“Thinking that does not separate content from form, was always called intuitive thinking”
Rudolf Steiner
It is reasonable to presume, that man of old ages had a stronger feelings of familiarity with nature - His surrounding environment. He received the content of sensual perceptions and possessed Intuitions about the nature of the objects. Modern man had lost this gift on his path of development, And replaced gradually the sense of familiarity with a sense of alienation , in order to be able to Develop his intellect and his self conscious ego hood . With this tasks already fully fulfilled , we Should strive to re-educate ourselves in a different, higher degree than in the past , in the intuitive Experience of reality.
Perceptions, especially visual ones, that once where received directly from the world, are now Available to us in a much broader extent through mediations, as the fruits of scientific investigation And technological advancements. Some of it has a different nature than what comes to us naturally Through the natural world. But not only sense perceptions should be considered. New knowledge Of scientific research about the human organs could lead us to contemplate the connections between Their organic functionality and the way we perceive their role in our consciousness and through Traditions.
For example, In all languages we have expressions concerning the heart, like when someone breaks Our heart or when our heart tells us to do some deed. But conventional science sees it as a pump - Admirable one indeed, but nothing more.
by illuminating chaos study of the heart with spiritual Science, we can become more open to the argument that the way things are built and function , say Something about the hidden element of our being that it serves.
We can become aware of the truth And wisdom that old , trivial sayings springs from , and even acknowledge that with all the Sophistication and cleverness of science, it is our task as individuals to recruit the fruits of Materialistic science to create a human ,holistic , and truly comprehensive understanding of the Human being and the world.
The emergence of chaos research in various fields of science, circa the mid 20th century, yielded Results that could be of use to revive intuitive knowledge. this article will highlight some Aspects of chaos on the various kingdoms of nature, and how it is connected to different levels of Creativity. Some of what will follow demands a great deal of openness and lack of superstition. for What will be shared is a way a looking , much more than mere information. We will than go further To see how this knowledge became incorporated in the technological sphere. This incorporation Presents the ultimate escapist resort in modern civilization, and can bring us to the verge of losing Any connection with true reality. The near future seems to thrust fast forward toward this abyss. This brings to the front the question of confronting reality. Do we wish to confront reality by all Means available to us as human beings, or do we wish to bypass it ? I think that this question is Apparent more than ever today, and our everyday choices and actions form the answer.
Chaos as the gate to physical manifestation
In his book 'biodynamic agriculture' Rudolf Steiner depicted chaos as crucial phase in the cycle of Life:
The chaos in the seed is the expression of total openness in the organic, which allows the 'cosmic Thought' of the specific plant the enter the realm of the physical;
This 'cosmic dust' ' which is the result of complexity reaching its peak, had not yet been discovered by science . But observations and research of chaos in the phenomena world become one of the most fruitful and thought provoking areas of scientific endeavors.
halfway into the 20th century, several scientists in different fields begun to show interest in a field that had been abandoned in a far corner : dynamic non-linear systems.
Everyday phenomena become the subjects of scientific research. The science of chaos explores a wide range of phenomena, from the formation of snowflakes to the dynamic motion of the heart, from desert sand storms to patterns in the behavior of market stocks.
Those are all open systems to outer influence and highly sensitive. Here are some quotes from scientists, telling about this new scientific field and how it affected their way of thinking and the future path of science:
One can sense from the quotes above, that this scientists felt to be in the verge of qualitative leap ,into the creative realm of pure life.
The realm of organic life, that is, the part that animate it, makes it alive, is part of what is called in Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science the Etheric realm. It is manifested in its purest form in the kingdom of plants ,that have a physical body and etheric body. animals have in addition an astral body – body of sensations, emotions and feelings. Human beings possess additional member in their organization , the I am , or self-conscious ego. The etheric body, as all other members except the physical body, is hidden from the physical eye. This etheric body is a time body, a body of streams and rhythms. What will follow will suggest a way to be able to regard what Rudolf Steiner had to say about different aspect and qualities of the etheric world, in conjunction with modern science observations .
“When a certain structure reaches the peak of its complexity, it crumbles, forming, where The highest degree of complexity was, a tiny sphere of absolute chaos.. Everything is Disintegrating and crumbles into a 'cosmic dust”
"…the role of the father/mother plant is to bring the seed into the right relation with the cosmos, so that as a result of the cosmic powers a dandelion seed will grow into dandelion plant, and no other kind.”
"they feel that they are turning back a trend in science, that was inclined toward reductionism, the analysis of systems according to their constituent parts. They believe they are looking for the whole.”
"chaos is a science of process rather than state, of becoming rather than being” "fifteen years ago, science was heading for a crisis of increasing specialisation. Dramatically, that specialisation reversed because of chaos.” chaos by James Gleick
The Brain
As other complex systems the brain is constructed along several overlapping spatial (here anatomical) hierarchies. These range from molecules and neurons to small and large networks. Also, it operates within a broad range of time scales, from milliseconds to hours.
It is already well established in the field of neurology, that signals in the brain are distributed according to chaotic patterns at all levels of its various form of hierarchy. From the basic level of neuron [1], to the functionality of the brain as a whole.
Referring back to what Steiner had to say about the chaos in plant seed, the essence of our thinking organ could be contemplated on a totally different ground than the predominant materialistic view . It implies the brain is a reflecting organ, which by its organic constitution is built to reflect something that exists also separately from our subjective existence – thoughts. while the plant seed is brought to the phase of chaos once, with the help of the decomposing organic matter in the soil –our brain is able to constantly function on the verge of chaos, and to abide to our commands as a spiritual beings. This notion does not imply a sort of direct communication between our brain and the spiritual thought world. Our brain is a tool of our conscious ego, that have a both earthly and spiritual biography. our whole soul life ,experiences and karma ,together with environmental influences , both mentally and pure spiritually , are determining what kind of thought content will we be inclined to, but nevertheless, through the mere organic nature of our brain, chaos science is much closer to point out to the spiritual foundation of our thought content, and to the real source of thoughts. it is the opposite of the popular modern prevailing concept of the brain , of a giant, complex computer, with a 'processor' , hard drive for memories, and so forth. The tendency to relate individuals as an accessory of their brain started to be dominant in Steiner's time, (he specifically mentioned this in his biography), but while it was still the exception in the beginning of the 20th century, this illusionary notion have an army of protagonists this days, and a tame crowd who subjected to learn from childhood about the tricks and fools that out brain do on us. As an alternative , let us contemplate a different way to depict the brain.
the imaginative picture that arise from the brain way of operation, and the world of thoughts in general, is a spatial one. This nature of the world of thoughts could be experienced when we think of the way we tie concepts together. We will see that it is like a network, in which each concept have attributes and connection to other concepts, and we can tie the most insignificant concept up and up the concepts network ,to a more general concepts, until we reach the whole embracing concepts of the cosmos, or god , or infinity. In comparison to the popular ,materialistic metaphors, we can say that while those are built upon thing human invented, the imaginative metaphors are built upon a human experience.
There could be a complimentary imaginative picture - of time. In it , two stream are constantly pulsating against each other, the past and the future.
objection could be raised that an accurate imaginative picture of time would be one stream , not two. If we use the metaphor of a river to represent time, we can imagine someone standing in that river, facing upstream. The water of the future coming towards him, caressing him in the present and move on behind him. He can see in advance events that will reach him, like a branch moving with the stream , and follow it moving away from him after it passed him.
The reason why this image is not accurate., is because it fails to represent the active participation of man in creating both his future and his past.one can look backward on his biography in a penetrating gaze, revealing many thing about the way his true self unfold over time, while another may have a very shallow or biased look upon his past. the Same could be said about the way one consider his role in shaping the future of himself and humanity. Therefor in each moment in time there are many rivers on our back as possibilities, and many river paths ahead of us as possibilities also. the connection between this two different streams is a human creation, by our conscious activity we constantly merge them into one stream.
each human being is a divine sensing and mediating apparatus of this two streams, through his/her rhythmic life, faculties of memory, ambitions and hopes, indeed through every aspect of his being. does this picture have anything to do with the way the heart functions?
The Dynamic Heart ______˄______ ˄ ________ ˄ -
" the human heart adds whole new level of complexity to the standard fluid flow problem, because any realistic model have to take into account the elasticity of the heart wall themselves. Instead of flowing over a rigid surface, like air over an airplane wing, blood changes the heart surface dynamically and non-linearly.”
This was the main obstacle for research endeavors to create an artificial heart. when blood stops, its forms clots. Artificial valves changed the pattern of fluid flow in the heart, creating areas of turbulences and areas of stagnation.. Until researches found a technological means to tackle this problem, all artificial models that were tried on animals led to a stroke.
According to Rudolf Steiner ,the blood is a very special substance. It is the organic carrier of our ego, the highest , most hidden member in our human constitution. the heart is an organ of sensitivity, that our continual blood flow works upon it. It is not a relationships of active-passive nature, in which the heart work mechanically upon the liquid to thrust it forward. the heart functions more like a sensitive mediating between blood streams. It is the physical image of the activity of our ego in two aspects: the mediating between past and future through the self counsious ego , with the help of memory and thinking, and the mediating of outer world (periphery) and inner world (feelings, wishes) , by interwining both into comprehensive , thought infused , sensible harmony.
In order to understand another important aspect of what chaos research found about the human heart, it is necessary to look at one of the basic concept and tools of chaos research ,that is also a great visual tool to develop imaginative intuitions regarding the subject at question.
Fractals
Fractals are highly irregular objects , and as a result, have non integer, or fractional dimensions.
Consider a fractal line. unlike a smooth, Euclidian line , a fractal line, which have a dimension between 1 and 2 , is wrinkly and irregular. moreover, when zooming in on a fractal line (coast line for example), it become apparent that smaller wrinkles exist on the larger ones, and so forth.
This internal look alike property of fractals is referred to as self-similarity. the more closely you inspect a fractal , the more you see. Because of this property, a fractal line does not have a definite length. It's length is dependent on the scale you use. the smaller the scale, the better its ability to follow the smaller wrinkles, hence the resulted length of the line will be longer.
The same principle could be applied to time. A fractal time line will be such that monitoring of desired events will produce a fractal line , with same pattern exist in different time scale , although not necessarily identical. This kind of behaviour was observed in many phenomena's across large spectrum of fields, including, surprisingly , the human heartbeat.
A strange attractor is a way to create a visualization of a time fractal line, which have complex multi variables behaviour that never exactly repeat itself
In the 1991 essay entitled 'is the normal heartbeat chaotic or homeostatic, Dr. Ari Goldberger describes his observations :
"the heartbeat in healthy individuals, even those in bedrest, is neither constant nor strictly periodic. , instead, plots of beat to beat heart rate variability demonstrate an erratic pattern of fluctuations in healthy subject. the time series of the normal heartbeat, in fact , is quite reminiscent to the fractal line described earlier.. "
In fact, observations in which reduction of complex variability of the heartbeat accrued , resulted in pathological conditions , usually death.
Here again , it is apparent that two metaphors could be placed side by side :
The one is the heart as a mechanical pump, who keeps a steady rhythm. when we are using more energy , it will accelerate in a linear way. And it will aim to go back to its optimal rhythm as soon as possible. This kind of behaviour is termed in biology homeostatic, and describes the tendency of an organ to keep a constant internal function and reduce variability. the heart did not seemed to act essentialy differently from other organs, until more accurate observation revealed chaotic attributes.
A different metaphor that could be a better ,although not similar, to reality, is that of jazz players, who creates an irregular , ever changing rhythm, through the individual mediating of inner drive of expression, with a responsive factor to other band members , and coloured by the particular energy of the unique time/place/audience at the event. Most people today will regard this metaphor absurd. The notion that the body is a 'marvellous machine' is completely embedded in our culture , although it totally put the body in a sphere it only partially belong to, even less when we emphesize the qualitative aspect, and generates a quite wrong image to adhere to.
One of the most interesting things in jazz, and improvisatory music in general , is the collective openness that have to be shared by all members of the band, in addition to the skilfulness in playing the instruments.. A great deal of expertise is needed to be able to be in the 'zone' with other musicians, dynamically creating common flow of expression , especially when no prescribed music takes the frame. this kind of creative ability is one of the most pleasant thing a player could wish for, and for a listener to hear. As Paul Simon once said : "improvisation is too good to leave to chance".
So we can see that This condition of openness and attentiveness to the surroundings, that happens in the plant seed , could be paralleled with some attributes of human mental condition.
The archytipal leaf
In Goethe's essay , plant metamorphosis, he describes the leaf as the flattened , archetypal organ of the plant, that all the other plant organs are morphological transformations of. Goethe also distinguish two kinds of development, one of vegetation – which is continual , apparent and vigorous in space and volume, and the other, simultaneous, of several organs in the same time (anthers, petals, stamen), contracted inside the bud, hidden in many species until the flower opens. this two kind of developments are linked to two polar gestures , or motions : growth of vegetation (stem and leaves) , connected to expansion , while the next phase after the culmination of this expansion – the formantion of buds , and everything the happens inside, is linked to contraction. But not only on this specific transition , Goethe went further to observe a sequence of transitions on the plant morpgology throughout its development. :
the bi-polar process of contraction –expansion , go in itself a spatial transformation; The growing process is mainly a two dimensional- the growing of leaves. the increasing space that the plant inhabit in space is intertwined and open to the surroundings, that is, belong to the universal space and does not emancipate from it. . The formation of buds indicates the emergence of organizing principle around a center , and also the emergence of inner space .
in the sex organs of the plant , the polar principles that invisibly worked on the morphology of the plant throughout it's development, become tangible in the substance itself:
The pistils are soft and full of liquid , where the male organs , the anthers , are the hardest and most crystalized substance in the plant.
While we saw that we can distinguish two kinds of developmet, or ways in which the formative forces comes to expression, only in the almost final stage the sexes are manifested in it' s own organs.
Do the sexes affects the plant before each of them is manifested in its own organ? What could be said about the essential activity of each of the sexes and what makes the work of them together to be a creative power, not only in terms of biological reproduction, but in a morphological sense?
The quest could be started by following a citation , taken from Steiner's occult observation into the evolution of human kind :
Are this characterizations of the sexes could be traced in any attributes of the leaf ?
This requires a somewhat artistic visualisation:
the veins of the leaf, which radiate form the base of the leaf in all direction, are a visual expression of a will force, that strive to thrust forward, split and multiply in all directions.(it could be compared to the vital force that is expressed in the desire to survive and thrive, a force that is embedded in all kingdoms of nature, including humans ,to the extent we are part of the natural world).
What comes to meet it from the periphery, containing , limiting and giving definite shape, is the force that creates the outline of the leaf, and makes Its image same like other of its specie. The affinity to the expansion / contraction forces is thus clear: the expansion as linked with the male will force, while the contraction, which In the case of the plant is also the creation of inner space, imply a reflective phase, the female imaginative principle.
"Whether the plant grows vegetative, or flowers and bears fruit, the same organs fulfill nature’s laws throughout, although with different functions and often under different guises. The organ that expanded on the stem as a leaf, assuming a variety of forms, is the same organ that now contracts in the calyx, expands again in the petal, contracts in the reproductive apparatus, only to expand finally as the fruit"
"as long as the soul could still control matter, it formed its body as neither male nor female, but, instead gave it qualities which embraced both in the same time. for the soul is simultaneously male and female. it carries this two natures in itself. It's male element is related to what is called Will , its female element to what is called imagination " Rudolf Steiner , cosmic memory, the splitting to sexes
The chaotic element of the leaf would be the leaf's outline, that emerges from the interplay of this two forces, the male and the female.
the crumbling into chaos of the meeting line is nicely illustrated in the fractal tree image :
observation of the evolution of plant will reveal ,that just like the human souls used to occupy a genderless body, as long as the physical conditions of the earth could have sustain it, ancient plant families, like ferns, have a very simple leafs, that interestingly, also easily described in mathematical means to create fractal:
sexes does not come into expression , neither in formative aspect or functional reproductive aspect. Ferns carry their spores underneath their leafs, and the upper stages of metamorphosis (bud, flowers, fruit), are absent in its cycle of life. In fact, flowering plants are the last phase of plant evolution, where the sexes comes to full physical manifestation .
In The cotyledons, which are the third stage in plant metamorphosis, the outline is very simple and round, even when the next leaf will have a definite shape of the specie. Interestingly , the stage in which Steiner refer to when speaking of the splitting to sexes in early humanity , is ancient Lemuria , the third root race in our planet development in its current configuration as earth. (see planetary evolution) . the same as embryonic stages shows us a recapitalization of evolutionary stages, the cotyledons shows us the architype leaf , before the complementary male/female formative forces emerge into plant evolution.
Going back to the jazz band metaphor, and improvisatory music in general , the frame in which the spontaneous activity takes place become clearer. The rhythm section (drums, piano, bass), created the frame , demarking the streaming of melody (saxophone, horns ). A music in which no feeling of correspondence exist between what we can also call form (restricting) and content (radiating, streaming), will not feel right.
This kind of characterization of sexes, especially the one that is just ahead, could be considered not only archaic toady, but also offensive. Nevertheless, learning about this far reaching aspect of human evolution through Steiner's means of spiritual investigation , that scientific means have no access to, could provide new inspiration to the contemporary discourse of gender relations and politics.
The creative attributes of the etheric body in male– female relationships
When looking at the traditional role of man and woman, one can identify that maintaining the " form" , that is , the envelope of life , is considered the duty of the woman , while the man is responsible for streaming the "life" , or "content" , that is , the means to sustain the complimentary element.
But as quoted before, each of us have male and female qualities at once. In fact, Males have female etheric bodies, while females have male etheric bodies. For completion, males are inspired spiritually by the male element , through their female etheric body, and the opposite way for females. this situation result is that certain qualities that are typically manifested outwardly in one gender, is manifested more inwardly on the other. a development process is what brought us to the modern situation, that strive for equality in outer conditions, in order that with greater consciousness one will be able to develop both aspects, male and female, of his being. Woman/man relations, thus , could be depicted also as creative process, not in the reproduction aspect, but in coming to meet, through the outside , ones complimentary soul attributes.
Gender politics have their role to advocate awareness for equality in the social sphere, but one of its biggest misconception is that in order to achieve this aim, they try to deny the fact that there are differences between man and woman,. In a way , like many things that our intellectually inspired western societies do , the aim is to straighten rivers.
Technology at the service of chaos
from the first steps, one of the major obstacles for chaos researches was the need for excessive computing power, that will be able to handle complex systems, and the streaming and representation of thousands of data items. Chaos science advanced hand in hand with the development of computers, and made immediate use of the graphical enhancements that this progress achieved. As one of the chaos scientists said, it was crucial to have proper graphical representation of the data in order to develop intuition to what the data can reveal.
The mathematical models of chaos science are described by fractal geometry presents completely different visuals than what we know from Euclidean geometry.
If in the platonic world of ideas safely rests the circle, sphere, dodecahedron and the rest of the platonic solids, then the expression of the ever becoming, earthly, natural, is well described and visualise by fractal geometry. With this geometry, Scientists were able to depict the grainy surfaces of rocks and surfaces, the branching of trees and plants, and several systems in the human body, like the circulatory system, lung brachialis, and the system that sends electrical impulses to the muscles of the heart.(His Purkinje , which generated the healthy chaos of the heartbeat, as discussed above). Fractal geometry had been able to contribute a great deal in many fields of science,
from chemistry and physiognomy to communication and metallurgy.
"the sciences do not try to explain; they hardly ever try to interpret. They mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, in addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification for such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it expected to work . (john von Neumann)
"if an object has a fractal order within it, and Mandelbrot observations shows that many things in nature have such concealed order – than it will be possible to depict it within a few rules.”
Following the physiological discoveries , fractal geometry was on the verge of sparking another revolution, this time one that will lead every one of us to directly experience its effectiveness.
this insight, that with just a few rules it is possible to visually represents the abundance and complexity of nature, was a spring board on the way to create virtual worlds.
As the computers become stronger and stronger, and by implementing methods of fractal geometry, computer graphics were stepping toward realistic representations of the outer world.
By using computer generated imagery (CGI), rocks, trees, smoke and fire, even rivers, could be realistically represented on screen.
Mandelbrot once said, that the modern human aesthetic experience is built upon the composition of complexity and order. When we imagine a castle, located on the edge of a rocky cliff, for example, the complexity of the grainy surface of the rocks, complete the clean, Euclidean lines of the castle.
a forest on the background can further enhance the experience.
No virtual reality could have emerged and become so prominent without the ability the visualise this complexity, that would complete the Euclidean geometry , hence able to create virtual worlds that cope with the aesthetic feeling of modern man. The mathematical models that govern these virtual worlds are relatively simple, allowing enough computing power for transition of visuals in time, and interactions with the user, thus creating a complete substitute to reality.
Parallel to the developments in computer generated imagery, photography went through technological developments of its own, to the point of digital cameras and endless ways for image manipulations. The connection between this two separate fields could be revealed through observing its more wide spread contemporary manifestations and its effects and influences on the modern human being.
Invertion of the etheric realm
The emrgence of chaos science was one in a series of pivotal scientific discoveries that made the 20th century , especially its first half, a decisive point in the evolution of science. The dominance of the purely mechanical materialistic view of the world, driven and backed by the natural sciences of the 19th century, has ended. New , refreshing thoughts about the nature of the material world and it's phenomena took the stage of popular culture . But while the popular science of the 20th century had the potential to create riffles of new inspirations for human counciousness,, it also worked it's way to be manifested in a more practical sense, through the advancements of technology. . when pondering retrospectively from the accelerated technological frenzy of our time, one can sense the dichotomy of the 20th century sciences. It pierce some holes through natures veil, and allowed glimpses into the secrets of matter and the creative processes of nature, but at the same time, thorough it's practical technological assimilations, it generated the means to devour in our ability to become able to conduct what could be called "entity research" – a search into the depth of the world and existence by one's own spiritual entity. . at the same time, a counter act to this devouring force was established in the world in the form of Steiner's Anthroposophy, providing means to become aware of the nature of our times, and means to strengthen one's ability to confront this obstacles.
" By far the greater part of that which works in modern civilisation through technical Science and Industry — wherein the life of man is so intensely interwoven — is not Nature at all, but Sub-Nature. It is a world which emancipates itself from Nature — emancipates itself in a downward direction."
Rudolf Steiner from nature to subnature
While super natural refers to spiritual forces and phenomenas – ones that from the limited perpective of most human beings could not be explained in a scientific way , sub nature forces could be seen as the mirror image of the super natural , in that it is too invisible, with the exeption that sub natural forces could be traced through it's effects on matter , weather objects or instrument of inspection. If we will take for example light , as the first category after warmth, which is the boundry between matter and the"pseudo spiritual" matter of the sub natural forces, it is for itself invisible. Only by it's reflection on matter , it’s attributes become visible. When projecting light into a prizm , we can also see it's devision into the different length waves which create the seven colors of the rainbow, from the red , to orange, yellow , green , blue, indigo and violet (that becomes ultra violet as the waves become shorter).
There are seven layers on the spectrum of physical manifestations of the material world: we can start with the solid, liquied and gas , then move to the middle sphere of warmth, and on to the mirrored trinity of the sub nature forces, starting with light ,on to magnetism and finish with nuclear power. it is possible to show how from the beginning of the industrial revolution , that was based on more or less purely mechanical manifestations of the first trinity of matter - solid, liquid, gas (steam engine , for example), the advancements in technology is intertwined with the ever increasing descending into lower manifestations of the sub natural forces. The invention that in many aspects defines our modern civilization , namely electricity, is actually a materialized light, light that become condensed . in our time, the air is filled with all sorts of sub natural forces –radio waves, microwaves, and others, in addition to electricity, and artificial colored light, emenating from screens, that enchant us to a great extent. in his almost last address to his students, from his ill bad, Rudolf Steiner must have knew already in 1925 what direction we are going to , and emphasized what could be the only counter force to the unavoidable sink of humanity into the sub earthly realms :
natural rhythms are the divine sensory expressions of the etheric realm. following the seasons of the year ,for example, with openness to the entity of the earth as an organ , can help us to reveal kinship of soul qualities with the natural cycle of mother earth. The mirror image of this rhythmic nature of the etheric realm, which we tackle through the sub nature realms, have a compulsory effect, which is something most people of the modern world already know too well.
but except of this trait of the sub-natural forces , is it really so bad to be plunged into those realms? are they bad for themselves or does it depend on us also? should we try to revert our technology driven civilization to save our souls?
and what is the connection between art and technology? the most apparent link is that both grab our attention throeugh visualization. art , of course , was there first.
next step will be to see what could be said about the human act of visual representation, that used to be the sole domain of the arts, and what we can learn from it about the ways in which degenerative forces are working in human evolution.
this is the subject of the second part titled " reality and art"
"This makes it urgent for man to find in conscious experience a knowledge of the Spirit, wherein he will rise as high above Nature as in his sub-natural technical activities he sinks beneath her. He will thus create within him the inner strength not to go under."