Activities of Nutrition as Inner Manifestation of Will
If we look at
THREEFOLD HUMAN BEING we
see that the activities of nutrition belong to the metabolic-limb system,
and that these activities are in its primary nature an expression of the
activity of our Will. But we need to bear in mind that this system is
composed of two subsystems – the metabolic system and the limb system. It is
quite obvious that the processes of nutrition are most intimately linked
with the metabolic system which provides all cells of our organism with
needed nutrients. This is achieved by means of the following activities:
- Breaking-down of food in the digestive system
(activities of digestion) [1];
- Assimilation and metamorphosis of nutrients in the body tissues
(metabolic activities);
- Elimination of substances which are of no use to the body (activities
of digestion).
Therefore we have to distinguish the activities of digestion from metabolic activities.
In the first case food itself is subjected to the catabolic processes in the
digestive tract. Although these processes are performed with the help of the
organs of the metabolic system, these are not yet the catabolic processes of
human organism itself. Beside this, in the digestive tract food is not yet
integrated into our body. Only after nutrients pass through the porous wall of
the intestines do they really enter into blood and lymph circulation and thus
become directly involved in the activities of the metabolic system.
The next thing to pay heed to is the division of the
processes of the metabolic system into two groups:
- on one side we have anabolic processes – that is,
building-up, constructive processes;
- on the other we have catabolic processes – that is, breaking-down,
destructive processes.
Both of these types of processes are necessary for ongoing renewal of our
bodily organs and tissues. Both also involve transportation of substances – that
is, movement of fluids and substances inside our body. But the movements
inside the human organism are not the same as movements outside, because
"the outwardly moved human being is included in the earthly lawfulness, but
when you look upon your digestion, upon the movement of the nourishing
substances in the digestive organs, when you look to the actual movement
of the blood through the blood vessel – and there are many other things that
move inwardly in man – you have a picture of what moves inside of the human
being regardless of whether he is standing or walking about. This cannot be
integrated in the earthly lawfulness without further consideration but
rather must be integrated into the cosmic lawfulness. We therefore can say
that all that pertains to the inner movement of man – that is definitely
physical movement, but within man – is included in the cosmic lawfulness."
[2]
Thus we see that the processes of nutrition also include the movement of
substances inside the body which is only to a small degree under the
influence of physical laws that prevail on the Earth; the decisive impacts
on this movement are caused by etheric, astral and spiritual forces – in
other words, inner movement is predominately under the influence of the
cosmic lawfulness. This link is more understandable if we take into
consideration that physiological processes in our organism are not only
physical processes, but that we can regard them as supersensible processes
that are reflected on the physical level (see
Physiological Processes as Supersensible Processes.
With this in mind we can grasp the following idea: If we really want "to understand human nature it is necessary to fix our attention upon the
fact that our limb nature extends inwards. All the processes that are
ultimately connected with assimilation, digestion, as also with the
secretion of milk in females, and so forth, all these processes are a
continuation of limb nature, but directed inwards. So that in speaking of
the Will-nature or metabolic-nature, we do not mean only the outer limbs,
but also the continuation of this limb activity inwards," [3]
into the human organism.
Thus we have arrived at the true reason why the metabolic system and the
limbs are counted as one system, the metabolic-limb system. Both are expressions of
human Will activities. In the first case our Will works inwardly, and in the
second case it works outwardly. But there is also an essential difference:
in the first case we have the involuntary inner movement performed in
accordance with cosmic laws; in the second case the voluntary movement of
our limbs which we perform in accordance with earthly laws. Because of this
we differentiate between outer voluntary and inner involuntary movement.
In this way we arrive at one of the archetypal attributes of our Will
which can be recognised also in activities of nutrition. Yet this is not the
only one. Even more important are its capacities for transformation and
metamorphosis. Therefore we can say: As we move, transform and metamorphose
the physical substances in the outer world by means of our limbs, so we
move, transform and metamorphose the substances in our body by means of
nutritional activities. That is why 'our limb nature' – that is, the
capacity for change – can extend inwards, and 'the nature of our nutrition'
can extend outwards with the help of processes that are supplying the cells
of our whole organism with necessary substances. Thus we can see that
the archetype of nutrition is in reality the archetype of our Will – that is,
capacity for moving, transforming and metamorphosing of physical substances.
[4]
Outer Movement as Conscious Manifestation of Will
The metabolic-limb system is the seat of human Will. Will is the most active
pole of the human being which enables us to work on the world around us and
change it by means of our arms and legs. All physical achievements in all
existing cultures of humanity were created with the help of our limbs – more
precisely, by their capacity to move. Therefore we are entitled to ask: How do
our ideas direct the working of our limbs?
First we need to take a look at the widespread mechanistic notion of human movement.
"When the materialistic physiologist speaks of the Will he has in mind that
some kind of telephonic signal is sent from the central organ, the brain,
proceeds through the so-called motor nerves, and thus moves the leg, for
instance. This however is quite erroneous hypothesis." [5]
With the help of the description of THREEFOLD HUMAN BEING
we can grasp why the common scientific explanation of human movement is
incorrect. First we need "to give up the prejudice that our whole soul
element is connected merely with the nerve-sense apparatus. Only the world
of mental images is connected with the nerve-sense apparatus, while the
world of feeling no longer is. The world of feeling is connected directly
with the rhythmic organism, and the world of Will is connected with the
metabolic-limb organism. If I will something, something must take place in
my metabolic-limb organism. The nervous system is there only in order that
one can have mental images of what actually takes place in the Will. There
are no ‘nerves of Will’; the division of nerves into sensory nerves and
motor nerves is nonsense. The nerves are all of one kind, and so called
nerves of Will or motor nerves exist for no other purpose than to perceive
inwardly the processes of the Will; they too are sensory nerves." [6]
Because the above materialistic explanation is a very widespread error it
must be stressed "that the nervous system of the physical organism is a
unified organization, and it is really sheer nonsense, impossible to prove
anatomically, to classify the nerves as sensory and motor. They are
organized as a unity and all have one function. The so-called motor nerves
are distinguished from the so-called sensory only to the extent that the
sensory nerves are arranged to serve our perception of the outer world
whereas the motor nerves serve for the perception of our organism.
[7] It is
not the function of a motor nerve to cause my hand to move, for example;
this is sheer nonsense. It exists for the purpose of perceiving my hand's
movement from within. The sensory nerves, however, serve in the perception
of the outer world. This is their sole distinction." [8]
After this introduction we can look at the spiritual scientific
explanation of the movement of our limbs. It starts with the fact that each
human body contains "an enclosed heat-space which is at a higher temperature
than its environment. In this increased temperature lives our soul and spirit element, and
the soul and
spirit in us are indirectly conveyed, by means of the heat, to our other
organs. In this way to, our Will comes into being. The Will comes into being
through the fact that in the first instance an influence is exerted upon the
warmth or heat within us, then in turn on our lung-organization, from there
on our fluid-organization, and only then on what is mineral or solid in our
organism. Thus the human-organization must be represented as follows: the
first part to be acted upon is the heat, then
through heat air is affected; from there influence
acts upon the water – the-fluid organism – and
thence upon solid-organization." [9]
One important question is still left: Who is influencing
the warmth in the first stage? "What force is at work when a man walks or does something with his arms?
If we ask who is the actual subject, who is moving the arm or the leg, then
we arrive at something spiritual, certainly not material. We are forced to
say to ourselves that it is the spiritual itself that must bring physical
forces into action. Our human movement is really a magical effect, because
in it something is set in motion by the spirit. The Will – that is to
say, something purely spiritual – must intervene in physical activity; these
are in truth magical effects. When you walk, an inner magician, something
essential, is working within you. The fact that we are physical human
beings, made up of bones, blood, and so forth, does not make us into moving
human beings; at best it is able to make us inert beings, beings who lie
permanently in the bed. If we are to be able to move, the Will must be
directly active." [10] This Will is the manifestation
of our spiritual essence, our ego-organization.
The Task of Harmonising between Activities of Nutrition and Movement
It is a common human experience that after hard work we become hungry and
that after eating food – under the condition that we eat real food of good
quality and the appropriate quantity suitable to our individual needs
[11] – we feel refreshed and regain our strength to carry on the work.
Because grains are the staple food of humanity, we will look at
how their consumption influences the human being.
"All the grains are good foodstuffs. The grains contain carbohydrates, and of
such a nature that the human being forms starch and sugar in the healthiest
possible way. The important fact about carbohydrates is that when we eat them,
they are slowly turned into starch by the saliva in our mouth and the secretions
in our stomach. There the body has to exert strength to derive starch from them.
Then the digestive process goes further in the intestines. In order that
something can go into the blood and also reach the head, there must be more
exertion still, because sugar has to be derived from the starch. Only then can
it go to the head. So one has to use still greater forces. Now think of this,
when I exert my strength upon some external thing, I become weak. This is really
a secret of human physiology: if I chop wood, if I use my external bodily
strength, I become weak; but if I exert an inner strength, transforming
carbohydrates into starch and starch into sugar, I become strong. [12]
When I
use my strength externally, I become weak; if I use it internally, I become
strong. So it is not a matter of simply filling oneself up with food, but of the
food generating strength in our body." [13]
The statement that after outer work we 'become weak' means that we become
tired after prolonged work or any other kind of physical activity. If we take into account the existence
of the COSMIC NUTRITIONAL STREAM then
we can add another perspective on the link between nutrition and movement:
"Man himself produces the substances he needs, drawing them from the cosmos
into his organism… If as human beings we were not obliged to live on the
earth between birth and death and to cope with earthly affairs, it would be
unnecessary for us to eat at all, for we could draw our sustenance from the
universe. But when we have manual work to do, when we
have to move about, then we need the support of foods, for the body
itself does not produce a sufficient quantity" [14] of
substances.
What is important for the understanding of this nutritional principle is
awareness that activities of nutrition stimulate anabolic, building-up
processes of the human organism, and that voluntary movements of our limbs
stimulate catabolic, breaking-down processes of the human organism.
[15] In
the case of nutrition we are dealing with "the relationship of an enjoyable
taste on the tongue to the hidden, complex proceedings in the rest of the
body, where the food takes up its task of nourishing the organism. What lies
in that further process, after our pleasure in the taste of food, is not at
all evident to our observation or understanding. Although our body has to
have nutritive substances circulating through the organism, no one is able
to say, from savouring a food, what its particular use will be in the life
processes of the body." [16] However, something needs to be utterly clear:
nutrition stimulates life processes that are engaged in ongoing regeneration
of our body on the ground of the fact that "basically, everything absorbed
by our life processes to build up and maintain our organism originates in
external nature." [17] This includes also food.
On the other hand we all have experiences which confirm that "fatigue is
connected with the execution of exterior work." [18] In this case we are
dealing with voluntary movement that is directed by our conscious life. When
a human being carries out work by means of his consciousness, the organs
concerned becomes fatigued." [19] In the case of
work or movement these are above all the muscles of our arms and legs. Tiredness is a sign that the
breaking-down processes of our organism reached the point in which processes
of regeneration needs to intervene with the aim to refresh us with the
inflow of life energy that enables our existence and activity on the
physical plane. All these processes are continually happening inside our
body – inside our metabolic system – but they need to be kept in dynamic
balance if we want to stay strong and healthy.
For complementary perspectives see:
♦ FOOD AS SOURCE OF ENERGY
♦ LIVING PROCESS OF INNER 'COMBUSTION'
DIETARY CONCLUSIONS & PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS
In the LIVING PROCESS OF INNER 'COMBUSTION'
you can find the dietary conclusions regarding the best sources of
carbohydrate foods. For this reason we will here focus on the question of
sports nutrition.
This fundamental nutritional principle reveals the great advantage of
eating proper wholesome food for increasing bodily energy and endurance. This is
acknowledged by sports nutritionists when they promote "eating slow-burning
or low-GI meals" before training with the aim to "avoid problems of low
blood sugar levels during long training sessions." However then they
contradict themselves by promotion of sports energy drinks to "help maintain blood sugar
levels, fuel muscles, and slow down the rate of
glycogen depletion" when
training for longer than one hour. [20]
An example of an energy drink is Lucozade Energy which contains 26%
Glucose Syrup. On the bottle is the following claim: "Lucozade Energy
provides Glucose, the brain and body's
naturally preferred energy source."
When one understands, that the only naturally preferred energy source is
that produced by the body itself, then one can avoid the false conclusion
that consumption of glucose is good for the body, just because the body
needs it. The essential point is how we get glucose into our body. This is
of tremendous importance, for the human body is not just a vehicle which
needs fuel in the most refined form.
The fact is that energy drinks and other sports
supplements do work, but they mainly work as stimulants. [21] This
means that in the long term the regular consumption of sports supplements
does not make the human being stronger, for they are suppressing the
capacity of the body to produce its own energy. Of course, when people are
still full of youthful forces it is hard to detect this effects of sports
supplements, because what one experiences is their short-term stimulating
effect. We also need to be aware that there are some individuals with more
life forces than others, who can use sport supplements for an extended
period of time without any evident harm. Yet we need to consider all
possible effects – the physical ones and supersensible as well – before we
can decide for or against the use of sports supplements. One needs to
understand how things work inside the human body and to know all positive
impacts and risks in relation to the intake of a specific food or stimulant.
[22]
Besides, even in the case of the sportsman who is physically very
strong, we cannot be sure that he has developed all his potentials, for the
human being is more than just a moving being who can run ever faster, jump
ever longer and higher, and so on. One of the main abilities which
distinguish human beings from animals is the ability of thinking. And by
the development of his thinking – which also needs suitable and regular
exercise – we can give deeper meaning to our life by permeating our work
with moral ideals and our personal goals with wisdom. This is the path that
is leading us towards becoming truly human.
WARNING: You always have to put the above
practical dietary instructions inside the framework of
GENERAL NUTRITIONAL
GUIDELINES with the aim to know their limits when looking for a solution
of a specific nutritional problem. You also need to be familiar with
THE ROLE OF NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES
with the aim to avoid any one-sided conclusions.
