«Who is he up there?« ask visitors, pointing to the small winged creature that Rudolf Steiner recently placed at the top of his wooden sculpture. The wingman towers over all the dramatic events and gives the nine-meter-high (29.5 feet high) sculpture its balance. I first point to Lucifer: «This figure is related to itself! Wings, hands, and head are turned inwards. He is close to himself and far from the world.»
Then the eyes wander to the bony figure below, ‹Angra Mainyu› or Latinized Ahriman. «Here, it’s the other way around. The head is thrown into the neck, and the hands and feet cramp outwards. He is close to everything external and distant from himself.» As powerful as these forces of evil may be, they are trapped in closeness and distance. Ahriman is close to the world and far away from himself. Lucifer is raptured from the world and close to himself. The small figure above is not trapped but constantly plays with closeness and distance. It is humor. With self-irony, we gain distance from ourselves and the world in order to marry ourselves in a joke with ourselves and all the adversities of life with the world. Yes, humor is powerful and human because it masters and loves the game of closeness and distance, yes, master and love: these two activities are also a game of distance and closeness – just typical humor.
Drawing by Estella Mare – Translation: Monika Werner
