Tabacum officinalis = Nicotiana tabacum Anhängsel

‡ Folgendes hat anthroposofische Einschlüsse ‡

The Solanaceae theme comes up in quite a different key when we consider the genus Nicotiana. This comprises annuals from the tropics and subtropics, with strong, undivided leaves, some a metre long, surrounding the shoot as it strives energetically upwards. With their stems fused into the shoot, these leaves follow one another rhythmically in great abundance, gradually contracting until they enter the floral region as small bracts, penetrating right to the top of the shoot. For we have already come to the inflorescence (a terminal panicle or cymose cluster), the aim and purpose of the growing process. With many beautifully colored, well-formed, deep funnel-shaped blossoms, the inflorescence stands out clearly against the luxuriant foliage, and we see a free, unfettered plant form, with no sign of spasm. Quite obviously, the incoming flowering impulse has not led to the deformation of the rhythmic system which we have seen in the other Solanaceae.

Our esthetic sense permits us to call the tobacco species beautiful; some have won a place in our gardens as ornamental plants, particularly the graceful, sweet-scented nightflowering species with their white flowers resembling narcissi, and slim horizontal trumpet shapes reminding (Brugmansia).

However, in this genus, too, astral impulses normal to the floral region have strayed beyond their limits of space and time, and permeated the whole plant from the root upwards. This is apparent from the strongly aromatic and resinous scent of leaf and stem, and from the fact that these plants develop one of the most powerful poisons in the plant kingdom, Nicot., and related substances. But just as the form of the Nicotiana species is of a different type to that of the deadly nightshades, so alkaloid Nicot. is quite different from substances such as hyoscyamine, Atro. and scopolamine. Its chief characteristic is that it is a fluid, very volatile, like a volatile oil; it is all the time subtly exhaled into the atmosphere from the leaves. A fine poisonous mist floats above any tobacco field, with its aromatic, musty scent.

The plant creates an air-form for itself, beyond the form that is visible to the eye, and this air-form is filled with its specific nature. In the tobacco plant as in the other Solanaceae, the astral is impressed into the physical too early and too deeply, drawing part of the plant processes into the element of astrality, into the sphere of the air; it does not, however, deform the rhythmic system in Nicotiana. An astral principle, something cosmic, is caught up in the plant like the genie in the bottle; but in contrast to other Solanaceae here the stopper is taken out, the incarcerated becomes free, surrounds the plant as a vaporous form and no longer makes its impression upon the form of the plant (upon that which is formed out of solid and fluid elements).

R.S.: described the action of tobacco poison. It affects chiefly the circulation, speeding it up and making the heart beat faster. The respiratory rate does not increase, so that the healthy ratio of pulse to breath which is so very important for man (72 pulse beats to 18 breaths on average = 4:1), is upset. The blood receives inadequate amounts of oxygen, resulting in a dyspnoea which the subject is not aware of, and in connection with this an anxiety which also goes unnoticed. The heart beats fast; its healthy relation to other organs such as the kidney, is dislocated. The rhythm of life becomes too fast, and so does thinking activity. Man wears himself out too quickly, damaging the heart through unconscious anxiety states. R.S.: Nicot. addiction is in the final instance due to the fact that for the last 3 or 4 centuries man has not been sufficiently active in his spirit. Present-day aims do not lead to a true interest in life; the sense organs are stimulated, and so is the rational mind that is connected with them, but the blood is not stirred. Tobacco poison is given the task of rousing the blood.

Nicot. does not have any visionary or hallucinatory "narcotic" effects. Modern scientists are completely mystified by the fact that smokers cannot do without tobacco, that tobacco has conquered the whole of the world as no other substance has done, and has become a poison to which all mankind is addicted. The Red Indians used it chiefly in their cults. People whose psyche had been suitably prepared were given tobacco water to drink and this brought them to a state close to death; by loosening the spiritual members of man's being this made it possible for those people to see the spheres of the spiritual world which open to man after death. It was then possible to get in touch with the spirits of ancestors, etc. Tobacco was an "initiation poison". It could only have this effect in races where the constitution of the members of man's being was very specific, where the force "holding together" the physical, the spiritual and the psychic aspects was of a very specific type. At the same time it was necessary to make the soul "transparent" for spiritual actions, so that it would not allow any of its subjective spiritual and psychic contents to color its perceptions when in such a state. Those states are not what smokers all over the world are after today. They merely want relief from the discomfort of emptiness, and from the consequences, extending right into the very blood, of the non-spiritual life which developed when man turned exclusively to the material world. Occupation with this world led to 3 things: firstly the investigation of its physical forces and laws; 2ndly, discovery and conquest of the physical earth; and thirdly, atrophy and desolation of the psychic and spiritual aspects of man's nature. In this "move to the West", which in the final instance is a taking hold of the forces of death, tobacco was discovered and appropriated; a poison which for a time obligingly hides with its smoke the consequences of the path taken by mankind. Man will overcome the need for tobacco when he consciously grasps his own spirituality.

The actions of the tobacco plant on man, and its medicinal potential, derive from the specific processes which have been outlined above. Part of the astrality which has taken hold of the whole plant is driven out again by the strong forces of the rhythmic organization so that it forms an airy principle around the plant, in the form of a vaporous sphere. The poison of tobacco has been made volatile. Remedies prepared from tobacco leaves influence the action of the astral body on the rhythmic organization of man; the blood process is accelerated, the process of exhalation is intensified, and the musculature of the blood vessels and of the respiratory apparatus in influenced. Asthma and vasospasm are thus among the indications. "Tobacco regulates the activity of the astral body" is a general indication given by R.S. In the digestive system, the astral body is helped to permeate the air organization. Tobacco may be used to treat the severe flatulence and even inhibition of intestinal action which result when the astral body is not properly incorporated in this region.

R.S.: tobacco as a remedy not only regulates astral activity/compensates for "atrophied" astral activity, for "deformations" of the astral body which might become transferred to the etheric and finally also to the physical processes in the human organization.

Tobacco thus is a powerful remedy. Its effectiveness is, however, impaired by the considerable use and abuse of tobacco by smokers. Habituation leads to a dulling of response. At this point I should like to conclude the discussion of Tabacum the main object of this book being to describe the essential nature of the plant. Details as to medicinal uses may be found in the anthroposophical medical literature.

R.S.: "I cannot give you an opinion on this, I shall only base myself on that which I have stated here from the standpoint of spiritual science. With regard to Nicot., this may on occasion be a highly dangerous stimulant, and we must be aware that something which is highly dangerous for one person need not be so for another. All one can say is that the action of Nicot. upon the organism is such that it splits up the activity of the organism, that it splits up a certain group of activities, those performed by the astral body in serving the physical body. Part of the activities normally performed by the whole astral body are then performed by only part of it, so that the astral body is, in a sense, partly relieved. This may be harmless, but it may also have serious consequences, depending on the individual case“.

Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum