Haut Anhang 4
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Der Merkurstab
[Lüder Jachens]
The skin seen from the anthroposophical point
of view
Abstract To make the connection in thought between the skin and the
whole of human existence, the systems of the threefold organism are sought out
in the skin,
and the skin is considered in the polarity between hardening and
dissolution. The activities of the four levels of human existence in the skin
are described and how I and astral body mediate between inner and outer. There
follows a discussion of the differences in how the four levels of existence
relate to the threefold skin. In conclusion the skin is considered in its
position between powers of substance and form. All the guidelines in the
essential nature of the skin are illustrated with examples of pathological skin
changes. This makes it possible to establish a holistic approach in
dermatology.
Keywords
The skin as an organ
Threefoldness
Hardening and dissolution
Fourfoldness
Skin and internal organs
The main methods used in modern medicine based on natural science are
differentiation and causal analysis, with reduction a further method where
highly complex issues are reduced to simple processes. This has yielded a vast
body of knowledge concerning the physical basis of the natural world and the
human being. The approach has also been of undoubted benefit in modern
dermatology. There are, however, also drawbacks, three of which are the
following.
1 The connection is lost between the skin, its
diseases and coincident functional disorders of internal organs. It is known
that the causes of some (usually less common) skin conditions are disorders of
internal organs (enzyme deficiency) in the liver (porphyria
cutanea tarda). Yet
dermatologists are not familiar with the role of internal organs in the genesis
of common conditions such as rosacea, where it is
often necessary to treat the liver.
2 The connection between skin and psyche, skin
conditions and biography, is not open to rational evaluation. The answer to the
patient’s question: “Why have I got this skin eruption just
now?” usually is: “Every skin disease has to start sometime.”
Connections between specific personality traits to particular skin types (topic
skin diathesis) cannot be explained by experts in psychosomatic medicine nor by
dermatologists.
3 The connection between skin disease and
nutrition cannot be understood. Why do patients with neurodermatitis
often not tolerate certain proteins (cow’s milk, gluten in wheat, eggs,
fish)? Statistical methods do not contribute much to clarify the connection
between skin change and food intolerance.
These “side effects” to
the use of natural-scientific methods in medical research suggest that we must
look for ideas at the point where the skin organ is connected, forming
a whole, with the rest of the human
being as a living organism and a soul endowed with spirit, from which an
individual biography arises. Here the anthroposophical
view of the human being proves a
source of ideas which we can always
draw on and which will never run dry.
In this approach it is a further development of Goethe’s principle
that “Nothing happens in living nature that is not part of the
whole.” In dermatology this means that every process in healthy and
diseased skin substance powers and form powers relates to the organism as a
whole and to the nature of the individual which reflects his soul and spirit.
Below, this principle will be applied, with the human skin considered
from the following aspects:
• skin and threefold organism,
• the skin between hardening and
dissolution,
• the skin and the four levels of human
existence,
• I and astral body between inside and
outside,
• the threefold skin and the four levels
of existence,
• the skin between forces of matter and
of form.
Skin and threefold organism
The idea of the threefold human organism was presented in detail by R.S.
in 1917. The neurosensory system has its main localization
at the upper pole of the human form.
It makes it possible for human beings to develop powers of thought in
waking consciousness. At the organic level it is bound up with processes of
degradation; matter which the blood makes available from metabolic processes is
broken down. The degradation may go as far as cell death; regeneration of nerve
cells in the brain is not possible.
The individual aspect of the human being (his I) forms out the physical body with the help of form principles
which the neurosensory system brings into the
organism from the surroundings, and the individual can thus be recognized by
his face. The human being is thus most formed out and differentiated at the
upper pole of his form. The form principles do, however, also take effect in
the rest of the organism, here at a more subtle level and from above downwards,
resulting in the individual ridges on the fingertips on the outside, for
instance, and the immunocompetence of the humoral and cellular defence system on the inside.
The polar opposite of the neurosensory system
is the system of metabolism and limbs. It provides the basis for unfolding the
will which is at the sleep level of consciousness. (Impulsive actions can prove
embarrassing because in the light of full conscious awareness they may prove
not to have been what we feel is right.) Organically the metabolism lives in
constructive processes.
Dead matter is taken hold of, given life, endowed with soul and made the
vehicle for the I. Whereas processes
in the neurosensory human being are largely connected
with rest, we have here the active flow of matter (internal motion) and the
movement of muscle (external motion). The organic configuration of limbs and
metabolism produces round, convex forms that are not formed out to a great
degree.
Summing up, we have the following polarity:
Neurosensory system Metabolism and
Limbs
degradation construction, synthesis
form principle: configuration, force
of matter: round
differentiation forms, dedifferentiation
rest movement
death life
thinking doing
waking consciousness sleep
consciousness
A middle system which enables these polar opposites to coexist shows the
basic phenomenon of all life = rhythm.
Differences balance out as pulse and respiration rhythmically
interrelate the impulses of the nervous system with those of metabolism.
Balance and harmony
are established between the poles above and below.
The rhythmical system is the basis for our feeling, which is at a dream
level of consciousness.
When we apply the idea of a threefold organism to the skin, the
following questions arise:
• Where does the neurosensory
system have its main emphasis in the skin,
• where does metabolism mainly develop,
• where does the rhythmical system have
its main site of action?
To answer these questions, let us first consider the uppermost layer of
the skin, the epidermis. Cell division and the synthesis of matter are dominant
in its basal cell layer, though in the epidermis the only gaol as keratino-cytes migrate from below upwards (inside to
outside) is to take them to cell death and differentiation of intracellular
keratin and intercellular lipid lamellae (for epidermal lipids.
Biochemical synthesis of matter thus meets with destructive tendencies paired
with processes of dying which differentiate the stream of matter and fix matter
in keratin and lipids, letting it “coagulate” in a form not capable
of further change. With this, the epidermis fulfils its barrier function -
water, acids, alkaline solutions, salts and other compounds meet a boundary
with limited permeability from both inside and outside.
The epidermis contains numerous free nerve ends extending as far as the
basal cell layer. Here the nuclei of keratinocytes
dissolve. Vitality receding in the vicinity of free nerve ends suggests a
relationship between the two; we are able to perceive the main site of neurosensory activity. This is where the waking
consciousness arises which makes it possible for us, for instance, to have
conscious awareness of any part of the body surface at any moment when awake.
If the epidermis of someone with atopic skin diathesis lacks in vitality and
biochemical anabolism (above all in the sphere of intercellular lipid
lamellae), this also means increased neural activity.
Pruritus may reach a point of being
excessively awake, of emphasis on the head, and the tendency to one-sided
thinking in cases of neurodermatitis. If on the other
hand the epidermis is flooded with metabolic impulses from the capillary
circulation of the upper corium, as in the case of psoriasis vulgaris, keratinocytopoiesis
“runs riot” with incomplete cell maturation and the appearance of
cell nuclei in the keratinocytes of the cornified layer. Powers of the head are accordingly often
underrepresented in the personality of individuals with psoriasis.
Looking for the areas in the skin where metabolism is most intensive, we
come to the lower corium and subcutis. Sebaceous and
sweat glands, hair roots in their follicles and the organ for nail growth are
located in the subcutis. All four derive from the
epidermis which inverts downwards from the skin surface and develops the
relevant organ in the region of the lower corium.
There anabolism takes hold of the organ so that sebum, sweat, hair or
nail may develop. The structures in the lower corium thus receive their form
principles from the epidermis, their anabolism from the deeper skin layers.
They relate to the microcosm of internal organs—the sebaceous
gland to the liver, the sweat gland to the kidneys, hair and nails to the
intestines. Sebaceous glands give out fat to the outside, the liver lets bile
flow into the intestine for fat digestion. Hair and nails are epithelial
structures which grow quite solid. The epithelium in the intestinal lumen is
one of the most vital tissues in the human organism altogether. Hair and nails
grow brittle if insufficient matter is taken up from the food stream via the
intestine. All these connections between structures in the lower corium and
internal organs emphasize the metabolic character of their activity. Skin
conditions arising from the lower corium (e.g. folliculitis
with acne and rosacea, hidradenitis
and paronychia) must therefore always be primarily
treated via
the metabolism.
The subcutis is highly undifferentiated and
monotonous morphologically; it consists almost exclusively of round fat cells.
Metabolism on the other hand is highly active. Fat stored in the fat cells is
continuously synthesized and broken down, and thus subject to permanent
restructuring. Fats serve to generate warmth in the whole organism and in
individual organs. The subcutis is thus connected
with the organism as a whole and all internal organs through fat metabolism.
The characteristics shown above for subcutis and
lower corium reflect the relationship between them—the lower corium is
the site
for a specific metabolic process which is comparable to metabolism in
the internal organs; the subcutis with its fat
metabolism on the other hand is part of the general metabolism which connects
everything.
The localization of zones with low and high fat content in the subcutis of the human form is interesting.
The subcutis of eyelids, nose, ears and lips
is low in fat; here the katabolic activity of the major sense organs pushes
anabolic metabolism in the skin aside. The soles of the feet, hips, buttocks,
flexor aspects of limbs, abdominal wall and female breast, on the other hand,
are rich in subcutaneous fat. In the latter, the subcutis
actually
develops an organ, the female mammary gland. This organ emphasizes the
nourishing character of the subcutis.
Looking for the site where the rhythmical system is most intense in its
actions, all we need is to look reflectively at a histological section through
the skin layers.
The rhythmical up and down movement of the basal membrane which
separates the papillae (papillary layer of corium) from the reticular elements
(germinative layer
of epidermis between papillae) is rhythm “frozen” in form.
As the swell, the rhythmical wave movement, leaves a wave pattern in the sand
at low tide, so does the rhythmical pulsation of the blood in the capillaries
of the upper corium leave an imprint in the undulating boundary to the
epidermis. Apart from the influences of the circulation, which has its centre
in the heart, respiration, with its centre in the lung, is also represented in
the skin. On the one hand we may speak of an imponderable breathing in the
senses, in so far as the skin, being a sense organ, takes up or rejects
countless stimuli. On the other hand, the breathing is at ponderable
level, for just a fraction of external breathing exists in the skin just as it
does on the large scale in the lung, with a little oxygen taken in, and a
little carbon dioxide given off. In everyday life our clothing must therefore
be such that it must allow the skin to breathe as it gives off warmth, sweat,
“vapour”, and also takes up oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide.
All processes on the metabolic side of our skin in lower corium and subcutis are wrapt in the darkness of sleep consciousness,
so that we are not conscious, for instance, of producing pungent sweat under
stress. Processes in the upper corium are half conscious, at the dream level of
consciousness. Thus we notice that we blush a little when something comes up in
a conversation that embarrasses us—but only half, as though in a dream.
Feeling better after taking a shower at variable temperatures is
something else we perceive at dream level; circulation in the papillary layer
has been stimulated in
the corium, stimulating the skin organ as a whole, and
“somehow” we feel better. In looking for the threefold human being
in the skin we have followed the Goethean principle
to take delight in the whole you must perceive the whole also in its least
part.
We have found the whole in its part and related the skin to the organism
as a whole. The idea of the three-fold organism thus allows a genuinely
holistic medicine.
The skin between hardening and dissolution
The human organism is connected with its environment in the sphere of
all four elements - with warmth and light via the sense organs, with the air
via the lung, with the watery and solid, earthy elements via the digestive
tract. Any element entering into the organism must first be digested, its
foreign nature transformed into our own. A foreign substance can only be taken
into the body’s own synthesis when it has been fully broken down, with
anything of foreign etheric and astral nature
stripped away completely. If this degradation is incomplete, the organism can
deal with foreign matter and processes in two ways:
1 The foreign element is taken hold of by the neurosensory
system’s form principles and centripetally condensed. Foreign matter is
deposited; in rheumatic processes, for instance, metabolic waste is deposited
in bradytrophic joint tissue. As condensation
proceeds, hardening may develop around the foreign matter and a capsule
develop, e.g. when a piece of shrapnel becomes encapsulated. Examples in the
skin are lichenification with neurodermatitis,
or hyperkeratotic rhagadiform
eczema of the hands, both arising through highly chronic inflammatory processes
changing to hardening, cornification with pruritus or pain.
2 The foreign matter is taken hold of by the moved-matter powers in the
system of metabolism and limbs and eliminated centrifugally via the skin. This
process of dissolution often involves the development of pus, with an abscess,
for instance. Skin eruptions also involve dissolution and elimination. The
foreign matter moves centrifugally.
The exanthemata of typical childhood diseases, pityriasis
rosea or drug eruptions are examples of this.
Capsule and pus development may replace one another in time. Examples
are common psoriasis with joint involvement and herpes zoster with neuralgia.
With psoriasis,
the skin condition may improve as joint problems increase, and vice
versa. With herpes zoster, acute, abundant vesiculation
indicates that the cause is being eliminated via the skin; marked neuralgic
pain signifies that the disease process moves inwards, usually for many months.
The neuralgia improves when vesicles appear again after the first bout.
The skin and the four levels of
human existence
In a lecture course given in Prague in 1911, R.S. clearly identified the
activity of the four bodies in the skin. Each represents an “energy
system” and comes to its own conclusion in the skin.
The human I thus lives in the
blood; the blood system delimits itself towards the outside in the papillary
layer of the corium. In the blood, the I
is able to influence the physical directly. With fear and shock, the I withdraws from the world in and with
the blood, and we grow pale. Embarrassment makes us blush; the I pushes the blood outwards into the
skin and wants to hide behind it. The astral body lies in the nerve; the nerve
endings in the epidermis are the outermost boundary of the nervous system. This
makes us conscious of our bodily limits. Pruritus
signifies too much neural activity and too much conscious awareness. When we
get goose bumps, particular feelings (dim fear, “the creeps”) lead
to skin nerve stimulation and hence contraction of the arrectores
pilorum muscle fibres, so that the fine hairs come
upright together with the epidermis around the hair follicle. The ether body is
above all active in developing secretions in the glands.
It creates its outer limits in the skin in the sweat and sebaceous
glands. People with great vitality will usually sweat well and produce
sufficient sebum. The activity of these glands is reduced, on the other hand,
in people with atopic skin conditions. The physical body, finally, lives in
nutritional processes with the transport of matter.
With atopic skin diathesis and ichthyosis,
these functions are more or less reduced and fixed through hereditary
tendencies. “In human beings, the organs in the periphery are most
penetrated and configured by the I.”
The I’s
activity in the skin may according to this be seen not only in the blood system
but also as leaving its mark on the astral body’s activity in the nerve,
the ether body’s in the glands, and the physical body’s in the
transport of matter. The typically human skin characteristics of nakedness,
subcutaneous fatty tissue well developed compared to animals, and the high
value human beings put on to how their skin feels in everyday life thus arise
from the activity of the I. The skin
is an organ of conscious awareness, an organ of the I-organization. I and
astral body between inside and outside Ultimately it is the two higher bodies, I and astral body, which mediate
between processes within and without the human organism, between what goes on
above and below, and in doing so make the organism a whole. The right to speak
of holistic medicine is really only given if we have insight into the I and astral
body and their activities in the human organism.
R.S. and Ita Wegman
showed how “inflammatory changes in the skin” go hand in hand with
“abnormal” I-organization
and astral-body activity in the skin.
This “abnormal” activity is one where the higher bodies go
beyond the normal level of activity in the skin. Their activity in the internal
organs is then reduced, and reciprocal sensitivity between those organs
decreases.
Examples given are “abnormal states in liver function” and
an influence on digestion. Enteral candidiasis, which has a higher incidence with four common
skin conditions (neurodermatitis, urticaria,
psoriasis vulgaris, seborrhoeic
eczema) is no doubt due to this shift from central to peripheral in higher-body
involvement.
The same shift means that digestive powers are weak in someone with neurodermatitis, where the emphasis is on nerves and
senses, and he cannot break down proteins. Protein carries most of the foreign
principles from the vegetable or animal organism it has come from.
R.S. and Ita Wegman
pointed out that diagnosis means establishing the “direction of
pathological actions”. For the above shift this means that the primary
process must be seen to be on the outside, in the skin inflammation
(“cause”), and the secondary process inside, in reduced liver
function (“effect”). The direction of pathological actions is polar
to this when functional weakness of an organ provides an obstacle in the
physical/etheric sphere and pushes the activity of
the higher bodies to the skin; this is then overburdened, there being too much,
and producing symptoms. Here the primary process in inside
(“cause”); the resulting dermatitis is secondary
(“effect”). Examples are acne in adults and rosacea
resulting from reduced liver function which improves when the liver is treated.
The threefold skin and the four
levels of existence.
If we want to enquire into the different functions of the bodies in neurosensory processes, metabolism and rhythmical processes
in the skin, R.S.’s and Ita
Wegman’s discussion of blood and nerve provide
an answer. In the lower skin layers where the emphasis is more on metabolism
(lower corium, subcutis), autonomic nerve fibres form
a dense net around blood vessels, hair follicles, sebaceous, sweat and scent
glands. The ether body is mainly active in these nerves; their function is to
keep metabolic processes away from the blood, thus keeping the human being
unaware of the activity immanent in substances.
The I-organization is
predominantly active in the blood in the lower corium and subcutis.
Thus we have the I-organization
acting out of the blood and the ether body out of the nerve in their
interaction in the deeper skin layers.
Acne in puberty is a dermatitis arising from the sebaceous glands in the
lower corium. Here blood substance has not (yet) been properly taken hold of by
the I. The form principles arising
from the autonomous nerves around the sebaceous gland are not strong enough to
hold back the blood’s overweening, ungainly powers of movement. The
result is foreign bacterial life in the sebaceous glands, inflammatory changes
in the surrounding papule, with the sebaceous gland liquefying in the pustule.
In the middle layer of the skin (upper corium) nerves in which the
astral body is active work together with blood processes which also depend on
the astral body and in their upper parts on the ether body. This helps us to
understand urticaria, bouts of which are often
triggered by emotional reactions of the astral body. The irritated astral body
then allows blood and nerve to work together so that the blood vessels can no
longer contain the serum and wheals arise.
In the uppermost layer of the skin, the epidermis, the “inwardly
organizing” powers of the I are present in the nerves. Blood impulses
arriving here are under the influence of the purely physical, having “a
marked tendency to turn lifeless, mineral.” Examples of skin conditions
with the epidermis much involved in the pathological process are neurodermatitis and psoriasis vulgaris.
In the case of neurodermatitis, nerve impulses are
too strong, so that the tendency of blood substances to become lifeless goes
beyond the healthy level.With psoriasis vulgaris, on the other hand, the blood substances’
tendency to become lifeless is too weak, and the substance-moving powers of the
blood are too strong. The epidermis is flooded with proteins and leukocytes.
The I-organization is not
sufficiently active in the nerve, so that development and differentiation of keratinocytes is inadequate.
.
The skin between principles of matter and of form
The polarity between matter and form was known even to Aristotle. R.S.
spoke in detail of the organism’s own form principles in the lectures he
gave in Prague. Those powers come to an end in the boundary of the human form,
the skin, and do not take effect beyond this. Nor are foreign form principles
in the surrounding world permitted to cross the skin boundary.
Sunlight as the vehicle for form principles from the cosmos may only be
taken in through the eye or with light-filled air. At all other boundaries, the
sun’s radiation is
absorbed by the pigment of melanocytes in the
basal epidermis and thus rejected in the outer boundaries.
The skin thus sets an absolute limit, both from inside to outside and
from outside to inside. The stream of matter reaching the skin is refashioned
in the skin’s organs (sebaceous and sweat glands, hair, nails, keratinocytopoiesis), and is eliminated or flows back to
the inner body (venous system). If we also consider Steiner’s
descriptions of the differentiated way in which ether-principles act in the
human organism, it becomes clear that form principles act mainly through the
light and warmth ether, and matter principles with the chemical and life ether.
Light and warmth ether live in light, air and warmth, reaching the human being
from the environment and ultimately the cosmos. This centripetal movement is
directed towards the upper pole of the human form. An outer sign of this are
the lines in light-damaged skin.
Sunlight draws lines in human skin. The sense organs, the lung and also
the skin as a whole take light and warmth ether into the organism. Inside it is
taken from above downwards. In the lower human being these ethers connect with
chemical and life ether, two types of ether based on the elements water and
earth that enter into the organism with the food. Chemical and life ether move
from below upwards in the human organism, and from inside to outside. Matter
enlivened by the chemical and life ethers moves from the internal organs via
the blood to the skin in a centrifugal movement.
The interaction between matter and form principles in the skin (and any
organic form) can be seen in an analogous way in the work of a sculptor. The
artist’s ideas of form are centripetally applied to the clay as the hand
models it; form principles are involved. The clay, on the other hand, is a
vehicle for matter principles. The material must be obtained and prepared; it
needs space and has weight. Matter is then configured by the application of
form principles.
Tabel 1.
Primary disease Inflammatory
changes Functional
organic phenomenon in the skin weaknesses
Diagnosis based on I and astral body II
and astral body reduced inside strengthened outside
the four bodies strengthened
outside and reduced inside
Direction of from
outside (cause) from
inside (cause)
pathological actions to
inside (effect) to
outside (effect)
Secondary disease
weakening
of liver and skin
overburdened phenomenon
digestion, e.g. with activities
alien
enteral candidiasis
to
it, e. g. with rosacea, adult acne
(Table 2)
Blood Nerve
neursensory system: physical
body I-organization
epidermis
rhythmical upper
part: astral
body
system: ether
body
upper corium =
lower part:
papillary body astral
body
metabolic system: I-organization ether
body
lower corium subcutis
predominantly active in the blood in the lower corium and sub-cutis.
Thus we have the I-organization acting out of the blood and the ether body out
of the nerve in their interaction in the deeper skin layers.
Acne in puberty is a dermatitis arising from the sebaceous glands in the
lower corium. Here blood substance has not (yet) been properly taken hold of by
the I. The form principles arising from the autonomous nerves around the
sebaceous gland are not strong enough to hold back the blood’s
overweening, ungainly powers of movement.
The result is foreign bacterial life in the sebaceous glands, inflammatory
changes in the surrounding papule, with the sebaceous gland liquefying in the
pustule.
In the middle layer of the skin (upper corium) nerves in which the
astral body is active work together with blood processes which also depend on
the astral body and in their upper parts on the ether body. This helps us to
understand urticaria, bouts of which are often
triggered by emotional reactions of the astral body. The irritated astral body
then allows blood and nerve to work together so that the blood vessels can no
longer contain the serum and wheals arise.
In the uppermost layer of the skin, the epidermis, the “inwardly
organizing” powers of the I are present in the nerves. Blood impulses
arriving here are under the influence of the purely physical, having “a
marked tendency to turn lifeless, mineral.” Examples of skin conditions
with the epidermis much involved in the pathological process are neurodermatitis and psoriasis vulgaris.
In the case of neurodermatitis, nerve impulses are
too strong, so that the tendency of blood substances to become lifeless goes
beyond the healthy level.With psoriasis vulgaris, on the other hand, the blood substances’
tendency to become lifeless is too weak, and the substance-moving powers of the
blood are too strong. The epidermis is flooded with proteins and leukocytes.
The I-organization is not
sufficiently active in the nerve, so that development and differentiation of keratinocytes is inadequate.
The skin between principles of matter and of form The polarity between
matter and form was known even to Aristotle. R.S. spoke in detail of the
organism’s own form principles in the lectures he gave in Prague. Those
powers come to an end in the boundary of the human form, the skin, and do not
take effect beyond this. Nor are foreign form principles in the surrounding
world permitted to cross the skin boundary.
Sunlight as the vehicle for form principles from the cosmos may only be
taken in through the eye or with light-filled air. At all other boundaries, the
sun’s radiation is absorbed by the pigment of melanocytes
in the basal epidermis and thus rejected in the outer boundaries.
The skin thus sets an absolute limit, both from inside to outside and
from outside to inside. The stream of matter reaching the skin is refashioned
in the skin’s organs (sebaceous and sweat glands, hair, nails, keratinocyto-poiesis), and is eliminated or flows back to
the inner body (venous system). If we also consider Steiner’s
descriptions of the differentiated way in which ether-principles
act in the human organism, it becomes clear that form principles act mainly
through the light and warmth ether, and matter principles with the chemical and
life ether.
Light and warmth ether live in light, air and warmth, reaching the human
being from the environment and ultimately the cosmos. This centripetal movement
is directed towards the upper pole of the human form. An outer sign of this are
the lines in light-damaged skin. Sunlight draws lines in human skin. The sense
organs, the lung and also the skin as a whole take light and warmth ether into
the organism. Inside it is taken from above downwards. In the lower human being
these ethers connect with chemical and life ether, two types of ether based on
the elements water and earth that enter into the organism with the food.
Chemical and life ether move from below upwards in the human organism, and from
inside to outside. Matter enlivened by the chemical and life ethers moves from
the internal organs via
the blood to the skin in a centrifugal movement.
The interaction between matter and form principles in the skin (and any
organic form) can be seen in an analogous way in the work of a sculptor. The
artist’s ideas of form are centripetally applied to the clay as the hand
models it; form principles are involved. The clay, on the other hand, is a
vehicle for matter principles. The material must be obtained and prepared; it
needs space and has weight. Matter is then configured by the application of
form principles.
predominantly active in the blood in the lower corium and subcutis. Thus we have the I-organization acting out of the
blood and the ether body out of the nerve in their interaction in the deeper
skin layers.
Acne in puberty is a dermatitis arising from the sebaceous glands in the
lower corium. Here blood substance has not (yet) been properly taken hold of by
the I. The form principles arising
from the autonomous nerves around the sebaceous gland are not strong enough to
hold back the blood’s overweening, ungainly powers of movement. The
result is foreign bacterial life in the sebaceous glands, inflammatory changes
in the surrounding papule, with the sebaceous gland liquefying in the pustule.
In the middle layer of the skin (upper corium) nerves in which the
astral body is active work together with blood processes which also depend on
the astral body and in their upper parts on the ether body. This helps us to
understand urticaria, bouts of which are often
triggered by emotional reactions of the astral body. The irritated astral body
then allows blood and nerve to work together so that the blood vessels can no
longer contain the serum and wheals arise.
In the uppermost layer of the skin, the epidermis, the “inwardly
organizing” powers of the I
are present in the nerves. Blood impulses arriving here are under the influence
of the purely physical, having “a marked tendency to turn lifeless,
mineral.” Examples of skin conditions with the epidermis much involved in
the pathological process are neurodermatitis and
psoriasis vulgaris. In the case of neurodermatitis, nerve impulses are too strong, so that the
tendency of blood substances to become lifeless goes beyond the healthy level.
With psoriasis vulgaris, on the other hand, the blood
substances’ tendency to become lifeless is too weak, and the
substance-moving powers of the blood are too strong. The epidermis is flooded
with proteins and leukocytes. The I-organization
is not sufficiently active in the nerve, so that development and
differentiation of keratinocytes is inadequate.
The skin between principles of matter and of form The polarity between
matter and form was known even to Aristotle. Rudolf Steiner spoke in detail of
the organism’s own form principles in the lectures he gave in Prague.
Those powers come to an end in the boundary of the human form, the skin, and do
not take effect beyond this. Nor are foreign form principles in the surrounding
world permitted to cross the skin boundary.
Sunlight as the vehicle for form principles from the cosmos may only be
taken in through the eye or with lightfilled air. At
all other boundaries, the sun’s radiation is absorbed by the pigment
of melanocytes
in the basal epidermis and thus rejected in the outer boundaries.
The skin thus sets an absolute limit, both from inside to outside and
from outside to inside. The stream of matter reaching the skin is refashioned
in the skin’s organs (sebaceous and sweat glands, hair, nails, keratinocytopoiesis), and is eliminated or flows back to
the inner body (venous system). If we also consider Steiner’s
descriptions of the differentiated way in which ether-principles act in the
human organism, it becomes clear that form principles act mainly through the
light and warmth ether, and matter principles with the chemical and life ether.
Light and warmth ether live in light, air and warmth, reaching the human
being from the environment and ultimately the cosmos. This centripetal movement
is directed towards the upper pole of the human form. An outer sign of this are
the lines in light-damaged skin.Sunlight draws lines
in human skin. The sense organs, the lung and also the skin as a whole take light
and warmth ether into the organism. Inside it is taken from above downwards. In
the lower human being these ethers connect with chemical and life ether, two
types of ether based on the elements water and earth that enter into the
organism with the food. Chemical and life ether move from below upwards in the
human organism, and from inside to outside. Matter enlivened by the chemical
and life ethers moves from the internal organs via the
blood to the skin in a centrifugal movement. The interaction between
matter and form principles in the skin (and any organic form) can be seen in an
analogous way in the work of a sculptor. The artist’s ideas of form are
centripetally applied to the clay as the hand models it; form principles are
involved. The clay, on the other hand, is a vehicle for matter principles. The
material must be obtained and prepared; it needs space and has weight. Matter
is then configured by the application of form principles.
Primary disease Inflammatory changes
Functional organic phenomenon in the skin weaknesses Diagnosis based on I and astral body II and astral body the
four bodies strengthened outside reduced inside and reduced inside strengthened
outside Direction of from outside (cause) from inside (cause) pathological
actions to inside (effect) to outside (effect)
Secondary disease weakening of liver and skin overburdened phenomenon digestion,
e.g. with with activities alien enteral
candidiasis to it, e.g. with rosacea,
adult
The I-organization is
predominantly active in the blood in the lower corium and subcutis.
Thus we have the I-organization
acting out of the blood and the ether body out of the nerve in their
interaction in the deeper skin layers.
Acne in puberty is a dermatitis arising from the sebaceous glands in the
lower corium. Here blood substance has not (yet) been properly taken hold of by
the I. The form principles arising
from the autonomous nerves around the sebaceous gland are not strong enough to
hold back the blood’s overweening, ungainly powers of movement.
The result is foreign bacterial life in the sebaceous glands,
inflammatory changes in the surrounding papule, with the sebaceous gland
liquefying in the pustule.
In the middle layer of the skin (upper corium) nerves in which the
astral body is active work together with blood processes which also depend on
the astral body and in their upper parts on the ether body. This helps us to
understand urticaria, bouts of which are often
triggered by emotional reactions of the astral body. The irritated astral body
then allows blood and nerve to work together so that the blood vessels can no
longer contain the serum and wheals arise.
In the uppermost layer of the skin, the epidermis, the “inwardly
organizing” powers of the I are present in the nerves. Blood impulses
arriving here are under the influence of the purely physical, having “a
marked tendency to turn lifeless, mineral.” Examples of skin conditions
with the epidermis much involved in the pathological process are neurodermatitis and psoriasis vulgaris.
In the case of neurodermatitis, nerve impulses are
too strong, so that the tendency of blood substances to become lifeless goes
beyond the healthy level.With psoriasis vulgaris, on the other hand, the blood substances’ tendency
to become lifeless is too weak, and the substance-moving powers of the blood
are too strong. The epidermis is flooded with proteins and leukocytes. The I-organization is not sufficiently
active in the nerve, so that development and differentiation of keratinocytes
is inadequate.
The skin between principles of matter and of form
The polarity between matter and form was known even to Aristotle. R.S.
spoke in detail of the organism’s own form principles in the lectures he
gave in Prague.
Tab. 2
neursensory system: physical
body I-organization
epidermis
rhythmical upper
part: astral
body
system: ether
body
upper corium = lower
part:
papillary body astral
body
metabolic system: I-organization
ether body
lower corium
subcutis
Those powers come to an end in the boundary of the human form, the skin,
and do not take effect beyond this. Nor are foreign form principles in the
surrounding world permitted to cross the skin boundary.
Sunlight as the vehicle for form principles from the cosmos may only be
taken in through the eye or with light-filled air. At all other boundaries, the
sun’s radiation is
absorbed by the pigment of melanocytes in the
basal epidermis and thus rejected in the outer boundaries. The skin thus sets
an absolute limit, both from inside to outside and from outside to inside. The
stream of matter reaching the skin is refashioned in the skin’s organs
(sebaceous and sweat glands, hair, nails, keratinocytopoiesis),
and is eliminated or flows back to the inner body (venous system). If we also
consider Steiner’s descriptins of the
differentiated way in which ether-principles act in the human organism, it
becomes clear that form principles act mainly through the light and warmth
ether, and matter principles with the chemical and life ether.
Light and warmth ether live in light, air and warmth, reaching the human
being from the environment and ultimately the cosmos. This centripetal movement
is directed towards the upper pole of the human form. An outer sign of this are
the lines in light-damaged skin. Sunlight draws lines in human skin. The sense
organs, the lung and also the skin as a whole take light and warmth ether into
the organism. Inside it is taken from above downwards. In the lower human being
these ethers connect with chemical and life ether, two types of ether based on
the elements water and earth that enter into the organism with the food.
Chemical and life ether move from below upwards in the human organism, and from
inside to outside. Matter enlivened by the chemical and life ethers moves from
the internal organs via the blood to the skin in a centrifugal movement.
The interaction between matter and form principles in the skin (and any
organic form) can be seen in an analogous way in the work of a sculptor. The
artist’s ideas of
form are centripetally applied to the clay as the hand models it; form
principles are involved. The clay, on the other hand, is a vehicle for matter
principles. The material must be obtained and prepared; it needs space and has
weight. Matter is then configured by the application of form principles.
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum