Four Mystery Plays
GA 14
The Portal of Initiation
Scene 9
From rocks and springs resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
Johannes:
O man, feel thou thyself! For three long years
I have sought strength of soul, with courage winged,
Which doth give truth unto these words, whereby
A man may free himself to conquer first;
Then conquering himself may freedom find
Through these same words: ‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
From rocks and springs resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
I note their presence in mine inmost soul,
Their whispered breathing thrills my spirit-ear;
And hid within themselves they bear the hope,
That they will grow and lead man's spirit up,
Out of his narrow self to world-wide space,
E'en as a giant oak mysteriously
Builds his proud body from an acorn small.
Spirit can cause to live in its own self
All weaving forms of water and of air,
And all that doth make hard the solid earth.
Man too can grasp whate'er hath ta'en firm hold
Of being, in the elements, in souls,
In time, in spirits and eternity.
The whole world's essence lies in one soul's core,
When such power in the spirit roots itself,
Which can give truth unto these selfsame words:
O man, experience and feel thyself—
From rocks and springs resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
I feel them sounding in my very soul,
Rousing themselves to grant me strength and power.
The light doth live in me; the brightness speaks
Around me; soul light germinates in me;
The brightness of all worlds creates in me:
O man, experience and feel thyself;
From rocks and springs resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
I find myself secure on every side,
Where'er these words of power do follow me.
They will give light in sense-life's darkened ways:
They will sustain me on the spirit-heights:
Soul-substance will they pour into my heart
Through all the eons of eternity.
I feel the essence of the worlds in me,
And I must find myself in all the worlds.
I gaze upon the nature of my soul,
Which mine own power hath vivified;
I rest Within myself; I look on rocks and springs;
They speak the native language of my soul.
I find myself again within that soul,
Into whose life I brought such bitter grief;
And out of her I call unto myself:
‘Thou must find me again and ease my pain.’
The spirit-light will give to me the strength
To live this other self in mine own self.
Oh hopeful words, ye stream forth strength to me
From all the worlds: O man, feel thou thyself.
From rocks and springs resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
Ye make me feel my feebleness, and yet
Ye place me near the highest aims of gods;
And blissfully I feel creative power
From these high aims in my weak, earthly form.
And out of mine own Self shall stand revealed
Those powers, whereof the germ lies hid in me.
And I will give myself unto the world
By living out mine own essential life;
Yea, all the might of these words will I feel,
Which sound within me softly at the first.
They shall become for me a quickening fire
In my soul-powers and on my spirit-paths.
I feel how now my very thought doth pierce
To deep-concealed foundations of the world;
And how it streams through them with radiant light.
E'en thus doth work the fructifying power
Of these same words: O man, feel thou thyself.
From rocks and springs resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
From heights of light a being shines on me,
And I feel wings to lift myself to him:
I too will free myself, like all those souls,
Who conquered self.
From springs and rocks resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
That being do I see
Whom I would fain be like in future times.
The spirit in me shall grow free, through thee
Sublime example, I will follow thee.
(Enter Maria.)
The spirit-beings, who did take me up,
Have woken now the vision of my soul.
And as I gaze into the spirit worlds,
I feel in mine own self the quickening power
Of these same words: O man, feel thou thyself.
From springs and rocks resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
Thou here, my friend?
Maria:
My soul did urge me here.
I saw thy star shining in fullest strength.
Johannes:
This strength can I experience in myself.
Maria:
So closely are we one, that thy soul's life
Allows its light to shine forth in my soul.
Johannes:
Maria, then thou also art aware
Of what has just revealed itself to me.
Man's first conviction has just come to me,
And I have gained the certainty of self.
I feel that power to guide me everywhere
Lies in these words: O man, feel thou thyself.
From rocks and springs resounds:
‘O man, feel thou thyself.’
Curtain
Neuntes Bild
(Dieselbe Gegend wie im zweiten Bild.
Es tönt aus Felsen und Quellen: O Mensch, erlebe dich.)
Johannes:
O Mensch, erlebe dich!
Ich habe sie drei Jahre lang gesucht,
Die mutbeschwingte Seelenkraft,
Die Wahrheit gibt dem Worte,
Durch das der Mensch, sich selbst befreiend, siegen,
Und sich besiegend, Freiheit finden kann:
O Mensch, erlebe dich!
(Aus Felsen und Quellen tönt: O Mensch, erlebe dich!)
Sie kündigt sich im Innern an,
Nur leise fühlbar meinem Geistgehör.
Sie birgt in sich die Hoffnung,
Daß wachsend sie den Menschengeist
Aus engem Sein in Weltenfernen führt,
So wie geheimnisvoll sich weitet
Das kleine Samenkorn
Zum stolzen Leib der Rieseneiche. ‒ ‒
Es kann der Geist in sich beleben,
Was in der Luft und was im Wasser webt,
Und was den Erdengrund gefestigt.
Es kann der Mensch ergreifen,
Was in den Elementen,
In Seelen und in Geistern,
In Zeitenlauf und Ewigkeit
Des Daseins sich bemächtigt hat.
Es lebt das ganze Weltenwesen in dem Seelensein,
Wenn solche Kraft im Geiste wurzelt,
Die Wahrheit gibt dem Worte:
O Mensch, erlebe dich!
(Aus Felsen und Quellen tönt: O Mensch, erlebe dich!)
Ich fühle ‒ wie es tönt in meiner Seele,
Sich regend kraftverleihend.
Es lebt in mir das Licht,
Es spricht um mich die Helligkeit,
Es keimt in mir das Seelenlicht,
Es schafft in mir die Weltenhelle:
O Mensch, erlebe dich!
(Aus Felsen und Quellen tönt: O Mensch, erlebe dich!)
Ich finde mich gesichert überall,
Wohin mir folgt des Wortes Kraft.
Sie wird mir leuchten in der Sinnesdunkelheit
Und mich erhalten in den Geisteshöhen.
Sie wird mich mit dem Seelensein erfüllen
Für alle Zeitenfolgen.
Ich fühle Weltensein in mir,
Und finden muß ich mich in allen Welten.
Ich schau mein Seelenwesen
Durch Eigenkraft belebt in mir.
Ich ruhe in mir selber.
Ich blicke nach den Felsen und den Quellen;
Sie sprechen meiner Seele eigne Sprache.
Ich finde mich in jenem Wesen wieder,
Das ich in bittre Not gebracht.
Heraus aus ihm ruf’ ich mir selber zu:
»Du mußt mich wieder finden
Und mir die Schmerzen lindern.«
Das Geisteslicht, es wird mir Stärke geben,
Das andre Selbst im eignen Selbst zu leben.
O hoffnungsvolles Wort,
Du strömst mir Kraft aus allen Welten zu:
O Mensch, erlebe dich!
(Aus Felsen und Quellen tönt: O Mensch, erlebe dich!)
Du lässt mich meine Schwachheit fühlen
Und stellst mich neben hohe Gottesziele;
Und selig fühle ich
Des hohen Zieles Schöpfermacht
In meinem schwachen Erdenmenschen.
Und offenbaren soll sich aus mir selbst,
Wozu der Keim in mir geborgen ist.
Ich will der Welt mich geben
Durch Leben meines eignen Wesens.
Empfinden will ich alle Macht des Wortes,
Das mir erst leise klingt;
Es soll mir wie belebend Feuer sein
In meinen Seelenkräften,
Auf meinen Geisteswegen.
Ich fühle, wie mein Denken dringt
In tief verborgne Weltengründe;
Und wie es leuchtend sie durchstrahlt.
So wirkt die Keimkraft dieses Wortes:
O Mensch, erlebe dich!
(Aus Quellen und Felsen: O Mensch, erlebe dich!)
Aus lichten Höhen leuchtet mir ein Wesen,
Ich fühle Schwingen,
Zu ihm mich zu erheben.
Ich will mich selbst befrei’n
Wie alle Wesen, die sich selbst besiegen.
(Aus Quellen und Felsen: O Mensch, erlebe dich!)
Ich schaue jenes Wesen,
Ich will ihm gleich in Zukunftzeiten werden.
Der Geist in mir wird sich befrei’n
Durch dich, erhabnes Ziel.
Ich will dir folgen.
(Maria kommt hinzu.)
Das Seelenauge haben mir erweckt
Die Geisteswesen, die mich aufgenommen.
Und sehend in den Geisteswelten,
Erfühle ich in meinem Selbst die Kraft:
O Mensch, erlebe dich!
(Aus Quellen und Felsen: O Mensch, erlebe dich!)
O meine Freundin, du bist hier!
Maria:
Mich trieb meine Seele hierher.
Ich konnte deinen Stern erschauen.
Er strahlt in voller Kraft.
Johannes:
Erleben kann ich diese Kraft in mir.
Maria:
So eng sind wir verbunden,
Daß deiner Seele Leben
Sein Licht in meiner Seele leuchten lässt.
Johannes:
O Maria, so ist dir bewußt,
Was sich mir eben offenbarte?
Mir ist des Menschen erste Zuversicht,
Mir ist die Wesenssicherheit gewonnen.
Ich fühle ja des Wortes Kraft,
Die überall mich leiten kann:
O Mensch, erlebe dich!
(Aus Felsen und Quellen: O Mensch, erlebe dich!)
(Vorhang fällt.)
Scene Nine
(Same area as in the second scene.
It sounds from rocks and springs: O man, experience yourself.)
John:
O man, experience yourself!
I have sought it for three years,
The courageous power of the soul,
Which gives truth to the word,
Through which man, liberating himself, can triumph,
And defeating himself, find freedom:
O man, experience yourself!
(From rocks and springs resounds: O human, experience yourself!)
It announces itself within,
Only faintly perceptible to my spiritual hearing.
It holds within itself the hope
That as it grows, it will lead the human spirit
From narrow existence into distant worlds,
Just as mysteriously expands
The small seed
Into the proud body of the giant oak. ‒ ‒
The spirit can enliven within itself
What weaves in the air and in the water,
And what strengthens the earth's foundation.
It can grasp what has taken hold of humanity,
What in the elements,
In souls and spirits,
In the passage of time and eternity
Of existence.
The whole of the world's being lives in the soul,
When such power is rooted in the spirit,
Truth gives meaning to the words:
O human being, experience yourself!
(From rocks and springs resounds: O human being, experience yourself!)
I feel ‒ how it resounds in my soul,
Stirring, imparting strength.
The light lives in me,
The brightness speaks around me,
The light of the soul germinates in me,
It creates the brightness of the worlds in me:
O human, experience yourself!
(From rocks and springs resounds: O human, experience yourself!)
I find myself secure everywhere,
Wherever the power of the word follows me.
It will shine for me in the darkness of the senses
And sustain me in the heights of the spirit.
It will fill me with the being of the soul
For all times to come.
I feel the being of the world within me,
And I must find myself in all worlds.
I see my soul being
Enlivened within me by its own power.
I rest within myself.
I look at the rocks and the springs;
They speak my soul's own language.
I find myself again in that being,
Which I have brought into bitter distress.
Out of it I call to myself:
“You must find me again
And ease my pain.”
The light of the spirit will give me strength
To live the other self within my own self.
O hopeful word,
You stream power to me from all worlds:
O human, experience yourself!
(From rocks and springs resounds: O human, experience yourself!)
You let me feel my weakness
And place me beside high divine goals;
And blissfully I feel
The creative power of the high goal
In my weak earthly human being.
And it shall be revealed from within myself,
For what the seed is hidden in me.
I want to give myself to the world
Through the life of my own being.
I want to feel all the power of the word,
Which at first sounds softly to me;
It shall be like invigorating fire
In my soul's powers,
On my spiritual paths.
I feel how my thinking penetrates
Into deeply hidden world foundations;
And how it shines through them luminously.
Such is the germinating power of this word:
O human, experience yourself!
(From Springs and Rocks: O human, experience yourself!)
From bright heights, a being shines upon me,
I feel wings
Lifting me up to him.
I want to liberate myself
Like all beings who conquer themselves.
(From Springs and Rocks: O human, experience yourself!)
I see that being,
I want to become like it in the future.
The spirit within me will liberate itself
Through you, sublime goal.
I want to follow you.
(Mary joins them.)
The spiritual beings who have taken me in
Have awakened the eye of my soul.
And seeing into the spiritual worlds,
I feel the power within myself:
O human being, experience yourself!
(From Springs and Rocks: O human being, experience yourself!)
O my friend, you are here!
Mary:
My soul drove me here.
I could see your star.
It shines with full power.
John:
I can experience this power within me.
Mary:
We are so closely connected,
That the life of your soul
Lets its light shine in my soul.
John:
O Mary, are you aware
Of what has just been revealed to me?
I have gained man's first confidence,
I have gained certainty of being.
I feel the power of the word,
Which can guide me everywhere:
O human, experience yourself!
(From Rocks and Springs: O human, experience yourself!)
(Curtain falls.)