Truth, beauty and goodness—three heavenly promises. Every guiding principle and every good wish, every happy moment and every intention has these three ideals at its core. Three heavens, three times a promised land for the three powers of our human soul: we come to ourselves, we come home when we think wisely, feel beautifully, and act kindly. How do we get there? When the three souls within the soul, our thinking, feeling and willing, join forces: If will and feeling help thinking, then it becomes strong and deep—it becomes wise. If thinking and will support feeling, it becomes clear and pure—it becomes beautiful. If the will has feeling and thinking with it, it becomes receptive and meaningful—it becomes benevolent. The three souls become one soul. The soul that becomes wise, beautiful, and good finds itself and finds life because wisdom gives us the foundation on which we stand; beauty ennobles the moment and the now, and goodness lets the future in. The soul finds its way into time, finds itself, and finds the world.
See Rudolf Steiner, “Truth, Beauty, Goodness,” lecture from January 19, 1923. GA 220.
Translation Laura Liska
Image Painting by Ulrich Schulz, “Himmel” [Sky] 2013. Brush application. Canvas, glue, ash, marble, gemstone powder.
