Alcohol: very harmful. Cocaine: even more harmful than alcohol

The use of alcohol can be prohibited, but when it is, strange phenomena appear. You know, for example, that in many parts of the world the sale of alcohol has been restricted or even completely prohibited. But I call your attention to another evil that has recently made its appearance in Europe, that is, the use of cocaine by people who wish to drug themselves. In comparison to what the use of cocaine will do, particularly in damage to the human reproductive forces, alcohol is benign! 

Those individuals who take cocaine do not hold cocaine responsible for the damage it does, but you can see from the external symptoms that its use is much worse than that of alcohol. When a person suffers from delirium tremens, it becomes manifest in a form of persecution complex. He sees mice everywhere that pursue him. 

A cocaine user, however, imagines snakes emerging everywhere from his body. First, such a person seeks an escape through cocaine, and for a while he feels good inside, because it brings about a feeling of sensual pleasure. When he has not had any cocaine for some time, however, and he looks at himself, he sees snakes emerge everywhere from his body. Then he runs to have another dose of cocaine so that the snakes will leave him alone for a while. The fear he has of these snakes is much greater than the fear of mice that is experienced by an alcoholic suffering from delirium tremens.

Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 348 – Health and Illness II: Lecture III: The Effects of Alcohol on Man – Dornach, January 8, 1923

Translated by Maria St. Goar

Previously posted on  7 April 2021

Selfishness: a powerful protection

Selfishness is not a force implanted in human nature by the gods in order to be denied or rejected; It is essential for man’s well-being and survival.

If, looking for the reasons behind selfishness, we ask ourselves: Why have the gods, the good gods, implanted what in the opinion of many is so horrible into mankind? The answer given by spiritual science is that selfishness offers a very strong protection against what people would face without it.

If one wanted to practice black magic, he would normally find it relatively easy to gather apprentices and teach them about certain machinations that are terribly damaging to the world. But why do most people avoid becoming pupils of black magic? The answer is simple: they are afraid of the potential harm to their own personality.  

Selfish fear offers the best protection against the use of very evil forces, like black magic. It drives people away from utilising such forces, and that is an excellent thing.

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 101 – Mythen und Sagen Okkulte Zeichen und Symbole – Berlin, October 21, 1907 (page 119-120)

Anonymous translator

 

Previously posted on 7 November 2018

A certain fear

We have referred today, as in past lectures, to other types of beings intimately connected to our lives. A certain fear of those worlds you have heard of here, might assail you and lead you to think that it would be better to remain ignorant of all these things. But isn’t that how the ostrich behaves, when it hides its head in the sand? The things we referred to are absolutely real. It is not by closing your eyes that you will make them disappear, but by knowing about them. The only way to drive away all those creatures, is to manage your life in a manner that, increasingly, makes you master of it. Knowledge and truth are the only means to set you free; religious documents do not lie when they state: ‘You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.’

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 98 – Natur- und Geistwesen – ihr Wirken in unserer sichtbaren Welt – Stuttgart, February 11, 1908 (page 210)

Anonymous translator

 

Previously posted on 23 October 2016

About the fear of death

At the moment of death, when the human being goes through the portal of death, he sees numerous hindering, malevolent forces approaching him. These forces, however, are usually drawn near through the fear of death. The greater the fear of death, the stronger their power is. Fear of death has always been a cause of anxiety at the moment of death. When, however, the dying person is aware that fear cannot change anything about the dying process that he has to go through, these forces and powers appear like desiccated bags.

The human being can only gain victory over the fear of death and bravely face it if he knows that in him is an immortal, eternal inner core for whom death is only a metamorphosis of life, a change of life form. As soon as the human being discovers his immortal inner core through spiritual science, he learns more and more how to overcome anxiety and in the long run all fear of death disappears as well. The more materialistic a person is however, all the more will he fear death.

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 56 – Die Erkenntnis der Seele und des Geistes – Berlin, December 12, 1907 (page 146)

Translated by Nesta Carsten-Krüger

STEINER AND MARIE VON SIVERS

Previously posted on July 17, 2018

There are beings in the spiritual realms for whom anxiety and fear offer welcome food

There are beings in the spiritual realms for whom anxiety and fear emanating from human beings offer welcome food. When humans have no anxiety and fear, then these creatures starve. People not yet sufficiently convinced of this statement could understand it to be meant comparatively only. But for those who are familiar with this phenomenon, it is a reality. 

If fear and anxiety radiate from people and they break out in panic, then these creatures find welcome nutrition and they become more and more powerful. These beings are hostile towards humanity. Everything that feeds on negative feelings, on anxiety, fear and superstition, despair or doubt,  are in reality hostile forces in supersensible worlds, launching cruel attacks on human beings, while they are being fed. 

Therefore, it is above all necessary to begin with that the person who enters the spiritual world overcome fear, feelings of helplessness, despair and anxiety. But these are exactly the feelings that belong to contemporary culture and materialism; because it estranges people from the spiritual world, it is especially suited to evoke hopelessness and fear of the unknown in people, thereby calling up the above mentioned hostile forces against them.

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 56 – Die Erkenntnis der Seele und des Geistes – Berlijn, December 12, 1907 (page 145)

Translated by Nesta Carsten-Krüger

RUDOLF STEINER AND HIS SISTER LEOPOLDINE

Previously posted on July 13, 2018