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. Without what the soul has collected outside, the result of the collecting would never be in the realm of the spirit. 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. -from a 1903 lecture by Rudolf Steiner
