In 1919 Rudolf Steiner spoke about the future physical incarnation of the being of Ahriman. This would take place before ‘a part’ of the third millennium had passed, and was inevitable – but it was also necessary that people were aware of this event and recognized it, for earthly culture would be destroyed if the world were to fall 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 overall dominance of high finance. In this short book Peter Selg presents a timely overview of the challenges we face, beginning with a pithy and concise survey of Steiner’s commentary on Ahriman’s incarnation and the conditions that would characterize it. This is followed by a study of Ahriman’s depiction in the mystery drama The Souls’ Awakening. Steiner’s remarkable personification of Ahriman on stage – portraying his strategies and activities – provides vital instruction for humanity.

Selg concludes with an evaluation of ‘the Battle for Human Intelligence’ 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 need to be understood and confronted in human thought and consciousness. The Future of Ahriman is a crucial aid to comprehending our times.

PETER SELG, born 1963, is a medical doctor specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy. He is head of the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy in Arlesheim, and co-head of the General Anthroposophical Section of the School of Spiritual Science (Goetheanum, Dornach). He teaches medical anthropology and ethics at the University of Witten/Herdecke and the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter, Germany. Peter Selg is the author of many dozens of books on anthroposophy.