Evil

Evil (Hebrew: רָע ra), the fifth of the seven secrets of life, is, in Rudolf Steiner's view, an originally good which, instead of developing further, continues to have an effect in its unchanged earlier form in a later age. Evil, however, can also arise from the fact that something which is only to become effective in a later age appears too early in an immature form. Evil is a time-delayed good. The struggle between good and evil consists in the confrontation of the earlier with the later, of the old with the new.

Evolution requires evil as a necessary counterbalance to good; only by balancing the two can the goal of the world be achieved. For this purpose, certain spiritual beings must make the sacrifice of lagging behind in their proper development for the salvation of the overall development. They thereby become adversary powers, but through their resistance they promote development as a whole. In particular, freedom can only be achieved for man by giving him the choice between evil and good.

According to the original Persian view, good and evil emerged from Zaruana Akarana, the uncreated time. As soon as that which lasts in the spiritual world (→ Devachan), i.e. which belongs to eternity, separates into the temporal, it necessarily divides itself into evil and good. That which has become solid in its form and then only falls prey to putrefaction, to decay, becomes evil, while the good is a becoming that has retained something of its original creative power. Through the fall of the eternal into temporality, the zodiacal entities are divided into two spheres: into the 7 day zodiacal signs ascending from Aries, which represent the good, and into the 5 night zodiacal signs descending from Scorpio, which are related to the forces of evil. For the ancient Persians, the opposition of good to evil was not yet a moral question, but one of the interplay of cosmic forces. It was only in Hebraism that the concept of human guilt developed.

According to Rudolf Steiner, the primordial mystery of evil is connected with the struggle in the heavens, the consequences of which were incorporated into the human astral body during earthly development by the Luciferic spirits.

In this sense, there is no absolute good and no absolute evil, but both are determined by their relation to each other. What is good in one area can become evil in another. What matters for human beings is that they make the choice appropriate to the respective state of development. Thus the cosmic struggle between good and evil gradually becomes a question of human responsibility. By raising himself from the temporal to the eternal through his spiritual striving and by absorbing something of the eternal that graciously descends to him, man dissolves the opposition of good and evil again.

Just as there is a threefold structure of the human organism, there is also a threefold structure of evil which, through its polarity, causes an increase in the forces of evil. In anthroposophy, these essential powers of the adversary bear the names: Lucifer and Ahriman as well as Sorat-Asuras.

Literature

• Erhard Fucke: Im Spannungsfeld des Bösen, Vlg. Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart 2002
• Michael Kalisch: Das Böse - Polarität und Steigerung, Vlg. Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart 1998
• Bernard Lievegoed: Dem einundzwanzigsten Jahrhundert entgegen. Acht Vorträge, gehalten in Spring Valley, Info3-Verlag, Frankfurt a.M. 1988
• Alfred Schütze: Das Rätsel des Bösen, Fischer TB Vlg., Frankfurt a. M. 1982
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Mysterium des Bösen, Vlg. Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart 1993
• Rudolf Steiner: Geschichtliche Symptomatologie, GA 185 (1982), ISBN 3-7274-1850-8 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.