REFLECTIONS ON THE PRINCIPLES COMMON TO BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE, MEDICINE AND MORAL TECHNIQUE - PAUL EMBERSON

Dettagli

In biodynamic agriculture there is a controversial issue that has divided farmers from the beginning, it was raised during R. Steiner's lectures in Koberwitz and still seems to divide them for years to come. Indeed, it concerns one of the great issues facing humanity today, the scope of which is not just limited to agriculture; it applies to the different areas of man's practical work. In biodynamic agriculture the following question arises: must the preparations be dynamized by a human hand or can they be dynamized by a machine?

People engaged in biodynamic agriculture seem to be divided into two separate groups. The first maintains that nothing can ever replace the human hand in the dynamization of preparations; those dynamized with a machine cannot be truly biodynamic. The other group adopts a pragmatic approach and maintains that dynamizing biodynamic preparations by hand is undoubtedly the best thing, but if practical contingencies make this type of dynamization impossible, then preparations dynamized with a machine can be used and are still an acceptable compromise. This point of view seems to predominate. And Demeter certification, for example, does not require manual dynamization.

Rudolf Steiner took the time to delve into the matter properly. He spoke about it very seriously, but also with a certain humor. Basically, he said that a machine cannot give a liquid the qualities that it can receive when mixed by hand. But what are these qualities and to what extent are they important?