{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 68a/1907-12-19/p004","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"Then there is talk of how it is dangerous to talk about such things at all, to spread such teachings and to twist people's minds. One reproach, which is made over and over again by a completely misleading view that remains on the surface, is made against Theosophy; it consists of the fact that by dealing with Theosophy, man is alienated from life. It is said that he is led into a world-unrelated, world-distant life, that he is deprived of interest and sympathy for true life. Many a family that sees one of its members turn to Theosophy because they believe they will find the satisfaction there that their previous life could not give their heart and soul says: Theosophy has taken that person from us. — It is dangerous when such people are driven into an ascetic, unworldly way of life, because then their relatives say it is Theosophy that has driven them into it. But there is a good deal of intolerance behind such an assertion. Such people believe that only the way they want to live is justified, and that it is asceticism not to live exactly the same way as they do; anyone who does not exactly share their idea and outlook on life practices asceticism. But when you look at the lives of some people, at what a man and woman do from morning till night – we are not talking here about those who are really involved in practical life – when you see how the lives of some people are exhausted in soupers and dinners and other trivial pleasures, then you understand that a person who seeks higher things cannot live this life. If someone withdraws from this life, people say that he has fallen into unworldly asceticism and that he is preoccupied with all kinds of abstract, confused ideas. They cannot imagine that for someone living their life must be the greatest asceticism. A person who has come to know the sources from which the life of reality flows that surrounds us would have to mortify himself greatly if he had to participate in what is called life in such circles. It would be a real asceticism for him. Not because he has become alienated from life, but because he knows life in its real form, so he does not mortify himself by participating in it.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"37. The Dangers of Initiation","site_heading":null,"date":"1907-12-19","location":null,"word_count":394,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/68a/1907-12-19/p004","alignment_confidence":"medium","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/SOL2024/19071219p01.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/1907-12-19/p004"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/68a/1907-12-19/p004","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":"1907-12-19","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 68a/1907-12-19/p004","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/68a/1907-12-19/p004"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"],"length_check":{"de_words":387,"en_words":394,"ratio":1.02,"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 68a/1907-12-19/p004","passage_number":4,"text":"Dann wird gesprochen davon, dass es überhaupt gefährlich sei, von solchen Dingen zu reden, solche Lehren zu verbreiten und den Leuten die Köpfe zu verdrehen. Ein Vorwurf sei gleich vorweg genannt, der immer und immer wieder durch eine völlig missverständliche Auffassung, die ganz an der Oberfläche bleibt, der Theosophie gemacht wird; er besteht darin, dass durch die Beschäftigung mit der Theosophie der Mensch entfremdet werde dem Leben. Man sagt, er werde in ein weltfremdes, weltfernes Leben geführt, es werde ihm das Interesse, die Sympathie für das wahre Leben genommen. Manche Familie, die eines ihrer Mitglieder hingehen sieht zur Theosophie, weil es glaubt, dort die Befriedigung zu finden, die das frühere Leben seinem Herzen und seiner Seele nicht geben konnte, sagt: Die Theosophie hat uns diesen Menschen genommen. — Es ist gefährlich, wenn solche Menschen hineingetrieben werden in eine asketische weltfremde Lebensführung, denn dann sagen die Angehörigen, es sei die Theosophie, die sie da hineingetrieben habe. Aber es liegt ein gut Teil Unduldsamkeit hinter einer solchen Behauptung. Solche Leute glauben, dass nur berechtigt sei eine solche Gestaltung des Lebens, wie sie es selber führen wollen, und dass es Askese sei, nicht genau dasselbe Leben zu führen, wie sie es tun; wer nicht genau ihre Idee und Lebensanschauung teilt, der treibt Askese. Wenn man aber ansieht das Leben mancher Menschen, mit dem, was Mann und Frau von Morgen bis Abend beginnen — es ist hier nicht die Rede von solchen, die wirklich im praktischen Leben stehen -, wenn man sieht, wie das Leben mancher sich erschöpft in Soupers und Diners und anderen trivialen Vergnügungen, dann begreift man, dass ein Mensch, der Höheres sucht, dies Leben nicht mitleben kann. Wenn dann einer sich diesem Leben entzieht, dann sagen die Leute, er sei weltferner Askese verfallen, allerlei abstrakte, konfuse Ideen beschäftigen ihn. Man kann sich in diesen Kreisen nicht denken, dass ihr Leben mitzuleben gerade die größte Askese für einen solchen Menschen sein muss. Derjenige, der kennengelernt hat die Quellen, aus denen das Leben der Wirklichkeit fließt, das uns rings umgibt, der müsste sich sehr kasteien, wenn er das mitmachen müsste, was in solchen Kreisen Leben heißt, das würde für ihn wirkliche Askese sein. Nicht weil er dem Leben fremd geworden ist, sondern weil er das Leben in seiner wirklichen Gestalt kennt, deshalb kasteit er sich nicht, indem er das mitmacht.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":387,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/68a/1907-12-19/p004"}],"english":["GA 68a/1907-12-19/p004"],"method":"identity","confidence":"medium","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":387,"en_words":394,"ratio":1.02,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","meaning","audit"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.03,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":4964,"original_word_count":4825,"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/SOL2024/19071219p01.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/1907-12-19/p004"],"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."}}