{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 143/1912-05-08/p002","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"The meeting today is an occasion that demands an introduction to our studies. It is the day known in the Theosophical Movement[^1] as White Lotus Day, commemorating the yearly anniversary of the day on which Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the founder of the present Theosophical Movement, left the physical plane. It will need very little effort to touch a chord in every soul present here today in order to evoke feelings of admiration, veneration and gratitude towards the individuality who came to the Earth in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and inspired men to turn their minds again to the ancient, holy Mysteries whence all the forces and impulses needed for man's spiritual development have proceeded. By devoting herself to what she clearly realised to be the task of the modern age, H. P. Blavatsky was able to present in a popular form what was accessible to her of the Mystery wisdom, a form which differed from that in which Mystery wisdom has, through secret channels, influenced men's activities and endeavours. The significance of the modern age lies in the fact, that what was formerly accessible only to the few, must be given in a form comprehensible to wider circles. And to have acted, as she did at first, in accordance with this trend in the modern age—this was the mission of Madame Blavatsky. Thus, she turned the minds of men to something which has, in truth, always been held sacred by those who had knowledge of it. To indicate that this is so we will begin with the recitation of a poem by a thinker known to the so-called educated public—or rather known only as a dry, abstract thinker and as an architect of systems of remote philosophical ideas. But that what this thinker seems to give only in the form of crystalline ideas were the product of intense warmth of feeling, and that ideas alone were not the only expressions of the dictates of his heart—this he shows us in a poem addressed to the holy Mysteries.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Ancient Wisdom and the Heralding of the Christ Impulse","site_heading":null,"date":"1912-05-08","location":null,"word_count":337,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/143/1912-05-08/p002","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Dorothy S. Osmond","identified_edition":"Singles","book_title":"Ancient Wisdom and the Heralding of the Christ Impulse","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA143/English/Singles/19120508p01.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/143/1912-05-08/p002"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/143/1912-05-08/p002","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},"paired_german":{"status":"paired","german":[{"locus":"GA 143/1912-05-08/p002","passage_number":2,"text":"Der heutige Tag fordert eine Einleitung zu unseren Betrachtungen. Ist es doch der Tag, den wir in der theosophischen Bewegung bezeichnen als den «weißen Lotustag», der uns alljährlich in Erinnerung ruft das Verlassen des physischen Planes durch Frau Helena Petrowna Blavatsky, der Begründerin der theosophischen Bewegung in der neueren Zeit. Und es braucht wohl nur ein wenig angeschlagen zu werden ein Ton, der wohl in jeder Seele, die sich heute hier befindet, vorhanden ist, um hervorzurufen Gefühle und Empfindungen der Bewunderung, der Verehrung, des Dankes gegenüber derjenigen Individualität, welche auf der Erde verweilte in Frau Blavatsky und wieder erneuert den Blick der Menschen geschärft hat für die uralt heiligen Mysterien der Menschheit, aus denen für die Menschen immer hervorgegangen ist alles, was die geistige Entwickelung an Kräften und Impulsen braucht. Die Aufgabe der neueren Zeit verständnisvoll ergreifend, konnte H. P. Blavatsky dasjenige, was ihr zugänglich war an Mysterienweisheit, in einer populären Form geben, so daß diese populäre Form das abweichende ist gegenüber der Art und Weise, wie durch geheime Kanäle und Strömungen Mysterienweisheit in menschliches Arbeiten und Schaffen eingeflossen ist. Das ist gerade die Bedeutung der neueren Zeit in dieser Beziehung, daß in allgemeinerer Form gegeben werden muß, was früher nur wenigen zugänglich war. Und zuerst im Sinne dieses Zuges der neueren Zeit gehandelt zu haben, das war die Mission von Frau Blavatsky. Sie hat damit der Menschen Sinn hingelenkt auf etwas, was in der Tat zu allen Zeiten heilig war denjenigen, die davon wußten. Daß dies so ist, soll jetzt gleich am Ausgangspunkte unserer heutigen Betrachtung dadurch nahegebracht werden, daß vorgetragen werden soll die Dichtung eines Denkers, den die große Masse der Gebildeten nur kennt oder besser gesagt nicht kennt — als einen trockenen, begrifflichen Denker, nur als einen Werk- und Baumeister von weit, weit entlegenen Ideengebilden. Daß aber dieser Denker dasjenige, was er scheinbar nur in kristallinischen Ideenbauten gegeben hat, in sich selber als das wärmste Gefühl besaß, und daß nicht Ideen allein das Gewand sind für dasjenige, was aus seinem Herzen stammt, zeigt er uns in einem Gedicht, das er eben an die heiligen Mysterien richtet.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":349,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/143/1912-05-08/p002"}],"english":["GA 143/1912-05-08/p002"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":349,"en_words":337,"ratio":0.97,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.06,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":7582,"original_word_count":7177,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Dorothy S. Osmond","identified_edition":"Singles","book_title":"Ancient Wisdom and the Heralding of the Christ Impulse","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA143/English/Singles/19120508p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 143/1912-05-08/p002"],"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."}}