{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 201/1920-04-16/p027","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"The only difference (in this theory of rarefying) between the two forms of materialism is that the one recognises more degrees of rarefaction than the other. But in the transition from ponderable matter to Ether we have nothing to do with rarefaction. Anyone who believes that in Ether we have to do merely with a ‘rarefying’ process is like a man who says: ‘I have here a purse full of money; I repeatedly take from it and the money becomes less and less. I take away still more till at last none remains.’ Nothing is left—but yet he can go on! The ‘nothing’ can become less still; for if he gets into debt, his money becomes less than nothing. In the same way not only does matter become empty space, but it becomes negative, *less* than nothing—emptier than emptiness; it assumes a ‘sucking’ nature. Ether is sucking, absorbing. Matter *presses*. Ether *absorbs*. The Sun is an absorbing, sucking ball, and wherever Ether is present we have this absorbent force.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Lecture Four","site_heading":"The Breathing Cosmos: Lunar Rhythms and Spiritual Worlds","site_heading_note":"A heading the site wrote for this unit from a summary of it; not in the edition, and not the words of Rudolf Steiner or of the translator. Cite the unit by its title and locus, never by this heading, and do not quote it.","date":"1920-04-16","location":null,"word_count":169,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/201/1920-04-16/p027","alignment_confidence":"medium","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"George and Mary Adams","identified_edition":"RSP1972","book_title":"Man: Hieroglyph of the Universe","publisher":"Rudolf Steiner Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA201/English/RSP1972/19200416p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"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/201/1920-04-16/p027"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/201/1920-04-16/p027","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":"1920-04-16","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 201/1920-04-16/p021","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/201/1920-04-16/p021"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":279,"en_words":273,"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. 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 201/1920-04-16/p021","passage_number":21,"text":"Aber leerer als leer ist es überall im Weltenall, wo Äther ist. Deshalb wird es den Physikern so schwer, vom Äther zu sprechen, weil sie immer denken, der Äther ist auch Materie, aber dünner: dünner als die gewöhnliche Materie. Auf das Dünnere läßt sich der Materialismus noch ein, sowohl der naturwissenschaftliche Materialismus wie auch der theosophische Materialismus — aufs Dünnere, aufs immer Dünnere läßt er sich noch ein. Dichte Materie, die Äthermaterie ist dünner, die astralische Materie wieder dünner, und dann, nun dann sind da diese mentalischen Materien und was da alles ist immer dünner und dünner. Aufs Dünnere läßt sich dieser theosophische Materialismus ein, gerade wie der naturwissenschaftliche Materialismus, nur daß der eine etwas mehr Nummern aufzählt im Dünnerwerden als der andere. Aber es handelt sich beim Übergang von der gewöhnlichen wägbaren, gewichtigen Materie zum Äther gar nicht darum, daß es dünner wird. Wer da glaubt - ich möchte das Bild noch einmal vor Ihre Seele hinstellen -, daß es sich beim Äther nur um das Dünnerwerden der Materie handelt, der steht auf demselben Boden wie der, der sagt: Ich habe hier eine Schatulle voll Geld, nehme davon weg und nehme davon weg, das Geld wird immer weniger und weniger. Zuletzt wird es Null und man ist am Ende. — Aber nicht wahr, es kann ja noch weniger werden, wenn man Schulden macht. Da wird es weniger als Null. So wird die Materie nicht bloß leerer Raum, sondern sie wird negativ, sie wird weniger als nichts, sie wird saugend. Und der Äther ist saugend. Die Materie ist drückend, der Äther ist saugend. Die Sonne ist ganz ein Ball, der eigentlich saugt. Und überall, wo Äther ist, ist Saugekraft.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":279,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/201/1920-04-16/p021"}],"english":["GA 201/1920-04-16/p026","GA 201/1920-04-16/p027"],"method":"length","confidence":"medium","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":279,"en_words":273,"ratio":0.98,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.0,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":5456,"original_word_count":5443,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"George and Mary Adams","identified_edition":"RSP1972","book_title":"Man: Hieroglyph of the Universe","publisher":"Rudolf Steiner Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA201/English/RSP1972/19200416p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 201/1920-04-16/p021"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"medium","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."}}