The Message of the Demon

The lion and the lamb lying down together symbolize that strength and innocence are not in conflict, but naturally live in peace. (A Course in Miracles)

At the onset of my spiritual awakening I had a strange dream. I was in a vacation resort when I heard on the radio that convicts had broken out from a near-by prison. I looked around and saw a group of them approaching me. 'Look", someone shouted, "there is fresh meat." I ran away and someone followed me. I ran into a building and somewhere on the second floor he caught up with me. We wrestled and both crashed through a window onto a balcony. That was the first time I had a good look at him. I was tall as me, muscled like a body-builder, and had a clean-shaven head. His face looked grotesque, just like you would imagine a demon to look like. Amazingly, despite his intimidating look I could keep him at arms-length fairly easily. The calmer I got, the more furious he became. Then I woke up.

I had encountered my dark side. It took me a while to understand what it was all about but eventually I figured out that the demon just mirrored back to me my suppressed aggressiveness. A multi-year soul-searching process started that reveled to me that I was effectively a lion raised by lambs. I also realized that I was well-positioned to bring these repressed desires to the surface. In my job as a financial strategist I had to stand up for my ideas and for the people who worked with me. I was taught that situation-specific assertiveness is not in conflict with spirituality at all; in fact, there are times when the WAY demands it. Lion and lamb can lie together peacefully, just as it is written in the Bible.

I never saw the demon again, but I have made a career for myself thanks to his insistence to bring my competitive nature and hidden aggressiveness out there and let it work for me. In that way we should never be afraid of the dark side but should see it as an opportunity instead to do something creative with it. The demon literally has a present in hand for us once we are willing to look a little closer after our first scary encounter.

Do you already know what your demon is? What present will he have in store for you?