PlentyGroovy
July 19th, 2006, 12:41 PM
This book is by the same person who wrote The Road Less Travelled. He's a psychologist or somethingorother and this book explores the psychology of evil as a mental condition.
What I came away with...
The only ONLY only weapon that can be used to fight evil in others is love. Anything else is... evil!
He goes briefly into exorcism (good, I only want to know main points anyhoo). It was through the love of the group praying that starts the process. The catalyst in each case was when the possessed called out for God's help and then it was God doing all the work. The author made an observation that satan and his minion are of spirit and can only work through human hands - just an interesting perspective. Oh, and demons lie and are boring, they don't understand love or it's power, they operate strictly through lies.
He believes that the study of evil in psychology is important but must be balanced with focus on good. He stated that people that can handle immense suffering are more likely to gravitate towards good and God's will. People that can't, focus more on self and their will, they gravitate towards lies and blaming others for all dilemmas, they lack the ability to self reflect or take responsibility. Truth = good. Lies = evil.
The more into the lie some folks go, the less they will benefit from therapy. It's the healthier people that benefit the most. The very far gone people of lie won't even get to the point of asking for help, since it's everybody elses fault. Those are the ones you want to avoid.
Good and evil. It's in the world, at the top level of politics, all the way down to the interpersonal relationship level. I don't like to think about it but it exists and knowledge is power.
Anybody else ever read this book?
What I came away with...
The only ONLY only weapon that can be used to fight evil in others is love. Anything else is... evil!
He goes briefly into exorcism (good, I only want to know main points anyhoo). It was through the love of the group praying that starts the process. The catalyst in each case was when the possessed called out for God's help and then it was God doing all the work. The author made an observation that satan and his minion are of spirit and can only work through human hands - just an interesting perspective. Oh, and demons lie and are boring, they don't understand love or it's power, they operate strictly through lies.
He believes that the study of evil in psychology is important but must be balanced with focus on good. He stated that people that can handle immense suffering are more likely to gravitate towards good and God's will. People that can't, focus more on self and their will, they gravitate towards lies and blaming others for all dilemmas, they lack the ability to self reflect or take responsibility. Truth = good. Lies = evil.
The more into the lie some folks go, the less they will benefit from therapy. It's the healthier people that benefit the most. The very far gone people of lie won't even get to the point of asking for help, since it's everybody elses fault. Those are the ones you want to avoid.
Good and evil. It's in the world, at the top level of politics, all the way down to the interpersonal relationship level. I don't like to think about it but it exists and knowledge is power.
Anybody else ever read this book?