{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 17/l08/p009-p014","extent":"range","passage_number":9,"through":14,"paragraph_count":6,"first_locus":"GA 17/l08/p009","last_locus":"GA 17/l08/p014","lang":"en","edition":"GPP1922","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"title":"VIII. Concerning the Guardian of the Threshold and some Peculiarities of Clairvoyant Consciousness","date":null,"location":null,"alignment_confidence":"low","alignment_reason":"count_diverges","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":null,"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["GPP1922"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.08,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":1882,"original_word_count":1742,"may_be_abridged":false},"site_heading":null,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08/p009-p014","json_url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08/p009-p014.json","lecture_url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08#p009","word_count":868,"quote_safe":true,"passages":[{"passage_number":9,"locus":"GA 17/l08/p009","text":"And yet—what is it that really happens at the moment of entering the supersensible world? We see the being which we have always been; but we do not now see it from the physical world, from which we have always seen it hitherto; we see it, free from illusions, in its true reality, from the standpoint of the spiritual world. We behold it in such a way that we feel ourselves permeated with those powers of cognition which are able to measure it according to its spiritual worth. When we see ourselves thus, it becomes plain why we hesitate about consciously entering the supersensible world; the degree of strength becomes apparent, which it is necessary to have before entering it. We see how, even with knowledge, we keep at a distance from that world. And the more accurately we thus see through ourselves, the more strongly do those affections come to the front by means of which we desire to continue to keep our consciousness in the physical world. Our increased knowledge entices those affections out of their lurking-places in the depths of the soul. We must, however, recognise them, for only by so doing are they overcome. But even when recognised they still manifest their power in quite a remarkable way. They desire to subdue the soul, which feels itself drawn down by them as if into unknown depths. The moment of self-recognition is a serious one. Far too much philosophising and theorising about self-knowledge goes on in the world. The soul's gaze is thereby rather turned away from, than drawn towards, the earnestness connected with real self-knowledge. And yet, in spite of this necessary earnestness, it affords a great satisfaction to know that human nature is so ordered that its instincts prevent it from entering the spiritual world before it is able to develop within itself, as self-experience, the necessary state of maturity. What a satisfaction it is that the first momentous meeting with a being of the supersensible world is the meeting with our own being in its true reality which will guide us further in human evolution.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":351,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08/p009","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"l08","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 17/l08/p007","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/17/l08/p007"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["reader"],"reader_german":["GA 17/l08/p007"],"reader_part":true,"length_check":{"de_words":402,"en_words":452,"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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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":10,"locus":"GA 17/l08/p010","text":"We may say that there is hidden within man a being that keeps careful watch and ward on the boundary which has to be crossed at the entrance to the supersensible world. This spiritual being, hidden in man, which is man himself, but which he can as little perceive with ordinary consciousness as the eye can see itself, is the guardian of the threshold of the spiritual world. We learn to recognise him at the moment at which we are not only actually he, but are also confronting him, as though we were standing outside him, and he were another being.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":101,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08/p010","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"l08","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 17/l08/p007","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/17/l08/p007"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["reader"],"reader_german":["GA 17/l08/p007"],"reader_part":true,"length_check":{"de_words":402,"en_words":452,"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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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":11,"locus":"GA 17/l08/p011","text":"As with other experiences of supersensible worlds, it is the strengthened and reinforced faculties of the soul which make visible the guardian of the threshold. For, setting aside the fact that the meeting with the guardian becomes raised into knowledge by clairvoyant spiritual sight, that meeting is not an event which happens only to the man who has become clairvoyant. Exactly the same fact as is represented by this meeting happens to every human being every time he falls asleep, and we are confronting ourselves—which is the same thing as standing before the guardian of the threshold—for so long as our sleep lasts. During sleep the soul rises to its supersensible nature. But its inner forces are not then strong enough to bring about consciousness of itself.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":127,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08/p011","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"l08","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 17/l08/p008","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/17/l08/p008"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["reader"],"reader_german":["GA 17/l08/p008"],"reader_part":true,"length_check":{"de_words":389,"en_words":416,"ratio":1.07,"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":{"status":"unknown","warning":"No translator is recorded for this edition. 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See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}},{"passage_number":12,"locus":"GA 17/l08/p012","text":"In order to understand clairvoyant experience, especially in its early beginnings, it is particularly important to bear in mind that the soul may already have begun to live in the supersensible world before it is able to formulate to itself any knowledge worthy of the name. Clairvoyance at first appears in a very subtle way, so that often, inasmuch, as they expect to see something almost tangible, people do not heed clairvoyant impressions which are flitting by, and will in no way recognise them as such. In this case the impressions sink into oblivion almost as soon as they appear. They enter the field of consciousness so slightly that they remain quite unnoticed, like tiny clouds on the soul's horizon.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":120,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08/p012","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"l08","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 17/l08/p008","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/17/l08/p008"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["reader"],"reader_german":["GA 17/l08/p008"],"reader_part":true,"length_check":{"de_words":389,"en_words":416,"ratio":1.07,"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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If the soul has been strengthened just in the direction of self-knowledge, this very meeting may merely be like the first gentle flitting-by of a spiritual vision; but it will not be so easily consigned to oblivion as other supersensible impressions, because people are more interested in their own being than in other things.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":102,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08/p013","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"l08","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 17/l08/p008","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/17/l08/p008"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["reader"],"reader_german":["GA 17/l08/p008"],"reader_part":true,"length_check":{"de_words":389,"en_words":416,"ratio":1.07,"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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Yet this meeting is sure to occur comparatively soon after entering the supersensible world.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":67,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/17/l08/p014","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"l08","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 17/l08/p008","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/17/l08/p008"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["reader"],"reader_german":["GA 17/l08/p008"],"reader_part":true,"length_check":{"de_words":389,"en_words":416,"ratio":1.07,"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":{"status":"unknown","warning":"No translator is recorded for this edition. 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Man schaut es so, daß man sich voll durchdrungen fühlt von den Erkenntniskräften, die es in seinem geistigen Wert zu bemessen imstande sind. Wenn man sich so betrachtet, so zeigt sich auch, warum man in die übersinnliche Welt nicht ohne Scheu bewußt eintreten will; es zeigt sich der Grad der Stärke, den man zu diesem Eintritte hat. Man sieht, wie man sich selbst als wissendes Wesen von ihr ferne hält. Und je genauer man sich so durchschaut, desto stärker treten auch die Neigungen auf, durch welche man in der Sinneswelt mit seinem Bewußtsein verbleiben will. Wie aus den Schlupfwinkeln der Seelentiefen lockt das erhöhte Wissen diese Neigungen herauf. Man muß sie erkennen; denn nur dadurch werden sie überwunden. Aber im Erkennen bezeugen sie noch ganz besonders ihre Kraft. Sie wollen die Seele überwältigen; diese fühlt sich von ihnen wie in unbestimmte Tiefen hinuntergezogen. Der Augenblick der Selbsterkenntnis ist ein ernster. Es wird in der Welt viel zuviel von der Selbsterkenntnis philosophiert und theoretisiert. Dadurch wird der Seelenblick eher von dem Ernste abgelenkt, der mit ihr verbunden ist, als zu ihm hingetrieben. Und trotz all dieses Ernstes: welche Befriedigung gewährt es, wenn man bedenkt, wie die Menschennatur so eingerichtet ist, daß sie von ihren Instinkten veranlaßt wird, in die geistige Welt nicht einzutreten, bevor sie ihren Reifegrad als Selbsterlebnis in sich entwickeln kann. Welche Befriedigung, daß die zunächst bedeutsamste Begegnung mit einem Wesen der übersinnlichen Welt die ist mit der eigenen Wesenheit in ihrer Wahrheit, die man in der Menschheitentwickelung weiterführen soll! Man kann sagen, in dem Menschen stecke ein Wesen, das sorgsame Wache hält an der Grenzscheide, die beim Eintritte in die übersinnliche Welt überschritten werden muß. Diese im Menschen steckende geistige Wesenheit, die man selbst ist, die man aber so wenig durch das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein erkennen kann, wie das Auge sich selbst sehen kann, ist der « *Hüter an der Schwelle*» in die geistige Welt. Man lernt ihn erkennen in dem Augenblicke, in welchem man er selber nicht nur tatsächlich ist, sondern sich ihm, wie außer ihm stehend, wie ein anderer *gegenüber* stellt.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":402,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/17/l08/p007"},{"locus":"GA 17/l08/p008","passage_number":8,"text":"Wie andere Erlebnisse der übersinnlichen Welten machen auch den «Hüter der Schwelle» die verstärkten, in sich erkrafteten Seelenfähigkeiten schaubar. Denn abgesehen davon, daß die Begegnung mit dem «Hüter» für den hellsichtigen Geistesblick zum Wissen erhoben wird, ist diese Begegnung durchaus nicht ein Ereignis, das etwa nur für den geistschauend gewordenen Menschen einträte. Genau derselbe Tatbestand, in dem diese Begegnung besteht, tritt für jeden Menschen jedesmal beim Einschlafen ein, und es dauert das Sich-selbst-Gegenüberstehen, das ganz gleich dem Stehen vor dem «Hüter der Schwelle» ist, so lange als der Schlaf dauert. Im Schlafe erhebt sich die Seele zu ihrer übersinnlichen Wesenheit. Ihre Innenkräfte sind dann aber nicht stark genug, um ein Bewußtsein ihrer selbst hervorzurufen. — Für das Verständnis des übersinnlichen Erlebens, besonders in seinen zarten Anfängen, ist auch von besonderer Wichtigkeit, das seelische Augenmerk darauf zu lenken, daß die Seele bereits begonnen haben kann, Übersinnliches zu erleben, ohne daß sie ein nennenswertes Wissen davon sich zu bilden vermag. Es tritt die Hellsichtigkeit zuerst in sehr zarter Art auf. So, daß man oft in der Erwartung, fast Greifbares zu schauen, der hinhuschenden heilseherischen Eindrücke nicht achtet. Sie durchaus nicht als solche anerkennen will. Sie treten dann so auf, daß sie ihr Vergessen-Werden schon vorbereiten, indem sie auftreten; sie kommen dann so schwach in das Bewußtseinsfeld herein, daß sie wie leichte Seelenwölkchen ganz unbeachtet bleiben. Weil dieses so ist, und weil man zumeist von der Geistes-Anschauung ganz anderes erwartet, als was sie zunächst ist, deshalb wird sie von vielen ernsten Suchern nach der geistigen Welt nicht gefunden. — Auch in dieser Beziehung ist die Begegnung mit dem «Hüter der Schwelle» wichtig. Wenn man die Seele gerade nach der Richtung der Selbsterkenntnis hin erkraftet hat, dann mag diese Begegnung selbst nur wie ein erstes zartes Vorüberhuschen einer geistigen Schau sein; man wird sie doch nicht so leicht dem Vergessen überliefern wie andere übersinnliche Eindrücke, weil man an der eigenen Wesenheit stärker als an anderem interessiert ist. — Es besteht aber durchaus keine Notwendigkeit, daß die Begegnung mit dem «Hüter» zu den ersten übersinnlichen Erlebnissen gehört. Die Erkraftung der Seele kann nach verschiedenen Richtungen hin erfolgen. Die ersten Richtungen, welche die Seele nimmt, können ihr auch vor dieser Begegnung andere Wesenheiten oder Vorgänge in den geistigen Blickekreis führen. Doch aber wird verhältnismäßig bald nach dem Eintritt in die übersinnliche Welt diese Begegnung stattfinden.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":389,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/17/l08/p008"}],"beads":[{"from":[9,10],"to":[7],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified"},{"from":[11,12,13,14],"to":[8],"confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified"}],"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)."}}