Possession, Demoniacal And Other

by T K Oesterreich

  On the other hand, obsessions are very often encountered in persons of deep religious life: all the biographies of saints and mystics are full of such cases. There is nothing surprising in this, for in order to become a mystic it is necessary to have an inner leaning towards persistent processes.

  Thus Suso speaks of “the imaginings of the evil spirits,” of the “insinuations of the evil spirit,” which he heard from time to time. He characterizes them as “hateful thoughts which the evil spirit puts into me against my will.”3

  Amongst his sufferings there were three intimate ones which were very painful to him. One of them consisted in false ideas concerning the faith. Thus it occurred to him to wonder how God had been able to become man and other similar things. The more resistance he offered the more he went astray. God left him for almost nine years in these tribulations with sorrowful heart and weeping eyes which implored the aid of God and all the saints.…

  Another intimate suffering was a vague sadness. Without inter mission his heart was heavy; it was as if a mountain weighed upon it.…

  But the third intimate suffering was that he was assailed by distressful thoughts, that his soul would never find healing and would be damned eternally whatever good he might do and whatever application he might show, that the fact of his being one of the Just was of no avail, and all was lost in advance. And thus he afflicted his soul day and night. When he had to go to the choir or do some other good action his miseries returned and he lamented “Of what use is it to you to serve God? To you it is only a curse, there will never be any healing. Give over betimes; you are lost even as you set about it.…”

  As these terrible torments had lasted for about ten years.…1

  Even in sermons Suso comes round to the subject, and we learn in this way that for some time he was haunted by obsessive impulses towards suicide.

  Now there are four different sufferings which are the direst of all that the human heart is called upon to bear, so dire that no one could conceive such suffering hearts to exist had he not experienced them himself or unless it were given him from God; if their sufferings leave them not (and their sufferings would be lightened if they only turned to God) then will they endure the most painful of all tribulations. The depth of these sufferings should be measured not by the harm which they do to the soul but by the active torment which they inflict. The four sufferings are as follows: doubt in matters of faith, doubt of the mercy of God, thoughts of revolt against God and his saints, and temptations to take one’s own life.2

  This whole description is eloquent of the fact that Suso suffered from states of psychic compulsion. The word temptation (Anfechtung) is not really proper to these states, for it is generally used when it is desired to express that the moral attitude of the individual endangers something or another. Thus Luther occasionally speaks of a purely physical malady as an “Anfechtung.” But where the word is used for psychic phenomena it implies that the individual experienced these within himself against his will. Suso resists all the sufferings enumerated by him: doubt in matters of faith, doubt of the mercy of God, anti-religious ideas and ideas of suicide. But this means that all these were states of spiritual obsession (consequent on a nervous system broken down by incredible practices of asceticism lasting over a long period of years).

  The case of Ste. Jeanne de Chantal who had “violent temptations and torments of soul” is the same. Her seven or eight last years were passed in a continual moral anguish of death which only disappeared in the last months of her life. “Dryness” (that is to say, drying-up of the sentiments of religious exaltation), doubts as to the mysteries, inclination to blaspheme God, the feeling that God hated her, evil thoughts about those near her and scruples of conscience, all these torments assailed her.1

  Maria von der Menschwerdung suffered like Suso from suicidal tendencies.

  One day when I found myself near a window I had a horrible temptation to throw myself down, for my understanding was completely darkened.2

  … And at this very moment a terrible inner force impelled me to throw myself down from hatred of God. Particularly once during the crossing; this temptation to suicide was so sharp and strong that had there not chanced to be a balustrade near by my soul to which I clung I should have thrown myself into the sea.3

  It is shown by experience that God always sends trials to souls which strive after perfection; and sometimes throughout their whole lives. All the biographies of the saints give proof of it, and the masters of spiritual knowledge establish it by common consent. This general rule applies more particularly to souls greatly given to prayer, especially if they are favoured with mystic gifts of grace.… “If ever,” says Scaramelli, “my book falls into the hands of a person who aspires through vain motives to infused contemplation, I beg him to reflect on the cruel pincers that must rend his flesh, and the wine-press of many sufferings beneath which he must groan before attaining to it. Perchance then all frivolous desire for these favours will vanish from his heart.”4

  The complete disappearance in possessed persons of consciousness of the original personality seems therefore to depend to a considerable extent on the voluntary resistance offered by the patient to these phenomena of psychic compulsion. If resistance is weak, the compulsions end by suppressing the primary personality. This is fully consistent with the fact that children scarcely ever retain consciousness in their compulsive state, but are immediately dominated by the phenomenon. Their individuality is not yet sufficiently strong and capable of resistance.

  As regards the distinction which Poulain draws between possession and obsession, this is a matter of well-established tradition. Ribet also distinguishes in the same way:

  Possession is the invasion by the demon of the body of a living man, whose organs he exercises in his own name and at will, as if the body had become his.1

  In possession the spirit acts from within and seems to be substituted in the body for the soul which animates and moves it.2

  Obsession, on the other hand, is thus defined:

  An extrinsic compulsion which, while leaving to the mind the consciousness of its vital and motor action upon the organs, nevertheless imposes itself with such violence that the man feels within him two beings and two principles in mutual conflict: the one external and despotic which seeks to invade and dominate, the other internal, that is to say the soul itself which suffers and struggles against this foreign domination.3

  It is naturally false to designate possession as “external” while obsession is called “internal,” the first representing a domination of the body, the second a domination of the mind. Possession does not denote a lesser but rather a deeper disturbance of the mind than does obsession.

  It should be observed that in addition to internal obsession Ribet admits an external kind which consists in visions of a demoniacal nature. The temptation of St. Anthony by visions of women is a case in point. In this kind of obsession the devil manifests himself as it were outside the individual and not within him.

  We have defined possession as a state of compulsion. This may be transformed in several ways. The first consists in the subject gradually weakening in his resistance to the compulsive processes which constitute the essence of the “demon”; they begin to be accepted. Even this proceeding is obviously not altogether subject to the control of the will—the general opinion that it is so is fallacious. On the contrary the subject may realize very clearly the way in which resistance is slowly worn down within him. When the struggle is relinquished the patient ceases simultaneously as a rule to harbour compulsive ideas and to imagine the consciousness of the second personality. In the last analysis it was only a travesty, a personification of the compulsions.

  C. St. offers good examples of this:

  The worst thing is that she should no longer be able to distinguish whether the evil thoughts and intentions come from her or from the demon. The angel said: “It is sad; take care lest thy soul suffer harm.” In the night she nevertheless appeared to recover streng
th and from four to five o’clock she prayed very heartily, which I heard from below.1

  In the afternoon towards two o’clock she engaged in a violent conflict which lasted until six o’clock and in which faith and doubt, perseverance and irresolution alternated constantly. She now began continually to parry his thrusts and used the same spiritual weapons against the demon as the latter had formerly used against Satan.2 At first we paid no attention, taking it for a pure mimicry, and often said: “Let the Evil One talk away and take no notice.” But she replied: “You don’t understand. If I do not repulse each one of the attacks which he makes against my soul, he enters more deeply into me and I am lost.”

  The angel knew this better than we did and often cried: “He is cast down; press forward in faith or thy soul will suffer for it.” The spiritual infection seemed to become greater and greater, and to deprive her of all her good thoughts and intentions, so that she cried out as if in despair that to him who would take her life she would give a great reward; what she suffered inwardly was indescribable; everything was now contradiction. If she said with all her strength of will: “The Evil One must give way!” the voice replied from the depths of her heart: “No, he will remain!” If she said in faith: “The Lord will come and will deliver me,” “No!” said the inner voice, “the Lord will not come and will not deliver thee!” We therefore had to judge for ourselves whether it was possible that this martyrdom should last any longer. True, the angels who were always at her side did not fail to speak words of consolation to her, but the struggle was not mitigated thereby.3

  The case of C. St. shows very clearly and more than once, as has already been seen,4 this fear of becoming powerless against the compulsions. Here is another quotation:

  We already saw that the demon and Caroline were completely united in the period of conversion, so that in utterances of various kinds, prayers, recitation of canticles and psalms, C. often asked: “It is you, W., or I?” In particular during the struggle with Satan, being afraid that he might give way while her organs and speech were in action, she often used to ask: “Are you there?” to which he generally replied: “Never fear, I am here!”5

  After passing through this psychological condition development may occur along one of two lines. The first leads to demoniacal somnambulism. The original personality vanishes and in its place comes the second, which was hitherto a mere compulsive state. This seems to be the rule with young people, as with them the original personality is not yet so strong as in adults. Or else there occurs little by little, in proportion as the compulsive functions are accepted, a fusion of the two personal consciousnesses; the individual remains conscious of who he is, but his character suffers a complete change for the worse. This second phenomenon seems often to occur in the modern “demoniacal fits” of highly hysterical persons. So far as the relevant literature, with its lack of precision, allows us to judge, the subject now seems far from struggling against demoniacal states as he did formerly under the influence of the religious periods. Then there existed compulsive states of the most violent character, whereas it appears that to-day the element of compulsion is lacking. The patients give way much more easily to the impulses and suffer no division of consciousness; they abandon themselves heart and soul to the fits of frenzy.1

  Generally speaking, all states of emotional compulsion have a strong tendency to become the true nature of the individual. Thus a patient whom I have been able to examine closely remarked one day: “An obsessive state of feeling will be experienced as belonging to the subject far more readily than an obsessive idea, in spite of any criticisim which it may incur.”2

  The strength and duration of resistance to the compulsive processes generally depends on the force of character of the individual. The more sharply his character is in opposition to the compulsive feelings the more energetically does he combat them. Conversely, the more affinity these sentiments have to his own being, the more readily are they accepted.

  It will therefore not be surprising to find that in the case of devout persons having attained a high degree of holiness possession seems confined to the early stages of their career, before they have advanced to the higher degrees of ecstasy.

  Poulain, who has studied Catholic mysticism for forty years, ventures the statement:

  From the lives of the saints it appears evident that a strong diabolic domination manifests itself to the highest degree before the stage of ecstasy or revelations or really divine visions is reached. Sometimes it is for a time, when the divine revelations are interrupted, but sometimes also it comes in the midst of these very evidences of grace.1

  The autobiography of Jeanne des Anges permits us conversely to realize how much less clearly marked is the division of mind in a characterless and morally inferior person than in others.2

  At the beginning, indeed, she was not subject to compulsions, as is clearly shown by a series of quotations from her biography:

  They generally acted in conformity with the inclinations which I harboured within me, which they did so subtly that I myself did not think to have demons. I took as an insult that I should be told to distrust myself, and when anyone spoke to me of possession by them I felt greatly moved to anger against those persons who spoke to me thereof, being unable to refrain from showing my resentment. Little by little I took a great loathing for the things of God, in such wise that I left off all kinds of prayer, audible as well as silent. When I was at any observance of the community I suffered very great uneasiness; it is true that I did not do myself the violence necessary to resist my inclinations. Through this laxity I fell into such great hardness of heart that none of the things of God any longer touched me more than as if I had been of bronze.3

  It is the same with sexual feelings. She conceived a passion for a priest and abandoned herself to it in imagination without any effort of will.

  They (the demons) inspired me with desires to see and talk to him.…4 It is true that I have been faithless to combat the impure thoughts and impulses which I felt … If I had heartily studied to mortify my passions, never would the demons have wrought such havoc in me.5

  … His operation in me was to oppose himself to all the actions which concerned the worship of God in my soul. I must admit with truth that my cowardice had given to this wretched spirit a great hold over my heart. For the space of two years or more he kept me in a continual state of spiritual deadness, with inconceivable hardness of heart; I used to go for a week without performing any act of adoration. If I was constrained to go to Mass or to some other regular exercises, it was without paying any attention; my mind was occupied in finding means to prevent others from serving God.

  This accursed spirit insinuated himself into me so subtly that I in no way realized his workings. I took no trouble to get out of this miserable state; I did not fail to recognize the great peril I was in as regards my salvation; I resolved in despair to be damned, and my salvation became a matter of indifference to me.1

  We see that up to this point Jeanne des Anges, quite unlike the majority of similar patients, gave way without any effort of will to the anti-religious tendencies which arose in her. For this reason she long retained an undivided personality and did not at once present the phenomena of compulsion.

  But we must not be misled: the Jeanne des Anges case belongs to the same category as all the other cases of possession. She too shows the development of an emotional state different in character from her ordinary emotional excitements. But it does not appear in her obviously and at once; for just as the feeble-minded show no compulsive ideas, such phenomena being transformed into delusions through the critical inferiority of the subjects, so with persons of more or less weak moral resistance the abnormal sentiments which would change in normal individuals into feelings of compulsion, immediately become genuine and fully accepted owing to the lack of character of their hosts.

  Nevertheless we are dealing with phenomena sui generis which very manifestly follow other psycho-physical laws from those governing the true
primary feelings, even as experienced by these individuals so little capable of resistance, and which above all have a different, although not yet determinable, origin. For the development of this abnormal state of feeling in Jeanne des Anges is inexorable. It reaches the point of blasphemy. Of herself the patient offers no energetic resistance, but nevertheless the words are already uttered in a manner which is automatic and compulsive rather than personal and voluntary. Thus at this period Jeanne des Anges realizes that these are not normal affective states to which she is now subject; their character of compulsion becomes manifest and at certain moments, when resistance is stronger, there is a distinct division of consciousness. Subsequently we reach a stage characterized by acts of violence.

  My mind was often filled with blasphemies, and sometimes I uttered them without being able to take any thought to stop myself. I felt for God a continual aversion, and nothing inspired me with greater hatred than the spectacle of his goodness and the readiness with which he pardons repentant sinners. My thoughts were often bent on devising ways to displease him and make others offend against him. It is true that by the mercy of God I was not free in these sentiments, although at that time I did not know it, for the demon beclouded me in such a way that I hardly distinguished his desires from mine; he gave me moreover a strong aversion for my religious calling, so that sometimes when he was in my head I used to tear all my veils and such of my sisters’ as I might lay hands on; I trampled them underfoot, I chewed them, cursing the hour when I took the vows. All this was done with great violence; I think that I was not free.

  The spirit of these wretches (the demons) and mine came to be one and the same thing, so that, through their influence, I adopted all their sentiments and expressed all their interests as if they had been mine; I was indeed very desirous of doing otherwise, but could not compass it; it is true that I did not work to that end with sufficient efforts and perseverance. The difficulties which I found in this combat often made me give up, for in truth it needs little to give great power to the demon when he is in possession of a body.1