Daemons

There is an old word that seems to have fallen out of favor, but needs to be retained for serious discussion related to the examination of self, and the discovery of who we are as holistic persons.  The word is daemon.  The word demon has emerged to express not only the influence generated from some force presumed to be satanic in order, or from whatever negative force there is in the ephemeral creation, but also that negative factor (daemon) within us that drives us in ways unacceptable to self, and often to others.  The inner negative drive is our interest here and was once identified as our personal daemons.  To understand it as likely appearing to greater or lesser degrees in all persons, and to address it, is a major step in the maturation of persons.  We remember that maturation, especially spiritual maturation, is a major matter in the development of the Christian life.  It is a major goal.  Christian life and practice depends upon it for effective thought and conduct.  To the degree we fail as Christians to recognize the point in us and manage it affirmatively, to that degree we fail maturity, and representation as the children of God.

The Oxford Dictionary refers the reader in the entry on daemon to demon, which is fitting in modern usage, but loses something in the historical reference that we want to review here.  Daemon comes directly from the Latin, and is included in the Greek language from the ancients.  For our purpose it relates to the inner drives of persons, often unrecognized, that cause us to think and act in some ways without deliberation.  We are driven by this or that as a matter of some natural impulses, usually identified as negative, but not necessarily.  For example, the Oxford refers to the affirmative quotation: O Anthony . . . Thy Daemon, that thy spirit which keeps thee, is Noble, Courageous, high, unmatchable (sic) . . . . Daemon was used as a less general term, but one of distinction so as to be specific to a person, not necessarily related to either Satan or evil.  In our time demon is presumed to have some evil emanating from a source between God and man.  In that serious context, the concept of daemon from the nature of mankind, unrelated to its original source may be lost.  My daemons are now mine.  Some of our daemons are affirmative and others negative.  Perhaps they are embedded in our DNA.  Biblical insight suggests we are creatures partly of our own virtue and fault that is summarized in theology as depravity.  Depravity has taken on so much of a sinister meaning that persons prefer a word like faulty or imperfect.  The point: that the mix of who we are is not acceptable with God until we have submitted to his redemptive program identified to cover condemnation and provide effective justification with God that gains the award of immortality.  That is the biblical story.

Here we are interested in the discovery of our inner daemons residing in our natures, perhaps to develop them for good or manage/shed them to avoid loss in life development both natural and spiritual.  Common negative daemons in us include anger, shyness, arrogance, prejudice, and the list is long.  Even affirmative daemons may be negative.  A child may be so taken with a kind of gentleness that overcompensation takes over.  To avoid hurt the response is quick and obedient, not in agreement but in nature, and may not be the thing to do.  The person is easily hurt responding to others in such a way as to build barriers so to avoid either being hurt or hurting.  Problems become too heavy to bear, relationships are not sought, or found may not be developed.  There is a defensive mechanism, retreat to a corner for life.  What was meant for good has become something of a personal curse made to bear a greater burden than it can bear. This person needs help to break out and find some other balancing and affirmative characteristics to set the gentle spirit in useful place.  There may be more persons warping their lives with hypocrisy than we have imagined.  Negatives like anger, prejudice and others are easy to recognize.  They are not to be identified as learned (although they may be learned), but are found in our natures.  Studies have demonstrated that some children are already prejudiced well before they can scribble their names, and the daemon ought to be addressed. We seem little prepared to understand ourselves as driven in this or that factor.  Part of maturity and ministry is to defuse explosives in human nature.  This is a part of the wise counsel: Know Thyself!