Four Mystery Plays

Four Mystery Plays

The Guardian of the Threshold

Scene 8

Ahriman's Kingdom. No sky is visible. A dark en-closure like a mountain gorge whose black masses of rock tower up in fantastic forms, divided by streams of fire. Skeletons are visible everywhere; they appear to be crystallized out of the mountain, but are white. Their attitude suggests the habitual egoism of their last life. Prominent on one side is a miser and on the other a massive glutton, etc., etc. Ahriman is seated on a rock. Hilary, Frederick Trustworthy, then the Twelve who were gathered together in the first scene; then Strader; later on Thomasius and Maria; last of all Thomasius' Double.

Trustworthy:
How often have I trod this realm before. —
And yet how horrible it seems to me
That e'en from here we must so often fetch
The wise direction for full many a plan
Which is important for us and our league,
And points significantly to our aims.

Hilary:
The grain of corn must fall to earth and die
Before the life within it can return.
All that in earthly life hath run to waste
Shall here unto new being be transformed.
And when our league desires to plant the seeds
Of human acts, to ripen in due course,
'Tis from the dead that we must fetch the grain.

Trustworthy:
Uncanny is the lord who here bears rule;
And if it were not written in our books,
Which are the greatest treasures of our shrine,
That he whom here we often meet, is good,
One would indeed as evil reckon him.

Hilary:
Not only books, but e'en my spirit-sight
Declares that what is here revealed is good.

Ahriman (in a feigned voice, sardonically):

I know why ye are gathered here again.
Ye would discover from me how 'twere best
To guide the soul of him who oft before
Hath stood upon the threshold of your shrine.
Because ye think Thomasius is lost
Ye now believe that Strader is the man
To do you service in the mystic league.
What he hath won for progress of mankind
By use of powers which follow nature's laws,
For this he oweth thanks to me, since I
Hold sway where powers mechanical obtain
Strength for themselves from their creative founts.
So all that he may do to help mankind
It needs must turn itself unto my realm.
But this time I myself will see to it
That what I wish shall happen to this man
Since ye can only bring me loss on loss
By all your influence with Thomasius.
If ye desire to serve the spirit-powers
Ye first must conquer for yourselves those powers
Which in this case ye tried to cast aside.

(Ahriman becomes invisible.)

Trustworthy (after a pause, during which he has with-drawn into himself):
Exalted Master, care oppresseth me
Though I have striven long to banish it,
For this is laid upon me by strict rules
Which have been ordered for us by our league.
But much that shows the life of this same league
Hath made the struggle in my soul severe;
Yet would I ever thankfully submit
My darkness to the spirit-light, which thou
Art capable of giving through thy powers.
But when I must full often clearly see
Thou wert a victim of delusion's snare
And how thy words, e'en as events fell out,
Did often prove so grievously at fault,
Then have I felt as though a grievous weight
Were resting painfully upon my soul. —
And this time also were thy words at fault:
How couldst thou with such firm assurance think
That from this spirit we should hear good things?

Hilary:
'Tis hard to understand the cosmic ways. —
My brother, we are well-advised to wait
Until the spirit indicates the way
Which is ordained for that which we create.

(Exeunt Hilary and Trustworthy.)

Ahriman (who has re-appeared):
They see, but do not recognize me yet;
For had they known who rules within this place
They certainly would not have ventured here
To seek direction; and they would condemn
To age-long pains of hell that human soul
Of whom, they heard, that it did visit me.

(All the persons who at the beginning of the play were assembled in the ante-room of the mystic league now appear on the scene; they are blindfolded to show their ignorance of the fact that they are in Ahriman's kingdom. The words they speak live in their souls, but they know nothing of them. They are experiencing during sleep unconscious dreams which are audible in Ahriman's kingdom. Strader, who also appears, is however semi-conscious with regard to all that he experiences, so that later on he will be able to recollect it.)

Strader:
The hint that Benedictus gave to me
That I should cultivate my power of thought,
Hath led me to this kingdom of the dead.
Although I hoped that raised to spirit-realms
I should find truth on wisdom's sun-clad heights.

Ahriman:
What thou canst learn of wisdom in this place
Thou wilt find all-sufficient for long time,
If here thou dost comport thyself aright.

Strader:
Before what spirit doth my soul then stand?

Ahriman:
That shalt thou know when memory presently.
Can call again to thee what here thou see'st.

Strader:
And all these folk, why do I find them here
Within thy darksome realm?

Ahriman:
'Tis but as souls
That they are in this place: they do not know
Aught of themselves when here, since in their homes
Sunk now in deepest sleep they would be found.
But here quite clearly all will be revealed
That lives within their souls, though they would scarce
On waking think such thoughts could be their own.
So too, they cannot hear us when we speak.

Louisa Fear-God:
The soul should not in blind devotion think
That it can raise itself in haughty pride
Up to the light, or that it can unfold
Unto its full extent its own true self.
I will but recognize what I do know.

Ahriman (audible only to Strader):
And dost not know how bluntly thou dost lead
In haughty pride thyself into the dark.
She too will serve thee, Strader, in the work
That thou hast wrung so boldly from my powers.
She doth not need for that the spirit-faith
Which seems so ill-accorded with her pride.

Frederick Clear-Mind:
Entrancing are indeed these mystic paths;
Nor will I henceforth fail in diligence,
But give myself completely to the lore
That I can gather from the Temple's words.

Michael Nobleman:
The impulse after truth within my soul
Is drawing me toward the spirit-light;
The noble teaching which now shines so clear
In human life, will surely find that I
Am the best pupil that it ever had.

George Candid:
I ever have been deeply moved by all
That hath revealed itself from many a source
Of noble mystic spirit-treasuries.
With all my heart would I yet further strive.

Ahriman (audible only to Strader):
Such men mean well: yet doth their striving stay
But in the upper layers of their souls.
And so can I make use for many years
Of all these mighty treasures which lie hid
Unconsciously within their spirits' depths.
They too seem useful to my constant aim
That Strader's work in mankind's life on earth
Shall with proud brilliance unfold itself.

Mary Steadfast:
A healthy view of life will of itself
Bring to the soul the fruits of spirit-realms
When men join reverence for the universe