I had some thoughts about the situation of being under the invasive influence of spiritual beings. The idea is to be accurate and loving at the same time - rather than waste energy and cause problems from using language that is wrong or aggressive.
Demon: As previously noticed, the word demon is confusing at best; in its root it means Master. It is used by us to denote malevolent beings in spirit. Firstly, "Hate the sin not the sinner", so identify bad behaviour without making a spirit person a bad being - for nothing God made is bad, I believe. Secondly, these spirits are trying to 'master' us, which is no mastery, but a crude power play that does not prosper in Eternity and in the God's Universe. So I would avoid using the word demon to describe malevolent spirits.
Devil: I don't believe that there is a duality in the Universe of God versus the Devil with our souls in the balance - I do not believe in those terms. No big Devil. However, there are clearly beings, people, in spirit with evil will, who wish to cause great harm - and the less we have to do with the, the better, though we can pray for them. Those spirits we could call devils, just like we could call them demons - but what good does that do? They are truly souls gone astray, requiring the love of God (and us) and redemption and prayer. Labels of good and evil set up division, which is as much as to say they create further conflict. So I would avoid calling them devils. It's also a kind of insult - again, aggression - and it perpetuates conflict.
Spiritual Warfare: do you really wish to cleanse the entire space between Earth and Heaven single-handed? I suggest not - there's too much, and Life is too valuable to spend any longer than necessary dealing with anything opposed to personal evolution and fulfilment. Don't declare war on all of darkness in spirit. He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. It may be a minor point, but I prefer to think in terms of psychological warfare, as understood by Earthly war-makers, or psychological abuse as understood by psychologists - these philosophies allow us to think productively about the situation of psycho-spiritual attack.
Exorcism: I prefer the term spirit release, which has benign connotations, rather than the 'loaded' word "exorcism".
- The point is that we use language that is helpful. Language full of anger promotes conflict. Language of compassion promotes peace ("peace between" and "peace inside"). Let's not throw insults at (powerful) spirits who are not like us in approach to Life, and let's not declare war on the entire reality of pain. Better to focus on what is good, as metaphysical teachers say. Have a spiritual mission without having confrontation as one's central purpose. Peacefulness can fight (or the innocent would be overrun by evil), so we "Fight the good fight with all our might," as the Christian hymn goes. Peacefulness can fight, but it does so with a pure heart. Peacefulness can fight and unleash total aggression, but it's dominant psychology is always purity and goodness as generally understood by the human race down the ages. So we live in love, we do not live to hate. We live in peace through all that leads to peace. After all, if our final goal is to have power over another, we are the same as what has been called 'demon', or evil...
I had a dream of two enemies. one was pure of heart, the other was not pure of heart. They fought each other, killing each other again and again, and again and again they had the strength of mind to resurrect themselves and to fight each other. The one of lesser purity warred on the other, and the other had to fight back. It is the story of nemesis. Two equals who war.
In the end the pure one had the strength to self-resurrect and kill the other one last time. His purity had given him the extra power to live in peace. This is the tragic story of pain, that one can be driven by pain - and perhaps envy - to trouble another, even in ultimate ways. But, in eternity, the good always overcomes. There is change, and restoration of Joy. There is beautification and remembrance of love. Even if that means death (which is but a gateway to a greater reality), Light and Love always win. "Lux omnia Vincit" - Light always triumphs; and "Amor omnia vincit" - Love always triumphs; - these are two similar and valuable Latin mottoes. In the end the Light is not glad to kill the enemy, but sees the bigger picture where Life goes on, and is quietly glad in the righteous peace that has been gained.
I don't believe that peace must be passive. We can meet evil with strength and with enough strength, evil is dispersed and then there is peace. I suppose evil is Life in relationship with other members of Life in ways that are harmful to the Whole; Life need not be destroyed to give peace to the Whole, it is merely necessary to heal and restore the relations between the 'members' of Life.
Wishing you peace, peace and peace, and wishing you harmony with The All,
Mr. S.
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