lulay

was going through my notes and came to this:
"Our word "demon" comes from Greek "daimon". Daimons were nature spirits, left over from ancient animism.." www.geocities.com/thatsjustweird/hell.html

it occurrs to me (probably did before, you can have insights of the same thing, if you see what i mean?(, that the biblical tale of the 'fallen angels' or 'Lucifer, Satan, the Devil and so on' refer to the spirits of the earth, or Nature spirits, and the hallucinogenic vegetation which can give the imbiber access to those 'dimensions' of experience

It all falls into place. We have the mythic writers, theologians claim sole author-ity for thier 'God'. to do so they must create a myth of angels having been thrown from 'heaven'--ie, above, their leader being the 'devil' who had the audacity to try and lord it over 'God' or 'disobey' 'God'

so this mythical ploy denigrates any sense of a deeper experience with Nature, because any sense of Nature's deepness, or power, whether felt, or sensed as some form os spiritual presence, is propaganderized as 'fallen' and thus "demon"-ized. using the very term of reference and subverting it to a negative understanding

DougP

It just so happens Ive been looking for just this kind of information, thanks!

justsumner

It is based on the fight bewteen man and nature. The "anhimist" or nature religions taught that humanity was a part of nature. Man-made religions teach nature as the enemy of mankind. Religion needed to find a "name" for the spirit of nature, one that would cast nature as evil. Hence the Koine term "Daimon."

Interestingly that is also the Ferengi term for leader? This is the kind of thing that happens when you write your dissertation on religion whilst watching Star trek.


Go figure.

Amaleq13

It seems to me that this thread might be of interest to those pondering an "anti-Nature" tenet in early Christianity.