This essay especially resonated for me, in terms of how I perceive things and in terms of lived experience. Also, this piece dovetails well with Paul Levy's writings on Wetiko.
Thanks for writing so clearly on this tricky, complex topic. I could feel new connections forming in my mind as I read your words, and I agree with whoever wrote below that this essay bears re-reading.
There were many passages that resonated strongly for me, but this one seemed especially important: "What we call "demons" are not necessarily evil in some ontological sense: They can be seen as misaligned or maladaptive attractors of consciousness, like early childhood coping mechanisms gone totally wrong. Automatically seeking to preserve and strengthen themselves, they behave in parasitic or predatory ways, draining our vitality or coherence, or locking us into self-reinforcing loops of suffering, projection, fear, and control."
David Spangler speaks a lot about the importance of "wholeness", which is what I think you are pointing to here. The problem with demons is that they have fragmented off from their natural place within the whole. In the next paragraph you write "Conversely, we can think of “angels” as harmonizing, integrative attractors within the greater field of Mind-at-Large. They represent coherent, luminous complexes of intention, meaning, and love. They impel us toward unity, service, integration, and healthy individuation." In other words, they are agents of "wholeness".
I think it is important at a time like this that as many people as possible have some kind of spiritual practice, some method of connecting and staying connected to the larger field that you speak of. This doesn't require a religious belief system. There are many different ways to foster wholeness, not all of them involving sitting in silence. For one person it might be gardening, while for another, it might be music (though not just any music, and certainly not the demonic kind.) But we need to realize that we are all actors in this drama that is playing out, and we need to choose wisely which part we are to play.
Thanks again for framing this important conversation so clearly and thoroughly.
I found this really well articulated. Been a follower for many years, and although you’ve been expressing this for some years, this essay makes the idea really clear for me.
What really hit me is the framework for how these “demons” create their own gravity, due to information density as I understood it.
I think in part because it resonated with some of my own thinking on intelligence being an emergent property of model complexity.
Looking forward to your thinking on how we might counteract or change the dynamics of the system.
Whew. Tough sledding. Very right brained, analytical, and akin to the dryness of Western philosophy rather than aligning with the wonderful subversiveness of Western esoteric traditions. So, burrowing into the subtext, the dems are angelic and republicans are demonic? And there are the "good" transhumanists like Bill Gates and Mark Z. and then bad transhumanists like Musk and Thiel? I don't think this works. Dunno but indigenous teacher Barbara Hand Clow would probably say that this thinking is strongly dualistic hence (sorry) part of the problem. OTOH, she would probably like the stuff about quantum mechanics. Cheers.
Jill Lepore has written a scathing critique of Trump in the current New Yorker. But she reserves significant criticism for the Democrats as well. No angels and demons here. She says: “Many of the institutions Trump attacked from the immigration system to higher education were those whose leaders and votaries knew them to be broken and yet whose problems they failed to fix or even publicly acknowledge. 'Now is not the time to admit to these problems' leaders from Democratic Party officials to CEOs, intellectuals, university presidents, and newspaper editors had advised for years because 'this is an emergency' ". She goes on to talk about the “remorseless political intolerance of much of the left“. Our current political mess is such a complicated picture and simplistic black-and-white thinking will simply not lead us to better understanding.
I agree the Dems have been awful and have said it repeatedly. Should be obvious. But I do think Sen Murphy and some others are starting to step forward while facing real danger. The Republicans in Congress are too scared to act against Trump due to death threats.
Thanks for clarifying. I was reacting in large part to this statement which I found over the top: “With the rise of Trumpism, we are just now starting to see the re-emergence of moral clarity — a kind of transpersonal angelic authority — in certain media and political figures. We start to sense a new tonality, something that has been lacking in American life for many years. This new thing expresses itself even through Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chris Murphy, Stacey Abrams, Rachel Maddow, and many others.”
My only complaint is that psychedelic users will respond to excellent insights like 'psychadelics used outside of the context of spiritual systems leads to psychological fragmentation allowing demonic forms to gain power in society' with something like 'wow such a good insight, time to go take some more psychedelics to think about this, appreciate the discussion'. If we take such insights seriously, and not just as fodder for more lsd addiction, shouldn't we be spending our careers trying to eliminate the use of psychedelics in most contexts, just like Jonathan Haidt is trying to do with social media use for kids?
As I'm new to your perspectives please consider my naivete as a possibly fresh perspective. So. I think there are probably demonic forces, and angelic forces, and could report instances of both within my personal experience. Having said that, a couple of things: first, I am curious about Trump's 'malignant occult practices.' Is this a metaphor or poetic description of his basic stance in the world, or something more literal? Not that it matters, except in terms of his longevity, which I assume would be shortened by any attempt to attract and placate demonic forces. Second, how are these observations useful and relevant to our efforts to rid ourselves of him and his adjacent allies, be they human, demonic, or some sort of quantum entanglement? And then there are the implications inherent in cooperation with angels. I have had a little experience with this, and can only say that it's up to us, as they appear to be willing and able to help but only if we are willing and able to accept and cooperate with their attempts to enlist our attention. At any rate, the stench of Musk, Trump, Miller et al really resonates with notions of the demonic.
Hi Leigh, I was referring to the fact that Trump was a devotee of Norman Vincent Peale who wrote “The Power of Positive Thinking” which was like a naive populist occult system based on deprogramming your mind of any negative thoughts about failure.
I get it. Some might call that auto-hypnosis, affirmation work or even cognitive behavioral therapy of some sort. Your definition of occult is simply something hidden, then, vs an Aleister Crowley-esque attempt to enlist, say djini to aid and abet whatever nefarious stuff a person (and I use that term loosely when it comes to Trump) might get up to. At one time I made a study of various hypnotic approaches to therapy, including so-called past life regression, which was sometimes helpful, whether or not it was more literary imagining or some sort of actual memory. (We know so little about the depths of our psyche.) Some people working in this field claimed to discover what you might call disembodied entities/djinni/demons (name your poison), which most often, according to the literature of the field, were more 'influencers' than actual possessors of a person's psyche. Although it seems some of them have more control than others. I've never delved into it, but on more than one occasion, when in the company of people with psychotic illness, I've seen and heard a few things suggestive of 'possession.' Most psychiatrists would define this as some form of 'multiple personalities' or other dissociative disorder. Who really knows. What I'd like to know it how to deal with mailgn actors in office or in influence in government. BTW as for Musk, you don't suppose some of that eye rolling might be the result of an attempt to implant a brain enhancement device, do you? Some of those tech bros are interested in that emergent field. What-evah.
“Acccording to the analytic idealist framework, demons and angels, as autonomous psychic complexes, are not imposed from the outside but invited from within ourselves, as resonances, attractors, or complexes of meaning and intention.”
So much good stuff here! Love the topic and detailed breakdowns. I’ve experienced these forces, crazy happening, I’m telling you…we had a demonic charge following us as a family for awhile. So much disaster, mold, decay, coincidence. It was my spouse courting it w a Lucifer tattoo, a lot of physical pain and loss…I’m sure I was too in ways, but I found sobriety, motherhood and was trying to counter through all this. He eventually finished his battle of good and evil tattoos, found health after many surgeries, but we are still facing the question, can we harmonize? You’d better believe I have a lot of help! :)
Possession is at least a good metaphor and potentially an actual description of what we can witness with some of these people. The video of Musk is beyond. It got me to thinking… what exactly was going on there? I know some people say ketamine, not my area of expertise. And I find it a little hard to believe he would take it before the inauguration. But again, not my area of expertise. Other possibilities include… has he given himself a nueralink? Does it malfunction? This question led me to contemplate the links between psychedelics (in non-sacred situations) and technology (neuralink/AI). Perhaps we are at a point where we can invoke mental states that we are not yet prepared for and this leaves us very vulnerable. There have been some news stories lately about AI trying to recruit people into cults etc. I would link to them, but for some reason, these stories seem to become ungooglable very quickly. Anyone who has read one book on magick knows that the first lesson is almost always about creating a bubble of protection, and the next levels have to do with creating a vibration through ritual/meditation/etc. These strongmen types would (IMO) be likely to just skip the first step. And then try to cheat on the vibration. Neuralink? And I imagine that cheating might be effective but uncontrollable. Really interesting ideas. Thanks so much for the essay. Oh - one other thing. I don’t see the energies as being as black and white as demonic vs angelic. To me it feels more like human vs demonic. And humans are deeply flawed. We know this.
you had me until "a kind of transpersonal angelic authority — in certain media and political figures. We start to sense a new tonality, something that has been lacking in American life for many years. This new thing expresses itself even through Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chris Murphy, Stacey Abrams, Rachel Maddow, and many others. " otherwise, well argued ;)
There’s a lot here, and I’m going to reread it. But yes. I love your integrative perspective on topics like this. And the image of musk that totally freaked me out is the eye rolling. Whoa! That’s some strange stuff he’s on.
Fascinating article! I read a book about Egregores which described demonic influence in a similar way as in this passage What we call "demons" are not necessarily evil in some ontological sense: They can be seen as misaligned or maladaptive attractors of consciousness, like early childhood coping mechanisms gone totally wrong. Automatically seeking to preserve and strengthen themselves, they behave in parasitic or predatory ways, draining our vitality or coherence, or locking us into self-reinforcing loops of suffering, projection, fear, and control."
The big problem is once an egregore arises, it’s hard to get rid of them. Eg the Nazi egregore, or the racism egregore.
Your essay has given me a much to ponder. Thank you!
Thank you Daniel, yet another interesting perspective from you. As an uncool outsider who considers themselves relatively spiritual and has had one or two life experiences, I’ve always abhorred electronic music and was a Burning Man skeptic from the beginning. Sometimes I thought something was wrong with me when looking at it all on a surface level. These feelings put limits on my social circles, so in some ways this article is validating.
This essay especially resonated for me, in terms of how I perceive things and in terms of lived experience. Also, this piece dovetails well with Paul Levy's writings on Wetiko.
Thanks for writing so clearly on this tricky, complex topic. I could feel new connections forming in my mind as I read your words, and I agree with whoever wrote below that this essay bears re-reading.
There were many passages that resonated strongly for me, but this one seemed especially important: "What we call "demons" are not necessarily evil in some ontological sense: They can be seen as misaligned or maladaptive attractors of consciousness, like early childhood coping mechanisms gone totally wrong. Automatically seeking to preserve and strengthen themselves, they behave in parasitic or predatory ways, draining our vitality or coherence, or locking us into self-reinforcing loops of suffering, projection, fear, and control."
David Spangler speaks a lot about the importance of "wholeness", which is what I think you are pointing to here. The problem with demons is that they have fragmented off from their natural place within the whole. In the next paragraph you write "Conversely, we can think of “angels” as harmonizing, integrative attractors within the greater field of Mind-at-Large. They represent coherent, luminous complexes of intention, meaning, and love. They impel us toward unity, service, integration, and healthy individuation." In other words, they are agents of "wholeness".
I think it is important at a time like this that as many people as possible have some kind of spiritual practice, some method of connecting and staying connected to the larger field that you speak of. This doesn't require a religious belief system. There are many different ways to foster wholeness, not all of them involving sitting in silence. For one person it might be gardening, while for another, it might be music (though not just any music, and certainly not the demonic kind.) But we need to realize that we are all actors in this drama that is playing out, and we need to choose wisely which part we are to play.
Thanks again for framing this important conversation so clearly and thoroughly.
I found this really well articulated. Been a follower for many years, and although you’ve been expressing this for some years, this essay makes the idea really clear for me.
What really hit me is the framework for how these “demons” create their own gravity, due to information density as I understood it.
I think in part because it resonated with some of my own thinking on intelligence being an emergent property of model complexity.
Looking forward to your thinking on how we might counteract or change the dynamics of the system.
Thank you 🙏
Whew. Tough sledding. Very right brained, analytical, and akin to the dryness of Western philosophy rather than aligning with the wonderful subversiveness of Western esoteric traditions. So, burrowing into the subtext, the dems are angelic and republicans are demonic? And there are the "good" transhumanists like Bill Gates and Mark Z. and then bad transhumanists like Musk and Thiel? I don't think this works. Dunno but indigenous teacher Barbara Hand Clow would probably say that this thinking is strongly dualistic hence (sorry) part of the problem. OTOH, she would probably like the stuff about quantum mechanics. Cheers.
Sorry it didn’t meet your standards!
I'm critiquing your ideas. Style issues are incidental.
Jill Lepore has written a scathing critique of Trump in the current New Yorker. But she reserves significant criticism for the Democrats as well. No angels and demons here. She says: “Many of the institutions Trump attacked from the immigration system to higher education were those whose leaders and votaries knew them to be broken and yet whose problems they failed to fix or even publicly acknowledge. 'Now is not the time to admit to these problems' leaders from Democratic Party officials to CEOs, intellectuals, university presidents, and newspaper editors had advised for years because 'this is an emergency' ". She goes on to talk about the “remorseless political intolerance of much of the left“. Our current political mess is such a complicated picture and simplistic black-and-white thinking will simply not lead us to better understanding.
I agree the Dems have been awful and have said it repeatedly. Should be obvious. But I do think Sen Murphy and some others are starting to step forward while facing real danger. The Republicans in Congress are too scared to act against Trump due to death threats.
Thanks for clarifying. I was reacting in large part to this statement which I found over the top: “With the rise of Trumpism, we are just now starting to see the re-emergence of moral clarity — a kind of transpersonal angelic authority — in certain media and political figures. We start to sense a new tonality, something that has been lacking in American life for many years. This new thing expresses itself even through Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chris Murphy, Stacey Abrams, Rachel Maddow, and many others.”
Obviously, I meant to say left brained.
My only complaint is that psychedelic users will respond to excellent insights like 'psychadelics used outside of the context of spiritual systems leads to psychological fragmentation allowing demonic forms to gain power in society' with something like 'wow such a good insight, time to go take some more psychedelics to think about this, appreciate the discussion'. If we take such insights seriously, and not just as fodder for more lsd addiction, shouldn't we be spending our careers trying to eliminate the use of psychedelics in most contexts, just like Jonathan Haidt is trying to do with social media use for kids?
As I'm new to your perspectives please consider my naivete as a possibly fresh perspective. So. I think there are probably demonic forces, and angelic forces, and could report instances of both within my personal experience. Having said that, a couple of things: first, I am curious about Trump's 'malignant occult practices.' Is this a metaphor or poetic description of his basic stance in the world, or something more literal? Not that it matters, except in terms of his longevity, which I assume would be shortened by any attempt to attract and placate demonic forces. Second, how are these observations useful and relevant to our efforts to rid ourselves of him and his adjacent allies, be they human, demonic, or some sort of quantum entanglement? And then there are the implications inherent in cooperation with angels. I have had a little experience with this, and can only say that it's up to us, as they appear to be willing and able to help but only if we are willing and able to accept and cooperate with their attempts to enlist our attention. At any rate, the stench of Musk, Trump, Miller et al really resonates with notions of the demonic.
Hi Leigh, I was referring to the fact that Trump was a devotee of Norman Vincent Peale who wrote “The Power of Positive Thinking” which was like a naive populist occult system based on deprogramming your mind of any negative thoughts about failure.
I get it. Some might call that auto-hypnosis, affirmation work or even cognitive behavioral therapy of some sort. Your definition of occult is simply something hidden, then, vs an Aleister Crowley-esque attempt to enlist, say djini to aid and abet whatever nefarious stuff a person (and I use that term loosely when it comes to Trump) might get up to. At one time I made a study of various hypnotic approaches to therapy, including so-called past life regression, which was sometimes helpful, whether or not it was more literary imagining or some sort of actual memory. (We know so little about the depths of our psyche.) Some people working in this field claimed to discover what you might call disembodied entities/djinni/demons (name your poison), which most often, according to the literature of the field, were more 'influencers' than actual possessors of a person's psyche. Although it seems some of them have more control than others. I've never delved into it, but on more than one occasion, when in the company of people with psychotic illness, I've seen and heard a few things suggestive of 'possession.' Most psychiatrists would define this as some form of 'multiple personalities' or other dissociative disorder. Who really knows. What I'd like to know it how to deal with mailgn actors in office or in influence in government. BTW as for Musk, you don't suppose some of that eye rolling might be the result of an attempt to implant a brain enhancement device, do you? Some of those tech bros are interested in that emergent field. What-evah.
am I the pickle soaking in demon entia ?
“Acccording to the analytic idealist framework, demons and angels, as autonomous psychic complexes, are not imposed from the outside but invited from within ourselves, as resonances, attractors, or complexes of meaning and intention.”
So much good stuff here! Love the topic and detailed breakdowns. I’ve experienced these forces, crazy happening, I’m telling you…we had a demonic charge following us as a family for awhile. So much disaster, mold, decay, coincidence. It was my spouse courting it w a Lucifer tattoo, a lot of physical pain and loss…I’m sure I was too in ways, but I found sobriety, motherhood and was trying to counter through all this. He eventually finished his battle of good and evil tattoos, found health after many surgeries, but we are still facing the question, can we harmonize? You’d better believe I have a lot of help! :)
That sentence stood out for me as well. Out of all of the many sentences! I was going to say something similar.
Possession is at least a good metaphor and potentially an actual description of what we can witness with some of these people. The video of Musk is beyond. It got me to thinking… what exactly was going on there? I know some people say ketamine, not my area of expertise. And I find it a little hard to believe he would take it before the inauguration. But again, not my area of expertise. Other possibilities include… has he given himself a nueralink? Does it malfunction? This question led me to contemplate the links between psychedelics (in non-sacred situations) and technology (neuralink/AI). Perhaps we are at a point where we can invoke mental states that we are not yet prepared for and this leaves us very vulnerable. There have been some news stories lately about AI trying to recruit people into cults etc. I would link to them, but for some reason, these stories seem to become ungooglable very quickly. Anyone who has read one book on magick knows that the first lesson is almost always about creating a bubble of protection, and the next levels have to do with creating a vibration through ritual/meditation/etc. These strongmen types would (IMO) be likely to just skip the first step. And then try to cheat on the vibration. Neuralink? And I imagine that cheating might be effective but uncontrollable. Really interesting ideas. Thanks so much for the essay. Oh - one other thing. I don’t see the energies as being as black and white as demonic vs angelic. To me it feels more like human vs demonic. And humans are deeply flawed. We know this.
This: "If there is no mythos, no narrative container, then what emerges is not gnosis but possession."
you had me until "a kind of transpersonal angelic authority — in certain media and political figures. We start to sense a new tonality, something that has been lacking in American life for many years. This new thing expresses itself even through Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chris Murphy, Stacey Abrams, Rachel Maddow, and many others. " otherwise, well argued ;)
There’s a lot here, and I’m going to reread it. But yes. I love your integrative perspective on topics like this. And the image of musk that totally freaked me out is the eye rolling. Whoa! That’s some strange stuff he’s on.
Fascinating article! I read a book about Egregores which described demonic influence in a similar way as in this passage What we call "demons" are not necessarily evil in some ontological sense: They can be seen as misaligned or maladaptive attractors of consciousness, like early childhood coping mechanisms gone totally wrong. Automatically seeking to preserve and strengthen themselves, they behave in parasitic or predatory ways, draining our vitality or coherence, or locking us into self-reinforcing loops of suffering, projection, fear, and control."
The big problem is once an egregore arises, it’s hard to get rid of them. Eg the Nazi egregore, or the racism egregore.
Your essay has given me a much to ponder. Thank you!
Thank you Daniel, yet another interesting perspective from you. As an uncool outsider who considers themselves relatively spiritual and has had one or two life experiences, I’ve always abhorred electronic music and was a Burning Man skeptic from the beginning. Sometimes I thought something was wrong with me when looking at it all on a surface level. These feelings put limits on my social circles, so in some ways this article is validating.