Four Mystery Plays

Four Mystery Plays

The Portal of Initiation

Scene 11

The Temple of the Sun. Hidden site of the mysteries of the Hierophants.

Capesius and Strader appear as in Scene 4.

Retardus (to Capesius and Strader before him):
Ye have brought bitter grief to me, my friends.
The office which I did entrust to you
Ye have administered with ill success.
I call you now before my judgment seat.
To thee, Capesius, I did entrust
Full measure of the spirit, that ideas
Of mankind's upward striving might compose,
With graceful words, the content of thy speech,
Which should have worked convincingly on man.
Then thine activity I did direct
Into those gatherings of men, wherein
Thou didst Johannes and Maria meet.
Their tendency towards the spirit-sight
Thou shouldst have superseded by the power
Which thy words should have exercised on them.
Instead of that thou didst thyself give up
Unto the influence which flows from them. —
And to thee, Strader, did I show the way
That leads to scientific certainty.
Thou hadst by rigid thinking to destroy
The magic power that comes from spirit-sight.
But yet thou lackedst feeling's certain touch.
The power of thought did slip away from thee,
When opportunity for conquest came.
My fate is close-entwined with your deeds,
Through you are these two seekers after truth
Now lost for evermore from my domain;
For to the Brethren I must give their souls.

Capesius:
Thy trusty messenger I could not be.
Thou gav'st me power to picture human life;
And I could well portray whate'er inspired
The souls of men at this time or at that:
But yet it was impossible for me
To gift my words, which painted but the past,
With power to fill and satisfy men's souls.

Strader:
The weakness which must needs befall me too
Was but a true reflection of thine own.
Knowledge indeed thou couldest give to me:
But not the power to still that yearning voice,
Which strives for truth in every human heart.
Deep in mine inmost soul I none the less
Felt other powers continually arise.

Retardus:
See now then what result your weakness brings.
The Brethren are approaching with those souls
In whom they will o'erthrow my power. E'en now
Johannes and Maria feel their might.

(Enter Benedictus with Lucifer and Ahriman; behind them Johannes and Maria.)

Benedictus (to Lucifer):
Johannes' and Maria's souls have now
No longer room for blind unseeing power:
To spirit-life they have been lifted up.

Lucifer:
Then must I straightway from their souls depart.
The wisdom unto which they have attained,
Doth give them power to see me, and my sway
O'er souls of men doth only last so long
As I remain invisible to them.
Yet doth the power continue which hath been
From the creation of the worlds mine own.
Now that I can no longer tempt their souls,
My power will cause within their spirit-life
Most beauteous fruits to ripen and endure.

Benedictus (to Ahriman):
Johannes' and Maria's souls have now
Destroyed all error's darkness in themselves;
And spirit-sight hath been revealed to them.

Ahriman:
I must indeed renounce their spirits then:
For they will turn henceforth unto the light.
Yet one thing hath not yet been ta'en from me;
With sense-appearance to delight their souls.
And though no longer they will deem it truth,
Yet will they see how truth it doth reveal.
(Enter the Other Maria.)

Theodosius (to the Other Maria):
Close intertwined was thy destiny
With thine exalted sister's loftier life:
The light of love I could impart to her:
But not the warmth of love, so long as thou
Didst only let thy noble gift arise
From the dim feeling life within thy soul,
And didst not strive to see it clear and bold
In the full light of wisdom's certainty.
The influence of the Temple does not reach
Unto the nature of vague impulses,
E'en though such impulse wills to work for good.

The Other Maria:
I must admit a noble gift of love
Can only work salvation in the light.
So to the temple I now wend my way.
Mine inner feeling shall in future times
Not rob the light of love of its results.

Theodosius:
Through this, thine insight, thou dost give me power
To make Maria's soul-light on the earth
Run smooth and evenly upon its path:
For aye aforetime it must lose its might
In souls, such as thine own was heretofore,
Which would not unify their love with light.

Johannes (to the Other Maria):
I see in thee that nature of the soul,
Which also holdest sway within mine own.
I was unable to find out the way
Which led to thine exalted sister's soul
So long as in my heart the warmth of love
From love's light ever held itself apart.
The sacrifice which to the temple's shrine
Thou bring'st, shall be repeated in my soul.
Therein the warmth of love shall sacrifice
Itself unto love's wonder-working light.

Maria:
Johannes, in the realm of spirit-life
Thou hast attained to knowledge through myself.
To spirit knowledge thou canst only add
True soul-existence, when thou findest too
Thine own soul, as thou didst find mine before.
(Enter Philia, Astrid, and Luna.)

Philia:
Then from the whole creation of the worlds
The joy of souls shall be revealed to thee.

Astrid:
From thine whole being then can be outpoured
The light and radiance of the warmth of souls.

Luna:
Then shalt thou dare to live out thine own self,
When such light can illuminate thy soul.
(Enter Felix and Felicia Balde.)

Romanus (to Felix Balde):
Long hast thou from the temple held thyself.
Thou only wouldst admit enlightenment,
When light from thine own soul revealed itself.
Men of thy nature rob me of the power
To give my light unto men's souls on earth.
They will but draw from unillumined deeps
The gifts they have to offer in their life.

Felix Balde:
But now at length 'twas even man's illusion
That urged me on from the dark deeps to light,
And let me to the temple find my way.

Romanus:
The fact that thou hast hither found thy way
Gives me the power to give light to the will
Of both Johannes and Maria here.
That it no more may follow forces blind,
But from world-aims henceforth direct itself.

Maria:
Johannes, thou hast seen thine own self now
In spirit in myself. Thou shalt live out
Thine own existence as a spirit, when
The world's light can behold itself in thee.

Johannes (to Felix Balde):
In thee, good brother Felix, I behold
The force of soul which in my spirit too
Hath held the will fast bound. This temple's light
Thou hast at length been ready to approach;
So will I guide my spirit's strength of will
Straight forward to the temple of the soul.

Retardus:
Johannes' and Maria's souls e'en now
Escape from my domain: how then shall they
Discover all that springs forth from my might?
So long as they did lack within their souls
The fundaments of knowledge they did still
Find joy and pleasure in my gifts, but now
I see myself compelled to let them go.

Felicia:
That man without thine aid may fire himself
To rational thought, that have I shown to thee:
From me a learning streams that shall bear fruit.

Johannes:
This learning shall be wedded to the light,
Which from this temple's source can fill men's souls.

Retardus:
Capesius, my son, thou art now lost.
Thou hast withdrawn thyself from my domain
Before the temple's light can shine for thee.

Benedictus:
He hath begun the path. He feels the light.
And he will win the strength to search and know
In his own soul all that, which up till now
Good Dame Felicia hath produced for him.

Strader:
Then I alone seem lost, for of myself
I cannot cast all doubts from out my heart;
And surely I shall never find again
The way that doth unto the temple lead.

Theodora:
From out thine heart a glow of light spreads forth;
A human image is now born therefrom;
And I can hear the words, which do proceed
From this same human form. E'en thus they sound:
‘I have achieved the power to reach the light.’
My friend, trust thou thyself! These very words,
When thy time is fulfilled, thyself shalt speak.

Curtain