Four Mystery Plays
GA 14
The Portal of Initiation (Written 1910)
Scene 4
A landscape which seeks to express the world of souls by its characteristic peculiarities.
Enter Lucifer and Ahriman. Johannes is seen at the right of the stage in deep meditation. What follows is experienced by him in meditation.
Lucifer:
O man, know thou thyself; O man,
feel me.
From spirit guidance, thou hast freed thyself,
And
into earth's free realms thou hast escaped.
Midst earth's
confusion thou didst seek to prove
Thine own existence; and to
find thyself
Was thy reward, and was thy destiny.
Me didst
thou find: for spirits willed
To cast a veil before the eyes of
sense;
Which veil I rent in twain. Those spirits willed
To
follow out their will alone in thee;
But I gave thee self-will and
foiled their aim.
O man, know thou thyself; O man, feel me.
Ahriman:
O man, know me; O man, feel thou thyself.
Thou hast escaped from darkened spirit-realms
And thou hast
found again the earth's pure light,
So now from my sure ground
drink strength and truth.
I make earth hard and fast. The spirits
willed
To snatch away from thee the charm of sense;
Which
charm I weave for thee in light condensed.
I lead thee unto true
reality.
O man, know me; O man, feel thou thyself.
Lucifer:
Time was not when thou didst not live through
me.
I followed thee throughout the course of life,
And was
permitted to bestow on thee
Strong personal traits and joy in
thine own self.
Ahriman:
Time was not when thou didst not me
behold.
Thy mortal eyes saw me in all earth's growth;
I was
permitted to shine forth for thee
In beauty proud and revelation's
bliss.
(Exit with Lucifer.)
Johannes (to himself in meditation):
This is the sign
as Benedictus told.
Before the world of souls stand these two
powers:
The one, as Tempter, lives within the soul;
The
other doth obscure the sight of man
When he directeth it to
outward things.
The one took on the woman's form e'en now,
To bring the soul's illusions 'neath my gaze;
The other may be
found in everything.
(Enter the Spirit of the Elements with Capesius and Strader, whom he has brought to the earth's surface from the earth's depths. They are conceived as souls looking out upon the earth's surface. The Spirit of the Elements is aged and stands erect upon a sphere. Capesius and Strader are in astral garb; the former, though the older man of the two in years, here appears the younger. He wears blue robes of various shades, Strader wears brown and yellow.)
Spirit:
So have ye reached the spot ye longed to
find.
It proved indeed a heavy care to me,
To grant your
wish. Spirits and elements
Did rage in mad wild storm when their
domain
I had to enter with your essences.
Your minds opposed
the ruling of my powers.
Capesius:
Mysterious Being, who art thou, who hast
Brought me to this fair realm through spirit-spheres?
Spirit:
The soul of man may only look on me,
Whene'er the service which I render him
Hath been achieved. Yet he
obeys my powers
Through all the moving sequences of time.
Capesius:
It matters little to me to enquire
What spirit led me hither to this place.
I feel life's powers
revive in this new land,
Whose light doth seem to widen mine own
breast
In my pulse-beat I feel the whole world's might;
And
premonitions of exalted deeds
Thrill in my heart. I will translate
in words
The revelation of this beauteous realm,
That hath
refreshed me in such wondrous wise;
And souls of men shall bloom,
as choicest flowers
If I can pour into their life on earth
The inspiration flowing from these founts.
(Lightning and thunder
from the depths and heights.)
Strader:
Why quake the depths, and why resound the
heights
When hope's young dreams surge upward in the soul?
(Lightning and thunder.)
Spirit:
To human dreamers words of hope like these
Sound proud indeed; but in the depths of earth
The vain
illusions of mistaken thought
Awake such thunderous echoes
evermore.
Ye mortals hear them only at those times
When ye
draw nigh to my domain. Ye think
To build exalted temples unto
Truth,
And yet your work's effects do but unchain
Storm-spirits in primeval. depths of earth.
Nay more, the spirits
must destroy whole worlds,
That deeds ye do in realms where time
hath sway
May not cause devastation and cold death
Through
all the ages of eternity.
Strader:
So these eternal ages must regard
As
empty fantasy what seems the truth
To man's best observation and
research.
(Lightning and thunder.)
Spirit:
An empty fantasy, so long as sense
Doth
only search in realms to spirit strange.
Strader:
Thou may'st well call a dreamer that friend's
soul
Which in the joy of youth its goal doth set
With such a
noble strength and high desire;
But in mine aged heart thy words
fall dead
Despite their summoned aid of thunderous storms.
I
tore myself from cloistered quietude
To proud achievement in my
search for truth.
In life's storm-centres many a year I stood,
And men had confidence in me, and what
I taught them through my
deep strong sense for truth.
(Lightning and
thunder.)
Spirit:
'Tis fitting for thee to confess that none
Can tell whence stream the fountains of our thought,
Nor where
the fundaments of Being lie.
Strader:
Oh this same speech, which in youth's hopeful
days
So oft with chill persistence pierced my soul
When
thought-foundations quaked, which once seemed firm
(Lightning and thunder.)
Spirit:
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.
Strader:
So soon again such gruesome speech from
thee!
This too I heard before in mine own soul,
When once a
seeress threateningly did wish
To wreck the firm foundations of my
thought
And make me feel the sharp dread sting of doubt.
But
that is past, and I defy thy might,
Thou aged rogue, so cunningly
concealed
Beneath a mask devised by thine own self
To
counterfeit the form of nature's lord.
Reason will overthrow thee,
otherwise
Than thou dost think, when once she is enthroned
Upon the proud heights of the mind of man.
As mistress will she
reign assuredly
Not as some handmaiden in nature's realm.
(Lightning and thunder.)
Spirit:
The world is ordered so, that every act
Requires a like reaction: unto you
I gave the self; ye owe me my
reward.
Capesius:
I will myself create from mine own soul
The spirit counterpart of things of sense.
And when at length
all nature stands transformed,
Idealized through man's creative
work,
Her mirrored form shall be reward enough;
And then if
thou dost feel thyself akin
To that great mother of all worlds,
and spring'st
From depths where world-creating forces reign,
Then let my will, which lives in head and breast,
Inspiring me to
aim at highest goals,
Be thy reward for deeds commanded.
Thy
help hath raised me from dull sentiment
To thought's proud heights
... Let this be thy reward!
(Lightning and
thunder.)
Spirit:
Ye well can see, how little your bold words
Bear weight in my domain: they do but loose
The storm, and
rouse the elements to wrath,
As adversaries of the ordered
world.
Capesius:
Take then thine own reward where't may be
found.
The impulse that doth drive the souls of men
To seek
true spirit-heights within themselves
Set their own measure, their
own order make.
Creation were not possible for man
If others
wished to claim what he had made.
The song that trills from out
the linnet's throat
Sufficeth for itself; and so doth man
Find his reward, when in his fashioning work
He doth experience
creative joy.
(Lightning and thunder.)
Spirit:
It is not meet to grudge me my reward.
If ye yourselves cannot repay the debt
Then tell the woman, who
endowed your souls
With power, that she must pay instead of
you.
(Exit.)
Capesius:
He hath departed. Whither turn we now?
To find our way aright in these new worlds
Must be, it seems, the
first care of our minds.
Strader:
To follow confidently the best way,
That we can find, with sure but cautious tread,
Methinks should
lead us straightway to the goal.
Capesius:
Rather should we be silent as to goal.
That we shall find if we courageously
Obey the impulse of our
inner self,
Which speaks thus to me: ‘Let Truth be thy
guide;
May it unfold strong powers within thyself
And mould
them with the noblest fashioning
In all that thou shalt do; then
must thy steps
Attain their destined goal, nor go
astray.’
Strader:
Yet from the outset it were best our steps
Should not lack consciousness of their true goal,
If we would
be of service unto men
And give them happiness. He, who would
serve
Himself alone, doth follow his own heart;
But he, who
wills to serve his neighbour best,
Must surely know his life's
necessities.
(The Other Maria, also in soul form, emerges
from the rocks, covered with precious stones.)
But see I What wondrous being's this? It seems
As though the
rock itself did give it birth.
From what world-depths do such
strange forms arise?
The Other Maria:
I wrest my way through solid rock,
and fain
Would clothe in human speech its very will;
I sense
earth's essence and with human brains
I fain would think the
thoughts of Earth herself.
I breathe pure air of life, and I
transmute
Beings of air into the feeling flow
That surging
swells within the breast of man.
Strader:
Then thou canst not assist us in our
quest.
For far aloft from men's endeavour stands
All that
must abide in nature's realm.
Capesius:
Lady, I like thy words, and I would fain
Translate thy form of speech into mine own.
The Other Maria:
Most strange doth seem to me your
proud discourse.
For, when ye speak yourselves, unto mine ear
Your words do sound incomprehensible.
But if I let them echo in
my heart
And issue in new form, they spread abroad
O'er all
that lives in mine environment
And solve for me its hidden
mystery.
Capesius:
If this, thy speech, be true, then change
for us
Into thy speech, that nature may respond,
The
question of the true worth of man's life.
For we ourselves lack
power to question thus
Great mother nature that we may be
heard.
The Other Maria:
In me ye only see an humble maid
Of that high spirit-being, which doth dwell
In that domain
whence ye have just now come.
There hath been given me this field
of work
That here in lowliness I may show forth
Her mirrored
image unto mortal sense.
Capesius:
So then we have just fled from that
domain
Wherein our longing could have been assuaged?
The Other Maria:
And if ye do not find again the
way,
Your efforts shall be fruitless evermore.
Capesius:
Then tell which way will lead us back
again.
The Other Maria:
There are two ways. If my power doth
attain
To its full height all creatures of my realm
Shall
glow in beauty's most resplendent dress.
From rocks and water,
glittering light shall stream,
And colours in their richest
fulness flash
On all around, whilst life in merry mood
Shall
fill the air with joyous harmony.
And if your souls do then but
steep themselves
In mine own being's purest ecstasy
On
spirit pinions shall ye wing your way
Unto primeval origins of
worlds.
Strader:
That is no way for us; for in our speech
We name such talk mere fancy, and we fain
Would seek firm
ground, not fly to cloud-capped heights.
The Other Maria:
Then if ye wish to tread the other
path
Ye must-forthwith renounce your spirit's pride.
Ye must
forget what reason doth command,
And let the touch of nature
conquer you.
In your men's breasts let your child-soul have
sway,
Artless and undisturbed by thought's dim shades.
So
will ye surely reach Life's fountain-head,
Although unconscious of
the way ye go.
(Exit.)
Capesius:
Thus are we thrown back on ourselves
alone,
And have but learned that it behoveth us
To work and
wait in patience for the fruit
That future days shall ripen from
our work.
Johannes (speaking, as it were, from his meditation. Here and in
the following scene he sits aside and takes no part in the
action):
So do I find within the soul's domain
Those
men who are already known to me:
First he who told us of Felicia's
tales,
Though here I saw him in his youthful prime;
And also
he who in his younger days
Had chosen for his life monastic
rule,
As some old man did he appear: with them
There stood
the Spirit of the Elements.