10. The Essence of the Human Being

GA 68d/1907-07-02/p008 ·1907-07-02 · English High

Record: mixed sources. This volume draws on more than one kind of record (transcripts, notes, documents). Check the volume's own front matter before weighing a single passage. Evidence: «Vorträge aus den Jahren 1905 bis 1909 in Form von ausführlichen Mitschriften, Zuhörernotizen und Zeitungsreferaten» (Lectures from the years 1905 to 1909 in the form of detailed transcripts, listeners' notes and newspaper reports). The publisher's description of the volume, as mirrored on AnthroWiki (GA 68d). The translation is the maintainer's, not a published one.

If we look back in time, we see that in the days before the printing press, souls could more easily find a satisfactory answer from those who were called to do so. Today, however, we see that the most thoughtful and striving souls are at a loss when faced with this question. In their youth they have learned much, exercised their minds, trained their intelligence – then the questions of religion approach them. Through so-called modern science, through a thousand other channels, a wealth of knowledge has flowed to them, and it becomes difficult for the soul to hold on to what religion gives as soul food. It is those who thirst most longingly for the truth who then go astray. The information that religion gives him can no longer satisfy man. Science also gives him no world view that strengthens the heart in its endeavors.

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Cite: GA 68d/1907-07-02/p008 · edition English