The Biodynamic Education Centre is conducting a "Introduction to Biodynamics" course at Purple Pear Organics in early November 2011.
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In this issue we have a report on Simon Brownbridge’s talk given on Friday 26th March at Tocal.
Biodynamic Food enhances Spiritual Development
Talk
by Simon Brownbridge
Report by Susan Schmiedte
Simon’s interest in food and nutrition drew him into the fascinating
history of the development of food, how it was grown, hunted, gathered
etc and how the various types of food influenced and shaped that
particular culture, and how nutrition developed with human
consciousness. With these points
in mind he enthusiastically walked
us through the ages.
Steiner identifies various states of being; the first was the Dreamtime state where man was in the spiritual realm and sleeping in the Garden of Eden and during the Creation Myth. Food was probably not required and human beings may have been of a different form than that with which we identify today.
Man continued in this sleeping/dreaming consciousness state and then after tasting of the Tree of Knowledge descended from the spiritual realm down to earth and started to experience pain, thirst, hunger, death, gravity, labour and childbirth and now had a need for food. These people were hunter gatherers. Nature Man who lived with Nature and totally depended on it for sustenance. The Cave Art of this time depicts the Bison – Man was attempting to enter into the soul of the animal.
The Ice Age and the Great Flood occurred and then we saw Noah as the first Great Shaman of the Aryan Stream (Aryan means being of light).
The Ancient Indians - were the first Aryan Herdsmen they were nomadic and cared for and revered their cows. They retrieved honey from hives and milked their cows, -the Land of Milk and Honey. This food was basically vegetarian and contributed to the emergence of reknowned teachings -Baghvad Gita and Budda.
The caste system developed which divided people into casts or classes where their occupation and diet differentiated them;-
1. Satvic -was a higher caste who ate refined vegetarian food which
aided spiritual contemplation
2. Rajacic –middle class ate more spicy
meat diet which afforded Yang for greater will and endeavour
3.
Tamasic – lower castes existed on a poor diet of cast off often rotten
reheated foodstuffs.
Ancient Persia – 2nd Aryan Stream – lead by Zarathustra believed in the Great Sun God. He taught his people through spiritual insight to open up the earth- split it with the Golden Sword (sunlight) according to legend- and cultivate the soil. This guaranteed food supply for storage and these people were the first agriculturalists. They grew grains and around this time fire was used for unleavened bread. The growing of large amounts of grain/food could be equated to wealth and the emergence of city states and population growth.
Egyptians-Created a planting Calender and had a varied diet including grains of barley and wheat. Vegetables including onions, garlic and leeks and fruits such as figs, pomegranates, dates and mulberries as well as a good variety of cheeses. They became more creative with their cooking and developed a great variety of leavened bread often using it to pay for labour. The seasonal changes, and sun were paid attention to as can be seen in their architecture, pyramid placements in relation to the sun and many kitchens also faced east. This civilization was sophisticated and their gods held many and varied places in daily life. In particular the Sun God Ra. Simon said they used the knowledge of their gods to grow their food rather than being a direct gift of the gods. At the same time Rice is being grown in Asia which requires water which is strongly connected to the moon. So we have grains needing the sun growing in the West and Rice needing the water and moon growing in the East.
Ancient Greeks- revered the beauty around them and their bodies. They were outdoors people and physical activity was popular. Their Mediterranean diet was healthy, full of variety and also was central to social and communal events. Vegetarian diet was the norm with meat only consumed following sacrifices. They saw food as light-filled and a product of the sun. Cakes were baked. The diet contributed to their high mindedness- Academic subjects including; philosophy, geometry, medicine have their roots in Early Greece.
The Romans -Followed the decline of the Greek civilisation. Theirs was a highly organised and structured society and they swiftly colonised most of the known world. They ate heavy food with meat, vinegar and wine which often disguised the nature of the food. They were warriors and their sculpture and architecture was heavy and earthbound. Salt became important and was even used as warrior’s payments, the word salary comes from salt.
The Christians- Food was now sometimes sacralised – Last Supper- bread symbolising the body of Christ and wine the blood. As Christ spoke of Eternal Life and we are more than the body he demonstrated the power of the Divine with his healing and feeding miracles. This started the process of strengthening the human Ego, and a movement away from tribal duty to individual responsibility. The early days of the Christian era were known as the Dark Ages and disease and famine were widespread in Europe. There was not a lot of difference in the diets of rich and poor people, a basic stew of whatever vegetables available with rough bread and sometimes a bit of meat or pulses were added. The monastic culture was depicted in the Middle Ages where communities with gardens growing vegetables, herbs, medicinal and culinary, fruit and nut trees and vines, some also with poultry and cows or goats. The centre of these stable communities was usually a chapel or convent and tended by monks. A high degree of self sufficiency and sustainability was demonstrated in these communities. Medieval towns grew and for the first time in history built by the labour of free men.
At this time Marco Polo travelled to the east along the Silk Road and returned with new spices e.g., nutmeg and ginger, etc. These were the tastes of exotic and far off lands. The flavours added great variety to the bland diets that existed in this era and fed people’s imaginations. Great global expeditions were sent out from the European seafaring nations. Trading posts were established in the east and the Americas were discovered. From the Americas came potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, squashes and corn. Nutrition was now becoming truly global as the physical world opened up to the human population. This wider diet led to the Renaissance, great works of art, philosophy, literature more refined architecture. Cooking became a high art form in the European courts.
The Age of Enlightenment was an age of rationality where science comes to the fore and is totally separated from religion and spirituality and Darwin’s theory has man as the superior being and overcoming nature. We were now becoming more and more divorced from our spiritual origins and placing our faith in our material surroundings. You could say the “enlightened age” heralded the decrease of light in our food.
The Industrial age saw an importance on mass production and a separation of many rural workers from their land and no access to good fresh food. Food was more refined, corrupted and less nutritious and contributed only to man being slave to the machine. As we know this led to the industrialisation and denaturing of our food supply in the 20th Century, and the proliferation of digestion related diseases, particularly cancers.
In the 1920’s a group of farmers approached Rudolf Steiner with a question. Why is our food quality and output becoming increasingly poorer and how can we restore fertility to our soils and flavour to our foods? Out of this impulse the Agriculture Lectures were born and the Bio-Dynamic system of food production continues to develop to this day and we the farmers and growers live with the challenge of how to strengthen the life forces in our food.