{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p028-p031","extent":"range","passage_number":28,"through":31,"paragraph_count":4,"first_locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p028","last_locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p031","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"title":"7. The Inadequacy of Natural Science for the Knowledge of the Life of the Soul. The Experiences of Man's Spirit-Soul with the Hierarchies","date":"1917-12-17","location":null,"alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"not_established","translator":null,"identified_edition":"ANS1934","book_title":"Historical Necessity and Freewill","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA179/English/ANS1934/19171217p01.html","evidence":null,"reason":"no_translator_named","note":"Neither the lecture's own page nor rsarchive's lecture list names a translator for it. No translator is established for this lecture: nothing at the level of the lecture names one. Do not attribute this English to a translator, and do not borrow a credit from another lecture of the volume. Cite the German for anything load-bearing."},"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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These indicate what exists in the consciousness during the space of a moment. You know that a memory-process takes place when you look back over events—but in a different manner than modern psychologists imagine this. The time into which you can look back, to which your memory extends, is indicated by this line; it really indicates the space which here reaches a blind alley. This would be the point in your third, fourth or fifth year that is as far back as you can remember in life. Thus all the thoughts which arise when you look back upon your past experiences lie within this space of time. Let us suppose that you think of something in your thirtieth year for instance, and while you are thinking of this you remember something that you experienced ten years ago. If you picture very vividly what is actually taking place in the soul you will be able to form the following thought. You will say, if I look back to the point of time in my childhood which is as far back as I can remember, this constitutes a “sack” in the soul, which has its limits; its blunt end is the point which lies as far back in my childhood as I am able to remember. This is a sort of “sack” in the soul; it is the space of time which we can grasp in memory. Imagine such a “soul-sack” into which you can look while you are looking back in memory; these are the extreme limits of the sack which correspond in reality to the limit between the etheric body and the physical. This boundary must exist, otherwise ... well, to picture it roughly, the events that call forth memory would then always fall through at this point. You would be able to remember nothing, the soul would be a sack without a bottom, everything would *fall through it*. Thus, a boundary must be there. An actual “soul-sack” must be there. But at the same time this “soul-sack” prevents you from perceiving what you have lived through outside it. You yourself are non-transparent in the life of your soul because you have memories; you are non-transparent because you have the faculty of memory.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":419,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/179/1917-12-17/p028","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1917-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p026","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/179/1917-12-17/p026"}],"bead_confidence":"high","length_check":{"de_words":380,"en_words":419,"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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Indeed, work in this direction can only lead to the conviction that what rises within memory is of a lasting nature and really remains present as Akashic Record, for it does not disappear. What we remember remains in the world, it is there in reality. But we do not progress any further with this method; for merely to remember accurately our *personal experiences*, and the knowledge that memory remains—this method is in a higher sense too egotistical to lead farther than just to this conviction. On the contrary, if you were to develop beyond a certain point just *this* capacity of looking upon the permanency of your own experiences, you would obstruct all the more your outlook into the free world of spirit. Instead of the sack of memories, your own life stands there all the more compactly and prevents you from looking through.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":285,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/179/1917-12-17/p029","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1917-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p027","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/179/1917-12-17/p027"}],"bead_confidence":"high","length_check":{"de_words":307,"en_words":285,"ratio":0.93,"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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An unattributed translation cannot be weighed as a witness: you cannot tell which hand made the choices in it. Cite the German for anything load-bearing."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 179/1917-12-17/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":30,"locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p030","text":"Another method may be used in contrast to this; through it, the impressions in the Akashic Record become remarkably transparent, if I may use this expression. When we are once able to look through the stationary memories, we look with a sure eye into the spiritual world with which we are connected between death and a new birth. But to attain this we must not use merely the stationary memories of our own life; these become more and more compact, and we can see through them less and less. They must become transparent. And they become transparent if we make an ever stronger attempt to remember not so much what we have experienced from our own point of view, but more what has come to us from outside. Instead of remembering for instance what we have learned, we should remember the teacher, his manner of speech, what effect he had upon us and what he did with us. We should try to remember how the book arose out of which we learned this or that. We should remember above all what has worked upon us from the outer world. A beautiful and really wonderful beginning, indeed an introduction to such a memory, is Goethe's *Wahrheit and Dichtung* (his autobiography) where he shows how Time has formed him, how various forces have worked upon him. Because Goethe was able to achieve this in his life, and looked back on his life not from the standpoint of his own experiences, but from the standpoint of others and of the events of the times that worked upon him, he was able to have such deep insight into the spiritual world.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":277,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/179/1917-12-17/p030","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1917-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p028","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/179/1917-12-17/p028"},{"locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p029","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/179/1917-12-17/p029"}],"bead_confidence":"high","length_check":{"de_words":325,"en_words":310,"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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Jetzt wissen Sie, findet in anderer Art, als Psychologen heute meinen, aber es findet statt ein Erinnerungsprozeß, wenn Sie zurückschauen; und die Zeit, in die Sie zurückschauen können, indem Sie sich erinnern, die bezeichne ich mit dieser Linie, mit der aber eigentlich dieser Raum gemeint ist, der da blind ausläuft, hier wäre der Punkt im dritten, vierten oder fünften Jahre, bis zu dem man sich im Leben zurückerinnert. Da drinnen liegen also alle die Vorstellungen, die entstehen, wenn man sich an die Erlebnisse zurückerinnert, die man gehabt hat. Nehmen Sie an: Sie haben diese Vorstellungen, sagen wir mit dreiBig Jahren, so erinnern Sie sich, indem diese Vorstellungen vor Ihnen auftauchen, an etwas, das Sie vor zehn Jahren gehabt haben. Wenn Sie sich so recht lebhaft, bildhaft vorstellen, wie das eigentlich ist mit der Seele, so können Sie folgendes denken. Sie können sich sagen: Wenn wir so zurückschauen bis dahin, wo in der Kindheit dasjenige auftaucht, bis wohin wir uns erinnern, so ist das ein seelischer Sack, der ein Ende hat; er hat dort seinen Bogen, wo der Punkt liegt, bis zu dem wir uns in der Kindheit zurückerinnern. Das ist ein solcher Seelensack; das ist die Zeit, die überschaut wird. Stellen Sie sich solch einen seelischen Sack vor,in den Sie so zurück hineinblicken: hier ist die Grenze dieses Sackes, diese Grenze fällt in Wirklichkeit zusammen mit der Grenze zwischen Ätherleib und physischem Leib. Diese Grenze muß da sein, Sie können sich das sehr grob vorstellen: sonst würden nämlich die Vorgänge, welche die Erinnerung herbeiführen, immerfort da durchfallen. Sie würden sich an nichts erinnern können, die Seele wäre ein Sack, der keinen Boden hat, es würde alles durchfallen. Es muß also eine Grenze da sein, es muß ein wirklicher seelischer Sack vorliegen. Dieser seelische Sack aber hindert zu gleicher Zeit, auch dasjenige wahrzunehmen, was man so durchlebt hat, daß es außerhalb liegt. Sie sind sich selbst in Ihrem Seelenleben undurchsichtig, weil Sie Erinnerungen haben. Weil Sie das Vermögen der Erinnerung haben, sind Sie undurchsichtig.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":380,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/179/1917-12-17/p026"},{"locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p027","passage_number":27,"text":"Sie sehen, das, was macht, daß wir ein ordentliches Bewußtsein für den physischen Plan haben, ist zu gleicher Zeit der Grund, daß wir nicht hineinsehen mit dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein in dieses Gebiet, welches hinter der Erinnerung liegen müßte. Hinter der Erinnerung liegt es nämlich in Wirklichkeit. Man kann sich aber bemühen, die Erinnerung nach und nach etwas umzugestalten. Man muß nur vorsichtig dabei sein. Man kann damit beginnen, daß man versucht, dasjenige, an das man sich erinnert, immer genauer und genauer meditativ ins Auge zu fassen, bis man das Gefühl hat: Es ist nicht nur etwas, was man so in der Erinnerung ergreift, sondern etwas, was eigentlich da stehen bleibt. Ein Mensch, der ein intensives, reges Geistesleben entwickelt, bekommt schon allmählich dieses Gefühl, daß die Erinnerung nicht etwas ist, das kommt und geht, kommt und vergeht, sondern daß der Inhalt der Erinnerung etwas ist, was stehen bleibt. Nun allerdings, in dieser Weise arbeiten, kann nur dazu führen, die Überzeugung hervorzurufen, daß dasjenige, was in der Erinnerung sonst auftaucht, stehen bleibt, daß es wirklich als Akasha-Chronik vorhanden bleibt, daß es nicht weggeht. Dasjenige, was wir sonst in der Erinnerung überblicken: es steht da in der Welt, es ist in Wirklichkeit da. Aber weiter kommt man durch diese Methode eigentlich nicht, denn diese Methode, sich nur an seine persönlichen Erlebnisse zu erinnern, die gut hervorgerufen wird, die Erkenntnis, daß der Erinnerungsgehalt stehen bleibt — diese Methode ist in einem höheren Sinne zu egoistisch, um weiterzuführen als nur bis zu dieser Überzeugung. Im Gegenteil, wenn Sie über einen gewissen Punkt hin gerade diese Fähigkeit ausbilden würden, hinzuschauen auf das Stehenbleibende Ihrer eigenen Erlebnisse, so werden Sie sich erst recht den Ausblick in die freie Geisteswelt verbauen. Denn statt daß der Sack der Erinnerungen da ist, steht dann nur Ihr eigenes Leben um so kompakter da und läßt Sie nicht durchblicken.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":307,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/179/1917-12-17/p027"},{"locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p028","passage_number":28,"text":"Dagegen kann man eine andere Methode anwenden, die in ganz ausgezeichneter Weise, wenn ich den Ausdruck gebrauchen darf, die Einschreibungen der Akasha-Chronik durchsichtig macht. Und sieht man einmal durch die stehengebliebenen Erinnerungen, dann sieht man sicher hinein in die geistige Welt, mit der man verbunden war zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Aber dazu muß man nicht nur dasjenige, was als erinnerungsgemäß stehen bleibt aus dem eigenen Leben, benützen — das wird immer kompakter und kompakter, da sieht man dann erst recht nicht durch. Es muß das durchsichtig werden. Und durchsichtig wäre es, wenn man immer stärker und stärker den Versuch macht, nicht so sehr an das sich zu erinnern, was man von seinem Gesichtspunkte aus erlebt hat, sondern an das sich immer mehr zu erinnern, was von außen an einen herangetreten ist. Statt an das, was man gelernt hat, erinnert man sich an den Lehrer, an die Art, wie der Lehrer gesprochen, wie der Lehrer gewirkt hat, was der Lehrer mit einem gemacht hat. Man erinnert sich daran, wie das Buch entstanden ist, aus dem man dies oder jenes gelernt hat. Man erinnert sich vorzugsweise an dasjenige, was von der Außenwelt herein an einem gearbeitet hat.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":198,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/179/1917-12-17/p028"},{"locus":"GA 179/1917-12-17/p029","passage_number":29,"text":"Ein sehr schöner, wunderbarer Anfang, ja eine Anleitung zu solcher Erinnerung ist Goethes Schrift «Dichtung und Wahrheit», wo er schildert, wie er, Goethe, aus der Zeit heraus geformt wird; wie die verschiedenen Kräfte an ihm arbeiten. Daß Goethe so etwas gemacht hat in seinem Leben, daß er in einer solchen Weise eine Art Rückschau gehalten hat, nicht von dem Gesichtspunkte der eigenen Erlebnisse, sondern von dem Gesichtspunkte der andern und der Zeitereignisse, die an ihm gearbeitet haben, dem verdankt er, daß er solche tiefen Einblicke hat tun können in die geistige Welt, wie er getan hat. Das aber ist auch zu gleicher Zeit der Weg, um in weiterem Umfange mit der Zeit in Berührung zu kommen, die zwischen dem letzten Tode und dieser unserer Geburt verflossen ist.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":127,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/179/1917-12-17/p029"}],"beads":[{"from":[28],"to":[26],"confidence":"high"},{"from":[29],"to":[27],"confidence":"high"},{"from":[30,31],"to":[28,29],"confidence":"high"}],"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)."}}