656. The term "less favourable conditions", where the terrestrial human organism is concerned, should be understood as a situation in which the terrestrial human being lives a life that does not fulfil the conditions required for the inner as well as outer aspects of its organism to be healthy and one hundred per cent useable for the being's manifestation. If, for example, the being consumes food and drink that is not really natural, the life conditions for the being's natural micro-individuals will be correspondingly weakened; indeed, conditions can be so unnatural that these microbeings cannot live in the organism at all. They will die out, while at the same time inferior, more robust and primitive microbeings will incarnate that are hardy enough to be able to live in the unnatural conditions. But as these are less intellectual or less conscious than the normal microbeings, the vital functioning of the macrobeing in question will be thereby reduced. And with this reduction of the normal vital functions, the normal sense of well-being will naturally, to a corresponding degree, cease.
      If, for instance, a human being consumes drinks that are intoxicating and unnaturally stimulating, this will completely destroy the life conditions for the normal microbeings through whose very functions of consciousness the being experiences the normal sensation of thirst. And microbeings will incarnate in its organism that are of such a primitive and robust character that they can live or scrape by in these abnormal conditions; indeed, they will actually belong in the very conditions that made life impossible for the normal microbeings in that organism. But as these beings belong in these abnormal conditions, it means that they need their macrobeing's alcohol addiction in order to be able to lead, what is for them, a normal existence or to have a sense of bodily well-being. And this need thus constitutes a kind of force in the consciousness. This force is experienced by the macrobeing as a thirst or craving for alcohol, or whatever other poisonous substance it has developed a habit of ingesting. This in turn means that the macrobeing has lost its ability to feel natural thirst and it will therefore incessantly feel an unnatural sense of thirst. The being's organism will thereby have lost its ability to feel the natural desire for the normal moistening and refreshing liquids that are absolutely essential for the organism.
      It is quite clear that the same phenomenon will apply in principle if a being becomes accustomed to consuming wrong foodstuffs. In this case its organs of taste will also be changed, and the being can become accustomed to a hunger or desire for the wrong kind of food. When a being feels both a wrong hunger and a wrong thirst and at the same time satisfies both these abnormalities, it will of course inevitably lead to an undermining of the organism and eventually turn it into a wretched, unusable tool for the being's normal stage of development or mental standard.