Biodynamic Yoga: "Come, Lord Jesus!"

 

 

Charles Kovacs:

 

"Take a look at the physically visible form of a flower. What can be observed is a static form.

     But this form is the result of active forces. The form is the dead image of dynamic processes, of movement. So the next step is to go in one's mind from the dead form to the streams of forces which created the form. Instead of the physical details — leaves, stem, petals — one has to visualize moving, flowing forces. It has to be mentioned that these 'force streams' are not mere fantasy. They are real and constitute the plant's etheric body.

     Then follows the next step: the force streams could not possibly move in a chaotic fashion. There is some underlying principle that directs and determines and coordinates their movements. And if one tries to grasp this unifying principle one comes to a 'gesture.' This is the expression used by Rudolf Steiner in this context. The forces do not just flow anywhere, anyhow, but have a general tendency; they are part of a 'gesture,' which is, in fact, the gesture common to all plant life.

     It is the same gesture that children use instinctively when they are about to receive something. It is also the gesture used in olden times when praying to the gods. Rudolf Steiner called it the gesture of Bitte, which means both prayer and request. A gesture is not a meaningless form — it says something. The gesture of the flower is a prayer and a request. It is the Earth Spirit which turns in every flower to the Sun, requesting light."

 

 

 

 

 

Source: The Apocalypse in Rudolf Steiner's Lecture Series, pp. 53-55.