The Second Mystery Drama

About the Book

About seven years have passed since the end of the first drama, ten since the beginning of it. All the main characters are to be thought of as having started or continued a serious study of the spiritual science expounded by Benedictus. Thus, they all must have seen as significantly matured in their spiritual understanding.

Both Capesius and Strader have entered onto the path of initiation, but in very different ways. Capesius, through his slow steady studying and research, has achieved direct experience of spiritual beings, but in an uncontrolled and at first frightening manner. Strader has not achieved this, but he has experienced tremendous inner transformations of his soul which are clearing away hindrances and preparing him for future stages of development.

Maria has been forced to realize that her relationship to Johannes must change if his soul forces are to develop correctly, however Johannes also finds this change difficult, even unacceptable. At this point, through a 'chance' meeting of Johannes and Capesius, both Johannes and Capesius 'accidentally' have a direct experience of the inner nature of the soul. Johannes experiences two sides of himself, which shocks him severely, and Capesius experiences Johannes experiencing this. The result is that, through spiritual vision, both are thrown unexpectedly back into their last incarnation in the Fourteenth Century.

In that ancient time, Capesius was a Templar Knight and Strader was a Jewish doctor associated with the Templars; opposed to them was Maria as a Christian monk, with Johannes, as the Master Miner, her student. It comes out that Capesius was actually the father of Thomas(Johannes) and his lost sister Cecillia (Theodora), who he had abandoned earlier, but eventually wishes to become reconciled with. Theodora and Thomasius are engaged to be married, but find out at the last moment that they are brother and sister. Thus, Capesius, Theodora, and Maria all find themselves in a struggle around Johannes's soul, which is being pulled in different directions by different loyalties. This is all taking place at the same time the peasants and the Knights Templar are experiencing dramatic changes in their lives and the imminent fall of the Knights' castle.

After the retrospective, Capesius can live through the spiritual transformation which led him into his past life quite consciously; but in doing so, he also comes face to face with the guilt remaining from his deeds then and the need to atone for them now, which he has not the strength to face.

Maria, for her part, can experience the temptation which she fell for in that earlier life and through her remembrance of it, is able to overcome it in this life and thus face the necessary consequences.

Johannes is shocked by the retrospective and is not able yet to deal with the consequences of what arose for him on the basis of his past life. He therefore is led into fantasy-full delusion and a state of self-placation.

The final result of the drama, is that Maria alone is able to really step into the next stage of initiation. Through the power of her spiritual understanding of the situation and her love for the other participants in her 'knot of destiny' she will have to bring the support necessary if the others are to progress past their weakness and confusion

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was born of German parents in eastern Austria at the time of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. His father was a station master on one of the new railways, and Rudolf Steiner's education was oriented towards engineering and scientific subjects.

At the age of about seven, he reports having had a spiritual encounter in the middle of the day with a relative who asked for his future help. He found out later that she had died at that moment by her own hand.

Steiner had a strong personal interest in philosophical questions and, studying in Vienna at the university, in 1883 obtained his doctorate in philosophy on the subject of the theory of knowledge.

Closely tied to his philosophical and scientific studies was his interest in Goethe, the Shakespeare of German culture. After graduating, Steiner obtained the commission to help prepare Goethe's scientific papers for publication within the complete works of Goethe. In 1889 he took up residence in Weimar and lived there until the publication of his fifth and last volume of Goethe's scientific works in 1897. In addition, in 1893 Steiner published is own first book, and the foundation of all his future work, entitled, 'The Philosophy of Freedom'

In the summer of 1897 Steiner moved to Berlin where he married Anne Eunike (died 1911) soon afterwards and, having obtained "The Magazine for Literature", he edited and gave it out until it closed in September 1900. In 1899 he began, and continued for several years, to give lectures on culture and history at the College of the Workers' Educational Association in Berlin.

Steiner reports that in about 1899 he had another major spiritual experience which illuminated his relationship to Christ and Christianity. Following this, he was asked by Maria von Sivers if there could not be a unifying of traditional eastern spirituality with the modern western conception of Christianity. He saw it as his task to attempt to achieve this, and thus in 1902 when asked, he took up the leadership of the German section of the Theosophical Society, which was then headquartered in London and under the general leadership of Annie Besant. He lectured and worked unceasingly with Marie von Sivers, with whose help the production of the Four Mystery Dramas was brought about from 1910-1913.

Differences with Annie Besant led to the establishment of the Anthroposophical Society in 1913. In 1913 he married Marie von Sivers, and through a donation of land they and the headquarters of the Anthroposophical Society moved to Dornach, Switzerland. Their activities were severely restricted by the outbreak of the First World War, but in Dornach they began to build out of wood a large specially designed temple as a center and a theatre for the Mystery Dramas.

After the war, Steiner attempted to give practical impulses to the then shattered social life, but these were only haltingly taken up. The temple, The Goetheanum, was burned down by arson on December 31, 1922, but was rebuilt a few years later in concrete. After apparently suffering from poisoning at the end of 1923, Steiner was weakened and subsequently died in 1925. His life's work encompasses about 50 books and over 6000 lectures and numerous artistic and social impulses.