{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 251/1922-05-21/p034","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"But if we look at the world externally, spatially and temporally, then we have, in addition to these elemental spirits, another world: the etheric world. We must preferably look down at the solid earth, at what surrounds and storms around this solid earth, flows around and flows around it as the water sphere, as the air sphere, which permeates and permeates it as warmth. We must preferably look down and straight ahead if we want to look at these kinds of elemental beings. But we must preferably look into the distance, that is, upwards. After all, warmth still belongs to the earthly, but above the warmth ether lie the light ether and the chemical ether. We must look into the distance if we want to look at the etheric. And when we look at the liquid and the elemental spirits on which it is based, we find a teeming population of individuals that clearly appear to us as single beings; there the number dominates. It is, so to speak, the world of the elemental realms populated by immeasurable elemental beings. But when we look at the ethereal world, there is more than one unit of spirituality living there. In the light ether, we can no longer distinguish the individual elemental spirits from one another, as we can in the air or water element or even in the earthly element. In the earthly element, it is the case that you go out into certain forests, track down some gnome's nest, and - you might say - thousands and thousands of elemental beings can be enclosed in a small globe, and then you are standing in front of a multitude. You have only a small ball in your hand and it is teeming with what it counts. There is the number, there is the teeming, that which forces us to count and which makes us admit that we cannot count at all because it is immeasurable and because every number is immediately exceeded. And of the one who has a spiritual vision, you can not say that he “miscalculates”. You can not distinguish what is there sooner or later; You think you have counted five, and see that you actually had to count eleven. But the six were not added, they were already there. The teeming of the number prevails. But in the etheric everything converges to a unity. Even in the light ether, the elementary beings form a unity. This is even more the case in the chemical ether, and it is completely the case in the life ether. And it was from this feeling that the idea contained in the idea of Yahweh was once formed, the idea of the one God Jehovah. This is the being that is unspokenly connected and composed of the many individual beings and that animates the ether, just as the many elementary beings animate the ether.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"39. On the Character of the Present Day","site_heading":null,"date":"1922-05-21","location":null,"word_count":482,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/251/1922-05-21/p034","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"The History of the Anthroposophical Society 1913–1922","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA251/English/SOL2024/19220521s01.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/251/1922-05-21/p034"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/251/1922-05-21/p034","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. 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Wir müssen vorzugsweise herunterschauen auf das feste Erdreich, auf das, was dieses feste Erdreich umgibt und umstürmt, umfließt und umströmt als die Wasser-Sphäre, als die Luft-Sphäre, was sie durchwellt und durchwirkt als Wärme. Wir müssen vorzugsweise hinunter und geradeaus schauen, wenn wir zu dieser Art von Elementarwesenheiten hinschauen wollen. Aber wir müssen vorzugsweise in die Weiten schauen, also nach oben - Wärme gehört ja noch dem Irdischen an, aber über dem Wärmeäther liegen der Lichtäther und der chemische Äther —, wir müssen in die Weiten schauen, wenn nach dem Ätherischen schauen wollen. Und wenn wir so nach dem Flüssigen schauen und den ihm zugrunde liegenden Elementargeistern, dann finden wir eine wimmelnde Bevölkerung von Einzelwesen, die klar uns erscheinen als einzelne Wesen; da herrscht die Zahl. Es ist gewissermaßen die Welt der Elementarreiche bevölkert von unermesslichen Elementarwesen. Wenn wir aber den Blick in die ätherische Welt richten, so lebt dort die Geistigkeit mehr als eine Einheit. Schon im Lichtäther können wir die einzelnen Elementargeister nicht mehr voneinander unterscheiden, wie wir es können im Luft- oder Wasserelement oder gar im irdischen Element. Im irdischen Element ist es ja so, dass man hinausgeht in gewisse Wälder, irgendein Gnomennest aufspürt, und - man möchte sagen - in einem kleinen Erdball können unter Umständen Tausende und Abertausende Elementarwesen eingehüllt sein, die dann in Vervielfältigung vor einem stehen. Man hat nur einen kleinen Ball in der Hand- und das wimmelt dann von dem, was sich auszählt. Da herrscht die Zahl, da herrscht das Gewimmel, das, was uns zwingt zu zählen, und was uns gestehen lässt, dass wir gar nicht zählen können, weil es unermesslich ist und weil jede Zahl gleich wieder übersprungen wird. Und von dem, der ein geistiges Schauen hat, kann man auch gar nicht sagen, dass er sich «verzählt». Sie können gar nicht unterscheiden, was früher oder später da ist; Sie glauben, Sie hätten fünf gezählt, und sehen, dass Sie eigentlich haben elf zählen müssen. Da sind die sechs aber nicht hinzugekommen, sondern die waren vorher schon da. Es herrscht das Gewimmel der Zahl. Aber im Ätherischen geht alles auf eine Einheit aus. Schon im Lichtäther bilden die Elementarwesenheiten eine Einheit. Das ist noch mehr der Fall im chemischen Äther, und das ist vollends der Fall im Lebensäther. Und aus dieser Empfindung heraus entstand ja einst jene Vorstellung, die in der Jahve-Vorstellung enthalten ist, in der Vorstellung des einen Gottes Jehova. Das ist das Wesen, das unausgesprochen aus den vielen einzelnen Wesen zusammenhängt und sich zusammensetzt und den Äther belebt, so wie die vielen Elementarwesen den Äther beleben.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":450,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/251/1922-05-21/p034"}],"english":["GA 251/1922-05-21/p034"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":450,"en_words":482,"ratio":1.07,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","anchors","audit"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.03,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8564,"original_word_count":8348,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"The History of the Anthroposophical Society 1913–1922","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA251/English/SOL2024/19220521s01.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. 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