5. Ways of Knowing the Eternal Powers of the Human Soul

And when such things occur, for example, someone says: Yes, I like some things about this building, but there you have seven columns on one side, and seven columns on the other side as well; why do you have that? That is not meant to be a symbol. Those who study the matter more closely will really confirm – because the columns are no longer identical, because the capitals progress, have been made unequal – that the motif, which was first engraved on a column capital, actually ends at the last column. Just as the tones open in a seven-part scale and the octave is the repetition of the fundamental tone, and as one is not dealing here with some kind of fantastic symbolism, not with some kind of magical symbolism, so it is not the case here either. And if someone is looking for particularly subtle, inner reasons, reasons that are supposed to be spiritual science, then you can always say: Look for similar reasons to those why there are four different strings on a violin, if someone says there could also be five strings or three! It cannot be otherwise than that there are four strings; just as little as it can be with us six or eight columns, but must be seven! It is an inner, organic structure of the motifs, and the motifs yield this number seven - not some superstitious attachment to a number seven or the like.