METAMORPHOSIS OF FOOD INTO INNER RHYTHMS OF MAN
Our mood of the soul – that is, the emotional state of our being – can be
affected by many things. It can be affected by weather or by other life
circumstances and events we are surrounded by; it can be affected by the
type of activity we perform and by the level of enthusiasm with which we do
things; and it can be affected also by our sympathies and antipathies
towards things, beings and phenomena we meet in our life. This includes also
the activity of nutrition and the food we consume. There is more than enough
evidence that intake of food and drink affects our mood [1],
and for that reason we need to investigate how such effects come into
existence. We are not referring here only to the most evident effect of when
our mood is uplifted when we consume something we really like, but also to
the more hidden influences of food on soul mood that are evolving in the
interior of our organism.
On the one side our mood is to a great extent dependent on the quality of
everything that enters into us via our sense organs which are above all
concentrated in our head. The most important senses which are involved in
the consumption of food and drink – the sense of taste, smell, vision,
hearing, warmth and touch – are inside or in the surrounding of our mouth.
With their mediation there enters into our soul various sense impression,
causing feelings of pleasure or displeasure – depending on our sympathies or
antipathies towards what we eat or drink. [2]
On the other side we can see from the description of the
EARTHLY NUTRITIONAL STREAM
that the material content of what has been absorbed from food and drink into
the blood circulation moves from the metabolic system through the rhythmic
system to the nervous system. For that reason and because of the fact that
three systems of our organism serve the various soul-spiritual functions, we
should expect that in its passage through our chest the absorbed nutrients
will have an effect on our soul mood. While the nerve-sense system enables
activities of perceiving and thinking, the metabolic-limb system enables us
to be active in the physical world. Inserted between is the rhythmic system, the seat of
our life of feelings and emotions. In accordance with this threefold
division "one must connect willing with metabolic activity and feeling with
rhythmical occurrences, no matter which organ it is in which metabolism or
rhythm appears." [3] Or in other words, the basis of
the activity of the Will is always a metabolic process even if this appears
in the organs which belong to other systems, e.g. lungs or brain. And the
basis of the activity of the feeling is always a rhythmical process even if
this appears in the organs which belong to other systems, e.g. nerves or
liver. Therefore our inner life of feelings is based on the sensing of the
inner rhythms which are set in motion in various parts of our organism by
all aforementioned influences, including the food.
With the aim to understand how in this case food influences our emotions we need to
look at the transition of nutrients from the metabolic into the rhythmic
system, and the key role of the blood circulation in this process. In
FOOD AS 'POISON' there is presented an important fact in regard to nutrition.
"When we take nutritive substances from without into our digestive canal
these nutritive substances have within themselves 'external vital activity'.
They pass through what we may call the first stage of filtering by being
taken in and digested by the stomach and what pertains to it; and they are
then worked up in more special details by the
inner cosmic system, and
conveyed to where they can also nourish the finest instrument of the
organism, the blood. At the same time we may readily conceive that the most
delicate system of all, the blood, must take into itself the most completely
filtered vital activities of the nutrient, and that, when anything whatever
enters into the blood, it contains by that time only the very least possible
amount of that inner vital activity that was in the substances when they
were taken in by the stomach. When the substances enter into the stomach
they still contain a considerable part of their own nature and essential
character, their own vital activity. But when once they are in the blood
they must have surrendered all this in so far as they become something new
in the blood. The blood is thus something which shields inwardly, in the
highest degree, all its processes, something that carries on its processes
in the greatest measure independently of the outer world." [4]
From this perspective we can describe the activity of nutrition as
"metabolic activity which unfolds itself towards the rhythmical. Digestive
activity is metabolic activity which is taken up by the rhythm of the
circulatory organs." [5] The essence of the transition from the metabolic to
the rhythmic system lies in the activity of taking up nutrients into man's
inner rhythm. "Blood, which is the instrument of human ego, stands there as
an entity that receives all its nourishment, everything that it takes from
the life of the outside world, carefully filtered by the organ-systems of
the spleen, liver, and gall-bladder. In this way the blood is made capable
of becoming a complete expression of the inner organisation of man, the
inner rhythm of man." [6] This is the healthy state of affairs in regard to
the absorption of food substances into the bloodstream.
There might occur an irregularity. "Let us assume that within the lower
sphere – that is to say, within the apparatus of nutrition and digestion in
the widest sense – there is a preponderance of the inner chemical or organic
forces of the food which has been eaten. In the healthy organism it is
essential that all the forces active and immanent in the foodstuffs
themselves should be overcome by the upper sphere, so that they do not in
any way interfere with the efficiency of the inner sphere of the organism
and that all activity from external chemistry and dynamics has been entirely
overcome. But the upper sphere may be inadequate to the task of penetrating
the lower, of thoroughly etherising it all through. The result is the
transference into the human organism of a preponderant process which is
foreign to the organism, a process such as normally takes place outside the
human body and should not operate within that body." [7]
The outcome of this irregularity is a disturbance of the inner rhythm which
is characteristic of man.
We need to be aware that the main task of the rhythmic system is the
task of balancing between activities of the nerve-sense system and the
metabolic-limb system. [8] "In a healthy organism any
upper function, whether it be associated with respiration or with the nerves
and senses, must somehow govern a specific function of the lower sphere and
proceed with its activity in harmony with it. There immediately arises an organic irregularity, whenever there is
a predominance of either the upper or the lower function, which destroys its
complementary equilibrium. There must always be a certain proportion and
correspondence between these two sets of activities, so that they complete
one another, master one another, proceed harmoniously as they are mutually
orientated. For there is this definite orientation of the upper and the
lower sphere. It is individually
different in individual human beings, but nevertheless it governs and
relates the whole of the upper processes to the whole of the lower."
[9]
With the help of the above explanations it becomes obvious that "in
these blood-processes we have before us something which,
if it becomes
irregular, unrhythmical, must cause irregularities in the greatest measure
in our entire organism. And since the blood is the expression of the
whole collection of organic processes we shall have to consider carefully,
in connection with irregularities of the blood, where abnormal phenomena are
manifest and to which particular course of processes we must attribute these
irregularities." [10] In
each case it is not difficult to grasp that everything that enters our blood
circulation from the intestines, has an important impact on the quality of
our blood-processes.
HEART AS A SENSE ORGAN FOR INNER HARMONIES OR DISHARMONIES
With the aim to know with which sense organ we perceive the changing
conditions of our inner world of harmonies and disharmonies we need to
direct our gaze to the heart which stands at the centre of everything that
enters our blood circulation from the outside world. Before we do this we
need, however, to overcome the very widespread misconception about the role
of the heart. "What is the common belief
about the nature of the human heart? It is regarded as a kind of pump, to
send the blood into the various organs." [11] But "the heart is not a
pump! The heart is moved by the circulation of the blood; it is not the
pumping action of the heart that moves the blood. The heart has no more to
do with blood circulation than a thermometer does with the production of
outer heat or cold. Just as the thermometer is nothing more than an
instrument for registering the degree of heat or cold, so your heart is
nothing more than an apparatus for registering what takes place in the
circulation and what flows into this from the metabolic system. This is a
golden rule that we must heed if we wish to understand the human being."
[12]
If we want to grasp the true role of the heart, we need to be aware that "the
most important fact about the heart is that its activity is not a cause but
an effect. You will understand this if you consider the polarity between all
the organic activities centring round nutrition, and the breathing that
receives air. An unbiased observation will show a certain contrast and
opposition between the process of respiration and the process of digestion.
The heart originates as a 'damming up' organ between the lower activities of
the organism, the intake and working up of food, and the upper activities,
the lowest of which is the respiratory. A damming up organ is inserted and
its action is therefore a product of the interplay between the liquefied
foodstuffs and the air absorbed from the outside. All that can be observed
in the heart must be looked upon as an effect, not a cause – as a mechanical
effect, to begin with. The heart action is a result of these
inter-penetrating currents, the watery and the airy. The heart is a sense
organ, and even if its sensory function is subconscious, nevertheless it
serves to enable the 'upper' activities to feel and perceive the 'lower.' As
you perceive external colours through your eyes, so do you perceive, dimly
and subconsciously through your heart, what goes on down in the abdomen. The
heart is an organ for inner perception." [13]
From a spiritual-scientific perspective we do not have in our organism
just physical senses, but we have also supersensible organs of perception.
In the case of the physical "sense organs, something is being continued from
outside inwards, a piece of the external world is continuing on into the
inner world. There is even biological proof of this. In the development of
the embryo of certain lower animals the eye is formed through an indentation which is then filled from
outside. The eye is built into the organism, as it were; it does not grow
out of the organism. The sense organs, therefore, are a piece of the
external world within the organism. But they open outwards. In the sense
organs the external world passes into the organism like a gulf. The
liver is
enclosed on all sides, but nonetheless it is a sense organ, a sense organ
which, in the unconscious, shows a high degree of sensibility for the value
of the different substances we take as foodstuffs. We can only understand
what is going on in digestion, in the process of nourishment, when we no
longer ascribe to the liver only those physical processes which are ascribed
to it today. These processes are the expression of the activity of spirit
and soul. We
must see the liver as an inner sense organ for the perception of the process
of nourishment. For this reason the liver is much more closely related to
the substances of the earth than are the familiar sense organs. With the eye
we are exposed to the working of the ether, with the ear we are exposed to
the air; but the liver is directly exposed to the qualities of the
substances in the external world and it has to perceive these qualities.
The heart is a sense organ of a different kind. The perceptive faculty
of the liver is exposed to external substances that come into the human
being. The heart is a sense organ for perceiving the inner being of man. It
has been often said that it is nonsense to regard the heart as a kind of
pump which drives the blood through the arteries. The movement of the blood
is the result of the activity of the ego and astral body, and the heart is
merely a sense organ which perceives the circulation, particularly the
circulation from the lower to the upper man. The task of the liver is to
perceive, in the digestive process, what value a carbohydrate, let us say,
has for the human being. The task of the heart is to see how astral body and
ego are working on the human being. Therefore the heart is an entirely
spiritual sense organ, the liver a wholly material one. This distinction
must be made." [14]
Here we need to explain why in the main picture the heart is positioned
in the middle between the upper and the lower sphere of human organism. If
we look carefully at the
THREEFOLD HUMAN BEING, we can notice that each of
the three main systems contains two subsystems:
- the nerve-sense system contains the system of
nerves and the system of sense organs;
- the rhythmic system contains the breathing system and circulatory
system;
- the metabolic-limb system contains metabolic system and system of
limbs.
If we look at the rhythmic system, we see the lungs as the central organ of
the breathing system and the heart as the central organ of blood circulation.
From the above picture it is evident that the breathing system has a closer link
to the nerve-sense system, and blood circulation to the metabolic system. In
other words, the activity of breathing belongs to the upper sphere of human
organism which is open to the outer world. The blood circulation belongs to
man's inner world. The lower sphere includes processes of "nutrition and
digestion in the widest sense, up to their interaction with respiration. The
interaction goes on in a rhythmic activity. But linked up with and belonging to
the respiratory activity there is the sensory and nervous activity, which
includes all that appertains to external perception and its continuation and
processing in the nervous activity. Thus:
- respiration and sensory and nervous activity form one pole of the human
organism;
- nutrition, digestion, and metabolism in its
usual sense, form the other pole of our organisation.
The heart is primarily
that organ whose perceptible motion expresses the equilibrium between the
upper and lower processes; in relation to the soul – or perhaps more
accurately in the subconscious – the heart is the perceptive organ that mediates
between these two poles of the total human organisation."
[15] Here we have an explanation on how intake of food and drinks can affect
our inward mood due to ability of the heart to sense and feel what is going
on inside our blood circulation which is continually influenced by
nourishing substances and forces entering into it day after day. And as
a part of the rhythmic system the heart also perceives to what degree the
activities and processes of upper and lower sphere of human being harmonise
in his middle sphere. The outcomes of the heart's
supersensible perceptions
are continually surfacing from the unconscious depths of our soul and
affecting – we could also say 'colouring' – our daily mood.
We are here confronted with the task of finding the healthy balance
between upper and lower sphere of our organism. It is not a big issue if we
occasionally consume things which become the cause of disharmony, but only
when our daily eating habits become the continuous source of arrhythmic
disruptions. Of course, the final result will depend on the cumulative
effects of all that we do. However, we must keep in mind that "the
connection between the world and the human being is not such that the world
leaves us quite passive – that it sends its forces into us in two different
ways, while we are simply harnessed to their counteracting influences. No,
it is not like that; but rather, the essential thing with regard to man is
the fact that at last a residue always remains for his own inner activity;
and that it is left ultimately to man himself to bring about the inner
equilibrium" [16]
in his organism. This means that we need to establish the proper balance
between upper and lower sphere on an individual basis. [17]
For a complementary perspective see:
♦ RHYTHMICAL LIFE OF NUTRITION
DIETARY CONCLUSIONS & PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS
Usually we are aware of the effect of the food on our mood, because of
our experiences of the uplifting mood effect of eating one of our favourite
foods or meals. However, we are not aware to the same degree of the effects
of food on our soul mood which work via unconscious paths described in this
nutritional principle. [18] If
we were aware of them then we could easily find the origin of many
depressive moods so prevalent today in affluent societies. With the help of
knowledge of these influences it must be evident that the regular
consumption of junk food – that is, low-quality food with bad vibrations –
brings the constant disturbances that are upsetting the balance between
lower and upper spheres of those people who are consuming such food.
There are numerous negative impacts of such disharmonies. One example is
a vicious circle of overconsumption of bad quality food. People eat with the
aim to experience the immediate gratification and the uplifting of their
mood. Then they become depressed because of the inner disharmony caused by
food, which in turn, causes a new urge for eating again, and so on. The
first step out of this circle is to start eating good quality food which
will have a more harmonious effect on the inner rhythms of people. Of
course, we cannot attain the long-term solution without progress in our
overall spiritual development. In fact, it is hard to make any positive
dietary changes without a better understanding of our own being, including
the supersensible effects of various types of food.
With the help of this principle we can add another perspective on the
issue of food quality. Although our liver and heart perform their activities
of sensing the quality of what enters into our inner world through nutrition
on the subconscious level, the outcome of their sensing emerges in our soul
as good or bad mood of the soul. The outcome is dependent from two factors:
- on the quality of food we consume;
- on our ability to perform the metamorphosis of food substances into
our specific inner rhythms. [19]
Thus we can find out that our body is an instrument which in any case –
if we are aware or not – as a matter of fact perceives the more hidden
quality attributes of food and drink we consume. The degree of awareness is,
of course, dependent on the degree and character of our spiritual
development. If you haven't yet developed the capacity of conscious
perceiving with your inner organs, then the knowledge of the nutritional
principles presented on this website will be a great help, for this
knowledge will enable you to balance 'the music of the spheres' – that is,
the rhythms of the upper and the lower sphere of your organism – in a better
way.
♣ For practical guidelines on how
we can approach this task see
GENERAL NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES.
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.
