{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 68a/1906-04-22/p028","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"We find a basis for the theosophical world view in a work by Ludwig Laistner: “Riddles of the Sphinx” on myth research. As is so often the case, the theosophist can learn the most from the non-theosophist, so we may start from his basic principles here. Let us start from a simple folk tale, the legend of the Midday Woman. She lives in the most diverse areas and has the following content: If you go to the field early in the morning to work and fail to go home at the appropriate hour, during the lunch break between twelve and one o'clock, the midday woman appears and asks him questions that are difficult to answer, about weaving, flax cultivation and the like, related to his work. During the whole of the lunch hour, questions are asked of him, all of which he must answer. If he misses even one, she comes with the sickle and cuts his throat. In some areas, it is said that you can get rid of her by reciting the Lord's Prayer, but it is not that simple, it has to be recited backwards, not from the beginning, but from the end. There is another spinning room saying related to this legend: “You ask like the midday woman.” Laistner interprets it as follows: This legend has its origin in the state that is brought about in a person when he stays outside in the field and falls asleep. Then the environment has such an effect that the dream always takes on this form in a similar way. Laistner traces all these legends back to the riddle of the Sphinx. It is the same torment of questioning that is found in this. In between lies a whole world of myths and legends. It has nothing to do with folk poetry, but can be explained by what the dream does to the sleeper. The dream is the main symbol. You catch a frog in your dream, wake up and find the corner of the bedspread in your hand. Legends and myths simply have their origin in the dream fantasy. From there, Laistner would have had only one step to the theosophical view, according to which there is not only the ordinary everyday state of consciousness, but another state of consciousness that, like the dream images, gives the outer things a different meaning: the tip of the bedspread is transformed into the image of a frog. The dream, a means of occult development, gives symbols of a higher spiritual world. Then, in contrast to this ordinary dream state, a higher state of consciousness arises in which the human being becomes aware of sensory perceptions. What shines into the dawning consciousness from the higher state of consciousness is the dream. This state is also present in a dull form in mediums in a trance: daytime consciousness is extinguished and a dusky consciousness has set in.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"18. Germanic and Indian Secret Doctrine","site_heading":null,"date":"1906-04-22","location":null,"word_count":485,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/68a/1906-04-22/p028","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:identity","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"The Essence of Christianity","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA068a/English/SOL2024/19060422p01.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/68a/1906-04-22/p028"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/68a/1906-04-22/p028","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 68a/1906-04-22/p028","passage_number":28,"text":"Eine Grundlage für die theosophische Weltanschauung finden wir in einem Werke Ludwig Laistners: «Rätsel der Sphinx» über Mythenforschung. Wie so oft der Theosoph von dem Nichttheosophen am meisten lernen kann, dürfen wir hier von seinen Grundprinzipien ausgehen. Gehen wir von einer einfachen Volkssage aus, von der Sage über die Mittagsfrau. Sie lebt in den verschiedensten Gegenden und hat folgenden Inhalt: Wer früh morgens auf das Feld geht, um zu arbeiten, und versäumt, zur gehörigen Stunde, in der Mittagspause zwischen zwölf und ein Uhr, nach Hause zu gehen, dem erscheint die Mittagsfrau und stellt ihm Fragen, die schwer zu beantworten sind, über Leineweben, Flachsbau und dergleichen auf seine Tätigkeit Bezügliches. Die ganze Zeit der Mittagspause werden Fragen an ihn gestellt, die er alle beantworten muss. Verfehlt er auch nur eine, so kommt sie mit der Sichel und schneidet ihm den Hals ab. In manchen Gegenden heißt es, man könne sich ihrer entledigen, indem man das Vaterunser hersage, aber nicht so einfach, nicht von vorne, sondern von hinten müsse es aufgesagt werden. — Es besteht in Bezug auf diese Sage noch der Spinnstubenspruch: «Du fragst wie die Mittagsfrau.» Laistner deutet folgendermaßen: Diese Sage hat ihren Ursprung in jenem Zustande, der in dem Menschen herbeigeführt wird, wenn er draußen auf dem Felde bleibt und etwas einschläft. Dann wirkt die Umgebung so, dass immer in ähnlicher Weise der Traum diese Form annimmt. Laistner verfolgt alle diese Sagen bis zum Rätsel der Sphinx. Es ist dieselbe Fragepein, die sich bei dieser findet. Dazwischen liegt eine ganze Welt von Mythen und Sagen. Sie hat nichts mit Volkspoesie zu tun, sondern erklärt sich aus dem, was der Traum bei dem Schläfer leistet. Der Traum ist der Hauptsymboliker. Man fängt im Traum einen Frosch, wacht auf und hat den Zipfel der Bettdecke in der Hand. Sagen und Mythen haben ganz einfach in der Traumphantasie ihren Ursprung. Von da hätte Laistner nur noch einen Schritt bis zur theosophischen Auffassung gehabt, nach der es nicht nur den gewöhnlichen Alltagsbewusstseinszustand gibt, sondern noch einen andern Bewusstseinszustand, der wie die Traumbilder den äußern Dingen einen anderen Sinn gibt: Den Zipfel der Bettdecke in das Bild eines Frosches umgewandelt. Der Traum, ein Mittel der okkulten Entwicklung, gibt Sinnbilder einer höheren geistigen Welt. Dann entsteht gegenüber diesem gewöhnlichen Traumzustand ein höherer Bewusstseinszustand, in dem der Mensch in seinem Bewusstsein sinnlicher Wahrnehmer wird. Was für den Menschen hineinleuchtet in das dämmernde Bewusstsein aus dem höheren Bewusstseinszustand, ist der Traum. Dieser Zustand ist auch bei den Medien in dumpfer Form vorhanden im Trance: Das Tagesbewusstsein ist ausgelöscht, und ein dämmerhaftes Bewusstsein ist eingetreten.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":427,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/68a/1906-04-22/p028"}],"english":["GA 68a/1906-04-22/p028"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":427,"en_words":485,"ratio":1.14,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","anchors","audit"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.11,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":4086,"original_word_count":3694,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"The Essence of Christianity","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA068a/English/SOL2024/19060422p01.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 68a/1906-04-22/p028"],"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. 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