Evil
I’m listening to a podcast called The Exorcist Files. The episodes explore and reenact stories of demonic possessions encountered by Father Carlos Martins, considered an expert on exorcism. (Father Martins has also published a book called The Exorcist Files: True Stories About The Reality Of Evil And How To Defeat It.) Some of the episodes explore adjacent issues, for example, the intersection between psychiatry and exorcism. Aspects of Catholic practice are explicated, such as why Catholics pray to saints.
Here are some of my takeaways from the podcast:
*People don’t get possessed randomly. There’s some kind of opening that allows it. Maybe someone becomes deeply involved in occult pursuits that have a dark aspect. Maybe they turn consciously toward evil in their lives. Somehow, they’ve created ingress, a perceived invitation for Satan or one of his demons to take up residence.
*To that end, demons are profoundly legalistic. In many of Father Martin’s exorcisms, the demons argue that they have a right to this possession, that the host is now their property because of some mortal sin committed or because of an embrace of evil. Part of the exorcist’s task is to discover what made possible the demon’s access, what was their point of entry. Then the possessed host will need to renounce that activity or undertaking, essentially rescinding the demon’s right to residence and possession.
*Demons talk very nasty, coarsely insulting and degrading their hosts, the exorcists, and any assistants present. Despite this, Father Martin notes that he has never heard a demon take the Lord’s name in vain. Even Satan and his minions respect the third commandment. That seems pretty extraordinary, given how we constantly hear—and many of us engage in—that sort of blaspheming everywhere, all the time.
*Three criteria determine whether a particular case is a demonic possession: the host speaks in a language he or she has no knowledge of, for example, some ancient Norse dialect that is known by only seven academics worldwide; the host reveals knowledge of hidden facts, things he or she could not possibly know; the host exhibits superhuman strength. There are other signs, such as an exaggerated negative response to holy objects, like the cross, images of Mary and Jesus, or holy water. Father Martin will occasionally use holy water surreptitiously, for example, he’ll sprinkle the tiniest drop on the host’s back while he or she—or the demon in possession—is occupied with something or someone else in the room. If this elicits an exaggerated painful response, that’s valuable information. The thing with negative reactions to holy objects and acting like an animal and speaking in an altered voice is that they can be faked. Thus the emphasis on those three criteria that provide more objective data.
*In order to diagnose a possession, you have to rule out psychiatric illnesses because they may present in similar ways. Hence the alliance with mental health professionals, called on to rule out mental illness when the ailment is instead spiritual. Apparently, there are certain professionals that specialize in this, such as psychiatrist Richard Gallagher, author of Demonic Foes: My Twenty-Five Years As A Psychiatrist Investigating Possessions, Diabolic Attacks, And The Paranormal.
*Many of the episodes mention spiritual warfare, an endeavor that feels broadly necessary right now. Exorcists are on the front lines of spiritual warfare, but we’re all draftees in this conflict.
These reports of satanic possession and evil actively at work raise so many questions for me. I’m particularly interested in the hypothesis, the fact that evil exists and influences the world we live in. I embrace the idea that we all have potential for evil as we have potential for good, and that circumstances and states of mind and habits can tilt us in one direction or the other. I so appreciate Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s reflection on good and evil in the Gulag Archipelago: “[T]he line separating good from evil passes not through states, or between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years….It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.”
I see and hear things, I read things that appall and revulse me; what explanation could there be for horrific abuse of children or of people with disabilities other than evil at work? Some stories I hear feel Satanic in nature. These extreme accounts, and the acts that inspire them, might permit me to externalize that evil, see it as a force out there, huge and grotesque and extrinsic to my life.
But there’s a more quotidian concern. Satan plays a long game, with destruction and chaos as both the means to an end and the desired end itself. I see a lot of initiatives at work in the world—and many of them have been unfolding for decades and longer—that undermine family, community, and mutual understanding. These are evils that become institutionalized or popularized or normalized that then affect trends, outcomes, and individuals in negative ways. It can be difficult to find an exit.
If Solzhenitsyn’s take on good and evil is accurate, each of us would be tasked with trying to constrict our tendency toward evil. The problem is, when I’m on a roll, feeling righteous and maybe infallible, I can inflict so much pain and sorrow before I realize what I’ve done—if I ever realize it. I can look back over my life and identify these moments of free radical damage, where I’m just ricocheting around destructively. The further evil—and I’ve indulged in this as well—is justifying those moments, defending them, instead of calling them what they are—periods when I give in to that evil part of my potential and let it ride roughshod.
I feel less susceptible to this tendency at this juncture in my life, but I’m certainly not immune to it, and the point is that we’ve all got this seed inside us at all times. How do we seek out and heed the voices that will nourish and tend—both inside and outside our own heads? How do we tune out the destructive and chaotic? How do we turn toward light and away from dark?
I’m still learning about this. I wish I had it more sorted at this point, but it’s a humbling process. I’m finding that being older, at least for me, is not some pinnacle of unimpeachable wisdom—although I do experience a greater clarity; I believe some things unwaveringly now that were not clear in the same way to me in my youth, and I’m grateful for that. Being older does offer an opportunity for reflection and clear-eyed, sometimes unsettling, sometimes mortifying assessment. One big thing for me has been an acknowledgement of my own capacity for doing evil, for dealing damage.