{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 253/1915-09-12/p039","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"For example, I once received a letter from a man of sound common sense who said that he had visited a member of an anthroposophical branch and found that people kept all the windows closed although it was terribly hot. I have nothing against closing windows, especially when everything said indoors can be heard outside—that would be a sensible reason for closing them, wouldn't it? But instead of telling him that, people said, “Dr. Steiner has expressly told us to close the windows when lectures are given in our branch, so that the demons can't get in.” This man, who was quite unspoiled by mysticism, wrote to me asking why spirits couldn't get in through closed windows. What kind of an esoteric teacher is that, he wondered, who tells his pupils to close the windows so the demons do not get in? You can see how the physical plane is confused with higher worlds in this kind of careless talk. It is quite true that beings on the physical plane cannot get in through closed windows, unless they break them, but we will hardly be able to keep the spirits out by shutting the windows! We really must develop appropriate and serious concepts to apply to the spiritual and physical worlds.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"III. Swedenborg: An Example of Difficulties in Entering the Spiritual World","site_heading":null,"date":"1915-09-12","location":null,"word_count":211,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/253/1915-09-12/p039","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Catherine E. Creeger","identified_edition":"AP1991","book_title":"Community Life, Inner Development, Sexuality and the Spiritual Teacher","publisher":"Anthroposophic Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA253/English/AP1991/19150912p01.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":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/253/1915-09-12/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},"authorship":{"kind":"report","is_steiner":null,"speaker":null,"note":"This passage speaks ABOUT Rudolf Steiner in the third person, so it is most likely a report, minutes, or an editorial summary rather than his own words. Verbatim, but confirm the speaker before attributing anything here to him."},"attribution_warning":"This passage speaks ABOUT Rudolf Steiner in the third person, so it is most likely a report, minutes, or an editorial summary rather than his own words. Verbatim, but confirm the speaker before attributing anything here to him.","german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1915-09-12","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 253/1915-09-12/p036","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/253/1915-09-12/p036"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":222,"en_words":211,"ratio":0.95,"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 253/1915-09-12/p036","passage_number":36,"text":"Einmal schrieb mir zum Beispiel ein Mann, der eben auf diesem Gebiete gesund dachte, daß er als Mitglied einen unserer Zweige besucht habe, und da hätte man, trotzdem es furchtbar heiß war und keine Veranlassung war, alle Fenster zuzuschließen, die Fenster zugemacht. Nun, ich sage nichts gegen das Fenster-Zumachen, besonders wenn draußen alles mögliche gehört werden kann; das wäre ja ein vernünftiger Grund, nicht wahr. Aber man hat ihm diesen Grund nicht gesagt, sondern man hat gesagt: Ja, der Dr. Steiner hat uns ausdrücklich darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß, wenn in unserem Zweig vorgetragen wird, man die Fenster zumachen muß, damit nicht die Dämonen hereinkommen können. - Dazu schrieb mir dieser Mann, der in diesem Falle mystisch unverbildet war: Ja, aber können denn Geister nicht auch durch zugemachte Fenster herein? Das muß ein sonderbarer Lehrer der Geisteswissenschaft sein, der seinen Schülern sagt, man muß die Fenster zumachen, damit die Dämonen nicht hereinkommen! - Sie sehen, wie in einem solchen gedankenlosen Reden wirklich die Verwechslung des physischen Planes mit der höheren Welt vorliegt. Auf dem physischen Plan können allerdings nicht die Wesen durch die zugemachten Fenster herein, wenn sie sie nicht einschlagen; aber die Geister wird man schwerlich abhalten dadurch, daß man die Fenster schließt! Es handelt sich wirklich darum, daß man sich genügend ernste Vorstellungen über die geistigen Welten und physischen Welten macht.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":222,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/253/1915-09-12/p036"}],"english":["GA 253/1915-09-12/p039"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":222,"en_words":211,"ratio":0.95,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.05,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":5107,"original_word_count":4883,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Catherine E. Creeger","identified_edition":"AP1991","book_title":"Community Life, Inner Development, Sexuality and the Spiritual Teacher","publisher":"Anthroposophic Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA253/English/AP1991/19150912p01.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 253/1915-09-12/p036"],"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."}}