The Influences of Lucifer and Ahriman

By Rudolf Steiner

Translated by D. S. Osmond
GA# 191 and 193

We live in critical, apocalyptic times. In these lectures, given just after the end of the First World War and in the midst of trying to effect the social-political life of his times with the movement for a threefold social order, Rudolf Steiner focuses on the vital task of developing a right orientation toward the spirit: a free spiritual life. With great compassion and understanding he shows, in telling examples, how humanity must walk a conscious middle path between the two "tempting" powers of Lucifer and Ahriman. He tells of the incarnation of Lucifer, in the third millennium BCE, from which flowed not only the wisdom of paganism but also the intellectual consciousness we enjoy today. Ahriman is shown to be approaching humanity through phenomena such as materialism, nationalism, and literalism in preparation for his incarnation in the millennium now opening. It must not be thought, however, that these two powers work apart: on the contrary, they work more and more together. Our task is to hold them in balance, continually permeating the one with the other. Doing this requires a new form of conscious spirituality.

Lectures I, II, IV, and V of this book are translations of lectures Eleven (November 1, 1919), Twelve (November 2, 1919), Fifteen (November 15, 1919) and Thirteen (November 9, 1919) of Soziales Verständnis aus geisteswissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis. Die geistigen Hintergründe der sozialen Frage, which is volume 191 [GA191] in the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner, published by the Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1972; Lecture III of this book is a translation of Lecture Ten (November 4, 1919) of Der innere Aspekt des sozialen Rätsels. Luziferische Vergangenheit und ahrimanische Zukunft, which is volume 193 [GA193] of the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner, published by the Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1977.

Presented here by permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland.