The Earth
THE SPIRITUAL EARTH
- Chapter 45 -
The composition of intelligence specifica in living beings
When the metal iron is hammered, it becomes elastic. This elasticity is also a specificum from above, and is identical with an orderly will power which does not change from one day to the next. If this power be deflected by any available means, it will immediately revert to its former direction. This specific force is one of the most widespread in the lower air sphere, and penetrates every atom of the air; that is why the air itself is elastic in the highest degree.
Even though this power comes from above, it penetrates the entire earthly globe, and it is the main reason for all movement within and upon her. It is the actual principle that causes movement and elasticity in all bodies. Only in fire does it wane, because it is set into too great activity - but this most important power cannot perish. When red-hot iron seemingly loses it, the elastic power returns as soon as the iron has cooled off and is hammered again.
This specificum is related to the light, because it consists of light atoms. It is kept in exceedingly small transparent bubbles that penetrate into all pores of matter. If these pores are ground down and closed by hammering so that these elastic specifica bubbles cannot escape, they let their mighty presence be known when the iron is bent. They immediately force it back into that direction which most nearly corresponds to their depressed position.
Several naturalists have called these atoms of light "ætheric light monads." The designation is correct, because the term "monad" signifies "the valence of one of a specific kind." Since this specificum originates from the light, it is highly peculiar, particularly in its intellectual sphere. It loves peacefulness and seeks it with the greatest perseverance. And for the reason that the very principle of peacefulness lies within itself, any restriction causes it to seek its previous state of peacefulness, and thus when it is out of its equilibrium it exercises the greatest of motive power, which nothing can resist.
This is another new specificum, a new intelligence, in this metal. It shows itself working therein in the same manner as it does in plants and animals, leading to the conclusion that it is impossible for iron to be a dead body, because when it is stimulated by the proper means it contains the same intelligent power that is active in animals.
Of what, in fact, does this specificum consist? An extremely small spark of light in the aforementioned bubble. This little spark is an intelligence with a persevering psychic will that remains quietly in its prison as long as it is not stimulated by a thrust or pressure. If, however, it is beset when it streams into the bubble, it awakens in its shell and forces the walls asunder, as does the air to the walls of a balloon. Should the pressure or thrust be small, it discloses its existence through a trembling, through which the sound usually originates. Should, however, the pressure and the impact be stronger, then it tears its shell apart and scintillates as a bright spark of fire. That is why this specificum appears freely active when in fire and destroys everything it touches.
Now that you have become acquainted with the specifica in this particular metal, and as these are also present in the plant and animal kingdoms, what should prevent us from accepting that there is also animal life in metals and minerals? This is because the individual intelligences are always the same, be they minerals, plants, or animals, only with this difference: in minerals, only a few intelligences combined make their appearance, whereas in the kingdom of plants, and especially in the more developed animal kingdom, there is a larger quantity present and working together.
A mineral has anywhere from eight to twenty intelligences; many plants, on the other hand, have many thousands, whilst some animals have many millions; and human beings have countless intelligences from the stars and from the atomic particles of the Earth.
Animal life is not absent in minerals, with their greater or smaller number of intelligences, because these intellectual specifica disclose themselves to the experienced eye in various living animalistic forms.
If you had a microscope that could magnify six million times, you would discover, in a single drop of water, a large number of animal forms. These are the carriers of various individual intelligences, which continuously encounter one another with hostility, seize one another, and apparently destroy one another. In their place, new forms take shape, which integrate the earlier ones and virtually consume them. When such a form is sufficiently satiated, it comes to rest and sinks to the bottom.
After a large number of these forms have sunk, they adhere to one another firmly as related beings at rest. And this mass appears to the eye as seemingly dead matter. It is, however, only a multitude of captured individual intelligences which, when they dissolve again, may be reconnected alive in another form. This work is done by the spirits as well, as we have learnt about their activities in the plant kingdom.
It has been said that, in matter, in the metal or the mineral kingdoms, there are ten to twenty intelligences at work, and that in the plant kingdom there are up to a thousand times a thousand, and in the animal kingdom, on the higher levels, millions times millions, and in human beings the number of intelligences is infinite. That this is truly the case we shall explain by comparative examples.
Iron may be made red hot and reforged, what was at the front may be taken off and welded onto the back, and other changes may be made; yet the iron remains iron, the same as it was before the changes. And so it is with other metals as well.
Stones are closer to the plant kingdom, and therefore they have more specifica than metals. The simpler they are, the nobler and more abundant are their specifica. That is why stones cannot be restored to their former condition once they are destroyed. They remain, however, the same matter if a large stone be broken into many small pieces, but they cannot be united again in the same material mass, as is the case with metal through the element of fire, because fire changes stones into an entirely different state not comparable with the state of metals which have undergone the same treatment.
The reason for this is the multitude of intelligence specifica which have to be taken up in a larger organization, by comparison with the smaller organization of metals. When this new order is disturbed by the escape of several intelligences, then matter is no longer the same when compared to its previous composition.
For instance, take limestone in its raw state, then burn it until it becomes quicklime. In its original raw state, it may remain in the water for thousands of years; it will not dissolve; rather, it will become firmer, because in water several other specifica will unite with it. But if you throw a burnt limestone into the water, it will, within a few minutes, dissolve into white mush. The reason for this effect is that a number of specifica have escaped in the fire, which gave the former limestone its density and firmness. When water is added, more specifica are liberated, and the few that remain lose their connection, fall apart, and become this mush. When the water is removed from this mush, some of the liberated specifica return and cause this mush to regain some of its former firmness; then it is used in the construction of buildings as a bonding medium.
This example shows that stones cannot be changed like metals, without losing their original attributes. This applies even more so to clay; once baked, it loses its former attributes completely.
But how different it is with a common plant. There exists such a firm order that nothing may be changed, even by one atom, without causing harm to the necessary nature of the plant. The reason is that, even in the simplest plants, all specifica must be present in a well-ordered manner, whereas in the mineral kingdom they are found separated and divided.
Take, for instance, a moss plant or a mushroom that grows from one day to the next. What is in the root cannot form the stem. Yea, even in the root there is already a firm order. A specificum that works southward in the roots would, if facing north, cause such a disorder in the plant that it would wither and perish.
That is why a gardener, in transplanting trees, should always take notice of the direction in which the roots and branches formerly pointed. When the direction is changed, the transplanted tree will grow either with great difficulty or not at all, because there is a considerable difference between the northerly and southerly active specifica. Especially sensitive in this respect are the conifers. They will wither if they are not transplanted in their former direction. This also applies to grafting; a twig taken from the northern side of a tree and grafted to the southern side of another tree will not grow, because the specifica are not the same.
That is why the smallest part of a leaf has yet another specificum; even though it has the greatest relation with its neighbor, it is not entirely the same. The order that exists here is so exact that no human understanding can fully comprehend its necessity. The farther you go into the extremities of a plant, the more abundant the number of the intelligences becomes, and the more immutable the order. However, in the twigs of young trees this order is not yet as firm; that is why they may be grafted onto other trees.
Now, if such an immutable order exists amongst the plants, so enabling them to become what they are supposed to be - namely, institutions of deliverance for the liberation of astral intelligences - how much more strict must the order be where the plant kingdom passes over into the animal kingdom?