Lecture IV
The Origin of Evil
Berlin 22nd November, 1906
It is
characteristic of today's literature that it hardly mentions
evil. Materialism may appear to have explanations for
suffering, illness and death, but does not concern itself
with evil. In the animal kingdom one can speak of ferocity
and cruelty, but one cannot apply the concept of evil to
animals. Evil is confined to the human kingdom. But modern
natural science tries to derive knowledge of human beings
from investigations of animals, and as all differences are
glossed over, evil is ignored. One has to enter deeply into
human characteristics in order to discover the origin of
evil. One must above all recognize that humanity constitutes
a kingdom by itself. Let us now consider this issue in the
light of spiritual science.
There exists a
primordial human wisdom that penetrates beneath the surface
to the essence of things. It used to be preserved within
narrow circles to which no one was admitted except after
strict tests. The guardian of the wisdom had to be convinced
that the one seeking entry would only use the knowledge for
selfless purposes. During the last decades the elementary
aspects of this wisdom-science are being made public; there
are certain reasons why this is happening. It will
increasingly flow into everyday life; we are at the beginning
of this development.
But what is the
connection between human beings' essential nature and evil?
Various attempts have been made to explain evil. Some say
that there is no evil as such, only an absence of good; evil
is supposed to be the lowest degree of good. Others say that
just as good is an original force, so is evil. The Persian
legend of Ormuzd and Ahriman emphasizes this view more
especially. Spiritual science is the first to show that to
understand evil one must enter deeply into the nature of
human beings, and indeed into that of the whole cosmos. To
deny its existence as such is to close the door to any
comprehension of evil. We must look at how human beings
evolved in the past and will evolve in the future, and
thereby seek to discover the task, the mission of evil in the
world.
Spiritual
science points to the fact that there are highly developed
individuals called the “initiates.” In every age
there have been secret schools where it was taught how,
through exercises in meditation and concentration, a person
could reach higher stages of development. Such exercises lead
to insight that cannot be attained by means of the five
senses and the intellect. Inner meditative work enables the
soul to become free of the senses; something occurs in an
individual that is comparable to what happens in someone born
blind and whose sight is restored. An inner process takes
place through which the spiritual eyes and ears are opened.
The whole of humanity will reach this stage, but only after
long periods of time. It is essential that those who seek
higher development in no way neglect worldly, everyday
affairs; the ascetic who flees the world will not attain
spiritual vision, for the new clairvoyance is the fruit of
the sour s experiences gathered in the physical world. The
Greek philosophers have compared the human soul to the bee
gathering honey, saying that the world of color and light
offers honey to the human soul, to carry it up to higher
worlds. The task of the human soul is to spiritualize sense
experiences and take them up to higher worlds.
But what is its
task once the soul becomes free of the body? Here we touch on
a fundamental and significant law: Whenever beings reach a
higher stage of evolution, they become the leaders and guides
of the beings belonging to the forms of existence they have
themselves passed through. When a person has become
spiritualized, and no longer needs a physical body, he will
attain spiritual leadership and work on a new planet from
outside. By then our present planet will have fulfilled its
mission and passed over into another embodiment. A new
planetary existence will arise, and humanity will be gods on
that planet. The human bodily nature, forsaken by the spirit,
will constitute a lower kingdom. Human nature is already
twofold, consisting of that which will rule on the next
planet, and that which will be a lower kingdom. The earth
will pass over into a new embodiment, just as it has passed
through earlier ones. Human beings will be gods on the next
planet, just as the beings that now lead us were human beings
on the previous planet. This illustrates how the earth is
connected with the past and the future. The Elohim, the
creators and leaders of human evolution, were once at the
stage we have reached on the earth. On the future planet
human beings will have advanced to be leaders and guides.
However, it
must not be thought that the same repeats itself; nothing
ever happens twice. Never before has there been an existence
like ours. Earth evolution represents the cosmos of love; the
previous planet the cosmos of wisdom. On the earth love is to
develop from the most elementary stage to the loftiest.
Wisdom, though
hidden, permeates the foundation of earth existence;
consequently, we ought not to speak of a person's physical
nature as “lower,” for it is in reality the most
perfect aspect of his being. To recognize it one only has to
look at the wisdom-filled bone structure, such as the upper
thigh bone. Here we find the perfect solution to the problem:
how the least expenditure of material can be structured to
carry the maximum weight, or think of the wonderful forms of
heart and brain. The astral body most certainly is not at a
higher stage; it is the bon viveur that continually
attacks the wise form of the heart. The astral body will need
long ages to become as perfect and as wise as the physical
body, though it will do so in the course of evolution. The
physical body has gone through a corresponding development;
it has evolved from unwisdom and error to wisdom.
Wisdom
developed before love; as yet love is far from perfect, but
even now it is to be found at all levels of existence, in
plant, animal and human beings, from the lowest sexual love
to the highest spiritualized love. Untold numbers of beings
who have developed the urge for love are destroyed in the
struggle for existence. Where there is love there is
conflict, but love will overcome the conflict and transform
it into harmony.
The
characteristic of physical nature is wisdom; the evolution of
the earth began when wisdom became permeated by love. As
today there is conflict on earth, so there were errors on the
previous planet. Peculiar legendary creatures wandered about,
mistakes of nature incapable of evolution. Just as love
evolves from non-love, so wisdom evolves from unwisdom. Those
who attain the goal of earth evolution will bring love over
to the next planet, as wisdom was originally brought over
into the earth evolution. Earthly humanity looks up to the
gods as bringers of wisdom; the humanity on the next planet
will look up to the gods as bringers of love. On earth,
wisdom is vouchsafed to human beings as divine revelation
through beings who were humans on the previous planet. Thus,
all realms are interlinked. If there were no plants, the air
would soon be polluted. Plants give off life-giving oxygen
inhaled by human beings and animals, who in turn exhale
carbonic acid that would destroy the air were it not inhaled
by the plants. In this respect, the higher depends on the
lower for the very breath of life.
This
interdependence applies to all stages and kingdoms. Just as
humans and animals depend on the world of plants, so do the
gods depend upon mortals. Greek mythology expresses this
poetically, saying that from the mortals the gods receive
nectar and ambrosia, both words meaning love. Love comes into
existence through humans, and love is food for the gods. The
love engendered by mortals is breathed in by the gods. This
may seem very strange, yet it is a fact more real than, say,
electricity. At first love appears as sexual love and evolves
to the highest spiritual love, but all love, the highest as
well as the lowest, is the breath of gods. It might be said:
If this is so then there can be no evil. But it must be
remembered that, just as wisdom is born of error, so love can
only evolve and reach perfection through conflict. However,
love will be guided by the wisdom that is the foundation of
the world.
Not all the
beings on the previous planet attained the height of wisdom.
Some remained behind and are at a level of development
between gods and humans. Though they still need something
from human beings, they can no longer clothe themselves in
physical bodies. They are designated as Luciferian beings, or
collectively by the name of their leader — Lucifer.
Lucifer's influence on human beings is very different from
that of the gods. The gods approach what is noblest in human
nature; a mortal's lower nature they cannot and must not
approach. Only at the end of evolution can wisdom and love be
united. The Luciferian beings approach a person's lower
nature, the undeveloped element of love, they build a bridge
between wisdom and love, thus causing a mingling of the two,
with the result that what should remain impersonal becomes
entangled with what is personal.
Wisdom was
instinctive on the previous planet, as love is instinctive
now. On the previous planet, a creative instinct of wisdom
ruled, as now a creative instinct of love. Thus, human beings
were formerly guided by instinctive wisdom; then it withdrew
its guidance, and we became conscious and aware of ourselves
as independent beings.
We are told in
the story of Paradise: “... and they saw that they
were naked.” That means that human beings saw
themselves for the first time; previously they had seen only
the external world. They had earth-consciousness, but no
self-consciousness. The latter enabled them to put wisdom
into the service of the self From then onwards there existed
not only selfless love for the surrounding world, but also
love of self; the former was good, the latter was bad.
Without
Lucifer, human self-consciousness would never have become
mingled with love. Thinking and wisdom now became servants of
the self; a person could choose between good and evil. But
love ought to be directed to the self only in order to place
it in the service of the world: The rose should adorn itself
only to adorn the garden. That must be deeply engraved in the
hearts of those who seek higher development. In order to have
a feeling for what is good, we must also have a feeling for
what is bad. The gods endowed us with enthusiasm for what is
higher; but without evil we would have no feeling of self, no
free choice of the good, no freedom.
The good could
have become reality without Lucifer, but not freedom. In
order to choose the good, we must also have the evil before
us; it must exist within us as self-love. When the force of
self-love has developed and widened to become love of all,
evil will be overcome. Evil and freedom stem from the same
original source. Lucifer kindled human enthusiasm for the
divine. He is the Light-bearer; the Elohim are the Light
itself. Lucifer brought light into human beings by kindling
in them the light of wisdom, albeit mingled with the black
shadow of evil. The wisdom Lucifer brings is shrunken and
blemished, but it penetrates into mortals; he brings external
science that serves egoism. That is why selflessness in
regard to knowledge is demanded of the esoteric student.
Lucifer comes from the old planet; his task on this one is
comparable to what the leaven of the old dough means for the
new bread. Evil is a good removed from its proper place; what
was good on the old planet is no longer so when transferred
to ours. The absolute good on one planet brings part of
itself as evil to a new planet. Evil is a necessary part of
evolution.
One ought not
to say that the world is imperfect or incomplete because it
contains evil; rather it is complete for that very reason.
When a painting depicts wonderful figures of light, together
with dark devils, the picture would be spoiled if the devils
were removed. The world creator needed evil in order that
good could evolve. A good is only good if it has stood the
test of evil. For love to reach its highest goal, the love of
all, it must pass through the love of self In Faust, Goethe
rightly causes Mephistopheles to say: “I am an aspect
of the power that always intends evil, and always creates
good.”
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