Page:Novalis Schriften - Volume 2.djvu/140

★ 130 ★ Philistines only live a day-to-day life. The principle means that appears to be their singular purpose. They do all this for the sake of mundane life; as it seems, and which their own utterances must make apparent. They only dabble in poetry under the call of necessity because they are used to a certain time out from their daily routine. As a rule, this time out occurs every seven days and could be called a poetic septan fever. Work is suspended on Sundays, they live a little better than usual and this Sunday intoxication ends with a somewhat deeper sleep than usual; therefore also everything runs at a faster pace on Mondays. Their parties de plaisir must be conventional, ordinary, fashionable, but they also digest their enjoyment, like everything, tediously and punctiliously.

The Philistine attains the greatest degree of his poetic existence on a journey, a wedding, an infant baptism, and in church. Here his wildest wishes are satisfied and often exceeded.

Their so-called religion acts like an opiate: irritating, numbing, relieving pain from weakness. Their morning and evening prayers, like breakfast and supper, are necessary to them. They cannot leave them anymore. The coarse Philistine imagines the joys of heaven under the image of a church festival, a wedding, a trip or a ball: the sublimated one turns heaven into a sumptuous church with beautiful music, lots of pomp, with chairs for the common groundling, and chapels and galleries for the distinguished.

The worst of them are the revolutionary Philistines, to which also the dregs of the aimlessly-wandering minds, the greedy race, belongs.