Four Mystery Plays

by Rudolf Steiner

Scene 5

A round room in the little house in the wood, described in the “Soul’s Probation,” as Felix Balde’s home. Dame Balde, Felix Balde, Capesius, Strader, are seen seated at a table on the left of the stage. Later appears the Soul of Theodora. The room is the natural colour of the wood and has two pretty arched windows.

Dame Balde:

We shall not know again her beauteous self

Nor feel her radiant nature till we too

Shall reach some day the world to which she hath

So early from our sight been stol’n away.

A few short weeks ago we still could hear

With joy in this our house the graciousness

That streamed so warmly through her every word.

Felix Balde:

We both, my wife Felicia, and myself,

Loved her indeed from out our inmost soul,

So can we share and understand thy grief.

Strader:

Dear Theodora, she so often spoke

Throughout the last hours of her life on earth

Of Dame Felicia and of Felix too;

She was so closely intimate with all

That life brought to you here from day to day.

Now must I grope my further path alone.

She was the sum and meaning of my life.

And what she gave, can never die for me.

And yet—she is not here——

Felix Balde:

And yet—she is not here—— Yet can we still

With thee send out our loving thoughts to her

Into the spirit-worlds, and thus unite

Her soul with ours through all the days to come.

But, I must own, it was a shock to us

When we were told her life on Earth was o’er.

These many years there hath been granted me

A gift of insight which doth often show

In unexpected moments quite unsought

What inward strength doth lie in all men’s lives;

In her case hath this gift deceived me sore.

For ne’er indeed could I think otherwise,

Except that Theodora would be spared

To spend on Earth for many years as yet

That love through which she hath in joy and grief

Shown herself helpful to so many men.

Strader:

’Tis very strange how all hath come to pass;

As long as I have known her, had she lived

Ever the same sound healthy mode of life.

But since the time she first became aware

Of Something strange, unknown, that threatened her

And tried to enter and oppress her mind;

Her senses clouded over more and more

And suffering poured itself through all her life.

Her body’s powers were sapped, as one could see

By some great struggle in her inmost soul.

She told me, when in my anxiety,—

I plied her oft with many questionings—

She felt herself exposed to fearful thoughts

Which frightened her and worked like fire within.

And what she said besides—’tis terrible,

For when she rallied all her powers of thought

To find the cause of all this suffering

There always came before her spirit’s gaze

Thomasius … whom we both honoured so,

And yet from this impression aye remained

The strongest feelings which spake clear to her

That she had cause to fear Thomasius.

Capesius (spoken as in a trance):

According to the strict decree of Fate

Thomasius and Theodora ne’er

Could meet in earthly passion in this life.

’Twould be indeed opposed to cosmic laws

If one desired to make the other feel

Aught that was not on spirit only based.

Within his heart Thomasius doth break

The stern decree of mighty powers of Fate:

That he should never harbour in his soul

Thoughts that might bring to Theodora harm.

For he doth feel what he ought not to feel

And, through his disobedience he doth form

E’en now the powers which can deliver o’er

His future life unto the realms of dark.

When Theodora had been forced to come

To Lucifer, she learnt unconsciously

That through the Light-bearer, Thomasius

Was filled with sensual passion for herself.

Maria, who had been by Fate’s decree

Entrusted with Thomasius’ spirit-life,

And Theodora, at the same time met

Within that realm which fights against the gods—

Maria from Thomasius had to part,

And he through strength of this false love was forced

To be in bondage unto Lucifer.

What Theodora thus experienced

Became consuming fire within her soul

And working further caused her all this pain.

Strader:

Oh tell us, Father Felix, what this means.

Capesius speaks in such a manner strange

Of things which are incomprehensible;

And yet they fill my soul with dread and fear.

Felix Balde:

Capesius, when treading o’er the path,

Which he hath found most needful for his soul

Learns ever more and more to exercise

Those special gifts of spirit which are his;

His spirit lives in touch with higher worlds

And passeth by unnoticed all those things

Through which the senses speak unto the soul.

’Tis but by habit that he doth perform

All that hath been his custom in this life.

He ever tried to visit his old friends

And likes to while away long hours with them,

And yet whenever he is at their side

His being seems in meditation lost.

But what he sees in spirit aye is true

So far as mine own searching of the soul

Can testify to proving of the truth.

And therefore in this case I do believe

That owing to these spirit-gifts, he could

Perceive within the depths of his own soul

The truth of Theodora’s destiny.

Dame Balde:

It is so strange, he never notices

What those around him may be speaking of;

It seems his soul is from his body loosed

And gazeth only on the spirit-world;

And yet some word will often bring him back

Out of this strange abstraction, and he’ll tell

Of things that seem to come from spirit-realms

And somehow be connected with that word.

Apart from that whatever one may say

Makes no impression on his mind at all.

Strader:

Ah! if he speaks the truth—how horrible—

(Theodora’s Soul appears.)

Theodora’s Soul:

Capesius hath been allowed to know

Of my existence in the spirit-world:

It is the truth which he makes known to you.

We must not let Thomasius transgress:

Maria hath already set alight

The sacrifice of love in her strong heart;

And Theodora from the spirit-heights

Will send out rays of blessing from Love’s power.

Felix Balde:

Dear Strader, thou must now be calm and still;

She wants to speak to thee; I understand

The signs she gives to us: so now attend.

Theodora (after making a movement with her hand towards Strader):

Thomasius possesseth second sight;

And he will find me in the spirit-realms.

This must not be until he is set free

From earthly passion in his search for me.

In future he will also need thy help,

And that is what I now request of thee.

Strader:

My Theodora, who dost even now

Turn to me as of old in love, say on

What thou desirest, and it shall be done.

(Theodora makes a sign towards Capesius.)

Felix Balde:

That shows she cannot now say any more,

But wisheth us to hear Capesius speak.

(Theodora vanishes.)

Capesius (as in a trance):

Thomasius can Theodora see,

If he doth choose to use his spirit-eyes.

Therefore her death will not destroy in him

This passion which is harmful to himself.

Yet will he have to act quite otherwise

Than he would act if Theodora still

Lived in the body on this earth of ours.

He will with passion strive toward the light

Which is revealed to her from spirit-heights

Although she hath no consciousness of earth.

Thomasius is set to win that light

That through him Lucifer may gain it too.

This light divine would then help Lucifer

To keep for evermore within his realm

The knowledge which Thomasius acquired

And won for his own use through earthly power.

For Lucifer, since first the Earth began

Hath ever sought for men who have acquired

Wisdom divine through instincts that were false.

He wills now to unite pure spirit-sight

With human knowledge, which, if treated thus

Would turn to evil, though ’twere good itself.

Thomasius however even now

May be turned back from this his evil way,

If Strader gives himself to certain aims

Which shall in future spiritually guide

All human knowledge, that it may approach

And join itself to knowledge that’s divine.

If he would have these aims revealed, he must

As pupil unto Benedictus turn.

(Pause.)

Strader (to Felix Balde):

O father Felix, give me thine advice.

Hath Theodora really trusted this

Unto Capesius to tell to me?

Felix Balde:

These last few days I have most earnestly

Held converse often with mine inmost self

To try and to clear my thoughts about this man.

Gladly I’ll tell thee all I know myself.

Capesius is living in true wise

The life of spirit-pupilship, although

From his behaviour it seems otherwise.

He is already destined by his fate

Much to accomplish in the spirit-life.

And only can fulfil the duties high

To which his soul hath been already called

If he prepares his spirit for them now.

And yet it lay quite near his nature too,

Instead of seeking light on spirit-paths,

Unto false science to devote himself,

Which can just now make blind so many souls.

The solemn Guardian on the Threshold grim,

Which marks the world of sense from spirit-worlds,

Had duties of a most especial kind

When to the gate Capesius found his way.

To such an earnest seeker must the gate

Needs open, but behind him shut at once.

The means he used in former times to win

Power for himself within the world of sense

Could no more help him in the spirit-realms.

He best prepares himself for service high

Which he one day must render to mankind

When he ignores our presence and our talk.

Dame Balde:

There is but one thing he still notices.

I mean the stories that I used to tell

So often to him and through which he felt

Refreshed and reawakened to new thought

When his soul seemed bereft of all ideas.

Capesius:

Such stories find their way to spirit-lands

If in the spirit also they are told.

Dame Balde:

Then, if I can collect myself enough

To speak my stories out within myself

I’ll think of thee with love: so that they then

May also in the spirit-land be heard.

Curtain