# 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.