Why was the name Lucifer, which means light-bringer, given for the satanic power? Where is its scriptural origin?
The Guide: The name Lucifer was not given to this spirit after he became what you call Satan. That was his name when he was created as a spirit of light. And as you know, Lucifer came after Christ. He was a marvelous and beautiful spirit – the bringer of light. That name originates from that time. Where you can find it in the Scriptures is a question I am not entitled to answer, because, as you know, a spirit does not have the right to answer questions you could find out by your own endeavors.
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In Isaiah it is said that God created good and evil. Did God create the evil forces and the Luciferic powers too?
The Guide: That is a great error, and you will readily understand it now when I remind you of Lecture #21 The Fall, that explains how this error could have happened. You will remember my explaining that God created the power which he then gave to each of his created spirits. This power could be used in any way depending on the individual spirit’s free will.
Now that explains why or how this error could have occurred. It is technically correct to say that God created evil, but it would be more correct to say that God created the possibility for evil if with their free will people – or spirits – use this power against divine law.
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A friend of ours who is a follower of Rudolf Steiner’s teachings said that there are not only two “kingdoms,” heaven and earth, good and evil, but three. According to this concept the earth is ruled by a being that is not Lucifer or the devil, but Ahriman, who is the ruler of matter and who is supposed to be more dangerous than Lucifer. Is this true?
The Guide: Here, too, there is a kernel of truth. You know that not only Lucifer “fell,” but that he dragged down many other beings also. Not all of them are equally heavily burdened. Now God had seven sons, those first created beings who were closest to Him. Two of these “fell,” along with a number of others, among whom there were also some who had been close to God but about whom I don’t want to speak here. Let this suffice for the time being.
Now one of these other sons who went with Lucifer is the one who rules over matter, and so in a certain sense you can say that he rules over the earth. This spirit is also heavily burdened; however, Lucifer, who initiated the “fall” is the one who carries the heaviest burden.
When some teachings say that there are three kingdoms, they are not quite accurate, because from this point of view there are more than three: Lucifer, who has the greatest power over the domains which are separated from God, has given certain districts – if I may call them so – to other fallen spirits, where they rule more or less independently.
Only in specific cases do they have to turn to Lucifer. This is an imitation of what exists in God’s world and what humans have also imitated on earth, and what has to exist where many beings live together: a certain order, a hierarchy. Here, in God’s divine kingdom, the spirit entities also have independent power according to their development; their area of activity increases and expands continuously, and they can, to a certain degree, in the precise knowledge of the spiritual laws, make their own decisions and carry them out. Only when a particular issue exceeds their degree of knowledge do they have to turn to the being who is above them.
Now it is true that the aforementioned brother of Lucifer was given dominion over the earth and that he rules over matter. However, this does not mean that Lucifer’s world has no access to you. Ultimately, this spirit is also subject to Lucifer, no matter how great his power, and thus is part of Lucifer’s sphere. If this was not specifically explained to you, it was only because it is not so important for you.
But you know that Lucifer has his underlings and that they are endowed with varying degrees of power. This specific spirit who rules over matter is one of them. But, as I said, he is not the only one; there are other Luciferic spirits who have just as much or almost as much power in other domains. It would be impossible to explain it all. Also, it is not necessary.
There are then, on earth, beings who are directly under Lucifer’s rule, that is, they are from Hell, while others are directly subject to that other spirit of matter. But ultimately they are all ruled by Lucifer. Yet those who say that this spirit of matter is more dangerous for humans than the Luciferic spirits are right. For Lucifer’s underlings are the spirits of evil, hate, murder, envy, prideful arrogance and other vices. They are embodiments of all these base currents.
However, no such spirit has access to a human being unless there is a corresponding vibration in that person. When a person has gone beyond a certain level of development – if only in certain respects, since, as you know, all aspects of the personality do not evolve simultaneously – then the worst of the evil spirits have no access to him. Even if there are still traces of these negative feelings in the soul, such people will know how to fight them and will not yield to their temptations, and will certainly not act them out.
There are, however, many people who, although no longer capable of base and evil actions and therefore not available to serve the Luciferic spirits directly, are nevertheless very susceptible to the enticements of the servants of Lucifer’s brother. They don’t necessarily intend to harm others, but they turn away from God and anything spiritual and thus become blind and unreceptive to the spirit. Thus this brother of Lucifer’s has triumphed directly, Lucifer indirectly. For the aim of the dark powers is to turn all beings away from God.
As a consequence of turning away from God and the spiritual life, a person can again become receptive to the influence of the spirits of Hell, since through the strong bondage to material things certain low feelings will be awakened. This is how the Spirit of Matter serves Lucifer in an indirect way. He can take prisoner many human beings where Lucifer would fail. Thus they give over to Lucifer indirectly, through matter.
These are not necessarily evil people – for those Lucifer doesn’t need his brother. They are those whose vision is troubled and whose vision will get worse as they bind themselves more to matter. They don’t enlarge their vision by taking a path of self-search and discipline, of love and humility, in order to establish contact with God’s world. They live in a flat, shallow and grey world and nothing is really alive to them, because through their bondage to matter they suffocate the living spirit.
I would like to mention here that many people believe themselves spiritual because they love the arts or because they pursue intellectual interests. This, however, does not make them really spiritual, really alive. Thus it happens that those over whom the brother of Lucifer has achieved such dominance that they become increasingly weaker and duller, can get into a state in which they unwittingly give over to Lucifer, since their vision is blurred and they do not believe in anything but matter; therefore they cannot see the danger and fight it. The enemy whom you do not know is always more dangerous than the one of whose existence and nature you are well aware.
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The souls in the lower spheres are supposed to suffer much pain. How is it then that Lucifer, who is the worst of all evil spirits, does not seem to suffer? Is this just?
The Guide: You human beings always think that there is nothing worse than pain. Yet there is something worse, namely the stage before a soul is able to feel pain. When you feel pain, you are already a step closer to God. I should like to explain this to you, so that you can sense the magnificence of Creation, and see how the dark forces must ultimately play into God’s hands.
I will give you this example. Lucifer has his henchmen; in his realm too there is a hierarchy of very powerful and less powerful beings. If such a powerful henchman fails to fulfill a task that has been assigned to him – possibly to deter a human being from following his path to God, because the human being used his free will to resist temptation – he will lose more and more of his power, until he himself will be tortured by his fellow evil spirits.
He who finds himself in extreme pain must come closer to God, since it is then that his need for God is greatest. Thus, the lower he sinks in the dark spheres, the higher he actually rises. The farther removed he is from pain, the greater the inner disharmony. And Lucifer is in the greatest disharmony. The greater the disharmony, the more strongly the inner currents will need to harmonize.
This continues until such beings reach the point where they can increase their inner harmony, even without pain. Later, the overcoming of various resistances will replace the pain, until eventually not even the struggle against resistance will be necessary.
All of you can get an inkling of this process when you remember how much closer to inner harmony you are when you experience clean pain than when you are not really in pain but feel upset, rebellious, and torn in many directions, possessed by very disharmonious feelings. Therefore, the more the laws of God extend their influence, the fewer henchmen will Lucifer eventually have.
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