The surest prevention against demonic attack is living so wholesome a life that one is well protected from adverse elements in the psychic atmosphere. This is not to be equated with separating oneself from all temptation and living the life of a holy recluse. Was not Jesus himself tempted on three occasions by the devil just before his ministry commenced (Matthew 4.1-10)? Only when he had passed the test did his ministry proceed. The temptations in the wilderness that confronted Jesus were in the first place psychic: turning stones into bread; and being set on the parapet of the temple in Jerusalem, from where he was challenged by the devil to throw himself down. Finally the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. He promised to give all these to Jesus if he would only fall down and do him homage. Jesus rejected all these demonic overtures, saying "Out of my sight, Satan! Scripture says, "You shall do homage to the Lord your God and worship him alone.""
Had Jesus submitted to any of these challenges, he would have demonstrated his psychic mastery to his rather gullible contemporaries, so that they might well have bowed down to him as a "master", and he would automatically have assumed superiority over them simply by virtue of his psychic gifts. He could have assumed the character of a monster just as easily as that of a saint. How indeed do we distinguish between a "psychic genius" (often an evil genius) and a saint? The clear indication is the way of Jesus as compared with that of his adversaries. He was full of love and compassion, but never sentimental or blurring his inner vision with personal sympathies or intolerance. He spoke what he thought. The tirade - against the scribes and the Pharisees because of their gross religious hypocrisy - that occupies most of Matthew 23 gives a fine picture of Jesus dealing with the important members of the Jewish community, while instructing the crowds that gathered around him and also his disciples. This is the way to prevent demonic attack both on ourselves and on other people also. The question is always the same: to what do you bow in greatest allegiance? Is it your own good (seen on an inevitably selfish basis) or the benefit of your fellow creatures? If the latter, you are very close to God, for in him alone there is both personal peace and service to your fellows. When we have made this choice categorically and are prepared to assail the long trudge before us with faith and iron determination, only then can we triumph over the subtle demonic forces that confront us day by day. Only now can we consider something greater than merely our own advantage, and move on with joyous abandon into a greater work for our fellows under the aegis of God. The closer we are to his presence, the more protected we are from demonic assault.
He who lives in the shelter of the Most High, who lodges under the shadow of the Almighty, says of the Lord, "He is my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I put my trust" He will rescue you from the fowler's snare and from deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his wings; you will find refuge beneath his pinions. His truth will be a shield and buckler. (Psalm 91.1-4)
A parallel view is, "God is our refuge and our stronghold, a timely help in trouble; so we are not afraid though the earth shakes and the mountains move in the depths of the sea, when its waters seethe in tumult and the mountains quake before his majesty" (Psalm 46.1-3). This famous psalm rejoices over a river whose streams bring joy to Jerusalem, the holy dwelling of the Most High, for God is in her midst. She will not be overthrown, and at the break of day he will help her. Psalm 46 goes on to remind us that nations are in tumult and kingdoms overturned, for when God thunders the earth melts. The psalm exults in the Lord of Hosts' intimate presence, for he is our fortress. And so comes the zenith of this magnificent psalm, "Come, see what the Lord has done, the astounding deeds he has wrought on earth; in every part of the wide world he puts an end to war: he breaks the bow, he snaps the spear, he burns the shields in the fire. "Let be, then: learn that I am God" ("Be still, and know that I am God", is the more familiar Authorized Version of the Bible translation), exalted among the nations, exalted in the earth. The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress" (Psalm 46.8-11).
One cannot, however, neglect the obvious fact of widespread warfare in the world despite God's power to influence events in the many remarkable instances of divine intervention, when all seemed lost and the power of civilization seemed to be falling irretrievably into the hands of evil people and criminals. A third psalm that asserts God's transcendental power and purpose is the finest of all, namely Psalm 23; its greatness lies in its beauty and simplicity. "The Lord is my shepherd; I lack for nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me to the water where I may rest; he revives my spirit; for his name's sake he guides me in the right paths. Even if I was to walk through a valley of deepest darkness I should fear no harm, for you are with me; your shepherd's staff and crook afford me comfort." The Lord spreads a table for his beloved in the presence of his enemies, and has richly anointed his head with oil, so that his cup brims over. Goodness and unfailing love will follow him all the days of his life, and he shall dwell in the house of the Lord throughout the years to come.
It is evident from the content of psalms such as these that closeness to God's presence serves especially well to separate us from the "prince of the world", which is a characteristically Johannine way of describing the devil (John 12.31; 14.30; 16.11). The question arises as to how much we ought to be completely isolated from baleful influences. If a complete spiritual quarantine is imposed between the devil and his courtiers and ordinary people, there will be no meeting of minds and therefore no growth in knowledge or sympathy. If we mix only with those whom we like and admire, we will become increasingly static in our sympathies and attitudes. The devil and his entourage bring us to less pleasant aspects of reality, including especially those characteristics within ourselves that often lie hidden from our own inner sight, though ridiculously apparent to those around us. There are two main ways of preventing demonic attack against us: surrounding and isolating ourselves against all harmful influences - rather like immunization against infectious diseases in a large, drifting community - and developing spiritual power to combat evil directly by confrontation. In fact, the first way can have only a limited effect, for no scheme of personal isolation has any hope of permanence. But as we begin to develop our own spiritual resources from inside ourselves, so there arises a focus of spiritual power that can drive off all psychic evil and eventually become a zone of intense spiritual light, which is the way we recognize the Divine Presence.
We have already considered the unquiet dead as a possible focus for demonic activity or, to be more accurate, discarnate activity. We described this matter in chapter 3, but it becomes really important when it involves people who have died as accident victims, or foetuses who have been the subject of abortions. As a rule, the younger the victim of "unnatural death", the more unsettled is its soul, and the more disquietitude does it set up. There are basically two varieties of abortions: the first is described as "inevitable" and is due to some abnormality in the mother or the foetus; whereas the second is "induced" and is due to some mechanical interference between the foetus and the mother. In neither instance is the foetus well disposed after its rejection and death, for it tends to remain in psychic attachment to its mother, and sometimes to other members of its family also. There is often a great degree of resentment inasmuch as the foetus has lost its foothold in the family circle, and it may intrude quite disastrously in the family proceedings until it is persuaded to move on to God's care, a circumstance extremely unlikely until a great deal of explanation and apology has been paid to the discarnate entity. A book published some thirteen years ago called Healing the Family Tree and written by Dr Kenneth McAll (Sheldon Press, an imprint of SPCK, 1982) discusses this matter rather more fully.
In my own experience the troublesome entity is usually a dead foetus, but sometimes it is a considerably older child who was related to the family, and occasionally there does not appear to be any family connection between the young child and the group to which it has connected itself. In such an instance I would suspect that the entity became united to the welcoming family group shortly after its detachment from a rather unfriendly discarnate fellowship. One thing is obvious to me: there is no absolute rule concerning the fate of discarnate entities that have not been attached to their family tree. When an unquiet spirit has been apparently causing trouble, it is first important to draw up a family tree to see if there is any obvious source of the trouble. When the possible cause of the disharmony has been unmasked, I speak firmly to it, advising it to move onwards to the light where God's love is encountered. Quite often such a scheme of progress seems to be perfectly adequate, but if I sense any reluctance to go forward, I celebrate the Eucharist at once, either in the home or just as effectively in a church. Occasionally I celebrate Holy Communion over the telephone, as I mentioned in chapter 4, or I say a more solemn Requiem Mass according to the circumstances of the case. In all this work the departed soul is brought close to God's presence and love, and then I believe it is set free to proceed with the work lying ahead of it, perhaps the deliverance of all who were in bondage to the malicious intent of demonic entities.
The bondage of the departed lies in the realm of an inability to forgive past hurts, something we all have to experience in the vale of purgatory, where we are taught both to forgive others and to pray to be ourselves forgiven by those whom we had treated meanly when we trod the painful course of the world's deceptive ways. We remember the electrifying sentence of the Lord's Prayer in this respect, "Forgive us the wrong we have done, as we have forgiven those who have wronged us" (Matthew 6.12).
Jesus proceeds to elaborate on this teaching:
For if you forgive others the wrongs they have done, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs that you have done. So too when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites; they make their faces unsightly so that everybody may see that they are fasting. Truly I tell you: they have had their reward already. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that no one sees that you are fasting, but only your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will give you your reward. (Matthew 6.14-18)
This exposition of the Lord's Prayer puts the concept of protection against evil psychic influences in a very positive light. In fact, we cannot obey this beautiful advice all on our own, because we shall very soon be assailed by the demons of fear on the one hand, and vicious anger on the other. We remember once again the warning of 1 Peter 5.8-9, "Be on the alert! Wake up! Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls around looking for someone to devour. Stand up to him, firm in your faith, and remember that your fellow-Christians in this world are going through the same kinds of suffering."
Some people have a natural psychic sensitivity. They tend to be self-effacing, a not very surprising trait when one considers the generally hostile approach of the materialistic masses that dominate the current intellectual scene. Meanwhile the simple soul who is decidedly psychic finds it most comfortable to hide their gift, until they are the subject of so severe a paranormal experience that they cannot keep it to themselves any longer. ("Paranormal" is a synonym for psychic, just as parapsychology is synonymous with psychical research.) They seek any intelligent help that may serve to elucidate their problem, or to indicate how they may proceed with their strange gift to their own advantage and the benefit of other people. They will find, in our destructively agnostic age, that most authorities in the realms of psychology and education tend to disregard all "occult" phenomena. Some will regard these as mental aberrations, while staunchly religious people are more likely to see the finger of the devil in it all. It is bewildering how quite innocuous occurrences can assume demonic proportions in the minds of pious people who fear rather than love God. Surely the Most High is the master of all that is, seen and unseen (according to the Nicene Creed).
If one's criteria illuminating the fullness of proper living are centred around the Divine Presence and all that pertains to it, one need fear no evil because a mightier protection is at work within us, and even if we are assailed by evil of the most brutal kind, we may call on the Divine Name in serenity for protection, and we shall be comforted (which is an archaic word meaning "protected"). We are shown the way to move onwards even in the face of terrifying demonic energies, most of which have been unleashed within ourselves by forces from outside our recognition. These "psychic energies" within ourselves are concentrated in focuses called "psychic centres". I knew about them even when I was a small child and far distant from any source of occult lore. They are related to our external anatomy rather than to our inner organs and their physiological connections, but of their linkages to our intricate system of spiritual connections I have never had any serious doubt. In the Indian (Hindu) tradition these centres are known as "chakras", a Sanskrit word meaning wheels, because clairvoyant practitioners claim actually to see whirling wheels of psychic energy coursing over the points of psychic communication. I personally know of the existence of the chakras by virtue of what I have experienced in my own body, but I have never seen anything of what I have described either in myself or in anyone external to me.
The value of knowing about points of psychic communication is their relation to the ministry of healing. It can be well worthwhile to lay one's hands over those points of the body where a major chakra is known to be present. This is especially true in relation to the situation of the accepted points of the body's psychic energy. These are (a) around the umbilicus or navel; (b) over the front of the heart; (c) over the front of the throat; (d) over the bridge of the nose between the eyes; and (f) on the vertex, or top, of the scalp. By placing one's hands over the appropriate psychic centre in a person in pain or discomfort in a nearby area of the body, one may often afford relief which may last for some time, but it must always be stressed that in a condition of severe disturbance orthodox medical investigation dare not be ignored.
Two points arise from this interesting discussion. First, not all psychic phenomena are ipso facto deleterious; on the contrary, some may undeniably be beneficial. Apart from a healing energy that may flow from them, they may be a means of precognition, clairvoyance and telepathy that could afford the recipient important information about private or future events that might influence the course of their later actions. As I have mentioned, one should not seek auguries from afar, but when they appear to be given spontaneously, they need not be cavalierly dismissed. It is better that they should be thoughtfully and seriously considered, small though they may appear to be. Every phenomenon in the world has its own significance, and if we are wise, we "fill our thoughts with these things" (Philippians 4.8).
The second point concerns the fundamental difference between Eastern and Western concepts of human nature, and therefore psychology. The Eastern view is essentially holistic, by which I mean that it tends to regard the person as a complete unit: body, mind, soul and spirit. The body is the external form of the personality by which we function in the world; the mind regulates and governs the body's activities; the soul is the seat of our deeper value judgements, especially those appertaining to moral and aesthetic matters; whereas the spirit is the seat of action of the Holy Spirit within us, and therefore our means of knowing God as St Paul puts it - "Christ in you, the hope of glory" - in Colossians 1.27.
Although the philosophy underlying complementary medicine is more typical of the East than of the West, there are some well-recognized unorthodox therapeutic systems of the West also. A classical example is homoeopathy. Here a minute dose of a drug, infinitesimal in amount, that in larger quantities would have the same general affect as the condition from which the patient was suffering, is said to have a completely paradoxical power of healing the condition itself. The preparation has no noticeable physiological effect in a much larger dose, and it is believed that the infinitesimal "potency" is the basis of the drug's action. The principle underlying homoeopathy was discovered by a German physician called Hahnemann who worked about two centuries ago, but like so much therapeutic practice of the East also (China and Tibet no less than traditional Hindu therapeutics) its mechanism is obscure to the point of absurdity to the downright Western mind.
This works according to rational principles: various remedies have a predictable response. If they are given in the recommended dosage the anticipated response may be relied on. Too small a dosage will have no effect at all, whereas too large a dose will probably produce toxic effects. The standard dose may occasionally have an unusual response due to allergy (or hypersensitivity), or simply as a result of idiosyncracy, which may be defined as a completely unique effect of a drug on a person's metabolism, which manifests by producing a totally unexpected sequence of signs or symptoms. Apparently the patient reacts unusually because of some inborn error of metabolism. As we saw earlier on, predictability is the basis of the scientific method, and parapsychology has yet to fulfil its criteria. The same criticism applies to the traditional medical practices of India, China or Tibet but, on the other hand, numerous individuals have benefited from their ministrations. It is believed that the infinitesimal "potency" is the basis of the homeopathic medication's action. If this is true, it would seem that the action of the preparation is primarily psychic, by which it influences the mind and the body, while, at the same time, enabling the person to be more open to the Holy Spirit also; indeed a truly holistic approach to personal healing and health.
I believe that the response to Eastern medicine and homoeopathy is largely idiosyncratic: some people are amazingly benefited, whereas others remain unaffected. A particularly well-known homoeopathic remedy is called arnica; it is often remarkably useful after severe injuries where there has been considerable bruising. It also relieves the pain. An unusual healing practitioner of recent time was Rudolf Steiner. His system, called anthroposophy (in contrast to theosophy, another branch of the occult founded by Madame Blavatsky and Annie Besant) includes very erudite teaching about the nature and continuation of the soul after the body's death. He also had healing and clairvoyant gifts, and his system of therapeutics shares points in common with herbal medicine. A completely different approach to complementary medicine is acupuncture, which is very much a Chinese speciality. The practitioner may deduce many aspects of the patient's condition by simply feeling the pulse, but what is ascertained bears little correspondence to the orthodox medical approach known to a doctor or a nurse. There are mysteries here that are available only to those long schooled in these arcane, traditional practices that involve diagnosis as well as treatment Chinese medicine works more on a system of bodily meridians than on chakras, but I suspect that both are mechanisms of bringing body and mind into psychic equilibrium, from which the Holy Spirit can proceed and perform its transforming function in our dense physical body. I visualize the psychic realm as a vast flowing river that carries all the sediment of our earthly life on its crest, where it is carried to the healing light of the Holy Spirit. The darkness is transfigured into the uncreated light of God in whose presence everything can be renewed and redeemed.
Another aspect of alternative medicine at present in vogue is reflexology: the soles of the feet are massaged quite vigorously according to a way that identifies various parts of the foot with a corresponding area of the body. I would guess that the sensitive parts of the foot are stimulated and this effect is transmitted to the major chakras, especially the one over the bridge of the nose and that over the vertex of the skull. Not only is the body irradiated with healing energy, but it is also laid open to the power of the Holy Spirit. The Hindu healing exercises of Yoga work not only through the muscular development they engender, but also from the full application of the body, mind and psyche to the knowledge of God, using the concept of knowledge in its Johannine sense.
Therapeutic relationships contain the material of their healing potential, because in this type of relationship there is a fine transference of psychic energy from the one person to the other. As such, transference has long been recognized as the real basis of healing in psychotherapy, but in fact the work of transference and counter-transference is much more radical than merely a transmission of emotional energy from the analysand to the analyst. It is fundamentally a release of psychic energy from the soul with its locked-up store of scarcely tolerable suffering to the therapist, who is able to bear this immense burden after having been trained to come to terms with their own inner wilderness. In the same way, true friendship is shown by the capacity of people to bear each other's pain.
We have also to be aware of how easily we may be drained psychically by those who cling unmercifully to us, perhaps by making us feel ungrateful for some minor favour they did on our behalf in the past. A guilty conscience towards this type of person can easily mount into a similar feeling towards God. Therefore we should be aware of the natural selfishness that we all share while alive in the flesh. The first great commandment - loving God with all our heart and mind, soul and strength - should always precede the second one of loving our neighbour as ourself. Once we feel easy in our conscience towards God, we will find an equal ease in our conduct towards our fellow creatures. No human has the right to dictate our responses either to them or to the world at large. Freedom is God's supreme gift to us, but we have to learn how to use it with wisdom and a determination to be of use to our fellows. Those who become entangled with psychic groups are very likely to compromise their own integrity of action, and if an individual member strives to break free, they are held back by the threat of occult attack should they accomplish their purpose. Much of this is pure superstition, comparable to the circulation of chain letters with the threat that anyone who destroys the nasty missive and severs the link will have their subsequent share of personal misfortune. In fact, there are seldom any repercussions following the destruction of chain letters, and those who compose them are often the ones in need of medical treatment.
All this helps to assess the membership of a group, whether a church of acknowledged integrity or some occult society. Do they leave their members free to go elsewhere for friendship and further enlightenment, or do they cling doggedly on to them, preventing their growth in the freedom of full experience which is God's gift to us all? If the latter is the case, they are in the grip of an evil force which is intent only on their destruction as independent individuals. An obvious advantage of these fascinating complementary therapeutic systems over the hard-hitting rational approach of the West is their gentleness (on a systemic level) and paucity of obvious side effects. But it seems to be an invariable rule of life that nothing which is effective is without its own dangers and disadvantages. If one becomes obsessed with practices of psychic potency, one is liable to depend on their efficacy and the practitioners who prescribe such methods. I believe that the potency of unorthodox methods of healing generally depends on the relationship between the patient, the "healer" and the remedy. I hearken back to Ecclesiastes 4.12, "If anyone is alone, an assailant may overpower him, but two can resist; and a cord of three strands is not quickly snapped." What I am saying here is distinctly the converse of the wisdom writer's dictum, for he is writing from a position of growing strength, while I am striving to lessen the power of outside agencies, so that the individual may establish their independence from external sources as they move into their way of life unimpeded by their past history of powerlessness. Therefore, if orthodox medical treatment leaves the patient dependent on a single line of therapy, which may ultimately be left behind, the complementary approach leaves him or her more or less permanently part of a patient healer-medication team, which could be increasingly undesirable if the healer assumes the mantle of irreplaceable psychic virtuoso.
This is, incidentally, the problem confronting all relationships of dependency in which a master figure becomes established in the mind of the patient, or client, to use a term which has established itself in psychotherapeutic circles. This psychic dependency is seen to its maximal effect in the relationship between a medium and their supporters in an established spiritualistic group. But its unhealthy effect can also be encountered in groups practising reflexology and acupuncture. Therefore the psychic dimension is like a double-edged sword. Its power moves beyond psychic phenomena to embrace both emotional attitudes and spiritual aspiration. But its close connection with the demonic realms shows how unwise it is for anyone who is unschooled to dabble in these matters. The story of the sorcerer's apprentice told by Goethe and set as a magnificent tone poem by Paul Dukas reminds us how dangerous it is when powerful forces, whether scientific or occult, are placed in the hands of an ignoramus; in this case a sequence of words that activate broomsticks to bear water at the sorcerer's command. While he was in charge, all went well, but when the sorcerer went away for a time, the apprentice took over, and nearly caused a tremendous flood, which was obviated by the sorcerer returning just in time, and stopping any further movement of water by the broomsticks. The unfortunate apprentice had learnt the words to command the water to be brought, but he had not acquired the balancing knowledge of restraint.
Exorcisms should never be carried out except by devout Christians, since there is a great power that emanates from the holy name. This is stressed in Acts 19.13-20, in which instance some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried their hand at using the name of the Lord Jesus on those possessed by evil spirits. The evil spirits repudiated the authority of the exorcists, attacking them quite unmercifully almost to the point of their death, so that they ran out of the house battered and naked. In this particular case only one evil spirit caused trouble, but in many other instances there has been a veritable hive of demonic activity. The mention of believers who had previously practised magical spells is also significant; they collected the offending books and burnt them publicly. In such ways as these the word of the Lord showed its power, and spread more and more widely and effectively.
But as I have stressed so often in these pages, merely putting on a Christian front does little good. It is the inner disposition of the heart that alone matters; if this is truly God-centred, we will never be overcome even when we appear to be surrounded by all the forces of the universe. The psychic mode is also the place of illusion, which masquerades as reality because of the spectacular phenomena that may emerge from its orbit, but if we are patient and wait prayerfully we shall be shown the way past illusion to the foothills of divine grace.
Chapter 11