Out of place

This book was something of a disappointment. "Evil" is supposed to contain Rudolf Steiner's definitive answer to the age-old problem of evil. While some texts included in the collection do address the problem, many others do not. Instead, we are forced to wade through complex and somewhat absurd speculations about the history of mankind (post-Atlantis) and its future evolution. If you don't already know a lot about Anthroposophy, the spiritual movement founded by the author, much of the book will strike you as bewildering or incomprehensible. Steiner connected evil to a number of spirit-beings (Lucifer, Ahriman and the Asuras), and its resolution to the incarnation and passion of the Christ. Yet, there is too little on these points in "Evil". The book feels more like a badly edited "teaser trailer". Perhaps it *is* intended that way, but if so, I'd still say a different approach would have been better...

So what is Dr. Steiner's solution to the problem of evil, then? I get the impression that "evil" is identical to destruction and disorder, while "good" is defined as creative evolution. Nothing is evil in and of itself. Rather, evil is a necessary thing that is out of place. It could be on the wrong level of existence, too late or too early in the evolutionary process, or too excessive. Both Lucifer and Ahriman - the two closest equivalents to the Devil in Anthroposophy - are in some sense necessary for human evolution. To simplify somewhat, Lucifer is the "fiery" element in man, while Ahriman is the "earthy" element. Christ is supposed to balance their influence, and in this way move evolution forward. Steiner also believes that evil can be transmuted to good, a quasi-alchemical process he somewhat surprisingly identifies with Manicheanism. Thus, it could become necessary to let evil run its course, in order to separate it wholly from the good, the better to transform it afterwards.

Personally, I tend to be more pessimistic than Steiner. Why does he identify evil with disorder and destruction? Why can't order or creativity be used by evil powers? Why can't the Devil be creative, and turn creative evolution to his advantage? From a certain angle, our world looks creatively evil. One of Steiner's visions (not included in this collection) concerns an intelligent race of spider-like automata which overruns Earth in the distant future. Sounds like a creative form of evil to me! Steiner, I suppose, had confidence in the positive outcome of cosmic evolution, with Man becoming a kind of angelic being during the "Vulcan incarnation". Ultimately, evil would prove to be wholly destructive and therefore non-enduring.

Well, let's hope he was right...

As already mentioned, I don't think this book gives a very good overview of Steiner's ideas about evil, so I will only give it two stars.