Goethe Birthday

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Goethe was born in Frankfurt in 1749 and ended up living to be 83 years old. He was born, as it is said, with a silver spoon in his mouth. Goethe is often referred to the Shakespeare of Germany. My two favorite works of Goethe are Faust and the short fairytale of “The Green snake and the Beautiful Lily.” The former is considered, in mystic circles as a modern Gospel and the latter a fairy tale which is meant to be pondered as a “heart image”. The austrian philosopher/mystic, Rudolf Steiner referred to the fairy tale as, and I quote as, “The new way to Christ.” Goethe was reported to have a near brush with death one evening when his lungs heomoridged causing him to coughup great amounts of blood. It seems to be a frequent phenomenon that confronting one’s mortality leads to a deep appreciation of the spirit and This is certainly true in the case of Goethe. Some ofmy favorite quotes by Goethe are the following.

2: “To know of someone here and there, whom we acord with, who is living on with us, even in silence — this makes our earthly ball a peopled garden

The second quote writen

1: 6th September 1787: “…Supreme works of art, like the most sublime products of Nature, are created by man in conformity with true and natural law. All that is arbitrary, all that is invented, collapses: there is Necessity, there is God”

Rudolf Steiner, was greatly influenced by the works of Goethe. Steiner even named the center of his movement, Anthroposophy, the Goetheanum in honor of his mentor in the spirit. Steiner was tasked with cataloguing the works of Goethe, hence how he came to know them. To my estimation, the works of STeiner were a continuation of the inner realizations of Goethe. Goethe was little understood by his contemporaries. Nor was he generally accepted in his time. However, He is known to have found an exception to this in his friendship with german poet, Friedrich Schiller ( who incidentally wrote the words to what would become Beethoven’s 9th symphony, otherwise known as the Ode to Joy.

Goethe died in 1832 in Weimar from apparent heart failure at the age of 83. He is buried in the Ducal Vault in Weimar’s historical cemetery. In honor of Goethe I give to you today Goethe’s poem, Wanderers Nachtlied (Wanderers Night song) set to music by the great composer Franz Peta Schubert. I hope the peaceful text and emotionally evocative music touches you.Much more than this, I hope you share at least a fraction if what appreciation I have for this great human being. Happy Birthday Goethe. you are a beautiful flower in this,our people’d garden.

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