Lucifer and Ahriman: Discerning Spiritual Forces Within

GA 266III — 4 September 1913, Munich

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

Verse of the day, Thursday.

My dear sisters and brothers!

What has been talked about over and over again these days is Lucifer and Ahriman, and that these are forces that must exist in world development and that, where they rightly exist, they are good, but we must beware of their encroachments and protect ourselves from them. To do this, we must learn to know and distinguish them.

In mystical esotericism, as we see it in Meister Eckhart, Ruysbroek, Tauler, Suso, and so on, Lucifer is present; in this pure devotion to the divine, in this pure, noble striving for the spiritual, Lucifer is present in a good way, and one can say that he was “pious” in the souls of these mystics.

But as soon as a personal note flows into this pure striving, this devotion, as soon as the mystic devotes himself because of his own joy in devotion, this would mean an encroachment by Lucifer. We must be vigilant that nothing of the kind enters into our striving. It is relatively easy to be vigilant in mystical contemplation, but it is more difficult in visionary seeing. Lucifer is at work here too. He deceives the mystic with all kinds of things that are difficult to distinguish from true visions. Something subjective mixes into all seeing, so that certain apparitions, illusions, or the like are repeated in individuals. One must direct one's attention to this. Here, too, one must be alert.

If one sees eyes or faces, or imagines them, one is not so easily exposed to error; one gains the strength to reject Lucifer.

It is no reproach to say that evil qualities dwell in the human subconscious; these must be there, for earthly life brings them with it. A person may have already attained a certain degree of holiness, and yet such instincts still slumber in his subconscious, which would horrify and frighten him if he became aware of them. Here, too, the greatest care and vigilance are required.

In everything emotional, in mystical contemplation, in everything visionary, Lucifer is at work, as well as in all enthusiasm, even in artistic activity, in what an artist creates, in what creates the artist.

There may be materialists who are completely absorbed in the material world and express themselves only in material terms; but if one is fortunate enough to look into their souls, one finds a deeply religious striving, a longing for the divine. Here too, Lucifer is the instigator.

Ahriman is at work in everything that is volitional. He approaches us in everything that reveals itself as a gesture in words or writing: in everything that is revealed in mediumistic writing, it is now a matter of a trained medium or natural mediumistic writing, or else of feeling compelled to write something; while apparitions of figures, heads of light, and so on, which are produced through a medium, are caused by Lucifer. Where one feels compelled to write, for example, one can counteract this by stopping and not giving in to these promptings that one thinks one feels or perceives, but by stopping and opposing these whisperings with the firm will not to obey them. Through this effort of will, one gains unimagined powers in the occult.

Ahriman is present in what we say, in the words we form and allow to reach others. As soon as the ear hears the sound, the larynx utters the sound, and the words are written down, Ahriman comes and hardens the sound, the word, the writing. That is why it is important to strengthen the soul and examine one's thoughts and words in the most subtle way.

Swedenborg's worldview, his visions and experiences (true dreams) are permeated with Ahriman, as are the ideas Kant took from Swedenborg's writings that interested him.

Very often, almost daily, the question is asked: Should I give credence to what I see, hear, or perceive? Is it true? Certainly one should give credence to it; certainly it is true; every little detail in occult life is important and true. But it is essential to know what lies behind it. We should pay tremendous attention to everything and be vigilant!

But we must acquire a certain delicate tact so that we do not go around telling others about such experiences. We must decide this within ourselves and try to find out whether Lucifer or Ahriman is involved. Of course, we can talk about such experiences in our closest circle of friends and seek advice where we have confidence. But we should be even less inclined to build lessons on such experiences, pass them on in this way, and use them as teaching material. Something that can happen to us every day, even every hour, is that we see a person in a vision while walking down the street, for example, and then actually encounter that person a few minutes later. Now it may be that we have something important to say to this person, we have this premonition of their arrival and quicken our steps to make sure we meet them – precisely because of our premonition, this occult ability. But we must not do this; we must not use occult abilities to our advantage in physical life. We must act according to the laws that are valid here, as if we knew nothing about the occult. Such an event can only serve as a hint, to make us pay attention.

In the exoteric lectures, Maeterlinck has repeatedly spoken about how he wanted to have proof of spiritual life.

If someone were to experience Goethe's soul standing before him, he would have unmistakable proof that it was Goethe's soul and that he was speaking with this soul of Goethe, he would certainly say that this is irrefutable proof of the immortality of the soul.¹ According to the laws that apply here in the physical world, this conclusion would be the only correct one. And yet it is incorrect; it is not right to say, “That is Goethe's soul.” Lucifer hides himself in Goethe's soul and deceives us with the Goethe of such-and-such a year. Only when we are aware that Lucifer is hidden in Goethe's soul do we have the opportunity to penetrate Goethe's real soul (which continues to develop in the spiritual world), to face it, and then have the real proof of the immortality of the soul.

Esoteric exercises are approached with great levity; some people start them and then give them up out of convenience, lukewarmness, etc. But meditation is to the soul what breathing is to the physical body. If one gave up breathing, Ahriman would immediately intervene as the lord of death. For the soul, it must become so that it does not have to torture itself with meditation, but that it can no longer live without it, that it becomes like breathing for the body.

Opposed to this lukewarmness and convenience is the impetuous desire and longing to penetrate the spiritual worlds. One must not desire and long to penetrate the spiritual worlds before the soul is properly strengthened. Peace and tranquility in the soul is the main condition (“The Awakening of the Soul,” 3rd picture). Only in this way can we attain the right strength for the soul, which it must have in order to find the middle way, not to go right or left, not to fall into Lucifer or Ahriman, but to keep to the middle way.

This is difficult, very difficult and hard, my dear sisters and brothers! But then we must remember what is said in the Gospel of John, at the beginning and in verses 12-14 of the eighth chapter of the same Gospel. When we stand in the turmoil, in the chaos of the spiritual world, and visions and figures come at us from all sides, and we do not know which way to turn, when we are torn back and forth, then we should place these words before our soul: “In the beginning was the Word,” and so on, or “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Then everything will be scattered, and we will be able to see what is right and true. In this sense, we should always keep the Rosicrucian phrase before us: E.D.N. I.C.M. - P.S.S.R.

And furthermore, we will be able to find what is right on this difficult path more and more if we remember the simple but profound saying with which our esoteric lessons conclude:

In the spirit lay the seed of my body....

Record B

We will now attempt to point out the subtle effects that the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings exert on our most intimate soul movements, for it is the duty of those who seek the path to esoteric life to know these effects. There are two particular types of people who seek the path of spiritual knowledge in very different ways. This search for the spirit is inherent in every human being, even if not all people are willing to admit it. Even in the worst materialists, the longing for the spirit lives deep in the subconscious. However, they cannot attain this knowledge because they seek physical proof of spiritual matters. Maeterlinck can be cited as an example; even he, who came so close to the spiritual, desired physical proof.

Now there is a type of person who, from their innermost consciousness, from the deepest feelings of their soul, feel drawn to the spiritual, who have an intimate knowledge of it that is not expressed in visions. They do not need physical evidence or sensory-physical theories to explain the existence of the spiritual world; they have this knowledge from their own feelings, from the deepest sensations of their hearts. Such people were the mystics, Johannes Tauler, Ruysbrock, and others. The mysticism that these people had was often under the influence of Lucifer, but in a good sense, even in the sense that Lucifer himself, who led these highly developed, devoted souls up to beautiful, divine ecstasy, advanced in his own development through them. One could say that in mysticism, Lucifer has a tendency to become pious. In this mysticism, we encounter only pious devotion and pure religious feeling.

In contrast, there is another kind of mysticism, namely television mysticism, mediumistic mysticism, which can be either an innate predisposition or often acquired through certain methods. It sometimes transforms into mediumistic writing and the like. Here we see exclusively Ahriman asserting his impulses. He wants to reproduce everything or record it in writing or drawings. Even in writing that appears impulsive and inspiring at the moment, without being mediumistic, we find the Ahrimanic principle again.

We must strike the right balance between the rapture brought on by Lucifer and the immediate writing under Ahriman's influence. To do this, we must suppress the impulsive writing at the beginning of its appearance, push it back, so to speak, until it has clarified itself within us. Only then will we be able to harmoniously combine the two forces. For example, the great seer Swedenborg's gift was essentially mixed with Ahrimanic impulses (foresight on the physical plane, foretelling physical events).

Thus, in some visionary phenomena, which esoteric students often experience in the beginning as experiences of the spiritual world, the Luciferic and Ahrimanic principles assert themselves. What the student has seen in visionary images, in figures, heads, eyes, are real facts that are seen there; they come up from deep within the human subconscious. Hidden in the depths of the human soul lie secret impulses and desires of which the human being is unaware in his conscious mind and of which he need not always be ashamed, for in a certain sense they belong to human nature, and without them the evolution of the earth would be inconceivable.

Such feelings of the most hidden instincts and desires now emerge through our esoteric training as visionary figures. They can even appear as the heads of the most exalted personalities, and yet they are human desires deeply hidden in our subconscious, which Lucifer symbolically holds up to us. It would be good to let such visions pass quietly by and not talk much about them, except perhaps to those who are called to enlighten us about them. We should use them even less as teaching material.

The esoteric student may now be overcome with despair and ask himself: How will I ever find my way in the spiritual world when Lucifer and Ahriman are lurking everywhere? One can only offer this consolation and instruction: If one adheres to what is commanded in the Gospel, as in the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word,” and so on, as well as chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, or if one allows the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes to sink in, then one has a certain guidance that allows one to distinguish truth from error.

Record C People who start doing exercises on their own and then give them up after a while fall prey to Lucifer. Meditation should never be neglected out of convenience; it must become as necessary to us as breathing is to the body—then it is right. When spiritualists summon Goethe's spirit and thereby seek to prove the immortality of the soul, believing that it is the soul as it now lives, this is a mistake. It may be Goethe's soul as it lived in his body in 1828, for example, and Lucifer causes it to appear as it would be now. In order to find one's way in the chaos that surrounds one upon entering the spiritual world, in order to have the right rudder for the soul's ship, one must awaken in one's soul the first chapter of the Gospel of John or chapter 8:2. With these, one cannot fall into error.

In yesterday's lesson, we learned that the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings and forces are working within humanity. These forces mix and flow together within human beings.

The Ahrimanic forces now express themselves in human beings in everything that is expressed through gestures, writing, and movements. All writing media write under the influence of Ahriman. The Luciferic influences and forces express themselves in human beings as visions, as images, and generally through emotional perceptions. All the medieval mystics were influenced by Lucifer. Lucifer wanted to redeem himself in Cusanus, Suso, Tauler, and Meister Eckhart. The redemption of Lucifer comes through love, through higher love, which is free from egoism. The redemption of Ahriman comes through thinking. - As a remedy against overly strong Ahrimanic attacks, it is highly recommended to think through the first chapter of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word...” and the eighth chapter. The worst and most seductive images and visions are those that appear in beautiful and magnificent colors. One must be particularly vigilant here. - Flattering teachers is a great danger for the teacher. One should not show such great reverence for the teacher. Even those who teach should strive not to be shown too much reverence. These are traps that can harm the teacher. [...]

The Luciferic is the past, that which is built upon the past, upon science, upon history, etc. The Ahrimanic is that which belongs to the future, that which flows from thinking, that which is brought about by willing.

Record D

We have spoken much these days about the Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces, and according to the most important rule of the ancient mysteries, we must learn to recognize their nature and work, especially their work in the spiritual world, on the threshold of which we all stand. One can approach the spiritual world through feelings; this is emotional mysticism. All the mysticism of the Middle Ages, from Meister Eckhart, Suso, Tauler, etc., is emotional mysticism; Lucifer is present in it, and he tried to become pious through it. In clairvoyance, in all of Swedenborg's mysticism, we have Ahrimanic impulses; in everything that is volitional, that pushes itself into gestures, into actions, into inspirations to write things down, there are Ahrimanic impulses. So Lucifer is separate from the outside, while Ahriman works through human beings. Ahriman is naturally present in the medium, while Lucifer is present in the trained medium. So when we have visions or inspirations, we must reject them, not allow them to be acted upon, seek to recognize their value; we should pay attention to them, but not allow them to influence our actions in exoteric life.

Record E

Behind everything ‘emotional’, Lucifer hides and always intervenes. Behind everything volitional, Ahriman is hidden.

Where there is a particularly deep religious feeling, which is further strengthened by meditation, visions and experiences often arise, and this is where the true esotericist should use his powers of observation. Of course, everything that appears to a person as a vision is true, but they must first learn to interpret it. They must distinguish between what emerges subjectively from the depths of their soul and mixes with the images of the soul. They must know exactly how much of it is Luciferic and how much is their own essence. All the emotions, desires, and passions slumbering in the depths of the human soul strive to come to the surface in visions and mix with the spiritual images and lead him astray. It is also particularly important to observe how this subjective element repeats itself, for example in animal forms and so on; this enables the individual to learn to pay particular attention to themselves and take charge of their self-education. Vigilance. Everything that reveals itself to the individual through words, writing, sounds, and gestures is of an Ahrimanic nature. All visions, true dreams, and so on.

So everything that is produced from outside in visions and so on is Luciferic. Everything that passes through the human being, such as hearing, writing, and so on, is Ahrimanic.

Everything that wants to be based on evidence in the spiritual world, as in the physical world, is Ahrimanic. Everything: talking nonsense, trying to convince someone suggestively of spiritual science is Luciferic.

The main thing is always to remain conscientious and honest in your meditation. Keep the Gospel of John in mind and let spiritual peace reign in your soul.