We have observed in a recent Rays article that serious esoteric
study brings about modifications in the four human vehicles (dense,
vital, desire and mental bodies) and that these changes in turn
determine our preferences for and heightened sensitivity to particular
foods, including the pseudo-foods, coffee, tea, and alcohol.
A consideration of the origin and evolution of human bodies shows
that nine celestial hierarchies actually rayed part of their being
into inchoate man. Many of these hierarchies continue to influence
human development, especially members of the third (Angels, Archangels,
Lords of Mind) and second (Lords or Spirits of Form, Motion, and
Wisdom) orders. This influence filters down into matters as detailed
and specific as the formation of protein (controlled by the Spirits
of Form-associated with the constellation Scorpio) and the production
of fat (the province of the Spirits of Motion-emanating from Libra).
Let us compare three kinds of food in relation to their cosmic
significance as we become more sensible of their effects in ourselves
through esoteric training. First, milk and milk products. Milk
is a unique substance. While it provides sustenance for living
beings, linking individual members to the common human species
and uniting them to terrestrial conditions, it does not prevent
them at the same time from being citizens of the whole solar system.
We understand that as candidates for initiation it is important
for us not to bind ourselves and be weighed down by earth forces.
At the same time, should a person develop a love solely for that
which detaches him from the earth, he may lose the threads that
unite him with human activities on earth. A fanatical enthusiasm
for the spiritual could create an obstacle in the physical body
that would divorce him from all relationship to what is earthly
and human. Milk, in this respect, is unique in that it provides
the esoteric student with a kind of ballast, enabling him, as
it were, to keep his feet on solid ground but not confining his
activities solely to terrestrial affairs.
The consumption of flesh foods, on the other hand, has this binding
effect. For not only do they stimulate the instinctive life of
the will as it expresses, mostly unconsciously, in the passions
as they relate to purely earthly affairs, but, since they are
not, like milk products, obtained directly from the life processes
of living creatures, human or animal, but from the already transformed
part of animal substance, flesh foods deprive humans of the forces
that liberate them from the sphere of the earthly. A meat diet
promotes a more complete adaptation to specifically material conditions.
A determination to consume animal flesh signifies, usually unconsciously,
a renunciation of the joys of heaven and a desire to be fully
absorbed in an exclusively terrestrial existence.
A vegetarian diet, on the contrary, stimulates in the organism
those forces which bring man into a kind of union with the whole
solar system, so that his physical sheath participates in these
solar forces. The lightness of the organism which results from
a vegetarian diet lifts man above terrestrial heaviness and sensitizes
him to extramundane influences; so that, for instance, with the
elaboration of an inner taste, he can actually savor sunlight.
Let us briefly consider the effects of several articles of food.
Firstly, sugar. We understand that a principal aim of psychic
(soul) development is to become progressively more selfless. Yet,
given that man, by virtue of his physical body, has an earthly
task to fulfill, the consumption of sugar creates a kind of innocent
egohood which may form a counterpoise to the necessary selflessness
in the moral and spiritual sphere. The addition of a certain quantity
of sugar to the diet helps anchor man to the earth, encouraging
in him a healthy perspective that offsets the temptation to become
a dreamer and visionary and lose the capacity for sound judgment
in mundane affairs.
Sugar facilitates the imprinting of one's character on the physical
body. It may be observed that in countries where sugar consumption
is low, the inhabitants have a less defined individuality, manifesting
more the typical racial characteristics, than in countries where
consumption is high and individuality shows in outward appearance.
The effect of coffee and tea are intensified in the esoteric student.
Both are stimulants. But their effects are different. Coffee has
the effect of lifting the etheric body out of the physical body
in such a way as the latter is felt as a solid foundation for
the former. Coffee causes the perception of a differentiation
of these two bodies, throwing the physical structure into sharp
relief and promoting a physically logical consistency, thinking
based on facts, and reinforcement of stability.
Tea produces an analogous effect in differentiating between the
physical and etheric nature, but here the physical body is less
clearly defined while the tendency of the etheric body is to fluctuate.
As a result of drinking tea, thoughts become dissociated, unstable,
less capable of adhering to the facts. Dreamy fantasy and a certain
nonchalant insouciance are the result. Tea stimulates the imagination,
but it does not make for fidelity to truth. It may be appropriate
for social gatherings where it can promote flashes of wit and
intellectual virtuosity, but it does not promote accommodation
to the reality of circumstances and the solid demands of practical
life.
If coffee promotes something like stability in the physical body
and tea drinking favors a kind of charlatanism or blithe dismissal
of the facts, chocolate promotes philistinism, since it curtails
the sense of inner mobility and dulls the sensibility. The drinking
or eating of chocolate at family gatherings helps to smooth emotional
harshness and personalism.
Finally, we will make mention of alcohol, from one vantage only.
For one who takes up the Rosicrucian teachings and makes them
an integral part of his life, alcohol proves to be not only a
dead weight but acts directly as a counter force on the fermentation,
when grape juice is transformed into alcohol. Alcohol introduces
something into the organism which from the outside acts like the
Ego upon the blood. When alcohol is consumed a counter-ego is
introduced, an ego which directly opposes the deeds of the spiritual
Ego.
We know Lucifer as the great deceiver and the false light. Alcohol
is a false spirit. Under its influence self-deception knows no
bounds. Since alcohol works on the blood in the same way as the
ego, an inner war is unleashed. It has been said that "we
condemn to impotence everything that proceeds from the Ego when
we consume alcohol, which is the antagonist of the Ego."
He who drinks alcohol behaves like someone who wishes to demolish
a wall and hammers on one side, at the same time placing people
on the other side who hammer in opposition to him. In the same
way does the consumption of alcohol nullify the activity of the
Ego on the blood.
The thrust of this brief study has been to identify the occult
effect of certain substances when taken into the system of the
person who has begun esoteric development. This development has
the effect of separating and individualizing the internal organs,
making them more independent of one another. Under such conditions
the aspirant may experience some physical unsettlement. He will
also be able to observe for himself the influences of the articles
that have been mentioned herein. Always the rule is to prove for
one's self that which is true. What is here written is offered
as an aid in making that proof.
— C.W.
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