The Spiritual Archetype of a Threefold Plant
The spiritual archetype of a plant was discovered by Goethe
[1] by the
help of his in-depth observations of the progress of the growth of the plant
from germination to the ripening of the seed. "In the beginning of its
development the whole plant-form rests in the seed. Out of the seed the
plant develops its primary organs, the cotyledons, after it has left behind
its coverings more or less in the earth and has established the
root in the
soil. In the further course of growth, impulse follows impulse, nodes upon
nodes are piled one above the other, and at each node we have a
leaf. The
leaves appear in different forms, the lower still simple, the upper much
indented, notched, and composed of many tiny leaves. The leaves owe their
progressive development and improvement to the light and the air.
In the formation of flower the plant again contracts into a narrower
space what was previously spread out. In the calyx the plant form draws
itself together, and in the corolla again spreads itself out. The next
contraction follows in the pistils and stamens, the organs of generation. In
the previous periods of growth the formative force of the plant developed
uniformly as the impulse to repeat the basic form. The plant produces its
like from node to node, for nodes and leaves are the simple forms of the
archetypal plant. In this form its production means growth. If this
reproductive force is divided among two organs we speak of two sexes. At the
stage of fruit-formation the plant attains its final expansion; in the
seed
it appears again contracted. In these steps Nature accomplishes a cycle of
plant development, and then begins the whole process over again.
The idea of the archetypal plant is the conception of the basic organ of a plant
[2] transforming itself stage by stage – as on a 'spiritual ladder' – from seed
to fruit.
One who develops the idea of the archetypal plant in himself, and keeps
it so plastic that he can think of it in all possible forms which its
content permits, can explain all formations in the plant kingdom by its
help. He will understand the development of the individual plant, but he
will also find that all plant species and varieties are fashioned according
to this archetype." [3]
Therefore we can on the basis of this description distinguish in the
archetypal plant three parts which relate to different elements in their
surrounding:
- Root has a special relationship with the earth and its mineral content;
- Leaves have a special relationship to the air and light;
- Flower needs warmth to ripen into
fruit and finally produces the seeds.
Various parts of a plant are not only linked with different elements of
nature, but are also under the influences of different cosmic radiations. One of
the fundamental characteristics of the biodynamic method of cultivation is that
"the influence of the moon, planets and stars on plant growth plays a central
role." [4] These
influences are not simple but rather complicated. "We usually imagine that the
Moon simply takes up the rays of the Sun and reflects them onto the Earth. In
other words, when we consider the effects of the Moon, we usually think only of
the sunlight. But that is not the only thing that comes toward the Earth. Along
with the moonbeams, the entire reflected cosmos comes toward the Earth. The Moon
reflects everything that comes toward it. In a certain sense, the whole starry
heavens are reflected by the Moon and stream toward the Earth, although you
couldn't prove it by any physical means available at present. It is indeed a
very powerful cosmic organizing force that radiates down from the Moon into the
plants," [5] so
that the plants are able to sprout, grow, blossom, and form fruits and seeds in
accordance with their spiritual archetype.
Thus we can understand why various sowing calendars exist, some
descending from traditional remnants of the knowledge of cosmic influences,
while others as the result of the modern spiritual science. "Since 1963 a
biodynamic sowing and planting calendar has been published which enables
gardeners and farmers throughout the world to cultivate fruit, vegetables
and grains according to the cosmic effects of moon, stars and planets on
plant growth." [6]
This provides some evidence that cosmic influences do have a real effect,
for otherwise people would not buy and use these calendars on a regular
basis since their inception. [7] The
existence of these influences cannot be attributed to the subjective nature
of human perception, for they have such powerful effects on the growth of
plants that they can be visible in their shape and colour, and not only in
their taste and aroma.
[8] Modern science has also provided indirect confirmation about the
existence of unknown radiations from the cosmos, for the visible light is
only a tiny fraction inside an extreme range of various microwaves, among
them also those we don't know yet of their role and purpose. Of course,
beside them there exist radiations, or cosmic influences, of supersensible
nature – that is, of the etheric, astral, and spiritual nature. Their
existence is not possible to discover with the instruments which can detect
only physical substances and forces.
When one starts to grow plants it is not necessary to first become
familiar with the essential nature and all aspects of cosmic influences,
because this demand serious study of spiritual science and long period of
observations of their effects on the development of plants when following
the sowing and planting calendar. For the beginning is enough to acknowledge
the possibility of the existence of such impacts and to sow, plant, and
cultivate plants in the suitable periods. The only thing we need is to
distinguish four groups of plants which we group according to which part of
the plant we want to use for food, drink, or medicinal herb. Thus we
distinguish:
- Root plants include carrots, onions,
garlic, Swedes, potatoes, parsnips, celeriac, beetroot, etc.
- Leaf plants include all types of
cabbage (white and red cabbage, Savoy caabage, kale, etc.), all types of lettuce,
leaf herbs (chives, dill, etc.), and all other leafy vegetables (Swiss
chard, spinach, etc.)
- Blossom plants include medicinal herb
flowers (chamomile, calendula, etc.), all flowering shrubs and bushes
(roses, etc.), and the rest of the flowering plants (tulips, etc.)
- Fruit plants include all plants whose
fruits we use: legumes (beans, peas, lentils), vegetables (tomatoes,
cucumbers, pumpkins, peppers, courgettes, etc.), all tree fruits (apples,
cherries, etc.), all bush fruits (blackberries, raspberries, etc.), and
other fruits (strawberries, etc.).
In accordance with this system we plant, cultivate and collect root
plants in the periods under the cosmic influences that stimulate the
development of roots. The same principle is valid for other three groups. In
the planting calendar are listed the periods which are under different
cosmic influences; this enables us to cultivate the plants in harmony with
what is streaming to the Earth from the spheres of star constellations and
from the planets of our solar system.
The existence of the four groups of plants in the planting calendar and
three groups which present the three parts of the archetypal plant are not
contradictory, but they reflect the fact that the Flower-Fruit-Seed is
counted as the upper part of the plant that is developed under the influence
of warmth; we can also separate them into three sub-groups taking into
account that they represent three different phases of the ripening of the
plant. It is interesting that separation into two groups –
Flower and Fruit
– is the consequence of practical observations in the pioneer stage of the
development of the planting calendar; these observations revealed that there
are periods more suitable for production of flowers, and then periods more
suitable for production of fruits, including grains that can be regarded as
'fruits of the field'. Thus we see that in real life things are more
complicated than we would like to have them when we penetrate into the more
hidden happenings in the natural world. [9]
Man as 'Inverted Threefold Plant'
As is generally known there exists a special connection between plants
and human beings via the element of air: plants take in carbon dioxide and
release oxygen; human beings inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.
Without this symbiotic relationship with plants human beings and animals
would not be capable of living on the Earth. But beside this there is
another important relationship between human beings and plants which occurs
when plants are taken in the form of food and drink or as remedies.
If we want to understand this connection we need to be aware that it is
working on the level of supersensible bodies which are permeating the organs
and activities of the physical body. With a plant we are dealing with an
organism consisting solely from an etheric and a physical body; for that
reason we can regard it as an outward manifestation of the activity of the
etheric body within the physical body, as it is visible in the reproduction
and metamorphosis of the cells. Due to this fact the etheric body can be
regarded as our 'inner plant'. However, it would be misleading to imagine
that in the human being the etheric body works without involvement of the
astral body and the ego-organization. Because the interactions of these
bodies are extremely complex, we will now focus on the specific attribute
which will help to comprehend the link between the human being and an
'inverted threefold plant'.
From the description of
THREEFOLD
HUMAN BEING we have seen that human being can be divided into three
distinct systems which perform three specific roles:
- Nerve-sense system which serves the mental activities
of cognition.
This includes perception of things and perception and shaping of
thoughts (i.e. thinking).
- Rhythmic system which regulates the whole organism through the
rhythm of breathing and pulse of the hearth. [10]
- Metabolic-limb system which serves the functions of digestion,
metabolism, reproduction and movement.
If we look first at the middle system we can easily find its link to the
leaf of the plant because the plant is breathing through extremely small
openings in the lower surface of the leaves. For the other two systems we
need to look at the polarity between
'HOT' versus 'COLD' ILLNESSES
where we can
find out that we need in our head a certain amount of cold which enables us
to soberly perform our activity of cognition, while in our metabolic system
we need a certain amount of warmth to perform the activities of digestion,
metabolism and reproduction. In the case of a plant we have an opposite
situation: the root is developing in the ground that is relatively cold in
comparison with the amount of warmth needed for the ripening of fruits and
seeds. Therefore we should not be surprised when we find out that in this
case "matters are reversed with plants and with the human being. With
plants, the roots are at the bottom and the blossoms are at the top. Man,
however, is an upside-down plant. What is the root element in the plant is
actually in the head of the human being, and the blossom element is more
in his abdominal region. You can see this even in their external forms. Man
has his head at the top, and his reproductive organs are below. The plant
has its roots below, while the blossoms, containing the organs of
reproduction, are above. Here is the human being (see the main picture);
here at the head it is the root of a correspondingly large plant; here in
the chest are its stems and leaves. Then, with the blossoms, we come to the
abdominal organs. An entire plant is contained within man. The only
difference is that it grows from the top downward in him.
In a certain
sense, man is also a plant" [11] because of the fact
that he has inside him the etheric body which can be regarded as his 'inner
plant'.
On the basis of this explanation we can see that "the root pre-eminently
nourishes the head; what is in the middle of plants, the leaves,
pre-eminently nourishes the chest; and what is in the fruits nourishes the
abdomen." [12] This holds true in the case when we use,
for example, a herb tea with the aim to relieve particular physical
distress. When we use chamomile tea it will work in the abdomen; if we use
ginger tea it will affect the head; if we use sage tea it will work
positively on the rhythmic system.
The same relationships apply when we consume plant food:
- Roots stimulate the activities of nerve-sense
system
- Leaves and stems stimulate the activities of rhythmic system
- Flower, fruits and
seeds stimulate the activities of
metabolic-limb system
The knowledge of these relationships can be used in the preparation of
dishes that will affect the whole human being - the upper, the middle and
the lower human being – in a harmonious manner.
Conscious Balancing of the Three Main Systems of the Human Organism
Before one begins with the preparation of dishes in accordance with the
principle of the threefold plant one is justified to ask: Why it is
important at all to try to balance our meals according to this principle?
The first reason is evident when we understand that
THE ESSENCE OF HUMAN HEALTH is in our striving to find a healthy balance
among multiple polarities of his/her organism. Any form of more permanent
imbalance creates favourable conditions for the development of an illness.
Therefore it is sensible to strive to maintain the balance between three
main systems of the human organism which are the basis for the three basic
soul-spiritual activities of thinking, feeling and willing. Among the
factors which are helping us to balance these activities is also harmonious
nutrition – that is, nutrition which contains all the necessary substances
and forces for healthy development of the organism. In the different parts
of a plant are present different substances behind which are active
different physical and supersensible forces; for that reason it is
recommended that our food is not one-sided, but more diverse and
many-coloured.
The need for harmonious nutrition is even more obvious when we gain
insight that the polarity between upper man and the lower man is one of the
most decisive polarities of the human being. [13]
This polarity is due to the fact that "the spiritual world participates with its activity in the head; with its
substance it participates in a man's third organization, his metabolic-limb
system. The lowest world, the world most dominated by the senses (physical world), participates through its activity in the metabolism and the
movement of the limbs, and through its substance in the head; whereas the
substance in a man's third system (metabolic-limb system) is wholly
spiritual.
In man's second system everything flows together –
heavenly substance and activity flow in here; earthly activity and substance
flow in there. By this means we are made receptive both to the activity of
the middle world and to its substantiality. So in this middle man there is a
great deal of intermingling and for this reason we need our wonderfully
perfect rhythmical system – the rhythm of the heart, the rhythm of the lungs
in breathing. All the intermingling of activity and substance is balanced
and harmonized through these rhythms, and this can happen because man is
organized" [14] for this purpose.
Although man's rhythmical system is organised with the aim to maintain a
balance between upper and lower man, it cannot do all the work without our
assistance. In regard to the regulation of substances we must not forget
that earthly substances are coming into the nerve-sense system via the
EARTHLY NUTRITIONAL STREAM,
while spiritual substances are coming into the metabolic-limb system via the
COSMIC NUTRITIONAL STREAM.
This means that we can, through our nutrition and other activities which
nourish our senses, support or work against the harmony between upper and
lower part of our organism in relation to substances.
In regard to activities, we need to know "that man's nature is organized in a
normal way when harmony is established between three cosmic
activities, which manifest in a one-sided way in thinking, feeling and will;
when the human being is the (balanced) confluence of the activities of thinking,
feeling and will. In accordance with the general course of world events we
are now living in an age when the evolution of the world is threatened by a
certain danger; and this danger will be that these one-sided influences
actually come to one-sided expression in human beings. From the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries up to our own day the facts of human earthly
evolution are such that, to an ever increasing degree, thinking forces wish
to concentrate one-sidedly in the human head, feeling forces in the human
rhythmic system, and will forces in the human metabolism and all human
activity on earth." [15] This means that now we live
in the time when we need to consciously tackle this difficult task of the
balancing of thinking, feeling and willing, if we want to avoid the danger
of one-sided development. If we don't do this we will in the future develop
into human beings who will have thinking as their main guidance, or into
human beings who will be mainly lead by their feelings, or into human beings
who will follow mainly the impulses of their Will.
Now we can enlarge the description of the
THREEFOLD HUMAN BEING in the following manner:
| System |
Nerve-Sense System |
Rhythmic System |
Metabolic-Limb System |
| Soul-Spiritual Activity |
Thinking |
Feeling |
Will (Deeds) |
| Physiological Activities |
Perceiving |
Rhythmical Exchange |
Metabolic Processes |
| Type of Life |
Spiritual (Conscious) Life |
Co-operation of Organic and Spiritual Life |
Organic (Subconscious) Life |
| Inner Substances and their Origin |
Physical Substances (Earthly Nutrition) |
Intermingling of Physical and Spiritual Substances |
Spiritual Substances (Cosmic Nutrition) |
With the help of this summary we can see that we do have inside us three
different systems – we could even say that we have inside us three different
worlds – which need to be kept in a healthy balance. An important part of
our overall spiritual development is that we have to gradually take more
responsibility for the things which were previously part of our instinctual
life. This is true also in this case. For this aim we need to know that
there is continuous interaction between three organic systems and three
soul-spiritual activities of the human being. The influences go in both
directions:
- as we can balance the state of our whole organism if
we improve the control of our thinking, feelings and impulses of Will;
- so we can balance our soul-spiritual activities if we properly
maintain and nourish our three systems with what we take into them from the
outer kingdoms of nature, including with food.
For complementary perspectives see:
♦ FOOD VERSUS STIMULANTS
♦ BALANCING WITH SEVEN GRAINS
DIETARY CONCLUSIONS & PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS
This principle is shedding light on the background of the fact that
people in the past "have actually always cooked mixed meals of roots,
leaves and fruits (because) they have known out of instincts"
[16] and that that is now possible to know with the help of
spiritual-scientific research. In contrast to such wisdom of traditional
food cultures we nowadays encounter the extreme examples of
one-sided
eating habits and preferences. For example, in the affluent societies there
exists children who do not consume any fruit and vegetables, apart from
potatoes, tomatoes and bananas. This is quite common as there are available
even books trying to find solution for such extremes. [17] This
demonstrates how much modern people have lost healthy natural instincts in
regard to food. Now we have a choice to wait and observe how things will
become worse or we can confront this challenge. Although sometimes there
might be no easy solutions, it is also true that necessity is the mother of
creativity. When we have in front of us a child with one-sided nutritional
preferences, we need to be very inventive in our striving to improve
his/her diet. But first we need to understand what is working in the
background of such phenomena.
When we have grasped the principle of the threefold plant we can
modify
all existing recipes with the addition or removal of a particular plant
ingredient. For example, if we have a recipe which contains three types of
legumes, we can reduce them to one. Or, if we cook a soup we can add a
carrot, or ginger, if the recipe we use doesn't contain any root. If we do
not have any suitable vegetable, we can with the same aim use herbs and
spices instead.
♣ For practical cooking guidelines see
PRINCIPLE OF THREEFOLD PLANT
Here we need to clarify one thing. The flower, fruit and seed represent three
distinctive phases in the process of the ripening of a plant. Although we count
them as one group they could also be divided into three separate groups. This
means that instead of Flower or Fruit or Seed, we could
have Flower and Fruit and Seed. And this is not yet the end of possibilities.
For Fruit include the vegetables such as cucumber, paprika, etc. as well as
fruit such as apple, pear, etc. Also we have three different types of Seeds:
legumes, nuts and seeds (sesame, sunflower, etc.). This differentiation arises
from to the fact that various sub-groups have different effects on different
parts or organs of our metabolic-limb system. But for a basic approach it is
enough if we strive to balance in our meals the three basic groups
of Root, Stem-Leaf and Flower-Fruit-Seed.
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.
