{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 59/1910-02-10/p022","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"If we pass on from this general account of mysticism to individual mystics, we often encounter facts which are called in evidence against mysticism by its opponents. The inner experience of individuals takes various forms, so that the experiences of one mystic may not agree entirely with those of another. But if two persons have different experiences of something, it by no means follows that their reports are untrue. If one person sees a tree from the right and another sees it from the left, and each describes it from his own point of view, it will be the same tree and both descriptions may be correct. This simple example will show why the soul-experiences of mystics differ: after all, a mystic's inner life does not come before him as a complete blank. However much it may be his ideal to obliterate external experiences and to withdraw his attention from them completely, they will yet leave a trace in his soul, and this makes a difference. The mystic will be subject also to some influence from the character of the nation from which he descends. Even if he casts out from his soul every external experience he has had, his inner experience will still have to be described in words and concepts drawn from his own life. Two mystics may experience exactly the same thing, but they will describe it differently as a result of their earlier lives. It is only if we are able through our own personal experience to allow for these individual variations in description and representation that we can come to recognise that fundamentally the reality of mystical experience is always the same. It is just as though we were to photograph a tree from various angles: the photographs would differ but they would all be of the same tree.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"III. What is Mysticism?","site_heading":null,"date":"1910-02-10","location":null,"word_count":304,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/59/1910-02-10/p022","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"C. Davy and C. von Arnim","identified_edition":"RSP1983","book_title":"Metamorphoses of the Soul II","publisher":"Rudolf Steiner Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA059/English/RSP1983/19100210p01.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."},"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/59/1910-02-10/p022"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/59/1910-02-10/p022","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":"1910-02-10","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 59/1910-02-10/p017","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/59/1910-02-10/p017"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":393,"en_words":304,"ratio":0.77,"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 59/1910-02-10/p017","passage_number":17,"text":"Wenn wir nun von dieser allgemeinen Darstellung und Charakteristik der Mystik zu den einzelnen Mystikern übergehen, dann finden wir gar häufig dasselbe, worauf sich ja die Gegner aller Mystik berufen. Da finden wir, daß jenes innere Erleben in der einzelnen Individualität, in der einzelnen Persönlichkeit eben auch individuelle Formen annimmt; das heißt, daß die Erlebnisse, die inneren Seelenerfahrungen des einen Mystikers nicht völlig zusammenstimmen mit den Seelenerfahrungen des anderen Mystikers. Nun braucht man sich über diese Tatsache bei einem klaren Denken nicht sonderlich zu verwundern, denn dadurch, daß zwei Menschen etwas Verschiedenes erleben, folgt noch gar nicht, daß die Sache falsch sei, über die sie sprechen. Wenn einer einen Baum von rechts, ein anderer denselben Baum von links ansieht und sie beschreiben ihn, so wird es derselbe Baum sein, aber jeder wird ihn anders beschreiben, und doch kann jede Beschreibung wahr sein. Aus diesem einfachen Bilde kann man auch verstehen, warum die Seelenerfahrungen der einzelnen Mystiker verschieden sind: der Mystiker tritt ja nicht als eine sozusagen absolut leere Tafel vor sein Innenerleben. Wenn es auch sein Ideal ist, die äußeren Erlebnisse abzutöten und auszutilgen und die Aufmerksamkeit von ihnen völlig abzuziehen, so ist es doch so, daß die äußeren Erlebnisse in ihm einen Seelenrest lassen, und daß es nicht gleichgültig ist, ob einer, der Mystiker wird, dieses oder jenes erlebt hat. Es bleibt schon von Einfluß, ob der Mystiker aus diesem oder jenem Volkscharakter herausgewachsen ist, ob er dieses oder jenes im Leben erfahren hat. Wenn er jetzt auch alles das, was er erfahren hat, aus der Seele herauswirft, so wird dennoch, was er innerlich erlebt, einen Ausdruck erhalten von dem, was er vorher erlebt hat. Er muß es auch beschreiben mit Begriffen und Ideen und Worten, die er hereinbringt aus seinem bisherigen Leben. Es kann bei verschiedenen Mystikern durchaus dasselbe sein, was sie erleben, auch wenn sie es mit verschiedenen Mitteln der vorherigen Erlebnisse beschreiben. Und erst für den, der imstande ist, durch selbsteigenes inneres Erleben abzusehen von dem, was Individuelles an der Beschreibung und Darstellung ist, für den wird es möglich sein, doch zu erkennen, daß, wenn sich die verschiedenen Mystiker noch so verschieden ausdrücken, das was sie erleben, das Reale der Erfahrung, im Grunde genommen doch das gleiche ist; gerade so, wie wenn man einen Baum von verschiedenen Seiten photographiert, diese Photographien verschieden aussehen und doch derselbe Baum zugrunde liegt.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":393,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/59/1910-02-10/p017"}],"english":["GA 59/1910-02-10/p022"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":393,"en_words":304,"ratio":0.77,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":0.79,"band":"watch","note":"This witness is somewhat shorter than the original. Minor omissions or condensation are possible.","word_count":6705,"original_word_count":8463,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"C. Davy and C. von Arnim","identified_edition":"RSP1983","book_title":"Metamorphoses of the Soul II","publisher":"Rudolf Steiner Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA059/English/RSP1983/19100210p01.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 59/1910-02-10/p017"],"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."}}