- 66 - At the time of birth, this composition is, as it were, still fairly neutral, but at that instant it is given a fixed permanent trend by the Odic radiations and mixtures acting upon it. “If, in producing a mixture in a glass, you pour in a large amount of one substance, that reduces the amounts you can add of other substances. The whole mixture will then be characterized by that substance of which you added a large amount – in colour, smell, taste and other external features. You cannot later reduce the amount of the substance of which you added too much, nor can you dilute it by adding larger amounts of other substances, for the glass cannot be filled beyond its capacity. • The same is true of the Od mixture of a newborn infant. The total amount of Od is predetermined and cannot be increased. If, now, a particular type of Od constitutes the major component of the whole, it will determine the infant’s growth and development for all time. Since the different Od types each develop completely individual vital energies, the particular nature of the major component of the Od will give to the newborn infant – in addition to its individual physical characteristics – an individual set of character traits. • It is, therefore, neither superstition nor idle fancy to assume that one can draw conclusions about a person’s physical nature and character from the moment of his birth. The influence of the Od of the heavenly bodies upon your life on earth, upon your vital energies, your character and your temperament is much greater than you realize. You yourselves have a saying: ‘He was born under a lucky or an unlucky star’.. This refers to the effect exerted by the Odic radiation of a heavenly body on living beings at the moment of their birth. All this is so closely related to the great questions of the destiny of human beings that I could not entirely refrain from speaking of it. • All bodies of terrestrial beings are therefore condensed Od, derived from the Odic radiation of the earth and that of its surrounding heavenly bodies. An example taken from nature will illustrate to you this process of dissolution and condensation: “You know that moisture from the ground and from bodies of water evaporates under the influence of heat, although this is generally imperceptible to your eyes. At a certain height above the earth, the vapor, which was invisible at lower levels, condenses into a thin, barely perceptible veil of mist. As condensation progresses, this veil becomes distinctly visible as a cloud, which grows denser and denser under the influence of cold, until, after condensing even more, it falls to the ground as rain or snow. If the water is chilled still further, it condenses into ice and becomes a solid. Here you have the condensation, step by step, of an ethereal substance invisible to your eyes into solid matter, which you cannot only see and touch, but which also exhibits considerable resistance. Thus, the sheet of ice that covers your streams, ponds and rivers is solidified water, of the same composition and distinctive properties as the water from which it is formed and which in turn is condensed vapour.” • Thus, just as vapor rises from the earth and step by step turns into solid matter as ice, only to dissolve again into water and back into vapor, so it is with all terrestrial bodies. They are derived from the Od of the earth, invisible to you, which is condensed into matter by the process of growth and which returns to the Od of the earth after the death of the living organism. The words ‘of earth thou art, to earth shalt thou return’ therefore apply to all terrestrial beings. This is the continual cycle that will endure until all matter is finally dissolved into Od and not re-
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