Fight in Heaven

Fight in Heaven is the term used to describe the struggle between truly advanced and retarded spiritual mights that took place at the beginning of the third planetary stage of world evolution (→ Old Moon) and in which the primordial secret of evil lies.

In the transitional period from the Old Sun to the Old Moon, spiritual beings from the hierarchy of the Dynameis (Spirits of Motion or Mights) were, as it were, "commanded" to act as adversaries to hinder the progressive development, but precisely by this means to bring about a new essential evolutionary leap. These mights were not yet evil in themselves and could not have become inhibiting forces of their own will. But by running up a storm against normal development and thereby opening up new paths for evolution, they ultimately also became producers of evil.

„In the interim between the Jupiter and Mars evolutions<ref>When Rudolf Steiner speaks here of the interim period between the evolution of Jupiter and Mars, he means the transition from the Old Sun to the Old Moon; for the Old Sun reached to where Jupiter now traces its orbit and the Old Moon reached to where Mars now has its orbit.</rev> a number of spiritual beings were, if I may express myself trivially, detached from the sphere of the Mights; they were so placed in the course of evolution that, instead of leading the evolution forward, they placed obstacles in its way. This is what we have come to know as the conflict in the heavens. So the deeds of the mights that had been commanded, if we may say so, were thrown into the development, for the ruling world mights of the Hierarchies had to say to themselves: That which was to come into being could never come into being if the path were to go straight on. Something greater must come into being.

Just think, you have a cart to push. By pushing it forward, your powers develop in a certain way. If you load the cart with a heavy ballast, then you have to push harder, but your strength develops more. Think of it, if the Deity had left the world evolution as it was, beyond Jupiter: certainly, human beings could have developed well; but humanity could have become even stronger if obstacles to development were placed in its way. For the good of humanity certain powers had to be detached. These mights did not become evil at first, one need not regard them as evil mights, but one can even say that they sacrificed themselves by placing themselves in the way of development. These mights can therefore be called the gods of obstacles, in the fullest sense of the word. They are the gods of hindrances, the obstacles that have been placed in the way of the path of development; and from now on the possibility was given for all that took place in the future. These mights that had been detached were not in themselves evil; on the contrary, they were the great promoters of evolution by running up a storm against normal evolution. But they were the generators of evil; for by their running up a storm, evil gradually came into being.“ (Lit.:GA 110, p. 162ff)

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Das Prinzip der spirituellen Ökonomie im Zusammenhang mit Wiederverkörperungsfragen, GA 109 (2000), ISBN 3-7274-1090-6 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Geistige Hierarchien und ihre Widerspiegelung in der physischen Welt, GA 110 (1991), ISBN 3-7274-1100-7 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.