(As Thomasius begins the name 'Theodora,' his Double appears.)
HIS DOUBLE (coming close up to Thomasius):
Perceive me--and then know thyself in me.
And I may follow thee to cosmic depths Where souls can win perception e'en as gods By conquest that destroyeth, yet acquires By bold persistence life from seeming death.
(Peals of thunder, and increasing darkness.)
A pleasant, sunny morning landscape, in a terraced garden overlooking a town with many factories.
Benedictus, Capesius, Maria, Thomasius, and Strader are discovered walking up and down and engaged in leisurely conversation. Benedictus wears a white biretta and is in his white robe, but without the golden stole.
Here is the place, where Benedictus oft In soft warm sunlight of a summer morn Gave himself to his pupils that they might In reverent mood receive his wisdom's words. Out yonder lies what ever must divide With pitiless intent the souls of men From all the wondrous beauty of the earth, That nature's God doth shower so bounteous here. In yon waste sea of houses in the town Doth Benedictus ever nobly strive To heal this human woe by deeds of love. And when with human words so wise and true He tells his pupils of the spirit-world, He seeks for hearts, which free creative power That here reveals itself in wakening souls, Hath filled with sunshine and with love for men. I, too, may now behold the happiness Which through his words doth reach the heart of man. Since he in love hath underta'en the task Of guiding me within the spirit-world: And now when I may feel that he is near I shall again discover mine own self.
Within the circle of my pupils here Through free-will acts of others and thyself A knot shall one day loosen in the threads Which Karma spins in lives of men on earth. Thy life itself will help to loose this knot. In hearts of men who give themselves in truth To follow wisdom, which I serve myself, Thou canst by thine own power discover those Joined unto whom thou wilt complete the work For which in spirit thou hast been prepared.
Thee have I known, and I will follow thee. As I held converse with mine inmost soul, When I had been allowed to hear thy words Within the spirit-realm in their true form, And thou hadst brought me to myself again, Then could I see portrayed in spirit-light The aims which in the progress of the earth I was to follow in my future lives. And now I know that thou didst choose for me The one right way for this to be revealed.