{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p018-p024","extent":"range","passage_number":18,"through":24,"paragraph_count":7,"first_locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p018","last_locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p024","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"title":"Introduction","date":"1915-05-18","location":null,"alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Peter Mollenhauer, Ph.D.","identified_edition":"Singles","book_title":"The Mystery of Death","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA159/English/Singles/19150518p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"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. 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Had this battle not taken place as it did, the entire map of Europe would have been different. But this battle really was not decided by military skill, that is, not by the intellectual prowess available to people in those days, but by something entirely different. Maxentius consulted the so-called Sibylline Books, the prophetic oracles of Rome, which guided him into leading his army out of the assured safety of Rome's walls into the open field, in order to confront Constantine's army. Constantine, on the other hand, had a dream before the battle in which he was told, “If you approach Maxentius under the banner of the Mystery of Golgotha you will reach a great objective!” Indeed, Constantine carried the symbol of the Mystery of Golgotha—the cross—when he led his forces into battle, even though his army was three-fourths smaller than that of Maxentius. Enthused by the power emanating from the Mystery of Golgotha, Constantine won that historical battle resulting in the external introduction of Christianity to Europe. When we realize the extent to which people in those days understood the Christ impulse purely by intellectual means, it is not surprising to find that there ensued an endless theological quarrel. People argued whether or not Christ was consubstantial with the Lord in all eternity, and so on. Let us say this, that the degree of knowledge of the Christ impulse available to human beings in those days is not important, but rather the fact that the Christ impulse was present and that through his dream it guided Constantine to bring about what had to happen. What is important is the actuality of the Christ and His real and visibly active power. Only in the science of the spirit do we begin to understand *what* the Christ impulse is.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":348,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/159/1915-05-18/p018","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1915-05-18","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p009","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p009"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":354,"en_words":348,"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. 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Legends have preserved for us the manner in which the Christ impulse can assert itself within the Western spiritual tradition. In part, these legends refer generally to ancient pagan ages, but they take us back to those heathen times in which an understanding of Christianity was beginning to germinate.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":157,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/159/1915-05-18/p019","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1915-05-18","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p010","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p010"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":140,"en_words":157,"ratio":1.12,"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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During the day's twenty-four hours, this earth sleeps and is awake just as we are. We must familiarize ourselves with the fact that the state of wakefulness on earth occurs during the winter, and the state of sleep during the summer. The earth spirit is most awake in these twelve or thirteen days from Christmas to the Epiphany. In ancient ages when, as you know from the various presentations in my lecture series, human beings elevated themselves to a sort of dreamlike clairvoyance to reach a spiritual understanding of the world, in those ages the most favorable time for this process was summer. Thus, it is quite natural that whoever wants to elevate himself to spiritual heights by means of a more dreamlike clairvoyance will have an easier time of it during the summer, when the earth is asleep. Therefore, St. John's midsummer-day was in ancient ages the most propitious time to raise the soul to the spiritual level. The old way of spiritual interaction with the earth has been replaced by a more conscious elevation that can best be reached during the earth's wakefulness.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":284,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/159/1915-05-18/p020","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1915-05-18","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p011","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p011"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":298,"en_words":284,"ratio":0.95,"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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This Norwegian legend does in fact describe the experiences that one perceives first as the soul world—and then as something that feels like the spirit world, but with everything being expressed as images, as imaginative forms.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":130,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/159/1915-05-18/p021","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1915-05-18","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p012","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p012"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":141,"en_words":130,"ratio":0.92,"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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Now it is no longer possible for the Christ impulse to penetrate the souls of men in this way, as if by natural initiation. Nowadays man must make a conscious effort and climb to initiation in a way similar to that achieved through the instructions given in my book *Knowledge of the Higher Worlds*. We are living in an age when natural initiations are becoming increasingly rare and will eventually disappear. Yet one initiation that could still essentially be called a natural initiation took place when the Christ impulse worked itself into the soul of the simple country girl, The Maid of Orleans. It was she who caused the victory of the French over the English. Again, not the human mind nor the talents of military leaders were decisive factors in changing the map of Europe so magnificently, but rather the Christ impulse working itself into the subconscious of the Maid of Orleans and inspiring her to radiate its presence in all of history.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":188,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/159/1915-05-18/p022","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1915-05-18","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p014","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p014"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":416,"en_words":559,"ratio":1.34,"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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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":23,"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p023","text":"We would now have to examine whether something similar could have occurred in the Maid of Orleans by way of natural initiation and ask whether her soul was inspired in the nights from the 25th day of December to the 6th of January. From her biography it seems difficult to demonstrate that she was even once in a sleep-like state during the twelve or thirteen special days when the Christ impulse could have entered her soul, inspiring her to act as its human shell on the battle grounds of France. Yet, that is precisely what happened. There is a time when the karma of a particular individual can facilitate such a sleep-like state in a human being. During the last few days prior to a person's birth he lives in the mother's womb in a dreaming, sleep-like state. He has not yet perceived with his senses what is happening in the world outside. If by virtue of his karma a person were especially suited to receive the Christ impulse during these last few days in the womb, then these days could also be days of natural initiation. Strengthened by and saturated with the Christ impulse, such a person would have to be born on the sixth day of January. Joan of Arc was born on that day. It is her special mystery that she was born on the 6th day of January and had spent the time from Christmas to the day of Epiphany in a peculiar sleep-like state in the womb of her mother where she received her natural initiation. Now consider the profound connections beyond the external developments that we are accustomed to call history. As a rule, the external events that are reconstructed from historical documents are of the least significance. What is of decisive historical significance is the plain date in our calendar indicating that Joan of Arc was sent into this world on the 6th day of January. Thus, supernatural forces become active in the sentient world and we must read the occult signs that present this fact to us. They tell us that the Christ impulse had already streamed into the Maid of Orleans before her physical birth, as if by way of natural initiation.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":371,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/159/1915-05-18/p023","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1915-05-18","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p014","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p014"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":416,"en_words":559,"ratio":1.34,"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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Not only is it characteristic of Hindu thought, if not of all Asian religious perception, however, that its entire attention is directed to the time preceding the appearance of the Christ impulse, but also that the state of religious perception is preserved as it was in those days. If something remains behind in the evolutionary process it can be interpreted to have absorbed something luciferic, and for this reason Asian religious evolution is the carrier of a luciferic element. A glance at the religious development of Asia will inform us that it contains much of what mankind as a whole once possessed but was later forced to abandon. We must in part cleanse Western culture of the luciferic remnants and in part we must elevate them in such a way that the Christ impulse can enter.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":219,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/159/1915-05-18/p024","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1915-05-18","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p015","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p015"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":207,"en_words":219,"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. 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Daß das geschehen konnte, dazu mußte Konstantin jene wichtige Schlacht schlagen gegen Maxentius, durch welche Konstantin dann das Christentum in seinem abendländischen Reiche zur Staatsreligion gemacht hat. Die ganze Landkarte Europas wäre eine andere geworden, wenn dazumal diese Schlacht des Konstantin gegen Maxentius nicht stattgefunden hätte. Aber Feldherrenkunst, dasjenige, was die Menschen dazumal mit dem Verstand vermocht haben, das hat diese Schlacht wirklich nicht zur Entscheidung gebracht, sondern etwas ganz anderes. Maxentius hat nachschlagen lassen in den sogenannten Sibyllinischen Büchern, den prophetischen Büchern Roms, und da wurde er so geführt, daß er sein Heer, das gut bewahrt gewesen wäre in den Mauern Roms, hinausführte aus den Mauern Roms und es im freien Feld gestellt hat dem Heere des Konstantin. Konstantin aber hatte vor der Schlacht einen Traum, in dem ihm bedeutet wurde: Wenn du im Zeichen des Mysteriums von Golgatha dem Maxentius entgegenziehst, so wirst du ein großes Ziel erreichen. — Und vorantragend das Zeichen des Mysteriums von Golgatha, das Kreuz, ging Konstantin in die Schlacht mit einem um drei Viertel kleineren Heere, als es Maxentius hatte. Und begeistert von der Gewalt, die aus dem Mysterium von Golgatha kam, gewann Konstantin jene bedeutungsvolle Schlacht, durch die das Christentum äußerlich eingeführt worden ist in Europa. Wenn wir uns erinnern, was dazumal die Menschen mit dem Verstande von dem Christus-Impuls begriffen haben, finden wir ein endloses theologisches Gezänke. Die Menschen haben gestritten darüber, ob der Christus gleich ist von Ewigkeit her mit dem Vater und dergleichen mehr. Man muß sagen: Nicht darauf kommt es an, was die Menschen gewußt haben dazumal von dem Christus-Impuls, sondern darauf, daß er da war, der Christus-Impuls, daß er da war, daß er geleitet hat durch den Konstantin, durch einen Traum des Konstantin das, was geschehen sollte. Auf die Wirklichkeit des Christus, auf die reale, die wirkliche Gewalt des Christus kommt es an. Verstehen, was der Christus-Impuls ist, damit fangen wir erst in der Geisteswissenschaft an.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":354,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p009"},{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p010","passage_number":10,"text":"Ein anderer Moment war derjenige, als in dem Kampfe zwischen Frankreich und England Europa wiederum eine Gestaltung bekommen hat, vor der man sagen kann: Wäre dazumal Frankreich nicht sieghaft gewesen gegen England, so würden alle Verhältnisse anders geworden sein. Aber wie war das geschehen? - Der Christus-Impuls hat bis in unsere Zeit, wo er immer bewußter und bewußter werden muß, eben in das Unterbewußte der Seele hineingewirkt. Und da sehen wir denn in der abendländischen Geistesentwickelung, wie sich der Christus-Impuls in den Seelen der Menschen diejenigen Zustände aufsucht, durch die er bei einzelnen Menschen wirksam werden kann. Legenden haben uns aufbewahrt die Art, wie der Christus-Impuls in der abendländischen Geistesentwickelung sich geltend machen kann. Diese Legenden weisen zurück zum Teil in alte heidnische Zeiten, überall aber in solche Zeiten, in denen sich gerade im Heidentum Verständnis für das Christentum vorbereitete.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":140,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p010"},{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p011","passage_number":11,"text":"Wenn die Seele nicht in bewußter Art die Initiation anstrebt auf dem Wege, der vorgezeichnet ist in «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?», sondern gleichsam auf natürliche Weise, wie durch eine Naturinitiation vom Christus-Impuls durchdrungen wurde, so ist die günstigste Zeit, in welcher dieser Christus-Impuls in die Seele hineininspirieren kann, die Zeit vom Weihnachtsabend bis zum Dreikönigstag, die Zeit vom 25. Dezember bis zum 6. Januar. Verstehen können wir das dadurch, daß wir uns klarmachen: für die okkultistische Erkenntnis wird es ganz eindeutig ersichtlich, daß unsere Erde nicht das allein ist, wovon die Geologen sprechen. Das, wovon die Geologen sprechen, das ist von der Erde soviel wie das Knochengerüst vom Menschen. Aber unsere Erde hat auch das Geistige, das dazugehört. Und eben in die Erdenaura ist der Christus hineingezogen. Und diese Erde schläft und wacht, wie wir in vierundzwanzig Stunden schlafen und wachen. Wir müssen uns damit bekanntmachen, daß der Schlafzustand der Erde während der Sommerzeit, der Wachzustand während der Winterzeit eintritt. Und am wachsten ist der Geist der Erde in diesen zwölf oder dreizehn Nächten von Weihnachten bis Dreikönigstag. In den alten Zeiten, in denen, wie Sie ja aus den mannigfaltigen Darstellungen in meinen Vortragszyklen wissen, die Menschen mehr in einer Art traumhaften Hellsehens sich zum geistigen Prinzip der Welt erhoben haben, war die günstigste Zeit die Sommerzeit. Ganz naturgemäß ist es, daß, wer in einem mehr traumhaften Hellsehen zum Geistigen sich erheben will, es leichter hat während der schlafenden Erdenzeit, zur Sommerzeit. Daher war es das Johannifest, das in den alten Zeiten am günstigsten war, um die Kraft der Seele hinaufzuheben zum Geistigen. An die Stelle der alten Art, wie das Geistige in die Erde hineinwirkt, ist die neue, mehr bewußte Art getreten; da ist nun die beste Zeit die Zeit, wenn die Erde wacht.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":298,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p011"},{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p012","passage_number":12,"text":"Daher sagen uns die Legenden, daß besonders begnadete Menschen, Menschen die durch ihr Karma besonders geeignet sind, um die Weihnachtszeit in einen besonderen Bewußtseinszustand kommen, der nur äußerlich ähnlich ist dem Schlaf, der aber innerlich so ist, daß inspirierend in ihn das hineinwirken kann, wodurch die Menschen erhoben wurden zu der Welt, die wir bezeichnen als das Geisterland. Da gibt es eine sehr schöne Legende, eine norwegische Legende von Olaf Åsteson, von dem uns erzählt wird, wie er am Weihnachtsabend zur Kirche geht, in schlafähnlichen Zustand fällt und wie er dann aufwacht am 6. Januar und erzählen kann, was er erlebt hat in diesem schlafähnlichen Zustand. Und wirklich erzählt uns diese norwegische Legende, wie Olaf Åsteson etwas durchlebt hat, was man zunächst wie die Seelenwelt empfindet, dann etwas, was man wie das Geisterland empfindet, nur eben alles in Bildern, in Imaginationen.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":141,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p012"},{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p014","passage_number":14,"text":"Nun müßten wir daraufachten, ob etwas Ähnliches vorgegangen sein könnte als Naturinitiation bei der Jungfrau von Orleans, ob die Seele der Jungfrau von Orleans in den Nächten vom 25. Dezember bis zum 6. Januar inspiriert worden wäre. Im Lebensgange scheint so etwas nicht nachzuweisen zu sein, daß die Jungfrau von Orleans auch einmal in den zwölf oder dreizehn Tagen vom 25. Dezember bis 6. Januar in einem schlafähnlichen Zustande war, in welchem besonders der Christus-Impuls hätte in sie hineinwirken können, so daß sie dann als Mensch wie die Hülle nur des Christus-Impulses gewirkt hätte auf Frankreichs Schlachtfeldern. Und doch war es so. Es gibt nämlich eine Zeit, die, wenn das Karma der betreffenden Individualität das besonders möglich macht beim Menschen, wirklich von einem solchen schlafähnlichen Zustand ausgefüllt werden kann. Das ist die Zeit der letzten Tage, in denen der Mensch noch, bevor er das physische Erdenlicht schaut, im Leib der Mutter lebt. Da lebt der Mensch in einem traumhaften, schlafähnlichen Zustand. Er hat ja noch nicht durch die Sinne etwas gesehen, was äußerlich in der Welt sich zuträgt. Wäre ein Mensch durch sein Karma besonders geeignet, in diesen letzten Tagen, in welchen er im Leib der Mutter wohnt, aufzunehmen den Christus-Impuls, so würden diese Tage auch Tage der Naturinitiation sein. Dann würde ein solcher Mensch schon gekräftigt und gestärkt mit dem in ihm liegenden Christus-Impuls zum erstenmal das Auge aufschlagen nach der Initiation, das heißt in diesem Falle, nach der Geburt. Und ein solcher Mensch müßte am 6. Januar geboren sein. Die Jungfrau von Orleans ist am 6. Januar geboren. Das ist das Geheimnis der Jungfrau von Orleans, daß sie am 6. Januar geboren ist, daß sie die Zeit von Weihnachten bis zum Dreikönigstag in jenem eigentümlichen, schlafähnlichen Zustand im Leib der Mutter zugebracht und da ihre Naturinitiation aufgenommen hat. Nun bedenken Sie die tiefen Zusammenhänge, die hinter der äußeren Entwickelung stehen, die man gewöhnlich die Geschichte nennt. Was äußerlich in der Geschichte aus Dokumenten dargestellt wird, das ist in der Regel sogar das Unwichtigste. Das einfache Datum, das in unserem Kalender verzeichnet ist, daß die Jungfrau von Orleans am 6. Januar in die Welt hineingeschickt worden ist, das ist von maßgebender historischer Bedeutung. So wirken die Kräfte aus dem Übersinnlichen in das Sinnliche herein. Und wir müssen diese okkulte Schrift lesen, durch die sich für uns die Hineinwirkung des Übersinnlichen in das Sinnliche darstellt. Also das Hineinströmen des Christus-Impulses wie durch eine Naturinitiation, schon vor der physischen Geburt, war bei der Jungfrau von Orleans vorhanden.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":416,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p014"},{"locus":"GA 159/1915-05-18/p015","passage_number":15,"text":"Ich will diese Dinge auseinandersetzen, um in Ihren Seelen ein Gefühl davon hervorzurufen, wie hinter dem, was man gewöhnlich Geschichte nennt, für das äußere Anschauen unbekannte Mächte und Zusammenhänge wirksam sind. So leitet aber seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha der Christus-Impuls die Geschichte namentlich der europäischen Menschheit. Und im Orient, in Asien ist eine Weltauffassung zurückgeblieben, von der man sagen kann: Sie ist in ihren Empfindungen noch nicht bis zu dem Christus-Impuls herangekommen. Gewiß, der Europäer hat sich verführen lassen, das, was man als Indertum empfindet, ganz besonders tief zu nennen. Aber das ist das Charakteristische dieses Indertums — überhaupt der ganzen asiatischen Religionsempfindung -, daß es mit all seinem Fühlen vor dem Christus-Impuls steht, aber den Zustand bewahrt hat, der im religösen Empfinden der Erdenmenschheit da war vor dem Christus-Impuls. Zurückbleiben in der Entwickelung bedeutet immer, etwas Luziferisches in sich aufnehmen. Daher trägt die asiatische Religionsentwickelung in sich ein luziferisches Element. Und blicken wir hinüber zur asiatischen Religionsentwickelung, so müssen wir gewahr werden: Gewiß, wir können in ihr vieles sehen, was die Menschheit einmal schon hatte, wovon sie aber abkommen mußte. Aber das alles müssen wir in der abendländischen Kultur zum Teil reinigen von dem luziferischen Element, zum Teil hinaufheben so, daß das Christus-Prinzip einfließen kann.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":207,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/159/1915-05-18/p015"}],"beads":[{"from":[18],"to":[9],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[19],"to":[10],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[20],"to":[11],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[21],"to":[12],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[22,23],"to":[14],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed"},{"from":[24],"to":[15],"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)."}}