Man or Matter / Introduction to a Spiritual Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Goethe's Method of Training Observation and Thought

by Ernst Lehrs

^{4 Knowledge of this biological rhythm is still preserved among native peoples to-day and leads them to take account of the phases of the moon in their treatment of plants. A cosmic nature-wisdom of this kind has been reopened for us in modern form by Rudolf Steiner, and has since found widespread practical application in agriculture. See L. Kolisko, The Moon and Plant Growth.}

^{5 In the order of names given above we follow the ancient usage for the two planets nearest to the sun, not the reversed order in which they are used to-day. This is necessary in a cosmology which aspires at a qualitative understanding of the universe, in view of the qualities represented by these names. Note also the absence of the three most distant planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. They are not to be considered as parts of the indigenous astral structure of our cosmic system - any more than radioactivity is an original feature of the earth.}

^{6 Note the 'Venus' character of Ruskin's description of the plant's state of florescence quoted above (p. 336).}

^{7 As to the time-scale of the processes brought about by Mercury and Venus respectively, experience shows that they reveal the cosmic rhythms less clearly than those for which the Moon-activity is responsible. The same is found at the opposite pole. There it is the Saturn - generated processes which show the cosmic rhythm more conspicuously than those engendered by Jupiter and Mars. To learn to recognize rhythmic events in nature and man as reflexions of corresponding planetary rhythms is one of the tasks which future scientific research has to tackle. A practical example of this kind will appear in the further course of this chapter.}

^{8 See L. Kolisko: Working of the Stars in Earthly Substances, and other publications by the same author.}

^{9 The close connexion between the ear and the motor system of the body is shown in another way by the fact that part of the ear serves as an organ for the sense of balance.}

^{10 The muscle-tone can be made audible by the following means. In a room guarded against noise, press the thumbs lightly upon the ears and tense the muscles of the hands and arms - say by pressure of the fingers against the palms or by contracting the muscle of the upper arms. If this is done repeatedly, the muscle-tone will be heard after some practice with increasing distinctness. It is easily distinguished from the sound of the circulating blood as it is much higher. (As an example: the author's muscular pitch, not a particularly high one, has a frequency of approx. 630 per sec., which puts it between Treble D sharp and E.)}

^{11 Compare also the beginning of Traherne's poem Wonder, quoted in Chapter VI (p. 110), where he says that everything he saw 'did with me talk'.}

^{12 For the particular reasons by which Goethe justifies his assertion, see his essay Leben und Verdienste des Doktor Joachim Jungius.}

^{13 The natural question why Kepler himself did not take this step, will be answered later on.}