Translations:Benutzer:Arian/Klett-Mini-Test/1507/en

a relational nexus exists not between sulphur and the earth-bound substances potassium, calcium, and iron, but between silica and potassium. In living beings, potassium has the significance of connecting the etheric body with the physical body; in polar contrast to this stands silica. Unlike sulphur, silica creates a kind of sense-relationship between these two members of the human being and the cosmic-astral forces that work inward from the metabolic pole, the "farm individuality." This particular reciprocal interaction of potassium from below and silicic acid from above takes place, one may assume, in the milky sap that runs through the entire plant. Must one not see in this — in the context of the dandelion forming itself outward into its threefold, articulated appearance — the "mediator [between; author's note] the silicic acid distributed in a finely homeopathic way through the cosmos and that which is actually needed as silicic acid throughout the whole region"? Here the same question arises as with regard to the nitrogen of the air: silicic acid is, after all, abundantly available in the soil in solid, colloidal, and dissolved form — why then draw silicic acid in from the cosmos in so complicated a manner and, moreover, in such minute quantities? There are evidently two mutually polar states of activity of silicic acid, or rather of the silicon that determines its efficacy within it. The one state of being of silicic acid is quartz and the silicates. These are the outcome of the becoming and passing away of past conditions of the Earth. As rocks and as their weathering-products they form the mineral skeleton of the soils. To this earth-bound silicic acid, the root of the plant stands in relationship. The other state of activity of silicic acid makes itself felt at the metabolic pole above the earth — a "silicic acid distributed in a finely homeopathic way through the cosmos." One immediately thinks of meteoritic dust that has entered the Earth's sphere of attraction. Yet this trickles down to earth of its own accord. This mineral earthing cannot surely be what is meant. Rudolf Steiner's statement is that the "right reciprocal interaction of potassium and silicic acid in the plant must be present in order to draw in the cosmic." It is an active process, proceeding from the plant, which must be enlivened with the help of a suitably prepared manure.