NEUOFFENBARUNGThe devil of play and the rearing of children (1 April 1847)
1. Another kind of people, which is usually a great blunder in education, has a special inclination to all kinds of playfulness from their youth; they cannot spend their time in any other way than merely dallying and playing. This inclination to play is awakened on the part of short-sighted and stupid parents by the fact that they continually purchase a whole quantity of so-called children's toys for their small children, in order to make the children keep quiet with such toys when they are still very small, and when the children are somewhat more grown-up, to lead them to activity with just such toys.
2. For the sake of such children's games, there are even separate activities in the cities, and even more, there are even markets, where such stupidities are offered for sale in as diverse a selection as possible, not infrequently under the most scandalous forms.
3. Behold, there we have a source and again a new way by which the evil souls of departed people enter into the flesh of such children.
4. What will be the consequence of this? These children are already driven by these spirits dwelling in them to possess more and more toys; indeed, some parents' children have so many toys that this already makes up an efficient capital. The children finally become engrossed in this playfulness and have almost no rest and peace to think of anything else than their toys. The boys have riders, wooden riding horses, paper soldier's helmets, tin rifles and sabers; but when they are more grown-up, they want to have the wooden horses changed into living ones, and instead of the tin ones, real rifles are provided; for it is necessary that a young person learn first of all to dance, ride, fence and swim. Also an exercise in shooting with pistols cannot hurt; besides that, it goes without saying that a young person learns cavalry, as you say, before he even knows his mother tongue, learns to choke out a few modern foreign languages, naturally also knows his way around a fashion journal, gets used to pressing the ice cream gloves so tightly against his hand in his early youth that the fingers in them are stiff as a drum, and he is lucky who can do the first audition at a children's ball when he is still a boy, The parents of such a genius sometimes almost fall ill from sheer delight and shed many tears of joy, which tears, of course, as dissolved specifica in the scene, cause the strange effect that consists in this: because these same tears had to take such a ridiculous leave from the eyes, they then seek refuge in the ears of the same soul, whereby, however, the ears very strongly increase in unusual lengthening.
5. From such, not hopeful, but hopeless sons of such truly more than donkey-like parents become fops who know nothing because they have never learned anything that could have enriched the good intellect of their souls in the slightest.
6. But in order for such a fool to become perfect, he must also radically understand all noble games in the earliest time of his life, about which even the most useful (for hell, that goes without saying) instructions and even philosophical reflections are written and printed.
7. History would be better, of course, and geography, too; for of the gospel there we had better be silent! For one can only give the world worldly advice, but not Divine advice.
8. History and geography would at least bring such people closer to the Divine, while they are led straight to the lowest hell with skin and hair without mercy and pardon by the modern education shown above. And this is all the consequence of the gambling devil, which has taken possession of the flesh already in earliest youth and which belongs to the most stubborn ones; for he unites in himself the addiction to gambling, the addiction to pleasure, the constant addiction to entertainment, the addiction to material gain, and with it, the disguised addiction to power. This devil is the most difficult to bring out
of the human flesh, and goes out almost in no other way, as he went out with Judas Iscariot, who was still far better than the best present fashion-fool.
9. Similarly, the female gender is also formed in such a way that not infrequently the soul of a twelve- year-old so-called lady looks just like a Proteus; such a lady is already a fashionista in the cradle, because for this purpose she already gets several child dolls, so that she coiffures them, makes new clothes and also learns to give them certain postures, as she sees such in some journal. At the same time, of course, she must already begin to speak either French or English, where there is still no talk of praying for a long time. The dance master also soon gets a job, followed by the piano and drawing master.
10. In this way, with proper handling of instructive methods, the cradle child, who is barely able to clean herself, first becomes a child prodigy, and when such a girl has grown only five spans long, she is already an angel, if not a goddess.
11. It goes without saying that the catechist must play the court master in such a large house, not for the sake of religion, but only for the sake of the verbal credit.
12. When such a girl reaches maturity at the age of 13 or 14, she is dressed according to the great fashion journal and introduced into the so-called big world, on which occasion there are of course tears of joy among the parents when such a daughter, introduced into the big world for the first time, has found applause in it.
13. This daughter, in spite of the catechetical court master, often does not know a single text from the Scriptures, not even the "Our Father" and the Ten Commandments; for praying is something common, after all, and does not belong to the real so-called haute volée [high flying – tr]. The first thing that is looked at is the position, the gait, the posture when walking, whether this is journal-like, a pretty face, a strongly exposed neck, delicate, soft, white and round hands, and where possible even more a beautifully formed, gracefully full foot, and also whether such a girl is versed in noble coquetry; and of course that her approach, as one is wont to say, is very well chosen. Under such circumstances, then, such a female haute volée-modern splendor is ready.
14. How happy, many a donkey thinks, he would be if he could get such a magnificent female specimen for a wife! Yes, such a donkey would be happy; for such a splendid specimen could bring him in a short time to the most sober conviction that he really is a great donkey in the first place, and secondly, that his charming female splendid specimen was nothing but a whitewashed grave, or an image column gilded from the outside, whose inner wood does not contain a penny of value.
15. But what is the cause of such degeneracy? The cause has already been shown above; it is the possession of a so-called play-devil, who allows himself to do to mankind what children, especially girls, do to their dolls.
16. Wouldn't it be better, if already children have to have toys, that such things are given to them as toys, which in one or the other respect have reference to My childhood in the world; thereby a good instinct would be implanted in the children, and they would, when they are more grown-up, joyfully inquire for closer data and results, what all their toys represent and mean. Under such circumstances, a true catechist would then surely have a very gratifying job in planting a young vineyard, and would also soon reap amazing fruits.
17. But here is the completely opposite way. Instead of heaven, the child is already schooled in the cradle for hell, which then usually triumphs in the end.
18. Most of this caliber will be consigned to hell, because such people consider themselves to be very good, righteous, and, according to their concepts, completely virtuous for the world; therefore, an improvement is never to be thought of. According to the concept of such people, such an improvement would only be a decline and a worsening of their fine morals.
19. A thief and a murderer can feel remorse; a fornicator and an adulterer, even a drunkard, can be led by certain circumstances to realize his great folly, and it can be said to him: "Your sins are forgiven; but go and sin no more! But what should one say to this finely educated, haughty, exceedingly proud high world?! She considers herself just, exceedingly civilized, and observes the laws of refined tone and taste; she also supports poverty, if refined taste permits it, also goes to churches only, of course, when the elegant world tends to find itself there, also attends a sermon, if the preacher is a man of refined taste, and can deliver his sermon so prettily theatrically, naturally also has a pleasant voice and a pretty person. Of course, not much is noticed of the sermon; but if it is appropriate to the fine tone and taste, the preacher can then publish it in a dainty duodecimal format through printing anyway, dedicate it to a great lady, where this sermon then brings the preacher at least some coins, sometimes also a higher employment, and the bookseller, not because of the sermon, but because of the good taste and the noble lady to whom such a thing is dedicated, a quite considerable sale, admittedly not for rereading, but only for a dainty home library.
20. From this it is clear how difficult, if not impossible, it is to improve such people, for in their case, as you say, baptism and chrism are lost, and it will take a great deal in the spirit-world to bring such people onto the path of life; For such people – you shall hardly believe it – My name is disgusting, and I Myself am as good for them as either not at all, or at most like a miserable moralist of the old time, which morals, however, have no value anymore, because a much better one has been invented in Paris.
21. In the spiritual world, where of course the Parisian fashion journals no longer penetrate, there is of course a different wind; it is indeed a wind of grace, but for such souls it smells worse than the plague, therefore they flee long beforehand from the place where they might be encountered by such a wind of grace. I tell you: From this class of people, many will get into the dung of Satan, which means so much, as into that last foulness of matter, which will make the last journey, already announced to you, as enclosure with it's center.
22. This memorandum is clear and instructs you about many things; it would be unnecessary to say anything further about it, therefore to something different next!