8. The Harmony Between Spiritual Science and Natural Science and the Misconceptions about the Former and the Building Dedicated to it in Dornach

However, this has also led many to believe [- and this is the other side -] that what they had been working on, the “be-all and end-all” of all existence, was matter, which had to be adhered to in order to explore natural facts. Matter finally became an adored god; it entered the human field of vision so completely and so stunningly that they were led away from everything spiritual. But natural science itself, when working in its field, must adhere to material facts. It acquires its objectivity precisely by adhering to material facts, and it can be said that a materialism has legitimately found its way into scientific methods. If it is only applied as far as one wants to observe nature, then one even has to respect this materialism, then one has to have the greatest respect for it. For only by not speculating in a confused way about everything that is not the result of material processes, but by adhering to what observation of processes or experiment reveals, only by proceeding scientifically, can we bring to light the great achievements of scientific facts, which can then also be applied to practical life. And what this materialistic method of natural science has brought in particular in terms of soul discipline, what it has brought above all in terms of soulful devotion to the happenings, to the events of the world, to the essence of nature, must also be exemplary in spiritual research.