The Rudolf Steiner Archive

9. Wisdom and Health

[ 1 ] Spiritual science aims to have an impact on practical life; it seeks to give people strength and security. It is not for the merely curious, but only for those who want to be active, who want to play an active role in life. Spiritual science has existed throughout the ages. In the circles where it was cultivated, it was always said that human beings could develop spiritual powers beyond the realm of pure intellectual faculties—powers greater than those of ordinary life. There, the connection between the sacred, the healing, and the wholesome was always felt. The Holy Spirit is the absolutely healthy spirit that descends into the human soul to spread healing throughout the world. But it is precisely from this perspective that spiritual science is often misunderstood. It leads people away from finite, egoistic goals of knowledge and striving toward grand, universal perspectives—toward the connection of the individual with the universe. Yet the higher powers that spiritual science thereby bestows attract so many people and incite them to egoistic striving. Although spiritual science in truth leads people furthest away from the personal, it is all too often used as a servant of egoism. People want their egoistic desires fulfilled by it overnight.

[ 2 ] There was a spiritual science practiced by a brotherhood in Africa known as the Therapists. In the part of the world where Christianity originated, this same sect was called the Essenes. The very name “Therapists” reveals their connection to the spirit and to health. Through spiritual means, in conjunction with material science, the Therapists or Essenes healed. Whoever embraces spiritual science takes in true remedies: spiritual science is an elixir of life. It is not to be proven through discussion and logical reasoning, but rather, when introduced into life, it is meant to make those into whom it flows whole and healthy. Merely knowing that reincarnation and karma exist, and being able to speak of them in flowery terms, is virtually no spiritual science at all. One must live within it daily, hourly; one’s soul must be completely permeated by it, and one must calmly wait to see what happens—then one will see its effect. Whoever carries spiritual scientific ideas within themselves like nourishing and seed-like thoughts—in moments of suffering and joy, in moments of devotion and exaltation, in moments when life threatens to fall apart—and whoever feels how these ideas bring a desire to work, strength, and hope, has truly grasped them. Here, Goethe’s words apply: “Consider not so much the ‘what,’ but rather the ‘how’!”

[ 3 ] Spiritual science must become a deeply personal matter for each individual. The person striving toward spiritual science looks up at the stars and understands them according to the laws of life that pulse through the entire cosmos. When the sun rises in all its glory in the morning and the moon appears in its quiet splendor in the evening, when the clouds drift across the sky, they look up, and the events in the heavens become for them an expression of universal soul-spiritual life—just as we regard the movements of a face or a hand as expressions of soul-spiritual life in human beings. And then we look to the past, see the workings of the spiritual world in the physical world, and lift our minds to the Spirit. Breathe in the Spirit, and you breathe in healthy life along with it! But let all complacency be far from you. “Elevation to the infinite is the foundation of health,” many say, yet they immerse themselves only in abstract, general thoughts. That is not true spiritual science. True spiritual science addresses the individual; it demands that we engage with every plant and every stone in patience and love. We do not seek the spiritual world through magic. It is there. But we should not seek it apart from the sensory world; rather, we should seek it right where we are placed to carry out the day’s productive work. Thus, spiritual science becomes an individual matter. Just as a person may lack an understanding of a musical composition or a work of art, so too do some lack an understanding of the spirit. The following example may illustrate the ideas some people have about ghostly apparitions: One evening in a small town, a strange glow was observed stretching along the churchyard wall. Soon the whole town was talking about it, and since no natural explanation could be found, it must have been a ghostly apparition. Several people had seen the glow, and that was precisely what made the matter doubtful. To see a real spirit, a person must have developed certain spiritual faculties and abilities. In this day and age, that can only happen in very rare cases. The fact that several random people saw the glow is the best proof that it was not a spirit. The matter was soon cleared up. An elderly lady used to walk her little dog every evening by the light of the streetlamp. On that particular evening, the glow happened to be noticed. We should not pursue such supposed ghostly apparitions. Everyday phenomena are the most important manifestations of the spirit for us.

[ 4 ] Wisdom is not merely science, yet it must contain science within itself: it is science brought to life, which can become decision and action at any moment. Anyone who merely knows the laws is a scientist. Anyone who knows how to apply that knowledge at every moment so that something can come of it is wise; wisdom is science that has borne fruit. We must forget where we derived the laws from and let them permeate us so that they become a force within us. Goethe arrived at the idea of the primordial plant through the careful observation of individual plants. This is a creation of spiritual intuition—an image of a plant that can live within us, an image according to which one could invent countless plants that do not yet exist but that could be viable. In the wise person, the laws become such that they detach themselves from the particular and live on in eternity. This, however, requires what is called imagination—the ability to form mental images. Abstract thoughts and concepts may constitute science, but not wisdom. Had Goethe remained stuck at the level of concepts, he would not have discovered the archetypal plant. One must see the archetypal plant so vividly before one’s eyes that one can draw it with roots, stems, leaves, and fruits, without it resembling any other plant. This is not a game of fantasy. Fantasy is merely a shadow of the imagination, but it can rise to the level of imagination. The world of the imagination is not yet accessible to us, but it can become so. It would be dark around us if the eye could not transform incoming light into images and perceptions of color. Thus, just as in the eye, we must also develop powers within the soul that are concrete. Anyone who believes they must wait until a nebulous manifestation of a spirit appears to them has not grasped this work. The soul must work, just as the eye works when light enters. Without the work of the soul, the spiritual world can never flow in. Images must be created in the soul. Objectivity is preserved if one does not create images of selfish desires and the like. When a person thus reaches out with their soul toward the spiritual world, the spiritual world flows into them and has a healing effect. The imaginations have a healing effect; the images have a healing effect. If we can transform the concepts of spiritual science into images that possess not only lines but also life, colors, and sound—if the entire world becomes such an image—then this wisdom will become a remedy in every sphere of life, not only for ourselves but also for others, for the whole world. Even if the images are initially incorrect, that does no harm. They will be corrected by those who guide us.

[ 5 ] Paracelsus was such a sage; he immersed himself in the entire world and transformed it into living power, so that every plant had something to tell him. What did it tell him? It revealed to him what wisdom is. In a certain sense, the animal is wise: wisdom lies in the animal’s instinct. But the animal has no individual soul; rather, it has a group soul that acts from the outside, like a spiritual entity. All animals whose blood can be mixed without harm share a common soul—the group soul. This wisdom of the soul acting from the outside was individualized in human beings. Every human being has his or her own individual soul, acting from within, but in exchange he or she had to forfeit the certainty of existence. Uncertainty is the defining characteristic of science. Human life is a process of trial and error, of choosing, seeking, and groping. But there is a higher stage of development. The knowledge that human beings laboriously acquire through trial and error can once again become wisdom. When one transforms the living into something filled with color, sound, and light—into imagination—one becomes wise. This is what Paracelsus did. This is how he approached every plant and every chemical substance. Just as an animal knows immediately what is healing for it, so too did Paracelsus immediately recognize the healing powers of plants: but not unconsciously or instinctively—rather, filled with conscious wisdom, he grasped for which patients it would be beneficial. In this sense, the therapists and Essenes were also wise. This cannot be recognized through trial and error, but only when wisdom becomes imagination. The plant then speaks to the image that lives of it in the soul and says: “Yes, I am good for that.” The plant recognizes its image in the soul of the person who looks at it; it transforms its image, and then the person knows and feels immediately what the plant is good for. Spiritual science has no objection to true science, and no one who genuinely strives for spiritual knowledge will fail to familiarize themselves with the achievements of science. But they do not stop there; rather, they elevate knowledge to creative, wisdom-filled insight.

[ 6 ] We know that the human being is primarily composed of the physical body, the etheric or life body, the astral body, and the “I.” Ordinary knowledge, however, extends only as far as the astral body and becomes a part of it. Imagination, however, penetrates into the etheric body, fills the life body with the spirit of life, and enables the human being to become a living healer. We can best recognize the power of imagination—in contrast to purely abstract concepts—by the terrible effects it can have. A man was present when his brother’s leg was amputated. As the bone was being worked on, a strange sound was heard. At that very moment, he felt a sharp pain in the exact same spot on his leg where the operation was being performed on his brother. For a long time, he could not shake off the pain, while his brother no longer felt anything. The sound of the bone had thus imaginatively imprinted itself on the man’s etheric body and caused the pain.

[ 7 ] A doctor from Bern also conducted some very interesting experiments in this field. He took an ordinary horseshoe and attached two wires to it as if they were the leads of an electrifying machine. Everyone who came by believed they were dealing with such a machine, and when they touched the wires, they actually felt an electric current. Some even claimed to feel the most excruciating pain. The whole setup was purely a matter of suggestion. There was no way to convince people otherwise. There are certain people who make a fortune by manufacturing pills from ordinary bread. These pills “cure” all sorts of illnesses and are used primarily as sleeping aids. At a sanatorium, a lady used to take such pills regularly in the evenings. She always slept wonderfully afterward. So one evening she decided to take her own life and swallowed as many pills as she could get her hands on. However, the incident was noticed, and the doctors at the facility were thrown into a state of great agitation, for the lady was showing all the symptoms of impending death. Only one doctor remained calm, and that was the one who had made the pills.

[ 8 ] A person must have the power to transform mere knowledge into a living image. This is also the basis for the effect of hypnosis. During hypnosis, the astral body is deactivated, and the hypnotist acts directly on the etheric body through images. But this is a pathological process. The images we create imprint themselves on the etheric body. And if the images are drawn from the spiritual world, they can eradicate all that is pathological from the power of the spiritual world—that is, balance and harmonize it with the currents of the spiritual world. All that is pathological stems from egoism. In such a process, we are lifted beyond our ordinary life of imagination: a kind of fading away of ordinary images then takes place. And this must occur from time to time, for example during sleep. There, the astral body, together with the “I,” separates from the physical body and the life body and unites with the spirit of the Earth. And from there, it exerts a healing influence on the etheric body, imprinting upon it images that bring about healing. But this happens unconsciously. Only the more highly developed individual does this consciously. Eternal ideas lie behind everything, says Plato. A seer perceives the spiritual essence in every plant; after all, the plant’s form is itself built up from such spiritual images. Human beings can take in these images and thereby become creative. Only animals and human beings—actually, only human beings—can fall ill. These images, as spiritual entities, are at work throughout nature; but we human beings take the spirit into ourselves and must now raise it to life again. Imaginative wisdom will bring health. Whatever has a fertilizing effect right down to the level of the image is wisdom. The spirit creates the imagination. Spiritual science, which gives us such wisdom, is best able to bring us healing from illnesses—and above all, preventively, from those we do not yet have. But this is, of course, difficult to control. Spiritual science also possesses the power to rejuvenate human beings, keeping them vigorous and youthful. Wisdom pours life force into human beings, and the power of youth is what makes one strong and fresh. Such wisdom opens the soul. And wisdom is the seed of love. Love cannot be preached. The therapists and Essenes were the most compassionate and loving. Wisdom warms the human soul and allows love to flow forth; therefore, it is no wonder that such sages were able to heal through the laying on of hands. Wisdom pours the power of love into the limbs. Because Christ was the wisest, he was also the greatest healer; love and compassion flowed from him—the only things that can truly help. If a person with a broken leg is lying on the street, and the most compassionate people are standing around him, they still will not be able to help him. But if a doctor comes who knows how to set a leg—whose wisdom enables him to turn his compassion into action—then help will be provided. Ability, insight, and wisdom are the foundation of all human aid. Wisdom is always around us in the world because wise beings have poured it out. When wisdom has reached its pinnacle, it will be all-encompassing love. Love will shine forth toward us from the world to come. Wisdom is the mother of love. The spirit of wisdom is the great healer. That is why Christ—who is love—is born of the holy, that is, the healing Spirit.