Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 436: 436. Whence come the waves of sudden joy or anguish? They are regarded as unfounded, whereas causes underlie everything. I advise you to record such waves, which otherwise might be forgotten. With each move every man produces a significant experiment, yet he lightly rejects these flashes of cognition. Joy and anguish are not without cause, and records of these moods will remind one when earthly communications bring confirmation of them. The fiery mail is confirmed by earthly messages. Of course, many causes, not only earthly but also from the Subtle World, may not reach us, but still one can perceive significant coordination between events and feelings. Thus, experiences are accumulated which constitute a convincing whole. Verily, man's greatest experiments were performed in the laboratories of life! Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 222: One should not easily excuse unworthy deeds on the basis of misunderstandings due to differences in language. Unfortunately, shameful deeds are the result of evil willfulness and envy. If one examines the reasons for the persecution of the best minds of different nations, and compares the reasons for the persecution and banishment of Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Socrates, Plato, and others, one can observe that in each case the accusations and reasons for banishment were almost identical and unfounded. But in the following centuries full exoneration came, as if there had never been any defamation. It would be correct to conclude that such workers were too exalted for the consciousness of their contemporaries, and the sword of the executioner was ever ready to cut off a head held high. Pericles was recognized in his time only after people had reduced him to a sorry state. Only in that state could his fellow citizens accept him as an equal!
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