A remnant of what I would call the pagan worldview is the belief that people can be possessed by demons.
The belief in the demonic,
in the spawn of Satan, in his creatures that haunt people who serve as their bodily vessels, is the desire to make the greatest possible distinction between oneself and a demon.
If one is seen as non-human, as one who is literally possessed by a demon and acts as its walking vessel of speech, then I am fully justified in categorising such a possessed person as non-human.
The horror-inducing growls, grunts and hisses, the inhuman laughter and speech in foreign tongues are artful depictions on canvases and in films.
Like The Exorcist,
for example, or paintings and other works of art that show the devil as a grimacing, fanged hybrid creature with a tail and horns and rudimentary human features.
The endeavour to portray abysmal evil and give it an appearance presumably stems from an inner primal fear of being attacked, overwhelmed and bitten to death by predators. And to mix this primal fear with present-day fear pointed towards human beings. So that this mixture of monster and human is created in a person's imaginative mind. But it does not stem from real encounters in the real world. It is the human imaginative ability.
I doubt the existence of demons that enter a person as disembodied beings and rule them from there.
Isn't it quite interesting that a person is capable of imagining such a fantastic figure? Since we have all seen such devilish grimaces and Satanic figures before, we are familiar with them. And of course, when we describe ourselves as Catholics who think of such demons to be true, we think that we could never be haunted by such a force. If only we are and remain firm in our faith. But others have been and still are afflicted. Strangely enough.
I should say, rather, that this scary, peace-shattering experience can certainly be genuine and have a haunting character when you dream, for example. Everyone knows nightmares, they have a strong effect on the dreamer.
But I want to get to the point
where I said to put the greatest possible distance between yourself and the characterisation of a demon.
If I characterise another as truly possessed (and not metaphorically), the more I am convinced that I have a firm belief that is capable of warding off such creatures, the more I refrain entirely from considering myself as ever being possessed. Then I claim to regard other people as demonic. After all, why would I label people as demon-possessed if I could not simultaneously assign them all the characteristics of the demon?
This chick which has won the european song contest thing, was taken as one example of a walking demon.
While I agree that screaming into the mike that "I am a wiiiiiiiiiitch"
and saying "I am special because I am queer" is a low and embarrassing performance and it makes me cringe, I would not say that this young woman is possessed by satan. She forgot that her performance on stage has to end after the performance is done on it, and shall not be continued off stage.
When a devoted catholic thinks that evil walks around in the gestalt of humans, he says at the same time that such humans are non humans. I would in no way confirm that.
The demons is not these folks, since they clearly perform confusion, vanity and pride and more failure to behave mature, but the sheer banality through which these pathetic acts are encouraged is written in law.
The banality of evil
can be found in the administrative acts of a bureaucracy that, because naive politicians' minds made it possible, erect letters as barriers between people. The banal thing about this is that official letters with official stamps - pieces of paper with paragraphs - are able to prevent genuine and unadulterated encounters and conflict resolution between people.
To believe of either a performer on stage or a politician to be a demon, that gives them quite some power, does it not? That makes them non-humans whom one has to fear.
Here, I come to the crux of the matter: If I am afraid of young people who act like they are demonic, but aren't, and if I am afraid of encountering people, the last place where I would want to look is the mirror. To see, if I am capable of supporting the banality of evil myself.
Now, I find THAT scary. That we, the people, let ourselves being played out against each other.
Picture source:
Von Siyah Qalem - İpşiroğlu, Mazhar Şevket (1985) Bozkır Rüzgarı Siyah Kalem. Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kitaplığında Bulunan Üstad Mehmet Siyah Kalem'in Resimlerinin Tıpkı Basımı, Istanbul: Ada Yayınları, after p. 40, fig. 40via Imago, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte, Humboldt-Universität Berlinvia Prometheus (PID: imago-3f8ada870f95cf8d2a23f08b4411a5c9f357a5bf), Gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62262423
I think people too easily confuse DEAMON, and demon (easily lost in translations).
They can be 'good', just as easily as 'bad'.
As far as I'm aware, paganism (I'm not overly educated in the various deities) doesn't have a 'devil' avatar as such - not in the sense of the portrayal in the Christian 'satan' figure.
Narcissistic immaturity, fermented by soclal media, decadence (therefor no purpose) and from that, nihilism - is probably the driving forces behind today'young 'uns'...and all currently encouraged by 'the powers that be'...(shit, I'm old ! lol).
Indeed. bureaucratic administration IS the evil, if one was to frame it like that.
The very construct, is attractive to certain psychologies.
The same psychologies we associate with lack of openness, (low creativity),the need for order, and neuroticism (comfort and value found in external social validation, thus leading to 'the herd mentality'.)
Looking at it from the Jungian/Nietzsche perspective, a non theological one - the banality of evil can only manifest in those with v. low self awareness (unaware of their shadow/their various 'souls' vying for their own 'will to power').
Ergo, self awareness of your own 'monsters' lurking underneath in the subconscious - will go a long way to ever being able to be 'banally evil' - aka Hannah Arendt's take on the subject.
Being consciously evil is another question entirely! lol
On a personal note, and having had looooong conversations with my own demons/souls/shadow side over the years - It makes ALL the difference, re banality of evil ever, even being a possibility (just anecdotal from my own experiences).
When ego's are the driving force, philosphy and dissection of idea, take aback seat.
Being right is seen as far more important than finding the truths of things.
(woke-ism, cancel culture, etc- are symptoms of this degeneration in critical thinking and rise in the emotionally motivated, ego based perspectives).
*I want to write like you when I grow up!
You are right, there are two different meanings for the term demon (we don't make the distinction in DEAMON, and demon). I just opened wiki and read that ...
I am convinced that if there still seem to be people today who believe in a demon that can actually possess people, that the pre-Christian and pagan peoples did so all the more, alongside those who never did. The fact that there are Christians who claim to believe in real demons is something I consider to be superstition and have categorised as paganism, but it doesn't matter because I can't deduce it, I don't know enough about it either.
Absolutely. Because the banal bureaucratic language is so lifeless that you basically don't feel addressed at all and simply nod, send or sign something listlessly and DON'T read it and don't understand what you participate in, overlook it, don't care, make life hell for others. When you look up those laws and really dissect them, and you translate them, which you need, you can see more clearly. When they are translated FOR you, of course, you can say "I never knew".
Did not understand. Explain, please.
LoL
Introspection, working out the motivations/actions, reasons, etc...and in doing so, shaking hands with your own personal demons and making them new allies, not old enemies.
Do you have a real example, a personal anecdote, towards which you considered yourself having been prone towards your demons/souls/shadow-side?
Shaking hand with what I also call the "ego" would mean for me to acknowledge that it's there but that it has it's place, which is to say that it is not entitled to occupy the stage fully.
Have you caught this ego in a special act and ordered it back, for example?
....hmmmm...I would need to first describe my perception of how the ego/self (not the same thing), and the unconscious have this never ending 'dance', together. (to then give you an anecdotal example that makes sense in context of the question).
The ego is/can be, your best friend, worst enemy or anywhere in between.
As I say, it can be a constant dance....and you need to know the tune that's playing at any given time ('cos the tunes you're dancing to, can change also).
Let me see if I can come up with a simple model to post, pre anecdotal story....
...it's bloody difficult (for me, anyways) 'doing the psychology/philosophy stuff' and, at the same time, immersing yourself in the fantasy world of war games !
(philosophy etc is left at the door, when playtime arrives - which is where I need to be right now to move this project forwards)
Yes. That's why it's to be to kept in check, while the dance is happening.
Keep creating your world of war games, writing is often the second best choice. LoL
Oh, my 'world of wargames reuire lots of writing to ! (you can't build a believable narrative in a semi fantasy world without a story !)
...Jumping into deep anecdotal stories (with mind models) to clarify my perceptions for others to understand - for it to make sense- is a different story altogether.
(it's part of a biiiiiiiiiiig subject)
Yeah , we each have our own view on this very specific subject and debate is tough.
But i do agree with the " Now, I find THAT scary. That we, the people, let ourselves being played out against each other"
Hi to you, how are you lately?
I think it's best, to be aware of that game of being played out against each other. Since we are sensitive towards other peoples disagreements, that's ones personal vulnerable point. If the folk of a nation fights each other, third parties will take advantage of that. So I think it is important to speak to each other despite differing views.
"A remnant of what I would call the pagan worldview is the belief that people can be possessed by demons."
I'm having trouble getting started with your post because the first sentence begins with something I consider untrue, or at least confused and misleading. "Pagan" has been used to describe a great many things over the past few thousand years, much of it very different from the rest, but in general people described as pagan do not believe in Satan, demons, or possession. This is something that was given to us by the monotheistic religions.
It's alright, I did not use it as strict as it might sound. I could as well have said "superstitious".
Ohh, okay. I guess I shouldn't be too hung up on words, but focus more on the intended meanings. Thanks for your original content lately.
all good.
I am in a "maniac" writing phase.