Cobre em Steiner (2010)

Meditation on Copper. The Copper consciousness pervades our whole being. It radiates from the centre below the heart and the ‘second’ man arises. He has emerged from Space into Time. He is awake in the world of the dead. (Steiner 2010:6)

Relationship between disease and consciousness. Disturbance of digestive functions indicates that copper consciousness is working too strongly in an unconscious manner in the world of the dead. Balance is restored by administering copper. This is the province of the medical practitioner. All substances have a physical and a moral side. The relationship between medical science and moral science must be renewed on a new basis. (Steiner 2010:7)

The copper condition of man. (Steiner 2010:7)

The copper consciousness enables man to perceive his pre-earthly existence. In this state of consciousness man perceives the ‘group soul’ of the animals. The world appears transformed; the environment is permeated with the psychic and spiritual. Because this intermediate world permeates the sensory world we are able to develop our sense organs. (Steiner 2010:7)

Just as a snake can slough its skin, so it is possible for a short time — and much can be experienced in the course of a few seconds — for this second man, the “copper” man, to withdraw from the body and move about freely in the spiritual world. He can be separated from the body, though at the cost of increasing pain. When we are dissociated from the body we have a wider range of experiences. When we have reached the point when we can relinquish the body, we are then able to follow a person who has passed through the gate of death. (Steiner 2010:25)

When they hear, for example, that the qualities of certain metals are associated with other levels of consciousness, they feel more reassured. If a small dosage of copper is all that is required in order to preserve a spiritual link with another after death, then why not take it, they conclude, if it enables one to develop a higher level of consciousness. (Steiner 2010:27)

A man of the Chaldean epoch, we will suppose, has been prescribed highly potentized doses of copper. Before taking it — this was the general practice of the time — he was directed to perform certain specific spiritual exercises. In such cases, years rather than days of training were demanded of him before the highly potentized copper could be administered. And because his physical constitution was different from ours, he learned, through his training, to retrace the reactions upon the upper part of the body, of this finely distributed, highly potentized copper that was circulating in his blood stream. When copper was administered after this careful training, he felt inwardly that his words took on added warmth, because he himself had generated warmth in his larynx and in the nerves leading from the larynx to the brain. (Steiner 2010:27)

Now because his physical make-up was different, he was able to react with such extreme sensitivity to what was taking place within him. If one were to administer highly potentized copper in similar circumstances today, it would of course take effect, but it would provoke a laryngeal condition and nothing further. (Steiner 2010:27)

At the present time the only valid method is for man to have an inner perception of the nature, the essential being of copper as I indicated yesterday and thus develop a sensitive response to the colour of burnished copper, to the behaviour of copper in copper sulphate solution. By concentrating and meditating upon this response, he will ensure that he reacts in the right way. (Steiner 2010:27)

But, you will object, in my book, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, there is no indication of what preparatory steps should be undertaken in order to develop this response to copper. That is so. But in principle the directives are given in my book, though copper is not specifically mentioned. A description is given of how one should enter into the being of crystals, plants, etc. and the preparatory exercises are indicated. But of course no information is given of how to meditate on the nature of copper; a whole library (rather than a book) would be needed for that. Nor was it necessary, since directives have already been given — exercises to promote self-confidence, for example, and exercises in concentration upon some specific theme or object. Such exercises, in effect, are already covered by what I have just said about the nature of copper. There is no specific statement to the effect that one should meditate upon the nature of copper. It is suggested that some simple subject or theme should be selected for purposes of meditation morning and evening. That is tantamount to meditating upon the nature of copper. Only that is given as a subject for meditation which could refer to its metallic nature. (Steiner 2010:27)

A meditation upon some specific theme such as “wisdom radiates in the light” has a decisive influence upon the inner life, if carried out in earnest. The effect would be the same as if someone were to explore the nature of copper from all angles and to concentrate on its physical aspect. In the first instance, our approach is from the moral standpoint, in the second, from the physical and chemical standpoint. It is far better for the non-chemist to enter the spiritual world from the moral standpoint. (Steiner 2010:28)

Today, however, we are aware that changes take place in the body, even in normal life, if I may use such a mundane expression. Let us assume, for example, that we experience a change in that region of the body which radiates the activity of copper as I pointed out yesterday. Any such change is reflected in disturbances of the digestive organs, in the metabolic-limb system — in disturbances of the organs predominantly associated with metabolism, digestion and assimilation of nutrients. Every such disturbance in the human organization which we call dis-ease is also associated with the evocation of a different state of consciousness. The full implication of this must be borne in mind. (Steiner 2010:28)

Thus, if the consciousness below the heart is too active, the consciousness in the region of the larynx must be diminished; the heart lies between, it acts as a regulator and it is the knife edge on which the beam of the balance oscillates. Equilibrium is restored by administering copper. I have already pointed out that man’s body today is constituted in such a way that the larynx reacts to copper. (Steiner 2010:28)

The metabolic and laryngeal systems are as closely related as the two sides of the balance. One may be adjusted by means of the other. If suitable doses of copper are administered, the patient is inclined to withdraw somewhat from the realm of the dead and thereby benefits in health, whereas otherwise he is increasingly identified with it. That is the spiritual aspect of healing. (Steiner 2010:28)

After this brief digression into history I should now like to continue our investigations. I have already indicated how the metallity, the basic substantiality of the mineral element, is related to man and his conditions of consciousness. Having shown man’s relationship to the metal copper, I described the state of consciousness that enables him to participate in the experiences of the so-called dead after death. (Steiner 2010:32)

Let me illustrate my point. A man is born at a certain point in time. If, at the age of forty, he develops the copper condition of consciousness — I have already explained this in my lecture of the day before yesterday — his perception is no longer related to the immediate present, nor to his perception at the age of thirty or thirty-five; he can only look back to his experiences immediately before birth. He can do this for himself and others, but he cannot apprehend the world of everyday existence. This is only feasible for human beings. (Steiner 2010:32)

STEINER, Rudolf. 2010. True and false paths in spiritual investigation. (Trans.: A. H. Parker) London: Rudolf Steiner Press.