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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Soul Slayer– Psychological ‘Evil’, Spiritual ‘Evil’, or Both?



The one adjective I hear repeatedly connected to pathology is the word ‘evil.’ Spiritual, unspiritual, heathens, pagans, Christians, Jews, Buddists – it doesn’t matter. The word ‘evil’ is the chosen adjective-of-choice to describe pathology. But what IS evil? Is it more psychological than it is spiritual? Or is it a spiritual issue that has been picked up and defined psychologically? Are they the same thing?

I am not going to translate the lists below for you. They are self explanatory. I have taken the list from Old Testament (of the Jewish faith) and New Testament (of the Christian faith) as examples of the definition of ‘evil.’ You could most likely find similar definitions of evil in other religious texts.

Draw your own conclusions.
Description from the DSM About Socio/Psychopathy & Narcissism
Descriptions of Evil (Lucifer, Satan, etc.)
Grandiose, self important and pre occupied with self
Wants people to worship him
Fantasizes about power, brilliance, success, and money
Says to God “I WILL ascend, I Will Rise…”
Showing power fantasies
Requires excessive admiration
Says “You WILL bow down to me”
Is entitled
Wants the same power as God, feels he’s as powerful as God
Exploits all relationships
Tries to lure others to do his dirty work in the world
Lacks empathy
Envious of others

Arrogant
Fails to follow laws or rules/uses unethical, unlawful and immoral behavior
Deceitful, lies, cons for fun or profit
Impulsive, wants it/takes it, sees it/does it
Aggression
Disregard for the safety of others, puts others at risk
Irresponsible–bad with supporting others
Lack of remorse, rationalizes stealing, lying, etc.



Other Characteristics (also mentioned in the Women Who Love Psychopaths book)

Description from the DSM About Socio/Psychopathy & Narcissism
Descriptions of Evil (Lucifer, Satan, etc.)
Pretends to be wonderful, helpful, supportive
Masquerades as the ‘Angel of Light’
Powerful
Often beautiful or handsome; Lucifer called ‘the most beautiful’, name means ‘the shining one’
Superior attitude toward others
Is superior to other angels in power and authority
Contempt for others, especially authority figures
Fights against God and wants His power
Uses power and authority over others
Called the Prince of Power
Prideful
Heart is filled with pride and contempt
Splits people against each other
Turned 1/3 of the angels against God and took them
Often rejected, expelled, dismissed, broken up with because of behavior
God expelled him from Heaven
Places are created to contain them: jail, prison, mental institutions, probation
God created a place to contain him in the future–Lake of Fire
Fights against any rules and others who try to make him conform
Fights against God to ruin and hinder His plans
Destroy and deceive others (and enjoy doing it)
Called ‘The Destroyer’ and “Deceiver”
Masquerades as anything you want him to be
Masquerades as the ‘Angel of Light’
Likes to scare others and show power so others fear him
Prowls like a roaring lion
Looks for someone to overpower and control
Prowls like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour
Bold, cunning, self ambitious
Boldness, subtlety in his cunning
Self willed and strong
Prideful self will
Narcissistic - wanting to be better than everyone else
Said “I will be like the Most High”
Fakes being wonderful, helpful, virtuous
Many false prophets have gone in the world (like him), performs lying ‘signs and wonders’
Accuses others
Called ‘The Accuser’
Adversary, enemy to any who turn against him
Called the Serpent or ‘Adversary’
Liar, tempter, thief
Referred to as a liar, thief and tempter
Motives are destructive to others
Motives are to deceive and afflict

It is clear in some spiritual texts that spiritual evil has almost no separation from psychological evil, or vice versa. There are some things we don’t totally understand such as how the spirit realm can affect the psychological realm, or how one’s pathology may taint their spirit. But it has been clear to me, and hundreds of survivors, that ‘evil’ straddles the vocabularies of both psychological definitions and spiritual ones as well.

The spiritual union of souls when united to a psychopath, is like none other. Those who have united in the spiritual realm can attest to the evil witnessed in that sharing.

There is still much to learn about how psychology and theology meld. A large portion of one of the chapters in Women Who Love Psychopaths as been devoted to this issue. Please check the chart in the book for a better grasp of this concept.

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