Thou speakest as I've only heard those speak Who ne'er have been incarnate on the Earth. They tell you Earth hath no significance, That in the universe its work is small. But he who hath belonged to realms of Earth And owes to it the best powers that he hath, Will have a different tale to tell thereof. He finds important many threads of fate Which bind Earth's life to that of all the worlds. E'en Lucifer who works here with such power Must keep his gaze fixed fast upon the Earth, And seek to turn men's deeds in such a way That their results may ripen his own soul. He knows he'd fall a victim to the dark If he could find no booty on the Earth, And so his fate is bound up with that sphere. So too, with those who dwell in other worlds. And when the human soul can clearly see The cosmic goal, which Lucifer desires, And can compare with it what those powers wish Who have him as opponent to their aims, Then will she know that he can be destroyed Through conquests which she gains o'er her own self. CAPESIUS: The human being who here talks with thee Thinks that fate dreadful, which compels him now To wear a body round him; which hath yet The breath of life and keeps its earthly form, Although the spirit hath no more control. At such a time this spirit feels indeed That worlds, he values, fall at one fierce blow. He feels himself within a prison-house Narrow and horrible with naught all round. Remembrance of the life that he passed through Seems, as it were, extinguished from his soul. At times he feels aware of human souls, But what they say he cannot understand; He only catches some especial words Which lift themselves from out the general talk, And bring remembrance of the loveliness Which he can gaze on in the Spirit-realms. He's in his body then, and yet is not; And lives within himself a life he fears When he beholds it from this region here: And he is longing for the time to come When from this body he will be set free. MARIA: The body which is proper to Earth-souls Bears in itself the means to recreate In lofty pictures loveliness sublime: Which pictures, even if their substance now Seems but a shadow in the human soul, Are yet the buds which in the future worlds Will open out to blossom and to fruit. So through his body man may serve the gods. And his soul's life doth show in its true light Only when in his body he doth find The power to give his "I" reality. CAPESIUS: Ah, utter not that word in front of him Who stands before thee now in Spirit-realms And on the Earth is called Capesius. He fain would flee away when that word sounds, So fierce it burns him here. MARIA: