Fourth Act

OFFICE MANAGER:
It is depressing how in this area
In human activity and action
Ghostly beings crowd in.
The people, who are faithfully connected to God,
allow themselves to be guided by powers
whose nature cannot be grasped with discernment.
One feels transported into a bustle
that robs one of the familiar ground
on which one can stand.

ROMANUS: How things appear to your mind,
Entitles you to this opinion.
But they appear differently,
Whether one considers them from the outer life
or from the inner realm of the spirit.
One must only consider
That the mystic does not have it easy,
When he enters the realm of spiritual light,
To maintain the security
That experience and thinking
Grant us in the sensory world.
However, this security is not the work of humans.
It comes from spiritual powers,
Which guide human judgment,
Without his soul being aware of their workings.
The security they give him,
He could never create for himself.
When he then enters the spiritual spheres,
He initially has only weak spiritual helpers,
He knows of them, but they are of a weak nature,
And so cannot guide his soul safely,
Like those powers to which he previously submitted unconsciously.
That is why the spiritual seer's judgment is often
Weakest when they strive to present their spiritual vision
In the right light to themselves.

OFFICE MANAGER:
That always seemed to me to be the case. But the contradiction
That reveals itself in these people
Takes on forms that are questionable.
There are people who are said
To have broad views in the spiritual realm.
Then, seemingly insignificant spiritual experiences
Come their way on their path through life.
And it is as if they no longer know
Everything they have achieved.
Their knowledge is as if erased.
As if it had no effect on their judgment.
One hears how someone
Looks at long-past earthly lives;
But then he encounters a person
With whom he recognized a connection in a former life,
Then he accepts their actions,
As if he were meeting them for the first time.
I have learned all this only from writings,
But when I see what is now happening around me
Among people whom Hilarius values,
I do not find that what they do
Prevents me from seeing what they have learned
In them.
In outward life, it is considered a mistake
When people cannot use what they have learned in the right case
Without knowing it.

OFFICE MANAGER:
You know the mystic friends of God-Faithful
And I recognize in you the wise man
Who forms his wise judgment according to life.
So tell me openly, would you find it possible
That I would join with these mystics
To achieve purposeful effectiveness in life.

ROMANUS:
What determines your judgment?

HEAD OF THE OFFICE:
I see people who believe
That there are many realms of the spiritual world
Revealed to their soul's eyes.
They seek counsel from higher spiritual powers
And see long-past earthly lives.