This obsessing is not confined only to alcoholism.

There are "demons' 1 for every

type of psychiatric condition. Very recently, the truth of obsession and its •plications, has
engaged the attention of very orthodox and established medical practitioners : -

The great teachers of mankind -- Zoroaster, Sri Rama, Moses,

Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad - taught as fact that human beings are
subject to attack and invasion by hostile spiritual beings,, beings which
are utterly real, which have their origin outside the individ ual, and
which can deeply affect and under certain conditions completely take
over control of their human victims. At the same time these teachers have
taught that every man and woman is under the influence of utterly real,
objectively existent heavenly beings.

Most modern men simply do not believe this, and they do not at all
recognize its connection with mental illness. Modern incredulity of the
reality of spirits is powerful and pervasive. Every one of us is affected
by it to some degree. We are programmed to disbelieve in spirits. Modern
religions should serve a deprogramming function, but, with few exceptions,
they do nol. People may call themselves Christians or Jews or Buddhists
or Muslims. But most of them -- if they are civilized'' and especially if
they ate "well-educated" -- have somehow managed to explain away or
conveniently ignore what their religions' founders taught about the spirit
world.

To those concerned with effective treatment for the mentally i l l . it

makes an enormous difference whether the modern or the tradi-view of
the spiritual world is the right one. !t is obvious that proper therapy
for a spirit-invaded person would be very different from treatment for a
person who was just imagining things.

What if it turns out that there really are spirits and they really do affect
human beings? What if the view which takes into account the existence and
influence of spirits turns out to be valid? What if Christ and Buddha and
Rama and Muhammad and all of the other teachers were right? In that
case, much of modern psychological theory would have to be discarded,
and our practice of psychiatry would need to be reconstructed from the
ground up.*

-.«-/

'JK,
^ ^
24 Magazine, October 1976

149