Beware of the demonic self!

I have been reading some interesting old Christian literature and came across a very interesting concept -the demonic self.

This is nothing hokey and you don’t have to click the back arrow. Nobody is going to lay their hands on you!

The demonic self is an aspect of human nature. In essence, if we are trying to subdue or train a part of our nature and we fail, we are said to be defeated by our animal self.

But if we overcome our animal self for the wrong reasons, we develop the demonic self. Eg deprivation, austerity, abstinence - if they become a goal in themselves - actually warp us, make us callous, unkind. I suppose, pride, a sense of superiority that come when we “succeed” are also dangerous.

It is said that it is worse to develop a demonic self than to be defeated by the animal self.

The message here is interesting. Think twice about what you are trying to accomplish. Are you freeing yourself or becoming a mini dictator?

Thoughts, anyone?

 

Hey, I suspect this thread is going to be chucked out as non-relevant.

All of your questions really depend on a definition of “God”. If God is a being separated from humans ontologically and completely self-sufficient, then the Christian story simply doesn’t work and I agree with you.

If God is the Self from which all other selves come out, and our time on earth is a process of integrating our tiny surface selves with the deepest Self, then I suggest that it does make sense. Forgiveness, in this version of Christianity, is a process of letting go of all that prevents you from becoming integrated with God. Sacrificial love and the denial of the self is the only method that works, hence the importance of Christ and his actions. He shows through his actions the way back to God.

I’m going to guess that You are here on nofap because there is a pattern of behaviour in you that you don’t like. It is not the original you but it is so ingrained that it has become a part of you. It leaves you empty and you suspect you are missing out on something greater. The only way forward is for it to die off. As you let go of it, you discover more to yourself than there was before. This is essentially a Christian process of letting go of “sin” to discover a more whole you. If you let this process continue in a certain direction, you will find that there is no bottom to you but merely a merging with the Source, or with Everything, and that that we are all connected and part of the same process.

But if you do not go in the right direction, you will merely develop tools of subduing yourself and warping your nature in accordance with what you want yourself to be, but which is not your true self. Henze, my original post about the demonic self.



Aaaand and I am back to my original topic!

 

Thanks for the point!

I am definitely not willing to argue over the meaning of the word “demon”. To avoid miscommunication, think “diabolical”, instead of “demonic”. If you master your animal self for the sake of anything other than developing your true self, i.e. a self united with God (your source), you become a monster of sorts, because you feed pride and ambition, while your animal self - the part of you that made you ashamed of yourself - is no longer there.

You are actually helping me make my point. You have a serpent on your avatar. The serpent is a symbol of that demonic self. It is essentially a symbol for choosing something lesser than your ultimate destiny of personal transformation. You also have a quote from the gospels, “get behind me, Satan.” Peter was called “Satan” because he offered Jesus a way out that was other than sacrificial death. He offered Jesus a lesser path.

The point in all this seems to me as follows: watch yourself, see what motivates you to do nofap.