This is one of the most important pieces you have written. Many have said this is a spiritual war, and you've outlined why this is so. You mention that it is unimportant if these are literal or metaphorical demons -- I used to think it they were metaphorical, but I am now leaning towards literal demons.
Well, not following your advice, I read this. And just before going to bed even. Thank you for your work. This gave me a lot to mull over, but I think comes close to describing some of the forces at work in our world.
Some countries and cultures are more in tune with ghosts and demons. Japan is one of them. I’ve lived in Japan several decades and have experienced ghosts and demons myself. They definitely aren’t imaginary. The daughter of one of my Japanese friends, a beautiful 22 year old, started becoming really scary two years ago. She’d scream at her mother in different voices and looked like a monster from a Kabuki play. My friend in desperation took her to one of eight official exorcists in Japan. He said my friend’s daughter was inhabited by 8 ghosts, and she herself had one, as well. They are from a rich family who live on land they’ve owned for 700 years. It has a lot of traumatic history. Gradually the exorcist has been clearing them but they have to be constantly vigilant so they don’t slip back into that dark world.
I agree with you about demons raging in the world now. I think Trump, Netanyahu, Putin, Epstein and his gang are all devils. Can we find some exorcists to get rid of them?
Yes, we need to connect with the dualities within us and begin to resolve the conflicts between them. Your wealthy friends in Japan are probably one-sided, and part of creating their own demonic experience. As a wealthy Japanese family, how many people have they traumatized in their history? These are the questions that arise when you begin to question things like classism and economic inequality.
After a year of living dangerously while stationed on Okinawa in 1985, I returned to normal live confused and unsettled. I stumbled onto Jung’s Man and His Symbols. I was convinced then and remain convinced after reading a lot of Jung’s and his followers’ writings that Jung and his small band of adherents have a hold onto the best sets of explanations for the inexplicable, uncanny, holy and evil things that go on in and among human beings.
Your are right. I’ve been a very busy exorcist for going on 26 years. The World is occupied. What will surprise you is how may people have these inhabitants. That’s an answer nobody is prepared for.
I keep coming back to your writings for precisely this kind of grand philosophical insight. I love it.
Perhaps a bit above my paygrade, but I get your drift. In Hinduism, the Gita and the Bhagavata Purana both foresee a time exactly like this, when most people and the world itself becomes demonic.
I also get your point on being overly sensitive to such things. Maybe not as much as yourself, but I am one of them. In fact, I knew the world would start going to hell starting in December 2020, many years beforehand. I didn't know what would cause this major series of cascading crises and failures, I could just feel it in my bones and knew it would start by then. My rational mind would have guessed some sort of financial crisis would be the trigger, but in the event, it turned out to be a pandemic, one we still haven't recovered from and further crises keep accumulating over the original one.
I don't know what demons are either, but they are real, just as gods or angels are real, in a sense we can't really understand, because of our limited physical, 3-dimensional point of view. Phyisicist Michio Kaku has a theory about the characteristics and capabilities of higher-dimensional beings (ones that exist in more dimensions than we do) and his characterisations are eerily reminiscent of ancient creatures of myth. I believe this is probably what we're dealing with.
But, remember something, Thanatos may be ascendant and even dominant right now, but Eros is always there to counterbalance it and return the world to balance. The ancient Hindu myth, Devi Mahatmaya tells of exactly such a time and event. It is partly allegorical, but it also tells a story in the distant past when evil overran the world and demons roamed the earth, threatening even the gods of heaven. Then, to save the world, each god manifested their eros (shakti) in a concrete form and each one became a Goddess of overwhelming fierceness, with Durga, riding a lion being the chief one among them. This represents the fierce, protective nature of Eros, when mother nature feels her creations are threatened, she rushes to their aid. In the event, Durga and the other anthropomorphic manifestations of Eros slayed the demons and returned the earth to balance.
I believe this is something that all of us must do within ourselves, find our inner strength as Eros and find the courage and determination to confront evil, fight back and vanquish it, sending it back to darkness whence it came from.
Appropriate reaction on every level with a good analysis behind it. And the recourse to mythology is excellent. Words keep coming to mind for me from that context. Hubris and 'nefas' mostly. We are babies in our understanding of these forces and it isn't serving us at all.
Yes, there is the death wish to which Freud alerted us, and the shadow of which Jung spoke. Both Thanatos and the shadow arise because we do not confront this destructive side of ourselves. Instead, we pretend we are simply good. Such an unconscious perspective naturally catalyzes its opposite, and we are destined to be attacked by evil. Thus the Christ evokes the Antichrist, which Jung understood to be the result of such one-sided efforts. Jung conceptualized a union of opposites, of good and evil, God and the Devil, from which we could realize our humanity — our truer Selves! — distinct from the egoistic Impulses that generally govern our everyday lives. The failure to address our shadow results in the demonic takeover. In contrast, the union of such opposites creates the possibility of humane actions. We are not destined to demonic or angelic fates if we can realize them both as two sides of the same human coin. The snake in the garden catalyzed consciousness which led to our moral descrimination, and to us being co-creators in this world. Trump can be seen as a failure of all of us to decend into the depths of our true Selves.
This is one of the most important pieces you have written. Many have said this is a spiritual war, and you've outlined why this is so. You mention that it is unimportant if these are literal or metaphorical demons -- I used to think it they were metaphorical, but I am now leaning towards literal demons.
Well, not following your advice, I read this. And just before going to bed even. Thank you for your work. This gave me a lot to mull over, but I think comes close to describing some of the forces at work in our world.
Some countries and cultures are more in tune with ghosts and demons. Japan is one of them. I’ve lived in Japan several decades and have experienced ghosts and demons myself. They definitely aren’t imaginary. The daughter of one of my Japanese friends, a beautiful 22 year old, started becoming really scary two years ago. She’d scream at her mother in different voices and looked like a monster from a Kabuki play. My friend in desperation took her to one of eight official exorcists in Japan. He said my friend’s daughter was inhabited by 8 ghosts, and she herself had one, as well. They are from a rich family who live on land they’ve owned for 700 years. It has a lot of traumatic history. Gradually the exorcist has been clearing them but they have to be constantly vigilant so they don’t slip back into that dark world.
I agree with you about demons raging in the world now. I think Trump, Netanyahu, Putin, Epstein and his gang are all devils. Can we find some exorcists to get rid of them?
Yes, we need to connect with the dualities within us and begin to resolve the conflicts between them. Your wealthy friends in Japan are probably one-sided, and part of creating their own demonic experience. As a wealthy Japanese family, how many people have they traumatized in their history? These are the questions that arise when you begin to question things like classism and economic inequality.
Thanks Umair!
It’s time to bust out Jung’s The Red Book 📕
https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393065671
I found it helpful to listen to the audiobook as I read along.
Background: https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2010/the-red-book-of-c-g-jung
After a year of living dangerously while stationed on Okinawa in 1985, I returned to normal live confused and unsettled. I stumbled onto Jung’s Man and His Symbols. I was convinced then and remain convinced after reading a lot of Jung’s and his followers’ writings that Jung and his small band of adherents have a hold onto the best sets of explanations for the inexplicable, uncanny, holy and evil things that go on in and among human beings.
Your are right. I’ve been a very busy exorcist for going on 26 years. The World is occupied. What will surprise you is how may people have these inhabitants. That’s an answer nobody is prepared for.
Outstanding.
Excellent one Umair.
I keep coming back to your writings for precisely this kind of grand philosophical insight. I love it.
Perhaps a bit above my paygrade, but I get your drift. In Hinduism, the Gita and the Bhagavata Purana both foresee a time exactly like this, when most people and the world itself becomes demonic.
I also get your point on being overly sensitive to such things. Maybe not as much as yourself, but I am one of them. In fact, I knew the world would start going to hell starting in December 2020, many years beforehand. I didn't know what would cause this major series of cascading crises and failures, I could just feel it in my bones and knew it would start by then. My rational mind would have guessed some sort of financial crisis would be the trigger, but in the event, it turned out to be a pandemic, one we still haven't recovered from and further crises keep accumulating over the original one.
I don't know what demons are either, but they are real, just as gods or angels are real, in a sense we can't really understand, because of our limited physical, 3-dimensional point of view. Phyisicist Michio Kaku has a theory about the characteristics and capabilities of higher-dimensional beings (ones that exist in more dimensions than we do) and his characterisations are eerily reminiscent of ancient creatures of myth. I believe this is probably what we're dealing with.
But, remember something, Thanatos may be ascendant and even dominant right now, but Eros is always there to counterbalance it and return the world to balance. The ancient Hindu myth, Devi Mahatmaya tells of exactly such a time and event. It is partly allegorical, but it also tells a story in the distant past when evil overran the world and demons roamed the earth, threatening even the gods of heaven. Then, to save the world, each god manifested their eros (shakti) in a concrete form and each one became a Goddess of overwhelming fierceness, with Durga, riding a lion being the chief one among them. This represents the fierce, protective nature of Eros, when mother nature feels her creations are threatened, she rushes to their aid. In the event, Durga and the other anthropomorphic manifestations of Eros slayed the demons and returned the earth to balance.
I believe this is something that all of us must do within ourselves, find our inner strength as Eros and find the courage and determination to confront evil, fight back and vanquish it, sending it back to darkness whence it came from.
Appropriate reaction on every level with a good analysis behind it. And the recourse to mythology is excellent. Words keep coming to mind for me from that context. Hubris and 'nefas' mostly. We are babies in our understanding of these forces and it isn't serving us at all.
Yes, there is the death wish to which Freud alerted us, and the shadow of which Jung spoke. Both Thanatos and the shadow arise because we do not confront this destructive side of ourselves. Instead, we pretend we are simply good. Such an unconscious perspective naturally catalyzes its opposite, and we are destined to be attacked by evil. Thus the Christ evokes the Antichrist, which Jung understood to be the result of such one-sided efforts. Jung conceptualized a union of opposites, of good and evil, God and the Devil, from which we could realize our humanity — our truer Selves! — distinct from the egoistic Impulses that generally govern our everyday lives. The failure to address our shadow results in the demonic takeover. In contrast, the union of such opposites creates the possibility of humane actions. We are not destined to demonic or angelic fates if we can realize them both as two sides of the same human coin. The snake in the garden catalyzed consciousness which led to our moral descrimination, and to us being co-creators in this world. Trump can be seen as a failure of all of us to decend into the depths of our true Selves.