Chapter 3 -2

In any case, Knecht found nothing new about boarding life, and he adapted without difficulty. For this reason, few important events of his life during the Eichholtz period survive.He was presumably out of school when there was a terrible fire in Greek Building.We checked the transcripts we could find, showing that he often got top grades in music and Latin, and above average in mathematics and Greek, and that he kept popping up in the Hall Chronicles. Records, for example: "Innate talent, hard work, good conduct" or "High talent, good conduct, highly valued by teachers".As for what kind of punishment Knecht had received in Eichholtz, there is no way to find out. The punishment record has been destroyed by fire along with many other things.Later I heard from a classmate that he did remember that Knecht was punished only once in four years (no weekend vacation once), because he flatly refused to name a classmate who violated the school rules.This rumor sounded credible, Knecht undoubtedly always valued friendship and never flattered his superiors.It is unlikely, however, that this sanction was a unique punishment during the four-year period.

Since we have very little material collected about Knecht's early life in elite schools, here we can only quote a passage from Knecht's later lectures on the glass bead game as evidence.First of all, Knecht did not draft this report for beginners. A student recorded his extemporaneous speech in shorthand. In the middle of his speech, Knecht talked about the analogy and association methods used in the glass bead game, and distinguished the latter into two types, that is, generally recognized "orthodox" associations and purely subjective "private" associations.He said: "Associations of a private nature are absolutely forbidden in the glass bead game, but without losing their private value. Let me give you an example, which happened in my own schooldays." I was about fourteen years old, in the early spring of February or March, and one afternoon a classmate asked me to go out with him to cut some elderberry branches. Branches made pipes. We set off together. That must be a particularly beautiful day in the world, at least in my memory, it is very beautiful, leaving me with a childhood experience that I will never forget. The ground is very wet, and the snow has completely melted and disappeared. The brook was rushing on, green in color. The buds and petals in full bloom had given color to the bare bushes, and there was a breath in the air, a breath both alive and dead. It was the smell of damp earth, rotting leaves, and budding buds, the scent of the first violets that people always look forward to, but none of them actually bloomed.

"We came to a clump of elder trees, where tiny shoots had sprouted, but not a single leaf in sight, and when I cut down a branch, a strong bittersweet smell came upon me, It was as if all the breath of spring was gathered in the branch, and it seemed to be able to multiply by itself, and it was spraying out at me. I was completely overwhelmed. I smelled the knife, smelled the hand, smelled the elderberry Branches, it is the sap that exudes such an irresistible and compelling aroma. We did not mention this smell to each other. But my companion smelled his own branch for a long time, and thought silently, no doubt the aroma also revealed to him some sense.

"Yes, every experience has its own magic factor. In my case, the spring that has come - just as I walked through the wet grassland with streams, feeling the dirt and buds I was mesmerized when I breathed, and the aroma of this elderberry branch in front of me hit the foreground, condensing and raising it into a metaphor and intoxication full of meaning. Maybe this childhood experience I cited lacked connection , too isolated, but I will never forget this smell. Or rather, from then on, until old age, whenever I meet this scent again, I will recall the experience of realizing the meaning of the scent for the first time. Now I go back to Add the second factor. At that time, I saw a very old music score in my piano teacher. It was a collection of Schubert's songs. After reading it again, upon my request, the teacher agreed to lend me a few days.

Whenever I have free time, I am fascinated by the study of Schubert.Up to that day, I was completely unfamiliar with Schubert, but I was fascinated by him as soon as I read it.On the same day or the next day after cutting the elderberry branch, I discovered Schubert's spring carol "Limeflower Breaths Fragrance", and the initial chord accompanied by the piano suddenly made me feel as if I had already known this music.These chords emanate the same notes as elderberry twigs.The same fragrance, the same bitter and sweet, the same strong and compelling, the same full of early spring breath!From that moment on, the early spring—the aroma of elderberry—the Schubert chords have become, for me, related, not only fixed, but absolutely in harmony.Once the chord hits, I immediately smell the slightly sour tree sap, both of which mean to me: spring is here.

"I cherish this personal association very much, and I will never give it up. But this association--two spiritual experiences that come to mind every early spring--are purely personal. Of course, it is It can be expressed, as I have just explained to you. But it cannot be communicated. I can make you understand my associations, but I cannot make you—even just one person—translate my private associations into yours. Appropriate signs of yourself, let it act as a mechanism, so that you also respond to the same signal without error, and always follow the same track." An old classmate of Knecht, later promoted to the head of the glass bead game archives, according to his recollection, Knecht was generally a happy boy, very quiet, and occasionally played music. A startlingly fascinated or beaming expression, rarely agitated or warmed up, only occasionally revealed when playing his favorite game of Rhythm Ball.This healthy, good-natured child had accidents on several occasions, which caused others to laugh at him or worry about him. The incidents happened when some students were expelled from the school. In fact, this kind of situation is common in lower grade classes.When Knecht first noticed that a classmate was absent from class and games and was still missing the next day, he heard that the child was not sick, but had been expelled and left school forever. It was also impossible to go back to school, which made Knecht not only very sad, but also in a trance for many days.Years later, this classmate heard Knecht himself say to him: "Whenever a student is sent home from Eichholtz, I feel as if a person is dead. If someone asks me why I am so sad , I might say, that I not only sympathized with the poor man who ruined his career by frivolity and indolence, but feared that I might do the same someday. It was only after my own head that I began to gain a deeper understanding of events. It was then that I realized that expulsion of elite students was not just a disaster and a punishment, but also that many of those expelled were just happy to go home I also just realized that the matter is not simply a matter of judging and punishing a frivolous student, but that there is an "outside world" where all our elite students come from, and that world has not stopped long ago as I imagined in my heart Existence. On the contrary, in the minds of many children, it is still the great reality that is full of attraction, and it always attracts them, and finally attracts them all back. Perhaps it is not individuals who are attracted by it, but All of us. The distant world from which we have left draws so powerfully, perhaps not at all on the weak-willed and low-spirited. Perhaps their apparent fall is not a fall and suffering at all, but a forward Leap forward and upward movement. Perhaps we who remain in Eichholtz in good order are really weaklings and cowards."

As we shall see, this idea later had an extremely important influence on Knecht. Every reunion with the music master is a great joy for Knecht.Every two or three months at most, music masters would come to Eichholtz to instruct music teaching, often staying at the home of a teacher who was friendly with him for several days.In one performance of Monteverde's Vespers, he even directed the last rehearsal himself.The most important thing is that he also pays attention to cultivating talented music students, and Knecht is also one of the children he takes care of like a father.He used to spend an hour with Knecht sitting at the piano in the practice room, explaining the works of one of his favorite musicians, or explaining a typical example from ancient music theory.Knecht later recalled: "Playing a round with a master musician, or listening to him make an absurd transformation of a poorly conceived work, is an incomparably solemn or joyful experience. Sometimes people are moved to tears, and sometimes people can't help laughing. Listening to him for an hour of music lessons is like taking a bath and giving you a massage."

Knecht's study at Eichholtz is about to expire, and he will be promoted to another school with twelve other students of the same level. He explained the purpose and regulations of Castalia, and also described the future path for them in the name of religious groups. They may all eventually become the highest authorities of religious groups.The Headmaster's speech was part of a school-wide celebration for the leavers, who were treated like guests of honor by teachers and fellow students for several days.During the consecutive days of activities, there was a well-prepared performance every day. This time the performance was a giant chorus from the seventeenth century, and even the music masters were present to listen.

After the headmaster finished his speech, when everyone was walking towards the newly decorated dining room, Knecht walked up to the music master and asked: "Just now the headmaster told us that the ordinary secondary and higher schools outside are the same as our Castalian school. Not the same. He says students there study 'free' majors at their universities.If I'm not mistaken, I think we Castalian students don't know this major at all.How should I understand this question?Why is it called a 'liberal' profession?Why did Castari exclude this specialty? " The music master pulled the young man aside and stopped under a big cedar tree.A sly smile caused fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his answer at that time was: "Dear friend, because your surname is Knecht, maybe this is why the word 'freedom' attracts you so much. But don't take such things too seriously!

Non-Castalians tend to take the word liberty too seriously, and even sound a little impassioned.We Castalians use that word with sarcasm.For those students, freedom is nothing more than choosing a major.This choice creates an illusion of freedom when, in most cases, the choice comes from the student's family and rarely from the student himself.What's more, some fathers would rather bite off their tongues than truly let their sons choose freely.But I may be slanderous in saying this.Let's not mention that! Freedom does exist, but only for a single time, for the choice of professional action.Once the profession has been chosen, freedom ends.When students enter the university, whether they study medicine, law or engineering, they have to study extremely strict and rigid courses until they pass a series of examinations.When he passed the exam and obtained a license to practice freely, he seemed to be able to engage in a career of his choice with a free appearance.Not necessarily, he would be the slave of all sorts of lower powers, and everything depended on his success, money, fame and status, on his ability to please the people.He had to submit to elections, he had to earn a lot of money, he had to compete relentlessly with class groups, family groups, parties, and the press.In this way he gets the freedom to be successful and rich, and at the same time he gets the reward of being hated by the losers, and vice versa.The opposite is true for elite students and those who later become members of religious groups.He doesn't have the problem of 'choosing' a career.He does not consider himself a better judge of his talents than his teacher.He always accepts the teacher's arrangement for his choice of position and position in the group. In a word, if a person has not done anything out of line, then the teacher must make appropriate arrangements according to this person's character, talent and shortcomings. .Every student in an elite school, who passes the primary examinations, enjoys the greatest freedom one can expect, amidst this seeming unfreedom.

Those who 'freely' chose a major had to go through a narrow and rigid curriculum and rigorous examinations in order to lay the foundation for their future, while students in elite schools were far more free, and many Once they start independent research, they choose a topic to be engaged in all their lives. Many people often choose very remote or even stupid topics. No one hinders their research work, as long as they do not degenerate themselves.A person with the talent of a teacher is arranged to be a teacher, a person with the talent of an educator is made to be an educator, and a person with the talent of translation is made to be a translator. Everyone is arranged in the most suitable position for him, just as he wishes, He can both serve and be free in service.The most important thing is this: he is henceforth exempt from the occupational 'freedom' of horrific slavery for his entire life.He does not have to fight for money, honor, or status, he does not get involved in any party disputes, he will not be caught between public and private, personal and official, and he has no worries about success or failure.Now, my child, you see why the word 'freedom' always sounds funny when we speak of free choice. " The farewell to Eichholtz brought an end to a stage in Knecht's life.What had hitherto been a happy childhood, a life of obedience, harmony with all order, and ease, was now beginning a life of struggle, development, and difficulty.He was almost seventeen years old when he received the notice that he was about to transfer schools.A group of classmates were notified at the same time as him, so during this short intermission, this group of selected candidates had no important topics other than discussing where they were about to be transplanted.According to the practice, the school did not inform them until the last few days, and there were only a few days off between the graduation ceremony and the departure period. Knecht had a significant blessing during this holiday.The music master invited him to walk to his house for a few days.That is a very rare special encounter.Knecht and another graduate—since Knecht was still in Eichholtz, students were not allowed to travel alone—walked towards the forest and the mountains early one morning, and after climbing for three hours, They finally arrived at the round top of a mountain through the dense forest. Looking down from the peak, the whole picture of the shrinking Eichholtz can be seen. Although the distance is far away, the black shadows of the five big trees, the A large quadrangle of lawns, gleaming pools, tall school buildings, and the neighboring churches, villages, and famous woods are still clearly discernible.The two young men stood on the top of the mountain and looked down the mountain for a long time.Many of us will always miss this lovely view, which remains unchanged today.Because after the fire, all the buildings were rebuilt as they were, and three of the five big trees survived the catastrophe and still stand as before.The two young people looked at the school down the mountain, their home for many years, and now they were about to bid farewell to the long journey. They couldn't help feeling emotional and sad. "I don't think I've noticed how beautiful it is here before," said Joseph's companion, breaking the silence. "Well, it's probably because I'm saying goodbye that I can really see it for the first time." "Exactly," Knecht replied, "you're right, and I feel the same way. But even if we leave, we still have not separated from Eichholtz in essence. Only those who leave forever can truly leave Eichholtz." Schholtz, for example, Otto who can write Latin limericks, or Charlemagne who can lurk underwater for a long time, and a few others. They are all really gone and divorced. I have not thought of them for a long time, Now it's all in my heart again. You can laugh at me, but I do think that these traitors are wrong, but there is something that touches me, just like the apostate angel Ruchefer, who is always a little scary They may have done something wrong, or rather, they were unquestionably wrong, but at least they did what they wanted to do, and some work was done, and they dared to take a leap forward, That takes courage. And us people, we study hard, we're good-natured, we're very sensible, but we don't act, we never leap forward!" "I don't think so," said one of Knecht's companions. "Some of them didn't act or take risks. They just played around until they were expelled from the school."Maybe I didn't fully understand what you meant.What do you mean by jumping? " "I mean being able to lose myself, being able to get serious, well, that's it - this is jumping! I don't want to jump back to my childhood home, I don't want to go back to the old life, they don't appeal to me anymore, and I almost put They have completely forgotten. I just hope that a certain moment will come suddenly, as long as it meets people's needs, I can also forget myself and jump forward, of course not towards smallness and inferiority, but forward to a higher distance." "Yes, aren't we on the way. Eichholtz is a stage, and the next step is to go higher. Finally, the highest religious group is waiting for us." "Yes, but I mean more than that. Let's go on, my friend, it's nice to walk, it puts me in a good mood. Our days are dreary indeed." We relayed Knecht's emotions and speech judgments from his classmates at the time. Knecht obviously started his fanatical pursuit as early as his youth. The two hikers walked for two full days until they reached the residence of the music master, in an old monastery high in the mountains of Montpo, where the master was giving conducting lessons.Knecht's companion was arranged to live in the guest room, while Knecht lived in a small room in the master's own living room.He had just packed his bags and finished his grooming when the master walked in.After shaking hands with the young man, the venerable old man sat down on a chair with a slight sigh, closed his eyes and rested for a while, which was his habit when he was extremely tired, and then Looking up at the guests, he said cordially: "Please forgive me, I am not a host who is good at entertaining. You must be very tired after trekking here on foot. To be honest, I am also very tired. The work schedule of the day is too tight. - If you don't intend to go to bed immediately, I should like to take you to my study for an hour now.You will be here for two whole days, and you and your schoolmates will be invited to dine with me tomorrow, but unfortunately I cannot give you much time, so I must try to find a few hours for you.How about we start right away? " He led Knecht into a small room with a huge circular vault. There was nothing but an old piano and two chairs in the room.They each sat down in a chair. "You're going to another stage soon," said the Music Master, "where you're going to learn all kinds of new things, a lot of which are wonderful, and you're sure to start playing Glass Bead very soon. All very well. Beautiful, and important, but one thing is more important than anything else: You will learn how to sit and meditate. This seems to be a must for everyone, but it is impossible to test. I hope you will get it right, really Learn it well, just like learning music. After learning this lesson, you will have the ability to decipher everything in the world. So I want to give you two or three introductory basic lessons. This is why I invite you to come. Today, tomorrow and The day after tomorrow, we shall all try to meditate on music for an hour. You drink a glass of milk now, so that hunger and thirst do not disturb your body and mind, and supper will be brought later." He knocked on the door and someone brought a glass of milk. "Drink slowly, slowly," he said, "don't worry, don't talk." Knecht drank the glass of cool milk very slowly.Facing this respectable old man.The old man closed his eyes again, his face looked really old, his expression was very kind and peaceful, his smile was directed towards his heart, as if he had entered his own thoughts, like a tired man as when a person dips his feet in a footbath.The old man exuded a peaceful and quiet breath, and Knecht felt this breath, and his heart became more and more peaceful. Now the maestro turned from his chair and put his hands on the piano.He played a theme, and then developed it in variations, which seemed to come from some classic Italian composer.He instructs his guest how to associate the piece of music throughout its performance, to imagine a dance, a succession of balanced gymnastic movements, a succession of small and large dance steps centered on a uniform axis , to teach him how to concentrate and only pay attention to the graphics formed by these dance steps.He played this rhythm again, thought about it for a while, played it again, and then sat quietly with his eyes half closed and his hands on his knees, repeating and examining the rhythm in his heart without moving. piece of music.Now even the student began to listen from the bottom of his heart, saw fragments of the staff, saw something move before his eyes.Stepping, jumping, and flying, he tried to read and recognize those movements that were like the curves drawn by birds in flight.And these things got entangled with each other, and all disappeared again; he had to start all over again, and at the very moment when he was concentrating, he felt a sudden blankness in his heart.Looking back in a daze, he saw the quiet face of the master of music floating in the laser light at dusk, so he hurried back and followed the old road back to the spiritual space that he slipped and left just now.Then he heard the sound of music ringing in his heart again, saw the music stepping there, drawing dancing lines, and he traced the dancing steps of those invisible dancers in his heart... When he slipped out of his own mental space again, when he once again felt the chair he was sitting on, the flagstone floor with straw mats under his feet, and the twilight beginning to darken outside the window, he felt as if he had spent a very long time. long life span.At this moment, he felt that someone was staring at him, so he raised his head and met the eyes of the music master who was examining him.The maestro nodded to him with an almost imperceptible movement, played with one finger the last variation of the Italian piece in pianissimo, and rose to his feet. "You stay here," he said, "and I'll be back. Try to recall the music again, and notice the changes in the patterns! But don't force yourself, it's just a game. If you fall asleep thinking about it, That's okay too." He left after speaking.He had one more thing to deal with after a busy day, and it wasn't the lighthearted job he'd hoped for.There was a student in the conducting class, a talented but vain and arrogant young man, and the master had to talk to him about the mistakes and vices he had shown, and he had to use both grace and violence.The master sighed.Why can't the problem be completely solved, and the mistakes that have been admitted are always repeated again and again!People have to fight against the same mistakes over and over again, and the same weeds will never be pulled out!The virtuous, the gaudy, that once dominated musical life in the age of the backpage text, and was wiped out by the musical renaissance - is now burgeoning again. When he came back from this business, and asked Joseph to dine with him, he found the boy sitting still, looking cheerful, without any signs of fatigue. "It's wonderful," said the boy dreamily, "that the music disappeared from my mind for a moment, and then reappeared completely changed." "Just let the music reverberate freely in your heart," the master said, leading him into a small living room, where bread and fruit were already set on a table.They began to eat, and the master invited him to attend a conducting lesson for a while tomorrow morning.Before sending the guest back to the small room to rest, the master reminded again: "The things you see when you sit and meditate, the music is displayed in front of your eyes in graphic patterns. If they are in your favor, try to record them with a pen." Knecht found that there were paper and pens on the table in his small room, so he didn't go to bed in a hurry, but tried to draw the figure that the piece of music transformed into in his mind with a pen.He first drew a line, and then drew many short branch lines extending obliquely on this line. The gaps between them all conformed to the rhythm of the rhythm, which looked like the regular arrangement of leaves on the branches.The image did not satisfy him, but he was enthusiastic, and tried again and again, until finally he bent the lines into circles, and the branches spread out like flowers in a garland. .Then he went to bed and fell asleep immediately.In the dream, he came to the forest on the peak where he had a rest with his classmates yesterday, overlooking the lovely Eichholtz at the foot of the mountain.As he was staring intently, the quadrangle where the school buildings were located gradually turned into an ellipse, and then turned into a circle again, turning into a garland. The garland began to rotate slowly, turning faster and faster, until it was dizzying. It was chaotic, and finally burst open suddenly, exploding into countless twinkling stars. Knecht had forgotten the dream when he woke up, but later he went for an early morning walk with the music master. When the master asked him if he had dreamed at night, he vaguely felt that he had had an unpleasant or disturbing dream.He thought about it again, and when he remembered it, he described the scene in the dream; at the same time, he felt very surprised that the dream did not hurt him. The master listened carefully to his narration. "Should dreams be taken seriously?" Joseph asked. "Can dreams be interpreted?" The music master looked him straight in the eyes and replied succinctly: "We should pay attention to everything, because everything can be explained." After they walked for a while, the master asked him kindly: "Which school would you most like to go to?" Joseph blushed.He whispered very quickly, "Waldzel, I think." The master nodded.- I thought so too.You've always known the Waldzell motto: Gignitautemsrtififfign..." Knecht was still blushing, but he had memorized all the proverbs that the students were familiar with. Walzell is the holy place for cultivating skilled glass bead players. The old man looked at him kindly. "That's probably your way, Joseph. You know, not everyone approves of the glass bead game. They say it's just a backup to art, and the people who play it are art for art's sake, They are no longer dedicated to the work of the soul, but amateur artists who play with fantasies and improvisations. You will see how much of this statement is actually true. Perhaps you have already heard about the glass bead game Have your own opinion, expect too much, maybe just the opposite. There is no doubt that the glass bead game has its dangers. But we love it for its dangers, and only the weak are dismissed as riskless But you must always remember what I have always said to you: Our goal is to correctly understand contradictions and opposites, first of course as contradictions, but then as opposite poles of a unity. This is the glass bead game. Characteristic. The glass bead game is loved by artistically endowed people because it affords them the opportunity to improvise.—Some serious scientists, and even some musicians, despise this game because they think it lacks every A level of rigor that a scientific profession can achieve. Well, you're going to have these kinds of contradictions, and over time you're going to find them to be subjective opposites rather than objective facts. A fanciful artist, for example, shuns pure mathematics or logic, not because he already knows and has any say in them, but because he naturally loves something else.You may think that this innate and strong instinct of love and hate is characteristic of little people, and that great and eminent people in real life do not have such strong feelings.All beings in my generation are just ordinary people, and they are just an attempt in the world, a half-way journey.And every man, even if he is only in the middle, there is still harmony and perfection, and he should strive to reach the center, not just circle around the edge.Please don't forget that one can be a rigorous logician or grammarian and at the same time be full of fantasy and music.One can be a musician or a glass bead player and at the same time be perfectly versed in all rules and order.Our goal is to cultivate such a person, to become such a person, no matter what day, no matter who he is with, anytime, anywhere, he can communicate the scientific or artistic issues he has studied.He can infuse the most transparent logical theory into the glass bead game, and can also make grammar full of creative fantasy.We should strive to be such a person, we should have the ability to take on the tasks of another position anytime, anywhere, without letting ourselves be confused and flustered by the unbearable pressure. " "I think I have understood," said Knecht. "Aren't the people who have such strong feelings of love and hate just those who are naturally passionate, while others are calmer and milder?" "That sounds right, but it's not," the music maestro said with a smile. "To be enthusiastic about everything and to do everything well requires a great deal of spiritual strength, courage and enthusiasm, nothing less. The enthusiasm you speak of is not spiritual strength, but the soul and the external world Forces of friction. Wherever what you call enthusiasm reigns, there is not so much aspiration and ambition as much as it is directed towards the wrong goal of self-isolation, and thus creates a tense and oppressive atmosphere of the times At the same time, those who strive towards the center with all their strength, those who strive towards the real being, towards the perfection, are outwardly calmer than the enthusiastic, because their burning flames cannot always be seen, e.g. Well, he never shouts or shakes his arms in a debate. But I can assure you, he's hot and burning!" "Oh, how good it would be for people to understand." Knecht was overwhelmed with emotion. How nice it would be to have a doctrine that everyone believed in!Now everything contradicts each other, everything goes its own way, and what is certain? Everything can be explained in this way, and it can be explained in the other way.People can describe the development history of the whole world as development and progress, and they can also describe it as nothing but degeneration and absurdity.Is there really no truth?Is there no really pure and valid doctrine? " The music master had never heard him speak in such a fierce tone. After walking for a while in silence, he replied: "There is truth, my child. But the 'doctrine' you desire, the absolute, perfect There is no doctrine that fills one with wisdom. Nor should you, my friend, aspire to a perfect doctrine, but to make yourself perfect. The divinity is in yourself, not in any concept or In books. Truth is experienced, truth cannot be taught. Josef Knecht, let yourself learn in the struggle, I might say that it has actually begun.” In the past few days, Joseph finally had the opportunity to witness the daily life and work of his beloved master, and admired him very much, although he could only see a very small part of the master's daily affairs.And the main thing is that the master of music won his heart, because the master invited him, took care of him, because this man who was so busy with his work and often looked so tired spared hour after hour for him, not to mention It's time!大师指点他的静修入门课程竟让他获得如此深刻和持久的印象——事实如此，这是他后来作出的判断——，并非通过传授某种特殊的高级技巧，而只在于大师的为人和他的示范作用。尽管克乃西特后来的老师们，在他下一年的静修课程中，给予了更多的指导，更精确的阐释，更严格的控制，也提出了更多的问题，作了更多的纠正，但音乐大师对这位青年的影响力却是最牢固的，他讲解得很少，往往只是确定主题后便开始示范演奏。克乃西特观察到，他的老师如何常常显得又苍老又疲倦，然而，在略一闭眼潜心内视之后，如何再度显得又沉稳、又快活、又亲切、又生气勃勃。克乃西特十分折服于这种走向内在灵魂泉源的道路，这种自骚动至平静的道路。关于这一切，克乃西特都是在这一次或那一次短暂散步或者用餐时随便谈话中零零星星听到的。 我们知道，大师当年也曾对如何进行玻璃球游戏为克乃西特讲过若干出色的指示性言语，可惜什么也未能流传下来。克乃西特还难以忘怀，主人如何尽心尽力照顾了约瑟夫的同伴，以减少那孩子附属品的感觉。老人似乎什么都想到了。 在蒙特坡短暂逗留期间，受了三次静修教育，旁听了一次指挥课，与音乐大师的几次谈话，对克乃西特具有不可估量的影响。毫无疑问，音乐大师为克乃西特的短暂学习取得效果选择了最有利的时刻。此次邀请的主要目的如他所述乃是指点克乃西特从内心掌握静修的人门课程，但是邀请本身也具有同样的重要性，这一殊遇也正是老师对他极为关心、期望甚高的表示，这使克乃西特的感召体验进入了第二个阶段。人们已恩准他一窥宗教团体最高当局的内情。最高当局十二位大师中的任何一位召见和接近毕业生中的某个学生，其意义绝不限于个人好感。身为大师，一言一行，总不止是个人私事。 临行前，两个男孩都得到了小礼品，约瑟夫得到的是一册两部巴赫合唱序曲总谱，同伴是一册袖珍本荷拉斯集子。音乐大师与克乃西特握手分别时对他说道：“过几天你就会知道自己分配在哪个学校了。我去文希霍兹的次数较多，很少去高级学校，但是我们肯定会在那里再见面的，只要我身体仍然健康。如果你愿意，不妨每年写一封信给我，特别是谈谈你学习音乐的进程。我不会阻止你批评你的老师，我对这种事情是不在乎的。无数工作等着你去做，我希望你能经受住考验。我们卡斯塔里人应该不仅仅是一个出类拔萃者，首先应该是一个严谨的团体。一座建筑，其中的每一块砖头唯有在整体中才具有自己的意义。离开了整体便无路可走。因而一个人上升得越高，承担的职务越重要，自由反倒越来越少，而责任越来越多。再见吧，我的青年朋友。你能在此逗留，真让我感到愉快。” 两个孩子踏上了归途，途中比来时更加快活，谈话也更多。生活在另一种情景和气氛中，接触的是不同环境的人，短短两天就使他们完全松弛了，对于艾希霍兹和即将来临的离别之惆怅感也变得淡薄了，反倒更加向往变化向往未来。他们在林中歇脚处，在蒙特坡某个陡峭的峡谷，都曾从衣袋里取出木笛用双声部吹奏几首民歌。当他们再度登上那座可以远眺艾希霍兹全景的峰顶，俯视学校的建筑和那些大树时，两人都觉得上次在这里的谈话似乎已是遥远的过去了。一切事物都有了一种全新的面貌。他们对此保持沉默，只对自己当时的感情和言论有点儿羞愧，事过境迁，已经全然毫无意义。 他们回到艾希霍兹次日便得知了自己的去处。克乃西特分配去华尔采尔学校。