Four Mystery Plays. Rudolf Steiner

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Four Mystery Plays - Rudolf Steiner


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deep meditation. What follows is experienced by him in meditation.

      Lucifer:

      O man, know thou thyself; O man, feel me.

      From spirit guidance, thou hast freed thyself,

      And into earth’s free realms thou hast escaped.

      Midst earth’s confusion thou didst seek to prove

      Thine own existence; and to find thyself

      Was thy reward, and was thy destiny.

      Me didst thou find: for certain spirits willed

      To cast a veil before the eyes of sense;

      Which veil I rent in twain. Those spirits willed

      To follow out their own desires in thee;

      But I gave thee self-will and foiled their aim.

      O man, know thou thyself; O man, feel me.

      Ahriman:

      O man, know me; O man, feel thou thyself.

      Thou hast escaped from darkened spirit-realms

      And thou hast found again the earth’s pure light,

      So now from my sure ground drink strength and truth.

      I make earth hard and fast. The spirits willed

      To snatch away from thee the charm of sense;

      Which charm I weave for thee in light condensed.

      I lead thee unto true reality.

      O man, know me; O man, feel thou thyself.

      Lucifer:

      Time was not when thou didst not live through me.

      I followed thee throughout the course of life,

      And was permitted to bestow on thee

      Strong personal traits and joy in thine own self.

      Ahriman:

      Time was not when thou didst not me behold.

      Thy mortal eyes saw me in all earth’s growth;

      I was permitted to shine forth for thee

      In beauty proud and revelation’s bliss.

      Johannes (to himself in meditation):

      This is the sign as Benedictus told.

      Before the world of souls stand these two powers:

      The one, as Tempter, lives within the soul;

      The other doth obscure the sight of man

      When he directeth it to outward things.

      The one took on the woman’s form e’en now,

      To bring the soul’s illusions ’neath my gaze;

      The other may be found in everything.

      (Enter the Spirit of the Elements with Capesius and Strader, whom he has brought to the earth’s surface from the earth’s depths. They are conceived as souls looking out upon the earth’s surface. The Spirit of the Elements is aged and stands erect upon a sphere. Capesius and Strader are in astral garb; the former, though the older man of the two in years, here appears the younger. He wears blue robes of various shades, Strader wears brown and yellow.)

      Spirit:

      So have ye reached the spot ye longed to find.

      It proved indeed a heavy care to me,

      To grant your wish. Spirits and elements

      Did rage in mad wild storm when their domain

      I had to enter with your essences.

      Your minds opposed the ruling of my powers.

      Capesius:

      Mysterious Being, who art thou, who hast

      Brought me to this fair realm through spirit-spheres?

      Spirit:

      The soul of man may only look on me,

      Whene’er the service which I render it

      Hath been achieved. Then may it trace my powers

      Through all the moving sequences of time.

      Capesius:

      It matters little to me to enquire

      What spirit led me hither to this place.

      I feel life’s powers revive in this new land,

      Whose light doth seem to widen mine own breast;

      In my pulse-beat I feel the whole world’s might;

      And premonitions of exalted deeds

      Thrill in my heart. I will translate in words

      The revelation of this beauteous realm,

      That hath refreshed me in such wondrous wise;

      And souls of men shall bloom, as choicest flowers

      If I can pour into their life on earth

      The inspiration flowing from these founts.

      (Lightning and thunder from the depths and heights.)

      Strader:

      Why quake the depths, and why resound the heights?

      When hope’s young dreams surge upward in the soul?

      (Lightning and thunder.)

      Spirit:

      To human dreamers words of hope like these

      Sound proud indeed; but in the depths of earth

      The vain illusions of mistaken thought

      Awake such thunderous echoes evermore.

      Ye mortals hear them only at those times

      When ye draw nigh to my domain. Ye think

      To build exalted temples unto Truth,

      And yet your work’s effects do but unchain

      Storm-spirits in primeval depths of earth.

      Nay more, the spirits must destroy whole worlds,

      That deeds ye do in realms where time hath sway

      May not cause devastation and cold death

      Through all the ages of eternity.

      Strader:

      So these eternal ages must regard

      As empty fantasy what seems the truth

      To man’s best observation and research.

      (Lightning and thunder.)

      Spirit:

      An empty fantasy, so long as sense

      Doth only search in realms to spirit strange.

      Strader:

      Thou may’st well call a dreamer that friend’s soul

      Which in the joy of youth its goal doth set

      With such a noble strength and high desire;

      But in mine aged heart thy words fall dead

      Despite their summoned aid of thunderous storms.

      I tore myself from cloistered quietude

      To proud achievement in my search


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