Four Mystery Plays
GA 14
The Portal of Initiation (Written 1910)
Scene 2
Landscape: rocks and springs. The entire scene is to be thought of as taking place in the-soul of Johannes Thomasius. What follows is the content of his meditation.
(There sounds from the springs and rocks:)
Know thou thyself, O man.
Johannes:
'Tis thus I hear them, now these many
years,
These words of weighty import all around.
I hear them
in the wind and in the wave:
Out from earth's depths do they
resound to me:
And as a tiny acorn's mystery,
Confines the
structure of a mighty oak,
So in the kernel of these words there
lies,
All elemental nature; all I grasp
Of soul, of spirit,
time, eternity.
It seems mine own peculiarities
And all the
world besides live in these words:
‘Know thou thyself, O
man. Know thou thyself.’
(From the springs and rocks resounds:)
Know
thou thyself, O man.
Johannes:
And now — I feel
Mine inmost being terrified
to life:
Without the gloom of night doth weave me round,
And
deep within my soul thick darkness yawns:
And sounding from this
universal gloom
And up from out the darkness of my soul
These words ring forth: ‘Know thou thyself, O man.’
(From the springs and rocks resounds:)
Know
thou thyself, O man.
Johannes:
It robs me of my very self: I change
Each hour of day, and am transformed by night.
The earth I follow
on its cosmic course:
I seem to rumble in the thunder's peal,
And flash adown the lightning's fierce-forked tongue —
I
Am. — Alas, already do I feel
Mine own existence snatched
away from me.
I see what was my former carnal shape,
As some
strange being, quite outside myself,
And infinitely far away from
me.
But now another body hovers near;
And through its mouth
I am compelled to speak: —
‘Ah, bitter sorrow hath he
brought to me;
So utterly I trusted him of old.
He left me
lonely with my sorrow's pain,
He robbed me of the very warmth of
life,
And thrust me deep beneath the chill, cold ground.’
Poor soul, 'tis she I left, and leaving her
It was in truth
mine own self that I left;
And I must suffer all her pain and
woe.
For knowledge hath endowed me with the power
Myself
into another's self to fuse.
Ah me! Ye quench again by your own
power
The light of inner knowledge ye have brought,
Ye cruel
words, ‘Know thou thyself, O man.’
(From the springs and rocks resounds:)
Know
thou thyself, O man.
Johannes:
Ye lead me back again within the sphere
Of mine own being's former fantasies.
Yet in what shape know I
myself again!
My human form is lost and gone from me;
Like
some fierce dragon do I see myself;
Begotten out of primal lust
and greed.
And clearly do I see how up till now
Some dim
deluding veil of phantom forms
Hath hid from me mine own
monstrosity.
Mine own self's fierceness must devour my Self.
And through my veins run like consuming fire
Those words, that
once with elemental force
Revealed the core of suns and earths to
me.
They throb within my pulse, beat in mine heart;
And even
in mine inmost thoughts I feel
Strange worlds e'en now blaze forth
like passions fierce.
They are the fruitage of these very
words:
‘Know thou thyself, O man. Know thou
thyself.’
(From the springs and rocks resounds:)
Know
thou thyself, O man.
Johannes:
There, — from that dark abyss, what
creature glares?
I feel the chains that hold me chained to
thee.
So fast was not Prometheus rivetted
Upon the naked
rocks of Caucasus,
I am rivetted and forged to thee
Who art
thou, fearful, execrable shape?
(From the springs and rocks resounds:)
Know
thou thyself, O man.
Johannes:
Oh yea, I know thee; for thou art myself:
Knowledge doth chain to thee, pernicious beast,
(Enter
Maria unnoticed by Johannes.)
Chain mine own self — pernicious beast —
to thee.
I willed to flee from thee; but I was blind,
Blinded by glamour of the worlds, whereto
My folly fled to free me
from myself;
And now once more within my sightless soul
Blind through these words: ‘Know thou thyself, O man.’
(From the springs and rocks resounds:)
Know
thou thyself, O man.
Johannes: (As though coming to himself, sees Maria. The
meditation passes to the plane of inner reality.)
Thou here, my friend?
Maria:
I sought thee, friend, although I know full
well
How comforting to thee is solitude,
When many varying
thoughts of many men
Have flooded o'er thy soul. I also know
I cannot by my presence help my friend
In this dark hour of strife
— yet yearnings vague
Drive me in this same moment unto
thee;
When Benedictus' words, instead of light,
Such
grievous sorrow drew from thy soul's depths.
Johannes:
How comforting to me is solitude!
Yea, I have sought to find myself therein,
So often when to
labyrinths of thought
The joys and griefs of men had driven me.
But now, O friend, that, too, is past and gone.
What
Benedictus' words at first aroused
Within my soul, and all that I
lived through
When listening to the speeches of those men,
Seems but indeed a little thing, when I
Compare therewith the
storm that solitude
With sullen brooding hath brought forth in
me.
Ah me! when I recall this solitude!
It hounded me into
the voids of space,
And tore me from my very self in twain,
Within that soul to whom I brought such grief
I rose, as though I
were that other self.
And there I had to suffer all the pain
Of which I was myself the primal cause.
Ah cruel, sombre, fearful
solitude
Thou giv'st me back unto myself indeed,
Yet but to
terrify me with the sight
Of mine own nature's fathomless
abyss.
Man's final refuge hath been lost to me:
I have been
robbed of solitude.
Maria:
I must repeat what I have said before.
Alone can Benedictus succour thee;
Only from him may we obtain
support
And that firm basis which we both do lack.
For know
thou this I also can no more
Endure the riddle of my life,
unless
His gentle guidance solveth it for me.
Full often
have I kept before mine eyes
This truth sublime, that o'er all
life doth float
Appearance and deception if we grasp
Life's
surface only in our moods of thought.
And o'er and o'er again it
spake to me:
Thou must take knowledge how illusion's veil
Weaves all around thee; and however oft
It may appear to thee as
truth, beware;
For evil fruitage may in truth arise
If thou
shouldst try within another's soul
To wake the light that lives
within thyself.
Yet in the best part of my soul I know
That
even this oppressive weight of care
Which hath o'erwhelmed thy
soul, dear friend of mine,
As thou didst tread with me the path of
life,
Is part and parcel of the thorny way,
That leads unto
the light of Truth itself.
Thou must live through each horror and
alarm
That can spring forth from vain imagining
Before the
Truth in essence stands revealed.
Thus speaks thy star; and by
that same star's speech
It doth appear to me that we shall walk
One day united, on the spirit-paths.
And yet whene'er I seek to
tread these paths
Black night doth spread a curtain round my
sight.
And many things I am compelled to see,
Springing as
fruitage from my character,
Intensify the darkness of that
night.
We two must seek clear vision in that light,
Which,
though it vanish for a while from sight,
Can never be extinguished
in the soul.
Johannes:
But then, Maria, dost thou realize
Through what my soul hath fought its way but now?
A grievous
destiny is thine, dear friend,
Full well I know. And yet how far
remote
From thy pure nature is the avenging force,
That hath
so wholly shattered mine own soul.
Thou canst ascend the clearest
heights of truth,
And scan with steadfast gaze life's tangled
path;
And whether in the darkness or the light
Thou wilt
retain thine own identity.
But me each moment may deprive of
Self.
Deep down I had to dive within the hearts
Of those who
late revealed themselves in speech.
I followed one to cloistered
solitude, —
And in another's soul I listened to
Felicia's fairy lore. I was each one;
Only unto myself I seemed as
dead;
For I must fain believe that primal life
Did spring
from very Nothingness itself,
If it were right to entertain the
hope,
That out of that dread nothingness in me
A human being
ever could arise.
For I am driven from fear into the dark
And from the darkness back again to fear
By wisdom stored within
these living words:
‘Know thou thyself, O man. Know thou
thyself.’
(From the springs and rocks the words resound:)
Know thou thyself, O man.
Curtain