One of my favorite quotes is a paraphrase of Meister Eckhart from the movie Jacob’s Ladder: “So, if you’re frightened of dying and… you’re holding on, you’ll see devils tearing your life away. But if you’ve made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.”
So, is that all demons are? Angels teaching us to let go of our attachments? Really?
I disagree. I believe negativity does exist, and that the world is filled with negativity: war, murder, rape. These are terrible things, and I don’t hesitate to call them acts of evil.
According to Wikipedia, a demon is “a supernatural being from various religions, occultisms, literatures, and folklores that is described as something that is not human and, in ordinary (almost universal) usage, malevolent.”
But we all know what demons are. They are the counterparts to angels, and throughout history, people have been attributing bad behavior and evil acts to them.
Are they archetypes, or do they really exist? If you look at my post A is for Angels – Do YOU Believe? you’ll see I attributed experiencing a presence to potentially being an angelic force. From this, I could argue that angels are a universal symbol, or archetype, of the presence of goodness.
What if negativity existed as an energy form too? What if it were sentient? Some kind of supernatural being? Could that be the archetypal demon?
Would we be so struck with fear and awe that we’d mutter the word “demon” under our breaths like the characters in the Harry Potter series who referred to Voldemort as “He Who Shall Not Be Named”? Would we clutch our religious texts and pray for good? Would we slide into denial like Cornelius Fudge–the willfully naive Minister of Magic? Or would we be willing to face the negativity and call it by name, the way Harry Potter did with Voldemort?
Whatever, then, would we call it?
(PS: If you enjoyed this post, you might also like: Watchers – What Are They? or Enoch)
Lisa Voisin 
Interesting post. The problem with our current perception of demons is that it has been so heavily distorted through art and religious belief. But in reality, angels and demons are one and the same, both created by God. The difference thus lies in their allegiance. Therefore neither one is any less frightening or awe-inspiring than the other. As for what to call them, I personally believe in calling a spade a spade.
I found your blog through the A-Z Challenge by the way; I am a fellow participant.
http://michaelabayomi.blogspot.com
Thanks for visiting, Michael! Where angels and demons come from – that’s a whole other post 🙂 By the way, I enjoyed your review of District 9. I’ll be sure to check your post tomorrow too!
Excellent post. Made me think for sure. Also, the background to your blog is gorgeous.
Hi Jessica! Thanks for stopping by. Glad you like my background. I’ve been playing with WordPress lately and just got lucky with this one. Love your post on dragons, by the way. Can’t wait to see what you do tomorrow!