being's inner life. Thus, the question of the significance of materialistic thinking and of spiritual scientific thinking have more than a theoretical meaning. As for the results of materialistic and spiritual scientific thinking, the one works to desolate, the other to imbue inwardly. Now, for the meaning of these effects on the human being let's take a simple example pertaining to sight. One becomes nearsighted if, during the period of early development, one lends oneself passively to impressions. If, however, one gives oneself actively to the impressions of things, then the eyes remain well. A man must develop productive power from within. Whatever provides him with the possibility of becoming the center of creativity and production is healthy. Unless he becomes creative from within outwards, his capacity for health will dry up and his whole being will be compressed by the outer impressions. To all impressions from the outside man must call up from his inner being a counter-force. This must also be supplemented by the reverse in that the human being must unfold an activity that shuts itself off from the outside, becomes invisible from the outside.
There are two soul experiences in which you need to steep yourselves. They will show you that the human being seeks an inner abundance that streams out, and also a center for his activity in the outer world. One should study these two feeling directions, for they lead us deep into man's illnesses. The one feeling is negative, anxiety; the other, positive, shame, but which also means something negative. Let us assume that you are confronting some event that stirs up anxiety and fear in you. If you consider this not only from the materialistic standpoint, but also include that of the astral body, then becoming pale will appear as an expression of energy-streams in the human being. Why does the soul affect the blood circulation in this way? Because the soul strives to create a will-center within itself in order to be able to function outwardly from it. It is actually a gathering of the blood to the center in order for it to be able to function outwardly from it. This is meant more or less as a picture. In the case of shame, things are reversed. We blush. The blood streams from within to the periphery. The feeling of shame points to circumstances that we would extinguish from visibility, because of which we would extinguish our ego. The human being wants to make his ego weaker and weaker so that it is no longer perceptible from the outside. At this point he needs something in order to lose himself, to dissolve into the All, into the World Soul, or, if you will, into the environment. Thus, what we call shame is loath to, indeed, does not want to, become visible from the outside.
In the expressions of shame and anxiety you have a polarity that indicates significant conditions of the etheric and astral bodies. These are two instances in which forces of the astral body become outwardly visible. Anxiety and shame express themselves in bodily conditions. If you reflect on this, you will realize that all soul happenings can have an effect on the happenings of the organism. This is true as taught by spiritual science. There is a connection, even if the human being is at first not conscious of it.
Let us consider the phenomenon that the abstract thoughts of today have the least imaginable effect on the organism. What we learn in our abstract sciences has the least imaginable effect on our body. Its principle is to perceive what we see, to transform the perception into the intellectual concepts. This science will not admit that the human being has inner creative wisdom, that the soul can produce from out of itself something about the world. While perceiving outwardly, the soul does not confront outer impressions with an inner creative energy. The scientist is not for discovering things out of himself. When we reflect on how deeply rooted is the belief of the human being in his own incapacity to learn out of himself, then we may realize that this is the point of departure for the desolating effect of a knowing that attaches itself only to the outer.
What remedy is there in this situation for humanity if inner investigation for wisdom and truth, the inner creativity of the spirit, is to companion outer science? The remedy is to be found in true spiritual science. Herewith are the springs opened through which the human being, out of himself, has the capacity to develop his perception of what lies behind things. Some people are oppressed by things. But whoever sees what no outer perception can receive, whoever receives this, creates the counterpart to outer perceptions that is necessary for the complete healing of soul and body. This healing of the soul cannot be brought about by abstract theories and thoughts. These are too dull and inadequate. The effect is powerful, however, when concept is transmitted into picture. How is this to be understood? This can best be learned from thinking about what is called evolution. You will hear it said that there were at first the simplest of living beings that became ever more complicated until man came to be. These are again only abstract, dull, inadequate concepts. This thinking is to be found in many theosophical teachings about evolution. They begin with the logos and continue in purely abstract concepts such as evolution, involution, etc. This is too weak in its effect upon the organism. What lies in the soul will become strong if one considers what has developed since the fourteenth century. Here you have a picture, an imagination that is set before the soul. Let me outline this again.
In the past the pupil was told, “Look well at the plant and then place the human being beside it and compare them. The head may not be compared with the blossom, and the feet with the root. (Even Darwin, the reformer of natural science, did not do this.) The root corresponds to the head of the human being; he is an upside-down plant. (Spiritual science has always said this.) What the plant in its innocence allows to be kissed by the sunbeams so that the new plant can be born therefrom, this takes a reversed direction in man in his chastity directed towards the central point of the earth. The animal stands in the middle, between the two. The animal is turned halfway to the plant.”
Plato, in his summing up, says about what lives in plant, animal and human being, “The world soul is crucified on the cross of the world body.” The world soul, which streams through plant, animal and human being, is crucified on the world body. Thus has the cross always been explained by spiritual science.
Now the pupil who was led forward to this significant image was told, “You see how the human being has developed himself from the dull consciousness of the plant, beyond the consciousness of the animal and has found his self-consciousness. In the sleeping human being we have a state of being that has the same existence value as the plant. Because the human being has permeated the pure, innocent plant matter with his body of desires, he has risen higher, but, in a certain sense, has descended lower. Otherwise, he would not have been able to acquire his high ego consciousness. Now he must again transform his astral nature. In the future the human being will have an organ free of passion, like the flower's chalice.”
It was then pointed out to the pupil that a time would come when the human being would bring forth his life free of passion. This was presented in the Grail Schools in the image of the Holy Grail. Here you have evolution presented not in thoughts, but in a picture, in an imagination.
So it would be possible to transmute into pictures what has been given us only in abstract concepts. Thereby we would be accomplishing much. When one allows this pregnant ideal of evolution to rise before one, up into the development of the imagination of the Holy Grail, then one has food and nourishment for more than just one's power of judgment. Then, not only does the rational understanding cling to it, but also the full being of feeling twines around it. You tremble before the great world-secret when you see the development of the world in truth, and receive it in such imaginations. Then these imaginations work lawfully upon the organism, harmonizing it. Abstract thoughts are without effect.
These imaginations, however, work as health-bringing, inner impulses. Imaginations bring about effects, and if these be true world-pictures, imaginations, they work in a health-bringing way. When the human being transforms what he sees outwardly into pictures, then he frees himself from his inner being. Then does the storm resolve itself into a harmony, and he is able to overcome the power that binds all beings. Then will he be able to relate himself to everything that comes his way. He streams out. Through his feelings he grows into union with the world. His inner self is widened to a spiritual universe. In the moment when the human being has no possibility of forming these inner imaginations, then all his forces stream inwards and he clings fast to his ego.
This is the mysterious reason for what meets us in many of our contemporaries. Human beings have forsaken religion's old form and now they are turned back on themselves. They live ever more in themselves, ever more only with themselves. The less possibility the human being has of dissolving into the universal world being, the more he perceives what happens in his organism. This is the cause of false feelings of anxiety and of illusions of illness. The image reacts out of the soul upon the organism; healthy trends in the body are affected by true images. False images, however, also leave their imprint, giving rise to what meets us as soul disturbances, which later become bodily disturbances. Here we have the true basis that finally leads to illusory illness. Whoever closes himself off from the great world relationships will not be able to dismiss what comes toward him. On the other hand, it is impossible for the one who has been impressed by the all-embracing imaginations to let himself be deceived by false images. He would not, for example, as is often the case, think he detected an induction apparatus current pass through his body when no current was present.
Every image that does not find a place in the overall general nexus, that functions as a one-sided, everyday image, is at the same time an illness-inducing image. It is only if the human being always looks up from the single, the lone, to the great secrets of the universe, that he thereby corrects what must be corrected. For what really works upon the soul is a strong force. What emerges in the course of cultural development is a fact not to be overlooked. Today we limit ourselves to our instincts about health. Let us consider tragedy from this point of view. The ancient Greeks knew that what I am about to say is true, that the human being watches tragedy, lives with its suffering, is seized by its impressions, gripped by them, but by the time it is over, he knows that the hero has won out over the suffering and that the human being can overcome the suffering of the world. It is through his living with suffering and overcoming it that he becomes healthy. Turning one's gaze inward makes for sickness. To express what lives within one in an image outside makes for health. Thus it is that Aristotle would have tragedy presented to show how the protagonist goes through suffering and fear so that the human being is healed of pain and fear.
This has far-reaching effects. The spiritual scientist can tell you wherefore the ancient peoples brought fairy tale and legend pictures before the soul of the human being. Pictures were presented to him, pictures from which he should turn away his inward gazing. The blood flowing in fairy tales is a healthy educational means. Whoever can so look at myths will be able to see much. When, for example, the human being outwardly sees revenge in a picture, when he sees in outer picture what he should give up, the result is that he overcomes it. Deep, deep wisdom lies in the most bloodthirsty fairy tales. Our inner harmony is disturbed if we forever stand gaping into our souls. We become healthy in soul when we look into the All, into the Cosmos. But one must know which images are needed. Consider a melancholic person, an hypochondriac, who simply cannot free himself from certain happenings. One would like to bring some gaiety into his soul with gay music, etc., but one brings forth the opposite, gloom, even if it does not appear so at the moment. The deeper ground of his soul finds it flat and dreary, even if he does not admit to this. Serious pictures are necessary, even if they unnerve one at first.
Thus you see that a quite definite way of dealing with the soul can arise. It is not possible to get at illusory illness through a single means. It rests on the materialism of our time, on the lack of creativity. Spurious, baseless anxiety, all the feelings that express the distorted soul-balance in melancholy, etc., are explained by a deeper observation of the connection of things. Through this the means of healing are also found. It would just never be possible for one who continually fathomed the connection of things not to be released from his ego. In cases where the ego is not released there is some kind of provocation, and this is exaggerated. For example, someone bumped his knee on the edge of the table. He lacked the large, asserting ideas and thus he could not rid himself of the pain. The pain grew worse. The doctor was called and he said to do this and that. Then suddenly the person felt the pain in the other knee. Then his elbow became painful, etc., until finally he could no longer move his legs or hands—all because he bumped his knee. There may be reasons that the attention is directed to a particular point, but there are also possibilities present that could bring about a balance. The human being finds the balance in his ever more difficult life only if he allows spiritual science to work upon him. Then he will find himself armed against the cultural influences.
We can, however, also find outer causes for lack of creativity. The facts speak loudly. Observe the animals that in our culture are transplanted into captivity. They become sick, they who in the outside world would never become sick. This arises because of the strong influences upon man and animal that flow from the outer environment. The animal cannot develop a counter-force because his development is terminated. Through civilization the human being also comes to decadence if he is unable to counter outer influences with creative force. He must reshape and transform the influences by inner activity. Then it is even possible that these influences can be used by the human being for higher development. The person who elaborates and creates a radical theory of materialism is healthy because he creates from within outwards. But the followers of the theory waste away because they bring forth no creative force of their own.
If you read books of spiritual science, there is nothing that you gain unless you inwardly recreate them for yourselves. Then your activity becomes an inner cooperative creativity. If this be not the case, then it is not studying of spiritual scientific books as it is meant to be. It depends upon developing the feeling for the forces that surge forward, the forces that would receive the outer world. It depends upon finding the balance between outer impressions and inner creativity. Men must free themselves from the outer strife in the world so that it does not make itself ever more noticeable and oppressive. We must carry out the counter-thrust. The outer impression must inwardly experience the counter-thrust. Then we become free of it; otherwise, it will continue to turn us back upon ourselves over and over again. If we be always watchful only of our inner life, then there arises before our souls a picture of suffering. If we achieve an expression of balance between outer forces and inner forces that indefatigably would go forward, then we amalgamate with the outer world.
So do we acquaint ourselves in a deeper sense with illusory illness as a phenomenon today. Our point of departure was that spiritual science should be a means of healing so that the human being is freed from himself and thus from every binding power. For every binding power makes for illness. Only in this way do we become clear about the deep core of Goethe's verse:
For every force sweeps outward into space
To live and work; here, there and everywhere;
While on the other hand the teeming world
From every side confines and takes away!
Between the inner strife and outer conflict
The spirit hears a word slow comprehended:
From powers that fetter every living being
That man is free who overcomes himself.
Der Krankheitswahn im Lichte der Geisteswissenschaft
Der Mensch ist in seinem Leben zwischen zwei Mächte hineingestellt. Auf der einen Seite steht der Ablauf der Ereignisse und Tatsachen, die Fortdauer der Tatsachen um ihn herum, die auf ihn die verschiedensten Eindrücke machen. Dem steht im Innern gegenüber des Menschen eigene Kraft. Man braucht das Leben nur oberflächlich zu betrachten, dann wird einem klar, daß der Mensch einen notwendigen Ausgleich braucht zwischen den Kräften und Tatsachen, die von allen Seiten auf ihn einstürmen, und dem, was sich in seinem Innern entfaltet. Wenn der Mensch im alltäglichen Lebenstreiben Eindruck auf Eindruck empfangen hat, so sehnt er sich nach Sammlung, nach Alleinsein. Er fühlt, daß nur im richtigen Ausgleich ein gesundes Leben gefunden werden kann.
Das drückt für die Tiefe und Breite des Lebens ein schöner, in Rätsel des Daseins dringender Satz Goethes aus:
Denn alle Kraft dringt vorwärts in die Weite,
Zu leben und zu wirken hier und dort;
Dagegen engt und hemmt von jeder Seite
Der Strom der Welt und reißt uns mit sich fort;
In diesem innern Sturm und äußern Streite
Vernimmt der Geist ein schwer verstanden Wort:
Von der Gewalt, die alle Wesen bindet,
Befreit der Mensch sich, der sich überwindet.
In diesen zwei letzten Zeilen, die eben aus den «Geheimnissen» angeführt worden sind: «Von der Gewalt, die alle Wesen bindet, befreit der Mensch sich, der sich überwindet», liegt viel Lebensweisheit. Dem Innern des Menschen, das im Sturme fortschreitet als diejenige Kraft, die in immerwährender Entwickelung und Entfaltung ist, steht gegenüber, was von außen an uns herantritt. Einen Ausgleich finden wir, wenn wir uns selbst überwinden. Das können wir als Leitwort nehmen für die Betrachtungen, die uns heute und übermorgen beschäftigen sollen. Beide Themen gehören zusammen. Heute wollen wir uns mit dem Krankheitswahn beschäftigen, und als notwendige Ergänzung dazu wird übermorgen die Betrachtung über das Gesundheitsfieber folgen.
Erst im Laufe der Betrachtung können die Worte gerechtfertigt werden. Sie führen uns hinein in die geistigen Strömungen der Gegenwart und in das, was die Geisteswissenschaft dem entgegenstellt, was sie dagegen sich als ihre Aufgabe zu setzen hat.
Bei dem Worte «Krankheitswahn» denkt der Mensch zunächst an die uns so oft entgegentretende Tatsache, daß jemand in mehr oder weniger eingebildeter Krankheit wirkliche Schmerzen und Unlust empfindet. Gerade hier ist ein Gebiet, in dem der Kulturberuf der Geisteswissenschaft einzusetzen hat. Davon hängen wichtige Dinge ab. Bevor wir darauf eingehen, was die Geisteswissenschaft hierzu zu sagen hat, lassen Sie uns ein paar Bilder aus dem Leben der Gegenwart vor unsere Seele stellen. Alle Beispiele, die hier angeführt werden, sind aus dem Leben genommen.
Auf einer meiner Reisen, es war auf dem Wege von Rostock nach Berlin, saßen zwei andere Menschen mit mir im Coup&, eine Dame und ein Herr, die sehr bald miteinander ins Gespräch kamen. Der Herr benahm sich ganz merkwürdig. Schon nach einigen Worten legte er sich der Länge nach auf die Bank und sagte, nur so könne er das Leben ertragen. Die Dame erzählte, sie sei aus dem Osten und sei in einem Ostseebad gewesen. Gestern sei sie vom Heimweh ergriffen worden und habe beschlossen, nach Hause zu reisen, und sie brach in Tränen aus. Der Herr kam durch das Weinen der Dame darauf, von seinen Gesundheitszuständen zu erzählen: Ich habe viele Krankheiten und reise von Sanatorium zu Sanatorium, ohne Gesundheit zu finden. - Die Dame sagte darauf: Ich verstehe auch viel von Krankheiten. Viele Leute in meiner Heimat verdanken mir Gesundheit und Leben. - Der Herr erzählt aus der langen Reihe seiner Krankheiten eine; die Dame gibt ihm aus der Wissensfülle ihres Herzens ein Rezept, das der Herr sich aufschreibt. Nach wenigen Minuten kommt die zweite Krankheit und so weiter, bis er glücklich dreizehn Rezepte aufgeschrieben hat, Der Herr hatte nur die eine Sorge: Wir kommen um neun Uhr in Berlin an, kann ich mir dann die Rezepte auch noch machen lassen? Die Dame tröstete ihn, daß es wohl noch gehen würde. Merkwürdigerweise fiel es dem Herrn gar nicht auf, daß die Dame doch selbst krank war. Die Dame sagte weiter: Ich habe viel Mitleid, — und sie zählte ihre eigenen Krankheiten auf und erzählte, wo sie überall war, um Heilung zu finden. Der Herr empfahl ihr ein Werk von Lahmann. Darauf folgte die zweite Krankheit und die zweite Broschüre, bis sie im ganzen fünf bis sechs Werke aufgeschrieben hatte, die sie am nächsten Tage kaufen wollte. Zuletzt schrieb sie sich noch die Adresse von Lahmann auf. Unterdessen waren sie in Berlin angekommen. Jeder hatte seine Sache aufgeschrieben und ging zufrieden weg.
Wer die Leute mit ein klein wenig Blick für die Sache ansah, der merkte bald, daß der Dame wohl einiges fehlte, dem Manne aber nur der Wille zur Gesundheit. Hätte er den Willen aufgebracht, gesund zu sein, so wäre er vollständig gesund gewesen. Darin haben wir etwas Symptomatisches, das uns vielfach in der Gegenwart entgegentritt, und der prüfende Blick wird von diesem Bilde zu einem anderen übergehen können.
Wandern wir in Gebirgsgegenden, so sehen wir alte Burgen, verfallene Schlösser und so weiter, die uns erinnern an alte Zeiten, wo nach Stärke des Geistes gestrebt wurde oder wo die äußere Kraft geherrscht hat. Diese Burgen sind heute verfallen, aber überall in der Nähe dieser Monumente der Stärke sieht man heute Sanatorien, eins neben dem andern. Dieses Bild bot sich mir vor einiger Zeit in einer besonders sanatorienreichen Gegend. Es ergab sich die Notwendigkeit, mich eine Viertelstunde in einem solchen Sanatorium aufzuhalten. Die Leute begaben sich gerade zum Mittagessen. Die Überzeugung, die ich da gewonnen habe, war die, daß unter den hunderten kein einziger war, der eigentlich die Lebensweise im Sanatorium ernsthaft nötig hatte.
Nun wollen wir zu intimeren Bildern übergehen, die wir finden in den Annalen denkender Ärzte der Gegenwart. Es gibt ja glücklicherweise solche, die sich auch neben dem Körper mit der Seele beschäftigen. Ich wähle ein Beispiel von einem Arzte, der sicher alles Theosophische als Unsinn ansehen würde. Diese Leute sind ganz gewiß von demjenigen, was die Geisteswissenschaft zu sagen hat, ganz und gar unbeeinflußt. Ein solcher hervorragender Arzt hat aus seinem Leben verschiedenes aufgezeichnet, verschiedene Fälle, wo ihm Leute begegnet sind von der Art, von der das aus dem Coupe Erzählte nur ein besonders grotesker Fall ist. Er wurde zu einem Mädchen gerufen, bei dem alle Symptome auf Gehirnhautentzündung hinwiesen. Der Arzt hatte aber einen guten Blick. Als er allein mit ihr war, stellte er die Fragen, die man in solch einem Fall wohl stellt, aber alle seine Fragen verfingen nicht. Endlich stellte sich heraus, daß die junge Dame aus der Schule kommen sollte; im nächsten Jahr aber sollten besonders interessante Vorlesungen sein, die sie noch hören wollte. Da alles in der Familie dagegen war, verfiel sie in Krankheit. Der Arzt sagte: Ich werde mich dafür verwenden, daß Sie noch dort bleiben dürfen, aber Sie müssen sofort aufstehen und zu Tisch kommen. — Es geschah. Nach wenigen Minuten erschien die Dame bei Tisch und war nicht mehr krank. Ein anderes Beispiel: Ein sehr geschickter anderer Arzt, der sehr bekannt ist und mir immer eine gewisse Achtung eingeflößt hat, mußte eine Knieoperation ausführen. Der Bruder des Patienten war dabei. Bei der Operation knackte es. Der Bruder bekam davon einen gräßlichen Schmerz. Die Operation verlief gut, aber der Bruder wurde krank und konnte ein ganzes Jahr lang nicht geheilt werden.
Da sieht man, welche Gewalt die Phantasie und verkehrte Einbildung auf die Seele haben kann und wie von der Seele aus Nachbildungen von Krankheiten wie wirkliche, echte Krankheitsbilder entstehen können. Aber der Arzt darf hierin auch nicht zu weit gehen. Der, welcher eben genannt worden ist, ist sehr geschickt. Er ließ sich auch nicht durch die Annahme täuschen, daß es immer so sein müsse. Eine Dame kam zu ihm, welche seit dem Tode ihres Mannes unerträglichen Schmerz in ihrem Knie hatte. Sie war von vielen Ärzten behandelt worden, die sich immer darüber klar zu sein glaubten, daß ihre Krankheit mit seelischen Zuständen zusammenhinge, mit dem Eindruck vom Todes ihres Mannes. Hier aber suchte der Arzt mit dem gesunden Blick keine seelische Verirrung. Er fand, daß in diesem Falle ein großes Hühnerauge an der Ferse zugrunde lag. Nach der Operation schickte er die Dame zur Nachkur nach Gastein, um seine Kollegen nicht zu sehr zu blamieren.
So haben wir jetzt die Situation durch die verschiedensten Bilder beleuchtet. Sie sehen, wie stark die Einbildung, das seelische Bild, zurückwirken kann auf den leiblichen Organismus. Man könnte sagen, hier hatte man es gewiß nicht mit wirklichen Krankheiten, sondern mit Krankheitswahn zu tun. Aber wer sich klar darüber ist, daß alles Leibliche der Ausdruck des Geistigen ist, daß alles, was unseren Sinnen gegenübersteht, die Manifestation eines Übersinnlichen ist, wird die Sache nicht so leicht nehmen. Selbst in scheinbar ganz fernliegenden Dingen haben wir es oft mit Einflüssen der Seele auf den Leib zu tun. Und das, was uns anfangs als Kleinliches, Lächerliches erscheint, die Einbildung, führt, wenn es dann zu Schmerzen kommt, sehr oft zu den Anfängen von wirklichen Krankheiten, und noch weiter als bloß zu den Anfängen. Das ist mehr als etwas, was man mit einem bloßen Achselzucken abtun kann. Wir müssen uns, wenn wir da tiefer eindringen wollen, vor die Seele rufen, worüber schon öfter hier gesprochen worden ist: die Natur und Wesenheit des Menschen.
Für die Geisteswissenschaft ist das, was uns entgegentritt, nur ein Äußeres. Der menschliche Leib ist ein Glied unter anderen Gliedern der menschlichen Wesenheit, das er gemein hat mit allen andern ihn umgebenden Wesen. Darüber hinaus hat er den Ätherleib, der den physischen Leib wie bei jedem Lebewesen durchdringt, der ein Kämpfer ist gegen den Zerfall des physischen Leibes. Das dritte Glied ist der astralische Leib, der Träger von Lust und Unlust, Freude und Schmerz, Leidenschaft und Begierde, der niedrigsten Triebe sowie der höchsten Ideale. Ihn hat der Mensch nur gemeinsam mit der Tierwelt. Das, wodurch der Mensch die Krone der Schöpfung ist, wodurch er sich unterscheidet von allen Wesen, ist sein Ich. Diese vier Glieder bilden zunächst für unsere Betrachtung den ganzen Menschen. Wir müssen uns aber klar sein, daß alles, was sich unsern Augen sichtbar macht, nichts anderes ist als aus dem Geiste heraus Entstandenes. Kein Materielles gibt es, das nicht ein Geistiges als Grundlage hätte.
Ein schon öfter gebrauchter Vergleich: Ein Kind zeigt uns Eis. Wir sagen: Es ist Wasser in anderer Form. — Das Kind wird dann sagen: Du sagst, es ist Wasser, aber es ist doch Eis. — Darauf wird man sagen: Du kennst nicht die Art und Weise, wie Wasser in Eis übergeht. - Ebenso ist es für den, der nicht weiß, daß Materie eine Verdichtungsform des Geistes ist. Für den Geisteswissenschafter ist aber alles, was sichtbar ist an uns, aus demselben entstanden, was wir als astralischen Leib in uns tragen. Ätherleib und physischer Leib sind aufeinanderfolgende Verdichtungsprodukte des astralischen Leibes. Ein Bild: Wir haben irgendeine Masse von Wasser und bringen einen Teil davon in Eisform, dann haben wir Eis in Wasser. So ist der Ätherleib und der physische Leib aus dem astralischen heraus verdichtet. Der astralische Leib ist der Rest, der seine ursprüngliche Gestalt behalten hat.
Wenn uns nun Gesundheit oder Krankheit entgegentreten, so dürfen wir sagen, daß sie der Ausdruck sind gewisser Kräfte, die wir im astralischen Leibe sehen. Wir sprechen hier selbstverständlich nur von den Krankheiten, die von innen heraus sich bilden, nicht von solchen, die durch äußere Einflüsse entstehen, wie Beinbruch, verdorbener Magen, Schnitt in den Finger. Wir sprechen von denjenigen krankhaften Zuständen, die aus des Menschen eigener Natur herausgeboren werden und wir fragen uns: Besteht nicht nur aus alter Zeit ein Zusammenhang zwischen dem astralischen Leibe und dem physischen Leib, sondern ist auch heute noch zwischen den inneren Vorgängen der Seele, Lust und Leid, und den physischen Zuständen unserer Leiber ein Zusammenhang vorhanden? Können wir sagen, daß erwas für die äußere Gesundheit des Menschen davon abhängt, daß er diese oder jene Gefühle durchmacht, diese oder jene Gedanken erlebt? Wenn wir uns mit solchen Gedanken durchdringen, werden wir hineinleuchten können in wichtige Erkenntnisse, die gerade unseren heutigen Menschen wertvoll sein sollten.
Der Mensch hat heute die Fähigkeit verloren, sich zu der Erkenntnis aufzuschwingen, daß der physische Leib nicht das einzige ist. Es kommt dabei nicht darauf an, was der Mensch theoretisch glaubt, sondern es kommt darauf an, was er im Innersten seiner Seele für eine Gesinnung hat gegenüber den höheren Gliedern seiner Wesenheit. Um einzusehen, worauf es dabei eigentlich ankommt, erinnern wir uns an den Streit zwischen Rudolf Wagner und Carl Vogt, dem Verfasser der Schrift «Köhlerglaube und Wissenschaft». Wagner vertrat den spiritualistischen Standpunkt, während Vogt in dem Menschen nur ein Konglomerat von physischen Dingen, von Atomen sah. Die Gedanken sind für ihn nur eine Absonderung des Gehirns, ein blauer Dunst, der aus den Bewegungen des Gehirns entsteht. Im Tode hören die Stoffe auf, diesen blauen Dunst von Gedanken zu entwickeln. Dagegen wandte sich Wagner, aber ungefähr so, daß man glauben mußte: Wenn ein Elternpaar acht Kinder hat, so geht etwas von dem Geist der Eltern auf die Kinder über, verteilt sich auf die acht. Er stellt sich also den Geist ganz materiell vor, vielleicht wie so viele Menschen als ein Nebelgebilde. Aber es kommt darauf an, daß man mit seinen Gesinnungen, Empfindungen und Gefühlen sich aufschwingt, den Geist wirklich zu erfassen. So mag es auch heute viele geben, die zwar nichts wissen wollen von Materialismus, die aber gleichwohl den Geist ganz materiell auffassen. Auch viele Theosophen denken sich den Geist als feinverteilte Materie. Auch in der Theosophie verbirgt sich viel verschämter Materialismus.
Wenn jemand sich nicht zu dieser Höhe des Geistes aufschwingen kann, dann tritt nach und nach eine innere Verödung, eine Leerheit, ein Unglaube an alles, was über die Materie hinausgeht, bei ihm auf. Wenn das die Gefühle ergreift, wenn sich das hineinfrißt in allen Glauben, in alle Gefühle der Seele, wenn der Mensch hinaussieht in die Welt und hinter dem, was er sieht, nichts mehr zu empfinden vermag, dann kommt zum Vorschein, was den Menschen immer mehr und mehr hinführt zum krassesten leiblichen Egoismus, wo ihm immer wichtiger wird der eigene Leib, wo er immer ferner und ferner steht dem Goetheschen Ausspruch:
Von der Gewalt, die alle Wesen bindet,
Befreit der Mensch sich, der sich überwindet.
Wir kommen hier zu einer wichtigen Erscheinung des Materialismus, die erst in Zukunft ganz hervortreten würde, wenn es der Geisteswissenschaft nicht gelänge, sie zu überwinden. Wenn der Mensch nur mit dem Verstande begreift, was seine Sinne wahrnehmen, so wird für die Gesundheit der Menschen etwas ganz anderes folgen, als wenn er in dem, was ihm gegenübertritt, den sinnlichen Ausdruck eines Geistigen sieht. Materialistisches Denken und geisteswissenschaftliches Denken haben eine große Wirkung auf das menschliche Innere. Da hat die Frage nach der Bedeutung des materialistischen und des geisteswissenschaftlichen Denkens eine mehr als nur theoretische Bedeutung. Fragen wir zunächst nach der Wirkung; das eine wirkt verödend, das andere innerlich erfüllend. Für die Bedeutung dieser Wirkungen für den Menschen einige einfache Beispiele: Am ehesten wird man kurzsichtig, wenn man sich im Entwickelungsalter passiv den Eindrücken hingibt. Wenn man sich aber aktiv den Eindrücken der Dinge hingibt, dann bleiben die Augen gut. Der Mensch muß von innen heraus produktive Kraft entwickeln. Alles ist gesundend, was den Menschen veranlaßt, sich zum Mittelpunkt von schaffender, von produktiver Kraft zu machen. Er soll von innen heraus schaffen, sonst verödet seine produktive Kraft, und seine ganze Wesenheit wird durch die äußeren Eindrücke zusammengepreßt. Allen Eindrücken von außen muß die Gegenkraft von innen entgegentreten. Das muß aber auch durch das Umgekehrte sich ergänzen: der Mensch muß eine Tätigkeit entfalten, die sich gegen das Äußere abschließt, nach außen hin unsichtbar wird.
Zwei Seelenerlebnisse gibt es, in die Sie sich ganz vertiefen sollten, die Ihnen zeigen, daß der Mensch eine innere Fülle besitzt, die ausstrahlt nach außen, und daß er einen Mittelpunkt sucht für die Tätigkeit nach außen. Diese zwei Gefühlsrichtungen sollte man studieren, denn sie führen uns tief hinein in die Krankheiten der Menschen. Das eine Gefühl ist negativ, die Angst, das andere positiv, die Scham; es bedeutet aber auch etwas Negatives. Angenommen, Sie stehen einem Ereignisse gegenüber, das Sie in Angst und Schrecken versetzt. Wenn Sie dies nicht vom materialistischen Standpunkte betrachten, sondern den Astralleib mit in Betracht ziehen, dann wird das Bleichwerden als Ausdruck erscheinen für Kraftströmungen im Menschen. Warum wirkt die Seele in dieser Weise auf die Verteilung des Blutes? Weil die Seele anstrebt, in sich einen Willensmittelpunkt zu schaffen, um von hier nach außen wirken zu können. Es ist förmlich ein Sammeln des Blutes im Mittelpunkt, um von da nach außen wirken zu können. Das ist mehr oder weniger bildlich gemeint. Bei der Scham ist es umgekehrt, wir erröten; das Blut strömt von innen zur Peripherie. Das Schamgefühl zeigt Zustände, wo wir, was sichtbar ist, auslöschen möchten, wo wir unser Ich auslöschen möchten. Der Mensch will das Ich schwach und schwächer machen, so daß es für das Äußere nicht mehr wahrnehmbar wird. Der Mensch braucht da etwas, um sich zu verlieren, ein Aufgehen im All, in der Weltenseele oder, wenn man will, in der Umgebung, so daß das, was wir unser Ich nennen, nicht nach außen sichtbar werden will. Hier haben Sie eine Polarität, die auf wichtige Zustände des Ätherleibes und des Astralleibes hinweist. Dies sind zwei Fälle, wo die Kräfte des Astralleibes nach außen sichtbar werden. Angst und Scham drücken sich in körperlichen Zuständen aus. Wenn Sie das bedenken, so werden Sie begreifen, daß alle seelischen Vorgänge eine Wirkung haben können in den Vorgängen des Organismus. So ist es wahr, so lehrt es die Geheimwissenschaft; es gibt da einen Zusammenhang, wenn das auch zunächst dem Menschen nicht zum Bewußtsein kommt.
Nun müssen wir aber die Erscheinung betrachten, daß die abstrakten Gedanken heute die denkbar geringste Wirkung auf den Organismus haben. Was wir in den abstrakten Wissenschaften lernen, hat die denkbar geringste Wirkung auf den Leib. Deren Prinzip ist, das, was wir sehen und wahrnehmen, in Verstandesbegriffe umzuwandeln. Diese Wissenschaft will nicht zugeben, daß der Mensch innere produktive Weisheit in sich hat, daß die Seele aus sich heraus etwas über die Welt produzieren kann. Außerlich anschauend produziert sie nichts. Es steht im tiefsten Sinne den äußeren Eindrücken keine innere Produktionskraft gegenüber. Der Wissenschafter will nichts aus sich finden können. Wenn wir bedenken, wie tief das wurzelt, daß der Mensch glaubt, nichts mehr aus sich heraus finden zu können, so haben wir hier den Ausgangspunkt für die verödende Wirkung des nur am Äußeren haftenden Wissens.
Welches Heilmittel gibt es nun hier für die ganze Menschheit? Das Heilmittel wäre, daß sich das innere Weisheitsund Wahrheitsforschen, die innere Produktivität des Geistes zu der äußeren Wissenschaft hinzugesellt. Das ist in der wahren Geisteswissenschaft zu finden. Da haben Sie Quellen eröffnet, durch die der Mensch aus sich selbst heraus das zu entwickeln vermag, was hinter den Dingen ist. Den einen erdrücken die Dinge. Wer aber sieht, was keine äußere Wahrnehmung aufnehmen kann, wer das aufnimmt, der schafft das Gegenstück zu der äußeren Wahrnehmung, das notwendig ist zur vollständigen Gesundung der Seele und des Leibes. Diese Gesundung der Seele kann nicht durch abstrakte Theorien und Gedanken herbeigeführt werden, die zu dünn, zu dürftig sind. Mächtig wirkt dagegen, was sich aus dem Begriffe in ein Bild verwandelt. Wie ist das zu verstehen? Sie können das am besten begreifen, wenn Sie an das denken, was man Entwickelung nennt. Sie hören da: Es gab einfachste Lebewesen, die immer komplizierter wurden bis herauf zum Menschen. Da haben Sie aber wieder nur abstrakte, dürftige Begriffe. Dasselbe finden Sie in vielen theosophischen Entwickelungslehren. Da geht man vom Logos aus und dann weiter in lauter abstrakten Begriffen wie Differenzierung, Evolution und Involution und so weiter. Das ist zu schwach in seiner Wirkung auf den Organismus. Stark aber wirkt, was in der Seele lebt, wenn man etwas durchdenkt, wie man es sich seit dem 14. Jahrhundert in Deutschland als Bild oder Imagination vor die Seele gestellt hat. Ein solches Bild soll hier einmal dargestellt werden.
Wir wollen in einen Dialog verwandeln, was da dem Schüler gesagt wurde: Sieh dir die Pflanze an, stelle daneben den Menschen und vergleiche beide. Es darf da nicht der Kopf mit der Blüte und der Fuß mit der Wurzel verglichen werden. Das hat selbst Darwin, der Reformator der Naturwissenschaften, nicht getan. Dem Schüler wurde gesagt: Die Wurzel entspricht dem Kopf des Menschen; er ist eine umgekehrte Pflanze. — Die Geisteswissenschaft hat das immer gesagt. Was die Pflanze vom Sonnenstrahle in Keuschheit küssen läßt, damit herausgeboren werden kann die neue Pflanze, das richtet sich umgekehrt beim Menschen in Scham dem Mittelpunkt der Erde zu. Das Tier steht in der Mitte zwischen beiden. Das Tier ist die halbumgewendete Pflanze. Plato sagt, indem er zusammenfaßt, was in Pflanze, Tier und Mensch lebt: Die Weltenseele ist am Kreuze des Weltenleibes gekreuzigt. - Die Weltenseele, die durch Pflanze, Tier und Mensch geht, ist am Weltenleibe gekreuzigt. So ist immer von der Geisteswissenschaft das Kreuz erklärt worden. Nun wurde dem Schüler, dem dies bedeutsame Bild vorgeführt worden war, gesagt: Du siehst, wie der Mensch vom dumpfen Bewußtsein der Pflanze sich heraufentwickelt über das Tier bis dahin, wo er sein Selbstbewußtsein gefunden hat. Im schlafenden Menschen haben wir etwas, was denselben Daseinswert hat wie die Pflanze. Dadurch, daß der Mensch die reine, keusche Pflanzenmaterie durchzogen hat mit dem Begierdenleibe, ist er höher gestiegen, aber auch in gewisser Weise tiefer herabgestiegen. Er hätte sein hohes Ich-Bewußtsein sonst nicht erwerben können; aber jetzt muß er auch seine Begierdennatur wieder umwandeln. Der Mensch wird später ein Organ der Fortpflanzung haben, begierdefrei, wie der Kelch der Pflanze. So wurde der Schüler hingewiesen auf die Zeit, wo der Mensch begierdefrei seinesgleichen hervorbringen wird.
Das ist im Bilde des heiligen Gral in den Gralsschulen dargestellt worden. Hier haben Sie die Entwickelung nicht in Gedanken gegeben, sondern in einem Bilde, in einer Imagination. So könnten wir alles, was nur in abstrakten Begriffen gegeben wird, umwandeln in Bilder. Dadurch wäre viel getan. Wenn man dieses bedeutsame Entwickelungsideal vor sich aufsteigen läßt bis zur Entwickelung der Imagination vom heiligen Gral, dann hat man nicht nur Nahrung für die Urteilskraft, dann haftet nicht nur der Verstand daran, dann rankt sich das volle Wesen des Gefühls um ein solches Bild herum. Sie erschauern vor dem großen Weltgeheimnis, wenn Sie die Entwickelung der Welt in Wahrheit sehen und in solchen Bildern in sich aufnehmen; solche Bilder wirken gesetzmäßig harmonisierend auf den Organismus. Abstrakte Gedanken sind wirkungslos, diese Bilder aber wirken als gesundende innere Anreger. Bilder bewirken Affekte, und sind sie wahre Weltenbilder, Imaginationen, so wirken sie gesundend. Wenn der Mensch das, was er äußerlich sieht, verwandelt in diese Bilder, dann kommt er los von seinem Innern, dann wird der Sturm in Harmonie ausgelöst. Dann überwindet er die «Gewalt, die alle Wesen bindet», und er wird verwandt mit allem, was ihm entgegentritt. Er fließt nach außen, er wächst durch seine Gefühle mit der Welt zusammen. Das innere Selbst wird zu einem Geist-Universum erweitert. In dem Augenblick, wo der Mensch keine Möglichkeit hat, diese inneren Imaginationen zu bilden, da strömt alle Kraft nach innen, der Mensch haftet fest an seinem Ich. Das ist der geheimnisvolle Grund für das, was uns bei vielen Zeitgenossen entgegentritt: Die Menschen haben die alte Form der Religion verlassen, und nun werden sie auf sich selbst zurückgewiesen. Immer mehr leben sie in ihrem Innern, immer mehr nur mit sich selbst. Je weniger der Mensch die Möglichkeit hat, im allgemeinen Weltendasein aufzugehen, desto mehr spürt er, was in seinem Organismus vorgeht. Das ist die Ursache für falsche Angstgefühle und falsche Krankheitsvorstellungen.
Das Bild wirkt von der Seele auf den Organismus, gesunde Disposition des Leibes wird durch wahre Bilder bewirkt. Falsche Bilder prägen sich auch ein. Sie erzeugen das, was uns in den Seelenstörungen entgegentritt, die später zu Leibesstörungen werden. Hier ist der wahre Grund, der schließlich zum Krankheitswahn führt. Derjenige, der sich abschließt gegenüber dem großen Weltenzusammenhang, der wird nicht abweisen können, was ihm entgegentrritt. Dagegen ist unmöglich, daß der, welcher sich große Bilder eingeprägt hat, sich durch falsche Bilder täuschen läßt. Zum Beispiel würde er nicht, wie es manchmal geschieht, den Strom des Induktionsapparates durch seinen Körper ziehen spüren, obwohl gar kein Strom da ist.
Jedes Bild, das sich nicht einreiht in den Weltzusammenhang, alles, was als einseitiges Bild des Alltags wirkt, ist zugleich ein krankmachendes Bild. Nur dadurch, daß der Mensch immer vom einzelnen aufschaut zum großen Geheimnisse der Welt, korrigiert er, was korrigiert werden muß. Das, was wirklich auf die Seele wirkt, kann eine starke Kraft entfalten. Was im Laufe der Kulturentwickelung in solcher Art hervorgebracht worden ist, ist etwas, was nicht vernachlässigt werden darf. Heute beschränken wir uns auf die Gesundheitsinstinkte. Betrachten wir von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus die Tragödie. Die alten Griechen wußten, daß der Mensch, der eine Tragödie ansieht, die Leiden miterlebt, von ihnen gepackt, ergriffen wird; aber wenn er hinausgeht, so weiß er, daß der Held gesiegt hat über die Leiden, daß der Mensch die Leiden der Welt überwinden kann. Durch den Anblick des Leidens und die Überwindung des Leidens wird er gesund. Den Blick nach innen wenden, macht krank. Das, was im Innern lebt, äußerlich im Bilde zu sehen, das macht gesund. Darum definiert Aristoteles, die Tragödie führe vor, wie der Held hindurchgeht durch Leiden und Furcht, damit der Mensch von Leiden und Furcht geheilt wird. Das erstreckt sich weit. Der Geisteswissenschafter kann Ihnen sagen, weshalb die alten Völker dem Menschen in Märchen und Sagen Bilder vor die Seele führten: Es wurden ihm Bilder vorgeführt von dem, wovon er im Innern seinen Blick abwenden sollte. Das Blutfließen in den Märchen ist ein gesundes Erziehungsmittel. Wer die Mythen so verfolgen kann, der wird viel in ihnen sehen. Wenn zum Beispiel der Mensch äußerlich im Bilde Rache sieht, wenn er das, was er sich abgewöhnen soll, äußerlich im Bilde sieht, so wirkt das so, daß er es überwindet. Tiefe, tiefe Weisheit liegt auch in den blutrünstigsten Märchen. Unsere innere Harmonie wird gestört, wenn wir immer hineingaffen in unsere Seele; gesunden wird sie, wenn wir hineinblicken in das All, in den Kosmos. Aber man muß wissen, was für Bilder notwendig sind: Man hat etwa einen melancholischen Menschen, einen Hypochonder vor sich, der über gewisse Ereignisse nicht wegkommen kann. Nun will man ihn aufheitern durch heitere Musik oder dergleichen. Dadurch bewirkt man das Gegenteil, wenn es vielleicht auch für den Augenblick nicht so scheint; im tieferen Grunde seiner Seele findet er das schal und öde, selbst wenn er es nicht zugibt. Ernste Bilder sind notwendig, selbst wenn sie zuerst angreifen.
So sehen Sie, daß aus der Geisteswissenschaft eine ganz bestimmte Seelenbehandlung hervorgehen kann. Dem Krankheitswahn kann man im einzelnen nicht beikommen. Er beruht auf unserer materialistischen Zeit, dem Mangel an Produktivität. Die falsche, unbegründete Angst, alle die Gefühle, die das gestörte seelische Gleichgewicht ausdrücken, in der Melancholie und so weiter, werden erklärt durch tieferes Hineinblicken in die Zusammenhänge. Hier werden auch die Heilmittel gefunden. Niemals könnte es einern, der die Zusammenhänge durchschaut, geschehen, daß er nicht loskommen kann von seinem Ich. Es ist in solchen Fällen gewöhnlich irgendein Anlaß da, aber er wird vergrößert. Ein Beispiel: jemand stößt sich mit dem Knie an der Tischkante. Ihm fehlen die großen, ihn ganz in Anspruch nehmenden Gedanken, so daß er nicht loskommen kann von dem Schmerz. So wird der Schmerz immer größer. Der Arzt wird gerufen und sagt, man müsse das und das tun. Dann fühlt er auf einmal Schmerz im andern Knie. Dann kommt der Ellenbogen dazu und so fort, bis er schließlich Beine und Hände nicht mehr rühren kann, weil er sein Knie angestoßen hatte. Es mögen Dinge vorhanden sein, die die Aufmerksamkeit hinlenken auf einen bestimmten Punkt, aber es sind auch Dinge vorhanden, die einen Ausgleich ‚schaffen können. Der Mensch. findet in unserem immer schwerer und schwerer werdenden Leben nur den Ausgleich, wenn er die Geisteswissenschaft auf sich einwirken läßt. Dann wird er den Zivilisationseinflüssen gegenüber gewappnet sein.
Wir können aber auch äußere Gründe finden für die mangelnde Produktivität. Die Tatsachen sprechen laut. Sehen Sie sich die Tiere an, die in unsere Kultur, in die Gefangenschaft verpflanzt sind. Da werden sie krank, sie, die draußen in der Freiheit niemals krank werden würden. Das kommt davon her, daß von allem, was aus der äußeren Umgebung stammt, starke Einflüsse ausgehen auf Mensch und Tier. Das Tier kann keine Gegenkraft entwickeln, denn seine Entwickelung ist abgeschlossen. Der Mensch kommt durch den Kulturfortschritt auch in die Dekadenz, wenn er den äußeren Einflüssen keine produktive Kraft entgegensetzen kann. Er muß durch innere Tätigkeit die Einflüsse umgestalten, umwandeln, dann können sie sogar zur Höherentwickelung des Menschen gebraucht werden. Der Mensch, der eine radikale materialistische Theorie ausarbeitet, der Schöpfer derselben, ist gesund, denn er schafft von innen heraus. Die Anhänger dieser Theorie veröden, weil bei ihnen keine eigene produktive Kraft vorhanden ist. Wenn Sie geisteswissenschaftliche Bücher lesen, so hat das gar keinen Wert, wenn Sie sie nicht innerlich nachkonstruieren. Dann ist es ein innerliches Mitproduzieren. Wenn das nicht der Fall ist, dann ist es kein Studieren geisteswissenschaftlicher Bücher. Darauf kommt es an, die Kraft zu fühlen, die vorwärtsdrängen und die äußere Welt in sich aufnehmen will, und daß man das Gleichgewicht findet zwischen den äußeren Eindrücken und der inneren Produktivität. Vom äußeren Streit der Welt muß der Mensch frei werden, damit dieser sich nicht immer stärker bemerkbar macht und ihn erdrückt. Wir müssen den Gegenstoß ausführen. Der äußere Eindruck muß auch den Gegenstoß von innen erfahren. Dann kommen wir von ihm los, sonst weist er uns immer mehr in unser Inneres zurück. Achten wir immer nur auf unser Inneres, so entsteht ein Leidensbild vor unserer Seele. Wenn wir den Ausgleich der inneren Kraft, die rastlos vorwärts will, und der äußeren Kraft zum Ausdruck bringen, so verschmelzen wir mit der äußeren Welt. So haben wir heute im tieferen Sinne den Krankheitswahn als Zeiterscheinung kennengelernt.
Der Ausgangspunkt war heute: Die Geisteswissenschaft will ein Heilmittel sein, damit der Mensch von sich loskommt und so von jeder bindenden Gewalt. Denn jede bindende Gewalt ist eine krankmachende. So können wir nur klar werden über den tiefen Kern der Goetheschen Strophe:
Denn alle Kraft dringt vorwärts in die Weite,
Zu leben und zu wirken hier und dort;
Dagegen engt und hemmt von jeder Seite
Der Strom der Welt und reißt uns mit sich fort;
In diesem innern Sturm und äußern Streite
Vernimmt der Geist ein schwer verstanden Wort:
Von der Gewalt, die alle Wesen bindet,
Befreit der Mensch sich, der sich überwindet.
The Obsession with Illness in the light of Spiritual Science
Human beings are caught between two forces in their lives. On the one hand, there is the sequence of events and facts, the continuity of the facts around them, which make a wide variety of impressions on them. Opposite this is the inner power of the human being. One need only look at life superficially to realize that human beings need a necessary balance between the forces and facts that assail them from all sides and what unfolds within them. When people have received impression after impression in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, they long for contemplation, for solitude. They feel that a healthy life can only be found in the right balance.
Goethe expresses the depth and breadth of life in a beautiful sentence that penetrates the mystery of existence:
For all power pushes forward into the vastness,
To live and work here and there;
On the other hand, the stream of the world constricts and inhibits us on all sides
And carries us away with it;
In this inner storm and outer strife
The spirit hears a word that is difficult to understand:
From the force that binds all beings,
The man who overcomes himself is freed.
There is a great deal of wisdom in these last two lines, which have just been quoted from the “Secrets”: “From the force that binds all beings, the man who overcomes himself is freed.” The inner self of man, which progresses in a storm as the force that is in constant development and unfolding, is opposed by what approaches us from outside. We find balance when we overcome ourselves. We can take this as a motto for the reflections that will occupy us today and the day after tomorrow. Both topics belong together. Today we will deal with the delusion of illness, and as a necessary supplement to this, the day after tomorrow we will follow up with a reflection on the fever for health.
Only in the course of reflection can the words be justified. They lead us into the spiritual currents of the present and into what Spiritual Science opposes to them, what it has set itself as its task.
When we hear the words “obsession with illness,” we first think of the fact that we so often encounter people who experience real pain and discomfort in a more or less imagined illness. This is precisely an area where the cultural profession of Spiritual Science has a role to play. Important things depend on it. Before we go into what Spiritual Science has to say about this, let us consider a few mental images from contemporary life. All the examples given here are taken from real life.
On one of my trips, on the way from Rostock to Berlin, two other people were sitting with me in the compartment, a lady and a gentleman, who very soon struck up a conversation with each other. The gentleman behaved very strangely. After just a few words, he lay down lengthwise on the bench and said that this was the only way he could bear life. The lady said she was from the east and had been to a Baltic Sea resort. Yesterday she had been overcome with homesickness and had decided to travel home, and she burst into tears. The man's tears prompted the woman to talk about his health: “I have many illnesses and travel from sanatorium to sanatorium without finding health.” The woman replied, “I also know a lot about illnesses. Many people in my homeland owe their health and lives to me.” The gentleman recounts one of his many illnesses; the lady, drawing on the wealth of knowledge in her heart, gives him a prescription, which the gentleman writes down. After a few minutes, the second illness comes up, and so on, until he has happily written down thirteen prescriptions. The gentleman had only one concern: “We arrive in Berlin at nine o'clock. Will I still be able to get the prescriptions filled?” The lady reassured him that it would probably still be possible. Strangely enough, the gentleman did not notice that the lady herself was ill. The lady continued: “I have a lot of sympathy,” and she listed her own illnesses and told him where she had been to find a cure. The gentleman recommended a work by Lahmann to her. This was followed by the second illness and the second brochure, until she had written down a total of five or six works that she wanted to buy the next day. Finally, she wrote down Lahmann's address. Meanwhile, they had arrived in Berlin. Everyone had written down what they needed and left satisfied.
Anyone who looked at the people with even a little insight soon realized that the lady was probably lacking something, but the man only lacked the will to be healthy. If he had mustered the will to be healthy, he would have been completely healthy. In this we have something symptomatic that we encounter frequently in the present, and the scrutinizing gaze will be able to move from this image to another.
When we hike in mountainous regions, we see old castles, ruined palaces, and so on, which remind us of ancient times when people strove for strength of spirit or when external power ruled. These castles are now in ruins, but everywhere near these monuments of strength, one sees sanatoriums, one next to the other. This image presented itself to me some time ago in an area particularly rich in sanatoriums. I found myself needing to spend a quarter of an hour in one such sanatorium. The people there were just going to lunch. The conviction I gained there was that among the hundreds, there was not a single one who actually seriously needed the sanatorium lifestyle.
Now let us move on to more intimate images that we find in the annals of contemporary thinking physicians. Fortunately, there are those who concern themselves with the soul as well as the body. I choose an example from a physician who would certainly regard everything theosophical as nonsense. These people are certainly completely unaffected by what Spiritual Science has to say. Such an outstanding physician has recorded various incidents from his life, various cases where he encountered people of the kind of which the story told by Coupe is only a particularly grotesque example. He was called to a girl who showed all the symptoms of meningitis. But the doctor had a good eye. When he was alone with her, he asked the questions one would normally ask in such a case, but none of his questions seemed to make sense. Finally, it turned out that the young lady was supposed to come home from school, but next year there were going to be some particularly interesting lectures that she still wanted to hear. Since everyone in her family was against it, she fell ill. The doctor said, “I will do my best to ensure that you can stay there, but you must get up immediately and come to the table.” And so it happened. After a few minutes, the lady appeared at the table and was no longer ill. Another example: a very skilled doctor, who is well known and has always commanded my respect, had to perform knee surgery. The patient's brother was present. During the operation, there was a crack. The brother felt a terrible pain. The operation went well, but the brother became ill and could not be cured for a whole year.
This shows the power that imagination and misguided conceit can have on the soul and how the soul can create imitations of illnesses that are as real as actual, genuine symptoms. But the doctor must not go too far in this regard. The one just mentioned is very skilled. He did not allow himself to be misled by the assumption that it must always be so. A lady came to him who had been suffering from unbearable pain in her knee since the death of her husband. She had been treated by many doctors who always believed that her illness was related to her mental state, to the impact of her husband's death. But here, the doctor with the healthy perspective did not look for a mental disorder. He found that in this case, the cause was a large corn on the heel. After the operation, he sent the lady to Gastein for a follow-up treatment so as not to embarrass his colleagues too much.
So we have now illuminated the situation through a wide variety of images. You can see how strongly the imagination, the mental image, can affect the physical organism. One could say that these were certainly not real illnesses, but rather delusions of illness. But anyone who is aware that everything physical is an expression of the spiritual, that everything that confronts our senses is a manifestation of the supersensible, will not take the matter so lightly. Even in seemingly unrelated matters, we often encounter the soul's influence on the body. And what initially appears to us as trivial, ridiculous, or imaginary often leads to the onset of real illnesses when pain arises, and even more than just the onset. This is more than something that can be dismissed with a mere shrug of the shoulders. If we want to delve deeper into this, we must call upon the soul, which has already been discussed here on several occasions: the nature and essence of the human being.
For Spiritual Science, what we encounter is only an outward appearance. The human body is one member among other members of the human being, which it has in common with all other beings surrounding it. In addition, it has the etheric body, which permeates the physical body as in every living being and which fights against the decay of the physical body. The third member is the astral body, the bearer of pleasure and displeasure, joy and pain, passion and desire, the lowest instincts and the highest ideals. Man shares this only with the animal world. What makes man the crown of creation, what distinguishes him from all other beings, is his ego. These four members initially form the whole human being for our consideration. However, we must be clear that everything that is visible to our eyes is nothing other than that which has arisen from the spirit. There is nothing material that does not have a spiritual basis.
A comparison that has often been used: a child shows us ice. We say: it is water in a different form. — The child will then say: You say it is water, but it is ice. — To which one will reply: You do not know the way in which water turns into ice. — The same is true for those who do not know that matter is a condensed form of spirit. For the Spiritual Science, however, everything that is visible in us has arisen from the same source as what we carry within us as the astral body. The etheric body and the physical body are successive products of the astral body's condensation. An image: We have a certain amount of water and turn part of it into ice, then we have ice in water. In the same way, the etheric body and the physical body are condensed from the astral body. The astral body is what remains, retaining its original form.
When we encounter health or illness, we can say that they are the expression of certain forces that we see in the astral body. Of course, we are only talking here about illnesses that arise from within, not those caused by external influences, such as a broken leg, an upset stomach, or a cut on the finger. We are talking about those pathological conditions that arise from the human being's own nature, and we ask ourselves: Is there not only a connection between the astral body and the physical body from ancient times, but is there also a connection today between the inner processes of the soul, pleasure and pain, and the physical conditions of our bodies? Can we say that something about a person's external health depends on them experiencing certain feelings or thoughts? If we immerse ourselves in such thoughts, we will be able to gain important insights that should be particularly valuable to people today.
People today have lost the ability to rise to the realization that the physical body is not the only thing that matters. It is not a question of what people believe in theory, but of what attitude they have in the depths of their souls toward the higher members of their being. To understand what is really important here, let us recall the dispute between Rudolf Wagner and Carl Vogt, the author of the book “Köhlerglaube und Wissenschaft” (Köhler's Faith and Science). Wagner represented the spiritualistic point of view, while Vogt saw human beings as nothing more than a conglomeration of physical things, of atoms. For him, thoughts are merely a secretion of the brain, a blue haze that arises from the movements of the brain. In death, the substances cease to develop this blue haze of thoughts. Wagner opposed this, but in such a way that one had to believe that when a couple has eight children, something of the parents' spirit is transferred to the children, distributed among the eight. He therefore imagines the spirit as something entirely material, perhaps like so many people, as a nebulous construct. But what matters is that we rise above our attitudes, perceptions, and feelings in order to truly grasp the spirit. Even today, there may be many who want nothing to do with materialism, but who nevertheless conceive of the spirit as something entirely material. Many theosophists also think of the spirit as finely distributed matter. There is also a lot of bashful materialism hidden in theosophy.
If someone cannot rise to this height of spirit, then gradually an inner desolation, an emptiness, an unbelief in everything that transcends matter arises in them. When this takes hold of the feelings, when it eats away at all faith, at all feelings of the soul, when the person looks out into the world and can no longer feel anything behind what they see, then what emerges is something that leads people more and more toward the crassest physical egoism, where their own body becomes increasingly important to them, where they stand further and further away from Goethe's saying:
From the force that binds all beings,
The person who overcomes themselves is freed.
Here we come to an important phenomenon of materialism, which would only become fully apparent in the future if Spiritual Science did not succeed in overcoming it. If man understands only with his intellect what his senses perceive, the result for human health will be quite different than if he sees in what he encounters the sensual expression of something spiritual. Materialistic thinking and spiritual scientific thinking have a great effect on the human inner life. The question of the significance of materialistic and spiritual scientific thinking therefore has more than just theoretical importance. Let us first ask about the effect; one has a desolating effect, the other an inner fulfilling effect. Here are a few simple examples of the significance of these effects for human beings: One is most likely to become short-sighted if one passively surrenders to impressions during one's formative years. But if one actively surrenders to the impressions of things, then one's eyes remain healthy. Human beings must develop productive power from within. Everything that causes people to become the center of creative, productive power is healthy. They should create from within, otherwise their productive power will wither away and their whole being will be compressed by external impressions. All external impressions must be counteracted by an internal counterforce. But this must also be complemented by the reverse: people must develop an activity that closes itself off from the outside world and becomes invisible to the outside world.
There are two spiritual experiences that you should immerse yourself in, which show you that human beings possess an inner fullness that radiates outward, and that they seek a center for their outward activity. These two emotional tendencies should be studied, because they lead us deep into the illnesses of human beings. One feeling is negative, fear, the other positive, shame; but it also has a negative meaning. Suppose you are faced with an event that fills you with fear and terror. If you do not view this from a materialistic point of view, but take the astral body into consideration, then turning pale will appear as an expression of energy currents in the human being. Why does the soul affect the distribution of blood in this way? Because the soul strives to create a center of will within itself in order to be able to act outwardly from there. It is literally a gathering of blood in the center in order to be able to act outwardly from there. This is meant more or less figuratively. With shame, it is the opposite: we blush; the blood flows from the center to the periphery. The feeling of shame reveals states in which we want to erase what is visible, in which we want to erase our ego. The human being wants to make the ego weak and weaker, so that it is no longer perceptible to the outside world. Human beings need something to lose themselves in, to merge with the universe, the world soul, or, if you will, their surroundings, so that what we call our ego does not want to become visible to the outside world. Here you have a polarity that points to important states of the etheric body and the astral body. These are two cases where the forces of the astral body become visible to the outside world. Fear and shame express themselves in physical states. If you consider this, you will understand that all soul processes can have an effect on the processes of the organism. This is true, as esoteric science teaches; there is a connection, even if it is not immediately apparent to human consciousness.
Now, however, we must consider the phenomenon that abstract thoughts today have the least conceivable effect on the organism. What we learn in the abstract sciences has the least conceivable effect on the body. Their principle is to transform what we see and perceive into intellectual concepts. This science does not want to admit that human beings have inner productive wisdom within themselves, that the soul can produce something about the world from within itself. Outwardly, it produces nothing. In the deepest sense, there is no inner productive power to counterbalance external impressions. The scientist does not want to be able to find anything within himself. When we consider how deeply rooted the belief is that human beings can no longer find anything within themselves, we have here the starting point for the desolating effect of knowledge that clings only to the external.
What remedy is there for all of humanity? The remedy would be for the inner search for wisdom and truth, the inner productivity of the spirit, to join with external science. This can be found in true Spiritual Science. There you have opened up sources through which human beings can develop from within themselves what lies behind things. Some people are overwhelmed by things. But those who see what cannot be perceived by the outer senses, those who take this in, create the counterpart to outer perception that is necessary for the complete healing of the soul and body. This healing of the soul cannot be brought about by abstract theories and thoughts, which are too thin, too meager. On the other hand, what transforms from a concept into an image has a powerful effect. How is this to be understood? You can best understand this if you think about what is called evolution. You hear that there were the simplest living beings, which became increasingly complex until they reached the level of human beings. But here again you have only abstract, meager concepts. You find the same thing in many theosophical teachings on evolution. They start with the Logos and then continue with abstract concepts such as differentiation, evolution, and involution, and so on. This has too little effect on the organism. But what lives in the soul has a powerful effect when one thinks through something as it has been presented to the soul in Germany since the 14th century as an image or imagination. Such an image will be presented here.
Let us transform into a dialogue what was said to the student: Look at the plant, place the human being next to it, and compare the two. The head should not be compared with the flower, nor the foot with the root. Even Darwin, the reformer of the natural sciences, did not do this. The student was told: The root corresponds to the head of the human being; he is an inverted plant. — Spiritual Science has always said this. What the plant allows the sun's rays to kiss in chastity so that the new plant can be born, is directed in reverse in the human being in shame toward the center of the earth. The animal stands in the middle between the two. The animal is the half-turned plant. Plato says, summarizing what lives in plants, animals, and humans: The world soul is crucified on the cross of the world body. The world soul, which passes through plants, animals, and humans, is crucified on the world body. This is how Spiritual Science has always explained the cross. Now the student, to whom this meaningful image had been presented, was told: You see how humans develop from the dull consciousness of plants, through animals, to the point where they have found their self-consciousness. In the sleeping human being we have something that has the same value of existence as the plant. By permeating the pure, chaste plant matter with the body of desire, the human being has risen higher, but in a certain sense has also descended deeper. Otherwise he would not have been able to acquire his high self-consciousness; but now he must also transform his desiring nature again. Humans will later have an organ of reproduction that is free of desire, like the chalice of the plant. Thus, the student was pointed to the time when humans will produce their own kind free of desire.
This has been depicted in the image of the Holy Grail in the Grail schools. Here you have the development not given in thoughts, but in an image, in an imagination. In this way we could transform everything that is given only in abstract terms into images. This would accomplish a great deal. If one allows this significant ideal of development to rise before one's eyes until it reaches the development of the imagination of the Holy Grail, then one not only has nourishment for one's power of judgment, then not only does the intellect cling to it, then the whole essence of feeling entwines itself around such an image. You tremble before the great mystery of the world when you see the development of the world in truth and take it in within yourself in such images; such images have a harmonizing effect on the organism. Abstract thoughts are ineffective, but these images act as healing inner stimulants. Images evoke emotions, and if they are true images of the world, imaginations, they have a healing effect. When a person transforms what they see externally into these images, they are freed from their inner self, and the storm is replaced by harmony. They then overcome the “force that binds all beings” and become related to everything that comes their way. They flow outward and grow together with the world through their feelings. The inner self is expanded into a spiritual universe. The moment a person has no opportunity to form these inner imaginations, all their energy flows inward and they cling tightly to their ego. This is the mysterious reason for what we encounter in many of our contemporaries: people have abandoned the old form of religion and are now left to their own devices. They live more and more within themselves, more and more only with themselves. The less people have the opportunity to blossom in the general world, the more they feel what is going on in their organism. This is the cause of false feelings of fear and false ideas about illness.
The image affects the organism from the soul; a healthy disposition of the body is brought about by true images. False images also make an impression. They create what we encounter in our soul disturbances, which later become physical disturbances. This is the true reason that ultimately leads to delusions of illness. Those who shut themselves off from the great world context will not be able to reject what they encounter. On the other hand, it is impossible for those who have imprinted great images on themselves to be deceived by false images. For example, they would not, as sometimes happens, feel the current of the induction apparatus passing through their body, even though there is no current at all.
Every image that does not fit into the context of the world, everything that appears as a one-sided image of everyday life, is at the same time an image that causes illness. Only by always looking up from the individual to the great mysteries of the world can humans correct what needs to be corrected. That which truly affects the soul can develop a powerful force. What has been produced in this way in the course of cultural development is something that must not be neglected. Today we will limit ourselves to the health instincts. Let us consider tragedy from this point of view. The ancient Greeks knew that people who watch a tragedy experience the suffering, are gripped and moved by it; but when they leave, they know that the hero has triumphed over suffering, that human beings can overcome the suffering of the world. By seeing suffering and overcoming suffering, they become healthy. Turning the gaze inward makes one sick. Seeing what lives within oneself externally in images makes one healthy. That is why Aristotle defines tragedy as showing how the hero goes through suffering and fear so that humans can be healed of suffering and fear. This extends far. The spiritual scientist can tell you why the ancient peoples presented images to people's souls in fairy tales and legends: they were shown images of what they should turn their gaze away from within. The bloodshed in fairy tales is a healthy educational tool. Those who can follow the myths in this way will see much in them. For example, when people see revenge in images, when they see what they should break themselves of in images, it has the effect of helping them overcome it. There is deep, deep wisdom even in the most bloodthirsty fairy tales. Our inner harmony is disturbed when we constantly peer into our souls; it is healed when we look into the universe, into the cosmos. But one must know what images are necessary: one has, for example, a melancholic person, a hypochondriac, who cannot get over certain events. Now one wants to cheer him up with cheerful music or the like. This has the opposite effect, even if it may not seem so at the moment; deep down in his soul he finds it dull and dreary, even if he does not admit it. Serious images are necessary, even if they are offensive at first.
So you see that Spiritual Science can give rise to a very specific form of soul treatment. It is not possible to deal with the delusion of illness in detail. It is based on our materialistic age, on a lack of productivity. The false, unfounded fear, all the feelings that express the disturbed mental balance, in melancholy and so on, are explained by looking deeper into the connections. Here, too, the remedies are found. It could never happen to someone who sees through the connections that they cannot break free from their ego. In such cases, there is usually some cause, but it is magnified. An example: someone bumps their knee on the edge of a table. They lack the big, all-consuming thoughts, so they cannot escape the pain. Thus, the pain becomes greater and greater. The doctor is called and says that this and that must be done. Then they suddenly feel pain in the other knee. Then the elbow joins in, and so on, until he can no longer move his legs and hands because he bumped his knee. There may be things that draw attention to a certain point, but there are also things that can create a balance. In our increasingly difficult lives, people can only find balance if they allow Spiritual Science to influence them. Then they will be armed against the influences of civilization.
However, we can also find external reasons for the lack of productivity. The facts speak for themselves. Look at the animals that have been transplanted into our culture, into captivity. There they become ill, they who would never become ill outside in the wild. This is because everything that comes from the external environment has a strong influence on humans and animals. Animals cannot develop any counterforce because their development is complete. Human beings also fall into decadence as a result of cultural progress if they cannot counteract external influences with productive power. They must transform and convert these influences through inner activity, then they can even be used for the higher development of human beings. The person who develops a radical materialistic theory, the creator of it, is healthy because he creates from within. The followers of this theory become desolate because they have no productive power of their own. If you read books on Spiritual Science, it is of no value unless you reconstruct them inwardly. Then it is an inner co-production. If this is not the case, then it is not studying spiritual science books. What matters is to feel the force that pushes forward and wants to absorb the outer world, and to find the balance between external impressions and inner productivity. Human beings must free themselves from the external strife of the world so that it does not become increasingly noticeable and overwhelm them. We must carry out the counterattack. The external impression must also experience the counterattack from within. Then we can break free from it; otherwise, it will push us further and further back into our inner selves. If we only pay attention to our inner selves, a picture of suffering arises before our souls. When we express the balance between the inner force that wants to move forward restlessly and the external force, we merge with the external world. In this way, we have come to know, in a deeper sense, the delusion of illness as a phenomenon of our time.
The starting point today was: Spiritual Science wants to be a remedy so that human beings can detach themselves from themselves and thus from every binding force. For every binding force is a sickening one. In this way, we can only become clear about the deep core of Goethe's stanza:
For all power pushes forward into the vastness,
To live and work here and there;
But on every side, the stream of the world constricts and inhibits us,
And carries us away;
In this inner storm and outer strife,
The spirit hears a word that is difficult to understand:
From the force that binds all beings,
The person who overcomes themselves is freed.