Psychic relationships include two separate issues: relationships between entities, and their relationship with us. I have purposely avoided their relationship with other forms of life because this is basically contingent on our relationship with our fellow humans, with the world and with God.
We love because he loved us first. But if someone says, "I love God," while at the same time hating a fellow-Christian, he is a liar. If he does not love a fellow-Christian whom he has seen, he is incapable of loving God whom he has not seen. We have this commandment from Christ: whoever loves God must love his fellow-Christian too. (1 John 4.19-21)
It is the psychic element of the universe that binds us close together in a mutual regard that far transcends all intellectual understanding but, as we have repeatedly stressed, not all these elements work to our benefit. Some are deliberately hostile, while others interfere with our own sense of dignity by clouding our discretion. So much of a free person's life is an experience of pain and frustration, and psychic illusion can easily lead us into escaping from these negative emotions into an easy, hospitable way of existence in the shallows of selfish concern. Indeed, psychic illusion acts by conjuring up spectacular visions that lead us along attractive paths which induce a state of self inflation both by themselves and by stimulating us to seek the type of company that inflates our ego-consciousness to the extent that we lose sight of the way God has intended us to follow.
If we lose the way into an easy life, nothing seems to happen, but in fact there is a diminution in our complete psychical stature that may be the precursor of our cognitive collapse, similar in its own way to the atrophy of the body and mind of an aged person. Just as our best way to delay physical atrophy is by frequent bodily exercise, so the way of spiritual youthfulness is by meditation and prayer and by concern for other people. Indeed, personal health and sensible concern for those less fortunate than ourselves form good criteria for knowing how well we are serving God in the world. By sensible I mean a concern that does not put our own well-being under unnecessary risk - remembering the second great commandment, "You must love your neighbour as yourself" (Leviticus 19.18). We are not expected to make martyrs of ourselves, for self imposed martyrdom is an unpleasant emotional trait that has nothing to do with the spiritual life.
The question remains: how do we try to reconcile the beneficent entities that propagate peace and goodwill with their malicious counterparts that are intent only on the destruction of the true, the beautiful and the good? Experience over the years has taught me that the first requirement for a healing relationship is a naked determination to confront the adversary directly, so that complete candour can be established between the opposing factions. This is scarcely possible in an atmosphere of distrust, and indeed we have first to confront our own motives squarely with as complete an honesty as we can muster. If we were acting to destroy a human adversary, there is a considerable likelihood that we should fall disastrously under their system of defence, for they, after all, are acting only to preserve their own life. The same principle underlies our spiritual conflicts both with our fellow humans and the greatly magnified forces on the other side of life, which we call death.
When we find ourselves confronted by an enormous human figure like the legendary Samson (Judges 13-16), our courage seems to drain away from us, and we run for help to God, or to some equally powerful figure if we are unbelievers. But this so-called God is largely a figment of our imagination, and we are well advised to escape from his alleged power. In fact his real power shows itself in preventing us from growing into mature adults who can put our trust in our own powers and gifts. These are aspects of our own personality, and when they are courageously explored, we can begin to know the divine power within the soul: Christ in you, the hope of glory (which we have mentioned very frequently, and St Paul stresses in Colossians 1.27).
Another approach to discerning the right type of spirit is contained in 1 John 4.1-3:
My dear friends, do not trust every spirit, but test the spirits, to see whether they are from God, for there are many false prophets about in the world. The way to recognize the Spirit of God is this: every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and no spirit is from God which does not acknowledge Jesus. This is the spirit of antichrist; you have been warned that it was to come, and now here he is, in the world already.
In 1 John 4.4-6 we read further,
Children, you belong to God's family, and you have the mastery over these false prophets, because God who inspires you is greater than the one who inspires the world. They belong to that world, and so does their teaching; that is why the world listens to them. But we belong to God and whoever knows God listens to us, while whoever does not belong to God refuses to listen to us. That is how we can distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of error.
This is what ought to be the essence of orthodoxy, at least in its religious connotation, the holding of correct or the currently accepted opinions especially on religious doctrine. Its converse is known as heterodoxy or heresy, but it may be merely original or independent-minded views or opinions that in a more hospitable climate of thought would prove to be quite acceptable to a large number of people. How then do we know whether we belong to God or merely to the world? The answer is clear to me: by the presence within our soul of the Spirit that animates us as it did when Mary, the mother of Jesus, greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leapt for joy (Luke 1.39-45). This is how I know that I am in the presence of God in whom I know the true, the beautiful and the holy. This last word speaks to me of moral and spiritual perfection, consecrated and sacred, and belonging and devoted to love. It is a shame that the word "orthodox" conjures up a vision of narrow-minded, bigoted, self-sufficient people who have no doubt that the entire gamut of spiritual truth not only lies within their grasp, but is also unobtainable from any other source. One of the principles of this book is to attempt to demonstrate that the Most High works in many different ways - whether in psychology, religion or healing - and those of us who are wise accept all these indications of divine grace as special gifts to us in our travail and worldly disillusionment. But this travail and worldly disillusionment is also our personal pilgrimage to God, a pilgrimage like all others that is pursued in the company of many other seekers and yet at the same time completely alone. The depths of the soul contain our own secret known only to God, and our work is to unravel and elucidate that secret. Most of us seek rather to escape from the threat of loneliness by affiliating ourselves with other people and their points of view rather than facing the threat with its distant view of inner integrity.
There are two basic ways of confronting reality: one looks for safety and assurance, and the other for adventure. In fact all life is a type of adventure whether we accept the proposition or not, for we are here to grow into useful, experienced members of an adult community who are capable of tending to the needs of the rest of the living society. These in turn minister to our own concerns. St Paul expresses it memorably in Ephesians 4.25, "Then have done with falsehood and speak the truth to each other, for we belong to one another as parts of one body." To those who are psychically aware, this communal sensitivity extends both to the blessed angels and the great fellowship of saints that were at one time living in the world alongside us, and are now a permanent feature of the cosmic landscape. A saint is a member of the blessed community, one who identifies truth with the knowledge of the Most High and acts accordingly. In our world of phenomena it is comparatively easy, and satisfying too, to classify the spiritual powers according to our value judgements. This is how humans have judged members of their own group for many ages. Those who meet up with our inner spiritual requirements have been accorded the accolade of acceptability, whereas those who do not meet our needs are rapidly rejected. The acceptable spiritual entities have succeeded in bringing us closer to the presence of God within us, whereas those that are unpleasant have dulled the vision of God in the soul. This they do by filling us with negative emotions like fear, boredom, mistrust, hatred and destructive passion. A particularly destructive passion goes under the name of love, but in fact it is very similar to the movement that a python demonstrates as it embraces its victim in its lethal coils of destruction. This type of love is content with little else than the entire body and soul (if it could claim this also) of its victim. This is the essential difference between the ever-enduring love of God and the transient passions of some humans who almost carelessly abuse the sincere concerns of those in whom a chord of sympathy has been stretched. When they cannot lay claim to the person's complete identity, they recoil in anger.
In the end, the totality of spirits in the cosmos need to be brought together and reconciled, for otherwise spiritual warfare will persist indefinitely with each side claiming its superiority both in terms of strength and usefulness. Moral purpose can be largely ignored in respect of the demonic spirits inasmuch as they are motivated by self-interest which they tend to equate with using other entities for their business. The relationship between the darker side of the psychic dimension and the selfish aspect if human nature needs no further amplification. We in our simplicity may be misled into blaming the spirits for our difficult character traits, but in fact we likewise play our part in their misdemeanours. I have on more than one occasion emphasized that the emotional power inherent in the human will can immeasurably potentiate the negative psychic powers of the demonic spirits. But now I can stress a more positive aspect between the human-demonic relationship also. If we as humans actualize the divinity within us, so we can quite unconsciously begin to convert the world from darkness to light, from hatred to love, from negative thinking to positive activity. We do not plan this mode of approach intellectually; on the other hand, the love flows from us as we begin to care for other people.
In the first case, our concern is limited to only a few people, perhaps indeed only one, but if we are quite spontaneously prepared to sacrifice our time, energy and material resources for their well-being, so a flow of love may be initiated through the psychic realms which may in the end clear up the debris of misunderstanding, mistrust and jealousy, and bring many hostile entities or forces closer together. It seems scarcely credible that so lowly a creature and one so capable of terrible crimes as the human has also been granted the power of bringing divine love into the universe, when they forget their own sordid interests and begin to care for something greater than themselves. "There is no greater love than this, that someone should lay down his life for his friends" (John 15.l3). This love does not end its work when the friends are healed of their particular impediments; on the contrary, it only really starts to manifest itself at that point The reason for this dramatic increase in magnitude is the capacity of love to grow in power and effectiveness when it is ever more widely dispersed throughout the universe. Just as we become most isolated when out of fear we separate ourselves from the main thrust of life (which, threatening though it so often is, remains the only way of maturing into a full adult stature in the present world), so self giving love abolishes our isolation.
In a human situation, the truly destructive person is the one who is mentally or emotionally unbalanced to the point of willing the annihilation of all that exists, and the same line of reasoning applies to demonic entities also. Most are not nearly as destructive in intent as this, but are in a condition of confusion: "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23.34). To this confusion is added a mischievousness and a state of general ill will. Since the demonic powers are present in a cosmos that God has fashioned, they dare not be ignored even when their actions and general attitudes are totally unsatisfactory in terms of the development of the universe into a Garden of Eden. Instead we should pay heed to Isaiah 30.15,
These are the words of the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: In calm detachment lies your safety, your strength in quiet trust. But you would have none of it; "No," you said, "we shall take horse and flee." Therefore you will be put to flight! "We shall ride apace," you said. Therefore swift will be the pace of your pursuers! "When a thousand flee at the challenge of one, you will flee at the challenge of five."
This oracle was spoken by Isaiah during the threat of an Assyrian invasion of Judea during the cruel and destructive reign of King Sennacherib, who descended from the north with his hordes of soldiers. If only the Israelites had put their trust in the Lord, all would have gone well for them, but, as usual, the human element had to be in charge! And so the Israelites preferred to seek an alliance with Pharaoh, for here was tangible strength rather than a glory that could not be described. "What is seen is transient, what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4.18).
Surely the most challenging demand in the Sermon on the Mount is contained in Matthew 5.38-48. Among other things we are enjoined not to resist anyone who does us wrong, but rather to turn and offer our left cheek if the right one has already been slapped. In the dispute that follows being sued for one's property, one should be prepared to give more than merely to stand solidly behind one's rights. In the same spirit, if someone in authority presses one into service one should go further than the demand. Give to anyone who asks, and do not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow. Even more radical than this advice, we are told to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors. This injunction embraces something more than mere detachment; love will alone suffice. But how can we in all integrity love the unjust person who passes on their way through power irrespective of the permissibility of the demands? How can we in all sincerity love our enemies? None of this can be done purely by an act of will, for in such an attitude we would immediately reveal our spiritual superiority over our adversary, thereby evoking jealousy in those places where goodwill ought to prevail. Few attitudes are more insufferable than assumed moral superiority, because it puts the other party in a position of weakness which all the strength in the world cannot rectify. It is much better to confess our mortification when we feel we have been let down or betrayed by the other party. In the combined emotional melange of wounded pride, disgust at the dishonesty of our fellow humans, and a general rejection of the concept of God, we may attain a deeper stillness than is usually our wont, and in this wordless silence our ears may be opened to the greater truths of the universe.
We may, for instance, see in greater depth how small our part in the world's economy truly is, and how much more we can play our part constructively by remaining quiet and listening with the inner ear to the voice of God within the soul. In this attitude of spiritual truth we are much more likely to become attuned to various spiritual entities ranging from the morally illiterate to the frankly demonic. Furthermore, in this experience of inner truth we can both be cleared of spiritual illusion (that we are special in the eyes of God) and an expectation that we should receive special recognition for our own work. The reward for seeing our work well done is a glow of happiness replacing the previous gloom in the face of a sufferer. To be able to give is our greatest privilege in this life. When these basic spiritual truths can be broadcast to the demonic spirits they may take heed and, despite their perennially bad humour, begin to change their attitude. "Come for water, all who are thirsty; though you have no money, come, buy grain and eat; come, buy wine and milk, not for money, not for a price. Why spend your money for what is not food, your earnings for what fails to satisfy? Listen to me and you will fare well, you will enjoy the fat of the land" (Isaiah 55.1-2). In other words, the only convincing way to bring a recalcitrant member of a community to the love of God and their neighbour is by an attitude of selfless devotion to them and through them to the whole community.
Since we are indeed belonging to one another as parts of one body (Ephesians 4.25), we only begin to attain our own usefulness to the whole when we forget our individual parts as separate servants and work towards the common good. We are paradoxically most liberated when we have been able to cast aside our own self-importance. It is then that we can begin to see our own reflection in the faces of all who surround us as they in turn can see themselves in us. "When I was a child I spoke like a child, thought like a child, reasoned like a child; but when I grew up I finished with childish things" (1 Corinthians 13.11). It is this process of mental maturation that so sharply distinguishes us humans from our more humble animal brethren, and I suspect the same is true of the lower demonic spirits also. Whereas the bright angels are eternal spirits acting to guide creation to the ways of God, the dark spirits accompany us on our way, teaching us to protect ourselves through the course of a dismal night of suffering through to the dawning of a new day. As we noted earlier in the chapter, our first duty is to take care of ourselves, for only then can we love our neighbour effectively also. Of course, our way of action does not end at this point, for we have to give ourselves fully as servants of the created order, and it is in this respect that the spirits of light illuminate our way forward.
When the spirits of darkness will have completed their part in our education into full living, they too will assume something of the light pouring from our bodies, and order will have emerged from our present chaos. "While the course of the righteous is like morning light, growing ever brighter till it is broad day, the way of the wicked is like deep darkness, and they do not know what has been their downfall" (Proverbs 4.18-19). In the end the way of the wicked is their own judgement, for the darkness is what we know as hell, an atmosphere of meaningless isolation devoid of any fellowship. When the folly of the spiritual warfare they have occasioned among themselves as well the other creatures of the universe has been fully shown to them, I could envisage a complete change of perspective comparable to the change of heart that we all know within ourselves when our heart is open to truth far beyond the narrowing intellect.
We begin to live when we no longer need to attain the victory over our adversaries in order to prove our strength or superiority. If a victory is really important, its end should not have an eye to our own gratification, but that virtue should prevail and evil be thwarted. This attitude is in line with being the Lord's servant, completely open to his workings and putting up no barriers (Luke 1.38 and Isaiah 6.8-9 are good examples of dedicated service to God). While the life of the Holy Spirit is not lived for individual reward, its harvest is immortally enumerated in Galatians 5.22-3: "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self control". When the psychic atmosphere of the universe has been lifted up beyond personal desire to a concern that all creatures may be saved in their eternal form, the praise of the heavenly host around the shepherds at the time of Jesus' nativity will have been fulfilled: "Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth peace to all in whom he delights" (Luke 2.14).
Chapter 12