53. The Human Character
GA 68b/1909-10-29/p063
·1909-10-29
·
English
HighHigh alignmentThis translation's paragraph count matches the German original — the locus maps cleanly to the same paragraph in DE.
Record: listeners' notes. Written from listeners' notes, summaries, or memory rather than a shorthand transcript. The wording is the note-taker's as much as Steiner's: weigh a single striking phrase here far more cautiously than the same phrase in a stenographic volume, and do not rest an argument on one word. Evidence: «Da keine professionellen Stenogramme vorliegen, handelt es sich oftmals um notizenhaft festgehaltene Zusammenfassungen oder Berichte.» (Since no professional shorthand transcripts exist, these are often summaries or reports kept in the form of notes.). The publisher's description of the volume, as mirrored on AnthroWiki (GA 68b). The translation is the maintainer's, not a published one.
Here we see how character is formed and how the I shapes the soul in character. Only when the I withdraws into the consciousness soul does a closed character arise that shuts itself off from the world. But when it takes hold of the other soul members, something arises that is developed into the formation of the body. It was a deep insight of the poet when he spoke the word: When man develops his abilities and talents, the I works within him; but when he develops his character, it works on the world and the outer life:
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