Fifth Act, partial prose

MRS. BALDE: So we will not see her again until we ourselves enter the worlds where she now dwells. Just a few weeks ago, she was still in our little house, bringing us the radiantly beautiful being who surrounded her, who spread gentle warmth from her every word.

FELIX BALDE: My dear wife and I loved her dearly, and so we believe we can understand your grief.

STRADER: Dear Theodora spoke of Father Felix and Mrs. Felicia even in her last days. She was so familiar with everything that connects you here with the spiritual worlds... Yes, so I am alone again... what I experienced through her also comforts me in the face of such loss... what she was remains, even beyond death — — — and yet — — —

FELIX BALDE: We will direct our thoughts to her and be with you at her side... as best we can.

I must say that over the years I have acquired a certain insight into a person's inner vitality, and in some cases I could sense the end approaching when I saw the whole person in action. But with Theodora, the end came as a complete surprise, even though I thought I knew her well. It seemed to me that she was destined to live a long life.

STRADER: It's so mysterious. Her nature was always even. Then came the peculiar influences from the spirit world, and they acted like an element that suffocated her soul... in the end, she could no longer find a relationship to the world.

MRS. BALDE: Look, Capesius is coming. He always enjoys being with us, even though his nature hardly has any contact with the sensory world anymore. No one who saw him years ago would find him changed in appearance. And yet how great the change is! —

FELIX BALDE: We can continue talking. He takes no interest in conversations concerning the outside world.

MRS. BALDE: And it is really so, when Theodora was searching for the origin of her suffering — — — she saw the man who could not possibly be connected with it.

STRADER: He often appeared before her soul even in her last lifetime, and the incomprehensible always occurred — — — and Theodora could hate Thomasius — — —

CAPESIUS:
Theodora must hate Thomasius.
She will continue to hate him bitterly for a long time to come.
He brings her closer to what she never knew before.
Theodora is made of the element of love,
In the spirit world, she is a source of love.
Souls approach her to immerse themselves in love.
She always avoided self-delusion without even intending to. Her nature could not come close to it on its own. The one standing before you has often spoken with
Theodora in the spirit world.
What Thomasius feels follows her to all the places she now enters. It is as if she were always fleeing from him. And clouds of fear follow behind her, Thomasius' thoughts behind them.

STRADER: Oh, if he were telling the truth — — — terrible — terrible.

CAPESIUS: Here comes Theodora and the cloud of fear. It's like a wild chase, so stormy... She wants to speak now.

STRADER: Is it possible, Father Felix, that he speaks the truth? Oh, that would be terrible...

FELIX BALDE: I can only say that the soul, which here hardly makes use of its body anymore, seems to reveal unmistakable truth when it speaks of the spirit world. I have never acquired the gift of seeing things that concern the details of life; therefore, I cannot make a decisive judgment about this revelation; but I have walked the path that leads through the inner soul and is possible through the guidance of thought. There I have learned how human beings experience the spirit world; what the nature of being and events is like there. And very often I heard Capesius speak of things that I myself know. Then there is never any error in what he communicates. After all that I was able to experience with him, I formed an opinion about his nature. He went through a certain kind of spiritual apprenticeship. Through the purity of his thinking, through the loving nature of his research, he was able to attain a high spiritual level. Another part of his being could not follow him. Thus he lost connection with his earthly part. That is why his soul can live in higher worlds. And when he speaks in this way, without connection to the outer sensory world, he gives what he experiences directly in the spirit. I must believe him even now, however improbable and terrible what he says may be.

STRADER:
But what he says about Theodora
is contrary to everything
one can think about world justice.
A being who was only love, only goodness,
should have to suffer so much.

FELIX BALDE: I know his nature; when he takes this form, the souls that are in the spirit realm speak through him. Theodora must be with us now; she speaks through him.

CAPESIUS:
Thomasius envelops me in darkness,
When he wants to approach me.
The thoughts he harbors cling to me.
But they hurt me; they rob me of my being.
Where they are, I cannot be.
And they want to be everywhere I am.
They are drawn to me; but I
must always push them away.
Thomasius has taken me from your world; for my world was yours, and Thomasius is in it too; but I must flee from his world.

STRADER: Too much, it is truly too much... terrible.