Thursday, October 10, 2019

ХЕРМАН ХЕСЕ: Die Morgenlandfahrt

Патување на Исток

(МЕЃУНАРОДЕН СОЈУЗ)

I
It was my destiny to join in a great experience. Having had the good fortune to belong to the LEAGUE, I was permitted to be a participant in a unique journey. What wander it had at the time! How radiant and comet-like it seemed, and how quickly it has been forgotten and allowed to fall into disrepute. For this reason, I have decided to attempt a short description of this fabulous journey, a journey the like of which had not been attempted since the days of Hugo and mad Roland. Ours have been remarkable times, this period since the World War, troubled and confused, yet, despite this, fertile. I don’t think that I am under any illusion about the difficulties of my attempt; they are very great and are not only of a subjective nature, although these alone would be considerable. For not only do I no longer posses the tokens, mementos, documents and diaries relating to the journey, but in the difficult years of misfortune, sickness and deep affliction which have elapsed since then, a large number of my recollections have also vanished. As a result of the buffets of Fate and because of the continual discouragement, my memory as well as my confidence in these earlier vivid recollections have been impaired. But apart of these purely personal notes, I am handicapped because of my former vow to the LEAGUE; for although this vow permits unrestricted communication of my personal experiences, it forbids any disclosures about the LEAGUE itself. And even though the LEAGUE seems to have had no visible existence for a long time and I have not seen any of its members again, no allurement or treat in the world would induce me to break the vow. On the contrary, if today or tomorrow I had to appear before court-martial and was given the option of dying or divulging the secrets of the LEAGUE, I would joyously seal my vow to the LEAGUE with death.
It can be noted here that since the travel diary of Count Keyserling, several books have appeared in which the authors, partly unconsciously, but also partly deliberately, have given the impression that they are brothers of the LEAGUE and had taken part in the Journey to the East. Incidentally, even the adventurous travel accounts of Ossendowski come under this justifiable suspicion. But they all have nothing to do with the LEAGUE and our Journey to the East, or at any rate, no more than ministers of a small sanctimonious sect have to do with the Savior, the Apostles and the Holy Ghost to whom they refer for special favor and membership. Even if Count Keyserling really sailed around the world with ease, and if Ossendowski actually traversed the countries he described, yet their journeys were not remarkable and they discovered no new territory, whereas at certain stages of our Journey to the East, although the commonplace aids of modern travel such as railways, steamers, telegraph, automobiles, airplanes, etc. were renounced, we penetrated into heroic and magical. It was shortly after the World War, and the beliefs of the conquered nations were in an extraordinary state of unreality. There was a readiness to believe in the things beyond reality even though only a few barriers were actually overcome and few advances made into the realm of a future psychiatry. Our journey at that time across the Moon Ocean to Famagusta under the leadership of Albert the Great, or say, the discovery of the Butterfly Island, 12 leagues beyond Zipangu, or the inspiring LEAGUE ceremony at Rudiger’s grave, - those were deeds and experiences which we allotted once only to people of our time and zone.
I see that am already coming up against one of the greatest obstacles of my account. The heights to which our deeds arose, the spiritual plane of experience to which they belong might be made proportionately more comprehensible to the reader if I were permitted to disclose to him the essence of the LEAGUE’S secret. But a great deal, perhaps everything will remain incredible and incomprehensible. One paradox, however, must be accepted and this that is necessary to continually attempt the seemingly impossible. I agree with Siddhartha, our wise friend from the East, who once said: “Words do not express thoughts very well; everything immediately becomes a little different, a little distorted a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another”. Even centuries ago the members and historians of our LEAGUE recognized and courageously faced up to this difficulty. One of the greatest of them gave expression to it in an immortal verse:
He who travels far will often see things
Far removed from what he believed was Truth.
When he talks about it in the fields at home,
He is often accused of lying,
For the obdurate people will not believe
What they do not see and distinctly feel.
Inexperience, I believe,
Will give little credence to my song.”
This inexperience has also created the position where, now that publicity is being given to our journey which once roused thousands to ecstasy, it is not only forgotten but a real taboo is imposed upon its recollection. History is rich in examples of a similar kind. The whole of world history often seems to me nothing more than a picture book which portrays  humanity’s most powerful and senseless desire – the desire to forget. Does not each generation, by means of suppression, concealment and ridicule, efface what the previous generation considered most important? Have we not just had the experience that a long, horrible, monstrous war has been forgotten, gainsaid, distorted and dismissed by all nations? And now that they have had a short respite, are not the same nations trying to recall by means of exciting war novels what they themselves caused and endured a few years ago? In the same way, the day of discovery will come for the deeds and sorrows of our LEAGUE, which are now either forgotten or are a laughingstock in the world, and my notes should make a small contribution towards it.
One of the characteristics of the Journey to the East was that although the LEAGUE aimed at quite definite, very lofty goals during this journey (they belong to the secret category and are therefore not communicable), yet every single participant could have his own private goals. Indeed, he had to have them; for no one was included who did not have such private goals, and every single one of us, while appearing to share common ideals and goals and to fight under a common flag, carried his own fond childhood dream within his heart as a source of inner strength and comfort. My own goal for the Journey, about which the President questioned me before my acceptance into the LEAGUE, was a simple one, but many members of the LEAGUE had set themselves goals which, although I respected, I could not fully understand. For example, one of them was a treasure-seeker and he thought of nothing else but of winning a great treasure which he called “Tao”. Still another had conceived the idea of capturing a certain snake to which he attributed magical powers and which he called Kundalini. My own journey and life-goal, which had colored my dreams since my late boyhood, was to see the beautiful princess Fatima, and if possible, to win her love.
At the time that I had the good fortune to join the LEAGUE – that is, immediately after the end of the World War – our country was full of saviors, prophets, and disciples, of presentiments about the end of the world, or hopes for the dawn of a Third Empire. Shattered by the war, in despair as a result of deprivation and hunger, greatly disillusioned by the seemingly futility of all sacrifices in blood and goods, our people at that time were lured my many phantoms, but there were also many real spiritual advances. There were Bacchanalian dance societies and Anabaptist groups, there was one thing after another that seemed to point to what was wonderful and beyond the veil. There was also at that time a widespread leanings towards Indian, ancient Persian and another Eastern mysteries and religions, an all this gave most people the impression that our ancient LEAGUE was one of the many newly-blossomed cults, and that after a few years it would also be partly forgotten, despised and decried. The faithful amongst its disciples cannot dispute this.
How well do I remember the hour when, after the expiration of my probation year, I presented myself before the High Throne. I was given insight to the project of the Journey to the East, and after I dedicated myself, body and soul, to this project, I was asked in a friendly way what I am personally hoped to gain from this journey into the legendary realm.
Although blushing somewhat, I confessed frankly and unhesitatingly to the assembled officials that it was my heart’s desire to be allowed to see Princess Fatima. The Speaker, interpreting this allusion, gently placed his hand on my hand and uttered the formula which confirmed my admission as a member of a LEGUE. “Anima pia” - he said and bade me be constant in faith, courageous in danger, and to love my fellow-men. Well-schooled during my year’s probation, I took the oath, renounced the world and its superstitions and had the LEAGUE ring placed on my finger to the words form one of the most beautiful chapters in our LEGUE’S history:
On earth and in the air, in water and fire,
The spirits are subservient to him,
His glance frightens and tames the wildest beasts,
And even the Anti-Christian must approach him with awe… etc”


(I изд. 1932, S. Fischer Verlag)

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