Schiller Theater Building

This view let me now state, for it brings to the solution of the problem a final, comprehensive formula: All things in nature have a shape, that is to say, a form, an outward semblance, that tells us what they are, that distinguishes them from ourselves and from each other. Permítanme afirmar ahora que este punto de vista aporta a la solución del problema una fórmula completa y definitiva: todas las cosas en la naturaleza tienen una forma, es decir, una apariencia externa que nos dice qué son, y que las distingue de nosotros mismos y de los demás. Unfailingly in nature these shapes express the inner life, the native quality, of the animal, tree, bird, fish, that they present to us; they are so characteristic, so recognizable, that we say simply, it is “natural” it should be so. Yet the moment we peer beneath this surface of things, the moment we look through the tranquil reflection of ourselves and the clouds above us, down into the clear, fluent, unfathomable depth of nature, how startling is the silence of it, how amazing the flow of life, how absorbing the mystery! Unceasingly the essence of things is taking shape in the matter of things, and this unspeakable process we call birth and growth. Awhile the spirit and the matter fade away together, and it is this that we call decadence, death. These two happenings seem jointed and interdependent, blended into one like a bubble and its iridescence, and they seem borne along upon a slowly moving air. This air is wonderful past all understanding. De manera infalible la naturaleza expresa la vida interna, la cualidad inicial del animal, el árbol, el pez, y así se muestra ante nosotros. Son tan característicos, tan reconocibles que simplemente decimos: es natural y así debería ser.