Samenvatting

The focus of this contribution is on the esoteric view on mankind as depicted in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. Within this context, the stages of development of the conscience and soul that a man can go through will receive additional attention. This development can also be influenced by external factors. According to esotericists, the purpose or destination of man is that he comes into contact with his divine nature, but also that he identifies himself with this nature and that he will live in accordance with it. Such a life can be characterized by wisdom and love and therefore by virtue (charity), which is the opposite of sin or mis-doing. Before the identified development of man can be visualized based on The Magic Flute, this opera firstly needs to be embedded in the tradition of the freemasonry (‘Royal Art’) and other, older initiation schools. It is therefore important to recognize that the esoteric view on mankind has historical roots and that, only in recent centuries, this view has been marginalized, due to the rise of the scientific view on mankind. Finally, the question is posed what criminal law and restorative justice can learn from the esoteric view on mankind. In response to this question, a starting point will be presented of the development of a spiritual life-cycle approach, which complements the existing life-cycle approach and the related desistance theories within contemporary criminology. Furthermore, the concept of interconnectedness, which plays an important role in the context of the esoteric views on mankind, will be connected to a restorative crime approach, which provides restorative justice with spiritual legitimization.