{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 53/1904-12-15/p011","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"After initial acquaintance with some of the basic teachings of anthroposophy such as reincarnation and karma—the teaching that the human soul has in the past been incarnated repeatedly in a physical body and will continue to return in future incarnations, and the teaching of karma, of compensatory justice—most people will ask how one can comprehend these teachings and how one can acquire an understanding of these on one's own. This is the big question that now confronts each person. There is one golden rule that must be followed that will eventually lead anybody to the desired comprehension This has been the common experience of all who have earnestly subjected themselves to the exercises in question. There is nobody who cannot in the easiest manner possible acquire this comprehension of reincarnation and karma. One is inclined, however, to say with Goethe, “Though it is easy, the easy is hard.” This is so because few are those who resolve to call forth the will-power, endurance and patience necessary for achieving certain definite conditions of soul and spirit essential for this comprehension. The golden rule is this, “Live your life as if reincarnation and karma were truths and they will become truths for you.” It appears as if this is to be achieved by a form of self-suggestion but this is not the case. The mystic symbol of the snake that bites its own tail is a familiar one. This symbol has several profound meanings but among the many interpretations it contains is the one expressed here in the golden rule.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"The Inner Development of Man","site_heading":null,"date":"1904-12-15","location":null,"word_count":258,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/53/1904-12-15/p011","alignment_confidence":"medium","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Maria St. Goar","identified_edition":"Singles","book_title":"The Origin and Goal of the Human Being","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA053/English/Singles/19041215p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"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/53/1904-12-15/p011"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/53/1904-12-15/p011","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},"other_renderings":{"loci":[{"locus":"GA 53/1904-12-15_02","ga":"53","lecture":"1904-12-15_02","kind":"renderings","relation":"another translation or transcription of the same lecture"}],"note":"The same lecture is also served at the loci listed, each with how it relates to this one. They are ONE witness, not independent attestations: quote the rendering you fetched, and do not cite another as corroborating it. Wording differs between translations, so a quotation found in one need not occur in the other."},"german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1904-12-15","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 53/1904-12-15/p011","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/53/1904-12-15/p011"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":264,"en_words":258,"ratio":0.98,"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 53/1904-12-15/p011","passage_number":11,"text":"Nunmehr werden Sie ja selbst die Fragen ungefähr stellen können, die als erste gewöhnlich gestellt werden, wenn man hört von den Grundlehren der Theosophie, von der Lehre, daß die menschliche Seele schon oftmals im Körper verleiblicht war, oftmals wiederkehren wird, von der Lehre von der Reinkarnation und der Lehre von der ausgleichenden Gerechtigkeit, von Karma. Sie werden fragen, wie man das verstehen kann, wie man sich selbst ein Verständnis davon verschaffen kann. Das ist die große Frage, die nun an jeden Menschen herantritt. Es gibt nun eine goldene Regel, die man befolgen muß; dann kommt jeder — das ist eine gemeinsame Erfahrung derjenigen, die sich wirklich den betreffenden Übungen unterzogen haben — einmal zu diesem Verständnis. Es gibt keinen Menschen, der sich nicht auf die leichteste Weise von der Welt dieses Verständnis von Reinkarnation und Karma verschaffen kann. Doch möchte man mit Goethe sagen: «Zwar ist es leicht, doch ist das Leichte schwer» — denn wenige finden den rechten Willensentschluß, die Standhaftigkeit und die Geduld, um sich ganz bestimmte Vorgänge der Seele und des Geistes zu erarbeiten, die für dieses Verständnis notwendig sind. Diese goldene Regel ist: Lebe so, wie wenn Reinkarnation und Karma Wahrheiten wären; dann werden sie für dich Wahrheiten werden. — Es sieht so aus, als ob das durch eine Art von Selbstsuggestion erreicht werden sollte. Das ist aber nicht der Fall. Sie kennen das mystische Symbol von der Schlange, die sich in den eigenen Schwanz beißt. Dieses Symbol hat verschiedene tiefe Bedeutungen, aber unter den vielen Bedeutungen, die es hat, ist auch diese, die in dieser goldenen Regel sich ausspricht.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":264,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/53/1904-12-15/p011"}],"english":["GA 53/1904-12-15/p011"],"method":"length","confidence":"medium","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":264,"en_words":258,"ratio":0.98,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.04,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":5781,"original_word_count":5584,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Maria St. Goar","identified_edition":"Singles","book_title":"The Origin and Goal of the Human Being","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA053/English/Singles/19041215p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 53/1904-12-15/p011"],"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."}}