{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p022-p032","extent":"range","passage_number":22,"through":32,"paragraph_count":11,"first_locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p022","last_locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p032","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"title":"Lecture III","date":"1908-06-20","location":null,"alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Mabel Cotterell","identified_edition":"APC1958","book_title":"The Apocalypse of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophical Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080620p01.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"]},"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},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.06,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":7128,"original_word_count":6750,"may_be_abridged":false},"site_heading":"Seven Post-Atlantean Ages and Spiritual Initiation","site_heading_note":"A heading the site wrote for this unit from a summary of it; not in the edition, and not the words of Rudolf Steiner or of the translator. Cite the unit by its title and locus, never by this heading, and do not quote it.","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p022-p032","json_url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p022-p032.json","lecture_url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20#p022","word_count":3118,"quote_safe":true,"passages":[{"passage_number":22,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p022","text":"Now that which develops from age to age in the post-Atlantean epoch is represented by the writer of the Apocalypse as being expressed in small communities. These small communities, divided in space in the external world, represent to him these cultural epochs. When he speaks of the community or Church at Ephesus he intends the following: “I assume that at Ephesus there was a community which accepted Christianity in a certain sense; but as everything develops only gradually, there is always something remaining from each cultural epoch. In Ephesus we have indeed a school of initiates, but the Christian teaching is there coloured in such a way that we can still recognize every-where the ancient Indian civilization.” He wishes to show us the First Post-Atlantean Age. Hence this first age he represented by the community at Ephesus, and that which is to be announced is to be communicated by letter to the community at Ephesus. We must represent it approximately thus: The character of that remote Indian age of civilization of course remained; it continued in various streams of culture. We find something of this character in the community at Ephesus, which comprehended Christianity in such a way that it was still determined by the typical character of the ancient Indian civilization.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":212,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p022","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p017","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p017"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":217,"en_words":212,"ratio":0.98,"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."},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Mabel Cotterell","identified_edition":"APC1958","book_title":"The Apocalypse of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophical Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080620p01.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":"discrepancy","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p017"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":["Christ"],"bead_confidence":"high","bead_length_ratio":0.98,"likely_cause":"unresolved","note":"NAME MISMATCH between this English passage and its German counterpart. A name the German carries is absent here (or a name appears here that the German does not carry). Two things cause this and they need telling apart: the translation really drops or reassigns what the original distinguishes, OR the paragraph alignment paired the wrong passages. `bead_confidence` does NOT settle which: this corpus's embedding aligner pairs topically-related paragraphs at full confidence, and a sampled high-confidence mismatch proved to be a wrong pairing. Read the German passages listed and confirm they are counterparts BEFORE drawing any conclusion about the translation."},"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."}},{"passage_number":23,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p023","text":"Thus in each of these letters we have a representative of one of the seven post-Atlantean ages of civilization. In each letter it is said: “Ye are so and so. This and that side of your nature is in accordance with Christianity, but the rest must become different.” The writer of the Apocalypse says to each cultural epoch what may be retained, and what no longer harmonizes and should become different.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":71,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p023","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p018","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p018"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":66,"en_words":71,"ratio":1.08,"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."},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Mabel Cotterell","identified_edition":"APC1958","book_title":"The Apocalypse of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophical Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080620p01.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":"discrepancy","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p018"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":["Christ"],"bead_confidence":"high","bead_length_ratio":1.08,"likely_cause":"unresolved","note":"NAME MISMATCH between this English passage and its German counterpart. A name the German carries is absent here (or a name appears here that the German does not carry). Two things cause this and they need telling apart: the translation really drops or reassigns what the original distinguishes, OR the paragraph alignment paired the wrong passages. `bead_confidence` does NOT settle which: this corpus's embedding aligner pairs topically-related paragraphs at full confidence, and a sampled high-confidence mismatch proved to be a wrong pairing. Read the German passages listed and confirm they are counterparts BEFORE drawing any conclusion about the translation."},"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."}},{"passage_number":24,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p024","text":"Let us see whether the seven consecutive letters really contain something corresponding with the character of the seven consecutive cultural epochs. Let us try to understand what the tenor of these letters would have to be if they were to correspond with what has just been said. The writer thinks: In Ephesus is a community, a church; it has accepted Christianity but colours it with the tone of the first cultural epoch—strange to external_ life, not filled with love for that which is the real task of post-Atlantean humanity. The one who directs this letter to the community is satisfied that they had put away the worship of gross sensuality and turned to the spiritual life. We know what the writer of the Apocalypse means from the circumstance that Ephesus was the place where the Mysteries of the chaste Diana were cultivated; he indicates that the turning away from matter specially flourished there, the renunciation of the sensual life and the turning to the spiritual; but, “I have this against thee, that thou hast left thy first love,” the love which the first post-Atlantean site should have, which expresses itself in looking upon the earth as the field in which the divine seed must be sown.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":206,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p024","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p019","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p019"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":213,"en_words":206,"ratio":0.97,"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."},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Mabel Cotterell","identified_edition":"APC1958","book_title":"The Apocalypse of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophical Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080620p01.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":"discrepancy","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p019"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":["Christ"],"bead_confidence":"high","bead_length_ratio":0.97,"likely_cause":"unresolved","note":"NAME MISMATCH between this English passage and its German counterpart. A name the German carries is absent here (or a name appears here that the German does not carry). Two things cause this and they need telling apart: the translation really drops or reassigns what the original distinguishes, OR the paragraph alignment paired the wrong passages. `bead_confidence` does NOT settle which: this corpus's embedding aligner pairs topically-related paragraphs at full confidence, and a sampled high-confidence mismatch proved to be a wrong pairing. Read the German passages listed and confirm they are counterparts BEFORE drawing any conclusion about the translation."},"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."}},{"passage_number":25,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p025","text":"How, then, does he who dictates this letter characterize him-self? He describes himself as the forerunner of Christ Jesus, as the leader of the first cultural epoch. Christ Jesus speaks as if through this leader or master of the first age of civilization, that age when the initiates looked up to the spiritual world. He says of himself that he holds the seven stars in his right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are nothing else than symbols for the seven higher spiritual beings who are the leaders of the great ages of civilization. And of the seven candle-sticks we are expressly told that they are spiritual beings who cannot be seen in the sense world. Reference is also made to these in clear words in the Yoga initiation; but he also shows that man never works according to evolution if he hates external works, if he ceases to love external works. The community at Ephesus forsook the love for external works. So it is quite rightly said in the Apocalypse, “Thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitanes.” “Nicolaitanes” is nothing else than a designation for those who express life merely in a material sense. In the time referred to in this letter there was a sect called the Nicolaitanes, who considered the external fleshly sensual life of primary importance. “This you shall not do,” says the one who inspires the first letter. “But do not forsake the first love,” says he also, “for inasmuch as you love the external world you vivify it, you exalt it to spiritual life.” “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear; to him that overcometh will I give to eat not merely of the perishable tree, but of the tree of life.” That is, he will be able to spiritualize the life of the senses and so elevate it to the altar of the spiritual life.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":317,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p025","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p020","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p020"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":323,"en_words":317,"ratio":0.98,"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."},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Mabel Cotterell","identified_edition":"APC1958","book_title":"The Apocalypse of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophical Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080620p01.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 104/1908-06-20/p020"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","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."}},{"passage_number":26,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p026","text":"The representative of the second age of civilization is the community or church at Smyrna. The leader of humanity addresses this one through his second ancestor, the inspirer and master of the ancient Persian civilization. The mental attitude of the ancient Persian was as follows: “There was once the God of Light who had an enemy, external matter, the dark Ahriman. At first I was united with the Spirit of Light, who first was there. Then I was membered into the world of matter, into which the backward and hostile power, Ahriman, instilled himself; and now, in conjunction with the Spirit of Light, I shall work upon matter and embody the spirit in it. Then, after the evil Deity has been conquered, the good Deity, the Spirit of Light, will reappear.” “I am the first and the last, who is killed in material life and made alive again in the spiritual resurrection.” So we read in the second letter, “I am the First and the Last, Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come, He who has become alive again” (Rev. I, 8). It would lead too far to go through every sentence in this way, but we must consider more closely the sentence which describes minutely how a person stands as a member of the community at Smyrna when he transforms it into the Christian principle. There we read that man gives life to dead matter, that he spiritualizes it. He is not destroyed by it. If he were, then death would be an event loading him to a spiritual life in which the results of this earthly life could have no place. Let us take a person who has not lived his life in such a way that he can gather its true fruits. He takes no fruits with him into the spiritual life. But only from these fruits can he live in the spiritual world. If, therefore, he brought with him no fruits he would experience the “second death.” By working in this earthly field he is saved from the “second death.” “He who hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death” (Rev. ii. 11).","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":373,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p026","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p021","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p021"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":361,"en_words":373,"ratio":1.03,"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."},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Mabel Cotterell","identified_edition":"APC1958","book_title":"The Apocalypse of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophical Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080620p01.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":"discrepancy","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p021"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":["Christ"],"bead_confidence":"high","bead_length_ratio":1.03,"likely_cause":"unresolved","note":"NAME MISMATCH between this English passage and its German counterpart. A name the German carries is absent here (or a name appears here that the German does not carry). Two things cause this and they need telling apart: the translation really drops or reassigns what the original distinguishes, OR the paragraph alignment paired the wrong passages. `bead_confidence` does NOT settle which: this corpus's embedding aligner pairs topically-related paragraphs at full confidence, and a sampled high-confidence mismatch proved to be a wrong pairing. Read the German passages listed and confirm they are counterparts BEFORE drawing any conclusion about the translation."},"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."}},{"passage_number":27,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p027","text":"Now we shall pass on to the community at Pergamos. It is the representative of the age when humanity came down more and more to the physical plane, when man saw in the starry script something that his spirit could understand, something that was given him in the third age of civilization. Man works by means of that which is within him. Through his having an inner being he can investigate the outer world. Only because he was gifted with a soul could he investigate the courses of the stars and invent geometry. This was called “exploration by the word,” and is expressed in the Apocalypse by the “ sword of my mouth.” Hence the one who caused this letter to be written, points out that the power of this age is an incisive word, a sharp two-edged sword. It is the Hermes word of the old priests, the word by which the powers of nature and the stars were explored in the old sense. That was the civilization gained primarily by means of the inner astral soul-forces of man in the physical world. If it were still achieved in that old form, it would verily be a two-edged sword, for then wisdom would be perilously near the edge between white and black magic, between that which leads to blessedness and that which ends in destruction. Therefore he says he well knows that where the representatives of this age dwell, there also is Satan's seat. This indicates all that could lead astray from the really great purposes of evolution; and the teaching of Balaam is none other than the teaching of the black magicians. For that is the teaching of the devourers of the people. The devourers of the people, the destroyers of the people, are the black magicians who work only in the service of their own personality and therefore destroy all brotherhood, they devour everything which lives in the people. But the good side in this civilization consists in man's beginning to purify and transform his astral body. This is called the “hidden manna.” That which is merely for the world, transformed into the food of the gods, that which is only for the egotistical man transformed into the divine, is called the “hidden manna.” All the symbols here indicate that man purifies his soul so as to make himself into the pure vehicle of Manas or the Spirit Self. To this end, however, it is still necessary to pass through the fourth age of civilization, for then the Saviour appears, Christ Jesus himself.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":426,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p027","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p022","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p022"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":369,"en_words":426,"ratio":1.15,"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."},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Mabel Cotterell","identified_edition":"APC1958","book_title":"The Apocalypse of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophical Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080620p01.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":"discrepancy","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p022"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":["Christ","Jesus"],"bead_confidence":"high","bead_length_ratio":1.15,"likely_cause":"unresolved","note":"NAME MISMATCH between this English passage and its German counterpart. A name the German carries is absent here (or a name appears here that the German does not carry). Two things cause this and they need telling apart: the translation really drops or reassigns what the original distinguishes, OR the paragraph alignment paired the wrong passages. `bead_confidence` does NOT settle which: this corpus's embedding aligner pairs topically-related paragraphs at full confidence, and a sampled high-confidence mismatch proved to be a wrong pairing. Read the German passages listed and confirm they are counterparts BEFORE drawing any conclusion about the translation."},"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."}},{"passage_number":28,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p028","text":"The community at Thyatira. Here he announces himself as the “Son of God,” who has “eyes like flames of fire and feet like brass.” He now announces himself as the Son of God. He is now the leader of the fourth age of civilization, when man has descended to the physical plane, when he has created his image even in the media of external culture. The period has now come when the Deity himself becomes man, becomes flesh, becomes person; the age in which man descended to the stage of personality, where in the sculptures of the Greeks the individualized Deity appears as personality, where in the Roman citizen personality comes into the world. At the same time this age had to receive an impulse through the Divine appearing in human form. Man, who had descended, could only be saved through God Himself appearing as man. The “I Am” or the “I” in the astral body had to receive the impulse of Christ Jesus. That which previously only existed as a germ, the “I” or the “I Am,” was to appear in history in the outer world. The Son of God may therefore, as the leader of the future, say, “And all the churches shall know the ‘I Am,’ which searches the minds and hearts” (Rev. ii. 23). Stress is here laid upon the “I Am,” upon the fourth principle of the human being. “As I have received from my Father; and I will give him the morning star” (Rev. ii. 28). What does the morning star mean? We know that the earth passes through the conditions of Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. That is the way it is usually expressed, and it is quite correct. But I have already pointed out that the Earth-evolution is divided into the Mars period and the Mercury period on account of the mysterious connection existing in the first half of the earth-evolution between the earth and Mars, and in the second half between the earth and Mercury, so that in the place of Earth (the fourth period of evolution) we some-times put Mars and Mercury. We say that the earth in its evolution passes through Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus. And the most potent stellar force in the second half of the earth is seen in Mercury. Mercury is the star representing the directional force, the upward tendency in which man must be enveloped. Here I come to a point where a little secret, so to say, must be unveiled, one which may only be divulged at this point. The teachers of spiritual wisdom have always had what might be called a mask for those who would only have misused it, especially in bygone times. They did not express themselves directly, but presented something which was intended to conceal the true state of affairs. Now the esotericism of the Middle Ages resorted to drastic measures and called Mercury Venus, and Venus Mercury. In truth if we wish to speak esoteric-ally, as the writer of the Apocalypse has done, we must speak of Mercury as the morning star. By the morning star he meant Mercury. “I have given the direction upwards to thine ‘I’ or ego, to the morning star, to Mercury.” You may still find in certain books of the Middle Ages which describe the true state of affairs, that the outer stars of our planetary system are enumerated thus: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Earth, and then comes, not as it is now, Venus, Mercury, but the reverse, Mercury, Venus. Therefore it says here, “Even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star” (Rev. ii. 27, 28).","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":614,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p028","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p023","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p023"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p024","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p024"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p025","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p025"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","anchors","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p023","GA 104/1908-06-20/p024","GA 104/1908-06-20/p025"],"reader_part":true,"length_check":{"de_words":604,"en_words":614,"ratio":1.02,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p023","GA 104/1908-06-20/p024","GA 104/1908-06-20/p025"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","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."}},{"passage_number":29,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p029","text":"And now we have come to our own epoch, the one to which we belong and have to ask: Is this Revelation fulfilled right into our own age? Were it to be fulfilled, he who has spoken through the four preceding ages would have to speak to us, and we should have to learn to understand his voice and become familiar with our task for the spiritual life. If there is to be a spiritual movement and if it is to understand the mysteries of the universe, then, in so far as it is to agree with the Revelation of John, it must fulfil what the speaker, this great Inspirer, demands of this age. What does he demand and who is he? Can we know him? Let us try. (Rev. iii. 1): “And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis write.” (We must feel that we ourselves are spoken to here.) “These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars.” What are the seven Spirits and the seven stars?","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":176,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p029","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p026","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p026"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":470,"en_words":519,"ratio":1.1,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p026"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","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."}},{"passage_number":30,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p030","text":"In accordance with the concept of the writer of the Apocalypse, man as we know him is an outer expression of the seven human principles we have enumerated. These are the principle of the physical body, of which the external physical body is the expression, the principle of the life body whose expression is the etheric body, the principle of the astral body. This last when transformed yields Spirit Self, the transformed etheric body, Life Spirit, and the transformed physical body, Spirit Man; in the centre is the “I”-principle. These are the seven spiritual constituents in which the divine nature of man is displayed as in the members of a leader. According to the technical expression used in occultism these seven principles are called the seven Spirits of God in man. And the seven stars are those from which we understand what man is to-day and what he is to become in the future. The consecutive stars of the incarnations of the earth, Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan, are the seven stars which make the evolution of man comprehensible. Saturn gave to man the plan for his physical body, the Sun that of his etheric body, the Moon that of his astral body, and the Earth has given him the “I” or Ego. The next three—Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan—develop the spiritual being of man. If we understand the call of the spirit who has these seven stars and the seven Spirits of God, the sevenfold nature of man in his hand, then we shall be studying Anthroposophy in the sense of the writer of the Apocalypse. To study Anthroposophy is to know that the writer is here referring to the fifth age of human evolution in the post-Atlantean epoch, to know that in our age, when man has descended most deeply into matter, we are again to ascend to spiritual life by following the great individuality who gives for our guidance the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, in order that we may rightly proceed on our path.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":343,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p030","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p026","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p026"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":470,"en_words":519,"ratio":1.1,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p026"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","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."}},{"passage_number":31,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p031","text":"And if we follow this path we shall bring into the sixth age the true spiritual life of wisdom and of love. The spiritual wisdom we have acquired will become the impulse of love in the sixth age, which is represented by the community expressing itself even in its name, the community of brotherly love, or Philadelphia. All these names are carefully chosen. Man will develop his “I” to the necessary height, so that he will become independent and in freedom show love towards all other beings in the sixth age, which is represented by the community at Philadelphia. In this way the spiritual life of the sixth age will be prepared. We shall then have found the individual “I” within us in a higher degree, so that no external power can any longer play upon us if we do not wish it; so that we can close and no one without our will can open, and if we open no opposing power can close. These are the Keys of David. For this reason he who inspires the letter says that he has the key of David: And to the Angel of the community in Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth. ... Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it” (Rev. iii. 7)—the “I” that has found itself within itself.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":254,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p031","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p027","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p027"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":236,"en_words":254,"ratio":1.08,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. 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Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 104/1908-06-20/p027"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","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."}},{"passage_number":32,"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p032","text":"In the seventh age those who have found this spiritual life will flock around the great Leader; it will unite them around this great Leader. They will already belong so far to the spiritual life that they will be distinguished from those who have fallen away, who are lukewarm, “neither cold nor hot.” The little flock which has found spirituality will understand him who may then say, when he makes himself known, “I am he who contains in himself the true final Being towards which everything is steering.” For this final Being is described by the word, Amen. “And unto the Angel of the church of Laodicea write: Thus saith the Amen, he who in his being presents the nature of the end” (Rev. iii. 14).","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":126,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104/1908-06-20/p032","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-06-20","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p028","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p028"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":126,"en_words":126,"ratio":1.0,"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."},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Mabel Cotterell","identified_edition":"APC1958","book_title":"The Apocalypse of St. John","publisher":"Anthroposophical Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080620p01.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 104/1908-06-20/p028"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","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."}}],"witnesses":[{"lang":"de","edition":"original","is_original":true,"is_default_edition":true,"first_passage":1,"last_passage":29,"passage_count":29,"word_count":6750},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"first_passage":1,"last_passage":33,"passage_count":33,"word_count":7128,"completeness":{"ratio":1.06,"band":"comparable","note":null}}],"aligned_witness":{"status":"aligned","lang":"de","edition":"original","confidence":"high","passages":[{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p017","passage_number":17,"text":"Was sich nun also von Zeitraum zu Zeitraum in der nachatlantischen Kultur entwickelt, das stellt sich der Apokalyptiker so vor, daß es sich ausdrückt in kleineren Gemeinschaften, und so werden ihm diese kleineren Gemeinschaften, die auf der äußeren Erde im Raum verteilt sind, zu Repräsentanten dieser Kulturepochen. Wenn er spricht von der Gemeinde oder Kirche zu Ephesus, so meint er: Ich nehme an, daß zu Ephesus eine solche Gemeinde lebte, die in gewisser Beziehung wohl das Christentum angenommen hat. Aber weil sich alles nach und nach entwickelt, so bleibt immer von jeder Kulturepoche etwas zurück. In Ephesus haben wir zwar eine Eingeweihtenschule, aber wir haben die christliche Lehre da so gefärbt, daß man noch überall die altindische Kultur erkennen kann. — Er will uns zeigen die erste Epoche in der nachatlantischen Zeit. Diese erste Epoche in der nachatlantischen Zeit ist also repräsentiert in der ephesischen Gemeinde, und das, was zu verkünden ist, soll in einem Briefe an die Gemeinde von Ephesus verkündet werden. Wir müssen uns das ungefähr so vorstellen: Der Charakter jener fernen indischen Kulturepoche blieb natürlich, er setzte sich fort in verschiedenen Kulturströmungen. In der Gemeinde von Ephesus haben wir noch etwas von diesem Charakter. Von dieser Gemeinde wurde das Christentum so erfaßt, daß es noch von dem typischen Charakter der altindischen Kultur bestimmt wurde.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":217,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p017"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p018","passage_number":18,"text":"So haben wir in jedem dieser Briefe einen Repräsentanten einer der sieben nachatlantischen Kulturepochen angesprochen. In jedem Briefe wird gesagt: Ihr seid so und so! Diese und jene Seite eures Wesens entspricht dem, was im Sinne des Christentums ist, das andere muß anders werden. — So sagt der Apokalyptiker zu einer jeden Kulturepoche, was beibehalten werden kann und was nicht mehr stimmt und anders werden soll.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":66,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p018"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p019","passage_number":19,"text":"Versuchen wir einmal, ob nun wirklich in den sieben aufeinanderfolgenden Briefen etwas enthalten ist von dem Charakter der sieben aufeinanderfolgenden Kulturepochen. Versuchen wir einmal zu verstehen, wie diese Briefe gehalten sein mußten, wenn sie dem entsprechen sollten, was eben gesagt worden ist. Der Apokalyptiker denkt sich: In Ephesus ist eine Gemeinde, eine Kirche. Sie hat das Christentum angenommen, aber sie zeigt das Christentum in einer Färbung, wie die erste Kulturepoche noch war, fremd dem äußeren Leben, nicht von Liebe erfüllt für das, was die eigentliche Aufgabe ist des nachatlantischen Menschen. — Daß sie die Anbetung der groben Sinnlichkeit verlassen hat, daß sie sich gewandt hat zum geistigen Leben — so sagt der, der die Briefe an die Gemeinde richtet —, das gefalle ihm an ihr. Wir erkennen, was der Apokalyptiker damit sagen wollte, in dem Umstand, daß Ephesus die Stätte war, wo der Mysteriendienst der keuschen Diana gepflegt wurde. Er deutet darauf hin, daß die Abkehr von der Materie dort in besonderer Blüte stand, die Abkehr vom sinnlichen Leben und die Hinwendung zum Geistigen. «Aber ich habe wider dich, daß du die erste Liebe verlassen hast», die Liebe, die die erste nachatlantische Kultur haben muß, die darin sich äußert, die Erde als Acker anzusehen, in den hinein verpflanzt werden muß der göttliche Same.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":213,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p019"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p020","passage_number":20,"text":"Wie charakterisiert sich denn derjenige, der diesen Brief diktiert? Er charakterisiert sich als Vorläufer des Christus Jesus, gleichsam als Führer der ersten Kulturepoche. Der Christus Jesus spricht gleichsam durch diesen Führer oder Meister der ersten Kulturepoche, jener Epoche, wo der Eingeweihte hinaufsah zu den jenseitigen Welten. Er sagt von sich, daß er die sieben Sterne in seiner Rechten hält und die sieben goldenen Leuchter. Die sieben Sterne sind nichts anderes als Symbole für die sieben höheren geistigen Wesenheiten, welche die Führer der großen Kulturepochen sind. Und von den sieben Leuchtern ist es im besonderen ausgedrückt, daß es geistige Wesenheiten sind, die man nicht in der sinnlichen Welt sehen kann. So ist auch in der Joga-Einweihung in klaren Worten auf sie hingedeutet, hingedeutet aber auch darauf, daß niemals der Mensch im Sinne der Entwickelung wirkt, wenn er die äußeren Werke haßt, wenn er von der Liebe zu den äußeren Werken abläßt. Die Gemeinde zu Ephesus hat die Liebe zu den äußeren Werken verlassen. So wird ganz richtig in der Apokalypse des Johannes angegeben: Du hassest die Werke der Nikolaiten. — «Nikolaiten» ist nichts anderes als eine Bezeichnung für diejenigen Menschen, die das Leben bloß in der sinnlichen Materie zum Ausdruck bringen. Es gab in der Zeit, auf die sich dieser Brief bezieht, eine Sekte der Nikolaiten, die alles, was dem Menschen wert sein soll, nur in dem äußeren, fleischlichen, sinnlichen Leben sahen. Das sollst du nicht, sagt derjenige, der den ersten Brief inspiriert. Aber nicht von der ersten Liebe lassen, sagt er auch, denn dadurch, daß du die Liebe zur äußeren Welt hast, belebst du diese äußere Welt, holst du sie hinauf zum geistigen Leben. — Derjenige, der Ohren hat zu hören, der höre: Wer überwindet, dem werde ich zu essen geben, nicht bloß vom vergänglichen Baum, sondern vom Baum des Lebens —, das heißt, der wird imstande werden, zu vergeistigen, was hier im Sinnlichen ist, um es hinaufzuführen zum Altar des geistigen Lebens.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":323,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p020"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p021","passage_number":21,"text":"Der Repräsentant der zweiten Kulturepoche ist die Gemeinde oder Kirche zu Smyrna. Diese redet der Führer der Menschheit an in seinem zweiten Vorfahren, in dem Inspirator und Meister der uralt-persischen Kultur. Die Gesinnung der uralt-persischen Kultur ist diese: Einstmals ist der Gott des Lichtes gewesen, der hatte einen Feind, die äußere Materie, den finsteren Ahriman. Zuerst war ich verbunden mit dem Lichtgeist, mit dem ersten, der da war. Da wurde ich eingegliedert in die Welt der Materie, in welche sich einfügte die zurückgebliebene feindliche Gewalt: Ahriman. Und nun werde ich gemeinsam mit dem Lichtgeist bearbeiten die Materie und ihr den Geist eingliedern; dann wird nach Besiegung der bösen Gottheit die gute, die Licht-Gottheit wieder erscheinen. — «Ich bin derjenige, der der Erste ist und der Letzte», derjenige, der tot wird im materiellen Leben und wiederum lebendig in der geistigen Auferstehung. So lesen wir im zweiten Brief: «Ich bin der Erste und der Letzte, der da ist und der da war und der da kommt, der wieder lebendig geworden ist» (Offenbarung Johannis 2, 8). Es würde zu weit führen, jeden Satz in dieser Weise durchzugehen, aber den einen müssen wir doch noch genauer anführen, den Satz, der uns da genau charakterisiert, wie man sich als Mitglied der Gemeinde zu Smyrna verhält, wenn man sie umgestaltet ins christliche Prinzip. Da heißt es, daß man dem Tode Leben gibt, daß man das Tote durchgeistigt. Man geht nicht unter in dem Toten. Ginge man unter, dann würde der Tod ein Ereignis für den Menschen sein, das ihn zu einem geistigen Leben führt, in dem sich nicht die Früchte dieses irdischen Lebens finden könnten. Nehmen wir einen Menschen, der sein Leben nicht so angewendet hat, daß er die echten Früchte herausziehen kann. Er nimmt keine Früchte mit ins geistige Leben. Aber nur von diesen Früchten kann er im geistigen Dasein leben. Wenn er also keine Früchte mitbrächte, so würde er den «zweiten Tod» erleben. Dadurch, daß er dieses irdische Feld bearbeitet, dadurch wird er gerettet vor dem «zweiten Tod»: «Wer Ohren hat zu hören, der höre, was der Geist den Gemeinden sagt. Wer überwindet, dem soll kein Leid geschehen von dem zweiten Tod» (Offenbarung Johannis 2,11).","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":361,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p021"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p022","passage_number":22,"text":"Nun gehen wir weiter, zur Gemeinde zu Pergamus. Sie ist der Repräsentant jener Epoche der Menschheit, die mehr und mehr heraustrat auf den physischen Plan, wo der Mensch in der Sternenschrift sah, was sein Geist ergründen konnte. Das ist dem Menschen in der dritten Kulturepoche gegeben. Der Mensch wirkt durch das, was in seinem Innern ist. Dadurch, daß er ein Inneres hat, kann er das Äußere erforschen. Nur weil er mit einer Seele begabt war, konnte er die Sternenbahn erforschen, die Geometrie erfinden. Das nannte man die Erforschung durch das Wort, das in der Apokalypse des Johannes ausgedrückt ist durch «das Schwert des Mundes». Derjenige, der diesen Brief schreiben läßt, deutet daher darauf hin, daß die Gewalt dieser Epoche ein scharfes Wort ist, ein scharfes, zweischneidiges Schwert. Das ist das Hermes-Wort der alten Priester, ist das Wort, durch das man die Naturkräfte und Sterne erforschte im alten Sinn, das ist diejenige Kultur, die vorzugsweise durch die inneren astralisch-seelischen Kräfte des Menschen gewonnen wird hier auf dem physischen Plan. Wenn sie noch in jener alten Form gewonnen wird, ist sie wirklich ein sehr zweischneidiges Schwert. Da steht die Weisheit hart an der Kante zwischen dem, was weiße und schwarze Magie ist, zwischen dem, was in die Seligkeiten führt, und dem, was ins Verderben mündet. Deshalb sagt er, daß er wohl weiß, daß da, wo die Repräsentanten dieser Epoche wohnen, auch des Satans Stuhl ist. Das deuter auf alles das hin, was hinwegführen kann von den wirklichen großen Zielen der Entwickelung. Und die «Lehre Balaams» ist keine andere als die Lehre der schwarzen Zauberer, denn das ist die Lehre der Volksverschlinger. Die Volksverschlinger, die Volkszerstörer sind die schwarzen Magier, die nur im Dienste ihrer eigenen Persönlichkeit arbeiten und alle Gemeinschaft zerstören, daher alles, was im Volke lebt, verschlingen. Aber das Gute dieser Kultur besteht darin, daß der Mensch gerade da beginnen kann, seinen Astralleib zu reinigen und zu verklären. Das nennt man das «verborgene Manna». Dasjenige, was bloß für die Welt ist, umgeändert in Gottesspeise, was nur für den egoistischen Menschen ist, umgewandelt in Göttliches, das nennt man «verborgenes Manna». Alle die Symbole hier zeigen an, daß der Mensch seine Seele reinigt, um zum reinen Träger von Manas sich zu machen.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":369,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p022"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p023","passage_number":23,"text":"Dazu ist es allerdings noch notwendig, durchzugehen durch die vierte Kulturepoche. Da erscheint der Erlöser, Christus Jesus, selber. Es ist die Gemeinde zu Thyatira. Da kündigt er sich an als der «Sohn Gottes, der Augen hat wie Feuerflammen und seine Füße gleich wie Messing». Jetzt kündigt er sich an als Sohn Gottes, jetzt ist er der Führer der vierten Kulturepoche, wo der Mensch heruntergestiegen ist auf den physischen Plan, wo er selbst in den äußeren Kulturmitteln sein Abbild geschaffen hat. Jetzt ist die Periode gekommen, wo die Gottheit selber Mensch, selber Fleisch, selber Person wird, das Zeitalter, in dem der Mensch bis zu dem Grade der Persönlichkeit heruntergestiegen ist, wo in den Bildhauerwerken der Griechen die individualisierte Gottheit als Persönlichkeit erscheint, wo im römischen Bürger die Persönlichkeit auf den Weltenplan tritt. Dieses Zeitalter mußte zu gleicher Zeit einen Impuls dadurch erhalten, daß das Göttliche in Menschengestalt erscheint. Der herabgestiegene Mensch konnte nur gerettet werden dadurch, daß der Gott selber als Mensch erscheint. Der «Ich-bin» oder das Ich im astralischen Leib mußte den Impuls des Christus Jesus erhalten. Was früher nur im Keim sich zeigte, das Ich oder «Ich-bin», sollte auf den äußeren Plan der Weltgeschichte treten. Der Sohn Gottes darf daher als Führer der Zukunft sagen: «Und alle Gemeinden sollen erkennen den Ich-bin, der die Herzen und Nieren prüfet» (Offenbarung Johannis 2, 23). Auf das «Ich-bin», auf das vierte Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit, wird hier Gewicht gelegt. «Wie ich von meinem Vater empfangen habe; und ich will ihm geben den Morgenstern» (Offenbarung Johannis 2, 28).","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":255,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p023"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p024","passage_number":24,"text":"Was bedeutet hier «Morgenstern»? Wir wissen, die Erde geht hindurch durch den Saturn, die Sonne, den Mond, die Erde, den Jupiter, die Venus und den Vulkan. So spricht man es gewöhnlich aus und so ist es auch richtig. Ich habe aber auch schon darauf hingewiesen, daß die Erdenentwickelung zerfällt in die Marszeit und in die Merkurzeit wegen des geheimnisvollen Zusammenhangs, der da in der ersten Hälfte des Erdzustandes zwischen Erde und Mars und in der zweiten Hälfte zwischen Erde und Merkur besteht. Daher setzt man an Stelle der Erde auch Mars und Merkur. Man sagt, die Erde geht durch in ihrer Entwickelung durch Saturn, Sonne, Mond, Mars, Merkur, Jupiter, Venus. So haben wir also als das Gestirn, das als das eigentlich Tonangebende, als die Kraft im zweiten Zeitraum der Erde sich darstelit, den Merkur. Der Merkur ist der Stern, der uns repräsentiert die richtunggebende Kraft, als Richtung nach aufwärts, die der Mensch einschlagen muß.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":154,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p024"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p025","passage_number":25,"text":"Hier komme ich an eine Stelle, wo wir sozusagen ein kleines Geheimnis lüften müssen, das im Grunde genommen nur an dieser Stelle gelüftet werden darf. Man hat nämlich im Okkultismus für diejenigen, die die Geisteswissenschaft nur mißbrauchen würden und namentlich in älteren Zeiten mißbraucht hätten, immer gehabt das, was man nennen möchte eine Maske. Man hat sich nicht direkt ausgedrückt, sondern hat hingestellt etwas, was die wahre Sachlage verhüllen sollte. Nun hat sich die mittelalterliche Esoterik nicht anders zu helfen gewußt als durch grobe Mittel. Sie hat den Merkur Venus genannt und die Venus Merkur. In Wahrheit müßten wir, wenn wir im Sinne der Esoterik sprechen wollen, wie es der Apokalyptiker getan hat, den Merkur als Morgenstern ansprechen. Er meint mit Morgenstern den Merkur: Ich habe deinem Ich gegeben die Richtung nach aufwärts, durch den Morgenstern, den Merkur. — Sie können auch noch in gewissen, wirklich die Sachlage treffenden Büchern des Mittelalters finden, daß die Sterne unseres Planetensystems so aufgezählt werden: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, und auf die Erde folgen nicht wie jetzt Venus, Merkur, sondern umgekehrt Merkur, Venus. Daher heißt es hier: «Wie Ich von meinem Vater empfangen habe; und will ihm geben den Morgenstern.»","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":195,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p025"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p026","passage_number":26,"text":"Und jetzt müßten wir kommen in unsere Epoche herein, der wir angehören, und wir müßten uns fragen: Erfüllt sich denn diese Offenbarung des Apokalyptikers bis in unsere Zeit herein? — Wenn sie sich erfüllen würde, müßte zu uns sprechen derjenige, der durch die vier vorhergehenden Epochen gesprochen hat, und wir müßten seine Stimme verstehen lernen, müßten uns hineinfinden können in das, was unsere Aufgabe ist für das spirituelle Leben. Soll es eine spirituelle Geistesströmung geben und soll sie Weltmystik verstehen, dann muß diese Strömung, insofern sie übereinstimmen soll mit der Apokalypse des Johannes, das erfüllen, was der Sprecher, der große Inspirator, fordert von dieser Epoche. Was fordert er, und wer ist er? Können wir ihn erkennen? Versuchen wir es. «Und dem Engel der Gemeinde zu Sardes schreibe» — wir selbst müssen uns hier angesprochen fühlen —: «Das sagt, der die sieben Geister Gottes hat und die sieben Sterne» (Offenbarung Johannis 3, 1). Was sind sie hier, die sieben Geister und die sieben Sterne? Im Ton des Apokalyptikers ist der Mensch, wie er uns hier erscheint, ein äußerer Ausdruck der sieben menschlichen Prinzipien, die wir aufgezählt haben. Das Prinzip des physischen Leibes, von dem der äußere physische Leib der Ausdruck ist, das Prinzip des Lebensleibes, dessen Ausdruck der Ätherleib ist, das Prinzip des astralischen Leibes, der umgewandelt Manas ergibt, Buddhi oder der umgewandelte Ätherleib, Atma oder der umgewandelte physische Leib, und mitten drinnenstehend das Ich-Prinzip: das sind die sieben geistigen Ingredienzien, in welche die göttliche Wesenheit des Menschen wie in Glieder eines Fächers auseinandergelegt ist. Nach dem technischen Ausdruck des Okkultismus nennt man diese sieben Prinzipien die sieben Geister des Gottes im Menschen. Und die sieben Sterne, das sind die Sterne, nach denen wir verstehen, was der Mensch heute ist und was er in der Zukunft werden soll. Wenn wir sie aufzählen, die aufeinanderfolgenden Sterne der Erdenverkörperung: Saturn, Sonne, Mond, Erde, Jupiter, Venus und Vulkan, dann sind das die sieben Sterne, die uns die Entwickelung des Menschen verständlich machen. Der Saturn hat dem Menschen die Anlage zu seinem physischen Leibe, die Sonne die zu seinem ätherischen, der Mond jene zum astralischen Leib und die Erde hat ihm das Ich gegeben. Die drei nächstfolgenden, Jupiter, Venus, Vulkan, bilden die geistigen Wesensglieder des Menschen aus. Verstehen wir den Ruf des Geistes, der diese sieben Sterne und die sieben Geister Gottes, die siebengliedrige Natur in der Hand hat, dann treiben wir im Sinne des Apokalyptikers Anthroposophie. Nichts anderes heißt Anthroposophie treiben, als zu wissen, daß hier hingedeutet wird auf die fünfte menschliche Entwickelungsepoche der nachatlantischen Zeit, zu wissen, daß wir in unserer Zeit, wo man am tiefsten heruntergestiegen ist in die Materie, in das spirituelle Leben wieder hinaufschreiten sollen im Gefolge der großen Individualität, welche die sieben Geister Gottes und die sieben Sterne uns zur Führerschaft gibt, damit wir uns zurechtfinden auf dem Wege.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":470,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p026"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p027","passage_number":27,"text":"Und wenn wir diesen Weg gehen, bringen wir in den sechsten Zeitraum hinein das richtige spirituelle Leben der Weisheit und der Liebe. Dann wird das, was wir uns erarbeiten als anthroposophische Weisheit, zum Liebesimpuls des sechsten Zeitraumes, der repräsentiert wird durch die Gemeinde, die schon in ihrem Namen sich als Repräsentant des sechsten Zeitraumes ausdrückt: die Gemeinde der Bruderliebe, Philadelphia. Alle diese Namen sind nicht umsonst gewählt. Der Mensch wird sein Ich entwickeln zur richtigen Höhe, so daß er selbständig wird und in Freiheit die Liebe jedem anderen Wesen entgegenbringt im sechsten Zeitraum, der repfäsentiert ist durch die Gemeinde Philadelphia. Das soll als spirituelles Leben des sechsten Zeitraumes vorbereitet werden. Da werden wir das individuelle Ich in höherem Grade in uns gefunden haben, so daß keine äußere Kraft mehr in uns hineinspielen kann, wenn wir es nicht wollen; so daß wir zuschließen können und niemand ohne unseren Willen aufschließt, und wenn wir aufschließen, keine entgegengesetzte Macht zuschließt. Das ist der «Schlüssel Davids». Deshalb spricht derjenige, der den Brief inspiriert, daß er den Schlüssel Davids hat. «Und dem Engel der Gemeinde zu Philadelphia schreibe: Das sagt der Heilige, der Wahrhaftige, der da hat den Schlüssel Davids, der auftut und niemand schließt zu, der zuschließet und niemand tut auf» — «Siehe, ich habe vor dir gegeben eine offene Tür, und niemand kann sie zuschließen» — das Ich, das in sich selbst sich gefunden hat (Offenbarung Johannis 3, 7).","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":236,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p027"},{"locus":"GA 104/1908-06-20/p028","passage_number":28,"text":"Und der siebente Zeitraum wird diejenigen, die gefunden haben dieses spirituelle Leben, scharen um den großen Führer; er wird sie vereinigen um diesen großen Führer. Sie werden bereits so weit dem spirituellen Leben angehören, daß sie sich unterscheiden werden von denen, die abgefallen sind, von denen, die lau sind, «nicht kalt und nicht warm». Das Häuflein, welches die Spiritualität gefunden hat, wird verstehen den, der da sagen darf, indem er sich zu erkennen gibt: Ich bin derjenige, der in sich schließt das wirkliche Endwesen, nach dem alles zusteuert. — Denn dieses Endwesen, das bezeichnet man mit dem Worte «Amen». Daher Kapitel 3, 14: «Und dem Engel der Gemeinde zu Laodizea schreibe: Das saget der Amen» — derjenige, der in seiner Wesenheit die Wesenheit des Endes darstellt.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":126,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104/1908-06-20/p028"}],"beads":[{"from":[22],"to":[17],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[23],"to":[18],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[24],"to":[19],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[25],"to":[20],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[26],"to":[21],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[27],"to":[22],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[28],"to":[23,24,25],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[29,30],"to":[26],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[31],"to":[27],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[32],"to":[28],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"}],"note":"Paired by the paragraph aligner; each language numbers its own paragraphs. A bead at either end of the span can carry text beyond it (the `from` numbers show what each bead covers)."}}