Fourth Act. Fragment

LUCIFER:
O human, recognize yourself,
O human, feel me.
You have turned away
From the guidance of the spirit
Into the free realms of the earth.
From purity of soul,
From clarity of mind
You fled
And sought your own being
In earthly confusion.
You found me.
The gods wanted to place veils
Before your senses.
I tore the veils in two.
The gods wanted you
To follow only their will.
I gave you your own will.
O human, recognize yourself,
O human, feel me.

AHRIMAN: O human, recognize me,
O human, feel yourself.
You have fled
The darkness of the spirit.
You have found
The light of the earth.
So draw strength from truth
From my security.
I give gifts,
I work beauty.
The gods wanted to snatch from you
The reality of the earth.
I led you
Into true being.
O human, recognize me,
O human, feel yourself.

LUCIFER:
There were no times
When you did not have me.
I followed you through lifetimes,
I was allowed to fill you
With strong essence.

AHRIMAN:
There were no times
When you did not see me.
Your physical eyes saw me
In all earthly becoming.
I was allowed to shine for you
In proud beauty.

JOHANNES:
I resist you.
You let me feel
In my many lives
The proud impulses of will...

MACROCOSM:
So you are now in the place
You so ardently desired.
You cause me great concern.
I had to guide you through
The hidden realm of the elements,
But your nature caused a storm.
The gate of initiation
Your minds resisted
The rule of my powers.

CAPESIUS: Who are you,
Mysterious being,
Who led me through spiritual realms
To this beautiful realm?

MACROCOSM: I am the spirit
That is only seen by the human soul
When it has served her.
I have been with you for eternity.

CAPESIUS:
I do not ask much now
About the origin of your being.
I feel a zest for life
In my whole being.
I draw the joys of existence
From everything I see.
I feel a world
In my spirit
And awaken
From the deepest depths of my soul
The truths
That lift people
To proud creative impulses.
Infinity lies before me.

MACROCOSM:
This is the echo of your own words,
With which you intoxicate yourself.
Recognize your powerlessness.
In your pride, you want to
Build worlds,
But your bold construction lives only in your dreams,
And your words
Unleash only
And your words
Only unleash
The storm of the elements;
Which, unable to create,
Only shows itself to be destructive.
STRADER: You may call him a dreamer,
Who in the firepower of youth
Paints his goal before his soul.
But such a word cannot apply to me.
I have fervently implored the spirit
in monks' cells.
I have conquered the pillars of truth
in life's struggles.
I was led by error.

[The fragment ends here; the continuation comes from another notebook.]

STRADER: Again, such an eerie word. This, too, once resounded within me. When a seer wanted to disturb the circles of my self-assured reason and made me feel the sting of doubt, I could hear it clearly. But that is now over. I defy your power, you old man, who was born only from the elements of nature. Oh no, reason will conquer you in a different way than you imagine. Once it has climbed its proud heights by itself, it will be your master.

MACROCOSM:
The world is arranged in such a way that
every achievement demands its reward.
I have given you yourselves; you owe
me the reward for this.

CAPESIUS: I will create from my spirit
a transfigured counter-image of nature.
Nature elevated to an idea, arising from
the human soul, that may
be your reward, since you have shown man
the field where he boldly rises from the
depths of nature
to the arena of thought.

MAKROKOSMOS: You have seen how little your
proud words mean in my realm.
They unleash the storm and make
the elements of destruction only
suitable.

CAPESIUS: So you may reap your reward
where you can find it. The
human soul, at the height of its development,
feels only the calling to satisfy itself
It cannot
create benefits for others. It feels
that it has done enough when it
has given form to what
wants to push its way out from within
.
And is not such an impulse in the human spirit
also nature? Is it not a
higher nature? — — —
He is gone. But where do we turn?
We must first find our way in the new realm.

STRADER: Let us follow the next path that presents itself. Let us not neglect caution, and it will bring us to our destination.

CAPESIUS:
It seems to me that one should not speak of a destination.
The goal may be found
if we courageously follow the impulse
that drives us from within. Wherever the
path may lead, let us walk
it in such a way that we choose truth as our
guide and, in a noble
manner and with the best of intentions, direct our
steps: we may follow ourselves.

STRADER: But we must determine the direction of our actions. Those who do not know where they want to go from the very first step can be of little use. They may be satisfied if they only want to serve themselves, but serving humanity requires firm goals.

(The other Mary becomes visible.)

But look, what a creature. It is as if the rock had given birth to it. From which realm do you come?

THE OTHER MARY:
I struggle through rocky ground
And am the rock's own voice,
I suck the moist sap of the earth
And ponder the earth's own meaning,
I slurp the air of life from above
And educate myself from its being.
(Musical motif.)

STRADER:
Then you cannot help us.
What grows only in nature,
Is far from the higher human mind.

CAPESIUS:
I like to look at you.
Trusting that through you
My own powers will sprout.

THE OTHER MARIA:
It is so strange to me
by your words.
They penetrate my whole being,
but they do not make sense
to me.

CAPESIUS:
That is proof
that the mystery of your being
can only be solved by us.

STRADER: And it is your duty
is your duty.

THE OTHER MARIA:
I will serve you.
Let me hear your wish.
Fourth scene

CAPESIUS: And do you also demand a favor in return,
like that earthly being
Who brought us here?

THE OTHER MARY:
I am grateful to you
For the melodious sound of your voices.
They are nourishing fire to me.
I absorb your words
And feel well-being,
When I give them back
To the stones and the ores
From my being
I am able to give.

STRADER: So you seem to be intertwined
With the innermost being of all creatures.
Then you should be able to explain to us
How we ourselves can grasp the innermost being
Of the world.

THE OTHER MARIA:
You cannot achieve this with me.
I am only the daughter of the spirit being
That dwells in that realm
From which you have just come.
She has assigned this field to me
So that I may show her reflection here.

CAPESIUS:
So we have fled the realm
That can satisfy our longing?
The gate of initiation

THE OTHER MARY:
If you cannot find your way back,
You will never prosper.
You will never prosper.

CAPESIUS:
But which is the right path?

THE OTHER MARY:
There are two paths.
If my power rises to the heights,
Then all beings in my kingdom
Can shine in the most sublime beauty
And sparkling light will shine from the rock,
The rich abundance of colors
Will stretch across the vastness
And the cheerfulness of the creatures
Will fill the air with sounds.
If your soul then surrenders
To the pure delights of my being,
You will float on wings of spirit
Into worlds of primordial beginnings.

STRADER: The path is too difficult
For our strength.
And what is the other?

THE OTHER MARY:
To walk it, you must
Renounce your proud spirit.
Forget what reason dictates.
Let nature conquer you.
In the breast of man, the childlike mind,
Untouched by the shadows of thought,
Fourth Scene I Fifth Scene
Let nature take its course.
Thus you will not arrive knowing,
But surely at the origin of being.
(The other Mary disappears.)

CAPESIUS: So we are only
Left to ourselves.
And only this seems clear
To be the case,
That we must work all the time
And patiently await
The fruits of our labor.