The Rudolf Steiner Archive

27. Nutritional Issues in the Light of the Humanities

[ 1 ] Ladies and gentlemen! Lectures have been given from this very place on the most diverse topics and aspects of spiritual life. And so, perhaps today we may be permitted to address a more prosaic topic from the perspective of spiritual science. A more prosaic topic than many of those we have heard here is undoubtedly the question of nutrition. Yet it will become clear to us that, especially in our time, spiritual science has something to say even regarding such questions that directly affect everyday life. On the one hand, this spiritual science—or, as it is also called, theosophy—is criticized by those who, so to speak, come to know it from the outside; it is accused of delving too deeply into the spiritual realm, of losing, so to speak, its firm footing. Perhaps, however, the opposite view can also be heard from another perspective—again, of course, from those who become acquainted with spiritual science or theosophy through a brochure or by attending a single lecture.

[ 2 ] This other criticism could be phrased by saying that the Theosophists talk far too much; they concern themselves far too much with questions such as: What should they eat? What should they drink? — In a certain sense, they may even be idealists. It is precisely those people who believe they are looking down on the mundane aspects of life from a certain lofty vantage point—those who proceed from the perspective that “Oh, what a person eats and drinks is, after all, something of the utmost secondary importance, something trivial”—who are most likely to level this criticism. What matters is not what one eats and drinks, but that one rises above matter through the power of one’s spirit.—Even well-meaning idealists might level this accusation against Theosophy.

[ 3 ] Well, at a time when these questions are indeed being discussed from other perspectives as well, it can’t be uninteresting to hear about these matters from the standpoint of the humanities. It is a German philosopher to whom the saying is attributed: “Man is what he eats.” And prominent thinkers have agreed with Feuerbach’s statement that what a person produces is, in essence, merely the result of the food he has processed—that is, what he takes into himself in a purely material sense, what he processes within himself through his food and digestion. And one might even be tempted to say that he believes man is what he eats. And now, from this perspective, we will have much to say.

[ 4 ] We must reach a very clear understanding of the intent behind today’s lecture and the mindset from which it is delivered. And we would not understand one another if we did not first agree on this. Today’s lecture is not intended to have an agitational effect in any particular direction; it is not meant to be reformist in nature. The spiritual scientist must state what is true, how things are, and how they present themselves. And the perspective from which the spiritual scientist speaks must not be one of agitation. He has confidence that a person who has recognized the truth will, out of that strength, also do what is right. And that is why this lecture is not agitational in one direction or the other, and it would be most misunderstood by anyone who thinks that a case has been made here for or against a particular dietary method. All that is being said here is how things are. The less you get the impression that this is a matter of pros and cons, the better we will understand one another.

[ 5 ] Based on this premise, we can raise the following question from the standpoint of spiritual science: Does the saying “You are what you eat” not have some validity after all? We must always bear in mind that the human body is an instrument of the spirit, and in everything we discuss from the perspective of the various functions the body must perform, we can draw on the analogy that a person needs the body as a physical instrument, and just as an instrument is useless if it is not properly adjusted, so this body is of no use to our organism if it is not properly adjusted. The instrument is useless if it does not function properly. A person becomes unfree in their intentions, and this is how we, as spiritual scientists, relate to our organism. We must ask ourselves: Might we not render it unsuitable for carrying out the intentions, purposes, and impulses of our lives, and do we not become unfree and dependent on our body through improper nutrition? Could there be a way to shape this body so that it becomes an ever more suitable instrument for the impulses of our spiritual life, and do we not then—indirectly, by nourishing it in the right way—become free and independent of our body precisely through this? What must we eat so that we do not become what we eat? This is how we view this from a different perspective.

[ 6 ] As you all know—and I need only mention this well-known fact—from a purely materialistic perspective, human beings constantly consume what their bodies build up and must replace it through food; they must take care to replace it. What could be more obvious than to say: Let us therefore examine the substances necessary for the human organism—the substances that make up the animal organism—and then ensure that the organism is composed of these substances. — But this view remains, after all, extraordinarily materialistic. We must ask ourselves what the actual purpose of human food is and in what sense it is actually utilized within the human organism. One can say that the human organism consists—and I expressly note that what I say about human beings applies, in spiritual science, only to human beings; it cannot bring human beings so close to animals—one can therefore say that this organism is composed of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and minerals. One might therefore ask: What is the best way for a person to eat in order to consume the proper amount from these food groups?

[ 7 ] It must be pointed out right away that spiritual science must be firmly grounded on the foundation that shows us how every material process, everything that happens in the sensory-physical world is merely an external process, and how, in fact, even the processes of nutrition cannot be merely physical, but the physical can only be the expression of the spiritual, and that the human being is a whole and the composition of the physical body is such that it is as if it were merely assembled from chemical substances. Attention has always been drawn to how one can ascend from the purely physical world to the spiritual. And we have often heard here that the physical body is something built up by the etheric or life body. The latter is the formative principle, and we must not regard the physical body as if only chemical processes were taking place within it. We are mistaken if we ask ourselves in a materialistic way: “What happens to the chemical substances?”—if we look only at the chemical processes. We must remember that behind the etheric body lies the astral body, and the astral body is the expression of instinctive impulses; in a certain sense, it is the expression of the soul. And when we view the human being from the perspective of spiritual science, both the etheric body and the physical body are thoroughly permeated by this astral body. We must not speak of this in a one-sided way, but must look beyond the physical body to the astral body. Added to this is the human “I,” the fourth member of the human being. Only then do we have the whole human being before us when we view them as this fourfold being. And only then can we speak of the scope of the nutrition issue, provided we can also answer the question: How do these factors work under the influence of this or that diet?

[ 8 ] Now you all know that human beings first consume food from the plant and animal kingdoms, as well as from the mineral kingdom, and use it to build up their own bodies. It should be expressly noted for those who, in the strictest sense, are turning toward the path of cultivating the inner life—I am speaking here neither for esotericists nor for theosophists who wish to educate themselves to reach the level of spiritual vision; I am speaking for every human being—that what is to be said here applies quite generally. Human beings obtain their food from the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, and the mineral kingdom. Now we must be clear that the plant stands in direct contrast to the human being. The animal occupies a middle ground. This contrast finds its outward, physical expression in the process of breathing. We all know, of course, that this physical expression occurs when a human inhales oxygen, processes it internally, combines it with carbon, and exhales carbon dioxide. The plant absorbs carbon to build up its organism. The plant also “breathes” in a certain sense, but the process of respiration has a completely different significance in the plant. Thus, we can say that, in a certain sense, plants and humans do the opposite of one another.

[ 9 ] Plants and human beings, viewed in a purely spiritual sense, do the opposite. We can illustrate this clearly by considering the influence of light on plants. You all know, of course, what effect the absence of light has on a plant’s life processes. What appears to us humans as the world—that which makes it possible for us to see the world through our eyes as a vast tableau of radiance, light, and color—is light. Light is also, in a certain sense, what ignites the life process of the plant. This light, which creates the tableau of light in our surroundings, is physical light. But anyone who believes that it is merely something physical is mistaken. Just as the spiritual lies behind all that is physical, so too does a spiritual light lie behind the light that streams toward us. Every time a person delights in the radiance of physical light, they can say to themselves: Just as when I see a person coming toward me and recognize that a spiritual being lives within that person, so too can I imagine that a spiritual light lives within this light. —And the spiritual light that lives within the physical sunlight is of the same nature and essence as the invisible light that lives within the human astral body; a fragment of something that floats through the entire cosmic space—a fragment of that lives in the astral body. It is, however, physically invisible, and this alone shows us that, in a certain sense, it is the opposite of physical light. It is the complement to physical light. The invisible light lives within us, and this invisible light has a purpose within us. We can say that the invisible light relates to physical light as negative magnetism relates to positive; it acts in the opposite way. And we will recognize it in its outward expression when we become clear about the relationships between the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body, which is permeated by the “I” on the other hand.

[ 10 ] It has often been said here: Throughout one’s entire life, the etheric body fights against the decay of the physical body. In humans, as indeed in animals, the astral body—the inner light—plays an additional role. The inner light now has the opposite function from that of the outer light. When the outer light shines on a plant, it builds up its living organism. It builds it up with proteins, sap, carbohydrates, and so on. The inner light has the task of breaking these down again; this is part of the astral body’s function. For it is a continuous process of dissolving and breaking down the protein products and other substances we take in; it is, so to speak, a utilization of the substances we take in that counteracts what the outer light has built up. Without this activity of inner dissolution, human beings would not be able to be “I”-beings, for it is through this that they become beings capable of inner experiences. While the etheric body ensures that the physical body is maintained, the astral body ensures that these products are broken down and decomposed again.

[ 11 ] Without this process of decomposition in the physical body, the human astral body—which contains the “I”—would not be able to manifest itself within the physical world. We thus have an interactive process between humans and plants: exhaling carbon dioxide, inhaling carbon dioxide, exhaling oxygen, inhaling oxygen, and so on. Now, this contrast, as it exists between plants and humans, is a complete contrast solely between humans and plants. In a certain sense, the animal is not animated by an “I” like that of the human being, but by a group “I,” so that animals of the same kind share a common group “I” and are governed from the outside. This is the essential difference between human beings and animals: that all the metabolic processes of animals are governed by an external world, whereas those of human beings are directed by their inner “I.” In humans, however, the “I” can increasingly take control of what goes on within them. Let us consider: How does this “I” increasingly become the center of their physical processes? Let us now ask ourselves: What does the organism do—what does the astral body do during its breakdown with the substances that the human being has taken into themselves—or is there not something fundamentally different at stake when it comes to nutrition?

[ 12 ] As the body, permeated by the “I,” breaks down, it performs an activity, and through this activity something is generated internally; it is precisely through this decomposition, through the astral body, that the inner activity of consciousness arises. Activities are brought about by this process of decomposition. This gives rise, first, to inner warmth; and second, to that which is less noticeable than inner warmth: the physical expression of inner light. Just as the inner warmth that permeates the blood is a result of the breakdown of protein products, so the nervous system is the expression of inner light. In its inner activity, the nervous system is a result of this breakdown. It is not, therefore, the nerve as such, but rather nervous activity—that which takes place within the nerve and gives rise to the capacity for imagination and thought in human beings, which we may call the physical expression of the invisible light—that is brought about by a process of decomposition, namely, the breakdown of these products. Essentially, inner warmth is partly brought about by the decomposition of protein products. The inner light is brought about by what takes place within the inner organism—through fat, carbohydrates, starch, glucose, etc.—in the process of heat generation and in the process of movement that is kindled within the inner organism, so that therein lies the expression of the activity emanating from the astral body. A person does not eat properly simply by consuming the appropriate amount of food, but rather when these processes are carried out as correctly as possible. For this is the foundation of inner life. A human being is a being defined by movement and vitality, and therein lies inner life. If this is not generated in the proper way, it cannot exert its proper effect, and the person will make themselves sick. It is the proper form of inner mobility that must provide us with the foundation for the correct answer to the question of nutrition.

[ 13 ] This brings to our attention the fact that all the inner processes a human being must carry out must proceed in the opposite direction of the plant’s process. Where the plant stops, the human being must begin. When I come to discuss a specific case, you will immediately see what this is all about. When a person consumes plant-based food, this food places too great a burden on the human organism. Plant-based food is such that it cannot be high in fat. The human organism, which has the ability to produce its own fats, is expected to produce fat from what is not fat. So when a person consumes plant-based food, they must internally activate this process themselves; they must exert internal effort to use what is needed for fat production—and this effort is spared them when they consume ready-made fat from the animal kingdom. Thus, materialists argue, it is beneficial for a person to offload as much fat as possible so that they do not have to exert themselves too much. From a spiritual standpoint, however, we must view the unfolding of inner activity as the very unfolding of inner life itself. When a person is compelled to summon the forces that enable him to produce fat on his own, it is through this inner dynamism that the “I” and the astral body come to rule over the physical and etheric bodies. If we give him ready-made fat, the result is that we do indeed spare him the effort of producing fat. But if we give him the opportunity to develop his activity, we will set him free and make him the master of his body. Otherwise, the human being, as a spiritual being, remains a mere spectator in this process. Everything that takes place within a person in this way—whereby he remains merely a spectator—is a burden within him that inhibits his urge to fully live out his astral body. Thus, the astral body will encounter an inner barrier to its inner mobility if you deprive it of the opportunity to produce its own fat.

[ 14 ] The question is: What internal processes are triggered by these or those substances? From this perspective, we will attempt to shed light on the relationships between plant-based and animal-based substances in human nutrition. We want to gain insight into how animal food and plant food behave within the human organism.

[ 15 ] What we consume as animal protein is not the same as what we consume as plant protein. To a certain extent—because the animal organism, like the human organism, is permeated by the astral body—the animal carries out processes very similar to those of the human organism. The human organism, however, takes these processes a step further, beyond a certain limit and even a little farther than the animal organism. In the animal, too, it is the astral body that, through its structure, brings about decomposition. If we now observe the animals around us and engage with them spiritually in their own way, we see—when we compare humans to animals—that what exists as a characteristic in humans is spread out in abundance within them. No matter how great the differences you may find in human organization across the various races, you will conclude that the human being is a creature that exists within a single species. Human beings appear as a spiritual synthesis of what they see spread out in animal form. If you allow the characteristics of the animals to complement one another, you will obtain an essence of what is present in human beings in appropriate moderation. Each individual animal possesses, in a one-sided form, the forces that are harmonized in human beings, and its entire organism is structured accordingly; everything, down to the innermost structure of its tissues, is so thoroughly organized that we have, in the animal kingdom, a comprehensive tableau of human characteristics.

[ 16 ] When a person seeks a physical expression for the qualities of his astral body, he must exert his astral body in such a way that he must draw upon all his powers. He must become master of himself. He must set his astral body in motion in such a way that the vegetative process continues within him. Along with what we take in from the animal kingdom, we also take in what the astral body has already accomplished—not only the physical fat and flesh of the animal, but also what the astral body has done within it. When we must draw upon the pristine forces of the astral body through a plant-based diet, we mobilize our full inner activity. However, a portion of this activity is taken away from us when we consume animal food. And now we can allow the relationships between the two diets to be demonstrated to us entirely in a spiritual sense.

[ 17 ] If a person wants to gain ever greater control over what is happening within their body, then what matters in this process is that the person acts with corresponding strength in the outer world, that they develop certain qualities outwardly—strength, power, courage, and, let us say, even an element of aggressiveness. It happens, then, that a person does not yet feel strong enough, cannot fully trust their astral body to handle everything, and therefore accepts this support. And so one may say that what makes a person increasingly free inwardly is owed to the substances provided by the plant, and what gives them the qualities through which they become beings who outwardly manifest certain characteristics in the physical world—characteristics for which one does not insist that they all be formed from the virgin astral body—they owe to the support provided by animal food.

[ 18 ] The fact that human beings are meant to become ever freer and freer beings—that they require qualities which they endow with the impulses they find scattered here and there throughout the animal kingdom—has led them to derive their nourishment from the animal kingdom. Ask about how things were among warlike peoples who strove to develop those qualities that enabled them to live out their lives in the physical realm, and you will generally find that they derived their nourishment from the animal kingdom. Of course, there are exceptions. On the other hand, you will find that among those peoples who have primarily developed the internalization of character traits and a contemplative way of life, a plant-based diet was either predominant or exclusive.

[ 19 ] These two aspects must not be overlooked either. For if one seeks to agitate not out of insight but as an agitator, then one might adopt this or that diet as a panacea. It is not without reason that people have turned to a mixed diet, but because, in a certain sense, they were bound to arrive at this conclusion. We must also recognize that while a vegetarian diet may be the right choice for some people for purely health-related reasons, for others, requiring them to follow a vegetarian diet would undermine their natural dietary needs. I am speaking in terms of general human nature. It must certainly be treated on an individual basis if it is to find the right path with regard to plant- and animal-based foods. In our time, when meat consumption is excessive, it naturally has a corresponding effect. When a person allows too much of their inner activity to be taken away, those activities that are otherwise external will unfold within them. The soul will become externalized; they will be more accessible to the external world; they will become connected to the outside world.

[ 20 ] But when a person derives his nourishment from the plant kingdom, he becomes internalized and independent; he becomes master of his entire being. The more he turns, so to speak, toward plant-based food—the more he is able to let plant-based food predominate—the more he will be able to let his inner forces predominate and develop a sense of broad horizons. He does not bind himself to narrowly defined spheres of existence. The person who consumes animal food binds himself to narrowly defined spheres of existence; he rigidly focuses on one-sidedness. Of course, it is humanity’s task today to provide for both, so that he does not become impractical; one can also be so free of prejudice that one forms no judgment at all. But everything that restricts human beings, that organizes them into a specialized existence—that comes from animal-based food. What, however, can elevate them out of their narrowest sphere of existence, they owe to plant-based food.

[ 21 ] Part of the reason people are becoming increasingly dogmatic—able to perceive only what they have grown accustomed to since birth—is linked to the excessive consumption of animal-based foods. In contrast, if people were to pay more attention to what comes from the plant kingdom, they would see that they rise above this narrow circle. Anyone who wants to have the work of fat production taken off their hands will already be able to notice that this relieved work erects a kind of wall around their astral body. And even someone who is not a clairvoyant, but is simply able to judge these things correctly, can tell by looking into a person’s eyes whether that person produces their own fat or not. In that gaze, one can observe when the astral body is compelled to generate its own fat.

[ 22 ] So we see how two opposing states of character are created depending on whether a person derives their nourishment from one realm or the other. You see, then, that we must indeed grow into the world and out of it again within our own organism by nourishing ourselves in the right way. A time will come when people will value plant-based food much more than they do now. Then they will truly be able to say: “I must first investigate; perhaps, from a certain point of view, the other approach—which I currently believe to be nonsense—could also be correct.” — And then they will realize that they are broadening their entire physical and mental horizon by counteracting the heaviness within them through a plant-based diet. And particularly in certain sciences, perspectives would be broadened if a plant-based diet were to take hold.

[ 23 ] Let us cite a few more examples here that will show us that a person is what he eats and drinks. Let us consider alcohol, for instance. Alcohol is, of course, something produced from the plant kingdom. It would take too long to explain the reasons, based on spiritual science, that show how alcohol, physically speaking, transforms the plant into precisely what must physically take place within the human being—namely, the fact that the “I” has its center within the human being. And it is a fact that can be recognized inwardly through spiritual science that when a person consumes alcohol, the alcohol takes over precisely that activity which would otherwise emanate entirely from their “I.” Those who consume a lot of alcohol need to eat less, and the body requires fewer nutrients that would otherwise trigger the metabolic process. Alcohol awakens those forces that would otherwise have to bring about the inner penetration of the ego.

[ 24 ] In this way, you objectify the activity of the “I” by introducing alcohol into the body; therefore, alcohol is the product that mimics the activity of the “I”; and you will be able to understand why people turn to alcohol. But to the same extent that one creates such an inner representative of the self, one makes oneself dependent, one makes oneself a slave. If a person is otherwise capable of doing so, he will bring the best power of his ego into action if he abstains from alcohol altogether. But in this way, behind this wall, what is done is what the ego itself should actually do—and would do—if this wall had not been created in the first place.

[ 25 ] Some foods have a very specific effect on the organism—coffee, for example. Coffee is something that has a significant effect. The effect of coffee manifests itself in that it extends to the astral body. Caffeine causes our nervous system, through the aftereffects of coffee, to carry out certain activities almost automatically—activities that we would otherwise have to summon the inner strength to perform. Now, no one should say that it is always good for a person to want to do everything from within their astral body. Human beings are not independent entities; rather, they are embedded in life.

[ 26 ] Coffee, in turn, is one such product from the plant kingdom that, outwardly speaking, has already elevated the actual plant process by one level; and the result of this is that coffee can relieve humans of a certain amount of work. And it becomes apparent that everything in nervous activity that pertains to consistency and logical connection is supported by coffee, so that a person can allow coffee to take over the task of maintaining logical connections and holding onto a single thought—though, of course, this comes at the cost of a weakening of the person’s own inner strength. Take a coffee party, for example! There, thoughts linger on a single topic until it has been thoroughly exhausted, and this is not merely a joke, but lies in the effect of coffee.

[ 27 ] Tea has a completely different effect; in fact, it has the opposite effect. Especially when consumed in somewhat larger quantities, it scatters the thoughts and clears the mind. The potent effect of tea is, so to speak, to bring to light witty and dazzling thoughts, which, in their particularity, possess a certain light vitality. Therefore, those who need to string one thought delicately after another will find solace in drinking coffee—such as writers who spend the entire day in a coffeehouse. That is the positive side of things. With tea, the opposite is true. During a coffee klatch, coffee has a logical effect—in a negative sense. With tea, thoughts are driven further apart—torn asunder. Tea is therefore, not without reason, a popular drink among diplomats. It may be of interest to some to cite one final example—one that plays a major role in life—namely, the consumption of milk. Milk is of a completely different nature than meat or other animal products. Milk is something that expresses the animalistic process—the process manifested through the astral body—only in the weakest possible way. Milk is only half an animal product; it has not allowed the astral force to take hold in human or animal nature, and thus milk is one of the most exquisite delicacies. It is suitable for those people who wish to completely abstain from eating meat but who do not have the strength to carry out everything from within the inner astral body. You can already see from a purely external fact that milk contains everything a person needs for their physical well-being; although this applies only to a limited extent, it is the substance that is most independent of a person’s individual characteristics. Indeed, not only can a weak organism be supported by the consumption of milk, but a strong one as well. If a person resolves for a time to live on milk and enjoys it, then not only is their ordinary strength awakened, but they transcend that ordinary strength; new powers grow within them, so that the person receives an influx of strength. Then strength develops as a surplus, and those powers form that can actually develop into healing powers. For the strength one wishes to possess must first be acquired, and here you have the path to how certain powers can be developed within a person. And indeed, those who, out of a serious commitment to life, wish to develop certain psychic healing powers will train themselves to attain such powers. Of course, it must also be noted here that what works for one person does not necessarily work for everyone. This is an individual matter; one person can do it, another cannot. A person can wisely build up their organism and contribute to the unfolding of free, independent, inner powers, and thus, through spiritual science, we return to the saying mentioned at the beginning, coined by Feuerbach: “Man is what he eats.”

[ 28 ] A person can eat in a way that undermines their invisible inner independence and thereby becomes an expression of what they eat. But they should eat in such a way—and spiritual science can serve as a guide for this—that they become less and less a slave to their diet, because through an improper diet we can easily become what we eat. But by being free and independent, a person can strive to ensure that what they eat does not prevent them from being and becoming what a human being can be.

[ 29 ] Q&A [Excerpts]

[ 30 ] Question: What effect do non-native plants, tropical fruits, etc., have on the body, as opposed to native ones?

[ 31 ] Answer: In this regard, we must assume a certain kinship between human beings and their surroundings, so that it may indeed be beneficial for some individuals to turn to foreign products.

[ 32 ] Question: Should eggs also be considered equivalent to meat in terms of purely animal-based nutritional value?

[ 33 ] Answer: That is correct. What is said about meat also applies to eggs.

[ 34 ] Question: What are the effects of nicotine?

[ 35 ] I cannot express an opinion on this; I merely wish to defend what I have said here from the standpoint of spiritual science. As for nicotine, it can be an extremely dangerous stimulant under certain circumstances, and we must be clear that what may be extremely dangerous for one person need not be the case for another. One can only say that nicotine affects the organism in such a way that it divides the organism’s activity—specifically, it divides a certain group of activities, namely those that the astral body performs less in the service of the physical body—so that a portion of those activities, which would otherwise be carried out by the entire astral body, is performed only by a part of the astral body, thereby relieving that part, so to speak. This can be harmless, or it can be very serious, depending on the individual case.

[ 36 ] Question: From a humanities perspective, how should the consumption of fruit and tobacco be evaluated?

[ 37 ] Answer: The fact is this: The way the body processes fresh fruit varies greatly depending on the specific variety. This actually places very high demands on certain dissolving forces of the human astral body, so that, under certain circumstances, eating fruit can have very beneficial effects. You can even regulate this yourself to a certain extent if, for example, you need to eat more fruit. If you suffer from an inexplicable feeling of thirst—indicating that the viscous, formative force has gained the upper hand—and if you need to activate the flexible force, you can remedy this by indulging in fruit for a while. Of course, this applies only to raw fruit.