{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p014-p025","extent":"range","passage_number":14,"through":25,"paragraph_count":12,"first_locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p014","last_locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p025","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"title":"Questions Regarding Nutrition in the Light of Spiritual Science","date":"1908-12-17","location":null,"alignment_confidence":"medium","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"eLib2014","book_title":"Where and How Does One Find the Spirit?","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA057/English/eLib2014/19081217p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["English"]},"record":{"record_type":"unknown","scope":"volume","note":"How this text was taken down (shorthand transcript, listeners' notes or manuscript) is not on record here. Unknown is not an assurance of a stenogram: check the edition's own notes before resting an argument on one word.","evidence":null,"evidence_translation":null,"evidence_source":null},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.01,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":4885,"original_word_count":4815,"may_be_abridged":false},"site_heading":null,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p014-p025","json_url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p014-p025.json","lecture_url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17#p014","word_count":2374,"quote_safe":true,"passages":[{"passage_number":14,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p014","text":"In addition to the physical and etheric bodies, humans also have an astral body. Plants do not have this. What helps sunlight to build up plants in such a wonderful way is the etheric body. On the one hand, this is oriented toward matter. Humans could not develop their physical organism if they did not do something that is in a certain sense the opposite of what plants do. Even in the process of breathing, humans do something opposite. Here, humans already go through the opposite process. We can say the same thing about all human nutrition. We can say that nutrition must take place in such a way that everything that is built up in the plant is broken down again in the human being. The process in the human being is a very peculiar one. If only the etheric body built up a physical body, consciousness and soul feeling would never arise. What the etheric body has built up must always be destroyed and broken down again internally. So although the etheric body fights against decay, a gradual decay still occurs. And what causes this decay, what always prevents human beings from being plants, is the astral body.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":200,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p014","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p014","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p014"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 57/1908-12-17/p014"],"length_check":{"de_words":191,"en_words":200,"ratio":1.05,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":15,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p015","text":"Sunlight and the human astral body are, in a sense, two opposite things. For those who become acquainted with the astral body through clairvoyant consciousness, the astral body is an inner light of a spiritual nature, invisible to the outer eye. This astral body is a spiritual body of light. It is the opposite of the outer, outwardly shining light. Imagine sunlight becoming weaker and weaker until it goes out, and then let it go even further in the other direction, let it become negative, and you have inner light. And this inner light has the opposite task to that of the outer light, which is to build up the plant body from inorganic substances. The inner light, which initiates the partial destruction that alone makes consciousness possible, brings human beings to a higher level than that occupied by plants, by transforming the process of plants into its opposite. Thus, through their inner light, human beings stand in a certain contrast to plants. This is the spiritual understanding of the matter, and if we were to consider it further, we would see how the destruction wrought by the astral body is continued by the ego. But we need not concern ourselves with that today.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":204,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p015","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p015","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p015"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":202,"en_words":204,"ratio":1.01,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":16,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p016","text":"Let us now consider the relationship between humans and plants when it becomes so real that humans take their nutrients from plants. In themselves, they form a continuation of the plant for the whole world process. What is built up by sunlight is repeatedly destroyed by the astral body, but in doing so it integrates the nervous system into the human being and thereby elevates life to a conscious one. Thus, because it is a negative light body, the astral body is the other pole, opposite to the plant. This process of building up the plant organism is based on something spiritual, for Spiritual Science shows us more and more how what appears to us as light is also only the outer expression of something spiritual. Through light, something spiritual flows to us continuously; the light of the spirits flows to us. What lies behind this physical light is what appears, divided into parts, in the astral body. Outwardly, in the sunlight, it appears in its physical form; in the astral body, it appears in an astral form. The spiritual aspect of light works within us to build up our nervous system. The plant world and human life work together in such a wonderful way.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":205,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p016","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p016","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p016"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 57/1908-12-17/p016"],"length_check":{"de_words":190,"en_words":205,"ratio":1.08,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":17,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p017","text":"Let us now assume that human beings enter into a relationship with the animal world through food. Then the situation is different. In the creature from which they obtain their food, the process has already been completed in a certain sense. What they otherwise obtain in a virgin and fresh state from plants has already been partially transformed and prepared in animals. For the animal, too, is already incorporating an astral body and a nervous system. So humans then take in something that does not come to them in a virgin state, but has already undergone the process, has already absorbed astral forces. What lives in the animal already has developed astral forces within itself. Now one might believe that this would save humans work. But this idea is not entirely correct. Consider the following: I build a house from various materials. I take the original materials. Then I can build the house entirely according to my original intentions. But suppose three or four other people have already worked on it piece by piece, and now I am supposed to make a whole out of it. Will that make my work easier? No, certainly not. You will read in widely available literature that it makes work easier for people to take on something that has already been worked on. But it is precisely by taking on the original that people become more flexible and independent beings.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":236,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p017","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p017","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p017"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":228,"en_words":236,"ratio":1.04,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":18,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p018","text":"Another image: Someone has a scale with two weighing pans. Equal weights keep the balance. There may be fifty pounds on each side. But this is not always the case. I can take a scale on which the weight can be shifted. Then, at twice the distance, we only need half the weight. Here, the weight is determined by the distance. Similarly, it is not only the quantity of forces that matters, but especially the fineness of the substances. Animals process substances in a more imperfect way. What is absorbed by humans continues to have an effect through what has happened to it through the animal's astral body, and humans then have to overcome this. But because the astral body has had such an effect that a process has already taken place in a conscious being, humans absorb something into their organism that affects their nervous system.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":147,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p018","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p018","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p018"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 57/1908-12-17/p018"],"length_check":{"de_words":149,"en_words":147,"ratio":0.99,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":19,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p019","text":"This is the fundamental difference between food from the plant kingdom and food from the animal kingdom. Food from the animal kingdom has a very specific effect on the nervous system and thus on the astral body. But with plant-based food, the nervous system remains unaffected by anything external. However, humans must then also thank themselves for everything related to the nervous system. As a result, the effects of their nerves are not influenced by foreign products, but only by what originates within themselves. Anyone who knows how much of the human organism depends on the nervous system will understand what this means. When humans build up their own nervous system, it is fully receptive to what humans should expect of it in relation to the spiritual world. Humans owe it to their plant-based diet that they can look up to the greater connections between things, which elevate them above the prejudices that arise from the narrow limits of personal existence. Wherever people freely and carefree regulate their lives and thoughts from a broad perspective, they owe this rapid overview to their nutritional relationship with the plant world. Where people allow themselves to be carried away by anger, antipathy, and prejudice, they owe this to their food from the animal world.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":211,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p019","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p019","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p019"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":198,"en_words":211,"ratio":1.07,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":20,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p020","text":"However, this is not intended to be an argument in favor of a plant-based diet. On the contrary: animal-based food was necessary for humans and is still necessary in many cases today, because humans should be grounded on earth, should be anchored in the personal. Everything that has led humans to their personal interests is connected with animal-based food. The fact that there have been people who have waged wars, who have had sympathy and antipathy, sensual passions for one another, comes from animal food. But the fact that humans did not become absorbed in their narrow interests, that they can grasp general interests, is due to their relationship to the plant world in terms of food. Thus, certain peoples who prefer plant-based food have a greater predisposition toward the spiritual, while other peoples develop more bravery, courage, and boldness, which are also necessary for life. These things are inconceivable without a personal element, and this is not possible without animal-based food.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":162,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p020","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p020","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p020"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":157,"en_words":162,"ratio":1.03,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":21,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p021","text":"Today we are discussing these questions from a very general human standpoint. But this makes it clear to us that human beings can lean toward one side or the other, that is, they can also become absorbed in their personal interests through animal food. This clouds their sense of the big picture of existence. Most of the time, people don't see how it is rooted in food when they say: Now I don't know again how to do this or that, how did he do it? This inability to see the big picture comes from food. Compare this with someone who can see the big picture. You can then look back at the food these people ate and perhaps also at the food their ancestors ate. A person who has a virgin nervous system in their ancestral line is completely different. This person has a different sense of the big picture. Sometimes, a life cannot destroy what the ancestors have established. If, for example, a person who descends from farmers stirs up what is inside him, it is only because he was more sensitive.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":184,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p021","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p021","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p021"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":194,"en_words":184,"ratio":0.95,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":22,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p022","text":"Progress will consist in the fact that, insofar as the protein requirement is not prepared within him, in human nature itself, man will limit himself in animal food to that which is not yet inflamed by passions, such as milk. Plant food will occupy an ever greater place in the human diet.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":52,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p022","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p022","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p022"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":23,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p023","text":"With regard to individual foods, we can highlight certain advantages of plant-based nutrition. When humans obtain their protein from plant-based foods, which admittedly requires harder work, they develop strengths that refresh their nervous system. Much of what humanity would face if meat-based nutrition became predominant can be avoided by giving preference to plant-based foods. We can see how contradictory the effects of vegetarian and animal-based foods are. To illustrate this, we can say the following: Let us look at the physical process under the influence of meat-based foods. The red blood cells become heavy and darker, and the blood has a greater tendency to clot. Salts and phosphates are more easily deposited. With a predominantly plant-based diet, the blood cells' tendency to settle is much lower. It becomes possible for humans to prevent their blood from becoming too dark in color. This enables them to control the connection between their thoughts from their ego, whereas heavy blood is an expression of their slavish devotion to what is incorporated into their astral body through animal food. This image shows us, as an external expression of truth, what we wanted to say. Human beings become stronger internally through their relationship with the plant world. Through meat-based nutrition, they incorporate something that gradually becomes foreign matter, which goes its own way within them. This can be avoided if the diet consists primarily of plants. When the substances within us go their own way, they exert forces that cause hysterical and epileptic states. Because the nervous system receives these impregnations from outside, it succumbs to various nervous disorders. Thus we see how, in a certain sense, “man is what he eats.”","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":277,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p023","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p023","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p023"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":273,"en_words":277,"ratio":1.01,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. The German original passage(s) above are the edition-invariant anchor — fetch them (lang='de') to verify wording before quoting across editions."},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"eLib2014","book_title":"Where and How Does One Find the Spirit?","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA057/English/eLib2014/19081217p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 57/1908-12-17/p023"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"medium","note":"Every load-bearing name in the German counterpart appears in this English passage. That is a check on NAMES only: a translation can keep every name and still reverse who acts on whom, change a number, or soften a claim. Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":24,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p024","text":"Much more could be proven in detail, but two examples show us that we must not be one-sided. A one-sided vegetarian might say, “We must not enjoy milk, butter, and cheese.” But milk is a product in which the etheric body is primarily involved in its production in animals. The astral body is involved to a lesser extent. In the early stages of life, as an infant, a person can only live on milk. It contains everything they need. In the production of milk, the astral body is only involved to a limited extent. If, at an older age, one enjoys mainly milk, or possibly exclusively milk, this has a very special effect. Because the person then consumes nothing that has already been processed externally and that could influence their astral body, and because, on the other hand, they consume something in the milk that has already been prepared, they are able to develop within themselves special powers of their etheric body that can have healing effects on their fellow human beings. Healers who want to have a healing effect on their fellow human beings have a special aid in the exclusive consumption of milk.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":195,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p024","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p024","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p024"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":184,"en_words":195,"ratio":1.06,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":25,"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p025","text":"On the other hand, we want to describe the influence of a stimulant taken from the plant world, the influence of alcohol. This has a very special significance. It only arises when the actual plant process, that which happens through the wonderful effect of light, of which the astral body is the opposite, has ceased. Then a process begins that takes place on a lower level and affects humans even more than animal food. Human beings bring the substances to the astral body and, through the astral body, bring them into a special structure. But when what is to be brought to the astral body decomposes in the way that alcohol does, what would otherwise happen through the astral body happens without the astral body, namely the effect on the ego and the blood. The effect of alcohol is that what should otherwise happen through the free decision of the ego happens through alcohol. In a certain sense, it is true that a person who enjoys alcohol needs less food. They allow their blood to be permeated by the forces of alcohol; they give to the foreign substance what they themselves should do. In a certain sense, one can say that in such a person, alcohol thinks, feels, and senses. By surrendering to alcohol what should be subject to his ego, the person places himself under the compulsion of an external force. He acquires a material ego. The person may say: I feel a revitalization of my ego as a result. Certainly, but it is not he, but something else to which he has banished his ego. We could show in many ways how a person can become more and more what he eats. But Spiritual Science also shows us how a person can become free from the forces of food.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":301,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p025","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p025","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p025"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":308,"en_words":301,"ratio":0.98,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Das, was dem Sonnenlichte hilft, die Pflanzen in so wunderbarer Weise aufzubauen, das ist der Ätherleib. Dieser ist auf der einen Seite den Stoffen zugewandt. Der Mensch könnte seinen physischen Organismus nicht entwickeln, wenn er nicht etwas täte, was in gewisser Weise entgegengesetzt ist dem, was die Pflanze tut. Schon in dem Atmungsprozefß tut der Mensch etwas Gegensätzliches. Der Mensch macht hier schon den gegenteiligen Prozeß durch. Dasselbe können wir sagen in bezug auf alle Ernährung des Menschen. Wir können sagen: Die Ernährung muß so vor sich gehen, daß alles, was in der Pflanze aufgebaut wird, im Menschen wieder abgebaut wird. Der Prozeß im Menschen ist ein sehr eigentümlicher. Wenn nur der Ätherleib einen physischen Leib aufbaute, so würde niemals Bewußtsein, Seelenempfindung auftreten. Es muß innerlich immer wieder zerstört, abgebaut werden, was der Ätherleib aufgebaut hat. So ist zwar der Ätherleib ein Kämpfer gegen den Zerfall, aber trotzdem tritt immer ein stückweiser Zerfall ein. Und dasjenige, was diesen Zerfall bewirkt, was immer den Menschen hindert, Pflanze zu sein, das ist der astralische Leib.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":191,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p014"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p015","passage_number":15,"text":"Das Sonnenlicht und der menschliche astralische Leib sind in gewisser Weise zwei entgegengesetzte Dinge. Für den, der mit hellseherishem Bewußtsein des Menschen astralischen Leib kennenlernt, für den ist der astralische Leib ein inneres Licht, das geistiger Art ist, für das äußere Auge unsichtbar. Ein geistiger Lichtleib ist dieser astralische Leib. Er ist der Gegensatz zu dem äußeren, äußerlich leuchtenden Licht. Denken Sie sich einmal das Sonnenlicht immer schwächer werdend, bis es erlischt, und lassen Sie es jetzt noch weiter nach der anderen Seite gehen, lassen Sie es negativ werden, so haben Sie inneres Licht. Und dieses innere Licht hat die entgegengesetzte Aufgabe als das äußere Licht, das aus anorganischen Stoffen den pflanzlichen Leib aufbauen soll. Das innere Licht, das die partielle Zerstörung einleitet, durch die allein Bewußtsein möglich ist, bringt den Menschen zu einer höheren Stufe, als die Pflanze sie einnimmt, dadurch, daß der Prozeß der Pflanzen in einen entgegengesetzten verwandelt wird. So steht der Mensch durch sein inneres Licht in einem gewissen Gegensatz zur Pflanze. Das ist die Sache geistig aufgefaßt, und wir würden bei weiterer Betrachtung sehen, wie die durch den astralischen Leib bewirkte Zerstörung durch das Ich weiter fortgesetzt wird. Aber das braucht uns heute nicht weiter zu beschäftigen.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":202,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p015"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p016","passage_number":16,"text":"Nehmen wir jetzt das Verhältnis des Menschen zur Pflanze, wenn es so real wird, daß der Mensch seine Nahrungsstoffe aus der Pflanze aufnimmt. Er bildet in sich selber für den ganzen Weltprozeß eine Fortsetzung der Pflanze. Was durch das Sonnenlicht aufgebaut wird, das zerstört der astralische Leib zwar immer wieder, aber er gliedert dadurch dem Menschen das Nervensystem ein und erhebt dadurch das Leben zu einem bewußten. So ist der astralische Leib dadurch, daß er ein negativer Lichtleib ist, der andere Pol, der dem pflanzlichen entgegengesetzt ist. Diesem Prozeß des Aufbauens des Pflanzenorganismus liegt ein Geistiges zugrunde, denn die Geisteswissenschaft zeigt uns immer mehr, wie das, was uns als Licht erscheint, auch nur der äußere Ausdruck eines Geistigen ist. Durch das Licht fließt uns fortwährend Geistiges zu, das Licht der Geister fließt uns zu. Was sich hinter diesem physischen Licht verbirgt, das ist es, was in Teile zerteilt auch im astralischen Leibe erscheint. Außerlich im Sonnenlichte erscheint es in seiner physischen Form, im astralischen Leibe in astralischer Weise. Das Geistige des Lichtes arbeitet in uns innerlich am Aufbau unseres Nervensystems. So wunderbar wirken zusammen das pflanzliche und das menschliche Leben.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":190,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p016"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p017","passage_number":17,"text":"Nehmen wir nun an, der Mensch tritt durch die Nahrung in ein Verhältnis mit der tierischen Welt. Dann ist die Sache anders. In dem Wesen, dem er dann seine Nahrungsmittel entnimmt, ist in gewisser Weise der Prozeß schon vollzogen. Was er sonst jungfräulich und frisch von der Pflanze entnimmt, das ist im Tiere schon teilweise umgewandelt, schon vorbereitet. Denn auch das Tier gliedert sich schon einen astralischen Leib und ein Nervensystem ein. So nimmt der Mensch dann etwas auf, was ihm nicht jungfräulich entgegentritt, sondern was den Prozeß schon durchgemacht hat, was schon astralische Kräfte aufgenommen hat. Was im Tiere lebt, das hat schon in sich entwickelte Kräfte des Astralischen. Nun könnte man glauben, daß dadurch dem Menschen Arbeit erspart würde. Dieser Gedanke ist aber nicht ganz richtig. Denken Sie sich einmal folgendes: Ich mache aus verschiedenen Gerätschaften ein Haus. Ich nehme die ursprünglichen Gerätschaften. Da kann ich das Haus ganz nach meinen ursprünglichen Intentionen aufbauen. Nehmen wir aber an, drei oder vier andere Personen haben schon daran stückweise gearbeitet und nun soll ich daraus ein Ganzes machen. Wird mir das die Arbeit erleichtern? Nein, ganz gewiß nicht. Sie werden in einer weitverbreiteten Literatur lesen, daß dem Menschen dadurch eben die Arbeit erleichtert würde, daß er etwas aufnimmt, an dem schon vorgearbeitet ist. Aber der Mensch wird gerade dadurch ein beweglicheres, selbständigeres Wesen, daß er das Ursprüngliche aufnimmt.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":228,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p017"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p018","passage_number":18,"text":"Noch ein Bild: Jemand hat eine Waage mit zwei Waagschalen. Gleiche Gewichte halten sich das Gleichgewicht. Auf beiden Seiten mögen fünfzig Pfund liegen. Aber so ist es nicht immer. Ich kann eine Waage nehmen, auf der das Gewicht zu verschieben ist. Wir haben dann in doppelt so großer Entfernung nur halb so großes Gewicht nötig. Hier wird das Gewicht durch die Entfernung bestimmt. Ebenso kommt es nicht nur auf die Menge der Kräfte an, sondern besonders auf die Feinheit der Stoffe. Das Tier verarbeitet die Stoffe in unvollkommenerem Sinne. Was da aufgenommen wird vom Menschen, wirkt fort durch das, was durch den Astralleib des Tieres daran geschehen ist, und das hat der Mensch dann erst zu überwinden. Aber weil ein Astralleib so gewirkt hat, daß in einem bewußten Wesen bereits ein Prozeß sich abgespielt hat, so bekommt der Mensch etwas in seinen Organismus hinein, was auf sein Nervensystem einwirkt.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":149,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p018"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p019","passage_number":19,"text":"Das ist der Grundunterschied zwischen Nahrung aus dem Pflanzenreich und Nahrung aus dem Tierreich. Nahrung aus dem Tierreich wirkt in ganz spezifischer Weise auf das Nervensystem und damit auf den Astralleib. Aber bei pflanzlicher Nahrung bleibt das Nervensystem unberührt durch etwas Äußeres. Der Mensch muß sich dann allerdings auch alles selber verdanken in bezug auf das Nervensystem. Dadurch aber durchströmen die Wirkungen seiner Nerven nicht fremde Produkte, sondern nur das, was in ihm selbst urständet. Wer weiß, wie viel im menschlichen Organismus vom Nervensystem abhängt, der wird verstehen, was das heißt. Wenn der Mensch sein Nervensystem selbst aufbaut, so ist es voll empfänglich für das, was der Mensch ihm zumuten soll in bezug auf die geistige Welt. Seiner Nahrung aus der Pflanzenwelt verdankt der Mensch das, daß er hinaufblicken kann zu den großen Zusammenhängen der Dinge, die ihn erheben über die Vorurteile, die aus den engen Grenzen des persönlichen Seins entspringen. Überall, wo der Mensch frei und unbekümmert aus den großen Gesichtspunkten heraus Leben und Denken regelt, da verdankt er diesen raschen Überblick seiner Nahrungsbeziehung zur Pflanzenwelt. Da, wo der Mensch durch Zorn, Antipathie, durch Vorurteile sich hinreißen läßt, da verdankt er das seiner Nahrung aus der Tierwelt.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":198,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p019"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p020","passage_number":20,"text":"Es soll hier aber nicht agitiert werden für pflanzliche Nahrung. Im Gegenteil: Die tierische Nahrung war dem Menschen notwendig und ist vielfach noch heute notwendig, weil der Mensch auf der Erde fest sein sollte, ins Persönliche eingeklemmt sein sollte. Alles, was den Menschen zu seinen persönlichen Interessen gebracht hat, das hängt zusammen mit der tierischen Nahrung. Daß es Menschen gegeben hat, die Kriege geführt haben, die Sympathie und Antipathie, sinnliche Leidenschaften zueinander hatten, das kommt her von der tierischen Nahrung. Daß aber der Mensch nicht in den engeren Interessen aufging, daß er allgemeine Interessen fassen kann, das verdankt er seinen Beziehungen zur Pflanzenwelt in bezug auf die Nahrung. So gehen ja auch bei gewissen Völkern, die vorzugsweise pflanzliche Nahrung nehmen, die Anlagen mehr zum Spirituellen, während andere Völker mehr Tapferkeit, Mut, Kühnheit entwickeln, die ja auch zum Leben nötig sind. Diese Dinge sind ohne persönliches Element nicht zu denken, und dieses ist nicht möglich ohne tierische Nahrung.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":157,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p020"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p021","passage_number":21,"text":"Wir sprechen heute über diese Fragen von ganz allgemein menschlichem Standpunkte aus. Aber das macht uns klar, daß der Mensch nach dieser oder jener Seite ausschlagen kann, sich also auch in seine persönlichen Interessen hineinversenken kann durch die tierische Nahrung. Dadurch wird sein Sinn getrübt in bezug auf die große Überschau des Daseins. Man sieht meistens nicht, wie es in der Nahrung begründet ist, wenn der Mensch sagt: Nun weiß ich wieder nicht, wie soll ich dies oder das machen, wie hat er es gemacht? — Diese Unmöglichkeit des Überschauens der Zusammenhänge kommt von der Nahrung her. Vergleichen Sie das mit einem, der große Zusammenhänge überschauen kann. Sie können dann auf die Nahrung dieser Menschen und vielleicht auch auf die Nahrung der Vorfahren zurückblicken. Ganz anders ist ein Mensch, der schon in seiner Vorfahrenreihe ein jungfräuliches Nervensystem hat. Dieser Mensch hat einen anderen Sinn für die großen Zusammenhänge. Ein Leben kann da manchmal das gar nicht zerstören, was die Vorfahren begründet haben. Wenn da auch ein Mensch, der zum Beispiel von Bauern abstammt, doch das aufstachelt, was er in sich hat, so ist es eben nur durch das Fleisch herausgekommen, weil er empfindlicher war.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":194,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p021"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p022","passage_number":22,"text":"Der Fortschritt wird darin bestehen, daß der Mensch, insofern der Eiweißbedarf nicht in ihm, in der menschlichen Natur selbst zubereitet ist, sich in der tierischen Nahrung beschränkt auf dasjenige, was noch nicht von Leidenschaften durchglüht ist, wie Milch. Die Pflanzennahrung wird einen immer weiteren Raum einnehmen in der menschlichen Nahrung.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":50,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p022"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p023","passage_number":23,"text":"In bezug auf einzelne Nahrungsmittel können wir gewisse Vorzüge der Pflanzenkost hervorheben. Wenn der Mensch sich sein Eiweiß aus der Pflanzenkost holt, wobei allerdings härtere Arbeit erforderlich ist, so entwickelt er Kräfte, die sein Nervensystem frischer machen. Vieles, dem die Menschheit entgegengehen würde, wenn die Fleischnahrung überhand nähme, wird vermieden durch vorzugsweises Berücksichtigen der Pflanzenkost. An der vegetarischen und animalischen Nahrung können wir sehen, wie gegensätzlich sie wirken. Zur Illustration können wir folgendes sagen: Sehen wir uns den physischen Prozeß an unter dem Einfluß von Fleischnahrung. Die roten Blutkörperchen werden schwer, dunkler, das Blut hat eine größere Neigung zu gerinnen. Es bilden sich in leichterer Weise Einschläge von Salzen, von Phosphaten. Bei vorzugsweise pflanzlicher Nahrung ist die Senkungskraft der Blutkörperchen viel geringer. Es wird dem Menschen möglich, das Blut nicht bis zur dunkelsten Färbung kommen zu lassen. Dadurch aber ist er gerade imstande, vom Ich aus den Zusammenhang seiner Gedanken zu beherrschen, während schweres Blut ein Ausdruck dafür ist, daß er sklavisch hingegeben ist an das, was seinem astralischen Leibe durch die Tiernahrung eingegliedert ist. Dieses Bild zeigt uns durchaus als äußeren Wahrheitsausdruck, was wir sagen wollten. Der Mensch wird durch das Verhältnis zur Pflanzenwelt innerlich kräftiger. Durch Fleischnahrung gliedert er sich etwas ein, was nach und nach zu wirklichen Fremdstoffen wird, die eigene Wege gehen in ihm. Das wird vermieden, wenn die Nahrung vorzugsweise aus Pflanzen besteht. Wenn die Stoffe in uns eigene Wege gehen, so üben sie gerade Kräfte aus, die hysterische, epileptische Zustände hervorrufen. Weil das Nervensystem diese Imprägnierungen von außen erhält, verfällt es den verschiedenartigen Nervenkrankheiten. So sehen wir, wie in gewisser Beziehung «der Mensch ist, was er ißt».","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":273,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p023"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p024","passage_number":24,"text":"In Einzelheiten wäre noch viel mehr nachweisbar, aber durch zwei Beispiele kommen wir darauf, daß man nicht einseitig sein darf. Ein einseitiger Vegetarier könnte sagen: «Wir dürfen nicht Milch, Butter und Käse genießen.» Aber die Milch ist ein Produkt, an dem im Tiere bei der Erzeugung vorzugsweise der Ätherleib beteiligt ist. Der Astralleib ist zum geringsten Teile daran beteiligt. Der Mensch kann ja in den ersten Zeiten seines Lebens als Säugling nur von Milch leben. Da ist alles darinnen, was er braucht. Bei der Bereitung der Milch kommt der astralische Leib nur in seiner Grenze in Betracht. Wenn man in höherem Alter hauptsächlich Milch, womöglich ausschließlich Milch genießt, so erzielt man damit eine ganz besondere Wirkung. Weil der Mensch dann nichts aufnimmt, was schon äußerlich bearbeitet ist und was seinen Astralleib beeinflussen kann, und weil er auf der anderen Seite in der Milch etwas aufnimmt, was schon vorbereitet ist, so ist er imstande, besondere Kräfte seines Ätherleibes, die heilende Wirkungen auf die Mitmenschen ausüben können, in sich zu entwickeln. Heiler, die heilend auf ihre Mitmenschen einwirken wollen, haben ein besonderes Hilfsmittel in ausschließlichem Milchgenuß.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":184,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p024"},{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p025","passage_number":25,"text":"Auf der anderen Seite wollen wir den Einfluß eines Genußmittels schildern, das aus der Pflanzenwelt genommen wird, den Einfluß des Alkohols. Dieser hat eine ganz besondere Bedeutung. Er entsteht erst dann, wenn der eigentliche pflanzliche Prozeß, das, was durch die wunderbare Einwirkung des Lichtes geschieht, wovon der astralische Leib das Gegenteil ist, aufgehört hat. Dann beginnt ein Prozeß, der sich auf einer niederen Stufe abspielt und den Menschen noch mehr beeinträchtigt als tierische Nahrung. Der Mensch bringt die Stoffe bis zum astralischen Leibe heran, bringt sie durch den Astralleib in ein besonderes Gefüge. Wenn aber das, was an den Astralleib herangebracht werden soll, in der Weise zerfällt, wie es beim Alkohol der Fall ist, so geschieht das, was sonst durch den Astralleib geschehen soll, ohne den Astralleib, nämlich die Wirkung auf das Ich und das Blut. Die Wirkung des Alkohols ist die, daß das, was sonst aus freiem Entschluß des Ichs geschehen soll, durch den Alkohol geschieht. In gewisser Beziehung ist es richtig, daß ein Mensch, der Alkohol genießt, weniger Nahrung nötig hat. Er läßt sein Blut durchziehen von den Kräften des Alkohols; er gibt dem Fremden ab, was er selbst tun sollte. Man kann in gewisser Weise sagen, daß in einem solchen Menschen der Alkohol denkt und fühlt und empfindet. Dadurch, daß der Mensch das, was seinem Ich unterworfen sein soll, an den Alkohol abliefert, stellt sich der Mensch unter den Zwang eines Äußeren. Er verschafft sich ein materielles Ich. Der Mensch kann sagen: Ich fühle dadurch gerade eine Belebung des Ichs. - Gewiß, aber nicht er ist es, sondern etwas anderes, unter das er sein Ich gebannt hat. So könnten wir noch durch mancherlei zeigen, wie der Mensch dazu kommen kann, immer mehr und mehr zu sein, was er ißt. Aber die Geisteswissenschaft zeigt uns auch, wie der Mensch freiwerden kann von den Kräften der Nahrung.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":308,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p025"}],"beads":[{"from":[14],"to":[14],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[15],"to":[15],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[16],"to":[16],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[17],"to":[17],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[18],"to":[18],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[19],"to":[19],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[20],"to":[20],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[21],"to":[21],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[22],"to":[22],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[23],"to":[23],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[24],"to":[24],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[25],"to":[25],"confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified"}],"note":"Paired by the paragraph aligner; each language numbers its own paragraphs. 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