Spirituality Faust - Pakt (Will Quadflieg, Gustaf Gründgens)

[Sovereign]

MEPHISTOPHELES:
I will bind myself here to serve you,
At your mere nod I shall not rest nor pause;
And when we meet again beyond this life,
You shall do the same for me.


FAUST:
That “beyond” concerns me little;
If you first smash this world to ruins,
Another may arise thereafter.
From this earth my joys well up,
This sun shines on my sufferings;
If I can only part from them,
Then let what will and can occur.
[…]


MEPHISTOPHELES:
In that spirit you may dare it.
Join with me; and in these days
You shall gladly see my arts.
I’ll give you what no human ever saw.


FAUST:
What would you, poor devil, give?
Was ever the human spirit, in its lofty striving,
Grasped by one of your kind?
Yet you have food that does not satisfy,
You have red gold that, without rest,
Like quicksilver runs through your hand,
A game no one ever wins,
[…]
Show me fruit that rots before it’s picked,
And trees that green themselves anew each day!


MEPHISTOPHELES:
Such a commission does not frighten me;
With such treasures I can serve.
But, good my friend, the time will also come
When we may calmly feast on something good.


FAUST:
If ever I lie content upon a bed of ease,
Then let that be the end of me at once!
If you can ever flatter me with lies
So that I am pleased with myself,
If you can deceive me with enjoyment—
That shall be my final day!
I offer you the wager!


MEPHISTOPHELES:
Agreed!


FAUST:
And hand to hand!
If ever I say to the passing moment:
“Stay! You are so beautiful!”
Then you may bind me in chains,
Then I will gladly perish!
Then let the death-bell toll,
Then you are free of your service,
The clock may stop, the hand may fall—
For me, time shall be no more!


MEPHISTOPHELES:
Think it through well—we shall not forget it.
[…]


FAUST:
You even demand something written, pedant?
Have you never known a man—nor a man’s word?
[…]
What do you want from me, evil spirit?
Bronze? Marble? Parchment? Paper?
Shall I write with stylus, chisel, quill?
I give you every choice.
[…]


MEPHISTOPHELES:
Blood is a very special fluid.


FAUST:
Have no fear that I will break this pact!
The striving of my whole strength
Is precisely what I promise.
[…]
Let us plunge into the roar of time,
Into the rolling stream of events!
There pain and pleasure,
Success and vexation
May alternate as they will;
Only through restless action does man prove himself.


MEPHISTOPHELES:
No limit and no goal are set for you.
If it pleases you, taste everywhere,
Snatch something even while fleeing;
May whatever delights you agree with you.
Only seize it—and don’t be dull!
[…]


MEPHISTOPHELES (in Faust’s long robe):
Despise but reason and knowledge,
Man’s highest powers;
Let illusion and magic works alone
Strengthen you through the spirit of lies—
Then I have you utterly.
[…]
I’ll drag him through wild living,
Through shallow insignificance;
He shall twitch, gape, and cling,
And before his greedy lips
Food and drink shall hover for his insatiability.
He will beg refreshment in vain;
And even had he not given himself to the devil,
He would still be bound to perish.

 

[Sovereign]

Dialogue between Faust and Mephisto​

Mephistopheles: Do I intrude upon thy rest?
Or would you care to talk?

Faust: What I’ve learned through your instruction
re-asserts again that big and small are only
the two sides to the one coin;
and that the elephant—for all his mighty strength—
is no different, basically, to the tiny flea.
So still I seek the force, the reason,
governing life’s flow,
and not just its external show.

Mephistopheles: The governing force? The reason?
Some things can’t be known;
they are beyond your reach even when shown.

Faust: Why should that be so?

Mephistopheles: They lie outside the boundaries
that words can address;
and man can only grasp those thoughts
which language can express.

Faust: What? Do you mean that words
are greater yet than man?

Mephistopheles: Indeed they are.

Faust: Then what of longing or affection;
pain or grief?
I can’t describe these,
yet I know they’re in my breast!
What are they?

Mephistopheles: Without substance, as mist is.

Faust: In that case, man is only air as well!
Er… [Pauses to look at script]
What has made me thirst, then,
To be instructed in those things
that are more than speech allows?

Mephistopheles: Your thirst is artificial,
fostered by the arrogance in you;
so look no further
than all your human brothers do:
sleep, eat, drink, and let that be sufficient.

Faust: Liar and foul traitor!
Where are the pulse and core of nature
you promised to reveal? Where?

Mephistopheles: Faustus, you lack the wit to see them
in every blade of grass.

Faust: Vile phantom! Lying fiend!

Mephistopheles: Faustus-worm!
Dare you rain curses down on me?
Now, spite and venom deeper than the sea
I’ll vent on you.

Faust: I’m learning
the Devil knows no more
than we poor fools.

Mephistopheles: The man who gives his soul
to Satan for instruction—
I would agree with you:
he is a poor fool.

Faust: As a guide to higher truths,
I really cannot recommend you.
And yet, says my contract,
signed in blood,
you still remain
constrained to serve me!
Serve me, then.
I will make use of your deceptive guile
and your Satanic anger.

Mephistopheles: Both will I put at your disposal.

 

[MelaninWarlord]

Do you like sounding eloquent ? Does your family speak like a posh gentleman like the Victorian era ?

 

[Sovereign]

Do you like sounding eloquent ? Does your family speak like a posh gentleman like the Victorian era ?

Nope they speak in slang and call me a mother fucker. I try to speak eloquently, but I can blacken my tongue real quick.