Chapter VIII: Introduction (8)

I count thy striving good. Yet can I not
Grant to thee all that thou dost ask of me.
For should I give thee to Johannes now
In that same form wherein in former years
Thou didst appear before his mind and soul,
He would at present only give his love
To thinking and to knowledge cold and bare;
And all warm individuality
Would seem unfeeling, meaningless and dead.
It is not thus my power must fashion him.
Through me he must discover in himself
His living personality and self.
I must transform thee, if the thing that's right
Shall come forth for his health and progress now.
I have a long time since prepared for all
That now shall clearly show itself in thee.
In future thou wilt seem another man.
Johannes will no more Maria love,
As he hath loved her in the days gone by.
Yet none the less he'll love, with all the strength
And all the passion he once gave to her.

BENEDICTUS:

The glorious work in which we've gained success
Thou wouldst now turn unto thine own account.
Thou hast Johannes through his power of heart
Marked for thine own one day; and yet thou seest
That thou must make the fetters stronger still
If thou wouldst keep his being for thyself.
His heart will be beneath his spirit's rule--
If that is so then all the knowledge-work
Which he on Earth accomplished, must be giv'n
In future, for their own, to those great Powers
Which thou hast fought against since Time began.
If thou succeed'st in lowering that love
Which now Johannes for Maria feels
And changing it by cunning to the lust
Which thou dost now require for thine own ends,
Then will he turn the good he did on Earth,
To evil ends from out the Spirit-worlds.

MARIA:

Then he may yet be saved? 'Tis not decreed
That he must fall a victim to the powers
That want to gain his work now for themselves?

BENEDICTUS:

It would be so if all the Powers remained
Just as at present they have formed themselves;
But if at the right hour thou dost allow
Thy vow to take effect in thine own soul
Those powers must change their course in future times.

LUCIFER:

So work, compelling powers,
Ye elemental sprites,
Feel now your Master's power;
And smooth for me the way,
That leads from realms of Earth
That so there may draw near
To Lucifer's domain
Whate'er my wish desires
Whate'er obeys my will.

(Theodora appears.)

THEODORA:

Who calleth me to realms so strange to me?
I like it not, unless the world of gods
Reveals itself in love unto my soul,
And glowing warmth entwining round my heart
Draws spirit-speech from out mine inmost soul.

THOMASIUS' DOUBLE:

Ah, how thou dost transform my very life!
Thou hast appeared, and here am I, a man
Who now can only work when filled by thee.
Johannes shall, through me, be now thine own,
And from henceforward thou shalt have the love
Which once so fearful and so radiant
Was wrested for Maria from his heart.
He saw thee years ago, but did not then
Feel all the warmth of love which was to grow
In secret in the depths of his own soul.
Now it will rise, and fill him full of power,
And turn his thoughts entirely to thyself.

BENEDICTUS:

The crucial moment is arriving now,
His strongest power hath Lucifer let loose:
Maria, all the training of thy soul
Thou must put forth in strength to vanquish him.

MARIA:

O Bearer of that Light, which would confine
Love only to the service of the self;
Thou hast from Earth's beginning granted men
Knowledge, when they, still guided by the gods,
Obeyed the spirit, knowing nought of self.
But since that time each soul of man hath been
The place in which thou fightest 'gainst the gods.
Yet now the times are coming, which must bring
Destruction on thyself and on thy realms.
A thinker bold was able to release
Science from all thy gifts in such a way
That unto mankind's gods it gave itself.
But thou dost try once more to get the powers,
Which for the gods are destined, for thyself.
Because Johannes through his work hath now
Deprived thee of that knowledge, with whose fruit
Thou from the first deceived'st all mankind,
So now thou would'st deceive him, through that love
Which, should he follow out his destined path
For Theodora he should never feel.
Thou fain wouldst conquer Wisdom now by Love,
As once 'gainst Love thou didst by Wisdom fight.
But know full well that in Maria's heart,
With which she now opposeth thy designs,
The spirit-pupilship hath planted powers
To keep far off, for ever, all self-love
From Knowledge. Never from this hour will I
Allow myself to be possessed by joy
Such as men feel when thoughts grow ripe within.
I'll steel my heart to serve as sacrifice
So that my mind can always only think
In such a way that through my thoughts I may
Offer the fruits of Knowledge to the gods.
My sacred service shall such Knowledge be,
And what I thus effect within myself
Shall o'er Johannes powerfully outstream,
And oft, in future, when within his heart
These words are whispered from thyself to him:
'Man's human nature shall through love find out
What gives strength to his personality.'
Then shall my heart this powerful answer give:
'Once didst thou hear these words, when Earth began,
And there didst show forth signs of Wisdom's fruit,
"The fruits of love can only come to man
When they are brought to him from realms divine."'

LUCIFER:

I mean to fight.

BENEDICTUS:

And fighting, serve the gods.

Curtain

SCENE 4

A cheerful pink room in the home of Strader and his wife Theodora. One notices by the arrangement that they use it as a room in common, where they carry on their various works. On his table there are mechanical models; on hers things to do with mystic studies. The two are holding a conversation which shows that they are absorbed in the fact that it is the seventh anniversary of their wedding day.

STRADER:

'Tis seven years today since thou becam'st
The loved and dear companion of my life
And also unto me a source of light,
Which shone upon a life which formerly
Was threatened only with approaching dark.
In spirit-life I was a starving man
When thou didst first stand at my side and give
That which the world had aye withheld from me.
For long years had I striven earnestly
To probe the depths of science with my mind
And find the worth of life and goal of man.
One day I clearly had to recognize
That all this striving had been quite in vain
Hadst thou not shown that man's spirit seeks
How to reveal itself through certain things
Which shunned my knowledge and my eager thought.
I met thee then amongst that company
Where Benedictus was the guide of all,
And listened to thy revelations there.
Later I saw how in Thomasius
The spirit-pupilship could work with power
Within the human soul. What thus I saw
Robbed me of faith in science and good sense,
And yet it showed me nothing at that time
Which really seemed to me intelligent.
I turned away from all the realm of thought
And went on living in an aimless way
Since life had ceased to be of worth to me.
I gave myself to technique that it might
Bring me oblivion and forgetfulness,
And lived a life of torment, till once more
I met thee, for the second time; and then
Our friendship soon grew deep and ripe for love.

THEODORA:

It is but natural, that on this day
Remembrance of those old times should again
Stand out so vividly before thy soul.
I also feel a need in mine own heart
To look back once again upon those days
When we were drawn together in life's bond.
I felt the constant strengthening at that time
Within me of the power which made my soul
Able for knowledge from the spirit-worlds.
And under Felix Balde's noble lead
This power grew on thenceforward to that height
At which it stood just seven years ago.
About that time I met Capesius
One day in Felix' lovely woodland home.
A long life had he spent in deep research
And won his way to spirit-pupilship.
He greatly wished to be allowed to learn
My way of gazing on the spirit-world.
So after that I spent much time with him.
And in his house I chanced to meet with thee
And could bring healing to thy mental wounds.

STRADER:

And then the true light shone into my soul
Which long had only gazed upon the dark.
I saw at last what spirit is, in truth.
Thou ledd'st me on in such a way to see
What was disclosed to thee from higher worlds,
That every doubt might swiftly disappear.
All this at that time worked so much on me
That first I thought of thee as nothing else
Except a medium for the spirit's work.
It was a long while e'er I recognized
That not my mind alone hung on thy words,
Which did reveal to it its true abode;
But that my heart was taken captive too
And could no longer live without thee near.

THEODORA:

Then didst thou tell me that which thou didst feel
And all thy words were in so strange a form;
It seemed as if thou never hadst one thought
That all the longing dwelling in thy heart
Could even hope it might be satisfied.
Thy words showed clearly that it was advice
That thou wast seeking from thy sister-soul.
Thou spakst of help which thou didst then require
And of the strengthening of thy powers of soul
Which otherwise must keep thee prison-bound.

STRADER:

That my soul's messenger could be by fate
Destined to be companion of my life
Lay very far from all I had in mind
When, seeking help, I showed my heart to thee.

THEODORA:

And yet those very words which cut adrift
Thy heart from mine at first, soon went to prove
That all of this could not be otherwise--
Hearts often have to point the way to fate.

STRADER:

And when thy heart pronounced the fateful word
My soul was flooded o'er with waves of life
Which, though I could not feel, I knew were there;
'Twas not till late, when my memory
Rose from the depths of my subconscious soul,
That they fulfilled themselves in rays of light.
I could know all, from what my mem'ry taught,
But could not live it then, because so much
Still held me far apart from spirit-life.
'Twas then indeed I first became aware
Of spirit in close contact with my soul.
Ne'er have I felt like that again; and yet
That knowledge gave to me a certainty
That hath illuminated all my life.
And then flowed on these seven wondrous years.
I learned to feel how e'en mechanic skill
Which now I study, is enriched by souls
Whose attitude t'ward spirit-life is right.
'Twas through the spirit-power which thou couldst give
And which made such demands upon my life
That I was able to look out beyond
The strife for power, and thence quite suddenly
As if it had been prompted, there appeared
Before my wondering spirit that new work
From which we now may dare to hope so much
And in thy light I felt within my soul
The full awakening of all those powers
Which would have perished, had I lived alone.
This certainty of life which I had won
Let me stand upright then, just at that time
When, in such startling wise, Thomasius
Condemned before the Rose Cross brotherhood
The work of his own brain, and cast himself
Adrift, with judgment hard, just at that hour
Which could have brought him to his life's full height.
This inner certainty could hold me fast
When all the outer world seemed to reveal
Naught but a mass of contradicting facts.
Through thee alone have I gained all this power.
The spirit-revelation which thou gav'st
Brought me the sense of knowledge I had won;
And when the revelation came no more
Thou still didst stay my strength and light of soul.

THEODORA (in a broken sentence, as if meditating deeply):

Then when the revelation came no more ...

STRADER:

'Tis that which often made me sorrowful.
I wondered if 'twere not deep pain to thee
To lose thy seeress' power of second-sight,
And whether thou didst suffer silently,
Lest I should grieve: and yet thy temperament
Showed thou couldst bear with calmness fate's decree.
But lately thou hast seemed to me to change,
Joy no more streams from thee as heretofore
And thine eye's glowing light begins to fade.

THEODORA:

Indeed it could not be deep pain to me
When spirit-revelation disappeared.
My fate had only changed my way of life;
Which I must needs accept with patience calm.
But now 'tis born once more, and brings great grief.

STRADER:

This is the first time in these seven years
I cannot fathom Theodora's mind;
For each experience of spirit-life
Was such a source of inward joy to thee.

THEODORA:

Quite different is the revelation now.
At first, as then, I feel myself constrained
To drive away all thought that is mine own;
But where, before, after some little time
When I achieved this inward emptiness
A gentle light did hover round my soul
And spirit-pictures wished to form themselves;
There come now unseen feelings of disgust;
Which come in such a way that I am sure
The power I feel within comes from without--
Then fear I cannot banish pours itself
Into my life and governs all my soul--
And gladly would I flee from that dread Shape
That is invisible, and yet abhorred.
It tries to reach me with its evil will
And I can only hate what is revealed.

STRADER:

With Theodora 'tis not possible.
They say that what one thus lives through, is but
The mirrored working of one's own soul-powers.
Yet thy soul could not show such things as these.

THEODORA (painfully, slowly, as if reflecting):

I know indeed that such ideas are held--
Therefore with all the power that still was mine
I sank into the spirit-world and prayed
That those same beings who so oft before
Were kind to me, would graciously reveal
How I could learn the cause of all my pain.

(Now follow in broken words):

And then ... the shining Light ... came ... as before
And formed ... the image ... of an earthly man....
It was ... Thomasius ...

STRADER (painfully, overcome by the quick inrush of feelings):

... Thomasius ...
The man in whom I always have believed ...

(Pause, then meditating painfully.)

When I again recall before my soul
How he behaved towards the Mystic League ...
How of himself and Ahriman he spake----

(Theodora is lost in contemplation, and stares blankly into space, as if her spirit were absent.)

STRADER:

O Theodora ... what dost thou ... see now....

Curtain

SCENE 5

A round room in the little house in the wood, described in the "Soul's Probation," as Felix Balde's home. Dame Balde, Felix Balde, Capesius, Strader, are seen seated at a table on the left of the stage. Later appears the Soul of Theodora. The room is the natural colour of the wood and has two pretty arched windows.

DAME BALDE:

We shall not know again her beauteous self
Nor feel her radiant nature till we too
Shall reach some day the world to which she hath
So early from our sight been stol'n away.
A few short weeks ago we still could hear
With joy in this our house the graciousness
That streamed so warmly through her every word.

FELIX BALDE:

We both, my wife Felicia, and myself,
Loved her indeed from out our inmost soul,
So can we share and understand thy grief.

STRADER:

Dear Theodora, she so often spoke
Throughout the last hours of her life on earth
Of Dame Felicia and of Felix too;
She was so closely intimate with all
That life brought to you here from day to day.

Now must I grope my further path alone.
She was the sum and meaning of my life.
And what she gave, can never die for me.
And yet--she is not here----

FELIX BALDE:

Yet can we still
With thee send out our loving thoughts to her
Into the spirit-worlds, and thus unite
Her soul with ours through all the days to come.
But, I must own, it was a shock to us
When we were told her life on Earth was o'er.
These many years there hath been granted me
A gift of insight which doth often show
In unexpected moments quite unsought
What inward strength doth lie in all men's lives;
In her case hath this gift deceived me sore.
For ne'er indeed could I think otherwise,
Except that Theodora would be spared
To spend on Earth for many years as yet
That love through which she hath in joy and grief
Shown herself helpful to so many men.

STRADER:

'Tis very strange how all hath come to pass;
As long as I have known her, had she lived
Ever the same sound healthy mode of life.
But since the time she first became aware
Of Something strange, unknown, that threatened her
And tried to enter and oppress her mind;
Her senses clouded over more and more
And suffering poured itself through all her life.
Her body's powers were sapped, as one could see
By some great struggle in her inmost soul.
She told me, when in my anxiety,--
I plied her oft with many questionings--
She felt herself exposed to fearful thoughts
Which frightened her and worked like fire within.
And what she said besides--'tis terrible,
For when she rallied all her powers of thought
To find the cause of all this suffering
There always came before her spirit's gaze
Thomasius ... whom we both honoured so,
And yet from this impression aye remained
The strongest feelings which spake clear to her
That she had cause to fear Thomasius.

CAPESIUS (spoken as in a trance):

According to the strict decree of Fate
Thomasius and Theodora ne'er
Could meet in earthly passion in this life.
'Twould be indeed opposed to cosmic laws
If one desired to make the other feel
Aught that was not on spirit only based.
Within his heart Thomasius doth break
The stern decree of mighty powers of Fate:
That he should never harbour in his soul
Thoughts that might bring to Theodora harm.
For he doth feel what he ought not to feel
And, through his disobedience he doth form
E'en now the powers which can deliver o'er
His future life unto the realms of dark.
When Theodora had been forced to come
To Lucifer, she learnt unconsciously
That through the Light-bearer, Thomasius
Was filled with sensual passion for herself.
Maria, who had been by Fate's decree
Entrusted with Thomasius' spirit-life,
And Theodora, at the same time met
Within that realm which fights against the gods--
Maria from Thomasius had to part,
And he through strength of this false love was forced
To be in bondage unto Lucifer.
What Theodora thus experienced
Became consuming fire within her soul
And working further caused her all this pain.

STRADER:

Oh tell us, Father Felix, what this means.
Capesius speaks in such a manner strange
Of things which are incomprehensible;
And yet they fill my soul with dread and fear.

FELIX BALDE:

Capesius, when treading o'er the path,
Which he hath found most needful for his soul
Learns ever more and more to exercise
Those special gifts of spirit which are his;
His spirit lives in touch with higher worlds
And passeth by unnoticed all those things
Through which the senses speak unto the soul.
'Tis but by habit that he doth perform
All that hath been his custom in this life.
He ever tried to visit his old friends
And likes to while away long hours with them,
And yet whenever he is at their side
His being seems in meditation lost.
But what he sees in spirit aye is true
So far as mine own searching of the soul
Can testify to proving of the truth.
And therefore in this case I do believe
That owing to these spirit-gifts, he could
Perceive within the depths of his own soul
The truth of Theodora's destiny.

DAME BALDE:

It is so strange, he never notices
What those around him may be speaking of;
It seems his soul is from his body loosed
And gazeth only on the spirit-world;
And yet some word will often bring him back
Out of this strange abstraction, and he'll tell
Of things that seem to come from spirit-realms
And somehow be connected with that word.
Apart from that whatever one may say
Makes no impression on his mind at all.

STRADER:

Ah! if he speaks the truth--how horrible--

(Theodora's Soul appears.)

THEODORA'S SOUL:

Capesius hath been allowed to know
Of my existence in the spirit-world:
It is the truth which he makes known to you.
We must not let Thomasius transgress:
Maria hath already set alight
The sacrifice of love in her strong heart;
And Theodora from the spirit-heights
Will send out rays of blessing from Love's power.

FELIX BALDE:

Dear Strader, thou must now be calm and still;
She wants to speak to thee; I understand
The signs she gives to us: so now attend.

THEODORA (after making a movement with her hand towards Strader):

Thomasius possesseth second sight;
And he will find me in the spirit-realms.
This must not be until he is set free
From earthly passion in his search for me.
In future he will also need thy help,
And that is what I now request of thee.

STRADER:

My Theodora, who dost even now
Turn to me as of old in love, say on
What thou desirest, and it shall be done.

(Theodora makes a sign towards Capesius.)

FELIX BALDE:

That shows she cannot now say any more,
But wisheth us to hear Capesius speak.

(Theodora vanishes.)

CAPESIUS (as in a trance):

Thomasius can Theodora see,
If he doth choose to use his spirit-eyes.
Therefore her death will not destroy in him
This passion which is harmful to himself.
Yet will he have to act quite otherwise
Than he would act if Theodora still
Lived in the body on this earth of ours.
He will with passion strive toward the light
Which is revealed to her from spirit-heights
Although she hath no consciousness of earth.
Thomasius is set to win that light
That through him Lucifer may gain it too.
This light divine would then help Lucifer
To keep for evermore within his realm
The knowledge which Thomasius acquired
And won for his own use through earthly power.
For Lucifer, since first the Earth began
Hath ever sought for men who have acquired
Wisdom divine through instincts that were false.
He wills now to unite pure spirit-sight
With human knowledge, which, if treated thus
Would turn to evil, though 'twere good itself.
Thomasius however even now
May be turned back from this his evil way,
If Strader gives himself to certain aims
Which shall in future spiritually guide
All human knowledge, that it may approach
And join itself to knowledge that's divine.
If he would have these aims revealed, he must
As pupil unto Benedictus turn.

(Pause.)

STRADER (to Felix Balde):

O father Felix, give me thine advice.
Hath Theodora really trusted this
Unto Capesius to tell to me?

FELIX BALDE:

These last few days I have most earnestly
Held converse often with mine inmost self
To try and to clear my thoughts about this man.
Gladly I'll tell thee all I know myself.
Capesius is living in true wise
The life of spirit-pupilship, although
From his behaviour it seems otherwise.
He is already destined by his fate
Much to accomplish in the spirit-life.
And only can fulfil the duties high
To which his soul hath been already called
If he prepares his spirit for them now.
And yet it lay quite near his nature too,
Instead of seeking light on spirit-paths,
Unto false science to devote himself,
Which can just now make blind so many souls.
The solemn Guardian on the Threshold grim,
Which marks the world of sense from spirit-worlds,
Had duties of a most especial kind
When to the gate Capesius found his way.
To such an earnest seeker must the gate
Needs open, but behind him shut at once.
The means he used in former times to win
Power for himself within the world of sense
Could no more help him in the spirit-realms.
He best prepares himself for service high
Which he one day must render to mankind
When he ignores our presence and our talk.

DAME BALDE:

There is but one thing he still notices.
I mean the stories that I used to tell
So often to him and through which he felt
Refreshed and reawakened to new thought
When his soul seemed bereft of all ideas.

CAPESIUS:

Such stories find their way to spirit-lands
If in the spirit also they are told.

DAME BALDE:

Then, if I can collect myself enough
To speak my stories out within myself
I'll think of thee with love: so that they then
May also in the spirit-land be heard.

Curtain

SCENE 6

A space not circumscribed by artificial walls but enclosed by intertwined plants like trees and structures which spread out and send shoots into the interior. Owing to natural occurrences the whole is moving violently and is sometimes filled with storm. The stage is divided into two groves, separated for a short distance by a row of trees. The grove on right of stage is appropriated later by Lucifer and his Spirits, and the left grove by Ahriman and his Spirits. The dance movements are set to music. Maria and Capesius are on the stage as the curtain rises; then Benedictus, Philia, Astrid, Luna, the other Philia, Lucifer, Ahriman, and Creatures which move in a dancing fashion and which represent thoughts, lastly the Soul of Dame Balde.

BENEDICTUS (invisible as yet, only audible):

Within thy thinking, cosmic thoughts do live.

CAPESIUS (in astral garb):

There echoes Benedictus' noble voice;
His words are ringing in the spirit here,
And are the same as in the book of life
Are written down to aid his pupils' work,
Which souls on earth find hard to understand
And which are even harder to fulfil.
What part of spirit-land is this, where sound
The words which serve to test the souls on Earth?

MARIA:

Hast thou abode so long in spirit-land
In such a way that thou hast learned so much
And yet this region is unknown to thee?

CAPESIUS:

What lives here in its own reality
Souls, versed in spirit-ways, can grasp with ease;
Each thing explains itself through something else.
The whole may stand revealed in light, when part
Seen by itself, may often still seem dark.
But when a spirit-essence doth unite
With earthly nature to create some work,
The soul begins to lose her grasp of things.
And not alone a part, but e'en the whole
Is oft concealed from her by darkness deep.
Why words which come in Benedictus' book
And which were written for men's souls on Earth,
Should echo here, within a place like this,
That is the problem which doth offer here.

BENEDICTUS (still invisible):

Within thy feeling, cosmic forces play.

CAPESIUS:

Again there come the words which on the Earth
Did Benedictus to his pupils trust;
And here in his own voice they echo forth.
They stream through all the limitless expanse
Of this great realm arousing darksome powers.

MARIA:

I feel already what I must pass through
Within the boundless spaces of this realm;
And Benedictus' nearness draws me on.
In this place he will let me gaze on things
Incomprehensible to souls on Earth
The while they dwell in bodies bound by sense,
And e'en whilst serving spirit-pupilship.
So must the master bring them to this place
Where words do not depend on human speech,
But are imprinted on their souls by signs;
Here he transforms to speech world happenings--
A world-descriptive language for the soul.
I'll loose my inmost being from the Earth,
Condensing all my powers within my soul,
And so await whate'er may be revealed
To indicate my way through spirit-space.
And then when I return to life on Earth
'Twill be a thought which, when recalled will shine
As knowledge in mine inmost depths of soul.

BENEDICTUS (appears from the background):

Win thou thyself in power of cosmic thought,
Lose thou thyself in life of cosmic force;
Thou shalt find earthly aims reflect themselves
Through thine own being in the cosmic light.

CAPESIUS:

So Benedictus is in spirit here!
Perhaps his words re-echo of themselves.
Doth then the teacher bring the lore of earth
To vivify and work in spirit-realms?
But what can be the meaning here of words
Which he doth use on earth in other ways?

BENEDICTUS:

Capesius, thou hast in thine earth-life
Entered within my circle, though in truth
Thou ne'er wast conscious of thy pupilship.

CAPESIUS:

Capesius is not within this place;
And his soul will not hear him spoken of.

BENEDICTUS:

Thou wilt not feel thou art Capesius
But him in spirit thou shalt see and know.
For thee the powerful work of thought hath now
In thy soul-body caged the spirit-life.
So that thy soul-life can release itself
From thought's dream-play within thine earthly frame.
Too weak it felt itself to wander forth
From out world distances to depths of soul;
Too strong to gaze at lofty spirit-light
Through all the darkness that surrounds the Earth.
I must accompany each one who gains
The spirit-light from me in earthly life
Whether he knows, or doth not know, that he
Came as a spirit-pupil to myself.
And I must lead him further on those paths
Which he in spirit learned to tread through me.
Thou hast through thy soul-sight in cosmic space
Learned to draw nigh the spirit consciously
Since loosed from body thou canst follow it.
But, not yet freed from thought, thou canst not see
True being in the spirit-realm as yet.
First thy sense-body thou must lay aside
But not the fine corporeal web of thought.
Thou only canst perceive the world in truth
When nothing of thy personality
Remains to cloud the clearness of thy sight.
He only who hath learned to view his thoughts
As things outside himself, e'en as the seer
Beholds his earthly form released from him,
Can penetrate to spirit verities.
So look upon this picture that it may
Turn into knowledge through clairvoyant powers
Thoughts, whose true being is built up in space
To forms, which mirror forth the thoughts of men.

(A cheerful subdued light diffuses itself. Philia, Astrid, and Luna appear in glowing clouds.)

(Exeunt Capesius and Maria.)

VOICES (which sound together, spoken by Philia, Astrid, and Luna):

Let thoughts hover round
Like weaving of dreams
And build themselves in
To souls that are here;
Let will that creates
And feeling that stirs
And thought that doth work
The dreamer arouse--

(While this sounds, Lucifer approaches from one side, and Ahriman from the other. They go to their thrones raised on each side at the back of the stage, facing the audience; Lucifer on the right of the stage, Ahriman on the left.)

LUCIFER (in a loud voice, emphasizing every word):

Within thy will do cosmic beings work.

(On Lucifer's side, beings with golden hair, dressed in crimson and radiantly beautiful representing thoughts, begin to move. These carry out, in a dancing fashion, movements which represent the forms of thought corresponding to Lucifer's words.)

AHRIMAN (speaking in a loud, hoarse voice):

These cosmic beings do but puzzle thee.

(After these words Lucifer's group is still and the thought-beings on Ahriman's side move and carry out dancing movements which make forms corresponding to his words. They have grey hair and are clad in indigo blue, being square in build, and in appearance distinguished more by force than beauty. After this the movement from both groups is carried on together.)

LUCIFER:

Within thy feeling cosmic forces play.

(The thought-beings on Lucifer's side repeat their movements.)

AHRIMAN:

The cosmic forces are but mocking thee.

(The thought-beings on Ahriman's side repeat their movements, then again both together.)

LUCIFER:

Within thy thinking cosmic thought doth live.

(Repetition of the movements in Lucifer's group.)

AHRIMAN:

The cosmic thought doth but bewilder thee.

(Repetition of the movements in Ahriman's group.)

(The movements of each group are then repeated four times separately and thrice together.)

(The thought-beings vanish left and right; Lucifer and Ahriman remain: Philia, Luna, and Astrid advance from the background, and speak together the words they spoke before with the following alteration.)

PHILIA, ETC.:

Thoughts hovered around
Like weaving of dreams
And built themselves in
To souls that are here--
Then will that creates
And feeling that stirs
And thought that doth work
The dreamer aroused--

(Philia, Astrid, and Luna vanish. Enter Capesius in astral garb, and after he has spoken a few words Maria joins him, though at first he cannot see her.)

CAPESIUS:

The soul lives out her life within herself:
Believes she thinks because she does not see
Thoughts all spread out in space in front of her--
Believes she feels, because the feelings show
No flash like lightning leaping from the clouds;
She sees this realm of space, and gazeth on
The clouds above her ...; and were this not so,
Supposing that the lightning were to flash,
And not an eye looked up above to see,
She needs must think the lightning was in her.
She does not see how Lucifer springs forth
From out her thoughts, and pours her feelings in,
And so believes she is alone with them.
Why doth delusion lead her captive thus?
O soul, give answer to thyself ... yet ... whence?
From out thyself? Ah, nay ... perhaps that, too,
Were answered ... not by thee ... but Lucifer....

MARIA:

And if it were; why then shouldst thou not seek?
Go forth into the deep to find it there....

CAPESIUS:

A being here, who hears the speech of souls?

MARIA:

Souls are not here divided each from each
As when within the body they are pent.
Here each soul hears itself in other's speech.
So dost thou only speak unto thyself
When I say: 'Seek thine answer in the deep.'

CAPESIUS (hesitatingly):

Ah, in the deep there threatens darksome ... fear.

MARIA:

Yea truly, fear is there: but ask thyself,
As thou hast forced thy way within her realm
If she doth not reveal herself to thee.
Ask Lucifer, before whom thou dost stand
If on thy weakness he is pouring fear.

LUCIFER:

Who flees from me will love me all the same.
Children of Earth have loved me from the first
And only think that hatred is my due.
So do they ever seek me in my deeds.
If I had not as ornament to life
Sent beauty to their souls, they would long since
Have pined away in truth's cold empty forms
Throughout the long dull progress of the Earth.
'Tis I who fill the artist's soul with power
And whatsoe'er of beauty men have seen
Hath had its prototype within my realm--
Now ask thyself, if thou shouldst fear me still.

MARIA:

In these domains which Lucifer commands
Fear hath not verily her proper place.
From hence he must send forth into men's souls
Not fear, but wishes, as his gifts to men.
Fear comes from quite another realm of power.

AHRIMAN:

At birth I was the equal of the gods,
Who have curtailed my many ancient rights.
I wished in such a way to fashion men
For Lucifer, my brother, and his realm,
That each should bear his own world in himself.
For Lucifer as peer amongst his peers
Would only show himself in spirit-realms.
In others he but shows his pictured form
And so could never be a lord of men.
I wished to give unto mankind such strength
That they might grow to equal Lucifer.
And had I stayed within the realm of gods
This too had been in primal days fulfilled.
The gods however willed to rule on Earth,
And from their kingdom they did one day thrust
My power into the depths of the abyss,
So that I might not make mankind too strong.
And thus 'tis only from this place I dare
Send out my powerful strength upon the Earth.
But in this way my power turns into FEAR.

(As Ahriman finishes speaking, Benedictus appears.)

CAPESIUS:

He who hath heard what both these two powers here
Spake from their places out into the worlds
May know from this where he can look and find
Both fear and hatred in their own domains.

BENEDICTUS:

In cosmic speech thou shalt perceive thyself;
And feel thyself in cosmic power of thought.
And as thou now didst see outside thyself
What thou didst dream was all thine inmost self,
So find thyself, and shudder now no more
At that one word thou hast a right to use
To prove thine own existence to thyself--

CAPESIUS:

So once more I belong to mine own self
Now will I seek myself, because I dare
To see myself in cosmic thought and live.

BENEDICTUS:

And thou must add all this which thou hast won
To victories of old to give the world.

(Dame Balde in her ordinary dress appears in the background beside Benedictus.)

DAME BALDE (in a meditative voice suitable for fairy tales):

Once on a time there lived a child of God
Who had affinity with those who weave
The thoughtful wisdom of the spirit-realms.
This child, brought up by truth's almighty Sire
Grew up within his realm to ancient strength.
And when his body, radiant with light,
Did feel his ripened will creative stir
He often looked with pity on the Earth
Where souls of men were striving after truth.
Then to the Sire of truth the child would say:
'The souls of men are thirsting for the drink
Which thou canst hand to them from out thy springs.'
With earnest speech the Sire of truth replied:
'The springs, of which I am appointed guard,
Let light stream forth from out the spirit-suns;
Only such beings dare to drink the light
As need not thirst for air that they may breathe.
Therefore in light have I brought up a child
Who can feel pity for the souls on Earth
And manifest the light 'midst breathing men.
So turn and go unto mankind and bring
The light that's in their souls to meet my light
Enfilled with confidence and spirit-life.'
So then the shining light-child turned, and went
To souls who keep themselves alive by breath.
And many good men found he on the Earth,
Who offered him with joy their souls' abode.
These souls he turned to gaze with grateful love
Upon their Sire who dwells in springs of light.
And when the child heard from the lips of men
And joyous mind of men, the magic word
Of fantasy, he knew himself alive
Dwelling with gladness in the hearts of men.
But one sad day there came unto the child
A man who cast upon him chilling looks.
'I turn the souls of men on earth toward
The Sire of truth who dwells in springs of light--'
Thus to the strange man did the light-child speak--
The man replied: 'Thou dost but weave wild dreams
Into men's spirits, and deceiv'st their souls.'
And since the day which witnessed this event
The child who can bring light to breathing souls
Hath often suffered slander from mankind.

(Philia, Astrid, Luna, and the Other Philia appear in a cloud of light.)

PHILIA:

Now let every soul
That drinks of the light
Awake to full power
In cosmic expanse.

ASTRID:

So too let the spirit
That knoweth no fear
Arise in full power
In cosmic domains.

LUNA:

Let man who doth strive
To reach to the heights
Hold firm with full strength
To innermost self.

THE OTHER PHILIA:

Let man struggle on
To him who bears light
And opens out worlds
Which quicken in men
The sense of delight.
This beauty so bright
Awakened in souls,
Inspired to admire,
The spirit leads on
To realms of the gods.
Achievement consoles
The feelings that dare
The threshold to tread,
Which strictly doth guard
'Gainst souls that feel fear.
And energy finds
A will that grows ripe
And fearless doth stand
'Fore powers that create
And fashion the worlds.

Curtain falls whilst Benedictus, Capesius, Maria, Dame Balde, Lucifer, and Ahriman, and the four Soul-forms, are still in their places.

SCENE 7

A landscape composed of fantastic forms. This picture of blazing fire on one side of the stage with rushing water on the other whirled into living forms is intended to suggest the sublime. In the centre a chasm belching forth fire which leaps up into a kind of barrier of fire and water. The Guardian of the Threshold stands in the centre with flaming sword erect. His costume is the conventional angelic garb. The Guardian, Thomasius, Maria, later on Lucifer and then the other Philia.

THE GUARDIAN:

What unchecked wish doth sound within mine ear?
So storm men's souls when first approaching me
E'er they have fully gained tranquillity.
It is desire that really leads such men
And not creative power which dares to speak
Since it in silence could itself create.
The souls which thus comport themselves when here
I needs must relegate again to Earth,
For in the Spirit-realm they can but sow
Confusion, and do but disturb the deeds
Which cosmic powers have wisely foreordained.
Such men can also injure their own selves
Who form destructive passions in their hearts
Which are mistaken for creative powers,
Since they must take delusion for the truth
When earthly darkness no more shelters them.

(Thomasius and Maria appear.)

THOMASIUS:

Thou dost not see upon thy threshold now
The soul of him who was the pupil once
Of Benedictus, and came oft to thee,
Thomasius, although upon the Earth
It had to call Thomasius' form its own.
He came to thee, his thirst for knowledge quenched
And could not bear to have thee near to him.
He hid in his own personality
When he felt near thee, and thus oft did see
Worlds which, he thought, made clear the origin
Of all existence and the goal of life.
He found the happiness of knowledge there
And also powers which to the artist gave
That which directed both his hand and heart
Toward creation's source, so that he felt
There truly lived within him cosmic powers,
Which held him steady to his artist's work.
He did not know that nought before him stood
In all that he created through his thought
Except the living content of his soul.
Like spiders, spinning webs around themselves
So did he work, and thought himself the world.
Indeed he once thought that Maria stood
Opposed to him in spirit, till he saw
That picture she had graven on his soul
Which then as spirit did reveal itself.
And when he was allowed a moment's glimpse
Of his own being, as it really was,
He gladly would have fled away from self;
He thought himself a spirit but he found
He was a creature but of flesh and blood.
He learned to know the power of this same blood;
'Twas there in truth, the rest was but a shade.
Blood was his teacher true; and this alone
Gave him clear vision, and revealed to him
Who was his sire and who his sister dear
In long forgotten ages on the Earth.
To blood-relations his blood guided him.
Then did he see how strongly souls of men
Must be deceived when they in vanity
Would rise to spirit from the life of sense.
Such effort truly binds the soul more firm
To sense-existence than a daily life,
Dull human dream existence following.
And when Thomasius could view all this
Before his soul as being his own state
He gave himself with vigour to that power
Which could not lie to him although as yet
'Twas but revealed in picture, for he knew
That Lucifer himself is really there
E'en if he can but show his pictured form.
The gods desire to draw near to mankind
Through truth alone; but Lucifer--to him
It matters not if men see false or true,
He ever will remain the same himself.
And therefore I acknowledge that I feel
I have attained reality when I
Believe that I must search and find the soul
Which in his own realm he did bind to mine.

(To the Guardian.)

So armed with all the strength which he bestows
I mean to pass thee and to penetrate
To Theodora whom I know to be
Within the realm that o'er this threshold lies.

THE GUARDIAN:

Thomasius, think well what thou dost know.
What o'er this threshold lives is all unknown;
Yet dost thou know quite well all I must ask,
Before thou canst set foot within this realm.
Thou must first part with many of those powers
Which thou hast won when in thine earthly frame.
Out of them all thou canst alone retain
That which by efforts, pure and spiritual,
Thou didst achieve, and which thou hast kept pure.
But this thou hast thyself cast off from thee
And given as his own to Ahriman.
What still is thine hath been by Lucifer
Destroyed for use within the spirit-world.
This too upon the threshold I must take
If thou wouldst really pass this portal by.
So nought remains to thee; a lifeless life
Must be thy lot within the spirit-realms.

THOMASIUS:

Yet I shall be and Theodora find.
She'll be for me the source of fullest light,
Which ever hath so richly been revealed
Unto her soul, apart from lore of Earth.
That is enough. And thou wilt set thyself
In vain against me, even if the power
Which I myself have won upon the Earth
Should not fulfil the estimate which thou
Didst form of my good spirit long ago.

MARIA (to the Guardian):

Thou knowest well, who hast been guardian
Of this realm's threshold since the world began
What beings need to cross the threshold o'er
Who to thy kind and to thy time belong:
So too with men, who meet thee at this gate
If they do come alone, and cannot show
That they have done true spirit-good they must
Go back again from here to life on Earth.
But this man here hath been allowed to bring
That other soul unto thy threshold now
Whom fate hath bound so closely with his own.
Thou hast been ordered by high spirit powers
To keep back many men from here, who would
Try to approach the gateway of this realm
And would but bring destruction on themselves
If they should dare to pass the threshold o'er.
Yet thou may'st throw it open unto those
Who through their inmost personality
Are in the spirit-realms inclined to love,
And to such love can cling as they press through,
As hath been foreordained them by the gods
Before to battle Lucifer came forth.
Standing before his throne my heart hath vowed
With strictest oath, that in Earth's future times
It would so serve this love that Lucifer,
When he gives knowledge of it to men's souls
Can do no harm. And those who listen well
For the revealing of this love divine
With earnest minds, as once they strove to grasp
The knowledge given forth by Lucifer,
They must inevitably find themselves.
Johannes in his earthly form doth now
No longer listen to my voice, as once,
When in an earthly life long since passed by
I was enabled to reveal to him
That which had been entrusted to myself
In holy temples in Hibernia
By that same God Who dwells within mankind
And Who once conquered all the powers of death
Because He lived love's life so perfectly.
My friend will once again in spirit-realms
Discern the words which come forth from my soul
But which were hindered from his earthly ears
By Lucifer and his delusive power.

THOMASIUS (as one who perceives some spiritual being):

Maria, dost thou see, clad in long cloak
That dignified old man, his solemn face,
His noble brow, the flashing of his glance?
He passeth through the streets, 'mid crowds of men
Yet each doth step aside in reverence
That yon old man may go his way in peace,
And lest his train of thought be rudely stirred.
For one can see that, wrapped within himself
He meditates with powerful inmost thought.
Maria, dost thou see?

MARIA:

Yea, I can see,
When through the eyes of thine own soul I look.
But 'tis to thee alone that he would now
Reveal himself in scenes significant.

THOMASIUS:

I now can see into his very soul,
Things full of meaning lie within its depths
And memory of something he's just heard.
Before his eyes there stands a teacher wise.
He lets the words which he hath heard from him
Pass through his soul; it is from him he comes.
His thinking scans the very source of life;
As once mankind in olden times on Earth
Might stand quite near and view the spirit-scenes,
Although their soul-life was but like a dream;
The old man's soul doth trace that line of thought
Which from his honoured teacher he hath learned.
And now he disappears from my soul's sight;
Ah, if I could but watch his further steps.
I see men speaking with each other now
Among the crowd; and I can hear their words.
They speak of that old man with reverence deep.
In his young days he was a soldier brave;
Ambition, and desire to be renowned
Were burning in his soul; he wished to count
As foremost warrior within his ranks.
In battle's service he did perpetrate
Unnumbered gruesome deeds through thirst for fame.
And in his life full many a time it chanced
He caused much blood to flow upon the earth.
At last there came a day when suddenly
The luck of battle turned its back on him.
He left the battlefield in bitter shame
To enter his own home, a man disgraced;
Scorn and derision were his lot in life,
And from that time wild hatred filled his soul
Which had not lost its pride and love of fame.
He looked upon his boon-companions now
Only as enemies to be destroyed
As soon as opportunity occurred.
But since the man's proud soul was soon compelled
To recognize that vengeance on his foes
Would not be possible for him in life,
He learned the victory o'er his own self
And vanquished all his pride and love of fame.
He even made resolve in his old age
A circle small of pupils to attend
Which had arisen then within his town.
The man who was the teacher of this band
Was in his soul possessed of all the lore
Which by the masters in much older days
Had been delivered to initiates--
All this I hear from men within the crowd.
It fills me with warm love when I behold
With my soul's sight, this agèd man, who thus
After the victories which love of fame
Had won for him could even then achieve
The greatest human task--to conquer self--
Therefore do I perceive within this place
The man to whom I wholly give myself,
Although I see him but in pictured form.
This feeling howsoe'er it comes to me
Is not a moment's work. Through lives long past
I must have been in closest union joined
Unto a soul I love as I love him.
I have not in this moment roused in me
A love so strong as that which now I feel;
It is a recollection from past times;
Nor can I grasp it with my thought as yet,--
Though memory calls these feelings back to me.
Surely I once was pupil of this man
And full of awe and wonder gazed on him?
Oh, how I long once more in this same hour
To meet the earthly soul which formerly
Could speak about this body as its own,
No matter if on Earth or otherwhere.
Then would I prove the strength with which I love;
What noble human ties did once create
This can good powers alone renew in me.

MARIA:

Art thou quite sure, Johannes, that this soul
If it approached thee now would show itself
Upon the same bright height whereon it stood
In those old days just pictured 'fore thy soul?
Perchance it now is chained a prisoner
By feelings all unworthy of its past.
Many a man now walks upon the Earth
Who would be filled with shame, if he could see
How little in his present mode of life
Doth correspond with that which once he was.
Perchance this man hath wallowed in the mire
Of lust and passion, and thou saw'st him now
Oppressed by consternation and remorse.

THOMASIUS:

Maria, why dost thou suggest such words?
I cannot see what leads thee so to speak.
For thoughts have here quite other influence,
Than in the places where that man hath lived.

THE GUARDIAN: