Demons

In many parts of the world and even in the most "advanced" societies, people believe in spirits, which inhabit their landscape and can have a real impact on their lives.  Traditionally, these spirits have been seen as capricious rather than inherently evil.  They are not to be trusted, which means that they must be placated with gifts and prayers.  Some spirits, however, are evil.  They are demons, if you will.

Demons are real—not as separate spiritual beings, but as inner realities that touch us deeply and hurtfully, they are real.  They infest our inner landscape with anxieties, self-doubt, mistrust, insecurity, resentment, and the worst of them enjoy causing pain in others.  They are the source of racism, sexism, and the deep-seated fear of anyone who is different.  These deep dwelling inner demons teach us to be hardhearted.  They encourage us to walk on by.  They are real, and even the very best of us experience them.

Demons infect our relationships with the seeds of destruction.  They are insidious in undermining our better natures and good qualities.  They can turn our political systems dysfunctional, and at their worst they drive nations to war—masking horrible irrationality with a veneer of false sanity.  It is our demons that turn crowds into mobs.  Demons may not have a reality outside of our hearts and minds, but they are real nonetheless, and the very best single word to describe them is "insidious".  They are subtle, so much a part of us that they feel natural to us.  When Jesus taught that we are all to capable at seeing the splinter in another's eye while missing the plank in our own (Matthew 7:1-5), he was pointing to the demons that reside in us.  Author Frank Herbert in his classic novel, Dune (1965), assigns to a quasi-religious sect of powerful women, the "Bene Gesserit, the following Litany Against Fear: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."  He, too, was pointing to the demons within us, assigning them the name fear.

The thing is our demons cause us to act in ways that are as much hurtful to ourselves as anyone else.  A true goal of all religions is to quiet these demons to such an extent that they cease to be.  In coming to center, learning to truly relax, and discovering the quiet peace that rests in the heart of our hearts, we put our demons to rest.  We can't beat them by fighting them.  We can only discover peace by letting be and letting go or, which is another way of saying, "Letting go and letting God."  Only then do our demons lose their reality.

Spiritual Warfare Revisited

The idea of "spiritual warfare" is problematic in progressive Christian circles because it smacks of right-wing theological exclusivism, which holds that true believers in Christ are at war with Satan and his minions, his minions being everybody who isn't a" true believer."  There is, however, a very different view of spiritual warfare, one that has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with the struggle of people who are trapped in dysfunctional behaviors—sometimes because of severe abuse as children.  Soldiers coming home from war sometimes find that they have brought the battlefield home with them and are still fighting a spiritual as well as psychological war.  Addictions of all kinds result in spiritual warfare as well.

Grant Schnarr, a student of this kind of spiritual warfare, states (here) that, "Spiritual warfare is about conquering your own demons, gaining control over your destructive tendencies, like fear, anger, impulsive behavior, addiction. It's the old fashion war against human evil, fought by individuals for centuries." Mylow Young, a recovered drug addict, describes (here) how he felt literally trapped by Satan in his addiction and that it was only through God's love in Christ that he was able to escape. He writes, "“It is spiritual warfare. The devil keeps trying to keep you down by talking trash. He tells you that you don't measure up. But, we all must get to the point when we realize that God sees Christ in us and knows what the finished product looks like."

Spiritual warfare is a sad, sad concept but an immensely important one because it reminds us all that for many of us life is a daily struggle against inner demons that are as real as the hills, trees, and lakes of the North Country.  Physical and mental abuse is an awful, ugly thing, but what is especially insidious about it is that it plants evil deep within those who are abused.  The beatings, the intimidation, the rapes, and the pain remain a powerful presence long, long afterwards.  The horrors of war can plant the same kinds of demons in those who experience it as can other traumatic events, such as a natural disaster or even the tragic loss of a loved one.  Spiritual warfare thus is a daily reality for millions of Americans.  The important thing is that it is a war with two sides battling it out in the soul.  God, wearing the "mask" of the Spirit, has not abandoned "spiritual warriors" to fight alone and, as is true generally, the Spirit works works works to bring healing and wholeness to those at risk.  Amen.