Calculated Demonic Attunement: Skills for Forcing the Hand of Satan and Making the Demons Work for Your Salvation

Calculated Demonic Attunement

Skills for Forcing the Hand of Satan and Making the Demons Work for Your Salvation

• Introduction

• Non-Dualism: Dualistic Compatibility, Soteriology, and Theodicy

• The Compatible Dualities of Christianity Against Dualism 

• Christian Theodicy and Soteriology

• Spiritual Role of the Devil and Demons

• Demonic Vagary and Calculated Demonic Attunement

• Contemplating Demonic Rebellion and Punishment

• Calculated Demonic Attunement Step 1: Discernment

• Calculated Demonic Attunement Step 2: Demonic Regard and Introspective Reimagination

• Calculated Demonic Attunement and Virtuous Demonic Scapegoating

• The Dangers of Improper Relationship to the Demonic

• Two Exercises of Virtuous Demonic Scapegoating

• The Interface of Prayer Life and the Demonic

• Conclusion

Introduction

There was a certain Theophilus the Penitent in the 6th century whose story makes evident a dramatic shift in our understanding of human relationships with the demonic.  His hagiography on Catholic Saints info runs thusly,

Due to slander accusing him of theft of church funds, the new bishop removed him from his position. In anger, Theophilus signed a pact with a demon to avenge himself on the bishop and regain his position. When he came to his senses, he begged for the help of Our Lady who intervened, recovered the pact, and tore it up. The pact was burned in the public square.

What is interesting about this recount is that consorting with demons in general was not the scandalous act, it was contracting with them out of pride.  Even more shocking is how very easy it is for him to acquire this contract and then to get out of it.  There is no sense of the demon having any rights, nor is there a sense of the demonic world as being able to exert any real power over the state of Theophilus' soul.  It wasn’t until the 13th century that the very act of communication with a  devil was seen as condemnable as witchcraft.  This development seems to have been an inconsistent misstep.  If Christian cosmology is correct, we are all subject to demonic interplay, even Jesus himself.  The question is, what are the most healthy ways to deal with this interplay?

The purpose of this treatise is to frame a spirituality for calculated demonic attunement, whereby the practitioner can make best use of the fact that they are in a world where engagement with the demonic is a given.  The hope is to reinvest in a cosmology that thwarts dualism and allows the practitioner to invest in God’s power to bring good out of evil.      

In the first section, we will begin by reminding the reader that Christianity is not a dualistic religion.  We will discuss the psycho-spiritual fields of salvation and damnation, discovering that the field of salvation is exponentially more vast than the field of damnation.  Noting that the Devil does not have the power do damn, we will discuss exactly what the Devil and demons do.  Remembering that demons do cause suffering and temptation we will frame these as wake up calls beckoning one to use of will, build fortitude, foster humility, inspire acceptance of grace, and ultimately salvation.

In the second section we will contemplate demonic rebellion and punishment.This reflection as a setup for the practice of introspective reimagination regarding the demonic.  Noting that it is near impossible to tell the difference between benevolent and malevolent celestial beings based sheerly on how they present to the individual psyche, we will ponder the first step in calculated demonic attunement, discernment.  For us the discernment of spirits will not be “objective” but introspective in that we are seeking to discern how best to react to any given spirit’s effect on us.  How can we use any spiritual stimulus to move toward deeper love of God? We will distinguish two types of calculated demonic attunement, the first toward violation and the second toward humility.  We will wrap up the section by employing two varieties of cosmic evangelization to the demonic realm, fulfillment and conversion. This reframe of the demonic as soteriological functionaries will enable us to up the skill set of calculated demonic attunement.   

In the final section, we will develop the skill of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We will begin by illustrating the poor result of improper relationships with demons.  These can lead to the weakening of both will and humility for the human.  We will discuss the vice of demonic displacement, taking a vice such as hate aimed at a demon and displacing it onto humans seen as in league with demons.  We will then parse various skills of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We will apply the dictum “love your enemy” to the demonic celestial beings, and urge forgiveness.  All of this in an attempt to accrue beatitude and mitigate demonic displacement.  Finally, we will urge the reader to remember the demonic as part of one’s regular prayer life.  This will help one bolster virtue, calibrate cosmology, and mitigate fear regarding the demonic realm.   

Non-Dualism: Dualistic Compatibility, Soteriology, and Theodicy

In this first section we will seek to refute any strict cosmic dualism in Christainty and begin the groundwork for reframing the role of the demonic in Christian consciousness. Only after this task is accomplished can we move to the actual skills of calculated demonic attunement.

The Compatible Dualities of Christianity Against Dualism

The most striking problem of modern Christian beliefs about the Devil and the demonic realm is the striking affinity for strict dualism that it often erroneously embraces.  Christianity is not opposed to a duality of compatibility.  There is an observable duality in the cosmos that is compatible and complementary, yet bound according to Christian ontology into a single functioning creation.  The foundational nature of these dualities are noted in the treatise Paradoxes and Disorders, 

In the first chapter of Genesis, God begins creation by division.  First and foremost the act of creation itself creates a division from God, substantially.  Meaning, that we conceive of a unified reality God, and an opposing unified reality, everything else. Based on simple observation of the first chapter of Genesis the dualism that is instituted by creation itself is continued through the creation process.  The first creation story can be interpreted as God creating through his word and drawing by that creative Word distinction after distinction, each in its proper place, until the very end when God looks at the entirety and it is all bound by one relationship, the goodness that flows from God.  This creation story makes the first hypostatic division in creation itself between light and darkness which is perceivable through night and day.  The first three noted creations are creations as completely dualistic division, dark from light, sky from terrain, water from earth.  We observe the most basic creation, light and dark, by what is made on the fourth day, the sun and the moon.  These also for all of our human existence have given us a sense of the linear and cyclical nature of our creation.  Liner in the Sun, which crosses the sky daily at a radiant brightness, and the Moon, which monthly cycles through its phases.  These cycles couples with the stars, also created on the fourth day give us a sense of rhythm and cycle inherent on a cosmic scale, marking the seasons and giving time, which is experienced linearly, a binding sense of cycle and velocity.  These dualities are experienced simultaneously without contradiction.  The paradox comes when we parse them out to “extremities” or “objects” as distinct and negate the relationship they share that binds them into one. Or the paradox comes when we bind them to one and deny that they are actually distinct.

Yet any dualism that makes a total separation between the two aspects of the duality goes contrary to everything that Christianity asserts about the world.  One common example of sloppy Christian thought is the absolute dualism some hold between good and evil.  This dualism occurs when one treats good and evil as co equal and separate substances.  Treating these as two realities, they are often put under the lens of a substantial approach to paradox.  But since they are oppositional as opposed to compatible or complementary, there is no longer a paradox between their existence only a contrast.  By such a contrast Christans conceive of a cosmos at war with itself.  The war is between the agents of God who are good and the agents of evil who belong to the Devil.  One then hits the irreconcilable paradox of how a good God is all powerful but there is still “evil”.  The view of the substantial paradox bifurcates good and evil into a strict dualism.  We commented on this confusion and sought to rectify it from a Christian point of view in Paradoxes and Disorders,

we experience sin and evil but all of creation is good, we experience sin and evil but Christ has conquered them, God is in absolute control but humans are in rebellion.  We are now dancing around the classic paradox, if God is good, why is there evil?  One basic biblical theodicy is that God brings good from evil.  But again, evil does not “exist” as an object, it is a lack of presence in a teleological process of reordering toward a good end.  God has taken simple static goodness (Himself) and expanded it to simple creation (Eden) and now, “Oh fortunate fall”, God expands it to a vast complex of Goodness (The New heaven and New Earth).  Thus in Romans chapter 5 Paul can truly say, “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

To approach good and evil as two equal realities in opposition is not the Christian approach.  Even the novice student of theology knows that Saint Augustine opposed the Maneachians, a strict dualistic religion.  As Christianity found its home in the wider Greco-Roman culture it enculturated in a manner that sought to avoid dangerous syncretism with religions such as Manechianism or Zoroastrianism.  

There are many appropriate Christain responses to theodicy, all of which have strengths and weaknesses.  Approaching the problem of good and evil as a paradox under the analysis of substance or spectrum does not work, because God created everything good.  Since everything that exists is good, evil cannot “exist”. Hence Augustine’s famous formulation of evil as a “lack of good”.  The treatise Paradoxes and Disorders, attempted to analyze the existence of evil under the interpretation of a process approach to paradox.  This approach is applicable when the paradox involves any element of reality that instigates flux.  Elements of flux are very mysterious. They aren’t objects or relationships.  Rather they are the matrices that drive causality or that are developers of potentiality.  In this case, the element of flux is a void of goodness that allows for virtuous growth. 

It is not our purpose here to rehash Christain theodicy.  Our brief attempt is meant to demonstrate Christian grappling with the issue and to illustrate that this grappling at times mistakenly tolerates strict dualism or at least an irreconcilable substantial paradox.  But these tolerations are a syncretism that is strictly against Christian cosmology. Such dualism is dangerous, not just as a philosophical position, but it is dangerous for the believer, who is then able to categorize parts of creation (including people) as evil.  For the Judeo-Christain, this must be incorrect because God saw everything he made, and it was very good.  In this treatise, we maintain God’s ultimate goodness and, at the same time, oneness and absolute providence.

Yet dualism prevails.  Most Christians do not have time to speculate on Christian ontology and systematically organize their thoughts on issues concerning theodicy.  This is not overly worrisome, because though Christianity is not a dualistic religion, neither is it a gnostic religion.  Christians rely on Christ for their salvation.  Yet, still, we must point out the dangers in misunderstanding Christain theodicy in order to alleviate suffering and possible occasions for sin. This especially concerns popular notions of demons and the Devil.  Demons and the Devil are often seen as “agents of evil” or on evil’s “side” in the cosmic battle that is playing out to a determined end according to a heretical Christian dualism.  Our task is to neutralize the dualism without negating the very real and very powerful role of demons and even the Devil.

In order to do this, we will first attempt to set the operable fields of salvation and damnation.  From this, we will be able to determine the maneuverability of the demonic in our psycho-spiritual world.  We will round out this section with a contemplation on the various functions of demons and how they operate in our lives. 

   

Soteriological Terrain and Demonic Maneuverability

 

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.”  This is how Jesus describes the road to salvation in Chapter seven of Matthew’s gospel.  That aphorism is expanded in Luke’s gospel to an answer to the question, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”  Jesus says,

“Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.  After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where [you] are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.  And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”  

But the saying in Luke’s Gospel is not the same as in Matthews.  Mathew is concerned with the correct practice of Christianity which, in a pagan world, seems narrow.  Luke’s operable theme here is the salvation of the Gentiles.  The person who questions is presumably Jewish.  One can assume that he expects the answer to be “yes, only Jews because Gentiles are heathens”.  The passage starts off promising.  It seems like the perfect set up for the self-validation of the querent.  Yet it quickly turns the questioner to realize that he is the one who is at the wrong door.

Often when one quotes this says, it is assumed that one is on the correct path and one’s opponent or opposition is on the wrong path.  Jesus uses it in Luke’s context to express an unexpected expansiveness to the consternation of the interlocutor.  The answer seems to be “the door is narrow for jerks like you who want to exclude people and exalt yourself.”  This is simply a particularization of “the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”

This is especially true if one sees alternative “paths” as being founded on culture, or knowledge, or anything other than singular focused love of God expressed through love of neighbor.  The narrow gate is this love, but its application is extremely wide.  The harsh part is that all of those applications, bereft of love and sincerity, become one’s downfall.  In such a case anything that seemed “good” becomes a stumbling block and the gate is extremely wide, because the seeker did not have the one thing they needed, love.

Contrast this with another famous saying of Jesus, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  In Matthew’s gospel, this passage is also connected to problems of the self righteous.  Jesus has just admonished Jewish towns who rejected his message and professed hope in Gentile towns on the judgment day.  He praises God for this wisdom of simplicity and then he offers rest to the weary.  It seems the key to the passage is meekness and humbleness of heart.  Those who are proud and expect wrath for others don’t seem to fare well in Jesus’ teaching.  

What we would like to focus on is the light burden of Christ, which sets a field of salvation that is vast and wide, as opposed to the field of damnation, which seems rather restricted by comparison.  First one does need to consciously cultivate virtue.  One virtue is seeking Truth, but “attaining it” (though good and beneficial) is not required.  Again, Christianity is not a gnostic religion.  Christ saves, not knowledge and its use.  Knowledge is more than simply an instrumental good. At the same time, its good comes from how it is used at the service of faith, hope, and love.  Interestingly, the primacy of the cardinal virtues means that, regarding one’s personal salvation, being in error can work out just as well as possessing the truth.  Faith, hope, and love are the primary virtues to be cultivated, and the greatest of these is love.  Any knowledge, discipline, experience, volition, or action that can serve these is beneficial. 

The treatise Relativism, Conscience, and The Magisterium discussed the primary importance of sincerity of conscience and the use of will to follow one’s conscience when one experiences the personal judgment.  As was pointed out in that treatise there is a clear distinction between evil and sin.

Again, an “evil” act is different than a “sinful” act.  You can accidentally do great evil, you cannot accidentally, unknowingly or unwillingly commit great sin.  In fact you cannot accidentally sin at all.  You can be forced to do great evil, but you cannot be forced to sin.  You can unknowingly do great evil, you cannot knowingly sin.  You cannot accidentally or unknowingly offend God even though you can unknowingly do action that have negative effects on your relationship with God, for example missing mass.  

The moral weight of the “evil” action is independent of one’s knowledge or belief about the action.  Again, in the Catholic worldview there is an objectively “right” and an objectively “wrong” way to act.  That is to say, any given action can be objectively calculated as good or evil to a greater or lesser degree.   This calculation can be done at least by God, and church teaching on conscience implies that it can accurately be done by humans, given the right circumstances.  But if sin implies culpability, there are not objectively “sinful” actions.  Any action could be done by accident, or without proper knowledge.

The very real distinction between evil and sin shows how restrictive the field of damnation is and how God allows for the widest possible chance for salvation.  The damage we do by doing evil is real and painful, but to do it accidentally, unwittingly, or without free choice is not damnable. God desires a relationship with us, not to secretly damn us all to eternal fire for reasons we were unaware of.  Thus the gospel assures us of God’s widest compassion.   

All of our effort pales in comparison to the greatest gifts that God grants us. Conscious accumulation of virtue is probably the tiniest aspect of salvation.  The more prominent aspect of salvation is grace.  Much like the speculation that unobservable dark matter and energy make up over 95% of the universe, the pure grace of God creates the effect of salvation.  Grace is God’s extending toward us, gifting us salvation.  It is God’s every effort to allure us toward justification.  Again like the dark universe, most of what that means is probably completely lost on humanity, maybe even beyond our grasp.  Concerning grace, one may reflect on the odor and color of the flower.  Even if flowers have the will to purposefully emit odors they do not have olfactory sensory detectors. Nor do flowers have sense detectors to register color.  They do not have attraction to color or transcendent awareness of beauty.  Evolution and divine providence have allowed them to garner the special gift of odor and color that allows them to survive as a species.  Even that reproduction is beyond their volitional ability.  They rely on “higher beings” to get the job done for them.  Like all analogies, this fails at a certain point.  But, the comparable quality and quantity between the effectiveness of grace and will on one’s salvation is hard to overestimate, except by denying free will altogether.  As hard as we work, we accomplish little toward our own salvation. The work we do is at best a response to God’s good graces, like the completely unknown gifts of odor, color, and bees to the flowers.  Once one realizes this one can, “Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?”

God puts all of creation at our disposal for salvation.  The absoluteness of this can come off as shocking.  When God saw everything he made he said it was “very good”. Even most sin can, in fact, be worked around by God to bring us back to him.  The latter two sections of this treatise will aim at pondering howe even demons can be amenable to this good effect.  The standard story of the Hebrew scriptures demonstrates a common theodicy is sin leads to suffering, and suffering turns one back to God.  The entire cycle of the book of Judges relates this, not to mention the spiritual trajectory of each of the Patriarchs of Genesis.  In each case, God is able to bring good out of not just evil, which is a lack of goodness to be developed, but also the tendency toward that nothingness by persons or people.  This tendency is willful sin. With that in mind, we can now begin to shift from the field of salvation to the field of damnation.

I say begin to shift because we will first talk about venial sin.  These sins are evil acts that do not employ full will or knowledge and/or are not of grave matter.  These sins are not damnable, but they can be greatly harmful and can definitely begin the path to damnation.  The nature of personal sin takes two factors into consideration, consequence, and culpability. The objective evil of a sin is the consequence, the culpability relates to how one uses one’s will and knowledge in the act one performs.  One can accidentally do great evil, but one cannot accidentally sin.  So for venial sin, one may use the full force of one’s will and knowledge, but the evil consequences are small. Or one can do a tremendously evil act (grave matter) but one did so mostly uninformed, or by result of limitation of will.  These do not limit the evil effect of the action, but they do mitigate, or possibly eliminate culpability. If such venial sins go unchecked they no doubt will lead to a habituation that facilitates a life of suffering for one’s self and for others.

Of all the actions one can take, mortal sin is the field of damnation.  For a sin to be mortal it must fulfill three criteria.  It must be of grave matter, that is it must be a serious sin.  It must be done with the actor’s full knowledge, that is, they must in every way know and believe the what, the why and the consequences of their actions.  Lastly, it must be done with complete consent, that is, the actor uses the full force of their will without any coercion or limitation.  The extreme nature of these requirements makes the performance of a mortal sin grossly evident to the actor. “Full” and “Complete” leave no room for doubt.  A mortal sin is a full conscious rebellion against God.  Conversely, given that two criteria are psycho-spiritual, it makes it impossible to know for sure if anyone else is in a state of mortal sin.  One can only make a best guess.

Even in a state of mortal sin, one still has the avenue of God’s mercy to repent and avoid damnation.  The only irreparable damage to be done is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.  This phrase sounds as though it is referring to an act, but it is actually referring to a state of being. The Catechism states, “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.’  There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.  Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.”

This classically plays out under certain categories.  The two major categories are despair and presumption.  To doubt that God could forgive you or to presume God will forgive leaves one in a spiritually perilous situation.  Other varieties are obstinance, to purposefully and willfully cling to sinful activities, and envy of another’s goodness, desired to deprive someone of a good they possess.  These things are not something you “do”, which are then never forgiven.  They are dispositions that prohibit a relationship of forgiveness between oneself and God.  To turn from them allows the relationship to flow, to remain in them blocks one from receiving forgiveness freely offered.

What we see when assessing the situation of salvation and God’s mercy is one of maximal salvific maneuverability.  All of creation and the vast majority of the human soul-scape is a field of salvation.  Then there is a very real, but very limited field of damnation which is horrific.  This dynamic is not dependent on action as such, or even virtue solely.  As Escalus rightly notes in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, “Well, heaven forgive him and forgive us all.  Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall”.  It is possible that venial or even repented mortal sins can ultimately lead one to great virtue and acceptance of salvation.  God is demonstrably powerful enough to bring good out of evil.  

This may lead to the question of “universalism” that all people will eventually be saved. The possibility of universalism is safeguarded by God’s free gift of abundant grace, sufficient for the salvation of all humanity.  The reality of hell is safeguarded by human free will and our ability to ultimately reject that grace, expansive as the offer is.  That said the restrictive nature of the field of damnation can lead one to believe that those who would end up in hell were few, possibly none, though there is no way to validate it here and now.  

One thing is for sure, there will probably be a surprising amount of purgatory in store for every soul after the personal judgment. Purgatory purifies us of the negative effects, the poor habituation of all of our evil deeds.  These habituations would take place whether or not we willfully or knowingly did the actions.  As Saint Paul notes in 1 Corinthians,

 But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one’s work.  If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.  But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.

Thus, purgatory purifies the effect of our venial sin and purifies us from the effect of evil we do, which, though not known or chosen, still has a habituating effect.  This purification takes time because we are temporal creatures.  It may be a long time, but that length is a result of the wide field of salvation.  All the circumstances that can be damaging, but not damning need to be rectified.  After this purification, we are able to enter heaven in a state that will allow us to experience its goodness appropriately.

Here at the end of this part, it is worth noting that we have traversed the field of soteriology including the field of damnation, we have discussed sin, it’s varieties, it’s culpability and how it relates to evil.  Still, we have barely mentioned the Devil.  Everything we have been discussing has concerned the psycho-spiritual dimensions of humanity and the situation of the objective evil (or “lack of good”) in the cosmos. Why? One would assume the Devil would come up when discussing the field of damnation. The answer is simple and obvious once it is pointed out, but often not realized by Christians because of their misguided dualism.  The reason we have not been dwelling on the Devil, even though we have been discussing everything concerning damnation, is because the Devil has no power over damnation.  The Devil has absolutely no ability or authority to damn a person to hell. Couple that God’s own claim, “I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! Why should you die, house of Israel?”  God does not desire our damnation. The only person left with the power to send one to hell is one’s self.  It is by knowledgeable, willful, and stubborn rebellion against God that we send ourselves from his presence.  The Devil is not one to be feared in the way that most Christians seem to fear him.  Yet this is not how most Christians view the Devil or demons.  The demonic is unreflectively assumed as having the “power to damn” a person or make claims on his soul before some court run by procedural rules.  The beautiful story of Theophilus the Penitent demonstrates who grossly in error such a view is.   

This fear comes from a practical dualism that has infected Christianity, where the Devil is seen as God’s equal on the side of an existing evil.  But, as is pointed out in the treatise Paradoxes and Disorders, evil does not “exist”. Evil is a lack of goodness or a good thing directed at the wrong end.  These phenomena cause great suffering, but “evil” is not the domain of the Devil, because evil is not a domain. This is why the Devil is aligned with “darkness” which obscures reality, as opposed to light, which reveals it.  Yet the Devil and demons do need to be paid attention to, so the second part of this section we will begin an analysis and application of how one could approach the Devil or demons in ways conducive to a proper Christain cosmology.

Spiritual Role of the Devil and Demons

  

Popularly, the Devil is often seen as a rebellious spirit who was jealous of humanity’s role in the creation and set out to destroy God’s good work.  This entire mythology was adapted and created in post biblical speculation using bits and pieces of scripture, often interpreting things like the snake of Eden or the Dragon of Revelations as “the Devil” when there is little to no indication in the text that this is the case.  In this mythology, the Devil is seeking to destroy God’s creation by implementing mayhem and somehow, even though he works “against” God, he managed to gain control over a terrain of misery called Hell.  If a human falls prey to the wily ways of the Devil, he can steal your soul based on some legal maneuvering and bring you to his territory, where his pride and jealousy manifest as a torture chamber for humans. 

This almost baseless mythology is often shot through with a host contradictory beliefs about the Devil.  The popular mind picks these beliefs and applies them to the few and obscure passages from the  Bible to weave a hodgepodge myths that ultimately make no sense together, especially when one takes the absolute sovereignty of God and the fundamental goodness of creation into account. In the Scriptures, God almost always has dominion over apparent demonic figures. This dominion is not in an underhanded, “they can rebel, but ultimately they will be doing God’s will unbeknownst to them kind of way”, but a direct dominion.  God often permits or even orders what appears to be demons to do their jobs. 

There are basically two “jobs” that we accredit to demons, tempter, and torturer.  In this treatise, we are seeking to turn those two jobs to our advantage and the advantage will generally be fortitude especially concerning the fields of humility and volition.  God desires all of these virtues to grow in us.  As we shall see, the demons offer opportunities for them to grow.  

The easiest and most ready example of what we might consider demons being God’s agents is the beginning of the book of Job where a satanic figure is clearly seen as an agent of God’s who has a firm place in his celestial court.  In this work, the Devil is seen as a tester and purifier who operates at the behest of God. He plays both roles of tempter and torturer under God’s license.  The tests are tests of hardship and a subsequent losing of gratitude toward God.  According to the Devil, if one is well off and all is well, it is easy to praise God, but when one suffers, one is more apt to curse God.  The Devil’s job is to test humanity to see if they are faithful, even when things go wrong.  Interestingly, the Devil’s stated position does not suit the narrative of the beatitudes, where, when one is well off it is near impossible to worship God because one is “self-reliant” and forgets God’s dominion.  The beatitude and the cross both teach us that suffering leads quickly to God and reliance on his dominion.  The treatise Paradoxes and Disorders made much concerning this,

From the punishments in Genesis 3 we get a teleology of suffering.  Christian hope demands that we proclaim, “we know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  The punishments each involve suffering attached to the purpose of the individual.  This suffering is the experience of evil, which is what humanity asked for by eating the fruit.  The punishments are also connected to the sustenance and growth of humanity. They each end in things that maintain humanity and therefore each involves a teleology of life. The meta narrative itself shows us the abundant love and fidelity of God, that the first parents in a relationship of love broke faith, and initiated a splintering in the cosmos.  But that splintering, though painful, is expansive and that expansion is brought back into harmony by divine love.  The experience of that “reordering” from dual communion in paradise to the communion of the multitude in The Eschaton is cosmological disorder in the cosmos, but Christian faith and hope dictates that this disorder will lead to an end point (teleology).  Thus Saint Paul can say in Romans chapter 8,

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.  For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God;  for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope  that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.  We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  

        

Given this, the “satanic figure” this passage is not a rebellious figure.  He is only seeking to set conditions for Job’s further justification.  On two notable occasions, Paul indicates a “teaching role” for the Devil by this exact pedagogy.  The first is 1Tim 1:20, “Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith, among them Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.”  The second is in 1Cor 5:5

Where Paul states, “you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord”.  In each case, Paul seems to advise leaving people who have “knowingly” gone astray to their own devices and the consequences of their actions.  But in truth, they are not left to “their own” devices, because some sort of principality or power is there to deal with them.  The interesting thing is that in each case it is assumed things will work out for the good.  By simply reading the text, one cannot assume that the principality (Satan) is not also aiming for a good outcome. 

One may argue that 1Cor 5:5 implies some sort of hellish torture that Satan is inflicting on the sinner out of malice.  But that image is informed by the long post-biblical development of the image of Satan, not the text itself.  It is clear that Satan’s job in this text is to “fix” a problem. What about the “destruction of the flesh”?  The treatise Toward Appropriate Thanatosian Piety briefly discussed Paul’s use of the term “flesh” and it may be helpful to note it here.

“The Flesh” seems to be all our less desirable spiritual dispositions as Christians.  “The Flesh” obviously does not directly correlate to physical flesh, and “The Spirit” must interact with our human corporeal human aspects in order to make proper morality happen.  So why call these spiritual dispositions “The Flesh”, it seem overly confusing and easily misunderstood, tending toward a docetic view of anti-corporeality.

Our position is that Saint Paul is playing off Greek assumptions about the body and spirit, coupled with the assumption of Christ as King over his servant Holy Death to make a point about morality and life in Christ.  In the popular Greek consciousness the body is the prison of the spirit.  The body is dissoluble and subject to death, whereas the spirit is immortal and everlasting.  The greek view is definitely a stable immortality of the soul, there is no destruction of the spirit and utter destruction of “evil” flesh.  This was not the traditional Jewish view, nor was it the view of emergent Christianity.  But the forces of hellenization are strong, and Saint Paul is a master at taking the good of a culture and using it to his advantage.

 According to standard Pauline theology, what Satan seems to be helping to destroy is the worst part of the human spirit, the parts that need to pass away, so the eternal parts can be free. 

This pedagogy is not impartation of cognitive knowledge, but a direction through experiential knowledge, most likely, the experience of the cycle of sin, suffering, humility, repentance, and justification begun in the garden by the serpent.  The knowledge of “good and evil” is experiential knowledge.  This situation will ultimately bring humanity to a deeper fulfillment by means of the cosmological paradox, where the First Parents, splinter into multiple billions of self regarding sentient beings that must first self-regard (alienation) then turn from that splintered selfishness back to a relationship of oneness. 

This painful process of growth is what makes for true, deeper and developed love.  The pedagogy comes through two mediums, suffering and temptation.  Suffering tends to be meant to draw one back to God in humility.  One can see that the New Testament displays a variety of demonic forces that abide simply to instill random suffering, such as “madness”  or disease in order, according to John 9, to demonstrate the Glory of God.  Demons as torturers are very much evokers of fortitude and humility. 

Temptation seems to be designed to strengthen and develop will as it is exercised through knowledge.  Demons can tempt by inflammation of concupiscence, the disposition to rebelliousness being the worst.  They may also tempt by coloring the psyche toward a poor choice, or to tempt toward disordered investment in the world.  These temptations are especially damaging if the subject uses their will to choose something that they believe is wrong, thus culpability is in play.  Even without culpability, evil choices will cause suffering.     

One can reframe Jesus’ own temptation as a demonstration of how the human will and demonic temptation interact toward edification.  The treatise The Spiritual Sacrifice of the Incarnation discussed how Jesus had to learn to navigate the world just like any other human, and the temptation would be one thing he needed to learn to navigate,

The two knowledges of Christ reminds us that vulnerability of the incarnation is not just  physical, it is spiritual as well. So, worse yet for Jesus, the spiritual vulnerability means that he did not immediately know how to solve the problem.  He had to navigate his friendships just like us.  This is an intercessor to have seated at the right hand of The Father, one who has truly shared in our experience.  Fatigue, ignorance, powerlessness, frustration, temptation these are not necessarily “sins”.   

In Luke’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert “to be tempted by the Devil”, which implies it is not only necessary but somehow useful if it is urged by the operation of the Spirit.  Temptation is hard to navigate, but if it is successfully maneuvered, such as Jesus was able to do, it strengthens the will and develops one’s empathetic ability.   It inculcates skills for agapic love and develops the human potential of the experient.  It is a dangerous game, but one that must be played if we are to be creatures who freely love God and each other.  Therefore we are going to spend the remainder of this section parsing out how temptation evokes the use of will and instills fortitude and humility.

We are going to distinguish two ways that evil manifests in our lives and, in each case, how temptation relates to them. The first is what we may call direct temptations, the second is when one’s freedom is limited.  The first may simply be called “temptation”.  It is all the conscious things we would imagine the temptation to be.  Basically, this is a conscious “tickling” of desire toward something the experient is aware (knows or belives) is evil.  If this moves one to use one’s will toward action, this is sin.  This sin will cause suffering, either immediately or ultimately.  

This is a part of the process of the cosmological paradox as it relates to the individual and is also a redemptive and pedagogical tool.  It is beyond the scope of this treatise, but helpful, to point out that this is one of an array of pedagogical tools, as varied as the experience of life itself.  It is worth pointing out because, for example, joy is as much a pedagogical tool of the divine as suffering.  If this is not recognized, then God comes off as a low-grade tyrant.  Indeed, all experiences of life are possible avenues of learning.  Focusing on suffering reminds one of this, but curiously suffering, especially deeper existential suffering, is a basic motivator toward the transcendent.

The lesson of suffering isn’t necessarily causal, (I did this and I suffered, so I won’t do that anymore). Even the just suffer causally and at the behest of demons.  So, for example, an assault one may have is “possession” by a demon.  If one negotiates this possession in an attempt to gain power, such as Theophilus did, it is prideful sin.  But there seem to be times when the possession is not an act of will.  In this case, the possession can be redemptive and even still be pedagogical.  One can learn humility.  One can learn to offer one’s suffering up for others.  One can find innovative ways to use their suffering to demonstrate the glory of God.  There are two ways this type of possession can go awry for the experient.  First, the experient themself can despair of God’s goodness and power and/or ability.  The second way is that the actions of the possessed can evoke fear and cause others to despair of God’s goodness, power, and/or ability.  In as much as these things are done knowledgeably and willfully, the one who chooses despair is culpable and it is sin.  But fear or confusion are generally limitations of both knowledge and volition.  A demon who operates this way operates toward purgatory, not damnation. The result plays into our theodicy, it seems the maneuver is an attempt to wake the experient wake up to God’s power if they are strong enough to take the experience as a motivation toward salvation as opposed to being driven to despair.  All this works for standard causal suffering as well or even the suffering of the just. 

Once one sees how this can be worked toward the good, one can see that the demons in Matthew 8 in a new light, possibly not part of a cosmic battle, but two complementary plans of turning people toward God.  Here is the text,

When he came to the other side, to the territory of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road. They cried out, “What have you to do with us,* Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?”  Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding.  The demons pleaded with him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.”  And he said to them, “Go then!” They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned.  The swineherds ran away, and when they came to the town they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs.  Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district. 

This passage is intriguing for many reasons.  The demons seem to immediately recognize Jesus as authoritative and that he is going to cause them trouble, but they seem to have an idea that whatever is going on is not happening on schedule. On the face of it what seems to be happening early is the savior’s contact with the gentiles.  The destruction of the swine and subsequent healing indicates a ritual purity in the Hebrew mind that the savior would have.  But what if this is mainly about the suffering being inflicted by the demons.  With the employment of introspective reimagination, one can stop hearing the demons as shrieking evil cowerers.  One may hear them being “about business”. They have a “job” to do, inflict suffering and turn the subjects and the community back to God.  But it hasn’t happened yet, when “the boss” shows up.  “Why are you early, we aren’t done yet?” he then does the job himself directly.  This reading can be interpreted as a lens on how justification comes not just from experience suffering, but from experiencing relief or freedom.  The fact that Jesus himself heals the suffering links to the fact that Jesus takes on our pain and suffering in his passion.  This is the gospel in a nutshell.        

Most people would shudder to think of these demons as being part of the process of justification, but again, Paul states, “all things work to good for those who love the Lord.”  Two theological mistakes here can cause huge problems for theodicy. The first is falsely equivocate evil (objective acts) and sin (chosen rebellion).  The other is investing in a cosmology that has an overly legalistic dual hierarchy of being.  As was noted, a major point of this treatise is to neutralize such a dualistic view of reality.  It is also noteworthy to point out that temptations is only active in the field of conscious life.  The next manifestation of evil is not.

Paul often points out how we are slaves to sin, and Christ is our liberator.  Exactly how one becomes a slave to sin is a complex spiritual phenomenon.  It hinges on what was discussed in the treatise Mythic History and Contemplative Prediction,

But this leads to the difference between our two psycho-spiritual limiters habit and character.  A habit can be immediately broken once it is realized and once one desires to.  For example, sometimes I want to remind myself to bring something to work, so I will purposely set my bag elsewhere in the evening.  That way when my habit pushes me to get the bag and I realize it’s not there I am summoned to a higher consciousness and reminded to bring whatever it was I needed to.  Now, this only works by force of will each time and without further reflection, one falls back into habitual action.  But by repetitious and constant use of will one can reshape habitual behavior over time and form new habits.          

Unlike habit, character is not immediately changeable by an act of will, though over a much greater period it can change.  Character is when one’s habitual behavior has formed into one’s personality in such a way as to be immediate irresistible or compulsory.  For example, when driving down a busy two lane highway most of us would not be able to choose to steer into oncoming traffic.  . . . There are many actions and behaviors that, though there are no physical limitations on our freedom, we cannot bring ourselves to do, or not do.  Character can change, but it is a much more gradual process and implies a slow degradation starting with much smaller steps . . . Standardized habitual behaviors become our character, which is immediately irresistible.  It is in this way that we become “slaves to sin”.  Because of the tendency, by original sin, to fall into bad behavior, we tend, when we are unreflective, to fall into bad habits.  If left unchecked, they become bad character, and it is a much longer road to reform.      

Inasmuch as a demonic power can successfully tempt one to choose evil, eventually, the experient will habituate to evil and possible form character traits that are the result of such a path.  In such a case the person cannot immediately choose to do otherwise because the temptation has worked into slavery. 

This fact can lead to a poor popular belief that the Devil can tempt so strongly that one has no choice, but this situation is “not exactly” a possession, just a temptation strong enough to force one’s hand and ultimately need to exclaim, “the Devil made me do it.”  But short of direct possession as described above, the Devil cannot make one do anything.  And when he does it is no sin,  because there is no will.  

The circumstances that lead to such an exclamation are usually that one has done evil, one is experiencing the consequences, and one wishes to shift culpability.  The narrative one puts out by this phrase is a singular “direct attack”, that was too strong and one submitted to.  The more likely possibility is that one unwittingly formed this bad habit and is now struggling to break it.  One could also have been enslaved by a series of tempting presentations that one could have resisted but willed to indulge, which has worked into a habit and subsequently into one’s character. In either case, the struggle to break the habit is met through the consciousness of its evil and then consciousness of temptation to perform it.  In such a case “the tempter” is the one bringing the evil to one’s consciousness “as a temptation”, not “making” one do it.  It seems “the tempter” is doing one a favor.  Otherwise, one would just move along and stay in an evil stupor.   

Under each variety of enslavement, if one is unaware, then one’s culpability is negligible to none.  Once one is aware and begins to have mastery, one’s culpability increases.  But our interest is that the conscious temptation is what helps one break the formerly unnoticed destructive evil.  Whether that conscious temptation leads to a better self mastery or a more sincere reliance on the grace and salvation of Christ, the temptation engaged and met is a step in a good direction.  A temptation is a wakeup call, and a tempter is one who wakes you up.  One sees this on painful display in the Lord’s prayer.  Speaking to God we say, “Lead us not into temptation [subject us not to trial] but deliver us from evil.” under either translation it is God who does these things to us.  In a more complex cosmological analysis, there are agents of this plan, demons.  But even in Jesus’ most intimate prayer, temptation and suffering are God’s domain.  With that in mind, we will proceed to the next section where we will reexamine our relationship to the Devil and demonic tempters in general in order to use their presence as a stepping stone to a better relationship with God.

In this section, we began by reminding the reader that Christianity is not a dualistic religion.  There is no cosmic struggle between the reality of good and the reality of evil because God made all things good and evil is a privation of the good. From there we went on to discuss the psycho-spiritual fields of salvation and damnation.  We discovered that the field of salvation is exponentially more vast than the field of damnation.  We also noted that the Devil has no power to damn anyone.  Next we discussed exactly what the Devil and demons do.  We noted that demons do cause suffering and temptation, but that these things are each wake up calls beckoning one to use of will, build fortitude, foster humility, inspire acceptance of grace, and ultimately salvation.

In the next section, we will contemplate demonic rebellion and punishment and delineate the two parts of calculated demonic attunement, discernment and application.  We will wrap the next section up by addressing two varieties of cosmic evangelization applicable to the demonic. In the last section we will offer practical skills for applying calculated demonic attunement in one’s spiritual life. 

Demonic Vagary and Calculated Demonic Attunement

In this first section we attempted to refute any strict cosmic dualism in Christainty and begin the groundwork for reframing the role of the demonic in Christian consciousness.  In the second section we will contemplate demonic rebellion and punishment.This reflection is a setup for the practice of introspective reimagination regarding the demonic.  Noting that it is near impossible to tell the difference between benevolent and malevolent celestial beings based sheerly on how they present to the individual psyche, we will ponder the first step in calculated demonic attunement, discernment.  For us the discernment of spirits will not be “objective” but introspective.  What we are seeking to discern how best to react to any given spirit’s effect on us.  How can we use any spiritual stimulus to move toward deeper love of God? We will distinguish two types of calculated demonic attunement, the first toward violation and the second toward humility.  We will wrap up the section by employing two varieties of cosmic evangelization to the demonic realm, fulfillment and conversion. This reframe of the demonic as soteriological functionaries will enable us to up the skill set of calculated demonic attunement.   

In the final section, we will develop the skill of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We will discuss the vice of demonic displacement, taking a vice such as hate aimed at a demon and displacing it onto humans seen as in league with demons.  We will then parse various skills of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We will apply the dictum “love your enemy” to the demonic celestial beings, and urged forgiveness.  

Contemplating Demonic Rebellion and Punishment

Are demons rebellious spirits as we often think of them or are they agents of God performing his less palatable errands?  The Bible seems to lean far more often toward the latter.  But the Catechism of the Catholic Church takes the few passages that vaguely hint at the former and weaves the standard narrative.

Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.  Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called "Satan" or the "devil".  The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.

Scripture speaks of the sin of these angels.  This "fall" consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter's words to our first parents: "You will be like God.” The devil "has sinned from the beginning"; he is "a liar and the father of lies".

It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that makes the angels' sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death.”

Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls "a murderer from the beginning", who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father.  "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” In its consequences the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God.

The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but "we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him."

  

So how does one bring into concert the apparent contradictions between the clear teaching of the Catechism and the vast majority of biblical literature on demons and Satan?

The first thing that must be noted, and is made evident in this passage, is that, for those who love Christ, the end result of the demonic will be good, whether the demons like it or not.  As we noted, either as torturers or tempters, what demons do is evoke in the experient volition, humility, fortitude and/or acceptance of grace.  Our optimistic teleology is the starting point of any spirituality that takes demons into regard. From there we can question, do demons approve of that good end or don’t they?  What seperates a demon from an angel, who is performing temptation or inflicting suffering?   

The passage from the Catechism clearly indicates a malevolent motive from the demons who chose evil over good.  It also implies that this choice is irrevocable, given the spiritual nature of the demon.  But “when” was that choice made, and why it was not irrevocable until then is left vague.   Many traditions, including Islam, suggest that Satan and the demons were jealous of the creation of humanity and thus there was a “mutual fall”.  Thus any point before the creation of humanity Satan seemed free to choose.  It is odd that once the choice was made it was irrevocable.  The Catechism makes no cosmological assertions.  It simply relates that irrevocability to the finality of the human personal judgment as a pedagogical point.  This pedagogical use of the demonic condition as it relates to the human condition is almost universal to extra biblical demonic speculation.  Most often the stories and beliefs about demons are helpful because they explain our own spiritual conditions. 

Was there a “time” for demons to make these choices?  Aquinas seems to think so.  In the Summa [P1 Q63 A5]  he states 

We must therefore reply that, on the contrary, it was impossible for the angel to sin in the first instant by an inordinate act of free-will. For although a thing can begin to act in the first instant of its existence, nevertheless, that operation which begins with the existence comes of the agent from which it drew its nature; just as upward movement in fire comes of its productive cause. Therefore, if there be anything which derives its nature from a defective cause, which can be the cause of a defective action, it can in the first instant of its existence have a defective operation; just as the leg, which is defective from birth, through a defect in the principle of generation, begins at once to limp. But the agent which brought the angels into existence, namely, God, cannot be the cause of sin. Consequently it cannot be said that the devil was wicked in the first instant of his creation.

But, if there is a “time” when these angels were good why does their one time choice need to be irrevocable?  It seems more like a lesson to us, even in the catechism, that a point can be reached when our choices become irrevocable.  

There is no scripture that seems to assert the irrevocability of “demonic choice”.  As we have often noted, most scripture puts what we call the “demons” directly under God’s dominion and carrying out his will.  The Catechism does not offer any authoritative source for this assertion, it only deduces irrevocability from the “spiritual nature” of the demon.  But it’s not clear why pure spiritual nature negates volition especially since volition is a spiritual attribute.  It may not be worth harping on except that we shall see how the belief of irrevocability causes humans spiritual problems of their own.

An interesting omission in the catechism is any mention of the demonic relationship to hell.  Any Christian knows that Satan and the demons are in hell.  They “rule” and serve as torturers, but also suffer its torments.  But again, none of this is necessarily deductible from scripture, even when it appears that the demons are willfully rebellious.  It is also odd that they are “trapped” in hell as a punishment, yet still seem to roam the Earth seeking the ruin of men’s souls.  It seems one can see this confinement demonstrated in 2 Peter 2:4, “For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but condemned them to the chains of Tartarus and handed them over to be kept for judgment;” and from this one can deduce the “irrevocability” and finality of their rebellion. However, the passage is clear that they are there temporarily awaiting some sort of “judgment”.  It sounds more like purgatory, or even “something else”, because the situation offers the possibility for a good or bad judgment in the end. 

The Fourth Lateran Council also seems to imply demons tortured in hell, but a close read still leaves a vague position.

The devil and other demons were created by God naturally good, but they became evil by their own doing. Man, however, sinned at the prompting of the devil. . . .  All [people] will rise with their own bodies, which they now wear, so as to receive according to their deserts, whether these be good or bad; for the latter perpetual punishment with the devil, for the former eternal glory with Christ.

The Devil in this passage “prompts sin”, but this is in keeping with the general narrative of the Scriptures that these spirits work under service to God.  That we end up in Hell with devils does not necessitate that they suffer there.  One may speculate that they reform and are simply the celestial caretakers and wardens.

Calculated Demonic Attunement Step 1: Discernment

All of this musing is not to sow confusion or give one sympathy for the Devil’s task.  Rather, the aim is to point out vagary and help one invest in a spirituality which regards demonic in a way that results in edification of the human’s spiritual life.  Once one understands the complex nature of theodicy and our beliefs and traditions about spiritual life, especially how undefined some previously apparent stalwart beliefs are, one can begin the process of calculated demonic attunement.  Calculated demonic attunement is not giving one’s self over to the demonic or succumbing to temptation and evil.  It is a recognition of the role of the demonic in a way that helps one advance in virtue. Calculated demonic attunement is a spiritual technique that takes into account the interface of divine sovereignty, theodicy, teleology, and cosmology in order to allow the practitioner to recognize the role of demons in one’s life and use that relationship to better maneuver one’s perception and volition toward virtue.  The particular virtues it bolsters are fortitude, the conscious exercise of will, humility, and acceptance of grace.  Calculated demonic attunement involves two steps. First, one must garner skills for discernment of spirits and accrue a healthy respect for the difficulty of this task. The second step is to recalculate one’s regard for and relationship to the demonic in order to allow that relationship to bear maximal fruit in acquiring virtue.   This process requires two skills. First it takes a fair amount of introspective reimagination and second, it takes a buy into the possibility of cosmic evangelization.  For the remainder of this section, we will explore each step in turn.

To begin discussing discernment of spirits it will help to contemplate the various roles of celestial beings.  Basically, there are only two types of celestial beings, those who aim to help one seek God and those that seek to detract from one’s union with God.  The treatise Toward Appropriate Thanatosian Piety, discusses one metric for discerning spirits derived from St. Augustine’s  Book X of City of God.  It was a simple as, “Augustine’s calculation for a spiritual power being an angel or a demon is whether it draws worship to itself or to God.”  This idea was expanded in the treatise Cosmic Evangelization using Augustine’s calculation for a spiritual power being an angel or a demon is whether it draws worship to itself or to God. In the next section, we will draw on the skills of that treatise as we discuss the second step of calculated demonic attunement.  Apart from simple self glorification, the demonic may as a side strategy draw your attention to something else as a distraction from God.  It may be that demon’s “realm”, for example, which in turn would bring glory to the demon as opposed to God.  Both angels and demons are directly concerned with the salvation of humanity, for better or for worse.  Thus conscious regard for their role is valuable for one seeking life in Christ either way. 

Setting aside for now the question of how one calculates whether a spiritual being is rebellious or not, it is pertinent to note that celestial beings perform all the basic functions of the cosmos.  But now we go back to the fact that the entire cosmos is geared toward communicating God’s love to us and our love to God and each other.  The treatise Sacramental Cosmology notes,

A sacramental cosmology simply means that God created the reality as a communication system of love and all of it is geared toward that end.  Thus physical reality works in conjunction with spiritual reality to convey the grace of God and draw one specific part of that creation, the human, in a life of shared love with God. 

So in as much as any celestial being is facilitating the cosmos, it is facilitating this communication of love.  Our former musings concerning the roles of demons show how they are still at our disposal for this function, either by building fortitude or humility.  Just as the field of salvation vastly outstrips the field of damnation, the portion of celestial beings who seek to help must vastly outstrip the portion who seek to detract.  Even the small number who seek to detract cannot by their own power be successful and can even be used by the human subject to reach the loving relationship the seek to mitigate.

Our theodicy has a certain impact on the practice of discernment on a personal level.  It turns out to be is more helpful to discern the possible effects of the celestial interaction on one’s soul than any motives or rebellious nature of the demon.  That is to say, the discernment is “how did my interaction with this celestial being effecting my relationship with God?”  Not,”is this celestial being an angel or demon?” As one feels spiritually or psychologically moved in one direction or another, one asks, is this motion going to grow my love for God and neighbor?  If the effect is a poor effect, how can I alter or refocus the effect to be good?  This is much different a discernment that is object focused. “What is the intention of the celestial being?”  Since all things work to god for those who love, a demon’s intention or state (rebellious) is of minimal interest. 

The simple fact is, it is almost impossible to know if any celestial being one is interacting with is an angel or demon as traditionally defined.  There is a certain apophatic interchangeability of celestial beings.  That is to say, given Christain theodicy, teleology, and the scope of the fields of salvation and damnation, there is no easy way to know the nature and intent of a celestial being one may be personally engaging with.  One can only know that it is possible to use this engagement toward recognizing and accepting grace, or ignoring and/or rejecting grace.

There are doubtless interactions that cause the human suffering or temptation that are pedagogical from the point of view of the celestial being.  Such a celestial being is in the order of beings often note in sacred scriptures who are doing the will of God but for all practical purposes appear to be “demons”  They are angels because they are not in rebellion.  But to one improperly disposed, they appear to be demons.  When the people of Jerusalem experienced the plague of 2 Samuel 24 it is certain that that “angel of the lord” appeared to them to be a demon.  It may not even be improper to call him a “demon” if what one means is, “learn the lesson of suffering”.  But that celestial being is not in rebellion against God.  

Any such a functionary celestial being is not in rebellion.  Rather such a being is dancing on the edge of “the void”, the nothingness of evil.  That nothingness, according to the cosmological paradox, is there to allow for the dynamic growth of the process paradox.  Such an angel’s job would be to facilitate that growth.  But in order to do that they would need to exploit the interface of ontological agency (good reality) and nothingness (evil).  This goes for the mechanisms of creation, such as plagues and volcanoes, just as it may go for psycho-spiritual realities such as “temptation”.  The “temptation” may be pointing out the evil in order to develop virtue in the soul.  The intention of the tempting agent may be pure.  It is our reaction to the temptation which will decide the soteriological outcome, not the intention of the tempter.  

In fact, the often noted “rebellion” of some spiritual beings may have been necessary for them to “dance on the edge of the void” in the first place. The dual fall, was the reult of the first parent’s choice.  Now that rebellion is available as an option, there are beings that make it a reality by investing in it. They would then need to remain in that state in order to tend to the humans who remain in such a state, even in an everlasting situation (hell).  In this case, demons are the edge wardens of oblivion.  Their job would be to draw or tempt the human toward that cliff.  But the teleological purpose of such beings is in order to allow the dynamism of growth.  As angels, such edge wardens would not be in rebellion and would root for a successful human resistance and development.  These dance just on the edge of being.  But in order for freely chosen love to exist, the real choice of rebellion and self oblivion must exist.  Thus the demons, would root for a toppling into evil. The dance just on the edge of nothingness, and are fully invested in rebellion.  Otherwise, the entire cosmological paradox is a cosmic farse or theatrical drama.  With celestial powers fully invested in rebellion, it becomes a full development of love.  

As celestial edge wardens, angels face being and goodness, the demons face the void and evil. This is a convoluted toggling between or shifting from an substantial approach to paradox, where being and nothingness are treated as co-equal “realities”,  to a spectral approach to paradox where the angels are the enablers of change and growth, pushing one way so to speak, whereas the demons are the “devolvers”, pushing the other. But from our point of view, either way, the celestial being is seeking to push, it offers the same opportunity.  “All things work for good for those who love the Lord.” 

If one expects a celestial being is acting upon one as a tempter or a torturer, one cannot ever be sure if that being is a rebellious spirit or not. Two scriptures assert this boldly.  The first is 2 Corinthians 11:14 where Saint Paul states, “ even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.”  The second is Hebrews 13:2-3 “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body.”  One must remember the apophatic interchangeability of celestial beings.  As one experiences it through the movements of one’s psycho-spiritual inner life it reminds one that the entire field of soteriology only has two influencers, God through Christ, and one’s self.  At that point our aim should not be to wonder at the motive of the celestial power, because by now one should see, the only difference between demons and angels is their motive, and that is hidden.  One must realize that Christ has conquered these powers, “despoiling the principalities and the powers, he made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph.”  Now one must trust that dominion and take whatever the fruit of the interaction and channel it toward building useful virtues in as much as it is in one’s power.  To that end we can begin to discuss the second step of calculated demonic attunement, a focus on demonic regard using introspective reimagination. 

Calculated Demonic Attunement Step 2: Demonic Regard and Introspective Reimagination

It is now time to work on skill building by coming to terms with the second step of calculated demonic attunement.  If we truly believe that Christ conquered then the principalities and powers, even the demonic ones, are subject to him.  Our regard for every element and experience of our lives must be as a stepping stone to a greater relationship with Christ.  This is true even of the demonic powers in rebellion against God.  As we noted in the last part, it is difficult for us even to tell whether or not what prompts us is a rebellious spirit of a benevolent one.  What we can do is use our sincere conscience, which we continually form to act in the direction of the love of God and love of neighbor.  As Paul states in Romans, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

So how can we reattune our understanding of the demonic such that wisdom can be vindicated by all her children?  First, we have already begun that work by pointing out the apophatic interchangeability of celestial beings.  With that knowledge, we can see Christ, just before he ascends in Mark’s gospel, say, “These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name, they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents [with their hands]” and interpret it in a new light.  Generally “driving out demons” is physically removing a malevolent spirit from a person it has forcefully taken over.  When Christ himself, or through  an exorcist, does this, it is a foretaste of the kingdom where all will be fulfilled and we will no longer be tempted to the void of evil.  But if, as we described, these beings are “dancing on the edge of the void” then to drive the “out” could also be interpreted as expanding being (goodness). As they beckon, we push, but not into nothing. Rather, we advance the edge of being, because we are filling the void with goodness and bringing light ot darkness.  We are able to handle these beings without fear, though they can potentially do great harm to us and to the world, because now, in Christ, nothing can separate us from God’s love.  So we can now distinguish two varieties of calculated demonic attunement, calculated demonic attunement toward volition and calculated demonic attunement toward humility.  They counter the macro centrifugal extremes of discord that the demonic can effect on the soul if one is not properly attuned to the soteriological roles of temptation and suffering.  We will begin with calculated demonic attunement toward volition.  

By a maneuver of introspective reimagination, one can begin to show gratitude for temptations, even if they come from demons.  One need only be aware of the apophatic interchangeability of celestial beings, then one can employ a cosmic evangelization by fulfillment.  Tempters have a job.  Angels or demons who “tempt” are simply angels of freewill.  To present tempters as such is a powerful step in calculated demonic attunement toward volition.  If one loves Christ and is seeking him, the tempter is activating opportunity for volition, a chance to express love through choice.  If they are demons acting like angels of light, learn to unmask them and use them as a stepping stone of virtue.  If one feels overwrought with bitterness about temptation, show hospitality, for many unknowingly entertain angels.  In calculated demonic attunement toward volition, we have two of our virtues that the demons can be used to sharpen, fortitude, and use of will.

But we do not want this treatise to come off as pelagian.  So it must be admitted that simply recognizing the profitability of these “conquered demons” does not free us for the tendencies of original sin.  Thus we have calculated demonic attunement toward humility to balance over zealous volition.  We are fairly bound to fail, even when we recognize temptation as an opportunity for use of will.  However, even here we are not forced to give the demons a “victory”.  At this point, one must employ cosmic evangelization of fulfillment concerning the demonic role in grace.  When we fail in our personal attempts through our will in trials of temptation the demons are still at our service as angels of humility and facilitators of the acceptance of Grace.  This is true because Christ has still conquered them and any maneuver they make can be turned to his good work in us if we love him.  Thus as Paul says in Romans, “The law entered in so that transgression might increase but, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The error of Pelagianism is the error of thinking we can do it “all on our own.''  To take the idea of recognizing demons as angels of free will and running so far with it to think that we can “just be good now” is this exact error.  When we fail we can employ calculated demonic attunement toward humility in order to remember that it is by the grace of God and by his help that we are saved.  When a demon makes a temporary victory, it is no longer an opportunity for fortitude and will, but one of humility and grace. The factor that keeps us from going too far one way or the other is the love of Christ.  If one is doing all these things in faith hope and love, one need have no fear regarding one’s salvation.  One need only exercise acceptance of grace, for example through the sacrament of confession.

Apart from volitional success and failure, we must contemplate the fulfillment of the demonic role of suffering and how calculated demonic attunement toward humility can be employed in that field.  In our theodicy, suffering serves the same virtues as a failure at temptation.  It is a chance for humility and grace.  Much like thanatosian piety, suffering allows us to calibrate ourselves to God and remember that we are not the infinite.  Thus Paul speaks in 2 Corinthinas of the “thorn in his flesh as a means of humility that is demonically acquired and granted by God.  Paul states,

Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.  

Any novice spiritual director knows that this passage is not license to sin, just as our treatise is not license to cooperate with demons.  What is being done by this maneuver of cosmic evangelization by fulfillment is an attunement concerning one’s regard for the demonic through introspective reimagination.  Demons are no longer one’s enemies, or at least not effective enemies.  They are pawns of Christ the King’s supreme dominion and serve toward the betterment of one’s soul.  Instead, understanding how to manage the demonic within the field of salvation, one can utilize them to practice beatitude, especially when considering the mode of suffering, humility and acceptance of grace.

Most of our conversation revolving around our relationship to the demons has taken place in an extremely individual way.  It also helps to notice how it is that we support each other in our striving toward perfection and our grappling with humility and grace.  It is our job to be our brothers’ keepers as each of us struggles to engage the subjected demons and demonstrate their subjugation as effective. This involves a constant bolstering and exercise of both the corporeal and spiritual works of mercy.

Cosmic evangelization by replacement is not an option for the demonic on the individual level.  Temptation, failure, and suffering are going to occur.  They must be used as paths for development in virtue.  Thus we come to our third possibility of cosmic evangelization, “conversion”.  In this case, we are attempting to put the celestial being in its “place” and force it into the good service of God.  Our conversion here has already begun with the fulfillment attempted above.  Now we can begin to resculpt our image of the Devil.  Again, the purpose of this redux is not to acquire an attitude of cooperation with demonic goals of rebellion.  The purpose is a more virtuous life.  

One of the virtues necessary to cultivate in this postlapsarian world is compassion, fellow suffering.  We must learn to see others as they are and as they see themselves.  Then we must appreciate their life narrative so we can enter into a healthy relationship with them that is founded on love as opposed to prejudice, wrath, bitterness or any other demonic vice.  The problem with the assumed dualism of many Christians is that it does not allow this compassion toward the Devil, even though the Devil is a fellow suffering creature.  And one more time, we will reiterate, that compassion is not cooperation in rebellion.  If a human wholly rebels against God, we are still required to have compassion for that person.  Is a demon different?  Only in that their choice is “irrevocable”.  Yet they still suffer.  As the author of Hebrews consults regarding celestial beings, “Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves”

This is the great danger in the belief of the irrevocable choice of the demons.  It allows us to believe we can despise them since they have no chance of reform.  This cannot be our disposition, because such an attitude is a reflection of the demonic itself.  To practice wrath or spite against the demonic, even if deserved, only habituates us toward those vices and creates an inclination to point those vices at fellow humans, especially those we deem “in league with the Devil”.  It turns out to be quite critical to have compassion and even love for the Devil. We will discuss particular skills regarding the cultivation of compassion for the demons in the last section, but for the last part of this section, it will help to form our conversion around the history of the demonic as it relates to Christan salvation history.

Satan is “Lord of this world” according to a certain, usually dualistic, cosmology.  That title is used by Christians who want to paint the cosmos as a cosmic struggle against good and evil and the realm of evil is everything they don’t like about our existence here.  This is not Christian cosmology as it is laid out in the first three chapters of Genesis and as it plays out in salvation history through the rest of scriptures.  So to end this section we will give the briefest overview of salvation history keeping an eye on the role of the Devil.  What we shall develop is a narrative where the Devil is the “lord of this world” to a point, but that role was necessarily temporary and is a stewardship toward the salvation of Christ.  

The initial temptation of the First Parents was a choice to “be like Gods” and “Know good from evil”.  As we have noted, evil is a lack of goodness, a void for dynamic growth toward a new and developed reality of Goodness in the Eschaton.  “This world” is the cosmological paradox was discussed in the treatise Paradoxes and Disorders.  In one respect, Satan engenders that process by the temptation in the garden.  The initial human failure regarding this temptation is what sets the spectral paradox in motion and what facilitates the necessity of celestial beings who dance on the edge of the void in order to move the spectrum through its pace.  As the void of evil is engaged, those on “this edge” appear demonic but are not rebellious, they are angels at God’s beckoning.  The worse lot are those on the “opposite edge” those who rebel.  Such beings would be necessary to engender the process of salvation history once it began, such that they can work reality to grow and expand goodness through the exercise of will and acceptance of grace.  These rebellious angels serve a true function in engendering the real ability to exercise our will for good and evil.  Being the “evil” end of that, they allow for a truly free gift of love and sacrifice from the human end. 

The analogy of edge wardens dancing on the void may grow tedious.  However, I can think of no better way to frame the Christain cosmology which takes evil, including celestial beings who “traffic in evil”, without resorting to unchristian dualism.   Could we garner compassion for such beings that do us this service? 

To begin at the beginning the first parents lived a life that was good.  When tempted, they took the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.  Already possessing the knowledge (experience) of good, they are not introduced to the knowledge of evil (suffering by means of the punishments).  The snake’s temptation opens a chasm or void in reality.  Reality being “Good” now has a lack of goodness “evil”.  But our contention, concerning the spectral nature of the cosmological paradox, is that this lack is not a disappearance of any reality.  Rather it is an opening for development toward the eschaton, it is the experiential  knowledge of the process of the cosmological paradox.  Though truly being “evil” now, it is to be filled with a new goodness.  This goodness has the knowledge of good and evil.  Those who abide in paradise in goodness and virtue possess virtues more full than the first parents in Eden.

Either by the will of God or by a rebellious act, the snake allowed for this triumph and maturing of humanity, which is foretold even as God punishes the snake.  But even by this brief account one can see that the “punishments” are not such as traditionally framed.  If this moment was the moment of demonic rebellion, it seems that God was putting the demon to his task, one of struggles with human agency, a struggle he was doomed to lose. 

Out of this demonic action, humans are able to acquire the deadly situation of culpability, agency and new ways to relate to God and each other, such as sacrifice and free acceptance of grace and forgiveness.  One sees all these factors at play in the opening chapters of Genesis.  In all of this, the demonic is the force that drives the ability for these new loving interactions.  In that respect, satan may very well be “Lord of the World”.  In as much as things are “going wrong,” the demonic is responsible.  But to believe that things are actually “going wrong” is to invest in an absolute dualism that contrasts Christian Cosmology.  

Before the coming of Christ, there was a period where humans are just getting their bearing at striving for God.  Religions are formed, and among them, the religion that exemplifies God’s interactive grace at the time, Judaism.  As the treatise Ordinary and Extraordinary Religions noted, the other religions that developed did and do have access to God and grace, they are just not the ordinary means.  The treatise Cosmic Evangelization discussed how these religions may have been founded by demons, in which case they needed conversion.  They also may have been founded by angels in order to facilitate reception to God’s full revelation when it came.  Even on this macro scale, we can see an apophatic interchangeability of celestial beings.  Either way, there is a way for the culture to use what was presented as a facilitator for virtue.  The world religions up to the incarnation and the great commission were the advanced proving ground for relating to God. They were places where humanity tried to work out how to relate to God and neighbor in appropriate ways.  Even if they were “founded by demons” those demons cannot create, only corrupt and coax toward the void.  Thus they are still forced to utilize the virtuous human urge to find God.  This necessity of “being” leaves the demons in a position of soteriological servitude.  Again, they become pawns and facilitators of salvation even against their rebellious intentions.

Finally, we have the act of salvation.  Once Christ opens the way to salvation, all avenues of calculated demonic attunement are open.  One can act to develop will and practice fortitude.  Or if one fails, one can embrace humility and accept grace.  The demons are powerless to condemn or damn one acting out of true love.  Their job is simply to supply the conditions for the deepest expressions of love. 

This attempt as a demonic reframe is not simply to make a hero out of a villain.  As we shall see, our current view of the Devil, especially when he is framed in a dualistic cosmology, causes great spiritual harm. In the next section, we will seek, though calculated demonic attunement, to mitigate that harm.

In the first section we attempted to refute any strict cosmic dualism in Christainty and begin the groundwork for reframing the role of the demonic in Christian consciousness.  In this section, we began by contemplating demonic rebellion and punishment.  This reflection was ultimately a setup for the practice of introspective reimagination regarding the demonic.  We discovered that it is near impossible to tell the difference between benevolent and malevolent celestial beings based sheerly on how they present to the individual psyche.  This led us to ponder the first step in calculated demonic attunement, discernment.  For us the discernment of spirits was not “objective” but introspective in that we were seeking to discern how best to react to any given spirit’s effect on us.  How can we use any spiritual stimulus to move toward deeper love of God? We then distinguished two types of calculated demonic attunement, the first toward violation and the second toward humility.  We wrapped up the section by employing two varieties of cosmic evangelization to the demonic realm, fulfillment and conversion. This reframe of the demonic as soteriological functionaries enable us to up the skill set of calculated demonic attunement.  In the final section, we will develop the skill of virtuous demonic scapegoating.   

 

Calculated Demonic Attunement and Virtuous Demonic Scapegoating

In the first section, we began by reminding the reader that Christianity is not a dualistic religion.  There is no cosmic struggle between the reality of good and the reality of evil because God made all things good and evil is a privation of the good. From there we went on to discuss the psycho-spiritual fields of salvation and damnation.  We discovered that the field of salvation is exponentially more vast than the field of damnation.  We also noted that the Devil has no power to damn anyone.  Next we discussed exactly what the Devil and demons do.  We noted that demons do cause suffering and temptation, but that these things are each wake up calls beckoning one to use of will, build fortitude, foster humility, inspire acceptance of grace, and ultimately salvation.  In the previous section we attempted to reimage the demonic according to a Christain cosmology before defining the nuts and bolts of calculated demonic attunement.  In this final section we will  develop the skill of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We will begin by illustrating the poor result of improper relationships with demons.  These can lead to the weakening of both will and humility for the human.  We will discuss the vice of demonic displacement, taking a vice such as hate aimed at a demon and displacing it onto humans seen as in league with demons.  We will then parse various skills of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We will apply the dictum “love your enemy” to the demonic celestial beings, and urged forgiveness.  All of this in an attempt to accrue beatitude and mitigate demonic displacement.  Finally, we will urged the reader to remember the demonic as part of one’s regular prayer life.  This will help one bolster virtue, calibrate cosmology, and mitigate fear regarding the demonic realm.

The Dangers of Improper Relationship to the Demonic

Probably the biggest improper relationship to the demonic is to ignore demonic influence or disallow for the existence of the demonic.  But, there are serious dangers, even still, when one acknowledges the interplay between demons and the human psyche.  We can illustrate two major vices that counterpose the virtues one acquires by properly practiced calculated demonic attunement.  These concupiscent tendencies play into the worst effect of tempters and require constant attention in one’s spiritual life.  The first is sloth, which works against calculated demonic attunement toward volition.  The second is pride, which works against calculated demonic attunement toward humility.  It is necessary to order one’s inner life so as to be mindful of these dangers and avoid them or the process of calculated demonic attunement will prove more difficult. 

Sloth is generally defined as not living up to one’s potential.  In our specific study, we are discussing the potential use of will.  It is impossible to constantly use one’s will and calculate every possible choice in every possible situation.  For this God gave us habit and character, such that we may sculpt them well and live virtuously.  But there are times when one is called to use one’s will.  Volition is most importantly wielded when one is making a choice that involves acceptance of a life in Christ, rejection of such a life, or outright rebellion against that life.  These are usually moral choices and this is the field of temptation.  

Once one has become aware of demonic interplay within one’s psycho-spiritual life, one must be careful not to give over one’s will either by making poor choices amidst temptation or losing sight of the larger virtues at hand.  There are two distinct ways that the danger of sloth can mitigate successful calculated demonic attunement.  The first mitigates calculated demonic attunement toward volition and is reflected in concupiscence in general.  We are slaves of sin, freed by Christ, but the freedom is from guilt, not the effect of original sin.  Thus we still feel this slavery and it is against that effect that our wills must struggle in order to make us strong in love of God.  However, there is the danger of losing hope and simply falling back onto the fact of slavery as a reason not to strive.  This can be the result of constant failure in the face of temptation and a lack of calculated demonic attunement toward humility. The hackneyed phrase, “the Devil made me do it” is applicable here.  One danger of hyper-awareness of the demonic is to despair and give one’s self over to temptation, ultimately handing over one’s habitual life, one’s character, and one’s soul.  The effects of concupiscence are real and we often fail in the midst of temptation.  We must be vigilant in walking the fine line between sinning against the holy spirit by assuming God’s mercy or despairing, thus giving over to temptation willingly.

A second way sloth can enter into our relationship to the demonic is by allowing us to be to sure in our knowledge.  This is a lack of calculated demonic attunement toward humility.  This comes through the second concupiscent disposition that works against our virtues, pride. Once we believe we always know demonic influence we begin to slack in our sincerity of conscious.  Christians are called to constantly form their consciences by good sources.  But awareness of the Devil may lead one to “identify the enemy” and stifle pedagogy.  The Devil in this situation is identified as “evil” thus any effect becomes bereft of the ability to teach.    First this prideful disposition rejects the apophatic interchangeability of celestial beings.  Second it allows one to hurl accusations at ideas that one deems “demonic”.  One invested with pride ignores Paul’s dictum that all things work to good for those who love the Lord.”  One’s ability to develop learn and grow has now been stymied as well.

This attitude in the extreme is usually born out of the very cosmic dualism this treatise is seeking to combat. It generally locks one into a point of view concerning good and evil, where evil is invested with an ontological status and is identifiable by the subject.  Pride does not leave one open to the pedagogy of creation or the Spirit.  It also closes one off to calculated demonic attunement toward humility.  The lessons of healthy theodicy and temptation that can be reaped through well implemented calculated demonic attunement will be clouded.  

This type of disposition bolsters buy-in to a dualistic cosmology.  This cosmology at first appears to the soul as the view of a strong Christian willing to combat the forces of evil.  But it invariably leads to either fear, mistrust, or, worse, both.  One loses the ability to fully invest in faith, hope, and love because one cannot be open to God’s almighty goodness and the goodness of creation.  One can only focus on the “half of creation” that is evil and seek to “purify” or destroy it.  These concepts can only manifest when one bestows an ontological status on evil.  Otherwise, half of creation cannot be “evil’, only lacking in the good they should have.

This pride leads one from dualistic cosmological application in the spiritual realm to application upon creation, and finally a dualistic application upon one’s fellow humans.  Here we have what we will call demonic displacement, a habituation of vice one indulges in toward demons, that one then transfers to humans who one defines as demonic or cooperating with demons.  One can now find the people one identifies with the ideas of evil and brand them a  “demonic” enemy.  Demonic displacement allows for a painful manifestation of dehumanization and allows for great evil and therefore suffering in the world.  The worst aspect of this is when the poorly founded belief in the ireformability of demons is transferred to one’s fellow humans.  This maneuver of demonic displacement opens one’s fellow humans up to become targets of malice and wrath formerly, and as we shall see improperly, aimed at the demonic world.  It seemed justly aimed there because the demons are irreformable, this infers license to hate.  Once irreformability is thus applied, one loses all means of learning compassion, which is arguably the chief virtue to be learned specifically in the cosmological paradox. Once that is applied to one’s fellow humans, one is on the road to presenting the worst of the demonic through one’s own being.  But because one is self justified, one lacks any realization of one’s own demonic buy it.  Demonic displacement generally feeds both sides of any ideological divide, forcing a false dichotomy and disallowing cross-spectral mutual pedagogy.  Demonic displacement is especially present in sectarian divides where a dualistic cosmology is consciously or unconsciously adopted, but the secular realm certainly is not immune.  This focus on irreformability leads to habituation of lack of all the virtues instilled by calculated demonic attunement.           

The Responses of Calculated Demonic Attunement

Those poorly attuned to the demonic are in grave danger of causing great harm to themselves and others as they become subject to their worst concupiscent urges and fall prey to demonic displacement.  To combat demonic displacement one must practice a skill we are calling virtuous demonic scapegoating.  Virtuous demonic scapegoating is practicing virtues by employing virtuous dispositions toward the demonic, which one can then more easily turn toward humans one brands as troublesome, evil, or demonically inclined.  The demon then becomes a scapegoat, but not one that takes “on sin” or abuse.  Rather one the demon takes on benevolent virtue, in order to allow one to habituate oneself toward that virtue and more easily practice the virtue in all fields of life.  

Two conscious spiritual exercises from the teachings of Christ can help stave off or mitigate the damage of these dispositions through virtuous demonic scapegoating. The first is from the Sermon on the Mount.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?  So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect              

     

This biting passage from Matthew’s Gospel is hard to bear when we apply it to our human enemies.  It is much more so when we applied it to our demonic enemies.  But one of the major problems of concupiscent pride regarding the demonic coupled with the focus on irreformability of demons was how it leads to an embrace of wrath toward the demons (who are creatures of God) that was then transposed upon fellow humans seen as cooperating with the demonic agenda through demonic displacement.  

We pointed out how this hinders cross-spectral mutual pedagogy.  But the practice of virtuous demonic scapegoating by means of the command to love our enemies neutralizes this wrath, allows for pedagogy, and, more importantly, allows charity to flow.  One can seek to start on the human plane.  But if one is already in the throes of demonic displacement because one has been compromised by a combination of concupiscence and demonic deceit, one may want to start at the root of the problem.  One must love the fundamental enemy and, in this case, the fundamental enemy is the demons.  Rebellious though they may be, even if they hate God, God loves demons, and we must be perfect as God is according to the dictum.

Again, this love is not an urge to be rebellious as they are.  It is born out of compassion. We are rebellious creatures ourselves who suffer from our defiance.  Sometimes we are completely unaware of how our suffering is linked to our rebellion.  Sometimes we are even unaware of our suffering itself because we have become so accustomed to it.  All of this could easily be true of demons as well.  An acknowledgment of similitude will build compassion through empathy that can then be transferred via virtuous demonic scapegoating to one’s fellow humans.  Again, we must, “Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment” and it turns out that sometimes we ar sharing that imprisonment.  Being thus mindful is fruitful because even if the demons cannot reform, our fellow humans certainly can. 

The love one bears toward the demons when practicing virtuous demonic scapegoating is also born out of the gratitude one can acquire through the practice of calculated demonic attunement.  Even against their will demons can be a stepping stone for our salvation by facilitating volition and acceptance of grace.  We must be thankful for the role they play in our lives regarding our development of fortitude and depth of humility.  But if the demons are irreformable is loving them a “waste” of charity?

 First, though it is near universally held that the demons are irreformable and that their choice was irrevocable, it is not clear that this position is irrefutable church teaching. So to love them may possible lead to the redevelopment of love and goodness within them.  Second, Demons are creatures of God and, as such, God loves them.  Therefore as per the commandment, we must love them also.  And again, as we have been arguing, to do otherwise habituates one’s soul to vice and lack of charity.  Once so habituated, one will find these disposition hard to contain.  Continued indulgence is such hate is bound to result in demonic displacement onto one’s fellow humans.  And hating humans is very obviously not Christian.  Thus to love the demons, though this seems abstract, yields powerful fruit in Christian life.  Lastly, the compassion and empathy derived from virtuous demonic scapegoating can also be applied when contemplating our own ignorance.  

Given the apophatic interchangeability of celestial beings, one is never sure of the intention of the celestial being one is encountering. Thus, practicing love allows one to acquire a benefit of the doubt for the subject. To love the demon may turn out to be loving an angel. This can also be transferred to one’s fellow humans. It may turn out that one’s enemies are in the right and one is in the wrong. A habituation of love for the demonic can remind one that one does not own truth and purity.  One’s enemy may be the gateway to these things.  But without the practice of virtuous demonic scapegoating through calculated demonic attunement, this will be difficult to see.   The answer to the question of “do you reject Satan and all his evil works” is “yes”.  But that rejection does not necessitate killing love.  It is a rejection of Satan’s plan, job, and methods.  

Finally, the qualifier for divine mercy upon our judgment, judge not lest you be judged, and we have an impetus for great compassion and charity toward the demons.  We can certainly judge the choice in a temptation and should choose wisely according to our sincerely formed conscience.  But give the apophatic interchangeability of celestial beings as we have discussed it, we are not required to judge the motives of these beings.  Again, 2 Peter 2:4 assures us that God will impart judgment and punishment where it is due.  And in Jude 1:9 the author seems to advise putting off judgment upon celestial beings, even demons. “Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the Devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”.  It is the virtuous attitude of a Christain to seek to help people but to leave ultimate judgment to God.  Saint Michal the Archangel seems to have the same attitude toward the Devil according to the Brother of the Lord. 

Ultimate judgment is very tricky for humans regardless.  Very rarely do people who act in the wrong and have every intention of doing so.  Most people are convinced they are right when they do wrong or evil.  Are demons any different?  If one cannot allow for that regarding the demons, then God may not allow for it when their judgment comes for that person, and mercy will be scarce.  Again, one is habituating one’s self against charity, when one treats the demons this way, and it will doubtless spill over into one’s other relationships.  By practicing intentional benefit of the doubt toward the demonic, one can better habituate one’s self to compassion for one’s fellow humans.

This leads us to the second skill of virtuous demonic scapegoating, application of forgiveness to the demons who torture and tempt us in our lives.  This is an extremely pragmatic exercise for one’s soul and for one’s engagement in the moral sphere of one’s life. Again, the immediate objection may be, “but what good does forgiving do them?  They are irreformable!”.  And again, everything we have just recounted concerning the agnostic interchangeability of celestial beings and the danger of ultimate judgment still applies.  To forgive humans certainly hopes for a reciprocation of healing that does not seem available with demons.  

But even when there is no reciprocation in the human sphere it is still always recommended.  In a typical pragmatic move, most people recognize that forgiveness helps the forgiver as much as the forgiven.  So even if they don’t accept it, true forgiveness imparts a peace upon the bestower when it is offered.  To hold onto hate, vitriol, or a sense of injustice does not facilitate beatitude.  It is the same in the human as well as in the celestial realm.  Again, if a celestial power is tempting or tormenting one, it may or may not be a rebellious being.  To make peace with the role of the being in one’s life will either align one to God’ plan by humility, or be an opportunity for virtuous demonic scapegoating.  Such forgiveness allows one to see past the simple temptation or suffering toward the larger game of how one relates to others.  And since both God and neighbor are others, this is a very useful view.              

To love one’s enemies is usually only applied to human enemies, but it does not seem off track to apply it to all enemies one may have.  It resonates with what Saint Paul says in Romans Chapter 12

Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all.  If possible, on your part, live at peace with all.  Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.  Rather, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”  Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.

The last line is the most pertinent.  One cannot aim towards the demons everything demonic and expect not to come under their influence.  One’s only recourse is to conquer evil with good.  In order to do this one must have the primary relationship with the Father through Christ that facilitates this goodness.  Thus a healthy prayer life that concerns demons is the last skill of calculated demonic attunement we will discuss.   

Prayer as a Venue for Virtuous Demonic Scapegoating

To involve the demonic in one’s prayer life is not controversial.  If one feels one is being assailed by demonic forces naturally one would pray for help and relief.  We might call this level 1 involvement in prayer concerning the demons.  However, we may move beyond this to involve everything we have discussed concerning calculated demonic attunement in one’s general conversation with God.  As one prays one may thank God for the construction of the universe such that it facilitates the use of will and expression of truly chosen love.  That this is a very real choice facilitated by beings who completely invest in the worst case scenario in order to facilitate that choice for us.  

On the opposite end, as we approach God humbly with our poor choices or frustrations concerning our suffering we can include in those humblings gratitude for the celestial beings who leads us there.  Those beings may be angelic or rebellious, but either way they play into God’s hands for our salvation.  The feeling of true repentance and humility they foster, even in our failures, is a postlapsarian expression of love that we can express to God due to their influence.

As one prays on either end of this divide, one can engage in the first set of calculated demonic attunement.  Prayer concerning the discernment of spirits can lead one to contemplation of choices that are good or evil and help one stay vigilant concerning those choices.  It can lead one to prayer concerning theodicy and how one reacts to suffering.  And finally, it can lead one to a sense of God’s bigger picture beyond our own small perception of it.   

One can pray poorly concerning the Devil.  To pray wrathfully for his destruction or suffering would be just as misguided as to do so toward a human.  What one does not want to do is leave the demonic out of one’s prayer life.  To do this could easily see the demonic as so isolated from God’s benevolence that it leads to a poor cosmology, where demons are independent of any good, therefore unable to be used toward God’s good plan.  Or the worst manifestation of this poor cosmology, strict dualism.  To keep the demonic on the radar of one’s prayer life keeps one invested in faith, hope, and love appropriate to all of God’s creation and it’s telos toward the good benefit of the justified.

Then there is the added prayer skills one acquires when praying as one applies virtuous demonic scapegoating. It is hard to pray for one’s enemies when one sees them as irreformable because they are demonically aligned.  In one’s prayer life one should pray for the reform of the demons.  Only God knows how this will end, and if he sees fit to push the demons to suffering and torment in an everlasting fire, that is his just judgment.  But it merits us added faith and hope in God’s mercy to pray for his creatures who suffer the torment of rebellion.  It will also soften the despair we may feel toward our fellow humans.  This is a despair we cannot afford given that the measure with which we measure will be measured out to us.  Any means by which we can learn to exercise appropriate mercy is of prime importance.

To build up these virtues of faith hope and love is to build up a Christian life.  To engage the demonic in one’s conscious life and especially in one’s prayer life helps one keep these virtues as central.   The employment of love toward the demons bolsters our faith and our hope for them, for our neighbors, and for ourselves.  To ignore the demonic keeps those celestial powers mysterious and terrifying.  It engenders a feeling that there is a realm that is anti-God, that can have true power over our state of grace, rather than that state being between us and God.  This particularly comes through a dualism that is litigiously minded.  

When one sees mortality as related to soteriology by actions as “rules” to be followed regardless of knowledge, intent, or judgment of one’s sincere conscience, one is in prime danger of regarding the demons with terror.  So often they are painted as creatures who seek to damn one’s soul by tempting one to do things one did not even know we’re wrong, then at then end showing up with the rule book to cart one’s soul off to hell because it is their right.  This is reflective of a poor cosmology and does nothing but instill needless anxiety.  If a demon tempted toward action that one did not know was evil, the demon is tempting toward a trial of suffering, not a choice that leads to any culpability.  

What praying regarding the demonic does is put the demonic under the preview of God’s dominion, where they properly belong.  When one is judged it will not be the demon who is there making a case against you before the Just Judge.  The demons task is completely involved in your life now.  It will be you or, more particularly, your conscience that will there to accuse or defend.  This process of judgment was commented on in the treatise Relativism, Conscience, and The Magisterium.  There we did a good study of the passage in Romans chapter 2 where Paul writes, 

They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people's hidden works through Christ Jesus.        

Demons are not mentioned, only one’s own disposition toward God and action.  Having a good relationship with the Father through Christ, and with Christ through prayer, the church, one’s neighbors, etc. is the key to “surviving the coming wrath”.  Understanding God’s goodness, power, and mercy is exactly what is going to help.  To push off one half of the cosmos, or the soteriological field onto another power, a power that hates us is exactly the wrong cosmology.  Thus to engage God in a prayer life that takes the entirety of creation into account is necessary.  When regarding the demonic, they must be seen as agents in the cosmos that work toward one’s own good end, even if that is not their intention.  They are not worthy of fear, only caution.  With clever attunement, one can use them for better relations with the cosmos, one’s neighbor, and even God.     

In this section, we developed the skill of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We began by illustrating the poor result of improper relationships with demons.  These can lead to the weakening of both will and humility for the human.  We then discussed the vice of demonic displacement, taking a vice such as hate aimed at a demon and displacing it onto humans seen as in league with demons.  We then parsed various skills of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We applied the dictum “love your enemy” to the demonic celestial beings, and urged forgiveness.  All of this in an attempt to accrue beatitude and mitigate demonic displacement.  Finally, we urged the reader to remember the demonic as part of one’s regular prayer life.  This will help one bolster virtue, calibrate cosmology, and mitigate fear regarding the demonic realm.             

Conclusion

In the first section, we began by reminding the reader that Christianity is not a dualistic religion.  There is no cosmic struggle between the reality of good and the reality of evil because God made all things good and evil is a privation of the good. From there we went on to discuss the psycho-spiritual fields of salvation and damnation.  We discovered that the field of salvation is exponentially more vast than the field of damnation.  We also noted that the Devil has no power to damn anyone.  Next we discussed exactly what the Devil and demons do.  We noted that demons do cause suffering and temptation, but that these things are each wake up calls beckoning one to use of will, build fortitude, foster humility, inspire acceptance of grace, and ultimately salvation.

In the second section, we began by contemplating demonic rebellion and punishment.  This reflection was ultimately a setup for the practice of introspective reimagination regarding the demonic.  We discovered that it is near impossible to tell the difference between benevolent and malevolent celestial beings based sheerly on how they present to the individual psyche.  This led us to ponder the first step in calculated demonic attunement, discernment.  For us the discernment of spirits was not “objective” but introspective in that we were seeking to discern how best to react to any given spirit’s effect on us.  How can we use any spiritual stimulus to move toward deeper love of God? We then distinguished two types of calculated demonic attunement, the first toward violation and the second toward humility.  We wrapped up the section by employing two varieties of cosmic evangelization to the demonic realm, fulfillment and conversion. This reframe of the demonic as soteriological functionaries enable us to up the skill set of calculated demonic attunement.   

In the final section, we developed the skill of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We began by illustrating the poor result of improper relationships with demons.  These can lead to the weakening of both will and humility for the human.  We then discussed the vice of demonic displacement, taking a vice such as hate aimed at a demon and displacing it onto humans seen as in league with demons.  We then parsed various skills of virtuous demonic scapegoating.  We applied the dictum “love your enemy” to the demonic celestial beings, and urged forgiveness.  All of this in an attempt to accrue beatitude and mitigate demonic displacement.  Finally, we urged the reader to remember the demonic as part of one’s regular prayer life.  This will help one bolster virtue, calibrate cosmology, and mitigate fear regarding the demonic realm.   

The major aim of this treatise has been to alleviate anxiety regarding the demonic realm and allow those striving for beatitude a methodology for engaging that realm in a way that edifies toward Christ.  If we have been successful, the reader will know with deeper certainty that Paul is absolutely correct when he states, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  I started this treatise with the question, “if all things work to God for those who love the Lord how can I use the Devil to better my situation?”  But upon development, I realized that the Devil is not to be “used”.  No creature of God is to be “used”.  The only way to successfully navigate an edifying relationship with the demons is love.  Without it we become what we fear and convey what we condemn.