“Nothing disfigures a human being more than being human without knowing what being human means.”
— Libellus de hominis convenientia,
Franziskus Josephus Philippus Graf von Hoditz und Wolframitz
Thomas Meyer’s editorial in this month’s „Der Europäer“ begins by referring to a lecture given by Dr. Rudolf Steiner in 1909. In it Dr. Steiner referred to the 17th century Count von Hoditz und Wolframitz as a “Denkerpersönlichkeit”. We can render this as a great thinker and towering figure. I read that yesterday and it was still in the back of my mind when, earlier today, I watched a YouTube video shared by an acquaintance on Facebook, “China Declares War on SIMPS”.
Both demand one ask a fundamental question: what does it mean to be a human being? Anyone who has read great thinkers and leaders of humanity of the past – sages, saints, theologians, philosophers, social commentators, scientists, etc. — will find they had a far more noble conception of human potential, within human society and in an earthly and cosmic environment. This stands in stark contrast to the dark, cold industrial and technocratic image of the human being imparted in primary, secondary and university education systems dominated by materialistic natural scientific thinking and commercial values.
How is the health of the individual and of society best promoted legitimately? What nutritional, lifestyle, physical, emotional and mental training, spiritual teachings and practices, and preventive and curative healthcare should be encouraged? To what extent mandated, to what extent recommended?
Today everyone is being influenced all the time by:
• social pressure from family, friends, neighbors, coworkers;
• traditional mass media and Internet social media;
• corporate consumer advertising;
• governmental laws and regulations influenced, often determined, by corporate lobbyists;
• primary, secondary and university educational institutions.
To pretend one is immune to such conscious persuasion and subconscious coercion is naïve, at least in the vast majority of people.
If we passively accept whatever flotsam and jetsam enters our minds, psyches and bodies from without, we grow progressively weaker and lose a sense of our unique identities. Under the influence of stronger wills and minds, we become the playthings of powerful individuals and institutions. In serving their agendas, we lose sight of our own best interests. We become easily manipulated and controlled devotees / citizens / consumers who have lost any sense of what it means to be a healthy, sane human being in touch with higher, divine sources of inspiration.
We can intend instead to become more conscious and determine what is best for us based on the promptings of our own inner sources of wisdom. We can try to consciously evaluate every mental, emotional and physical impulse sent to us from our cosmic, social and earthly environments. In this way, we exercise our capacity to discriminate between healthy and unhealthy influences in order to select out what is most useful for our growth and development.
The healing and medical program of the Heilpraxis Contrada offers patients and students means to this end and tools for optimal health.
With the light and warmth of the heart and soul,
Joseph Michael Contrada
Teacher, Healer
Heilpraktiker (Lic. German healthcare and psychotherapy provider)
www.heilpraxis-contrada.com
www.merkurraphaelmedizin.de