Four Mystery Plays
GA 14
The Portal of Initiation (Written 1910)
Scene 3
A room for meditation. The background is a great purple curtain. The scene is purple in colour with a large yellow pentagonal lamp suspended from the ceiling. No other furniture or ornaments are in the room except the lamp and one chair. Benedictus, Johannes, Maria, and a child.
Maria:
I bring to thee this child who
needs some word
From out thy mouth.
Benedictus:
My child, henceforth each eve
Thou
shalt come unto me to hear the word
That shall fill full thy soul
ere thou dost tread
The realm of souls in sleep. Wilt thou do
this?
Child:
Most gladly will I come.
Benedictus:
This very eve
Fill thy soul full ere sleep
embraceth thee,
With strength from these few words: ‘The
powers of light
Bear me aloft unto the spirit's home.’
(Maria, having taken the child away, returns.)
Maria:
And now, that this child's destiny doth flow
Harmoniously through future days beneath
The shadow of thy
gracious fatherhood,
I too may claim my leader's kind advice,
Who am its mother, not by bond of blood
But through the mighty
power of destiny.
For thou hast shown to me the way wherein
I had to guide its footsteps from that day,
When I discovered it
before my door
Left by its unknown mother desolate.
And
wonder-working proved themselves those rules
Whereby thou madest
me train my foster-child.
All powers, that deep in body and in
soul
Lay hidden, issued forth to light and life:
Clear proof
it was that all thy counselling
Sprang from the realm which
sheltered this child's soul
Before it built its body's
covering.
We saw its early promise blossom forth
And radiate
more brightly each new day;
Thou dost know well how hard it was
for me
To gain the child's affection, at the first.
It grew
up 'neath my care, and yet nought else
Save habit chained its soul
at first to mine.
It only realized and felt that I
Gave it
the nurture and the food that served
The needs of body and the
growth of soul.
Then came the time when in the child-like heart
There dawned the love for her who fostered it.
An outer
incident brought forth this change —
The visit of the
seeress to our group.
Gladly the child did go about with her
And soon did learn full many a beauteous word
Steeped in the
mystic charm that graced her speech.
Then came the moment when her
ecstasy
Descended on our friend with magic power.
The child
could see her eyes, strange smouldering light,
And, terrified unto
the vital core,
The young soul found itself.
In her
dismay she fled unto mine arms;
And from that hour did grow her
love for me.
Since that same time she doth accept from me
The gifts of life with her full consciousness
Not with blind
instinct: aye, and since that day
When this young heart first
quivered into warmth,
Whene'er her gaze met mine with loving
glance,
Thy wisdom's treasures of their fruitage failed,
And
much already ripe hath withered up.
I saw appear in her those
tokens strange
That proved so terrible unto my friend.
A dark enigma am I to myself,
And grow still darker. Thou wilt
not deny
To solve for me life's fearful questionings
I Why
do I mar the life of friend and child,
When I in love attempt to
work on them
According to the dictates of my heart
By
spirit-lore instructed and inspired?
Oft hast thou taught me this
exalted truth —
Illusion's veil o'erspreads life's surfaces
—
Yet must I see with greater clarity
Why I must bear
this heavy destiny,
That seems so cruel and that works such
harm.
Benedictus:
Within our circle there is formed a
knot
Of threads that Karma spins world-fashioning.
Thy
sufferings, my friend, are links in chains,
Forged by the hand of
destiny, whereby
The deeds of Gods unite with human lives.
—
When in life's pilgrimage I had attained
That
rank which granted me the dignity
To serve with counsel in the
spirit-spheres,
A godlike Being did draw nigh to me,
Who
would descend into the realms of earth,
And dwell there, veiled in
form of flesh, as man.
For just at this one turning-point of
time
The Karma of mankind made this demand.
For each great
step in world-development
Is only possible when Gods do stoop
To link themselves with human destiny.
And this new
spirit-sight that needs must grow
And germinate henceforth in
souls of men
Can only be unfolded when a God
Doth plant the
seed within some human heart.
My task it was to find that human
soul
Which worthy seemed to take within itself
The powerful
Seed of God. I had to join
The deed of heaven to some human
lot.
My spirit's eye then sought, and fell on thee.
Thy
course of life had fitted thee to be
The mediator in salvation's
work.
Through many former lives thou hadst acquired
Receptiveness for all the greatest things
That human hearts can
e'er experience.
Within thy tender soul thou didst bring forth,
As spirit heritage, the noble gift
Of beauty, joined to
virtue's loftiest claim:
And that which thine eternal Self had
formed
And brought to being through thy birth on earth
Did
reach ripe fruitage when thy years were few. —
Thou didst
not scale steep spirit-heights too soon,
Nor grew thy yearning for
the spirit-land
Before thou hadst the full enjoyment known
Of harmless pleasures in the world of sense.
Anger and love thy
soul did learn to know
When thy thoughts dwelt yet far from
spirit-life.
Nature in all her beauty to enjoy,
And pluck
the fruits of art, — these didst thou strive
To make thy
life's sole content and its wealth.
Merry thy laughter, as a child
can laugh
Who hath not known as yet life's shadowed fears.
Thus thou didst learn to understand life's joy,
And mourn in
sadness, each in its own time,
Before thy dawning conscience grew
to seek
Of sorrow and of happiness the cause.
A ripened
fruit of many lives that soul,
That enters earth's domains, and
shows such moods.
Its childlike nature is the blossoming
And
not the ground-root of its character.
And such a soul alone was I
to choose
As mediator for the God, who sought
The power to
work within our human world.
And now thou learnest that thy nature
must
Transform itself into its opposite,
When it flows forth
to other human souls.
The spirit in thee ripens whatsoe'er
In human nature can attain the realm
Of vast eternity; and much it
slays
That is but part of transitory realms.
And yet the
sacrifices of such deaths
Are but the seeds of immortality;
All that which blossoms forth from death below
Must grow unto the
higher life above.
Maria:
E'en so it is with me. Thou giv'st me light:
But light that doth deprive me of my sight,
And sunder me from
mine own self in twain.
Then do I seem some spirit's instrument
—
No longer master of myself. No more
Do I endure that
erstwhile form of mine
Which only is a mask and not the truth.
Johannes:
O friend, what ails thee? Vanished is the
light
That filled thine eye: as marble is thy frame.
I grasp
thine hand and find it cold as death.
Benedictus:
My son, full many trials have come to
thee;
And now thou stand'st before life's hardest test.
Thou
seest the carnal covering of thy friend;
But her true self doth
float in spirit-spheres
Before mine eyes.
Johannes:
See! Her lips move; she speaks.
Maria:
Thou gav'st me clearness yet this clearness
throws
A veil of darkness round on every side.
I curse thy
clearness; and I curse thee too,
Who didst make tool of me for
weird wild arts
Whereby thou willedst to deceive mankind.
No
doubt at any moment hitherto
Had crossed my mind of heights thy
spirit reached;
But now one single moment doth suffice
To
tear all faith in thee from out my heart.
Those spirit-beings thou
art subject to,
I now must recognize as hellish fiends.
Others I had to mislead and deceive
Because at first I was
deceived by thee. —
But I will flee unto dim distances,
Where not a sound of thee shall reach mine ears;
Yet near
enough that thy soul may be reached
By bitter curses framed by
these my lips.
For thou didst rob my blood of all its fire,
That thou mightst sacrifice to thy false god
That which was
rightly mine and mine alone.
But now this same blood's fire shall
thee consume.
Thou madest me trust in vain imaginings;
And
that this might be so, thou first didst make
A pictured falsehood
of my very self.
Often had I to mark how from my soul
Each
deed and thought turned to its opposite;
So now doth turn what
once was love for thee,
Into the fire of wild and bitter hate.
Through all worlds will I seek to find that fire
Which can
consume thee — I curse — Ah, woe!
Johannes:
Who speaketh here? I do not see my
friend.
I hear instead some gruesome being speak.
Benedictus:
Thy friend's soul hovers in the heights
above.
Only her mortal image hath she left
Here with us: and
where'er a human form
Is found bereft of soul, there is the
room
Sought by the enemy, the foe of good,
To enter into
realms perceptible,
And find some carnal form through which to
speak.
Just such an adversary spake e'en now,
Who would
destroy the work imposed on me
For thee, my son, and millions yet
unborn.
Were I to deem these wild anathemas,
Which our
friend's shell did utter here and now,
Aught else but some grim
tempter's cunning skill,
Thou durst not follow more my
leadership.
The enemy of Good stood by my side,
And thou
hast seen into the darkness plunged
All that is temporal of that
dear form,
For whom, my son, thy whole love burns and glows.
Since through her mouth spirits spake oft to thee,
The Karma of
the world could not restrain
Hell's princes also speaking thus
through her.
Now only mayst thou seek her very soul
And
learn her nature's inmost verity;
For she shall form for thee the
prototype
Of that new higher life of humankind
To which thou
dost aspire to raise thyself.
Her soul hath soared aloft to
spirit-heights,
Where every man may find his being's source
Which springs to life and fullness in himself.
Thou too shalt
follow her to spirit-realms,
And see her in the Temple of the Sun.
—
Within this circle there is formed a knot
Of threads
which Karma spins, world fashioning.
My son, since thou hast now
attained thus far,
Thou shalt still further pierce beyond the
veil.
I see thy star in fullest splendour shine.
There is no
place within the realm of sense
For strife, such as men wage when
they do strive
And struggle after consecration's gift.
Whate'er the outer world of sense begets
Of riddles soluble by
intellect,
Whate'er this world engenders in man's heart
Born
tho' it be of love or bitter hate
And howsoever direful its
results:
The spirit-seeker must attain the power
In all
these things to stand unmoved, serene,
Casting his gaze all
unperturbed and calm
Upon the scene where such contentions
rage.
For him must other powers unfold themselves
Which are
not found upon this field of strife.
So didst thou need to fight
to prove thy soul
In combat such as comes to him alone,
Who
finds himself accoutred for such powers
As do belong unto the
spirit-worlds.
And had these powers found thee not ripe enough
To tread the path of knowledge, they needs must
Have maimed thy
powers of feeling, ere thou daredst
To know all that which now is
known to thee.
The Beings, who can gaze into world-depths,
Lead on those men, who would attain the heights,
First to that
summit whence it may be shown
Whether there lies in them the power
to reach
To conscious sight within the spirit-realms.
And
those in whom such powers are found to lie
Are straightway from
the world of sense set free.
The others all must wait their season
due.
But thou, thou hast preserved thy Self, my son,
When
Powers on high stirred to its depths thy soul,
And potent spirits
shrouded thee with fear.
Right powerfully thy Self hath fought its
way
E'en though thy very heart was torn by doubts,
That
willed to thrust thee into darksome depths.
True pupil of my
teaching hast thou been,
First since that hour, so fraught with
fate for thee,
When thou didst learn to doubt thy very self,
And gavest up thyself as wholly lost,
But yet the strength within
thee held thee fast.
Then might I give thee of my treasured
store
Of wisdom, whence to draw the strength to stand
Assured, e'en when mistrusting thine own self.
Such was the wisdom
which thou didst attain
More steadfast than the faith once given
to thee.
Ripe wast thou found, and thou may'st be set free.
Thy friend hath gone before and waits for thee
In spirit-worlds,
and thou shalt find her there.
I can but add this guidance for
thee now:
Kindle the full power of thy soul with words
Which
through my lips shall grant to thee the key
To spirit-heights, and
they will lead thee on
When naught else leads, that eyes of sense
can see.
Receive them in the fulness of thy heart:
‘The weaving essence of the light streams
forth
Through depths of space to fill the world with life;
Love's grace doth warm the centuries of time
To call forth
revelation of all worlds.
And spirit-messengers come forth to
wed
The weaving essence of creative light
With revelation of
the souls of men:
And that man, who can wed to both of these
His very Self, he lives in spirit-heights.’
O spirits, who
are visible to man,
Quicken with life the soul of this our son:
From inmost depths may there stream forth for him
That which
can fill his soul with spirit-light.
From inmost depths may there
resound for him
That which can wholly wake in him his Self
To the creative joy of spirit-life.
A Spirit-Voice behind the stage:
To founts of worlds
primeval
His surging thoughts do mount; —
What as
shadow he hath thought
What as fancy he hath lived
Soars up
beyond the world of form and shape;
On whose fulness pondering
Mankind in shadow dreams,
O'er whose fulness gazing forth
Mankind in fancy lives.
Curtain