Stages
of consciousness
Vergleich: Siehe: Miasmen
[Marshall McLuhan, professor of English Literature at the University of
Toronto (21. Juli 1911 - † 31. Dezember
1980)]
Language, Tools, Awareness and Psora (Rokoko?)
1st the invention of language caused a complete shift. The
allowed the physiological changes to the larynx and so complex speech + left
the arms free to develop the use of tools. The extension of the hands through
tools allowed a greater diversity of activity and made mankind more adaptable.
However, it was the adoption of speech (Language) caused the most important
changes
Writing, Travel, Empire and Sycosis (Barock?)
2nd the invention of writing/invention of history followed,
Speech and language freed man from the instant of time and place, and extended
his awareness, but that awareness was still bounded to the experience of one
person, and to some extent his or her direct contacts. Writing changes this and
frees awareness from the experience of a single person.
Printing, Mechanization, Nationalism
and Syphilis (Renaissance)
3rd The disease syphilis in 1493. In less than 5 years the
disease had spread virtually throughout Europe. It has been assumed that
syphilis was brought from the Caribbean by members of Columbus’s crew, though
there is mounting archaeological evidence that it was present in Europe long
before then. However, it is indisputable that the supposed discovery that the
world was a globe was an important part of a shift in mind set that shook
western man during the second half of the 15th Century and the
beginning of the 16th and that the appearance of a new and terrible
disease was part of that shift.
Radio, TV, Electronics,
Globalization and AIDS
4th Electronic Age is less clear cut than the foregoing.
Telegraphy developed slowly through the first half of the 19th
Century (established by 1850/radio transmission 1895/broadcasting after 1st
World War/1st TV broadcast 1936 + widespread after Second World War. The
invention of the transistor in 1948 + improvement in 1952 = probably the key
inventions, as they allowed the development of computers and digital
electronics. The defining moment of the shift in mind set that electronics
McLuhan takes it to be the launch of Sputnik in 1957, which circumscribed
our world and defined the stage on which life is enacted.
The Consequences of the Electronic
Age = dissolution of Boundaries
The particular effect of man’s extension by electronics = extension of
the nervous system of man, demolished the concept of distance in space/time.
Electronic communication moves at the speed of light/= instantaneous. Sender +
receiver + people + places in between become a single unified point in
space/time. So the world becomes the Global Village. The scope of an individual’s
interaction with others has moved from family/tribe + village/town/state/whole
world.
Lack of boundaries resulted in local activities having global effects
(ecology/environment). In the Industrial Age nature was acknowledged as an all
powerful force.
Nature viewed with an awe (Romantic Movement)/a malevolent force against
which a continual, noble war must be waged (myth of the Pioneer Spirit). In the
early 6ties
this view was completely shattered by understanding of the effects of
chemicals through the food chain.
Concept of time and place have little meaning for Electronic man Fixing
of our position/place is vitally important to us when we use a mobile phone, as
without it we do not have any bearing on where we are but seem just to be
floating about in the ether. This lack of fixity is expressed in many other
ways in a general feeling of being lost.
The first consequence of this is that we live only in the present, Past
and future break away. The lack of boundaries also mean that every event
(trivial) may influence every other one.
Specialization is the key to the industrial way of thinking. It appeared
with the printing of the very first printed book which was produced on 6
different presses working simultaneously, each one manned by teams of specialists:
typographers/typecutters/-setters/inkers/pressmen,
etc. The book caused such an explosion of knowledge that it
was no longer possible for one person to know everything. However, it was
possible for a person to know everything about a particular subject.
The merging of cause and effect and the complexity of all systems that
makes them inherently unpredictable mean rational, sequential thought is no
longer capable of dealing with our world. Thought in the Electronic Age has to
be very different from earlier ways of thinking if it is to be effective.
In the Tribal World thinking is historical. Knowing/understanding what
has happened in history is being better prepared when it starts to repeat
itself. (myths/legends).
In the Feudal World the possession of knowledge becomes the most
effective way of understanding the world and dealing with it. This knowledge
extends beyond personal experience but still lies within the compass of one
person.
Each extension to man creates a new way of thinking/being permeating the
whole of the relevant society, which in the case of the electronic extension is
the entire world, and changes everything for ever. However, the new way
includes within itself all the ways that preceded it.
When a culture is faced with change and is not yet adapted, a disease
state is inevitable.
The true miasmatic diseases are a reaction to the situation that a
person/a society finds itself in as a result of the transition. from one state/way of thinking to another.
The Extensions of Man bring about the new state suddenly and completely,
and this leaves no time for individuals or for the culture as a whole to adapt.
The result is a false reaction of the immune system, a sudden and extreme
disease that spreads suddenly/quickly. This was the pattern of syphilis in
1490/of AIDS. in 1980’s. As society begins
to adapt to the new state disease becomes less immediately threatening and
adapts to a more chronic form.
Although epidemic diseases appear suddenly, disappear as quickly and
would appear to be without meaning, this seems to be an anomaly and in theory
these diseases
should have meaning.
The microcosm of an individual’s life reflects the pattern found in the
macrocosm of society. The newborn baby is unaware, but soon learns speech and
self awareness.
At this time he might be affected to signs of the Psoric
skin diseases. As he grows into this state he faces the Hydrophobic Miasm illnesses, which are often called "the childhood
diseases". As he goes to school and learns to write we expect to see the Sycotic affections: snotty nose, glue ear and warts.
Tubercular asthma and lung trouble might follow. Although epidemic diseases
appear suddenly, disappear as quickly and would appear to be without meaning,
this seems to be an anomaly and in theory these diseases should have meaning.
The microcosm of an individual’s life reflects the pattern found in the
macrocosm of society. The newborn baby is unaware, but soon learns speech and
self awareness.
At this time he might be prey to the first signs of the Psoric skin diseases. As he grows into this state he faces
the Hydrophobic Miasm illnesses, which are often
called
"the childhood diseases". As he goes to school and learns to
write we might expect to see the Sycotic affections:
snotty nose, glue ear and warts. Tubercular asthma and lung trouble might
follow.
Using Miasmatic Theory
There are a number of ways in which miasmatic theory can lead to a
better understanding of symptoms, disease and remedies and so help us to make a
better prescription.
When we look at an object it has many features and qualities. Shape and
size and color are immediately obvious, but there are others such as texture,
temperature, odor, etc
A disease picture or an individual symptom has a number of different
qualities. What might be called the overall shape of a symptom, that which is repertorized, is fairly obvious. It certainly narrows the
choice of remedies but, unless it is a very strong SRP (= strange/rare/peculiar
symptom), it will still leave a large and diverse selection of suggested
remedies.
The remedies of the AIDS Miasm should be used
in the treatment of HIV. However, there are aspects of the disease that raise
important questions about how HIV should
be treated homoeopathically. The first of
these revolves around the fact that the disease expresses itself not directly
but through secondary, opportunistic infections.
Many of these would not constitute a threat to the healthy individual,
but for those who are HIV positive they are serious and can be life
threatening. Often these infections must be addressed immediately because if
they are not, there will be no patient to treat in any other way. The fact that
HIV causes an infectious, epidemic disease and should be treated accordingly,
rather than an expression of a constitutional disorder.
Using AIDS Miasm Remedies with Diseases not
related to HIV. The miasmatic conditions that affect us find personal or
individual expression in diseases that reflect the nature of contemporary
society. This happens in two ways. It can be the diseases themselves that are a
general expression of the miasmatic stresses and concerns.
These are the diseases that are particularly of our time: Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome/Anorexia/Bulimia/Gulf War Syndrome/HIV/AIDS itself. It can be expressed in more
common and general diseases, but in a particularly AIDS Miasm
version of them. Thus something like depression is a common illness and it can
be found in the pictures of virtually any chronic isease
and so of any Miasm. A particular version of
depression that centres around issues of isolation
and vulnerability which is a part of the AIDS Miasm.
[Jean Gebser]
Human consciousness is in transition, and that these transitions are
"mutations" and not continuous. These jumps or transformations
involve structural changes in both mind and body. There are a number of these
levels:
1. The archaic structure
2. The magic structure
3. The mythical structure time is cyclical/rhythmic and space
as enclosed
4. The mental structure =
rational structure = deficient form
time is linear, directed or
"progressive"/space becomes the box-like homogeneous space of geometry
= a vacuum/extremes evident in various "nothing but..." statements.
Extreme materialism claims that "everything is nothing but matter =
atoms". Philosophy, the love of wisdom, is replaced with instrumental
reason, the ability "to make". Contemplation = looking inward is
devalued in relation to what one "can do". "Wise men" fall
out of favor and are replaced by the "man of action." Successes in
technologically re-shaping matter offer solutions to some problems but also give
rise to problems of their own making. Mechanized slaughter of two world wars
and the new atomic weapons exemplified and symbolized the expression of the
ontology of the rational/mental structure. Living becomes hard to bear in such
a consciousness structure.
5. integral structure a new relationship to space and time
caused by despair as a lack of values or ethics. Gebser
saw that it is the very consciousness structure itself which has played out to
its inherent end. He saw that its metaphysical presumptions necessarily led to
this ethical dead end. A "value-free" ontology like materialism leads
of necessity to living "without value". Any attempt to remedy the
situation by a return to "values" would ultimately fail. But it was
through this very quagmire of "the decline of the West" that Gebser saw the emergence of a new structure of
consciousness which he termed the integral.
Leads to transparency, points to how it is that the one is
"given-through" and always "along-with" the other. For
centuries, time was viewed as having distinct categories of past, present and
future. These categories were said to be wholly distinct one from the other. Of
course, this created all kinds of difficulties regarding how beings moved from
one category to the other, from present to past, for example. What integral
awareness notices is that though we may utilize categorical thinking for
various purposes, we also have the realization that time is an indivisible
whole. That various beings in the present are crystallized from the past, and
which also extend into the future. In fact, without already having an integral
awareness, one could have no notion of time as "past" or
"present", etc. Without the awareness of the whole, one would be
stuck in a kind of "not-knowing" of an always only "now"
not connected to any sense of past or future. Even the mental awareness which
divides this whole into distinct categories could not have become aware of
those categories without an awareness which was already integral.
‡ The question arises
how far the changes in consciousness are brought about by changes in the
nervous system itself. And how far the nervous symptoms such as spinal
sensitivity are hysterical.
The brain and nervous system normally
function in adult life in an subdued manner. The expression "to keep a
cool head" is highly indicative. Bergson, at the beginning of this
century, showed that our senses screen from us the multitudinous incoming
impressions so that we become conscious only of a tiny selection, those needed
for our action.
It would seem that the fungus.
represents the brain and nervous system at an earlier, more embryonic stage of
development before it has been overwhelmed by the death or dying processes characteristic
of the adult stages. Sense impressions in our drug picture are therefore
described as more vivid, more full of life, beauty and springtime. When we look
back even as far as the Greek civilization we are enchanted by the freshness of
their thoughts which are still full of life and perception. They have not yet
been killed off into the abstractions of modern thought life. So under the
influence of Agar. the Lapps and Siberian Shamans find it easier to re-enter
states of consciousness of a dreamlike clairvoyance. They become mediums for
inspiration by other influences. Wordworth's "Ode to Immortality" [Intimations of Immortality from
Recollections of Early Childhood]
represents a similar idea in respect to
childhood.
We may further question whether the
movements of uncoordinated character also reflect in some degree the
uncoordinated movements of the baby before it has learnt to still the
unnecessary, useless movements and permit only the useful ones to occur. ‡
‡ Die
Entwicklung des Menschen und der Erde gemäß der Kosmologie der Rosenkreuzer und
Steiners Anthroposofie
Ebenso wie jeder einzelne Mensch inkarniert sich auch die Erde, indem sie planetarische
Wiedergeburten durchläuft in unvorstellbar langen Intervallen, die Milliarden
von Jahren dauern. Die wichtigsten nach dem Saturn, der Sonne und dem Mond
benannt hat die Erde in einer Zeit durchlaufen, als unser Planet und die
genannten Himmelskörper noch nicht in der heutigen Form existiert haben.
Was diese Himmelskörper heute darstellen,
sind getrennte, verfestigte Gebilde, die sich
unter Einfluss der ansässigen geistigen Wesen von der Erde getrennt
haben (früher waren sie jedoch eins mit der Erde). In der Saturn-Epoche hatte
unser Planet lediglich eine thermische Qualität. In der Sonnen-Phase hat die
Erde eine Art Luftkonsistenz angenommen und im Mond-Zeitalter kondensierten
Teile davon in eine wässrig-gallertartige Form
4-Teilung: (4 Elemente: Feuer, Luft, Wasser
und Erde gehen auch auf diese Entwicklung zurück). Die dichtesten Anteile wurden
schließlich zur festen Materie, bis sich die Erde in die heutige Form
entwickelt hat. (Lemuria/Atlantis, wo der physische
Körper des Menschen noch nicht die heutige Form und Festigkeit hatte und der
Mensch die Welt anders wahrgenommen hat, als nur über die physischen Sinne
wie heute). Der Untergang von Atlantis (die
Sintflut) führte zur Auswanderung der überlebenden Atlanter
und zur Verbreitung ihres Fortschrittes in andere Kontinente. Dies erklärt
viele ähnliche Funde und Phänomene an verschiedenen Orten und die hohe
spirituelle Entwicklungsstufe indianischer, asiatischer und ägyptischer
Eingeweihter. Dies waren bereits Vorzeichen des gegenwärtigen, postatlantischen
Zeitalters und der einzelnen kulturellen Epochen.
Zur Chronologisierung lässt sich z.B. die
Anthroposophie von Steiner heranziehen:
1) die Urindische Kultur (ab 7227 v.Chr.),
2) die Urpersische Kultur (ab 5067 v.Chr.),
3) die Ägyptisch-Chaldäisch-Babylonische
Kultur (ab 2907 v.Chr.),
4) die Griechisch-Lateinische Kultur (ab 747 v.Chr.)
5) die Germanisch-Angelsächsische Kultur (ab
1413 n.Chr. bis heute).
Danach werden im Abstand von jeweils 2160
Jahren (das platonische Jahr) die nächsten zwei Epochen folgen, bevor
sich die Entwicklung weiter fortsetzen wird:
6) die Slawische und 7) die Philadelphische
Kulturepoche.
Die obige Darstellung beschreibt, wie unser
Planet mit der Zeit eine "gröbere Dichte" angenommen hat.
Ähnlich entwickelte sich auch die Menschheit
und der menschliche Körper (in Saturn-Epoche). Er hatte damals zuerst auch nur
eine thermische Struktur und nahm im Laufe der nachfolgenden Sonnenund Mondphase stufenweise weitere Aspekte an, bis zur
Entstehung des physischen Körpers in heutiger Form. Während dieser Phasen nahm
der Mensch auch die weitere Körper an während der Sonnenzeit den ätherischen
Körper während der Mondzeit den astralen Körper (nicht die heutige Form/sondern
die jeweilige Vorform).
Erde Unvollkommen:
Jeder dieser Bestandteile war eine Gabe
spiritueller Mächte, die für die Evolution der Menschheit jeweils ein Stück
ihrer eigenen Substanz zur Verfügung gestellt haben.
Gleichzeitig entstanden auch Vorformen der
Mineralien sowie die der Flora und Fauna.
Der physische Körper in Wechselbeziehung mit
der Welt der Minerale,
Der ätherische Körper in Wechselbeziehung mit
der Pflanzenwelt
Der astrale Körper in Wechselbeziehung mit
dem Tierreich (Tieren haben einen ätherischen/astralen Körper/letzterer hat bei
ihnen die führende Rolle und im Unterschied zum Menschen sind ihre
seelisch-spirituellen Komponenten kollektiver Natur, d.h. sie haben kein
autonomes Ich).
2-Teilung: In der Mondphase sind das
männlichen und weiblichen Prinzips entwickelt (Mensch hatte bis dahin
kein Geschlecht), konnten sich Menschen auf
der Erde nunmehr eigenständig vermehren (= inkarnieren).
Der Sinn und die Hauptbedingung für die
weitere Entwicklung des Menschen auf der Erde ist demnach die Liebe.
Ihr Archetyp Jesus Christus musste sich
deshalb auf der Erde inkarnieren, weil die Menschen
in Zeiten des Materialismus nur so zum Glauben finden konnten. Ab dem Zeitpunkt
(der Kreuzigung auf Golgota) verläuft die Entwicklung
wieder rückwärts, allerdings auf einer höheren Ebene. Die jetzige Phase
entspricht gewissermaßen
der ägyptischen Epoche, jedoch ist
spirituelles Wissen heutzutage öffentlich zugänglich. Und damit sich die
Menschheit weiterentwickeln kann, muss sie trotz oder parallel zu ihrem
technologischen Fortschritt eine höhere spirituelle Durchdringung erreichen.
3-Teilung: Die existentielle Grundlage des
Menschen ist seine Dreiheit, die er schon auf dem alten Saturn gehabt hat
Körper, Geist und Seele. Doch erst auf der heutigen Erde war seine Entwicklung
so weit fortgeschritten, dass er ein Ich annehmen konnte. Dadurch wurde er zu
einem autonomen Wesen und begann sich als Individuum zu entwickeln (bis dahin
war seine geistig-seelische Struktur kollektiv, ähnlich wie bei den Tieren).
Damit erhielt er auch seinen freien Willen, was auch die Möglichkeit von
Irrtümern und das Phänomen der menschlichen Karma mit sich brachte. Während der
ersten Inkarnationen auf der Erde hatte jeder Mensch bereits sein eigenes Ich,
verhielt sich aber noch größtenteils wie ein Tier. Seine höheren Komponenten
befanden sich allesamt auf einem niedrigen Niveau und der am meisten
bestimmende Aspekt war der astrale Körper und die ihm innewohnenden Triebe und
Leidenschaften. Der heutige Mensch steht also in erster Reihe vor der Aufgabe,
seinen astralen Körper zu transformieren, später dann auch den ätherischen und
den physischen Körper. Jeder sollte mit Hilfe seines Ichs daran arbeiten,
seiner Emotionen, Triebe und Leidenschaften Herr zu werden und seine geistigen
und spirituellen Anteile zu entwickeln, die ihrerseits auch jeweils in drei
Aspekte unterteilt werden können. Der physische Körper ist zwar der unterste, aber
auch der älteste und am meisten entwickelte Teil des menschlichen Wesens.
Deshalb ist er im Allgemeinen bei allen Menschen gleich entwickelt, wohingegen
es zwischen der jeweiligen geistigen und spirituellen Entwicklungsstufe große
Unterschiede gibt.
Die Idee, dass Materie/Universum/Mensch eine
spirituelle Grundlage haben, wird von vielen abgelehnt. Andere verbreiten
wiederum die falsche Ansicht, dass der Körper und die Materie minderwertig sind
und die Inkarnation auf der Erde letztendlich etwas Überflüssiges sei. Sie
versuchen, die Menschheit vorzeitig zu spiritualisieren, entgegen der Tatsache,
dass die Erde genau jener Ort ist, wo der Mensch seinen Gesamtfortschritt am
besten vorantreiben kann. Die eben erwähnten Einstellungen bringen die
Menschheit allerdings nicht weiter. Es werden noch viele Inkarnationen nötig
sein, bis der Mensch soweit ist, dass er seinen physischen Körper ablegen kann
und der ätherische Körper dadurch zu seinem gröbsten Bestandteil wird. Aber
auch danach wird er noch sehr lange brauchen, bis er ans Ziel gelangt..... ‡
‡ 1e Erdenzeitalter: Saturn Mit „Menschen“; Ohne
Mineralien/Pflanzen/Tieren;
Wärme
in abwechselnde/unterschiedliche Formen
1. Spiegelt Wesenheiten (u.a.
Kyriotetes) und ihre Eigenschaften, hat keine eigene,
die sich selbst bewusst
werden
und dadurch entwickeln (ist „Urwille“ =
Throne)
2. Archai =
Urbeginne = Wesen, die wirken wie gegenwärtige menschliche Persönlichkeiten
physische Leib Vollkommen
Krankheit
3. Zwischen Saturn und Sonne entwickeln sich
Sinnesorganen
Seraphim (= Geister der Liebe) können diese
Sinnesorganen benutzen und Eindrücke an
Feuergeister weitergeben ohne eigenes Nutzen
4. Söhne des Zwielichts o. des Lebens = Angeloi
Geschmack entwickelt sich
2e
Erdenzeitalter: Sonne Feuergeister = Archangeloi
= Erzengel bestehen mit Art Traumbewusstsein
„Wie
Menschen“, aber lebhafter
Gas
Lebens-/Bilder-/Ätherleib Weniger vollkommen
Stoffwechsel
entwickelt sich verbunden mit Geister der Harmonien = Cherubim erzeugen
Bewusstsein 1. wie Traumbewusstsein des
heutigen Menschen,
2.
Schlafbewusstsein
3e
Erdenzeitalter: Mond Wesenheiten: Excusiai
= Gewalten
Unterteilung in Lebewesen ‡
Wasser
= flüssig
Astralleib Wenig vollkommen
Träger
von Begierden/Leidenschaft/Lust/Leid
4e
Erdenzeitalter: Erde Mineralien
Fest
Geistesmensch
(= Atma Keim gestaltet in Saturnzeitalter/Buddhi
= Lebensgeist gestaltet in Sonnezeitalter)
Erde Unvollkommen
‡
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum