A definition can never explain the essence of a thing

The big mistake, the great illusion, of the materialistically minded people, is that they believe a definition or a description can fully explain the essence of a thing.

I have often illustrated the grotesque nature of this belief in the past by pointing out the fact that a school of Greek philosophers once sought to define a human being and finally found that a human being is a creature with two legs and no feathers. Now, that is undoubtedly true. One can say that it is an absolutely correct definition. The next day, someone who understood the definition brought with him a plucked rooster and said: “This is a creature with two legs and no feathers, so it must be a human being.”

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 253 – Probleme des Zusammenlebens in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft – Dornach, September 11, 1915 (page 33)

Anonymous translator

Previously posted on 30 October 2018

Advertisement

There is no worse phrase than this: ‘just look into yourself.’

There is no worse phrase than this: ‘look deep into yourself. ‘There one finds, however, only the lower self. One must seek lovingly outside oneself, and then one will find what one is seeking. I have known people who said: ‘what do I need? I don’t need anything at all, because I’m Atma (soul). ‘– and even though they constantly say “Atma, I’m Atma”, they do not become conscious of Atma, all they know about it is that it is a word with four letters. It leads to closing oneself off when gazing into yourself. For we are part of the whole. The finger is only finger because it is part of the body. If we separate it from the organism, then it is no longer a finger. The finger does not separate itself from the organism; but the human being is so “clever” that he believes that he could detach himself from the earth, although if he is just a few kilometers above the surface of the earth, he perishes. […] It is the worst possible mistake to want to find the god within yourself. Losing oneself through entering into all the details of the world, that is the right path. He who dedicates him or herself to love and humility will find godliness, while he who seeks God in himself, hardens.

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 98 – Natur- und Geistwesen- ihr Wirken in unserer sichtbaren Welt – Vienna, November 7, 1907 (page 38-39)

Translated by Nesta Carsten-Krüger

Previously posted on 29 October 2018

As blind as a mole

Man is under the influence of many forces and is, in relation to them, as blind as a mole. All the time, he is only aware of one part of reality, although all of reality concerns him. We must have strong impulses that enable us to get away from the reach of harmful demons.

Source (German):  Rudolf Steiner – GA 98 – Natur- und Geistwesen- ihr Wirken in unserer sichtbaren Welt – Hannover, February 24, 1908 (page 257)

Anonymous translator

Previously posted on 26 October 2018

A certain fear

We have referred today, as in past lectures, to other types of beings intimately connected to our lives. A certain fear of those worlds you have heard of here, might assail you and lead you to think that it would be better to remain ignorant of all these things. But isn’t that how the ostrich behaves, when it hides its head in the sand? The things we referred to are absolutely real. It is not by closing your eyes that you will make them disappear, but by knowing about them. The only way to drive away all those creatures, is to manage your life in a manner that, increasingly, makes you master of it. Knowledge and truth are the only means to set you free; religious documents do not lie when they state: ‘You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.’

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 98 – Natur- und Geistwesen – ihr Wirken in unserer sichtbaren Welt – Stuttgart, February 11, 1908 (page 210)

Anonymous translator

 

Previously posted on 23 October 2016

Humanity claims mostly that which he lacks

At present we live past one another, and due to the influence of modern education we have not acquired the ability to understand our fellow human beings, we lack the aptitude to know with a kind of clairvoyant empathy – as used to be present in many of the older cultures – what lives in the human soul. We demand a lot from life, but we live past one another.

We claim mostly that which we lack the most and the loud cry for socialism proclaims to ears that can listen in an unbiased way, that we have become unsocial people, that we do not understand each other, that we are unable to form a social society.

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 79 – Die Wirklichkeit der höheren Welten – Kristiania (Oslo) December 2, 1921 (page 180-181)

Translated by Nesta Carsten-Krüger

Previously posted on 24 October 2018