Alcohol, Nicotine and the Path

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A pupil of the Spiritual School will be a vegetarian, because animal cells obstruct and even make impossible the task he has to fulfill: the methodical demolition and annihilation of the old nature and the re-vivification of the Divine nature. Vegetarianism is therefore a fundamental condition for admission into the School of the Rosycross.

The human organism consists of cells of which there are various groups. Cell groups of the same kind together from one specific organ. Each cell is a little world in itself, a complete microcosm. Each has its own metabolism. Cells are fed by forces attracted by cell nuclei, while other values leave the cells after having performed their tasks. Cells also die and are completely replaced by new ones. These strange processes, which to material science are still almost impenetrable mysteries -- as is the problem of the maintenance of the brain cells, for example -- are clear to esoteric science, which teaches that without any exception, it is dangerous for human beings to use the cells of animal bodies for food.

There are three levels on which this damage can make itself felt: the spiritual, moral and material levels, causing spiritual, psychological or physical defects. For instance, to eat fish fosters perversity; horse meat, passion; to eat beef fosters stupidity and contentiousness, pork fosters cruelty, brutality and overconfidence, to eat mutton fosters falseness and to eat fowl fosters idiocy.

Nations and individuals who eat a great deal of any of these meats clearly show signs of it. Every cell is a power center, suitable only for the organism to which it belongs. Any foreign cell in the body will therefore cause damage in some way or other. Apart from physical, psychological or spiritual defects, a meat diet brings about a strong binding with the earth.

As man in his Fall sank ever deeper into the material life-field, he adapted his food to his state of life. Some esotericists maintain that this change in diet has taken place under divine guidance, but that is quite wrong. Just as man himself was the cause of his Fall, so he himself always chose his foods accordingly. Seven phases can be distinguished:

1. the fruit diet, composed of the produce of the vegetable kingdom;
2. the vegetable diet;
3. the addition of the products of living animals;
4. the addition of the flesh of killed animals;
5. the addition of alcohol, which causes befuddlement of the mind;
6. the addition of nicotine, which causes degeneration of the auric sphere and the nerves, that is, the consciousness;
7. the addition of synthetic foods and synthetic medicines, which cause disturbances in the vital body through mineralization of the life-ethers.

In passing through these seven phases, mankind has now sunk to the bottom of this stratum. Via these seven phases his entire bodily figure has become degenerated, diseased and miserable, simply through the effects of food and stimulants.

If we add all the other causes of our downfall and consider the material, moral and spiritual interactions we will realize how matters stand with us. There are esotericists who claim that man has reached the deepest point in his descent and that his ascent has now set in. However, we say that there is a still deeper downfall into other strata of the earth. Whether there will be an upward path, a rising out of this darkness, depends on each individual's personal decision. The crystallizing and degenerating foods which are so harmful will not be taken away from mankind. Therefore, every individual will have to renounce them as a result of a personal decision.

To be able to make such a decision, one must be ripe for it. No one can be talked into it. Those who make it do so primarily because they are urged by Remembrance, which has been guided and purified by the Hierarchy. Their decision is supported by an attitude of life which is as broad as possible so that nothing can be omitted. For the candidate on the Path of Liberation it is necessary to free himself from narcotics. In this way he liquidates the fifth, sixth and seventh phases of his Downfall.

It is well-known that alcohol dulls the mind. However, even the smallest quantity has a strong effect on the pineal and pituitary glands. Alcohol drives out man's positive consciousness and makes him open to all kinds of negative forces and influences.

Nicotine brings about an immediate degeneration of the respiratory system, the heart sanctuary, the blood, the sex organs and the nervous system. Tobacco is a Mars-herb. This Mars-narcotic affects the iron in the blood, its red pigment, the sex organs, the motor nerves, the left hemisphere of the brain, the muscular movements, the astral body, the motor segment of the spine and the rectum. It irritates and causes explosive, excessive and violent reactions. These are the pathological properties of this Mars-narcotic. Anemia, sexual desires, nervous disorders, infantile paralysis, spinal diseases,  hemorrhoids and rheumatism are among the consequences of the use and mis-use of nicotine. What alcohol brings about only partly, nicotine does continually; it makes the entire being dependent on earthly powers and earth-bound spirits. It makes man, the Prodigal Son, satisfied with his hog-slop.

Apart from some specific characteristics, the other narcotics have a similar effect to that of alcohol and nicotine.

The synthetic substances contained in foodstuffs and drugs cause dehumanization of the vital body (g: etheric double). They cause it to lose its individual vibration and to show increasing similarity to the planetary ether. In this way, man becomes like a mineral, which is the worst form of crystallization and materialization. In this way, the chain is closed.

The candidate who has freed himself from the fifth, sixth and seventh phases  of his descent will now also take leave of the fourth phase, that of eating the flesh and products of dead animals. Once this phase has been overcome, there exists an elementary basis for the Great Purpose of pupilship. In the further development of his eating habits, the candidate will exercise the greatest possible discretion so as not to fall into extremes.

Generally speaking, the diet should be composed of fruits and vegetables and other edible plants, certain herbs and products of the herbivorous animals. The diet should be adapted to individual needs and great caution should be exercised in laying down rules for others. We should not force our own eating habits on others, for one person may well need more proteins, carbohydrates, fats or mineral salts than another.

From "Attitude of Life and Nicotine, Alcohol and Other Narcotics" - Elementary Philosophy of the Modern Rosycross - Jan van Rijckenborgh

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