Related drafts for the first and second images, prose

SECRETARY: The customers in X have also terminated their business relationship.

OFFICE MANAGER: That would be the fifth major customer. And the same reasons always seem to be given.

SECRETARY: The lack of punctuality in deliveries. That's what everyone is writing. And when I visit our business associates on my travels, they tell me that their trust in our company, which was once so great, has vanished. Hilarius Gottgetreu, once so careful and punctual, has fallen prey to a bunch of dreamers and fantasists. Word has already spread far and wide.

OFFICE MANAGER: So the customers already know about the arrival of these people?

(Hilarius Gottgetreu enters).

OFFICE MANAGER (to the secretary): May I ask you to leave me alone with the boss for a moment?

(The secretary leaves).

OFFICE MANAGER: My concern for our business, which is close to my heart, is what compels me to have this serious conversation today.

HILARIUS: What is it that my loyal advisor has to say to me?

OFFICE MANAGER: I am now able to see the events clearly. We no longer enjoy the full confidence of a number of our customers. Many are canceling their orders. People are complaining about late deliveries.

HILARIUS: I foresaw this. And it does not bother me. I have already told you about my new plans. If what I have in mind is to be realized, the business must be rebuilt on a completely new foundation. We will change the entire production process.

OFFICE MANAGER: This requires fruitful ideas. We have been working with a situation that was created by your fathers. Where is the possibility of a bold change coming from in such a short time?

HILARIUS: Straders' ideas will put my business on a new footing. All the old conditions will naturally crumble as a result. But the times call for new approaches. And I want to be their tool.

OFFICE MANAGER: So this new thing is supposed to spring from Straders' mind. Dear boss, I have often shown you that I am no enemy of idealism. But it must be placed where it belongs. In art, in poetry. It brings ruin to business life.

HILARIUS: But that will be characteristic of the new idealism, which is based on real spiritual experiences, that it will have a fruitful impact on practical life.

OFFICE MANAGER: Strader has already sufficiently demonstrated the fruitlessness of his ideas. He made an invention that was supposed to transform the whole of social life. He got as far as the models of his world-changing mechanisms. But he had to stop there. And that is as far as it will go. He can think up possibilities, but he will never achieve them. In a century, his inventions may perhaps make the world happy; but if my esteemed boss were to take up his ideas today, the company would surely be doomed in a short time.

HILARIUS: Certainly, what he wanted to achieve with his power distribution mechanism is not yet feasible. In order to realize it, subordinate inventions still have to be made, which are still resting in the bosom of time.

OFFICE MANAGER: But then what is he doing with us? It seems to me that you want to make him the driving force behind our work!

HILARIUS: I cannot deny that I have big plans for him. His ambitions have certainly exceeded his abilities so far. But that is precisely why he will give my work a new impetus. He will breathe new life into the existing production methods.

OFFICE MANAGER: We have truly moved with the times. We have kept pace with every advance in technology. And if my esteemed boss had not had the idea of transplanting here a number of people who had previously lived only in fantasies and dreams, everything would have gone perfectly.

HILARIUS: For you, certainly, my dearest.

But for me, keeping up with technology is not enough. It seems obvious to me that the technology of the future must reconnect with certain older foundations of human creativity. Foundations where humans, with their mechanics, had not yet distanced themselves so far from nature that all further progress in the current sense threatens to mechanize all of life.

OFFICE MANAGER: From our other conversations, I know where this is leading. The entire factory is to be redesigned according to Straders' ideas. But what he wants here will be just as impossible as the realization of his power distribution machine. The old will be destroyed. Nothing new will come of it. And least of all will a new customer base spring up out of thin air for this so-called new production method.

HILARIUS: You probably don't yet know how comprehensive the plan is. The factory, which until now has only supplied raw materials, will be joined by an artistic workshop, which will be headed by Johannes Thomasius. Our wood products will be sent to this workshop, where they will be processed into artistic furniture and similar items.

OFFICE MANAGER: So that takes care of the second enthusiast. Now there's still Benedictus, who is a kind of spiritual leader of the entire colony. And then there's Capesius, who was once a useful person as a schoolmaster, but now, since leaving his teaching position, has been enthusiastically following Benedictus, Thomasius, and Strader. If they are also to be included in the grand plan, then my esteemed boss will not only destroy his work, but will also soon be at the end of his inherited fortune, which has been increased through our years of effort.

HILARIUS: My work and my art studio will be joined by a center for the promotion of genuine human ideas. A kind of teaching center in which Benedictus, Capesius, and Maria will cultivate noble knowledge for all those who, after completing their current scientific studies, wish to cultivate knowledge of the higher realms of the spirit. Thus, my future undertaking shall be a whole; and my fortune shall be used to show the world, by example, that the practice of life can be combined with the cultivation of genuine spiritual life and not merely with its destruction.

OFFICE MANAGER: Dear boss. This speech makes me dizzy. And I don't need to say how I myself foresee what is to come. Enough of this strange plan has penetrated the world. On all sides, harsh criticism and rejection are being voiced. It would be like swimming completely against the tide. And if I may speak now not only as the chief executive of your enterprise, but as a friend who has been working here for so long and has always been treated as a friend by you, I must say that I am entirely on the side of those who reject your so-called new ideas. You yourself are an idealist. Such a person is struck by thoughts that have such a powerful effect that he considers their realization to be necessary. And then the objections that arise from completely different necessities have no effect on his mind. I am by no means completely absorbed in business life. I have thought about the development of the world and humanity. I know that the mechanization of this life, the subjugation of the free spirit by technology, is not a pleasant thing. But it must come. And ideas such as those you express are convulsions of the human mind, which would like to shape the world in such a way that one could look optimistically toward the home of the spirit. I know that renunciation in this direction is the only thing possible. We humans, with our culture, have distanced ourselves from those ancient times when human deeds could be linked to the intentions of the gods. We must surrender.

HILARIUS: My friend, I need you for the new work just as I needed you for the old. But it is hard for me to think that you will no longer be with me in your heart as you have been until now. What you have told me shows me that in future you will work with me with inner resistance. How can the deed succeed if my friend stands by my side as a pessimist? —

(Strader enters):

HILARIUS: My old friend is expressing his reservations about the redesign and expansion of my workshops. I would like to leave the defense of our cause to the man whom I will entrust with technical leadership in the future.

STRADER: It seems understandable to me that my intentions are initially met with mistrust. So far, they seem to have only the weight of ideas, while you can argue that, from the current point of view, the enterprise has developed into a master craftsman's business that is renowned in the widest circles and whose products are valued above all others.

OFFICE MANAGER: I may seem petty to you, stuck in tradition. But you misunderstand my point of view if you think that. I have not only acquired a certain amount of practical experience; I have also thoughtfully considered the necessities of life for humanity. I do not believe that the level of industrial culture we have achieved is a work of human arbitrariness. But I also believe that it is impossible to raise the question of whether the path we have taken is justified or not before the judgment seat of reason. To me, it seems justified before the much higher judgment seat of the laws of all becoming. And if humanity wants to save idealism, it must seek a domain for it in which it can bring about spiritual progress without interfering in a crippling way with necessary technical advances.

STRADER: You would be right if the human soul could move along two separate paths. But human thinking is unified. And the same power of this thinking that will secure us a supernatural realm for spiritual living can also guide us if we shape our lives in such a way that the same meaning that prevails in the creations of nature can also be found in technical activity.

OFFICE MANAGER: The laws of life contradict this. The march of time requires that technical cultural creations detach themselves from what you call the meaning of natural creations. The leading figures of our time have already come to terms with this. The mistrust that arises when an attitude that is appropriate for intellectual life is transferred to practice is entirely justified.

STRADER: This mistrust certainly exists. And it seems entirely justified when one considers the conditions that have come to light so far. But for this very reason, it must be our concern to create a whole here, where a man with full understanding of our cause meets us halfway. The mistrust stems from the fact that people have become accustomed to viewing the cultural conditions that have developed thus far as necessary. It will therefore be a matter of combating traditional ways of thinking at the same time as reversing the technical bustle. While Johannes Thomasius will support me with his artistic sensibility, so that this place will no longer merely produce raw wood products, but these will pass directly from us into the hands of artists who work in our spirit, the other comrades who share my intellectual worldview will represent the humanities according to today's possibilities in such a way as to create understanding for our convictions. My confidence is based on the inner truth of the matter; and if one were to despair of that, one would have to despair of all human endeavour.

HEAD OF OFFICE: You know how highly I value your intellectual powers; how significant they seem to me when they are applied in their proper field. That is why you will not take offense at my frank and open words. I believe you would do humanity the greatest service if you used your great gifts to find the link between natural science and spiritual science. Your ingenious invention has taught you that you are not working in the direction of the spirit of the times if you want to devote these gifts to the real busyness of this age. It would be the most powerful thing we could hope for if it could already be implemented with our current technical means.

STRADER: I know that this invention can also be used against my current endeavors. It is so clear that I cannot currently implement it beyond the model stage. The technical tools will have to be invented from premises that are perhaps still unimaginable today. But it seems right to me that this very thing, to which he devoted his energy, has taught me what is possible today, but also what is necessary. It will turn out that Hilarius Gottgetreu has demonstrated the right view of the circumstances of the time by entrusting his workshop to a man who wants to set goals for technology based on ideas of the spiritual development of humanity. I believe that I have gained an insight into what is feasible from what is not yet feasible today. And our entire society will be able to prove itself in the same way. If it is accused of having turned away from life and pursued only spiritual goods, now that it is to gain a practical field of activity through God-faithful's foresight, it will be able to show that it is not practice alien to ideas, but spiritual striving and soulfulness that has the true life-shaping power, if only it sheds its alienation from life.

HILARIUS: I think my friend will continue to preserve his proven strength. Let us leave to the laws of the world what may succeed, and for the time being let us act according to the dictates of the ideas that are compelling to us.

HEAD OF OFFICE: Out of old friendship, I will remain with my esteemed boss; but I will have to act where I cannot believe. —

Thomasius confronts nature. He hopes to find something in it that can still give him the source of the elemental. The spirits of nature appear. He knows them; they do not disturb him; but they spoil his pure enjoyment of nature. They disturb him because he knows that they are there because of him. — When M[aria] is near him, they retreat. M. has the gift of keeping nature free and allowing the elemental beings to work on her. They increase her understanding of nature. This is the detour to make his own elemental nature still active. — This is the possibility of an ahr. influence. Benedictus is announced. TK begins to turn away from him.

Th. demands that B. release him. This can only be done by returning to old times. Through M., Th. learns that the spirit has taken M. from him. It is the age of spiritual uncertainty. The bond has a sobering effect on Th.

Chorus of Elemental Spirits 1 and II
Philia, Astrid, Luna — Andre Philia

JOHN: How I long for a direct view of nature. It was once so mysterious to me. In its mystery, it was a divinely revered entity to me, even if I did not address it as a goddess. It is as if it has now receded far from me; and a world stands between me and it, which takes it away from me, but also takes me away from myself. I was just about to seek refreshment in the mystery of this landscape when an army of magical beings stood before me, which are indeed effective in it, but rob it of all its magic of impartiality.

MARIA: It is your impatience, my Johannes, that makes you speak this way. What still torments you today will one day be a source of blissful knowledge for you. The beings you have learned to see will one day make silent nature speak to you; but they will disappear from your vision when they disturb you in the pure enjoyment of your senses.

JOHN: You have told me this many times before. And I know how spiritual beings affect you. You have the power to summon spiritual forces when you want them, but you can also banish them when your senses want to revel in the majesty of non-spiritual existence. I can imagine how blissful this state must be; but whenever I begged Benedictus to show me the means to transcend my present state, he seemed to become hesitant. And I cannot deny that his behavior has caused my soul to lose faith in him.

MARIA: You, lose faith in Benedictus?

JOHN: Yes, and this loss of faith gives rise to a terrible belief in my soul.

MARIA: What faith could this be in the soul of my Johannes? This soul has fought its way bravely through winding paths. It must be so far along that it can now wait in complete inner serenity for the compulsion to impose the spirit world on its own ego at the wrong time to be released and for a free relationship with the supersensible to emerge.

JOHANNES: It is the belief that, through Benedictus' fault, I have misused my present earthly life. When I look back on this life, it becomes almost clear to me that my being should have progressed in a different way than it did. I feel that in my younger years I should have found you with all the freshness of my nature. This embodiment should have been fully turned toward life. I should have loved you with the warmth that spiritual insight destroyed in me. I feel how much is suffocated in me, but not purified. I carry unused powers within me. You should have been given to me in direct human contact. Thus the spiritual being was placed between us. I can feel that this must be so today; but 25 years ago it should have been different. I cannot revive the memory within me without regretting the wonderful spiritual fruits that have come to me. They gave me the friend in a way that was not required by my destiny.

MARIA: Johannes, fate has bound us together in spiritual work. It has opened our eyes to the depths in which good and evil have their roots; it has shown us how spiritual worlds extend into human existence. We are now to begin fruitful work within a narrowly defined sphere of activity. But we should give meaning to this work by making our words and deeds effective for those forces by which earthly humanity is still mostly unconsciously guided. We should become servants of the spirit. How can such knowledge, which should shine clearly before your mind's eye, be mixed with feelings such as you have just expressed? Through it, you extinguish within yourself the power to do everything that you should clearly recognize as your duty. Where is your vow, made in the temple, that you would serve in the outer world and work on your inner development?

JOHN: O, how cruel you can be; now that the only truth I still dare to call my own calls me to a terrible awakening. For, as if in a dream, everything that led me to this vow seems to me to have been lived through. But now what was previously a present experience becomes a memory. And how it changes in memory. Mary, do you know the torment of a memory that wants to be erased? Erased because it inserts into life a being that seeks to escape with an ununderstood self, while the real self, the small, weak human being, feels destroyed. Yes, I not only sense higher worlds; I see them; I know him, the guardian who awakens the soul so that it recognizes what it is before the spiritual powers of existence. I could bring these spiritual powers a full human life; but I would have to lose my essence if I wanted to do so. — No, I cannot want that. I have lost a little — but no human being should lose this little. I see this in the fact that you were given to me in a way that should never have been. Had I seen clearly when I came near you, I would have rejected what your spirit gave me and created an abyss between our souls.

MARIA: You lack understanding, Johannes, for our true fate. From your words, which sound confused, it seems that you believe this life should have united us in a purely human alliance. And this alliance was now missing in your life. I know that you are now too firmly rooted in spiritual life to still desire this alliance. But you consider it a mistake of your fate that you did not desire it. You demand a past that seems to have been denied you. Johannes, you rebel against what has happened. Are you completely unaware of the significance of this sacrilege?

JOHANNES: I am aware of it, and yet I must commit this sacrilege. I must demand of the future that it destroy what it can never extinguish. I want to reveal this to Benedictus today. I feel how I have been drawn by his powerful spirit; I want to be free of him. I want to leave him, only then can I save myself.

MARIA: And don't you know that you must also leave me? For my existence is closely connected to his. And do you think that what he has planted in your soul will ever leave you?

JOHN: I know that the bond that ties me to you is indestructible. Therefore, what chains you to him must be false. Mary, my apostasy will tear you away from him.

MARY: Do you know that the strict guardian stood before you? Do you want to leave the spiritual realm to which you have opened the entrance? No one who experiences such things can ever return to earthly life without being seized by spiritual forces and becoming a prisoner of the spirit. Johannes, your friend's strength will be able to join yours where you are—but she will not be able to save you if you abandon what you have become. —

(Johannes departs).