Esoteric Lesson

GA 266b/1911-10-14/p015 ·1911-10-14 · English LowLow alignmentMost translators re-paragraphed Steiner substantially. The locus identifies the same chapter or section, but paragraph-N to paragraph-N mapping is loose. For exact-quotation precision, compare with the German.
Record: listeners' notes. Written from listeners' notes, summaries, or memory rather than a shorthand transcript. The wording is the note-taker's as much as Steiner's: weigh a single striking phrase here far more cautiously than the same phrase in a stenographic volume, and do not rest an argument on one word. Evidence: «Gedächtnisaufzeichnungen von Teilnehmern» (Participants' records written from memory). Rudolf Steiner Verlag Gesamtverzeichnis 2022, volume subtitle. The translation is the maintainer's, not a published one.

It would take a very sick soul to walk across a meadow covered with autumn crocuses and say to oneself: “I am afraid of the autumn crocuses; they might swallow me up.” As I said, it would have to be a very sick soul that could speak like that. And yet, similar feelings could arise in the esotericist, and we must be prepared for such things. An esotericist may come to say: “I feel devoted to the spiritual worlds; they take possession of me; it is as if I were being absorbed by higher beings.” And in such a soul, resentment can arise toward the gods. Just as there are three kingdoms among us, the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms, so above us are the three lowest kingdoms of the higher hierarchies, angels, archangels, and archangels. And at a certain moment, the soul can feel as if its angel is taking possession of it, and it rebels against it.

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Cite: GA 266b/1911-10-14/p015 · edition English