# 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.