{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 239/1924-06-07/p006","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"On the other side there is the event of birth. Impartial self-observation is essential here if a picture comparable to that of death is to be obtained. This self-observation must be deeply concerned with the nature of human thinking. Thinking can be applied to everything that goes on in the physical world. We form our thoughts of what goes on in the world. If we did not do so we could not be men in the true sense for the power to form thoughts distinguishes us from all other beings around us in the realm of the Earth. But impartial observation of our thoughts makes them appear widely removed from the reality of existence around us. When we are engrossed in thought we become inwardly abstract, inwardly cold, in comparison with what we are in heart and soul when we surrender ourselves to life. No impartial mind will ever doubt that thoughts, as such, have a cold, abstract, arid quality. But clear insight into the life of thought should be one of the first meditative experiences of an anthroposophist. In contemplating this life of thought he will discern in it something very similar to the spectacle presented by a corpse. What is characteristic of the sight of a human corpse? As it lies there before us, we say to ourselves: A human soul and a human spirit once lived in this structure and have now departed from it. A corpse lies there as a husk of the soul and the spirit. But at the same time it provides us with proof that the world external to man could never have produced this particular structure, that it could have proceeded only from the soul and spirit, from the innermost core of man's nature, that it is the residue of something now no longer present. In its very form a corpse discloses that it is no truth *in itself* but only a remains of truth, having meaning only when soul and spirit are within it. In the form that remains a great deal has been lost but a corpse nevertheless shows that it was once the dwelling-place of soul and spirit.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Lecture I","site_heading":"Birth and Death: Gateways to Understanding Human Karma","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 Cite the unit by its title and locus, never by this heading, and do not quote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":"1924-06-07","location":null,"word_count":359,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/239/1924-06-07/p006","alignment_confidence":"medium","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"D. S. Osmond","identified_edition":"RSP1973","book_title":"Karmic Relationships: VII","publisher":"Rudolf Steiner Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA239/English/RSP1973/19240607a01.html","evidence":"lecture_list_row","note":"rsarchive's lecture list writes out the given names of the credit 'Dorothy S. Osmond'; the lecture pages of this edition print 'D. S. Osmond', which is served.","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/239/1924-06-07/p006"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/239/1924-06-07/p006","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":"1924-06-07","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 239/1924-06-07/p006","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/239/1924-06-07/p006"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 239/1924-06-07/p006"],"length_check":{"de_words":383,"en_words":359,"ratio":0.94,"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 239/1924-06-07/p006","passage_number":6,"text":"Auf der anderen Seite kann sie hinweisen auf den Moment der Geburt. Aber über diesen Moment der Geburt kann man eigentlich nur eine der Todesvorstellung entsprechende Vorstellung gewinnen, wenn man sich ein wenig einläßt auf eine unbefangene Selbstbeobachtung. Diese Selbstbeobachtung muß auf das menschliche Denken gehen. Das menschliche Denken, es verbreitet sich über alles dasjenige, was in der physisch-sinnlichen Erdenwelt geschieht. Wir machen uns über das, was so in der Welt vorgeht, unsere Gedanken. Wir könnten gar nicht Menschen sein, wenn wir uns nicht diese Gedanken machten; denn durch die Bildung dieser Gedanken unterscheiden wir uns von allen anderen Wesenheiten, die uns in dem irdischen Bereiche umgeben. Aber wenn wir unsere Gedanken in unbefangener Selbstbeobachtung erfassen, dann erscheinen sie uns ja wirklich recht weit entfernt von alledem, was uns sonst als Wirkliches umgibt. Man stelle sich nur in der richtigen Art vor, wie innerlich-abstrakt und kalt wir werden, wenn wir uns dem Denken hingeben, gegenüber der Art, wie wir sind, wenn wir uns mit unserer Seele dem Leben hingeben. Darüber sollte gar kein Zweifel sein vor dem unbefangenen Gemüte, daß Gedanken als solche zunächst etwas Kaltes, Abstraktes, etwas Nüchternes, Trockenes haben. Aber es sollte zu dem ersten meditativen Erleben des Anthroposophen gehören, in der richtigen Art gerade unser Gedankenleben anzuschauen. Dann wird ihm an diesem Gedankenleben etwas aufgehen, was ihm sehr ähnlich erscheinen kann wie der Anblick, den wir gegenüber einem Leichnam haben. Was ist denn charakteristisch für den Anblick eines Leichnams? Da liegt er vor uns, dieser Leichnam. Wir sagen uns: In diesem Gebilde hat eine menschliche Seele, ein menschlicher Geist gelebt; diese menschliche Seele, dieser Geist sind fort. Wie eine Schale der Seele und des Geistes liegt das da, was ein menschlicher Leichnam ist, aber uns zugleich den Beweis liefernd, daß alles, was außermenschliche Welt ist, dieses Gebilde niemals hätte hervorbringen können, daß dieses Gebilde nur aus der innersten, geistbeseelten Menschennatur selber hervorgehen konnte, daß es ein Überrest ist von etwas, das nicht mehr ist. Die Form selber zeigt uns: Der Leichnam ist ja keine Wahrheit, er ist nur ein Rest von einer Wahrheit, er hat nur einen Sinn, wenn Seele und Geist darin leben. Jetzt in der übriggebliebenen Form hat er eben vieles verloren, aber so wie er ist, zeigt er gerade, daß Seele und Geist in ihm gewohnt haben.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":383,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/239/1924-06-07/p006"}],"english":["GA 239/1924-06-07/p006"],"method":"length","confidence":"medium","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":383,"en_words":359,"ratio":0.94,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 239/1924-06-07/p006"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":0.97,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":4361,"original_word_count":4503,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"D. S. Osmond","identified_edition":"RSP1973","book_title":"Karmic Relationships: VII","publisher":"Rudolf Steiner Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA239/English/RSP1973/19240607a01.html","evidence":"lecture_list_row","note":"rsarchive's lecture list writes out the given names of the credit 'Dorothy S. Osmond'; the lecture pages of this edition print 'D. S. Osmond', which is served.","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 239/1924-06-07/p006"],"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."}}