Also from Adriana Koulias: Faith Love and Hope as a Counterforce to Evil:
"Part I: The Mystery of Evil: Doubt, Hate and Fear. The Double and the Superdouble and the incarnation of the Antichrist
Spiritual Science teaches us that the task of Evil is to promote the ascent of man. Evil we are told resides both in us and in the outside world and is a necessary force in the perfection and liberation of the human being through the overcoming of hindrance and temptation.
This may seem a little strange at first, but in the same way we know that something is sweet because it is not sour and cold because we know hot, the freedom to unfold new forces and higher capacities could not have been possible had humanity remained always subject to higher spiritual powers who are only capable of knowing good.
The experience of Evil has given humanity a look a both sides and in this experience lies the secret of freedom and independence . That is, by directing its gaze away from worlds of spirit towards the world of physical matter humanity would one day be able to discern for itself in freedom the difference between Good and Evil.
So you might ask the question: what do we do when we discover the difference? Do we root out all evil – as we are called on to do by many of the political voices of today? To believe that you should root out evil is about the same as saying that we should do away with gravity and have only levity. This way of thinking is based solely on dualism and creates more evil again. But how can we ignore it? What is the answer? Rudolf Steiner tells us that the answer lies in Balance, for opposing forces are necessary for our evolution, without them as we have seen above, we would not have been able to progress.
How then do we find a balance?
Rudolf Steiner tells us that the balance exits in the Being of Christ and that it is through Him, and following the middle way that we can begin to redeem evil.
In the past man has been guided from external sources, that is, from church, priest and the law to know evil, but in our Epoch of the Consciousness Soul, we are called on to have a free, inner knowledge and conviction concerning evil as a principle task, to the extent that we can prepare for the coming sixth epoch.
Tonight we will explore the mysteries of Evil as they were known to mystery schools of ancient times, made appropriate for today’s humanity by Rudolf Steiner. We will explore evil on a macrocosmic and microcosmic level, that is, we will investigate the cosmic origins and existence of
1. Luciferic beings – Lucifer - Devil
2. Ahrimanic beings – Ahriman - Satan
3. Asuric beings – Asuras
Also, we will learn how they manifest within the microcosm of man paying particular attention to their influence on the development of Fear, Hatred and Doubt in preparation for the incarnation of the Ahriman in our present Post Atlantean age. This incarnation will pave the way for another being,
4. The Antichrist – Sorath – The Beast
who will attempt to replace the most important supersensible event of our Epoch - the manifestation of Christ - with his own physical manifestation on earth. Next week we will look at how we must go about redeeming evil through the Christ impulse working through the being of Anthroposophia and her physical manifestation on earth the Anthroposophical society.
What is Evil?
Rudolf Steiner tells us that the forces that appear at the wrong place appear as evil. What does this mean? In order to answer this question a study of Rudolf Steiner’s cosmic evolution of the earth is necessary.
Rudolf Steiner calls the first rudimentary earthly aeon ‘Old Saturn’ in which the physical body of human beings was first elaborated. The second aeon is called ‘Old Sun’ where the human Etheric body was first elaborated. The third aeon is called ‘Old Moon’ where the human Astral body was elaborated. On Earth humanity has received its individual ‘Ego’ and become ‘Human’.
Human Beings:
Old Saturn – Physical Body – Mineral like
Old Sun – Etheric Body – Plant like
Old Moon – Astral Body – Animal like
Earth – Ego – Spirit
While humanity was passing through the condition of mineral, plant and animal other beings were undergoing their own evolution and their own ‘human’ stage. On ‘Old Saturn’ beings three stages higher than man - the Archai - were passing through their ‘human’ stage. On the ‘Old Sun’ those beings two stages higher than man from the rank of beings known as Archangels were undergoing their human stage and on the ‘Old Moon’, Rudolf Steiner tells us that Angels, only one stage higher than man, were undergoing their ‘human’ stage.
Old Saturn – Archai – Human stage
Old Sun – Archangels – Human stage
Old Moon – Angels – Human stage
Earth – Man – Human stage
This evolution however was only true for those beings that were able to reach the goal set before them. Those who fell short or could not rise to the task were left behind and had to make up for what they could not achieve ‘normally’ in their own time, at a future aeon. These beings suffer a great deal when they try to continue their evolution at a time when conditions are not suited to them as this means they have to work within incredible restrictions. The only way for these beings to alleviate their suffering is to step out of bounds, to overstep the boundaries created by their retardation. This ‘overstepping’ can be seen as a hindrance to human beings for it occurs in the realm where humans are now developing their egos on Earth. This hindrance is what Rudolf Steiner refers to as ‘evil’.
We will put aside for a moment the fact that these beings sacrificed themselves in this way so that human beings might develop through overcoming the hindrances that they cause, for this would lead us too far from our present topic. We will continue however, by saying that there are three kinds of Spirits of Opposition who fell behind and they are named after their respective leaders:
Asuric beings – Fell behind on Saturn – Fallen Spirits of Form working as Archais
Ahrimanic beings – Fell behind on Sun – Fallen Archai working as Archangels
Luciferic beings – Fell behind on Moon –Fallen archangels working as angels
The Asuric beings make a particular endeavour to penetrate the physical body of man as this sphere relates to the sphere that was being elaborated on Old Saturn when these beings were developing their ‘human stage’ and fell behind.
The Ahrimanic beings desire to work in the Etheric body of human beings as this is the sphere that was being elaborated on Old Sun when these beings were developing their ‘human stage’
The Luciferic beings feel most at home in the Astral body of human beings as this relates to what was being elaborated on Old Moon when these beings fell behind.
In these respective bodies these spirits find an opportunity for their own development.
In the soul of human beings these ‘tempters’ or spirits of hindrance can be found:
In the three body members:
1. Astral body – Lucifer - Lemuria
2. Etheric body – Ahriman - Atlantis
3. Physical body – Asuras – Present Post Atlantean Epoch
In the Soul members:
1. Sentient soul – Lucifer - Egypt
2. Intellectual soul – Ahriman – Greco Roman
3. Consciousness soul - Asuras – Anglo Germanic
In the Ego:
1. Sorath – in future times.
Lucifer began his approach on the human Astral body in the Lemurian Epoch of Earth evolution through the nerves and senses and slipped into the unconscious elaboration of the ego on the Astral body, which produced the Sentient Soul.
Ahriman made his foray into the human being during the Atlantean Epoch of Earth evolution and found a suitable influence on the Etheric body through the Intellectual soul that is the unconscious elaboration by the ego on the Etheric body.
Asuras have been making their approach towards humanity only since our Epoch into the soul faculty that results from the unconscious elaboration of the physical body, the Consciousness soul.
But there is another being. This being ‘the beast from the Abyss’ as the Apocalypse calls him had fallen behind in an epoch prior to Old Saturn and does not belong to Earthly evolution. Nevertheless he inhabits the sun and is known by the Greeks as the Sun Demon Sorath. He works contrary to the ‘Intelligence’ of the Sun as a fallen Elohim and therefore works contrary to the Sun being the divinity of Christ. His number is 666 (six being the number that denotes imperfection) and will only enter directly into the human evolution through the three categories of beings - three sets of sixes.
Spiritual Science recognises the task of this being Sorath in our 5th Post Atlantean Epoch as that of co-ordinating the three streams of evil against the healthy development of humanity, in preparation for the incarnation of Ahriman who will attempt to distort the second coming in the Astral world of Christ in Etheric garment. This second coming began in the middle of last century and will continue until the 6th Epoch. It is imperative that a clear wide-awake consciousness concerning the workings of evil in the world be developed. It is the first and foremost task of Anthroposophy today to lead humanity in this task in the 5th Epoch as a preparation for the future.
Sorath’s Attacks on Humanity:
Sorath can be seen working into human evolution since the seventh century. The first onslaught on humanity occurred in 666 AD, three hundred and thirty three years after the middle of the Greco Roman epoch (333) through the establishment of the Academy of Gondhishapur. Created through a co-operation of Luciferic and Ahrimanic spirits this Academy sought to bring about a consciousness soul impulse ahead of time in order to Ahrimanise the Consciousness soul - a soul member that we are only developing in our present epoch. This would have prevented the proper development of the Spirit Self and as a result, affected the development of the other two higher members Life Spirit and Spirit Man. Jesus was born 333 years before the middle of the Greco Roman epoch – his future sacrifice as Christ Jesus in 33 AD counter balanced what was to occur in 666.
Another onslaught came in the form of the complete and utter destruction of the Templar order. The Cathars, whose Manichean knowledge concerning good and evil stood in opposition to Sorath’s goals were also hunted down, tortured and burnt. Their spiritual cousins the Templars whose task of inaugurating a ‘Christened’ social order in preparation for the 6th Epoch were incarcerated tortured made to confess to despicable crimes and murdered. The Order was abolished through the co-operation of Pope Clement (possessed by a Luciferic spirit) and Philip king of France (possessed by an Ahrimanic Spirit). In our times the above two attacks, the establishment of the Academy of Gondishapur and the destruction of the Cathars and the Templar order have been greatly strengthened by the entry of a new being in the service of the Sun Demon, Asuras who wishes to destroy humanity’s connection with the Ego through the Consciousness or Spiritual soul. It is the action of all three categories of beings: Luciferic, Ahrimanic and Asuric in the service of Sorath that resulted in the reflection of the above two attacks in Bolshevism (Gondishapur) and Nazism (Destruction of Templar order) - National Socialism. The development of secret lodges over and against the impulse of Rosicrucianism and the rise of Jesuitism in opposition to the Grail impulses have been other incursions into the development of the human spirit.
A third manifestation of Sorath through the three streams of evil has already begun (1998) and will find its culmination in the near future seeking to materialise the human ego. It is important today in the 21st century to know how these three streams of evil guided by a fourth present themselves in the human being, the outer world and in the cosmos
The Three Streams of Evil in the Human Being.
The human being is not so insular as he may imagine. In every breath, in every perception, in every intake of food, in every sensation, thought and act of will human beings are accompanied by beings of a spiritual nature. We have seen how Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings have entered into the human soul during evolution, and it is a fact that they live side by side with elemental beings (detachments of higher beings) and higher beings that regulate our Physical, Etheric and Astral bodies.
The divine powers or the first hierarchy are connected to our physical bodies and the will forces in our souls, the solar hierarchy or the 2nd hierarchy have more to do with our Etheric bodies and the feeling forces in the soul, the third hierarchy is more connected to the Astral body and the thinking forces in the soul. Therefore Angels as representatives of the third hierarchy in the soul have to do with thinking. Archangels as representatives of the 2nd hierarchy in the soul have to do with feeling. Archais as representatives of the first hierarchy in the soul have more to do with the will.
Apart from the higher and lower spiritual beings that have access to the human body and soul there are also offspring of higher hierarchies (detachments) these are the elemental beings that weave in and out of our physical bodies, in all our physical and soul processes. We will not go into this too deeply, suffice to say that the moral disposition of a human being is of the greatest importance to the above beings, since their own evolution is dependant upon it. If a man is moral then insofar as he is, he can liberate these beings so that they may progress to higher stages of existence. If a human being is not moral then he traps good elemental beings in his various sheaths and these beings become the prey (because they have no ego) of beings of opposition. Under the yoke of the opposing beings the elemental spirits become Ahrimanic, Luciferic or Asuric according to their disposition and where they have a scene of action, and become detached from the human being as demons, ghosts and spectres.
Rudolf Steiner tells us that we create three beings that become a part of us throughout our lives. The Luciferic element allowed to take root in the thinking, inasmuch as it is connected to the Astral body and the Astral realm of angels, creates a beast or double of ‘Doubt’. Doubt in spiritual things prevents humanity from creatively working in knowledge and leads to fantasy and illusion.
The Ahrimanic element allowed to take root in the feeling inasmuch as it is connected to the Etheric body and lower Devachanic realm of the Archangels creates a ‘beast’ or double of Hatred, which prevents human beings from working in love towards spiritual ends, this leaves the soul hollow.
The Asuric element in our will inasmuch as it is connected to the physical body and therefore the Higher Devachanic realm of the Archai leads to the creation of a beast or double of Fear or cowardice when it comes to the creative spiritual ‘being’, which leaves human beings vulnerable to attacks from earthly forces.
The Earthly Ethers and the Double
The effect of the above beings of opposition on the Astral body, Etheric body and physical body weakens them, leaving the human being vulnerable to negative earthly forces.
In the same way that retarded beings influence the creation of retarded soul forces so too do negative Etheric energies that exist in the world influence the creation of retarded Etheric forces in the human being.
A combination of retarded forces created by the influence of retarded beings in the Physical, Etheric and Astral bodies and the retarded or degenerated Etheric energies that create retarded Etheric forces in the human being, these various doubles or shadow forces can be said to collectively form one being that Spiritual Science calls the personal ‘double’ or doppelganger. He forms, according to Rudolf Steiner, a part of the ‘Lesser Guardian of the Threshold’ whose existence in us from birth to death bars our spiritual progress:
‘…There arises the phenomenon known as the Guardian of the Threshold – the appearance of the lower double of man. The spiritual being of man, composed of his impulses of will, his desires and his thoughts, appears to the Initiate in visible form. It is a form that is sometimes repugnant and terrible, for it is the offspring of his good and bad desires and of his karma – it is their personification in the astral world…’
Put another way we may say that the influence of Ahriman, Lucifer, and Asuras on the being of man cause there to arise: beings of doubt hatred and fear of the spiritual in the Astral body, the Etheric body and in the Physical body and that this attracts forces that help to create and maintain a collective personal double, one and the same as that being that Rudolf Steiner calls the Lesser Guardian of the Threshold, that becomes apparent to us as soon as we enter the spiritual world as a separate entity that is at once composed of the three beasts of our creation and also separate from them. See Above image, called "The Doppelganger" from a drawing made by Rudolph Steiner for a stained glass window. It depicts the serpentine nature of the double showing the 7 Chakras. He comes from a crack in the earth, delineating his connection to the degenerated earthly forces. The human being sitting on the mountaintop of objectivity must send out beneficent spiritual forces to heal and transform the double.
Rudolf Steiner Characterises these beasts or doubles to imaginative consciousness:
The double or beast of doubt is red and has a glassy eye
The double or beast of hatred is spotted yellow and bares his teeth
The double or beast of fear is blue and has a bony mind
It is this third being that lies in our will and therefore our physical bodies that make us especially vulnerable to earthly forces and allows their entry into the human being.
The Three Streams of Evil in the Macrocosmic World
Rudolf Steiner tells us that what forms a part of the inner man during life becomes the outer world after death, we can call this a law of ‘Inversion’:
“At first, man has within him what he later sees around him…All that lives today in the inner being of man, his thoughts, his feelings, will find expression in the outer world and become his surroundings. The future lies within man.”
We can therefore say that human beings are instrumental in creating the outer world or cosmos, through inner work or lack thereof.
Having this in mind we will proceed in our exploration of the connection that exists between the double of man and the fallen ethers.
What are the fallen ethers?
After the ‘fall’ when Adam ate from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge or became a conscious being, through the entry of Lucifer into his Astral body, it was deemed that humanity should only retain knowledge of the Warmth and Light Ethers, the other two; Sound and Life Ethers were protected and guarded in spiritual worlds (Tree of Life) lest they become the prey of retarded forces. Rudolf Steiner tells us that we have the physical world, the astral world, Lower Devachan and Higher Devachan. There is also what Rudolf Steiner calls the sub-physical world;
When light Ether decays and is thrust down into the sub-material world, a stage deeper than the material world – electricity arises. Light therefore finds its reflection in the substratum of the earth in Electricity. In man this has its counterpart in Thinking.
When Chemical Ether decays and is driven down beneath the physical plane into the evil Devachanic world – magnetism arises. Sound finds its reflection in the substratum of the earth as magnetism. In man this has its counterpart in Feeling.
If what lives in higher Devachan as Life Ether decays and is thrust down further still, into the province of the Asuras, what arises is characterised by Rudolf Steiner as ‘an even more terrible force – which it will not be possible to keep hidden very much longer’. The realm of the Atom. He goes on to say,
‘It can only be hoped that when this force comes to be known – a force we must conceive as being far, far stronger than the most violent electrical discharge – it can only be hoped that before some discoverer gives this force into the hands of humankind, men will no longer have anything immoral left in them.’
Life Ether has its counterpart, its reflection in the substratum of the earth in a kind of radioactivity. In man this has its counterpart in the human will.
Fallen and materialised thoughts - doubt in spirit
Fallen materialised feelings - hatred of the spirit
Fallen materialised will - fear of the spirit
The above fallen thoughts feelings and will, use and intensify the fallen ethers in the same way that the spiritualised thoughts and feelings and will, use and add to the ‘higher ethers’.
Therefore we can say that the fallen forces in man (the double) are especially strengthened by coming into contact with their counterpart in the outer world, and that the degenerated Etheric forces in the world are greatly strengthened by coming into contact with their counterpart in man.
Why has this fall or degeneration occurred?
As we have seen what was once out in the cosmos can at another time be found in the microcosm and visa versa. This relates directly to what we find on earth as remnants of what was present in the earth’s surroundings during the different evolutionary stages of the Earth.
What remains of old Saturn forces – Life Ether is now found in the core of the earth in a degenerated form as the power of the Atom ( more powerful than nuclear power).
What remains of old Sun Forces – Sound or Chemical Ether is found at another inner level of the earth in a degenerated form as the power of magnetism.
What remains of the old Moon Forces – Light Ether is found at a higher level again and is the closest to the earth’s surface in a degenerated form as the power of electricity.
Rudolf Steiner tells us that in every age of the earth there are two phases of physical development, the generative and the degenerative. In the first half of Earthly evolution the Polarian, Hyperborean, and Lemurian, the physical substances of the earth were undergoing a generative phase or a process of generation very similar to the human being up to his thirty-fifth year. After that in our present Post Atlantean epoch and the succeeding two epochs there begins a degeneration. In Atlantean times there was an equilibrium of degenerative and generative forces, during Lemurian times the forces that would become electricity and were present in the earth from the times of old Moon were undergoing a generative phase, in Hyperborean times the old Sun forces of magnetism were undergoing a generation, and in Polarian times the Saturnine forces that would one day surface as the power of the Atom were undergoing a generation. During our own Post Atlantean Epoch (a reflection of Lemurian times) electricity has emerged as a form of the decaying moon forces of Light and in future times though already begun in our times ie; Hyperborean Epoch reflected in the 6th Post Atlantean Epoch the old Sun forces of decaying Chemical or Sound Ether will emerge more and more as the power of Magnetism and in the Polarian Epoch the degeneration or decay of Life Ether will emerge more intensely than ever as the power of the Atom (all that causes a splitting up a destruction of the ‘whole’) that will in the 7th Post Atlantean age finally destroy the earth.
However as this physical aspect is generating and degenerating so to does the spiritual aspect descend and ascend. So that in the fifth sixth seventh epochs the counter forces of these fallen ethers will need to be cultivated in order to raise humanity collectively from its 35th year onwards to an ascent toward the spirit.
The extent to which humanity does or does not achieve this task will determine the conditions that will be made possible for, on the one hand the physical manifestation of the Antichrist and on the other, the spiritual incarnation of the Christ being.
How does this relate to the Sub-Suprahuman double Ahriman?
In our own 5th Post Atlantean Cultural Epoch there occurs a similar curve on a microcosmic level. At the beginning of this Post Atlantean Epoch the Indian Epoch there was a reflection of the physical generation of ether forces until the Greco Roman Epochs - the mystery of Golgotha. If not for the mystery of Golgotha mankind would not have been able to climb upwards to the spirit due to an increasing influence on man from the degenerative forces of electricity, magnetism and the power of the Atom. These would have gained the upper hand. Christ however, descended into the Plutonian depths on Easter Saturday that is, into the sub nature of the earth and there ‘fettered’ Ahriman and Asuras for a time (a European aspect of this is the ancient Rite of the Sacrificial King as practiced within the cultures of the Celts) and as a consequence Sorath. This made it possible for man to overcome the forces of physical death with spiritual life. For if Ahriman had not been bound then materialism would not just be an attitude of life but an evil disease. From the time of the Mystery of Golgotha onwards man was given a choice, he could begin to prepare himself for his future task of ennobling the evil degenerative forces of death and decay by working with the forces of light (Faith) chemical or sound (Love) and life (Hope) Ethers or he could reject this possibility and sink down to the abyss.
If man rejects this possibility (taking into account that each individual human being creates for himself the double as an aggregate of the materialistic thoughts feelings and deeds of will that attract and add to the negative Etheric in his being), it stands to reason that the creation and nurturing of this double will not merely have an effect on the individual human being but also on the world around him – in the surrounding Ether – in the creation of a super or sub suprahuman double – the great double that will provide a fitting vehicle for the incarnation of Ahriman.
How will it provide for the incarnation of Ahriman the emissary of the Sun Demon?
Deadened materialistic thoughts that become corpses in the human brain feed the degenerated light Ether – electricity or darkness – in the sub physical or Evil Astral world from which the Astral body will be created into which the demonic ego of Ahriman can light up.
Hatred of the spirit and a lack of love for the spiritual, including the spiritual work of others, hollows out and deadens the human soul and will intensify the degenerated Sound or Chemical Ether – Magnetism – in the sub-physical or Evil Lower Devachan from which the opposing powers will weave the Etheric body of Ahriman.
Fear paralyses human moral will and this will further intensify the power of degenerated Life Ether – power of the Atom – in the sub-physical or Evil Higher Devachan. From it will come the knowledge necessary for creating the physical body of Ahriman.
The three bodies of Ahriman will be formed from: the Astral corpses of human thoughts, vibrations issuing from the hearts and larynxes of human beings filled with hatred and immoral feelings and the division and separation of human beings from the moral deed, the higher hierarchies and their Karma through fear.
Ahriman is destined to incarnate around three thousand years after the birth of Christ in a physical body, as a counterbalance to Lucifer’s incarnation three thousand years before the birth of Christ in China. His birth has been in preparation since the year 1998. He will not be an ordinary man, he will be a super or subsuprahuman. This means that he will not only have a physical body, but also a subsupraphysical body a body of elemental and Luciferic, Ahrimanic and Asuric beings that possess higher members (eg Spirit Self and Life Spirit Spirit man) at his disposal. If this incarnation follows those laws that guide the incarnations of higher (Bodhisattva) beings, then Ahriman will ascend into the three sheaths created for him by a human vessel. This time however, this human vessel will have no ego . This physical ‘being’, will allow the ego of Ahriman to enter into it, around its twenty ninth to thirtieth year and Ahriman will begin the work of elaborating these three sheaths into an Ahrimanised retarded form of microcosmic Spirit Self, Life Spirit and Spirit Man. Through him will work the intentions of the being of Sorath the Beast of the Apocalypse. Sorath a being who fell behind before Old Saturn, does not belong to our earthly evolution and will enter into Earthly evolution only in the Apocalyptic future. He will need all the hosts of Lucifer, Ahriman and Asuras and the sub-earthly ethers that have been intensified by the sub-suprahuman Ahrimanic double and the individual human beings that have taken his impulses right down into their various sheaths. These shall be his limbs his organs of sense his internal organs, and they will bring his thoughts and intentions, his hatred and his unwavering will to incarnation.
This may very well happen sooner than later depending on the strength of the Ahrimanic double. For it may be possible for Sorath to enter into the physically incarnated Ahriman even in our own epoch and inspire him in his sheaths – a pseudo-incarnation for Sorath.
The totality of beings working for Sorath/Ahriman over and against the impulse of Christ is what John describes as the ‘Antichrist’ . However it must be pointed out that the strength of such an attack on the Christ impulse will depend on whether humanity is able to raise itself toward the spirit.
What will Ahriman be like?
He will be extremely intelligent. Possessed of a great powerful genius and cold intellect that will assure the faith of the unwary. He will set up a great school of Occultism (Lodges) where black magic will be taught. Those who follow him will take the ‘materialism’ that exists in thought (Astral body) all the way down into their Etheric bodies and will harden them so that these Etheric bodies remain intact after death (Ahrimanic immortality). These hardened Etheric bodies will distort the image of the Etheric Christ in the Astral world bordering the earth.
He will exude a profound magnetism that will draw human beings with its power - his ‘voice’ will have the ability to mesmerize and hypnotise those who listen without discrimination and he will make what is immoral ‘sound’ honourable, good and justified (The Sauruman of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings comes to mind) Hatred will guide his every action, but from him will come the teachings concerning the nature of the lower passions and their connections to clairvoyance – Kundalini Tantra that leads to ceremonial sexual rituals accessing the lower Etheric forces are an example of this. Also, consenting ritual murder and cannibalism, which is of a sexual nature, is another step again. He will be responsible for promulgating only the biblical version of Christ’s life as a literal, material account of a man’s life, rejecting His divinity and resurrection (note the film ‘The Passion’ and its obsession with the death and failure to continue on towards an understanding of the resurrection and the becoming). Ahriman will be more charismatic than the powerless human Jesus that will everywhere be portrayed.
His will shall have no restraint and he will yield the power of the members (suprahuman) of his being with a violent and concentrated force that will encourage those who are weak of spirit to follow him Those who do not will be made to suffer unbearable persecution. This will be made possible by firstly destroying the will, through the will preventing the elaboration of the consciousness soul which finally leads to either a bonding of the Ego with the physical body or a driving out of the ego altogether. A pale example of this destruction of the ‘will’ of a people occurred in Eastern Europe during the reign of the Bolsheviks when sixty million people were murdered and many more were sent to work camps in Siberia. Today we see a very subliminal form in the new laws against terrorism that give the State unprecedented powers over suspects. The holding of suspects at the military institution at Guantanamo Bay without trial is a prime example of the beginnings of the attack on human civil rights and liberties, which will spread across the world like a wild fire through Fear. From there, it is a short step to the entire domination of human will and its subsequent subjugation to the powers that wish to destroy the ego.
In 1780 Galvani began experiments leading to the discovery of electricity. In 1845 Faraday concluded that all matter must contain magnetism and in 1932 the artificial splitting of the lithium nucleus by neutron bombardment lead to the discovery of atomic power. The degeneration of ethers has begun in our Post Atlantean Epoch and will have its culmination in the seventh Age of Earth Evolution.
Today we see the signs of the preparation for Ahriman’s arrival. We see the signs of his coming. Materialism has reached its zenith in the middle of the last century. The materialistic thoughts feelings and will of human beings entering the world between death and rebirth then spread a dark cloak over the spiritual world, creating a darkening in the realm of the First hierarchy, leading to a certain intensification of the fallen ethers in the Sub-physical realms which resulted in a manifestation of the power of the Beast in Nazism, Bolshevism and the discovery of the power of the Atom. This caused a sacrifice of Christ consciousness in the Astral world.
If human beings do not open their eyes and acquire concrete occult knowledge as a counterforce to evil then humanity will be helpless in the face of the future incarnation of Ahriman and the physical manifestation through Ahriman of his master Sorath.
Already, in our 5th cultural Epoch we observe Ahriman’s incarnation, a worldwide web of electromagnetic currents criss-cross the earth’s surface. Microwave towers and high-rise buildings pulsing with electricity replace the ancient pyramids and obelisks on the horizons of human cities. Sky Satellites have taken the place of the divine worship of the Stars that have guided our ancestors on their journeys. We seek to explore the planets (corpses of the past) instead of learning in a meditative way to come to a communion with the living spiritual counterparts of these corpses. Pulse generators, lasers and Nuclear medicine have taken the place of healing with the hands and the heart. Digital processors pump out numerical formulas that drown out the harmony of the spheres. The premature destruction of the physical sheaths through, Drug addiction, the building up of the animalistic nature through sport, vitamin and mineral supplements, the use of animal steroids and through sexual rituals, heavy metal music, television etc. The destruction of the physical sheaths of the earth through, pollution of the air water and soil, the cutting down of rainforests, unsustainable farming practices, the raping of the seas and the mineral earth.
All of it can be seen even with the eye not focussed on the spiritual. Everywhere the human being is surrounded by fallen ethers that have been allowed to break out of their rightful domains. Everywhere elemental beings enter into humans from the kingdom of nature spirits to be enchanted and released according to the moral disposition of their host. Everywhere the spiritual researcher can see the created phantoms (Asuras), ghosts/spectres (Ahriman) and demons (Lucifer) that have become detached from human beings as a result of prejudice (the forces of Fear in the Will life), lovelessness (the forces of Hatred in the Feeling life), untruth and hypocrisy (the forces of Doubt in the Thinking life).
All of the above has its place in human evolution as the earth is meant to die and become a corpse, however human beings are not meant to follow the earth into the abyss, they are meant to rise up in consciousness and spiritually, taking with them what they can redeem (as a seed) of the Luciferic the Ahrimanic and Asuric elements towards a future evolutionary stage when the earth will be reborn anew.
How are we meant to accomplish this task?
The answer to this question lies in what we as individuals can do who gather together in the name of Anthroposophy through the work of the four mystery streams renewed by Rudolf Steiner at the Christmas Conference in 1924. To learn to recognise and overcome Doubt, Fear and Hatred of the spirit in our own souls, by replacing them with Faith, Love, and Hope must become our standard and it must begin in our epoch if we hope to weaken the power of the Ahriman and subsequently the Antichrist in future times. Otherwise we will incarnate in the Sixth Cultural Epoch to find we are like the farmer who did not sow seeds and bemoans the lack of a harvest. We shall have not prevented the great calamities that will come, and the resulting inevitable human suffering.
The best counterforce is to work in knowledge. Knowledge (Michaelic intelligence), is the first step in recognising and redeeming these forces. Ahriman himself tells us in Goethe’s Faust,
“I will not grudge my praise before thou goest, for well I see that thou the Devil knowest.”
Next week we will discuss the renewed Mystery Streams that work through the being of Anthroposophy in leading mankind to the four paths of knowledge:
1. To awaken spirituality in human beings - Rosicrucian stream
2. To announce the Cosmic Christ – Grail Stream
3. To uncover and redeem evil – Manichean Stream
4. To create conditions for the future – Templar Stream"
I hope you noticed the use of microwaves in the degeneration of the ethers, which serves Ahriman's aims by making astral-etheric beings, elementals, to fall into SubNature (mechanical fallen ethers).
Best,
Druid