CRIMES TO THE SOULS/SENSE OVERLOAD

LILIPOH: Can we actually perceive anything spiritual in the senses?

RR: Definitely. When we look at a bunch of real flowers, even if we don't know it consciously, in the colors we can sense the sunlight that gave its energy to create that beauty in the first place. In fact, that points to one of the biggest problems nowadays—more and more we are moving into an artificial reality. In one year the food industry spent more than 1.5 billion dollars on artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. These artificial additives fool us into thinking that we are eating one type of food when in fact we are not. A purchased apple pie that needs to be reheated at home may hardly have an apple in it, but since it is flavored with the chemical ethyl-2- methyl butyrate, it will smell of fresh apples wafting through the house.

LILIPOH: How come we don't know when enough is enough?

RR: It really is a matter of training. Think of a small child that has to be put to bed and quieted down because, in spite of being completely exhausted, he will not know how to stop and may actually go until he collapses. In school, children need to learn how to value quiet time and the activity of the thoughts as opposed to merely outer amusement, instruction or command. The problem with not knowing when to switch off is that a lot of the sensory inputs become undigested islands in the soul life.

LILIPOH: What can we do to heal ourselves?

RR: I believe that ideas coming from Anthroposophy are very helpful. As you know,
Rudolf Steiner distinguishes between 12 senses, not just the five that are related to a very confined bodily experience. We actually have a sense for the ego. Just like we can see colors in the outer world, we can sense thoughts, words and so on. One healing activity that we can engage in is to consciously pay more attention to the seven senses that are balancing the five that we are commonly engaged in. Another extremely helpful activity is to periodically make a conscious effort to immerse ourselves in “true” sensory inputs that are coming from nature and have not been artificially created by man. Lastly, I would like to remind all of us of an original exercise that Rudolf Steiner gives whereby every evening we should review our day in reverse. For example, if, through the day, I went first to work, then grocery shopping, then sat down to relax in the evening—I should now imagine and see myself first sitting down to relax, then doing grocery shopping, then going to work, etc... There is a wonderful digesting activity in this.



..extract from:

ISSUE #40 | HEALTH & THE SENSES

Sensory Overload
An Interview with Ross Rentea, M.D.
LILIPOH #40 - Summer 2005: HEALTH & THE SENSES