Point
I. THE COMING OF
PARZIVAL
“By pity 'lightened
The guileless Fool—
Wait for him,
My chosen tool.”
It is not my
intention to set forth the complete Argument of the Great Musical-Drama of
“Parsifal” derived from the ancient legend of Parzival by Richard Wagner,
to whom be all praise and honour.
Those who have
not had the privilege of witnessing this festival-play, or even of reading
a good translation of the Libretto, should avail them- selves of the help
that a study of the latter will give them before expecting to gain a
thorough grasp of the interpretation herein set forth. [1]
I shall also
suppose that the student has some slight knowledge of The Mystic Path and
of The Holy Qabalah,[2] although I shall endeavor to make the points dealt
with as comprehensive as possible to the uninitiated enquirer who is
prepared to “wake and hearken to the Call”.
The Music of
Wagner I cannot give you, nor shall I even attempt an inter- pretation of
that which, in the Opera, helps so much toward the opening of those
channels of consciousness whereby we may eventually receive some
comprehensive of the Music of the Spheres.
Fortunately this
is not entirely necessary, for the true Path leads to a point when each
individual may feel himself to be a highly-strung musical instrument whose
Will runs over the strings causing complete and har- monious vibrations in
his own being, which will then seem to give forth an un-formulated but
delightful melody.
What is the
Key-note of Parzival?
ECSTASY!
And what is
Ecstasy? It has been well described by one known to us as Frater
Perdurabo, and I shall quote his own words:
``There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign.''
“So used some of
us to sing in childhood, and we used to think of that land as far away,
farther even than death that in those days seemed so far.
“But I know this
now: that land is not so far as my flesh is from my bones! it is Here and
Now.
“If there is one
cloud in this tranquil azure, it is this thought: that conscious beings
exist who are not thus infinitely happy, masters of ecstasy.
“What is the path
to this immortal land? To the Oriental, meditation offers the best path.
To the Western, there is no road better than ceremonial. For ecstasy is
caused by the sudden combination of two ideas, just as oxygen and hydrogen
unite explosively.
“But this
religious ecstasy takes place in the highest centres of the human
organism; it is the soul itself that is united to its God; and for this
reason the rapture is more overpowering, the joy more lasting, and the
resultant energy more pure and splendid than in aught earthly.
“In ritual
therefore, we seek continually to unite the mind to some pure idea by an
act of will. This we do again and again, more and more passion- ately,
with more and more determination, until at last the mind accepts the
domination of the will, and rushes of its own accord toward the desired
object. This surrender of the mind to its Lord gives the holy ecstasy we
seek.”
Here we have one
of the most important keys to the interpretation of the Drama of Parzival,
and also an indication of the result which Wagner desired to produce upon
the minds of his audience.
Unless the Play
is properly staged, and the parts taken by those who them- selves
understand at least something of the “Way of Holiness", this effect is not
made upon the consciousness of the onlookers. This is doubtless one the
reasons why Wagner made arrangements that this Work should only be
produced at Bayreuth in a proper setting and under right conditions, for
it represents the summit of his Magical Mountain of which the base was the
Ring. He called it a Stage-Consecrating Festival, and its effects were
intended to exert their influence upon the Drama of Life itself.
We will pass over
the early part of the opening Scene with its introduc- tion of Gurnemanz,
Kundry, and Amfortas, and concentrate our attention on the entry of
Parzival; heralded by the falling of a Swan brought down by his own
weapon.
What is this
Swan?
Ecstasy!
How do I know?
Never mind, let me quote once again from one who is the Master thereof:
THE SWAN
``There is a Swan whose name is Ecstasy;
it wingeth from the deserts of the
North; it wingeth through the blue; it
wingeth over the fields of rice; at its
coming they push forth the green.
In all the Universe this Swan alone in
motionless; it seems to move, as the Sun
seems to move; such is the weakness of
our sight.
O fool! criest thou?
Amen. Motion is relative: there is
Nothing that is still.
Against this Swan I shot an arrow; the
white breast poured forth blood. Men
smote me; then perceiving that I was a
Pure Fool, they let me pass.
Thus and not otherwise I came to the
Temple of the Grail.''
Thus did Parzival
bring down Ecstasy to Earth, although the King-Amfortas- and his Knights
had “esteemed it a happy token, when o'er the lake it circled aloft”.
What is this
lake? When calm and unruffled, brooded over by the Swan of Ecstasy, it is
the human mind trained by the proper methods to Right Contemplation. For
only when the mind is still may the Sun of the true Self be seen reflected
in its depths. From that it is but one step to the attainment of Right
Ecstasy when the Sun plunges into the depths of the Mind and the whole
being is aflame with the Sacred Fire of the Holy Spirit.
Parzival had
aimed high; he had hit the mark of his Aspiration, little though his
action was at first understood. Yet his Folly saved him, as he in turn
saved others.
When questioned
as to his action he answered “I knew not 'twas wrong” although he flung
away weapon, having no further use for it in that form.
What was his
weapon? The Bow of Promise and the Arrow of Pure Aspiration. But he had
aspired, he had hit the mark and the promise had been to a certain extent
fulfilled.
The Qabalist will
at once recognise the “Path of Samech or Sagittarius the Archer on the
`Tree of Life.'“ This is the Path of the Arrow that cleaves the Rainbow,
leading directly from Yesod—The Foundation—to Tiphareth the Sphere of the
Sun, Beauty and Harmony, or the Human Heart wherein the Mysteries of the
Rosy Cross and of the Holy Grail are first—if dimly— perceived.
To what other use
had Parzival—son of Herat's Affliction—previously put his weapon? He had
shot at all that flies. He had shot at the Eagle, the bird that fears not
to gaze upon the very Sun itself.
What does this
eagle mean and what does it foreshadow?
ECSTASY!
For it is
written: “The Eagle is that Might of Love which is the Key of Magick,
uplifting the Body and its appurtenance unto High Ecstasy upon his Wings.”
This Eagle is
known to Occultists as one of the Four Cherubic Beasts and he represents
one of the Four Powers of the Sphinx. Likewise he is attri- buted by
Eliphas Levi to Azoth, the formula of the Alpha and Omega, the First and
Last.
It was by the
right use of this Might of Love that Parzival succeeded where others had
failed. For again it is written in Liber Aleph: “Consider Love. Here is a
force destructive and corrupting whereby have many men been lost: witness
all History. Yet without love man were not man.
“We see Amfortas,
who yielded himself to a seduction, wounded beyond healing; Klingsor, who
withdrew himself from a like danger , cast out forever from the Mountain
of Salvation, and Parzival who yielded not, able to exercise the true
Power of Love and therby to perform the Miracle of Redemption.”
But though we are
now nearing that realm wherein “Time and Space are One” we must not allow
ourselves to be rushed forward too rapidly.
There were many
things that Parzival did not know, or which he professed not to know when
questioned. He did now as yet know he True Name—the Word of His
Being—though he had in the past been called by many names. Some things he
knew and remembered clearly; there was one thing he desired to know and to
understand.
What is the
Grail!
To which
Gurnemanz very properly replies:
I may not say:
But if to serve it thou be bidden,
Knowledge of it will not be hidden.-
And lo!-
Methinks I know thee now indeed;
No earthly road to it doth lead,
By no one can it be detected
Who by itself is not elected.
To which
Parzival, without further questioning, replies:
I scarcely move,
Yet I swiftly seem to run.
And Gurnemanz:
My son, thou seest
Here SPACE and TIME are ONE.
Now, in truth,
have we come to the beginning of the True Path which in the clear Light is
one with the end thereof.
What says
Blavatsky in “The Voice of the Silence”? “Bestride the Bird of Life if
thou wouldst know!”
And this
Bird—this Swan—so seeming dead until its Powers be known? Some have
compared it to the Sacred Word, the Great Word AUM. For it is written:
“AUM is the hieroglyph of the Eternal. A the beginning sound, U its middle
and M its end, together forming a single Word or Trinity, indicating that
the Real must be regarded as of this three-fold nature. Birth, Life and
Death, not successive, but one.”
The Illusory
nature of Time and Space, which are but modes of our finite mind, has been
made very clear by Sidney Klein in his excellent book “Science and the
Infinite,” but this is no new idea. The attainment of Ecstasy has proved
to Initiates of every land that there is a state of consciousness wherein
both time and space are blotted out—at least temporarily—and at the same
moment the limitations of the “personal ego” no longer appress us. In that
Holy Book known as Liber LXV—Chapter II, Verses 17-25, we read:
``17. Also
the Holy One came upon me, and I beheld a white swan
floating in the blue.
18. Between its wings I sate, and the aeons fled away.
19. Then the swan flew and dived and soared, yet no
whither we went.
20. A little crazy boy that rode with me spake unto
the swan and said:
21. Who art thou that doth float and fly and dive and
soar in the inane? Behold, these many aeons have passed;
whence camest thou? Whither wilt thou go?
22. And laughing I chid him saying: No whence! No
wither!
23. The swan being silent, he answered: Then if with
no goal, why this eternal journey?
24. And I laid my head against the Head of the Swan,
and laughed, saying: Is there not joy ineffable in this
aimless winging? Is there not weariness and impatience
for who would attain to some goal?
25. And the swan was ever silent. Ah, but we floated
in the infinite Abyss. Joy! Joy!
White swan bear thou ever me up between thy wings.''
But there was
much that Parzival must do before taking his ease thus: he had a mission
to accomplish, on earth, though as yet he knew not.
By the use of
these examples, we may begin to comprehend what happens next. A new
“movement without motion” on the part of Parzival and Gurnemanz is now
symbolized by the SCENERY in the Drama shifting, at first almost
imperceptibly, from Left to Right. The forest—in which the First Scene had
taken place—disappears; a door opens in the rocky cliffs and conceals the
two; they are then seen again in sloping passages which they appear to
ascend. At last they arrive at a mighty hall, which loses itself overhead
in a high vaulted dome, down from which the light streams in. From the
heights above the dome comes the increasing sound of chimes.
Again we may find
a very direct correspondence in the Eastern Teachings as propounded by
Madame Blatvatsky in “The Voice of Silence.” She writes: “Thou canst
travel on that Path until thou hast become the Path itself.”
Further in Liber
CCCXXXIII by Frater Perdurabo we read:
``O thou that
settest out upon the Path, false is the Phantom
that thou seekest. When thou hast it thou shalt know all
bitterness, thy teeth fixed in the Sodom-Apple.
Thus hast thou been lured along That Path, whose terror else
had driven thee far away.
O thou that stridest upon the middle of The Path, no phantoms
mock thee. For the stride's sake thou stridest.
Thus art thou lured along That Path whose fascination else
had driven thee far away.
``O thou that drawest toward the End of The Path, effort is no
more. Faster and faster dost thou fall; thy weariness is
changed into Ineffable Rest.
For there is no Thou upon that Path: thou hast become The Way.''
And each must
learn to travel this Path, each must overcome his own obstacles, unmask
his own illusions. Yet there is always the possibility that others may
help us do this and, as in the case of Parzival led by Gurnemanz who
travelled that Way before, we may be guided in the true Path and taught to
avoid the many false byways that may tempt us in our search for the Temple
of the Holy Grail. In fact, if our training has been right and our
aspiration remains pure, we must inevitably arrive at the end of that
Road; often we may seem to do so in the twinkling of an eye, and when we
least expect it.
We should
remember that every point of this Drama is highly symbolic. The student
may place his own interpretation on that passage which opens into the
Temple of the Grail. On arrival therein we cannot do better than listen to
the advice of Gurnemanz to Parzival, who meanwhile stands spell- bound
with Wonder at what he beholds:
Now
give good head, and let me see,
If thou'rt a Fool and pure,
What wisdom thou presently canst secure.
And this WISDOM
Parzival does in due course secure, but not until he has undergone many
trials. For WISDOM is the HOLY SPEAR itself, long lost to the Knights of
the Grail but eventually recovered by The Pure Fool.
Meanwhile, during
the Feast of the Grail, Parzival stands still and spell- bound like a rude
clod. He sees the CUP of the Grail uncovered, he witnesses the ceremony of
the Companions of the Grail, and he attains a certain interior
UNDERSTANDING which transcends knowledge. For the CUP is the
UNDERSTANDING, though in this instance it was divorced from the WILL or
WISDOM, the Holy Spear which alone is capable of enlightening it
perfectly.
A word may now be
said regarding the nature of “The Pure Fool”; and since this Ritual is one
for all time, we shall go back before the Christian Era (to which the
Grail Mystery is usually particularly attributed) back to Ancient China
where the testimony of that Holy Sage Lao Tze gives us no uncertain clue.
The Way of the Tao—Wu Wei—the accomplishment of all things by doing
Nothing, is precisely similar to the “Path” we have been describing. Lao
Tze says:
``The
multitude of men look satisfied and pleased as if
enjoying a full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in
spring. I alone seem listless and still, my desires
having as yet given no indication of their presence.
I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look
dejected and forlorn, as I I had no home to go to. The
multitude of men all have enough and to spare. I alone
seem to have lost everything. My mind is that of a
stupid man; I am in a state of chaos.
Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I
alone seem to be benighted. They look full of discrim-
ination, while I alone am dull and confused. I seem to
becarried about as on a sea, drifting as if I had
nowhere to rest. All men have their spheres of action,
while I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude
borderer.
Thus I ALONE AM DIFFERENT from other men, but I value
the Nursing-Mother (The Great Tao).''
So we see this
Fool is not the ordinary sort of foolish and besotted person to which the
form is usually applied. In his Foolishness we find his difference from
his fellows; for in sooth it is the Divine Madness of Ecstasy which
redeems from all pain. It is “That which remains" after the sorrows and
shadows that pass and are done, have left our being. Then Existence is
recognized to be Pure Joy. But Understanding without Wisdom is Pure
Darkness, and in this state is Parzival discovered by Guernemanz at the
end of the Ceremony. This is a darkness even Guernemanz is unable to
comprehend, for he says:
Why
standest thou there?
Wist thou what thou sawest?
And Parzival,
shaking his head slightly, he continues:
Thou art then nothing but a Fool!
And pushing
Parzival through a small door he cries angrily:
Come
away, on thy road the gone
And put my rede to use:
Leave all our swans for the future alone
And seek thyself a gander, a goose.
And so it came
about that Parzival set out alone upon his Holy Quest.
Point II. THE TEMPTING OF PARZIVAL |
