Four Mystery Plays
GA 14
The Portal of Initiation
Scene 3
A room for meditation. The background is a great purple curtain. The scene is purple in colour with a large yellow pentagonal lamp suspended from the ceiling. No other furniture or ornaments are in the room except the lamp and one chair. Benedictus, Johannes, Maria, and a child.
Maria:
I bring to thee this child who needs some word
From out thy mouth.
Benedictus:
My child, henceforth each eve
Thou shalt come unto me to hear the word
That shall fill full thy soul ere thou dost tread
The realm of souls in sleep. Wilt thou do this?
Child:
Most gladly will I come.
Benedictus:
This very eve
Fill thy soul full ere sleep embraceth thee,
With strength from these few words: ‘The powers of light
Bear me aloft unto the spirit's home.’
(Maria, having taken the child away, returns.)
Maria:
And now, that this child's destiny doth flow
Harmoniously through future days beneath
The shadow of thy gracious fatherhood,
I too may claim my leader's kind advice,
Who am its mother, not by bond of blood
But through the mighty power of destiny.
For thou hast shown to me the way wherein
I had to guide its footsteps from that day,
When I discovered it before my door
Left by its unknown mother desolate.
And wonder-working proved themselves those rules
Whereby thou madest me train my foster-child.
All powers, that deep in body and in soul
Lay hidden, issued forth to light and life:
Clear proof it was that all thy counselling
Sprang from the realm which sheltered this child's soul
Before it built its body's covering.
We saw its early promise blossom forth
And radiate more brightly each new day;
Thou dost know well how hard it was for me
To gain the child's affection, at the first.
It grew up 'neath my care, and yet nought else
Save habit chained its soul at first to mine.
It only realized and felt that I
Gave it the nurture and the food that served
The needs of body and the growth of soul.
Then came the time when in the child-like heart
There dawned the love for her who fostered it.
An outer incident brought forth this change—
The visit of the seeress to our group.
Gladly the child did go about with her
And soon did learn full many a beauteous word
Steeped in the mystic charm that graced her speech.
Then came the moment when her ecstasy
Descended on our friend with magic power.
The child could see her eyes, strange smouldering light,
And, terrified unto the vital core,
The young soul found itself.
In her dismay she fled unto mine arms;
And from that hour did grow her love for me.
Since that same time she doth accept from me
The gifts of life with her full consciousness
Not with blind instinct: aye, and since that day
When this young heart first quivered into warmth,
Whene'er her gaze met mine with loving glance,
Thy wisdom's treasures of their fruitage failed,
And much already ripe hath withered up.
I saw appear in her those tokens strange
That proved so terrible unto my friend.
A dark enigma am I to myself,
And grow still darker. Thou wilt not deny
To solve for me life's fearful questionings
I Why do I mar the life of friend and child,
When I in love attempt to work on them
According to the dictates of my heart
By spirit-lore instructed and inspired?
Oft hast thou taught me this exalted truth—
Illusion's veil o'erspreads life's surfaces—
Yet must I see with greater clarity
Why I must bear this heavy destiny,
That seems so cruel and that works such harm.
Benedictus:
Within our circle there is formed a knot
Of threads that Karma spins world-fashioning.
Thy sufferings, my friend, are links in chains,
Forged by the hand of destiny, whereby
The deeds of Gods unite with human lives.—
When in life's pilgrimage I had attained
That rank which granted me the dignity
To serve with counsel in the spirit-spheres,
A godlike Being did draw nigh to me,
Who would descend into the realms of earth,
And dwell there, veiled in form of flesh, as man.
For just at this one turning-point of time
The Karma of mankind made this demand.
For each great step in world-development
Is only possible when Gods do stoop
To link themselves with human destiny.
And this new spirit-sight that needs must grow
And germinate henceforth in souls of men
Can only be unfolded when a God
Doth plant the seed within some human heart.
My task it was to find that human soul
Which worthy seemed to take within itself
The powerful Seed of God. I had to join
The deed of heaven to some human lot.
My spirit's eye then sought, and fell on thee.
Thy course of life had fitted thee to be
The mediator in salvation's work.
Through many former lives thou hadst acquired
Receptiveness for all the greatest things
That human hearts can e'er experience.
Within thy tender soul thou didst bring forth,
As spirit heritage, the noble gift
Of beauty, joined to virtue's loftiest claim:
And that which thine eternal Self had formed
And brought to being through thy birth on earth
Did reach ripe fruitage when thy years were few.—
Thou didst not scale steep spirit-heights too soon,
Nor grew thy yearning for the spirit-land
Before thou hadst the full enjoyment known
Of harmless pleasures in the world of sense.
Anger and love thy soul did learn to know
When thy thoughts dwelt yet far from spirit-life.
Nature in all her beauty to enjoy,
And pluck the fruits of art,—these didst thou strive
To make thy life's sole content and its wealth.
Merry thy laughter, as a child can laugh
Who hath not known as yet life's shadowed fears.
Thus thou didst learn to understand life's joy,
And mourn in sadness, each in its own time,
Before thy dawning conscience grew to seek
Of sorrow and of happiness the cause.
A ripened fruit of many lives that soul,
That enters earth's domains, and shows such moods.
Its childlike nature is the blossoming
And not the ground-root of its character.
And such a soul alone was I to choose
As mediator for the God, who sought
The power to work within our human world.
And now thou learnest that thy nature must
Transform itself into its opposite,
When it flows forth to other human souls.
The spirit in thee ripens whatsoe'er
In human nature can attain the realm
Of vast eternity; and much it slays
That is but part of transitory realms.
And yet the sacrifices of such deaths
Are but the seeds of immortality;
All that which blossoms forth from death below
Must grow unto the higher life above.
Maria:
E'en so it is with me. Thou giv'st me light:
But light that doth deprive me of my sight,
And sunder me from mine own self in twain.
Then do I seem some spirit's instrument—
No longer master of myself. No more
Do I endure that erstwhile form of mine
Which only is a mask and not the truth.
Johannes:
O friend, what ails thee? Vanished is the light
That filled thine eye: as marble is thy frame.
I grasp thine hand and find it cold as death.
Benedictus:
My son, full many trials have come to thee;
And now thou stand'st before life's hardest test.
Thou seest the carnal covering of thy friend;
But her true self doth float in spirit-spheres
Before mine eyes.
Johannes:
See! Her lips move; she speaks.
Maria:
Thou gav'st me clearness yet this clearness throws
A veil of darkness round on every side.
I curse thy clearness; and I curse thee too,
Who didst make tool of me for weird wild arts
Whereby thou willedst to deceive mankind.
No doubt at any moment hitherto
Had crossed my mind of heights thy spirit reached;
But now one single moment doth suffice
To tear all faith in thee from out my heart.
Those spirit-beings thou art subject to,
I now must recognize as hellish fiends.
Others I had to mislead and deceive
Because at first I was deceived by thee.—
But I will flee unto dim distances,
Where not a sound of thee shall reach mine ears;
Yet near enough that thy soul may be reached
By bitter curses framed by these my lips.
For thou didst rob my blood of all its fire,
That thou mightst sacrifice to thy false god
That which was rightly mine and mine alone.
But now this same blood's fire shall thee consume.
Thou madest me trust in vain imaginings;
And that this might be so, thou first didst make
A pictured falsehood of my very self.
Often had I to mark how from my soul
Each deed and thought turned to its opposite;
So now doth turn what once was love for thee,
Into the fire of wild and bitter hate.
Through all worlds will I seek to find that fire
Which can consume thee—I curse—Ah, woe!
Johannes:
Who speaketh here? I do not see my friend.
I hear instead some gruesome being speak.
Benedictus:
Thy friend's soul hovers in the heights above.
Only her mortal image hath she left
Here with us: and where'er a human form
Is found bereft of soul, there is the room
Sought by the enemy, the foe of good,
To enter into realms perceptible,
And find some carnal form through which to speak.
Just such an adversary spake e'en now,
Who would destroy the work imposed on me
For thee, my son, and millions yet unborn.
Were I to deem these wild anathemas,
Which our friend's shell did utter here and now,
Aught else but some grim tempter's cunning skill,
Thou durst not follow more my leadership.
The enemy of Good stood by my side,
And thou hast seen into the darkness plunged
All that is temporal of that dear form,
For whom, my son, thy whole love burns and glows.
Since through her mouth spirits spake oft to thee,
The Karma of the world could not restrain
Hell's princes also speaking thus through her.
Now only mayst thou seek her very soul
And learn her nature's inmost verity;
For she shall form for thee the prototype
Of that new higher life of humankind
To which thou dost aspire to raise thyself.
Her soul hath soared aloft to spirit-heights,
Where every man may find his being's source
Which springs to life and fullness in himself.
Thou too shalt follow her to spirit-realms,
And see her in the Temple of the Sun.—
Within this circle there is formed a knot
Of threads which Karma spins, world fashioning.
My son, since thou hast now attained thus far,
Thou shalt still further pierce beyond the veil.
I see thy star in fullest splendour shine.
There is no place within the realm of sense
For strife, such as men wage when they do strive
And struggle after consecration's gift.
Whate'er the outer world of sense begets
Of riddles soluble by intellect,
Whate'er this world engenders in man's heart
Born tho' it be of love or bitter hate
And howsoever direful its results:
The spirit-seeker must attain the power
In all these things to stand unmoved, serene,
Casting his gaze all unperturbed and calm
Upon the scene where such contentions rage.
For him must other powers unfold themselves
Which are not found upon this field of strife.
So didst thou need to fight to prove thy soul
In combat such as comes to him alone,
Who finds himself accoutred for such powers
As do belong unto the spirit-worlds.
And had these powers found thee not ripe enough
To tread the path of knowledge, they needs must
Have maimed thy powers of feeling, ere thou daredst
To know all that which now is known to thee.
The Beings, who can gaze into world-depths,
Lead on those men, who would attain the heights,
First to that summit whence it may be shown
Whether there lies in them the power to reach
To conscious sight within the spirit-realms.
And those in whom such powers are found to lie
Are straightway from the world of sense set free.
The others all must wait their season due.
But thou, thou hast preserved thy Self, my son,
When Powers on high stirred to its depths thy soul,
And potent spirits shrouded thee with fear.
Right powerfully thy Self hath fought its way
E'en though thy very heart was torn by doubts,
That willed to thrust thee into darksome depths.
True pupil of my teaching hast thou been,
First since that hour, so fraught with fate for thee,
When thou didst learn to doubt thy very self,
And gavest up thyself as wholly lost,
But yet the strength within thee held thee fast.
Then might I give thee of my treasured store
Of wisdom, whence to draw the strength to stand
Assured, e'en when mistrusting thine own self.
Such was the wisdom which thou didst attain
More steadfast than the faith once given to thee.
Ripe wast thou found, and thou may'st be set free.
Thy friend hath gone before and waits for thee
In spirit-worlds, and thou shalt find her there.
I can but add this guidance for thee now:
Kindle the full power of thy soul with words
Which through my lips shall grant to thee the key
To spirit-heights, and they will lead thee on
When naught else leads, that eyes of sense can see.
Receive them in the fulness of thy heart:
‘The weaving essence of the light streams forth
Through depths of space to fill the world with life;
Love's grace doth warm the centuries of time
To call forth revelation of all worlds.
And spirit-messengers come forth to wed
The weaving essence of creative light
With revelation of the souls of men:
And that man, who can wed to both of these
His very Self, he lives in spirit-heights.’
O spirits, who are visible to man,
Quicken with life the soul of this our son:
From inmost depths may there stream forth for him
That which can fill his soul with spirit-light.
From inmost depths may there resound for him
That which can wholly wake in him his Self
To the creative joy of spirit-life.
A Spirit-Voice behind the stage:
To founts of worlds primeval
His surging thoughts do mount;—
What as shadow he hath thought
What as fancy he hath lived
Soars up beyond the world of form and shape;
On whose fulness pondering
Mankind in shadow dreams,
O'er whose fulness gazing forth
Mankind in fancy lives.
Curtain
Drittes Bild.
(Ein Meditationszimmer. Benedictus, Johannes, Maria, Kind.)
Maria:
Ich bringe Euch das Kind,
Es braucht ein Wort aus Eurem Munde.
Benedictus:
Mein Kind, du sollst fortan
An jedem Abend zu mir kommen,
Zu holen dir das Wort,
Das dich erfüllen soll,
Bevor das Seelenreich des Schlafes du betrittst.
Willst du es so?
Kind:
Ich will es so gern.
Benedictus:
Erfülle dein Gemüt an diesem Abend,
Bis dich der Schlaf umfängt,
Mit dieses Wortes Kraft:
»Es tragen Lichtgewalten
Mich in des Geistes Haus.«
(Das Kind wird von Maria hinausgeführt.)
Maria:
Und nun, da dieses Kindes Schicksal
In Zukunft fließen soll
Im Schatten Eurer Vaterhuld,
Erbitten darf des Führers Rat
Auch ich, die Mutter ihm geworden,
Wenn nicht durch Blutesbande,
So doch durch Schicksalsmächte.
Ihr wieset mir den Weg,
Den ich es führen sollte
Von jenem Tage an, da ich es fand,
Von seiner unbekannten Mutter
Mir vor die Tür gelegt.
Und wunderwirkend zeigten
Sich an dem Pflegling alle Regeln,
Nach welchen ich ihn führen durfte.
Zutage traten alle Kräfte,
Die in dem Leibe und der Seele keimten.
Es zeigte sich, wie eure Weisung
Entsprossen war dem Reiche,
Das dieses Kindes Seele barg,
Bevor sie baute ihres Leibes Hülle.
Erwachsen sahen wir die Menschenhoffnung,
Die heller strahlte jeden neuen Tag.
Ihr wisst, wie schwer des Kindes Neigung
Ich erst gewinnen konnte.
Es wuchs heran in meiner Pflege,
Und mehr nicht als Gewohnheit
Verband erst seine Seele mit der meinen.
Es stand zu mir, empfindend,
Daß ich ihm reichte, was ihm nötig war
Für Leibeswohl und Seelenwachstum.
Es kam die Zeit, in welcher
Im Kindesherzen sich erzeugte
Die Liebe zu der Pflegerin.
Ein äußrer Anlass brachte solche Wandlung.
Es trat in unsern Kreis die Seherin.
Das Kind war gern um sie,
Und manches schöne Wort
Erlernte es in ihrem Zauberbann,
Da kam ein Augenblick, in dem Begeisterung
Erfaßte unsre wundersame Freundin,
Und schauen konnte unser Kind
Der Augen glimmend Licht.
Erschüttert bis ins Lebensmark
Empfand die junge Seele sich.
Sie kam in ihrem Schreck zu mir.
Von dieser Stunde an
War mir das Kind in Liebe warm ergeben.
Doch seit bewußtes Fühlen
Von mir empfing die Lebensgaben,
Und nicht der Trieb allein,
Seit wärmer dieses junge Herz erbebte,
Sobald sein Blick den meinen liebend traf,
Verloren eure Weisheitsschätze ihre Fruchtbarkeit.
Verdorren mußte vieles,
Was schon gereift dem Kinde.
Erscheinen sah ich an dem Wesen wieder,
Was an dem Freunde furchtbar sich erwiesen,
Ich bin mir immer mehr ein dunkles Rätsel.
Du kannst mir wehren nicht die bange Lebensfrage:
Warum verderb’ ich Freund und Kind,
Wenn liebend ich das Werk versuch
An ihnen zu verüben,
Das mich die Geistesweisung
Als gut erkennen läßt im Herzen?
Du hast mich an die hohe Wahrheit oft gewiesen,
Daß Schein sich breitet an des Lebens Oberfläche,
Doch muß ich Klarheit haben,
Soll ich ertragen dies Geschick,
Das grausam ist und Böses wirkt.
Benedictus:
Es formt sich hier in diesem Kreise
Ein Knoten aus den Fäden,
Die Karma spinnt im Weltenwerden.
O Freundin, deine Leiden
Sind Glieder eines Schicksalsknotens,
In dem sich Göttertat verschlingt mit Menschenleben.
Als auf dem Pilgerpfad der Seele
Erreicht ich hatte jene Stufe,
Die mir die Würde gab,
Mit meinem Rat zu dienen in den Geistersphären,
Da trat zu mir ein Gotteswesen,
Das niedersteigen sollte in das Erdenreich,
Um eines Menschen Fleischeshülle zu bewohnen.
Es fordert dies das Menschenkarma
An dieser Zeiten Wende.
Ein großer Schritt im Weltengang
Ist möglich nur, wenn Götter
Sich binden an das Menschenlos.
Es können sich entfalten Geistesaugen,
Die keimen sollen in den Menschenseelen,
Erst wenn ein Gott das Samenkorn
Gelegt in eines Menschen Wesenheit.
Es wurde mir nun aufgegeben,
Zu finden jenen Menschen,
Der würdig war, des Gottes Samenkraft
In seine Seele aufzunehmen.
So mußte ich verbinden Himmels-Tat
Mit einem Menschenschicksal.
Mein geistig Auge forschte.
Es fiel auf dich.
Bereitet hatte dich dein Lebenslauf zum Heilesmittler.
In vielen Leben hattest du erworben dir
Empfänglichkeit für alles Große,
Das Menschenherzen leben.
Der Schönheit edles Wesen, der Tugend höchste Forderung,
Du trugst als Geisteserbe sie
In deiner zarten Seele.
Und was dein ewig Ich
Ins Dasein durch Geburt gebracht,
Es ward zur reifen Frucht
In deinen jungen Jahren.
Zu früh nicht stiegest du
Auf steile Geisteshöhen.
Und so erstand dir nicht
Der Hang zum Geisterland,
Bevor du voll erfaßt
Der Sinne unschuldvolle Freuden.
Erkennen lernte deine Seele Zorn und Liebe,
Als ihrem Denken jeder Trieb
Zum Geist noch ferne war.
Natur in ihrer Schönheit zu geniessen,
Der Künste Früchte pflücken,
Erstrebtest du als deines Lebens Reichtum.
Du durftest heiter lachen,
Wie nur ein Kind kann lachen,
Das von des Daseins Schatten
Noch nichts erfahren hat.
Du lerntest Menschenglück verstehn
Und Leid beklagen in den Zeiten,
Da deinem Ahnen selbst nicht dämmerte,
Zu fragen nach des Glückes und des Leides Wurzeln.
Als reife Frucht von vielen Leben
Betritt das Erdensein die Seele,
Die solche Stimmung zeigt.
Und ihre Kindlichkeit ist Blüte,
Nicht Wurzel ihres Wesens.
Nur diese Seele durfte ich erkiesen
Zum Mittler für den Geist,
Der Wirkenskraft erlangen sollte
Durch unsre Menschenwelt.
Und nun begreife, daß dein Wesen
Sich wandeln muß zum Gegenbild,
Ergießt aus dir es sich in andre Wesen.
Der Geist in dir, er wirkt in allem,
Was für das Reich der Ewigkeit
An Früchten reifen kann im Menschenwesen.
Ertöten muß er darum vieles,
Was nur dem Reich des Zeitenseins gehören soll.
Doch seine Todesopfer
Sind Saaten der Unsterblichkeit.
Dem höhern Leben muß erwachsen,
Was aus dem niedern Sterben blüht.
Maria:
So also steht’s mit mir. ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒
Du gibst mir Licht;
Doch Licht, das mir die Kraft des Sehens raubt
Und mich mir selbst entreißt.
Bin ich denn eines Geistes Mittler nur,
Und nicht mein eigen Wesen,
Dann dulde ich nicht länger
Die Form an mir,
Die Maske und nicht Wahrheit ist.
Johannes:
O Freundin, was ist dir!
Es schwindet deines Blickes Licht,
Zur Säule wird dein Leib,
Ich fasse deine Hand,
Sie ist so kalt,
Sie ist wie tot.
Benedictus:
Mein Sohn, du hast der Proben viel erfahren.
Du stehst in dieser Stunde vor der stärksten.
Du schaust der Freundin Leibeshülle,
Vor meinem Blick jedoch
Entschwebt ihr Selbst in Geistersphären.
Johannes:
O sieh! die Lippen regen sich.
Sie spricht ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒
Maria:
Du gabst mir Klarheit,
Ja, Klarheit, die in Finsternis
Mich hüllt nach allen Seiten.
Ich fluche deiner Klarheit,
Und dich verfluche ich,
Der mich zum Werkzeug
Der wilden Künste formte,
Durch die er Menschen täuschen will. ‒
Ich habe keinen Augenblick bisher
An deiner Geisteshöhe zweifeln können;
Doch jetzt genügt der Eine Augenblick,
Aus meinem Herzen mir zu reißen jeden Glauben.
Erkennen muß ich, daß sie Höllenwesen sind,
Die Geister, welchen du ergeben bist.
Ich mußte andre täuschen,
Weil du erst mich getäuscht!
Ich will dich fliehn in Fernen,
Wohin von dir kein Laut mehr dringt,
Und die doch nah genug,
Daß meine Flüche dich erreichen können!
Des eignen Blutes Feuer,
Du hast es mir geraubt,
Um deinem falschen Gott zu geben,
Was mein sein muß.
O dieses Blutes Feuer,
Es soll dich brennen!
Ich mußte glauben
An Trug und Wahn.
Und daß es möglich wurde,
Zum Truggebilde mußtest du
Mich selbst erst machen!
Ich mußte oft erleben,
Wie meines Wesens Wirkung
Ins Gegenbild sich wandelte.
So wandle jetzt,
Was Liebe war zu dir,
In wilden Hasses Feuer sich.
Ich will in allen Welten
Nach jenem Feuer forschen,
Das dich verzehren kann.
Ich flu ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒ ach ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒
Johannes:
Wer spricht an diesem Ort?
Ich schau die Freundin nicht!
Ich schau ein grausig Wesen.
Benedictus:
Der Freundin Seele schwebt in Höhen;
Sie ließ ihr sterblich Scheinbild
An diesem Ort zurück uns nur.
Und wo ein Menschenleib
Vom Geist verlassen wird,
Ist Raum, den sich
Des Guten Widersacher sucht,
Um einzutreten in das Reich der Sichtbarkeit.
Er findet eine Leibeshülle,
Durch die er sprechen kann.
Es sprach ein solcher Widersacher,
Der mir zerstören will das Werk,
Das mir obliegt
Für vieler Menschen Zukunft
Und auch für dich, mein Sohn.
Und könnt’ ich halten jene Flüche,
Die unsrer Freundin Hülle eben sprach,
Für andres als Versucherlist,
Du dürftest mir nicht folgen.
Des Guten Widersacher war an meiner Seite;
Und du, mein Sohn,
Hast stürzen sehn in Finsternis,
Was zeitlich ist an jenem Wesen,
Dem deine ganze Liebe strahlt.
Weil Geister dir so oft
Aus ihrem Mund gesprochen,
Ersparte dir das Weltenkarma nicht,
Den Höllenfürsten auch
Durch sie zu hören.
Nun darfst du erst sie suchen
Und ihres Wesens Kern erkennen.
Sie soll dir Vorbild jenes höhern Menschen sein,
Zu dem du dich erheben sollst.
Es schwebet ihre Seele in die Geisteshöhen,
Wo Menschen ihres Wesens Urform finden,
Die in sich selbst sich gründet.
Du sollst zum Geistgebiet ihr folgen,
Und schauen wirst du sie im Sonnentempel.
Es formt sich hier
In diesem Kreise
Ein Knoten aus den Fäden
Die Karma spinnt
Im Weltenwerden.
Mein Sohn, da du bis jetzt gehalten dich,
Wirst du auch weiter dringen.
Ich sehe deinen Stern im vollen Glanze.
Es ist nicht Raum im Sinnensein
Für Kämpfe, welche kämpfen Menschen,
Die nach der Weihe streben.
Was Sinnensein an Rätsel hat,
Die mit Verstand zu lösen,
Was solches Sein erzeugt in Menschenherzen,
Es mag durch Liebe oder Hass entstehen
Und sich entladen noch so schauervoll:
Dem Geistessucher muß es werden
Ein Feld, auf das er unbeteiligt
Den Blick von außen richten kann.
Ihm müssen Kräfte sich entfalten,
Die nicht auf diesem Feld zu finden sind.
Du mußtest dich durch Seelenprüfung ringen,
Die dem nur werden kann,
Der sich gerüstet
Für solche Mächte findet,
Die Geistes-Welten angehören.
Und wärest du von diesen Mächten
Nicht reif befunden zum Erkenntnisweg,
Sie hätten dir das Fühlen lähmen müssen,
Bevor du wissen durftest,
Was dir bekannt nun ist geworden.
Die Wesen, die in Welten-Gründe schauen,
Sie führen Menschen,
Die zu den Höhen streben,
Zuerst auf jenen Gipfel,
Wo es sich zeigen kann,
Ob ihnen Kraft gegeben,
Bewußt zu schauen Geistessein.
Die Menschen, welchen solche Kräfte eigen sind,
Sie werden aus der Sinnenwelt entlassen;
Die andern müssen warten.
Du hast dein Selbst bewahrt, mein Sohn,
Als Höhenkräfte dich erschütterten,
Und als dich Geistesmächte
In Schauer hüllten.
Und kraftvoll hat dein Selbst sich durchgekämpft,
Auch als in eigner Brust die Zweifel wühlten
Und dich den dunklen Tiefen überliefern wollten.
Du bist mein wahrer Schüler
Erst seit der inhaltsvollen Stunde,
Wo du an dir verzweifeln wolltest,
Wo du dich selbst verloren gabst,
Und wo die Kraft in dir dich dennoch hielt.
Ich durfte dir an Weisheitsschätzen geben,
Was Kraft dir brachte,
Dich selbst zu halten,
Auch da du selbst an dich nicht glaubtest.
Es war die Weisheit,
Die du errungen,
Dir treuer als der Glaube,
Der dir geschenkt.
Du bist als reif befunden.
Du darfst entlassen werden.
Die Freundin ist vorangeschritten,
Du wirst im Geist sie finden.
Ich kann dir noch die Richtung weisen:
Entzünde deiner Seele volle Macht
An Worten, die durch meinen Mund
Den Schlüssel geben zu den Höhen.
Sie werden dich geleiten,
Auch wenn dich nichts mehr leitet,
Was Sinnesaugen noch erblicken können.
Mit vollem Herzen wolle sie empfangen:
Des Lichtes webend Wesen, es erstrahlet
Durch Raumesweiten,
Zu füllen die Welt mit Sein.
Der Liebe Segen, er erwarmet
Die Zeitenfolgen,
Zu rufen aller Welten Offenbarung.
Und Geistesboten, sie vermählen
Des Lichtes webend Wesen
Mit Seelenoffenbarung;
Und wenn vermählen kann mit beiden
Der Mensch sein eigen Selbst,
Ist er in Geisteshöhen lebend.
O Geister, die erschauen kann der Mensch,
Belebet unsres Sohnes Seele.
Im Innern lasset ihm erstrahlen,
Was ihm durchleuchten kann
Die Seele mit dem Geisteslicht.
Im Innern lasset ihm ertönen,
Was ihm erwecken kann
Das Selbst zu Geistes Werdelust.
Geistesstimme (hinter der Bühne):
Es steigen seine Gedanken
In Urweltgründe.
Was als Schatten er gedacht,
Was als Schemen er erlebt,
Entschwebet der Gestaltenwelt,
Von deren Fülle
Die Menschen denkend
In Schatten träumen,
Von deren Fülle
Die Menschen sehend
In Schemen leben.
(Der Vorhang fällt.)
Scene Three
(A meditation room. Benedictus, John, Mary, Child.)
Mary:
I bring you the child,
It needs a word from your mouth.
Benedictus:
My child, from now on
You shall come to me every evening,
To receive the word
That shall fulfill you,
Before you enter the realm of sleep.
Is this what you want?
Child:
I want it so very much.
Benedictus:
Fill your mind this evening,
Until sleep envelops you,
With the power of this word:
“The forces of light carry me
Into the house of the spirit.”
(The child is led out by Mary.)
Mary:
And now that this child's destiny
Is to flow in the future
In the shadow of Your Father's grace,
May I, too, who have become his mother,
If not through blood ties,
Then through the powers of fate,
Ask for the guide's advice.
You showed me the way,
That I should lead him
From that day on when I found him,
Left by his unknown mother
At my doorstep.
And miraculously,
All the rules
By which I was to guide him
Came to light in my foster child.
That germinated in body and soul.
It became apparent how your instruction
Sprang from the realm
That harbored this child's soul
Before it built its bodily shell.
As adults, we saw human hope,
Shining brighter with each new day.
You know how difficult it was for me to win the child's affection.
He grew up in my care,
And it was nothing more than habit
That first bound his soul to mine.
He stood by me, feeling
That I gave him what he needed
For physical well-being and spiritual growth.
The time came when
In the child's heart was born
Love for its caregiver.
An external event brought about this change.
The seer entered our circle.
The child enjoyed being around her,
And learned many beautiful words
Under her spell of enchantment,
Then came a moment when enthusiasm
Seized our wondrous friend,
And our child could see
The glowing light in her eyes.
Shaken to the core of its being,
The young soul felt.
In its terror, it came to me.
From that hour on,
the child was devoted to me with warm love.
But since conscious feeling
received the gifts of life from me,
and not instinct alone,
since this young heart trembled with warmth
as soon as its gaze met mine with love,
Your treasures of wisdom lost their fruitfulness.
Much that had already matured in the child
had to wither away.
I saw again in the being
what had proved terrible in the friend,
I am more and more a dark mystery to myself.
You cannot prevent me from asking the anxious question of life:
Why do I ruin my friend and child,
When I lovingly try
To do to them
What the wisdom of the spirit
Lets me recognize as good in my heart?
You have often pointed me to the high truth
That appearances spread on the surface of life,
But I must have clarity,
If I am to endure this fate,
Which is cruel and does evil.
Benedictus:
Here in this circle
A knot is forming from the threads
That karma spins in the becoming of the world.
O friend, your sufferings
Are links in a knot of fate,
In which the deeds of gods are intertwined with human lives.
When on the pilgrim path of the soul
I had reached that stage
Which gave me the dignity
To serve with my counsel in the spirit spheres,
A divine being came to me,
Who was to descend into the earthly realm,
To inhabit the flesh of a human being.
This is required by human karma
At this turning point in time.
A great step in the course of the world
Is only possible when gods
Bind themselves to the fate of humanity.
Spiritual eyes can unfold,
Which are to germinate in human souls,
Only when a god has planted the seed
In a human being.
It was now given to me
To find that human being
Who was worthy of receiving the seed of God
Into his soul.
So I had to connect Heaven's deed
With a human destiny.
My spiritual eye searched.
It fell upon you.
Your life's journey had prepared you to be a healer.
In many lives you had acquired
Receptivity to all that is great,
That lives in human hearts.
The noble essence of beauty, the highest demand of virtue,
You carried them as spiritual heritage
In your tender soul.
And what your eternal self
Brought into existence through birth,
Became ripe fruit
In your young years.
You did not ascend too early
To steep spiritual heights.
And so you did not acquire
A penchant for the spirit world,
Before you fully grasped
The innocent joys of the senses.
Your soul learned to recognize Anger and love,
When every impulse of its thinking
Was still far from the spirit.
To enjoy nature in its beauty,
To reap the fruits of the arts,
You strove for the riches of your life.
You were allowed to laugh cheerfully,
As only a child can laugh,
Who has not yet experienced
The shadows of existence.
You learned to understand human happiness
And lament suffering in times
When even your ancestors did not realize
To ask about the roots of happiness and suffering.
As the ripe fruit of many lives
The soul enters earthly existence
Displaying such a mood.
And its childishness is blossom,
Not the root of its being.
Only this soul was I allowed to choose
As a mediator for the spirit,
Which was to gain power of action
Through our human world.
And now understand that your being
Must transform itself into its opposite,
Pouring out of you into other beings.
The spirit within you works in everything,
What for the realm of eternity
Can ripen into fruit in human beings.
He must therefore kill many things
That belong only to the realm of temporal existence.
But his victims of death
Are seeds of immortality.
Higher life must grow
What blossoms from lowly death.
So that is how it is with me. ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒
You give me light;
But light that robs me of the power of sight
And snatches me away from myself.
Am I then only a mediator of the spirit,
And not my own being,
Then I will no longer tolerate
The form upon me,
The mask that is not truth.
Johannes:
O friend, what is the matter with you!
The light in your eyes is fading,
Your body is becoming a pillar,
I take your hand,
It is so cold,
It is as if it were dead.
Benedictus:
My son, you have experienced many trials.
At this hour, you stand before the strongest one.
You see your friend's physical shell,
But before my eyes
Her spirit floats away into the realm of spirits.
Johannes:
Oh, look! Her lips are moving.
She is speaking ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒
Mary:
You gave me clarity,
Yes, clarity that envelops me in darkness
On all sides.
I curse your clarity,
And I curse you,
Who shaped me into a tool
Of the wild arts,
Through which he wants to deceive people. ‒
I have never for a moment
Doubted your intellectual superiority;
But now a single moment is enough
To tear every belief from my heart.
I must recognize that they are creatures of hell,
The spirits to whom you are devoted.
I had to deceive others,
Because you deceived me first!
I will flee from you into the distance,
Where no sound from you can reach me,
And yet close enough
That my curses can reach you!
The fire of my own blood,
You have stolen it from me,
To give to your false god,
What must be mine.
O this fire of blood,
It shall burn you!
I had to believe
In deceit and delusion.
And for that to be possible,
You had to make me
A figment of your imagination!
I often had to experience
How the effect of my being
Was transformed into its opposite.
So now transform
What was love for you
Into the wild fire of hatred.
I will search in all worlds
For that fire
That can consume you.
I fly ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒ ah ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒
Johannes:
Who speaks in this place?
I do not see my friend!
I see a gruesome creature.
Benedictus:
My friend's soul is floating in the heights;
She left her mortal image
Behind in this place for us.
And where a human body
Is abandoned by the spirit,
There is space that
The adversary of good seeks
To enter the realm of visibility.
He finds a physical shell,
Through which he can speak.
Such an adversary spoke,
Who wants to destroy my work,
Which is incumbent upon me
For the future of many people
And also for you, my son.
And if I could hold those curses,
Which our friend's shell just spoke,
For anything other than temptation,
You would not be allowed to follow me.
The adversary of good was at my side;
And you, my son,
Have seen what is temporal in that being,
Which shines with all your love, fall into darkness.
Because spirits so often speak to you
From her mouth,
Spoken from their mouths,
They did not spare you the karma of the world,
Nor did they spare you
Hearing the prince of hell through them.
Now you may seek her out
And recognize the core of her being.
She shall be your model of that higher human being,
To whom you shall rise.
Her soul floats into the heights of the spirit,
Her soul floats into the spiritual heights,
Where people find the original form of their being,
Which is rooted in themselves.
You shall follow her to the spiritual realm,
And you will see her in the temple of the sun.
Here,
In this circle,
A knot is formed from the threads
Karma spins
In the becoming of the world.
My son, since you have held yourself back until now,
You will also continue to advance.
I see your star in full splendor.
There is no room in the realm of the senses
For the struggles that people fight,
Who strive for consecration.
What mysteries there are in the realm of the senses,
To be solved with the intellect,
What such a being produces in human hearts,
It may arise through love or hate
And discharge itself so horribly:
The seeker of the spirit must become
A field on which he, uninvolved,
From outside.
He must develop powers
That cannot be found in this field.
You had to struggle through trials of the soul
That can only be endured
By those who are prepared
For such powers
That belong to the spiritual worlds.
And if these powers had found you
Not ready for the path of knowledge,
They would have had to paralyze your feelings
Before you were allowed to know
What has now become known to you.
The beings who see into the foundations of worlds
Lead people
Who strive for the heights
First to that summit,
Where it can be revealed,
Whether they have been given the strength
To consciously see spiritual beings.
The people who possess such powers
Are released from the sensory world;
The others must wait.
You have preserved your self, my son,
When higher powers shook you,
And when spiritual forces
Enveloped you in shivers.
And your self fought its way through powerfully,
Even when doubts gnawed at your own heart
And wanted to deliver you to the dark depths.
You are my true disciple
Only since that momentous hour,
When you wanted to despair of yourself,
When you gave yourself up,
And when the power within you nevertheless held you.
I was allowed to give you treasures of wisdom,
Which gave you strength,
To hold yourself,
Even when you yourself did not believe in you.
It was wisdom,
That you attained,
More faithful to you than the faith,
That was given to you.
You have been found mature.
You may be dismissed.
Your friend has gone ahead,
You will find her in spirit.
I can still show you the way:
Ignite the full power of your soul
With words that come through my mouth
The key to the heights.
They will guide you,
Even when nothing else guides you,
What the eyes of the senses can still see.
Receive them with all your heart:
Weaving beings of light, they shine
Through vast spaces,
Filling the world with being.
The blessing of love warms
The succession of times,
Calling forth the revelation of all worlds.
And messengers of the spirit marry
The weaving beings of light
With the revelation of the soul;
And when man can unite with both
His own self,
He lives in spiritual heights.
O spirits, which man can behold,
Enliven the soul of our son.
Let it shine within him,
What can shine through him
The soul with the light of the spirit.
Let it resound within him,
What can awaken him
The self to the spirit's desire to become.
Voice of the spirit (behind the stage):
His thoughts rise
Into primordial depths.
What he thought as shadows,
What he experienced as phantoms,
Floats away from the world of forms,
From whose abundance
People thinking
Dream in shadows,
From whose abundance
People seeing
Live in specters.
(The curtain falls.)
