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Copyright © 1997 by Hugh Lovel
All rights reserved. Inquiries should be addressed to
Twelve Star Publishing, P.O. Box 123, Jefferson, MD 21755
Note: In earthlight! issue #6 we introduced Biodynamic agriculture and the concept of etheric forces. These topics were inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner (1861 - 1925). In the following article, Hugh Lovel explains how the formative forces of nature are related to ether and substance. Together, these concepts provide a key to understanding the living world around us. In this knowledge lies hope for restoring a healthy balance between man and nature.
Rudolf Steiner combined rigorous scientific training with
gifted clairvoyance. In dozens of books, and thousands of lectures,
Steiner laid the foundation for a comprehensive new world view,
sparking innovation in such diverse fields as agriculture, art,
architecture, health care, education, performing arts, and philosophy.
Essential to this work was Steiner's understanding of nature,
which differed from the materialist view, particularly in regard
to life force.
When farmers asked Steiner to deliver a course on agriculture
their concern was the on-going deterioration of life force in
their animals and crops. They realized that without understanding
how life forces work in the farm environment they could not achieve
lasting agricultural productivity either in quantity or quality.
In giving these farmers his course on agriculture Steiner provided
a view of life force that many scientists today are unprepared
to grasp.
Steiner was inspired by Goethe's view that forces arise
between opposite polarities. Electricity arises between the positive
and negative polarities. Magnetism arises between north and south.
There is another force, a cohesive or formative force, that arises
between point and periphery. Like gravity before Sir Isaac Newton,
this third force is largely unrecognized and has no commonly agreed
upon name. Yet it is of the greatest importance to all forms of
life.
The opposite streams of this formative force are gravity
and levity. Who has seen gravity? No one. And no one sees levity.
But this is the way with forces. All we see are effects. Gravity,
which is lifeless or material, works toward the point pole; while
levity, which is living or spiritual, works toward the periphery.
Both foster organization and thus are formative. However, gravity
works on substances while levity works on the ethers. Living organisms
having both physical and etheric bodies respond to both gravity
and levity.
It is important to recognize that gravity and levity,
being formative, play a more fundamental and vital role in nature
than secondary forces such as electricity and magnetism. Formative
forces are involved in the creation of things, whereas secondary
forces arise from the interaction of things. Understanding formative
forces is the key to a deeper understanding of the earth and its
inhabitants.
Given time, agreement will be reached on the terms used
to describe formative forces and their manifestations in substance
and ether. For now the subject matter is new in western scientific
circles, and the names presented in this article may not endure.
The states of substances relating to the point polarity
may be compared to the states of ethers relating to the periphery.
With substance these states, from the least to most intense, are
the radiant, gaseous, liquid and solid states. Correspondingly,
the four states of ether, from the least to most intense, are
the warmth, light, sound and life ethers.
Substance and ether do not act independently of each
other. Rather they interpenetrate and work in tandem. Radiant
substance, the most rarefied substance, is permeated by warmth
ether, the most rarefied ether. Similarly, the gases are permeated
by light ether, liquids by sound ether, and solids by life ether.
The natural tendency of gases and radiant matter (or heat)
is to expand. This corresponds to an upward flow of light ether
and warmth ether away from the surface of the earth. On the other
hand, the tendency of liquids and solids is to fill only bottoms
of containers and to fall towards the earth. Thus sound and life
ether tend to contract towards (and into) the earth.
The relation between forces, substance, and ether can be
verified through careful observation of nature. Consider the apple
that, in dying, hit Sir Issac Newton on the head and inspired
him to formulate his law of gravity. In living, it defied gravity
to take shape and weight high in the branches. This is a classic
example of the gravity/levity relationship.
We view our world through an atmosphere abundant with light,
and we observe that air conveys light more readily than sound.
From this we conclude that air is filled mostly with light ether.
Under water the situation is reversed, and we find that sound
is conveyed much better than light. From this we infer that water
is filled mostly with sound ether. We see the entire food chain
based on nutrition derived from minerals and soil. From this we
can tell that minerals and soil contain life ether.
Each of the four ethers has a distinct color, which is
manifest in substance. For example, the color associated with
sound ether is blue, which may be seen in large bodies of water.
This color is also visible in the sky at midday, when large amounts
of sound ether have been "exhaled" from the earth due
to the influence of sunlight. In the evening, sound ether settles
back into the earth, and carries with it the moisture we experience
as dew.
The ethers mixed in air may be separated by combustion.
In the flame of a candle we see that light ether, which is the
larger portion, manifests as yellow and rises due to levity. Sound
ether, which is the smaller portion, manifests as blue and pools
at the bottom. The color associated with warmth ether is red,
and with life ether, violet.
These few examples will suffice to show how a true understanding
of the world may be gained through observation and contemplation
of nature and her forces.
Hugh Lovel is founder and director
of the Union Agricultural Institute. Hugh is the author of A
Biodynamic Farm, and other works about the science of life
and agriculture. This article was excerpted from a longer work
which appeared in Biodynamics and Acres USA, and
is reprinted with permission. Edited with additional material
by Guy McCarthy.