Daniel Giamario’s Ramblings, Reflections and Ruminations | June 12, 2026 |
Approaching this challenging topic, my hope is that you engaged with The Enigma of Evil Part One in the spirit of curious inquiry. In said Part One, I shared my own journey around this important enigma. I also explored the perhaps surprising etymology of the word “evil” and shared philosophical concepts that underlie the inquiry. In particular, I introduced the importance of Free Will as essential to the inquiry, and its possible solution. Lastly, I introduced the work of Rudolf Steiner, for whom the encounter with evil was a life-long project.
“What people in this fifth post-Atlantean epoch must learn to recognize is the fully conscious struggle against the evil rising up in the evolution of Humanity.” Rudolf Steiner, 18 November 1917
In these times, many people seem to prefer simple black-and-white definitions, such as
- Evil does not exist
- Good and Evil are two overarching cosmic principles
- or even, as in some Gnosticism sects, that Evil itself is the Prime Reality.
This Part Two goes beyond those simplifications.
The Three Forces
Rudolf Steiner and his essential work. Image credit: Rudolf Steiner Archive Bookshop, https://shop.rsarchive.org/collections/rudolf-steiner
To understand Steiner’s solution, three separate components of the evolution of global humanity are necessary to be understood:
- the Luciferic
- the Ahrimanic (also called Satanic)
- and the authentic pure human, with a heart-centered connection to the etheric Christ or Christos-Sophia.
The Luciferic Force
According to Steiner, an incarnation of Lucifer occurred around 3000 BCE, likely the mythical figure known as the Yellow Emperor. What is important to know is that the Luciferic force is not evil per se, but rather a product of the development of personal ego. Steiner refers to this as the “I”.
This development happened in highly advanced beings, but was not available to the general population until the time of Christ, or as i feel, even earlier, around the time of the Uranus-Neptune-Pluto conjunction in 566 BCE. What emerged then was individual consciousness, including the beginning of individual birth charts. Soon after arrived luminaries including Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Zoroaster, Lao-Tzu, the Buddha, and many others. The main contribution of the Luciferic was idealism, optimism, creativity, and the expanded view. Sadly, the downside is huge! In short, it is the idea of “scientists” that they can be God without God. Can you see the problem? It’s the huge shadow of egoistic individuality.
Steiner broke from Theosophy, among other things, because they were primarily Luciferic. It is an interesting side-note that the Theosophists changed the name of their organization from Lucifer Trust, to Lucis Trust! Nevertheless, the Luciferic aspect was important for humanity, as it also contributed freedom and free-will. From an etymological perspective, Lucifer means the “Bringer of Light”, and this connotation remains with morning star Venus, referred to as Venus Lucifer, which is a far cry from being “evil”.
The Ahrimanic Force
Steiner borrowed this term from Persia and Zoroastrianism. Ahriman is a term that might confuse people today, but matches what many refer to as Satanism at this time. This is also seen to be part of human evolution, not some alien force. It mainly refers to
- materialism
- the rejection of higher consciousness
- and the attempt to prevent any ascension to higher realities at all.
At the end of Kali Yuga, the time we are now in, the deepest descent into matter, the very culmination of involution, the powers that shouldn’t be deeply love this impulse. The entire endeavor of reducing the human being to an algorithm and digitalized token is an Ahrimanic endeavor. The final outrage at the end of Kali Yuga is this desire to digitalize and tokenize everything, not “just” human beings. Steiner also feared that in the 21st century, the forces of Lucifer and Ahriman would forge an alliance. He felt that the Luciferic Age as the dominant ended and the Ahrimanic Age commenced, and believed there would be an incarnation of Ahriman. This is, of course, where individuals “sell their soul” for material and temporal advantages.
The Christ Impulse and Christos-Sophia
Unique to the philosophers and spiritual teachers I have respected and been influenced by since the 1960s, Steiner has a three-fold approach. What he means by Christ is not some re-incarnation of Jesus, but rather an etheric Christ, accessible to all, incorporating strong Spiritual Will and free choice. This matches what I’ve been writing about since the 1970s, namely the “Aquarian Dispensation”, meaning that human beings can directly access what it is to be an authentic human being, connected to the Good and the Virtues. An equivalence is seen between the Sun, etheric Christ-Jesus, and Archai Mich-ael. The union of the Sacred Masculine and Sacred Feminine is affirmed with the spiritual agency of Christos-Sophia.
This authentic and pure human stands between Lucifer and Ahriman, recognizing both as part of the natural evolution of human beings at this great Turning of The Ages, but needing to be infused with Love, Heart, Spirit and Soul in order to redeem the fallen proclivities, the materialistic temptations, and egoic misunderstandings. For Steiner, the confrontations with Lucifer and Ahriman are essential for a human being, who out of freedom and free will chooses the Good and the Christ within.
It is Ahriman that emphasizes technology, with a rejection of Consciousness and Spirit, a downward thrust into only the material, and even sub-nature. It was in the early 1900s that mainstream science as well as medicine eliminated aether (Prana, Chi, Orgone etc) from the equation. However, Steiner was no Luddite. He felt that not only evil, but also materialistic technology was inevitable, and must be faced and infused with spirituality, ethics, morality and the Virtues. If those values, freely chosen, did not take hold, he was not optimistic about the fate and destiny of global humanity. In short, it is the Christ center of a person, standing between the materialistic tendencies of Ahriman (Satan) and the egoic megalomania of Lucifer, that can redeem both.
As I understand Steiner’s work, what is known as Christ, is actually the authentic heart-centered human being. And with the “Aquarian Dispensation” now available to all, a conscious choice can be made to integrate both Ahriman and Lucifer into a fully evolved human being. Different names can be used that refer to pretty much the same agencies to help bring this about: Christos-Sophia, Archai Mich-ael, the Sun. The individual human, and now also collective humanity, must face the abyss, the temptations to abandon our Christ-center, and descend into evil. A free choice can be made to not do that.
Social Darwinism
A brief digression is called for here. The evolutionary theories of Darwin, rightly or wrongly applied, fed into a social philosophy known as Social Darwinism. This presupposed the “survival of the fittest”, giving rise to a variety of racial theories, as well as eugenics. These views basically perceived human beings as animals, just slightly more intelligent. Steiner, and many others including myself, disagree. A human being can often behave in animalistic ways, not to speak of Luciferic and Satanic ones. But for Steiner, the authentic heart- and Christ-centered human being (Homo Sapiens Sapiens 1.0) is intended to be and can choose to be moral, ethical, and an inalienable sovereign connected directly to their divinity as a child of God (or whatever term you choose here). This mirrors the truly revolutionary United States’ Declaration of Independence document, declaring inalienable rights bestowed by the Creator, rather than by the state or a government.
The original Goetheanum, ca. 1921. Image credit: threefold.org
It was because Steiner felt and publicly expressed that evolution can only happen in the individual, not the state or any government or collective, that the State Socialists of Germany (Nazis) had him poisoned and destroyed his first center, the original Goetheanum.
Differing Timelines
My own research into cosmology, astrological ages, and the Yugas, compel me to differ with Steiner’s writings in one point: with regards to the timeline that he proposed. Basically, he was following what was known at the time from scientists and from the views of various extant mystery schools and esoteric societies. The early 20th century was rife with theories about a New Age and the end of the Kali Yuga. There are even books from that time announcing the beginning of the Age of Aquarius! See my article here. Mostly it was believed that the Kali Yuga was ending just before 1900.
The recent work of Bibhu Dev Misra has corrected such earlier assumptions and underpinned that the Kali Yuga in fact ended last year, 2025, at the Aries Equinox. See my most recent conversation with Bibhu and our first interview with him. My own research on the astrological ages has revealed that the center point of this Great Turning, i.e. the end and beginning of an entire 26,000-year precessional cycle, was in 1998, with the larger time frame being 1962-2034.
Steiner had projected thousands of years into the future for the changes we see happening now. To his credit though, he made a number of prescient predictions about the 21st century, probably the most widely known about vaccines being given to disconnect people from Spirit and Divinity. He also offered clues about the grip of technocracy, technologies without morals and ethics, and even saw a spider web encircling the Earth. We may rapidly be moving into a time he referred to as “the war of all against all”, the alliance of the Ahrimanic with the Luciferic, characterized by materialistic data harvesting, digital twins and human tokenization, in tandem with self-styled oligarchic billionaire “elites” trying to be God without God.
Steiner also thought there would be a physical incarnation of Ahriman, even stating 1998 as the birth year. Would that be the so-called “Anti-Christ”? And what about the seven years of “tribulation”? A topic for another time …
Evil Masquerading As Good
When looking for simplistic black and white answers, I wish to share a few other examples of what I have directly experienced within “spiritual” organizations. In the 60s and 70s I gathered experience with Scientology, EST and Transcendental Meditation.
Fortunately my time with the first two was brief. But my skeptical nature still impelled me to explore their back stories. Scientology, at its core, is rather similar to some versions of Gnosticism. The teaching is that our world is the creation of an evil god-like entity and our experience on Earth a “Con”, a prison that needs to be escaped from. Although my first EST training experience in 1978 was helpful, I soon learned that much of their philosophy and techniques derived from Scientology, and that EST also viewed life as a “Con”. Both organizations were all about sales, marketing and recruiting, built on hierarchal top-down structures. I even discovered that EST founder Werner Erhard had previously been the sales manager for Grolier Encyclopedias. Strangely enough, my second summer job was selling those encyclopedias. I only lasted two weeks though, as the manipulative sales techniques were so offensive.
My stint with TM was much longer. For a number of years I even entered the inner circle. To Maharishi’s credit, I never discovered a belief in a world ruled by an evil God. However, TM had its own shadows, with classism, the love of being connected to the business, family ruling elites, and money the most prevalent. My heart was broken deeply by these discoveries, and it was a profound learning experience. I was also not at all surprised to recently learn of the Maharishi International University’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein and CIA and KGB links.
I’d place all of these experiences in the category of evil masquerading as good … But then – what to make of Evil and the enigma?
Back To The Etymology
At this stage, I want to revert back to the etymology that provides additional clues towards a satisfactory solution to the enigma of Evil. From Part One of the Inquiry:
“Etymology:
I love etymology and the origins of the word “evil” are quite interesting. As you all know, I loath AI. But I do value research tools, and in this case, it did offer value to this research.
The etymology of “evil” traces back to a word meaning “to go beyond limits,” originally signifying something “uppity” or “excessive” rather than morally sinister.
Linguistic Evolution
Proto-Indo-European (PIE): It likely stems from the PIE root *upelo-, a derivative of *upo, which means “up” or “over”. This suggests the original concept was about “exceeding due limits” or extremism.
Proto-Germanic: The PIE form evolved into *ubilaz, which meant “bad” or “vicious”.
Old English: The word became yfel, used broadly by Anglo-Saxons to describe anything bad, cruel, unskillful, or even a disease (e.g., “the king’s evil” or scrofula).
Shift in Meaning
Broad to Specific: In Old and Middle English, “evil” was simply the standard word for “bad”. It wasn’t until the 18th century that it solidified its modern meaning of extreme moral wickedness.
Replacement by “Bad”: Over time, the word “bad” (which originally had a narrower meaning) took over the general senses of disapproval, while “evil” became reserved for the most serious moral offenses.”
As you can see, the original meanings included uppity, excessiveness and exceeding limits, without the latter connotations we assume to be true now. Using this original etymology, evil would be excessive or extreme Luciferic or excessive or extreme Ahrimanic behaviors. The extreme of being God without God would be Luciferic evil. The denial of Consciousness, Spirit and Soul etc. would be Ahrimanic evil.
The foundation for confronting and possibly transforming both forms of evil through Love are rooted in the Christ-Center of the authentic pure human being, cultivating morals and ethics, and a connection to our sovereign divinity, consciously willing the Good. It compels a rejection of Social Darwinism, disavowal of God-like Megalomania, and a rebuttal of the installation of a digital materialistic technocracy including surveillance grid (the spider web of thousands of satellites) and digital twins that are but shallow simulacra of our actual Creator.
Freely Choose Something Different
At the onset of this inquiry into the enigma of evil, in Part One, I speak of the three terms of the One Reality: Sat-Chit-Ananda. In line with that, I clearly place myself with those who believe and experience the Universe that we find ourselves in as being inherently Good, neither a con, nor a prison, nor created by an evil demiurge. In my constantly organically evolving philosophical and spiritual understanding, I find Steiner’s solution to make the most sense.
Evil exists and must be confronted. Human beings are not just (sometimes) more intelligent apes. The Luciferic and Ahrimanic extremes must be recognized as evil. But this recognized and called out evil is also part of our natural human evolution and not an alien force. In fact, at the end of Kali Yuga and at a Great Turning, it is a gift that we authentic humans and Seed People can recognize evil so clearly – and freely choose something different.
Finalizing, here is short piece in Rudolph Steiner’s own words:
“The free choice between good and evil
For if it were impossible for man to sink into the abyss of evil, then what on the one hand we call love and on the other freedom would also be unattainable for him. To the occultist freedom is inseparably connected with the concept of love. Love would be impossible for man and freedom would be impossible for man without the possibility of sailing down into the abyss. A man unable, of his own free decision, to choose good or evil, would be a being only led on a leading-string to a good which must be attained of necessity and who had no power to choose the good of his own fully purified will, by the love which springs from freedom. If it were impossible for man to follow in the trail of the monster with the two horns, it would also be impossible for him to follow God out of his own individual love. It was in accordance with a wise Providence that the possibility of freedom was given to a mankind which has been developing through our planetary system, and this possibility of freedom could be given on no other condition than that man himself has to make the free choice between good and evil.” Steiner, Rudolf, The Apocalypse of St. John: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (CW 104), Anthroposophic Press, (p. 220), Kindle Edition. Lecture XII, 30 June 1908
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