the Child to the
Throne of God.
When
the ego formed
itself, it
was
in the place where, later on, it was destined to be. As a protection against the powers of the pit, it must be withdrawn for a time to the spiritual spheres. Thus the evolution of an ego has
not immediately
left
indeed begun; but our true egos hover above us, they are not yet present in us. What mankind has been able to achieve is the ego-form.
We are no longer merely buoyant souls;
we
have received the stamp
to acquire the imprint of his own personality, his own ego. Today, however, the stage of forming and are beginning to suffer from concentrating has passed its zenith.
of stability. Each of
us has
begun
We
the feeling that
we
are confined within strict frontiers, within the stiff
armour of our egohood; we suffer from self-centredness. Hence we can estimate what the third figure in the central apocalyptic drama, the Archangel Michael, stands for. in Heaven is the picture of the eternal feminine, Just as the so the figure of the Archangel Michael represents the eternal masculine
Woman
Woman
principle in cosmic evolution. The male Child which the brings forth is a spiritual seed. In him appears the masculine principle
of the yet go
spiritual its
human
ego.
But
it is
not yet fully grown;
cannot
vicariously for it. the future human
The Archangel
is the representative and deputy of ego. To follow him means contact with the spheres in true ego dwells.
The
it
own independent way. A divine Spirit acts
which our
own
of the soul are not ended through Michael's victory On the contrary, not until then do the tests really
trials
over the Dragon.
begin. The pictures unrolled before us are the archetypal tragedy; is it that Michael the very principle of tragedy is revealed.
How
contends against the Dragon in Heaven? How does the adversary come to be in Heaven? The old shallow, dualistic conception maintains
God
and the Devil is in Hell; but this is a very At the beginning of the Book ofJob, which we may call the biblical Faust, we witness a conversation between the Lord God and Satan concerning Job: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them/* The Lord asks Satan: "Whence comest them?" The adversary answers: "I have wandered over all the countries of "Then have you not come across my servant Job?" the IJarth." Then Sataa comes forward eagerly as the accuser ofJob; he cannot say that
is
in Heaven,
serious error.
to disparage him. Finally he asks and obtains permission to torment him to the utmost^ to strike him down and persecute him.
enough
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