Note on the Costumes Worn (see also notes to the "Portal of Initiation"). The knights are in chain armour and dark blue robes of their order, with a white Maltese cross on their mantle and on their tunic. The mantle of the Grand Master is crimson; his tunic is white with a red cross. Their blue caps and the Grand Master's red cap are flat and triangular. The apparition of Benedictus in Scene 7, is in pink peach blossom colour. He appears in the background about nine feet above the stage and remains rigid with his arms extended in cross fashion the whole time of his appearance in this scene.
The library and study of Capesius. Prevailing colour brown. Evening. First Capesius, then the Spirit-Forms who are powers of soul; later Benedictus.
'By inward gazing on the Beingless, And dreaming through the shadowy picture realm Of thought, conformably to self-made laws:-- Thus erring human nature often seeks To find the meaning and the goal of life: The soul from its own depths would draw replies To questions that concern the universe. Yet such attempts are vain, illusory E'en at the outset, and they lead at last To feeble visions which destroy themselves.'
Thus is portrayed in words of import grave Through Benedictus' noble spirit-sight, The inward life of many human souls. Each phrase goes home destructive to my heart-- Unfolding truly mine own way and life Until this day, with cruel vividness. And should a god this very hour appear Descending on me in a raging storm And clad in wrath, yet could his threatening might Not torture me with more appalling fears Than do the Master's words, as strong as fate. Long hath my life been, but its web displays Nothing but pictures shadowy and dim Which haunt my dreaming soul and fondly strive To mirror truths of nature and of mind. With this dream-fabric hath my thought essayed To solve the riddle of the universe. Down many a path my restless soul I turned. Yet do I clearly see that I myself, Was not the active master of my soul When threads of thought along illusion's path Spun themselves out to cosmic distances.
So that which I in my content beheld In pictures, left me empty, led to naught. Then came across my path Thomasius, The youthful painter. He indeed strode on, Upheld by truest energies of soul To that exalted spiritual way Which transforms human life, and makes to rise From hidden gulfs of soul the energy Which feeds the springs of life within ourselves. That which awoke from out his inmost soul Abides in every man. And since from him I gained this revelation, I do count As chief amongst the many sins of life To let the spirit's treasure grow corrupt.