{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p028-p031","extent":"range","passage_number":28,"through":31,"paragraph_count":4,"first_locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p028","last_locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p031","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"title":"2. Initiation and Mysteries","date":null,"location":null,"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":null,"publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Articles/GA034/English/SOL2024/02_Initiation_and_Mysteries.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). 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Although the perception of sunlight in this way is a daily habit of the eye, the eye cannot look with impunity into the source of light, into the sun itself; it is blinded by the direct rays of the sun. What corresponds in its effects to the everyday function of the eye becomes a cause of pain when it itself affects the sense of sight as a cause. Those who know how to apply this image in the *right* way to the spiritual life of human beings understand why those who “know” speak of the *dangers* of initiation into the mysteries. These dangers are very real; but the words of those who speak of them must not be understood literally in the sense in which we speak of dangers in ordinary life. -— Human intellect and reason are just as unaccustomed to seeing the *sources* of truth in the whole world as the eye is to looking directly at the sun. Just as the eye perceives the effects of light as corresponding to itself, so intellect and reason perceive the effects of eternal wisdom in the phenomena of nature and in the course of human history. And just as the eye becomes powerless in the face of the source of light, so does human understanding in the face of the original sources of wisdom. This understanding fails at first. One need only compare what happens to human beings with the fact that the eye is blinded by the sun. Because man is accustomed to seeing in nature and spiritual life only the reflection of truth, not truth itself, he is powerless when it confronts him. Accustomed to grasping only the crude reality that surrounds him every day, he perceives the revelations of higher wisdom as illusion, as the product of unreal fantasy. They cannot tell him anything. They are airy constructs to him, blurring when he tries to grasp them. For he wants to grasp them in the same way he is accustomed to grasping the things of ordinary reality. This reality draws him to itself with a thousand bonds. He knows what it can promise him; he has learned to appreciate it a thousand times over. Those who see here in the right light understand what religious legends mean when they speak of the *tempter* who promises all the glories of *this world* to those who want to enter the path of higher enlightenment. If the power to resist this tempter is not awakened in them, then they will inevitably fall prey to him. And this *hints* at something of what is meant by the *dangers* of the “threshold” that must be crossed if the “path” of wisdom is to be entered. No one can enter this path who wants to use their spiritual eye, their mind, and their reason only as they are used in everyday life. As a transformed being, as one whose spiritual eye has been strengthened, man must cross the threshold. And in our present age it is difficult to strengthen the eye in this way. For our science has trained this eye to see only what is tangible. In order to make its conquests in the realm of the external forces of nature, this science *had to* dull the eye to the spiritual powers of existence. This should not be misunderstood as a *reproach*. Anyone who wants to understand the mechanism of a clock certainly does not need to explore the thoughts of the clock's inventor: they can stick to what they have learned in physics. They can understand the clock from its mechanism alone. But no one can understand how the forces and things that interact in the clock are originally joined together unless they seek the spirit that joined them and investigate the reasons why they are joined. The natural scientist can only understand nature correctly if he first seeks the forces of its action within nature itself. If he claims that they have assembled themselves, he is like someone who thinks that the clock made itself. Superstition is not to seek the spirit behind things, but to blindly transfer it into the things themselves. The superstitious person is not like someone who seeks the inventor of the clock, but like someone who suspects that there is a spirit *in* the clock itself that moves the hands forward. Only if one misunderstands those who seek the spirit in the existence of the world can one lump them together with those who are rightly accused of superstition and who are today just as rightly regarded as troublemakers because they endanger the blessings that our scientific culture has created. (Those who see impartially will know who is meant in *both* directions.)","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":820,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p028","witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":null,"publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Articles/GA034/English/SOL2024/02_Initiation_and_Mysteries.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 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p028"],"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."}},{"passage_number":29,"locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p029","text":"Anyone who enters the “threshold” to higher insight must, if he is to succeed in his progress, be endowed with the power that leads to the perception of the *real* where the ordinary mind and everyday reason perceive fantasy and illusion. For it is the permanent and eternal that appears to the eye attuned to the transitory and temporal as illusion and fantasy. Therefore, nothing can help a person when he is led to the sources of eternal wisdom with his ordinary mind. That is why the first step in initiation in the mysteries is not the imparting of new knowledge, but the complete transformation of the human powers of cognition. With subtle insight, Édouard Schuré characterizes in his book “The Great Initiates” the path of those striving for “knowledge” through the mysteries: “Initiation was a gradual introduction of the human being towards the dizzying heights of the spirit, from which life is dominated.” And further on, we are told: “To achieve mastery, the ancient sages said, man needs a complete transformation of his physical, moral and intellectual being. This transformation is only possible through the simultaneous exercise of will, intuition and reason. Through their complete harmony, man can expand his abilities to incalculable limits. The soul has dormant senses. Initiation awakens them. Through deep study and constant diligence, man can come into conscious relationship with the secret forces of the universe. Through an amazing effort, he can reach immediate spiritual perfection, can open the paths to it and make himself capable of directing himself there. Only then can he say that he has conquered fate and that he has conquered his divine freedom from there. Only the initiate can become an initiator, prophet and theurgist, that is, a seer and creator of souls. For only he who shows himself the way can show it to others: only he who is free can liberate.“ (”The Great Initiates”, page 124.)","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":319,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p029","witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":null,"publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Articles/GA034/English/SOL2024/02_Initiation_and_Mysteries.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 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p029"],"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."}},{"passage_number":30,"locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p030","text":"This is how we must understand the task of the mysteries, insofar as their first stage is concerned. It was not just a matter of a new science, but of *creating new powers of the soul*. Man had to become *another* person, a '\"transformed being, before he was led into the spiritual sun, to the source of wisdom.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":58,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p030","witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":null,"publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Articles/GA034/English/SOL2024/02_Initiation_and_Mysteries.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 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p030"],"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."}},{"passage_number":31,"locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p031","text":"Those whose powers are not steeled when they cross the threshold will not feel the reality of the eternal, spiritual powers that confront them. Instead of connecting with a higher world, he falls back into the lower one. *This danger* is faced by anyone who seeks the sources of wisdom. If a person succumbs here, then he has temporarily killed the seed of eternity within himself. This seed was previously dormant within him. But even as a dormant seed, it was that which ennobled and transfigured the transitory, lower nature. Naively and unconsciously, man lived with his inclination towards higher spirituality. The unsuccessful attempt at initiation has killed the slumbering inclination. Nothing remains for man but the urge to live in the transitory, to live in the realm *of this world* alone. Because he has felt the divine-spiritual as an illusion, he *worships* the sensual-material. Thus, at the “threshold”, man can lose his most valuable part, his immortal part. This is the danger, which is analogous to the blinding of the eye in the above picture.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":176,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p031","witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":null,"publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Articles/GA034/English/SOL2024/02_Initiation_and_Mysteries.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 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p031"],"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. 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Ist auf diese Art die Wahrnehmung des Sonnenlichtes eine tägliche Gewohnheit des Auges, so vermag das Auge doch nicht ungestraft in den Quell des Lichtes, in die Sonne selbst zu schauen; es wird durch die unmittelbaren Sonnenstrahlen geblendet. Was in seinen *Wirkungen* dem alltäglichen Beruf des Auges entspricht: das wird der Anlaß eines Schmerzes, wenn es als *Ursache* selbst den Sinn des Sehens trifft. - Wer dieses Bild in der *richtigen* Art auf das Geistesleben des Menschen anzuwenden weiß, der versteht, warum diejenigen, die da «wissen», von *Gefahren* der Einweihung in die Mysterien sprechen. Diese Gefahren sind durchaus vorhanden; nur dürfen die Worte dessen, der von ihnen spricht, nicht buchstäblich in dem Sinne verstanden werden, wie man im gewöhnlichen Leben von Gefahren spricht. -— Des Menschen Verstand und Vernunft sind ebensowenig daran gewöhnt, die *Quellen* der Wahrheit in dem Weltganzen zu schauen, wie das Auge unmittelbar in die Sonne zu sehen vermag. So wie dieses die Wirkungen des Lichtes als das ihm Entsprechende empfindet, so Verstand und Vernunft die Wirkung der ewigen Weisheit in den Erscheinungen der Natur und in dem Verlauf der Menschengeschichte. Und wie das Auge ohnmächtig wird dem Lichtquell gegenüber, so wird menschliches Verständnis den Urgquellen der Weisheit gegenüber. Dieses Verständnis versagt zunächst. Man muß nur dasjenige, was mit dem Menschen da geschieht, in der rechten Art mit der Tatsache vergleichen, daß das Auge von der Sonne geblendet wird. Weil der Mensch daran gewöhnt ist, in Natur und Geistesleben nur den Abglanz der Wahrheit, nicht diese selbst zu schauen, steht er dieser ohnmächtig gegenüber, wenn sie ihm entgegentritt. Gewöhnt, nur die derbe Wirklichkeit zu fassen, die ihn alltäglich umgibt, empfindet er die Offenbarungen höherer Weisheit als Illusion, als Gebilde unwirklicher Phantastik. Sie können ihm nichts sagen. Sie sind ihm Luftgebilde, verschwimmend, wenn er sie ergreifen will. Denn er will sie *so* ergreifen, wie er gewohnt ist, die Dinge der gewöhnlichen Wirklichkeit zu ergreifen. Diese Wirklichkeit zieht ihn mit tausend Banden an sich. Was *sie* ihm versprechen kann, das kennt er, das hat er tausendfältig schätzen gelernt. - Wer hier im rechten Lichte sieht, der versteht, was religiöse Legenden meinen, wenn sie von dem *Versucher* sprechen, der denen alle Herrlichkeiten *dieser Welt* verspricht, die den Pfad höherer Erleuchtung betreten wollen. Ist in ihnen nicht die Kraft erweckt, diesem Versucher zu widerstehen: dann verfallen sie ihm unbedingt. Und damit ist etwas *angedeutet* von dem, was mit den *Gefahren* der «Schwelle» gemeint ist, die überschritten werden muß, wenn der «Pfad» der Weisheit betreten werden soll. — Keiner kann auf diesen Pfad gelangen, der sein geistiges Auge, seinen Verstand und seine Vernunft, nur so gebrauchen will, wie sie im Alltagsleben gebraucht werden. Als ein Verwandelter, als einer, dessen Geist-Auge stark gemacht ist, muß der Mensch die Schwelle betreten. - Und es ist in unserem gegenwärtigen Zeitalter schwer, das Auge also zu stärken. Denn dieses Auge ist gerade durch unsere Wissenschaft nur auf das Handgreifliche eingestellt. Um ihre Eroberungen auf dem Gebiete der äußeren Naturkräfte zu machen, *mußte* diese Wissenschaft das Auge abstumpfen für die geistigen Gewalten des Daseins. Man mißverstehe dies nicht dadurch, daß man es als einen *Vorwurf* deutet. Wer den Mechanismus einer Uhr verstehen will, braucht gewiß nicht die Gedanken des Erfinders der Uhr zu erforschen: er kann sich an dasjenige halten, was er in der Physik gelernt hat. Er kann die Uhr aus ihrem Mechanismus selbst verstehen. Aber niemand kann verstehen, wie die Kräfte und Dinge, die in der Uhr zusammenwirken, ursprünglich gefügt sind, der nicht den Geist sucht, der sie gefügt hat, und die Gründe erforscht, warum sie gefügt sind. Der Naturforscher vermag die Natur nur richtig zu verstehen, wenn er zunächst die Kräfte ihres Wirkens in ihr selbst sucht. Behauptet er, daß sie sich selbst zusammengefügt haben, so gleicht er dem, der da meinen kann, die Uhr habe sich selbst verfertigt. Aberglaube ist nicht, hinter den Dingen den Geist zu *suchen*: sondern ihn blindlings in die Dinge selbst zu verlegen. Der Abergläubische gleicht nicht dem, der zur Uhr den Erfinder sucht, sondern dem, der *in* der Uhr selbst einen Geist vermutet, der die Zeiger vorwärts bewegt. - Nur wenn man diejenigen so mißversteht, die nach dem Geist in dem Weltendasein suchen, kann man sie zusammenwerfen mit denen, die man mit Recht des Aberglaubens beschuldigt, und die man heute mit ebensolchem Rechte als Störenfriede betrachtet, weil sie die Segnungen gefährden, die unsere wissenschaftliche Kultur geschaffen. (Wer unbefangen sieht, wird wissen, wer nach *beiden* Richtungen hin gemeint ist.)","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":769,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p028"},{"locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p029","passage_number":29,"text":"Wer die «Schwelle» zur höheren Einsicht betritt, muß, wenn ihm der Fortschritt gelingen soll, mit der Kraft ausgestattet sein, die zum Empfinden des *Wirklichen* da führt, wo der gewöhnliche Verstand und die alltägliche Vernunft Phantastik und Illusion wahrnehmen. — Denn es ist das Dauernde und Ewige dort, wo dem auf das Vergängliche und Zeitliche eingestellten Auge nur Illusion und Phantastik erscheinen. Nichts kann es daher dem Menschen helfen, wenn er mit seinem gewöhnlichen Verstande vor die Quellen der ewigen Weisheit geführt wird. Deshalb ist in den Mysterien die erste Stufe der Einweihung nicht die Vermittlung neuen Verstandeswissens, sondern völlige Umwandlung der menschlichen Erkenntniskräfte. Mit feinsinniger Einsicht charakterisiert daher Édouard Schuré in seinem Buche «Die großen Eingeweihten» den Weg der durch die Mysterien zum «Wissen » Strebenden: «Die Einweihung war eine stufenweise Hinführung der menschlichen Wesenheit gegen die schwindelerregenden Gipfel des Geistes hin, von denen das Leben beherrscht wird.» Und weiter wird uns gesagt: «Um die Meisterschaft zu erreichen, sagten die alten Weisen, hat der Mensch eine gänzliche Umgestaltung seiner physischen, moralischen und intellektuellen Wesenheit nötig. Diese Umgestaltung ist nur möglich durch gleichzeitige Übung des Willens, der Intuition und der Vernunft. Durch ihre vollständige Übereinstimmung kann der Mensch seine Fähigkeiten bis zu unberechenbaren Grenzen erweitern. Die Seele hat schlafende Sinne. Die Einweihung erweckt sie. Durch vertieftes Studium, durch konstanten Fleiß kann der Mensch in bewußte Beziehung zu den geheimen Kräften des Universums gelangen. Durch eine erstaunliche Anstrengung kann er bis zur unmittelbaren spirituellen Vollkommenheit gelangen, kann sich die Wege dahin öffnen und sich fähig machen, sich selbst dahin zu richten. Dann allein kann er sagen, daß er das Geschick besiegt hat, und daß er von da aus seine göttliche Freiheit erobert hat. Nur der Eingeweihte kann Einweiher, Prophet und Theurg werden, das heißt sehend und Schöpfer von Seelen. Denn nur wer sich selbst die Wege weist, kann sie andern weisen: der allein kann befreien, der frei ist.» («Die großen Eingeweihten », Seite 124.)","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":322,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p029"},{"locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p030","passage_number":30,"text":"So muß man die Aufgabe der Mysterien verstehen, insoferne deren erste Stufe in Betracht kommt. Nicht bloß um eine neue Wissenschaft handelte es sich, sondern um das *Schaffen neuer Seelenkräfte*. Ein *anderer* mußte der Mensch werden, ein ‘“ Verwandelter, bevor er in die Geistessonne, zu dem Quell der Weisheit geführt wurde.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":51,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p030"},{"locus":"GA 34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p031","passage_number":31,"text":"Wessen Kräfte nicht gestählt sind, wenn er die «Schwelle» betritt, der empfindet nicht die Wirklichkeit der ewigen, geistigen Gewalten, die ihm da entgegentreten. Statt sich zu verbinden mit einer höheren Welt, fällt er in die niedere zurück. *Dieser Gefahr* ist ausgesetzt, wer nach den Quellen der Weisheit sucht. Erliegt hier der Mensch, dann hat er den Ewigkeitskeim in sich vorläufig ertötet. Dieser Keim schlummerte vorher in ihm. Aber auch als schlummernder war er dasjenige, was die vergängliche, niedere Natur adelte und verklärte. Naiv, unbewußt lebte der Mensch mit seiner Anlage zur höheren Geistigkeit. Durch den mißglückten Einweihungsversuch ist die schlummernde Anlage erstorben. Nichts ist dem Menschen geblieben als der Trieb, in dem Vergänglichen zu leben, dem Reiche *dieser Welt* allein zu leben. Weil er das Göttlich-Geistige als Illusion empfunden hat, *vergöttert* er das Sinnlich-Stoffliche. So kann an der «Schwelle» dem Menschen sein Wertvollstes, sein unsterblicher Teil verloren gehen. Dies ist die Gefahr, die analog der Blendung des Auges in obigem Bilde ist.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":162,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/34/02_initiation_and_mysteries/p031"}],"beads":[{"from":[28],"to":[28],"confidence":"high"},{"from":[29],"to":[29],"confidence":"high"},{"from":[30],"to":[30],"confidence":"high"},{"from":[31],"to":[31],"confidence":"high"}],"note":"Paired by the paragraph aligner; each language numbers its own paragraphs. A bead at either end of the span can carry text beyond it (the `from` numbers show what each bead covers)."}}