Preliminary drafts: Scenes not included in the drama
> The following scene images marked with an I, which were not included in the drama, the two scenarios, and the prose sketches of individual events form the content of a notebook to which Marie Steiner referred briefly in her preliminary remarks. She emphasizes that these are “meditative contents” that “serve as preliminary drafts for what was later transformed into dialogues or moving scenes in the drama.” > The actual drafts are summarized under II and III.
#### I
BENEDICTUS: How many more times will I have to enter this place, my soul filled with worry, unsure whether victory or defeat will be imposed on my will. It is my fate to fight for you, spirits of the world. You who incorporate the true mission of the earth into your path. As often as I crossed this threshold, I hoped that your victory would be decisive over those beings for whom earthly existence is worthless and who only interfere in the fate of earthly humans because they want to win them over for goals that lie in other worlds. Oh, how long will I still have to serve these powers myself? Only if my soul remains steadfast can my gods triumph over these enemies. The Father is already approaching; I can tell from his rays of power that he still feels undefeated.
AHRIMAN: You have done a bold work in the course of human destiny.
BENEDICTUS: But unfortunately I must admit that your powers were at work in my deed.
AHRIMAN: Does good become evil because it springs from my power?
BENEDICTUS: Whether good or evil, what I accomplish through you is as nothing to me.
AHRIMAN: Consider these words and note how you have not yet removed the veil from your eyes, which you may wear over there, but which does not belong here. Over there in the earthly realm, reasons seem to decide what knowledge brews. Here, however, power and will decide. Here you stand, spirit against spirit. The words you speak over there must fall silent here. You show this yourself, whenever you appear here. For you would have to laugh at yourself if you wanted to speak to us with earthly reasons. Here, one does not refute. Here, one exchanges realities. And you always want to achieve realities when you approach us. Therefore, state your desire; you shall have it and continue to triumph in the earthly realm with our powers.
BENEDICTUS: From your words, I recognize that you must give me this time as well.
AHRIMAN: You seem particularly strong this time; but let us leave appearances aside; what do you demand?
Prose draft
From the speeches given among the people, it appears that Thomasius has had a far-reaching influence through his exposition of spiritual truths. He has gained countless followers. Among the people appears the leader of a spiritual community who celebrates this victory of human science. He speaks of this as a victory more significant than the military victories of the past. A time of the most hopeful spiritual development lies ahead.
Strader in conversation with Theodora, who has become his wife. He talks to her about what Thomasius' spiritual success means for humanity. And how he himself has gained new courage and new hope for life as a result.
Maria with Thomasius, whom she believes she can approach again because he has reached a high point in his life. However, from his conversation with her, it becomes clear that he himself has lost all reason for his spiritual work at the very moment when the rest of humanity has been conquered for her. He recognizes the powerlessness of his spiritual work. And in her, the powerlessness of all human striving. He first senses that he has had to work on the basis of destructive forces. This sense comes before his soul in the form of a vision.
He is led into the dark world of the soul. From what he sees there, he realizes that humanity, in the knowledge it gains, consumes its originally given powers, so that it has no further powers to live what it recognizes. Knowledge would only be true if the powers for its realization did not have to die through this knowledge. Thus, the work on earth is destroyed so that Lucifer cannot achieve his goal.
Benedict initiates Maria into his secrets. He tells her how he had to purchase from Ahriman the powers he had placed in Thomasius' soul. He had to give part of his own soul powers as a pledge for these powers. These would be forfeited if Thomasius remained in his powerlessness. Only Mary could bring salvation if she herself led Thomasius into the realm of the dark soul world.
THE GUARDIAN OF THE THRESHOLD: If your heart can decide, To cross this threshold, Then let it be so. But know that in this realm you will find What the fruits of your life will help you achieve. You do not know The powers that allowed these fruits to ripen. I cannot reveal them to you. For my spirit can never see What the princes of the world plant in human hearts. I never desired to see In this prince's ominous workshop. But I see in your being, Into which my gaze can penetrate, What of your life's content Must fall away like dry leaves from trees, If you want to enter the realm, Of which I am appointed guardian. I look into your soul, How it wants to preserve its self. Here this self will disappear into nothingness, And you may only be a member In the life of a higher being. In earthly life you cherished The saying that promises miraculous power, Know thyself. Here live only beings Who serve other selves And act from other thoughts. I recognize your self only as a being That I must crush When it approaches my being. And you have learned Through many earthly lives To direct your gaze Into realms that meet the gaze With their glistening light of revelation. It is my duty to walk in misty haze Everything you could ever see, And only backwards may Your soul look Into the root powers of its being. There were never times When spirits like me saw differently. Whatever you ever thought beautiful and great, You must abandon it. This sword of flame Must, upon your entry, Erase from your memory That from which you often drank joy, In which you revelled in bliss. And what will seem hardest to you: There will be no change in events That will satisfy your soul's desire. The unchanging existence of eternity Will, stripped of birth and death, Always stand before your eyes in the same way.
THOMASIUS: So everything that I am will be taken from me, And everything I have ever acquired for my soul will be erased from it? And even the memory of my experiences, Will that also be erased from me?
THE GUARDIAN OF THE THRESHOLD: How far your memory can remain, I do not know. But I see in your soul That everything that remains to you Must cause annoyance And anger in our realms. The peace that you must rob here Through such behavior, Can only fall as bitterness Upon yourself For eternity.
THOMASIUS: ...
THOMASIUS: Sublime ruler in the splendor of beauty, Who shines with a dignity That reveals in the sun's eye The deepest reasons of the world Which reveals in the sun's eye The deepest reasons of the worlds And needs nothing for your revelation But only the essence of your own will: No commandments speak from your lips, Which seem to be a duty to follow. Within, the soul must stir, Which turns to you in understanding, In freedom, every impulse, To be like yourself. For such a being becomes An image of inner perfection. Here, where the murkiness of the earthly veil Is taken from me, I understand your true nature for the first time. In human confusion, You must show yourself differently Than you truly are. There, your instincts seem to oppose The higher nature of human beings, And life seems worthy Only when it fights against What comes from you. But when these instincts are transformed Into precious metal, As they appear here in your true form They form the highest in the world. They secure for the beings Who possess them a noble radiance of light, So that the beauty of the worlds In its own power May join it worthily.
LUCIFER: If you recognize me thus And produce as fruit within you What you see in me, You will establish my realm of dominion In the spheres of humanity And with my victory Secure your own victory for yourself. For know that I do not want to make you A servant of myself Or a member of another being. I am the free son of the mighty prince of the world And need nothing for the completion of my own being But the sight Of beings who, through their own desire Resemble me in my nature.
THOMASIUS: I feel how the wisdom That is inherent in my human nature Must slander you. I feel myself here in clear essence And know that I can belong to myself Through nothing Other than the imitation of your being.
LUCIFER: Such feeling gives me the strength To lead you before my elder brother's throne. I am not bound to him As on earth The son is bound to the father Or the brother to the brother. We have found each other in the universe Because the special nature of the One When it reveals itself in full splendor Gives perfection to the other. When it reveals itself in full splendor, Gives perfection to the other. So follow me to him, Who calls himself the true offspring of chaos.
AHRIMAN: So I roll in the eternal course The fiery wheels of human life Up the steep slope. I feel within myself How human souls rejoice When I lift the element uphill. The sound of festive jubilation resounds within me When human spirits, progressing Feel themselves being led from stage to stage. But no matter how often I have now Begun the work and believed it complete, It has always been nothing But the beginning of a new creation. So I feel uncertainty tormenting me, Whether a goal can ever be found. And I can know only one thing: The end will be reached, If in just ONE human soul, Titanic work, accomplished through me, Just one spark is ignited, Which can then continue to blaze there. As great as my work is, This spark is needed, If it is to reach its goal. Many have already made the decision, But soon extinguished its spark of fire The fear of those worlds, That keep me bound.
THOMASIUS: Here stands the man, In whom the spark is to be kindled. Who, like me, in human existence Has learned how destruction must be the fate of the strongest earthly spirit, must be free of fear and terror, even when faced with the image of eternal terror. I will work in your sphere and, in doing so, complete your brother's image in the universe.
MARY from afar: Thomasius
THOMASIUS: Oh, what does this sound mean? It does not merely sound, it compels. It presses into the depths of my being. It tears me from existence. (Eclipse)
Thomas. Mary:
MARY: It was, John, the hardest journey of my life, Which now led me to you. I needed the help of all good beings, To whom Benedictus' wisdom had ever connected me, To overcome all resistance, That stood in my way. What I ever felt as weakness, What I could desire in the course of my life, It broke away from my being And became its own entity. So I stood before thousands of souls, Whom I had to fight. They did not fight as enemies, They lured as seducers; They promised bliss, And when I turned away from them, They darkened the light of my thoughts, So that my memory would fade Of everything that had become mine from the sources of wisdom, To extricate myself Had become mine, to extricate myself From the enemies' own essence. They could not wrest from me My guide's noble gifts. So I always found myself In the best part of my being And was able to find your soul. In that part of my being I had to grasp it, Which can indeed be lost, But in loss Is consecrated to eternal death. I had to save it for you. You could have ignited that spark, Which sleeps in every human being, In the terrible realm of chaos, But you would have You would have withdrawn it forever from the world, For which you received it. As soon as you find yourself here again, It is impossible for you to think That you detach yourself from your origin And consecrate yourself to the construction of other worlds.