QA177 QUESTION: Another question was about the connection of drugs with religion and spirituality. These are related to Neptune, and some of these are negative expressions of Neptune. Could you talk about both the positive and negative expression of Neptune?
ANSWER: Yes. The positive expression is relaxed flow, rhythmic movement, letting go, relaxation. It is in that sense very different from Saturn, which is a more tense quality. It is this aspect that lets be. It is a receptive quality in the positive sense.
In the negative, it is passive; it is stagnant; it is laziness; it is the line of least resistance; it is passivity; it is paralysis; it is inertia; it is illusion; it is getting away from the firm ground; it is a liquid quality of getting lost – it is a getting lost quality and illusion is part of that, of course. It’s all of that.
QUESTION: Are these qualities symbolic expressions about qualities in human beings or are they literal expressions. In other words, is there any such thing as an actual physical force in these planets that affect the human beings on this earth?
ANSWER: I would put it the other way around. Consciousness is always the primary agent; and consciousness permeates all that is. Consciousness expresses or manifests in individualizations which contain all aspects of being, in pure form and in distorted form. These aspects will then be symbolized in forms – for instance, also in planetary forms. It is not that the planets control the beings. It is that the planets express aspects of the beings.
