"My name is Legion, for we are many."

Sometimes what one needs is a herd of pigs into which the demons can be cast.

For many years I dismissed the scriptural stories of demon possession as relics of an age past with little relevance to a more scientific world view.  Today my sense is more that the Bible's reference to demonic possession may be more helpful than I thought, especially as it relates to mental health.  Whether its the despair that has no legitimate basis, or a grandiosity that would not think twice about throwing one's self off of the pinnacle of the temple in anticipation of an angelic rescue, there is a profound sense at times that something foreign to my true self is at play here.

"Cunning, baffling, powerful!  Without help it is too much for us."  (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 58-59)  Actually, alcohol is nothing more than a liquid.  It has no capacity whatsoever to be "cunning, baffling, or powerful".  Yet the experience of the alcoholic is that of facing an incredible, seemingly insurmountable foe requiring divine intervention to overcome it.  What is your name?

Twisted logic is as the root of this foes "power".  It controls.  We drink a depressant because we are depressed.  Insanity.  We come to a point that our lives have been wrecked by alcohol, and yet we want nothing more than to turn to alcohol to relieve the pain.  "You will not die, you will be like God."  We are seduced by the very thing that is killing us.  What is your name.

As God, a manic phase knows no limits.  I could be president, and given the chance to rule, even the nations of the world would invite me to reign over them as well.  Grandiosity. A vision for ministry and the Church that renders Christ's own perspective as short sighted, too limited in scope and ineffective.  Where do these thoughts come from?  What is your name?

And then the night falls.  There are people out there.  And yet loneliness and despair cloak the darkness.  What once was a life without limits, feels now like an impotent life waiting anxiously for sleep, or death.  A shower is a major accomplishment.  It is as if a thief has seized everything that is of value and meaning, and slipped off into the night.  What is your name?

Shaking.  An EEG reveals "mild epileptic activity" that apparently is the cause of the shaking.  "Mild epileptic activity" reminds me of the definition of "minor surgery" as being "any surgery performed on someone else".  A physical manifestation of an  unseen power within.  "This kind can come out only through prayer."  What is your name?

"My name is Legion, for we are many."

Within the scriptural stories of demon possession there is hope.  Frightening as being possessed by a foreign being can be, the thought that this being could be cast out, exorcised, is comforting.  This is not who I am.  It can be different.

Perhaps finally, the countless hours of therapy with psychologists and psychiatrists, and all the medical intervention are about this one thing.  "I command you to come out of him."  And perhaps all that is lacking is a herd of pigs.