{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 56/1907-11-28/p024","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"The conversation I often refer to, which Goethe and Schiller had about plants at the very beginning of their acquaintance, when they came from a lecture at the Natural History Society in Jena, has become famous. Schiller said that it was unsatisfactory to look at beings in such a way that one could not see their connection. Goethe replied that there could also be another way, where one could see the commonality, the spiritual bond that holds everything together. Goethe describes the conversation to us, and how he then took his pencil and sketched the image of his primordial plant with a few characteristic strokes. Then Schiller, the speculative poet, said: But that is not a fact, it is an idea, not reality. “Then,” said Goethe, “if that is an idea, I see the ideas outside with my eyes!” — The plant contains the life-giving force. Because of the deep insight that Goethe's spirit had into such a being, it was possible for his spirit to awaken that which creates in all animals and plants. There is a secret bond between the human interior and what is spread throughout the entire animal and plant world. When man conjures up the primordial plant within himself, he conjures up the form according to which plants were created. In this way, we feel ourselves to be spiritual participants in the productions of nature. For Goethe, it is a matter of immersing oneself in things and conjuring up the spirit that lives in things, in his spirit. This is what Goethe presents to human beings.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Initiation or Consecration","site_heading":null,"date":"1907-11-28","location":null,"word_count":261,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/56/1907-11-28/p024","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/p024"},{"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/p024","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/p024","passage_number":24,"text":"Berühmt geworden ist das von mir oft angeführte Gespräch, das gleich im Anfange ihrer Bekanntschaft Goethe und Schiller miteinander über die Pflanzen führten, als sie aus einem Vortrag der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Jena kamen. Da sagte Schiller, es sei unbefriedigend, die Wesen so zu betrachten, daß man nicht ihren Zusammenhang sehen könne. Goethe antwortete, daß es ja auch eine andere Art geben könne, wo man das Gemeinsame, das geistige Band, das alle zusammenhält, sehen könne. Goethe schildert uns das Gespräch, und wie er dann seinen Bleistift nahm und mit einigen charakteristischen Strichen das Bild seiner Urpflanze hinzeichnete. Da sagte Schiller, der spekulative Dichter: Das ist aber keine Tatsache, das ist eine Idee, keine Wirklichkeit. - Dann, sagte Goethe, wenn das eine Idee ist, sehe ich die Ideen draußen mit den Augen! — In der Pflanze ist die das Leben schaffende Kraft. Wegen der tiefen Anschauung, die der Goethesche Geist von einem solchen Sein hatte, war es möglich, daß in seinem Geiste dasjenige auferweckt wurde, was in allen Tieren und Pflanzen schafft. Es besteht ein geheimes Band zwischen dem menschlichen Innern und dem, was in der ganzen Tier- und Pflanzenwelt ausgebreitet ist. Wenn der Mensch in sich hervorzaubert die Urpflanze, so zaubert er jene Form hervor, nach der die Pflanzen geschaffen worden sind. Wir empfinden uns auf diese Weise als geistige Teilnehmer an den Produktionen der Natur. Es ist für Goethe ein Untertauchen in die Dinge und ein Hervorzaubern des Geistes, der in den Dingen lebt, in seinem Geiste. Das stellt Goethe vor den Menschen hin.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":255,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/56/1907-11-28/p024"}],"english":["GA 56/1907-11-28/p024"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":255,"en_words":261,"ratio":1.02,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","anchors","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/p024"],"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."}}