The Rudolf Steiner Archive

15. Lucifer and Christ: Lucifer, the Bearer of Light; Christ, the Bringer of Love

[ 1 ] Among various peoples, there is an awareness of two opposing forces in their religious beliefs and worldviews. We find this in Christianity as well. This is somewhat related to the question we will be examining in detail today.

[ 2 ] In fact, there are forces that cannot be described as either absolutely good or absolutely evil. What is a good force in one respect can become an evil force in another. We need only think of the natural phenomenon of fire. We owe an infinite amount to fire. With the invention of fire, a new era began in nature and culture. But terrible consequences are also associated with it. Schiller beautifully described this in “The Song of the Bell”:

The power of fire is a blessing,
When man tames it and keeps it in check,
And whatever he shapes, whatever he creates,
He owes to this heavenly power;
Yet terrible becomes this heavenly power,
When it breaks free from its bonds,
And marches on its own path,
The free daughter of nature.

[ 3 ] On the one hand, fire is a benevolent force; on the other, it is a destructive one.

[ 4 ] Anyone who looks more deeply into existence will abandon the notion that something is good or evil under all circumstances. In Christianity, the serpent is described as the tempter of humanity, and Lucifer is spoken of with revulsion. The view of the Luciferic principle has changed, however, but Goethe is still right when he describes the worldview of the average Christian in this way:

Nature and Spirit—that’s not how you talk to Christians.
That’s why atheists are burned at the stake,
Because such talk is extremely dangerous.
Nature is sin, Spirit is the devil,
They harbor doubt between them,
Their misshapen hybrid child.

[ 5 ] This is not a view held by early Christianity; rather, it was introduced into Christianity at a later date. Even among the Christian mystics of the first centuries—the Gnostics—the serpent is not a symbol of evil, but rather a symbol of humanity’s spiritual guidance. The sage, the guide, is called “the serpent.” This was the name given to the one who leads humanity to knowledge. The serpent is the symbol of Lucifer.

[ 6 ] The evolution of the conception of the Luciferic principle can be traced through the changes in the Faust legend. Faust was a figure of the Middle Ages—half juggler, half black magician—who practiced all manner of arts, but gradually became an archetype for the people. The Faust legend stands in direct contrast to the Luther legend. Luther is the man of God who, with the Bible in hand, resists evil and hurls an inkwell at its head. Faust, on the other hand, initially sets the Bible aside and becomes a physician who seeks wisdom rather than mere faith in revelation. Faust is taken by the devil and meets his doom. What is remarkable about Goethe is that he allows Faust to be saved. This represents a complete transformation that has taken place in the perception of the Faust figure over the past few centuries. Goethe contrasted the Luciferian principle with Faust in the form of Mephistopheles. “Mephis” means “liar,” and “Tophel” means “corrupter”—a Hebrew name derived from ancient magical teachings. Faust is the white magician, in contrast to Mephistopheles, who represents the origins of black magic. Goethe does not allow Faust to fall prey to Mephistopheles.

[ 7 ] The name Lucifer means “the bearer of light.” “Lux” means light, and “fero” means “I carry.” This cannot be the principle of evil. To truly understand this principle, we must go back to very ancient times. If one wishes to understand the principle of Lucifer, one must conceive of the divine principle and the human principle as they were still understood in the early days of Christianity. When humankind began its development, there were beings who stood lower than humankind, and others who stood higher. These were the gods. They, too, became so only after a long process of evolution. These higher beings no longer need to absorb the same teachings that humankind must absorb. We imagine that earthly existence was preceded by another planetary existence, where the gods developed and later became creative powers. The gods are ahead of us. They have, so to speak, already completed the school that humanity is now going through. At a certain stage, when they stood at the beginning of evolution, even the gods were still human beings.

[ 8 ] We must consider how the various levels of existence relate to one another. Let us begin with the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms.

[ 9 ] When we look at the mineral realm, we must ask ourselves: How did it actually come into being? This question leads to a profound occult truth. Consider coal. Today, it is stone. Several million years ago in the Earth’s evolution, what we use today to heat our stoves was still part of a beautiful fern forest. A geological catastrophe buried the trees, and they then underwent the process that gradually transformed them into coal. In the case of coal, we can observe that the inanimate arose from the living. In the mineral kingdom, there are components where this is not so easy to determine—for example, diamonds and rock crystal. These, too, once belonged to a living organism. If one were to go further back in time, one would likewise find plants that later fossilized into these other minerals. Everything that is dead has emerged from a single life. If all life were to become fossilized one day, the Earth would become a rigid body. Our plants today are something that life has preserved from an earlier, universal form of life. Part of it has fossilized, but part of it has preserved life. The ancient fern forests fossilize; a new kingdom emerges, and new life springs forth from it. First there was an ancient era in which there was only life, then a new era in which part of it fossilized and, alongside it, a younger plant kingdom arose. The mineral kingdom does not appear chaotic to us, but beautifully structured. There is wisdom within it. The entire framework of the Earth is built upon wisdom. The plant kingdom has carried life forward. But we can trace life itself back to an even higher kingdom. We can imagine that all living things have emerged from an even higher kingdom. That is the kingdom of love. There must have been a primordial being that harbored love within itself. From it, the realm of life emerged, and from the realm of life, the realm of wisdom. Furthermore, the younger realm of love emerged from the realm of love—a realm in which beings exist at the animal level, yet in which love is already expressed. Now we ascend to something even higher. The Divine stands above all these realms. The other realms have emerged from the Divine. Now one understands how, at the beginning of planetary evolution, humanity and God stood opposite one another, just as in the natural realms, at the beginning, minerals and plants stood opposite one another.

[ 10 ] In the past, there was a plant kingdom that did not need the mineral kingdom. But the more recent plant kingdom needs the mineral kingdom. In the same way, the gods needed humans at the beginning of Earth’s evolution. Without humans, the gods could not have flourished at the beginning of Earth’s evolution any more than plants could have without stones. Now consider the animal and plant kingdoms. There is a very specific relationship between the two kingdoms. Animals exhale carbon dioxide; plants exhale oxygen. They are dependent on one another. The lower plant kingdom lovingly gives back to the animal what it needs. The plant keeps the carbon for itself and returns the oxygen. Thus, a wonderful interaction constantly exists between the lower and higher kingdoms. Such an interaction also exists between the plant and mineral kingdoms. Plants continually draw substances from the earth’s mineral kingdom, thereby incorporating these substances into a life process. In this way, the higher kingdom influences the lower kingdom. And in the early stages of Earth’s evolution, the kingdom of the gods likewise influenced the human kingdom. In the beginning, there was an interaction similar to that between plants and minerals and between animals and plants. The interaction between the gods and human beings was initially expressed in what we call love among human beings. When human beings first appeared on Earth, they became beings of two sexes. This power of love, this kinship among one another—that is how the divine expressed itself at the beginning of Earth’s evolution. The gods receive the love pulsating within human beings and live by it, just as animals live by the oxygen that plants produce for them. The love living within the human race is the nourishment of the gods. In the beginning, everything is built upon this love. Blood kinship unites people. Tribes, hordes, nations, and so on are founded upon it. All the power of the gods at the dawn of human evolution rests upon this love that enfolds the two sexes. Love existed before the emergence of the two sexes. It existed beforehand as a fully conscious love. Now, with the emergence of the two-sexed human, the consciousness of love was obscured. It became a blind instinct—sensuality—which is not filled with bright clarity but expresses itself only as a dark instinct. The consciousness of love had ascended to the gods. The gods now reigned above in the consciousness of love, while humans practiced love as a blind instinct. The gods feed on this blind instinct of human love; for them, it becomes a bright light. There is a form of clairvoyance through which everything that lives within human beings as blind instincts becomes visible. The gods possessed this vision at the dawn of human evolution, but human beings were devoid of this faculty. They were filled with passions; they were overwhelmed by what drives the sexes toward one another. The gods lived in astral light. They saw these instincts; they lived off them.

[ 11 ] Just as the younger plant kingdom once lagged behind and was supplanted by the mineral kingdom, so too did an ancient kingdom of gods give rise to a new kingdom of gods and to humanity in its present form. For there are also beings who had not attained full consciousness in the astral light. They stood right in the middle between the gods and humankind when humankind began its existence on Earth. We call these beings the hosts of Lucifer. Under the influence of the gods, who had attained perfection through their earlier evolution, humanity would have remained without astral light, without knowledge. These gods had no other interest than that humanity live on Earth. Lucifer, however, had to make up for what he had previously neglected. He could do so now only by making use of the human being as well. Sensory existence was present in the human realm. Lucifer had no sensory existence. He had to use human bodies to advance himself. Therefore, he had to bestow upon humanity the gift of seeing in the light what the gods had implanted within them. The gods had implanted love within them; Lucifer had to tempt them to see this in the light. So now we have human beings, the formed body, and wisdom; furthermore, Lucifer, who gives light to humanity; and God, who flows through human beings with love.

Humanity — Wisdom
Lucifer — Light
God — Love

[ 12 ] Lucifer has a much more intimate relationship with humankind than the gods enthroned in love. Lucifer has opened humankind’s eyes. As humankind opens its eyes and looks out into the world, Lucifer looks out into the world from within humankind. He completes his development within humankind. As long as humankind rested in the bosom of the gods, it was a child of God. As long as it strove for knowledge, it was a friend of Lucifer. This is expressed in the Paradise legend. Jehovah shapes humankind. He is the Spirit of Form. He would have created humankind to live in love, without the light. Then came Lucifer, the serpent, and brought humanity the light of knowledge—and with it, the potential to do evil. Now Jehovah tells humanity that the love which has become intertwined with Lucifer’s knowledge will bring pain. Jehovah curbs the actions of the one who implanted knowledge—the light of love—by adding pain to love.

[ 13 ] In Cain we see the one who rebels against what has been created through blood-bound love. He severs the bonds of kinship. But he is also the representative of independence. Alongside passive love stands active, enlightened work of understanding. Love—a gift from Jehovah; knowledge—a gift from Lucifer. Love must be regulated. The organization of family ties is the Law of Sinai. Alongside this stands knowledge—the light that is to come from within human beings themselves, originating in the bearer of light that reigns within them. This, too, must be deepened; it must undergo a new phase. This can only happen if the Law does not merely reign from the outside. The Law acted from the outside as a coercive law. What Christ brought to the earth works from within. It is the light raised up to love, the law born within the soul itself, which Paul calls grace. The law that was reborn from the innermost nature was at once love and light, and it marked the beginning of a new evolution on earth. Paul calls Christ the “reversed Adam.”

[ 14 ] In human beings, the God of love worked above them, while within them worked Lucifer, the light. To attain love, one must first become light. Through the coming of Christ Jesus, this light has been transformed into love. Christ Jesus represents the elevation of light to love.

[ 15 ] In the past, Lucifer was spoken of as the other pole that brought light to humanity. Two forces must be at work on Earth: Christ, the bearer of love, and Lucifer, the bearer of light. For human beings, light and love are the two poles. Human beings now live under the influence of these two polar forces. The gods who inspired love were once light; light is destined to become love once more. Light can be misused and lead to evil, but it must exist if humanity is to become free.

[ 16 ] The early Christians saw in Lucifer something that was meant to be at work within human nature. It was only later that this view changed. Only those who have endured the torments of doubt can become firmly established in this knowledge. Young Christian humanity still had to be shielded from the light. But today the time has come when the covenant between love and wisdom is to be renewed. It is sealed when knowledge is born as wisdom in the human heart through love. This knowledge, which is born as wisdom in the human heart by being elevated to love—that is spiritual science.

[ 17 ] In antiquity, the law existed. Through Christ, the law became grace by being lifted out of the human heart itself. Now knowledge is to be lifted up once more to love. Inner Christianity is to be added to the outer organization of Christianity. Until now, Christianity has only been able to realize love within its institutions. But now we must carry love down into the deepest depths of the human heart. At present, everyone still holds on to self-love for their own opinions. Love stands above opinion only when people can get along despite their widely differing views. A variety of opinions side by side—and love above them all. Then individual opinions do not act alone, but all work together in one great chorus.