The Souls' Awakening

Book excerpt: Rudolf Steiner said of his mystery dramas--written between 1910 and 1913--that they contain the whole essence of Anthroposophy and that if, through some unlikely chance, only these dramas were to survive, the essential content of Anthroposophy would nevertheless be preserved. Steiner's dramas powerfully portray the complex processes of reincarnation and karma. In them, we are led to inhabit the living landscape of the human soul and spirit, where suprasensory beings weave destinies. Here we find a connection with the spiritual reality of human life itself by following the dramatic interplay of the joy and sorrow, struggle and striving of a group of individuals attempting to apply spiritual knowledge to their practical lives and relationships. To read, watch, or act in these plays is an initiation experience. In The Souls' Awakening--Steiner's fourth mystery drama--an enlightened entrepreneur appoints a scientist, a historian, and an artist to use their spiritual perceptions to transform his business into one that serves spiritual as well as practical needs. A long-standing colleague objects, and a series of conflicts and crises develops. As the plot unfolds, we follow the characters on a journey that moves from business meetings through various states of consciousness, into worlds known before birth and previous lives in Egypt. This classic translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch was revised for this volume by Ruth Pusch. Included is Hans Pusch's "Thoughts on the Seal," in which he discusses the Rosicrucian meaning of the seal represented on the cover. This book is a translation of "Der Seelen Erwachen," published as part four of Vier Mysteriendramen The Four Mystery Dramas), which includes "The Portal of Initiation"; "The Soul's Probation"; "The Guardian of the Threshold"; and "The Souls' Awakening."