By saying this thou giv'st e'en now that aid Of which my soul so sorely stands in need. I must investigate mine inmost self With earnest questioning: and so I ask, What potent cause impels me in my love? I see my own soul's life and strength at work In my friend's nature and activities. So that which I desire to satisfy Is nothing but the hunger of myself, Which I, deluded, call unselfishness. Thus it hath been concealed from me till now That in my friend I mirror but myself. It was the dragon Selfishness who veiled The truth from me in wrappings of deceit. And selfishness can take an hundred forms:-- I see it clearly now. And when one thinks The enemy subdued, behold him rise Out of defeat and stronger than before. Moreover 'tis a foe with added skill To hide the truth with cloak of counterfeit. (Maria sinks into deep thought.) (The three Spirit-Figures of the soul-powers appear.) MARIA: Ye sisters, whom I find in Being's depths Whene'er my soul expands and guides herself To cosmic distances, release for me From out the ether's heights the powers of sight And lead them hence to earthly paths, that I May know myself as I exist in Time, And may be able to direct my course From Life's old ways unto new spheres of Will. PHILIA: From my heart's depths will I myself imbue With soul's aspiring light; I will breathe deep From spirit-forces living powers of Will; That thou, beloved sister, mayest seek And find the light in bygone spheres of life. ASTRID: With selfhood, conscious of itself, will I Weave in the self-surrendering Will of love; I will set free from fetters of desire The budding powers of Will, and will transform Thy crippled wish to spirit-certainty; That thou, beloved sister, mayest learn To find thyself in distant paths of life. LUNA: I will call self-denying powers of heart; And will make firm enduring soul-repose; Then shall they wed, and raise up spirit-light In all its power from out the depths of soul. Then shall they interpenetrate and force Earth's bounds to heed the listening spirit-ear, Compel earth's distances to answer. That thou, beloved sister, mayest find Life's varied traces in Time's vast expanse. MARIA (after a pause): If I can only tear myself away From my bewildered consciousness of self And give myself to you: that thus ye may Reflect my very soul from cosmic space; Then from this sphere of life I gain release, And find myself in other states of being. (Long pause, then the following:)