The Rudolf Steiner Archive

1. Good and Evil

[ 1 ] Today I would like to follow up on the topics I discussed fourteen days ago. In the near future, we may also have the opportunity to talk about our experiences in Amsterdam. Today, however, I would like to discuss some specific matters that pertain to our physical plane—something we already began to address recently.

[ 2 ] I have often emphasized that the events taking place in our physical world are nothing more than a kind of shadow reflection of what is happening on the higher planes. It is clear to the occultist that he can understand events in the physical world only if he knows what is happening on the supersensory planes. To the occultist who has insight into the higher planes, it appears as if people were being pulled by strings extending from the higher planes. It might seem as though this were an infringement on human freedom. But today I would like to show that this is not the case. A few examples may illustrate how the higher planes influence us.

[ 3 ] Here I must first refer back to something I have said before: that, fundamentally speaking, there is no such thing as absolute good or absolute evil. Evil is merely a kind of “displaced” good. If something happened—say, during the lunar epoch that preceded our own—and elements of it carried over into our development, then it appears out of place in the present time. It was good during the Lunar epoch, but it appears evil to us during the Earthly epoch. During the Lunar epoch, someone might have had the task of organizing the instincts in a harmonious way; but this activity was completed when the Lunar epoch came to an end. The task of the Earth epoch now consists in once again mastering the instincts from the perspective of Manas. If someone today were to live out the instincts the way the Pitri had to, he would be an evil person in our epoch, whereas in the Lunar epoch he would have been a sage.

[ 4 ] People do not usually give much thought to the significance of events such as the appearance of Muhammad, the founder of the Muslim religion, in the sixth and early seventh centuries.

[ 5 ] One must imagine that, at first, Christianity endeavored to grow into the various other forms of religion. At first, after all, we see only a small Jewish community in Palestine; this community remained quite small. A principle such as that embodied in Christian doctrine cannot easily be imposed on the collective consciousness of a people. The Apostle Paul found his way to the Gentiles by first leaving their beliefs as he found them and then using pagan religious forms to infuse them with the Christian essence. In the southern regions of Europe, the cult of Mithras was practiced; it was similar to today’s Mass. The pagans there accepted Christianity because they were allowed to keep the Mithras festival, which had become dear to them. It was much the same with the Germanic peoples and the festival that became a Christian symbol as Christmas. Their revered ancestors were incorporated as Christian saints. In this way, Christianity spread into ever new regions and among ever new peoples. It was Christianity’s adaptability that made this possible. The Christian religion continued to expand; however, because of this diversity, it also needed a powerful central authority: the Roman Papacy. All the harm that Christianity later caused is linked to this world-historical mission of the Papacy.

[ 6 ] The Semitic peoples had to be approached differently. That is what Muhammad did. He established a first great tenet in which he said: All gods except the One are not gods. Only the One I teach you is the sole God.”—This principle can only be understood as a reaction against Christianity. From the very beginning, in the conquest of the physical plane, Christianity had the task of working its way into the human personality; it does not build upon old forces, but seeks to work through Manas.

[ 7 ] We see that in Islam, there is now a conscious effort to break away from the old, still spiritual forms of pagan religion; instead, the correct path to mastering the physical plane is to be found solely through the physical sciences. We see how this physical science took hold of the art of healing, which originated in Arabia and later spread to other countries. The Arab physicians based their practice solely on the physical plane, unlike the healers of the ancient Egyptians, the Druids, and even the ancient Germanic peoples. All of these had come to their healing profession by developing their psychic powers through asceticism and other exercises. Even today we see something similar in the practices and rituals of shamanism, though these have now degenerated. Thus, psychic powers were cultivated among these early healers. Muhammad introduced a form of medicine that derives its remedies solely from the physical plane itself. This form of medicine developed in a context where people wanted to know nothing of spiritual beings, but only of a single God. Alchemy and astrology in the ancient sense were abolished and transformed into new sciences: astronomy, mathematics, and so on. These later became the sciences of the West as well. Among the Arabs who came to Spain, we see men educated in the physical realm, especially mathematicians. The true adherents of this school of thought said: “We reverently honor what lives in plants, animals, and so on, but human beings should not attempt to imitate what only God alone is called upon to create.”—That is why we find in Moorish art only arabesques—forms that do not even resemble plants but are purely products of the imagination.

[ 8 ] Greek power was supplanted by Rome, but Greek learning was passed on to the Romans. The Arabs received what they have from Muhammad. Muhammad introduced a form of science that is governed solely by the laws of the physical plane. The Christian monks drew inspiration from the Moors. Although the Moors were repelled by political force, monotheism—which brings with it a deepening of physical science—came to Europe through the Moors and led to the purification of Christianity from all pagan elements.

[ 9 ] Christianity guided people’s emotional life up to the level of Kama-Manas. Islam, on the other hand, led the intellect and the spirit down from spiritual life to the abstract comprehension of purely physical laws. This physical science had to pass through various stages to reach the level it now occupies. It had to pass through the science of the Vedic priests and all subsequent stages up to the achievements of our present time. Much of this had already been attained by the Atlanteans, albeit through psychic powers. Since Atlantean times, the groundwork for this focus on physical laws has been laid.

[ 10 ] The Chinese are a remnant of the Atlantic race of the Mongols. When we hear the word TAO among the Chinese, it is somewhat difficult for us to understand. The Mongols of that time had developed a form of monotheism that extended to the point of psychic tangibility, to the point of sensing the spiritual; and when the ancient Chinese, the ancient Mongol, uttered the word TAO, he felt it as he spoke it. TAO is not “the Way,” as it is usually translated; it is the fundamental force through which the Atlanteans could still transform plants and set their remarkable airships in motion. The Atlanteans utilized this fundamental force—also known as “Vril”—in every aspect of life, and they called it their God. They felt this force within themselves; to them, it was “the Way and the Goal.” That is why every Mongol regarded himself as an instrument in the hands of the great Vril force.

[ 11 ] This monotheism of the Atlanteans persisted among those races that survived the Great Flood. The fifth root race emerged from this form of religion, which was still spiritual. However, these ancient spiritual forms of religion—the worship of a single God—gradually degenerated into polytheism. Monotheism persisted only among the most highly developed priests. At the dawn of Christianity, the monks acted shrewdly: they claimed that Baldur had become human in Palestine. - In the early centuries, one would have found a Christianity heavily mixed with pagan elements, even within Arian Christianity. This development took place at a time when a particularly vivid resurgence of religious sentiment among the ancient Mongolian races was sparked by highly developed shamans. On the one hand, we see, as a reaction to polytheism, the emergence of a new monotheistic religion in Arabia through Muhammad. On the other hand, we see, somewhat earlier, the rise of an initiated shaman in his TAO consciousness, who makes himself the avenger against those who have fallen away from the ancient monotheistic concept of God. Attila was called the “Scourge of God.” All around his empire, we see the princes he deposed living in splendor and pomp, while he, the shaman, lives in the utmost simplicity. It is said of him that his eyes blazed and the earth trembled when he raised his sword. This great initiate would have been fully justified in the Atlantean era; in our present time, he would appear to be a criminal. The same power that, in its own time, is an expression of the divine fire appears, in another era, as divine wrath. Why does this happen? It is necessary to make further development possible at all. If development is to be advanced, the individual threads must—viewed from a higher perspective—once again interweave harmoniously.

[ 12 ] We had also spoken of the Druid priests, who had instructed the people through fairy tales and myths. They were at once healers, priests, and astrologers; they possessed inspired knowledge. When the Celtic element was supplanted by the Germanic tribes, belief in the ancient form of inspiration also receded. Men were entrusted with the conquest of the physical realm; they became warriors. The intuitive and creative force is embodied in the feminine. Women became priestesses who were also healers—for example, Weleda. All the art of healing was in the hands of women at that time; men were pushed out onto the outer, physical plane. We still encounter this during the Merovingian and Carolingian periods. It was only through the science learned by the monks from the Moors that the spiritual element was increasingly supplanted. And from the 16th to the 19th century, the materialistic way of thinking grew ever stronger. Psychic healers are on the wane; they fall into disrepute and are despised as sorcerers or witches. Linked to this is the loss of the ability to heal through psychic means at all; healing by this method is no longer as effective. Paracelsus still possessed these abilities in their fullness.

[ 13 ] This is connected with the transition of humanity’s guidance from one Dhyan Chohan of a higher order to another Dhyan Chohan. Christian esotericism refers to the healing Dhyan Chohan as “Saint Michael,” the archangel who guides humanity’s psychic idealism. Human beings become free only by coming to terms with the fact that everything that happens on the physical plane is brought about by higher forces. They must enter into a disciple-teacher relationship with the Archangel Michael.

[ 14 ] Two entities played a role in the Old Testament: the guiding spirit, who is harmonious; and Beelzebub, who is disharmonious—he is also a Dhyan Chohan—and is the leader of all disharmony on the physical plane; one must understand him to know why one form can have a destructive effect on another. Since the 16th century, the hosts of Beelzebub have gained the upper hand over the hosts of Michael. Mammon is the god of obstacles, who holds people back from following their straight path. It would be regrettable if this were to continue into the next century.

[ 15 ] All physical events are shadows of supersensible events. The struggle between spiritual forces and materialism is a reflection of the struggle between the hosts of Beelzebub and Mammon against Michael. This struggle first had to be fought out on higher planes; it was decided there thirty years ago in Michael’s favor, and the current struggle here on the physical plane is a reflection of that. Above, the struggle has been decided, but for the individual human being, the struggle is not yet over. If the people of today are not up to the task, we will all perish, and new people will have to come. This shows the way, the place where the individual human being must step in today.