{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p025","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"On the other hand, we want to describe the influence of a stimulant taken from the plant world, the influence of alcohol. This has a very special significance. It only arises when the actual plant process, that which happens through the wonderful effect of light, of which the astral body is the opposite, has ceased. Then a process begins that takes place on a lower level and affects humans even more than animal food. Human beings bring the substances to the astral body and, through the astral body, bring them into a special structure. But when what is to be brought to the astral body decomposes in the way that alcohol does, what would otherwise happen through the astral body happens without the astral body, namely the effect on the ego and the blood. The effect of alcohol is that what should otherwise happen through the free decision of the ego happens through alcohol. In a certain sense, it is true that a person who enjoys alcohol needs less food. They allow their blood to be permeated by the forces of alcohol; they give to the foreign substance what they themselves should do. In a certain sense, one can say that in such a person, alcohol thinks, feels, and senses. By surrendering to alcohol what should be subject to his ego, the person places himself under the compulsion of an external force. He acquires a material ego. The person may say: I feel a revitalization of my ego as a result. Certainly, but it is not he, but something else to which he has banished his ego. We could show in many ways how a person can become more and more what he eats. But Spiritual Science also shows us how a person can become free from the forces of food.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Questions Regarding Nutrition in the Light of Spiritual Science","site_heading":null,"date":"1908-12-17","location":null,"word_count":301,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p025","alignment_confidence":"medium","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"eLib2014","book_title":"Where and How Does One Find the Spirit?","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA057/English/eLib2014/19081217p01.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/57/1908-12-17/p025"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/57/1908-12-17/p025","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},"german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1908-12-17","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 57/1908-12-17/p025","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p025"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":308,"en_words":301,"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 57/1908-12-17/p025","passage_number":25,"text":"Auf der anderen Seite wollen wir den Einfluß eines Genußmittels schildern, das aus der Pflanzenwelt genommen wird, den Einfluß des Alkohols. Dieser hat eine ganz besondere Bedeutung. Er entsteht erst dann, wenn der eigentliche pflanzliche Prozeß, das, was durch die wunderbare Einwirkung des Lichtes geschieht, wovon der astralische Leib das Gegenteil ist, aufgehört hat. Dann beginnt ein Prozeß, der sich auf einer niederen Stufe abspielt und den Menschen noch mehr beeinträchtigt als tierische Nahrung. Der Mensch bringt die Stoffe bis zum astralischen Leibe heran, bringt sie durch den Astralleib in ein besonderes Gefüge. Wenn aber das, was an den Astralleib herangebracht werden soll, in der Weise zerfällt, wie es beim Alkohol der Fall ist, so geschieht das, was sonst durch den Astralleib geschehen soll, ohne den Astralleib, nämlich die Wirkung auf das Ich und das Blut. Die Wirkung des Alkohols ist die, daß das, was sonst aus freiem Entschluß des Ichs geschehen soll, durch den Alkohol geschieht. In gewisser Beziehung ist es richtig, daß ein Mensch, der Alkohol genießt, weniger Nahrung nötig hat. Er läßt sein Blut durchziehen von den Kräften des Alkohols; er gibt dem Fremden ab, was er selbst tun sollte. Man kann in gewisser Weise sagen, daß in einem solchen Menschen der Alkohol denkt und fühlt und empfindet. Dadurch, daß der Mensch das, was seinem Ich unterworfen sein soll, an den Alkohol abliefert, stellt sich der Mensch unter den Zwang eines Äußeren. Er verschafft sich ein materielles Ich. Der Mensch kann sagen: Ich fühle dadurch gerade eine Belebung des Ichs. - Gewiß, aber nicht er ist es, sondern etwas anderes, unter das er sein Ich gebannt hat. So könnten wir noch durch mancherlei zeigen, wie der Mensch dazu kommen kann, immer mehr und mehr zu sein, was er ißt. Aber die Geisteswissenschaft zeigt uns auch, wie der Mensch freiwerden kann von den Kräften der Nahrung.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":308,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/57/1908-12-17/p025"}],"english":["GA 57/1908-12-17/p025"],"method":"identity","confidence":"medium","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":308,"en_words":301,"ratio":0.98,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.01,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":4885,"original_word_count":4815,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"eLib2014","book_title":"Where and How Does One Find the Spirit?","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA057/English/eLib2014/19081217p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 57/1908-12-17/p025"],"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."}}