Donate books to help fund our work. Learn more→

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

Search results 171 through 180 of 434

˂ 1 ... 16 17 18 19 20 ... 44 ˃
165. The Ancient Christmas Plays and a Forgotten Spiritual Current in Humanity: Lecture One 26 Dec 1915, Dornach

Then it is shown that two worlds open up before us: the one that, in the good sense, develops humanity further, the world that Jesus Christ serves, and the other world that Ahriman and Lucifer serve, and which is represented by the devilish element. A cosmic, a cosmic-spiritual picture in the highest sense of the word!
274. Introductions for Traditional Christmas Plays: Introduction 26 Dec 1915, Dornach

Then it is shown that two worlds open up before us: the one that, in the good sense, develops humanity further, the world that Jesus Christ serves, and the other world that Ahriman and Lucifer serve, and which is represented by the devilish element. A cosmic, a cosmic-spiritual picture in the highest sense of the word!
265a. Lessons for the Participants of Cognitive-Cultic Work 1906–1924: The Twelve Senses 12 May 1913, Cologne

This is how the Elohim wanted to make the human senses; and what we still have now as light generation in the eye itself - for example, through pressure on the eye or through imagination - these are the last remnants of what the Elohim wanted to make out of the eye. But when Lucifer opened human eyes, man would still have been unable to perceive the physical if Ahriman had not transformed the external world so that people could perceive the physical. He wove darkness into the light, creating colors that humans can now perceive, but only that, because humans cannot see light itself. He, Ahriman, placed sound in the air, so that one hears only a faint echo of the real sound through the vibrations in the air. Now Lucifer and Ahriman are powerful spirits, but they now have under them hosts of less powerful beings, down to the smallest elemental beings, who work in a grain of sand.
170. The Riddle of Humanity: Lecture XV 03 Sep 1916, Dornach
Translated by John F. Logan

From this we can see that it is necessary to be much more objective about these luciferic and ahrimanic elements than is frequently the case, for the simple reason that they have played such a decisive role in the formation of the collective human constitution. Now, we should remind ourselves that Lucifer and Ahriman only create hindrances for human development when they are displaced and appear where they are not supposed to appear.
It depends on constant struggle to maintain our balance between these two powers, so it is inevitable that the things that only the power of Lucifer and Ahriman can give us, also make it possible for us to go astray. Many things would be clarified by a further elucidation of truths such as those that were sketched yesterday, for they contain the key to countless riddles of life which confront present-day humanity.
So you see that we are dealing, once again, with a collaboration between Lucifer and Ahriman. 1 Breathing—Consumption Ahrimanic 2 Warming—Combustion 3 Nourishing—Conservation 4 Secretion 5 Maintaining—Sclerosis Luciferic 6 Growing—Maturation 7 Reproducing—Procreation Surveying what has been said about the twelve zones of the senses and the seven life processes—about the human being's inner zodiac and inner planetary system—you will have to confess that knowledge that is capable of bringing such things to light must be pursued differently from what is usually called knowledge today.
171. Inner Impulses of Evolution: Lecture VI 25 Sep 1916, Dornach
Translated by Gilbert Church, F. Kozlik, Stewart C. Easton

We actually behold here a most important twofold attack of the forces of Lucifer and Ahriman: Lucifer urging the Knights on, driving them into their misfortune, and Ahriman working actively through the inspiration of Philip the Fair.
156. How Does One Enter the World of Ideas?: First Lecture 12 Dec 1914, Dornach

But you know, it is a sign of evolution that everything that comes from the good gods can be distorted in the world by Ahriman or Lucifer. The moment when the very ordinary art of printing was created, which then developed into that from which man mainly draws his wisdom today, by bending his head over the paper on which there are horrible signs, which are only the ape-like old characters that reveal to him what people thought or did not think about the world and its secrets, the art of writing was shifted.
We must not reinterpret things in order to make it easier for ourselves, to allow ourselves to live in the world without Lucifer and Ahriman. It is more pleasant not to know that Ahriman stares at us from almost every book we read today.
139. The Gospel of St. Mark: Lecture X 24 Sep 1912, Basel
Translated by Conrad Mainzer, Stewart C. Easton

He could absorb views that were also in existence there about how the human being has come forth from the spiritual, and how he came into contact with Lucifer and Ahriman, and how luciferic and ahrimanic forces are taken up into the human soul. From the pagan gnosis he could accept everything that was told him about the origin of man out of the cosmos when our planet came into being.
But man's understanding had reached only as far as was possible through the thousands of years during which Lucifer and Ahriman had penetrated his understanding and knowing. Yet here stood the man who in those three years had driven out of Himself the influences of Lucifer and Ahriman. Here in front of other men stood restored what man had been before the coming of Lucifer and Ahriman. Only through the impulse of the cosmic Christ was man once again what he had been when he left the spiritual world and was brought down into the physical world.
263. Correspondence with Edith Maryon 1912–1924: Letter from Edith Maryon 24 Aug 1919,

I am quite envious of Miss Waller that I am not allowed to help with the work in Stuttgart! This week I will start carving the Ahriman head and the hand of Lucifer again, it helps me to keep my balance. Mr. K. Ballmer wrote an article about the Goetheanum for the Arlesheimer Blatt, I will send you a copy – it is a response to a critique of the Art Forms at the Goetheanum.
120. Manifestations of Karma: Free Will and Karma in the Future of Human Evolution 27 May 1910, Hanover
Translator Unknown

If through a karmic process there had not been imprinted from out of the soul into matter a love substance such as is permeated by Lucifer or Ahriman; if a pure love substance only had poured in, it would not have been impurifying, or damaging to the substance woven out of light.
If it were as it ought to be, it would manifest healthy human substance; but because it has absorbed the activities of Lucifer and Ahriman, sickness and disease result. How can we draw from outside those influences which have flowed in from an imperfect soul, that is, from a wrong love substance?
But in him it is interwoven with the love substance defiled by Lucifer or Ahriman. Outside, however, it is pure. Thus every substance outside is distinguished from that which man bears within him.
232. Mystery Knowledge & Mystery Centres: The Effect Of The Soul Upon Physical Man 24 Nov 1923, Dornach
Translated by E. H. Goddard, Dorothy S. Osmond

All this must remain purely an experience in the soul. If Ahriman could now intervene and influence the astral body, this would become a force which Ahriman could propel into man—a force which would not only gradually find its karmic balance but would bring man into too close a connection with the Earth.
To begin with let us hold firmly in our minds that Ahriman and Lucifer are present in the sphere of human heredity and adaptation. We find them in the rising mists and in the light which floods the clouds and is caught and held with them.
The moment the rising mists form themselves into a cloud, these spirits must give up their striving and return again to the Earth. In the clouds, Ahriman’s arrogant striving finds its limits. When mist becomes cloud it can no longer be a home for Ahriman.

Results 171 through 180 of 434

˂ 1 ... 16 17 18 19 20 ... 44 ˃