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Subject: Re: Heart
[someone] wrote: Sune Nordwall discusses pump is not a heart at a little length.I do agree; a pump (as such) is not a heart ... :-) I am very happy with Sune's discussion. It seems to me to be consistent with the statement that the heart is a pump (or whatever orthodox science wants it to be) but that it has a sprititual function as well. If this is not consistent with what Sune is trying to say I hope Sune responds with a correction.I think the point is by Steiner, as I understand it, and with which I agree on the basis of having some sort of heart and having put at least some small amount of effort into trying to understand it: The heart in man is not primarily an organ of the will; a 'pump'. It is an organ that mediates between that which is 'up' and 'down' in man; between that which is thinking-sensing and willing-acting processes in man, and also between us as humans and other people as humans. It has a intermediatory double-function in anumber of senses, also being situated 'between' 'head' as the main area for thinking-sensing and 'stomach-main limbs' (legs) as the main 'area' for willing-acting in man. One basic part of this task is sensory (-thinking) in character. The other part is willing-acting ('pumping'-blood moving) in character. When developing, the heart does so during the 3rd-4th week of embryological development, as part of a circulatory system where slow rhythmic unidirectional movement of blood is already taking place (see article mentioned yesterday) via rhythmical contraction at one or different parts of the developing circulatory system, in a way that can be demonstrated to take place also in a simple mechanical model without valves (see mentioned article by Moser et al). The formation and development of the heart supportingly optimizes the rhythmical movement of the blood through the system and the regulatory interaction between different processes via a number of feedback mechanisms. While the heart is the organ that regulates the rhythmical movement of the main fluid organ; blood, within the body, the respiratory system regulates the rhythmic interaction with the air outside the body. Together the heart and lungs constitute the basic rhythmic system of the body. The heart is also an organ that helps us navigate our way through life. Without it, it would not be possible to do it in a human way. [someone:] The problem I have is that this is not the consensus among anthroposophists. I can't claim to be a great scholar of anthroposophy (most of what I know comes from this list), but there are anthroposophical publications which talk about this topic in a way that I cannot reconcile with Sune's reading of Steiner. For example, interested readers might like to examine Joan Salter's book, The Incarnating Child, ISBN 1869890043. I am sure there are other similar references.http://www.cygnus-books.co.uk/books/060906.htm ? The only two earlier works I know of that directly deal with the heart are Manteuffel-Szoege L: Ueber die bewegung des Blutes. Stuttgart: possibly Verlag Freies Geistesleben, 1977, and Simonis W-C: Das verkannte Herz. Stuttgart: also possibly Verlag Freies Geistesleben, 1975. I have neither of them and have not read them. A third book, that I also still do not have is Das Erwecken des Herz-Denkens (Awakening heart thinking) by a Florin Lowndes at Stuttgart: Verlag Freies Geistesleben 1998. See http://www.pronet-s.de/verlag/produkte.nsf/AutorSearch1... When I get rich, I'll by them all ... :-) Regards, Sune
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