Demon or BS?

[-HM-]

Okay, so this one is strange even for this forum, and I’m not totally sure where to post it if anywhere at all.

My mom recently started seeing a new massage therapist. The day of her first visit, she called me during my lunch break and sounded genuinely shaken up. She said that he told her that he could sense that there was a demonic entity that had attached itself to her and it was causing problems in her life and with her health. He supposedly told her that he feels that it’s been with her most of her life but that recently it’s become stronger. Turns out the guy is also a priest or pastor or something of that nature. She claims that she didn’t tell him anything about her life when he had said that, but she has had a hard life and a lot of things recently have gone very badly for her.

I don’t know if I believe the guy or not, but I will say that a few weeks ago, I had the strangest dream that I was standing in front of this very unnaturally pretty and unnaturally tall (seriously like 8 feet tall) woman with long, pastel pink hair and a bright, almost white-gold aura around her. She was standing over me with the demeanor of an angry parent or something and told me something along the lines of “You have no idea what you can do” and called me something word that I’ve never heard before. It sounded Japanese but I don’t really have any ties to or interest in Japanese culture and it definitely wasn’t related to a PL or memory.

When my mom told me about what that guy had told her though, my mind kind of went back to that dream, like maybe something was telling me that I’m supposed to somehow protect her? Which is also odd, because I’m truly not very close with my mom and usually don’t even really like being around her. I was curious what you guys thought though, is he crazy and the dream a coincidence or could there be something to it and some connection?

 

[Mere Dreamer]

Here's the problem with taking someone else's word for it. One person's "demon" is another person's spiritual protector.

Example 1: I've observed that individuals who want to subconsciously or consciously control or manipulate a companion will say (and truly believe), "I feel an oppressive/demonic/evil presence around you." Yet that presence is actually a guardian or protector of some kind (in that companion's experience) and later the manipulator is exposed as a problematic relationship from whom protection was necessary.

Basically, the manipulator's (or simply someone who firmly believes lies) sense of "oppression" is due to their destructive influence being thwarted at a spiritual level. To me it seems they feel about the same level of threat as any manipulator would knowing an aggressive guard that can read their intentions is hovering nearby ready to step in the moment their charge asks for protection.

Example 2: In my own experience I confronted "my demons" during meditation only to discover they were unloved aspects of myself that I had thrust away for fear of judgment, rejection, failure, being different, etc. Once I faced them with love, their foreboding aspect faded and I was able to recognize the strengths and gifts I had abandoned along with my attempts to conform to spiritual or social expectations.

The fear was more about the false beliefs I'd been taught, with a touch of reality based on the pain of healing from my own state of brokenness. Sometimes deep emotional injuries "manifest" as broken off pieces of one's psyche that need to be restored and integrated before healing, wholeness, and stability set in.

An outsider can often read this shattered element of self as a demonic entity when it is actually more akin to a bleeding wound, dangerous, but not for the reasons they assume.

Religious sorts tend to default to this view, but their efforts further fracture the personality of those they seek to save by "casting out" what should instead be welcomed in and made whole. Rigid belief systems that actively avoid facing or accepting an alternate (and possibly healthier) perspective on reality tend to create false solutions that smooth over problems instead of solving them. They can behave a lot like old time medics chopping off limbs on a battle field because their medical knowledge is too primitive to heal the wounds and restore wholeness. And the religious tendency to seek spiritual control of others leads to a lot of false diagnosis of "danger to a soul" when they are only seeing that their control is being (rightly) resisted.

"You have no idea what you can do," can be interpreted many ways.

If you are meant to be a protector, then seek wisdom first. Acting out of fear and ignorance isn't the solution because it just increases the fear and trauma in this world and could easily lead to choices that make the problem worse.

There is a peaceful, centered place of wisdom within each of us, and when we learn to step into that space and listen we often discover that everything is not as we assumed it to be. However, this isn't a space anyone can encounter without first facing our own fears.

Where there are too many false beliefs clouding your insight you will find that any spiritual insight you access will be distorted by your fears and assumptions. It takes time to work through it all and reach a point where you can listen and actually hear the truth, like tuning into a radio channel that slightly overlaps with many others until you tune in with precision.

To put it simply, your mother's difficult life may not be source in demonic oppression, but in false beliefs (taught as universal by society and culture) and self-rejection that have convinced her to take a painful and unhealthy path. Religions (and other belief systems) tend to externalize and demonize the spiritual fractures that were created by the very same false beliefs by which they seek to control people who don't fit into the mold they insist must be the only reality.

External demons may exist, but even so their access to individuals is limited by the amount of false beliefs and fears they can instigate in an individual. Whether it is a demon or merely fragmented self, the solution is the same. Face fear with compassionate love and learn to own one's inner space and constructively accept oneself in order to clear one's vision to see and accept others and the world as they truly are.

 

[-HM-]

So in your first example, the person feeling “oppressed” is often the one that someone is being protected from? Theoretically anyway? That’s actually an interesting perspective. While my mom has had a very hard life and does have a disproportionate amount of bad luck that is largely not in her control, she’s also not the greatest person in the world.

I’m spiritual but not religious, if that makes sense. My mom is quite a bit more religious than I am, but because my dad isn’t, it wasn’t ever really a large part of my life, I didn’t go to church, or learn much about religion, ect. I have had experiences with astral projection, but I also don’t know that I believe in demons in the religious sense.

I thought it was interesting and worth talking about though.