Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/294

 288 Goebel We can well understand that, many as were the points of contact and agreement between Goethe, the scientist and thinker, and Plato, he could not, as a poet, assent to the latter's abstract intellectualism, nor to his ethical ideal of pessimistic quietism. It is true that Plato's "ideas" are not mere abstract notions lacking activity and productiveness, yet they are, after all, like the " Mothers" to whom Faust descends, phantoms dwelling in the infinite, " life's pictures, restless, yet devoid of life." The conception of life which occupies the center of gravity in Goethe's inner world is, on the other hand, an ever active creative force, the direct manifestation of the divine, or as he has it in the wonderfully profound lines already quoted: So im Kleinem, ewig wie im Grossen Wirkt Natur, wirkt Menschengeist und beide Sind ein Abglanz jenes Urlichts droben, Das unsichtbar alle Welt erleuchtet. It is from the experience of this sacred spirit of life and its infinite manifestations that Goethe drew his sublime message that man is chosen to be a creator who, in the human sphere, is to continue and to perfect God's creation, a message greater than which was not given to humanity either before or after Goethe. Weltseele, komm, uns zu durchdringen! Dann mit dem Weltgeist selbst zu ringen, Wird unsrer Krafte Hochberuf. Teilnehmend fiihren gute Geister, Gelinde leitend, hochste Meister, Zu dem, der Alles schaff t und schuf. Und umzuschaffen das Geschaffne, Damit sichs nicht zum Starren waffne, Wirkt ewiges lebendiges Tun. Und was nicht war, nun will es werden, Zu reinen Sonnen, farbigen Erden, In keinem Falle darf es ruhn. Es soil sich regen, schaffend handeln, Erst sich gestalten, dann verwandeln, Nur scheinbar stets Momente still. Das Ewige regt sich fort in Allen: Denn Alles muss in Nichts zerfallen, Wenn es im Sein beharren will. JULIUS GOEBEL.