The Problem with Evil

Matthew 6:9-13King James Version (KJV)

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Prayer is a powerful deed. It is often confusing as to what exactly we should pray for and how we should pray. The Lord's Prayer above was given to us as a perfect example of how to communicate with the Divine. All needs and issues are covered in this simple 65 word prayer. For one year, my resolution was to say this every morning before I got out of bed. The knowledge that this is uttered constantly through out the world by millions of souls is both comforting and amazing all at the same time. Even when you do not understand the language it is spoken in, you always know when it is being said, for there is a deep calm that envelopes the environment when it is recited.

Something that can be difficult is the part about being delivered from evil. In so many ways, we think we can give the Divine suggestions and commands when it comes to how Spirit interacts in our lives. Particularly when it concerns the deliverance from evil. 

I have practiced medicine for over 25 years. In that time, I have heard every story imaginable in terms of human suffering. Deep healing in my estimation must include emotional and spiritual healing. When a particular patient was strong enough to start remembering the abuse she endured as a child, it shattered her concept of a loving God. "How could a loving God allow such vile acts be done on an innocent child?" She cried to me, with big tears rolling down her cheeks. "How could God leave me?" 

The images flooding the media and imagination these days are of dark hooded men severing the heads from loving, gifted people who were trying to help those harmed by war. The collective response to these heinous acts is to deny the humanity of the perpetrators, labeling them as worse than animals deserving of annihilation. Global support now exists to do just that, raining bombs, drones and missiles upon the lands where these people are reported to be hiding. Somehow, the raining of violent mass death is justified. One priest said to me when I was asking him about how we could meet this evil in a new way, because the old ways only prolong the problem, he responded, "well, the evil must be stopped."

Can evil be stopped? Who exactly should stop it?

I have faced pure evil more than once in my life. There is a cold and stifling nature to it that defies explanation. The only thing one knows when confronting it, is that it IS evil. We can be frustrated when evil prevails, and it seems to be doing just that on all levels. Goodness and mercy are punished, while evil is richly rewarded in the material realm.

These are times of great evil. In Anthroposophical cosmology, this is the time of the incarnation of the great Satan, the greatest evil ever known has been unleashed upon the Earth. No wonder we are all so tired. But the Divine tells us what we are to do in these instances. These are spiritual battles, and we are not to fight them in the physical realm. We are to put on the Armor of God and protect ourselves from the Spiritual Warfare that swirls about. We must fill our thoughts with Spiritual Truths, the Word of God, and of images of Beauty, both from the natural as well as the artistic world. The Apostle Paul speaks to us in Ephesians 6:10-20

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Do you notice a glaring lack of emphasis on weapons of war in this verse? We are to arm ourselves with truth, peace, and faith, for the evil one does not understand these things. He and his legions operate on fear and mistrust. To think one can wipe out evil with weapons and war is the greatest idolatry possible.

My Priest remarked in a recent Bible study, that there are worse things than being beheaded by a terrorist. Once before, she told me after a friend's daughter had been brutally murdered by a crazy man, that when the soul looks back on their death by such violence, it is remembered as an event of sublime joy because even though the person lost their body, it was ultimately a triumph of life over death.

I told my patient that God was with her when she was violated, and that the Christ understood from personal experience the betrayal that she felt from her family. She took this to heart and began the long process of forgiveness and healing.

We are the people armed with the knowledge of the Resurrection. The Christ experienced the greatest betrayals and murder, and yet he triumphed, all to be closer to us and to guide us in our personal and collective evolution. If we armor ourselves with truth, peace and faith, we can withstand evil and ultimately transform it. Those who perpetrate barbarity did not come from a vacuum. If we wish to transform evil, we will have to love on a level and have faith on a level that surpasses all that we have done before. We have many models, the ultimate ones being the Christ and the Madonna.

The Black Madonna's speak profoundly on this transformation. Their somber scarred faces and narratives of endurance through all trials are the examples we must emulate in this great age of evil.

We will endure, we will transform and we will triumph through love, compassion and peace.

The Spiritual Significance of Art

 The Divine Sophia and the World

“Art is the creation of organs through which the gods are able to speak to humanity.” Rudolf Steiner, 1861 – 1925

The Black Madonna is an art form, taking shape in Icons, paintings, stained glass windows, statues and mosaics. In a wonderful book Spirit and Art, Pictures of the Transformation of Consciousness, Author Van James shows a tapestry of how the visual arts have been a window on the relationship between the Divine and Humanity since our inception. The word Icon comes from the Greek word "eikon" which means "image." In Eastern Christian traditions, Icons  are seen as a window, a portal into the spiritual world. The Sacrament of Confession in these traditions is done kneeling before an Icon in the presence of a priest. When parishioners receive Communion, they kiss and venerate the Icon before receiving the bread and wine.

Our Lady Chapel at the Shrine of Czestochowa, Poland

When I visited the shrine in Czestochowa Poland on All Saints Day in 2008, it was the first time I truly experienced what the quote from Steiner about the nature and purpose of art meant. Our Lady of Czestochowa is one of the most recognized Black Madonna's in the world. When I sat in the small chapel before the Icon Altar, I truly felt like I was looking at a threshold into the Cosmos. From my vantage point, I could barely make out the image behind the golden Riza, or cover over the Image. The devotional atmosphere felt like I had entered into a tunnel in between the worlds, almost like a palpable velvet in the air. My deepest questions revolved around whether it was the devotion that created this threshold image, or the image was actually the threshold between the worlds.

“Thus behind Matter, within matter, the creative Spirit is concealed.” Wassily Kandinsky,  1866 - 1944

I am trained as a scientist. For me, delving into the the mysteries of nature, of space and of the workings of the body only deepened my faith. Creativity, sleep, emotions all have explanations that can be partially presented with only material facts, the spark behind them is Spirit, the Divine.

I stumbled on an incredible video the other day. It shows the vastness of the Universe.

Another graphic video, shows how our little "corner" of the Universe is in constant motion, in a spiral.

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name  Isaiah 45:3

What these videos illustrate, but do not name is vast, they in essence show the miracle of love that exists in the universe.

What keeps all of creation going? What enables the stars, planets and galaxies to coexist and not either crash or disintegrate? Science has been grappling with this since the invention of modern telescopes. With the Hubble space telescope we have been able to peer into the depths of space as never before, only broadening the mystery and beauty of creation in the imaginations as well as tangible experience of Humanity. It is fitting that a woman astronomer, Vera Rubin, was the first to articulate the material science behind this phenomena. She called it "Dark Matter" This substance and it's sister "Dark Energy" make up most of the universe. It's defining quality is that it holds everything together in this ever expanding embrace, allowing creativity, birth, death and the cycles of time to exist. Dark Matter allows creation to be in balance, in community, to express the Divine Justice that permeates the entire universe.

I would call Dark Matter the scientific description for the Divine Sophia. In order for the Logos, the creative Word of God to unfold creation, he had to first create a container for his expression. It was the Sophia. The Sophia is a being that was the first of all creation by the Logos. The Logos is the powerful word, the inspiration and catalyst for creation. But a context, a matrix for creation needed to be created in order for it to be manifest. Therefore, the Logos created the Sophia, Wisdom, to be the container and matrix for the creative impulse of the Logos. Sophia is also known as the Divine Feminine Wisdom of God.

The Sophia is articulated in the cornerstone of the Wisdom Scriptures of the Bible: Proverbs. We are told about this being, this Divine Wisdom of God in Proverbs 8: 27 – 30:

When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:  When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

To contemplate our place in the Universe, within the heart of creation, we have been given Imagination by the Creator. This Imagination is our personal portal into the Cosmos, where the Divine can express itself through the Arts. 

One of the most magnificent works of music is the Ode to Joy by Beethoven. This music has inspired generations of people, often in the darkest hours of their struggle. This is a clip from a movie about Beethoven, and the scene is one of the cosmic joy he experienced, his inspiration for this music, which came out of suffering but healed not only himself but countless souls afterwards.

The arts, music, painting, sculpture, dance, they can not be explained by reducing the process to simple synapses of the brain. Love, courage, loyalty, devotion, these are not experiences that can be reduced to neurochemical transmissions. What is the spark, what is the beginning?

For those of us who have a belief that has been transformed into living knowledge, we see the Divine everywhere, the handiwork of creation is the ultimate art. Is it any wonder that the Madonna's that dot the landscape are Black? From the Blackness of the Cosmos lies the hidden treasures of Darkness. The message from the Divine through Art that there is a cosmic order, a cosmic love permeating all of creation. As we contemplate what the Gods are saying to us through the portal of Art, it is my hope that you see messages of love, hope, encouragement and triumph everywhere, but particularly in the Black Madonna. Love, hope and endurance are the main messages that these Dark Images convey. They tell us of the treasures, the hidden riches that are ours if only we can reach out to them.

These topics and more will be explored in the book, The Black Madonna, Journey of the Human Heart by Stephanie Georgieff. Stay tuned for more excerpts from the book and publication information.

Blessings on your Journey!