I’ve never paid much attention to the threats that are sometimes aimed at people by traditional religion.

I’m sure I heard them all when I was an angelic-looking choirboy and my mom was the church organist. Then, again, neither of us – my mom or I – were especially sold upon the sermons of Reverend “Firebreather,” our local Anglican vicar.

I went along with being a choirboy right up until the day I became a teenager. Then, I quit. I’m sure Reverend Firebreather used to harp on about demons in his sermons but, as a budding mystic, I was always off into a world of my own during his sermons so they never really registered with me, and they certainly didn’t make me fearful.

So, imagine my surprise the other day when I play a YouTube video of a very convincing young man telling Christians about the evils of Yoga. Frankly, I was shocked. I had no idea that religious control freaks could be so ignorant and predatory in the same breath.

Here’s what he said. He said that the problem with Yoga, besides being from India and not from around here, was that it can encourage a rise in chi or life energy and that means… wait for it…

A rise in chi can lead to… Oh, no!!!

Demonic possession!!!

Well, naturally, I do disagree with the aforesaid gentleman.

If he had used his God-given sense of curiosity to explore life’s possibilities and advance his spirit instead of placing it in chains, he would have discovered that chi is universal life energy – something that, without which, he would become a blob of lifeless rotting flesh.

Let me guess, he’s only just gotten used to the idea of electricity being part of God’s universe. The idea that the next, more subtle energy in God’s universe exists for our survival is, for the moment, totally beyond him.

Instead of focusing upon his ignorance of scientific awareness, let’s look at his use of fear as a tool in the religious control freak’s arsenal.

The Truth About Demons

Demons. What are they really? Well, they’re not some scary animal-human combination, even if they may aspire to appear so for effect.

They are dead human beings, residents of the afterlife, people who are just like you and me (minus their physical bodies) except for their less-than-savory thought patterns.

And The Truth About Hell

Here’s how it works in the afterlife. The realms of the afterlife are highly stratified. When you die, you are attracted to the realm which best suits your mentality. Most people, by definition, go to the most popular realm. The slightly more enlightened people go to the next higher realm.

Active spiritual seekers have the run of several grades of realms above those. Sociopathic criminals, on the other hand, sink to the lowest realms of the afterlife. These are the so-called “hells.”

The hells have no smell of sulfur, no raging fires, and no demons running around ready to poke people with pointed sticks. What they do have is a population which shares a criminal mentality, preys on the weak wherever possible and, because of that, lives in what is effectively a cruel feudal system. And, just like in medieval times, they have no shortage of priests or churches.

People in the hells do not typically interfere with people here in the physical realm. Most of them have no idea how to even get back here to this world. Most of the others are so afraid to leave the protection of their local overlords that they wouldn’t dare go anywhere anyway. So, who could the demons be that are said to haunt the physical realm in which we live?

Earthbound Spirits

That’s simple. They are even sadder to behold than the sociopaths who ended up in the hells. They are those most pathetic of ghosts, earthbound spirits. When they died, they were so filled with fear that they refused to follow their natural instinct to move on into the afterlife. Now, as earthbound ghosts in a world of physical humans, no one sees them, no one listens to them, so it’s really hard for them to get anyone to be afraid of them.

But, they do have one advantage over physical beings. As etheric spirits, they are not constrained by that most inconvenient limitation of the physical brain; they are fully telepathic. They can sense every emotion that goes through the mind of a physical person. Now surely, they hope, there’s a way to make that work so that they can gain influence over people.

Fear is what they’re looking for. When people become fearful of the idea of demons, they sense exactly what those fearful people are feeling. They might even follow evangelists around, hoping to find an easy victim. If they get lucky, they’ll find one who’s a little more impressionable to mental images than most people.

Well, they try and try and try, but it’s not easy spending your time as an actor doing the demon thing. Most of the time they go toally unappreciated.

When they do find someone who can be scared, it gives them hope that there may be a purpose in their being alive in their spirit form after all. Even if nothing else has worked so far.

As a spiritual seeker, an earthbound spirit won’t normally bother you. They can’t stand your spiritual light because exposure to it could change them. However, if you are a ‘recovering from hellfire and brimstone religion’ person and find yourself thinking those old fearful thoughts, be sure to become aware of what is around you.

If you sense an invisible presence and an increasing sense of fear, sock ’em with every ounce of love and light you can muster! Ask Jesus to help them move into the light. They’ll probably run a mile away before you can blink, but you might get lucky and have some effect on them.

Then, relax into a nice yoga or meditation session!