Four Mystery Plays
GA 14
The Portal of Initiation (Written 1910)
Scene 1
Room. Dominant note rose-red. Large rose-red chairs are arranged in a semicircle. To the left of the stage a door leads to the auditorium. One after the other, the speakers introduced enter by this door; each stopping in the room for a time. While they do so, they discuss the discourse they have just heard in the auditorium, and what it suggests to them.
Enter first Maria and Johannes, then others. The speeches which follow are continuations of discussions already begun in the auditorium.
Maria:
My friend, I am indeed distressed
to see
Thy spirit and thy soul in sadness droop,
And
powerless to help the bond that binds
And that has bound us both
for ten blest years.
E'en this same hour, filled with a portent
deep
In which we both have heard and learned so much
That
lightens all the darkest depths of soul,
Brought naught but shade
and shadow unto thee.
Aye, after many of the speakers' words,
My listening heart could feel the very dart
That deeply wounded
thine. Once did I gaze
Into thine eyes and saw but happiness
And joy in all the essence of the world.
In pictures
beauty-steeped thy soul held fast
Each fleeting moment, bathed by
sunshine's glow —
Flooding with air and light the forms of
men
Unsealing all the depths and doubts of Life.
Unskilled
as yet thine hand to body forth
In concrete colour-schemes, those
living forms
That hovered in thy soul; but in the hearts
Of
both of us there throbbed the joyous faith
And certain hope that
future days would teach
Thine hand this art — to pour forth
happiness
Into the very fundaments of Being;
That all the
wonders of thy spirit's search
Unfolding visibly Creation's
powers
Through every creature of thine art would pour
Soul
rapture deep into the hearts of men.
Such were our dreams through
all those days of yore
That to thy skill, mirrored in beauty's
guise,
The weal of future men would trace its source.
So
dreamed mine own soul of the goal of thine.
Yet now the vital
spark of fashioning fire
That burned within thee seems extinct and
dead.
Dead thy creative joy: and well-nigh maimed
The hand,
which once with fresh and youthful strength
Guided thy steadfast
brush from year to year.
Johannes:
Alas, 'tis true; I feel as if the fires
That erstwhile quickened in my soul are quenched.
Mine eye,
grown dull, doth no more catch the gleam
Shed by the flickering
sunlight o'er the earth.
No feeling stirs my heart, when changing
moods
Of light and shade flow o'er the scenes around;
Still
lies my hand, seeking no more to chain
Into a lasting present
fleeting charms,
Shown forth by magic elemental powers
From
utmost depths of Life before mine eyes.
No new creative fire
thrills me with joy.
For me dull monotone obscures all life.
Maria:
My heart is deeply grieved to hear that thou
Dost find such emptiness in everything
Which thrives as highest
good and very source
Of sacred life itself within my heart.
All, friend, behind the changing scenes of life
That men call
‘Being,’ true life lies concealed
Spiritual,
everlasting, infinite;
And in that life each soul doth weave its
thread.
I feel afloat in spirit potencies,
That work, as in
an ocean's unseen depths,
And see revealed all the life of men,
As wavelets on the ocean's upturned face.
I am at one with all
the sense of Life
For which men restless strive, and which to
me
Is but the inner self that stands revealed.
I see, how
oftentimes it binds itself
Unto the very kernel of man's soul,
And lifts him to the highest that his heart
Can ever crave. Yet
as it lives in me
It turns to bitter fruitage, when mine own
Touches another's being. Even so
Hath this, my destiny, worked out
in all
I willed to give thee, when thou cam'st in love.
Thy
wish it was to travel at my side
Unhesitating all the way, that
soon
Should lead thee to a full and perfect art.
Yet what
hath happened? All, that in mine eyes
Stood forth revealed in its
own naked Truth
As purest life, brought death, my friend, to
thee
And slew thy spirit.
Johannes:
Aye. 'Tis so indeed.
What lifts thy soul to
Heaven's sun-kissed heights
When through thy life it comes into
mine own
Thrusts my soul down, to death's abysmal gloom.
When in our friendship's rosy-fingered dawn
To this revealment
thou didst lead me on,
Which sheds its light into the darkened
realms,
Where human souls do enter every night,
Bereft of
conscious life, and where full oft
Man's being wanders erring:
whilst the night
Of Death makes mock at Life's reality.
And
when thou didst reveal to me the truth
Of life's return, then did
I know full well
That I should grow to perfect spirit-man.
Surely, it seemed, the artist's clear keen eye,
And certain touch
of a creator's hand,
Would blossom for me through thy spirit's
fire
And noble might. Full deep I breathed this fire
Into my
being; when — behold — it robbed
The ebb and flow of
all my spirit's power.
Remorselessly it drove out from my heart
All faith in this our world. And now I reach
A point where I no
longer clearly see,
Whether to doubt or whether to believe
The revelation of the spirit-worlds.
Nay more, I even lack the
power to love
That which in thee the spirit's beauty shows.
Maria:
Alas! The years that pass have taught me
this
That mine own way to live the spirit-life
Doth change
into its opposite, whene'er
It penetrates another's character.
And I must also see how spirit-power
Grows rich in blessing
when, by other paths,
It pours itself into the souls of men.
(Enter Philia, Astrid, and Luna.)
It floweth
forth in speech, and in these words
Lies power to raise to realms
celestial
Man's common mode of thinking; and create
A world
of joy, where erstwhile brooded gloom.
Aye, it can change the
spirit's shallowness
To depths of earnest feeling; and can cast
Man's character in sure and noble mould.
And I — yes, I
am altogether filled
By just this spirit-power, and must behold
The pain and desolation that it brings
To other hearts, when
from mine own it pours.
Philia:
It seemed as though the voices of some
choir
(Enter Prof. Capesius and Dr. Strader.)
Mingled together, uttering manifold
Conceptions and opinions, each
his own,
Of these who formed our recent gathering.
Full many
harmonies there were indeed,
But also many a harsh-toned
dissonance.
Maria:
Ah, when the words and speech of many men
Present themselves in such wise to the soul,
It seems as though
man's very prototype
Stood centred there in secret mystery:
Became through many souls articulate,
As in the rainbow's arch
pure Light itself
Grows visible in many-coloured rays.
Capesius:
Through changing scenes of many centuries
We wandered year on year in earnest search;
Striving to fathom
deep the living force
That dwelt within the souls of those who
sought
To probe and scan the fundaments of being,
And set
before man's soul the goals of life.
We thought that in the depths
of our own souls
We lived the higher powers of thought itself;
And thus could solve the riddles set by fate.
We felt we had,
or seemed at least to feel,
Sure basis in the logic of our mind
When new experiences crossed our path
Questioning there the
judgment of our soul.
Yet now such basis wavers, when amazed
I hear to-day, as I have heard before,
The mode of thought taught
by these people here.
And more and more uncertain do I grow,
When I perceive, how powerfully in life
This mode of thought doth
work. Full many a day
Have I spent thus, thinking how I might
shape
Time's riddles as they solved themselves to me
In
words, that hearts might grasp and trembling feel.
Happy indeed
was I, if I could fill
Only the smallest corner of some soul
Amongst my audience with the warmth of life.
And oftentimes it
seemed success was mine,
Nor would I make complaint of fruitless
days.
Yet all results of teaching thus could lead
Only to
recognition of this truth
So loved and emphasized by men of
deeds,
That in the clash of life's realities,
Thoughts are
dim shadows, nothing more nor less:
They may indeed wing life's
creative powers
To due fruition, but they cannot shape
And
mould our life themselves. So have I judged
And with this modest
comment was content:
Where pale thoughts only work, all life is
lamed
And likewise all that joins itself to life.
More
potent than the ripest form of words,
However art might weave
therein her spell,
Seemed nature's gift, man's talents — and
more strong
The hand of destiny to mould his life.
Tradition's mountainweight, and prejudice
With dull oppressive
hand will always quench
The strength of e'en the very best of
words.
But that which here reveals itself in speech
Gives
men, who think as I do, food for thought.
Clearly we saw the kind
of consequence
That comes when sects, in superheated speech,
Blind souls of men with dogma's seething stream.
But nought here
of such spirit do we find;
Here only reason greets the soul, and
yet
These words create the actual powers of life,
Speaking
unto the spirit's inmost depths.
Nay even to the kingdom of the
Will
This strange and mystic Something penetrates;
This
Something, which to such as I, who still
Wander in ancient ways,
seems but pale thought.
Impossible, it seems, to disavow
Its
consequences; none the less, myself
I cannot quite surrender to it
yet.
But it all speaks with such peculiar charm
And not as
though it really meant for me
The contradiction of experience.
It almost seems as if this Something found
The kind of man I
am, insufferable.
Strader:
I would associate myself in fullest sense
With every one of thy last spoken words:
And still more sharply
would I emphasize
That all results in our soul-life, which seem
To spring forth from the influence of ideas,
Cannot in any wise
decide for us
What actual worth of knowledge they conceal.
Whether there lives within our mode of thought,
Error or truth
— 'tis certain this alone
The verdict of true science can
decide.
And no one would with honesty deny
That words, which
are, in seeming only, clear,
Yet claim to solve life's deepest
mysteries,
Are quite unfit for such a scrutiny.
They
fascinate the spirit of mankind,
And only tempt the heart's
credulity;
Seeming to open door into that realm
Before
which, humble and perplexed, now stands
The strict and cautious
search of modern minds.
And he who truly follows such research
Is bound in honour to confess that none
Can know whence streams
the wellspring of his thought,
Nor fathom where the depths of
Being lie.
And though confession such as this is hard
For
souls who all too willingly would gauge
What lies beyond the ken
of mortal mind,
Yet every glance of every thinker's soul
Whether directed to the outer side,
Or turned towards the inner
depths of life,
Scans but that boundary and naught beside.
If we deny our rational intellect
Or set aside experience, we
sink
In depths unfathomable, bottomless.
And who can fail to
see how utterly
What passeth here for revelation new,
Fails
to fit in with modern modes of thought.
Indeed it needs but little
thought to see,
How totally devoid this method is
Of that,
which gives all thought its sure support
And guarantees a sense of
certainty.
Such revelations may warm listening hearts,
But
thinkers see in them mere mystic dreams.
Philia:
Aye, thus would always speak the science,
won
By stern sobriety and intellect.
But that suffices not
unto the soul,
That needs a steadfast faith in its own self.
She ever will give heed to words that speak
To her of spirit. All
she dimly sensed
In former days, she striveth now to grasp.
To speak of the Unknown may well entice
The thinker, but no more
the hearts of men.
Strader:
I too can realize how much there lies
In that objection; how it seems to strike
The idle dreamer, who
would only spin
The threads of thought, and seek the
consequence
Of this or that premise, which he himself
Hath
formed beforehand. Me — it touches not —
No outer
motive guided me to thought.
In childhood I grew up 'mid pious
folk
And, following their custom, steeped my soul
In
sense-intoxicating images
Of future sojourn in celestial
realms,
Wherewith they seek to comfort and beguile
Man's
ignorance and man's simplicity.
Within my boyish soul I sensed the
throb
Of utmost ecstasy, when reverently
I raised my
thoughts to highest spirit-worlds;
And prayer was then my heart's
necessity.
Thereafter in a cloister was I trained;
Monks
were my teachers, and in mine own heart
The deepest longing was to
be a monk, —
An echo of my parent's ardent wish.
For
consecration did I stand prepared
When chance did drive me from
the cloistered cell;
And to this chance I owe deep gratitude.
For, many days before chance saved my soul
It had been robbed
of inward peace and quiet;
For I had read and learned of many
things,
That have no place within the cloister-gate.
Knowledge of nature's working came to me
From books that were
forbidden to mine eyes;
And thus I learned new scientific
thought.
Hard was the struggle as I sought the path
Wandering through many a way to find mine own;
Nor did I ever gain
by cunning thought
Whate'er of truth revealed itself to me.
In fierce-fought battles have I torn the roots
From out my
spirit's soil of all that brought
Peace and contentment to me when
a child.
I understand indeed the heart that fain
Would soar
up to the heights — but for myself,
When once I recognized
that all I learned
From spirit-teaching was an empty dream,
I was compelled to find the surer soil
That science and discovery
create.
Luna:
We may surmise, each after his own kind,
Where sense and goal of life doth lie for each.
I altogether lack
the power to prove
According to the science of to-day,
What
spirit-teaching I have here received:
But clear within my heart I
feel and know
My soul would die without this spirit-lore,
As
would my body, if deprived of blood.
And thou, dear doctor,
'gainst our cause dost fight
With many words, and what thou now
hast told
Of thy life's conflict lends them weight indeed
Even with those who do not understand
Thy learned argument. Yet
would I ask
(Enter Theodora.)
Exactly
why it is that hearts of men
Receive the word of Spirit
readily,
As though self-understood: yet when man seeks
Food
for his spirit in such learned words
As thou didst use his heart
grows chill and cold.
Theodora:
Although I am at home 'mid just such men
As circle round me here, yet strangely sounds
This speech I
have just heard.
Capesius:
What strangeness there?
Theodora:
I may not say. Do thou, Maria, tell.
Maria:
Our friend has oftentimes explained to us
What strange experiences come to her.
One day she felt herself
completely changed,
And none could understand her altered
state.
Estrangement met her wheresoe'er she turned
Until she
came into our circle here.
Not that we fully understand
ourselves
What she possesses and what no one shares.
Yet we
are trained by this our mode of thought
The unaccustomed to
appreciate,
And feel with every mood of humankind.
One
moment in her life, our friend perceived,
All that seemed hers
aforetime, disappear;
The past was all extinguished in her
soul.
And since these wondrous changes came to her,
This
mood of soul hath oft renewed itself;
It doth not long endure; and
other times
She lives her life as ordinary folk.
Yet
whensoe'er she falls into this state,
The gift of memory doth fade
away.
She loseth from her eyes the power to see
And senseth
her surroundings, seeing not.
With a peculiar light her eyes then
glow,
And pictured forms appear to her. At first
They seemed
like dreams; anon they grew so clear,
That we could recognize
without a doubt
Some prophecy of distant future days.
Full
many a time have we seen this occur.
Capesius:
It is just this that little pleaseth me
Amongst these men; who mingle with good sense
And logic,
superstition's fallacies.
'Twas ever thus where men have walked
this path.
Maria:
If thou canst still speak so, thou dost not
yet
Perceive our attitude towards these things.
Strader:
Well, as for me, I freely must confess,
That I would sooner revelations hear
Than speak of questionable
spirit-themes.
For even if I fail to read aright
The riddle
of such dreams, yet those at least
I count as facts; and would
'twere possible
To see one instance of the mystery
Of this
strange spirit-mood before mine eyes.
Maria:
Perchance it is for look, she comes again.
And it doth seem to me as though e'en now
This mystic
spirit-mood would show itself.
Theodora:
I am compelled to speak. Before my soul
A pictured form stands wrapped in robes of light;
From which
strange words are sounding in mine ears.
I feel myself in future
centuries,
And men do I behold as yet unborn: —
They
also see the pictured form; they too
Can hear the words it speaks,
which thus resound —
'O ye, who lived in faith's
security,
Take comfort now in sight, and look on Me.
Receive
new life through Me. For I am He
Who lived within the souls of
those who sought
To find Me in themselves, by following
The
gospel-words My messengers did bring
And by their own devotion's
inward power.
The light of sense ye saw — believe ye now
In the creative spirit-world beyond.
For now indeed ye have
yourselves achieved
One atom of divine prophetic sight.
Oh,
breathe it deep, and feel it in your souls.'
A human form steps
from that sphere of light.
And speaks to me: ‘Thou shalt
make known to all
Who will give ear to thee, that thou hast
seen
What all mankind shall soon experience:
Once, long ago,
Christ lived upon the earth,
And from this life ensued the
consequence
That in soul-substance clad He hovers o'er
The
evolution of humanity,
In union with the earth's own
spirit-sphere;
And though as yet invisible to men,
When in
such form He manifests Himself,
Since now their being lacks that
spirit sight,
Which first will show itself in future times;
Yet even now this future draweth nigh
When that new sight shall
come to men on earth.
What once the senses saw, when Christ did
live
Upon the earth; this shall be seen by souls
When soon
the time shall reach its fullness due.’
(Exit.)
Maria:
This is the first time we have heard her
speak
In such a manner to so many folk.
At other times she
felt constrained to speech,
Only when two or three were gathered
round.
Capesius:
To me indeed it seems most curious,
That she, as though commanded or required,
Should find herself to
revelation urged.
Maria:
It may so seem; but we know well her ways
If at this moment she desired to send
Her inward soul-voice deep
into your souls,
The only reason was, that unto you
The
source, whence came her voice, desired to speak.
Capesius:
Concerning this strange future gift of
sight;
Whereof she spake, as dreaming, we have heard
That
he, who of this circle is the soul,
Hath oft already given full
report.
Is it not possible that from his words
The content
of her speech hath origin,
The mode of utterance coming from
herself?
Maria:
If matters thus did stand, we should not deem
Her
words of any consequence or weight:
But we have tested this
condition well.
Before she came into our circle here,
Our
friend had never heard in any way
Of that same leader's speeches,
nor had we
Heard aught of her before she came to us.
Capesius:
Then what we have to deal with is a
state,
Such as so often happens, contrary
To all the laws of
nature; and which we
Must merely estimate as some disease.
And only healthy thought, securely based
On fully conscious
sense-impressions, can
Pass judgment on the riddles set by
life.
Strader:
Yet even here one fact presents itself;
And what we now have heard must have some worth —
For, even
if we set aside all else
It doth compel the thought that
spirit-power
Can cause thought-transference from soul to soul.
Astrid:
Ah me, if ye would only dare to tread
The ground your mode of thought doth choose to shun:
As snow
before the sunlight's piercing glare
Your vain delusion needs must
melt away,
Which makes the moods revealed, in such minds
Appear diseased, abnormal, wonderful.
They are suggestive, but
they are not strange.
And small this wonder doth appear to me
When I compare it with the myriad
Of wonders that make up my
daily life.
Capesius:
Nay, nay, one thing it is to recognize
What lies before our eyes on every side,
But quite another, what
is shown us here.
Strader:
Of spirit 'tis not necessary to speak
Until there are things shown to us which lie
Outside the strictly
circled boundary
Set by the laws of scientific thought.
Astrid:
The clear shaft of the sunlight on the dew
Which glistens in the morning's golden light,
(Enter
Felix Balde.)
The hurling stream that riseth 'neath
the rock,
The thunder rumbling in the cloud-wrapped sky,
All
these do speak to me a spirit tongue:
I strove to understand it
and I know
That of this speech's meaning and its might,
Only
a faint reflection can be glimpsed
Through your investigations, as
they are.
And when that kind of speech sank deep within
My
heart, I found my soul's true joy at last.
Nor could aught else,
but human words alone
And spirit teaching grant this gift to
me.
Felix Balde:
Those words rang true indeed
Maria:
I must essay
To tell what joy fills all my heart to
see
(Enter Felicia Balde.)
For the first time
here with us yonder man,
Of whom we oft have heard; and joy doth
cause,
The wish to see him here full many times.
Felix Balde:
It is not usual for me that I should
Associate with such a crowd of men:
And not alone unusual
—
Felicia:
Aye, 'tis so.
His nature drives us into solitude
Away from all; year in, year out, we hear
Scarce any other
converse save our own.
And if this good man here from time to
time
(Pointing to Capesius.)
Came not to
linger in our cottage home,
We scarce should realize that other
men,
Besides ourselves, live on the earth at all.
And if the
man, who spake such wondrous words
But recently in yonder
lecture-hall,
And who affected us so potently,
Did not full
many a time my Felix meet,
When he is gone about his daily
tasks,
Ye would know nought of our forgotten life.
Maria:
So the professor often visits you?
Capesius:
Assuredly. And I may tell you all,
The
very deep indebtedness I feel
To this good woman, who doth give to
me
In rich abundance, what none other can.
Maria:
And of what nature are these gifts of hers?
Capesius:
If I would tell the tale, then must I
touch
A thing that verily doth seem to me
More wonderful
than much that here I've heard,
In that it speaks more nearly to
my soul.
But were I in some other place, these words
Would
hardly pass the barrier of my lips;
Yet here they seem to flow
therefrom with ease.
In my soul-life there often comes a time
When it doth feel itself pumped out and dry.
It seems as though
the very fountain-head
Of knowledge had run dry within my
heart.
Then can I find no word of any kind
Worthy to speak
or worthy to be heard.
And when I feel such spirit barrenness
I flee to these good people, and seek rest
In their reviving,
peaceful solitude;
Then Mistress Felix tells me many a tale
Set forth in wondrous pictures, manifold,
Of beings, dwelling in
the land of dreams,
Who lead a joyous life in fairy realms.
When thus she speaks, her tone and speech recall
Some oft-told
legend of the ancient days.
I ask no question whence she finds
these words
But this one thing alone I clearly know:
That
new life flows therefrom into my soul,
And sweeps away its dull
paralysis.
Maria:
To hear such splendid witness to the skill
Of Dame Felicia doth, in wondrous wise,
Harmoniously blend in
every way
With all that Benedictus told to us
About his
friend's deep hidden knowledge-founts.
Felix Balde:
He who spake words to us just now, which
showed
(Benedictus appears at the door.)
How in
the realm of universal space,
And vast eternities his spirit
dwelt,
Hath surely little need to speak o'er much
Of simple
men.
Benedictus:
Thou errest friend. For me
Infinite value hath each
word of thine.
Felix Balde:
It was presumption only, and the bent
Of idle talk, when thou didst honour me
To wander at thy side
our mountain paths.
Only because thou didst conceal from me
How much thyself dost know, I dared to speak.
But now our time is
up, and we must go —
A long way hence doth lie our quiet
home.
Felicia:
It hath been most refreshing once again
To come amongst mankind: and yet I fear
It will not happen very
soon again:
There is no other life which Felix deems
Better
than living in his mountain heights.
(Exeunt Felix and his
wife.)
Benedictus:
Indeed I well believe his wife is
right,
Nor will he come again for many days.
It needed much
to bring him here to-day.
And yet the reason lies not in
himself
Why no one knoweth aught of him or his.
Capesius:
He only seemed to me eccentric, strange;
And many an hour I found him talkative
When I was with him; but
his mystic speech
And strange discourse remained obscure to me,
When he revealed all that he claims to know.
He spoke of solar
beings housed in rocks;
Of lunar demons, who disturb their
work;
And of the sense of number hid in plants;
And he who
listens to him cannot long
Keep clear the thread of meaning in his
words.
Benedictus:
And yet 'tis also possible to feel
As if the powers of Nature, through these words,
Sought to reveal
themselves in their true state.
(Exit.)
Strader:
Already do I feel forebodings strange
That now dark hours are coming in my life.
For since the days of
cloistered solitude,
Where I was taught such knowledge, and
thereby
Struck to the very darkest depth of soul,
Not one
experience has stirred me so,
As this weird vision of the seeress
here.
Capesius:
Indeed I cannot see that aught of that
Should prove unnerving. And I fear, my friend,
That if thou once
dost lose thy certainty,
Dark doubt will soon envelop all thy
thought.
Strader:
Too true! And 'tis the fear of just this
doubt
That causeth me full many an anxious hour.
From my
experience I know nought else
Of this strange gift of seership,
save that when
Life's vexing problems sorely trouble me,
Then, ghostlike, riseth from dark spirit-depth,
Before my spirit's
eyes, some phantom form
Like some dream-being, grim and
terrible,
Pressing with fearful weight upon my soul,
And
clutching horribly around my heart.
It seems to speak right
through me words like these:
‘If thou dost fail to gain the
victory
O'er me with those blunt weapons of thy thought,
Thou art a fleeting phantom, nothing more,
Formed by thine own
deluded imagery.’
Theodosius:
That is the destiny of all such men,
As do approach the world by thought alone.
The spirit's voice
dwells deep in every soul.
Nor have we strength to pierce the
covering
That spreads itself before our faculties.
Thought
doth bring knowledge of things temporal,
Of things that vanish in
the course of time:
The everlasting and all spirit-truth
Are
found but in the inner depths of man.
Strader:
If, then, the fruitage of a pious faith
Is able to give rest to weary souls,
Such souls may wander safely
in that path,
And find sufficiency within themselves.
And
yet the power of knowledge, pure and true,
Doth never bloom on
such a. path as this.
Theodosius:
Yet there can be no other way to light
True spirit-knowledge in the hearts of men.
Pride may seduce
and change to fantasies
The soul's true depths of feeling, and may
see
A vision only where faith's beauty lies.
One thing alone
of all we here have heard
From spirit-teaching of the higher
worlds,
Strikes clear upon our honest human sense:
That only
in the spirit-world itself
The soul can feel itself in its true
home.
The Other Maria:
So long as man feels need of speech
alone,
And nought besides, so long such words as these
May
satisfy bim: but the fuller life
With all its strife, its
yearnings after joy,
And all its sorrow, needeth other food
To nourish and sustain the fainting soul.
For me, an inner voice
did drive me on
To spend all the remaining days of life
Which were allotted me, in helping those
Whom stress of destiny
had smitten down
And plunged in deepest poverty and need.
And far more oft I found it necessary
To soothe the anguish of the
soul of man
Than heal his body's pain and suffering.
But I
have felt indeed in many ways
My will's weak impotence to comfort
men.
So that I am compelled to seek fresh strength
From out
the treasured store which floweth forth
Abundantly from
spirit-sources here.
The quickening warmth of words which greet my
sense,
Flows forth with magic force into my hands;
And
thence, like healing balsam, forth again,
When those hands touch
some sorrow-laden soul.
It changeth on my lips to strengthening
words
Which carry comfort unto pain-racked hearts.
The
source of words like these I do not ask;
I feel their truth
— they give me living life.
And every day more clearly do I
see,
That they derive their strength not from my will
In all
its weakness, but create anew
Myself each day unto myself
again.
Capesius:
Yet surely there are men enough on earth
Who, though they lack such revelation's aid,
Perform
innumerable deeds of good?
Maria:
In sooth there is no lack of men like these
In many places; but my friend doth mean
A different thing; and
if thou didst but know
The life she led, thou wouldst speak
otherwise.
Where unused powers in full abundance dwell
There
love will cause the seed to germinate
In rich abundance in the
heart's good soil.
But our friend here exhausted life's best
powers
In never-ending toil beyond her strength;
And all her
will to live lay crushed and dead
Beneath the cruel weight of
destiny,
Which fell upon her. All her strength she gave
To
careful guidance of her children's weal:
And low already had her
courage ebbed
When early death took her loved husband home.
In such a state as this, days dull and drear
Seemed all fate had
in store whilst life remained.
But then the powers of destiny
prevailed
To bring her 'neath the spell of spirit-lore;
And
soon with us she felt the vital force
Of life break forth in her a
second time.
Fresh aims in life she found, and with them came
Fresh courage once again to fight and strive.
And thus in her
the spirit hath achieved
In very truth to fashion from decay
A new and living personality.
And when the spirit in such fruit as
this
Shows its creative potency, we learn
It s nature, and
the way it speaks to us.
And, if no pride lies hidden in our
speech,
And highest moral aims live in our hearts;
If we
believe that in no way at all
Our teaching is our own; — but
that alone
The spirit shows itself within our souls —
Then may we surely venture to assert
That in thy mode of thinking
may be found
But feeble shadows waving to and fro
Athwart
the real true source of human life:
And that the spirit, which
ensouls our work
Is linked in inward harmony with all
That
weaves the web of destiny for man
Deep in the very fundaments of
life.
I have been privileged for many years
To give myself
to vital work in life:
And during all this time more bleeding
hearts
And yearning souls have come before mine eyes,
Than
many would conceive were possible.
I do esteem thy high ideal
flight, —
The proud assurance of thy sciences:
I like
to see the student-audience,
Respectful, sit and listen at thy
feet:
And that to many souls thy work doth bring
Ennobling
clarity of thought, I know.
But yet regarding thought like this,
it seems,
Trustworthiness can only dwell therein
So long as
thought lives in itself alone.
Whereas the realm of which I am a
part
Sends into deep realities of life
The fruitage of its
words, since it desires
To plant in deep realities its roots.
Far, far away from all thy thought doth lie
The written word
upon the spirit-heaven
Which with momentous tokens doth
announce
New growth upon the tree of humankind.
Thought on
the old lines clear and sure may seem,
Yet can it only touch the
tree's coarse bark,
And never reach the living sap within.
Romanus:
For my part I do seek in vain the bridge
That truly leadeth from ideas to deeds.
Capesius:
'Tis true our friends do over-estimate
The power that can be wielded by ideas,
But thou dost in another
way mistake
The actual course of true reality:
For it is
certain that ideas must form
The germ of all the actual deeds of
men.
Romanus:
If this friend doth so many deeds of good,
The impulse thereunto lies in herself
And her warm-hearted
nature, not in thought.
Most certainly 'tis needful for man's
soul,
After the busy day of toil and work,
With noble
thought to edify the mind.
But yet 'tis only schooling of man's
will
In harmony with all his skill and power
To undertake
some real work in life
Which will help forward all the human
race.
When whirr of busy wheels sounds in mine ears,
Or when
I see some creaking windlass drawn
By strong stout hands of men
content to work,
Then do I sense indeed the powers of Life.
Germanus:
Often in careless speech have I
maintained
That I preferred things droll and humorous
And
held these only full of wit and charm,
Deeming that for my brain
at any rate,
They always would provide material
Best fitted
to fill up the time that lies
Between my recreation and my
work.
But now quite tasteless to me seem such things;
The
Power Invisible hath conquered me;
And I have learned to feel that
there may be
More powerful forces in humanity,
Than all our
wit's frail castles in the air.
Capesius:
And did it seem that nowhere else but
here
'Twas possible to find such spirit-powers?
Germanus:
Indeed the life I used to live did offer
me
Full many a type of spiritual work:
Yet cared I not to
pluck or taste its fruit.
But this strange mode of thought which
blossoms here
Seems to attract and draw me to itself
However
little I desired to come.
Capesius:
Most pleasant hath this hour of converse
been,
And we are debtors to our hostess here.
(Exeunt all, except Maria and Johannes.)
Johannes:
Oh, stay a little while yet by my side,
I am afraid: — so desperately afraid: —
Maria:
Tell me; what is it aileth thee, my friend?
Johannes:
The first cause was our leader's speech; and
then
The chequered converse of these people here.
It all
hath moved and stirred me through and through.
Maria:
But how could simple speeches such as these
Seize on thine heart with such intensity?
Johannes:
Each word seemed in that moment unto me
A dreadful symbol of our nothingness.
Maria:
Indeed it was significant to see
Pour
forth in such short time so many kinds
Of life and man's
conflicting tendencies,
In all the speeches that we lately
heard.
Yet 'tis indeed a most peculiar trait
Of life, as it
is lived amongst us here,
To bring to speech the inner mind of
man;
And much that otherwise comes slowly forth,
Stands here
revealed in little space of time.
Johannes:
A mirrored picture 'twas of fullest life
That showed me to myself in clearest lines:
This
spirit-revelation makes me feel
That most of us protect and train
one trait
And one alone in all our character,
Which thus
persuades itself it is the whole.
I sought to unify these many
traits
In mine own self and boldly trod the path
Which here
is shown, to lead unto that goal;
And it hath made of me a
nothingness.
Keenly I feel what all these others lack,
And
yet I sense as keenly that they all
Have actual part in life
itself, whilst I
Stand but on unsubstantial nothingness.
It
seemed whole lines of life ran into one
Significant in those brief
speeches here.
But then mine own life's portrait also rose
And stood forth vividly within my soul.
The days of childhood
first were painted there,
With all its fullness and its joy in
life:
Then came the picture of my youthful prime
With that
proud hopefulness in parent-hearts
Awakened by the talents of
their son.
Then dreams concerning my career in art,
Which
formed life's all in those old happy days,
Surged up from out my
spirit's inmost depths
Exhorting to fulfil my cherished hopes;
And then those dreams in which thyself didst see
How I
translated into coloured form
The spirit-life that liveth in thy
soul.
Then saw I tongues of fire spring up and lick
Around my youthful dreams and artist hopes,
Reducing all to dust
and nothingness.
Thereafter rose another pictured form
From
out that drear and dreadful nothingness —
A human form,
which once had linked its fate
In faithful love with mine in days
long past.
She sought to hold me by her when I turned
Long
years ago unto my home again,
Called to attend my mother's funeral
rites.
I heeded not, but tore myself away;
For mighty was
the power that drew me here
To this thy circle and the goals of
life
Which here are set before our eager gaze.
In those dark
days I felt no sense of guilt
When I did rend in twain the bond of
love,
That was unto another soul its life.
Nor later when
the message came to me
How that her life did slowly pine away,
And finally was altogether quenched
Did I feel aught of guilt
until to-day;
But full of meaning were those recent words
In
yonder chamber which our leader spake;
How that we may destroy by
power misused
And perverse thought the destiny of those
Whom
bonds of loving trust link to our souls.
Ah, hideously these words
again resound
Out of the picture, thence re-echoing
With
ghastly repetition from all sides:
‘Her murderer thou art!
her hast thou slain!’
Thus whilst this weighty speech hath
been for all
The motive to probe deep within themselves,
Within my heart it hath brought forth alone
The consciousness of
this most grievous guilt.
By this new means of sight I can
perceive
How far astray my striving footsteps erred.
Maria:
And at this moment, friend, in dark domains
Thou walkest, and none else can help thee there,
Save he, in
whom we all do put out trust.
(Maria is called away;
re-enter Helena.)
Helena:
I feel constrained to linger by thy side
A little while; since now for many weeks
Thy gaze hath held so
much of grief and care.
How can the light, which streams so
radiantly
Bring gloom unto thy soul, which only strives
With
utmost strength to seek and know the truth?
Johannes:
Hath then this light brought naught but joy
to thee?
Helena:
Not the same joy as that which once I knew,
But that new joy which springeth from those words,
Through
which the spirit doth reveal itself.
Johannes:
Natheless I tell thee that the self-same
power,
Which doth in thee create, can also crush.
Helena:
Some error must have crept into thy soul
With cunning tread, if this be possible;
And if dull care instead
of happiness,
And moods of sorrow flow forth from the source
Of truth itself instead of spirit-bliss
In free abundance: seek
then in thyself
The stumbling-blocks that thus impede thy way.
How often are we told that only health
Is the true fruitage of
our teaching here,
Which makes to blossom forth the powers of
life.
Shall it then show the contrary in thee?
I see its
fruitage in so many lives,
Which gather trustingly around me
here.
Their former mode of life grows day by day
Strange and
still stranger to such souls as these;
As well-springs are fresh
opened in their hearts,
Thenceforth renewing life within
themselves.
To gaze into the primal depths of being
Doth not
create those passionate desires
Which torture and torment the
souls of men.
(Exit.)
Johannes:
It took me many years to understand
And know the vanity of things of sense
When spirit-knowledge is
not joined with them
In close and intimate companionship.
But that the words of highest wisdom's light
Uttered by thee, are
empty vanity
One single moment hath sufficed to prove.