VII. The Questions of Life and the Riddle of Death I

GA 69a/1913-02-16/p021 ·1913-02-16 · English HighHigh alignmentThis translation's paragraph count matches the German original — the locus maps cleanly to the same paragraph in DE.
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Our time tends quite strongly to accept something supersensible, and one can notice how this trend becomes prominent. I want to point only to an outstanding fact. Charles William Eliot (1834-1926, American chemist), board of directors of the Harvard University in America, held a lecture in 1909 where he spoke about a kind of future religion which acknowledges the supersensible on scientific basis. He said, people have always acknowledged an absolute soul being which is not subject to outer physical laws.—We find such a tip with many scholars. However, such persons would like to stop at the tip. They say, there is soul, soul, and soul. Yes, this is exact the same way, as if one says about the most different plants and animals: this is nature, nature, and nature. However, if the spiritual researcher tells details of the spiritual world, these persons become awkward. It is not enough to point to the fact that there is spirit and soul. However, if one states that there are beings and events in the spiritual worlds, then these persons become awkward and say, these are pipe dreams. One cannot say that everything that emerges before the spiritual researcher is delusion. Since the spiritual researcher has taken part in the experiences which enable him to distinguish.

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Cite: GA 69a/1913-02-16/p021 · edition English