The Defeat of Evil
In earlier times, the Powers of Darkness spent their days in the Kingdom of Darkness chasing and devouring one another in a wild rage. One day while in the throes of their violence they came upon the borders of their territory. For the first time they observed what lay beyond their own borders: The Kingdom of Light. There they witnessed the Divine Ray of Light shining forth from within the depth of this unknown territory which overwhelmed them with awe and wonder. They soon relinquished the quarrels fought amongst themselves and counseled together as to how they might gain mastery over the Good for which they previously had no notion.
While they plotted, the Father of Light became aware of their plans to attack. And so they did, but failed. The Father of Light took counsel, as these demons of Darkness needed to be punished. But how could He punish? For He had no means by which to carry out such an action, as there is no Evil in the House of God. He resolved to send forth into the Kingdom of Darkness a Soul Force against Matter, which penetrated it through and through, creating division and confusion within the Kingdom of Darkness as the Light mixed with the Darkness, resulting in a new element – death.
Since that time, Darkness continuously consumes itself, thereby carrying within itself the seed of its own destruction.
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.” Luke 11:17
What was the Soul Force that the Father sent into the Darkness to achieve its destruction? Mankind.
The Kingdom of Darkness is not overcome by the Kingdom of Light through punishment – returning evil for evil – but through mildness; not by resisting Evil through methods of Evil, but by uniting with Evil and, through the defeat of the evil within, redeem the Evil without.
There is coming a time in the future of Humanity when it will be guided out of their own being, by their own Light, to overcome outward (material) forms and convert them to Spirit. For this Spiritual Stream to achieve what it is meant to do, this change must not merely be the cultivation of an inner mood of Soul, but rather it must express itself in the founding of communities which, above all, will look upon Peace, Love and passive resistance to Evil as their standard of behavior and will seek to spread this view. Through their efforts a new form of existence must be created that will continue to exist even without their presence.
The above was adapted from the book “The Temple Legend”, 20 lectures by Rudolf Steiner