This bit about the pope "crowning Charlemagne the Roman emperor" was a sort of propaganda move, since the Roman empire still existed (in Constantinople), and the Franks were not Roman. The actual Romans weren't too happy about it.
Its arguable. Charlemagne controlled Rome, so he had a vague claim to be a rule of the largest successor state. The Eastern Roman empire did have political continuity but was not all the Roman - it was culturally and linguistically Greek, and did not control Rome itself.
Yeah, I don't think one has much of a claim to be Roman emperor if they aren't, you know, in possession of Rome. The Taiwanese government considers themselves to be the legitimate Chinese government, but as they aren't in possession of China nobody really agrees with that claim. IDK why people treat Byzantium's claim of being Roman any differently.
I am a traditional Catholic, and I can say that for us, such stories are not mere fairy tales. The spiritual world is something entirely normal for a Catholic. We are convinced that demonic possessions do happen (at the invitation of the person themselves), although many cases are simply mental illnesses. Traditional Catholics, however, should not be particularly interested in this, let alone listen to any messages from the devil. One does not negotiate with the devil :-)
No matter your beliefs on the supernatural, it should be clear that the story of Wiggo was an actual "fairy tale" made up by Einhard as a proxy for airing his disdain for the current state of the empire.
The trick is to discern which input stream is of which source. We have positive thoughts/feelings, negative thoughts/feelings, and our own thoughts/feelings.
"Know thyself." and "Know your enemy." are two good quotes related to this most important fight of all our lives.
The key to the 1st Beatitude ("Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs shall be the Kingdom of Heaven.") is to enter the Path of Love by wishing for our Creator to take Its Spirit (our Conscience) back into Itself so that we can cleanse and purify our soul of our selfish vice-eous tendencies.
After making that wish/prayer and then doing much work using "Hallowed be Thy Name" (repeating a two-syllable Name of God, such as Yah-weh, Al-lah, Di-os, De-us, Nn-guy, Brah-man, ...) one's soul's heart is enlightened whereby the vices are replaced by their corresponding virtue. There are 19 such pairs. If one sees the path through to the end, one fully enlightens one's soul's heart and, a short time later, fulfills the 5th Beatitude: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Once one performs the wish/prayer as mentioned in my 3rd paragraph, one's discernment improves and we gain strength in fighting the enemy of man, that selfish enemy of man, the deceiver or man, and bane of mankind since time immemorial.
"On Earth as it is in Heaven." That is what we are capable of choosing, but we must embrace God's compassionate service to achieve it. And we must all choose it, in unity of the human race, unity of our Creator, and unity of Love as the foundation of all religion.
"To love God with all one's being, and to love one's neighbor as oneself." --The Great(est) Command(ment)
Can you offer a little syllabus for this comment? It reminds me of Aldous Huxley's "The Perennial Philosophy" in your interpretation of the Beatitudes through a universalist lens... but where do you get the concept of 19 pairs of virtues and vices from? The only tradition I know of where 19 is a sacred number is Bahai?
i am still waiting for a demon to tell me something non-obvious that a supernatural being should obviously know. Failing that, all tales of demons or genies or aliens can be discounted as fairy tales.
I am not a traditional anything, but the usefulness of the concept of "demon" - as the personification of a vice, or misfortune, or cultural problem, or even mental illness - is shown I think by its durability across traditions as a useful explanatory model (and a metaphor.) They exist like an uncollapsed wave function - you will never meet one, so the validity of its existence" is always somewhat unclear, but it can be very useful to act as if it is quite real.
Crowley saw demons as manifestations of the mind's architecture - real in their effects, but originating from within rather than existing as independent external entities. To that effect, they are very real, in the same way that the color green is real - subjectively experienced by humans with normal color vision, yet meaningless to a being with a different sensory architecture.
I too think demons exist but metaphorically only, in terms subconscious desires of the mind and how they manifest. For bad demons for example serial killers often report they feel possesed by demons. Demons and God(s) are deep irrational projections of the human mind. Power and greed could also be viewed throw this prism.
Crowley absolutely believed in demons and angels as Christians believe in them. See the HGA, the famous “Lam”. Although they aren’t seen as mutually exclusive
In the Golden State Killer's confession, he explained how a force would enter him and make him commit his brutally horrific crimes.
He said that he later got stronger and was able to keep it out. (IIRC)
The best help one can get requires that we pray to God with all our heart to guide us to the help we need. It requires clairity and humility and an honest seeking that will result in our finding the path that both makes us happier and reduces the unhappiness we cause others.
Such negative forces in the universe actively work in opposition to all happiness, both ours and those around us, but we are completely free to remain ignorant of their existence and Wisdom's teachings about human nature and our role as the moral agents of this world, with the requisite abilities and responsibilities it entails.
"The Way goes in." --Rumi
Look at Gukesh's face, his happiness and success, and know there is a direct correlation. This is because our life is a series of causes whose effects result according to a logic beyond what is currently accepted as present.
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is to convince the world he didn't exist." --from The Usual Suspects
Its effects on our minds (reasons, faulty data, and ill-logic) and hearts (selfish desires, ideals, attitudes, and behaviors) are the reason so much of the world is filled with misery, strife, and oppression. We must rise above our animal selfishness and will to competition, and embrace humanity and humanitarianism. In other words, we must resist our common enemy, who works on all our beings, and it has obviously been very successful.
Note that most people can't be occupied like the GSK was, although he probably didn't care for a long while thus refusing to fight it. The vast majority of us just have to contend with its suggested thoughts and feelings. It is almost always (IIUC) within our capability to resist sefishly ignorant possibilities. Note that we are all presented with suicide; it's part of its m.o., and we all must contend with that common tactic.
We love you. May peace be with us all as the selfish do their worst. The more of us that choose compassion, the sooner and more quickly this world will improve.
> We must rise above our animal selfishness and will to competition, and embrace humanity and humanitarianism. In other words, we must resist our common enemy, who works on all our beings, and it has obviously been very successful.
I generally dislike shifting the responsibility for the ills of the world onto some supernatural force. It feels like a cop-out. That said, your end result of pursuing humanitarianism and the common-good is great (and something that I believe everyone should strive towards), so however you arrive at that conclusion doesn't matter too much.
That reminds me of this account from 1692 of someone who reported themselves to the priest.
====
Johannes Nider (1692, Liber II, Cap. 41) gives this account:
I shall ... show how so many people are deceived in their sleep, that upon wakening they altogether believe that they have actually seen what has happened only in the inner part of the mind. I heard my teacher give this account: a certain priest of our order entered a village where he came upon a woman so out of her senses that she believed herself to be transported through the air during the night with Diana and other women. When he attempted to remove this heresy from her by means of wholesome discourse she steadfastly maintained her belief. The priest then asked her: "Allow me to be present when you depart on the next occasion." She answered: "I agree to it and you will observe my departure in the presence (if you wish) of suitable witnesses." Therefore when the day for the departure arrived, which the old woman had previously determined, the priest showed up and with trustworthy townsmen to convince this fanatic of her madness. the woman, having placed a large bowl, which was used for kneading dough, on top of a stool, stepped into the bowl and sat herself down. Then, rubbing ointment on herself to the accompaniment of magic incantations she lay her head back and immediately fell asleep. With the labor of the devil she dreamed of Mistress Venus and other superstitions so vividly that, crying out with a shout and striking her hands about, she jarred the bowl in which she was sitting and, falling down from the stool seriously injured herself about the head. As she lay there awakened, the priest cried out to her that she had not moved: "For Heaven's sake, where are you? You were not with Diana and as will be attested by these present, you never left this bowl." Thus, by this act and by thoughtful exhortations he drew out this belief from her abominable soul.
A Sufi Murshid lived in the same village his entire, long life. The village had one intersection with only the masjid at the center, but not many buildings in either direction along the road. Because he was conscious the entire time his soul traveled during sleep, and because it travels at the speed of thought, he said, "I know the stars of the Milky Way better than the two roads in my village."
Castaneda's Don Juan speaks that our discounting the journeys of the soul as not happening in merely a different dimension of reality is not the proper perspective. That said, many/most/? of our dreams are occuring in our mind's imagination, not the external multi-dimensional universe.
Our soul is "magnetically" confined to our physical body while we remain conscious. Its journeys have been called "astral travel" and most people are not conscious during them because so very few of us live intensional, conscientious waking lives.
"Otherwise atheist" and believe "demons are totally real" is a very odd combination.
They believe in the supernatural, but only the evil supernatural? They believe in demons, presumably because of their experiences, but completely discount all religious experience?
That sounds to me as simply reflecting the effects of having done (a lot of?) LSD.
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"Know thyself." and "Know your enemy." are two good quotes related to this most important fight of all our lives.
The key to the 1st Beatitude ("Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs shall be the Kingdom of Heaven.") is to enter the Path of Love by wishing for our Creator to take Its Spirit (our Conscience) back into Itself so that we can cleanse and purify our soul of our selfish vice-eous tendencies.
After making that wish/prayer and then doing much work using "Hallowed be Thy Name" (repeating a two-syllable Name of God, such as Yah-weh, Al-lah, Di-os, De-us, Nn-guy, Brah-man, ...) one's soul's heart is enlightened whereby the vices are replaced by their corresponding virtue. There are 19 such pairs. If one sees the path through to the end, one fully enlightens one's soul's heart and, a short time later, fulfills the 5th Beatitude: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Once one performs the wish/prayer as mentioned in my 3rd paragraph, one's discernment improves and we gain strength in fighting the enemy of man, that selfish enemy of man, the deceiver or man, and bane of mankind since time immemorial.
"On Earth as it is in Heaven." That is what we are capable of choosing, but we must embrace God's compassionate service to achieve it. And we must all choose it, in unity of the human race, unity of our Creator, and unity of Love as the foundation of all religion.
"To love God with all one's being, and to love one's neighbor as oneself." --The Great(est) Command(ment)
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To those downvoting - why? Parent is not trying to convince, just sharing. I found it interesting, relevant, and additive to the conversation.
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Dead Comment
No one can serve two masters.
He said that he later got stronger and was able to keep it out. (IIRC)
The best help one can get requires that we pray to God with all our heart to guide us to the help we need. It requires clairity and humility and an honest seeking that will result in our finding the path that both makes us happier and reduces the unhappiness we cause others.
Such negative forces in the universe actively work in opposition to all happiness, both ours and those around us, but we are completely free to remain ignorant of their existence and Wisdom's teachings about human nature and our role as the moral agents of this world, with the requisite abilities and responsibilities it entails.
"The Way goes in." --Rumi
Look at Gukesh's face, his happiness and success, and know there is a direct correlation. This is because our life is a series of causes whose effects result according to a logic beyond what is currently accepted as present.
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is to convince the world he didn't exist." --from The Usual Suspects
Its effects on our minds (reasons, faulty data, and ill-logic) and hearts (selfish desires, ideals, attitudes, and behaviors) are the reason so much of the world is filled with misery, strife, and oppression. We must rise above our animal selfishness and will to competition, and embrace humanity and humanitarianism. In other words, we must resist our common enemy, who works on all our beings, and it has obviously been very successful.
Note that most people can't be occupied like the GSK was, although he probably didn't care for a long while thus refusing to fight it. The vast majority of us just have to contend with its suggested thoughts and feelings. It is almost always (IIUC) within our capability to resist sefishly ignorant possibilities. Note that we are all presented with suicide; it's part of its m.o., and we all must contend with that common tactic.
We love you. May peace be with us all as the selfish do their worst. The more of us that choose compassion, the sooner and more quickly this world will improve.
I generally dislike shifting the responsibility for the ills of the world onto some supernatural force. It feels like a cop-out. That said, your end result of pursuing humanitarianism and the common-good is great (and something that I believe everyone should strive towards), so however you arrive at that conclusion doesn't matter too much.
====
Johannes Nider (1692, Liber II, Cap. 41) gives this account:
I shall ... show how so many people are deceived in their sleep, that upon wakening they altogether believe that they have actually seen what has happened only in the inner part of the mind. I heard my teacher give this account: a certain priest of our order entered a village where he came upon a woman so out of her senses that she believed herself to be transported through the air during the night with Diana and other women. When he attempted to remove this heresy from her by means of wholesome discourse she steadfastly maintained her belief. The priest then asked her: "Allow me to be present when you depart on the next occasion." She answered: "I agree to it and you will observe my departure in the presence (if you wish) of suitable witnesses." Therefore when the day for the departure arrived, which the old woman had previously determined, the priest showed up and with trustworthy townsmen to convince this fanatic of her madness. the woman, having placed a large bowl, which was used for kneading dough, on top of a stool, stepped into the bowl and sat herself down. Then, rubbing ointment on herself to the accompaniment of magic incantations she lay her head back and immediately fell asleep. With the labor of the devil she dreamed of Mistress Venus and other superstitions so vividly that, crying out with a shout and striking her hands about, she jarred the bowl in which she was sitting and, falling down from the stool seriously injured herself about the head. As she lay there awakened, the priest cried out to her that she had not moved: "For Heaven's sake, where are you? You were not with Diana and as will be attested by these present, you never left this bowl." Thus, by this act and by thoughtful exhortations he drew out this belief from her abominable soul.
Castaneda's Don Juan speaks that our discounting the journeys of the soul as not happening in merely a different dimension of reality is not the proper perspective. That said, many/most/? of our dreams are occuring in our mind's imagination, not the external multi-dimensional universe.
Our soul is "magnetically" confined to our physical body while we remain conscious. Its journeys have been called "astral travel" and most people are not conscious during them because so very few of us live intensional, conscientious waking lives.
They believe in the supernatural, but only the evil supernatural? They believe in demons, presumably because of their experiences, but completely discount all religious experience?
That sounds to me as simply reflecting the effects of having done (a lot of?) LSD.
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