Glimpses of the Left..

years in earth evolution. On such occasions the Antichrist attempts to enter
the minds of humans and lead them away from Christ. For the first time
such an attempt took place in the year 666 when Sorath was about to give
mankind knowledge for which people were not ready (the conscious soul), .
which could have catastrophic results for humanity. The tool of the Beast
was then the Academy in Gondishapur in Persia. The next occurrence of
666 happened in 1332, the year of Black Death and other disastrous events.
The third occurrence took place in 1998 which, according to Steiner, was
the rise of Ahrimanic rule over the earth. Steiner held his lectures
concerning the end of the millennium long before 1998. He was not
mistaken, however, as to the omnipresent authority of materialism and
ego-obsession. Much of his theories fit the present world-picture - the ·
concentration on earthly aspects of life.
Sorath is therefore not as much of a "Sun demon" as an "Earth demon," the
beast that emerges from the Earth and rules the Earth. However, his
emanation does not mean the total rejection of spiritual forces but rather
their different use: the descent instead of the ascent. In modern esotericism
this is the distinction underlying two spiritual attitudes: the Right Hand
Path and the Left Hand Path. For the Right Hand Path, the force of the "I,"
the ego, is dangerous and is a mere hindrance in spiritual progress. The .
Left Hand Path exploits the ego power and views it as a potential. This
practice throughout ages has been known as black magic. Aleister Crowley
referred to magicians who used the ego force as "the black brothers," the
opposite of "the white brotherhood II whose aim was to leave the ego behind
on the spiritual path of evolution. That is the reason underlying Steiner's
conviction that Sorath leads man into black magic:
"Ultimately mankind will become divided into those who use white magic and ..
those who use black magic. Thus in the mystery of 666, or Sorath is hidden the
secret of black magic."40
There is a theory that the name IISorathll can be derived from ·
SurieljSarhapanim, the female form of which is Suriath. This was
originally an angel whose task was to guard the sunlight during the night
and return it to God in the morning. This motif of the Sun at night appears
in all cultures and is known as the Dark Sun, the Black Sun, or the Sun in
Darkness. H we follow Steiner's view that Christ was the Sun, then logically
40 Rudolf Steiner's lectures
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