{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 188/1919-01-03/p028","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"What we lose by entering into abstractions we must deprive of power by filling our abstract reflected images with the spiritual, by taking up the spiritual into our abstractions. By that we go forward. Man, in front of the Guardian of the Threshold is consciously or unconsciously faced with the formidable decision either through abstract concepts to become more animal than the animal and, to quote Goethe's *Faust* ‘rub his nose in any filth’; or, on the other hand, the moment he enters abstraction to pour into his abstract concepts what streams out of the spiritual world in the way we have described during these last days. (see Z-269) Then man will begin to estimate rightly his place in the world, for then he understands how he is caught up in evolution. Then he knows why in a Certain point of this evolution—just through abstractions, the danger threatens him of sinking back to the animal. When man in primitive culture epochs stood at the animal stage He was distinguished from the animal not by his abstract concepts but by his senses. The animal had better abstract concepts. It is only now that man can develop abstract concepts at need, animals have much better ones. Once I gave another example of this when I said: How long ago in evolution is it since man tried to make paper? The wasp has been able to do it in building its nest, for millions of years! And just look at what comes to light through animals in the way of active, effective understanding, in wisdom, intellectuality and the faculty for abstraction, even though it appears one-sidedly in the various animals! Men foolishly call this instinct; but when you look into the matter, my dear friends, you will know that there are very few men indeed today who with all their faculty for abstraction come so far with this faculty that they get beyond the one sidedness of the present animal types.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"I. The Difference Between Man and Animal","site_heading":null,"date":"1919-01-03","location":null,"word_count":328,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/188/1919-01-03/p028","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Violet E. Watkin","identified_edition":"UNK1960","book_title":"Goetheanism as an Impulse for Man's Transformation","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA188/English/UNK1960/19190103p01.html","evidence":"lecture_list_row"},"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/188/1919-01-03/p028"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/188/1919-01-03/p028","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":"1919-01-03","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 188/1919-01-03/p029","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/188/1919-01-03/p029"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":327,"en_words":328,"ratio":1.0,"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 188/1919-01-03/p029","passage_number":29,"text":"Dasjenige, was wir verlieren, indem wir in die Abstraktion hineinschreiten, das müssen wir dadurch paralysieren, daß wir unsere abstrakten Spiegelbilder mit Geistigem ausfüllen, daß wir das Geistige aufnehmen in die Abstraktion hinein. Dadurch kommen wir vorwärts. Der Mensch ist vor dem Hüter der Schwelle, sei es bewußt oder unbewußt, vor die furchtbare Entscheidung gestellt: entweder durch die abstrakten Begriffe nur «tierischer als das Tier» zu werden und «in jeden Quark seine Nase zu begraben», um mit Goethes «Faust» zu sprechen, oder aber in dem Augenblicke, wo er in die Abstraktion eintritt, in diese abstrakten Begriffe dasjenige hineinzugießen, was aus geistigen Welten herausströmt, so wie wir das in diesen Tagen charakterisiert haben. Dann beginnt der Mensch seine Stellung innerhalb der Welt erst richtig zu würdigen, denn dann faßt er sich auf als in der Entwickelung begriffen, dann weiß er, warum ihm in einem bestimmten Punkte dieser Entwickelung die Gefahr droht, herunterzusinken in die Tierheit gerade durch die Abstraktionen. Als der Mensch auf der Tierstufe stand in primitiven Kulturperioden, da unterschied er sich durch seine Sinne von den Tieren, nicht durch seine abstrakten Begriffe. Die abstrakten Begriffe hatten die Tiere besser. Er kann diese abstrakten Begriffe erst heute zur Not entwickeln. Die Tiere haben sie viel besser. Ich habe es einmal ausgeführt durch ein anderes Beispiel, indem ich Ihnen sagte: Wie lang ist es denn her, daß in der geschichtlichen Entwickelung der Mensch versucht hat, Papier zu machen? Die Wespe macht ihr Nest aus Papier, die kann es seit Jahrmillionen! Und sehen Sie sich an, was aber in wirkendem, waltendem Verstand an Klugheit, an Intellektualität, an Abstraktionsvermögen durch die Tiere zutage tritt, wenn auch durch die verschiedenen Tiere in einseitiger Weise. Man nennt es törichterweise Instinkt. Aber wenn man die Sache durchschaut, so weiß man: Die weitaus wenigsten Menschen sind heute mit dem, was sie an Abstraktionsvermögen haben, so weit, daß sie etwa über die Einseitigkeiten der heutigen Tierklassen mit dem, was sie aus ihrem Abstraktionsvermögen bereiten, hinaus wären.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":327,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/188/1919-01-03/p029"}],"english":["GA 188/1919-01-03/p028"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":327,"en_words":328,"ratio":1.0,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.05,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8259,"original_word_count":7890,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Violet E. Watkin","identified_edition":"UNK1960","book_title":"Goetheanism as an Impulse for Man's Transformation","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA188/English/UNK1960/19190103p01.html","evidence":"lecture_list_row"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 188/1919-01-03/p029"],"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."}}