The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Sixth Lecture

[ 1 ] Please allow me today to elaborate on some of the points I took the liberty of briefly touching upon yesterday. After all, what I will say today can be nothing more than a few pointers, a few suggestions; whereas, of course, a wealth of evidence could be presented to support everything there is to say about medical matters from the perspective I hinted at yesterday—evidence that, naturally, cannot be discussed today—or in such a short time, for that matter.

[ 2 ] I already indicated yesterday that through the inner training of the human soul in spiritual knowledge, one can indeed come to distinguish within the human being the actual physical body, then what I called yesterday—as I said, one must have terminology, and there is no need to take offense at it—the etheric body, which is the first supersensible member of human nature; that one must then distinguish the astral body—which I also discussed yesterday in relation to its involvement in kidney function—and finally, the “I” organization within the human being. When speaking of a human being in a healthy or sick state, it is always necessary to remain aware that these four aspects of the human being have functions that must first be clearly distinguished, yet which interact with one another and exert reciprocal effects on each other in both the healthy and sick states. And only when one is able to visualize the unity of the human being arising from this convergence of four—I would say—separate levels of function can one truly gain a real mental image of the healthy or sick human being. As I mentioned yesterday: disease processes are, after all, natural processes. And upon unbiased observation, one cannot actually find a boundary between the so-called normal, healthy processes of the human organism and the diseased processes unless one is familiar with this structure of human nature and thereby understands: if any one of these components interferes with the entire human unity more than it should, this results precisely in the abnormal, pathological functioning of the human being.

[ 3 ] But one cannot yet form a mental image of how the various forces—the sensory and the supersensory—interact within this marvelous structure of the human organism unless one is familiar with an idea that was actually in my mind more than thirty-five years ago, but which I have only dared to articulate in recent years. It was only in recent years that I found the courage to speak of it, and it will already be evident from this that the research referred to here proceeds no less conscientiously than what is commonly regarded as research today. Namely, it concerns the following:

[ 4 ] One must also classify human beings according to the nervous-sensory system, which is primarily located in the human head. But things are not such in human beings that one could say anything other than: the nervous-sensory system is primarily located within the organization of the head. It is spread throughout the entire human being, and what I must distinguish as three or four aspects of human nature are intertwined; and in fact, when speaking of the nervous-sensory organization, one can only say precisely and accurately: the human being is most “head” in the head, but the head organization—the nervous-sensory organization—is spread throughout the entire human being.

[ 5 ] Then, what can be called—in the broadest sense—the rhythmic organization of the human being comes into play within this nervous-sensory system. The rhythms of breathing and blood circulation are, of course, the most prominent phenomena within the rhythmic human being; but other rhythms must also be taken into account: the rhythm of sleeping and waking, the rhythm that manifests itself, in the narrower sense, in digestion, and so on. Again, the rhythmic system is spread throughout the entire human being and is localized primarily in the middle region of the body. And thirdly, we must distinguish—we can view it in one way or another—the metabolic-limb system. This is the system that primarily serves human movement and is, in turn, spread throughout the entire human being. These two systems—the metabolic system and the motor system—are also closely interconnected, a fact that will perhaps become apparent from the inner content of the discussion I am about to present.

[ 6 ] Now, although these three systems are interrelated, they are strictly distinct from one another, so that we can say: Within the nervous-sensory organization, the physical, etheric, and astral bodies and the “I” function in a completely different way than, for example, in the rhythmic organization or in the metabolic-limb organization. These four aspects of human nature—the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the ego—are present in all three systems, which are, in a sense, spatially separated from one another, but they in turn interact with each of these systems in a wide variety of ways. And only when one is able to describe, for example, how the “I” organization or the astral body interacts with the head system is one able to speak of healthy and sick people in a precise and appropriate manner. I would like to discuss this in relation to a specific case.

[ 7 ] Let us consider the head organization, and specifically how the nervous-sensory system is localized in the head. Of course, we are speaking here of the whole human being, because what can be said of the head is also present, to a lesser degree, in the rhythmic human, the middle human, and the metabolic-limb human. But we can already grasp the essential point at stake here through the organization of the head: what is at issue here—as I said, with the qualification I just made—is what is primarily localized in this head organization. The human being is also entirely head, but I am discussing the head organization in the head in the narrower sense. This is where the nervous-sensory organization is primarily located; the various sensory organs exert their effects into the inner human organism—for that is what we must say if we wish to speak precisely about the senses. Now the question is: What are we actually dealing with when we speak first of all of the sensory organization? — Here, too, I can only offer a kind of guidance.

[ 8 ] The organization of the senses is usually discussed in an extremely abstract manner, so that it is spoken of as if it were merely a set of concepts. The anatomical and physiological basis is certainly discussed, but—as is evident from the terribly amateurish debates found in physiology—the actual functioning within the sensory system is something that, fundamentally, is never really considered in concrete terms. For this is something that stands in an inverse relationship such that one can say: the respiratory function stands to the sensory function in the same inverse relationship as the blood circulation system stands to the digestive function. So the digestive function is, if I may put it crudely, a sort of condensed blood circulation. Or conversely: what circulates in the blood is a refined digestive process. And the sensory process is a refined respiratory process. I could also say: the respiratory process is a coarsened sensory perception process. These two processes differ quantitatively, not qualitatively. This explains, for example, why the methodology prescribed in Indian yoga philosophy for deeper insight does not employ the mere ordinary nervous-sensory process, but rather a certain modified respiratory process. What is to be achieved in yoga practice through this modified breathing process is nothing other than a coarser form of cognition. There is, in fact, a profound wisdom in this integration of the cognitive process into the act of breathing as practiced in Indian yoga philosophy. But it is precisely what takes place inward from the senses—a refined, in a sense spiritualized, breathing process. In this refined breathing process—that is, I would say, in those places where sensory perception first takes place—the function of the “I” and the function of the astral body must be present with the greatest possible freedom. They must be able to act in the eye, must be able to act in the ear; but they must be able to act in such a way that the effect is truly transmitted down to the physical organism.

[ 9 ] If we consider the matter in relation to the eye, we find it to be as follows. In the eye, there is first of all the physical organization of the eye. Within it lies the etheric body of the eye, which provides the vital force. But then we have the astral and ego organizations of the human being; which must indeed act independently for the sake of the eye, but they must take hold of the physical substance of the eye. Now, in the sense of what I indicated yesterday, it is the case that what is found in the human organism is also found in nature outside, except that the natural process is not found as a healthy process in the human organism, but as a diseased one; but a healthy process in the natural world always corresponds to a process in the human organism. What the sense organs encounter out in nature is most strikingly found when you consider the mode of functioning that, I would say, is embodied in silicon dioxide, in quartz, in silicic acid—that is, when you regard what appears to you as something solidified, as it were, as something frozen, as a living process. All solid bodies are, after all, merely frozen processes, frozen events. So when we consider the silicic acid process, we must say: Wherever we find silicic acid in nature, wherever we find quartz—it is also present in other natural substances, but most prominently in quartz—there we have, in what is taking place there, something that corresponds in human beings to what takes place through the human organism, for example, in the eye or in another sense organ. It is not justified to claim that we have quartz there in a substantial sense; but what we have in the eye or in another sense organ is, functionally and in terms of the process, the same as what takes place outside in quartz. And again: when we observe this process in the sense organs, which proves to be identical to the process in quartz, we come to the conclusion—and this is also demonstrated by mineralogy in the analogy of external natural phenomena—that, of all that may be involved in such a process as we find in the quartz process, the least harmoniously interacting with it is everything that is, in turn, supported by the organization of phosphorus. So if you look at what has become solidified in phosphorus in nature as a living process, and consider the living interaction of the two, you have the same process that you find in the human eye—as the representative of the sensory organization as a whole. And through this interaction of one process—which is like the phosphorus process—and another process—which is like the silicic acid process—the eye is the organ through which what exists in the human being as the “I” and as the astral body can intervene in the physical organization of the eye. Everywhere, the physical organization must provide the foundation for the spiritual to intervene in the proper way.

[ 10 ] Now, something else is the case. If that process taking place in the eye—through this interaction of the phosphorus process and the silicic acid process, which represents an intimate, harmonious interplay between the two—were to continue into the brain, we would be completely filled with a sensory process, we would be completely absorbed in nature; we would not be set apart from nature as human beings. But we must set ourselves apart from nature as human beings. And for this to happen, a different process must take place in the brain than in the senses—a process that separates human beings from natural processes. While what actually takes place in the eye is merely the continuation of an external natural process into the vital sphere—the sense organs are, after all, like inlets extending into the human being—something must separate itself in the brain and become independent.

[ 11 ] This, too, occurs through a process that we also find out in nature. What within us—if I may now speak in psychological terms—transforms perception into a mental image with the help of the human organism is a process within the nervous-sensory system that corresponds to the processes we find in lead. Therefore, we can say: When what is perceived by the eye is transmitted further back into the nervous-sensory system, it must be met by a process that is identical to the process in lead. Only in this way can a person think about what they perceive. This is what makes the brain an organ of thought; otherwise, it would simply be an organ of perception. In this way, the human being becomes an independent being.

[ 12 ] With this, I was pointing to something characteristic of the head organization. So I said: the same thing that takes place externally in the lead process must also take place in the head organization so that the thought process can come about in the human being.

[ 13 ] Let us now take the lead function and place it not in the nervous system—when a human being is born, lead is present by nature itself, and the lead function is present, even though the substance of lead cannot be detected—but rather let us place the lead function in the digestive system and beyond; life itself ensures this, for example, sometimes in cases of lead poisoning. If you now observe, across all manifestations, what lead effects in the metabolic-limb human, you will obtain a picture that, while manifesting in various individual symptoms, is actually most characteristically summarized in the symptom complex of senile dementia or cerebral arteriosclerosis: you will then obtain the picture of the human organism decaying in old age. In other words: If I apply the same process—which ensures my independence as an organic being within the brain—to the other pole of the human being, namely the digestive system and the associated limb system, I obtain a clinical picture; what is thus a pathological process in the metabolic-limb system is a necessary organic function for the nervous-sensory human being. So if I regard sclerosis as a slow dying process, I must also say: in a certain attenuated form, it must be continuously at work in the human head; there, it is the normal state.

[ 14 ] Thus, the three aspects of the human being differ from one another: what is the normal state in one aspect—the nervous-sensory system—is a symptom of disease in another aspect of the human organism. But as I said yesterday: How, then, should we approach therapy?

[ 15 ] We must relieve the astral body and the ego-organization of whatever constitutes the disease process—that is, whatever the astral body and the ego-organization must supply when the disease process is allowed to run rampant unchecked. So what must we do when we have sclerosis? We must approach it in such a way that we relieve the human astral body of the tasks related to the digestive limb system that it would otherwise have to perform in connection with the aging, decaying, and sclerotic body. And we can do this by entrusting it to lead—lead in a specific dosage. And this has led us to develop a remedy such as the one you will find listed in our directory as Remedy Number I, the remedy for arteriosclerosis. It is therefore clear from the outset, through genuine knowledge of the human being, that sclerosis can be substantially counteracted by the function of lead introduced into the human being in an appropriate manner; but now the lead must be made effective. It is not necessarily the case that, once I have introduced the lead into the organism, I have actually made it effective. This is where the further elements of a genuine understanding of the human being come into play.

[ 16 ] It is helpful, then, to be able to distinguish between the constructive and destructive forces within the human organism. The latter are at work, for example, in sclerosis, where the human organism breaks down. In fact, the human organism is constantly breaking down in the brain, for the brain is perpetually permeated by a subtle form of sclerosis; this is inherent in its organization. Everything therefore depends on one’s ability to distinguish between the processes of breakdown and the actual processes of vitalization—the processes of building up and growth. If one can correctly distinguish these two processes from one another, then one first looks to that part of the human organism which embodies the processes of building up in the most eminent sense: this is, in early childhood, the entire human organism. At this stage, it is not yet overburdened with the organs of thought or with the organs for other mental activities; it lives, first and foremost, within the organization of growth. If we now consider the relationship between the function of milk and the human infant’s organism, we find that this milk function contains precisely the formative forces that the organism needs during infancy. In later life, we cannot obtain in the same way the formative forces that are still necessary—forces that we acquire through the consumption of milk during infancy. Even when we have grown very old, we still need formative forces—shaping forces—that transform the food we consume into the forms of the organism. Now it turns out that nothing promotes these formative forces—these shaping powers—more, and nothing promotes the assimilation of ingested substances into the human organism more, than the consumption of honey, which is often quite weak. Honey, in fact, acts on the metabolism and limb system of the elderly in much the same way as milk acts on the brain of a child—and especially that of a child. This points to the fact that honey contains special formative forces, which we do not discover by simply analyzing honey chemically, but which we find only when we truly recognize, in all their liveliness, the relationships that human beings have with the other substances in the universe. And this formative power of honey—for a more precise interpretation reveals that honey affects the human organism in such a way that the astral body, in particular, can exercise its formative powers—these effects of honey can then be supported by adding sugar, provided that the human organism can otherwise tolerate it. Therefore, you will find that—combined in a special way, functionally integrated—our first remedy against sclerosis is a preparation consisting of lead, honey, and sugar.

[ 17 ] But this also points out that it depends on how one goes about doing something like this. For, in a certain sense, an inner interaction between the forces of lead and the forces of honey and sugar must arise within the preparation itself. This preparation is therefore made in such a way that, when introduced into the human organism, it takes over the sclerotic forces there. It relieves the astral body and the human ego-organization of these sclerosing forces; these are thereby freed again and can now work toward the normal, healthy organization of the human being. But what I introduce into the human organism with this preparation is precisely what the ego and the astral body previously had to do—and were therefore not free to do—and whose functions were diverted toward the disease process. Now I hand over the disease process to my preparation. The particularly effective component here is lead; it takes over the sclerotization, for it is, after all, its very nature to have a sclerotizing effect. But I must first find the pathways through the organism’s structure by which I can bring the lead to where it is needed: this is achieved through the combination with honey and sugar.

[ 18 ] Thus, our preparations are formulated as follows: first, to contain that which can take over a pathological process. But they are also formulated—in their composition and in their entire method of preparation—in such a way that what I intend to introduce into the human being to take over the disease process can spread throughout the organism in the proper manner. Thus, our preparations are produced in a thoroughly rational manner. As a result—and this could be observed step by step whenever we applied our preparations at Dr. Wegman’s Arlesheim Institute—it actually becomes evident in this type of healing—as is necessary—that one must know: The human organism is such that if I apply anything to it, it must bring about a corresponding change within it. If I now observe the change as it occurs, I am observing the process that is the healing process; I am observing what I had anticipated. And this is so important in our method: we do not test externally and determine results through statistics, but rather rationally predict what must occur, and then verify—already in the very earliest stage of what is occurring—whether we are actually producing the corresponding effects.

[ 19 ] In this way, you can also see how the silicic acid contained in Equisetum—which I mentioned yesterday—works. I spoke about how the specific way in which silicic acid is present in Equisetum affects kidney function. Today, from an anatomical and physiological perspective, it is not recognized that the nervous-sensory system can only be separated, so to speak, in an abstract sense from the circulatory and metabolic systems. In a certain sense, all organs are also sensory organs, and the kidney is indeed a particularly important organ of the human abdomen. Therefore, when I use silicic acid as it is found in Equisetum—in the sense I explained yesterday—I increase the sensitivity of the kidney and thereby influence those processes in the human organism that arise from a dulling of the kidney’s inner sensitivity.

[ 20 ] What can be seen so clearly in the sense organs, in fact, is applicable in a certain sense to the entire human organism. This becomes particularly clear when one considers, for example, the effect of phosphorus in a particularly striking case. It is certainly extremely interesting to examine the processes of human embryonic development from a physiological and anatomical perspective. In human embryonic development, there are two interacting processes that are not usually distinguished very clearly in contemporary anatomical and physiological analyses. First, there is everything related to the formation of the fertilized egg. Then there is everything that takes place within the chorion from the surrounding environment—the uterus and so on—from the female organs enclosing the embryo. When one studies this, it is clear that everything involved in this process of organization is permeated not only by physical organization but also by etheric, astral, and ego organization. But if we now first consider this process—I would like to call it a centrifugal process, because it is a radiating process—which, starting from the actual fertilized germ cell, develops more and more through differentiation and becomes the central embryo, then on the one hand, the primary effect—the particularly predominant effect—of this process is something that can be found again in the process preserved in the substance of silver. As paradoxical as it sounds: in the substance of silver we have something that can intensify up to the point of excretion—for it is indeed an excretion—which takes place in the release of the egg cell in the human: organism. In silver—in the functional properties of silver—we find the very excretory forces that act within the human being, out in nature, within the silver substance. From the fact that silver acts in such a preeminent sense as an excretory agent, you can recognize the immense significance of silver, in the appropriate dosage, for the human abdomen as a whole. And therefore, if one introduces the silver substance in fine doses into the digestive process—using the necessary binding agents and additives—one can specifically influence the excretory processes. If these excretory processes become sluggish, one can influence them in an extraordinarily significant way.

[ 21 ] But if we now consider that which exerts a centripetal force—that which emanates from the uterus, that is, moves inward from the outside—we find, once again in the most profound sense, an external substance—namely, phosphorus—which emanates from the walls of the female reproductive organs inward, and which acts from there toward the embryo. Once again, we can see from this the significance of the forces contained in the functioning of phosphorus. They act in exactly the opposite way to silver; they act in such a way that they drive everything into the human being. While, for example, silver develops an excretory tendency, particularly in the lower abdomen, phosphorus unfolds tendencies that drive things into the body. Thus, in silver we have something that, in the most eminent sense, brings forth the forms of the human physical body, whereas in phosphorus we have something that erases these forms, that drives them into the human being and erases the physical organization, rendering this physical organization obliterated for the astral body and the ego. It is therefore phosphorus that drives the astral organization and the ego out of the human being. In this respect, silver and phosphorus are substances that are polar opposites.

[ 22 ] For the rhythmic and the intellectual aspects of the human being—that is, for the circulatory system and the nervous-sensory system—there is yet another polar opposite to phosphorus: calcium carbonate. When introduced into the human organism, this calcium carbonate, in turn, has the peculiar tendency to exert an excretory effect. Indeed, with calcium carbonate—with lime—the centrifugal, radiating forces of the human being manifest themselves in a naturally outward-directed way through the lime; as a result, when these radiating forces become too strong and lead to the development of disease, I can alleviate these disease processes precisely through lime preparations. However, what I mean to say becomes particularly clear when we observe how the lime introduced into the human organism is a substance that acts as an excretory agent throughout the entire human organism. I would say: in the lowest forms of humanity, it has a rival in silver, but it acts as an excretory agent there as well; so that lime excretes both watery and airy substances from the organism everywhere. The calcium forces localized in the human organism are thus also everything that underlies human exhalation. Calcium possesses the power that acts as the driving force for exhalation. And in turn, it possesses those forces that expel heat from the nervous-sensory system, bringing about a kind of cooling of the nervous-sensory system. Thus, in the lower human being—the metabolic-limb human—it expels fluids; in the rhythmic human, it expels airy substances; and in the nervous-sensory system, it expels the warmth ether—or warmth, if you prefer.

[ 23 ] In each of these relationships, phosphorus acts as a counterbalance to calcium. It acts—as you can see again from the example of phosphorus poisoning—by introducing into the metabolic system of the human being the liquid, or rather, the solid in dissolved form, so that it serves as the driving force for inhalation, for all inward-directed respiratory processes. It introduces the airy element into the organism in such a way that it has a warming effect on the nervous-sensory system. — But because calcium is the expelling force, it prepares the ground in the human organism for the functioning of the astral body and the ego organization; these can then enter.

[ 24 ] It is precisely through what lime drives out that the astral body and the “I” organization can enter into human beings. Conversely, through what phosphorus drives into the physical organization, it drives out the astral body and the “I.” In the most superficial sense, you can study these things by observing that calcium, so to speak, binds the waking “I” and the waking astral body to the physical body everywhere. But what does it mean for the astral body and the “I” to be bound to the physical body? It means: I suffer from insomnia. If I cannot bring the “I” organization and the astral body out of the human organism, then I suffer from insomnia. The function of calcium, if not counteracted by the function of phosphorus, is a constant cause of our falling into insomnia and, with it, into all the processes associated with it. The moment you introduce the phosphorus process into the human organism, you promote the ability to sleep; in this way, you promote what draws the astral body and the “I” out of the human organism, for these are outside the body during sleep. In the most eminent sense, this property belongs to the phosphorus function; to a lesser degree, it belongs to the sulfur function. And when we encounter irregularities in the rhythmic system, we can also use sulfur instead of phosphorus. For example, when dealing with insomnia that manifests its symptoms in the rhythmic human being, we will need to use some sulfur preparation for the healing process.

[ 25 ] These may, of course, be nothing more than hints. But these hints are meant to show that in everything that is sought here as a rational diagnosis, the rational therapy is already inherent. For if I proceed physiologically, I find, for example, a refined process of sclerotization in the human head. By using terms that connect human beings with the nature surrounding them, I can now refer to that which, as an organic function in the human brain, underlies thinking as a “lead process.” I see this lead process—without the substance of lead—in the human nervous-sensory system; I see it as a poison in the other system, the metabolic-limb system. One image shows me, in a gruesome way, what is always taking place in a more subtle manner within the nervous-sensory system. But I can now also know this: when I introduce the lead function—the lead process—into the metabolic-limb human, I thereby remove from this metabolic-limb human, with regard to the astral organization, what must be removed. And in doing so, I have brought about healing. So I no longer distinguish at all between what is diagnosis, what is pathology, and what is therapy, for these flow together into one. One recognizes the disease and knows the process in the external natural world that can take over this disease process in the human organism. One recognizes the one from the other. Precisely that which today is separated by a terrible chasm—pathology and therapy—is interwoven and made into one through this rational anthroposophical foundation of medicine.

[ 26 ] On the other hand, however, light is also shed in a corresponding way on the disease processes themselves. Let’s take a disease that, whenever we mention it, always makes people laugh because doctors consider it a completely insignificant ailment—that’s the case for doctors in Central Europe; I don’t know if it’s the same in the Netherlands—but for the patient, this disease is quite unpleasant: I’m referring to migraine. One can really only understand it if one knows that it consists of a process—namely, a metabolic process—that is not supposed to be taking place in the nervous-sensory system at all—in the head, to be precise—and that this delicate metabolic process, which is always taking place in the head, becomes, so to speak, hypertrophied. So there is a metabolic process in the head that shouldn’t be there, and the task now is to relieve the head of this metabolic process. How does one do that? Well, first of all, the task is to introduce into the person something that can take on this metabolic process, something that can carry it out itself. Based on what I said earlier, you will now realize that this is silicic acid. I said that it must enter the sensory system, which is, after all, also irritated in the case of migraine. If we introduce the silicic acid process into the human head, we will be relieving the head of the pathological migraine process. But first we must introduce the silicic acid process into the head. If we want to formulate the preparation so that it can be taken orally, we must ensure that it does not get stuck somewhere in the digestive tract along the way. To do this, we must make the astral body as active as possible, so that, in the rising waves through the entire digestive process, it carries the silicic acid upward—the silicic acid we introduce into the head’s organization through the preparation. We can only do this if we, as it were, promote the upward flow of the absorbed silicic acid by taking steps to make the astral body as active as possible. This means we must eliminate from everything that mediates between the lower abdomen and the head—namely, the circulatory rhythm—anything that might prevent the astral body from acting vigorously. This happens when we use sulfur. Thus, our preparation must contain, in a certain way, processed silicic acid and sulfur. But in the human organism, it must be such that not only does something act upward, but precisely when we influence the rhythmic system, the rhythm must move both upward and downward. After all, we observe the respiratory rhythm moving up and down, and the circulatory rhythm moving up and down. This upward and downward movement is most essentially promoted by the function that lies, once again, in the substance of iron. And what we aim to achieve—allowing a flow upward, but then preventing it from becoming fixed at the top, so that only a portion settles there and the whole person is not overwhelmed—is accomplished by producing a preparation through a specific process that contains iron, sulfur, and silicic acid. In this way, we obtain our preparation, Biodoron, which serves in the most eminent sense to relieve the head of migraine, and then to reintegrate what we have thus relieved from the head back into the human organism as a whole in the proper manner.

[ 27 ] What can be said about the secondary condition—the trivial aspect of migraine—becomes, in principle, more serious when one examines the reverse. Namely, when a delicate process occurs in which breathing transitions into—as I said earlier—refined breathing, which then manifests as the nervous-sensory process—this process, which is actually supposed to take place only in the lower part of the upper human being, roughly—and this is only an approximation and a rough description— — in the area between the lungs and the lower regions of the face; when this process—this particular nuance of the human circulatory process—asserts itself, and this process, which has now become a nervous-sensory process, namely a nervous-head process, takes place in the human intestinal tract, then we have a process that must exist within the human being; only it does not belong in the intestinal tract, but in the head. That is its normal location. If it enters the intestinal tract, it manifests there as typhoid-like symptoms. And simply through this, we have come to understand what a natural process is—every disease process is a natural process—that is to say, what such a disease process can be in a human being: something that is appropriate in one place is, in this case, displaced. At a certain point in the organism, the process involved in typhoid symptoms is normal; in the intestinal tract, it is a disease. It is a disease that manifests itself in this way.

[ 28 ] We must now have something in the organization of the head where the external world can exert a particularly strong influence. As we know, the head is what we feel the least; yet it is through the head that we perceive our surroundings. Our surroundings must flow into our head. So we have something in our head through which we experience the outside world most intensely. We have only two such organizational elements through which we experience the outside world so intensely: first, the head itself—specifically that region I just described, where respiration transitions into nervous-sensory function—and then there is something else that will seem very paradoxical to you. But once we have produced more detailed medical literature on this subject—which we will accomplish in the very near future—then take a look at what can be found there, and you will see how, in a completely different way, the liver function is also something that, within the human organism, most closely reflects the external world. The external world acts on the liver as if the rest of the organism were hardly there at all. This is the distinctive nature of liver function. But when what is supposed to be localized in this way—as the actual “bed” for external influences—appears where it should not, namely in the intestinal tract, where internal processes occur, then we have something in that intestinal tract that is functionally alien to the human organism. If we now look once more to the vastness of nature to see how we can, so to speak, re-internalize this externalized mode of action in the intestine and restore it to human functioning, then we encounter the process that is crystallized in antimony. Antimony is a substance that reacts in an extraordinarily subtle way to the forces of the environment. The structure of antimony is, after all, like dynamite laid bare. Imagine these tuft-like radiations; try to sense how, through the so-called Saiger process, it seeks to tear itself away from becoming a mineral; there one sees: antimony is, in a sense, mineral-sensitive; it internalizes external influences. This is particularly evident in the fact that, under certain conditions, antimony can be treated electrolytically. If it is then placed at the cathode, even the slightest stimulus causes an explosion. When one recognizes all this—when one knows how antimony relates to the forces at work throughout the universe—one also recognizes how the antimony process, when properly processed and introduced into the organism, can absorb the typhoid process; so that, in turn, the ego and the astral body can be freed from their work on the typhoid process, and the human being can thereby gradually be restored to health. With this, I have attempted to outline, in principle, what might be called rational medicine. Our preparations—which now number about two hundred—have always come into being in two distinct ways over time. At first, a fairly large number of physicians came together who had become somewhat skeptical of current therapeutic methods and who asked whether it might be possible, through anthroposophical insight, to discover relationships between the human being and the environment that might point to something in the surrounding substances—and in their processing and application—that could yield remedies. Now, anthroposophy offers a very detailed and precise understanding of the human being—an understanding of the human being in terms of body, soul, and spirit—as well as a detailed understanding of nature, encompassing the various kingdoms of nature and the various ingredients within those kingdoms. And so the first task set before me was, so to speak, to set out on a path to seek out natural processes and examine to what extent these natural processes represent disease processes. I thus moved from external nature into the human being. This is how you first discover the remedy for sclerosis, which followed this path. I tried to determine how Plumbum metallicum and any plastic-dynamic system—such as those found in honey, sugar, or milk—might act. In this way, proceeding from the outside in, a number of remedies were developed.

[ 29 ] This raised the question: How can we bring these remedies into the world? I said: I don’t want to have a remedy factory without it being affiliated with clinics. That is how the clinics came into being. And once a number of remedies were available, the clinics began using them right away. That is when what I just mentioned became apparent. And since I am now in Dornach myself—Arlesheim and Dornach form a single entity, and the institutes in Arlesheim are affiliated with the Goetheanum—my close collaboration with Dr. Wegman has also made it possible for me to take the reverse approach for a further series of remedies: to seek the path starting from the disease process—where can one find the natural process corresponding to a given disease process? In other words, to arrive at the relevant natural preparation, so to speak, starting from the human being. In this way, what you can find as remedies came together—particularly in Arlesheim, where Dr. Wegman’s Clinical-Therapeutic Institute is located—where what I discussed yesterday prevails: true courage in healing—is affiliated with the International Pharmaceutical Laboratory, which is engaged in the production of the corresponding remedies, which are, of course, to be brought into the world through a wide variety of channels and which you can learn about if you are interested. I do not wish to come across as an agitator; I merely want to discuss the scientific basis of the matter. But it is precisely at the intersection of these two paths that something has come into being which, even from a purely external, empirical standpoint, provides great assurance for these matters. And it is, of course, particularly gratifying to be able to speak before an audience such as yours—which has been made possible by the fact that Dr. Zeylmans invited me to do so and was also kind enough to invite you, and you, in turn, were kind enough to come—which seems to be connected to the fact that Dr. Zeylmans himself intends to orient this institute here in the manner that has now been outlined. For I must assume: The fact that I have been permitted to give these lectures seems to indicate that an institute is to be established here, one that aims to serve as proof and evidence of what we strive for in our clinical-therapeutic institutes, as well as what an extraordinarily large number of private practitioners strive for. And from the relevant literature, you will be able to see for yourselves that we not only have statistical data that is at least as reliable as that typically provided by clinical statistics, but that, in many respects related to what I have explained—namely, the certainty that arises from the fulfillment of predictions—this reliability is further reinforced by a particularly extensive body of statistical data.

[ 30 ] It will be of particular importance, however, when we—and this, too, is well on its way—are able to treat those diseases that today can only be treated surgically, such as carcinoma. If one can say that any process can be dislocated, then this must certainly be said of carcinoma. It is a dislocated process, a process that should actually take place only at the outermost periphery, within the sensory system. It is very interesting to observe how this function—which belongs to the periphery of the body, specifically to the periphery of the body prepared for this purpose—can become dislocated and then manifest as carcinoma; a function that is, in fact, not a nervous function but rather a sensory function. This leads one to recognize, in a deeper sense, the peculiar parasitic nature of carcinoma. And then one comes to the point—truly not in such a simple way as has usually been assumed—of being able to produce, from the preparations that generally consist of the various sap extracts of the Viscum species, something capable of overcoming the carcinoma through medicinal means. We have already achieved at least some promising partial successes in this area; but we can only speak of partial successes because we have only recently completed the equipment needed to produce the Viscum preparation exactly as it should be made. Nevertheless, the preparations produced so far have already led to very good prophylactic treatments. With carcinoma, the most important thing is to detect it at the right time, which patients usually make difficult; but a carcinoma detected at the right time can be treated medically with preparations such as those we produce from mistletoe. I do not wish to discuss here the merits or demerits of surgical treatment, nor the fact that it is often necessary; I merely wish to point out that, based on a genuine understanding of human nature, even severe cases of illness can certainly be viewed in such a way that, starting from this understanding, healing processes can be initiated from within.

[ 31 ] That is essentially what I wanted to tell you in principle about our endeavors, which have emerged from anthroposophy, and what I wanted to say regarding the path that leads from outer nature to the inner being of the human being and vice versa. In conclusion, I would just like to point out >... that it is precisely from these methodological considerations that something of immense significance emerges: namely, how to bring to the human being that which is intended to relieve the organism of the disease process. And if it is true that the human being is a threefold being—comprising the nervous-sensory organization, the rhythmic organization, and the metabolic-limb organization—then healing, too, breaks down into three processes. These three processes are as follows: first, medications taken internally, which enter the human organism, so to speak, via the same pathway as the digestive process. The second method involves injections, through which we attempt to introduce the process or function into the rhythmic organism. And the third healing method is through bathing, where one acts from the outside. This latter method affects the nervous-sensory process, where one acts more coarsely from the outside; but the effect of bathing is a perceptual activity lowered to a lower level.

[ 32 ] Let us consider these three forms in relation to phosphorus. When we use phosphorus as a preparation—mixed with other substances, chemically or otherwise processed, and administered per os, internally—we must be aware that it primarily promotes the absorption of fluids into the human organism. When we need to relieve the human organism of a disease process that, so to speak, forces fluids out beyond their proper space—as, for example, in certain inflammatory conditions in the periphery or in conditions that, in everyday terms, resemble nosebleeds—if we administer phosphorus internally in such cases, it relieves the astral organism and the ego of the disease process, so to speak, in the functioning of fluids. If we prepare a remedy in the appropriate dosage, which we then inject—thus introducing phosphorus into the circulatory process—then what we relieve the organism of in the process must also be related to abnormal circulatory processes. So if, for example, we observe rapid breathing, any intensification of cardiac activity, but especially something like an excessively strong secretion of bile—which is also part of the rhythmic processes—then we can—just as with a whole range of other processes, to name only the most obvious ones—achieve an extraordinarily beneficial effect through the injection of phosphorus. If we encounter something that leans more toward the psychological side—if brain functions are such that they involuntarily drive the person into a kind of flight of ideas, if the person cannot stop their thoughts, if they speak incessantly, and if this escalates to a pathological state—then we can use appropriate baths containing dissolved phosphorus to specifically bring about a slowing of this flight of ideas.

[ 33 ] I mention this only as an example, but what is cited in this example can be multiplied a hundredfold. This benefits the human organism in three ways. It all depends on how one can put it into practice.

[ 34 ] On the other hand, there is the fact that we can directly and therapeutically bring to the individual what is now acting from the outside into the metabolic system: the dynamics of the world in which the individual can be situated. And we truly accomplish this with great success through therapeutic eurythmy. Eurythmy is something like spiritual gymnastics, but it can be elevated to an art form. Under the direction of Dr. Steiner, we have already demonstrated across much of Central and Northern Europe what can be achieved through the art of eurythmy, and mental images of eurythmy have also been held here in The Hague some time ago. In eurythmy, the translation of human speech into human movement functions is revealed to us directly and artistically. If you consider what science currently knows—albeit as a minor detail—namely, how hand and arm functions are connected to speech organization—right-handed people have their speech center on the left side of the brain, left-handed people on the right—then you may not entirely dispute what anthroposophy leads us to conclude: that, in fact, all human speech is connected to human mobility. We can observe the way the legs and feet move during the articulation of consonants, particularly the palatal sounds. We can observe how the arms move, and how this is transmitted—through an inner transformation—to what then becomes the movement of air in speech. But speech as a whole can in turn be traced back to the movements of the individual or of groups of people. This gives rise to artistic eurythmy. But this, in turn, can be transformed in such a way that what is initially presented as art is developed so that the relevant movements—which arise from the whole human being, from body, soul, and spirit (ordinary gymnastics, after all, arises solely from the physiological constitution of the physical organism)—are performed by the human being as a holistic eurythmic gesture in context. We have developed an entire system for this in Arlesheim. When applied systematically, it has a reciprocal effect on the human being, and in this way one can support the inner healing processes—according to the three different types I have described—in an extraordinarily fruitful manner through therapeutic eurythmy. Therapeutic eurythmy thus works by ensuring that the process which occurs in normal human life—when I walk, run, and so on, always accompanied by inner processes related to the breakdown and rebuilding processes of the human organism—this process, in which the person is placed within a dynamic, has a reciprocal effect on the inner processes. There are strict rules governing this. Thus, I can have a person perform a system of therapeutic eurythmy gestures that acts back on the organism in such a way that, for example, breakdown processes that are not proceeding as they should are compelled to proceed correctly; or that, through another system of therapeutic eurythmy, breakdown processes proceeding too vigorously are counteracted accordingly.

[ 35 ] So it all comes down to understanding healthy and sick people in terms of body, soul, and spirit. Then one simply sees in them what constitutes health or illness. And then, in what one sees, one already has the therapeutic process.

[ 36 ] So, in all modesty, we would like to work toward a rational therapy. I am well aware that even today there are many objections to such a rational therapy, and that it may be viewed—perhaps as paradoxical or even something worse—by those who have struggled so hard to come to terms with what is officially recognized today. But such things have often existed in the world. I can assure you, however, that I would find it more comfortable not to speak about these matters; for since I know how much still comes to mind and strikes one today based on one’s habitual way of thinking, and since I can already anticipate all the objections myself, I would find it more comfortable not to speak about them. But there are reasons why one must nevertheless speak about what one believes must be introduced into the cultural process of humanity. Out of this sense of duty, please accept my heartfelt gratitude for your willingness to follow my remarks—which, in the space of two hours, could only be brief hints—with such attention.

[ 37 ] Q&A

Question: Do you think there are differences in vibration? Regarding lead,....

[ 38 ] Dr. Steiner: Of course, I have no objection to people interpreting the processes in question in one way or another. However, it seems to me that, for practical purposes, this is primarily a theory describing what these processes consist of. Such theories could suffer the same fate as the emission and undulation theories of light. What is important to me is the qualitative aspect of the matter—that is, the fact that ultimately the entire functioning, which is actually localized only in the lead substance, as I have it before me in physical space—that this entire functioning represents externally the same thing as the internal processes that, so to speak, make the brain a suitable organ for independent thinking as opposed to passive perception. In this regard, the mental image is complicated by the fact that we are accustomed today to conceiving the internal processes of the organism too schematically as a continuation of external processes in nature. We speak, for example, of carbon dioxide being produced in the human organism through the uptake of oxygen from carbon; we call this a combustion process (Audience member: … in the making!) — There you say the very word I was about to say! — It is indeed the case that we frequently speak of combustion in physiology and medicine. However, these are no more “combustion processes” in the sense that they occur externally than a process in the human being can be one that is not animated by the soul or imbued with spirit. Even the combination of oxygen and carbon is animated by the soul and imbued with spirit. So that the process occurs in the status nascendi and comes to a halt, yet is still animated and imbued with spirit. Thus, I have captured the process in its status nascendi, and the process now becomes a natural process in that it continues externally, whereas, when it proceeds from the status nascendi and acts within the human organism, it becomes a different process.

[ 39 ] Take, for example, the processes I just referred to as a kind of “lead process” that take place in the human brain. Yes, what are they in the human organism? This brings us to a very delicate subject. We can study these processes, for example, in the human abdomen. There we find that the ingested substances also undergo a certain kind of metamorphosis, resulting in the excretion of certain substances. Let’s now examine these excreted products and truly compare them—not merely by conducting chemical analyses, for that is the bare minimum; conducting chemical analyses is roughly like trying to understand a watch by visiting a mine where gold is mined, a glass factory where glass is manufactured, and other such places, and then concluding: glass is necessary, gold is necessary for the watch, and so on. Certainly, these things are all very important, but just as I learn nothing about the watch in this way, I can learn nothing about the functions of the potato in the human organism if I know it contains such-and-such an amount of carbohydrates and so on. I learn more when I know what function the potato serves in the plant itself—how it is, in fact, a stem, a rootstock. So when I understand the level of its organization, I begin to grasp how I can compare these processes to what takes place in the human being. This leads to an understanding of how the process differs from the one stimulated by legumes. The process stimulated by the potato extends further up into the head functions than the one stimulated by legumes. When I can delve into all of this, I ultimately come to recognize that metamorphoses are taking place in the digestive tract and that the excretory products are merely processes that have come to a halt halfway through. And where are these processes that go the whole way? These are the processes that take place in the nervous-sensory system. The nervous-sensory and perceptual process is one that is carried through to completion. What takes place in the human excretory organs represents a process that has come to a halt. The intestinal contents are a brain that has not fully come into being, as paradoxical as that may sound. It is simply a different process occurring in another part of the organism—one that is half of the process taking place in the head. |

[ 40 ] When I take all of this into account, I am led to look into these inner human processes, and then I begin to see what now presents itself to me as a comparison between the external process—the lead process—and the process that takes place in the human brain. Then, when I want to verify something, I can begin by observing what happens to lead. I observe how lead oxidizes, melts, and what else it does during melting. I delve further into the geology and geography of lead. I see how lead forms bonds, how it is connected to other substances. Then I begin to receive images that can confirm what appears to the person who observes lead—who, in fact, sees a kind of aura around the lead that is similar to the aura formed by the nervous tissue of the brain.

[ 41 ] And so one can speak of these relationships—I place particular emphasis on this—while, of course, I leave it up to everyone to formulate hypotheses as to whether these are differences in vibration. But that is actually the physics of the matter, not what is physiologically important.

Question: I’d like to ask whether you perceive these inner processes you’ve been talking about differently than we ordinary people do.

[ 42 ] Dr. Steiner: The inner processes cannot, of course, be observed through ordinary external sensory experience. At most, they can be observed in their consequences on a corpse or in some other way, through inferences drawn from events occurring externally. They cannot be observed there. They become observable only when the methods I spoke of yesterday are applied—methods you can find in the books I mentioned yesterday. —You see, it is actually only then that the human being becomes transparent to knowledge. And you can then truly say that you are, so to speak, observing the process of the liver. The inference simply refers to the fact that one must also mentally dissect the liver; but what may be asserted must be observed. When I look at the whole human being, I see a jumble of all sorts of things. I must now remove everything—even in my perception—that is not the liver. So I must first isolate the liver mentally as well. This is more difficult for one organ than for others. It is more difficult for the liver, for example, but it is also more fruitful, because certain liver diseases—as I am convinced—can only be understood in this way. However, this understanding is possible for every organ.

A member of the audience: Yesterday we heard about a beautifully structured system, but I still don’t fully understand its foundations. You divide the human being into a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, and a fourth component. If that is the case, then it makes sense that we also have an etheric kidney, an astral kidney, and a fourth kidney. But what if that’s not the case? You should have proven this division into four parts of the being first.

It was a similar story with the therapy. For example, you didn't explain why you chose Equisetum, since there are many plants that contain silicic acid. To my knowledge, Equisetum has no therapeutic properties.

Today you said: “We make preparations that are produced efficiently.” You should prove that! We don’t know anything about these functions you’re describing.

On the whole, I haven't grasped what the main point is. The whole thing is structured logically, but I'm missing the premises.

[ 43 ] Dr. Steiner: The whole point of such a matter is that one can gain insight into two things. First, when something like this comes up and is discussed, as I have also said, in two hours one can only point out the issues, offer guidelines, and so on. Furthermore, through the very nature of my presentation, I have made it clear that we are still in the process of development, but that we are also determined to continue our work. Now, when people speak of “evidence,” the fact is that this is not actually based on a fully scientific concept or a fully scientific mental image. And this stems from the fact that people today have become accustomed to deriving proof only from what is, in the strict sense, observable through the senses. In another sense, medicine, too, has no proof other than what is observable through the senses.

[ 44 ] I have now spoken of the fact that sensory observation must be further developed and modified by a higher power. Yesterday I hinted that there are methods by which this can be done, and I referred to writings through which one can arrive at such methods. This, however, establishes something for the entire so-called system of proof that I can only clarify through a comparison: When we are here on Earth, we speak of the fact that something I throw into the air is heavy and falls down, lands on the ground—it has a foundation. This is what we must say regarding a certain way of thinking that is based on sensory, empirical evidence. If one goes further, one arrives at the following—and I happened to experience this once as a boy when someone told me this—: If the Earth were floating, it would actually have to fall down. This mutual bearing and supporting of the celestial bodies and cosmic spaces is the image for what underlies a science such as the one I have referred to today. The whole system carries and supports itself mutually. Here, one is simply in an entirely different realm. Of course, you won’t be able to grasp it very well if, from a subject as extensive as medicine, I can select only a few points in two hours to provide some perspective. One must bear in mind that the ideal situation could only come about if there were a four-year university program structured around the principles I have outlined today. If one were to approach the preparatory medical studies in such a way that there were a genuine, intellectually grounded natural science—if physiology were structured in the same way, transitioning into histology and extending all the way to pathological and clinical medicine—then, because these concepts would be presented to people in a correspondingly detailed manner, we would find them just as plausible as the medical system can be today.

[ 45 ] All I can offer today regarding these matters are perspectives and suggestions.

[ 46 ] So the first point is that people today have become accustomed to calling “proven” only what can be proven through the senses, and that they do not take into account how things support one another. But the other point is this: How, for example, if you are engaged in mathematics—or any science pursued rationally—can you possibly pursue it in any other way than by having one position support the other? Mathematics is a discipline in which one concept supports another. If one were to spend two hours discussing mathematics, one would certainly come up with even less than might be the case in today’s discussion, although some ideas might still be sparked there. The moment I build a bridge with the help of mathematics, that is when I speak of verification. And that is what I simply meant when I said: I place no value on remedies unless clinics are affiliated with them and one can observe there how the remedies work. If one has the diagnosis as I have explained it and proceeds to treatment, and if after two or three days one can already see that the remedies are working in such and such a way, then verification is present. Alternative medicine doesn’t know of any other method for verifying medical treatments either. Take the treatment with phenacetin, for example. Statistics are compiled; verification is what matters.

[ 47 ] What I wanted to illustrate is that, in empirical medicine today, we have reached a point where we rely solely on statistics. Whether correlations are discovered depends on luck. However, this can be changed by gaining a deeper understanding of the human being through rational therapy.

[ 48 ] When one says today: “A function such as that found in phosphorus is effective in this or that way on the human organism”—then the point is to examine the mode of action. But I have already pointed out how the effects of lead and phosphorus can manifest in the human organism. And when it is said that one cannot speak of there being a “phosphorus function” or an “Equisetum function,” then I must point out that what a substance is is, in fact, merely a state captured at a single moment. What, then, is lead? We happen to give it a name because we live at a certain temperature, at which lead exists in a solid state. In other worldly conditions, it is something else; there it undergoes metamorphoses. In fact, nowhere do we deal with something that is fixed at a particular stage; rather, we deal with processes that merely appear to be fixed. But one can specify how this fixation occurs.

[ 49 ] You mentioned Equisetum. Of course, other plants also contain these components, just like Equisetum. I am choosing my words very carefully. Regarding Equisetum, I said: Of course, other plants also contain these components; I cite Equisetum as characteristic because it contains ninety percent silicic acid, which other plants do not have; as a result, the effect of the silicic acid is the most prominent.

[ 50 ] When one says, “To the best of my knowledge, Equisetum is not a medicinal plant at all,” this simply means that one has not yet observed the medicinal effects of Equisetum. We observe them very often. These are simply matters that depend on how our experience expands.

[ 51 ] I understand every objection; I can raise them myself. But just consider how many objections were raised against the Copernican system. The Catholic objection persisted until 1827; it was only after that date that it was introduced into Catholic schools. Civilization really wouldn’t get very far if we were to stick only to the objections. — Not that, having hinted at all this, I would want to present these things with any presumption. But it all comes down to hard work! It is not frivolous to speak of the effectiveness of the smallest entities. If you look at the writings lying here: years of effort have been devoted to verifying the matter in the laboratory. The objections you have raised are valid, but one can object to everything—that goes without saying.

Listener: Once you understand general relativity, you no longer refer to states.

[ 52 ] Dr. Steiner: Yes, but relativity is also relative. Someone once tried to make Einstein’s theory of relativity plausible to his audience by taking a matchbox and a match. And he said: “I can now move the match past the box while holding the box still; but I can also hold the match still and move the box past it: the effect is the same. The matter is relative.” — I would have liked to call out to the gentleman: “Why don’t you nail the box down? Then it would require a bit more effort.” Then we enter into the relativity of relativity. And when we consider the human body in motion, we come to the conclusion that motion is not determined by coordinate systems or reference frames, but also by fatigue and organic changes—which already takes me one step from the relative to the absolute. I would like to say: relativity is itself relative and approaches absoluteness asymptotically.

[ 53 ] I see the importance of the concept of relativity in something else. We are accustomed, based on physical assumptions—and indeed, in all the theories in use so far—to view everything in such a way that we relate it to a location in space and to the passage of time. This is also how we write formulas in physics. Now, in fact, we cannot make headway in physics with such an approach. Instead, we must simply consider the spatial relationship between thing or event a and another b as two properties. This leads us to fruitful ideas. It leads us to view relativity as something more or less—even for qualities—not as something more or less justified, but as relatively justified.