Hermann Hesse ~ Stufen December 18, 2008

Stufen

Wie jede Blüte welkt und jede Jugend
Dem Alter weicht, blüht jede Lebensstufe,
Blüht jede Weisheit auch und jede Tugend
Zu ihrer Zeit und darf nicht ewig dauern.
Es muß das Herz bei jedem Lebensrufe
Bereit zum Abschied sein und Neubeginne,
Um sich in Tapferkeit und ohne Trauern
In andre, neue Bindungen zu geben.
Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne,
Der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu leben.

Wir sollen heiter Raum um Raum durchschreiten,
An keinem wie an einer Heimat hängen,
Der Weltgeist will nicht fesseln uns und engen,
Er will uns Stuf’ um Stufe heben, weiten.
Kaum sind wir heimisch einem Lebenskreise
Und traulich eingewohnt, so droht Erschlaffen,
Nur wer bereit zu Aufbruch ist und Reise,
Mag lähmender Gewöhnung sich entraffen.

Es wird vielleicht auch noch die Todesstunde
Uns neuen Räumen jung entgegen senden,
Des Lebens Ruf an uns wird niemals enden…
Wohlan denn, Herz, nimm Abschied und gesunde!

I have always liked this poem.  Hermann Hesse has been one of my favorite writers ever since I read him back in College.  I can remember times when I wrote to him in my journal asking him to give me answers.  Asking him to guide me and also wishing I could write just a bit like him.  I have always admired the way he could fictionally personify an inner struggle or feeling.

I reread Steppenwolf a few years ago but haven’t read any of his works since.  I have been thinking more about Narziss und Goldmund recently and might pick that one up and reread it.

Here is a translation of Stufen (Steps) that I found online:

As every blossom wilts and every youth yield to age
blooms every step of life, and every wisdom and every virtue
in its time and shall not last.
At every step in life must the heart
be prepared for loss and new beginnings,
with courage and without sorrow
in others, to offer new attachments/bonds.
And in every beginning there is a magic,
that protects us and helps us to live.
We should cheerfully stride from place to place
without attachment to any one or nation.
The world’s spirit shall not make us captive,
but will lift us from step to step, onwards.
Scarcely as we are come into life
and are finally at home, then threatens loss of vigor.
Only those who are ready to depart and travel,
may be comfortable with this.
It will perhaps that the hour of our death
will show us yet new possibilities.
Life’s call shall not end.
Therefore, my heart, grasp both the farewell and with it be well.

Found at this site: http://www.bachlund.org/Stufen.htm

Die Weisse Rose September 29, 2007

This morning, very early, I suddenly woke up and my first thought was Sophie Scholl and the White Rose. I have absolutely NO idea why they came to mind. Years ago I read a few books about the White Rose (in German: Die Weisse Rose) and was completely fascinated with them.

From Wikipedia:

White Rose (German: die Weiße Rose) was a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of a number of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to German dictator Adolf Hitler’s regime. Six members, the core members, of the group were arrested by the Gestapo, convicted and executed by beheading in 1943. The text of their sixth leaflet was smuggled out of Germany through Scandinavia to England, and in July 1943 copies of it were dropped over Germany by Allied planes, retitled “The Manifesto of the Students of Munich.” Today, the members of the White Rose are honored in Germany as great heroes who opposed the Third Reich in the face of deadly danger for such resistance.

They were young students in their early 20s. They were Germans. They opened their eyes and saw what was going on in Germany. They could not sit still and do nothing. They knew that they were risking their lives and that they could be severely punished. Yet they still acted. In the end, they were caught and executed.

When I read about them, I kept thinking about the psychology of resistance and civil courage. What makes some people stand up, resist, speak up, fight, hide someone, help someone…and what makes others close their eyes or look the other way. In Nazi-Germany (and France, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Hungary and other countries…) there were such people. I am here today because of such people.

But there weren’t enough.

I think of Raoul Wallenberg, another human being who risked his life to save Jews. He was a Swedish humanitarian sent to Budapest, Hungary under diplomatic cover to rescue Jews from the Holocaust. He saved thousands.

In researching these people, still today I ask myself this question: what would I have done, had I been a non-Jew watching people around me disappear, knowing what was happening to them.

What would I do if faced with a similar situation today? I know what I hope the answer would be. I want to believe strongly that I would have the same courage Sophie and her brother and all these other humans had. The truth is I do not know if I would. Perhaps one day I will be faced with such a situation and only then will I know.

So think about it. You. What would you do to fight injustice? How far would YOU go?