Thread by @ConceptualJames

On a suggestion earlier, I watched a lecture from a Catholic priest who is also an exorcist. It's about demonology, and it was sent to me, unsurprisingly, because it offers some insights into Communist psychology. Now, I don't literally believe in demons, but I got some insights.

The biggest thing that stuck out to me is that he claimed that demons are characterized by an absolute and intentional rejection of the assignment they have been given, and in that absolute rejection, they are damned and so work to negate what they were purposed to do.

I don't think there's a better definition for "demonic" than that: having been led through self-pity to self-hate takes it upon themselves to negate the true purpose for their being, which on some level they know (as rebellious angels, demons would know it perfectly).

He also pointed out that demons influence people through their emotions and their interpretations of features of their lives. I found that accurate to the purpose of understanding Communist psychology also, as I've been calling it a "Religion of Pathos" for some time now.

If we take the Logos as the order and structure of the universe, demonology would describe willful rejection of the Logos. Nothing could make such an invitation better than emotion that eventually turns toxic (Pathos turned pathological). Self-pity to self-hate to just hate.

A third thing that really stuck out to me is that something that combats demonic influence is structure and discipline, particularly discipline involving intentional sacrifice. He recommended the usual, fasting, prayer, etc., under strict discipline, but it would generalize.

Being disciplined in anything (requiring sacrifice) trains the will and would build upon itself in positive directions. It creates the structure into which the vices can easily creep. Unstructured life leads to failures that are easy to externalize onto others or systems.

Practicing discipline always moves the locus of control inward and teaches us to practice moving the locus of control inward. If there's no difficulty (sacrifice), it's not very effective. If you're complaining about the sacrifice, it's not going to work.

Practicing discipline grants a growing sense of mastery over one's circumstances, and when that sense of mastery gets strong, it's harder and harder to blame others for your failures or expect (or even want) them to take care of things for you. You grow into liberty.

A fourth thing that stuck out is that he insisted that being under God's Law provides protection. This honestly makes sense, even from an atheistic position, if we merely accept Natural Law means something. Submitting to truth (Truth, Logos) lends itself to success and peace.

Combining these last two points about protection from demons, submitting humbly to the world as it is (or God, or the Laws of Nature and Nature's God) and disciplining yourself so that you can work productively in it leads to prosperity. Warring with it or being sloppy doesn't.

Being at war with the Laws of Nature and Nature's God, or merely being derelict, will reliably return bad results. Combined with self-pity, immaturity, and entitlement/indulgence, this leads to externalizing one's failure and thus one's locus of control. Destruction lies that way

There's another point in there that I don't want to misrepresent from the demonology that boils down to the malice of the demon coming from his knowing rejection of his created purpose resulting from knowing what God is and knowing also he cannot be that, a primordial envy.

Feel free to watch it yourself, if you're interested. I don't necessarily endorse it, but it's interesting.