Four Mystery Plays, by Rudolf Steiner

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The Soul's Probation

Scene 12

The same. Johannes and Lucifer.

Lucifer:
Take warning by Capesius' fate and learn
What fruits are ripened when a soul attempts
To penetrate too soon the spirit-world.
He knows the words writ in his book of life
And knows his tasks for many lives to come.
But suffering not ordained by destiny
Is wrought by knowledge which hath not the power
To change itself to deeds in earthly life.
The choice that to successful issue leads
Depends upon the ripeness of the will.
At every step that he would take in life
Henceforth Capesius must ask himself:
Can all my obligations thus be met
Which are the outgrowth of my former lives?
So o'er his path a dazzling light is shed,
Causing his eyes to suffer from the glare
And giving him no help upon his way.
It kills the forces which, whilst still unknown,
Are trusty guides for every human soul,
Yet does not aid the power of conscious thought.
Thus it can only hurt the body's strength
Before the soul hath learned to master it.

Johannes:
I do perceive the error of my life.
The forces of the soul that worked unconsciously
Deep in the body, I did steal from thence
And proudly carried to the spirit heights.
Yet it was not a human being whole
That thus was carried upward to the light.
Nought was it but the shadow of a soul,
Which could but rhapsodize of spirit-realms
And feel a oneness with creative powers;
It wished to live all blissful in the light,
And deeds of light in colour to behold;
It fancied that as artist it could paint
Spirit-existence in a world of sense.
This form that took its semblance from mine own
Hath shown to me myself with cruel truth.
I dreamed of soul-love, pure and free from stain,
Whilst passion yet was coursing through my veins.
But now I have beheld the past earth life
From which my present life derives its source
This shows me whither I must truly strive.
The spirit-pathways which of late I trod
Cannot be followed far by such a soul
As just before its present life on earth
Lived in the body of the miner, Thomas.
The fashion of his life must be for me
The rule by which to seek my present goal.
I've striven for attainment here and now
Of things that only later can bear fruit.

Lucifer:
My light must serve to guide thy further steps
As it hath done to guide them hitherto,
The spirit-path which thou hast sought to tread
Can wed the spirit to the lofty heights,
But to thy soul it bringeth nought but gloom.

Johannes:
What hath a man attained who gives himself
A soul-less puppet to the spirit-world?
E'en at the end of all his earthly days
He is but that same being which he was,
When in earth's primal days his human form
From out the cosmic womb did first emerge.
If to those impulses I yield myself
Which, springing from unfathomed depths of soul,
Clamour imperiously for life and form,
Then in me works the universal all.
I know not then what drives me on to act;
But surely it must be the cosmic will
Which leads me on to its appointed goal.
This will must know the wherefore of man's life
Though human knowledge cannot make it plain.
That which in perfect manhood it creates
Is vital wealth wherewith to form the soul.
To it will I surrender, and no more
By idle spirit-striving kill it out.

Lucifer:
Myself I work in this same cosmic will
When it flows mightily through human souls;
They are but limbs of higher entities
Until they can experience my power.
'Tis only I who make them men indeed
Whose human self stands firm within the world.

Johannes:
I long have thought I knew the whole of thee;
Yet dwelt within me but thy phantom shade
Portrayed there by my visionary dreams.
Now must I feel thee, live thee by my will;
Then can I overcome thee later on
If so 'tis written in my destiny.
Let spirit-knowledge, that I gained too soon,
Repose henceforth within mine inmost soul
Till impulses in life shall call it forth.
With confidence I yield me to that will
That hath more wisdom than the human soul.

(Exit Johannes with Lucifer.)

Curtain

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The Soul's Probation

Scene 13

The Temple, of the Sun; hidden site of the Mysteries of the Hierophants; Lucifer, Ahriman, the three Soul-Figures, Strader, Benedictus, Theodosius, Romanus, Maria.

(Enter first Lucifer and Ahriman.)

Lucifer:
The Lord of Wishes stands as victor here —
He hath been able to o'erpower the soul
Which even in the light of spirit-sun
Still had to feel akin to this our realm.
I seized th' auspicious hour in which to cast
A glamour o'er its vision of the light
To which in dreams alone it had bowed down.
Yet all my hopes must forthwith disappear
That victory is ours in spirit-realms,
Since thou art worsted, comrade of my fight.
Thou wast unable to o'erpower the soul
Which was to bring our labours to their goal.
The human soul that gave itself to me
I can possess and in our kingdom hold
For short earth-lives alone, but all in vain;
For then I must restore it to our foes.
To win outright we need the other, too,
That hath withdrawn itself from thy domain.

Ahriman:
The time is not well suited to my arts,
I find no means of access to men's souls.
See, here comes one whom I did sorely plague.
Though ignorant in spirit he draws nigh;
For reason doth compel him to push on.
So I withdraw from him and from this place
Which he can only tread unconsciously.

(The three Soul-Figures with Strader.)

Philia:
I will myself imbue
With power of Faith's clear light,
I will breathe deep within
The living force of Trust
From soul's aspiring joy;
That thus the light may rouse
The spirit slumberer.

Astrid:
With humble joy of soul
I will inweave forthwith
Sure revelation's word.
I will make dense and thick
The shining rays of Hope;
That light in dark may shine
And twilight in the light,
So powers may bear aloft
The spirit slumberer.

Luna:
Soul light will I make warm
Love's power will harden too:
That thus they may grow bold
And thus may raise themselves
And mounting up on high
Endow themselves with weight
And free from cosmic loads
The spirit slumberer;
That his soul's love of light
At last may set him free.

Benedictus:
My comrades, I have hither summoned you
Who with me seek to find the spirit-light
That should flow streaming to the souls of men.
Ye know the nature of the sun of soul
Oft doth it shine with fullest noontide glare,
And then again like feeble twilight steal
Powerless through mists of visionary dream.
And often doth the darkness drive it out.
The temple-servants' spirit-gaze must pierce
To soul depths where there shines with powerful ray,
The spirit-light that comes from cosmic heights.
Then too it must disclose mysterious aims
That lurk unnoticed in the soul's dark fairs
Intent on shaping man's development.
Those spirit-beings who from cosmic powers
Bestow the spirit-food on human souls
Are present now within the sacred fane
To guide this man's soul from the spirit-night
Into the kingdom of the light on high.
The sleep of knowledge still envelops him;
But spirit-calls already have been heard
In his soul's depths of which he never knew,
That which they spoke deep in his inmost soul
Will shortly find its way to spirit-ears.

Theodosius:
This soul hath not been able hitherto
To recognize himself in spirit-light
That through sense-revelation is outpoured,
To show the meaning of all earthly growth.
He saw God's spirit stripped of nature's guise,
And Nature's self estranged from deity.
And so through many lives he had to pass
And stay a stranger to the sense of life;
He could but find such carnal tenements
To carry out his individual work
As barred him from the cosmos and from man.
Now, in the temple he will gain the power
Himself in other beings to behold,
And so at length he will attain the force
That leads from out the labyrinths of thought
And points the way unto the springs of life.

Benedictus:
Another man strives to the temple's light;
Though not at once will he approach its doors
And seek for entrance to this hallowed spot.
Throughout a life of studious research
He planted germs of thought in his soul-depths.
And so perforce the spirit-light went forth
To ripen them outside our temple's doors.
'Twas given him to know his present life
To be the product of a former one
Lived in a time that now hath long gone by.
Now he can see the errors of that life
And realize what their result will be,
But lacketh power, those duties to fulfil,
Which through self-knowledge he can recognize.

Romanus:
Capesius shall, through the temple's power,
Learn how a man must, in a single life,
Take up a load of duties which demand
For their entire accomplishment the space
Of many lives of eartly pilgrimage.
So casting fear aside he will admit
That ancient errors with their consequence
Pursue the soul e'en past the gate of death.
Nor shall he then be vanquished in the fight
By which the spirit-portals are flung wide
If eye to eye, undaunted, he shall brave
The Guardian of the Threshold of that realm.
To him shall by that guardian be revealed
That none may climb up to the heights of life
Who fears to look on destiny's decrees.
His insight will admit with courage then
That of self-knowledge suffering is the fruit
For which she knows no words of comforting.
Will shall become his comrade on the way
Which faceth boldly all that may befall,
And, heartened by a draught from hope's clear spring
Endures the pain of widening consciousness.

Benedictus:
Ye have, my brothers, at this present hour, —
True servants of the temple that ye are, —
Set forth the ways in Wisdom's outlines drawn
By which these two who seek the spirit-truth
Shall have their souls brought to their goal by you.
Yet other work the temple-service claims.
Here by our side the Lord of Wishes stands;
He can be present in this holy place
Because Johannes' soul unbarred for him.
The gates which he would otherwise find barred.
The brother who is our initiate
Lacks for the moment courage to withstand
With power the words that from the darkness rise.
The powers of good can only strengthen him.
When on their opposite they test themselves.
'Twill not be long ere he again appears
Here in this temple, compassed by our love:
Yet must his spirit-treasure guarded be
Now that he must descend into the dark.

(Turning to Lucifer.)

Thee must I now address who not for long
Canst occupy the ground where thou dost stand.
The temple's power can at the present time.
Not yet release Johannes from thy grasp.
In times to come he will be ours again,
When those fruits of our sister shall be ripe.
Whose blossoms we already see unfold.

(Maria appears.)

She could behold in bygone earthly lives
How closely linked Johannes was to her.
He followed after her so long ago
As in those far-off days when she opposed
The light whose humble handmaid now she is.
When soul-links prove themselves so staunchly true
As to outlast the spirit's wanderings
Then shall the Lord of Wishes find his power
Unable to effect a severance.

Lucifer:
But Benedictus' will itself compelled
Johannes' and Maria's souls to part.
And wheresoe'er men from each other part
There is the field made ready for my power.
I ever work for separateness of soul,
To set the earth-life free, and for all time
To break its servitude to cosmic chains.
Maria's being, in monastic garb,
Turned from its father yonder soul away
That now is dweller in Johannes' form.
This too hath caused some seeds of mine to grow
Which I shall surely bring to ripening.

Maria (turning to Lucifer):
In human nature there are springs of love
To which thy power can never penetrate.
They are unsealed when faults of former lives —
A load unwittingly assumed by man, —
Are in a later life by spirit seen,
And by the free-will of self-sacrifice
Transformed to earthly action, which shall tend
To bear fruit for the real good of man.
The powers of destiny have granted me
The vision which can penetrate the past;
Already too have I received the signs
So to direct my free-will sacrifice
That good may pour therefrom for every soul
Whose thread of life shall have to twine with mine
Throughout the evolution of this earth.
I saw how in its earthly frame of yore
Johannes' soul turned from his sire away,
And saw the forces that compelled myself
To make the son repel the father's heart.
Thus is the father now opposed to me
To bring to mind my own offence of old.
Plainly he speaks in cosmic language clear
Whose symbols are the actions of man's life.
That which I set between the sire and son
Must reappear, though in another form
In this my life in which Johannes' soul
Hath once again been closely knit to mine.
The suffering which I had to undergo
In severing Johannes from myself
Was but my own act's fated consequence.
If now my soul is faithful to the light
Which from the spirit-forces comes to it,
It will be strengthened by the services
Which it may render to Capesius
In this sore stress of his life-pilgrimage;
And with such forces, similarly won,
Will also learn to see Johannes' star
When he, by fetters of desire misled
Treads not the way illumined by the light.
The spirit-vision which hath led me back
To distant days on earth will teach me now
How I must deal with soul-links at this time
So that life-powers unconsciously prepared
Shall henceforth work awakened for man's weal.

Benedictus:
In olden days on earth was formed a knot
Of threads which Karma spins world-fashioning.
Three human lives are interwoven there,
And now upon this fateful knot there shines
This holy temple's lofty spirit-light.
'Tis thee, Maria, I must now address
Of these three souls at this time thou alone
Art present at the place of sacrifice.
May this light operate within thyself
And turn to welfare those creative powers
Which once upon a time thy life-threads wove
Fast in a life-knot with those other two.
The father could not in his former life
His son's heart find; but now in other scenes
The spirit-seeker will accompany
Thy friend's self on its way to spirit-land.
And thine is now the duty to maintain
Johannes' soul in light by thine own force.
Once didst thou hold it in so fast a bond
That it could only blindly follow thee.
Thou didst then give it back its liberty,
When still it clung to thee in fancy fond.
But thou shalt once more find it, when, self-willed,
It wins its individuality.
If thy soul to that light holds ever true
Which powers from spirit-realms bestow on thee,
Johannes' soul will thirst to drink of thine
E'en where the Lord of all Desire holds sway;
And through the love which holds it bound to thee
It will regain the path to light on high.
For ever must a living being strive
Through light or darkness, which hath once beheld
And known the heights of spirit in its soul,
It hath drawn breath from cosmic distances
Of air that pulseth with immortal life,
And living raiseth all our human kind
From founts of soul to spirit-sun sublime.

Curtain

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The Guardian of the Threshold

EDITORIAL SUMMARY OF THE SCENES

SCENE 1:

The ante-chamber to the rooms of the Mystic League. The reincarnated country folk have been invited to attend a meeting here.

SCENE 2:

The same. Thomasius is invited to join the league and receive the blessing of the Rosy Cross. He declines on the grounds that he has undertaken other work inconsistent with the objects of the league.

SCENE 3:

The kingdom of Lucifer.
The challenge:
Lucifer: ‘I mean to fight.’
Benedictus: ‘And fighting serve the gods.’

SCENE 4:

The house of Strader and his wife Theodora. (Lucifer at work.) Theodora's painful vision of Thomasius.

SCENE 5:

The house of the Baldes. Strader's vision of his wife Theodora who has recently died. Capesius as a medium.

SCENE 6:

The groves of Lucifer and Ahriman and their creatures who dance. Dame Balde's fable.

SCENE 7:

The Guardian of the Threshold.

SCENE 8:

The kingdom of Ahriman. The reincarnated country folk come here unconsciously in sleep. Strader comes consciously.

SCENE 9:

The home of Benedictus, overlooking a factory town. The law of number. The Zodiac.

SCENE 10:

The Temple of the Mystic League. The admission of Thomasius and others.

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The Guardian of the Threshold

PERSONS, APPARITIONS, AND EVENTS

The spiritual and psychic experiences of the characters, sketched in this series of scenic pictures called ‘The Guardian of the Threshold,’ are a continuation of those which appeared before in my life pictures called ‘The Portal of Initiation’ and ‘The Soul's Probation,’ and are supposed to take place about fifteen years later than the occurrences in ‘The Portal of Initiation.’

The three plays together form an organic whole.

In ‘The Guardian of the Threshold’ the following persons and beings appear:

I. REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ELEMENT OF SPIRIT:
1. Benedictus, Leader of the Temple of the Sun and the teacher of a number of people who appear in ‘The Guardian of the Threshold.’
2. Hilary True-to-God, Grand Master of the Mystic League, represented in a former incarnation in ‘The Soul's Probation’ as the Grand Master of a Mystic Brotherhood.
3. Johannes Thomasius, a pupil of Benedictus, some-times called Johannes and sometimes Thomasius.

II. REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ELEMENT OF DEVOTION:
4. Magnus Bellicosus, Preceptor of the Mystic League, known as Germanus in ‘The Portal of Initiation.’
5. Albertus Torquatus, Master of the Ceremonies in the Mystic League, known as Theodosius in ‘The Portal of Initiation.’
6. Professor Capesius.

III. REPRESENTATIVES OP THE ELEMENT OF WILL:
7. Frederick Trustworthy, Master of the Ceremonies in the Mystic League. The Reincarnation of the Second Master of the Ceremonies of the Spirit-Brotherhood in ‘The Soul's Probation’, and known as ‘Romanus’ in ‘The Portal of Initiation.’
8. Theodora, a Seeress, in whom the Element of Will is changed into a simple gift of prophecy.
9. Doctor Strader.

IV. THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ELEMENT OF SOUL:
10. Maria, a pupil of Benedictus.
11. Felix Balde.
12. Dame Felicia, his wife.

V. BEINGS FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD:
Lucifer.

VI. BEINGS OF THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN SPIRIT:
The Double of Thomasius.
Philia, Astrid, & Luna, the spiritual beings through whose agency the human soul forces are connected with the Cosmos.
The Other Philia, the spiritual being who hinders the union of the soul-powers with the Cosmos.
The Voice of Conscience.
These spiritual beings are not intended to be allegorical or symbolic, but realities, who to spiritual perception are exactly like physical persons.

The following persons are the reincarnations of the twelve peasants in ‘The Soul's Probation’:
1. Ferdinand Fox.
2. Michael Nobleman.
3. Bernard Straight.
4. Francesca Humble.
5. Mary Steadfast.
6. Louisa Fear-God.
7. Frederick Clear-Mind.
8. Casper Hotspur.
9. George Candid.
10. Mary Dauntless.
11. Erminia Stay-at-Home.
12. Katharine Counsel.

In ‘The Guardian of the Threshold’ the nature of the reincarnation is not to be regarded as a law holding good generally, but as something which can only happen at a turning-point of time. Hence, for example, the incidents of Scene 8 between Strader and the twelve others are only possible at such a period. The spiritual entities taking part in this play are by no means to be considered as merely allegory or symbol. For any one who recognizes the spiritual world as reality, the beings there exist, just as much as physical men in the sense-world, and as such they may be portrayed. Spiritual beings do not have human form, as they are bound to have upon the stage. If the writer of these psychic incidents in pictures considered these beings to be allegories, he would not have represented them in the way he has done.

The systematic arrangement of the characters into groups (3 x 4) is not intentional or in the original plan of the play; it is a result — by way of afterthought — of the incidents, which are sketched out quite independently, and fall naturally into such a division. It would never have occurred to the author to include it in the original plan; but it may be permitted to cite it here as a result.

The scheme of stage decoration is in accordance with the planetary signs shown in Dr. Steiner's Occult Seals and Symbols. In Scene 2, the walls and furniture, etc., are decorated with Dr. Steiner's architectural design for Jupiter. Scene 4 is devoted to Venus. And Dr. Steiner's symbols for the Sun govern the little wooden hut and all its appurtenances in Scene 5. To the other scenes no architectural design is applicable.

The costumes are as follows:

Except when officiating as Hierophant Benedictus is in black frockcoat and trousers; Hilary, Bellicosus, Torquatus, and Trustworthy are in dark frockcoats, etc., except when acting as officers in the Temple or as leaders in the Mystic League. Johannes is in a dark blue velveteen suit, short coat, breeches, and stockings. Capesius, when he is in the soul, e.g., in scenes 3 and 6, appears quite young, beardless, and in flimsy blue and white robes; at other times in ordinary modern attire.

Theodora, modern with a coloured stole. Strader, modern, short brown jacket; except in Scene 4, where he is in grey lavender.

Maria, modern with stole.

Felix Balde, a blue tunic trimmed with fur.

Felicia Balde, modern with stole.

Lucifer, flowing crimson and gold robes, long golden hair, and crowned when on his throne.

Ahriman in yellow robes.

The Guardian of the Threshold, conventional angel with a flaming sword.

Philia, Astrid, Luna, and the Other Philia, flowing muslin robes of many colours, but Astrid is in white.

The reincarnated male peasants are in frockcoats of very brilliant colour, crimson, chocolate, blue, etc. The trousers, coat and waistcoat are always to match. The women are in modern costumes with stoles; F. Humble in lilac; M. Steadfast in blue; M. Dauntless in green; E. Stay-at-Home in light and dark cherry; K. Counsel in cerise; L. Fear-God in brown; Fox has red hair, and a red-brown suit.

See also the notes on the costumes in the two preceding plays. The brethren of the Mystic League are clad as follows: blue robe long and full, blue belt, a short blue mantle thrown over the back and attached to the front by broad bands of a lighter blue. These bands meet on the breast in a large circular blue band of the same shade, within which are three circular red seals, the one surmounting the other two, and upon each of these there is a black pentagram. The cap is blue, about three inches high, flat at the top, and has six sides.

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The Guardian of the Threshold

Scene 1

A hall in a prevailing tone of indigo blue. The ante-chamber to the rooms in which a Mystic League carries on its work. In the centre a large door with curtain. Above it is the Rosy Cross. On each side of the door two pictures which represent, beginning from the right of the stage, the Prophet Elijah, John the Baptist, Raphael, the poet Novalis. There are present, in lively conversation twelve Persons, who in one way or another take an interest in the activities of the League. Beside them: Felix Balde and Doctor Strader. (see notes)

Ferdinand Fox:
A most unusual summons 'tis indeed,
That draws us here together at this time.
It comes from men, who ever hold that they,
From all Earth's other children separate,
Are honoured with a special spirit-aim.
Yet now, 'tis said, their spirit-eyes behold,
That in the world's plan they must be bound close
With men whose spirit is unconsecrate;
Who face life's fight in their own strength alone.
I ne'er felt drawn towards such spirit-ways
As find their chief resource in secrecy;
I only care to hold fast to sound thought,
And to the commonsense of human minds.
This Spirit-League by which we now are called
Means not through this same call that we should be
Initiated in its higher aims.
It will thro' mystic dim word-portraiture
Keep us but in the Temple's outer courts;
And use our powers but as the people's voice —
A cunning plan to strengthen its own will.
So shall we merely be the helpers blind
Of men who from the spirit heights above,
Look down to lead us on with beckoning hand
They do not hold that we are ready yet
Even to take one step that might lead on
Toward their holy Temple's treasure-house,
Or to the spirit-light in which they dwell.
When I observe the true state of this league
It seems I see but pride and self-deceit
Clothed in a prophet's robe and humble dress.
And so 'twere surely best to shun each thing
That here is offered us in wisdom's garb;
That we at any rate may not appear
To strive without due proof against the work
Which is so highly prized by many men;
So would I counsel you at first to hear
What aim this wisdom-teacher hath in view
And then to follow simple commonsense.
Who takes such sense as guide within himself
Will not be led astray by tempting lures
Which from the Mystic Temple issue forth.

Michael Nobleman:
I do not know, I cannot even guess
With what strange spirit-gift these men are dowered
Who now desire to find a bridge to us.
But still I know well several honest men
Within the ranks of this same Spirit-League.
Strictly they guard the secret of the fount
Whence this their knowledge is supposed to come;
But that the fountain whence they drink is good,
Their life and deeds make manifest to all.
And all that from their circle issues forth
Bears on its face the mark of truest love.
So may we well believe the aim is good
Which leads them in this special way to men,
To whom the mystic path is strange and new,
But in whose souls the instinct for the truth
And honest goals of spirit-life find place.

Bernard Straight:
Caution would seem to me our duty now.
I think the mystics find the time draws nigh
Which brings an ending to their sovereign power.
Reason will scarcely ask in future times
What dreams of truth these holy temples had.
If this league tells of goals of such a kind
As have seemed wise to mankind's general thought
Then it were good to join our lot to theirs.
Yet they had better shun the mystic's robe
If they would truly pass the portal by,
Which, like some barrier of heavenly light,
Conceals their sacred shrine from worlds profane.
For in that world 'twill be of small account
What value each shall put upon himself.
No higher value shall each one receive
Than universal judgment granteth him.

Francesca Humble:
So much that here I needs must listen to
Sounds like the words of those poor blinded men,
Who cannot see the noble spirit-light
Which streams from every consecrated shrine
In rays of wisdom to the outer world
To comfort and to heal the souls of men.
He only in whose heart this light doth shine,
And pierce with warming glow his inmost soul
Can recognize the true worth of this hour,
Which opens up the mystic's solemn realm
Even to those who feel themselves too weak
To reach, through deep soul struggle, to the high
And consecrate abodes of spirit-light.

Mary Steadfast:
Many sure signs show plainly much must change
Within those souls who strive to follow close
The Spirit's guidance, in their daily life.
But little can be said which goes to prove
That mystic ways can lead on to those ends
Which bring strong powers into the souls of men.
It seems to me that what our time requires
Is leaders, who by using nature's powers
Can join dexterity to genius,
And working thus amidst the things of Earth
Fulfil their purpose in. the world of men.
Such men do search for roots of spirit-work
Deep in the mother-earth of truth itself,
And thus are kept from idle wandering
Along the path away from human health.
Feeling myself possessed with this idea
I recognize in Doctor Strader's self
The powers which for such guidance of the soul
Are better suited than the mystics' are.
How long path man with sorrow had to feel
That thro' the great inventions of machinery
Full many a fetter has been riveted
On the free spirit-instinct in his soul.
But now a hope Both rise within the breast
Whereof none heretofore can e'er have dreamed.
In Strader's workshops we can see, in small,
The working of those wonders, which, in great
Shall soon transform the meaning of technique
And free its shoulders from that heavy load
Which in our day Both weigh on many souls.

Strader:
Indeed such words as these are full of hope
About my seemingly successful work.
'Tis true there yet remains the bridge to pass
Between experiment and actual use,
But all that science up till now can show
Proves it is technically possible.
The author of this work may be allowed
To speak here freely of the hopes he bears
As to the service it may render man.
He begs to be forgiven any words
That sound vainglorious to the general ear,
They only shadow forth the feelings whence
The strength for this work flows into his soul.
We see how in man's daily life on earth
The workings of emotion and the soul
Disperse and lapse into a soulless state
The more the spirit masters all the powers
That it can find within the realm of sense.
Each day the work grows more mechanical,
Which makes for worth in life; and through such work
Man's life itself becomes mechanical.
Many have sought with painful diligence,
Devising methods that might prove of use,
So that the arts of cold machinery
Might no more lame the soul-life of mankind
Or prove a hindrance to true spirit-aims.
But little was achieved through all this strife
In which one question only seemed of weight,
How man should act towards his fellow-men.
I have myself spent many a solemn hour
In thinking out this riddle of man's life.
But ever did I find such thought produced
No fruit of any value for real life.
I felt myself draw near the bitter thought
That cosmic fate hath foreordained the lot
That victory in this material realm
Must ever be to spirit-paths a foe.
Release from this bewilderment of thought
Was brought me by a seeming accident.
It was my lot to make experiments
In matters from such questions far removed;
When suddenly there flashed across my mind
A thought which showed me where the right path lay.
Test followed close on test, until at last
Such powers were gathered there in front of me,
As in their full expression shall some day
Through application purely technical
Restore that freedom to humanity
In which the soul may find development.
No more shall men be forced to dream away
Their whole existence plant-like, fashioning
In narrow factory rooms unlovely things.
Industrial powers will be so dispersed
That every man shall have what he may need
To keep him in his work, in his own home
Arranged by him, as he may think it best.
I thought it well to speak first of this hope
So that it may not seem quite out of place
To say, what I must say, about this call
Which now the Rosicrucian Brotherhood
Issues to men who stand outside their league.
'Tis only when a human soul unfolds
And finds its own true being in itself
That those fine instincts, which from endless time
Draw spirits each to each, can have full scope.
And therefore, only he will think aright
Who recognizes that this call conforms
To signs, which we have learned to know full well.
The brotherhood in future will bestow
Its highest treasures freely on mankind
Because all men will learn to long for them.

Felix Balde:
The words just spoken have been wrung from out
A soul, which hath been given to our times
To grace the realms of sense with life's true worth.
And in this field I doubt if any one
With Doctor Strader could compete to-day.
But I myself trod very different paths
To find out what is needful for the soul.
So I, too, beg your leave to speak a word.
Fate hath made clear to me that I must search
Among those treasures, which disclose themselves
To every man within his inmost soul.
Therein I seemed to find true wisdom's light
Which can full well illuminate life's worth.
The mystic pupilship was given me
In solitude and contemplation deep.
And thus I learned that all that makes man lord
Of this strong realm of sense, doth only serve
To blind his being, and condemn mankind
To search in darkness for the way of life.
Aye, e'en those gems of knowledge which the use
Of reason and of sense hath found on earth,
Are but faint gropings in a darkened realm.
I know it is the mystic way alone
That can direct our steps to life's true light.
Myself I stood upon that path of truth
As one who strives without a helping hand;
But all men cannot struggle thus alone.
The knowledge gained by sense and intellect
Seems like a body left without a soul
When it doth set itself defiantly
Against the light that since Earth's dawn hath streamed
From sacred temples of true mystery.
Ye therefore ought in gratitude to grasp
The hand that beckons from the Temple now
Upon whose threshold roses full of light
Girdle significant the sign of death.

Louisa Fear-God:
A man who feels the worth of his own soul
Can but rely upon his own ideas,
If he desire to know the spirit-worlds
And find himself therein in very truth.
Whoe'er can give himself, with blindfold faith,
To outside guidance, first must lose himself.
Aye, e'en that light, which deep within himself
A man may feel as highest wisdom's power
Claims spirit-recognition only when
Its truth admits of proof within itself.
This light may be a danger to a man
If he draws near thereto without such proof.
For often on this path the soul mistakes
For a true picture, of the cosmic depths,
Fancies begotten from its unconscious wish.

Frederick Clear-Mind:
Fully to understand the mystic way
Each man must trace its impulse in himself.
Who, ere he enters on the search, doth form
In his own soul a picture of the goal,
Whereto that search must lead, is sure to find
Instead of truth, delusion's fantasy.
For, we may say, that each true mystic should
Thus hold himself toward the goal of truth
As one who from a mountain-top would gaze
Upon the beauty of a distant view.
He waits till be has gained the utmost height
Before he tries to picture all the scene
Whereto his pilgrimage hath guided him.

Ferdinand Fox:
At such a time as this we should not ask
How men should hold themselves toward the truth.
The brethren of the league will not require
To hear about such things from men like us.
It hath indeed already reached mine ears
That an occurrence of a special sort
Hath forced the league to turn and think of us.
Thomasius, who came some years ago
Beneath the influence of a spirit-stream,
Which sets itself to follow mystic aims,
Hath learned just how to use such forms of thought
As in our time compel men's confidence,
And hang them, as a mantle, round that lore
Which, it is claimed, to seers is revealed.
In this way he was able to succeed,
And gain approval from both far and near
For writings which had borrowed logic's garb
But which, in fact, contained but mystic dreams.
Even inquirers of acknowledged worth
Are with the message of the man inspired
And so lend colour to his present fame,
Which grows, I fear, in dangerous degree.
Initiates did dread this line of thought
Since it must needs destroy the fixed idea
That wisdom is their sole prerogative.
And so they try to shelter 'neath their wing
That which Thomasius is giving forth.
Indeed, they wish it to appear as if
They knew already in the years gone by
That such a message would just now be sent
To serve in building up their own great work.
If they succeed now at this present time
In drawing us with craft into their net,
They will make clear unto the world at large
That powers of destiny did wisely send
Thomasius with his message at this time
So that belief in their significance
Might with the commonsense of man combine.

Casper Hotspur:
This Mystic League is bold to make the claim
That it alone must ever guide mankind:
It proves thereby what small account it takes
Of all that can be won for man's true weal
Just by sound commonsense, for we may say
That 'tis now proved that nature and the soul
Can be explained as things mechanical.
And 'tis indeed a check to all free thought
That Doctor Strader with so clear a brain,
Should countenance this mystic fallacy.
Who thus doth master powers mechanical
Should not indeed lack insight, to perceive
That e'en to gain true knowledge of the soul
All mystic learnings needs must be destroyed.
Yet this false science, which Thomasius
Is giving forth to-day to all the world,
Enables e'en extreme sagacity
To reconcile itself with wildest dreams,
When once it falls a victim to that snare.
If through strict training in the way of thought,
Most natural to man, Thomasius
Had for this work of his prepared himself,
Instead of studying the mystic art,
He might have plucked full many a noble fruit
From wisdom's tree through his own inborn gifts.
Instead of which upon the way he chose
Naught but disastrous error could occur.
No doubt the brotherhood may like to think
Such error can be turned to their account.
It finds acceptance, since it seeks to show
That science now bath giv'n souls strong proof
Of knowledge only found in dreams before.

George Candid:
That it is possible to speak such words
As we have just been forced with pain to hear,
Shows clearly how that insight which flows forth
From spirit-life bath scarce indeed begun
To grow at all 'midst all our modern thoughts.
Turn your eyes backward o'er the flight of time
And see what things lived in the souls of men
Before the science which is now in flower
Was even able to reveal its seed.
Then you will find that this same Mystic League
Doth but to-day fulfil a work which then
Was traced beforehand in the cosmic scheme.
We had to wait until Thomasius
Had finished this great work he had in hand.
The way is new by which the spirit-light
Illuminates through him the souls of men.
And yet this light did ever work in all
That men have dared to make upon the Earth.
But where, then, was the source of all this light
Which, tho' souls knew it not, could shine so clear?
We find all signs point to the mystic art,
Which dwelt in secret consecrated shrines,
Before mankind let reason be its guide.
The Spirit League which now bath called us here
Will gladly let the mystic light stream forth
On that bold work, which out of human thought
Strives to the knowledge of the spirit-world.
And we, who, in this hour so big with fate,
May stay awhile on consecrated ground,
Shall be the first who, uninitiate,
Shall see the torch of God from spirit-heights
Leap down into the depths of human souls.

Mary Dauntless:
Thomasius, indeed, needs not the shield,
The Rose-Cross Brothers have in mind for him,
If in an earnest scientific way
He can portray the pathway of the soul
Through many earthly lives and spirit-realms.
This work kath now revealed the light on high,
To which they say the mystic temples lead,
E'en unto men who erstwhile had to shun
The very threshold of such sacred shrines.
Such recognition doth he well deserve
As he already hath so richly found
Because he gave that freedom unto thought,
Which was denied it by the mystic schools.

Erminia Stay-at-Home:
The Rose-Cross Brothers can in future live
But in the recollection of mankind.
That which they call for, at this very time
Will soon gain consciousness of its own power
And undermine the Temple's fundaments.
They boldly wish to join in future days
Reason and science to their sacred shrine.
Thomasius, therefore, whom so willingly
They now admit into their Temple's midst
Will count hereafter as their conqueror.

Strader:
I have been sorely blamed because I think
That he acts well, who holds himself prepared
To further, in close union with the league,
The work which through Thomasius is fulfilled.
One speaker took objection to my views
And held I ought to know how dangerous
The mystic's true soul-searching may become.
I often felt I best could understand
The spirit-way when I gave up myself
Completely to the influence binding me
To mechanisms which I made myself.
The way in which I stood toward my works
Hath shown the meaning of the sacred shrine.
And while I was at work, I often thought:
‘How do I seem to one who only tries
To understand the working of those powers
Which I put into things mechanical?
And yet what might I be unto a soul
To whom I might reveal myself in love?’
I have to thank such thoughts as these that now
The learning which from mystic circles springs
Reveals itself to me in its true light.
And so, though not initiate, I know
That souls of gods can in the sacred shrine
Reveal themselves in love to human souls.

Katharine Counsel:
The noble words which Doctor Strader speaks
About the sacred shrines must surely find
An echo in those souls which stand outside
The gates through which initiates may pass,
But yet are counted worthy to receive
The lore initiates do strive to teach:
It is not difficult to understand
Why our forefathers held to the belief
That mystics were the enemies of light.
It even was denied their souls to guess
What hidden secrets lay within the shrine.
All this is changed to-day. The Mystic Light
Is not entirely hid, but tells the world
As much as uninitiate folk may know.
And many souls, who have received this light
And been revived thereby, have felt forthwith
A rousing up of soul-powers, which before
Worked in them, as in sleep, unconsciously.

(Three knocks are heard.)

Felix Balde:
The owners of this place will soon approach
And ye will hear what they desire to say.
But if ye wish to understand their words
And to receive through them the light yourselves
Ye must not by pre-judgment blind yourselves.
The power of the initiates will now
Prove itself mighty, wheresoe'er it finds
Good hearts and wills prepared to offer up
Erroneous fancies to the light of truth;
But where the will hath grown through error hard
And thus hath slain the sense of truth itself,
This power will there be proved of none effect.

Ferdinand Fox:
Such words as these might be of use to one
Who through self-contemplation did desire
To find himself within his inmost soul.
But at the first appearance of this league
'Twere better to hold fast to those reports
About this kind of spirit-brotherhood,
Which may be credited historically.
From them we see that very many men
Have been enticed into the holy shrine
By secret words, which led them to believe
That in these temples, step by step, the soul
Could from the lowliest grades of wisdom rise
Up to the heights where spirit-sight is gained.
Who followed such inducements soon perceived
That in the lower grades he could see signs
Whose purport offered him much food for thought.
He dared to hope that in the higher grades
The meaning of these signs would be disclosed,
And wisdom be revealed: but when he reached
Those higher grades himself, he found instead
That masters knew but little of those signs
And did but speak about the world and life —
Nothing but meaningless and barren words.
If he was not deceived by these same words
Nor yet was tricked by their futility,
He turned himself away from such pursuits.
And so at this time 'tis perhaps of use
To listen to the judgment of the past
As well as unto edifying speech.

(Again three knocks are heard.)

(The curtain is drawn back, and there enter the Grand Master of the Mystic League, Hilary True-to-God; after him, Magnus Bellicosus, the Second Preceptor; Albertus Torquatus, the First Master of the Ceremonies; and Frederick Trustworthy, the Second Master of the Ceremonies. The persons who were before assembled group themselves on each side of the hall.)

Frederick Trustworthy:
Dear friends, this moment, when you join us first
At this our temple's ancient holy gates
Is most significant for you and us.
The call which we have given to you now
Was strongly laid upon us by the signs
Which our Grand Master could discern full well
In the wise plan of earth's development.
There it is very plainly shadowed forth
That at this time the service wise and true
Of this our sacred Temple must unite
With universal commonsense of man,
Which seeks for truth far off from mystic paths.
Yet in the plan were also signs to show
That ere this consummation could be reached,
A man must first arise who understood
How to bring knowledge, built on commonsense
And reason only, into such a form
As truly to comprise the spirit-world:
This now bath happened. To Thomasius
The lot has fallen to produce a work
Based on that very science, which to-day
All men demand. This work in their own tongue
Doth bring full proof of spirit-worth, which men
Could only find in mystic paths before,
And in the temples of initiates.
This work will now become the binding link
That you with us unites in spirit-life;
Through it will ye be able to discern
How firm the base on which our teaching rests.
And through it, too, ye will receive the power
To take from us that knowledge with free will
Which is confined to mystic paths alone;
And so, in living fruitfulness, that Life
Can now unfold itself, which doth unite
The universal commonsense of man
With all the customs of the sacred shrine.

Magnus Bellicosus:
Our brother's words have made it clear to you,
That we have been induced by solemn signs
To call you to the Threshold of our Shrine.
The Master soon will speak to you and show
The deeper reasons for thus calling you.
But first I must, so far as may be meet,
Tell you of this great man, whose work hath made
Our present union possible to-day.
Thomasius gave himself to painting's art
Until he felt an inward spirit-call
To take up science as his work in life.
His gifts which were so great and so unique
Within the region of the painter's art,
Were first developed when he passed within
The spheres devoted to true mystic lore;
These led him to the Master, and, through him,
He learnt the first steps in that world of truth
Where wisdom teaches spiritual sight.
Upborne to spirit-heights and thus infilled
With great creative power, he painted then
Pictures, which seem indeed like living men.
That which would soon have driven other men
To strive amain toward the highest goal
Upon the beaten track of art — all this
Was but a fresh incentive to his soul
To use hard-won success in such a way
As might prove best for welfare of mankind.
He saw full well that spirit-science must
First find a firm foundation, and for this
The sense for science and strict reasoning
Must be released from mania for set form
Through contact with an artist mind, and gain
The inward strength to realize the truth
Of world-relationship in life and deed.
And so Thomasius hath offered up,
A willing off'ring to humanity,
The artist-power, he might have used himself.
O friends, read ye aright this man's true soul;
Then will we understand our mystic call
And hesitate no more to follow it.

Hilary True-to-God:
In that same Spirit's Name, which is revealed
To souls within our sacred shrine, we come
To men who until now might never hear
The word which here doth secretly sound forth.
Those Powers which guide the purpose of our Earth
Could not in its beginning be revealed
To all humanity in their full light.
As in the body of a child, the powers
Through which it learns to act and use its mind,
Must gradually ripen, and grow strong
So must humanity unfold itself
As one great whole throughout its earthly course.
The impulse in the soul which later on
Might worthy prove to gaze on spirit-light
In higher worlds, first lived unconsciously.
Yet in the Earth's beginning there were sent
From out the higher kingdoms of real life
Exalted spirit-beings, who might act
As wise instructors of humanity.
In mystic holy shrines did they employ
Those mighty spirit powers, which were poured forth
In secret into souls which could know nought
Of their exalted leaders or their work.
Then later from the ranks of men themselves
These masters wise could choose for pupils those
Who by well-tested lives of self-denial
Had proved that they were ripe to be ordained
Into the mystic aims and wisdom's lore.
And when the pupils of those early seers
Could guard in worthy way the good and. true,
Then those sublime instructors turned their steps
Back to their own especial realms of life.
These pupils of the gods then chose out men
Who might succeed them in the guardianship
Of spirit-treasures; and in such a way
The treasures were passed on from age to age.
Until the present time all mystic schools,
If they are such in truth, have really sprung
Prom that which first was founded from on high.
Humbly we cherish in this very place
That which our fathers handed down to us.
We do not ever speak about the dues,
Which through our office we inherited,
But only of the favour shown to us
By those great spirit-powers, who chose weak men
As mediators, and entrusted them
With treasures which bring forth the spirit-light
In souls of men: and 'tis our lot, dear friends,
To open to you now this treasured store.
For signs which in the plan of all the worlds
Can clearly be discerned by spirit-eyes
Show most propitious at this very time.

Ferdinand Fox:
From distant worlds, it seems, the reasons come
Which should convince us that 'twere meet that we
Should join ourselves to you, and in this way
Should be the first to give the impetus
To this great work Thomasius gives the world.
However grand what thou hast spoken sounds,
It cannot drown in hearts of homely men
The thought that such a work will take effect
Through its own power, if it should prove to hold
Within itself what souls of men require.
If this work prove important, it will be,
Not through the things the mystics offer us,
But since true science comes to the support
Of spirit-knowledge, and doth prove it true.
If this be really so, what use is there,
If mystic approbation paves the way,
And not th' intrinsic merit of the work?

Albertus Torquatus:
The science which is opening on the world
From such foundations as Thomasius laid
Will neither gain nor lose through such applause
As we or ye may choose to render it.
And yet thereby a way can now be found
By which mankind may study mystic lore.
It would accomplish only half its work
If it should show the goal, but not the road.
And now it rests with you to understand
That now at last the moment hath arrived
For reason and the mystic path to join;
And to the spirit-life of this our world
To give thereby the power which can but work
When it reveals itself in season due.

Curtain

[admin]

The Guardian of the Threshold

Scene 2

The same. The persons who were at first assembled have left, with the exception of Felix Balde and Dr. Strader, who remain with Hilary True-to-God, the Grand Master; Magnus Bellicosus, the Second Preceptor; Albertus Torquatus, the First Master of the Ceremonies; Frederick Trustworthy, the Second Master of the Ceremonies; Maria; and Johannes Thomasius.

Hilary:
My son, what thou hast perfected must now
Within this holy place receive the seal,
Which sacred and primeval knowledge gives,
Besides the blessing of the Rosy Cross.
What thou hast brought the world must be through us
Unto the Spirit offered; that it may
Bear fruit in all the worlds, where power of man
Can be made use of for world-fashioning.

Bellicosus:
That thou mights't give unto the world this work
Thou had'st to part for many years with much
That in thine inmost soul thou loved'st best.
There stood a spirit-teacher at thy side,
Who went from thee, so that thy human soul
Might perfectly unfold its powers in thee.
Thou wast in closer touch with one dear friend
She also left thee, for thou had'st to learn
That which men only learn when they are set
To follow out their soul's powers in themselves.
With courage hast thou passed through this ordeal.
That which was taken from thee for thy good
Is, for thy good, restored to thee anew.
Thy friend stands here before thee: in the shrine
She waits for thee to follow out our wish.
Soon, thou wilt meet thy teacher once again.
These friends, who on our temple's threshold stand,
Desire to join with us-in greeting thee,
As one who brings great knowledge here with him.

Felix Balde (to Thomasius):
Thy mystic art which heretofore aspired
Through inward contemplation toward the light,
Will through thine act be able now to work
Through knowledge gained within the world of sense.

Strader (to Thomasius):
Those souls who after spirit-knowledge strive
While life still unto matter binds them fast,
Will now through thee find out a road by which
They can attain the light in their own way.

Thomasius:
Exalted Master, and ye, honoured sirs!
Ye think to see before you now a man
Who, through the Spirit's power and earnest strife,
Was able to produce the work you praise
And can acknowledge with your fostering care.
Ye think that he will certainly succeed
In reconciling science of to-day
With ever-ancient sacred mystic art.
And truly were there anything besides
The voice of mine own soul, which could instil
Belief about it into me, I think
It well might be your words ...

Trustworthy:
The Master's word
Doth but express that which without a doubt
Thou feelest in thy soul. There is no need
To strengthen what thine inner voice declares.

Thomasius:
Ah! were it so, most humbly would I stand
Before you and implore that I might gain
The temple's blessing on this work of mine.
I used to think it so, when first I heard
The word by which I came to understand
That ye would take my work beneath your care
And open gateways to me, which before
Only initiates could e'er approach.
But as I trod the path that led to you
There opened out upon my soul a world
To which, at such a time ye certainly
Would not have wished to lead me. Ahriman
In all his greatness stood before me there.
And then I saw that he it is in truth
Who is the expert in seal cosmic laws.
What human-beings think they know of him
Is of no value. Only he can know
Who once hath seen him in the spirit-world.
It was from him alone that I could learn
The truth about this work of mine in full.
He showed how in the progress of the world
One could not judge effects of such a work;
Since its true progress cannot be appraised
By those impressions men may form of it
Who judge by science and strict logic's law.
Their verdict on it would alone be true
If creature from creator were set free
And freed from him could follow its own path
Throughout the courses of the spirit-life.
Yet now the work is so bound up with me
That it is possible that I might turn
That which I guide back from the spirit-realms
To something evil, even though it were
Good in itself and in its working power.
I must myself from out the spirit-world
Send forth afar my influence on all
Which shows itself on Earth as the result
Of that which I have brought forth from my mind.
And if I should let evil issue forth
From out the spirit-world, through these results,
Then would the truth do damage greater far
Than error, for men follow after truth
According to their insight, error not.
I shall for certain at some future time
Turn the results of this my act to ill,
For Ahriman hath clearly shewn to me
That these results must all belong to him.
While I was at my work, and filled with joy
That it should lead me with such certain tread
Step after step, up truth's great pyramid,
I only noticed in my soul that part
Which lent itself to help me in my search;
And all the rest I left without a guard.
All those wild impulses, which formerly
Were but in bud, could now in quietude
Bloom forth and ripen into full grown fruits.
I thought I dwelt in highest spirit-realms,
But was in truth in deepest night of soul.
It was the strength of these same impulses
Which Ahriman in his own realm revealed.
And so I know the effect that I shall have,
For in the future all these impulses
Will go to form my personality.
Before I took this work in hand, I gave
Myself to Lucifer, because I wished
To learn to know and understand his realm.
Now know I, what I could not see before
When I was lost entirely in my work,
That he it was who wove around my thought
Those beauteous pictures, while within my soul
He planted wild desires, which silent now
Will surely one day gain control of me.

Trustworthy:
How can one who hath reached such spirit-heights
And knows all this for certain, yet believe
That he hath no escape from evil left?
Why, thou canst see where danger for thee lies;
And so canst crush it, and with courage save
Thyself, and the results of thy great work:
A spirit-pupil is in duty bound
To kill what hinders progress in himself.

Thomasius:
I see, thou judgest not by cosmic laws,
I could e'en now fulfil what thou dost wish
And I myself could quite well tell myself
In this same hour all that thou tellest me.
But that which Karma now doth let me do
Will not in future be permissible.
For things must come which will o'ershadow me
And darken all my spirit, till I turn
To that which I described to thee just now.
Then as the world progresses I will seize
With greed on anything that's in my work
Which can be used for harm, and all of this
I will embody in my spirit-life.
Then I shall have to love great Ahriman
And joyfully to his possession give
All that I have produced in earthly life.

(Pause, during which Thomasius meditates deeply.)

If all alone I could encounter this,
And bear it also in my soul alone,
I could await with fullest peace of mind
All that was destined for me on my way.
But it will harm your league as much as me.
Whatever bad shall follow from my work
Both for myself and other souls of men,
Will find its balance through just Karma's law.
The fact that ye fell victims to this fault
Makes it far harder for the life of earth,
Since ye are leaders in this self-same life
And ought to read the spirit-worlds aright.
Ye ought not to have failed to notice then
That it was someone else, and not myself
Who should have had the doing of this work.
Ye should have known it must be put aside
For now; and later would appear again
Through one who otherwise would guide its course.
So by your judgment, ye deprive the league
Of rights it ought to have, if it would still
Direct the service of the Sacred Place.
Because this fate for you was shown to me
I now appear upon your threshold here.
Knowledge would otherwise have kept me far,
For truly I can claim no blessing now
Upon this work, which does both good and harm.

Hilary:
Dear brethren, that which we have just begun,
Cannot be carried any further now.
We must betake ourselves unto the Place
From whence the Spirit can make known His will.

(Hilary leaves the hall with Bellicosus, Torquatus, and Trustworthy. Doctor Strader and Felix Balde also leave. Only Maria and Thomasius are left.)

The hall grows dark. After a short pause the three Spirit forms Philia, Astrid, and Luna appear in a cloud of light, and group themselves so that they completely hide Maria. The following is a spirit-experience of Thomasius.)

Philia:
The soul is athirst
To drink of the light
Which flows from the worlds,
An all-caring Will
Hides close from mankind.
But eagerly seeks
The spirit to hear
The language divine
Which wisdom in love
Doth hide from the heart.
For danger surrounds
The thoughts that would search
In realms of the soul,
Where far from the senses
Secrets hold sway.

Astrid:
Yet souls are enlarged,
Which follow the light
And work through the worlds
Which bold spirit-sight
Reveals to mankind.
The spirit doth strive
Enraptured to live
In realms of the gods
Which wisdom benign
Makes known to the seer.
There mysteries beckon
The bold keen desire
To win those new worlds
Which far from man's thought
Deep secrets conceal.

Luna:
It ripens the soul
To picture the sight
Whence powers will spring forth
Which Will, reft of fear
Doth rouse in mankind.
The ransoming powers
From primeval depths
Bring magical might
That sense cannot know,
Close barriered in earth.
And traces are there
That each searching soul
May find out the gate
Fast closed by the gods
'Gainst erring desire.

The Voice of Conscience (invisible):
Now totter thy thoughts
In Being's abyss;
And what was lent as help to them,
Thou now hast lost.
And what shone as the sun for them
For thee is quenched.
Alone in cosmic depths thou wanderest,
Which men intoxicated with desire
Would seek to win.
Thou tremblest in the fundaments of growth
Where men must learn to be bereft of all
Comfort of soul ...

(The last words run straight on into the following ones spoken by Maria, who is still hidden by the Spirit forms and cannot be seen. She speaks at first in a ghostly inward voice.)

Maria:
So blend thy soul
To powers of love
Which once could penetrate her with the hope
Of living warmth,
Which once could all her will illuminate
With spirit-light.
Rescue from loneliness
The powers of heart that seek
And feel the nearness of thy friend
In the darkness of thy strife.

(The Spirit forms vanish with the cloud of light. Maria becomes visible in her old place. Maria and Thomasius are alone, standing opposite each other. From now onwards the experiences are on the physical plane.)

Thomasius (rousing himself from deep meditation):
Where was I even now? My powers of soul
Unveiled the conflict of my inner-self;
The conscience of the world revealed to me
What I had lost; and then as blessing came
The voice of Love within the darksome realm.

Maria:
Johannes, the companion of thy soul
May once again be present at thy side,
And follow thee to earth's primeval depths,
Where souls can win perception e'en as gods,
By conquest that destroyeth, yet acquires
By bold persistence life from seeming death.
E'en in the ever empty fields of ice
She may go with her friend, where from his soul
The light will surge which spirits must create
When darkness wounds and maims the powers of life.
My friend, thou standest at that threshold now,
Where man must lose what once he hath attained.
Full many a glance thou hast toward spirit-realms
Directed, and from them hast gained the power
That made thee capable of thy great work.
It seems to thee, that now that work is lost;
Desire not then that it were otherwise,
For such desire must rob thee of all power
Of further progress into spirit-realms.
Whether thou walk'st in error or in truth,
Thou cant keep ever clear the view ahead,
Which lets thy soul press further on its path
If thou dost bravely bear necessities
Imposed upon thee by the spirit-realm.
This is the law of spirit-pupilship.
So long as thou still harbourest the wish
That what hath happened might be otherwise
Thou wilt forego the power which must be thine,
If thou dost wish to stay in spirit-land.
That thou hast lost what thou erewhile hadst won
Is surest sign to thee that thou may'st walk
In safety further on the spirit-path.
Henceforward thou must not rely upon
That understanding which thou hast till now.

Curtain

[admin]

The Guardian of the Threshold

Scene 3

In Lucifer's kingdom. A space which is not enclosed by artificial walls, but by fantastic forms which resemble plants, animals, etc. All in various brilliant shades of red. In the background are arranged three transparencies showing the top of Raphael's ‘Disputa,’ Leonardo's ‘Last Supper,’ and Raphael's ‘School of Athens.’ These are illuminated from the back of the stage whenever Maria or Benedictus challenges Lucifer. At other times they are invisible. On the right, Lucifer's throne. At first only the souls of Capesius and Maria are present. After a time Lucifer appears, and later on Benedictus and Thomasius, with his etheric counterpart or ‘double,’ and lastly, Theodora.

Maria:
Thou, who within the realm of sense art named
Capesius, ...
Art thou the being whom I meet the first
In Lucifer's domain: 'tis dangerous
To feel and breathe the spirit of this place.

Capesius (in astral garb):
O speak not to me of Capesius
Who in the kingdom of the Earth erewhile
Strove through a life which he hath long since known
Was but a dream. Whilst there he bent his mind
Upon such things as ever come to pass
As time streams on. And he had set himself
In that way to discover all the powers
Through which mankind fulfils its spirit-life.
What thus he came to know about those powers
He tried to keep deep fastened in his soul.
Now only in this realm one understands
To judge aright the knowledge he pursued.
He thought the pictures he possessed were true
And could reveal to him reality;
But, viewed from here, they clearly show themselves
As naught but empty dreams, which Spirit-hands
Have woven round about weak men of Earth.
They cannot bear the cold clear light of truth.
They would be utterly afraid and stunned
If they should learn how all the course of life
Is turned by spirits after their ideas.

Maria:
Thou speakest as I've only heard those speak
Who ne'er have been incarnate on the Earth.
They tell you Earth hath no significance,
That in the universe its work is small.
But he who hath belonged to realms of Earth
And owes to it the best powers that he hath,
Will have a different tale to tell thereof.
He finds important many threads of fate
Which bind Earth's life to that of all the worlds.
E'en Lucifer who works here with such power
Must keep his gaze fixed fast upon the Earth,
And seek to turn men's deeds in such a way
That their results may ripen his own soul.
He knows he'd fall a victim to the dark
If he could find no booty on the Earth,
And so his fate is bound up with that sphere.
So too, with those who dwell in other worlds.
And when the human soul can clearly see
The cosmic goal, which Lucifer desires,
And can compare with it what those powers wish
Who have him as opponent to their aims,
Then will it know that he can be destroyed
Through conquests which it gains o'er its own self.

Capesius:
The human being who here talks with thee
Thinks that fate dreadful, which compels him now
To wear a body round him; which hath yet
The breath of life and keeps its earthly form,
Although the spirit hath no more control.
At such a time this spirit feels indeed
That worlds, he values, fall at one fierce blow.
He feels himself within a prison-house
Narrow and horrible with naught all round.
Remembrance of the life that he passed through
Seems, as it were, extinguished from his soul.
At times he feels aware of human souls,
But what they say he cannot understand;
He only catches some especial words
Which lift themselves from out the general talk,
And bring remembrance of the loveliness
Which he can gaze on in the Spirit-realms.
He's in his body then, and yet is not;
He lives within that frame a life he fears
When he beholds it from this region here:
And he is longing for the time to come
When from the body he will be set free.

Maria:
The body which is proper to Earth-souls
Bears in itself the means to recreate
In lofty pictures loveliness sublime:
Which pictures, even if their substance now
Seems but a shadow in the human soul,
Are yet the buds which in the future worlds
Will open out to blossom and to fruit.
So through his body man may serve the gods.
And his soul's life doth show in its true light
Only when in his body he doth find
The power to give his “I” reality.

Capesius:
Ah, utter not that word in front of him
Who stands before thee now in Spirit-realms
And on the Earth is called Capesius.
He fain would flee away when that word sounds,
So fierce it burns him here.

Maria:
So thou dost hate
That which first gives true being unto men?
How canst thou come to live within this realm
If so appalling seems that word to thee?
For no one can arrive as far as this
Who hath not faced the nature of that word.

Capesius:
He who appears to thee hath often stood
Before great Lucifer who rules this realm.
And Lucifer hath made it clear to him
That only souls, who consciously make use
Of powers that from their earthly bodies come,
Can harm the realm which doth obey his will.
Those souls however who go through their life
Within the body, as it were in swoon,
And yet already have clairvoyant power,
These only learn in Lucifer's domain,
And cannot cause it harm in any way.

Maria:
I know that in these realms of Spirit-life
'Tis not by words, but sight, that one doth learn.
What in this moment I have come to see
Because of thine appearance to me here,
Will later show itself within my soul
As progress in my spirit-pupilship.

Capesius:
Here 'tis not only teaching that one gains;
Duties are also shown one in this place.
Thou hast here spoken with the soul of him
Who calls himself Capesius on earth.
The spirit-glances into former lives
That are accorded thee, will show to thee
Thou owest much through Karma unto him.
Therefore thou shouldst petition Lucifer
That he, great Light-Bearer, give thee the means
Capesius to shield, in life on Earth.
Thou knowest through thy wisdom well enough
What thou canst do for him, so that he may
Be led again to thee in later lives
So that through thee the debt may be wiped out.

Maria:
And so this duty which I hold so dear
Must be fulfilled through power from Lucifer?

Capesius:
Thou dost desire this duty to fulfil,
And that can only be through Lucifer.
Look! Here he comes, the Spirit of the Light.

(Lucifer appears and, in the course of his speech, Benedictus.)

Lucifer:
Maria, thou art asking at my throne
Self-knowledge for that very human soul
Who standeth near thee in the life on Earth.
It cannot learn to know itself aright
Except by gazing deep into myself;
And that it will achieve without thine aid.
How canst thou think that I would grant to thee
All that thou mayst desire for this thy friend?
Thou vainest Benedictus as thy guide,
Who is my strong opponent on the Earth,
Lending unto mine enemies his strength.
Already hath he stolen much from me.
Johannes cut himself adrift from him
And placed himself beneath my guiding hand.
He cannot yet indeed see my true self
Because he hath not yet the seer's full power.
He will attain it later through myself,
And then he will entirely be mine own.
But I command thee not to speak a word
That might apply to him in any way
So long as thou dost stand before my throne.
Any such word would burn me in this place.
Here words are deeds, and deeds must follow them;
But what might follow — from such words of thine —
It must not be —

Benedictus:
Thou must give ear to her.
For where words have an equal power with deeds
They come in consequence of former deeds.
The deed is done that conquers Lucifer:
Maria is my spirit-pupil true:
I could direct her to that point, whence she
Could recognize the highest spirit-task,
Which same she will most certainly fulfil.
And in fulfilling it she will for sure
Build in Johannes, power and balm to heal,
Which will release him from thy kingdom's grip.
Maria carries deep within her soul
A solemn holy vow which doth awake
Such healing powers in progress of the worlds.
Soon wilt thou hear all this put into words;
But if with powerful thought thou wouldst suppress
And veil the rays of light through which thou hast
The magic power to strive against, and win
The victory o'er all that selfhood means,
I think that then thou'lt glimpse the healing rays,
Which will in future shine with such a strength
That they will draw Johannes to their realm,
By their all-powerful love.

Maria:
Johannes soon
Will here appear; yet side by side
With his own wonted form, which on the earth
His soul would recognise, there will emerge
The being whom as his more potent double
Man carries hidden in his nature's depth.
And if Johannes could but recognize
Thee as thou seemest to his earthly form
It could not bring to him all he requires
To help him in the progress of his soul.
But to his double thou shalt now vouchsafe
What he requires upon those spirit paths,
O'er which I shall in future guide his steps.

Lucifer:
Johannes then must stand before me now.
I feel full well the power which comes from thee;
It hath opposed me since the Earth began.

(Enter Johannes Thomasius and his Etheric Counterpart from different sides of the stage at the same moment, and meet face to face.)

Thomasius:
O mine own Likeness, up till now thou hast
Shown thyself to me only that I might
Be frightened at the sight of mine own self.
I cannot understand thee much as yet;
I only know that thou dost guide my soul.
'Tis thou then who dost baulk me of free life
And dost prevent me from due cognizance
Of what I really am. Now must I hear
Thee speak in front of Lucifer, to see
What I in future years shall yet achieve.

Thomasius' Double:
'Tis true I often was allowed to come
And bring Johannes knowledge of himself.
But I could only work in those soul depths,
Which still are hidden from his consciousness.
My life within him hath for some long time
Been subject to considerable change.
Maria used to stand close to his side.
He thought her bound in spirit to himself;
I showed him that the true guides of his soul
Were only passion and impulsiveness.
He could but think of this as some reproach,
But thou couldst show, 0 Light-Bearer sublime,
To sensual tendencies the way by which
They best might serve the spirit-purposes.
Johannes from Maria had to part,
And give himself forthwith to earnest thought
Which hath the power to purify men's souls.
What from his purity of thought streamed forth
Flowed also unto me, and I was changed.
I feel his purity within myself.
Nought need he fear from me, if he should now
Feel once more drawn towards Maria's soul.
But he belongs, as yet, to thy domain,
And at this moment I demand him back.
For he shall now experience my being,
Without thy guidance and directing will.
He needs me now, that from me there may flow
Into his thought with mighty conscious strength
Both warmth of soul and also power of heart.
Then once more shall he find himself as man.

Lucifer:
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.
Henceforth thou shalt appear in different guise:
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, since Time began, hast combated.
If thou succeed'st in capturing 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 forces;
Ye elemental sprites,
Feel now your Master's power;
Smooth now 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 sell-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
Then shall my heart this powerful answer give:
‘Once thou wert listened to, 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

[admin]

The Guardian of the Threshold

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 work. 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 to-day 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
To 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,
For thou didst show me that man's spirit seeks
How to reveal itself through certain things
Which shunned my knowledge and my eager thought.
I met thee then amidst 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 technical pursuits
To bring oblivion and forgetfulness,
And lived a life of torment, till once more
I met thee; and we grew good friends.

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' lonely 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 this 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 the words that heart from heart unloosed,
How soon they proved that this must be our way.
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 or know them then;
'Twas not till later, 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
Kindling my life that I should so perceive
The hidden world of forces whence 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.
Thus 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
Then 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 noble power of seership,
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.)

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

Curtain

[admin]

The Guardian of the Threshold

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
Or feel her radiant nature till we too
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,
She grew immersed in dark and sullen thought,
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 must 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 still is wont 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 mentioning;
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 terrible —

(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 hath powers of seership,
And he will find me in the spirit-realms.
This must not be until he is set free
From earthly passions 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 knowledge of the 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 has won
Through earthly powers so successfully.
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 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

[admin]

The Guardian of the Threshold

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 phenomena 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 red, that on the left is blue, the former is appropriated later by Lucifer and his Spirits, and the latter 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 (only audible, not yet visible):
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 depth 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
And not his words are echoing.
Doth then the teacher bring the lore of earth
To vivify and work in spirit-realm?
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 wart 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 oped the spirit-life.
So that thy soul-life could 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 Both 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.
Thy senses' body thou canst 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 earthy 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, emphasising 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 movement 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 loth 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 sees not Lucifer, from whom the thoughts
Spring forth, from whom the feelings flow!
And thus she thinks 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 in spirit worlds but seeks
To show himself as peer among his peers;
To others he but shows his form sublime;
He ne'er would seek imperious rulership.
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 depth 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
In Beings' foundation.
Hold fast with full strength.

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