Polarity between Outer and Inner Man
If we observe the nature of our activities presented in
TWOFOLD HUMAN BEING
we can notice how our life is stretched between two ways of comprehending
the world: on one side we have a constant inflow of information from the
outside world through our sense organs and on the other side we have our
inner world of thoughts and feelings, and impulses of will. This world also
enters our consciousness by means of perceptions, although this time turned
inside. In this way our life is unrolling between the outer world with its
multiplicity of various sense impressions and our inner world where our true
home is – where we can find our spiritual core, our 'I'.
One of the main differences between human beings and animals is that the
life of animals is much more integrated into their environment than in the
case of human beings. We could even say that wild animals belong to their
specific environments to such an extent that their environment dictates
their basic characteristics and their manner of life. In comparison to ours,
animal sense organs are highly specialised and more developed; therefore we
can imagine that the animal experience of natural environment is much more
intensive than is ours. [1] On
the other hand, one of the main characteristics of modern man is a certain
degree of autism. As humans we have the capability of creating and nurturing
our inner worlds of ideas, sympathies or antipathies, and strivings to reach
personal goals. This attribute is an inevitable part of modern development
which enables us to separate from the influences of our environment and
develop our own personalities. This would not be possible if we had retained
such links to the natural world as still exists in the animal world.
Polarity between the outer and inner world is manifested in the polarity
of summer and winter. In the summer we like to move in nature or work
outside; in us there exists a tendency to expand outwards. Sometimes we
almost merge with nature and enjoy her gifts
of warmth, sun, abundant foliage, flower scents and colourful displays.
Sometimes we can even expose our whole skin – which can be counted as a
sense organ [2] – to the influences of sun, air, water
and earth. This expansion is not just physical and psychological; it also
has a spiritual aspect as well in the fact that people find it harder to do
intellectual work such as study in the summer when our souls strive to
connect more intensely with nature by means of practical activities in which
our senses play a great role, enabling us to perceive light, colours,
shapes, tones, smells, various intensities and qualities of warmth, and the
manifold types of touches. The organs which enable these perceptions are our
sense organs – including skin – and the associated nervous system. For that
reason we can designate this part of human organism as the 'outer man'.
Contrary to this, in the winter we cannot expand in the same way outward,
for in the winter nature is cold and unpleasant; for that reason we prefer
to protect ourselves from its physical influences with clothes and house
walls. At the same time we tend to have more physical rest and we prefer to
engage more in mental activities, such as study. In this time of the year we
can more easily live in our inner worlds and focus on thinking about the
riddles of life.
This inner life is closely related to our body temperature. In general,
when "studying the human being, only those elements which can be pictured as
solid, or solid-fluidic, are regarded as belonging to his organism. It
is, of course, acknowledged that the fluid and the airy elements pass into
and out of the human being, but these are not in themselves considered to be
integral members of the organism. The warmth of the organism which is
greater than that of the environment is regarded as a state or condition of
the organism, but not as an actual component... However, if we disregard the
physical organization within the space bounded by the human skin, if we
disregard also the fluid organism, and the airy organism, then the space
that remains is filled with nothing but warmth which is, of course, in
communication with the warmth outside." [3] It is a
fact of life that for healthy
homeostasis
we need to keep our body temperature within a narrow range of around 37°C
irrespective of the temperature of the outer environmental which can vary in
the range of 40°C or more, depending on where we live. [4] This
means that we are carrying around a body of warmth which has to keep its
innate temperature independent from the outer, if we want to stay alive and
healthy. Here we see the great importance of our inner warmth and of the
fact, that "no real knowledge of the human organism can be acquired unless
we are willing to acknowledge this membering into a warmth organism, an airy
organism, a fluid organism, and a solid organism." [5]
Why is it necessary that we recognise the warmth organism as a separate
part of the human organism? Because "we cannot understand the life and activity of the soul unless
we remember that the Ego works directly upon the warmth.
The warmth organism
is paramountly the field of the Ego. The Ego itself is that
spirit-organization which imbues with its own forces the warmth that is
within us, and governs and gives it configuration, not only externally but
also inwardly. What is active in this warmth, what stirs it into movement,
makes it into an organism – is the Ego." [6] This
warmth organism permeated by Ego can be designated as the 'inner man'.
As in the course of the year our life unfolds through seasons, we can
feel "that spring is
fair, and that it is a fine quality of the soul to feel the beauty of the
spring, the growing, springing, sprouting life. But man should also be able
to feel intensely when the leaves grow pale or take on their autumn
colouring, when the animals creep away; then he should feel in the dying
life of the senses the birth of a radiant, glittering life of soul and
spirit. He should come to feel with the yellowing of the leaves the decline
of springing, sprouting life, but that with the very yellowing and fading in
outer nature the spiritual may come to life. He should come to feel in the
falling of the leaves the rising of the spirit; to feel the manifestation of
the spiritual as the counterpart of the dying and fading outer life of
nature. Such is the feeling for the spirit which should ensoul man in the
autumn. Then he would rightly prepare himself for winter time."
[7]
Thus we can see that the seasonal changes have great impacts not only on
the plant and animal world, but also on our soul-spiritual life which is
moving in a rhythmical way – including transitional periods of autumn and
spring – between two periods:
- one is the summer period when our soul expands
into the warmth of the outer world and receives inspiration from what is
flowing into us via our sense perceptions;
- another is the winter period when the cold of the outer
environment forces us to 'contract' into our inner world and in this way we
are nourished from the sources of our own spiritual life.
If we want to really understand such connections "we must penetrate into
deep mysteries of human existence. Of outer nature, we believe, because we
see it with our eyes, that what the rays of the sun charm forth from the
depths of the earth, unfolding into beauty through the spring and summer,
withdraws into those same depths at the time when the outer sun is weakest;
and that what will spring forth again the following year is being prepared
in the seeds within the depths of the earth. Because our eyes bear witness,
we believe that the seed of the plant passes through a yearly cycle, that it
must go down into the earth's depths in order to unfold again under the
warmth and light of the sun in spring. But we do not so readily understand
that the human soul, too, passes through such a cycle. Just as the force
contained in the seed of every plant is bound up with the physical forces of
the earth, so is the inmost being of the human soul bound up with the
spiritual forces of the earth."
[8] "Only those who have no inkling of the fact that as well as chemical
and physical forces, spiritual forces are also at work and that the workings
of both kinds of forces take effect at definite times and seasons in cosmic
life,"
[9] can't imagine that the cycle of the year with its seasonal changes
has influence on our soul-spiritual experience of the world.
Effect of Raw versus Cooked Food
The most common argument in favour of raw food consumption is that
cooking destroys enzymes and
vitamins
and that in this way we lose the essential nutrients necessary for proper
nutrition. This is true, although it is very one-sided truth.
It is never mentioned what we gain through
THE NEW ALCHEMY OF COOKING.
If we want to get a more holistic view we need to compare the effect of raw
food and cooked food on the whole human organism – not just on the physical
and etheric body, but on the astral body and Ego, as well.
The use of fire for food preparation meant a great step in the
evolutionary development of humanity. Transition from raw to cooked food is
related to the evolutionary task of the present earth – the task of the
development of human individuality. For that aim we need to separate
from the bonds of old groups, such as tribe, clan, nation, etc. We need to
develop our own 'I' as an independent, separate being from the rest of the
people. There are many things which are supporting this development; among
them is also the introduction of cooked food. "With cooked and warm foods we
namely stimulate the inner forces of our organization; we enhance the forces of the
individuality which incarnate warmth. Thus in adding a warmth process to
plant foods we favour the enhancement of our Ego organization, which
separates itself from the cosmic influences and is the polar opposite of the human
periphery. Cooked food strengthens earthly man. Cooked foods are actually
appropriate to man; they go in hand with the processes of the human
individuality." [10] Of course, these effects are
understandable only if we take into account the fact, that we nourish
ourselves not only with the physical substances, but also with supersensible
forces that enter into us through what we consume. In other words, we need
to consider very complex influences on the etheric, astral, and spiritual
level which have the consequence that nutrition is not only an activity by
help of which we provide building materials and fuel for the maintenance and
restoration of the body, but that we can on the basis of these influences
regard NUTRITION AS A SUPERSENSIBLE ACTIVITY.
With such an approach we arrive at the most important difference between
the effects of cooked versus raw food on the human being. "In our periphery,
the skin, the sense organs and the associated nervous system, we are
oriented outward, into the outer world. We border to and are bounded by
nature surrounding us; nature
penetrates into us, we perceive it, and we are thereby connected to the
cosmos. This pole of our organism is therefore, in a sense, related to the
raw, unmodified nature products, i.e., raw plant nutrition. If we want to
integrate our organism into its periphery, we can do it with raw plant
foods. We thus strengthen our peripheral organization," [11]
our outer man.
Here we have an example of the link between physiological processes and
soul-spiritual activities of man. If we haven't lost our instincts
completely then we still have a tendency to eat more fruit and freshly made
salads in the summer, while in the winter we prefer warm dishes. The reason
is not just in the fact that our body becomes warm after eating warm soup,
or that it cools down after eating fresh carrot salad, but also in the more
hidden effects presented in this nutritional principle.
However, there exists one additional important difference between raw and
cooked food which we need to know if we wish to grasp this polarity of human
nutrition. This difference is evident in the following fact: "The
consumption of raw plant foods is a healing process in a much stronger sense
than the consumption of cooked foods." [12] First
we need to call to the attention that in the above statement it is not said
that the consumption of cooked foods doesn't have any healing effect. This
is also evident from the content of all nutritional principles presented in
the chapter NUTRITION
& HEALTH. This means that we can have cooked food which promotes
diseases and we can have cooked food which promotes healing. And even
eating exclusively raw food can have negative
health effect, if one doesn't take
into account that "for a while one can do it; one can (as it were) whip the
body, because the body must apply strong digestive forces if one uses raw
foods. But all the greater can be then the collapse" [13] if
one is forcing himself above his inner capacity to properly digest and
metamorphose whatever one consumes. [14] In fact,
one of the essential insights of a holistic approach to the questions of
nutrition is that any food can have harmful or healing effects. The difference depends on quality,
quantity, individual needs, and all other factors presented in
NINE ASPECTS OF A HEALTHY MEAL.
The reason why raw food has a stronger healing effect is connected with
the evolution of human intellect. As one of the conditions for its
development we had to separate from nature and the natural cycles to a much
greater extent than in the case of domestic animals. But nowadays this separation
from nature can go to the extreme as it is demonstrated by those children in
affluent societies who think their food is coming from supermarkets, not
from animals and plants. But "man needs the plants not only for food but
also for his inner life, in order to nourish within himself the feelings and
experiences necessary for his life of soul. He needs the impressions from
the plant-world on the physical plane if his life of soul is to be fresh and
healthy. That is something which cannot be over-emphasised. The deficiency
in the human soul soon becomes apparent if it is shut off from the fresh,
vitalising influence of the plants. This loss is one of the shadow-sides of
modern civilisation to be found chiefly in great cities." [15]
Thus we can understand the strong healing effect of eating raw food, for it
stimulates our connection to nature indirectly through it with cosmic
influences, from which people in modern cities have separated to such an
extent that this has negative consequences on their health.
To this we can add the insight from PHYSICAL vs MENTAL
ILLNESSES that reveals to us that we need to search for the origins of
physical illnesses in our soul-spiritual weaknesses. If we take into account
that development of our individuality is not without any dangers – on the
contrary, there are manifold possibilities of erring in one or another
direction – then we can grasp that eating exclusively processed, cooked food
has an over-stimulating effect on the isolation of Ego from its environment.
Because our Ego is the youngest and the least matured member of the
FOURFOLD HUMAN BEING its imperfections – or, better said, our
imperfections – makes us more prone to various forms of health problems,
than in the case if we consume cooked food and raw food as well.
[16]
Thus we can summarize that consumption of cooked food:
- stimulates our inner individual warmth and its
processes;
- enhances the working of ego-organization which separates our self from
the rest of the world and thus stimulates the development of our
individuality;
- strengthens development and existence of earthly, inner man.
And consumption of raw food serves in such manner that it:
- stimulates peripheral, outer organization – sense
organs with the associated nervous system and skin;
- enhances our connection to the world – to nature, people and universe;
- strengthens development and existence of cosmic, outer man.
For a complementary perspective see:
♦ NUTRITION & SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
DIETARY CONCLUSIONS & PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS
From the content of this nutritional principle it is evident that we need
both raw and cooked foods if we don't want to become one-sidedly developed
beings. We need to stay in contact with the outer world as much as we need to
develop ourselves in our inner world. But the appropriate
proportion of cooked versus raw food that suits
us depends on our specific constitution and needs dictated by the specific
circumstances in which we find ourselves. The most important difference is that
there are people who have a more developed outer pole, and another people with a
more developed inner pole of their being. In accordance with this, the first
people will benefit from eating more cooked food, the second ones will need more
raw food.
One needs to take into consideration also the element of time manifesting in
seasonal changes and the person's age.
Not so long ago people were still harmonising their diets with the cycle of
the year in many parts of the world. Today – with few exceptions – this is
no longer the case due to the existence of the global food market. Although
the evolutionary goal of humanity is not to return 'back to nature' and
establish with her such connection as we had in the past, we also cannot
just shut ourselves completely from the outer conditions and ignore the
rhythms of nature. In the same manner as we dress more in the winter and
less in the summer, it makes sense that we eat more fresh food in the summer
and more cooked food in the winter.
There is more to this – we can find the changing seasons also inside our
organism. We can find spring and summer in the first half of human life, and
autumn and winter in the second part. This can serve as a general indication
for eating more raw food in the youth and more cooked food in the old age.
With such an approach we strive to find the proper balance between inner and
outer man in different periods of our life.
Eating exclusively raw food can be used as dietary therapy
for a limited period until we achieve the improvement we aimed for. [17] Then
a convalescent should again include cooked food in his or her regular diet –
of course, in such extent that it will help in maintaining his/her health.
We need to know that there are individuals with a very strong earthly
constitution whose physical health and energy level can radically improve by
transition to eating predominantly raw food. However, we need to be aware
that recovery of the body – although indisputably a great achievement – is
not enough for the attainment of all-encompassing health, because this
includes also the psychological and spiritual domains. The essence of an
holistic approach to health and nutrition is in the maintenance of a healthy
balance and the avoidance of extremes in all spheres of our life – and not
stimulating them as is the case with the promotion of an exclusively raw
diet.
♣ See
THE ESSENCE OF HUMAN
HEALTH where there is given a short description of the importance of
maintaining equilibrium among opposite extremes on the spiritual,
psychological and bodily domains.
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.
