The Future of Ahriman and the Awakening of Souls

The Future of Ahriman and the Awakening of Souls: The Spirit-presence of the Mystery Dramas

In 1919, Rudolf Steiner spoke about the future physical incarnation of the Ahriman being. This would take place before “a part” of the third millennium has passed and is inevitable, but it is also necessary for people to be aware of the event and recognized it. Otherwise, earthly culture will be destroyed if the world falls completely to Ahriman. The situation we find ourselves in today shows Ahriman’s unmistakable signature—the rapid destruction of nature, zoonotic diseases and pandemics, huge social inequalities, and the dominance of high finance.

In this brief book, Peter Selg presents a timely overview of the challenges we face, beginning with a pithy, concise survey of Steiner’s comments on Ahriman’s incarnation and the conditions that will characterize it. This is followed by a study of Ahriman’s depiction in the mystery drama The Souls’ Awakening. Rudolf Steiner’s remarkable personification of Ahriman on stage—portraying his strategies and activities—provides vital instruction for humanity.

The book concludes with an evaluation of “the Battle for Human Intelligence,” which is taking place in contemporary culture through materialistic ideas such as transhumanism. In their recent book Covid-19: The Great Reset, for example, Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret propose wholesale economic, geopolitical, environmental, and technological revisions to society—ideas that must be understood and confronted in human thinking and consciousness. The Future of Ahriman and the Awakening of Souls is a crucial aid to comprehending our time.

C O N T E N T S:

Foreword

1. “The Incarnation of Ahriman”
Rudolf Steiner’s lectures from October to December 1919

2. “The Awakening of Souls”
Ahriman in the Mystery Dramas, 1910–1913

3. The Battle for Human Intelligence
The Leading Thoughts of 1924/25 and the Present

Notes

About the Author

Peter Selg studied medicine in Witten-Herdecke, Zurich, and Berlin and, until 2000, worked as the head physician of the juvenile psychiatry department of Herdecke Hospital in Germany. Dr. Selg is director of the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy (Arlesheim, Switzerland), professor of medicine at the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences (Germany), and co-leader of the General Anthroposophical Section at the Goetheanum. He is the author of numerous books on Rudolf Steiner, anthroposophy, medical ethics, and the development of culture and consciousness.