# 4. To Josef Köck (?), Oberlaa?

Dear faithful friend!

It was the night of January 10 to 11, when I did not sleep a wink. I had been up until ½1 a.m. MNits.[^1] with various philosophical problems, and then I finally threw myself onto my bed. My ambition had always been[^2] to investigate whether it was true what Schelling says: “We all possess a secret, wonderful ability to withdraw from the vicissitudes of time into our original self, stripped of everything that has been added from outside, and there, in the form of immutability, to contemplate the eternal within us.”[^3] I believed and still believe that I have clearly discovered this innermost faculty within myself – I had already sensed it for a long time –; the whole of idealistic philosophy now stands before me in a significantly modified form; what is a sleepless night compared to such a discovery! And the morning came – an icy cold one.... I quickly got ready for my journey[^4] and was ready to depart when I found a letter addressed to me;[^5] I quickly discovered from the address that it was from you. I was in the carriage and read by a pitiful lamp – – – it is impossible today to describe my feelings at that moment; I was beside myself – – – tremendously moved; what could I do to calm down – – – apparently nothing! All day long I was not the same person as the day before — naturally in a material sense, not formally — and in the evening, on my way home, a woman had to pay for it; I got into the train carriage — that is, my body did — to show you that such a thing is possible, I will insert a little anecdote here. Once I sat up late into the night with Jean Paul, I read and read immediately—the same thing had happened the day before—but I don't know what happened next, because I hadn't undressed or gone to bed, yet in the morning I found myself lying in bed, my books, clothes, etc. in their usual places—apparently everything had happened in a dream, and since I go to sleep every day in a very specific way, i.e., I put my books in a specific place, my clothes, etc., etc., this had now happened with the same precision in my dream—so I went about my business that day and went to the station and got into the carriage and sat down—unfortunately on a watch that a woman had left there and that was broken—she suffered the loss, not I; for I did not pay her anything; she should have put her watch somewhere else. In the evening, I wrote these lines, which are also enclosed with this letter[^6] - the next day to a friend[^7] - without further explanation - when he asked me the reason for my sadness: in the autograph book, the words at the top of the enclosed — Unfathomable Depth, etc.[^8] - Now it has been two days After considering the matter as a human being for two days, it is my duty to consider your nature as a philosopher, and I say to you quite frankly: You are the most incomprehensible of the incomprehensible to me. Above all, look into your innermost being and consider it your duty to explore whether your love relationship was completely free of selfishness—free to the utmost—for what you say about renunciation as an ignoble act, I confess openly that I do not understand, and even less why it would have been better if you had not renounced. If it was completely free of it, then, my good friend, you need nothing more, you have enough, you have Cyane[^9] Take her into your heart, where she will live on; her image is enough for you, and you can even share it with your friends; that is true love, where one is content with the image and does not need the flesh, indeed suppresses it. There is no sorrow, no grief. Tell that to your friend too—and now, friend, one more piece of advice: get Heine—the literary street urchin, the despiser of his fatherland, the distorter of feelings—completely out of your head.[^10] and read Goethe's Faust – there is nourishment there for every thinking and feeling person who aspires to more than the two times two is four of homespun everyday life. I thank God and good fortune that I met a man here in Vienna who, after Goethe himself, can claim to be the best expert on Faust, a man whom I hold in high esteem and revere as a teacher, as a scholar, as a poet,[^11] as a human being. It is K. J. Schröer,[^12] the son of Chr. Öser, who is so famous in Germany, and also partly here, through his poetry on the one hand, his world history for girls' schools, letters on the main subject of aesthetics to a young woman, etc., etc., etc. Take the name—it is a pseudonym—Chr. Öser[^13]

Now, my friend, I tell you to study this work; I say this from the bottom of my heart, with the deepest and most sincere conviction. Drink from it the courage of a new life, of new strength, of new ideals, and, as Heinrich Heine concludes, do not let him drive you mad. I also know some beautiful things that Heine has written, but I am sorry that this was written by Heine. Look instead at the lovely, noble Müller,[^17] or Rückert or Uhland, these noble German hearts—Heine, the despiser of Germans, let him seek fame among the French, perhaps he will find favor there—where he has gone to ruin and sung frivolous songs that offend noble sensibilities. There he may believe that he is still regarded as a tribune alongside a poet in Germany, but here he is a street urchin who sometimes has witty ideas. Forgive me for speaking so harshly about your mistake in holding Heinrich Heine in such high esteem, but what would it mean if I said otherwise, than what I think is worthy of a noble soul toward a friend? I confess to you openly that it is my firm conviction that if Schiller had still been alive when Heine's songs were sung, he would have judged them in the same way. You have studied Plato, too! And probably his State as well![^18] Study it again sometime; perhaps you will come to a different conclusion. What's the point of wanderlust? Just say it directly! Don't be a novel hero who doesn't know what he wants because the poet didn't know what he wanted either. It is characteristic of our time that young poets, when they write poetry [end of page. Rest missing.]

> *Source*: Original (4 pp., double sheet), RSA; print: Br 1, pp. 63-67; GA 38 <1985>, pp. 13-16, reply to letter dated: before Jan. 11, 1881 (not available); addition: entry in autograph book dated Jan. 12, 1881 (not available)
>
> *People*: Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling; Jean Paul; Cyane?; Heinrich Heine; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Karl Julius Schröer; bias Gottfried Schröer (Chr. Oeser); Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller; Friedrich Rückert; Ludwig Uhland; Friedrich Schiller; Plato
>
> *Literature*: Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling: Philosophical Letters on Dogmatism and Criticism, Philosophical Journal of a Society of German Scholars. Edited by Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer, Neu-Suelitz 1795; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust. The Tragedy, Part Two in Five Acts, Stuttgart 1832; Ch. Oeser's Letters to a Young Woman on the Main Subjects of Aesthetics. A Gift for Women and Young Women, 5th edition, Leipzig 1857; Plato: The Republic.
>
> *Places*: Vienna
>
> *About this letter*: Since this letter, which survives only in fragments, does not contain a name, it is uncertain who the recipient was, or even whether the letter was ever sent. The content suggests that it was addressed to Rudolf Steiner's school friend Josef Köck (Wiener Neustadt, November 30, 1861 - April 23, 1918, Salzburg).

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[^1]: Probably for: midnight.

[^2]: In the first and second publication of this letter (in Briefe I and GA 38 <1985>), this passage is reproduced as “my ambition was last year” due to a misreading.

[^3]: The quote is from Schelling's Philosophical Letters on Dogmatism and Criticism, eighth letter. Rudolf Steiner may have found it in F. W. J. Schelling's Philosophical Writings, Volume I, Landshut 1809 (RSB P 890), a book in his library that originally belonged to Karl Julius Schröer.

[^4]: In the winter semester of 1880/81, Rudolf Steiner gave lectures on “Mathematical Physics” from 8 to 9 a.m. with Leander Ditscheiner at the Technical University in Vienna. Every morning he traveled from the Inzersdorf station, near where he lived with his parents, to the Südbahnhof station in Vienna. On Tuesdays (Jan. 11, 1881), his lectures lasted until 7 p.m.

[^5]: No letter from a friend to Rudolf Steiner from January 1881 has been preserved.

[^6]: The enclosed lines are not available.

[^7]: This letter has not been preserved; the friend could be Emil Schönaich (1861-1899).

[^8]: It is not clear whether Rudolf Steiner is quoting himself from the enclosed letter or whether he is referring to the poem “Life” by Friedrich Hebel, which would fit the experience described (” Soul, you who are unfathomable / Deeply immersed, you want to soar toward the ether / And every hour / You feel yourself held back by pain ...").

[^9]: This could be the name of the girl whom the friend loves; however, since the name is uncommon in 19th-century Austria, it could also be a poetic allusion to the character of Cyane/Mathilde in Novalis' Heinrich von Ofterdingen (chapter 27). Rudolf Steiner mentions in his description of Josef Köck in Mein Lebensgang that the latter had a tendency “to dream himself into relationships with others, especially female personalities, more than to actually establish these relationships externally” (in: Mein Lebensgang, p. 82).

[^10]: This “advice” in particular suggests that this letter was addressed to Josef Köck. The friends got to know each other during a gymnastics lesson through a book by Heinrich Heine: “It was Heine's book on ‘The Romantic School’ and 'The History of Philosophy in Germany. I glanced at it. That prompted me to read the book myself. I found it very inspiring, but I was in intense conflict with the way Heine treated the meaning of life that was close to me. The view of a way of thinking and a direction of feeling that was completely opposite to the one developing in me was a strong stimulus for self-reflection on my inner orientation in life, which was necessary for me, according to my soul's disposition.” (Mein Lebensgang, p. 811.).

[^11]: Karl Julius Schröer had published a volume of poems in 1856 (Vienna 1856).

[^12]: Karl Julius Schröer (Jan. 11, 1825 - Dec. 16, 1900) was a lecturer in literature at the Technical University of Vienna. Rudolf Steiner attended his lectures and speech and writing exercises throughout his university days. Schröer initially encouraged his students to read Faust Ian, of which he had just published an annotated edition. As a closer acquaintance soon developed and Rudolf Steiner frequently visited Schröer at home, “a few words were also exchanged about the second part of Faust, which he was currently working on publishing and annotating. I also read this at that time.” (Mein Lebensgang, p. 57) - Presumably around the time Rudolf Steiner wrote this letter, he drafted an essay on “The Faust Idea,” which survives in fragmentary form (in: Nachgelassene Fragmente und Abhandlungen 1879-1924, GA 46, Dornach 2020, p. 591).

[^13]: Tobias Gottfried Schröer (June 14, 1791 - May 2, 1850) studied theology in Halle from 1806 and returned to his hometown of Pressburg (today: Bratislava, Slovakia), where he worked as an educator. Due to his political activities as a Hungarian German, he had to publish his numerous educational and aesthetic works under pseudonyms (Chr. Oeser; Pius D esiderius). Shortly before his death, he was summoned to Vienna by Minister Leo Thun-Hohenstein for consultations on educational reforms. See Rudolf Steiner's remarks about him in: The Mystery of Man [1916], GA 20, 5th edition. Dornach 1984, p. %f., as well as in the lecture of December 9, 1915, in: Aus dem mitteleuropäischen Geistesleben, GA 65, 2nd edition, Dornach 2000, p. 126. And put S after Ö — right at the beginning — so you have SChröer — Now I'm off track again. It was K. J. Schröer who put the second part of Faust in the right light.[^14] People believed that this was only a weak work by the old Goethe – Lenau said that Goethe had completely missed the point of Faust.[^15] Faust must be taken by the devil. But that is not true. Goethe saw that correctly. The Faust of the 16th century, who is not satisfied with the Bible, etc., etc., must be taken by the devil, that is certain, but the Faust of the 19th century does not need and must not be taken by the devil, for “whoever strives with all his might,[^16] we can redeem him.”

[^14]: The edition of Goethe's Faust. With introduction and continuous explanation, edited by K. ]. Schröer. The first and second parts were published shortly before December 18, 1880, and the second part shortly before November 20, 1881, in Heilbronn. What Rudolf Steiner appreciated about this edition – including Schröer's “Goethe-compliant” approach – is clear in his review of the second edition in 1888, which appeared in the Deutsche Wochenschrift No. 8/1888 (“Faust explained according to Goethe's own method”; in: Collected Essays on Literature 1884-1902, GA 32, 4th edition. Basel 2016, pp. 154-160).

[^15]: This is how Ludwig August Frankl recounts it in his work Zu Lenau's Biographie (Vienna 1854). It says there (p. 43): “We knew that, despite his great admiration for Goethe's poem of the same name, the poet did not feel that the material had been ‘exhausted to the ground’; in particular, he felt that the powerful legend, as composed by the people, had not been done justice. “In modern poetry, too, Faust must be taken by the devil!"

[^16]: In the original: “Whoever strives with all his might, we can redeem,” Faust, V. 11936f. Rudolf Steiner commented on this in 1888 in his review of Schröer's edition of Faust: Faust falls ”according to the view of the sixteenth century, to the powers of hell. Goethe turned this into the Faust of his time, who does not perish [...], because he 'always strives', albeit, in accordance with the genuine Protestant principle, always relying on his own labor. Goethe transformed the Protestant-orthodox idea of Faust into a Protestant-free one. Schröer was the first to point out this Protestant character of the Faust legend, and in doing so he made a major contribution to the explanation of Goethe's Faust [...]“ In: Collected Essays on Literature 1884-1902, GA 32, 4th ed. Basel 2016, p. 157)

[^17]: Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827) was best known for his poetry, including the poem cycles “Die schöne Müllerin” (The Beautiful Miller Girl) and “Die Winterreise” (The Winter Journey), set to music by Franz Schubert.

[^18]: Rudolf Steiner had probably read the edition of Plato's State translated by Friedrich Schleiermacher and annotated by H. von Kirchmann (Berlin 1870), fragments of which are preserved in his library (P 822).