Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Ha! A rush of bliss (from Faust)
Ivan M. Granger September 12th, 2008
Ha! A rush of bliss (from Faust)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
English version by Peter Salm
Ha! A rush of bliss
flows suddenly through all my senses!
I feel a glow, a holy joy of life
which sets my veins and flesh afire.
Was it a god that drew these signs
which soothe my inward raging
and fill my wretched heart with joy,
and with mysterious strength
reveal about me Nature’s pulse?
Am I a god? The light pervades me so!
In these pure ciphers I can see
living Nature spread out before my soul.
At last I understand the sage’s words:
“The world of spirits is not closed:
your mind is shut, your heart is dead!
Pupil, stand up and unafraid
bathe your earthly breast in morning light!”
How things are weaving one in one;
each lives and works within the other.
Heaven’s angels dip and soar
and hold their golden pails aloft;
with fragrant blessings on their wings,
they penetrate the earthly realm from Heaven
and all make all resound in harmony.
What pageantry! But alas, a pageant and no more!
Where shall I clasp you, infinity of Nature?
You breasts, where? You wellspring of all life?
Heaven and earth depend on you –
toward you my parched soul is straining.
You flow, you nourish, yet I crave in vain.
— from Faust, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / Translated by Peter Salm
/ Photo by Shahram Sharif /
This section of Goethe’s Faust is worth deep contemplation. Only a genuine mystic, or someone very familiar with descriptions of mystical union, would know how to write a passage such as this.
The bliss experienced through the senses.
Being pervaded by light.
The quieting of the mind and emotions, the soothing of “inward raging.”
The heart being filled with an indescribable joy.
The “pure ciphers,” the awareness of essential emptiness or no-thing-ness, yet utter fulfillment in the experience of the radiant whole.
The transcendent awareness of Nature and the interconnectedness of things, “How things are weaving into one, / each lives and works within the other.”
The full vessel or cup holding a heavenly liquid, the “golden pails.”
A sublimely delightful fragrance or perfume.
The sense that everything is humming or vibrating in a symphonic harmony. Indeed, “What pageantry!”
Yet, to one not securely seated in the transcendent awareness, it can rise and then recede. Not yet possessing complete familiarity with the interior psychic terrain, how do you find your way back to that realm? It can suddenly seem all too ephemeral, intangible. Where is it? What is there to grab hold of?
The mystic must not merely stumble into the heavenly realm, but learn its pathways intimately, to return again and again until that bliss is recognized as one’s true home.
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Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Germany (1749 - 1832) Timeline |
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Dear Ivan - Thank you so much for the mystical journey to home base of bliss with this selection from Goethe. I also listened to the music, for once.
It was just divine - “Let Go and Flow”…
The poem has been sent on to a group of people that I know will resonate with it and take a journey of their own with it. ha, what bliss…
Julie Ann
Dear Ivan,
Wonderful,
after a long time i read him.
but as if was, yesterday.
Sitting in Goethe Sq, one afternoon,under his portrait,must be middle 70s, in my teens.
Wanted to decipher,if he was a poet .a mystic,philosopher or an administrator.
kept him in my mind, carried him, on all my travels and voyages.
German are blessed,they had a prophet unclaimed.unannounced.
He who strives on and lives to strive Can earn redemption still.
Thank you v.much Ivan,
you made my evening.
regards.
salam