Eleventh Lecture

Now, when we understand this, we come to see how the spiritual essences of natural products are related to these processes, which constitute human beings as sleeping and waking. For example, it is peculiar that when we ingest a substance that is not part of the normal food system, namely lead, in any way, this lead always has the effect of first urging the human being to bring his astral body to the outside, just as happens in sleep. Lead actually has the effect of putting people into a state of sleep, pushing the astral body and the ego organization outward. Just imagine this vividly. People want to sleep when they consume lead. But in reality, they do not fall asleep. What happens is that the ego and the astral body are pushed out. But at the same time, lead prevents external influences from entering. Lead propels the astral body and the ego organization centrifugally outward, but it prevents the centripetal forces that act inwardly. The person falls half asleep, but cannot sleep completely because the effect of the outside world is hindered by the consumption of lead.