An Essay on the Deep Forces behind the World-Crisis
This page was at "www.trailerpark.com" from May 1997 to Nov. 1998
(with occasional revisions). Trailerpark went out of operation in
Nov. 1998.
Posted by Robert S. Mason
(A Spanish translation of an earlier version of this essay can be found at: http://es.geocities.com/fer269es/AdvenimientoAhrimanTraducido.htm)
ABSTRACT: A powerful spiritual being, called "Ahriman" (or "Satan"), will incarnate in a human body. The terms "soul" and "spirit" have clear meanings. Earthly/cosmic evolution is an outcome of the deeds of the Gods. The central event of earth-evolution was the Incarnation of Christ.
Spiritual powers of opposition are active: Lucifer, Ahriman, Sorat. Ahriman is the inspirer of materialistic science and commercialism, and permeates modern culture with deadening forces. Ordinary scientific thinking is only semi-conscious; we can, however, make thinking conscious. The spirits of opposition are necessary in the Gods' evolutionary design. Ahriman manifests especially at 666-year intervals; the contemporary is 1998 AD = 3x666.
Goethean science is a life-positive alternative to Ahrimanic science. Ahriman-in-the-flesh will likely present himself as the Christ. The Christ does not reappear in a physical body, but in a super-physical, ethereal form. Ahriman may incarnate "macrocosmically" in our computers. Mankind will acquire new faculties of thinking-consciousness and clairvoyance. Ahriman seeks to pervert these faculties, and to divert mankind and the earth from their destined paths in the Gods' evolutionary plan. Ahrimanic secret societies influence politics, finance, and culture. A false "Maitreya" is "emerging" as a false Christ. An epistemology of conscious thinking supports the expansion of consciousness to the perception of spiritual truths.
Author's Preface
I wish to bring before the public, through the World Wide Web, some information about tremendous events approaching. I am aware that much talk in this vein is already on the Web, and that there is generally a sense "in the air" that something big is happening, with the turning of the Millennium, the end of the Mayan calendar, etc. I believe that this sense of "something in the air" is a correct perception, albeit sometimes highly distorted. Most of the information in this essay is not new; it has been open to the public at least since the aftermath of the First World War. Yet it has not reached the wide public that needs to hear it. I hope that the advent of the World Wide Web and the search engines will make this important information available to many around the world who have not yet encountered it and who might put it to good use. I claim no special knowledge concerning these matters; I have merely drawn on published sources. I expect no one to take my word for anything. I do ask the readers to read and think through this information, to follow the leads that I give, and do their own investigations. Conscientious investigations might well cause some intellectual upheavals, and change the course of some lives; and this is exactly what is needed, many times over, around the world.
Rudolf Steiner 1861-1925
1. I was not aware that anyone else was writing it, and
2. it needed to be written, and published.
The events of which I speak are the approaching incarnation of a powerful super-human spiritual being, following the concomitant political, social, economic, and cultural events. Preparations for this incarnation have been building to a climax over the past four centuries or more, and the climax is approaching soon. This being is called "Ahriman" (from the ancient Persian name Angra Mainyu, given by the prehistoric Zarathustra). We might consider Ahriman to be the same being usually called "Satan", except that the concept of "Satan" is much confused and misunderstood. Therefore, in this essay I will use the name "Ahriman", and will attempt to give a clearer understanding of his nature and aims than generally obtains.
I realize that many are not inclined to take seriously the possibility of such an event, or to believe that such matters are known, or can be known. Nevertheless, again I ask the reader to read this essay with an open mind, at least open enough to take in the thoughts and concepts. I will give a few epistemological considerations which support the notion that such matters can be known. And I will give some references which will help the readers to conduct their own epistemological researches, and thus to be able to make an informed estimation of this report. This is a matter of some importance; it is essential for the future of mankind and the earth that as many people as possible become wakeful and not be caught sleeping by the impending events.
A full explanation of the nature of Ahriman and his incarnation is far beyond the scope of this essay (as well as beyond the understanding of this author). If I only give enough of an explanation so that the readers become conscious enough to see the necessity, and to have the means, of becoming more conscious about these matters, then I will have fulfilled my purpose.
Spirit and Soul
Since this essay speaks of "spiritual" matters, I would like to bring into focus the concept of spirit, along with the concepts of soul and body. (I follow Steiner's exposition in his Theosophy.) The "body", of course, is the physical form, perceptible by the outer senses, in the world that is usually perceived in common by people's outer senses. By soul I mean the inner world of subjective feelings and sensations of a Man (or animal).
The sensation of an outer sense-perception (such as the green of grass), as well as feelings (such as pleasure or pain), are in the soul. Also, the inner being acts through the soul by the will, though the will is not usually conscious. We might say that the physical world acts on the soul through sensation; the soul lives in its own feelings, and acts upon the world through the will. We (generally) experience sensations in wakefulness, feelings as if in a dream, and will as if in deep, unconscious sleep.
In addition to living in the inner world of the soul, the Man can live in the world of thought. Through thinking, we make contact with the being of the things of the world. By spirit I mean the essence of thought. Contrary to common misconception, thought is not subjective, but objective, in that it belongs to the whole world, accessible to all. Many people can grasp the same thought and through that thought contact the same objective reality, though they do not (usually) experience each other's sensations and feelings. As the physical world interacts with the soul, so also does the spirit; we can call forth thoughts by our acts of will, and the thoughts give us feelings. Much of the confusion about the supposed subjectivity of thinking arises from the subjectivity of feelings and sensations connected with thinking, as well as from the fact that much of what usually passes for thinking is hardly thinking at all, but a kind of semi-conscious, automatic pseudo-thinking. (In modern times, people experience thinking as if it comes, usually automatically, out of themselves, yet, paradoxically, thinking in essence is objective and universal [as we can best see in mathematics]. I will say more about this below.) Thus, through our experience of thinking, we can attach an experiential, "empirical" meaning to the concept of spirit. (All this should, of course, be taken as only a bare introduction to a vast, deep subject. For now, I am trying only to counter the widespread opinion that soul and spirit are nebulous, meaningless terms.) And while it is usually true that we hardly experience our thinking, thinking may be intensified so that it becomes conscious, and this development of consciousness may lead to the perception of the world and beings of soul and spirit -- and thus become the basis of "spiritual science".
Spiritual Beings and Earthly Evolution
Following the communications of this spiritual science, I will posit that spiritual beings, known as "angels", live invisibly (to us, usually) and involve themselves in earthly affairs. (This idea has been gaining acceptance in the general culture in recent years, with a surge of interest in angels.) I will also posit the existence of other spiritual beings, higher and more advanced than the angels, called the "archangels" in theology or angelology. Modern spiritual research (by Steiner), as well as ancient tradition (from Dionysius the Areopagate, pupil of St. Paul) speaks of at least nine orders of angels and supra-angelic beings -- which, taken together, are called the "hierarchies", sometimes the "choirs of angels", or sometimes the "Gods". (Other, still higher Beings are not discussed here.) Some of the names given to the nine hierarchies, in ascending order, are:
• Angels (Angeloi, Sons of Twilight, Sons of Life; all Men have individual angels as guardians and carriers of their eternal Selves)
• Archangels (Archangeloi, Spirits of Fire; the "folk-spirits" are of this rank)
• Archai (singular "Arche"; Spirits of Personality, Primal Beginnings, Principalities; the "Time Spirit" or "Zeitgeist" is of this rank)
• Exusiai (Spirits of Form, Powers, Authorities; the "Elohim" and "Jehovah" are of this rank)
• Dynamis (Spirits of Motion, Mights, Virtues)
• Kyriotetes (Spirits of Wisdom, Dominions)
• Thrones (Spirits of Will)
• Cherubim (Spirits of Harmony)
• Seraphim (Spirits of Love).
Although the doctrines of Dionysius were long considered to be heretical, the existence of these Hierarchical beings is mentioned in the Bible. Angels, of course, are mentioned in many places. Some other examples:
• Archangels -- Jude v.9; I Thes. 4: 16
• Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers -- Rom. 8: 38; Col. 1: 16, 2: 15; Eph. 1: 21, 3: 10
• Cherubim -- Gen. 3: 24; Ex. 25: 18-20,22; Num. 7: 89; Ezk. 9: 3, ch. 10; Ps. 18: 10
• Seraphim -- Isa. 6: 21
These spirits are not all "angelic", in the sense of "good and holy". Some, sometimes, oppose the regular, good world-order. Ahriman ("the Unjust Prince of this World") is a "retarded" Spirit of Form, working as an Arche, opposing (in a sense) the good world order. (Yet, this opposition is not purely "evil", as I will discuss below.) Since Ahriman is a spirit of opposition, we might begin to understand his nature by understanding what he opposes: the Gods' plan of earthly and human development. But the situation is not as simple as a two-sided contest; basic to competent understanding of the world-process is the recognition of at least three kinds of spiritual influence upon the evolution of mankind and the cosmos. (We must be clear that this "evolution" is something very different from the random, meaningless, material process conceived by the neo-Darwinists and suchlike theorists. I mean by "evolution" a thoroughly purposeful, thought-filled process of development initiated and guided by spiritual beings.)
The normal Gods (the regular hierarchies) create and nurture the evolvement of the world and mankind, so as to bring about the possibility of Men attaining the status of divinity as "Spirits of Freedom and Love" -- the tenth hierarchy. (At the present stage of evolution, the Man progresses through alternating periods of earth-lives and purely spiritual lives: birth, death, and reincarnation.) As the name implies, essential to the fulfillment of mankind's task is the realization of "freedom", meaning not so much political freedom as spiritual freedom -- that Men should become independent, unique individuals acting consciously as the originators of their own deeds. Occult wisdom, independently rediscovered and made public by Steiner (and greatly simplified here, to put it mildly), explains this evolution as being created and guided through seven great cosmic ages. We are now in the fourth great age, called the "Earth" Age. (All ages' names here are given in order of succession.) The previous three ages are called "Saturn", "Sun", and "Moon". Again, these are past ages of cosmic development, not to be confused with the present-day heavenly bodies of the same names. The same holds for the three future ages: "Jupiter", "Venus", and "Vulcan". The great Earth Age comprises seven lesser ages, of which we are in the fifth. These five are called "Polarian", "Hyperborean", "Lemurian", "Atlantean", and "Post-Atlantean". And the Post-Atlantean Age comprises seven cultural epochs, of which, again, we are in the fifth. The previous four are called "Indian", "Persian", "Egypto-Chaldean", and "Greco-Roman". Recorded history begins only with the Egypto-Chaldean Epoch; what is generally known of ancient Indian and Persian culture derives from records made in the third epoch. -- These names of epochs do not imply that nothing important was happening in other regions of the earth, but that the archetypal evolutionary impulses of the times were centered in the regions designated. The epochs last approximately 2160 years; and the present, fifth post-Atlantean epoch began about 1413 AD. Neither are these epochs considered to be sharply differentiated; transitions happen gradually, future developments being prepared in advance, and past influences lingering after.
Note: This account is ridiculously simplified, for the purpose of providing a bare conceptual framework for this essay. To get a faint idea of how simplified, consider that on Old Saturn "space" did not exist; "time", paradoxically, "began" only during that age; and the only quasi-sensory phenomenon was a kind of heat-substance. Conditions on Old Saturn were so vastly different from earthly conditions that we can imagine them only faintly. Indeed, perhaps better than trying merely to picture Old Saturn as a physical existence, would be to conceive of this "heat" as only an outer appearance of the "soul-warmth" of the Creator-Gods. The basic reality is spirit-beings and their deeds. The "beginning" might be pictured thus: the Thrones offered sacrifice of part of their own being to the Cherubim; the warmth of this devotional sacrifice rose as smoke, and from this fiery smoke was born the Archai -- the Time-Spirits. Thus: a sacramental, creative act of holy Beings, viewed "externally" as "heat" and the "beginning of time". -- We can properly approach these sacred Mysteries (made public only in our time) with reverent inner activity, calling forth inner pictures imbued with devotional feeling of respect for even our physical existence as a gift of the Gods' own being-substance.
-- And again, this is only to give the dimmest conception of these tremendous facts, and of their remoteness from our usual, materialistic imagining. Conditions only very gradually, over inconceivable aeons, approached those of the present. For example, a kind of "space" came into existence only on the Old Sun, and so on. Always, the reality "behind" the "outer appearances" is: beings and their deeds.
The central event of the Earth Age occurred during the Greco-Roman Epoch, in Palestine. It was the incarnation of a very high spiritual Being, a God of the normal current, called the "Christ" -- culminating in the events surrounding the Crucifixion: the "Mystery of Golgatha". This Event was the turning-point of Earth-evolution from descent from spirit into matter, toward ascent back to the spirit, with the fruits gained from the sojourn into matter. (Steiner himself did not begin with a Christian world-view. He independently, and unexpectedly, rediscovered the "mystical fact" of Christianity during the course of his consciously clairvoyant experiences.)
Besides the normal Gods, a host of abnormal spiritual beings, called "Luciferic", also influences earthly evolution. In a sense, these oppose the normal Gods' plans for evolution. The Luciferic beings try to draw mankind away from the normal earth-evolution to their own abnormal psychic-spiritual cosmos of light. In the human soul they inspire pride, egotism, disinterest in one's fellow Men, fiery emotionalism, subjectivity, fantasy, and hallucination. In the human intellect they inspire generalization, unification, hypothesizing, and the building of imaginative pictures beyond reality. Human speech and thought are Luciferic in origin; so are human self-consciousness and the capacity for independence and rebellion against the normal Gods' world-order. Also, the susceptibility to disease originated from Luciferic influence. -- A high spiritual being, in a sense the leader of the Luciferic host, "Lucifer" himself, incarnated in a human body, in the region of China, in the Third Millennium BC. This event brought about a revolution in human consciousness. Before then, Men could not use the organs of intellect and lived by a kind of instinct.
Lucifer was the first to grasp by the intellect the wisdom of the Mysteries theretofore revealed by the Gods to mankind in other forms of consciousness. The effects of this incarnation inspired the wisdom of Pagan culture, up through the Gnosis of the early centuries AD, and lingered even into the early Nineteenth Century. -- This wisdom should not be considered to be false in itself; it is good or evil depending on who holds it, and for what purposes it is used. The great Pagan initiates took it upon themselves to enter into the Luciferic influence and turn it to the good of mankind. Only through the Luciferic influence has mankind risen above the status of childishness. (Apart from the Pagan culture of Nature-wisdom was the Hebraic culture, which [in a sense] separated the Man from Nature, and which prepared an hereditary current to provide a body for the incarnation of Christ. In Pagan culture the Man felt membered into the starry cosmos, without what we now know as moral impulses. Moral impulses in the human soul were prepared by Hebrewism and furthered by Christianity. Christianity is also a culmination and fulfillment of Pagan wisdom. -- Here "Christianity" means not so much "organized religion" as the deeds and continuing influence of the Christ-Being and His hosts, not necessarily confined to formal-religious organizations.)
A third spiritual influence working into human and earthly evolution is the Ahrimanic. The intention of Ahriman, and his hosts, is to freeze the earth into complete rigidity, so that it will not pass over to the Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan ages, and to make the Man into an entirely earthly being -- unindividualized, unfree, and divorced from the normal Gods' cosmos. The essential Ahrimanic tendency is to materialize; to crystallize; to darken; to silence; to bring living, mobile forces into fixed form -- in other words, to kill that which is living. This tendency in itself, within proper bounds, is not evil; the dead, material world is necessary for the regular Gods' plan of human and cosmic development. The Ahrimanic tendency is evil only when it exceeds proper bounds, when it reaches into what should be alive -- and Ahriman does try to exceed proper bounds. Again, the basic reality of the world is spiritual beings together with their deeds, but Ahriman promotes the illusion, the lie, that matter is the basic reality, or the only reality. In fact, Ahrimanic spirits, not "atoms" or "ultimate particles", are the reality behind the apparently material world. Ahriman lives upon lies; he is a spirit of untruth, the "Father of Lies".
Ahriman in Modern Times
In the present, fifth cultural epoch the Ahrimanic influence in human culture is reaching a climax. The modern scientific revolution, since the fifteenth century, has been inspired largely by Ahriman. He is the inspirer of amoral, atheistic, mechanistic materialism, and the kind of cleverness that goes with it. The regular Gods' intent for the present epoch (also called the "Consciousness Soul Epoch") is that mankind should develop increased consciousness, together with the individuality and spiritual freedom that go with that consciousness. Ahriman opposes this; he wants the Man to live from unconscious instincts as an unindividualized, impulsive animal -- clever, but an animal nonetheless. (Ahriman is the teacher of the lie that the Man is an animal: neo-Darwinism and similar theories.)
To the modern mind it might seem a contradiction to say Ahriman opposes increased consciousness but promotes intelligence and science. This is because the modern mind is so immured in what is generally considered to be "scientific thinking" that it has almost no conception of the true nature of conscious thinking. (Steiner, especially in his book Die Philosophie der Freiheit [1894], has been our teacher of real thinking, but the general intellectual culture has not learned the lesson.) The fact is that the "scientific" thinking normal in this epoch, no matter how clever, is hardly conscious at all (possibly with some relatively rare exceptions at moments of "insight" or mathematical discovery). In the kind of consciousness usual in our "scientific" culture, we become conscious only of the fixed results of the thinking, after it has been accomplished; we are not (usually) conscious of the thinking-process itself. And since it is unconscious, it is not our free action; it is automatic. When we think in the manner usual in our epoch, we are sentient automata, acting from instinct. (Formerly occult fact: this instinctive thinking in the wide culture had been inspired by Jehovah up to about 1840 AD. Since then it has been inspired by Ahriman, resulting in the Nineteenth-Century torrent of materialism, which, aided by the withdrawal of the German folk-spirit, drowned the life-positive Romanticism in culture.) And this is what Ahriman wants: he wants to stamp out all traces and all possibility of free, individualized human consciousness; he wants the Man not to be an individual, but only a member of a general species of pseudo-mankind -- to be a clever, earth-bound animal, an "homunculus".
As indicated, Ahriman is the inspirer of the most extreme kind of "scientific" materialism: the doctrine that there is no spirit or soul in the world; that life itself is not in fact alive, but is only a complex of mechanical processes; that reality is at base only quantitative, that there is no reality in the qualitative -- color, sound, etc.; even that the human's inner being is a confluence of material forces. On the emotional level, he works in the human subconscious instincts, inspiring fear, hatred, lust for power, and destructive sex impulses. On the mental level, he inspires rigid, automatic thinking: (in Steiner's phrase) thinking almost entirely without thoughts, but thinking tremendously strongly in the language, in the literal words, which easily become empty words, which in turn easily become lies. -- This "abstract" thinking is devoid of any conscious, inner activity and devoid of any real connection to living experience, and creates a darkened consciousness without light, color, or images.
The Degradation of Language
According to Steiner, it is characteristic of the present culture of Ahrimanic scientism and Anglo-American economic imperialism that language has lost its instinctive spiritual meaning; that is, the connection is lost between the literal word and the spiritual impulse that constitutes meaning.
Without real, spiritual content, language consists only of "empty phrases", such as rule by the will of the people, the free world, individual freedom, and so on. These phrases are largely devoid of reality in our socio-political structure; here the pervasive actuality is the power of money over Men and over life. And where the empty phrase rules in language, mere conventions -- rather than living human contact -- rule in social life, and mere routine -- rather than lively human interest -- rules in economic life. And: "It is only a short step from the empty phrase to the lie." Again, this is especially true in politics and economics, for the prevalence of empty words makes possible the falsification of realities -- a potent weapon in the hands of those with occult, conscious intentions to manipulate people for devious ends. In our time, people en masse act as if they are possessed by evil forces, because, in a way, they are. The demons of materialism speak through empty words. A language in which the demons of materialism have taken the place of human spiritual impulses can lead only to destruction.
Certainly Steiner was not the only one to notice this aspect of modern language. George Orwell was perhaps the most prominent writer to decry this trend. See, for instance, his classic essay "Politics and the English Language". He envisioned the dehumanization of language becoming deliberately intensified in the "newspeak" of the Ahrimanic nightmare 1984. Having no apparent knowledge of spiritual science, and working with only keen observation and a love of truth, he saw what was happening in the political discourse of Western Europe and carried to extremes in the totalitarian regimes.
On the socio-political level, the antidote for this poison of empty words is the liberation of cultural life, especially education, from political and financial power. (As outlined in Steiner's concept of the "threefold commonwealth": the separation of the political-rights state, the spiritual-cultural sphere, and the economic sector -- along with the elimination of egotism and coercion from the economy.) On the individual-personal level, the antidote is the infusion of active, creative thought into language, thus creating a language in which the words point to the thoughts, evoking living thinking in the listeners. If we do not put effort into creating our original thoughts, then ready-made pseudo-thoughts, trite words and phrases, come automatically to mind and carry us along with them, resulting in "thinking almost entirely without thoughts". We can at least make the effort to resist these ready-made phrases and generalizations that effortlessly come to mind, and to form mental pictures of particular people, things, and events -- and further, to make original word-formations describing these things and pictures from varying points of view. The essential point is that we not let our speaking and writing be determined by unconscious influences, but that we call forth through our own efforts new, original thought-creations and convey them with original, fluid, artistic word-formations. We will not always fully succeed; we are not all poets all the time; but if we consciously make this effort, then we will go far toward recovering the lost human-spirituality of language, and consequently, toward the humanization of culture. (I will say more on this subject in another context.) -- And, not incidentally, we will thus progress toward living consciously in the thinking-free-of-literal-words that is the "language" of the spirit-soul world in which we will live after death. -- "Men must learn to see through words; they will have to acquire the capacity to grasp the gesture in language." [From Symptom to Reality in Modern History, p. 124]
The Ahrimanization of Culture
In the social-cultural sphere, Ahriman's influence is apparent everywhere, especially strong and growing stronger throughout the Twentieth Century. Chief among the Ahrimanic trends are:
• Antagonistic nationalism based on ethnicity. (Moderate folk-nationalism was a progressive principle in the past, but ethnic nationalism is retrogressive and destructive today.)
• Dogmatic party politics, engendering hatred and bitterness arising from the refusal to see other, equally valid (or invalid) points of view
• The subjugation of cultural life (e.g. medicine, education, research, criminal jurisprudence) to political and economic power
• The mechanization of the political state, bound by rigid laws everywhere, with little place for free human initiative
• In everyday life: Philistinism, tedium, and alienation, lack of interest in one's work, even in intellectual work (Ahriman wants knowledge to be devoid of warm human interest and connection, to be stored in libraries and not to live in human souls.)
• In medicine: materialistic, mechanistic (and atrocious) experimentalism and treatment, without understanding of the living human individual (The related practice of embalming corpses tends to bind the human entity to earth; this is an Ahrimanic reflection of ancient Egyptian mummification.)
• In social science: blind acceptance of statistics, and the belief that the satisfaction of economic needs by itself will secure human welfare
• In economics: the subjugation of all living and human interests to the inhuman, impersonal mechanism of profit-seeking, to the "artificial person" of the corporation (In the USA this has reached such a state that the humanizing influence of the labor movement is being obliterated, and the exigencies of "making a living", along with other destructive Ahrimanic trends, are destroying the human family -- this in the so-called "richest country in the world". (A perspicacious American folk-wisdom has coined the phrase "the Almighty Dollar".) The Ahrimanic "Mammon" is archetypally the god of "filthy lucre" and of the power of money over life, as well as of all low and dark forces; his hosts also attack the human body and soul to corrupt and destroy them.)
• In the Christian religion: narrow, simplistic interpretation of the Gospels, without appreciation for the occult wisdom needed for an approach to the deep mysteries of the Christ Being
• In literature: books inspired directly by Ahriman, works of great intelligence that further Ahriman's goals (e.g. some parts of Nietzsche's Antichrist and Ecce Homo)
• In technics: very refined developments, but directed only at satisfying animal needs, promoting human immersion in the sense-world to the exclusion of the supersensible
• In world-view: Men as animals, animals (and all living things) as mechanisms, the non-existence of soul and spirit, and the non-existence of moral reality: amoralism.
Obviously, these impulses are running amok in this world, more so all the time. They are, in fact, approaching a climax; they are preparations for the incarnation of Ahriman himself in a human body.
Good and Evil
To sum up this description of the triad of spiritual streams: The conflicts of human and spiritual life do not derive from a simple, two-sided war between good and evil. It was one of the great insights of Steiner to renew the ancient teaching of the "Golden Mean", of good as the middle way between opposing extremes. -- Lucifer is too warm, too flighty, too unstable; he inspires human fanaticism, false mysticism, hot-bloodedness, and the tendency to flee earthly reality for hallucinatory pleasures. Ahriman is too cold, too hard, too rigid; he tries to make people dry, prosaic, philistine, materialistic in thought and in deed -- and hardens what would be healthily mobile, supple thoughts, feelings, and even bodies.
Christ, as the Exemplar of the regular Gods, represents the middle way between the too-much and the too-little, holding the opposites in balance -- and leading mankind to find the healthy middle way. Seen this way, Lucifer and Ahriman are not purely evil; they both bring to human and earthly evolution forces that are needed for good, healthy development and the fulfillment of the Gods' plans. Evil results only when events get out of balance and run to extremes. -- However, neither do Lucifer and Ahriman simply oppose each other; in a sense, they work together in opposition to the Gods' intent for evolution; they both work to prevent mankind and the earth from progressing together to the New Jupiter.
Lucifer draws human spirits away from earthly embodiment toward his own psychic-spiritual "planet" of light; Ahriman pushes the individual human spirit out of the human organism and away from the earth, so that only a hardened, mechanized, ghostly human organism, devoid of free individuality and living an instinctive-but-clever animalistic species-life remains on the hardened "cosmic slag" of the earth (surrounded with Old Moon forces). Mankind's rightful task for the present is to lead lives of healthy, progressive alternation between the earthly and the cosmic (life, death, and rebirth), so as to lead the earth over to New Jupiter. -- The profound mystery of evil is that in a higher sense, in the long run, it serves the good. Not to imply that we would be justified in doing evil with the rationalization that good would result. "...it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" [Matthew 18;vii]
Note: This is a deep subject, and I am not altogether sure of my grasp of it. My impression is that Steiner was developing and expanding his insights during his career, so that reading just one of his treatments of the subject will not give the whole picture. The picture I have drawn so far is this:
The true picture of the workings of evil might be even more
complex than outlined above. Steiner did make some statements
which might be interpreted as indicating a third stream of
spirits of opposition: the "Asuras" (a borrowed Eastern
term), which are retarded Archai who work to destroy the
human "I", the Ego itself. The Asuras might be agents of the
actual Antichrist, the Sun-Demon, known to occultism as
"Sorat" (or "Sorath"). In some passages Steiner does identify
the Apocalyptic Beast 666 as Sorat, not clearly
differentiating the Ahrimanic and Soratic principals. While
it seems true that the numerological interpretation of the
Hebrew spelling of "Sorat" gives the number 666, still the
position of Sorat in relation to Lucifer and Ahriman is not
altogether clear (to this writer). A possible solution to
this question might follow from the imagery of the
Apocalypse: Michael casts the Dragon out of heaven;
immediately afterwards arise the two "beasts" -- the first
from the sea (Lucifer) and the second from the land
(Ahriman). Thus Lucifer and Ahriman appear on earth as two
beings or principles, but they are the progeny of the one
spirit of opposition -- the Dragon -- in Heaven. If we
identify the Dragon, the Antichrist, as Sorat, we can picture
Lucifer and Ahriman as the left and right hands of Sorat.
Christ strives to hold Lucifer and Ahriman in balance so that
they serve the good, while Sorat strives to keep them out of
balance, so that they work for destruction. While Lucifer
seeks to draw the human "I", the Ego to his own planet, and
Ahriman seeks to harden the earth and the human organism so
that no Ego can live in a human on earth, Sorat -- through
the Asuras -- seeks to destroy the Ego itself, along with the
earth. Sorat uses Lucifer and Ahriman as spirits of seduction
to mask his own true intention of pure destruction. And Sorat
manifests in social evolution as pure destruction, especially
in the wars and mass murders of our century. (Some suggest
that he manifests in the human organism as the destroyer of
the immune system -- the so-called "AIDS".) Thus, the true
picture might look something like this:
Where and When?
Steiner says that the Ahrimanic incarnation will happen the
West in the Third Millennium. In his nomenclature "West"
means primarily Britain and English-speaking America. There
is ample reason to suspect that the destined place for this
event is (North) America, for the effect of the American
natural environment on the human body and soul especially
favors Ahrimanic tendencies. According to Steiner's insights,
each of the various regions of the earth has its unique
effect upon the human organism. In America the Ahrimanic
influence is strong, rising from the center of the earth,
carried by electromagnetism. This strengthens the entity
known to occultism as the human "double" or "Doppelgänger".
This Doppelgänger is an astral quasi-personification of a
Man's karma, both "good" and "bad"; it is a being with
intelligence and will, but with no individual, spiritual ego,
and tends to bind the human soul to the body, hardening human
thinking, feeling, and willing. All Men have a Doppelgänger
living in their nerve-electricity, infusing into their souls
all sorts of degrading, depressing impulses, as well as
instigating internal illnesses. (Electricity is the
"sub-natural", rigidifying shadow of soul forces.) -- The
Ahrimanic tendencies in America are well-known even to those
whose perception is not enlivened by occult knowledge;
American culture has long been famous for its violence and
"hard-boiled" materialism, and, more recently, for its
degeneracy and decadence.
As to exactly when Ahriman's incarnation will happen, Steiner
(as far as I am aware) does not give a precise time. In at
least one passage he seems to indicate the end of the Third
Millennium; in other places he indicates the early part of
that millennium. In many places he points to a great crisis
at the end of the Twentieth Century, even a "War of All
against All", when mankind might well "stand at the grave of
civilization". In any case, it seems highly likely that a
major Ahrimanic onslaught -- either the incarnation of
Ahriman himself, or the advent of the "false prophet" of the
Apocalypse, or some other attack -- occurs around 1998 AD
(approximately). To see why this is so, we need to do a few
simple calculations, based on the occult principle of
meaningful rhythms in history. (Let the sceptical reader be a
true sceptic and suspend judgment, and take in the following
discussion with a mind open to possibilities unsuspected by
the materialistic mind.)
Some Occult History
It is a fact, unknown to history but revealed by Steiner's
spiritual research, that while the Incarnation of Christ was
happening in Palestine another stupendous drama played out in
Mexico. A high initiate of the negative Mysteries, the most
advanced "black magician" in the world, had reached, by
repeated ritual murders of an especially horrible kind, the
threshold of knowledge of certain deep, cosmic secrets. This
knowledge would have given him the ability, as was his
intention, of achieving the Ahrimanic goals of completely
rigidifying the earth, so as to draw it out of the
progressive development toward the New Jupiter, and of
binding human organisms as automata in that "slag" of the
earth. He was thwarted in this intention by the incarnate
high Sun-being "Vitzliputzli", who caused the black magician
to be crucified at the same time as the Crucifixion of Jesus
Christ -- a shattering reflection in the American continent
of the Events in Palestine. (Since then the soul of this
black magician has been held in a kind of "prison".)
Recall that the Greco-Roman Epoch ran approximately 2160
years, from 747 BC to 1413 AD. The midpoint of this epoch was
1413 AD minus 2160/2 = 333 AD. Consider (as an hypothesis)
the occult teaching that events in history occur at times
that, as it were, reflect and balance the events equidistant
in time from a midpoint. Taking 333 AD as the midpoint, the
fulcrum of the balance, and on one side the Birth in
Palestine, on the other side of the scales would be 333 AD +
333 = 666 AD. The big event , known to history, of the
Seventh Century was the rise of Islam.
Another event, not so famous but still known to history, was
the transfer of ancient Greek philosophy (especially
Aristotle's works, probably including the lost work on
alchemy) to the Academy of Jundi Sabur (near present-day
Baghdad). Following the expulsion of the philosophers from
Syrian Edessa in 489 AD and from Athens in 529 AD, the
philosophers had found refuge in what was then the Persian
Empire, and at that Academy they pursued their calling. Then
this knowledge passed to the Islamic Arabs, and science of a
particular bent reached a high development under them, while
Europe was in the "Dark Ages". Only gradually, over many
centuries, did this science pass over to Europe, where it
developed into the modern scientific revolution. Again, the
trend of modern science, as it has in fact developed, is
Ahrimanic. The direct ancestor of scientific materialism was
this Arabian science, which was itself derived from the
Academy of Jundi Sabur. Thus, on the other side of the 333 AD
midpoint from the Birth in Palestine was the rise of an
active materialistic, anti-Christian world view in Jundi
Sabur.
Occult history (as given by Steiner) reveals how this came
about: Sorat intended to approach physical manifestation in
666 AD at Jundi Sabur, and to bestow upon the philosophers
there a super-human knowledge. This knowledge was to consist
of everything that mankind, under the plan of the regular
Gods, was to learn through its own efforts by the height of
the present, Consciousness Soul Epoch. This epoch began in
1413 AD, so its midpoint will be 2493 AD. In other words,
Sorat wanted to give to mankind, prematurely and without the
requisite human effort and experience, the knowledge that
would be right and healthy for mankind to achieve through
work and evolution by the middle of the Third Millennium. The
regular Gods' plan for the Consciousness Soul Epoch is for
mankind to acquire, through self-education and
self-discipline, the free, conscious, individualized human
personality.
If the mankind of the Seventh Century had been given this
advanced knowledge at that immature stage of development,
when people could not think in full consciousness, the result
would have been disastrous. Just consider how much evil
mankind has done with the science we have acquired up to now,
at our present stage of maturity (or immaturity), and then
try to imagine what the relatively primitive people of the
Seventh Century would have done with the science of 2493 AD.
-- This picture is bad enough, but we need to recall
Steiner's occult insights to begin to get the whole picture.
If Sorat had succeeded, Men would have lost the possibility
of developing our true nature, and would have become
egotistic, animalistic automata, with no possibility of
further development. We would have become earth-bound, and
the earth could never then pass over to the Jupiter, Venus,
and Vulcan stages.
The normal Gods' plan would have been seriously hindered, and
Men would have lost their due and timely opportunity to
become Spirits of Freedom and Love. -- However, the rise of
Islam thwarted this plan of Sorat. It is a deep, mysterious
paradox that Islam, which was, and is, opposed to
Christianity in many ways, also in effect worked jointly with
the Christ-impulse in history, by blanketing, by "skimming
the cream off", this Sorat-science, and by watering it down.
Still, this science survived, and has worked on into the
present day, but the worst was averted, for those times. The
weakened Jundi Sabur impulse, as a distorted
quasi-Aristotelianism, passed to the Arabs, over Africa and
Spain, to France, England, and through the monasteries (e.g.
Roger Bacon) back over to the Continent. The "Realism" of the
Medieval scholastics (especially the revived Aristotelianism
of Thomas Aquinas) opposed this Arabian influence, somewhat
correctly seeing it as inimical to Christianity; but with the
decline and decadence of Medieval Aristotelianism, and with
the dawn of modern, anti-Aristotelian "empiricism" (e.g.
Francis Bacon), the diluted, but still powerful,
Sorat-science came to dominate world-culture.
Baconian and Goethean Science
The true spirit of this kind of scientism can be illustrated
by a telling metaphor coined early in this epoch by
scientism's seminal spokesman, Francis Bacon. He said,
propounding scientific experimentalism, that we must put
Nature on the rack and force Her to answer the questions we
put to Her. -- This figure will speak volumes to those who
meditate upon it: We, seeking information for whatever
motives, are to torture the Goddess who gave us birth and
nurture, so as to cause Her, through unbearable pain and
injury, to blurt out secrets which She, in her wisdom,
conceals from the impure and self-seeking. -- In much of
so-called "physiological research" and "medical training"
this is hardly even a metaphor; the torture unto death is
quite literal.
The
usual victims are animals, but all too many "researchers" are
not above using human "subjects" when they can get enough
power over them. And even a slight whiff of occult knowledge
shows us a deeper meaning: The central rite of "Satanism" or
"black magic" -- sometimes crude, sometimes sophisticated --
is the deliberate, ritual torture and killing of animals and,
at a more advanced level, of human beings. When done in a
precise way, this practice confers knowledge and power upon
the practitioner; also, it affects the whole earth, hardening
and rigidifying it, to the characteristic Ahrimanic purpose.
Thus we can see the hordes of "researchers" and medical
students -- who hurt, injure, and "sacrifice" animals -- as
undergoing an unconscious, Ahrimanic black magic initiation,
which hardens, brutalizes, and Ahrimanizes their souls, and
through them also the culture, and even the earth itself.
(Sacrifice is the actual word they commonly use, not thinking
which "god" they sacrifice unto.) Vivisection is truly the
archetypal act of modern science as it is generally
understood and practiced.
In contrast to our Baconian science, there does exist a
little-known scientific trend, inaugurated by the German poet
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In the general culture he is
known primarily as the author of Faust; but he was also a
scientist, known for (if known at all) the prediction of the
discovery of the intermaxillary bone in Man, or, less often,
for his anti-Newtonian theory of color. His mode of
scientific thinking was quite different form the
Baconian-Ahrimanic mode, and likewise he illustrated it with
a telling metaphor. He said (in paraphrase) that we must
approach Nature as a reverent lover, and, perhaps, She will
whisper to us Her intimate secrets. -- The contrast to
Bacon's metaphor could hardly be more stark. Also, the
Goethean method of scientific investigation, in contrast to
amoral experimentalism, is a method of self-improvement and
self-development -- a reverent meditating upon the facts of
experience, in the hope that they will speak. This scientific
method has, of course, been all but buried under the
Baconian-Ahrimanic avalanche, even in Goethe's own country.
And it was no mere accident that Steiner's first professional
appointment was to edit Goethe's scientific writings, in the
Goethe-Schiller Archive in Weimar. Steiner and his successors
have developed and expanded the Goethean method to an amazing
extent, giving us a reasonable hope for renewed life in our
deadened, death-dealing scientific culture. Steiner too has
been almost totally ignored by scientists in the West,
slightly less so in Central Europe. Also, the practice of
Goethean-Steinerean science has vast implications for the
soul of the practitioner, as well as for the whole earth.
Spiritual science sees soul and spirit in Nature, in a real,
practical way, completely consistent with the "empirical"
facts. It reverently approaches the scientific laboratory as
a holy place, and the experiment as a sacrament, as a
revelation of the Creator-Spirits through the sacred symbols
of Nature. This is consistent only with the moral development
of the scientist, and with the furtherance of the Gods' plan
of human and cosmic evolution.
666 Again
The 666-year rhythm continued further; another period ended
in 1332 AD. Around this time (circa 1312) the cruel
suppression of the Knights Templar began. Little is known to
history of the true nature of the Templars, because of their
secretive nature and the distortions passed to history by
their triumphant enemies. But these Knights did cultivate an
esoteric Christianity that, although somewhat flawed, had the
potential of bringing about a more humane civilization in
Europe. This possibility was thwarted by the power of the
French King, Philip the Fair, and his allies in the Church.
Philip, through the torture and killing of the Templars, and
through the material inspiration from their looted gold,
attained a kind of Ahrimanic initiation-knowledge, but he
died soon thereafter. The Templars were either killed or
driven underground, and Medieval culture declined until the
Renaissance and Reformation. The Templar-impulse did continue
underground, to pass over to the "Lodges", especially York
and Scottish Rite Freemasonry. These Lodges worked in
opposition to Roman Catholicism (at least until the end of
the Eighteenth Century, when Freemasonry and
esoteric-political Catholicism united in opposition to
Napoleon), but the esoteric content of Freemasonry became
decadent and Ahrimanized. Nevertheless, many of the modern
institutions of "liberal republican democracy" (such as
freedom of speech, religion, and the press) are very largely
due to the influence of Freemasonry, especially in the USA.
-- This is a huge and interesting story, but it is beyond the
scope of this essay (as well as the knowledge of this
author).
And, of course, another 666-year cycle ends around 1998 AD.
As stated already, it is apparent that the Ahrimanic
influence in culture is building to some kind of climax.
Indeed, as is obvious to all with eyes to see, that
civilization in the USA, despite (or because of) the
triumphant march of technology, human culture and
civilization are decaying (regardless of erstwhile "rising
economic indicators"). It is an easy guess that the times
around 1998 AD are a propitious period for a major Ahrimanic
manifestation: perhaps the incarnation of Ahriman himself; or
since 1998 = 3x666 years since the Birth of the body for the
incarnation of Christ, perhaps the body was born which is to
be the vehicle for Ahriman, possibly 30 years later; or
perhaps some other major event, such as the advent of the
"false prophet" of the Apocalypse.
(These are approximate times only; the outer effects of
occult [="hidden"] events may manifest only gradually. In
1998 we did not see newspaper headlines announcing a
spectacular, "supernatural" event. But if we had been alive
in 666 AD or 1332 AD neither would we have likely been
informed by the then contemporary analogues of headlines that
any major, "supernatural" events had occurred. Those
manifestations of evil did not fully succeed according to the
"plan"; other influences intervened and moderated the
outcomes. The occult machinations were hardly known to the
public. Such may also be true in the present: the actual
course of events depends on many contending forces, and upon
the consciousness and will of Men; and the crux of the
struggle will likely be hidden [="occult"] to the wide
public. We will live and/or die in the outer effects of the
occult causes, as uncomprehending [most of us, probably] as
is usual in social cataclysms. This essay is an attempt to
lessen the incomprehension, and to lighten the mental
atmosphere of this planet, even a little. Surely, as
"thoughts are things", even a slight change in consciousness
can influence physical event in the right direction.)
Steiner repeatedly pointed to the turn of the
Century/Millennium as a time of crisis. (As is the turn of
every millennium: every 1000 years Lucifer and Ahriman work
together with special power.) -- Also, the Dutch
Anthroposophist Bernard Lievegoed, in his deathbed testament,
made the following remarks: "From indications by Rudolf
Steiner, we have to assume that in the year 1998 Ahriman will
play an important role....it is a part of the development of
the earth and of mankind that Ahriman will at one time be on
earth in a physical body. In lectures, Rudolf Steiner has
mentioned a time in the third millennium: 'before even a part
of the third millennium after Christ has passed'. However, he
said at a meeting of young people in Breslau, that Ahriman
will do everything in his power to advance this moment as
much as he can. Steiner then mentions the year 1998. It will
depend on all of mankind together whether Ahriman will
succeed in this or not.... Whether he will succeed in this
will depend on the question whether there will be enough
people who see through his designs....In 1916 Rudolf Steiner
said that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, evil
will appear in a form which at that time [1916] could not yet
be described....My estimate is that the nadir of this battle
will fall around the years 2020 to 2040. Then the abyss of
the demons will open. National Socialism and Bolshevism will
pale in comparison with this. Million of people will perish."
[The Battle for the Soul; pp. 98-113]
A cynic might say that these predictions allow for plenty of
"wiggle room" for the incarnation of Ahriman: 1998 to the
first part of the next millennium, or even the end of that
millennium. -- I will concede that the predicted time is not
very precise, but I believe nevertheless that it is highly
likely that this incarnation will manifest in the next few
years to half-century or century. And even without occult
insight, one who observes the present social/cultural decline
can hardly avoid seeing some kind of wrenching changes
approaching.
Again, it is not certain that Ahriman's incarnation will be
immediately known to the public: Steiner warns that Ahriman
wants mankind to be unconscious of his true nature and to see
his advent as progressive and good for human welfare. Says
Steiner: "If Ahriman were able to slink into a humanity
unaware of his coming, that would gladden him most of all. It
is for this reason that the occurrences and trends in which
Ahriman is working for his future incarnation must be brought
to light." Ahriman will establish a (possibly secret) school
for powerful "magic" arts and clairvoyance. The technical
applications of this highly intelligent spirit will indeed
look like "magic" to us, even as advanced as we might
consider our science to be -- for Ahriman's understanding is
not limited by the crude materialism he foists upon mankind.
And the clairvoyance bestowed upon Ahriman's pupils will be
effortless (not won through the long preparation of
soul-purification and self-discipline of legitimate
occultism). It will give spirit-vision, but the visions will
be subjective and deceptive; people will see differing,
conflicting visions of the soul/spirit worlds, and will fall
into confusion and conflict. Ahriman-in-the-flesh will be an
overwhelmingly powerful and impressive figure, when he
reveals himself. And it seems probable that, as the Father of
Lies, he will present himself as that which he is most
certainly not: Christ, in His Second Coming. -- And again, it
is America, where many religious people are expecting the
Second Coming in a physical body, that will be especially
susceptible to Ahriman's deceptions. It is entirely possible
that they who cling to the Gospels with a superficially
literalistic interpretation closed to occult insight will be
the very people who will be the false Christ's followers.
(For us, occult insight is needed to understand what the
Scriptures do literally say, for they were written in occult
terminology, out of higher consciousness.)
The True Second Coming
Another tremendous revelation from Steiner's spiritual
science concerns the true nature of the Second Coming of
Christ. Steiner was adamant that the physical incarnation of
Christ can happen once and only once. "Just as a pair of
scales can have only one balancing-point, so in Earth
evolution the event of Golgatha can take place only once".
The amazing fact is that the Second Coming is happening now,
but that most of mankind is unaware of it. (Actually, the
term "second coming" is not in the New Testament; the Greek
word is parousia, meaning roughly "active presence". It was
this "presence" that Saul/Paul experienced on the road to
Damascus; Paul being mankind's "premature birth" of the
coming new experience of Christ. Parousia was translated into
Latin as adventus, which means arrival, thus helping to give
rise to the expectation of a physical arrival of Christ.
The
original Greek term seems in consonance with Steiner's
explanation. See Emil Bock's St. Paul.) In fact, it is the
driving force behind the "apocalyptic" convulsions and
struggles of our time. For, as the picture is given in the
Apocalypse of John, the bottomless pit is opened, Michael
casts the dragon and his hosts onto the earth, the vials of
wrath are poured out, and Babylon is overthrown -- all in
preparation for Christ's triumph that brings the New Heaven
and New Earth. Most of us are unaware of this present Second
Coming because it is not happening in the visible, material
world, but in the "ethereal" region of the earth. "Ethereal"
means the system of "formative forces", bordering on the
physical, that raise inert matter to the realm of the living.
Plants, animals, and Man all have ethereal, formative-force
"bodies", and when the ethereal body forsakes the physical
body, the physical body becomes ordinary matter; in other
words, it dies. The earth, being the body of a living Being,
also has a formative-force body, the "ethereal earth". These
ethereal forces manifest especially in weather phenomena,
such as cloud formation. (It is a false, Ahrimanic science
that sees cloud formation as a merely material process of
evaporation and condensation of "water molecules"; this is
rather a process of de-materialization and re-materialization
through the workings of the ethers.)
With these concepts, we can see new meaning in the Bible
verses concerning the Ascension and Return of Christ. "...a
cloud received him out of their sight" (Acts I;9) seems to be
saying that Christ ascended into the ethereal,
formative-force region of the earth. And the statement that
He "...so shall come in like manner as ye have seen him go
into heaven" (Acts I;11) seems to say that He shall return
from the ethereal regions:
"Behold
he cometh with clouds...." (Rev. I;7) Steiner's assertion
that Christ shall not come again in the flesh seems to be in
consonance with the Bible: "Then if any man shall say unto
you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it
not....Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in
the desert; go not forth; behold he is in the secret
chambers; believe it not." (Matt. XXIV;23,26) On the
contrary, the Second Coming shall be a tremendous event, not
limited to a particular location: "For as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so
also shall the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. XXIV;27)
The ethereal is super-physical, not bound by the laws of
material space; Christ's appearance in the ethereal earth is
everywhere-at-once. And since the ethereal is super-physical,
some degree of super-physical vision, or "clairvoyance", is
needed to see into it. Few people at the present stage of
evolution have that kind of clairvoyance, and some may have
it only sporadically. But the Second Coming is only at its
beginning; true clairvoyance (as opposed to the deceptive
Ahrimanic clairvoyance) will reveal to consciousness the
ethereal Christ in the centuries to come. -- Ahriman dreads
human consciousness of the ethereal Christ, and fights
against it. It is essential for us to grasp the fact that he
who shall come in the flesh is not Christ, but Ahriman: "For
there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and
shall show great signs and wonders...." (Matt. XXIV;24)
Steiner revealed the occult fact that, since the beginning of
the present reign of the Sun-Archangel Michael as the Time
Spirit in 1879 AD, the human ethereal body is becoming less
closely bound to the physical body, thus opening the
possibility of new clairvoyance. 1933 AD (two 950-year cycles
of the precession of the nodes of Saturn since the
Crucifixion and Resurrection in 33 AD) would have been an
especially propitious time for the beginning of widespread
perception of the ethereal Christ. But this was hindered by
the rise to power of Hitler -- one expression of Sorat
himself "rising from the Abyss" -- and by the many
convulsions and distractions around the same time in
earth-life. What was hindered in 1933 might again become
propitious around 2000-2100 AD (a reflection of the calling
of Abraham around 2000-2100 BC). We may speculate that
Ahriman, and Sorat, will oppose this new Christ-consciousness
by even more horrendous hindrances.
The Occult Meaning of the Computer
A very interesting theory (by David B. Black) interprets the
progressive mechanization of culture not only as an Ahrimanic
influence, but as the actual "macrocosmic incarnation" of
Ahriman: This is being brought to completion through the
development of the electronic computer. Black traces the
milestones in the evolution of the computer as reflections of
the spiritual events in the heavens. For example, in the
1840's, around the time of Jehovah's abandonment of human
blood-bound thinking to Ahriman, Boolean algebra was
developed. The year 1879 -- the time of Michael's accession
as Time Spirit and the final expulsion of the "dragon" onto
earth -- saw the publication of Frege's Begriffschrift, a
great milestone in the development of "formal logic": the
separation of logic from the spiritual "Word". Also in 1879:
Edison invented the electric light (light is separated from
the sun and plunged into the "sub-earthly": "Electricity is
Ahrimanic `light'."); Trotsky and Stalin were born;
Merganthaler invented the Linotype machine; Bessemer
introduced the hard-steel process; and the US Census Bureau
hired Herman Hollerith, who developed the first large-scale
punched-card tabulating machine. -- The Christ's "coming in
the clouds" in the early 1930's was reflected on earth by the
publication of Gödel's "incompleteness theorem", which
demonstrated that a truly-thinking machine is impossible, but
which also led to the development of "recursion theory",
which is the essential conceptual framework for "artificial
intelligence" and "artificial life". Also in 1930, by a
fortuitous comedy of errors, the planet Pluto was discovered.
Pluto,
of course, is the god of the underworld, and the discovery of
"his" planet was a synchronistic harbinger of the unleashing
of the sub-material "powers of the pit" upon earth: later
transits of Saturn and Uranus to Pluto's discovery position
marked the bombing of Hiroshima and the explosion of the
first "H-bomb". -- As is well-known, the development of the
electronic computer proceeded exponentially, from von
Neumann's development of the "stored program" to the desktop
and the laptop. A lesser-known development was the "Josephson
effect", which allows the construction of semi-conductors
from superconducting materials. Thus, electrical circuits can
operate without "Luciferic" heat, and Ahriman, whose nature
is "freezing cold", can completely enter into electrical
devices. As superconducting computers become more common,
Ahrimanic beings higher than "elementals" might actually
incarnate in them, since no physical energy is consumed in a
superconducting circuit.
(Ahrimanic
"elemental
spirits"
inhabit our artificial machines, just as normal
"elementals" [or "nature spirits": gnomes, undines,
sylphs, salamanders] work in and throughout the living
processes of Nature.) Black sums up: "Sunless light and
Wordless logic intertwined, and out of them came the
computer." Thus, while Ahriman incarnates
"microcosmically" in a human body, we might also face the
"macrocosmic" literal incarnation of Ahriman in our
machines.
An Evolutionary Leap
The incarnation of high spiritual beings in human bodies has
the special significance that new possibilities for human
development are opened up, because, as it were, the way is
cleared by these high-spiritual-beings-in-the-flesh being the
first to accomplish these developments. Lucifer was the first
to use the organs of intellect. Christ was the first to
redeem the "fallen" death-prone human body with the
Resurrection Body. (This was but one of the tremendous deeds
of Christ. Even a minimal exposition of the scope of the
accomplishments of this Incarnation is far, far beyond the
limits of this essay. Suffice it to say, for now, that
Steiner, out of his clairvoyant initiation-knowledge,
revealed that the Incarnation of Christ was the turning-point
of the evolution of the earth, and of mankind, from descent
into the physical toward ascent into the spiritual. Not that
this evolution "turned on a dime"; the downward momentum is
obviously still very great; but the seed for the upward
growth was planted.
The
true "stigmatists" have participated somewhat in the Redeemed
Body, as harbingers of future evolution.) Likewise,
Ahriman-in-the-flesh will try to inaugurate a new human
capacity, for his own ends: he wishes to bring the shadowy,
brain-bound, semi-conscious, clever Ahrimanic "thinking" into
the human ethereal body. This would be an especially evil
development if it is carried into the average human organism.
It is normal and healthy, at the present stage of human
evolution, for the human ethereal body to dissolve into the
wide cosmos in the days immediately following death (after
"one's whole life passes before one's eyes"). Afterwards the
human soul-and-spirit entity rises to higher regions, where
it is purified and prepared for a new earth-life. But
materialism in the earth-life hardens the ethereal body so
that it does not dissolve, but remains near the earth for a
longer time, while the dead human entity serves Ahriman. Only
slowly and in unconsciousness do such dead spirits enter the
spirit-worlds to prepare for a new incarnation. Ahriman
wishes to be the first to so harden the ethereal body so that
it becomes the vehicle of automatic, intellectual
thinking-devoid-of-will, and thus to make it possible to keep
human ethereal bodies permanently in the region of the earth.
Then the earth would become so hardened that it would not
pass over to the Jupiter Age, and Man would become clever,
animalistic, ghostly, earth-bound creatures. The Gods' plan
for human and earthly evolution would be obstructed. Steiner
put it this way:
"Ahriman
works against the word `Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
My words shall not pass away'. He wills that the words shall
be thrown away, that heaven and earth shall continue on."
(Here we can get a glimpse into the motives of the
sophisticated "Satanists" or "black magicians". Ahriman's
acolytes seek a kind of "immortality" in the
slag-earth-surrounded-with-Old-Moon-forces, but an
immortality with egotistic, earthly consciousness instead of
the cosmic consciousness of the individualized spiritual
Ego.)
The regular Gods intend that in the present epoch people
should indeed think free of the physical brain, but with
free, conscious, self-created thinking. This development
would gradually open the possibility of the reintegration of
mankind into the spiritual cosmos, and further the passing of
the earth over to the New Jupiter. Mankind could eventually
rise to the rank of Spirits of Freedom and Love, and not sink
to the level of earth-bound, animalistic, clever automata. --
To put it mildly: a lot is at stake here.
Turning
Evil to Good
But Ahriman's incarnation need not be an evil event, as he
wishes it to be. This incarnation is necessary in human and
earthly evolution, and it can be turned toward the good, if
mankind meets it in the right way: On the mundane level, we
can remedy Ahrimanic tedium in the work-life and the
intellectual life, by filling them with warm, Luciferic
enthusiasm, by finding what is interesting in them, by
getting ourselves interested in objective, impersonal facts
and processes. On the psychological level, we can remedy
Luciferic subjectivity and fiery emotionalism by observing
ourselves coolly, as we would an external natural process.
(Indeed, we can personally experience how the Ahrimanic
principle can be a blessing if applied in the right way,
through cold, objective self-contemplation in impersonal
thinking. If we can find satisfaction in dry, but correct,
evaluation of our own wants, fears, and vicissitudes, as we
could, say, in a mathematical proposition, we will gain
thereby a wonderful liberation. And we can truly understand
and feel how Ahriman's influence need not be evil, but can be
quite decidedly good, if we bring to it the right
consciousness. -- And so it will be with Ahriman's
incarnation: very much depends on the consciousness with
which mankind meets him. He wants us to be unconscious; it is
our responsibility to strive to be more and more conscious,
and to inculcate consciousness in as many people as we can.
Such are the motives behind this essay.)
On a higher level, we can become more aware of the meaning of
our own lives, and of the world-process, by studying and
filling ourselves with the modern form of cosmic wisdom,
given by spiritual science (mainly from Steiner, but from
others also). This is a renewal of wisdom that was formerly
kept hidden, or "occult", in the Mysteries. Today it is
essential that more of this wisdom becomes generally known,
if human culture is not to succumb to Ahriman. Just as the
ancient Initiates entered into the Luciferic wisdom and
rescued it for the good of mankind, now must mankind, with
the consciousness gained from spiritual science and from the
Ethereal Christ, enter into the coming Ahrimanic knowledge
and turn it to good purpose. -- The Ahrimanic knowledge will
show what cleverness can, and cannot, produce from earthly
forces. If we meet Ahriman consciously, we can acquire
through him the realization that the earth is becoming old
and must decline physically, eventually to die and enter the
spiritual worlds, to be reborn as the New Jupiter. And
through this decline, mankind is to be lifted above the
earthly, as the seed survives the dying plant in winter, to
sprout and grow in the spring.
The Epoch of Consciousness
The fundamental principle in this, the Consciousness Soul
Epoch, is the emergence in the Man of conscious,
individualized, independent thinking. Concurrent with the
emergence of this soul-force (as a by-product, as it were)
are wider possibilities for the workings of the forces of
Death and Evil. But these workings are (as is characteristic
of Ahriman) so falsified that, for example, the cultural
institutions that are generally regarded as most beneficial
-- education and medicine -- are in fact among the worst
carriers of evil. (Not to imply that these institutions
should be shunned of destroyed, but purified and renewed --
in part by their liberation from money and politics.) When
this epoch has run its course (if it will have fulfilled its
potentials), human culture will be vastly changed. For
example, the distinction between "civilized" and "primitive"
peoples will have been erased, and a kind of moral
"socialism" will have become instinctive.
Our specific task for the Consciousness Soul Epoch is to
acquire three great truths, the same truths that Sorat wished
to foist upon mankind in the Seventh Century, with his own
slant. We might presume that Ahriman-in-the-flesh will
likewise try to insert them into our culture and distort them
to his own ends. It is the task of an alert and conscious
mankind, schooled in spiritual science and led by the Christ,
to gain these three truths through our own striving and to
use them for the good development of the earthly creation.
The first truth concerns the Mystery of Birth and Death: that
the human soul in the physical world has but the semblance of
the true soul-life that it had before conception and will
have again after death. The life in the sense-world
interrupts the supersensible soul-life in the
world-between-death-and-rebirth, so that we can gain, for the
spirit, that which can be gained only in the sense-world. To
see this truth, we must "look Lucifer in the eye", and thus
see through the distortions and illusions he spreads over the
human soul. The destiny of the "East" (meaning the Slavic
regions and eastwards) is to give rise to an "eugenic
occultism": the knowledge of how, through astrological
regulation of conception, to bring the right human entities
to birth at the right time and place for forward evolution,
or conversely, to bring in the wrong entities, for the
hindrance of right evolution. Thus, this eugenic occultism
can cause great good or great harm, depending on how it is
used.
The second truth concerns the Mystery of the Body: that the
human body is not a lump of matter, but a form, which is
spiritual in origin, and through which interchanging
substances are constantly in flux. This knowledge will lead
to a true medical art, the essence of which is to keep intact
the natural healing forces of the body. The destiny of the
"Middle" (meaning Central Europe) is to give rise to this
"hygienic occultism" -- which, of course, can lead to great
good, but can also cause great harm if it is used without
strict conscientiousness.
The third truth concerns the Mystery of Matter: that the
reality behind "material substance" is not "atoms",
"molecules", or "ultimate particles", but is spirit -- to be
exact: Ahrimanic spirits, in rhythmic inter-relations. The
true picture of "solid matter" is not a machine, but a
rainbow: a ghostly appearance, an outcome of spiritual
processes. Modern physics, in some advanced theorizing, may
have made some halting moves toward this truth, but the dead,
mechanistic world-conception still holds sway over the
scientism which dominates world-culture. This scientism is
the Ahrimanic lie, the descendant of the Jundi Sabur
influence, which, even though weakened, banished soul and
spirit from the scientific world-view. To see through this
lie, we must "look Ahriman in the eye" -- a dangerous
undertaking if we are not prepared by spiritual science.
The
destiny of the West (meaning primarily the English-speaking
world) is to give rise to a "mechanistic occultism", which
will bring about fantastic machine forces, based on rhythm
and resonance. (The lost, fabled "Keely motor" was a start in
this direction.) But the introduction of such machine forces
would cause harm to society if the political, cultural, and
economic spheres are not made mutually independent, and if
egotism is not banished from the economy. (Steiner laid down
the basis for this healthy social re-ordering, in his concept
of the "threefold commonwealth".)
Ahriman seeks to divert and pervert these three destined
developments of the Consciousness Soul Epoch, through the
activity of angels who rejected the Christ influence during
the Egypto-Chaldean Epoch. In the present times, the
"Christian" angels pour pictures of spirit-realities into the
deep regions of the human soul-organism. If the Man does not
take up these pictures consciously, they sink down into the
ethereal body and act as unconscious instincts through the
influence of the Ahrimanic angels. These unconscious
instincts work against the three progressive evolutionary
trends in the following ways:
1. Perverting the Eugenic Occultism, destructive sex impulses
affect the whole social life, working against the development
of conscious human brotherhood, and making a mankind entirely
egotistical and entirely controlled by instinctive urges
carried in the blood.
2. Perverting the Hygienic Occultism, medicine becomes
materialistic and can be used to heal or harm, according to
egotistic purposes.
3. Perverting the Mechanistic Occultism, powerful, Keely-like
machine forces are employed, controlled not by the
"vibrations" of good people (seeking the liberation of the
workers), but by egotistic people for the evil purpose of
attaining power and control over the
masses.
The
first two perversions are readily apparent in modern society;
the third has yet to emerge in public. -- Again, the
direction that these three trends of the present epoch will
take depends upon human consciousness and will. Back to Table
of Contents
Some
Occult Politics
Some powerful, Ahrimanic secret societies, linked to the
Lodges, in Britain and the USA strive to keep their version
of this third truth (of the spirituality of matter) as their
own secret and to ensure that the wider public knows only a
crude atheistic-mechanistic scientism, in which spirit and
soul have no place. (In more recent times, one can notice
that the "crude materialism" given to the public is beginning
to be replaced by a more quasi-esoteric materialism.) These
societies also strive to guide political and economic trends
over the world so that the budding potentialities of the
Middle and Eastern peoples come under their domination. The
history of modern times has very largely been the story of
the outworkings of this struggle. (The crimes of the secret
Anglo-American power groups include the instigation of the
First World War and the consequent establishment of the
Bolshevik regime in the East.
These
power groups believe that the English-speaking peoples are
destined to justifiedly dominate the East-Slavs in this, the
fifth cultural epoch, for the purpose of guiding their
nascent potentialities, which should blossom to lead the
world-culture in the sixth epoch -- just as the Romans,
during the fourth epoch, dominated and educated Britain for
her future leadership in the fifth epoch. Some truth does lie
behind this concept: this is the epoch of the consciousness
soul, and the English-speaking peoples are gifted to develop
the consciousness soul in an instinctive way, and it is true
that the Slavs are destined to lead world-culture in the
sixth epoch. But these power groups seek, through
illegitimate means, to guide toward illegitimate, Ahrimanic
ends these inherent potentialities, which are loosely
"written into" destiny.) Many historians and "paranoid
right-wing conspiracy nuts" have, solely through common sense
and open-eyed observation of external events, discerned some
of the outworkings of the influence of these secret societies
through their semi-secret instruments: the Council on Foreign
Relation, the Order of Skull and Bones (whose members
included George Bush, Averell Harriman, and an amazing number
of powerful Americans), the Rhodes Scholarships, the Round
Table, etc. But these observers, lacking occult knowledge,
can only guess at the true aims of the secret power groups.
The "Anglophile" societies may disagree among themselves
about means and details, but essentially they aim to gain
world-domination for themselves (though certainly not for the
good of the masses of the English-speaking peoples) and to
influence all cultural trends in an Ahrimanic direction.
Now, in "post-Cold War" Europe, the Anglo-Americans and the
Jesuit-Catholic power groups apparently are working together
to make the basic arrangements of this part of the "New World
Order": Central Europe, from France to Poland, is to be
dominated by the Jesuit interests, while the "East" (meaning
roughly the regions historically Orthodox Christian) is to
dominated by the Anglo-American "West". This arrangement
furthers the aims of the Anglo-Americans by preventing
cultural collaboration between Central Europe and the Eastern
Slavs, thus preventing the rise of a strong, healthy, and
independent Central European culture that could mediate and
balance the East and the West. Thus, the present push toward
the "New World Order" in Europe is a continuation of the
long-standing Anglo-American policy of obliterating Central
Europe (especially Germany) as a political/cultural force and
of controlling the future-seeds being prepared in East-Europe
-- the same policy that led to First World War and the
Bolshevik Revolution.
The deeper, Ahrimanic aim of the Anglo-Americans is to defeat
the Gods' plan for Earth-evolution, by turning the earth into
a heap of dark, frozen, cosmic slag, haunted by an
earth-bound mankind of ghostly homunculi -- and to secure for
themselves a privileged place in this Ahrimanic world-order:
an Ahrimanic immortality, with earthly consciousness and with
power over the uninitiated. (The late Professor Carroll
Quigley, mentor of the young Wm. Jefferson Clinton, wrote the
fairly well-known tome Tragedy and Hope, and the lesser-known
work The Anglo-American Establishment, in which he described,
from a sympathetic point of view, some of the machinations of
semi-secret "Anglophile" [his word] power groups. Prominent
among these "Anglophile" groups was the secret society
organized