Enhancing Cosmic Nutrition
in Everyday Life
Behind Our Physical World : The Spirit !
With the concept of cosmic nutrition, Rudolf Steiner presented an entirely new aspect of nutrition – namely that we take sustenance not just from what we eat, but from our environment, by way of our breathing, skin and senses. In Steiner’s description, it’s actually this “cosmic” stream from which we build the physical substances of our blood, muscles, and internal organs ; and from which we take the forces we need for thinking.
In Steiner’s view of man and universe, our world has emerged over immense periods of time, its physical substances “condensing” in stages from an invisible spiritual world ; its life ordered and nurtured by invisible spiritual beings. This “cosmic intelligence” and love standing behind our universe are in fact the “food” that feeds us, the real source of nourishment in our cosmic nutrition.
Although cosmic nutrition takes place mostly below the threshold of consciousness, we can enhance the way we receive it. Our choices what we take into ourselves, and the quality of our attention when we take it, are important to this process.
We can make the organs that receive cosmic nutrition healthier. Raw foods, in particular, support blood flow to the skin, brain and nervous system ; healthy dietary fats are also essential to these organs. Green leafy vegetables strengthen the respiratory organs particularly, among other benefits.
The quality of our cosmic nutrition is also influenced by our relationship to the surrounding world. It proceeds best if we cultivate a mood of reverence — of calm attention, and a capacity to see the world not just for its usefulness to us, but for its own sake, with interest and respect.
External Steps
Establish these supportive and protective measures to enhance cosmic nutrition, and build a more vibrant health and wellness :
- Reduce overstimulating impressions in your life. Read, watch television, listen to music, or use the computer only as a conscious choice — not as a diversion, time filler, or “soundtrack” to life.
The above activities draw particularly on our forces of digestion. It’s best not to do them while eating, and to allow a half hour “grace period” after meals before resuming them. Placing protections around mealtimes takes creativity and discipline, but supports harmonious digestion, and bodily vitality overall.
- Learn to notice when you’re overstimulated, and take a self time out. Put your head down, or take a short “power nap”. Take a short walk. De-intensify, change focus, breathe. Say “no” to overstimulation - say “yes” to a break !
- Find ways to get yourself outdoors. Walking is a truly great way to do this. When we walk, we limber up sluggish muscles, restore alignment in our back and limbs, reintegrate the rhythms of our heart and lungs. Bottled up energies redistribute. Feelings are aired through. Thoughts, memories, and insights bob up from entrapment in the body, and can be looked at in peace. At the same time we can savor sunshine, birdsong, fragrance and fresh air.
If you can walk without pain, walk at least a mile twice daily. If need be, just sit outside for a half hour twice ! The quality of light is best in the first hours after sunrise, and a similar time before sunset. But if your schedule is tight, get outdoors when you can. Best places include anywhere where there are flowers and green growing things, or where the view is pleasant and aesthetic.
Since finding time is often difficult, strategy may be needed. Take care of some morning tasks the night before, or get up a half-hour earlier. Or just block out the time in your planner ! You’ll find the effort quickly repays itself. The concept of cosmic nutrition becomes more real through experiences of better stamina, digestion and breathing, and a more clear and focused mind.
- Make the change to all natural clothing, as much as possible. This means to use clothes made from cotton, silk, wool, hemp and other such materials — fabrics that come from animal or vegetable sources, and that come without treatments, coating, or blending with man-made fibers. Make the same changes with your blankets and other bedding.
- Reduce unnecessary exposure to toxic substances. Basic measures include wearing gloves when using household cleaning products, paints and varnishes, establishing proper ventilation, and, as necessary, wearing a mask. Employ similar measures when working with lawn and garden care products. Identify alternative, less toxic products, and determine which products you never want to use. Some resources are listed below.
You can also do research concerning soaps, deodorants, shampoos, and other body care products. Resources available include books and magazines on health and wellness issues, and the Internet. For articles on cosmic nutrition themes, and on healthy living overall, we especially appreciate LILIPOH magazine.
Some substances affect entire living environments, and can have long term effects on health. Lawn and garden care products are invisible after use, but require research and cautious selection to limit possible toxic effects. New homes built using many sealants, glues, resins, and other chemicals, can have noxious “outgassing” processes. Some new office buildings also undergo this process, and a person with chemical sensitivities may need to transfer to another work area.
Other choices are not as clear cut, and ask for creativity. Among laundry products, for example, “detergents” are generally more powerful than “soap powders.” They may get the laundry brighter, but they’re also more harsh. They may contain phosphates, perfumes, blueing agents, or chlorine — substances neither especially environment nor human friendly. Possible compromises : to use a detergent only for clothes that are especially soiled; to use less than what is recommended (detergent makers often overestimate what is needed) ; and to rinse twice.
Concerning body and skin care products, some companies (e.g., Uriel Pharmacy, Weleda, Dr. Hauschka) employ knowledge of cosmic nutrition in their products. Dr. Hauschka, for instance, produces a line of holistic cosmetics (imagine — cosmetics with health benefits !) ; and publishes a quarterly newsletter “Seasons”, which explores cosmic nutrition-related questions in every issue. We heartily recommend these and other companies that support healthy nutrition via skin, breathing, and the senses.
Enhancing Cosmic Nutrition : Inner Steps
Cosmic nutrition can also be enhanced through certain inner exercises. A first would simply be observation, of a kind that quietly adds perception to perception without judging, until a unifying concept emerges from the many details. Because such thoughts arise only from what’s observed, they have a certain healthy objectivity.
Observation of our inner environment - our own thoughts, feelings, and actions - can also be helpful. The emphasis is again on patience and accuracy, on not leaping too quickly to conclusions.
These exercises strengthen a basic, important human faculty – our capacity to form mental pictures. In becoming better observers, we build clarity, sensitivity and a healthy inner flexibility into our world of mental pictures.
Through observing our inner and outer world, we may also come to adjust previous impressions. We can alter preconceived notions and prejudices we’ve developed. Over time, this kind of observation loosens our human tendency to identify with experiences - to make judgments about them, and attach our sense of self to them. Identification gives us a certain sense of comfort and safety, but it also makes us narrower, and can lead to that state where “every man takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world”. Patient observation teaches both self-knowledge, and better knowledge of our world.
Prayer and meditation strengthen qualities of reverence, devotion and mental clarity – again qualities which strengthen our capacity to receive and “metabolize” cosmic nutrition. Quality and persistence are of more value than quantity. A practice of five to fifteen minutes, two or three times a day can help immensely.
Cosmic Nutrition and Children
Resources
Home Safe Home : Protecting Yourself and Your Family from Everyday Toxics and Harmful Household Products in the Home. Debra Lynn Dodd.
Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Non-toxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping. Annie Berthold-Bond.
Article by : Jeff Smith RN
in Everyday Life
Behind Our Physical World : The Spirit !
With the concept of cosmic nutrition, Rudolf Steiner presented an entirely new aspect of nutrition – namely that we take sustenance not just from what we eat, but from our environment, by way of our breathing, skin and senses. In Steiner’s description, it’s actually this “cosmic” stream from which we build the physical substances of our blood, muscles, and internal organs ; and from which we take the forces we need for thinking.
In Steiner’s view of man and universe, our world has emerged over immense periods of time, its physical substances “condensing” in stages from an invisible spiritual world ; its life ordered and nurtured by invisible spiritual beings. This “cosmic intelligence” and love standing behind our universe are in fact the “food” that feeds us, the real source of nourishment in our cosmic nutrition.
Although cosmic nutrition takes place mostly below the threshold of consciousness, we can enhance the way we receive it. Our choices what we take into ourselves, and the quality of our attention when we take it, are important to this process.
We can make the organs that receive cosmic nutrition healthier. Raw foods, in particular, support blood flow to the skin, brain and nervous system ; healthy dietary fats are also essential to these organs. Green leafy vegetables strengthen the respiratory organs particularly, among other benefits.
The quality of our cosmic nutrition is also influenced by our relationship to the surrounding world. It proceeds best if we cultivate a mood of reverence — of calm attention, and a capacity to see the world not just for its usefulness to us, but for its own sake, with interest and respect.
External Steps
Establish these supportive and protective measures to enhance cosmic nutrition, and build a more vibrant health and wellness :
- Reduce overstimulating impressions in your life. Read, watch television, listen to music, or use the computer only as a conscious choice — not as a diversion, time filler, or “soundtrack” to life.
The above activities draw particularly on our forces of digestion. It’s best not to do them while eating, and to allow a half hour “grace period” after meals before resuming them. Placing protections around mealtimes takes creativity and discipline, but supports harmonious digestion, and bodily vitality overall.
- Learn to notice when you’re overstimulated, and take a self time out. Put your head down, or take a short “power nap”. Take a short walk. De-intensify, change focus, breathe. Say “no” to overstimulation - say “yes” to a break !
- Find ways to get yourself outdoors. Walking is a truly great way to do this. When we walk, we limber up sluggish muscles, restore alignment in our back and limbs, reintegrate the rhythms of our heart and lungs. Bottled up energies redistribute. Feelings are aired through. Thoughts, memories, and insights bob up from entrapment in the body, and can be looked at in peace. At the same time we can savor sunshine, birdsong, fragrance and fresh air.
If you can walk without pain, walk at least a mile twice daily. If need be, just sit outside for a half hour twice ! The quality of light is best in the first hours after sunrise, and a similar time before sunset. But if your schedule is tight, get outdoors when you can. Best places include anywhere where there are flowers and green growing things, or where the view is pleasant and aesthetic.
Since finding time is often difficult, strategy may be needed. Take care of some morning tasks the night before, or get up a half-hour earlier. Or just block out the time in your planner ! You’ll find the effort quickly repays itself. The concept of cosmic nutrition becomes more real through experiences of better stamina, digestion and breathing, and a more clear and focused mind.
- Make the change to all natural clothing, as much as possible. This means to use clothes made from cotton, silk, wool, hemp and other such materials — fabrics that come from animal or vegetable sources, and that come without treatments, coating, or blending with man-made fibers. Make the same changes with your blankets and other bedding.
- Reduce unnecessary exposure to toxic substances. Basic measures include wearing gloves when using household cleaning products, paints and varnishes, establishing proper ventilation, and, as necessary, wearing a mask. Employ similar measures when working with lawn and garden care products. Identify alternative, less toxic products, and determine which products you never want to use. Some resources are listed below.
You can also do research concerning soaps, deodorants, shampoos, and other body care products. Resources available include books and magazines on health and wellness issues, and the Internet. For articles on cosmic nutrition themes, and on healthy living overall, we especially appreciate LILIPOH magazine.
Some substances affect entire living environments, and can have long term effects on health. Lawn and garden care products are invisible after use, but require research and cautious selection to limit possible toxic effects. New homes built using many sealants, glues, resins, and other chemicals, can have noxious “outgassing” processes. Some new office buildings also undergo this process, and a person with chemical sensitivities may need to transfer to another work area.
Other choices are not as clear cut, and ask for creativity. Among laundry products, for example, “detergents” are generally more powerful than “soap powders.” They may get the laundry brighter, but they’re also more harsh. They may contain phosphates, perfumes, blueing agents, or chlorine — substances neither especially environment nor human friendly. Possible compromises : to use a detergent only for clothes that are especially soiled; to use less than what is recommended (detergent makers often overestimate what is needed) ; and to rinse twice.
Concerning body and skin care products, some companies (e.g., Uriel Pharmacy, Weleda, Dr. Hauschka) employ knowledge of cosmic nutrition in their products. Dr. Hauschka, for instance, produces a line of holistic cosmetics (imagine — cosmetics with health benefits !) ; and publishes a quarterly newsletter “Seasons”, which explores cosmic nutrition-related questions in every issue. We heartily recommend these and other companies that support healthy nutrition via skin, breathing, and the senses.
Enhancing Cosmic Nutrition : Inner Steps
Cosmic nutrition can also be enhanced through certain inner exercises. A first would simply be observation, of a kind that quietly adds perception to perception without judging, until a unifying concept emerges from the many details. Because such thoughts arise only from what’s observed, they have a certain healthy objectivity.
Observation of our inner environment - our own thoughts, feelings, and actions - can also be helpful. The emphasis is again on patience and accuracy, on not leaping too quickly to conclusions.
These exercises strengthen a basic, important human faculty – our capacity to form mental pictures. In becoming better observers, we build clarity, sensitivity and a healthy inner flexibility into our world of mental pictures.
Through observing our inner and outer world, we may also come to adjust previous impressions. We can alter preconceived notions and prejudices we’ve developed. Over time, this kind of observation loosens our human tendency to identify with experiences - to make judgments about them, and attach our sense of self to them. Identification gives us a certain sense of comfort and safety, but it also makes us narrower, and can lead to that state where “every man takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world”. Patient observation teaches both self-knowledge, and better knowledge of our world.
Prayer and meditation strengthen qualities of reverence, devotion and mental clarity – again qualities which strengthen our capacity to receive and “metabolize” cosmic nutrition. Quality and persistence are of more value than quantity. A practice of five to fifteen minutes, two or three times a day can help immensely.
Cosmic Nutrition and Children
Resources
Home Safe Home : Protecting Yourself and Your Family from Everyday Toxics and Harmful Household Products in the Home. Debra Lynn Dodd.
Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Non-toxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping. Annie Berthold-Bond.
Article by : Jeff Smith RN