{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 68c/1904-04-04/p011","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"This arises for two reasons: first, in his youth, Goethe was equally eager to learn the secret that was then called the secret of alchemy. Between his studies in Strasbourg and Leipzig, he already recognized that there is a spiritual side to alchemy, and he knew that ordinary alchemy is only a distortion of the spiritual one. That everything known as alchemy could only exist because the figurative expressions were taken for realities. He meant the alchemy of the human being, which takes place with the forces of inner life. The mystery guides also gave instructions on how this alchemy can be achieved. Since they could only describe this transformation of human inner forces in parables and images, they spoke of one substance transforming into another. In what they said about the transformation of substances, they expressed what develops to a higher level in the life of the human soul, what transforms in a spiritual way. What great minds have shown in the spiritual realm to people attached to everyday life, they have applied to the transmutation of substances, of ordinary substances and metals in retorts, and have endeavored to discover what mysterious means was meant to effect the transmutation of the substance. Goethe has shown in one passage of Faust what he understood of these things. In the first part of Faust, during the walk outside the city gates, he points out exactly what is wrong, what is false and petty in the too materialistic view of alchemy. He mocks those who strive for the discovery of the secret in capricious efforts, and in the company of adepts and according to endless recipes, pour together the adverse:","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"X. The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily","site_heading":null,"date":"1904-04-04","location":null,"word_count":278,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/68c/1904-04-04/p011","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":"Goethe and the Present","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA068c/English/SOL2024/19040404p01.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/68c/1904-04-04/p011"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/68c/1904-04-04/p011","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. 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Zwischen seiner Straßburger und Leipziger Studienzeit erkannte er schon, dass es eine geistige Seite der Alchemie gibt, und er wusste, dass die gewöhnliche Alchemie nur ein Zerrbild der geistigen ist. Dass alles dasjenige, was als Alchemie bekannt ist, nur dadurch hat bestehen können, dass die bildlichen Ausdrücke für Wirklichkeiten genommen worden sind. Diese Alchemie des Menschen, welche sich mit den Kräften des inneren Lebens vollzieht, die hat er gemeint. Auch Anweisungen haben die Mysterienführer gegeben, wie diese Alchemie bewirkt werden kann. Da sie indessen diese Umwandlung der inneren menschlichen Kräfte nur gleichnisweise in Bildern beschreiben konnten, so haben sie davon gesprochen, dass ein Stoff in den andern sich verwandelt. In dem, was sie über die Verwandlung der Stoffe gesprochen haben, haben sie das ausgedrückt, was sich im menschlichen Seelenleben auf eine höhere Stufe hinaufentwickelt, was sich in geistiger Weise verwandelt. Dasjenige, was große Geister den am Alltagsleben haftenden Menschen auf geistigem Gebiete gezeigt haben, das haben sie auf die Umwandlung der Stoffe, der gewöhnlichen Stoffe und Metalle in Retorten angewendet und sich bemüht, herauszukriegen, was für ein geheimnisvolles Mittel man gemeint hat, das die Umwandlung des Stoffes bewirkt. Goethe hat in einer Stelle des «Faust» gezeigt, was er von diesen Dingen verstanden hat. Im ersten Teil des «Faust», beim Spaziergang vor dem Tore, weist er genau darauf hin, was Falsches, Unrichtiges, Kleinliches in der zu materialistischen Auffassung der Alchemie liegt. Er spottet über diejenigen, die in grillenhaftem Mühen nach der Entdeckung des Geheimnisses streben und in Gesellschaft von Adepten und nach unendlichen Rezepten das Widrige zusammengießen:","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":283,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/68c/1904-04-04/p011"}],"english":["GA 68c/1904-04-04/p011"],"method":"identity","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":283,"en_words":278,"ratio":0.98,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.03,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8455,"original_word_count":8170,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Steiner Online Library","identified_edition":"SOL2024","book_title":"Goethe and the Present","publisher":"Steiner Online Library","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA068c/English/SOL2024/19040404p01.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 68c/1904-04-04/p011"],"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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