One should not believe that when one glimpses behind the veil of the senses and reaches the region beyond the threshold, that one ends up in a realm of pure beauty. Do not think that someone who cognisant of these worlds expresses himself light-heartedly when he says: if people are not carefully prepared, they need to be held back when coming to the threshold of the spirit world. – Because it is essential that one first of all gets to know the totally unedifying foundations, before one experience what in a sense is elevating and wholesome behind the curtain.
Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 219 – Das Verhältnis der Sternenwelt zum Menschen und des Menschen zur Sternenwelt – Dornach, 16 December 1922 (page 81)
Translated by Nesta Carsten-Krüger
Previously posted on November 28, 2014