ImaginativeThinking & The 4 Ethers by Horst Hellman
ImaginativeThinking & The 4 Ethers by Horst Hellman
ImaginativeThinking & The 4 Ethers by Horst Hellman
Our planet is not dead slag, our planet lives and the universe is in one with the earth.
The life forces are behind everything in the world and therefor our thinking is based on them as
well.
At first we have to get an understanding of the etheric forces before we are able to see the relation
to the thinking.
1. FIRE as an element:
When something is burning at first the flames are growing, then shrinking, dying and disappearing, vanishing from sight.
TIME is created and is progressing.
WARMTH ETHER
- has no dimension, no space
- is a very intensive movement,
- warmth is always a kind of glowing,
- TIME is approaching and works in the process of RIPENING
2. AIR
- is not visuable but fills the space between the objects- air has no boundaries- is connecting everything- has no structure or direction
- is like chaos- has elasticity- is causing tension and pressure towards a centre > centripetal
LIGHT ETHER
- light is not visible
- imagine a sunrise from darkness to daylight:
slowly we can distinguish things around us, the objects are seen seperated now,
- space and distances become clear, space is created through limitation
- light and SPACE belong together
- structure is to see;
- light is dividing the inside from the outside,
- light is radiating towards the periphery, light is expanding > is “spacing”, raying out
- the periphery is the constructive principle of light
- the periphery/ the horizon is sucking
- our view, our consciousness is sucked out towards the horizon (ocean)
- so light sucks out the sprouts of plants too
- in a living organism it shows as GROWTH
- under the aspect of the consciousness light gives interest – and within the soul: feelings
which are creating the relationship to the world around us
3. WATER
- always wants to become a totality >drop – river – ocean- diversity will be extinguished- it is creating mass >and so is integrating
- it is in the fusion of 2 cells during fertilization > gesture of sympathy- water is thick, heavy, has mass, gravity, weight
- waves: a cork goes up and down = passiv
the waves move towards the shore = active
LIFE ETHER
- is not rejecting but integrating,
- the forces in a living organism are penetrating each other,
– are actively inwardly moving and everything moves under the higher aspect of the whole.
– There are organs : lungs, heart... they are separated by a “skin” but these organs
are depending on each other and also inside the organs the processes are coordinated
- the parts are working together under one idea or a higher aspect.
- In a living organism the life ether is the healing force,
- is lets the grass grow again when it was cut
– or an earthworm was cut into peace or a lizard had lost the tail, they grow again.
– The liver gets back to its form when a parent has donated a part to the child
- Life ether creates a unity and parts at the same time, but they belong together.
- The life ether is causing shape/ form, configuration
– Life ether creates living bodies, but the bodies are super sensible and not matter, that the
earth element creates.
- (When one has cancer the cells withdraw from the life ether concept)
- Life ether is causing form inwardly and outwardly
- life ether is the deeper sense / the idea behind, it is the holistic aspect behind the facts
- the “golden ribbon” as Goethe did call it.
2. When the LIGHT ETHER which is: (expanding, creating space, growth)
meets the
LIFE ETHER : (creating unities and is a life giving force within a skin)
this is causing
a shape which is changing the form and metamorphoses from a baby to an adult or from an
egg it develops into a frog, or from a seed to a tree
- this transformation gives the SHAPE
and we get the PARTS of an organism, the form: roots, leaves,flowers, fruits, limbs,
rhythmical organisation, nerve system, metabolism.
Now we can see the difference between the elements and ethers:
The elements are central forces and they are mathematical conceivable,
we use them in technology. They are representing the lifeless matter.
The ethers are universal forces, usual unknown to science, this is the reason why
science cannot understand life.
Learning processes and life processes are based on the etheric forces and therefor they are
vital for the health later in life (Salutogenese).
The mankind badly needs this kind of holistic thinking because this is the most effective
help to stop the progressing destruction of our environment around the globe.
Sound ether and Life together brought into our thinking makes the thought life universal,
flexible and open for spiritual dimensions.
By the way: One has a stand point when the radius to the horizon goes towards zero!
But how can we solve the riddle of the elefant? How can we find a way to its being?
To find answers we have to look at the animal as a whole organism, because in an organism all
organs, all parts of the body are interrelated .
The French scientist George Curvier (1769-1832) wrote:
“Each living thing is a closed organ system, where all organs are tuned to each other, so that not
a single organ can change without causing change in all other organs”.
Therefore the method will be to observe which organ of the animal is dominant and is modifying
the entire form and life processes.
The teacher will proceed by describing the animal, its behaviour and the environment.
In a next step she will show how the dominant organ gives the form and it will reveal the inner
being of the elefant.
In mammals the inner forces of the soul become also very meaningful. The fox thinks how can I get
it and how can I get away with it. The wolf is greedy to get it.
The type of a mammal develops the different parts of its organisation into various directions.
Through a one-sided predominate effect of an organ the type gets the special form of the animal.
The human being is not developing into such one-sidedness. You see within the human being the
same organs as in the mammals, but they do not become so one-sided. The human being is related
to the animal kingdom, but he does not belong to it. Take for example the gravity:
In the human organism the gravity is overcome by the ego/I.
The Elephant
In class four or five we might learn about the elephant.
The obvious important organ is the trunk: One part of the head has grown unusual long and strong,
the upper lip and the nose. With the trunk the animal reaches out into the surrounding in order to get
the food. This muscular organ has a very sensitive feeling for movements. This reaching out is only
possible because of the legs which carry the body a great deal highly lifted. So we see an inner
connection between trunk and legs. The stretched legs and strong bones can carry the body. The
elephant stands straight on its legs, therefore the muscles are relaxed although the body is heavy.
Imagine the hind legs would be bent like other animals have it, the elephant would be occupied by
the heaviness, instead the bones carry 5 to 6 tonnes of weight on the stretched legs and so the
elephant is free to turn toward the surrounding. The sensitive movements of the trunk are only
possible because of the calm balance. The calmness in balance is also caused by the short neck.
Again we observe an inner connection between trunk, short neck and the calmness of the straight
limbs.
The enhanced openness to the surrounding also shows in the big ears. They are highly sensible for
infra sound, which serves the elephant for communicating over large distances.
The tusks, enlarged incisors, also have the tendency towards the surrounding space.
When the elephant breathes, the air goes into the large nasal cavity and the strong breathing leads
to a widening of the sinuses which we see appear as forehead. The enhancement of breathing
continues into the breathing organ of the trunk, the torso and the entire organism: chest and ribs
grow much bigger as in other animals. Most mammals have 13 pairs of ribs, but the Indian elephant
has got 19, the African elephant 21. The blood of the elephant contains more oxygen than all other
mammals. Oxygen is activating the life processes of the whole organism. Normally young animals
have more oxygen in the blood as long as they grow, so we learn to understand why the elephants
have such a long childhood, they mature at age 10 to 12 and are growing as long as they live.
When we consider those facts we may get the image of the being of an elephant and we learn how
the organism of an animal has been formed out of inner laws. The students inwardly follow in a
process the forming of the organism and they experience how the entire elephant is formed by the
trunk.
All facts are not any more an arbitrary accidental mosaic and so the pupils understand the inner
being of the elephant. They get to know some building processes in the elephant. By following the
body shape and inner processes the children see in which way the elephant is realising itself. This
method involves the whole human being: thinking, and feeling and willing. The way leads from
inner images through inner processes to a spiritual process.
The horse
We notice the long slim legs, there is no foot or paw, right down to the hoof there are only legs, -
and the forming of the leg is intensively enhanced. What does this mean?
The body is lifted high above the earth and the overcoming of the gravity makes the movements of
the horse so elegant. We see it in the beautiful neck carrying the head with superior ease. As the
body has limbs so the head as well: the big jaws. The enhanced form of the legs lets grow the jaws
excessively as well. There is an inner relation between legs and the long head. The legs also
influence the inner organs: blood circulation, breathing and metabolism. The nostrils are remarkable
because the breathing is so important.
Usually a mammal has 13 pairs of ribs and 8 of them are immobile, but the horse has 18 pairs of
ribs and 10 a movable, which causes that the horse in one breath gets 7, 5 litres of air in (the cow,
nearly as big as the horse, only 3,5 l). These facts, long legs, jaws, breathing, eyes, ears and so on,
show that the horse belongs to an environment of a wide open plain. They live in a group which
also widens the consciousness.
We learn to understand the horse as a being which gets the impulse for its organism from the legs.
Giraffe
When we look at the giraffe then the special part of the body is the long neck.
The neck has developed far above the normal state, but still has only 7 vertebra. Through this neck
the animal penetrates far out into the space. The vertical dilation rules the whole organism. The legs
grow into high stands. The horizontal form of the trunk stays remarkable short.
What does it mean to reach out so high throug the neck? The head gets a distance from the dull
making life processes of the metabolism and the senses are opening to the surrounding.
So the consciousness of the giraffe grows wide: the eyes are big and the ears clearly grow large and
stand above the head. The giraffe stands calm and out of the calmness the perception penetrates
wide into the space. In a distance of 1000m the giraffe is able to figure out if the giraffe over there
belongs to the herd. Even the pasture where the animal feeds is high above the ground in the trees.
The bright light of the African grass land is supporting the sense perceptions. At night the giraffe is
sleeping only in periods of some minutes, and so the whole animal becomes an image of the
enhanced awareness.
Second step:
We observe a plant outside and try to connect with the knowledge from step one. In Europe we like
to take the dandelion. We see the rosette, the buds in the rosette, the lifting of buds, warmth of the
air, reflecting warmth brings the flowers, enhanced warmth lets seeds grow. Roots, leaves, buds,
flowers, seeds influenced by the elements.
Third step:
The influence of the forming forces of th planetary movements on the plant and especially on the
flowers: 5 petals – Venus; 3, 6, 4, 8 petals – Mercury. Seeing Mars forces, Jupiter, Saturn, Sun and
Moon in the growth of plants.
Fourth step:
Feelings and emotions are forming the plants. Example rose and thistle stand for love and anger.
What the plant is without an own will you should become willing.
Look into the world and you meet yourself,
look into yourself and you meet the world.
Fifth step:
Summery of our way through the plant-kingdom: elements and the ethers behind, planets, soul
forces are all invisible influences. They are existing as the archetypal plant-kingdom, and when they
connect with the etheric character of a landscape and materialise in matter then they are our plants.
Sixth step:
Relationship between a butterfly and your eternal being as a human.
Relationship between insects and plants.
Seventh step:
The threefold human being and the threefold plant as a healthy basis for nutrition.
A kind of a summery
Warmth ether – fire – will – I/ego – human being
Light ether – air –feelings – astral body – animals
Tone ether – water – intellectual thinking – etheric body – plants
Life ether – earth – holistic, imaginative thinking – physical body – minerals
In a human being the life ether and tone ether (imaginative and intellectual thinking) are universal.
The light ether and warmth ether (feelings and will activity) are individual.
When we bring together the universal part in us with the individual part,
we develop the sense of coherence, and the SOC is the basis for our health.
In so far we can understand how education is contributing to the health later in life.
This is what Salutogenese is about.
Imaginative thinking is causing health!
The spiritual science of Dr. Rudolf Steiner – Anthroposophy – is describing the way towards an
imaginative thinking.
In his book How to get knowledge of Higher Worlds? we can read about the inner path we have to
go in order to perceive again the spiritual nature of all things and beings. This is a new and modern
approach about how we can form within ourselves a spiritual organ. We have it in us sleeping, but
everyone can awake it.
Let me use a picture: There is the inter-net which gives us information and knowledge.
But when we develop in us an inner-net we get imaginations. Both are vital today.
The development of consciousness into an imaginative consciousness which is suitable for the
future of the 21st centure is show in a picture below.