For what is it that holds man back today from spirit-knowledge? — Lack of soul courage, not to say soul cowardice. Man wants to receive everything passively, wants to set himself down in front of the world as if it were a movie, and wants to let the microscope and the telescope tell him everything. He does not want to temper the instrument of his own spirit, of his own soul, by activity.
Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 223 – The Cycle of the Year – Lecture V – Dornach, 4th April 1923 (wrong date, in the German GA 223 it is 8th April 1923)
Translated by Barbara Betteridge & Frances E. Dawson
Previously posted on January 7, 2017
The great Rudolf Steiner Quotes Site 