{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 186/1918-12-13/p039","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"In the first place the modern man must gain a clear feeling, or at least a clear intellectual conception, of those forces of the Universe which are the forces of decline and destruction. The forces to which we are fond of turning our attention (and for the very fondness, we delude ourselves about them) are of course the upbuilding forces above all others. We always want to build and build. But in the world there is not only evolution or upbuilding, there is also devolution, demolition. We ourselves bear the process of demolition within us; our evolved nervous system, our brain system, is perpetually engaged in demolition or destruction. With these forces of destruction man must make himself acquainted. With unprejudiced and open mind he must say to himself: Along the very path that unfolds in the age when the Spiritual Soul shall awaken fully, the forces of destruction are most active. When suddenly they concentrate or consolidate; then such a thing arises as in the last four and a half years. Then there appears to mankind in a concentrated form what in any case is always there. But this must not remain unconscious and instinctive: it must become a fully conscious thing, above all in the present age. The destructive forces, the forces of death, the paralyzing forces—how gladly would man turn his face away from them! But in so doing he only blinds himself. In fleeing from the destructive forces he learns not to cooperate in real evolution.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"I. The Transforming of Instinctive into Conscious Impulses","site_heading":null,"date":"1918-12-13","location":null,"word_count":250,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/186/1918-12-13/p039","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"not_established","translator":null,"identified_edition":"C52","book_title":"The Fundamental Social Demand of Our Times","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA186/English/C52/19181213p01.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"]},"available_versions":[{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/186/1918-12-13/p039","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},"german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1918-12-13","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 186/1918-12-13/p031","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/186/1918-12-13/p031"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 186/1918-12-13/p031"],"reader_part":true,"length_check":{"de_words":324,"en_words":345,"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. 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 186/1918-12-13/p031","passage_number":31,"text":"Von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus müssen die Dinge ins Auge gefaßt werden. Denn der moderne Mensch muß dreierlei Dinge kennenlernen, weil er naturgemäß zu diesen dreierlei Dingen geführt wird, differenziert nach Westen, Mitte und Osten, so wie ich es Ihnen das letztemal charakterisiert habe. Aber er wird naturgemäß in irgendeiner Form zu diesen dreierlei Dingen geführt. Wenn es auch nur der Initiierte sieht, was an diesen drei Punkten vorhanden ist, fühlen, empfinden, in seinen Intellekt aufnehmen — wenn auch nicht in sein Sehvermögen - muß es nach und nach jeder moderne Mensch, wenn er die wirtschaftliche Struktur durchdringen will. Erstens muß der moderne Mensch eine deutliche Empfindung oder wenigstens eine deutliche intellektuelle Vorstellung bekommen von den Kräften, die im Weltenall die Niedergangskräfte, die zerstörenden Kräfte sind. Unter den Kräften, die man gern verfolgt - und man täuscht sich deshalb, weil man sie nur mit den Sympathien des Gernhabens verfolgt -, sind eben die aufbauenden Kräfte. Man will immer aufbauen, aufbauen, aufbauen. Aber in der Welt ist nicht nur Evolution oder Aufbau, es ist auch Involution oder Abbau vorhanden. Wir selber tragen den Abbau in uns. Unser entwickeltes Nervensystem, Gehirnsystem, ist in fortwährendem Abbau begriffen. Abbau ist in der Welt. Mit diesen Kräften des Abbaus muß der Mensch bekannt werden. Vorurteilslos und unbefangen muß er sich sagen: Gerade auf dem Wege, der sich in dem Zeitalter entwickelt, in dem die Bewußtseinsseele voll erwachen soll, sind am wirksamsten die Abbaukräfte. Sie konzentrieren sich manchmal, sie konsolidieren sich, diese Abbaukräfte, und dann entwickelt sich so etwas wie diese letzten viereinhalb Jahre. Da zeigt sich der Menschheit in konzentriertem Zustande etwas, was auch sonst immer vorhanden ist. Aber das muß nicht unbewußt und instinktiv bleiben, das muß gerade in diesem Zeitalter voll bekannt werden. Die Abbaukräfte, die Todeskräfte, die lähmenden Kräfte — der Mensch wendet gern sein Antlitz von ihnen ab; dadurch aber macht er sich blind und lernt nicht mitarbeiten an der Evolution, weil er die Abbaukräfte flieht.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":324,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/186/1918-12-13/p031"}],"english":["GA 186/1918-12-13/p038","GA 186/1918-12-13/p039"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":324,"en_words":345,"ratio":1.06,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 186/1918-12-13/p031"],"reader_part":true},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.1,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8687,"original_word_count":7876,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"not_established","translator":null,"identified_edition":"C52","book_title":"The Fundamental Social Demand of Our Times","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA186/English/C52/19181213p01.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.","warning":"No translator is recorded for this edition. 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 186/1918-12-13/p031"],"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."}}