The notes of a person in attendance at an Esoteric Lesson given by Rudolf Steiner in 1909:
Vegetarianism
without spiritual striving leads to disease. It's not a matter of back to nature
but of through nature to the spirit.
It's true
that meditation and concentration exercises will be the main thing for our
spiritual striving, but when the elaboration of the astral body begins, the food
that an esotericist eats will be of some importance.
It's
especially important to avoid alcohol in every form. The bad effect of alcohol
on the brain function has been scientifically shown, and knowledge of spiritual
things is made completely impossible through its use. It's inadvisable to eat
meat or fish.
Mushrooms
are very harmful; they contain hindering lunar forces, and everything that arose
on the Old Moon signifies rigidification. Likewise legumes aren't very advisable
because their nitrogen pollutes the etheric body. Proteins make mastery of
sexual passions difficult. Sugar promotes independence, and should be avoided by
egotistical people. People who tend toward envy, deceit, and bad will should
avoid cucurbits and vine plants in general. The sweet, intoxicating aroma of
melons darkens clear, intellectual consciousness and should be avoided by
emotional people. Apples intensify the urge to dominate in some people and often
lead to rudeness and brutality. The high iron content in cherries and
strawberries isn't good for everyone.
If
someone wants to undergo training in thinking, he mainly needs a
well-constructed, healthy brain apparatus. Since present-day parents seldom give
their children such well-built brains, one needs help to strengthen one's brain
apparatus. And here it's mainly filberts that supply the brain-building
substance. All other nuts are of less value, and peanuts should be avoided
altogether. Milk butter is the best fat. Coffee supports logical thinking, but
doesn't make one a logical thinker by itself. Drinking too much coffee leads to
hysteria in people who don't think much. One can get good ideas by drinking tea
or by doing special exercises.
It's
especially important for an esotericist to lead a life of moderation. An ancient
sage said: Moderation purifies feelings, awakens ability, cheers one up, and
strengthens memory; the soul loses most of its earthy weight and thereby enjoys
greater freedom. A man wouldn't be able to generate productive thoughts if he
ate too much and too often, because his forces would be used in digestion, and
there wouldn't be any left for thinking. Schiller, Shakespeare, and many other
writers lived on very little food. The mind is never so clear as after long
fasting. The greatest saints lived on fruit, bread, and water, and no miracles
were ever done on a full stomach.
When a
man works on himself he harmonizes his temperaments, but until then a
melancholic pupil should eat fruit, so that its Sun forces permeate the
solidifying and rigidifying element in melancholics. A phlegmatic shouldn't eat
black roots because they would only increase his inner love of ease. Whereas a
sanguine would benefit by eating root vegetables. One could almost say: A
sanguine must be fettered to his physical body by food, otherwise he might fly
away. The ego is predominant in cholerics, so they should avoid hot spices and
stimulating food.
A master
doesn't need solid food, and temperaments no longer influence or control him. He
uses the choleric temperament to do his magic deeds, he lets the things of the
physical world pass by him like a sanguine, he'll behave like a phlegmatic in
his enjoyment of life, and he'll brood about his spiritual findings and
experiences like a melancholic. But it'll take us a while to get that far, so we
should try to bring our whole life into harmony with our spiritual striving. You
get out of life only as much as you put into it.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment