THE ORIGIN OF EVIL
(Notes)
Berlin, 22nd November, 1906.
It
is characteristic of the whole of modern literature that it speaks so
little of evil; materialism simply does not concern itself with evil.
A materialistic explanation can apparently be found for suffering,
illness and death; but not for evil. In the case of the animal one
speaks of cruelty, destructiveness, but one cannot call the animal
evil. Evil is confined to the human kingdom. Modern science tries to
grasp the human being out of the animal and eliminates all
differences between man and beast. It must therefore also deny evil.
In order to find evil one must enter fully into human qualities and
acknowledge that man lays claim to a kingdom of his own. We will now
consider this question from the standpoint of spiritual science.
There is an original
human wisdom which penetrates to the actual nature of things lying
behind the purely external appearance. In earlier ages this wisdom
was preserved in narrow circles to which entry was vouchsafed only
after strict tests. Before someone secured admission he must have
proved to the guardian of the wisdom that he would use his knowledge
only in the most selfless way. During the last decades the elementary
part of this wisdom-science has for certain reasons been popularised.
More and more of it will flow into daily life. We are standing only at
the beginning of this development.
Now how is evil
connected with actual human nature? It has often been sought to
explain evil. People have said that there is no evil in the actual
sense of the word it is a diminished good, it is the worst
good. For as there are different grades of existence in everything,
so too in goodness. Or they say: As the good is an original power, so
too is evil. In particular this view was expressed in the Persian
Myth of Ormuzd and Ahriman. Occult science is the first to show how
evil is to be understood out of the depths of human nature and the
whole nature of the cosmos. If one denies it one can in no way grasp
it. One must understand what task and mission evil has in the world.
From the development of man in the future we see how men have grown
out of the past and what evil is to signify in their path of
evolution.
Spiritual science
teaches of the existence of certain highly evolved men, the
initiates, and it has been taught in the Mystery Schools of all times
how man can bring himself to such a stage of evolution. Definite
exercises were prescribed there which develop man in quite a natural
way. They are exercises of meditation and concentration which are to
give man another kind of sight which cannot be attained with the
intellect and the five senses. Meditation in the first place leads
away from the grasp of the senses. Through inner soul-work man
becomes free of the senses. Something then takes place similar to the
operation on a man born blind. There is a kind of operation which
opens man's spiritual eyes and ears. It will be attained in the
development of the whole human race in the course of a long period of
time. But one must not disclaim the world when one wishes to rise
higher; an ascetic fleeing from the world does not serve
clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is the fruit of what the soul collects in
the sense-world. Greek philosophy beautifully compared the human soul
with a bee. The world of colour and light offers the soul honey which
it brings with it into the higher world. The soul must spiritualise
sense experience and carry it up into higher worlds.
Now what is the task of
the soul which is free from the body? We touch here upon an important
principle. Each being when it has developed to a higher stage becomes
guide and leader of those beings and forms through which it has
passed. When man has so spiritualised himself that he no longer needs
the physical body he works on the world from outside as spiritual
leader. Then the mission of this planet is fulfilled and it goes over
to another embodiment. The Earth will then obtain a new planetary
existence, and men will then be the gods of the new planet. The body
of humanity which is forsaken by the Spirit will be a lower kingdom.
We bear in us now a double nature: that which will rule on the next
planet and that which will be the lower kingdom. Just as the Earth
will incorporate itself afresh so has it also perfected itself out of
earlier processes of evolution. Just as the human beings will be the
gods of the next planet, so were the Beings who now lead us, men on
the previous planet and they had as lower element what we are as men
on Earth. In this way we see the connection of the Earth with
processes which lie in the past and in the future. The present stage
of man was once the stage of the Beings who are the creators and
leaders of men today, the Elohim, who manifest as leaders of human
evolution. And on the future planet men will have advanced so far
that they themselves are leaders and guides.
But one must not think
that there will be an exact recapitulation: the same is never
repeated. Nothing happens in the world twice; there was never the
earthly existence that there is now. Earth-existence signifies the
Cosmos of Love; existence on the previous planet signifies the Cosmos
of Wisdom. We are to evolve love from its most elementary stage to
its highest. Wisdom rests hidden on the foundation of
earth-existence. One should not speak therefore of the lower
physical human nature, for it is really the most perfected form of
man. One should look at the wisdom-filled structure of a bone, for
instance the upper thigh bone. We see there solved in the most
complete way the problem of how to carry the greatest possible mass
of weight with the employment of the least material and force. One
should look at the marvellous structure of the heart, of the brain,
The astral body does not indeed stand higher. It is the enjoyer
which makes continual attacks on the wisdom-filled heart. It will
still take a long time to become as perfect and wise as the physical
body. But it must become so, for that is the course of evolution. The
physical body had to evolve too; what is wise in it had to develop
out of unwisdom and error. Evolution of wisdom preceded the evolution
of love; love is not yet perfected. It is to be found in the whole of
nature, in plant, animal and man from the lowest sex-love to the
highest spiritualised love. Immense numbers of beings which the
love-urge brought forth are destroyed in the battle for existence.
Conflict is active wherever love is, the entry of love brings
conflict, necessary conflict. But love will also overcome it and
change conflict into harmony.
Wisdom is the
characteristic of physical nature and where this wisdom is permeated
by love is the beginning of earthly evolution. Just as today there is
conflict on the earth so was error to be found on the earlier planet.
Remarkable fabulous beings wandered about errors of nature
which were not capable of evolution. Love grows out of the loveless
and wisdom proceeds from unwisdom. Those who attain the goal of
earthly evolution will bring love into the next planet as a force of
nature, just as wisdom was once brought to Earth. The humanity of the
Earth look up to the gods as to the bringers of wisdom. The men of
the following planet will look up to the gods as to the bringers of
love. Wisdom is granted to men as divine revelation from the men of
the earlier planet. All the kingdoms of the world are connected with
one another. If there were no plants then in a short time the breath
of life would become tainted; for men and animals inhale oxygen and
breathe out life-destroying carbonic-acid. Yet the plants inhale
carbonic-acid and give out oxygen. Here then the higher depends on
the lower for the breath of life.
And
it is the same in all the kingdoms. As animal and man depend on the
plants, so are the gods dependent on man. That was so beautifully
expressed by Greek mythology where the gods receive nectar and
ambrosia from the mortals. Both signify love; love is created within
the human race. And the race of the gods breathes in love; it is the
gods' nourishment. Love which is created by man is food to the gods.
That is much more real than say electricity, however
peculiar it seems at first, Love appears to begin with as sex-love
and evolves up to the highest divine love. But all love, lower and
higher, is breath of the gods. Now it might be said: If all that is
true then there can be no evil. But wisdom underlies the world, love
evolves. Wisdom is the guide of love. Just as all wisdom is born out
of error, so does love struggle to
the heights only out of conflict.
Not all the beings of
the previous planet rose to the height of wisdom. Beings remained
behind and they stand approximately between gods and men. They still
need something from man, nor can they clothe themselves in a physical
body. One calls them Luciferic beings, or groups them together under
the name of their leader, Lucifer. How does Lucifer work upon man?
Not as the gods do. The divine approaches the noblest in man; it
cannot and must not approach the lower. Only at the end of evolution
will wisdom and love celebrate their nuptials. But the Luciferic
beings approach the lower, unevolved element of love. They form the
bridge between wisdom and love. Thus does wisdom first mingle with
love. That which applies only to the impersonal is thus entangled
with personality. On the earlier planet wisdom was an instinct
as love is today. A creative wisdom-instinct prevailed, as today
a creative love-instinct. Wisdom led man instinctively; but through
the fact that wisdom drew away and no longer guided, man became
self-conscious and realised that he was an independent being.
In the animal wisdom is
still instinctive and so the animal is not yet self-conscious.
Wisdom, however, wished to lead and guide man from outside,
unconnected with love. Then Lucifer came and implanted human wisdom
into love. And human wisdom looks up to divine wisdom. In man wisdom
became enthusiasm and love itself. Had only wisdom exercised its
influence, man would have become only good; he would have used love
solely for the building up of earthly consciousness. But Lucifer
brought love into connection with the self, and self-love was added
to self-consciousness. That was beautifully expressed in the Paradise
story: ... and they saw that they were naked. That
means that human beings saw themselves for the first time; previously
they had seen only the surrounding world. They had only an earthly
consciousness, but not a self-consciousness. Now men could put wisdom
into the service of the self; from then on there was selfless love
for the surroundings and love for the self. And the self-love was bad
and the selflessness was good. Man would never have obtained a warm
self-consciousness without Lucifer. Thinking and wisdom now entered
into the service of the self and there was a choice between good and
evil. Love must turn to the self only in order to set the self in the
service of the world. The rose may adorn herself only in order to
adorn the garden. That must be inscribed deeply into the soul in a
higher occult development. In order to be able to feel the good, man
had also to be able to feel the evil. The gods gave him enthusiasm
for the higher. But without evil there could be no self-feeling, no
free choice of good, no freedom. Good could have been realised
without Lucifer, but not freedom. In order to be able to choose good
man must also have the bad before him; it must dwell within him as
the force of self-love. But self-love must become love of all. Then
evil will be overcome. Freedom and evil have the same original
source. Lucifer makes man humanly enthusiastic for the divine.
Lucifer is the bearer of light; the Elohim are light itself. If the
light of wisdom has kindled wisdom in man, then Lucifer has brought
light into man. But the black shadow of evil had to intermingle;
Lucifer brings a shrunken, blemished wisdom but this can penetrate
into man. Lucifer is the bearer of external human science which
stands in the service of egotism. In pupils of occultism therefore
selflessness as regards knowledge is demanded. What the leaven of the
old dough means for the new bread: this, from the earlier planet,
Lucifer means for us. Evil is good in its place; with us it is no
longer good. Evil is good out of place. The absolute good of a planet
always brings evil too in one of its parts to the new planet. Evil is
a necessary course of evolution.
One
must not say that the world is imperfect because it contains evil.
Far rather is it perfect precisely on that account. When lovely
figures of light are shown in a painting together with evil devils,
the picture would be spoilt if one wanted to cut out the
devil-figures. The creators of the world needed evil in order to
bring the good to unfoldment. A good must first be broken on the rock
of evil. The All-Love can only be brought to its highest blossoming
through self-love. Goethe is therefore right when in Faust
he makes Mephistopheles say he is ... part of that Power that
ever would the Evil do, and ever does the Good.
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