Fundamentals of Therapy
GA 27
XIV. An Approach to the Therapeutic Way of Thinking
Silicic acid carries its activities along the paths of metabolism right into those parts of the human organism where the living becomes lifeless. It occurs in the blood, through which the formative forces have to take their course; it occurs also in the hair, i.e. where the forming and shaping process finds its outward conclusion; and we find it in the bones, where the process of formation finishes inwardly. It appears in the urine as a product of excretion.
It constitutes the physical basis of the ego-organization. For this has a formative action. This ego-organization uses the silicic acid process, right into those regions of the organism in which the shaping, the forming action borders on the outer and the inner (unconscious) world. At the periphery of the organism where the hair contains silicic acid, the human organization connects with the unconscious outer world. In the bones it connects with the unconscious inner world, in which the will is working.
In the healthy human organism the physical foundation of consciousness must unfold between these two fields of action of silicic acid. The silicic acid has a dual function. Within, it sets a boundary to the mere processes of growth, nutrition etc. Outwardly, it closes off the mere activities of external nature from the interior of the organism, so that the organism within its own domain is not obliged to continue the workings of external nature, but is enabled to unfold its own activities.
In its youth the human organism is most highly equipped with silicic acid in those localities where tissues with strong formative forces are situated. Thence the silicic acid unfolds its activity towards the two boundary areas, creating between them the space in which the organs of conscious life can form themselves. In the healthy organism, these are primarily the sense-organs. We must, however, bear in mind that the sensory life permeates the whole human organism. The reciprocal relationship of the organs depends upon the fact that the one organ is continually perceiving the activity of the other. In organs which are not sense-organs in the proper meaning of the term, for instance in the liver, spleen, or kidneys, the perception is so slight as to remain beneath the threshold of consciousness in normal waking life. Nevertheless, every organ, besides serving this or that function within the organism, is in addition a sense-organ.
The whole human organism is in fact permeated with perceptions which mutually influence one another and must be so if all the different processes are to work healthily in it together.
All this is dependent upon a correct distribution of the activities of silicic acid. We can even go so far as to speak of a special silicic acid organism, permeating the whole organism; this silicic acid organism conditions the mutual sensitivity of the organs on which the healthy life and activity depend; it determines their correct inward and outward relationships, inwardly their relation to the unfolding of the life of soul and spirit, and outwardly in the sense that it provides in each case for the proper conclusion of the activities of external nature.
This special organism will only work correctly if silicic acid is present in such quantities in the organism that the ego organization is able to make full use of it. Any remaining amounts of silicic acid, the astral organization which lies beneath that of the ego must have the power to excrete, either through the urine or in some other way.
Excessive quantities of silicic acid, which are neither excreted nor taken hold of by the ego-organization, must be deposited as foreign substances in the body; through the very form-creating tendency whereby—in the right quantity—they serve the ego-organization, they will then interfere with it. Excessive quantities of silicic acid introduced into the organism will thus impair the workings of the gastro-intestinal tract. It is then the task of the digestive tract to dispose of the excessive form-creating tendency. Desiccation will be brought about where the fluid element should predominate. This is most clearly evident when the excessive introduction of silicic acid is followed by psychological disturbance behind which the corresponding organic disturbances are unmistakable. One feels giddy and is unable to stop falling asleep; one feels unable to direct the perceptions of sight and hearing in the proper way; one may even have a feeling as though the impressions of the senses become congested and held up at the point where they should be continued into the nervous system. All this shows how silicic acid pushes out towards the periphery of the body and how, if it arrives there in excessive quantities, it disturbs the normal formative process by introducing an alien tendency. Disturbances occur also at the inner boundary of the form-creating process. One experiences uncontrollability of one's motor-system, and joint-pain. All these conditions may eventuate in processes of inflammation, arising wherever the alien formative activity of silicic acid is too strong.
This points at the same time to the healing forces which silicic acid can unfold in the human organism. Assume that an organ, not a sense organ in the proper meaning of the term, becomes over-sensitive in its unconscious power of perception with respect to the parts of the organism external to it. We shall then observe a disturbance in the functions of this organ. We shall be able to deal effectively with the morbid condition if we are in a position to eliminate the over-sensitivity by administering silicic acid. It will, however, be necessary so to influence the organic working of the body that the added silicic acid takes effect only in the neighbourhood of the diseased organ, and does not work upon the whole body with a general influence as described above.
Through the combination of silicic acid with other substances it can be brought about that on its introduction into the organism the silicic acid reaches just that organ where it is needed, whence it will be carried out again as a product of excretion without doing harm to other organs.
In another case the sensitivity of an organ to the activities of the remaining organs may be unduly lowered. We are then dealing with an accumulation of the silicic acid activity in the neighbourhood of this organ. It will be necessary, therefore, to find a means of influencing the silicic acid activity of the whole organism, so as to deprive the localized action of its power; or again, the removal of the silicic acid may be stimulated by the use of medicines that encourage excretion. The former method is preferable; for an accumulation of silicic acid in one locality generally calls forth a corresponding deficiency in another. The distribution of the localized silicic acid activity over the whole organism may be brought about for instance, by a sulphur therapy. The reader will perceive why this is so if he will refer to the effects of sulphur in the organism in another part of this book.