Necessary Evil: Origin and Purpose

by Schroeder, Hans-Werner

• ISBN13: 9780863154768
• ISBN10: 086315476X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-10
• Publisher: Floris Books

Table of Contents

Part One --- Essence and Origin of Evil
Does Evil Have Any Meaning?	11	(5)
The unsolved riddle of evil	11	(2)
If evil exists, then God exists	13	(3)
The Two Sides of Evil	16	(9)
The path of the golden mean	16	(1)
Lucifer and Ahriman	17	(2)
The double role of evil	19	(3)
World contradictions	22	(1)
The mean	23	(2)
The Devil's Golden Hair --- Evil in Fairy Tales	25	(6)
The attraction of evil --- the ethic of the path	26	(1)
Transformation	27	(1)
The good in evil	28	(3)
The World of Angels	31	(5)
From angels to Seraphim	31	(2)
The highest God and `the gods'	33	(1)
The place of Adversaries	34	(2)
An Attempt to Understand the Origin of Evil	36	(17)
Beings who have stayed behind	37	(1)
Directive from God --- the sacrifice of angelic beings	38	(1)
Rejection, abstention and renouncement	39	(4)
Death as the consequence	43	(2)
The question of meaning	45	(3)
Summary	48	(5)
Part Two --- The Adversaries in the Human Being
Suffering and Guilt	53	(10)
Job --- suffering without guilt	53	(1)
God and Satan	54	(2)
Job's elevation	56	(2)
The vision of God	58	(5)
Evil in Human Beings	63	(13)
Egotism: the intervention of Lucifer	63	(5)
Fear: the chains of Ahriman	68	(8)
Deeper Consequences of the Fall	76	(15)
Original sin	76	(1)
The many levels of the human being	76	(1)
The `I'	77	(1)
The origin of man	78	(1)
The poisoning of human nature	79	(1)
Ageing, death, hardening of the earth	80	(2)
Sickness, suffering, and infirmity	82	(1)
Hunger and thirst	82	(1)
The human being: masculine --- feminine	83	(2)
The bite into the apple	85	(2)
Sexuality	87	(1)
Blindness	88	(1)
The sickness of sin	89	(2)
Man: Good or Evil	91	(6)
We come from above	91	(1)
The higher `I'	92	(1)
The choice of destiny by the higher self	93	(2)
Man: the twofold being	95	(2)
Overcoming Evil	97	(22)
Motivation for good	97	(2)
Strengthening the `I'	99	(2)
The new Adam	101	(1)
The expansion of egotism	101	(5)
Exercises and learning	106	(2)
The significance of art	108	(2)
The helping presence of Christ	110	(1)
Prayer	110	(2)
Christ's presence in ritual	112	(2)
Christ and the human `I'	114	(1)
Thankfulness, trust instead of worry and fear	115	(4)
Transformation through Destiny	119	(15)
Extreme destinies: criminality and suicide	120	(3)
Freedom and responsibility	123	(2)
Raised for evil? The question of environmental influences	125	(2)
The person next to me	127	(1)
Redemption or self-redemption	128	(3)
What is good?	131	(3)
Healing the Sickness of Sin	134	(23)
Death: the path to birth of the spirit	134	(2)
The burden of work	136	(2)
Spiritualization of the earthly	138	(2)
Technology: not a means of healing, but a means of help	140	(2)
The meaning of illness	142	(2)
Greater social concern	144	(1)
Between animal and angel	145	(2)
Conceiving and knowledge	147	(2)
Destiny or karmic relationships	149	(1)
Marriage	150	(4)
Job today	154	(3)
The Human Being in the Future	157	(10)
Suppression, sublimation and transformation	159	(8)
Part Three --- Destiny and Evil
Evil in the Evolution of Mankind	167	(15)
Progression of the Fall into sin	168	(1)
The time after the flood	169	(1)
When the time was fulfilled	170	(2)
Renaissance and the present: increasing evil	172	(5)
The Antichrist	177	(3)
Outlook	180	(2)
Michael's Battle and the Reappearance of Christ	182	(11)
The fall of the dragon	182	(2)
The Second Coming of Christ	184	(4)
How can God allow suffering?	188	(2)
The higher good	190	(1)
The seed of resurrection	191	(2)
The Overcoming and Redemption of Evil: Questions for the Future	193	(12)
Christ and evil	193	(2)
Christians and evil	195	(2)
The armour of God	197	(1)
Love evil into the good	198	(2)
Redemption of evil?	200	(5)
Further Reading	205	(2)
Endnotes	207	(6)
Index	213