Chapter X: Introduction (10)

1. Philia } The spiritual beings through whose agency the
2. Astrid } human Soul-forces are connected with the Cosmos.
3. Luna }
4. The 'Other' Philia, representing the element of Love in the
world to which the spirit-personality belongs.
5. The Soul of Theodora appearing in 'The Soul's Probation'
as Cecilia, foster daughter of Keane and sister of Thomas who
impersonates Johannes Thomasius.
6. The Guardian of the Threshold.
7. The Double of Johannes Thomasius.
8. The Spirit of Johannes Thomasius' Youth.
9. The Soul of Ferdinand Fox in the realm of Ahriman (Scene 12). He
appears as Ferdinand Fox only in 'The Guardian of the Threshold.'

VII. The personalities of Benedictus and Maria also appear as mental experiences, to wit: In the second scene as those of Johannes Thomasius, in the third scene as those of Strader. Maria appears thus to Johannes Thomasius in Scene 9.

VIII. The individualities of Benedictus, Hilary True-to-God, Magnus Bellicosus, Albertus Torquatus, Strader, Capesius, Felix Balde, Dame Balde, Romanus, Maria, Johannes Thomasius and Theodora appear in the spirit-realm in the fifth and sixth scenes of this play, as 'souls'; and in the temple in the seventh and eighth scenes as personalities living in a far distant past.

In connection with 'The Soul's Awakening' it is advisable again to draw attention to a point already made with reference to the preceding soul-pictures. Neither the spiritual nor the psychic events nor the spiritual beings are intended to be mere symbols or allegories. Anyone interpreting them in this manner would quite misconceive the real being of the spiritual world. Even in the mental experiences which are shown (in the second, third, and tenth scenes) nothing merely symbolical is portrayed. They are genuine psychic experiences, as real for a person who has access to the spirit world as are persons and events in the world of the senses. Such a person will find 'The Awakening' a thoroughly realistic soul-picture. Were the case one of mere symbolism or allegory, I should certainly have left these scenes unwritten.

In response to various questions, I had once more attempted to add a few 'supplementary remarks' in explanation of this 'soul-picture;' but as on former occasions, I again suppress the attempt. I feel averse to adding material of this kind to a picture intended to speak for itself. Such abstract considerations have no part to play in the conception and working-out of the picture, and would only be a discordant element. The spiritual realities, here set forth, present themselves to the soul as convincingly as physical things present themselves to our bodily perception. Yet, as is natural, an unclouded spiritual vision views the beings and events shown in pictures painted by spiritual perception otherwise than the physical perceptions would behold the same beings and events. On the other hand, it must be said that the manner in which spiritual events array themselves before the perception of the soul determines alike the tendency and construction of such pictures.

THE SOUL'S AWAKENING

SCENE 1

Hilary's office. Fittings not very modern. He is a manufacturer of sawn woodwork.

SECRETARY:

And e'en our good friends in St. Georgestown
Declare that they too are dissatisfied.

MANAGER:

What? even they; it is deplorable.
The self-same reasons too; 'tis plain to see
With what regret and pain our friends announce
That they can deal no more with Hilary.

SECRETARY:

Complaints of our unpunctuality
And of the value of our goods compared
With those produced by our competitors
Reach us by post; and on my business trips
Our clients meet me with the same old tale.
The good name of this house is vanishing,
By Hilary's forefathers handed down
To us intact that we might heighten it.
And men begin to think that Hilary
Is swayed by dreamers and strange fantasies,
And, thus obsessed, no longer can bestow
The earnest care which he was wont to give
To all the operations of the firm,
Whose products were world-famous and unique.
So many as were our admirers then
So great is now the tale of those who blame.

MANAGER:

It is notorious that Hilary
Long since hath let himself be led astray
By seekers after some strange spirit gifts.
To such pursuits he ever was inclined;
But formerly he kept them separate
From business and its workaday routine.

(Enter Hilary.)

MANAGER (to the Secretary):

It seems advisable to me to speak
Alone with our employer for a while.

(Exit Secretary.)

MANAGER:

Anxiety it is that bids me seek
An interview and earnest speech with thee.

HILARY:

Why then does my adviser feel concerned?

MANAGER:

Things happen constantly which bring to light
A serious diminution in demand
For what we manufacture; nor do we
Produce as large an output as we should.
There is besides an increase of complaints
About the lower standard of our work,
And other houses step in front of us.
So too our well-known promptness hath declined
As many clients truthfully attest.
Ere long the best friends that remain to us
No more will be content with Hilary.

HILARY:

Long have I been full well aware of this
And yet indeed it leaves me unconcerned.
But none the less I feel an urgent need
To talk things over with thee; thou hast helped
Not only as the servant of my house,
But also as my dear and trusted friend.
And so I shall speak plainly to thee now
Of matters which I oft have hinted at.
Whoever wills to bring the new things in
Must be content to let the old things die.
Henceforth the business will be carried on
In different ways from those it knew before.
Production, that but stays in straitest bounds
And without care doth offer up its fruits
Upon the market of our earthly life
Regardless of the uses they may find,
Doth seem so trivial and of little worth,
Since I have come to know the noble form
Work can assume when shaped by spirit-men.
From this time forth Thomasius shall be
Directing artist in the workshops here,
Which I shall build for him close to our works.
So will the product made by our machines
Be moulded by his will in artist-forms
And thus supply for daily human need
The useful with the exquisite combined,
Art and production shall become one whole
And daily life by taste be beautified.
So will I add to these dead forms of sense,
For thus do I regard our output now,
A soul, whereby they may be justified.

MANAGER (after long reflection):

The plan to fabricate such wonder-wares
Suits not the spirit of our present age.
The aim of all production now must be
Complete perfection in some narrow groove.
The powers which work impersonally, and pour
The part into the whole in active streams,
Confer unthinkingly upon each link
A worth that is by wisdom not bestowed.
And were this obstacle not in thy path
Yet would thy purpose none the less be vain.
That thou shouldst find a man to realize
The plan thou hast so charmingly conceived
Passeth belief, at least it passeth mine.

HILARY:

Thou knowest, friend, I do not dream vain dreams.
How should I aim at such a lofty goal
Had not kind fate already brought to me
The man to realize what I propose?
I am amazed that thine eyes cannot see
That Strader is, in fact, this very man.
And one who, knowing this man's inner self,
And his own duty to humanity,
Conceives one of his duties to be this;
To find a field of work for such a man,
A dreamer is no proper name for him.

MANAGER (after manifesting some surprise):

Am I to look on Strader as this man?
In his case hath it not been manifest
How easily deluded mortals are
Who lack the power to know realities?
That his contrivance owes to spirit-light
Its origin doth not admit of doubt.
And if it can sometime be perfected
Those benefits will doubtless pour therefrom
Which Strader thought he had already won.
But a mere model it will long remain
Seeing those forces are still undisclosed
Whose power alone will give reality.
I am distressed to find that thou dost hope
Good will result from giving up thy plant
Unto a man who came to grief himself
With his own carefully contrived machine.
'Tis true it led his spirit up to heights
Which ever will entice the souls of men,
But which will only then be scaled by him
When he hath made the rightful powers his own.

HILARY:

That thou must praise the spirit of this man
And yet seek'st cause to overthrow his work
Doth prove most clearly that his worth is great.
The fault, thou sayest, did not lie in him,
That failure rather than success was his.
Among us therefore he will surely find
His proper place; for here there will not be
External hindrances to thwart his plans.

MANAGER:

And if, despite what I have just now said,
I were to strive within myself and try
To tune my reason to thy mode of thought,
Still one more point compels me to object.
Who will in future value this thy work?
Or show such comprehension of thine aims
As to make use of what thou mayst have made?
Thy property will all be swallowed up
Before thy business hath been well begun,
And then it can no more be carried on.

HILARY:

I willingly admit my plans would show
Themselves imperfect, if amongst mankind
True comprehension were not first aroused
For this new kind and style of handicraft.
What Strader and Thomasius create
Must be perfected in the Sanctuary
Which I shall build for spirit knowledge here.
What Benedictus, what Capesius
And what Maria yonder shall impart
Will show to man the path that he should tread
And make him feel the need to penetrate
His human senses with the spirit's light.

MANAGER:

And so thou wouldst endow a little clique
To live self-centred, from the world apart,
And shut thyself from all true human life.
Thou fain wouldst banish selfishness on earth
Yet wilt thou cherish it in thy retreat.

HILARY:

A dreamer, it would seem, thou thinkest me,
Who thoughtlessly denies experience
That life hath brought him. Thus should I appear
Unto myself if, for one moment's space,
I held this view thou hast about success.
The cause that I hold dear may fail indeed,
Yet even if, despised by all mankind
It crumbles into dust and disappears,
Yet was it once conceived by human souls
And set up as a pattern on this earth.
In spirit it will work its way in life
Although it stay not in the world of sense.
It will contribute part of that great power
Which in the end will make it come to pass
That earthly deeds are wed to spirit aims;
This in the spirit-wisdom is foretold.

MANAGER:

I am thy servant and have had my say
As duty and conviction bade me speak;
Yet now the attitude thou hast assumed
Gives me the right to speak as friend to friend.
In work together with thee I have felt
Myself impelled for many a year to seek
A personal knowledge of the things to which
Thou giv'st thyself with such self-sacrifice;
My only guides have been the written words
Wherein the spirit-wisdom is revealed.--
And though the worlds are hidden from my gaze
To which those writings had directed me,
Yet in imagination I can feel
The mental state of men whose simple trust
Leads them to seek such spirit-verities.
I have found confirmation in myself
Of what the experts in this love describe,
As being the possession of such souls
As feel themselves at home in spirit realms.
The all-important thing, it seems to me,
Is that such souls, despite their utmost care,
Cannot divide illusions from the Truth
When they come down from out the spirit heights
As come they must, back into earthly life.
Then from the spirit world, so newly won,
Visions descend upon them which prevent
Their seeing clearly in the world of sense,
And, thus misled, their judgment goes astray
In things pertaining to this life on earth.

HILARY:

What thou wouldst raise as hindrance to my work
Doth but confirm my purpose; thou hast proved
That in thyself I now have one friend more
To stand beside me in my search for truth.
How could I have conjectured up till now
Thy knowledge of the nature of those souls
Who fain would come and join me in my task?
Thou know'st the perils ever threat'ning them.
So will their actions make it clear to thee
That they know paths where they are kept from harm.
Soon thou wilt doubtless know that this is so,
And I shall find henceforth as in the past
In thee a counsellor, who doth not fail.

MANAGER:

I cannot lend my strength to fashion deeds
Whose processes I do not understand.
Those men in whom thou trusted seem to me
Misled by the illusion I have named:
And others too, who listen to their words,
Will victims to that same illusion fall
Which doth o'erpower all thought that knows its goal.
My help and counsel evermore shall be
Thine to command as long as thou dost need
Acts based upon experience on earth;
But this new work of thine is not for me.

HILARY:

By thy refusal thou dost jeopardize
A work designed to further spirit-aims.
For I am hampered lacking thine advice.
Consider how imperious is the call
Of duty when fate designs to make a sign,
And such a sign I cannot but behold
In these men being here at our behest.

MANAGER:

The longer thou dost speak in such a strain
More clearly dost thou prove thyself to me,
The unconscious victim of illusion's spell.
Thy purpose is to serve humanity,
But in reality thou wilt but serve
The group which, backed by thee, will have the means
To carry on awhile its spirit-dream.
Soon shall we here behold activities
Ordained no doubt by spirit for these souls,
But which will prove a mirage to ourselves
And must destroy the harvest of our work.

HILARY:

If thou wilt not befriend me with thine aid
Drear doth the future stretch before my soul.

(Enter Strader, left.)

HILARY:

Dear Strader, I have long expected thee.
As things are now it seems advisable
To spend the present time in serious talk
And later on, decide what we shall do.
My dear old friend hath just confessed to me
That he can not approve what we have planned.
So let us now hear counsel from the man
Who promises his spirit to our work.
Much now depends upon how at this time
Men recognize each other in their souls,
Who each to each seem like a separate world
And yet united could accomplish much.

STRADER:

And so the loyal friend of Hilary
Will not join with us in the hopeful work
Which our friend's wisdom hath made possible?
Yet can our plan alone be carried out
If his proved skill in life be wisely joined
In compact with the aims of future days.

MANAGER:

Not only will I hold aloof myself,
But I would also make clear to my friend,
That this design hath neither aim nor sense.

STRADER:

I do not wonder thou should'st hold that view
Of any plan in which I am concerned.
I saw a great inception come to grief
Because today the forces still are hid
Which turn clear thought to sense reality.
'Tis known I drew from spirit-light the thought,
Which, though proved true, yet had no life on earth.
This fact doth witness 'gainst my power to judge
And also kills belief that spirit hides
The source of true creation on the earth.

And 'twill be very difficult to prove
That such experience hath giv'n me power
Not to fall victim for the second time.
For I must needs fall into error once
That I may safely reach the land of truth.

Yet 'tis but natural men should doubt my word.
Thy spirit outlook most especially
Must find our wisdom promise little gain.

I hear thee praised for that keen sympathy
Which goes out from thee to all spirit-life,
And for the time and strength thou givest it.
But it is also said that thou wouldst keep
Thy work on earth severely separate
From spirit-striving, which with its own powers
Would work creatively in thy soul-life.
To this pursuit thou wouldst devote alone
Those hours which earthly labour doth not claim.
The aim, however, of the spirit-tide
Where I see clear life's evolution writ,
Is to join spirit-work for spirit-ends
To earthly labours in the world of sense.

MANAGER:

So long as spirit but to spirit gives
All it can do in free creative might,
It raiseth souls in human dignity
And gives them reason in their life on earth.
But when it seeks to live out its own self
And over others' selves to domineer
It straightway doth draw nigh the realm in which
Illusion often can endanger truth.
This knowledge unto which I have attained
By personal effort in the spirit-world
Doth make me act as I do act today;
It is not personal preference, as thou,
Misled by what is said of me, wouldst think.

STRADER:

An error 'tis in spirit-knowledge then
That makes thee hostile to the views I hold.
Through this will difficulties multiply.
No doubt 'tis easy for the spirit-seer
To work in partnership with other men
Who have already let themselves be taught
By life and nature what existence means.
But when ideas which claim that they do spring
From spirit sources join reluctantly
With others flowing from the self-same source,
One can but seldom hope for harmony.

(After a period of quiet meditation.)

Yet that which must will surely come to pass.
Renewed examination of my plans ...
Perhaps may make thee change the views, to which
On first consideration thou dost cling.

Curtain whilst all three are sunk in reflection.

SCENE 2

Mountainous country; in the distance, Hilary's house, which is in the vicinity of the workshops, which are not seen. Hilary's house has no upper floor; no corners or angles, and is crescent shaped. A waterfall on the left of the stage, facing audience. A rivulet runs from the waterfall between little rocks across the stage.

Johannes is seen sitting on a rock to right. Capesius left.

JOHANNES:

The towering masses with their silent life
Brim up the air with riddles manifold;
Yet ask no maddening questions such as slay
A soul that asks not for experience
But only for serenity in which
It may behold life's revelation clear.
See how these colours play among these cliffs,
How calmly dumb the bare expanses lie,
How twilight clothes the woods in green and blue;
This is the world in which Johannes' soul
Will rest and weave tomorrow's fantasies.

Johannes' soul shall feel within itself
The depths and distances of this its world;
And by creative powers this soul shall be
Delivered of its hidden energy
And make known that the world's enchantment is
Only appearance glorified by art.
Yet could Johannes ne'er accomplish this
Did not Maria through her love awake
With gentle soul-warmth forces in his soul.
I must acknowledge fate's wise leadership
In drawing me so closely unto her.
How short a time it is since I have known
That she is by my side; how closely knit
Hath been in these few weeks Johannes' soul
Into a living unity with hers.
As spirit she lives in me though far off;
She thinks within my thought when I call up
Before my soul the objects of my will.

(Maria appears as a thought of Johannes.)

JOHANNES (continuing):

Maria here before me! but how strange!
She must not thus reveal herself to me!
This stern cold spirit-face, this dignity
That chills my earthly feelings--'tis not thus
Johannes will or can Maria see
Draw nigh to him. 'Tis not Maria--this--
Whom by kind fate's decree wise powers have sent.

(Maria disappears from Johannes' vision.)

Where is Maria whom Johannes loved
Before she had transformed his soul in him
And led it up to ice-cold spirit-heights?
And where Johannes, whom Maria loved,
Where is he now?--He was at hand e'en now.
I see no more Johannes, who didst give
Me back unto myself with joy. The past
Cannot and shall not rob me of him thus.

(Maria again appears before Johannes' vision.)

MARIA:

Maria as thou fain wouldst her behold
Lives not in worlds where shines the light of truth.
Johannes' spirit treads illusion's realm
By fantasy misled; set thyself free
From strong desire and its alluring power.
I feel in me the turmoil of thy soul;
It robs me of the calmness that I need.
'Tis not Johannes who directs the storm
Into my soul; it is some other man,
O'er whom he was victorious in the past.
Now as a wraith it roams the spirit-plains;--
Once known for such it straight will fade away.

JOHANNES:

That is Maria as she really is,
Who of Johannes speaks as he appears
To his own vision at the present time.
Long since into another form he rose
Than that which errant fancy paints for me
Because I am content to let my soul
Amuse itself with dreams in slothful ease.
But not yet doth this being hold me fast.
Escape from him I still can--and I will--
He often calls me to his side and strives
To win me for myself by his own powers--
Yet will I strive to free myself from him.
Long years ago he flooded my soul's depths
With spirit being; none the less today
No more do I desire to harbour him.

Thou stranger being in Johannes' soul
Forsake me--give me back my pristine self
Before thou didst commence thy work in me.
I would behold Johannes free of thee.

(Benedictus appears at Maria's side, equally as a thought of Johannes.)

BENEDICTUS:

Johannes, heed the warning of thy soul;
The man who, flooding thee with spirit, rose
To be thy nature's primal energy,
Must at thy side still hold his faithful sway
And claim that thou transform his being's powers
Through thy will into human deeds. He must,
Himself concealed, work out his task in thee;
That thou some day mayst reach what thou dost know
To be thy being's distant future goal.
Thy personal sorrow thou must bear through life
Fast locked within the chamber of thy soul.
So only shalt thou win thyself, if thou
Dost bravely let him own thee more and more.

MARIA (seen as a thought of Johannes):

My holy earnest vow doth beam forth power
Which shall preserve for thee what thou hast won.
Me shalt thou find in those cold fields of ice,
Where spirits must create light for themselves.
When darkness wounds and maims the powers of life
Seek me within those cosmic depths where souls
Wrestle to win God-knowledge for themselves.
By conquest that wins being from the void;
But never seek me in the realm of shades,
Where outlived soul-experience wins by guile
A transient life from out illusion's web,
And dream's frail phantoms can the spirit cheat;
So that in pleasure it forgets itself
And looks on serious effort with distaste.

(Benedictus and Maria disappear.)

JOHANNES:

She saith illusion ...
... yet 'tis passing fair.
It lives; Johannes feels it in himself,
He feels Maria's nearness in him too.
Johannes will not know how spirit works
To solve the riddles of the soul's dark depths.
He will create and will as artists work.
So may that part of him still lie concealed,
Which consciously would gaze on cosmic heights.

(He sinks into further meditation.)

(Capesius rises from his seat; as it were arousing himself out of deep thought.)

CAPESIUS:

Did I not clearly feel within my soul
That which Johannes, dreaming over there,
Wrought as the pictures of his longing heart?
Within me glowed to life thoughts not mine own--
Such as he only could originate.
The being of his soul lived in mine own,
I saw him younger grown, as he beheld
Himself through vain illusion, and did mock
The ripe fruits that his spirit had achieved.

But hold! Why do I now experience this?
For seldom may the spirit-searcher see
The being in himself of other souls.

I mind, that Benedictus often said
That only he--and only for a while--
Can do this, whose good destiny ordains
That he shall be upraised one further step
Upon the spirit path. May I thus read
The meaning of what happened even now?
Seldom indeed could this thing be allowed;
For 'twould be terrible if aye the seer
Could see the inner being of men's souls.

Did I see truly?--or could it have been
Illusion let me dream another's soul?
I must enquire from Johannes himself.

(Capesius approaches Johannes, who now notices him for the first time.)

JOHANNES:

Capesius--I thought thee far from here.

CAPESIUS:

Yet my soul felt itself quite near to thine.

JOHANNES:

Near mine--at such a time--it cannot be!

CAPESIUS:

Why dost thou shudder at these words of mine?

JOHANNES:

I do not shudder ...

(At this moment Maria joins them; this enables both Johannes and Capesius to speak their next words to themselves.)

(To himself):

... how his steady glance
Doth pierce me to mine inmost depths of soul.

CAPESIUS (to himself):

His shudder shows me that I saw aright.

(Capesius turns to Maria.)

Maria, thou dost come in fitting time.
Perhaps thy tongue may speak some word of cheer.
To solve the problem which oppresseth me.

MARIA:

I thought to find Johannes here, not thee.
Foreboding bade me seek the problem's weight
In him--but thou, I fancied, wast content,
Devoted to that glorious enterprise
Which we are offered here by Hilary.

CAPESIUS:

What care I for it? It disturbs me now--

MARIA:

Disturbs thee? Didst thou not express delight
To think thy projects might be realized?

CAPESIUS:

What I have lived through in this fateful hour
Hath changed the former purpose of my soul,
Since all activity in work on earth
Must rob me of my new clairvoyant powers.

MARIA:

Whoe'er is suffered to tread spirit-ways
Finds many a hint to shape his destiny.
On soul paths he will try to follow them,
Yet they have not been rightly understood
If they disturb his duties on the earth.

(Capesius sits, and is plunged in thought while the vision of Lucifer appears to Maria.)

LUCIFER:

Thine effort will not bring thee much reward.
New force begins to stir within his heart
That opes the portal of his soul to me.
Maria, gaze with thy clairvoyant sight
Upon his inmost soul; and there behold
How he doth free himself on spirit-wings
From thy warm loving bonds of work on earth.

(Lucifer remains on the scene.)

(Maria turns towards Capesius to rouse him from his meditation, but at the same moment he seems to rouse himself of his own accord.)

MARIA:

If on the spirit-path Johannes felt
The nature of his duties hinder him,
'Twould not be right, though so it might appear.
He needs must work upon the outer plane.
Thy task is to expound the spirit-lore
To other men and such a task as this
Cannot impede the progress of thy soul.

CAPESIUS:

Far more than when they work on outer things
Do spirit forces lose themselves in words.
Words make one reason o'er what one has seen,
And reason is a foe to seership's power.
I had a spirit-vision even now
Which only could disclose itself to me
Because the soul which was revealed to me,
Although our earthly bodies are close friends,
Had never been by me quite understood
If I saw truly, I am no more bound
By any ties unto this work of earth.
For I must feel persuaded that high Powers
Now set another goal before my soul
Than that prescribed for it by Hilary.

(He places himself in front of Johannes.)

CAPESIUS:

Johannes, tell me truly, didst thou not
A while ago feel old, outlived desires
That lived within thee like thy present self,
While thou wast lost in meditation deep?

JOHANNES:

Can then my spirit's struggle work to form
Experience within another's soul?
And can such vision make mine error strong
To find its way to life in cosmic space?

(Johannes again falls into meditation.)

(Maria turns her face towards Lucifer and hears him say:)

LUCIFER:

Here too I find the soul's gate open wide.
I'll not delay but use this chance at once.
If also in this soul a spirit-wish
Is born, that work of love must come to naught
Which doth bode ill to me through Hilary.
I can destroy Maria's might in him:
And thus can add her power unto mine own.

(Capesius at this moment straightens up self-consciously, and, during the following speech, shows an increasingly definite conviction.)

CAPESIUS:

My doubts dissolve--that which I saw was true;
I was allowed to see Johannes' life.
So is it also clear that his world could
Only unfold itself because mine own
Would never draw near his and comprehend
The spirit-path doth ask for solitude.
Co-operation is but meant for those
Who comprehend each others' hopes and aims.
A soul which sets humanity aside
Attains the wide bounds of the worlds of light.
A pattern in old Felix can I find,
He seeks on paths that none but he may know
In proud seclusion for the spirit-light.
He sought and found because he kept himself
From ever grasping things by reason's strength.
In his track will I follow, and thy work,
Which hampers seership's power with earthly things,
Shall no more lead Capesius astray.

(Exit.)

MARIA:

So 'tis with man, what time his better self
Sinks into spirit-sleep and strong desire
Is all his being's food; until again
True spirit-nature wakes in glowing light.
Such is the sleep all human beings sleep
Before clairvoyant powers have wakened them.
They know not they are sleeping, though awake;
They seem awake, because they ever sleep.
The seer doth sleep, when to this waking state
He struggles forth from out his real self.
Capesius will now withdraw from us.
It is no transient whim; his mental life
Draws him away from us and from our plans.
It is not he that turns himself from us.
The dread decree of fate is plainly seen.
And so we who are left must consecrate
Our powers with more devotion to our work.

JOHANNES:

Maria, do not of Johannes ask
That for new aims at such a time as this
He should gird up his soul, which like all souls
Needs spirit-sleep in which it may mature
The forces which are germinating there.
I know that I in time to come shall dare
To work for spirit-worlds--but do not now
Appeal to me for services--not now.
Think how I drove away Capesius ...
Were I ripe for this work--he would be, too.

MARIA:

Capesius away? Dost thou not--dream?

JOHANNES:

I dreamed while conscious ... yea, I woke in dreams.
What would seem fantasy to cosmic powers
To me proved symbol that I was mature.
Right well I know my wish was my true self;
My thinking only was another self.
And so Johannes stood before my soul
As once he was, ere spirit seized on him
And filled his being with a second self.
Johannes is not dead;... a living wish
Createth him companion of my soul.
I may have stunned him, but not overthrown.
A living man, he claims his natural rights
Whene'er that other self must sink to sleep.
And to wake--always that--exceeds its powers.
Asleep it was throughout that time in which
Capesius could live within himself.
How my first nature tore me from myself.
My dreams did seem to him the sign of fate;
And so in me and not in him doth work
The power which drove him forth, and which forbids
Our spirit to be turned to work on earth.

MARIA:

The spirit-powers are coming--call on them.
To cosmic spirit-sources turn thy gaze
And wait until the powers within those depths
Discover that within thine own true self
Which stirs with conscious life akin to theirs.
Their magic words will show thine inward sight
That which makes them and thee a unity.
Cast out thine own brain's interfering speech,
That spirit may speak in thee as it wills;
And to this spirit-speech give thou due heed.
'Twill carry thee beyond the spheres of light
And link thee to true spirit-essence there.
Thy misty visions sprung from times long past
Will then grow sharp and clear in cosmic light,
But will not bind thee since thou hast control.
Compare them with these elemental forms,
With shadows and with phantoms of all kinds,
And place them near to demons manifold
And so discover what they really are.
But in the realm of spirits root thyself
Who primal source to primal source do bind,
Who dwell close linked with dormant cosmic powers
And order the processions of the spheres.
This view of cosmic things will give thee strength,
Amid the surging sea of spirit-life,
To blend thyself and inmost soul in one.

The spirit bids me tell thee this myself;
But now give ear to what thou knowest well
Though 'tis not wedded yet to thy soul-depths.

JOHANNES (still sitting on a rock to right of stage. He collects himself for a determined effort):

I will give ear--I will defy myself.

(From both sides advance elemental spirits. From the right of stage creatures like gnomes. They have steel-blue-grey bodies, small as compared with men; they are nearly all head, but it is bent forward and downward, and is lilac and purple in color, with tendrils and gills of various shades of the same hue. Their limbs are long and mobile, suitable for gesticulation, but ill-adapted for walking. From the left of stage come sylph-like figures, slender and almost headless; their feet and hands are partly fins and partly wings. Some of them are bluish-green, others yellowish-red. The yellowish-red ones are distinguished by sharper outlines than the bluish green ones. The words spoken by these figures are accompanied by expressive gestures developing into a dance.)

CHORUS OF THE GNOMES (dancing, hopping, and gesticulating in rhythm):

We harden, we strengthen (said sharply and quickly)
The nebulous earth-dust;
We loosen, we powder
Hard-crusted, earth-boulders;
Swift shatter we the hard,
Slow harden we the loose.
Such is our spirit-kind.
Of mental matter formed
Full-skilled were we before
When human souls still slept (said slowly and dreamily)
And dreamed when earth began.

CHORUS OF THE SYLPHS (a swaying motion in rhythm):

We weave and we unweave
The web of watery air;
We scatter and divide
Seed forces from the sun;
Light-force condense with care;
Fruit-powers destroy with skill;
For such is our soul-kind
From rays of feeling poured,
Which ever-living glows
That mankind may enjoy
Earth-evolution's sense.

CHORUS OF THE GNOMES (dancing, hopping, and gesticulating in rhythm):

We titter and we laugh (said sharply and quickly)
We banter and grimace,
When stumbling human sense
And fumbling human mind
Beholds what we have made;
They think they understand
When spirits from our age
Weave charms for their dull eyes (said slowly and emphatically).

CHORUS OF THE SYLPHS (a swaying motion in rhythm):

We take care, and we tend,
Bear fruit and in spirit,
When young mankind's dawn-life
And old mankind's errors
Consume what we have made
And childlike or greyhaired
Find in time's stream dull joy
From our eternal plans.

(These spirit-beings collect in two irregular groups in the background, and remain there visible. From the right appear the three soul-forces: Philia, Astrid, and Luna with 'the other Philia.')

PHILIA:

They ray out the light
As loving light-forms
To ripeness so blest,
So gently they warm
And mightily heat
Where embryo growth
Would reach actual life;
That this actual life,
May make souls rejoice
Who lovingly yield
To radiant light.

ASTRID:

'Tis life that they weave,
And help create,
In up-springing men,
They shatter the earth
And densify air;
That change may appear
In strenuous growth.
Such strenuous growth
Fills spirits with joy
Who feel that they weave
A life which creates.

LUNA:

They thoughtfully mould,
Alert to create
In flexible stuff;
They sharpen the edge
And flatten the face,
And cunningly build
The clearly-cut forms;
That clearly-cut forms
The will may inspire
With cunning to build,
Alert to create.

THE OTHER PHILIA:

They gather the blooms
And use without care
The magical works;
They dream of the true
And guard 'gainst the false;
That germs which lie hid
May wake into life.
And clairvoyant dreams
Make clear unto souls
The magical web
That forms their own life.

(These four soul-forces disappear towards the left; Johannes, who during the preceding events was deep in meditation, rouses himself.)

JOHANNES:

'And clairvoyant dreams
Make clear unto souls
The magical web
That forms their own life.'
These are the words that still distinctly ring
Within my soul; that which I saw before
Passed in confusion out of my soul's ken.

Yet what a power stirs in me, when I think;
'The magical web
That forms their own life.'

(He relapses once more into meditation; there appears to him as a thought-form of his own a group composed of: The Spirit of Johannes' Youth, with Lucifer on its right and Theodora's soul on its left.)

THE SPIRIT OF JOHANNES' YOUTH:

The life within thy wishes feeds my life,
My breath drinks thirstily thy youthful dreams;
I am alive when thou dost not desire
To force thy way to worlds I cannot find.
If in thyself thou losest me, I must
Do grievous painful service to grim shades:--
O guardian of my life ... forsake me not.

LUCIFER:

He never will forsake thee,--I behold
Deep in his nature longings after light
Which cannot follow in Maria's steps.
And when the radiance which is born of them
Doth fully light Johannes' artist-soul
It must bear fruit; nor will he be content
To cast this fruit away in yonder realm
Where love divorced from beauty reigns alone.
His self will no more seem of worth to him
Which fain would cast his best gifts to the shades
Because it sets by knowledge too much store.
When wisdom shall throw light on his desires
Their glorious worth will be revealed to him;
He only can think them of little worth
So long as they hide darkly in the soul.
Until they can attain to wisdom's light
I will be thy protector--through the light
I find deep-seated in the human soul.

He has as yet no pity for thy woes,
And ever lets thee sink among the shades
When he is striving up the heights of light.
For then he can forget that thou, his child,
Must lead a miserable phantom life.
But henceforth, thou wilt find me at thy side
When as a shade thou freezest through his fault.
I will exert my rights as Lucifer

(At the word 'Lucifer' the spirit of Johannes' youth starts.)

Reserved to me by ancient cosmic law,
And occupy those depths within his soul
He leaves unguarded in his spirit-flight.
I'll bring thee treasure that will light for thee
The dark seclusion of the shadow-realms.
But thou wilt not be fully freed till he
Can once again unite himself with thee.
This act he can delay ... but not prevent.
For Lucifer will well protect his rights.

THEODORA:

Thou spirit-child, thou liv'st Johannes' youth
In gloomy shadow-realms. To thee in love
Bends down the soul which o'er Johannes broods
From realms ablaze with light, aglow with love.
She will from thine enchantment set thee free
If thou wilt take so much of what she feels
As shall procure thee life in blessedness.
I will ally thee with the elements
Which labour unaware in cosmic space
Withdrawing ever far from waking souls.
With those earth-spirits thou canst fashion forms,
And with the fire-souls thou canst ray out power,
If thou wilt sacrifice thy conscious life
Unto the will that works with light and power
But without human wisdom. So shalt thou
Preserve thy knowledge, only half thine own,
From Lucifer, and to Johannes give
The services which are of worth to him.
From his soul's being I will bring to thee
What causeth him to crave thy being's aid,
And find refreshment in the spirit-sleep.

LUCIFER:

But beauty she can ne'er bestow on thee
Since I myself dare take it far from her.

THEODORA:

From noble feeling I will find the germ
Of beauty which grows ripe through sacrifice.

LUCIFER:

From free-will she will tear thee and instead
Give thee to spirits who dwell in the dark.

THEODORA:

I shall awaken sight by spirit filled
That e'en from Lucifer knows itself free.

(Lucifer, Theodora, and the Spirit of Johannes' youth disappear. Johannes, awaking from his meditation, sees 'the other Philia' approaching him.)

THE OTHER PHILIA:

And clairvoyant dreams
Make clear unto souls
The magical web
That forms their own life.

JOHANNES:

Thou riddle-speaking spirit--at thy words
This world I entered! Of its mysteries
One only--is important for my soul:
Whether, as living in the spirit worlds,
The shadow dwells who sought with Lucifer
And Theodora to be shown to me.

THE OTHER PHILIA:

He lives--and by thyself was waked to life.
E'en as a glass in pictures doth reflect
All things by light upon its surface thrown
So must whate'er in spirit-realms thou see'st--
Ere full maturity gives thee the right
To such clairvoyance--mirrored be in life
Within the realm of half-waked spirit-shades.

JOHANNES:

'Tis but a picture, mirrored thus by me?

THE OTHER PHILIA:

Yet one that lives and keeps its hold on life
So long as thou dost keep within thyself
An outlived self which thou indeed canst stun
But which as yet thou canst not overthrow.
Johannes, thine awakening is but false
Until thou shalt thyself set free the shade
Whom thine offence doth lend a magic life.

JOHANNES:

What thanks I owe this spirit, who brings truth
Into my soul--I needs must follow it.

Curtain falls slowly, while 'the other Philia' and Johannes remain quietly standing.

SCENE 3

The Same.

(Enter left, Magnus Bellicosus, Romanus, Torquatus, and Hilary, in deep conversation, and pausing in their walk.)

BELLICOSUS:

And if his headstrong mood will not be changed,
How can prosperity attend the work
Which Hilary is fain to dedicate
In loving service to his fellowmen?

ROMANUS:

What our friend's true companion in his work
Did give as reason why he did object,
Hath weight not only amongst men who form
Opinions based on outer facts of life.
Are not these arguments advanced by him
Also in harmony with mystic views?

BELLICOSUS:

Yet it lies not within the spirit group
Which holds our projects in its firm embrace.
Those who succeeded to our mystic task
Were Benedictus' pupils;--'tis for them
That Hilary would make a field of work
In which their spirit-fruitage can mature.
The wise powers ruling over destiny
Have, in the temple, joined them to ourselves;
Our friend, however, represents alone
The wisdom which to us within the shrine
As spirit-law and duty was revealed.

ROMANUS:

But art thou sure that thou dost understand
This spirit-law? More simply it might mean
That Benedictus and his pupils too,
Whom in his way he to the spirit led,
Should still remain within the temple's shrine
And not at this time tread the hard rough road
To which friend Hilary would lead them on.
For but too easily can spirit-sight
Be turned, upon that road, to soul's dream-sleep.

BELLICOSUS:

I did not hope to hear such words from thee
To Hilary's companion in his work.
We must indeed allow that knowledge gained
From books alone is but of little worth.
But thou art bound to recognize the signs
Which are begotten on the mystic way.
How Benedictus' pupils were impelled
To come to us, speaks clearly to our souls.
They are joined with us that we may obey
What their clairvoyance doth to them reveal.

TORQUATUS:

Another sign doth still make manifest
That full rich blessing from the spirit-powers
Upon that project hath not been outpoured
Which in the temple showed itself to us.
Capesius hath now withdrawn himself
From Benedictus and his pupils' group.
That he should not yet in its fullness feel
The wakefulness of soul which now in him
Doth Benedictus seek, doth cast sad doubt
E'en on our teacher's personal competence.

BELLICOSUS:

The gift of seership lies still far from me:
Yet intuition often doth reveal
Within my soul the meaning of events.
When for the first time in our sacred fane
I saw Capesius within our group
The thought oppressed me, that fate set him there
To be both near to us and yet far off.

ROMANUS:

Thine intuition I can fully grasp.
But at that very moment none amongst
Our new-found mystic friends so closely knit
By fate to us as Strader, could I find.
Such intuition is to me a sign
To show my soul the road, where I may then
With reason search; and when I come to act
I must destroy that intuition first
Which gave strength and direction to my thought.
Thus mysticism's strict decrees ordain.
In spirit-realms I find myself in truth
With Benedictus' pupils close allied;
Yet, if I leave my inner mystic group
And find my way back into life on earth,
By Strader's side alone dare I do this.

TORQUATUS:

But Hilary's companion in his work
Finds not in Strader's soul true spirit-strength
Such as can prove of use in outer life.
And if myself I heed my inner voice
It is revealed that he entirely lacks
The rightful mood to tread the mystic path.
What outward signs can show him of these things
And what his reason grasps of spirit-life,
Arouse the explorer's zeal in him;
From inward spirit-life he stands far off.
What can the spirit products of this man
Be but obscurely woven mystic dreams?

ROMANUS:

Upon the spirit path his friends have trod;
He hath not made sufficient progress yet
To join himself to foes of his own soul,
Who bring to many mystics danger great
When they pursue him into life on earth.

BELLICOSUS:

If thou dost think him safe from such attacks
Nought hinders thee from working for him there
So that this great scheme may be brought to pass
Which Hilary would carry out through him.
For when our friend's companion comes to know
How highly thou dost rate the man whom he
Dares think of little worth, he will in truth
Misdoubt his own opinion. Thou alone
Canst win him over to the cause we serve.
For well he knows that in thine outer life
Thou hast invariably achieved success
In all thou hast essayed with forethought wise.

ROMANUS:

If thou wilt Strader take, dear Hilary,
As thy companion, and, from this thy work
Keep Benedictus' other followers
On spirit paths from all illusion free,
Thou shalt not stand alone;--I offer thee
Not only what now Bellicosus asks
As my assistance; but will also help
With all the worldly goods at my command
In making Strader's plan a real success.

HILARY:

How canst thou think that Strader at this time
From Benedictus' pupils would depart?
To follow his own spirit-aims alone?
The others are as near him as himself.

ROMANUS:

In human life they well may stand so close.
But only that part of his soul can hold
That they in spirit too are one with him,
Which still is deeply sunk in spirit-sleep
But soon, methinks, it will be evident
How that part can grow ripe to waking life.

(Exeunt right.)

(Enter left--Capesius, Strader, Felix Balde, and Dame Balde; as if coming to a standstill during their talk because of the importance to them of the following dialogue.)

CAPESIUS:

To seek the spirit in mine inmost soul
Is all that I can do at such a time.
Were I to load myself with outward work,
That spirit might be brought to realms of sense,
With rashness should I strive to grasp the cause
Of being in those worlds whose essence true
I have not fully grasped within myself.
Of cosmic being I can see no more
Than hath already shaped itself in me.
How shall my work do good to other men
If in creating I but please myself?

STRADER:

Thy meaning is, I take it, that thy work
Will only carry thine own being's stamp;
And in that work, thou dost but manifest
To outward cosmic life thy personal self?

CAPESIUS:

Till I encounter with mine inner world
A being strange to me, 'tis even so.
How far I now can pierce another's soul
I realized with pain, when for a while
I was awake and could with clearness judge.

FELIX BALDE:

Thou speak'st as I have never heard thee speak--
But ne'er could I so understand thy mind
As I do now, when naught speaks but thyself.
In all thy words there rings the mystic mood
Which I have sought unwearied many years;
And which alone can recognise the light
In which the human spirit feels itself
A part of cosmic spirit through clear sight.

CAPESIUS:

Because I felt how near I'd drawn to thee
I sought thee, fleeing from the kind of life
That was about to slay mine inner world.

STRADER:

I often understood thy present speech;--
And then I thought it wisdom;--but no word
In all thy speech can I now understand.
Capesius and father Felix both
Conceal dark meanings in transparent words....

Do I not feel these words of thine are but
The cloak of forces: forces of the soul
That exile me from thee unto those words
Which lie remote from all thy spirit-paths?
Worlds I have no desire for,--since I must
Deep in my soul adore that world of thine.
The opposition I can lightly bear
Which from without now menaceth my work;
Yea, e'en if all my plans were broken up
Upon this opposition;--I could bear.
But I cannot forego these worlds of thine.

FELIX BALDE:

A man cannot attain the spirit-world
By seeking to unlock the gates himself.
Once didst thou give me pleasure, when of old
Of thine invention thou wast wont to speak--
Then, when enlightenment was granted thee
By what thou didst not strive to understand.
Thou wast far nearer to the mystic mood.

To strive for nought,--but just to live in peace,
Expectancy the soul's whole inner life:--
That is the mystic mood. When waked in man
It leads his inmost soul to realms of light.
Our outward tasks do not endure such mood.
If them thou wouldst through mysticism seek,
Mystic illusion will destroy thy life.

STRADER:

I need thee sorely;--yet I find thee not--
The being that unites us thou dost scorn.
Yet how can men be found to undertake
True cosmic work if mystics all decline
To leave their individuality?

FELIX BALDE:

Into thy world of active daily life
The tender being of clairvoyant sight
Cannot be introduced, for it will fade
E'en as its welcome border line appears.
In faith devout, revering spirit-sway
With spirit-sight reposing in the heart:--
Thus mystics should draw nigh the world of deeds.

CAPESIUS:

And if they strive to tread it otherwise
The work of error they will then behold;
But wisdom's radiance they will never see.
I once saw clearly through another's soul.
I knew that I saw truly what I saw.
Yet only that soul's error could I see.
This was my fate for spoiling spirit-sight
By my desire for outer deeds on earth.

STRADER:

Thus speaks Capesius who hath advanced
Beyond me far upon the path of souls.
And yet my spirit-vision only wakes
When thoughts of action wholly fill my soul;
And it is flooded with a living hope
That for the spirit it may build a shrine
And kindle there on earth the light that shines
So warmly through the spirit-worlds on high
And seeks, through human sense-activities,
A new home in the daily life of earth.

Am I a son of error?--not thy son,
Ye wide-flung spirit-realms where wisdom dwells?

(Strader turns away, for a moment, from the companions with whom he has been conversing; and now he has the following spirit-vision--Benedictus, Maria, Ahriman appear--in the guise of his thought-forms but nevertheless in real spirit-intercourse; first Benedictus and Ahriman, then Maria.)

BENEDICTUS:

In wide-flung spirit-realms where wisdom dwells
Thou seekest aid to still thy questioning doubt,
Which makes the secret of thine inner life
Lie like a burden on thine earthly thought.
And thou shalt have an answer, such an one
As spirit-spaces out of their soul-depths
Are willing to reveal through this my voice.
But learn to understand what thou hast guessed
And what thou often hast made bold to say,
But in thine inner being only dreamst.
Give to thy dreams the life, which I am bound
To offer thee from out the spirit-world;
But turn to dreams whatever thou canst draw
By thought from all thy sense-experience.
Capesius and Felix cast thee forth
From out the spirit-light which they behold;
Thy place th' abyss betwixt themselves and thee--
Do not complain that they have done this thing,
But gaze in thine abyss.

AHRIMAN:

Aye, gaze therein!
Thou shalt behold there what to thee seems meet
For human spirits on their cosmic path.
'Twere well for thee, if other spirit-powers
Did tell thee when thy soul is sunk in sleep;
But Benedictus tells thee when awake,
So dost thou slay, beholding, thy response.
Aye, gaze therein.

STRADER: