{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 104a/1909-05-13/p019","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"In the second letter the leading spirit characterizes himself as “the alpha and the omega.” (Rev. 1:8) In all of occultism there are certain symbols that dominate and always mean the same thing. In ancient Egyptian times value was placed on the formation of wisdom through the word; wisdom appeared then for the first time in rigorously delineated words. The Indian world did not yet place any value on knowledge; the culture of Zarathustra just as little. For this reason the divine power of the word in the mouths of human beings is everywhere signified by the “sword.”","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Lecture II-IV","site_heading":null,"date":"1909-05-13","location":null,"word_count":98,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104a/1909-05-13/p019","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"James H. Hindes","identified_edition":null,"book_title":"Reading the Pictures of the Apocalypse","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/ReadApoc/19090513p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"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/104a/1909-05-13/p019"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/104a/1909-05-13/p019","paragraph_aligned":true}],"record":{"record_type":"listeners_notes","scope":"volume","note":"Written from listeners' notes, summaries, or memory rather than a shorthand transcript. The wording is the note-taker's as much as Steiner's: weigh a single striking phrase here far more cautiously than the same phrase in a stenographic volume, and do not rest an argument on one word.","evidence":"Teilnehmeraufzeichnungen von vier Vorträgen","evidence_translation":"Participants' records of four lectures","evidence_source":"Rudolf Steiner Verlag Gesamtverzeichnis 2022, volume subtitle. The translation is the maintainer's, not a published one."},"german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1909-05-13","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 104a/1909-05-13/p020","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104a/1909-05-13/p020"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":123,"en_words":149,"ratio":1.21,"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 104a/1909-05-13/p020","passage_number":20,"text":"Im zweiten Briefe charakterisiert sich der führende Geist als «Ich bin das Alpha und das Omega». (Apk. 1, 8) In allem Okkultismus herrschen gewisse Symbole, die immer dasselbe bedeuten. In der alten ägyptischen Zeit wurde Wert gelegt auf die Formung der Weisheit durch das Wort; da tritt zum ersten Male Wissenschaft auf in streng abgegrenztem Wort. Die indische Welt legte noch keinen Wert auf Wissenschaft; ebensowenig die Zarathustra-Kultur. Deshalb wird diese menschliche Götterkraft des Wortes überall angedeutet durch das «Schwert»; wir finden das Schwert überall als Symbolum der Vermenschlichung der Götterkraft. «Und dem Engel der Gemeinde in Pergamon schreibe: So spricht, der das scharfe zweischneidige Schwert hat.» (Apk. 2, 12) Durch das Wissen wird aber der Mensch am meisten verführt zur schwarzen Magie.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":123,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/104a/1909-05-13/p020"}],"english":["GA 104a/1909-05-13/p019","GA 104a/1909-05-13/p020"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":123,"en_words":149,"ratio":1.21,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.2,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":2445,"original_word_count":2043,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"James H. Hindes","identified_edition":null,"book_title":"Reading the Pictures of the Apocalypse","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/ReadApoc/19090513p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 104a/1909-05-13/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."}}