{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 103/1908-05-23/p038","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"Let us translate these passages according to their true meaning, for we have now the basis for such a translation, if we understand how the teachings of the ancients were presented. They were poetically portrayed in many books. We need only recall the Psalms of the Old Testament where in beautifully constructed language, the Divine was proclaimed. At that time the ancient blood-relationship was spoken of only as a relationship with a God. This could all be learned, but all that was learned through it was nothing more than that one was related to this ancient divinity. But, if there was a desire to comprehend the Christ, then all the ancient laws, all the ancient artificialities were unnecessary. What the Christ taught could be understood to the degree that men understood the spiritual ego within themselves. At that time, it is true, it was not possible to have full knowledge of Divinity, but one could understand what was heard from the lips of Christ-Jesus. The preliminary conditions for understanding were there. The Psalms were not then necessary, nor all the poetically constructed teachings, for all that was needed was the simplest means of expression. One needed only to speak in halting words to become a witness of God. Even in the simplest, stammering words it was possible to become a witness of the Divine; it need be only single words without metre. Anyone who felt in his ego that he was sent from God, even though he were halting in his speech, could understand the words of the Christ. Anyone knowing only the earthly relationship with God speaks in the poetic measure of the Psalms, but all his metre leads him to nothing but the ancient gods. However, anyone who felt himself deeply rooted in the spirit worlds is above all, and can bear witness of what has been seen and heard in those worlds. But those who accepted a testimony only in the accustomed way did not accept His. If there were those who accepted it, they showed by their acceptance that they felt themselves sent from God. They not only *believed*, they *understood* what the other one said to them, and through their understanding they bore witness of their words. “He who feels the ego, reveals even in his stammering words the Word of God.” This is what is meant, for the spirit here referred to does not need to express itself in metre, in any form of syllabic measure, but it can declare itself in the simplest, halting manner. Such words can easily be taken as a license for folly. But whoever refuses wisdom just because, in his opinion, the most sublime mysteries should be expressed in the simplest form possible, does so, although often quite unconsciously, merely from an inclination toward psychic ease. When it is said, “God giveth not the spirit by measure” (metre), it only means that the “measure” or metre does not help towards the spirit. But where the spirit really exists, there also is “measure.” Not everyone who has “measure” has the “spirit;” but one who has the “spirit” will come most certainly to “measure” or metre. Naturally, certain things cannot be reversed. It is not an evidence of possessing the “spirit” if one has *no* “measure;” nor is the possession of “measure” a proof of the “spirit.” Science is certainly no sign of wisdom, nor is a lack of science a proof of it.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"V. The Seven Degrees of Initiation","site_heading":null,"date":"1908-05-23","location":null,"word_count":573,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/103/1908-05-23/p038","alignment_confidence":"medium","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Maud B. Monges","identified_edition":"AP1962","book_title":"The Gospel of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophic Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA103/English/AP1962/19080523p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["English"]},"available_versions":[{"lang":"de","edition":"original","edition_basis":null,"is_original":true,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/103/1908-05-23/p038"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/103/1908-05-23/p038","paragraph_aligned":true}],"record":{"record_type":"unknown","scope":"volume","note":"How this text was taken down (shorthand transcript, listeners' notes or manuscript) is not on record here. Unknown is not an assurance of a stenogram: check the edition's own notes before resting an argument on one word.","evidence":null,"evidence_translation":null,"evidence_source":null},"german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-05-23","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 103/1908-05-23/p045","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/103/1908-05-23/p045"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":540,"en_words":573,"ratio":1.06,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. The German original passage(s) above are the edition-invariant anchor — fetch them (lang='de') to verify wording before quoting across editions."},"paired_german":{"status":"paired","german":[{"locus":"GA 103/1908-05-23/p045","passage_number":45,"text":"Und jetzt übersetzen wir uns diese Stelle, wie sie wirklich heißt. Wir bekommen die Materialien dazu, wenn wir uns klar sind, wie die Lehren der Alten waren. Die waren in vielen Büchern kunstvoll aufgeschrieben. Wir brauchen uns nur an die Psalmen zu erinnern, wo in schön gefügten Reden im Alten Testamente das Göttliche verkündet worden ist. Da redet man nur von den alten Blutzusammenhängen als dem Zusammenhange mit einem Gotte. Man konnte alles das lernen, aber man lernte durch alles das nie mehr, als daß man mit dieser alten Gottheit zusammenhängt. Wollte man aber den Christus verstehen, so brauchte man all die alten Gesetze, alle die alten Künstlichkeiten nicht. Was der Christus lehrte, konnte man in dem Maße ergreifen, als man in sich das geistige Ich erfaßte. Dann konnte man zwar noch kein volles Wissen von der Gottheit haben, aber man konnte das verstehen, was man von den Lippen des Christus Jesus hörte. Dann hatte man die Vorbedingung zum Verständnis. Man brauchte dann alle Psalmen nicht, alle kunstvoll gefügten Lehren nicht, sondern man brauchte nur das Einfachste, und das waren lallende Ausdrücke. Man braucht nur zu lallen in seinen Worten, und man wird von dem Gotte zeugen. Das konnte man selbst in den einfachsten lallenden Worten, es brauchten nur einzelne Worte zu sein, die gar kein «Maß» haben. Wer nur lallte, wer fühlte in seinem Ich, daß er von Gott gesandt ist, der konnte das verstehen, was der Christus sprach. Wer nur den irdischen Zusammenhang mit Gott weiß, der redet im Versmaß der Psalmen, aber all sein Metrum führt ihn zu nichts anderem als zu den alten Göttern. Derjenige aber, der sich in den geistigen Welten gegründet fühlt, der ist über alle, und er kann Zeugnis geben von dem, was er gesehen und gehört hat in den geistigen Welten. Aber sein Zeugnis nehmen diejenigen, die nur in der gewohnten Weise ein Zeugnis annehmen, nicht an. Wenn es solche gibt, die es annehmen, dann zeigen sie eben durch ihre Annahme, daß sie als gottgesandt sich fühlen. Sie glauben nicht nur, sie verstehen, was ihnen der andere sagt, und sie besiegeln durch ihr Verstehen selbst ihre Worte. «Wer das Ich fühlt, offenbart selbst im Lallen Gottes Worte.» Das bedeutet es. Denn der Geist, der hier gemeint ist, braucht sich durch kein Metrum, durch kein Silbenmaß auszusprechen; sondern in der einfachsten lallenden Weise kann er sich ausdrücken. Es werden leicht solche Worte als Freibrief genommen für ein Recht auf Unweisheit. Wer aber die Weisheit ablehnt, weil sich nach seiner Meinung die höchsten Geheimnisse in der schlichtesten Form aussprechen lassen müssen, der tut dies - allerdings oft unbewußt nur aus einem gewissen Hang zur seelischen Bequemlichkeit. Wenn gesagt wird: «Gott gibt den Geist nicht nach dem Maß», so ist eben nur gemeint, daß das Maß nicht zum Geist verhilft; wo aber der Geist wirklich ist, da entsteht auch das Maß. Nicht ein jeder, der das Maß hat, hat den Geist; wer aber den Geist hat, kommt gewiß zum Maß. Man darf natürlich gewisse Dinge nicht umkehren: Es ist nicht schon ein Zeichen für das Geisthaben, wenn man #ein Maß hat, obschon auch umgekehrt das Maßhaben nicht ein Zeichen für den Geist ist. Wissenschaft ist sicherlich kein Zeichen für Weisheit, aber Unwissenheit sicherlich auch nicht.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":540,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/103/1908-05-23/p045"}],"english":["GA 103/1908-05-23/p038"],"method":"length","confidence":"medium","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":540,"en_words":573,"ratio":1.06,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.06,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":7320,"original_word_count":6933,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Maud B. Monges","identified_edition":"AP1962","book_title":"The Gospel of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophic Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA103/English/AP1962/19080523p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 103/1908-05-23/p045"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"medium","note":"Every load-bearing name in the German counterpart appears in this English passage. That is a check on NAMES only: a translation can keep every name and still reverse who acts on whom, change a number, or soften a claim. Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}}