๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐. Unlike the hive-mind of bees, however, we must exercise our individual free will to choose to do this transformative work and return to our spiritual home.
"The bee is the symbol of man in general. If you understand this correctly, you will also understand immortality. The bee flies from flower to flower and carries what it needs into the hive. But honey is what gives the beehive its meaning. Man is also a bee that moves down from the spiritual world - the beehive - to the various other worlds and brings the honey from them, in order to then bring it back to the realm of the spirit, which is the home of the soul. ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ. So man is also obliged to bring the honey he has collected. If he does not gain experience, he would be like a bee that only sits on the flowers without sucking their honey.
Thus, Theosophy [Anthroposophy] does not call upon people to be ignorant of the world or even to turn away from the world, but rather to grow together and work together with the physical world. A mature person from this sensual world would not forget the temporal in the eternal and the eternal in the temporal. Each in its place."
Rudolf Steiner, Theosophy and Occultism, Lecture 6. The Symbol of the Bee, Evolution on Earth, Kamaloka โ Devachan, Immortality, GA 175, 25 September 1903, Berlin.
Translated by Steiner Online Library - Click [Show German] to see the English text side-by-side with the original German text.