4. The Human Soul and the Human Spirit

Therefore, anyone who follows the path of spiritual research must above all ensure that what he develops as spirit does not lack the foundation of soul life. The spirit can only distance itself from the reality of one's own personality and thus from the grasp of world reality if love does not prevail in the soul. If love reigns in the soul, if the soul is permeated and energized by the element of love, then it is strong enough to hold the spirit, no matter to what heights of light it may rise. And again, if a person does not disdain to seek wisdom in the world, wisdom-filled connections – not wisdom that is identical with cleverness, but humble wisdom that prevails in the world – if he wants to realize this wisdom in himself and not just grasp it with his mind, not merely with abstraction, but allows it to submerge into the loving soul; when everything that is wisdom, light, is warmed through by what arises in the soul, which places man in life as a lover of humanity, and on the other hand, when wisdom, the spirit, makes him a judge of character, then, in turn, this is suitable to lead man away from egoism and to really carry love up into that which he, by adding knowledge to love, can experience as an overview of the world: the spirit that is rooted in the loving soul, warm soul love that allows itself to be illuminated by the spirit, that is an ideal of humanity.