Centre of Destruction

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A centre of destruction or hearth of destruction works within the human being so that he can develop and harden his I. Here matter is thrown into chaos and dissolved. This centre of destruction, which is spread over the whole human organism but has its bodily centre in the centre of gravity of the human being in the metabolic region, is normally not accessible to consciousness because it lies beyond the memory mirror. Without us being aware of it, our thoughts penetrate down below the memory mirror into that region of the etheric body which underlies the growth, but also the emergence of the will forces. This part of the etheric body then causes the dissolution of matter in the physical body. Only through appropriate spiritual training can consciousness penetrate into this realm. A strict moral self-education must be connected with this, for if these forces penetrate to the outside, they become a terrible source of evil up to and including black magic practices. On the other hand, through all moral impulses, the germs are already formed here for the future New Jupiter existence, which is described in the Apocalypse of John as the New Jerusalem.

The I and the Source of Evil

„This I, how does it come into being? This I is formed by the fact that the human being can plunge into a chaos of destruction. This I must be steeled and hardened in that world which is within the human being as the world of a hearth of destruction. With this I, one cannot live beyond the sphere of the outer world of the senses.

Let us imagine schematically the centre of destruction inside the human being (see drawing, red). It is spread over the whole human organism. What I am describing is intense, not extensive, but I will draw it schematically.

Drawing from GA 207, p. 26
Drawing from GA 207, p. 26

There is the source of destruction, there is the human shell. If what is inside were to spread over the whole world, what would live in the world through man? Evil! Evil is nothing other than the chaos thrown outwards that is necessary within the human being. And in this chaos, in that which must be in man, but must also remain in him as a hearth of evil, in that the human I, the human egoity, must be hardened.“ (Lit.:GA 207, p. 25f)

Plate 14 (GA 206)

„Now, however, we can also descend to the other side into our (arrows, Plate 14 top right) actual being. This happens when the destructive forces of death that lie within us grasp us more than they usually do; or rather, when they become conscious. Just as we can penetrate beyond the limits of sense life, so we can also penetrate downwards through what I call occult training.

But what is experienced there must remain within the human being if it is not to appear pathological in a certain way. Man must not let it come up into his ordinary consciousness. He must leave this region below, where it is otherwise unconscious. That is to say, man must not allow this region, which lies in the etheric body, to flow up into his ordinary consciousness, but he must conduct his ordinary consciousness down into the etheric body. So that which is down there must not penetrate into the ordinary conception, but the ordinary conception must penetrate down there [...].

In this region is rooted all that of the human soul-life and body-life which, in the ordinary sense, is not allowed to develop in the outer behaviour of the human being. Human evil is rooted there.

You see from this a very remarkable fact. This source of evil is actually constantly within us. We must not for a moment entertain the illusion that the source of evil is not within us. It lies, if I may say so, beneath the life of the conception. It must not infect the life of the conception, otherwise the conceptions become motives for evil; it must remain below. And the one who wants to behold it there must be so morally strong that he does not let it up, that he really only sends down the consciousness.“ (Lit.:GA 206, p. 164f)

Literature
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.
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