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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes_for_evidence_of_the_paranormal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes_for_evidence_of... having cynically po

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes_for_evidence_of_the_paranormal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes_for_evidence_of... having cynically posted this link, i'd like to post another in the opposite direction from the tibetan buddhist tradition https://alearningaday.blog/2020/01/23/milarepa-and-the-demons/ https://alearningaday.blog/2020/01/23/milarepa-and-the-demon... and one from the theravada buddhist tradition https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.10.piya.html https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.10.piy... Demons are also ultimately suffering sentient beings, who think their actions will bring them some sort of satisfaction, happiness.

frizlab 3y ago
> Demons are also ultimately suffering sentient beings, who think their actions will bring them some sort of satisfaction, happiness. If I’m not mistaken, in the Christian religion, no. They are sentient beings who are cast out of heaven and are in permanent desperation because of it (so far we agree). But as far as I know it’s out of spite and jealousy they want to bring as many people as they can with them; they most definitely know it won’t bring them happiness. Also calling them sentient is probably misleading as they are angelic entities and they cannot change ever. They made a decision when they were created (follow God or not), and that’s that. So sentient yes, but most definitely not Human-like.
- krapp 3y ago
  >Also calling them sentient is probably misleading as they are angelic entities and they cannot change ever. They made a decision when they were created (follow God or not), and that’s that. So sentient yes, but most definitely not Human-like. As I recall the Biblical narrative, they were convinced to turn against God when Lucifer led his rebellion against Heaven, because he and a third of the other angels refused to humble themselves before the newly created humans. The premise of angels as being unchangeable in their nature is a modern fantasy stereotype - in Biblical canon at least, they are clearly presented as capable of free will and decision making. Obviously this doesn't entirely make sense within the framework of original sin - angels shouldn't be capable of turning against God, since that capacity is by definition sinful, and no sinful being can stand in the presence of God, but clearly angels do. Mythology rarely if ever includes what we would consider "coherent worldbuilding" from a modern literary point of view - that isn't its purpose, and what we have is an attempt to correlate the remnants of thousands of years of oral tradition and folkore with all of the myriad strangeness that entails.
euroderf 3y ago
Reading some material about Tibet, I got the idea that a "demon" can be a sort of an independent energy center in the mind that can act coherently against the host. I don't think this is irrevocably inconsistent with Western analyses of ill minds.

frizlab 3y ago

> Demons are also ultimately suffering sentient beings, who think their actions will bring them some sort of satisfaction, happiness. If I’m not mistaken, in the Christian religion, no. They are sentient beings who are cast out of heaven and are in permanent desperation because of it (so far we agree). But as far as I know it’s out of spite and jealousy they want to bring as many people as they can with them; they most definitely know it won’t bring them happiness. Also calling them sentient is probably misleading as they are angelic entities and they cannot change ever. They made a decision when they were created (follow God or not), and that’s that. So sentient yes, but most definitely not Human-like.

krapp 3y ago
>Also calling them sentient is probably misleading as they are angelic entities and they cannot change ever. They made a decision when they were created (follow God or not), and that’s that. So sentient yes, but most definitely not Human-like. As I recall the Biblical narrative, they were convinced to turn against God when Lucifer led his rebellion against Heaven, because he and a third of the other angels refused to humble themselves before the newly created humans. The premise of angels as being unchangeable in their nature is a modern fantasy stereotype - in Biblical canon at least, they are clearly presented as capable of free will and decision making. Obviously this doesn't entirely make sense within the framework of original sin - angels shouldn't be capable of turning against God, since that capacity is by definition sinful, and no sinful being can stand in the presence of God, but clearly angels do. Mythology rarely if ever includes what we would consider "coherent worldbuilding" from a modern literary point of view - that isn't its purpose, and what we have is an attempt to correlate the remnants of thousands of years of oral tradition and folkore with all of the myriad strangeness that entails.

euroderf 3y ago

Reading some material about Tibet, I got the idea that a "demon" can be a sort of an independent energy center in the mind that can act coherently against the host. I don't think this is irrevocably inconsistent with Western analyses of ill minds.