ORIGIN OF FREEDOM AND EVIL
I have one of these truly unique pearls
on my anthro-shelf, a cycle of ten lectures by Rudolf Steiner
Ph.D, entitled "The Spiritual
Hierarcies, Series VII" published by Anthroposophical
Publishing Company (London and New York) in 1929. 10 lectures
by Rudolf Steiner, Dusseldorf, April, 1909. The date of Lecture
10, from which an excerpt is quoted below, is April 18, 1909.
This has to do with the origin of possible
evil, the origin of rebellion and anarchism and liberty and freedom
- as the greatest experiment ever conducted by the Hierarchies.
If our evolution succeeds, we will be the most free - the most
liberated and independent creatures ever in existence. It's almost
like the Gods are saying: "We want our children to enjoy
the freedom we didn't have." Sounds familiar?
Rudolf Steiner tells us:
"In the time between
the Jupiter and the Mars development - if I dare express myself
in trivial words - a number of Beings from the sphere of the
Mights or Spirits of Motion were detached; they were placed in
such a manner within the course of evolution that, instead of
helping it onwards, they had to put hindrance in its way. Thus
the deeds of - if I may coin the word - "adversely commanded"
Mights were thrown athwart the course of evolution. For the ruling
world-powers of the Hierarchies said to themselves: "Never
could that arise which has to arise if the way were always smooth.
Greater things must take place." Imagine that you have a
car to push. You develop your strength by pushing it. If heavy
ballast is put into the car it will be heavier to push, but you
would develop greater strength. Suppose the Godhead had let the
world's evolution remain as it was, up to the time just after
the Jupiter evolution, men would have certainly developed very
well; but humanity could have become still stronger if hindrance
had been in its way. For the good of humanity, certain "Mights"
or Spirits of Motion had to receive adverse commands. These were
not evil at first, one need not consider them as evil Powers,
one might even say they sacrificed themselves by putting obstacles
into the way of development. Therefore, these Mights may be called
the gods of hindrance, of impediment, in the widest sense of
the word. they are the gods of the impediments and hindrances
placed in the way, on the high-road of development. And from
that moment, the possibility was given for all that was achieved
in the future. These "adversely commanded" Mights were
not yet evil in themselves; on the contrary, they were the great
promoters of development, promoting it through the storms they
produced, but they were the breeders of evil; for, out of the
storms they produced, evil gradually arose."
What this means is that "disobedience
in heaven," to use a terrible bourgeois church-expression,
was not possible without a "command" given by the Godhead.
Here is the paradox: "You are hereby ordered to act like
rebels, because we are creating a new hierarchy from below that
shall know freedom."
There is another paradox with Rudolf Steiner's
Christology in relation to the anarchism or anarchosophy that
we find in PoF. He talks about an "active surrender."
Are we supposed to liberate ourselves from all tyrants, from
men and gods and laws and conscience and become totally self-dependent
and free - only to *surrender?* This is a paradox, but the "active
surrender" must be understood, I think, not as servitude
but as a free act of love. Freedom is a riddle, perhaps our very
greatest riddle, regardless of how many times we read PoF or
any other relevant literature. That is why it is virtually impossible
to define freedom. It appears to be a never-ending quest.
Tarjei Straume