180. Of these dawning forms of spiritual manifestation the one that we express in daily terms as "science" will have the greatest interest for this Introduction; so we will dwell on it both here and further on in the present chapter.
      As science constitutes the first elementary knowledge about existence and the universe, it embodies the outer boundaries of the cosmic or spiritual world. It is the dawn of cosmic consciousness. It is the fresh sea air in the neighbourhood of the sea itself. And so modern science will really be an incontestable proof of terrestrial mankind's spirituality. Take away science from his conscious mind and there remains merely a primitive animal consciousness which is only receptive to coarse influences. It would be represented solely by living beings who could not possibly grasp the clear enlightenment of the written word or what a genius says in a work of art; who could not possibly bind material forces for powering engines or other forms of machinery or means of transport over land and sea, through the air and under the water and furthermore could not create buildings, clothes or articles of everyday use - indeed, who could not even express themselves through an exact language. By means of scientific achievements the quiet ticking of a clock can be heard from pole to pole and all the peoples on Earth can listen at the same time to the same speaker. With the help of microscopes and telescopes terrestrial mankind has extended physical sight hundreds of times into the microcosmic as well as into the macrocosmic world. From universities, schools and colleges the cosmic light in the form of science radiates over the whole world; it rests as newly fallen snow on all things, in all things and over all things. Science is thus the first fundamental result of a higher spiritual energy's penetration into gravity energy - in other words, into the physical world. But as science is still only the "smell of the sea" and not the "sea" itself - meaning it is not in its pure form but is mixed and bound up with far too great an amount of gravity energy, yet is able to constitute such a source of light for the world - then how much more must it not come to signify when it is in its pure form, that is to say when it has advanced so far as to be an expression for the very highest basic energy in existence, the all-permeating light of intuition? It should be understood that the present form of science represents only a temporary stage in development which will give way to a stage still nearer to perfection.