SCENE 1
The library and study of Capesius. Prevailing colour brown. Evening. First Capesius, then the Spirit-Forms who are powers of soul; later Benedictus.
CAPESIUS (reading in a book):
'By inward gazing on the Beingless, And dreaming through the shadowy picture realm Of thought, conformably to self-made laws:-- Thus erring human nature often seeks To find the meaning and the goal of life: The soul from its own depths would draw replies To questions that concern the universe. Yet such attempts are vain, illusory E'en at the outset, and they lead at last To feeble visions which destroy themselves.'
(Speaking as follows.)
Thus is portrayed in words of import grave Through Benedictus' noble spirit-sight, The inward life of many human souls. Each phrase goes home destructive to my heart-- Unfolding truly mine own way and life Until this day, with cruel vividness. And should a god this very hour appear Descending on me in a raging storm And clad in wrath, yet could his threatening might Not torture me with more appalling fears Than do the Master's words, as strong as fate. Long hath my life been, but its web displays Nothing but pictures shadowy and dim Which haunt my dreaming soul and fondly strive To mirror truths of nature and of mind. With this dream-fabric hath my thought essayed To solve the riddle of the universe. Down many a path my restless soul I turned. Yet do I clearly see that I myself, Was not the active master of my soul When threads of thought along illusion's path Spun themselves out to cosmic distances.
So that which I in my content beheld In pictures, left me empty, led to naught. Then came across my path Thomasius, The youthful painter. He indeed strode on, Upheld by truest energies of soul To that exalted spiritual way Which transforms human life, and makes to rise From hidden gulfs of soul the energy Which feeds the springs of life within ourselves. That which awoke from out his inmost soul Abides in every man. And since from him I gained this revelation, I do count As chief amongst the many sins of life To let the spirit's treasure grow corrupt.
I know henceforth that I must search and seek And nevermore allow myself to doubt. In days gone by my vanity of thought Could have enticed me to the false belief That unto knowledge man aspires in vain; And only failure and despair belong To those who would lay bare the springs of life.
And were all wisdom to unite in this, And were I powerless to reject the claim That human destiny demands of man That he shall lose his individual self And sink into the gulf of nothingness, Yet would I make the venture unafraid. Such thoughts would be a sacrilege today, Since I have learned I cannot win repose Until the spirit treasure in my soul Hath been unveiléd to the light of day.
The fruits of work of spirit-entities Have been implanted in the human soul, And whoso leaves the spirit seed to lie Unheeded and decay, he brings to nought The work divine committed unto man. Thus do I recognize life's highest task; Yet when I try to take one single step Across the threshold that I dare not shun, I feel my strength desert me, which of yore Did pride itself on elevated thought, And sought the goals of life in time and space. Once did I reckon it an easy thing To set the brain in action and to grasp The nature of reality by thought. But now, when I would search the fount of life And comprehend it as in truth it is, My thought appears as some blunt instrument; I have no power, no matter how I strive, To form a clear thought-image from the words Of Benedictus, though his earnest speech, Should now direct me to the spirit's path.
(Resuming his reading.)
'In silence sound the depths of thine own soul, And ever let strong courage be thy guide. Thy former ways of thinking cast away What time thou dost withdraw into thyself; For only when thine own light is put out Will spirit-radiance show itself to thee.'
(Resuming his soliloquy.)
It seems as though I could not draw my breath When I attempt to understand these words. And ere I feel the thoughts that I must think, Fear and misgiving have beset my soul. It is borne in on me that everything Which hitherto was my environment Is crumbling into ruin, and therewith I too am crumbling into nothingness. An hundred times at least have I perused The words which follow, and each several time Darkness enfolds me deeper than before.
(Resuming his reading.)
'Within thy thinking cosmic thought doth live, Within thy feeling cosmic forces play, Within thy will do cosmic beings work; Abandon thou thyself to cosmic thought, Experience thyself through cosmic force, Create thyself anew from cosmic will. End not at last in cosmic distances By fantasies of dreamy thought beguiled. Do thou begin in farthest spirit-realms And end in the recesses of thy soul. The plan divine then shalt thou recognize When thou hast realized thy Self in thee.'
(Becomes entranced by a vision, then comes to himself and speaks.)
What was this?
(Three Figures, representing soul-forces, float round him.)
LUNA:
Abundant power is thine For lofty spirit-flight; Its sure foundation rests Upon the human will. Its temper hath been tried By sure and certain hope. It hath grown strong as steel By sight of future times. Thou dost but courage lack To pour into thy will Thy confidence in life. Into the vast Unknown Dare but to venture forth!
ASTRID:
From cosmic distances And from the sun's glad light, From utmost realms of stars And magic might of worlds, From heaven's ethereal blue And spirit's lofty power, Win mightiness of soul; And send its radiant beams Deep down within thine heart; That knowledge glowing warm May thus be born in thee.
THE OTHER PHILIA:
They are deceiving thee This evil sisterhood; They seek but to ensnare By trickery and guile. The gifts so seeming fair Which they have offered thee Will vanish into air When thou wouldst hold them fast With all thy human strength. They lead thee on to worlds Inhabited by gods, Where thou wilt be destroyed If, once within their realm, Thou strivest to o'ercome By human strength alone.
CAPESIUS:
It was quite plain that here some beings spake-- And yet it is most sure that no one else-- Beside myself--is present in this place.
So have I but held converse with myself And yet that too seems quite impossible-- For ne'er could I imagine such discourse As here I listened to....
Am I still he I was before?
(From his gestures it is plain he feels unable to reply 'yes.')
Oh! I am--I am not.
THE SPIRIT-VOICE OF CONSCIENCE:
Thy thoughts do now descend To depths of human life And what as soul doth compass thee around And what as spirit is enchained in thee, Is lost in cosmic depth, From whose fulness quaffing Mankind doth live in thought; From whose fulness living Mankind illusion weaves.
CAPESIUS:
Enough.... Enough.... Where is Capesius? You I implore ... ye forces all unknown.... Where is Capesius? Where is ... myself?
(Once more he relapses into a reverie.)
(Enter Benedictus. Capesius does not notice him at first. Benedictus touches him on the shoulder.)
BENEDICTUS:
I learned that thou didst wish to speak with me, And so I came to seek thee in thy home.
CAPESIUS:
Right good it is of thee to grant my wish. Yet it had scarce been possible that thou Shouldst find me in worse case than now I am. That I am not this moment on the ground Prostrate before thy feet, after such pain As even now hath racked my soul, I owe To thy kind glance alone which sought mine own, So soon as thou didst with thy gentle touch Arouse me from the horrors of my dream.
BENEDICTUS:
I am aware that I have found thee now Fighting a battle for thy very life. Since I have known full well this long time past That thus it was appointed us to meet. Prepare to change the sense of many words If thou wouldst understand my speech aright And do not marvel that thy present pain Bears in my language quite another name-- I call thy state good fortune.
CAPESIUS:
Then indeed Thou dost but heap the measure of the woe Which casts me into gloom's abysmal depths. Just now I felt as if my real self Had flown afar to cosmic distances, And unfamiliar beings through its sheaths Were speaking here. But this I took to be Hallucination, spirit mockery, And mourned that thus my soul could be deceived: This thought alone kept me from breaking down. Take not away my right thus to believe, The only prop I lean on; tell me not My fevered dreaming was good fortune; else I shall be lost indeed.
BENEDICTUS:
A man can lose Nought else but that which keeps him separate From cosmic being. When he seems to lose That which in dreamy fantasies of thought He misapplied to labours purposeless, Then let him seek for what has gone from him. For he will surely find it, and withal The proper use to which it should be put In human life. Mere words of comfort now Were nothing more than clever play on words.
CAPESIUS:
Nay--lore that may by simple human wit Be comprehended thou dost not impart. Bitter experience has shown me this. Like deeds which lead one on to lofty heights And also cast one to abysmal depths, Thy counsels pour a stream of fiery life And also deathly chill into men's souls. They work at once e'en as the nod of fate And also as a storm of living love. Much had I sought and thought in earlier days Before I met thee; yet the spirit's powers, Creative and destructive, I have learned Only since I have followed in thy steps. The turmoil and confusion of my soul, Caused by thy words, was evident when thou Didst come within my chamber. Oft I felt Much pain whilst reading in thy book of life, Until today my cup of woe was full. And so my agony of soul o'erflowed, Spilled by thy fateful words. Their meaning swept O'er all my soul unrecognized, and yet Like some elixir they revived my heart. In such wise wrought they in the magic worlds That all my clarity of sense was lost. Then ghostly phantoms made a mock of me, And words of import dark I seemed to hear Issue from my distraught tormented soul. I know that all the secrets thou dost guard For human souls may not be written down, But that the answer to men's doubts may be Revealed to each according to his need. So grant me that of which I stand in need; For verily I must indeed be told What robbed me of my senses and my wits And compassed me with magic's airy spells.
BENEDICTUS:
Another meaning hides within my words Than that of the ideas which they convey; They guide the natural forces of the soul To spirit-verities; their inward sense Cannot be understood until the day On which they waken vision in the soul That yields itself to their compelling power. They are not fruitage of mine own research; But spirits have entrusted them to me, Spirits well skilled to read the signs in which The Karma of the world doth stand revealed. The special virtue of these words is this, Unto the source of knowledge they can guide. Yet none the less it must be each man's task, Who understands them in their truest sense, To drink the spirit-waters from that source. Nor are my words designed to hinder thee From being swept away to worlds that seem To thee fantastic. Thou hast seen a realm Which must remain illusion just as long As thou dost lose thyself on entering it. But wisdom's outer portal will be found Unsealed to thine advancing soul so soon As thou dost near it with self-consciousness.
CAPESIUS:
And how can I maintain self-consciousness?
BENEDICTUS:
The answer to this riddle thou shalt find When, with awakened inner eye, thou dost Perceive before thee many wondrous things, Which shortly will be found to cross thy path. Know that a test hath been ordained for thee By lords of fate and by the spirit-powers.
(Exit.)
CAPESIUS:
Although their meaning is not clear to me I feel his words at work within myself. He hath appointed me a goal; and I Am ready to obey. He doth not ask For stress of thought; it seems that he desires I should press forward with exploring feet To find the spirit-verities myself.
I cannot tell how he was sent to me; And yet his actions have compelled my trust; He hath restored me to myself once more. So though at present I may not divine The nature of the spell that shook me so, I will not shrink from facing these events Which his prophetic vision hath foretold.
Curtain whilst Capesius remains standing