Antroposophia theomagica, das ist, eine Rede von der Natur des Menschen

...convenient inheritance; virtue, however, very rarely found an heir. Man initially had—and thus all souls have before they enter into this body—an explicit and methodical knowledge original Latin: "explicitam & methodicam cognitionem", an unfolded and properly structured understanding. But as soon as they are veiled by the body, this freedom is already lost, and nothing remains except a vast, disorderly knowledge of the creaturely world.

Thus, I was left with only a capability without the power to act, and a will to do that which is far beyond my reach. In such distress, I studied various liberal arts original: "freye Künſte," referring to the classical academic subjects like grammar, logic, and rhetoric and ran through all these inventions which men, out of foolishness, call "sciences." But because these efforts did not serve my purpose, I abandoned the business of books and considered it a better course to investigate nature itself instead of mere opinions.

Upon this, I reflected within myself that it is not man, but rather the world—from which he was created—that is the original, immediate work of God. In order to organize my efforts properly, I deemed it fitting to first explore the world's origins original: "Anfänge" rather than exploring man himself.

Because the world in general is too vast for investigation, I decided to take a part instead of the whole, so that I might discover the proportions of the whole through it. To carry out this plan, I set out to observe the fruits of a spring. Here I noticed a great multitude of plants original: "Erdgewächſe", fresh and lovely in their season; but when I looked back at their origin, they were not such things as the plants themselves.