Satan is losing the battle for people’s minds. This is a clear trend, and it’s been mounting for a long time. The basic reason is that evil has gotten a lot of competition. Are schizophrenics possessed by the Devil? Raise your hand if you say yes. A century ago, countless more people would have raised their hands than today, when we use "sick" in place of "evil" for many things, including psychosis. The more replacements we find for evil, the weaker Satan grows. After all, the Devil is the embodiment of absolute evil, the kind that admits no other explanation. His fortunes decline when valid explanations are at hand.
Besides psychosis, we attribute criminal behavior to a host of influences — poverty, domestic abuse, peer pressure, social resentment — that overshadow the simple word "evil." Centuries ago, the first word that would come to mind when a murder took place would be "sin," opening the door automatically to think about the great tempter and progenitor of sin, the serpent in the Garden. Today, if we fail to understand why sadistic violence occurs, we might fall back on a phrase like "pure evil," but even then we don’t automatically insert Satan’s name or make him the cause. We simply mean an evil that passes understanding — for the time being. Understanding can grow, after all.
And it does grow. Leaving aside the dwindling number of fundamentalists who have made the Devil a core belief, fewer people see the hand of Satan at work around them. Abu Ghraib was a horrific example of human nature at its most depraved, but who did the media rush to for explanation? Psychologists, not preachers. If you take the most evil acts in the world, such as the Holocaust, you must run out of human explanations first before you resort to supernatural ones. These human explanations for evil include the following:
• Hiding dark secrets.
• Feeling ashamed and guilty.
• Repressing feelings of deep anger and hostility.
• Denying painful truths, such as past abuse.
• Imitating the worst actions of one’s peers to gain approval.
• Hatred of authority.
• A deeply rebellious streak that acts out as self-destruction.
• Ungoverned impulses of sex and aggression.
• Repression of the shadow side of the psyche.
• Hatred of "the other."
A toxic cocktail of these all-too-human tendencies fueled Abu Ghraib, the Holocaust, and Islamic extremism. No supernatural agency needs to be ascribed. When anyone believes that Satan is a universal force, the enemy of God loosed upon creation, I ask a simple question. How much evil was there in the universe before human beings came along? If Satan is so cosmic, why did he wait billions of years to appear on the scene, until the day when the Old Testament was written? And what about cultures like the Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and ancient Indian that had no concept of Satan?
The rational mind has no trouble discounting the bogeyman, so it’s our irrational side that we must calm, with all its shadow fears and shameful impulses. Does Satan perch there, in the darkness we dare not confront? Religious believers haunted by a strong sense of sin may believe this, but look around at all the agnostics and atheists leading normal lives without the notion of absolute evil. They would seem to be the choicest prey for Satan, since they have no faith in God to protect them. But the Devil seems to keep his distance, and there’s a simple reason why.
Satan is a projection of human fear, anger, and guilt. He used to be such a major projection that he dominated psychological life. In an age of faith, Satan held a monopoly on evil. Now our minds have expanded, light has been shone on every level of the psyche, and a great change occurred. Satan stopped being strong because we stopped needing him so much. We took responsibility for evil away from him, and although it’s hard to face the fact that human evil trumps supernatural evil a hundred to one, the good news is that being human, it’s something we can heal.
Published in the Washington Post
good title!
Dear Deepak,
Marvellous title! Loved it.
Thanks for the post, specially for the title.
sharmishtha
Hi Deepak,
What about the right wing…..oh yeah replace evil with sick. hehehe…..It is hard to discern sick from evil and not have things on a moral issue….however I always remember one of your writings where you explain every action taken starts out as an impulse of love….seeing things people do in this light is a paradigm shifter…..this is also one of my favorite quotes.
If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each person's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Keep the peace,
Tom
Did someone look for me ?
I'm here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began! I've nurtured every sensation man's been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him, in spite of all his imperfections. I'm a fan of man! I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist."
"Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do? I swear for His own amusment, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste! Taste, don't swallow. Ahaha! And when you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughin' His sick, f***n' ass off. He's a sadist! He's an absentee landlord. Worship THAT? NEVER!"
Heal Heal Heal! Thank you Deepak!
Love
Rajesh
http://rajeshmsharma.blogspot.com
Deepak you think I am down and dead looking at wall street ( built on my principles of greed and fear )? Then you are wrong my dear man I will come back again in a different form and give man real purpose of life again ….Its not my last Gasp (ha ha ha)…I am not a absentee landlord.
The more we radiate this positive love/light energy from the Divine "I AM" out into the world, the force of polarity and duality changes for the better, it's a win win situation for all.
Lily S.
http://www.thechopracommunity.org – Join us!
http://www.messagesfromarchangelmichael.ning.com – Join us!
Thanks Deepak Bhai, you are very articulate and clear in your message.
Aum, Aum
Blessings Deepak Chopra,
I truly believe that Satan was born out of ignorance out of the darkness, and the light of education can help us to realize that this was a story that never really was. There are no monsters. Just hurt people that need to be loved.. Whether you call it sick, evil, or hostile, it all comes down to this is a person that in in pain. They don't need more anger from me. "Hurt people, hurt people", as Bill Cosby has quoted, and I pray that I can be one who doesn't contribute to that hurt, but rather be a light on the ignorance, and heal with love..
Thank you for your eloquent words and wisdom. Always..
Marylynn
deepak said :
"you must run out of human explanations first before you resort to supernatural ones."
thats the only quote i want to put in here, but i could put others from the blog. but couldnt the same thing be said about god ??? why are we just talking about the devil character. if we can create the devil, surely we can create god, no??….
"Satan is a projection of human fear, anger, and guilt"
Couldn't agree more. Satan is our unaddressed ignorance.
The more we practise being conscious of ourselves, the more it loses it's power over us.
"god is a projection of human love, tolerance, and compassion"
it has to go both ways . if deepak is saying the devil was "invented" by people to explain "evil" behavior, then why cant the same be said about god. why does this blog not address this. am i the only one saying it??
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
Kevin spacey, The Usual Suspects
Love Peace and Happiness
Well, with all due respect, I've yet to meet anyone who doesn't believe we are all destined to a last gasp!!
Azredazabeetroot makes a valid point regarding duality, don't we accede?
Love sometimes calls for me to sock it to you, baby
Dear Brother
You are right on. I have a deep respect for Deepkak and the Intent community. I do not agree with everything he writes and proclaims. I too am a deep thinker and a Christian who walks in faith and agree with you his logic on this subject falls short to fit his Gnostic beliefs. I read his book the Third Jesus and know that he falls short in much of his thinking. He picks and chooses from scripture the verses that validate his beliefs and values and negates the rest.
That said, I love him as a brother and a man of peace.
Love Peace and Happiness
I love him, too, Glen and I guess he didn't pen this for us but for a broader less thoughtful audience, who perhaps find paradox, anathema
I doubt the 'personification' Satan cares one jot if he/she is called psychologist or even Ed C for that matter
Not sure you were addressing me as brother, but you are welcome.
Ed.
"Religious believers haunted by a strong sense of sin may believe this, but look around at all the agnostics and atheists leading normal lives without the notion of absolute evil. They would seem to be the choicest prey for Satan, since they have no faith in God to protect them. But the Devil seems to keep his distance, and there's a simple reason why." My answer to the agnostic and atheist live normal live without the notion of absolute evil is this,"Why would Satan bother anyone of his own…he is out to create havoc on people trying to live by the commandments given us,and the scriptures where by we are living,so this is the reason we can't live without the notion of evil,satan is always hounding us ,pounding on us daily to mess up,to try and lead us into sins.The agnostics and atheist have no problems,their father will always leave them alone.
Blessings Deepak Chopra, I truly believe that Satan was born out of ignorance out of the darkness, and the light of education can help us to realize that this was a story that never really was. There are no monsters. Just hurt people that need to be loved.. Whether you call it sick, evil, or hostile, it all comes down to this is a person that in in pain. They don't need more anger from me. "Hurt people, hurt people", as Bill Cosby has quoted, and I pray that I can be one who doesn't contribute to that hurt, but rather be a light on the ignorance, and heal with love.. Thank you for your eloquent words and wisdom. Always.. Marylynn
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