{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 56/1907-11-28/p004","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"When we speak of the spiritual, higher worlds in the sense that we intend to do throughout this series of lectures, the question naturally arises: How does the human being attain knowledge and insight into these higher worlds? Today's consideration of initiation will provide us with at least a preliminary answer — a complete answer can only be given by all the lectures this winter. We must start from the two principles of all Spiritual Science, which we already touched upon in the very first of these lectures: The first is the realization that behind and beyond our world, which can be perceived by the senses and understood by the ordinary mind, there is another or even a series of other worlds, supersensible, superphysical worlds, as we have called them. The second realization is that these worlds, which exist outside our sensory, visible world, can gradually become accessible to human beings, so that it is possible for them to recognize them through their own development. Of course, Spiritual Science naturally provokes opposition from the outset from all those whom we have called in recent lectures the “we” people and the “one” people of the present. “We” people are those who, when talking about these things, most often use the words: ‘One’ cannot or “we” cannot know. This immediately establishes a kind of absolutism of knowledge, a kind of infallibility on the part of the speaker, who makes himself and what he can know the standard measure of all human knowledge. Spiritual science takes exactly the opposite point of view. It takes the view that human beings have abilities and powers of knowledge that lie dormant within them and can be developed higher and higher. It must be admitted that it is quite correct when someone says that they cannot perceive certain higher worlds. But at the same time it must be said that these higher worlds cannot be penetrated with the powers of cognition that they believe they have, and that logically no one has the right to say: My powers of cognition are the only ones that exist; what I perceive represents the limit of all possible knowledge. For in doing so, one rejects the capacity for human development and denies from the outset that human beings can ascend to higher and ever higher levels. However, the fundamental conviction of every person who views the world impartially is that human beings are capable of this, and especially within our German education system, it is easy to work one's way up to the recognition of this principle.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Initiation or Consecration","site_heading":null,"date":"1907-11-28","location":null,"word_count":427,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/56/1907-11-28/p004","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"eLib2015","book_title":"Knowledge of Soul and Spirit","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA056/English/eLib2015/19071128p01.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/56/1907-11-28/p004"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/56/1907-11-28/p004","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},"paired_german":{"status":"paired","german":[{"locus":"GA 56/1907-11-28/p004","passage_number":4,"text":"Wenn man in dem Sinne, wie es durch die ganze Reihe von Vorträgen geschehen soll, von den geistigen, höheren Welten spricht, so wird selbstverständlich auch der Gedanke auftauchen: Wie kommt der Mensch zur Erkenntnis, zur Einsicht in bezug auf diese höheren Welten? Eine wenigstens vorläufige Antwort — eine volle Antwort können ja nur alle Vorträge dieses Winters geben - soll uns die heutige Betrachtung über die Einweihung geben. Voraussetzen müssen wir dabei die zwei Grundsätze aller Geisteswissenschaft, die wir schon im allerersten dieser Vorträge berührt haben: Der erste ist die Erkenntnis, daß es hinter und außer unserer durch die Sinne wahrnehmbaren, durch den gewöhnlichen Verstand begreifbaren Welt eine andere oder sogar eine Reihe von anderen Welten gibt, übersinnliche, überphysische Welten, wie wir sie genannt haben. Die zweite Erkenntnis ist, daß dem Menschen diese Welten, die außer unserer sinnlichen, sichtbaren Welt vorhanden sind, nach und nach zugänglich werden können, so daß es ihm möglich ist, sie durch seine eigene Entwickelung zu erkennen. Damit ruft natürlich die Geisteswissenschaft von vornherein die Gegnerschaft aller derjenigen hervor, die wir in den letzten Vorträgen genannt haben die «Wir»-Menschen und die «Man»-Menschen der Gegenwart. «Wir»-Menschen sind diejenigen, welche, wenn sie über diese Dinge reden, am häufigsten die Worte gebrauchen: «Man» kann oder «wir» können nicht erkennen. — Damit wird von vornherein eine Art Erkenntnis-Absolutismus, eine Art Unfehlbarkeit des betreffenden Sprechers hingestellt, der sich und das, was er erkennen kann, zum Normalmaß aller menschlichen Erkenntnis macht. Genau auf dem entgegengesetzten Standpunkte steht die Geisteswissenschaft. Sie steht auf dem Standpunkt, daß der Mensch Fähigkeiten und Erkenntniskräfte hat, die keimhaft in ihm liegen und immer höher und höher entwickelt werden können. Wohl muß zugegeben werden, daß es ganz richtig ist, wenn jemand sagt, er könne gewisse höhere Welten nicht erkennen. Aber zu gleicher Zeit muß gesagt werden, daß diese höheren Welten eben nur mit denjenigen Erkenntniskräften nicht zu durchdringen sind, die er meint, und daß logischerweise niemand ein Recht hat zu sagen: Meine Erkenntniskräfte sind die absolut einzigen; was ich erkenne, bedeutet die Grenze aller möglichen Erkenntnis. - Denn damit lehnt man ja die menschliche Entwickelungsfähigkeit ab, leugnet von vornherein, daß der Mensch zu höheren und immer höheren Stufen aufsteigen könne. Daß er hierzu imstande sei, ist aber die Grundüberzeugung eines jeden Menschen, der die Welt unbefangen betrachtet, und besonders innerhalb unserer deutschen Bildung ist es ein leichtes, sich hinaufzuringen zu der Anerkennung dieses Prinzipes.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":396,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/56/1907-11-28/p004"}],"english":["GA 56/1907-11-28/p004"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":396,"en_words":427,"ratio":1.08,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.03,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8289,"original_word_count":8015,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"eLib2015","book_title":"Knowledge of Soul and Spirit","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA056/English/eLib2015/19071128p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 56/1907-11-28/p004"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","note":"Every load-bearing name in the German counterpart appears in this English passage. 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