To the author’s best knowledge there has only existed one genuine visionary in recent times with the adequate spiritual belief-structure, moral integrity, clairvoyant capacity and intellectual genius to outline the extrasensory realities of mankind, and that is Rudolf Steiner who in 1913 founded the Anthroposophic Society. He was born 1861 in Croatia, a part of Austria at that time, and died in 1925 in Switzerland in Dornach near Basle. In his youth he studied the natural sciences, but his later academic career was focussed on studying Goethe and editing his works, which earned him a doctoral thesis. He was a natural born clairvoyant, and he developed this faculty in his own direction and fashion, in accordance with his comprehensive philosophy of man. For a while he was involved with the Theosophical Society, but emancipated himself from it and became a famous teacher, lecturer, and author in his own right, talented and originally insightful in almost every subject of human life and culture. His books and lectures on the energetic make-up of man as well as on the structures of the spiritual worlds set within a complete developmental theory are an unprecedented treasury of knowledge and valuable guidelines for modern and future man. The following presentation is only a brief sketch of Steiner’s ideas on the evil powers of our time and by no means exhaustive or authoritative, since you will probably have to make the study of anthroposophy the mission of a lifetime in order to do it full justice. We have chosen not to adduce quotations or provide references in order to preserve the narrative style and focus, and the reader is kindly referred to the bibliography for further studies.

Now according to Steiner’s cosmology, man, nature and earth are mutually dependant elements in a process of creation and evolution initiated and directed from hierarchies of godlike beings existing in a purely other-worldly, subtle stratum of energy and reality, ascending towards still higher and more general levels of creative functioning. These are the biblical choirs of angels in the stratified heavens, serving the majesty of God. The angelic dimension reaches from the level of the guardian angels, protecting the eternal soul of every individual human, over angelic beings supervising and managing processes in collective bodies and structures like nations and epochs, to the even higher cosmic beings shaping and setting out the goals for natural and planetary development through the ages. In this context man can be viewed as a diachronic and synchronous emanation from these immaterial dimensions in all levels of his being, thus partaking simultaneously in several coordinated developments within his different bodies, each belonging to their own dimension and order. In this way, the highly composite phenomenon of man has been going through long-lasting developmental phases pertaining to his physical, etheric and astral nature, designated by Steiner as the succeeding planetary ages of Saturn, Sun and Moon. Man is destined to proceed further on this evolutionary path and pass through three additional phases after the present one, called the Earth-Age, which in turn is divided into seven developmental segments or smaller ages, of which the fifth is named the Post-Atlantean Age. This fifth period approximates historical time and is again divided into seven cultural epochs, each comprising a time-span of 2.160 years, thereby equalling, but not coinciding, with an astrological age, resting on the retrograde precessional movement of the Equinoxes through the zodiac. In the present stage of development man is incarnating in a physical body from the level of the soul and consequently passes through a series of earth-lives with intermediary sojourns in the spiritual dimension, processing his life-experiences and preparing for a new incarnation.

We are now in the fifth cultural epoch, which according to Steiner began in 1413 A. D. In the preceding and present historic epochs, cultural development has been connected with different geographic areas literally representing the proper and favourable soil in the form of earthbound energies for specific cultural impulses and important incarnations, shaping the outer historic events and civilisation on the one hand, and on the other man’s inner development and make-up which is by no means a static structure. Alongside the cultural development there has been a continual development of consciousness, not only in content, but also in function, even down to the level of a shift in perception and modus operandi. According to Steiner, man once possessed a collective, image-processing mind with a natural clairvoyance and only recently became blind to extrasensory reality in concurrence with the development of intellect, abstract thinking, and rational cognition based on sense-experience only. This new evolution is central to man, since it prepares the way for further individualization, freedom, and autonomy as his fourth essential body, the body of the ego or the “I”, is activated, serving as a vehicle for his higher soul. Through the structure of his “I”, man can attain personal control and expression by working on his total, natural make-up, refining and transforming it. In doing so, he has to generate will-power and ethical motivation from within his own spiritual being, not relying solely on external direction and blinded to the supersensory world of spirit. This moulding of personality and building of a conscientious will is slowly bringing about his actualization and emancipation as an independent spiritual being capable of love. 

The ultimate goal of human development is defined by the godlike powers called the Spirits of Form. Their creative project is to shape man in their own divine image and turn him into a Spirit of Freedom and Love as a result of the complete evolutional sequence. In this context the introduction of the body of ego is of vital importance, since it renders possible a free choice and in consequence real love. The transformative work through the ego-structure on the other essential bodies of man is double. Being part of humanity there is always a general development taking place on the basis of societal and cultural influence. Thus the astral body is transformed into the Sentient Soul, the etheric body into the Intellectual Soul and the physical body into the Spiritual Soul. But in so far the individual human being is going through a deeper personal and spiritual awakening, the conscious work on the astral or sentient body is present in the fine form of Spirit-Self, and likewise the etheric life-body is changed into the subtle Life-Spirit, while the work on the physical body will eventually produce Spirit-Man. The evolutionary process is not mechanical, uniform or linear, since many beings with independent power, motive, and will are partaking in and contributing to it, undergoing their own creative transformation. Finally man has his own say in what he wishes to become.

According to Steiner in the present epoch of materialism and spiritual seclusion man is embodied deeper than ever before and more directly identified with the physical body, working through the ego-structure on his Conscious or Spiritual Soul. In this respect human development is now at a turning point, because man’s descent into matter has reached a maximum. The introduction and generalisation of an individual “I”, governed by rational principle and ethics, was prepared by the Greek and Jewish traditions. The monotheism of Mosaic Jehovah-religion with the ten commandments played a crucial role in the forming of a personal and exclusive relation with God on the grounds of right action, as this God proclaimed himself to be “Ejeh asher ejeh” [I am the I-am]. The prohibition of idolatry and polytheism and the demand to sanctify this special name of God are interpreted by Steiner in the context of individualization, because man from now on is to function from the level of his ego-body, relying on his higher soul. Man is supposed to be guided from within by his own conscience, and not from above by astral beings, or from below by the deities connected with his lower bodies and instincts. It was the God Jehovah, who fused into man a drop of his own essential being in the form of individuality and a personal freedom of love, yet this infusion of an ”I” in man was not released from the confinement and protection of Jewish ethnocentrism before the absolute central event of the whole evolution on Earth, the incarnation of Christ. This was the ultimate revelation of God in man and the appearance of God himself in an open and public mystery. In the life and teaching of Christ, the higher spiritual evolution of the “I” was demonstrated and the marks of true mankind revealed as a universal guiding principle and impulse. But more than that: the whole planet as an Earth Soul was impregnated and imbued with the Christ-being, literally changing the conditions of incarnate life.

This very brief outline of Steiner’s cosmology and Christology now provides us with the opportunity to introduce his view on evil. According to Steiner, there are three major powers working directly against the unfolding Christ-impulse and shaping the development of man in a fashion which contradicts God’s intent and the true image of mankind embodied in the revelation and mystery of Golgotha. In the first place such an opposition is only possible, because man is a project of freedom and love and due to the multiplicity and variety of life forms in the energy-dimensions, all enjoying their own free will and intentions within general laws and limitations. The fact is that some angelic beings have at some point decided to follow their independent ideas of planetary evolution, disobeying God. Since they were highly developed entities and skilled powers originating from within the angelic hierarchy, assuming positions on the same level as the Spirits of Form or even above them, they have had a huge impact on all levels of human development. In spite of their different origin, modes, and plans, all three powers unite in their attempt to destroy the human freedom of an individual personality and I. They wish to turn man into an automaton of one kind or the other and take over the creation on earth. Paradoxically their intervention is also serving the true goal of human development, since man confronted with the workings of these powers is set free to develop the necessary inner strength and faculties to actually become the being he was originally intended to become. In this sense there exists nothing absolutely evil and nothing works in an ultimately evil way. Evil is only a point of view and a question of value, since there is no final destruction. If these powers were to succeed and take over the future development on earth, the human souls, who by their own volition and action belong to the advanced Spirits of Form and Christ, would surely continue their development in some other setting. Every human commits himself and his soul by choice to one of several possible scenarios of development, which is the effective reality behind our ideas of heaven and hell, and this is of course not a decision in a split second or from only one life as presupposed in the idea of Judgement Day, but a consequence of continual growth and attraction. Anyway, it is important to realize that our present time marks a crucial turning point, since the opposing motives have mobilized and increased their impact, making our situation even more decisive. Time is ripe and has come to a halt, where an inward confrontation and spiritual dedication are of vital importance to the individual man and his soul, as clearly shown in Adam’s above-mentioned dream-vision.

Now the first of the “evil” beings mentioned by Steiner is named Lucifer or the Luciferic powers or principle, since surely they are manifold and in some way individual entities, but also homogeneous and with a functioning order. They have always been connected with the development of man and have had their own evolution within the ranks of the Spirits of Form, the biblical “Elohim”. But in the last developmental phase of the Moon, they deviated from their peers and were left behind in development. Since their deflection, they continued existence on a lover level of angelic status described as Archai, living in the lower astral dimension and arrested in a moonlike form of consciousness. By virtue of their astral nature and capacity, they influence man on the soul level and mirror themselves in human activities and faculties characterized by imagination, excitement, passion and desire. They have their impact on the human organization of the head, causing man to develop his ideational capacity and reason, but they tend to inflate the person as when things go to the head. Nevertheless the origin of human speech is attributed to Lucifer together with the intellectual ability to generalize and abstract, and it is Lucifer’s merit to have made man independent and self-conscious in the first place. But to man’s disadvantage, the Luciferic influence tends to introvert people in a fantastic, inner world, creating imaginations and spectacles with no external reality, preventing them from deeper social involvement and existential commitment in real life on earth.

In this way the Luciferic principle resists personal individualization, true subjectivity, altruism and orientation towards ethical action and material responsibility, promoting instead collectivism, false subjectivism, self absorbed egoism and a ritual-magical way of life. Lucifer does not wish man to incarnate his I on earth and win independence! He wants man to distance himself from life here and live instead in the lofty-airy-flimsy regions of dreaming and inner vision, organizing and investing all his energies and motives in that direction under the auspices of a hierocracy of religious experts, turning society into a beehive gathering honey for the sweet tooth of Lucifer himself!

At one point of cultural and societal development, the Luciferic powers played a constructive role shaping all the great civilisations and philosophies of the East with a disciplined morality and a set of spiritual principles and values. But the dreamlike participation in astral dimensions through collective, ritual religion and the technically induced intensification of this in yoga and tantra also represented a fleeing away from incarnate life and a dissolution and deflation of the self, rendering social and human progress impossible. The best example of this today is the Tibetan culture which until recent times was completely isolated, stagnant and transcendent. The predominance of tantric techniques and rites in this partly shamanistic tradition and its excessive preoccupation with ritual, oracles and magic directed at various gods and demons demonstrate the Luciferic tendencies of transforming sexual desires and powers of imagination into a permanent condition of inner exaltation falsely understood as higher consciousness. This Luciferically based manipulation of the human energy-system and social organism produced an introverted, intellectual, hierarchical, authoritarian, chauvinistic, and pessimistic culture accompanied by annihilation of individuality and possession by Lucifer-“spirit”, which is absolutely in conformation with the strictest discipline and keen, but detached philosophical reason, as clearly demonstrated in the Buddhist monasteries. Also we have to stress here that the Luciferic inclination is present in our modern culture in the inflationary and narcissistic individualism and idolization, in the empty content of imagery and fantasy in media and elsewhere, and in specific trends of culture like New Age cults and religious import from the East.

Lucifer’s world is indeed a strange and seducing realm. Again Adam can provide us with some elucidating dream-experiences to illustrate this dimension. Once in an astral state of clear dreaming he was on the Moon, experiencing this abnormal and otherworldly condition. The energy of that dimension is absolutely alien and impossible to describe, “weird” being a gross understatement. And so we might sense, that although Lucifer in his appeal to men is entrapping, alluring and fairy-like, he is in his inner nature arid and inhumanly cruel. It was certainly not a wise step of man to put his feet on that celestial body and proclaim a New Age of space travel for himself, because nothing reflected from there to here is ever new! It is very, very old, gloomy and sombre. When later this potent Moon-being collided with the Earth in yet another of Adam’s dreams, it heralded to him years of fruitless involvement with spiritual phantasms and an imminent risk of both deflation and inflation in connection with social withdrawal in a setting we shall describe and comment further on later. Of course spontaneous astral experiences and images like this is no proof of Steiner’s ideas, and we are well aware that explanations like those offered here are absolutely foreign to most modern men, but we urge the reader to consider the presentations of this book as a whole, and then judge whether this nexus can highlight some of the trends in cultural development or not. After all we are attempting to describe the general structures and dynamics of evil, and so you could at least perceive Lucifer as an abstraction of evil if you object to this kind of hypostatizing. Also we must repeat our positive evaluation of Steiner’s work and admit to the fact that nowhere else have we found any equivalent analysis of evil, which could embrace and give light to the complex phenomenology of Adam’s experience.

Now, according to Steiner man’s present materialistic situation and relative freedom is an indirect result of the Luciferic evil, luring and tempting man out of his unconscious and paradisiacal envelopment in the spirit-world. Since Lucifer wanted to arrest development and remain in the astral consciousness of the Moon-condition, he threatened to detain man in a similar state, denying man complete freedom and autonomy of will, endowing him only with fruit from the Tree of Knowledge against Gods express prohibition. The Spirits of Form reacted to this retardation, and as a countermove they forced the whole phenomenon of man deeper into the mineral kingdom, where Lucifer due to the nature of his powers was not able to navigate. As a result, man was cast out of paradise and introduced to life on earth, clad in a physical body. His I had been awakened before due time by Lucifer, the serpent, and now he was to suffer death and pain “out or down there” in the material world: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." [Gen 3:19] The incarnation of man was a protection against the premature “enlightenment” offered by the shining Lucifer Angel, since man’s newly gained, but partial independence was in fact a crippling of the full autonomy of the human soul. The lesser “evil” of dying, anguish, fear, isolation, suffering, and spiritual ignorance replaced the greater evil of becoming Lucifer’s eternal demon-servant. In this way evil is good out of time and proportion! As it happened, man kept the fatal Luciferic freedom of his intellectual faculties, since Lucifer operates freely in the astral and mental realms of the head. But man was also “grounded” and earthbound in his lower body and limbs. True transformation of this material and existential condition keeps man in touch with the original evolutionary goal of his soul as a Spirit-form of freedom and love. But the necessary will and formative power to realize the embodied spiritual I is still dormant within his total make-up. Overcoming every Luciferic temptation to dream away life in psychism, frail worlds of glimmering light and emotional phantasms, to misuse instinctual energy for “spiritual” expansion, or to deny death in prearranged incarnation and conscious “rebirth” is the very prerequisite for upholding mankind’s future.