PHYSIOLOGY AND HEALING Treatment, Therapy and Hygiene – Spiritual Science and Medicine

‘The
intention is to take a practical subject and show how our spiritual
science with anthroposophical orientation truly can play an effective
role in everyday life.’ – Rudolf Steiner

Following
his first major lecture course for medical practitioners, Rudolf
Steiner sought to elaborate and deepen his ‘extension’ of the art of
healing from a spiritual-scientific perspective. In this collection of
addresses, discussions, question-and-answer sessions and lectures –
running parallel to his major medical cycles – Steiner comments on
contemporary medicine’s emphasis on experimental, materially-based
research and its subsequent lack of attention to therapy. Steiner’s
intention is not to detract from developments in medical science but to
build on them with spiritual science – not quackery but a true art of
medicine. The medical practitioner has an important task: diseases must
be cured, and it is wrong not to intervene and simply to allow ‘karma to
take its course’.

Speaking
to audiences ranging from members of the general public to small groups
of medical professionals, Steiner offers new insights into our
understanding of human organs such as the brain, kidneys and liver, as
well as the efficacy of healing substances including arsenic, sulphur,
arnica and essential plant oils. He studies a broad range of specific
medical conditions, giving advice on cancer, hysteria, rheumatism, gout,
skin eruptions, typhoid, diabetes, haemophilia, syphilis, gonorrhoea,
asthma, glaucoma, leukaemia, smallpox, insomnia, and childhood diseases
such as measles. His commentaries on a raft of contrasting subjects –
such as psychiatry, sexual maturity, memory, poisoning and
detoxification – present challenging perspectives for patients and
medical practitioners. Steiner’s surprisingly non-dogmatic advice on
vaccination, for example, gives a refreshingly balanced, and perhaps
unexpected, point of view.

This
volume also includes a lecture on eurythmy therapy, a comprehensive
introduction, index and notes, and nine full colour plates of Rudolf
Steiner’s blackboard drawings.