Hello! I recently posted on Twitter the following:
(When we name and speak of a thing, we raise its power–good or evil. #ChooseYourWordsCarefully #GrowTheGood #Positivity
That Tweet came out of an understanding of an old Bible story I started pondering a few years back. Remember the one about Jesus casting demons out of a guy and into a herd of swine? Well, the animal lover in me started to think about that and how my concept of God would respect even the lives of two-thousand pigs before running them off a cliff (the supposed fateful ending). But then I started to think, wait a minute. They’re talking about Israel! Since when are there herds of pigs in Israel?
I looked it up. Not only do Jews and Muslims not eat pork (giving no reason to raise them), but pigs require a lot of water, and there is no way they would be native or domesticated in the Middle East, even if the people there did eat pork.
I’m not writing this to prove the Bible wrong. Not at all. I’m writing this to verify that the Bible is full of metaphors and analogies to teach us things. That’s when I got deeper into the story, found in the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5:
Jesus came upon a demon-possessed man. “What is your name?” Jesus asked him. The man told Jesus, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
This interests me. Psychologically, to understand and heal a problem is to inquire, put a label on it, and speak about it. At the same time, to name something and directly engage with it gives it power. Maybe you’ve seen one of those paranormal television shows or movies where the demonologists warn never to speak the name of an evil spirit; it is a summoning.
Back to the Gospel: The problem revealed itself to Jesus on command when the evil spirits spoke as one. Note, however, that Jesus did not say, “Well, Legion…” because that would have empowered Legion. There is no acknowledging or engaging with Legion at all, except to cast him out.
We’ve all got a Legion of demons right now: the war in Ukraine, social and political division, Covid19 and the variant of the day, inflation and rising expenses, environmental problems… I have named just a few of them here. You will not see me empower them with much negative attention because that magnifies it all. We all have our personal demons as well: hatred, superiority, negativity can be just as evil to yours and the world’s energy as addictions, depression, and the like.
Mother Theresa said, “You can invite me to an anti-war rally, and I’m not interested. You can invite me to a peace rally, and I’m first in line.” In that way, I don’t write about politics; I write about peace and unity. I write about health and wellness. I write about manifesting and creation. I write about what is still good and beautiful and working on our earth, and I encourage practices to grow and support these systems.
In the Bible story, Jesus banished the demons and told the man to tell everyone about the blessings of God. That’s another critical point because that was Jesus telling him to focus on the good.
Whether or not Jesus is your thing, there are powerful lessons here. Where is your focus? What demons are you naming? Identify them and cast them out. Where are you dwelling with your energies? GROW THE GOOD!
****
And speaking of good: we had a great benefit for the Jones Family this weekend, raising more than $14,000 in an ALS Fundraiser. I was honored to be a sponsor, and my husband Tom’s band, Replay, delighted a packed house of a few hundred people all night. Below is a picture from the event.