Chapter IV: Introduction (4)

See now then what result your weakness brings.
The brethren are approaching with those souls
In whom they will o'erthrow my power. E'en now
Johannes and Maria feel their might.

(Enter Benedictus with Lucifer and Ahriman; behind them Johannes and Maria.)

BENEDICTUS (to Lucifer):

Johannes' and Maria's souls have now
No longer room for blind unseeing power:
To spirit-life they have been lifted up.

LUCIFER:

Then must I straightway from their souls depart.
The wisdom unto which they have attained,
Doth give them power to see me, and my sway
O'er souls of men doth only last so long
As I remain invisible to them.
Yet doth the power continue which hath been
From the creation of the worlds mine own.
And though I cannot tempt their souls, yet still
My power will cause within their spirit-life
Most beauteous fruits, to ripen and endure.

BENEDICTUS (to Ahriman):

Johannes' and Maria's souls have now
Destroyed all error's darkness in themselves;
And spirit-sight hath been revealed to them.

AHRIMAN:

I must indeed renounce their spirits then;
For they will turn henceforth unto the light.
Yet one thing hath not yet been ta'en from me;
With sense-appearance to delight their souls.
And though no longer they will deem it truth,
Yet will they see how truth it doth reveal.

(Enter the Other Maria.)

THEODOSIUS (to the Other Maria):

Close intertwinéd was thy destiny
With thine exalted sister's loftier life:
The light of love I could impart to her:
But not the warmth of love, so long as thou
Didst always let thy noblest impulses
From dim sensations only rise in thee,
And didst not strive to see them clear and bold
In the full light of wisdom's certainty.
The influence of the Temple does not reach
Unto the nature of vague impulses,
E'en though such impulse wills to work for good.

THE OTHER MARIA:

I needs must recognize that noble thought
Can only work salvation in the light.
So to the temple I now wend my way.
My own emotion shall in future times
Not rob the light of love of its results.

THEODOSIUS:

Through this, thine insight, thou dost give me power
To make Maria's soul-light on the earth
Run smooth and evenly upon its path:
For aye aforetime it must lose its might
In souls, such as thine own was heretofore,
Which would not unify their light with love.

JOHANNES (to the Other Maria):

I see in thee the nature of that soul,
Which also holdeth sway within mine own.
I was unable to find out the way
Which led to thine exalted sister's soul
So long as in my heart the warmth of love
From love's light ever held itself apart.
The sacrifice which to the temple's shrine
Thou bring'st, shall be repeated in my soul.
Therein the warmth of love shall sacrifice
Itself unto love's wonder-working light.

MARIA:

Johannes, in the realm of spirit-life
Thou hast attained to knowledge through myself.
To spirit knowledge thou canst only add
True soul-existence, when thou findest too
Thine own soul, as thou didst find mine before.

(Enter Philia, Astrid, and Luna.)

PHILIA:

Then from the whole creation of the worlds
The joy of souls shall be revealed to thee.

ASTRID:

From thine whole being then can be outpoured
The light and radiance of the warmth of souls.

LUNA:

Then shalt thou dare to live out thine own self,
When such light can illuminate thy soul.

(Enter Felix and Felicia Balde.)

ROMANUS (to Felix Balde):

Long hast thou from the temple held thyself.
Thou only wouldst admit enlightenment,
When light from thine own soul revealed itself.
Men of thy nature rob me of the power
To give my light unto men's souls on earth.
They wish to draw from darksome depths alone,
What they should freely offer unto life.

FELIX BALDE:

Yet 'twas man's own illusion in itself,
That brought me light from out the darkest depths:
And let me to the temple find my way.

ROMANUS:

The fact that thou hast hither found thy way
Gives me the power to give light to the will
Of both Johannes and Maria here.
That it no more may follow forces blind,
But from world-aims henceforth direct itself.

MARIA:

Johannes, thou hast seen thine own self now
In spirit in myself. Thou shalt live out
Thine own existence as a spirit, when
The world's light can behold itself in thee.

JOHANNES (to Felix Balde):

In thee, good brother Felix, do I see
That soul-power which did hold my will fast bound
In its own spirit. Thou wouldst find the way
Unto the temple: with the strength of will
Within my spirit I would fain point out
The path unto the temple of the soul.

RETARDUS:

Johannes' and Maria's souls e'en now
Escape from my domain: how then shall they
Discover all that springs forth from my might?
So long as they did lack within their souls
The fundaments of learning, they did still
Find joy and pleasure in my gifts, but now
I see myself compelled to let them go.

FELICIA:

That man without thine aid, may fire himself
To rational thought, that have I shown to thee
From me a learning streams that dare bear fruit.

JOHANNES:

This learning shall be wedded to the light,
Which from this temple's source can fill men's souls.

RETARDUS:

Capesius, my son, thou art now lost.
Thou hast withdrawn thyself from my domain
Before the temple's light can shine for thee.

BENEDICTUS:

He hath begun the path. He feels the light.
And he will win the strength to search and know
In his own soul all that, which up till now
Good Dame Felicia hath produced for him.

STRADER:

Then I alone seem lost, for of myself
I cannot cast all doubts from out my heart;
And surely I shall never find again
The way that doth unto the temple lead.

THEODORA:

From out thine heart a glow of light spreads forth;
A human image now is born therefrom;
And I can hear the words, which do proceed
From this same human form. E'en thus they sound:
'I have achieved the power to reach the light.'
My friend, trust thou thyself! These very words,
When thy time is fulfilled, thyself shalt speak.

Curtain

THE SOUL'S PROBATION

SUMMARY OF THE SCENES

Scene 1: Capesius. His occult exercises and his despair.

Scene 2: Meditation chamber the same as Scenes 3 and 10 of Play 1. Benedictus warns Maria that Johannes must be free. She resolves to look back upon past incarnations.

Scene 3: Johannes and his painting. Maria resolves not to hinder his freedom by her love.

Scene 4: As Scene 1. Capesius and Strader.

Scene 5: Capesius at the Balde's cottage. Dame Felicia's fable. Johannes and his double.

Scene 6: The 14th century. The meadows by the Castle of the Mystic Knights. Country folk. The Jew. Thomas confesses to the Monk his love for Keane's daughter.

Scene 7: Same period. The Interior of the Castle. The Grand Master and Council. The Monk's demand. The apparition of his late Master, Benedictus.

Scene 8: Same period. Keane has discovered that Thomas and his sweetheart are the children of the 1st Preceptor and informs the 1st Preceptor of the fact. The scene closes with a discussion on evolution, and the inspired warning of the Second Master of Ceremonies.

Scene 9: Same period. The Keanes. Dame Keane's fable. The Country folk. Thomas and Cecilia.

Scene 10: Scene same as Scene 5. The return to the present day. Explanation of Scenes 6 to 9.

Scene 11: Meditation chamber as in Scene 2. Maria defeats Ahriman.

Scene 12: The same. Johannes and Lucifer.

Scene 13: The Temple of the Sun. Destiny.

PERSONS, FORMS, AND FEATURES

The spiritual and psychic experiences of the characters appearing in this "Soul's Probation" are a continuation of the experiences given in the scenes of "The Portal of Initiation," and the events related occur several years later.

Benedictus }
Theodosius } Hierophants of the Temple of the Sun.
Romanus }
Professor Capesius.
Philia } The spiritual beings who facilitate the connection
Astrid } between the Soul and the Cosmos. They are not
Luna } allegorical, but are realities for the spirit Seer.
The Other Philia, The spiritual being who hinders the connection
between the Soul and the Cosmos.
The Voice of Conscience, not allegorical, but a reality, for the
spirit Seer.
Maria.
Johannes Thomasius.
Doctor Strader.
Felix Balde.
Felicia, his wife.
The 'Double' of Johannes Thomasius.
Lucifer.
Ahriman.

The events of the Sixth to the Ninth Scenes contain the spiritual vision of Capesius into his former life. Maria and Johannes share the experiences at the same time; but Strader's former incarnation is only seen by Capesius, Maria, and Johannes.

These scenes back into the fourteenth century are conceived as results of imaginative cognition, and in the physical world are only recognizable by their effect. The way in which a life is repeated (from occurrences of the fourteenth century into the present day) should not be taken arbitrarily, but merely as what may happen at any turning point of time. These conflicts and consequences of a former life are only possible at such a time.

The Vision of Capesius into the Fourteenth Century

The Spirit of Benedictus.
The Grand Master, chief of a branch of mystic brotherhood.
First Preceptor, of the mystic brotherhood. (A former incarnation
of Professor Capesius.)
Second Preceptor, of the mystic brotherhood.
First Master of the Ceremonies, of the mystic brotherhood.
Second Master of the Ceremonies, of the mystic brotherhood.
Simon, the Jew (a former incarnation of Dr. Strader).
Thomas (a former incarnation of Johannes Thomasius).
A Monk (a former incarnation of Maria).
Joseph Keane (a former incarnation of Felix Balde).
His Wife (a former incarnation of Felicia Balde).
Bertha, their daughter (a former incarnation of the Other Maria).
Cecilia, their foster-daughter (a former incarnation of Theodora).
Six Country Men, and
Six Country Women.

Note on the Costumes Worn (see also notes to the "Portal of Initiation"). The knights are in chain armour and dark blue robes of their order, with a white Maltese cross on their mantle and on their tunic. The mantle of the Grand Master is crimson; his tunic is white with a red cross. Their blue caps and the Grand Master's red cap are flat and triangular. The apparition of Benedictus in Scene 7, is in pink peach blossom colour. He appears in the background about nine feet above the stage and remains rigid with his arms extended in cross fashion the whole time of his appearance in this scene.

THE SOUL'S PROBATION

SCENE 1

The library and study of Capesius. Prevailing colour brown. Evening. First Capesius, then the Spirit-Forms who are powers of soul; later Benedictus.

CAPESIUS (reading in a book):

'By inward gazing on the Beingless,
And dreaming through the shadowy picture realm
Of thought, conformably to self-made laws:--
Thus erring human nature often seeks
To find the meaning and the goal of life:
The soul from its own depths would draw replies
To questions that concern the universe.
Yet such attempts are vain, illusory
E'en at the outset, and they lead at last
To feeble visions which destroy themselves.'

(Speaking as follows.)

Thus is portrayed in words of import grave
Through Benedictus' noble spirit-sight,
The inward life of many human souls.
Each phrase goes home destructive to my heart--
Unfolding truly mine own way and life
Until this day, with cruel vividness.
And should a god this very hour appear
Descending on me in a raging storm
And clad in wrath, yet could his threatening might
Not torture me with more appalling fears
Than do the Master's words, as strong as fate.
Long hath my life been, but its web displays
Nothing but pictures shadowy and dim
Which haunt my dreaming soul and fondly strive
To mirror truths of nature and of mind.
With this dream-fabric hath my thought essayed
To solve the riddle of the universe.
Down many a path my restless soul I turned.
Yet do I clearly see that I myself,
Was not the active master of my soul
When threads of thought along illusion's path
Spun themselves out to cosmic distances.

So that which I in my content beheld
In pictures, left me empty, led to naught.
Then came across my path Thomasius,
The youthful painter. He indeed strode on,
Upheld by truest energies of soul
To that exalted spiritual way
Which transforms human life, and makes to rise
From hidden gulfs of soul the energy
Which feeds the springs of life within ourselves.
That which awoke from out his inmost soul
Abides in every man. And since from him
I gained this revelation, I do count
As chief amongst the many sins of life
To let the spirit's treasure grow corrupt.

I know henceforth that I must search and seek
And nevermore allow myself to doubt.
In days gone by my vanity of thought
Could have enticed me to the false belief
That unto knowledge man aspires in vain;
And only failure and despair belong
To those who would lay bare the springs of life.

And were all wisdom to unite in this,
And were I powerless to reject the claim
That human destiny demands of man
That he shall lose his individual self
And sink into the gulf of nothingness,
Yet would I make the venture unafraid.
Such thoughts would be a sacrilege today,
Since I have learned I cannot win repose
Until the spirit treasure in my soul
Hath been unveiléd to the light of day.

The fruits of work of spirit-entities
Have been implanted in the human soul,
And whoso leaves the spirit seed to lie
Unheeded and decay, he brings to nought
The work divine committed unto man.
Thus do I recognize life's highest task;
Yet when I try to take one single step
Across the threshold that I dare not shun,
I feel my strength desert me, which of yore
Did pride itself on elevated thought,
And sought the goals of life in time and space.
Once did I reckon it an easy thing
To set the brain in action and to grasp
The nature of reality by thought.
But now, when I would search the fount of life
And comprehend it as in truth it is,
My thought appears as some blunt instrument;
I have no power, no matter how I strive,
To form a clear thought-image from the words
Of Benedictus, though his earnest speech,
Should now direct me to the spirit's path.

(Resuming his reading.)

'In silence sound the depths of thine own soul,
And ever let strong courage be thy guide.
Thy former ways of thinking cast away
What time thou dost withdraw into thyself;
For only when thine own light is put out
Will spirit-radiance show itself to thee.'

(Resuming his soliloquy.)

It seems as though I could not draw my breath
When I attempt to understand these words.
And ere I feel the thoughts that I must think,
Fear and misgiving have beset my soul.
It is borne in on me that everything
Which hitherto was my environment
Is crumbling into ruin, and therewith
I too am crumbling into nothingness.
An hundred times at least have I perused
The words which follow, and each several time
Darkness enfolds me deeper than before.

(Resuming his reading.)

'Within thy thinking cosmic thought doth live,
Within thy feeling cosmic forces play,
Within thy will do cosmic beings work;
Abandon thou thyself to cosmic thought,
Experience thyself through cosmic force,
Create thyself anew from cosmic will.
End not at last in cosmic distances
By fantasies of dreamy thought beguiled.
Do thou begin in farthest spirit-realms
And end in the recesses of thy soul.
The plan divine then shalt thou recognize
When thou hast realized thy Self in thee.'

(Becomes entranced by a vision, then comes to himself and speaks.)

What was this?

(Three Figures, representing soul-forces, float round him.)

LUNA:

Abundant power is thine
For lofty spirit-flight;
Its sure foundation rests
Upon the human will.
Its temper hath been tried
By sure and certain hope.
It hath grown strong as steel
By sight of future times.
Thou dost but courage lack
To pour into thy will
Thy confidence in life.
Into the vast Unknown
Dare but to venture forth!

ASTRID:

From cosmic distances
And from the sun's glad light,
From utmost realms of stars
And magic might of worlds,
From heaven's ethereal blue
And spirit's lofty power,
Win mightiness of soul;
And send its radiant beams
Deep down within thine heart;
That knowledge glowing warm
May thus be born in thee.

THE OTHER PHILIA:

They are deceiving thee
This evil sisterhood;
They seek but to ensnare
By trickery and guile.
The gifts so seeming fair
Which they have offered thee
Will vanish into air
When thou wouldst hold them fast
With all thy human strength.
They lead thee on to worlds
Inhabited by gods,
Where thou wilt be destroyed
If, once within their realm,
Thou strivest to o'ercome
By human strength alone.

CAPESIUS:

It was quite plain that here some beings spake--
And yet it is most sure that no one else--
Beside myself--is present in this place.

So have I but held converse with myself
And yet that too seems quite impossible--
For ne'er could I imagine such discourse
As here I listened to....

Am I still he
I was before?

(From his gestures it is plain he feels unable to reply 'yes.')

Oh! I am--I am not.

THE SPIRIT-VOICE OF CONSCIENCE:

Thy thoughts do now descend
To depths of human life
And what as soul doth compass thee around
And what as spirit is enchained in thee,
Is lost in cosmic depth,
From whose fulness quaffing
Mankind doth live in thought;
From whose fulness living
Mankind illusion weaves.

CAPESIUS:

Enough.... Enough.... Where is Capesius?
You I implore ... ye forces all unknown....
Where is Capesius? Where is ... myself?

(Once more he relapses into a reverie.)

(Enter Benedictus. Capesius does not notice him at first. Benedictus touches him on the shoulder.)

BENEDICTUS:

I learned that thou didst wish to speak with me,
And so I came to seek thee in thy home.

CAPESIUS:

Right good it is of thee to grant my wish.
Yet it had scarce been possible that thou
Shouldst find me in worse case than now I am.
That I am not this moment on the ground
Prostrate before thy feet, after such pain
As even now hath racked my soul, I owe
To thy kind glance alone which sought mine own,
So soon as thou didst with thy gentle touch
Arouse me from the horrors of my dream.

BENEDICTUS:

I am aware that I have found thee now
Fighting a battle for thy very life.
Since I have known full well this long time past
That thus it was appointed us to meet.
Prepare to change the sense of many words
If thou wouldst understand my speech aright
And do not marvel that thy present pain
Bears in my language quite another name--
I call thy state good fortune.

CAPESIUS:

Then indeed
Thou dost but heap the measure of the woe
Which casts me into gloom's abysmal depths.
Just now I felt as if my real self
Had flown afar to cosmic distances,
And unfamiliar beings through its sheaths
Were speaking here. But this I took to be
Hallucination, spirit mockery,
And mourned that thus my soul could be deceived:
This thought alone kept me from breaking down.
Take not away my right thus to believe,
The only prop I lean on; tell me not
My fevered dreaming was good fortune; else
I shall be lost indeed.

BENEDICTUS:

A man can lose
Nought else but that which keeps him separate
From cosmic being. When he seems to lose
That which in dreamy fantasies of thought
He misapplied to labours purposeless,
Then let him seek for what has gone from him.
For he will surely find it, and withal
The proper use to which it should be put
In human life. Mere words of comfort now
Were nothing more than clever play on words.

CAPESIUS:

Nay--lore that may by simple human wit
Be comprehended thou dost not impart.
Bitter experience has shown me this.
Like deeds which lead one on to lofty heights
And also cast one to abysmal depths,
Thy counsels pour a stream of fiery life
And also deathly chill into men's souls.
They work at once e'en as the nod of fate
And also as a storm of living love.
Much had I sought and thought in earlier days
Before I met thee; yet the spirit's powers,
Creative and destructive, I have learned
Only since I have followed in thy steps.
The turmoil and confusion of my soul,
Caused by thy words, was evident when thou
Didst come within my chamber. Oft I felt
Much pain whilst reading in thy book of life,
Until today my cup of woe was full.
And so my agony of soul o'erflowed,
Spilled by thy fateful words. Their meaning swept
O'er all my soul unrecognized, and yet
Like some elixir they revived my heart.
In such wise wrought they in the magic worlds
That all my clarity of sense was lost.
Then ghostly phantoms made a mock of me,
And words of import dark I seemed to hear
Issue from my distraught tormented soul.
I know that all the secrets thou dost guard
For human souls may not be written down,
But that the answer to men's doubts may be
Revealed to each according to his need.
So grant me that of which I stand in need;
For verily I must indeed be told
What robbed me of my senses and my wits
And compassed me with magic's airy spells.

BENEDICTUS:

Another meaning hides within my words
Than that of the ideas which they convey;
They guide the natural forces of the soul
To spirit-verities; their inward sense
Cannot be understood until the day
On which they waken vision in the soul
That yields itself to their compelling power.
They are not fruitage of mine own research;
But spirits have entrusted them to me,
Spirits well skilled to read the signs in which
The Karma of the world doth stand revealed.
The special virtue of these words is this,
Unto the source of knowledge they can guide.
Yet none the less it must be each man's task,
Who understands them in their truest sense,
To drink the spirit-waters from that source.
Nor are my words designed to hinder thee
From being swept away to worlds that seem
To thee fantastic. Thou hast seen a realm
Which must remain illusion just as long
As thou dost lose thyself on entering it.
But wisdom's outer portal will be found
Unsealed to thine advancing soul so soon
As thou dost near it with self-consciousness.

CAPESIUS:

And how can I maintain self-consciousness?

BENEDICTUS:

The answer to this riddle thou shalt find
When, with awakened inner eye, thou dost
Perceive before thee many wondrous things,
Which shortly will be found to cross thy path.
Know that a test hath been ordained for thee
By lords of fate and by the spirit-powers.

(Exit.)

CAPESIUS:

Although their meaning is not clear to me
I feel his words at work within myself.
He hath appointed me a goal; and I
Am ready to obey. He doth not ask
For stress of thought; it seems that he desires
I should press forward with exploring feet
To find the spirit-verities myself.

I cannot tell how he was sent to me;
And yet his actions have compelled my trust;
He hath restored me to myself once more.
So though at present I may not divine
The nature of the spell that shook me so,
I will not shrink from facing these events
Which his prophetic vision hath foretold.

Curtain whilst Capesius remains standing

SCENE 2

A meditation chamber. Prevailing colour violet. Serious, but not gloomy atmosphere.

Benedictus, Maria, then the Spirit-Figures representing soul-powers.

MARIA:

Great conflicts in my soul bid me invoke
Wise counsel from my master in this hour.
Gloomy forebodings rise within my heart.
And I am powerless to withstand the thoughts
That overwhelm me ever and again.
They pierce me to my being's inmost core;
They seek to lay upon me a command
Which to obey doth seem like sacrilege.
Deceitful powers must be obsessing me;
Oh, I implore thee--lend me aid ... that I
May exorcise them.

BENEDICTUS:

Never shalt thou lack
What thou dost need of me at any time.

MARIA:

I know how closely to my soul are knit
Johannes' life and aims. A stony road
Of fate brought us together; and God's will
Hath hallowed in high spirit-realms our bond.
All this stands out before me e'en as clear
As only truth itself can be. And yet--
Horror o'erpowers me that these lips of mine
Must utterance give to sacrilegious words--
And yet--deep in my soul I hear a voice
Which tells me plainly and repeatedly
Despite my utmost will to fight it down:
'Thou must give up Johannes, let him go.
No longer mayst thou keep him at thy side
If thou wouldst not work evil to his soul.
Alone he must proceed along the road
On which he travels to his longed for goal.'
I know that if thou dost but speak the word
This lying dream will cease to haunt my soul.

BENEDICTUS:

Maria, noble grief leads thee astray
To see the truth yet call it counterfeit.

MARIA:

What I have seen--is truth.... It cannot be!
Between my master's utterance and mine ear
Delusion steals. O speak to me again.

BENEDICTUS:

What I have spoken, thou hast heard aright:
Thy love is noble, and Johannes stands
Close-knit to thee. But love must not forget
That she is wisdom's sister. Long indeed
For his salvation hath Johannes been
With thee united. Now his soul demands,
For its own progress, freedom to pursue
Its aims unhindered. Fate doth not decree
That ye shall be no longer outward friends;
But this it doth demand with strict decree
Johannes' freedom in the spirit-realm.

MARIA:

Still do I hear delusion: so let me
Alone continue speaking, for I know
That thou must understand me without fail.
For sure it is no lying shape will dare
To change the words unto thine ear addressed.
My host of doubts were easily dispersed
If earth-life's tortuous course alone it were
That knits Johannes' soul unto mine own.
But to our bond was lofty sanction given
Which knits soul unto soul eternally.
And spirit-powers did speak with blessings meet
The word that bans all doubt for evermore:
'He hath won truth within th' eternal realms
Because in worlds of sense his inmost self
Already was united with thine own.'
What can this revelation mean to me
If now its very opposite is true?

BENEDICTUS:

Thou hast to learn that even one to whom
There hath been much revealed, may yet be found
Lacking perfection still in divers ways.
Tangled the paths that lead to higher truth: ...
And only those may hope to reach the goal
Who walk in patience through their labyrinths.
Thou didst but see one part of what is real
In that great realm of everlasting light,
When with thine inner vision thou didst gaze
Upon a picture of the spirit-land.
Not yet hast thou seen full reality.
Johannes' soul is knit unto thine own
By earthly ties of such complexity
That it may be allotted unto each
To find his way into the spirit-realm
Through forces borrowed from the other one.
But nothing hitherto hath clearly shown
That thou hast conquered each and every test.
To see a picture hath been granted thee
Of what the future holds for thee in store
When thou canst pass unscathed the full ordeal.
That thou hast seen the ultimate reward
Of unremitting effort is no sign
That thou hast reached the end of all thy strife.
Thou hast beheld a picture, which thy will
Alone can turn unto reality.

MARIA:

Although thy words just spoken fall on me
Like bitter pain that follows hours of bliss,
There is at least one lesson I have learned,
Which is to bow my head to wisdom's light
When it doth prove itself through inward force.
Already something is becoming clear
Which up till now lay hidden in my heart.
But when in highest bliss delusion's snare
Doth wear the mask of truth to human minds,
Darkness of soul is difficult to ban.
I need still more than that which thou hast given
To plumb the depth of meaning in thy words.
Thou once didst lead myself to those soul-depths
Wherein a light was then vouchsafed to me
By which I could behold the lives I spent
In previous incarnations long ago.
Thus was it granted me to learn the way
In which my soul was linked unto my friend's.
My act of bringing, in those days of old,
Johannes' soul unto the spirit-fount
I felt and recognized to be the seed
Which grew and bore such cherished friendship's fruit,
As was found ripe for all eternity.

BENEDICTUS:

Thou wast accounted worthy to retrace
Thy path on earth in days long since gone by.
But thou must not forget to look and see
If thou canst be assured with certainty
That of thine actions none remain concealed
When backward thou didst turn thy spirit's eye.

MARIA (after a pause betokening deep reflection):

How could I be so blinded, so misled?
The rapture which I felt on looking back
Over a period of bygone times
Deluded me to vain forgetfulness
Of manifold shortcomings. Not till now
Did I foresee that I must turn my gaze
Into the darkness ere I comprehend
The road that leads back from this present life
To olden days when my friend's soul sought mine.
To thee, my master, will I make my vow
Henceforth to bridle my soul's arrogance...!
Now for the first time do I realize
How pride of knowledge leads the soul astray;
So that, instead of its imbibing strength
From freely offered stores of spirit-wealth,
It misapplies the gift in wanton use
And only holds the mirror up to self.
I know at last from my heart's warning call,
To which thy words lend added power, how far
I am today e'en from the nearest goal.
No more will I be overswift to read
A meaning into words from spirit-lands.
I will esteem them power wherewith my soul
May shape its course--, not as some message sent
To free me from the need of finding out
The goal of action in my daily life.
Had I paid earlier heed unto this truth
And gone my way in due humility;
I had not failed to see that only then
When he decides to tread a path not traced
By me beforehand, can my friend unfold
To fullest bloom his richly-gifted soul.
And now that this is clear I shall not fail
In finding strength sufficient to fulfil
What love and duty may require of me.
Yet do I feel assured this very hour
More clearly than I ever was before
That some grave testing of my soul draws nigh.
For mostly, when men tear from out their hearts
That of themselves which in another lives,
Love hath been changed into its opposite.
Themselves they change the ties that coupled them,
Yet passion's impulse gives to them the power.
Whilst I must of mine own free will uproot
The workings of my soul's life, which I saw
Accomplishing themselves in my friend's acts;
And still unchanging must my love abide.

BENEDICTUS:

If thou wouldst steer thy course direct, thou must
Become aware of what thou most didst prize
In this thy love. For once thou knowst the force
That leads thee all unknown within thy soul,
Thou wilt find power to do what duty bids.

MARIA:

By saying this thou giv'st e'en now that aid
Of which my soul so sorely stands in need.
I must investigate mine inmost self
With earnest questioning: and so I ask,
What potent cause impels me in my love?
I see my own soul's life and strength at work
In my friend's nature and activities.
So that which I desire to satisfy
Is nothing but the hunger of myself,
Which I, deluded, call unselfishness.
Thus it hath been concealed from me till now
That in my friend I mirror but myself.
It was the dragon Selfishness who veiled
The truth from me in wrappings of deceit.
And selfishness can take an hundred forms:--
I see it clearly now. And when one thinks
The enemy subdued, behold him rise
Out of defeat and stronger than before.
Moreover 'tis a foe with added skill
To hide the truth with cloak of counterfeit.

(Maria sinks into deep thought.)

(The three Spirit-Figures of the soul-powers appear.)

MARIA:

Ye sisters, whom I find in Being's depths
Whene'er my soul expands and guides herself
To cosmic distances, release for me
From out the ether's heights the powers of sight
And lead them hence to earthly paths, that I
May know myself as I exist in Time,
And may be able to direct my course
From Life's old ways unto new spheres of Will.

PHILIA:

From my heart's depths will I myself imbue
With soul's aspiring light; I will breathe deep
From spirit-forces living powers of Will;
That thou, beloved sister, mayest seek
And find the light in bygone spheres of life.

ASTRID:

With selfhood, conscious of itself, will I
Weave in the self-surrendering Will of love;
I will set free from fetters of desire
The budding powers of Will, and will transform
Thy crippled wish to spirit-certainty;
That thou, beloved sister, mayest learn
To find thyself in distant paths of life.

LUNA:

I will call self-denying powers of heart;
And will make firm enduring soul-repose;
Then shall they wed, and raise up spirit-light
In all its power from out the depths of soul.
Then shall they interpenetrate and force
Earth's bounds to heed the listening spirit-ear,
Compel earth's distances to answer.
That thou, beloved sister, mayest find
Life's varied traces in Time's vast expanse.

MARIA (after a pause):

If I can only tear myself away
From my bewildered consciousness of self
And give myself to you: that thus ye may
Reflect my very soul from cosmic space;
Then from this sphere of life I gain release,
And find myself in other states of being.

(Long pause, then the following:)

In you, my sisters, I see spirit-forms
In whom dwell cosmic souls. Ye have the power
To bring seed-forces from eternal realms
To fruitage in humanity itself.
Through my soul's gates oft have I found the way
Into your kingdom, and have there beheld
The primal shaping of this earthly globe
With inner vision. Now your help I crave
Since I am bidden to retrace the way
That stretches back far from my present life
To long past ages of humanity.
Release my soul from consciousness of self
In time-enclosed existence, and reveal
The duties laid on me by former lives.

A SPIRIT-VOICE,--THE SPIRITUAL CONSCIENCE:

Her thoughts are seeking now
For clues in Time's vast space.
What as debt she still doth owe,
What as duty is imposed,
Arise from out her inmost depths of soul,
From whose deepness dreaming
Mankind doth guide his life,
In whose deepness straying
Mankind himself doth lose.

Curtain falls; everybody still standing on the stage

SCENE 3

A room whose prevailing tint is rose-red, cheerful atmosphere.

Johannes at an easel; Maria enters later; finally the Spirit-Figures representing soul-powers.

JOHANNES:

Maria, when she saw my picture last,
Stood silent. Heretofore she ever gave
Hints to assist the progress of my work
From her rich store of wisdom manifold.
Little as I can trust myself to judge
Whether my art indeed accomplishes
The task our spirit-current hath imposed,
Yet is my confidence in her complete.
And ever through my spirit ring her words
Which lent me strength and brought me happiness
When I took courage and began this work.
'In such a way as this,' she said, 'thou canst
Attempt this enterprise, and so reveal
Thy spirit's visions unto earthly eyes.
Thou wilt not fail to recognize how forms,
Fashioned like thoughts, shape matter to their will;
Nor yet how colour, to desire akin,
Doth fill thy vital energy with warmth.
In such wise canst thou even represent
On canvas through thy skill the higher realms.'
I feel the power that dwells within these words
And diffidently yield to that belief
That I am drawing nearer to the goal
Which Benedictus hath appointed me.
Full oft I sat discouraged at my work;
It seemed at one time so presumptuous,
And at another so impossible
To represent in colour and in form
The visions that are granted to my soul.
How can the ceaseless web of spirit-life,
Which is revealed to inner sight alone
And is so far withdrawn from outward sense,
Be manifest in matter which is drawn,
As drawn it must be, from the realm of sense?
This question have I asked myself full oft.
Yet when I banish personality,
And follow spirit-teaching faithfully,
And feel myself caught up in blessedness
Unto creative forces of the worlds,
At once belief awakens in an art
As true and mystic as our spirit-quest.
I learned to live with light, and recognize
In colour's power the action of that light,
As faithful students of true mystic lore
See in realms reft of colour and of form
The spirit's deeds and soul's reality.
Relying on this spirit-light, I won
This power to feel in flowing sea of light,
And live within the stream of glowing tints;
And sense those spirit-forces which maintain
Their might in non-material webs of light,
And radiant colours filled with spirit-life.

(Enter Maria, unobserved by Johannes.)

And when my courage faileth me, once more
Of thee, my friend most noble, do I think.
At thy soul's fire my love of work is warmed;
Thy spirit-light awakes my faith anew.

(He sees Maria.)

Oh, thou art here.... Impatiently I craved
Thy coming, yet I marked not thine approach!

MARIA:

I must rejoice to find my friend so wrapt
In work as to forget his friend herself.

JOHANNES:

Nay, speak not thus, since thou dost know full well
That I cannot create one single thought
Which hath not first been hallowed by thine aid.
No work of mine owes not its life to thee.
Through thy love's fire have I been purified;
Through thee my art hath learned to represent
The beauty of the truths revealed to thee,
Which warm my heart, illuminate my sense,
And clothe in radiant light the spirit-world.
The current of my work must take its rise
From thy soul's spring and flow thence into mine,
Ere I can feel the wings that lift me up
To lofty heights of spirit, far from earth.
I love the life that quickens in thy soul,
And, loving it, can give it form and hue.
Love only can beget artistic power
And make an artist's work bear fruit and live.
If I, as artist, am to carry back
Pictures of spirit to the world of sense,
Then cosmic spirit must speak forth through me,
My personality be but its tool.
I must first burst the bonds of selfishness
Ere I can know that I shall not mistake
For spirit-worlds my own vain fantasies.

MARIA:

And if thou hadst to seek through thine own sight
And not through mine the true source of thy work,
It might well be that, coming from one soul
Thy dream of beauty might be unified.

JOHANNES:

I should be spinning webs of idle thought
In speculating which I should prefer:
Whether to incarnate thy spirit-sight,
Or in myself to seek my vision's source.--
I am convinced I could not find it thus.

I can withdraw to deep retreats of soul
And find delight in wide-flung spirit-worlds:
I can be lost to all the world of sense
And follow colour-wonders with mine eye
And watch creative energies at work,
If I am left with mine own soul alone.
Whate'er may thus befall me I am not
Thereby impelled to my creative art.
But if I follow thee to cosmic heights,
And in warm rapture live again what thou
Already hast in spirit there beheld,
Then in my spirit-sight I feel a fire
Which burns on in me also, and whose flames
Kindle the powers that drive me to my work.

If my desire were simply to relate
That which I can find out in higher worlds,
Then with my soul I well might upward soar
To spheres where spirit unto spirit speaks.
But as an artist I must find that fire
Which lights the picture and inflames the heart.
And my soul cannot to my picture give
The magic warmth that streams through human hearts,
Till it can quench its thirst with spirit-truths
Revealed from out the depths of thine own heart.

How primal force by longing is condensed,
How powers creative blaze with spirit-light,
And, sensing even then their need of man,
Display themselves as gods in earliest times,
All this, my friend, thy soul in noble speech
Hath often led me on to learn unseen.
In hues ethereal of the spirit-world
I sought to densify what hid from sight;
And felt how colours longed to see themselves
Mirrored as spirit in the souls of men.
So doth my friend's soul speak as if 'twere mine
Out of my pictures to the human heart.

MARIA:

Bethink, Johannes, how the One Soul must--
A personality apart from all--
Evolve from out the womb of time.
Love serves to knit together separate souls
Not kill their individuality.
The moment is upon us, when we twain
Must test our souls, and find the spirit-path
That each must follow for its separate good.

(Exit.)

JOHANNES:

What meant my friend? Her words did sound so strange.
Maria, I must follow thee forthwith.

(The three Spirit-Figures of the soul-powers appear with the Other Philia.)

LUNA:

Thou canst not find thyself
Portrayed in other souls.
The power of thine own self
Must root in cosmic soil,
If from the spirit-heights
Thou wouldst indeed transplant
Their beauty to earth's depths.
Be bold to be thyself,
That thou, strong souled, mayst give
Thyself to cosmic powers--a willing sacrifice.

ASTRID:

In all thy ways on earth
Thou must not lose thyself;
Mankind doth not attain
To sun-kissed distances
If he would rob himself of personality.
So then prepare thyself,
Press on through earthly love
To utmost depths of heart
Which ripen cosmic love.

THE OTHER PHILIA:

O heed the sisters not;
They lead thee far astray
To cosmic distances,
And rob thee of earth's touch.
They do not understand
That earthly love bears trace
Of cosmic love itself.
In cold their natures dwell
And warmth flies from their powers.
They fain would lure mankind
From out his own soul depths
To cold and lofty worlds.

Curtain: Johannes, Philia, Astrid, Luna, and the Other Philia still standing

SCENE 4

The same room as in Scene 1. Capesius and Strader.

CAPESIUS (to Strader who is entering):

A hearty welcome to the friend whose tongue
With many a disputatious argument
Stoutly withstood me! 'Tis long time since
Thou crossed this threshold. Yet in earlier days
Thou wast my constant welcome visitor.

STRADER:

Alas I have not had the time to spare;
My life hath undergone a curious change.
No longer do I plague my weary brain
With hopeless problems. Now I dedicate
The knowledge I have won to honest work,
Such as may serve some useful end in life.

CAPESIUS:

Thou meanest that thou hast given up thy quest?

STRADER:

Say rather, that it hath abandoned me.

CAPESIUS:

And what may be thy present labours' goal?

STRADER:

There are no goals in life ordained for man
Which he may see and clearly understand.
It is a mighty engine by whose wheels
We are caught up and wearied, and cast out
Into the darkness when our strength is spent.

CAPESIUS:

I knew thee in the days when eagerly
And undismayed thou didst set out to solve
The riddle of existence. I have learned
How thou didst see thy treasured knowledge sink
Into the bottomless abyss, and how
Thy soul, profoundly shaken, had to drain
The bitter cup of disappointed dreams.
But never for one moment did I think
That thou couldst drive the impulse from thy heart
Which had become so fully master there.

STRADER:

Thou hast but to recall a certain day
On which a seeress by her truthful speech
Made clear to me the error of my ways.
I had no choice but to acknowledge then
That thought, however hard it toil and strive,
Can never reach the fountain-head of life.
For thought cannot do otherwise than err
If it be so that highest wisdom's light
Can be revealed to that dark power of soul
Of which that woman showed herself possessed.
The rules of science cannot ever lead
To such a revelation; that is plain.

Had this been all, and had I only met
This one defeat whilst following my quest,
I do believe I could have brought myself
To start afresh by striving to unite
My methods with those other different ones.
But when it further was made evident
That some peculiar spirit-faculty,
A mere hallucination as I deemed,
Could transform trance into creative power,
Hope disappeared, and left me in despair.

Dost thou recall the painter, that young man
We both encountered whilst he was engrossed
Following the dubious course of spirit-ways?
After such buffetings from fate I lived
For many weeks benumbed, to madness nigh.
And when by nature's aid I was at last
Restored to sense, I made a firm resolve
To meddle with such seeking never more.
Long, long it was before I had regained
My body's health; and 'twas a joyless time.
I made myself proficient in those things
That lead to business and to normal life.
So now I am a factory manager,
Where screws are made. This is the work I thank
For many hours in which I can forget
My bitter sufferings in a futile quest.

CAPESIUS:

I must confess I scarce can recognize
My friend of former days; so different
Is now the guise in which he shows himself.
Beside those hours of which thou spak'st just now
Were there not others full of storm and stress,
In which the ancient conflicts were renewed
That urged thee forth from this benumbing life?

STRADER:

I am not spared those hours in mine own soul
When impotence 'gainst impotence doth strive.
And fate hath not so willed it in my case
That rosy beams of hope should force their way
Into my heart, and leave assurance there
That this my present life is not an utter loss.
Renunciation is henceforth my goal.
Yet may the force which such a task requires
Endow me later on with faculty
To follow up my quest in other ways.

(Aside.)

If this terrestrial life repeats itself.

CAPESIUS:

Thou spak'st,--if I indeed have heard aright,--
Of repetition of thy life on earth.
Then hast thou really won this fateful truth,
Found it on spirit-journeys, which today
Thou none the less condemnst as dubious?

STRADER:

This is the way once travelled by thyself
To that conviction which hath given me strength
To make a new beginning of my life.
I sought upon my sick-bed once for all
In comprehensive survey to embrace
The field of knowledge traversed by myself.
And this I did, ere seeking other aims.
I must have asked myself an hundred times
What we can learn from nature, and infer
From what we know at present of her laws.
I could not find a loophole for escape.
The repetition of our earthly life
Cannot and must not be denied by thought
That doth not wish to tear itself away
From all research hath found for ages past.

CAPESIUS:

Could I have had one such experience
Then should I have been spared much bitter pain.
I sought through many a weary wakeful night
For liberating thoughts to set me free.

STRADER:

And yet it was this spirit lightning-flash
Which robbed me of my last remaining powers.
The strongest impulse of my soul hath been
Ever to seek for evidence in life
Of what my thought hath forced on me as truth.
So it befell, as if by chance, that I
E'en in those days of misery should prove,
And by my own life testify the truth,
That cruel truth with all that it involves:
Which is, that all our sorrows and our joys
Are but results of what we really are.
Aye! this is often very hard to bear.

CAPESIUS:

Incredible seems such experience.
What can there be to overshadow truth,
For which we search unwearying, and which
Unto our spirit firm assurance gives.

STRADER:

For thee it may be so, but not for me.
Thou art acquainted with my curious life.
By chance it seemed my parents' plans were crossed.
Their purpose was to make a monk of me;
And naught so hurt them, they have often said,
In all their life as my apostasy.
I bore all this, yea and much more besides;
Just as one bears the other things in life
So long as birth and death appear the bounds
Appointed for our earthly pilgrimage.
So too my later life and all the hopes
That came to naught, to me a picture seemed
That only by itself could be explained.
Would that the day had never dawned, on which
I altered those convictions that I held,
For--bear in mind--I have not yet confessed
The total burden laid on me by fate.
No child was I of those who would have made
A monk of me, but an adopted son
Chosen by them when but a few days old.
My own real parents I have never known,
But was a stranger in my very home.
Nor less estranged have I remained from all
That happened round me in my later life.
And now my thought compels me to look back
Unto those days of long ago, and see
How from myself I stole the world away.
For thought is linked with thought to make a chain:
A man to whom it hath been thus ordained
To be a stranger in the world, before
His consciousness had ever dawned in him,
This man hath willed this fate upon himself
Ere he could will as consequence of thought.
And since I stay that which I was at first
I know without the shadow of a doubt
That all unknowing I am in the power
Of forces that control my destiny
And that will not reveal themselves to me.
Do I need more to give me cruel proof
How many veils enshroud mine inmost self?
Without false thirst for knowledge, judge this now;
Hath my new truth revealed the light to me?
It hath, at any rate, brought certainty
That I in mine uncertainty must stay.
Thus it portrays to me my destiny
And like in its own way, is my reply,
Half anguish and half bitter mockery.
A fearful sense of horror on me grew.
Tortured by scorn I must confront my life;
And scoffing at the mockery of fate
I yielded to the darkness. Yet there stayed
One single thought which I could realize:
Do with me what thou wilt, thou life-machine;
I am not curious how thy cog-wheels work!

CAPESIUS:

The man whom I have recognized in thee
In such condition cannot long remain,
Bereft of Knowledge, even if he would.
Already I can see the days approach
When we shall both be other than we are.

The curtain falls, leaving them standing opposite one another

SCENE 5

A mountain glade, in which is situated Felix Balde's solitary cottage. Evening. Dame Felicia Balde, Capesius, then Felix Balde; later on Johannes and his Double; afterwards Lucifer and Ahriman. Dame Felicia is seated on a bench in front of her cottage.

CAPESIUS (arriving, approaches her):

I know an old friend will not ask in vain
For leave to stay and rest awhile with thee;
Since now, e'en more than any former time,
He needs what in thine house so oft he found.

FELICIA:

When thou wast still far off thy wearied step
Told me the tale which now thine eyes repeat;
That sorrow dwelleth in thy soul today.

CAPESIUS (who has seated himself):

Even aforetime 'twas not granted me
To bring much merriment into thy home;
But special patience must I crave today
When, heavy-hearted and of peace bereft,
I force my way unto the home of peace.

FELICIA:

We were right glad to see thee in the days
When scarce another man came near this house.
And thou art still our friend, despite events
That came between us, e'en though many now
Are glad to seek us in this lonely glade.

CAPESIUS:

The tale is true then which hath reached mine ears,
That thy dear Felix, so reserved of yore,
Is nowadays a man much visited?

FELICIA:

'Tis so; good Felix used to shut us off
From everyone--; but now the people throng
To question him, and he must answer them.
His duty bids him lead this novel life.
In former days he cared not to impart,
Save to his inner self, the secret lore
Concerning spirit-deeds and nature's powers
By rock and forest unto him revealed.
Nor did men seem to value it before.
How great a change hath now come o'er the times!
For many men now lend a willing ear
To what they counted folly in the past,
Greedy for wisdom, Felix can reveal.
And when my dear good husband has to talk