Goethe: A "Pre-Theosophist"?
Pamela Peterson
From 'The Messenger' July 2008 pp. 6-7
The Magazine of the Blavatsky Lodge of the Theosophical Society, Sydney Australia
The "universal man" of his era, a prolific writer, Germany's "Shakespeare", poet, playwright, novelist, philosopher, critic, artist, educationalist, scientist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), through his search for truth and his awareness of the interdependence of all forms of life, attained an incredibly high degree of the wisdom expressed in the term "theosophy".
Born in the middle of the eighteenth century "Age of Enlightenment" during which reason was hailed as the ultimate way of discovering truth, Goethe filled the spiritual void created by the philosophers of this movement in their quest for political freedom and social reform. He re-instated the importance of emotion without allowing it to degenerate into sentimentality. Through his many and varied writings, he set about exploring the mystery of life in the belief that knowledge of self must develop together with knowledge of the world. He was not afraid to evaluate constantly and change accordingly his ideas during his long pilgrimage to this purpose.
He strove to discover the common elements of all religions which he saw as different expressions of one central religion, quoting: "In my father's house are many mansions." While totally supportive of advancements in science, he never relinquished his deep reverence for the mystery of the universe which he tried to fathom in his efforts to aspire to the truth.
Two of his most famous works are significant in their appearance both near the beginning and at the end of his creative life. The first is a poem, the brevity and simple language of which contrast sharply with the profundity of its meaning. Following is a translation in which the real magic created by the sounds of the German words is unfortunately lost.
Wanderer's Evening Song.
Over the mountain tops
All is quiet.
In all the tree-tops
Hardly a stir
Is discernible.
The little birds are silent in the forest.
Just wait! Soon
You too will find rest.
This was written by Goethe in 1780 on the wall of a mountain lodge as he gazed at the peaceful landscape at sunset. It is an expression of his recognition of man's place in the universe. At the end of the day, peace is restored to all elements of nature, progressing from the mineral world to the flora and then the fauna according to their order in nature's purposeful, ordered and enduring hierarchy. Man too is promised rest and peace of mind. However patience is required. As a thinking being at the pinnacle of the natural order, his task, namely the search for truth towards the attainment of wisdom, is yet to be completed.
The second major work, "Faust", begun in the early 1770's, is by contrast long and complicated. The play relates the story of the scholar, Faust, who, in his unquenchable thirst for truth, makes a pact with Mephistopheles whereby the devil will supply him with limitless truth, but will claim his soul the moment that Faust's hunger for such is satisfied. In Christopher Marlowe's earlier version of the story, Faust is ultimately damned to the underworld. In Goethe's play, Faust, finally resisting Mephisto's temptations, marries Helen of Troy, builds a happy community and is taken to paradise.
Interestingly this monumental work, unquestionably Goethe's most famous, was not completed until sixty years later, a few months before his death in 1832 and published posthumously. Was it in fact a reflection of his own quest for the discovery of the truth of life which he expressed as "a ceaseless wandering in which the goal turns out to be the way and the way the goal."? His reverence for women whom he regarded as life's creative force and man's greatest inspiration and redeemer is portrayed in Faust's marriage to Helen of Troy leading him from self-seeking to altruism and ultimate salvation. Was his personal experience essential for the completion of this great work?
In August, 1831, as recorded in the diary of a friend, Goethe, with tears in his eyes, softly recited the last two lines of his early poem. At the sunset of his life full of restless, relentless search for truth attainable through knowledge, had this initially aimless wanderer at last become the wayfarer now equipped with knowledge of the path towards his goal? Was his transformation now in view? Was this the rest he was eternally seeking and of which these last lines of the poem recollected from his youth had once reassured him?
In true theosophic spirit, I leave you free to ponder these questions and to decide if Goethe complies sufficiently with the objectives of the Theosophical Society to be deemed worthy of posthumous honorary membership.