The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Seventeenth Lecture

[ 1 ] The fact is that, insofar as the material can be mastered, I will have to summarize a few points based on the material from the last lecture—points that truly shed light on the whole and actually make the whole fruitful. And that is why it will be a good idea—even though everything can only be a beginning—for us to be able to add two more days. Following up on what was discussed yesterday, I would like to present some thoughts today specifically regarding the development and regression of the dentition, which will, however, be suitable for shedding some light on both healthy and sick people. It is not good to take discussions such as those held yesterday too literally in a materialistic sense, for what is really at stake here is that we see in what is happening externally—let us say, in the decay of the teeth—merely the external symptom of a certain internal process, a process that is actually hidden from external perception and that subsequently gives rise to what actually manifests itself externally.

[ 2 ] You will understand the entire tooth-formation process if you consider it in conjunction with other processes in the human organism, which, at first glance, seem quite distant from this tooth-formation process. For example, if you consider it in conjunction with a phenomenon that is quite familiar to you, but whose true significance can only be fully grasped when you learn to correctly relate it to the process of tooth formation. It is a phenomenon that occurs where young women have perfectly healthy teeth: they go through their first childbirth, and afterward their teeth become decayed. This sheds extraordinary light on the connection between toothaches and dental damage, on the one hand, and the organism’s overall constitution, on the other. Furthermore, one must certainly consider the extraordinarily interesting relationship between what occurs in the teeth and a person’s predisposition to hemorrhoids. All of these are connections that specifically demonstrate how that which has the greatest mineralizing effect in the human being—for tooth formation is the most mineralizing process—is, on the other hand, intimately connected with the overall organizational process of the human being and, I would say, reveals itself in its dependence on, and in its relationship to, the very other end of the human being.

[ 3 ] One is greatly influenced, of course, in assessing the process of tooth formation by the undeniable fact that, upon its completion—when the tooth’s outer covering, to the tooth’s outer covering—which lies outside the gums—is, at first, something in which the human organism is truly handed over to the mineral world of the external environment; where, in an almost complete sense, what is present in the tooth’s outer covering—the enamel—is something self-contained, and where nutritional processes no longer take place; that, in a sense, there is something there that has become entirely inorganic in nature. Yes, I believe I already hinted yesterday that this sort of ascending process is less significant than the process of breakdown that continuously takes place throughout one’s entire life during tooth formation. And while it must be admitted, on the one hand, that at this peripheral end of the human organism—where the outermost part of the tooth develops—the internal organism can do little in terms of construction, we must not forget that this internal organism is connected to the process of breakdown, to the process of destruction, and that, in fact, the following question is far more important than the other: How can one delay the human tendency toward this process of degradation? — For it would be a complete error to believe that this degradation stems entirely and solely from external assaults. This, then, is what must be taken into account.

[ 4 ] Now, another point is that what I said yesterday about the function of fluoride in relation to tooth formation essentially refers, of course, to that period of childhood in which the process of tooth formation proceeds from the inside out—in what is actually only just beginning to take shape, for it prepares itself deep within the organism, throughout the entire organism, before the permanent teeth appear on the outside. This process of fluoride formation then culminates in the presence, so to speak, of a substance on the tooth surface in which the fluoride has reached a kind of stable equilibrium—where it is bound to the substance and, in a certain sense, at rest. But this state of rest is disrupted as the teeth begin to deteriorate, as they face the process of decay. There is a subtle process at work that originates in the tooth and is connected to a formative process driven by fluoride, which permeates the entire organism and yet persists throughout a person’s entire life.

[ 5 ] Well, precisely what I have just said determines the entire preventive approach to whatever is at issue here. I could say the following, for example. I could say: A significant portion of what has been incorporated into our pedagogy at the Waldorf School—which, among other things, promotes the healthy development of the child—is also designed to prevent early tooth decay among the children who attend our Waldorf School. For it is remarkable that, precisely with regard to these peripheral conditions, an extraordinary amount depends on proper education during childhood. It is a pity that today we really only have the opportunity, through the Waldorf school, to intervene at a time when it is already somewhat too late for the actual preventive process that would need to be undertaken for tooth development; it would have to begin somewhat earlier. But still, since teeth do not appear all at once but gradually, and the internal process continues to have an effect for a long time afterward, something can still be done even if children are not enrolled until they are six or seven years old—though this is by no means sufficient. For what is at stake is that, in a certain sense, what I have said can already be put into practice: When the first tooth appears, one must carefully examine the nature of the entire tooth-formation process. Now, of course, it has been rightly objected that this presents difficulties because this tooth-formation process is already prepared—in a sense, the crown simply pushes forward and is already complete. That is correct, but one does not determine the nature of the tooth-formation process solely by looking at the teeth themselves; rather, the point is that one will find that if a child in the fourth, fifth, or sixth year is clumsy with their arms, hands, legs, and feet, that is, if they do not easily master the dexterous use of their arms and legs—especially their hands and feet—they tend not to properly synchronize the tooth-formation process. It is precisely in the way they use their arms and hands, legs and feet that the very same pattern becomes evident, a pattern that then manifests itself in the tooth-formation process. Therefore, teaching children as early as possible to walk skillfully—that is, to walk in such a way that they must move their feet skillfully, such as by having them walk with a mincing step or something similar, so that they always place one foot in front of the other as they walk—or by teaching them similar skillful walking patterns, has a highly regulating effect on the process of tooth formation. This, combined with training the fingers to be dexterous, greatly promotes the process of tooth formation.

[ 6 ] If you visit our handicrafts class here at the Waldorf School, you’ll find that the boys knit and crochet just as much as the girls do, and that everything is done equally by boys and girls. Even the older boys still knit with enthusiasm. This is not done out of some whim, but because the fingers are to be made dexterous and supple, and because soul is to be infused into the fingers. And when soul is infused into the fingers, this in turn promotes, above all else, that which is connected to the process of tooth formation. It matters whether you let a child sit idly all the time when he is lazy, or guide him to run around; whether you let a child remain clumsy with his hands, or encourage him to develop dexterity in his hands. This is not a matter of indifference because later on, everything one failed to do at that stage manifests itself in the premature decay of the teeth—naturally, to a greater extent in some children than in others. These things vary from child to child, but they do come to light. So one can say: The earlier one begins such discipline in a child, the more one influences, from this perspective, the slowing down of the process of tooth decay. It is so difficult to intervene in any way in everything related to the dental process that one must already take into account this necessity—even seemingly quite remote factors.

[ 7 ] Now I am faced with the following question: How is fluoride absorbed into the body—through the enamel from the outside, through saliva, through the dental pulp, through the bloodstream, or by some other means?

[ 8 ] Now you see, fluorine as such is a process that shapes the human being, and pondering too much about the way in which it is absorbed is actually not what matters. As a rule, one need only consider the process that occurs through a completely “normal diet”; through this process, the substances containing fluoride compounds are absorbed. One need only follow the ordinary process of nutrition, which indirectly carries the fluoride substance to the very places where it is to be deposited. The important thing is that fluoride, as such, is actually much more widespread than one might think. A great deal of it is present—relatively speaking, of course, since humans require only an incredibly small amount—in a wide variety of plants. In particular, however, the process of fluorine formation is present in plants, so that with fluorine specifically, even if fluorine itself is not chemically detectable, the process of fluorine formation—which we will discuss in more detail shortly—is still present in plants. For fluorine is always present in water—in every kind of water we drink—so there is really no need to obtain fluorine separately. The point is simply that the organism is organized in such a way that it is able to manage the extraordinarily complex process involved in the absorption of fluorine. So if you want to use common terminology, you have to say: Fluorine is actually transported to its destination via the bloodstream.

[ 9 ] The question then arises as to whether the enamel of the erupted teeth is still being nourished. It is not. This is already evident from what I have discussed here. But there is something else at play, and that is what we must focus on. One could say: When examined from a perspective of Spiritual Science, there is an extraordinarily active process of the human etheric body in the region of tooth formation and its surroundings—a process that is free and, so to speak, only loosely connected to the physical organism. This activity, which is present there—which can be observed particularly clearly there—and which, so to speak, forms a continuous, dynamic organization around the jaws—this etherically active organization does not exist at all as a free organization of its own in the human abdomen. There, it is bound in the strictest sense to the physical, organic activity, and the phenomena I mentioned earlier are connected to this. This is related to the fact that when the activity of the etheric body—as in pregnancy—becomes detached from the physical organism, it immediately brings about significant changes in the dental structure at the opposite pole. Similarly, hemorrhoidal suffering is connected to the fact that the physical body and the etheric body go their separate ways in their effects. But what occurs at this end of the human organism—the etheric body becoming independent—immediately draws the etheric body into the organism on the other side as well; and there, on the other side, the opposite effect is associated with it: the destructive effect. That which increases organic activity—as is the case in a healthy sense during pregnancy, and as is the case in a pathological sense—which is, after all, merely an increase in organic activity—in the sick person; that which increases healthy activity and intensifies normal activity—has the effect, on the other hand, of intensifying organic activity, and thus acts, particularly in the case of the teeth, in a degenerative, destructive manner. This is what requires particular attention.

[ 10 ] Now, of course, one might ask: But if what I have described—the, shall we say, external effects of fluoride—does not work on its own, if that is not enough, then the question is whether one can determine—since the human organism is so complex that, naturally, healing must intervene in place of mere education—whether, if mere education is not sufficient, one should already begin with healing. For everything we observe in the interplay of hand and foot effects—these are, when viewed macroscopically, the fluor effects; the constitution that arises when the fingers become flexible and mobile, when the legs become flexible—that is the fluor effect, not what one imagines in atomistic terms, but what appears on the surface of the human organism and continues inward from there; this internal continuation of what occurs in external activity—that is the fluor effect. For we do not merely notice from the teeth that the upbringing was poor, but we also notice it in the fact that the child cannot get anything done, cannot become skilled. In such cases, it is a matter of intervening in the organism, so to speak, in a prophylactic manner. It is very interesting that when one conducts an experiment using an aqueous extract of horse chestnut bark—that is, an esculin extract—and administers highly diluted esculin internally, one can also have a regulating effect on tooth preservation, provided one does not wait too long to do so.

[ 11 ] That’s another interesting connection. The sap from horse chestnut bark does indeed contain some of the substances that build up our teeth. There is always something to be found out there in the macrocosm that somehow has an organizing significance within us. And this is connected to the fact that there is something in this esculin that expels the chemism from the substance in which the esculin is active. The chemism is rendered ineffective. It is indeed remarkable that when one passes the spectral cone through an esculin solution, the chemical effects are erased from the spectrum. This erasure of the chemical effects is something one observes again when one—but it must be a water extract—introduces the aqueous extract solution into the organism in a highly diluted form. Then one sees that this overcoming of chemism, this working toward mere mineralization, is actually the same as the process of tooth formation in the organism. The only difference is that what otherwise occurs merely externally when chemism is extinguished is still permeated by the organizing forces that are present in the human organism.

[ 12 ] Then, in a similar way but through a different process, even ordinary chlorophyll has an effect. The power that is found specifically in the bark of the horse chestnut and a few other plants is actually present in a slightly different form throughout the chlorophyll of the leaves. We must, however, try to extract the leaf green into ether, so to speak, and then we need not an internal application, but rather an external one by rubbing it into the lower abdomen. So that when we rub the lower abdomen with etherized chlorophyll, we then act on the organism in a similar way toward the preservation of the teeth as we do when we apply the esculin effect internally. These are things that need to be tried out; they would certainly make a significant impression if their statistical results were presented to the outside world. Once the entire dental pulp has been removed, an attempt must be made to make the entire organism capable of absorbing fluoride. This is not a matter of general dental treatment.

[ 13 ] Well, from all of this you can see how closely dental treatment—insofar as it is even possible to treat teeth at all—is connected to all the growth forces of the human organism. For what I have mentioned regarding esculin and chlorophyll¹ points us to forces that are essentially connected with very subtle growth processes—growth processes that lead toward mineralization. It is already the case that human beings must pay for their higher spiritual development with a regression of the tooth-forming process as a whole. This is also true from a phylogenetic perspective. Compared to the animal process of tooth formation, the human process of tooth formation is a process of regression. But it shares this characteristic of regression with processes of regression that are present throughout the entire human organism.

[ 14 ] I have thus guided you through ways of observing that can already be significant for assessing the entire tooth-forming process. We will gain further insight if we now incorporate other elements that, in turn, can serve as a foundation. I will now include a chapter that, at first glance, does not seem to pertain to the subject. Namely, what might be called dietary issues, which are directly related to the very topics we have just discussed. These dietary issues are so important because they have not only a medical but also a social significance. One can certainly debate at length whether the Mazdaznan diet or similar unusual dietary regimens have any significance or justification. One can do that; but in all of this, one must consider that, through everything that is advised to them, people are turned into antisocial beings. This is where the social truly collides with the medical. The more we feel we must have something extra for ourselves in terms of our diet—or, indeed, in terms of the influence of the external world—the more we become antisocial beings. The significance of the Last Supper, after all, does not lie in the fact that Christ gave each disciple something extra, but rather that he gave everyone the same thing. Creating the possibility that people can be together as human beings while eating or drinking has great social significance. And anything that amounts to suppressing this healthy social nature of human beings must, I would say, be treated with some caution. For when a person is left to their own devices—and I mean not merely in terms of what they are conscious of, but in terms of everything that acts organically within them—they actually develop all manner of appetites and aversions. It is not at all as important for a person to view these appetites and aversions in the way one usually does. For if—and I mean not only in relation to subjective appetites but in terms of their entire constitution—a person has managed to learn to endure something they actually cannot tolerate, that is, if they overcome an aversion in the broadest sense—and I mean this extended to the entire organ system— then they have gained more for their organism than if you were to keep them from consuming what corresponds to their aversion, no matter how long you do so. In the overcoming of something one cannot tolerate—and in the very act of overcoming it—lies, quite literally—not merely in a figurative sense, but in the strictest sense—the restoration of an organ that has been destroyed, or, if we look at the etheric, even the formation of a new organ. For the organ-forming power lies in nothing other than the overcoming of anti-appetites. By indulging one’s appetites beyond a certain point, one does not serve the organs but rather causes them to become hypertrophied; one leads them to degeneration, so that if one goes too far in yielding to what the organism, through its own protective mechanisms, seeks to keep at bay, one damages the organism. But if one tries to gradually accustom a person to what does not seem suitable for them, one always strengthens the organism.

[ 15 ] In this regard, modern science has, in fact, obscured almost everything we need to know. For this external principle of the struggle for existence and natural selection is, after all, initially something entirely external. Roux has even applied it to the struggle of the organs within the human body. But this is truly something very external. It only gains significance when one can truly observe what is actually taking place internally. And here one must say that, in fact, the strengthening of a human organ—or indeed any organ in the phylogenetic series—always stems from the overcoming of an antipathy. The formation—the formation of an organ—is due to the overcoming of antipathies, whereas the growth of an already existing organ is due to the indulgence of sympathies—but it must not exceed a certain point. Sympathy and antipathy are not limited to the tongue or the eye; rather, the entire organism is permeated by sympathy and antipathy. Every organ has its sympathies and antipathies. An organ develops an antipathy toward that which it has built up in a certain state. For it owes its very formation to that very thing toward which, once it is complete, it develops an antipathy. This is something that would lead much deeper into phylogeny if one were to consider how the external world initially acts in such a way that the internal defends itself against it, discharging this in antipathy, and that it is precisely through this that the ever-increasing perfection of the organism comes about. In the realm of organisms, the one that best survives the struggle for existence is the one most capable of overcoming internal antipathies and replacing them with organs. This is part of the process of organ formation.

[ 16 ] Thus, when one considers this, it provides a point of reference for taking another look at the dosage of the remedies. After all, you see in the organ-forming process itself a continuous back-and-forth oscillation between sympathy and antipathy. The genesis of organization is essentially linked to the formation of sympathy and antipathy and depends on the interplay between them. Just as sympathy and antipathy behave within the organism, so do lower dosages—that is, substances used in their material form—relate to those used in high potencies. High potency has the opposite effect of low potency. This is connected to the entire organizing force. And in a certain sense, what I already alluded to yesterday from a different perspective is also true: that what acts in a certain way within the organism during the first stage of life reverses its effect in later stages of life, but that what acts within the organism at that time can be shifted. As I told you yesterday, this is the basis, on the one hand, for dementia praecox, and on the other hand, for the emergence of isolated regions of the soul that then take control of the organism in later life, when they should not be doing so.

[ 17 ] We will only be able to come to terms with these matters when our science itself has once again become somewhat spiritualized, when we reach the point where we no longer seek to cure so-called mental illnesses through spiritual and psychological means, but rather when we begin to ask the question: What is wrong with the organs when this or that so-called mental or psychological illness is present? — Conversely, as strange as it may sound, there is actually much more reason to look to the psychological aspect in cases of so-called physical illnesses than in cases of mental illnesses. In mental illnesses, the psychological assessment is scarcely more than a diagnostic aid. One must study it in order to determine, by observing it, where the fault may lie in the organism. The ancients had already provided for this in their terminology. Indeed, it was not for nothing that the ancients associated the mental disorder of hypochondria with a purely materialistic-sounding name, such as “abdominal bony condition” or “abdominal cartilaginous condition,” “hypochondria.” They would never have sought the cause of what is present in the psyche primarily in anything other than a disease of the abdomen—even when hypochondria escalated to the point of madness. One must, of course, reach the point where one is able to regard all so-called material things as spiritual in the first place.

[ 18 ] We suffer immensely today because materialism is the continuation of Catholic asceticism in our way of thinking. This asceticism has scorned nature and sought to attain the spirit through this scorn of nature. Today’s worldview has taken from this ascetic tradition whatever suits it and believes that what takes place in the lower abdomen is grossly material and need not be taken into account. But that is not the case in reality; rather, the spirit is at work within all these things, and one must know how the spirit works there. When I bring together the spirit that acts within the organism and the spirit that acts in something outside, then spiritual forces act together. We must move away from this contempt for nature. We must come to form a mental image of all of nature in a spiritualized way once again. For do you not find it striking—and of immense significance precisely for the entire reform of medical thinking—that it was precisely at the height of materialism that the obsession arose to treat people with so-called abnormal conditions using all manner of hypnosis and suggestion? Things that seem to lie beyond the material realm have emerged precisely in this age of materialism, and we have lost the ability to learn about the spiritual aspects of mercury, antimony, gold, and silver. This is the crux of the matter: we have lost the ability to learn about the spiritual aspect of the material world, and that is why we seek to treat the spiritual as such—just as in psychoanalysis, where one seeks to control the spiritual as such. Sound views must once again take hold regarding the spiritual properties of matter.

[ 19 ] It is truly no small achievement—one that emerged specifically within the homeopathic tradition throughout the nineteenth century—that this commitment to the spiritual nature of external material substances has been actively preserved. In fact, this is one of the most important aspects, for external allopathic medicine has, unfortunately, increasingly turned toward the belief that one is concerned solely with the material—that is, with external material effects in non-human substances. This, however, leads, on the one hand, to focusing one’s attention precisely on the psychological factor when diagnosing so-called physical illnesses, and conversely, when an abnormal psychological factor is strongly evident, to seeking out the physical impairments. Physical illnesses should actually always raise the question: What is the temperament of the person in whom they occur? — If we find that the person in whom they occur is of a hypochondriacal nature, then his usual hypochondriacal nature alone will lead us to treat him in such a way that we strongly influence his lower nature; that is, we must treat him with materially active remedies, using lower potencies. If we find that a person, apart from the illness, is of a lively or sanguine disposition, then it will be necessary from the outset to resort to higher potencies. In short, the psychological context is something that must now be specifically identified in relation to the physical illness. This entire psychological picture, after all, already presents itself to us in a certain way in children, and dementia praecox will not easily occur unless the child already shows a tendency, a disposition toward phlegmatic temperament; unless we can already clearly perceive in the child that temperamental predisposition which should actually only appear later in life, albeit to a limited extent. But of particular importance is the distinction regarding inner activity or inner passivity. This is a very significant factor. Just consider: when we use suggestion in our so-called psychotherapeutic methods, we place the person entirely within the sphere of influence of another person; we suppress their activity. And this suppression of activity—this suppression of the person’s inner initiative—already brings about something in external life that is important for the course of life and which, when we observe it appropriately in children—we’ll talk more about this tomorrow—plays a role precisely in the development of the teeth, and in turn, for later life as well.

[ 20 ] For example, I may consider it necessary for myself—given what I said earlier, it is indeed important to take such things into account—to avoid certain foods and to focus more on others. I may consider a certain diet necessary for myself. It may be very good for me. But there is a very significant difference between arriving at this diet through my own experimentation—by discovering this or that on my own—and simply having it prescribed by a doctor. Please don’t take it the wrong way that I’m stating this so matter-of-factly. After all, from a materialistic point of view, it seems as though it serves the same purpose whether I instinctively discover the diet that’s good for me on my own—whether I’ve worked it out myself, perhaps under a doctor’s guidance, and taken the initiative in the process—or whether I simply have the doctor prescribe it for me. The ultimate consequence, I would say, of these effects is evident in the fact that the diet prescribed and followed by the doctor will, at first, be beneficial to me, but it unfortunately has the drawback that it leads me more easily into mental dullness in old age than I would otherwise, that it leads to senile dementia, whereas actively participating in the diet—though, of course, other factors that influence this also come into play—keeps me mentally agile well into old age. And this interplay of activity and inactivity is particularly compromised in all forms of suggestion therapy, where I surrender myself completely to dependence—not only by relinquishing my own judgment and doing what another prescribes, but even by placing the guidance of my will under the judgment of another. Therefore, treatments based on hypnosis and suggestion should be limited as much as possible. Only if one can say to oneself: “The impairment of the will, which is present in every person treated in this way, does not harm the person in question for other reasons, and one is actually doing them a greater favor by helping them for a time through suggestion”—only then can such methods be applied. But in general, the point is that Spiritual Science must point to the healing power inherent in the physical effects, the atmospheric effects, and the motor effects of the human organism—in short, in everything that is not merely direct spiritual influence, but rather must emerge actively and with initiative from the person themselves, either from the conscious or the subconscious mind.

[ 21 ] These matters are of such great importance because it is precisely in this materialistic age that sins against them are most frequently committed, and because—infected by the prevailing views—we are already witnessing the horrifying phenomenon of all manner of hypnotic and suggestive tendencies being introduced into pedagogy. The introduction of these tendencies into education is a terrible thing, and one may only begin to see clearly in this regard when one answers the question: How do those activities of the human organism that awaken it—rather than lull it to sleep—contrast with this? Just as a person, when falling asleep, performs movements in their mental image that are not followed by actions of the will—just as the person, so to speak, comes to rest in relation to the external world while remaining in motion within their conscious experiences—so the opposite is true in eurythmy. In eurythmy, the exact opposite of falling asleep occurs: it brings about a greater awakening in relation to ordinary states of consciousness. The exaggerations of the mental images, as they exist in dreams, are removed, and in their place, a healthy development of the will is driven into the limbs. The will, in its organized form, is driven into the limbs. And when one then begins to study how differently, for example, eurythmic vocalization affects the lower human being and the higher human being, and likewise how eurythmic consonant formation affects the lower human being and the higher human being, one sees that a significant therapeutic element can already be found in eurythmy.