The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. Manichaeism

[ 1 ] As requested, we are to discuss Freemasonry. However, one cannot understand it without first considering the original spiritual movements that are connected to Freemasonry in such a way that Freemasonry, so to speak, emerged from them. An even more important intellectual movement than that of the Rosicrucians was Manichaeism. So we must actually discuss this much more significant movement first, and then we can shed light on Freemasonry at a later time.

[ 2 ] What I have to say on this subject is connected to various factors that play a role in present and future spiritual life. And to show you that, when one is active in these areas, one must constantly refer to something—even if it is hidden—I would like to point out by way of introduction that I have repeatedly described the Faust problem as particularly important for the new spiritual life. And that is why, in the first issue of Luzifer, the modern spiritual movement is also linked to the Faust problem. As I presented it in my Luzifer essay, the allusion to the Faust problem is not without a certain basis.

[ 3 ] To put the issues at hand into context, we must therefore begin by examining a school of thought that first appeared in history around the 3rd century. This is the intellectual movement that found its greatest opponent in St. Augustine, even though he himself had been a follower of this movement before converting to the Catholic Church. We must speak of Manichaeism, which was founded by a figure who called himself Mani and lived around the 3rd century A.D. The movement originated in a region that was then ruled by the kings of the Near East; it thus originated in the regions of western Asia Minor. This Mani founded a spiritual movement that initially comprised a small sect but grew into a powerful spiritual movement. The medieval Albigensians, Waldensians, and Cathars are the continuation of this intellectual movement, to which also belong the Order of the Templars—which will be discussed separately—and, through a curious chain of circumstances, Freemasonry. Freemasonry actually belongs to this tradition, even though it has become associated with other movements, such as Rosicrucianism.

[ 4 ] The external history that is told to us about Mani is extremely simple.^{1See the notes.}

[ 5 ] It is said that in the regions of the Near East there lived a merchant who was extraordinarily learned. He authored four significant works: first, the Mysteria; second, the Epistola; third, the Gospel; and fourth, the Thesaurus. It is further recounted that upon his death he left these writings to his widow, who was a Persian. This widow, in turn, left them to a slave whom she had ransomed and set free. This slave is said to have been the aforementioned Mani, who then drew his wisdom from these writings but had also been initiated into the mysteries of the cult of Mithras. He then founded the Manichaean movement. Mani is also called the “Son of the Widow,” and his followers the “Sons of the Widow.” Mani himself, however, referred to himself as the “Paraclete,” the Holy Spirit promised to humanity by Christ. This should be understood to mean that he identified himself as an incarnation of that Holy Spirit; he did not mean to say that he was the Holy Spirit alone. He believed that this Holy Spirit appears in reincarnations and identified himself as one such reincarnation of the Spirit.

[ 6 ] The doctrine he preached was vehemently opposed by Augustine after the latter had converted to the Catholic Church. Augustine contrasted his Catholic view with the Manichaean doctrine, which he has represented by a character he calls Faustus. In Augustine’s view, Faustus is the fighter against Christianity. Herein lies the origin of Goethe’s Faust with his conception of evil. The name “Faust” traces back to this ancient Augustinian doctrine.

[ 7 ] It is commonly understood that Manichaean doctrine differs from Western Christianity in its distinct conception of evil. While Catholic Christianity holds that evil stems from a fall from the divine origin—a fall of spirits that were originally good away from God—Manichaeism teaches that evil is just as eternal as good; that there is no resurrection of the body; and that evil, as such, has no end. It therefore has no beginning, but is of the same origin as good, and has no end either.

[ 8 ] When you learn about Manichaeism in this way, it certainly appears to be something radically un-Christian and completely incomprehensible.

[ 9 ] Now let us get to the bottom of this matter according to the traditions said to originate from Mani himself, and examine what this is actually all about. The legend of Manichaeism provides us with an external point of reference for this examination—a legend just like the one I recently told you about as a temple legend. All such spiritual currents associated with initiations express themselves exoterically through legends. However, the legend of Manichaeism is a great cosmic legend, a legend of a supersensory nature.

[ 10 ] It is told that once upon a time the spirits of darkness sought to storm the Realm of Light. They did indeed reach the border of the Realm of Light and sought to conquer it. But they were powerless against the Realm of Light. Now they were to be—and here lies a particularly profound point that I ask you to note—now they were to be punished by the Realm of Light. But in the Realm of Light there was nothing evil whatsoever, only good. So the demons of darkness could only have been punished with something good. What happened, then? The following happened. The spirits of the Realm of Light took a part of their own realm and mingled it into the material realm of darkness. Because a part of the Realm of Light was now blended with the Realm of Darkness, a leaven—an agent of fermentation—arose, as it were, within the Realm of Darkness, setting it into a chaotic whirl, thereby imparting a new element to it: namely, death. Thus, it continually consumes itself and carries within it the seed of its own destruction. It is further recounted that it was precisely because this happened that the human race came into being. Primitive man is said to be precisely that which was sent from the realm of light to mingle with the realm of darkness and to overcome—through death—that which ought not to be in the realm of darkness; to overcome it within himself.

[ 11 ] The profound idea underlying this is that, on the part of the realm of light, the realm of darkness is to be overcome not through punishment, but through mercy; not by resisting evil, but by intermingling with evil in order to redeem evil as such. By allowing a part of the light to enter into evil, evil itself is overcome.

[ 12 ] This is based on the concept of evil, which I have often discussed from a theosophical perspective. What is evil? It is nothing other than a good that is out of step with the times. To give an example that I have cited many times before: Let us suppose we are dealing with an excellent pianist and an excellent piano technician, both of whom are perfect in their own way. First, the technician must build the instrument and then hand it over to the pianist. If the pianist is a good player, he will use it appropriately, and thus both are, as it were, the good. But if the technician were to go into the concert hall in place of the pianist and start hammering away, he would be in the wrong place. The good would thus become evil. Thus we see that evil is nothing other than good in the wrong place.

[ 13 ] If that which is exceptionally good at any given time were to persist, become rigid, and thereby hinder the progress of what is already well advanced, it would undoubtedly become an evil, because it would stand in opposition to the good. Let us suppose that the guiding forces of the Lunar Epoch—if, having reached perfection in their nature there, they were to have concluded their activity—were to continue to interfere in the course of evolution. Then they would have to represent evil in earthly evolution. Thus, evil is nothing other than the divine, for in that other time, what is now, at the wrong time, evil was the expression of the perfect, of the divine.

[ 14 ] It is in this profound sense that we must understand the Manichaean view that good and evil are, at their core, of the same nature—fundamentally the same in their beginning and the same in their end. If you understand this view in this way, you will grasp what Mani actually sought to convey. On the other hand, however, we must first explain why Mani called himself the “Son of the Widow” and why his followers called themselves “Sons of the Widow.”

[ 15 ] If we go back to the most ancient times, those preceding our present root race, the way in which people perceived and acquired knowledge was different. You will see from my description of the Atlantean era—and now, with the upcoming issue of Luzifer, also from the description of the Lemurian era—that all knowledge at that time—some of it extending into our own era—was influenced by that which stands above humanity. I have mentioned on several occasions that only the Manu who will appear in the next root race will be a true brother of humanity, whereas the earlier Manus were superhuman, a kind of divine being. Only now is humanity maturing to the point of having its own human brother as Manu, one who has passed through all the stages since the middle of the Lemurian epoch. So what actually happens during the evolution of the fifth root race? What happens is that this revelation—the revelation from above, the guidance of the soul from above—gradually withdraws, leaving humanity to its own devices, so that it becomes its own guide.

[ 16 ] In all esotericism (mysticism), the soul was now called the “Mother”; the Guide, the “Father.” Father and Mother, Osiris and Isis—these are the two powers present in the soul: the Instructor, the one who represents the directly inflowing Divine, Osiris, is the Father; the soul itself, Isis, conceives and receives the Divine-Spiritual; she is the Mother. During the fifth root race, the Father now withdraws. The soul is widowed; it is meant to be widowed. Humanity is left to its own devices. It must seek the light of truth within its own soul in order to guide itself. Everything pertaining to the soul has always been expressed through feminine symbols. That is why this soul aspect—which exists today in embryonic form and will later be fully developed—this self-governing soul aspect, which no longer has the divine fertilizer before it, is referred to by Mari as the “widow.” And that is why he referred to himself as the “Son of the Widow.”

[ 17 ] It is Mani who prepares that stage of human soul development in which the soul seeks its own spiritual light. Everything that came from him was a call to the soul’s own spiritual light, and at the same time, it was a resolute rebellion against everything that did not originate from the soul or from the soul’s own observation. Beautiful words spring from Mani and have been the guiding principle of his followers throughout the ages. We hear: “You must cast off all that is external revelation, which you receive through the senses! You must cast off all that external authority has handed down to you; then you must become ripe to gaze upon your own soul!”

[ 18 ] Augustine, on the other hand, defends the principle—in a dialogue in which he takes on the Manichaean Faustus as his opponent—that: I would not accept the teaching of Christ if it were not based on the authority of the Church. - The Manichaean Faustus, however, says: “You should not accept any doctrine on the basis of authority; we should accept a doctrine only of our own free will.” - This is the rebellion of the light of the spirit that relies on itself, which was then so beautifully expressed in the legend of Faust.

[ 19 ] We have also contrasted this opposition in later legends from the Middle Ages. On the one hand, the Faust legend; on the other, the Luther legend. Luther is the upholder of the authoritarian principle, while Faust, on the other hand, is the one who rebels, relying on the inner light of the spirit. We have the legend of Luther: he hurls the inkwell at the Devil’s head. Whatever appears to him as evil is cast aside. And on the other hand, we have Faust’s pact with evil. A spark is sent from the realm of light into the realm of darkness to penetrate the darkness, to redeem the darkness through itself, and to overcome evil through gentleness. If you understand it this way, you will also see that this Manichaeism is quite compatible with the conception of evil that we have expressed.

[ 20 ] How should we conceive of the interplay between good and evil? We must explain it through the interplay of life and form. How does life become form? By encountering resistance; by not expressing itself all at once—in a single form. Just observe how life in a plant—let’s say a lily—rushes from one form to another. The life of the lily has built up and shaped a lily-like form.

[ 21 ] When this form is fully developed, life transcends the form, transforms into a seed, only to be reborn later as the same life in a new form. And so life proceeds from form to form. Life itself is formless and would not be able to manifest itself perceptibly within itself. The life of the lily, for example, is present in the first lily and continues on to the second, third, fourth, and fifth. Everywhere, the same life—which appears in a limited form—is woven and spread out. The fact that it appears in a limited form is a restriction on this universally flowing life. There would be no form if life were not restrained, if it were not held back in its power that flows in all directions. It is precisely from what remains behind—what, standing at a higher level, appears to it as a shackle—that form arises in the great cosmos.

[ 22 ] What life is is always encompassed as a form by what existed as life in an earlier time. Example: the Catholic Church. The life that existed within the Catholic Church from Augustine through the 15th century is Christian life. The life within it is Christianity. Time and again, this pulsating life emerges (mystics). The form—where does the form come from? It is nothing other than the life of the ancient Roman Empire. What was still life in that ancient Roman Empire has solidified into form. What was first a republic, then an empire—what lived there in its outward manifestations as the Roman state—has passed on its life, now solidified into form, to later Christianity, right down to the capital, just as Rome had once been the capital of the Roman Empire. Even the Roman provincial officials have been continued by the presbyters and bishops. What was once life later becomes form for a higher stage of life.

[ 23 ] Isn’t it exactly the same with human beings? What is human life? The manasic impregnation is today the inner life of human beings, which was planted in the middle of the Lemurian epoch. Form is what has come over like a seed from the Lunar epoch. Back then, in the Lunar epoch, kamic development was human life; now it is the shell, the form. The life of a preceding epoch is always the form of a later epoch. In the interplay of form and life, another problem arises: that of good and evil; this arises because the good of an earlier time is united with the good of a new time. And this is, in essence, nothing other than the interplay of progress with its own hindrance. This is at the same time the possibility of material manifestation, the possibility of coming into open existence. This is our human existence within the mineral-solid earth: inner life and the residual life of an earlier time, hardened into a restraining form. This is also the teaching of Manichaeism concerning evil.

[ 24 ] If we continue to ask ourselves from this perspective: What does Mani want, and what does his statement mean—that he is the Paraclete, the Spirit, the Son of the Widow? This means nothing other than that he wishes to prepare for the time when, in the sixth root race, humanity will be guided by itself—through its own soul light—and will overcome external forms, transforming them into spirit.

[ 25 ] Mani seeks to create a spiritual current that transcends Rosicrucianism—a current that extends beyond that of the Rosicrucians. This current of Mani’s reaches all the way to the sixth root race, which has been in preparation since the founding of Christianity. It is precisely in the sixth root race that Christianity will first find expression in its full form. Only then will it truly be present. The inner Christian life as such transcends all forms; it perpetuates itself through outward Christianity and lives on in all the forms of the various denominations. Whoever seeks the Christian life will always find it. It creates forms and breaks down forms within the various religious systems. What matters is not seeking uniformity everywhere in the external forms of expression, but sensing the inner stream of life that is present everywhere beneath the surface. What still needs to be created, however, is a form for the life of the sixth root race. This must be created beforehand, for it must be in place so that Christian life can flow into it. This form must be prepared by people who will create such an organization, such a form, so that the true Christian life of the sixth root race can take root within it. And this outer social form must spring from the Mani Intention, from the small group that Mani is preparing. This must be the outer organizational form—the community—in which the Christian spark will first be able to truly take root.

[ 26 ] From this you will be able to see that Manichaeism will initially strive, above all, to purify external life; for it is intended to produce people who will serve as suitable vessels in the future. That is why such great emphasis was placed on an unconditional attitude of purity and on purity itself. The Cathars were a sect that appeared like a meteor in the 12th century. They called themselves Cathars because the word means “the Pure.” They were people who were meant to be pure in their way of life and moral conduct. They had to seek catharsis both inwardly and outwardly in order to form a pure community that would serve as a pure vessel. This is what Manichaeism strives for. It is less about cultivating the inner life—life will continue to flow in other ways as well—and more about cultivating the outward form of life.

[ 27 ] Now let us take a look at what will happen in the sixth root race. There, good and evil will form a far greater contrast than they do today. What will come to pass for all humanity in the fifth round—that the outer physiognomy each person creates for themselves will be a direct expression of what karma has fashioned in the human being up to that point—will occur, as a foreshadowing of this state, within the spiritual realm during the sixth root race. In those whose karma results in an excess of evil, evil will stand out particularly clearly within the spiritual realm. On the one hand, there will then be people of tremendous inner goodness, of genius in love and goodness; but on the other hand, the opposite will also be present. Evil will be present as an unmasked disposition in a large number of people—no longer veiled, no longer hidden. The wicked will boast of evil as something particularly valuable. Even among some brilliant individuals, a certain delight in this evil—this demonic aspect of the sixth root race—is already beginning to dawn. Nietzsche’s “blonde beast,” for example, is a foreshadowing of this.

[ 28 ] This pure evil must be cast out of the current of world evolution like dross. It will be cast out into the eighth sphere. We are now on the very threshold of a time when the good will engage in a conscious struggle against evil.

[ 29 ] The sixth root race will have the task of reintegrating evil, through gentleness, as far as possible into the ongoing stream of evolution. A spiritual current will then have arisen that does not resist evil, even though it will appear in the world in its most demonic form. Among those who will be the successors of the Sons of the Widow, the awareness will have taken root that evil must once again be reintegrated into evolution, but that it is to be overcome not through struggle, but only through gentleness. To prepare for this vigorously—that is the task of the Manichaean spiritual current. This spiritual current will not die out; it will manifest in manifold forms. It takes on forms that some can imagine, but which need not be explicitly described today. If it were to relate solely to the cultivation of inner disposition, this current would not achieve what it is meant to. It must express itself in the establishment of communities that, above all else, regard peace, love, and non-resistance to evil [through struggle] as the guiding principles and seek to spread them. For they must create a vessel, a form, for life that continues to propagate even without them.

[ 30 ] Now you will understand why Augustine, the most significant thinker of the Catholic Church—who, in his City of God, virtually shaped the form of the Church and created the form for the present—why he necessarily had to be the fiercest opponent of the form that prepares the future. Here, two poles stand in opposition: Faustus and Augustine. Augustine, who builds upon the Church, upon the present form; Faustus, who seeks to prepare, from within the human being, an understanding of the form of the future.

[ 31 ] This is the conflict that developed in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. It persists and finds expression in the Catholic Church’s struggle against the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, the Albigensians, the Cathars, and so on. They are all eradicated on the outer, physical plane, but their inner life continues to exert its influence. Later, this opposition reemerged in a less intense but still fierce form in two movements born of Western culture itself: Jesuitism (Augustinianism) and Freemasonry (Manichaeism). Those waging the battle on one side—the Catholics and Jesuits of the higher ranks—are all aware of this; but on the other side, those waging the battle in the spirit of Mani, very few are aware of it—only the leadership of the movement is aware of it.

[ 32 ] Thus, in later centuries, Jesuitism (Augustinianism) and Freemasonry (Manichaeism) stood in opposition to one another. These are the offspring of the ancient spiritual movements. Consequently, both Jesuitism and Freemasonry continue the same initiation ceremonies found in the ancient movements. The initiation rite of the Church in Jesuitism has four degrees: coadjutores temporales, scholares, coadjutores spirituales, and professi. The degrees of initiation in occult Freemasonry proper are similar. They run parallel to one another but follow entirely different paths.^{2See under Notes.}