The Rudolf Steiner Archive

4. The Origin of Evil

[ 1 ] It is characteristic of all contemporary literature that it speaks so little of evil. Materialism simply does not concern itself with evil. Suffering, illness, and death can apparently be explained in material terms, but evil cannot. When speaking of animals, one refers to cruelty and harmfulness, but one cannot call an animal evil. Evil is confined to the human realm. Modern natural science seeks to understand humans by reducing them to animals and blurs all distinctions between humans and animals. That is why it must also deny the existence of evil. To find evil, one must delve deeply into human characteristics. One must recognize that human beings occupy a realm of their own. Let us now consider this question from the perspective of the spiritual sciences.

[ 2 ] There is a primal human wisdom that penetrates beyond the purely superficial appearance of things to reach their true essence. In the past, this wisdom was preserved within closed circles, and access to these circles was granted only after rigorous trials. Before a person was granted access, they had to prove to the guardians of this wisdom that they would use their knowledge only in the most selfless manner. In recent decades, the fundamentals of this wisdom-science have been popularized for certain reasons. More and more of it will find its way into daily life. We are only at the beginning of this development.

[ 3 ] How, then, is evil related to human nature itself? People have often tried to explain evil in a wide variety of ways. Some have said: There is no evil in the true sense of the word. It is a diminished form of good; it is the worst kind of good. For just as there are different degrees of existence in everything, so too is it with good. Or it has been said: Just as good is a primal force, so too is evil. This view found particular expression in the Persian myth of Ormuzd and Ahriman. Only esoteric science reveals, from the depths of human and cosmic nature as a whole, how evil is to be understood. If one denies it, one cannot understand it at all. One must understand what task, what mission evil has in the world. Looking at the future development of humanity, we see how people have emerged from the past and what evil is meant to signify in their course of development.

[ 4 ] Esoteric science teaches of the existence of certain highly evolved human beings, the initiates. In the esoteric schools of all ages, it is taught how a person can reach such a stage of development. Specific exercises are prescribed there that further develop the individual in a completely natural way. These are exercises in meditation and concentration, intended to give the individual a different perspective—one that cannot be attained through the intellect or the five senses. Meditation initially leads away from sensory perception. Through inner spiritual work, the individual becomes free from the senses. Something similar takes place within a person as in the “operation” of a person born blind. A kind of operation takes place that opens spiritual eyes and ears. Over time, this development will reach all of humanity. However, one must not renounce the worldly realm if one wishes to develop to a higher level. Asceticism that turns away from the world is not suitable for clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is the fruit of what the soul gathers in the sensory world. Greek philosophy beautifully compared the human soul to a bee. The world of colors and light offers the soul the honey that it carries with it into the higher world. Sensory experience must spiritualize the soul and carry it up into higher worlds.

[ 5 ] What, then, is the task of the soul that is free from the body? Here we encounter an important principle. Every being, once it has evolved fully, becomes, on a higher plane, a guide and leader of those beings and forms through which it has passed. We see a vision of the future here. When human beings have become so spiritualized that they no longer need the physical body, they will influence the world from the outside as spiritual leaders. Then this planet’s mission will be fulfilled. It will then transition to another incarnation. The Earth will then take on a new planetary existence. Human beings will then be the gods of the new planet. The body of humanity, abandoned by the spirit, will become the lower kingdom. We now carry a dual nature within us: that which will reign on the next planet, and that which will become the lower kingdom. Just as the Earth will take on a new embodiment, so too did it emerge from earlier stages of development; and just as human beings will be the gods of the next planet, so too were the beings who now guide us human beings on the previous planet, and they had, as their lower realm, what we humans are on Earth. Thus we find the connection between the Earth and events that lie in the past and in the future. The stage that human beings occupy on Earth today was once occupied by the beings who are now the creators and guides of humanity—the Elohim spirits, who reveal themselves as the guides of human evolution. And on the future planet, human beings will have advanced to the point where they themselves will be the guides and leaders. But one must not think that this will repeat itself exactly in the same way; the same thing never repeats itself. Nothing happens twice in the world. Existence on Earth has never been as it is now. Earthly existence represents the cosmos of love; existence on the former planet represents the cosmos of wisdom. We are to develop love from its most elementary form to its highest. Wisdom lies hidden at the very foundation of earthly existence. Therefore, one should not speak of the “lower” physical human nature, for it is, in a sense, the most perfect form of the human being. Consider the wise structure of a bone, for example, the femur. There, the problem—to bear the greatest possible mass with the least expenditure of material and energy—is solved in the most perfect way. Just look at the marvelous structure of the heart and the brain! The astral body is by no means superior. It is the one that constantly launches attacks on the wisely constructed heart. It will take a long time for it to become as perfect and wise as the physical body. But it must become so. That is what development consists of. The physical body, too, had to develop in this way. What is wise in it had to emerge from ignorance and error. The development of wisdom preceded the development of love. Love is not yet perfect. But it can be found throughout all of nature. In plants, in animals, in humans—from the lowest sexual love to the highest, most spiritualized love. Vast numbers of beings brought forth by the love instinct perish in the struggle for existence. Struggle is at work wherever love is present. The emergence of love brings with it struggle—a necessary struggle. But love will also overcome it, transforming war into harmony.

[ 6 ] Wisdom is the defining characteristic of physical nature. Only where this wisdom is imbued with love does the development of the Earth truly begin. Just as there is strife on Earth today, error was found on the earlier planet. Strange mythical creatures roamed there—errors of nature that were incapable of evolution. Just as love arises from lovelessness, so does wisdom arise from ignorance. Those who attain Earth’s evolution will bring love as a force of nature into the next planet. Thus, too, wisdom was once brought to Earth. The people of Earth look up to the gods as the bringers of wisdom. The people of the next planet will look up to the gods as the bringers of love. Wisdom will be bestowed upon humanity as a divine revelation from the people of the earlier planet. All the kingdoms of the world are interconnected. If there were no plants, the air we breathe would soon be polluted; for humans and animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, which destroys life. But plants inhale carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Thus, with regard to the air we breathe, the higher depends on the lower.

[ 7 ] This is how it is in all realms. Just as animals and humans depend on plants, so too do the gods depend on humans. The Greek myth expressed this so beautifully: The gods receive nectar and ambrosia from mortals. Both symbolize love. Love is generated within the human race. And the divine race breathes in this love; it is the food of the gods. The love generated by humans becomes the sustenance of the gods. This is far more real than, say, electricity, however strange it may seem at first. Love first appears as sexual love and develops upward to the highest spiritual love. But all love, whether lowly or exalted, is the breath of the gods. Now one might say: If all this is true, then there can be no evil. But wisdom underlies the world; love develops. Wisdom becomes the guide of love. Just as all wisdom is born of error, all love struggles upward to the heights only through conflict.

[ 8 ] Not all beings from the former planet ascended to the heights of wisdom. Some beings remained behind; they occupy a position roughly between the gods and human beings. They still need something from human beings. But they can no longer take on a physical body. They are called Luciferic beings, or they are grouped together under the name Lucifer, their leader. How, then, does Lucifer influence human beings? Not in the same way as the gods. The divine approaches the noblest aspect of the human being, but it cannot and must not approach the lower aspects. Wisdom and love will not celebrate their union until the end of evolution. But the Luciferic entities approach the lower, undeveloped element of love. They form the bridge between wisdom and love. Only in this way does wisdom mingle with love. That which turns only toward the impersonal thus becomes entangled with the personality. On the earlier planet, wisdom was an instinct, just as love is today. A creative instinct of wisdom prevailed, just as a creative instinct of love does today. In the past, then, wisdom had guided human beings instinctively. But because wisdom stepped back and ceased to guide, human beings became self-aware; they recognized themselves as independent beings. In animals, wisdom is still instinctive; that is why they are not yet self-aware. But wisdom now sought to direct and guide human beings from the outside, without love having any connection to it. When Lucifer came, he implanted human wisdom into love. And human wisdom looks up to divine wisdom. In human beings, wisdom became enthusiasm, became love itself. Had wisdom alone exerted its influence, human beings would have become only good; they would have needed love only for the development of earthly consciousness. But Lucifer linked love to the self; self-love joined self-awareness. This is beautifully expressed in the myth of Paradise: “... and they saw that they were naked”—that is, at that moment humans saw themselves for the first time; before that, they had seen only their surroundings. At that time, they had only earthly consciousness, but no self-awareness. Now humans could put wisdom in the service of the self. From then on, there was selfless love for the environment and love for the self. And self-love was evil, while selflessness was good. Without Lucifer, humans would never have attained a warm sense of self-awareness. Thought and wisdom now entered into the service of the self. Now there was a choice between good and evil. Love for the self may be added only in order to place the self in the service of the world. Only when the rose wishes to adorn the garden may it adorn itself. This must be deeply engraved upon the soul in the course of a higher, occult development. In order to be able to feel the good, humankind also had to be able to feel the evil. The gods gave them enthusiasm for the higher. But without evil, there could be no sense of self, no free choice of good, no freedom. Good could be realized without Lucifer, but freedom could not. In order to choose good, humanity must also have evil before it; it must be inherent in humanity as the force of self-love. But self-love must become universal love. Then evil will be overcome. Freedom and evil spring from the same source. Lucifer inspires in humans a human enthusiasm for the divine. Lucifer is the bearer of light. Elohim is the light itself. Just as the light of wisdom has kindled wisdom within humans, so Lucifer has carried the light into humans. But the black shadow of evil had to intrude. Lucifer brings a limited, flawed wisdom, but this can penetrate human beings. Lucifer is the bearer of external, human science, which, after all, serves egoism. That is why selflessness toward knowledge is required of the occult student. This is the origin of evil in human development. Just as the leaven in the old dough is to the new bread, so is the former planet Lucifer to us. Evil becomes good in its proper place. For us, it is no longer good. Evil is good that has been distorted. The absolute good of a planet always brings evil with it in one of its parts to the new planet. Evil is a necessary stage of development.

[ 9 ] One must not say that the world is imperfect because evil exists within it. On the contrary, it is perfect precisely because of that. If a painting depicts both magnificent figures of light and evil, demonic grimaces at the same time, one would still destroy the painting if one tried to cut out the demonic grimaces. The creators of the world needed evil to bring about the full development of good. That which must first be tested against the rock of evil is good. Only through self-love can universal love reach its highest flowering. That is why Goethe is so right when he has Mephisto say in Faust:

“I am a part of that force,
which always intends evil and always brings about good.”