How We Acquire Eating Habits during the Period of Growing Up
If we want to grasp the process of formations of our habits we need to
start with the first period of our life. "As children, up to the time of our
seventh year, we react to our immediate impulses, and imitate. We imitate
what is done, what goes on around us. Therefore it is that as children we
are governed less by habits than by the power of imitation."
[1] This means
that in that period when the foundations for our basic food preferences are
laid we do not have a lot of protection against imitation of other people –
especially parents and other close relatives – of what they are eating. For
that reason we can say that in the first period of our life we 'inherit'
food preferences and habits from our native 'tribal group' and often bring
them with us into our adult life.
In the next period we start to learn in a different way. "Anything in the
form of a concept has no effect upon a child at the usual school age. We
must ask ourselves how we can have a good influence on the feeling nature of
the child. This we can only achieve by introducing actions which have to be
constantly repeated. You direct the impulse of the will aright, not by
telling a child once what the right thing is, but by getting him
to do
something today and tomorrow and again the day after. An action of this sort
must be made into a habit. The more it becomes an unconscious habit, the
better it is for the development of the feeling; the more conscious a child
is of doing the action repeatedly, out of devotion, because it ought to be
done, the more you are raising the deed to a real impulse of will. A more
unconscious repetition cultivates feeling; fully conscious repetition
cultivates the true will impulse, for it enhances the power of resolution,
of determination." [2]
Accordingly in this period rhythmical repetition is the key principle for
acquisition of new knowledge and skills – new habits in the life of Will,
feeling, and thinking. The consequence of this is that "we bear within us
the fruits of past experiences even if we do not always consciously remember
what we have experienced. Who can remember all the details of his learning
to read and write? Moreover, who was ever conscious of all those details?"
[3] But the result of constant repetitions of reading, or writing, or
playing a music instrument, is development of a new skill which has become
an integral part of our being.
In Waldorf schools great stress is laid on the use of the various arts.
There are many reasons for this, among them is also the fact that "the
artistic element has such a special effect on the development of the Will.
This is because, in the first place, practice depends upon repetition; but
secondly because what a child acquires artistically gives him fresh joy each
time. The artistic element is enjoyed every time, not only on the first
occasion. Art has something in its nature which does not only stir a man
once but gives him fresh joy repeatedly." [4]
In the third period, after puberty, young people start to develop the
capacity for evaluation of things by means of their own thinking. But their
development is still to a great extent influenced by their feelings, often
very contradictory ones. This holds true also for the development of new
food preferences which are often the result of rebelling against adult
authorities and the wish to belong to the own circle of teenagers.
Thus the main ways by which in the period of growing up we acquire our
eating preferences and habits are: [5]
- in the first seven years by the help of the
principle
of imitation;
- in the second seven years by the help of the principle of repetition;
- in the third seven years through feelings of sympathy and antipathy in
cooperation with the gradually emerging capacity of independent
thinking.
The majority of preferences and habits acquired in the above manners we
could designate as "a kind of unconscious memory." [6] For that reason we
are not in full control of them, until we develop the power of our
individuality to such degree that we can take stock of all 'inherited'
preferences and habits and decide which we wish to keep, which we need to
transform, and which we want to renounce.
Conscious Transformation of Eating Preferences and Habits
Around the age of twenty-one each modern human being experiences to a
small or greater degree the 'birth' of 'I' or ego – the spiritual member of
his or her being. This is what enables people to develop their own
personality which can overcome limitations set by the fact that they have
grown up in a specific country, that they have belonged to a specific nation
and family, and that they have been surrounded by this or that culture. This
is possible due to the ability of ego to work on its own development and to
gradually transform specific parts of the astral body, the etheric body and
the physical body. This is not, of course, an easy work; nevertheless it is
very helpful if we are aware that due to the presence of ego we have inside
us a powerful tool for conscious transformation of our existing eating
preferences and habits and for the development of new ones. This work can be
divided into four different areas – each related to one of the four members
of our being.
1. Development of own ego by means of acquisition of knowledge
One of the most important points in the whole process of transformation
of eating habits is that we grasp the idea that taking responsibility for
one's own health is just another aspect of taking responsibility for
development of one's own individuality. Therefore anyone who has a real
intention to free their self from things that obstruct one on the path of
personal growth cannot simply put responsibility for their own health in the
hands of others: medical experts, nutritional advisers, etc. Instead of this
one needs to strive to take charge of all those aspects of own life that one
is capable of. This includes also the area of eating preferences and habits.
This is needed because "the human being can nourish himself in such
fashion that he undermines his invisible independence. Yet he ought to
nourish himself in such a manner that he becomes less the slave of his
nutritional habits. Here spiritual science can guide him. The wrong food can
easily transform us into what we eat,"
[7] but if we really understand our own being and the purpose of
nutrition then "we can strive to become free and independent. Then the food
we eat will not hinder us from achieving the full potential of what we, as
human beings, ought to be."
[8]
If we want to understand our own being and the purpose of nutrition then
materialistic science offers only limited help, while the insights of
spiritual science are much more useful. When we confront all the obstacles
and various forms of resistance coming from the lower bodies – from the
astral, etheric and physical bodies – we need a strong 'weapon' in the form
of real insights into the functions of our organism. But above all
we need strong Will to free ourselves from those eating preferences and habits that
we know are either harming us, or preventing us to develop our potentials in
those domains of life we are active in.
2. Conscious transformation of sympathies and antipathies of the astral
body
Some of the strongest hindrances on the path towards new eating habits
are our emotional attachments or even addictions to specific foods. Such
feelings belong to the astral body which "is the bearer of sympathy and
antipathy, of desire and passion which man has in common with the animal."
[9] This means "that he has in his astral body passions, emotions, and
desires driving him constantly down from a certain height into lower parts
of his nature. But, on the other hand, if man were unable to err from good
through the forces of his astral body he could not act freely, or possess
what we call freewill, freedom of choice." [10]
What are the means by which we can overcome these attachments? Let's take
an example of a child who is "wrongly brought up, spoiled with sweets and so
on. This not only brings about processes in the physical body but
continually imparts them to the astral, so that in fact the astral body also
is changed. What one gives physically to the infant goes over into his
astral body, it is present in the shape of definite forms. What is thus
worked in, is however gradually worked out again. In advanced age the sins
against the child take their revenge. These sins remain throughout the whole
life and have great importance particularly in the final years. After the
middle period of life a sort of reversal takes place; the astral then works
into the physical plane.
In childhood the foundation of what man will have in old age is implanted
into the astral. When a person perceives how he has been sinned against and
works upon himself with this in view, then he can eliminate the damage in
the astral body, otherwise he will break down in old age under the
weaknesses of his childhood. Only what man works into it consciously has a
balancing effect on the astral body. If later in life the opposite qualities
are not called up consciously, one cannot rid oneself of the failings."
[11]
Thus the most important thing is that we approach the weaknesses of our
astral body with the help of knowledge, for thinking activity is the most
conscious activity which we can perform in our life. For example, "when
something is explained to you and you have understood it, then the ego has
worked into the astral body." [12] Without this impact of the ego by means
of thinking we cannot restrain those wishes and desires in regard to foods
which are making us unwell or even sick. Consequently knowledge becomes a
key agent by which we can overcome harmful emotional attachments to specific
foods. Or, on the opposite side of emotional spectrum, we can overcome
extreme dislikes to those foods which would make us better or even heal us.
3. Imprinting new eating habits into the etheric body by means of
repetition
The first two steps of becoming motivated and subduing uncontrolled food
preferences don't yet create a new food habit. For this to happen the ego
must have an impact also on the etheric body. This is possible if day after
day a person repeats something; only then one is "working into the etheric
body because of the repetition every day; the soul is exercising the same
activity over and over again. Repetition is an entirely different matter
from a momentary understanding." [13]
This distinction derives from the fact that "in the astral body qualities
are developed which are called upon on single occasions; that is, we
understand a thing once and then know it for ever. The etheric body brings
to perfection the habits, inclinations, and accomplishments which it has
acquired in the course of prolonged and continual repetition."
[14] In other
words, that which we get to know by mediation of our soul (astral body) can
be transformed into more lasting habits and abilities of the etheric body by
means of constant repetition.
Why do we need to repeat something with the aim for it to become part of
the etheric body? If we observe the growth of a plant we see how "the living
seed produces the stalk and leaf after leaf; constantly new green leaves are
added. This is possible because the plant is endowed with an etheric body
and the underlying, active principle of the etheric body is repetition.
Wherever repetition occurs, an etheric body is at work. The culminating
feature of the plant, the blossom, is the product of a different principle,
namely, the overshadowing astral body." [15] The innate repetitive nature of
the etheric body is clearly visible in the reproduction of the cells which is
the basis for any physical process of growth: from one cell we get two
identical ones, from two four, and so on.
Accordingly we need to use the principle of repetition also when we want
to establish new eating habits. We need to repeat a new diet until it
becomes imprinted into the etheric body. How long do we need to do this? At
least one month is necessary so that the intensity of resistance will be
overcome or decisively diminished. People too often give up too quickly
because they are not aware that "the human etheric body, symbolically
speaking, revolves on its own axis, and after four times seven days it comes
back to the beginning again." [16] Here we are dealing with one of the
supersensible links between the members of the human being and the heavenly
bodies and their revolutions. "The moon moves round its cycle in four times
seven days. This is the cycle of the etheric body, and this round of the
etheric body is exactly mirrored in the four quarters of the moon."
[17] In
the case of the etheric body we are obviously dealing with a rhythm of four
weeks – that is, with a lunar month that lasts 28 days. For that very reason
the minimum time of repetition of a new eating habit is four weeks, for only
in such a period can something new be impressed into the etheric body to
such an extent that it is not 'forgotten', but is retained.
And what is the maximum time needed for the repetition of new habit? If
we want to answer this we need to be aware that the main characteristic for
our corporeal organisation is the strong bond between the etheric and
physical body. For that reason we need to take into account also the innate
rhythm of the physical body. But this is much longer than the rhythm of the
etheric body – “the rhythm of the physical body corresponds roughly to the
course of the year.”
[18] We can therefore imagine why it takes so long before we completely
adopt a new eating habit, before it is properly integrated with the last
‘fibre’ of our physical body
4. Maintaining the homeostatic balance in the physical body
All the above steps are necessary if we want to overcome imbalances of
the internal environment of the physical body (homeostasis) which are the
outcomes of improper eating habits. This is important not only for the
physical health and wellbeing, for "we must continually bear in mind that
the human body is the tool of the spirit. In discussing the various
functions the body has to perform, we see that the human being utilizes it
as a physical instrument. However, an instrument is useless if it is not
adjusted correctly so that it functions in an orderly manner, and similarly
our bodies are of no use to our higher organism if they do not function
properly. Our freedom can be handicapped and intentions impeded."
[19]
In this way we come back to the initial impulse behind our decision to
change eating habits. "We can ask ourselves whether we make our bodies unfit
for the execution of the intentions, aspirations and impulses of our lives
if we become bound by and dependent upon our bodies through an unsuitable
diet. What must we eat so that we are not merely the product of what we eat?
A person can if he wishes build up his organism in a wise manner. He can
contribute towards the development of free, independent inner forces." [20]
However, this is possible only if one has a sufficiently strong
Will to free one’s self in the domain of
nutrition. This Will can be awakened in
many ways – either through spiritual cognition, or by help of insight into
the functions of the physical body, or due to illness, or via something else
– but without this initial impulse it is very hard to make permanent changes
of our eating preferences and habits in a positive direction.
Now we can summarize the above descriptions in the following way: "Habits
are something which we acquire during earthly existence. Through
instructions given during our upbringing, actions steadily repeated became
habitual. We are first led to do something which by constant repetition
becomes a habit and the habit, once formed, becomes more and more an
automatic action of the soul. The development of habits in the right way
during earthly existence is necessary to the unfolding of ego-consciousness.
The foundations of freedom could only be laid within us by our having been
emancipated from the direct influence of the outer world and thus – having
arrived at the stage of being able to form a habit by the steady repetition
of some act – it finally comes from our own being. It is so indeed:
the
attainment of the possibility of freedom for man is intimately connected
with the acquisition of habits"
[21] – not with those, of course, which have been implanted in us by
other people, but with those which we have developed or will develop out of
our own initiative on the basis of insight, resolution, and perseverance.
For complementary perspectives see:
♦ Physical Imbalance through Improper Eating Habits
♦ Bad Eating Habits as the Disorders of Will
♦ Conscious Establishment of New Eating Habits
♦ Establishing Healthy Eating Habits and Meal Rhythm
♦ Metamorphoses of Existing Eating Habits and Customs
