RUDOLF STEINER
Translated and Edited with the Author’s Permission by H. Collison, M.A. Oxon., S. M. K. Gandell, M.A. Oxon., and R. T. Gladstone, M.A. Cantab.
The Portal of Initiation
The Soul’s Probation
The Guardian of the Threshold
The Soul’s Awakening
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1920
INTRODUCTION
The four plays here produced in an English translation in two volumes, are perhapsbest described as Christian Mystery Plays. They are intended to represent the experiencesof the soul during initiation; or, in other words, the psychic development of manup to the moment when he is able to pierce the veil and see into the beyond. Throughthis vision he is then able to discover his real self and carry into effect the crypticinjunction graven on the old Greek temples Γνῶθι σεαυτόν, know thyself. At a later stage he comes to ‘realize’ himself, and finally learnsthe true significance of the Second Advent of our Lord. This process is known as the‘Rosicrucian’ initiation—an initiation specially adapted to modern days—the time andmanner of which depend on the individual nature and circumstances of each person.
The four plays form one continuous series, and the characters portrayed are of quitean ordinary kind except that they take more than the usual interest in spiritual matters,their first desire being so to improve their own mental and moral state as to makethem able to benefit their fellows.
We find amongst them many types—the occult leader and the seeress who explains thecoming of Christ. We are shown the spiritual development of [iv]an artist, a scientist, a philosopher, a historian, a mystic, and a man of the world;and we hear too the scoffing cynicism of Germanus and the materialistic views of Fox.We are led to realize how the characters are connected on the physical as well asthe spiritual plane; and we learn