What does demon possession mean to you?

[Thief]

Ignorance is simply not knowing. It's just the same to say and just as equally unoffensive to say they were inexperienced with disease, unaware of bacteria, and lacked information about mental illness. Which they did. Just as such at one point in time our entire species was ignorant of the concepts of algebra and zero, and remained largely ignorant of them as a species until more recent times as information became more widespread and more easily obtainable.

the next step is profound

they who CHOOSE to ignore...….are ignorant

no cure

 

[Thief]

Screwtape Letters
C.S. Lewis

not a case of possession
but fun to read

 

[BilliardsBall]

In the modern day, I ask this sincerely.

It's a phrase that's so common in the books I cringe every time I hear it. It's clearly a sign of medical ignorance.

Thankfully, in a single verse(s), the Bible parses possession and medical illness, for example, "Jesus healed all who came to Him, including epileptics, demoniacs, etc."

Sometimes illness is demonic, sometimes it isn't. As far as "medical ignorance", when Christian friends study psychology and intern in asylums, they pray for discernment, is X mental, physical or demonic?

 

[Stevicus]

They are super stupid. So easy to fool!
In China, you can fool demons who might
harm your boy, by dressing him as a girl.

So demons only harm boys? Those sexists!

 

[Erebus]

It is kind of odd when you think of it, though. Why would such powerful beings (whether extraterrestrials or spirits) even want to play around in this little sandbox of ours? It doesn't appear that it would be much of a challenge for them to get the better of humans, nor does there appear to be much of a reward for doing so. For such powerful entities, it seems the equivalent of wanting to be in charge of a manure pile. Sure, they can pull the wings off of flies if that makes them happy, but it seems such an empty, pointless existence.

It certainly is odd since when we're talking about aliens or supernatural beings all bets are off. It's possible they would have distinctly human thought processes and goals (the desire for power over this particular planet for example) but I think there's a more likely explanation here.

Humans are capable of some pretty monstrous things, especially when they're in a position of power. Even the most conscientious and well-meaning president/prime-minister/monarch is going to make decisions that ultimately cost people their lives. That's the absolute best case scenario. For the most part, the people in positions of power are capable of callousness, indifference or even active malevolence that have wide-reaching consequences and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable members of society.

I find it very easy to see the attraction in believing these things are outside the remit of the human spirit. A sort of no true Scotsman fallacy in which people are unable to view real humans as being capable of that kind of behaviour. From the premise that, "No true human would do this," it's fairly easy to then make the jump to, "those who do this aren't human." That could mean that the people in power are themselves aliens/possessed/demons or that they're subservient to inhuman beings who ultimately make these inhuman decisions.

This is more my own conjecture than my other post was so please take it with a pinch of salt.

 

[Audie]

So demons only harm boys? Those sexists!

Very. But then in traditional society, boys
were an economic asset, girls a liability.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

As with Aristotle?

Yeah

 

[blü 2]

Yeah

Interesting. I don't think things strain to be themselves. I think instead we perceive them in conceptual terms. If you have kids, you may have noticed when they were very small they'd look where you pointed, or where you were looking, and they'd first babble, and then form words, and then echo words that you named. So they learnt that (points) this is a truck and (next time) this is a truck and (next time) this is a truck so that the word and the abstraction, the concept 'truck' (really 'truckness') is acquired. As well as single identities, Mama, Dada, and so on, of course.

And that's what Plato's forms are, concepts, and that's what Kant's universals are, concepts.

Or so it seems to me.

 

[Audie]

Interesting. I don't think things strain to be themselves. I think instead we perceive them in conceptual terms. If you have kids, you may have noticed when they were very small they'd look where you pointed, or where you were looking, and they'd first babble, and then form words, and then echo words that you named. So they learnt that (points) this is a truck and (next time) this is a truck and (next time) this is a truck so that the word and the abstraction, the concept 'truck' (really 'truckness') is acquired. As well as single identities, Mama, Dada, and so on, of course.

And that's what Plato's forms are, concepts, and that's what Kant's universals are, concepts.

Or so it seems to me.

There is more to it of course, for lo, Plato was
into absolutes.

 

[Darkforbid]

So you decline to specify even one example of your claim.

That's not the way that skepticism is overcome.

And you like Randi when he 'debunks stage magic' but you don't like him when he's associated with a prize that wasn't once claimed in 51 years, because you believe in magic, just not stage magic.

Okay, that's your view and your choice. I'll leave you to it.

Prove something with words over the Internet, like that's ever worked

Is the Randi prize the only defence you have, Google Randi prize complaints
'They included homeopaths, psychic investigators, university professors

Some accused him of making up quotes by them in his best-selling books, some of aggressively mischaracterising them, others of straightforward lying.'

 

[blü 2]

There is more to it of course, for lo, Plato was
into absolutes.

Yes, the history of ideas contains some quaint stuff. And it's a pretty idea, designed to tantalize, that the world we can only discern as shadows accidentally falling on the wall of our cave is where the absolutes are, waiting for us. Ah, the jokes about visiting Platoland, a vast junkyard of perfect samples, and feeling your scalp in search of the mystic antenna that connects us to it.

 

[Darkforbid]

What would be needed first would be some
demonstration that it is real.

Awful hard to study things that dont exist.

I haven't failed a physical proof yet

 

[Audie]

I haven't failed a physical proof yet

whatever that could possibly mean.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

And that's what Plato's forms are, concepts, and that's what Kant's universals are, concepts.

Correct. What is a virus or a meme?

 

[Audie]

Prove something with words over the Internet, like that's ever worked

Is the Randi prize the only defence you have, Google Randi prize complaints
'They included homeopaths, psychic investigators, university professors

Some accused him of making up quotes by them in his best-selling books, some of aggressively mischaracterising them, others of straightforward lying.'

Of course, attack him when they
cannot perform.

Anyone who could actually do any
of that woo woo could give the randi
money to the salvation army, they would
be rich and famous, and, be noted
for one of the greatest scientific
breakthroughs of all time, if not the greatest.

 

[blü 2]

Is the Randi prize the only defence you have,

Defense of what? You're the one defending the paranormal. I'm simply observing there's no good evidence for it.

I'm quite happy to allow that Randi's track record isn't all sweetness and light, but so what? It doesn't follow from this that eg telepathy is a real phenomenon. You need that repeatable experiment I mentioned, that soundly based demonstration. As far as I'm aware there isn't one, but feel free to show me I'm wrong.

 

[blü 2]

Correct. What is a virus or a meme?

Off the top of my head, a virus is something with objective existence, and called 'a virus' because conceptually it's judged to belong to a defined biological category. A meme is a concept all the way through, and called 'a meme' because conceptually it's judged to belong to a loosely defined psychological category.

 

[Audie]

Defense of what? You're the one defending the paranormal. I'm simply observing there's no good evidence for it.

I'm quite happy to allow that Randi's track record isn't all sweetness and light, but so what? It doesn't follow from this that eg telepathy is a real phenomenon. You need that repeatable experiment I mentioned, that soundly based demonstration. As far as I'm aware there isn't one, but feel free to show me I'm wrong.

You know good and well there isnt, else, it would
be a world wide sensation.

Though the WWAODSWCAATITD* would do what they can to
block such from being known, if it ever did happen.

*
World wide association of dogmatic scientists who cant accept anything that isnt their dogma.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

Off the top of my head, a virus is something with objective existence, and called 'a virus' because conceptually it's judged to belong to a defined biological category. A meme is a concept all the way through, and called 'a meme' because conceptually it's judged to belong to a loosely defined psychological category.

They are essentially information. Am I correct? A virus is essentially genetic information and meme is cultural information. You can't really say that either is truly a life form but they seem to have a life of their own. They just spread and spread and spread and spread

 

[blü 2]

You know good and well there isnt, else, it would
be a world wide sensation.

But like any other conclusion based on empiricism and induction, nothing protects it from further information that refutes it, or greatly alters our understanding of it.

And it's always seriously possible that someone knows something I don't.

Though the WWAODSWCAATITD* would do what they can to block such from being known, if it ever did happen.

But on the other side, the military would be all over it, as they were in the sixties ─ the weapon-potential would be colossal.

World wide association of dogmatic scientists who cant accept anything that isnt their dogma.

If we can limit it just to scientists, that might be a step in the right direction!