William James Tychonievich has produced what looks like the best-ever exposition of the Luciferic, Ahrimanic, Sorathic classification of evil; of which I have made such use in recent months.
The essay includes not just description; but also analysis of why it is and how that individuals and cultures go-through this evolutionary sequence - clarifying why civilizational evil needs to develop in this order.
WmJas's piece is of fundamental importance to understanding and responding-to the world as we know it - but especially since 2020.
I urge you to READ THE WHOLE THING
4 comments:
Read it. It was a great essay on the relations of the different forms of evil.
It is more and more obvious why those who have spent a life pursuing Luciferic evil are much more likely to be saved in the end - they never really gave up on life, if you know what I mean.
Once you join Ahrimanic, you are giving up that vital essence of life. Luciferic evil, though bad, is still engaged in trying to create something, even if that something is a degenerate, lustful, greedy, etc. Think of Trump - he devoted much of his life to the pursuit of pleasures, but he didn't really completely join the devil, and seemed to have sought to pursue the common good at the end (albeit unsuccessfully, due to the power of Ahrimanic evil).
Have you considered how this all maps to Eugene Seraphim Rose's stages of Nihilism, if you are familiar with that? His writeup gave the idea that there was a progression, although I have seen all four stages in our culture simultaneously, only the predominance of one stage or another changes. The nihilism of destruction seems clearly "ascendant" today.
For those unfamiliar, the four stages (from "Nihilism: the root of teh revolution of the modern age):
1) Liberalism
2) Realism
3) Vitalism
4) the nihilism of destruction
@COp - That's a good comparison - and that book had a big influence on me, before I ever encountered Steiner. Eugene Rose (as was then) was talking mostly about societies, but it originates in individuals. I think this probably made me receptive to Steiner's classification.
I think Steiner's great point, for me, was clarifying that modern Ahrimanic bureaucracy/ surveillance/ control was an evil, the typical modern evil (which was also reinforced by CS Lewis's Screwtape Proposes a Toast) and a more advanced evil than Luciferic - individually and collectively.
The Dungeon's and Dragon's idea of 'Lawful Evil' (as I discussed it with my son) was also helpful.
Having grasped the nature and purpose of the Ahrimanic, then the 'Sorathic' or Rose's Nihilism then became clearer; and I began to see it more clearly after last summer's Sorathic riots were officially encouraged following the Ahrimanic lockdowns.
I also feel that the process is irreversible - that the Ahrimanic cannot be wound back to Luciferic (as was attempted in the 1960s by the counterculture) ; and that now that the Nihilist/ Sorathic evil is getting a grip - the Anhrimanic control can never again be re-imposed.
Thanks for the link, Bruce. I’ve been trying to assimilate the Lucifer/Ahriman thing for some time now, mostly through your writings, and I think I’m finally starting to get a handle on it.
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