Diablo IV: Symbolism, Embodiment, and the Case for Angels & Demons
Hatred has returned and she shall not relent until she has corrupted us all. But somewhere in the shadow of her darkness, you must cast your light. - Diablo IV Live Action Trailer
Blizzard Entertainment’s newest release, Diablo IV, has hit the market and has already proven to be a massive success. In just the first five days since its launch, the popular video game has grossed more than $666 million in sales. Tens of millions of players have been descending into the Burning Hells, casting out demons and pillaging their strongholds on the endless quest for loot. In the world of Sanctuary, demons may be the source of evil, but Mammon and his avarice are more than welcome in the perpetual crusade for more gold, gems, gear, and items of legendary power. Like most Blizzard games, the gameplay is masterfully polished, it’s artistically beautiful and, of course, wildly addicting.
For the uninitiated, the video game franchise Diablo is a series of action-roleplaying games where players create their own avatars -choosing from a variety of classes to play, such as sorcerers, druids, necromancers, barbarians, and many more- to stem the ever-rising tide of the Prime Evils. In opposition to these manifestations of the Burning Hells are the Archangels of the High Heavens. Both realms are waging a ceaseless war against each other known as The Eternal Conflict. Sanctuary, a fantastical representation of the Earth, is the land in between these etheric realms where the battles of this conflict often play out. Here ‘Nephalem’, later becoming humans, were formed from the one-time love affair between the angel Inarius and the demon Lilith. The lore is rich, the setting is alluringly gothic, and the storytelling is oftentimes exceptionally well-crafted as Blizzard breathes life into a cast of characters that are engaging and multifaceted.
Without delving too far into the specifics of the narrative and mythos, it becomes immediately obvious that the Diablo games are heavily inspired by Judeo-Christian cosmology; though, many creative liberties are naturally taken. Due to this inspiration and the borrowed concepts therein, the world of Diablo is symbolically rich and veiled seeds of higher truths are scattered throughout.
There is one seed in particular that is worth digging up in our post-Christian world that Diablo does an excellent job of depicting: transpersonal agency. What are transpersonal agencies and what effects might they brandish in our material world of facts? Here I aim to use Diablo as the backdrop to answer these two questions and make the case for the existence of angels and demons.
The Agony in the Garden by William Blake Defining Transperonsal Agencies
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places - Ephesians 6:12
So, what exactly is transpersonal agency? You may be more familiar with the concept than you know. The easiest way I am able to define it in secular terms is as such: transpersonal agency is a high-level pattern of behaviour (an ethos) that plays out across peoples, across cultures, and across time. The pattern has an aim or a goal, and it expresses influence on the world in a variety of ways in service to its aim. There is room for variance in the manifestation of a transpersonal agency, but its influence is always acting towards an ethic, usually involving attention. The ethic may be either “positive” or “negative”, as may be the specific behavioural patterns. The patterns are transcendent as they are not limited to an individual, a single group, or a specific time period. They exist, but they exist above the confines of the strictly material. However, I would encourage the reader to keep in mind that despite the proposed transcendent and metaphysical nature of these patterns, they are relational to the material; and this relationship is dependent upon human perception and realization as the mediator between the physical and metaphysical. This may sound tripe at first glance, or at the least too abstract, so let’s paint a more grounded picture and we can work our way up.
The pattern of addiction
And the more I drink the more I feel it. That’s why I drink too. I try to find sympathy and feeling in drink...I drink so that I may suffer twice as much! - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
To help understand this idea, let’s explore the pattern of addiction, as I believe most people have experienced or know someone who has experienced the influence of addiction. Addiction can manifest itself in an innumerable amount of ways; it could be alcohol, gambling, hard drugs, pornography, smoking, etc. These are addictions many of us are aware of, but to buttress the point I will give a few more examples of things that may usually be presented in a more positive light: work, socializing, eating, Diablo IV, and the list goes on.
No one can deny the pattern of addiction. It exists, has existed, and will exist across all cultures and across all time. Let’s take smoking as a quick and easy example to flesh out the point. It is an abject fact that smoking harms the smoker. Nevertheless, many millions of people around the globe partake in the act. More times than not, the cigarette is lit up in relation to certain times and places. The morning coffee, the breaks at work, with a beer, in times of stress, anxiety, pleasure, and so on. Usually, the longer a smoker goes between cigarettes, the more the addiction nags at them that “it’s time”. The behaviour is patterned, times are set, and people may have their favourite lighter, a certain smoking spot, and a preference for a specific type of tobacco. For all intents and purposes, it’s a ritual. Well, rituals are mostly associated with the idea of worship; and the term worship is generally reserved for patterned behaviours attempting to embody or commune with some transcendent value or ethic (something with inherent power and influence, i.e. a deity).
In the instance of addiction, its aim is frequently associated with a simultaneous escape from reality and an exercise of forced control to combat a sense of powerlessness, manifesting in excess. But it’s a trick. When an addiction has someone in its grip, the victim's attention (their ability to navigate properly in the world) is ossified. The smoker is blind to known health hazards, the gambler is deaf to impending financial ruin, and the alcoholic is mute from his stupor. By trying to impose control, the addict has given up their control. Given it up to a transpersonal pattern that is so hungry for the addict's attention, so desperate to inhabit the body, that leading the poor soul to perdition is a small price to pay for the next “hit”. Many, if not most, addicts wish to escape their tiny cycles of hell, and there is often an association of guilt after a ritual of participation is completed and the dopamine rush has worn off. As the guilt diminishes over time, the addiction descends from its veiling shadow and imposes itself once
more. It is not wrong to say that the addict’s agency has been ceded. A smoker may not truly want that next cigarette but damn them, some other will certainly does. So, is a smoker really worshipping something beyond themselves? Are all transpersonal patterns destructive? Aren’t we just victims of chemical imbalances in the brain and not of some other intangible “agency”?
Let’s return to Diablo and explore how this fictional universe paints a picture of the transcendent.
The Angels and Demons of Diablo
Where the actions of hell seem straightforwardly bent on destruction, the motives of heaven are unfathomable. - Deckard Cain, Diablo II
As previously described, the world of Diablo is split into three distinct realms: the High Heavens, the Burning Hells, and the midgard of Sanctuary. Unsurprisingly, the Archangels and angels inhabit Heaven; the Prime Evils, Lesser Evils, and demons are the rulers of Hell; and humans are betwixt in Sanctuary. In this universe, angels and demons are not just abstract projections but are the physical embodiment of their respective virtue or vice. For example, the Prime Evil Diablo is the Lord of Terror, the embodiment of fear; whereas the Archangel Auriel is the personification of Hope.
Structuring the mythos
For mankind’s greatest champion, the Nephalem, rose to confront the darkness that we, in our pride, would not face. - Tyrael, Diablo III
To further illustrate this mythos, I will quickly give a rundown of some of the major players of heaven and hell:
Heaven
• Imperius - Archangel of Valour
• Tyrael - Archangel of Justice, and later the Aspect of Wisdom • Itherael - Archangel of Fate
Hell
• Mephisto - Lord of Hatred • Baal - Lord of Destruction • Belial - Lord of Lies
Many readers may pick up on the Judeo-Christian cosmological influence from some of the game’s nomenclature alone (Ba’al, Belial, Mephistopheles, Nephilim, etc.).
The worldbuilding is elaborate with numerous actors, but those listed above do more than enough to help define Diablo’s vision of the forces of heaven and hell, good and evil, and order and chaos. Insights may be further gleaned from the narrative’s symbolism in its creation myth, the Crystal Arch (crystal being a translucent and reflective material representing spirit, light, and understanding) that points to the highest part of heaven, an angel manifesting itself as a human in self-sacrifice, imbalances of too much order or chaos, and so on. There is far too much to cover in this article alone, so we will maintain our focus on the reality of transpersonal agency.
As mentioned, humanity is often caught between this otherwordly polarity, and humans are of chief importance in every Diablo game. The forces of heaven and hell both vie for influence over Sanctuary and, more times than not, the fate of either of these realms is dependent upon the choices of mankind. In the High Heavens of Diablo, angels are not always particularly interested in humanity, some would rather not suffer humans at all, but they nevertheless expect humans to side with heaven. Hell, on the other hand, has great interest in humans, and continually seeks to infest and indoctrinate the minds of men into servitude and death. Each Diablo game usually begins with one of the three Prime Evils having been captured in a gem of arcane power known as a ‘Soulstone’ by the ancient demon-fighting order of the Horadrim. The malevolent essence of the captured spirit begins to seep out until the Evil is set free by a corrupted man or has regained enough strength of its own to shatter its prison. An important detail of Diablo’s mythos is that demons can be defeated, but never vanquished. Their weakened essences, if not captured in a Soulstone, always return to the Burning Hells (angels operate in a slightly different way, but similar enough to not note a symbolic distinction at this time).
So, why all the exposition? I believe it’s important to understand some of the mechanics of Diablo’s world to see if and how they translate to our own world, especially in regard to the transpersonal. Now we can work our way down to the specifics.
Symbolism in the narrative
Your lives and those of all humanity depend on what you do next. Choose wisely. - Mephisto, Diablo IV
Archangels and Prime Evils are physically formidable, but it is the effect these beings have over humans that are responsible for the heroism and atrocities that continually aid or afflict Sanctuary. Even trapped within a Soulstone, the essence of Evil will always permeate out a miasma of balefulness. Even from the faraway High Heavens, the mere echo of the spirit of Hope is oftentimes enough to hold a soul steadfast.
In Diablo IV, the primary adversary is the demon Lilith, who is the demiurge of Sanctuary and its self-proclaimed ‘Mother’. She, along with the angel Inarius, created Sanctuary as a refuge from the Eternal Conflict. From their union spawned all things of the earth, including the Nephalem - the first humans. Central to the plot is an unfolding prophecy that is now coming to a head: “Then came a spear of light, piercing Hatred’s heart”. Lilith is the daughter of Hatred, the Prime Evil Mephisto, and the story of Diablo kicks off when Lilith has been summoned back to Sanctuary from Hell by a ‘pale man’ who has fallen under her influence. Opposing Lilith is Inarius, who has resided in Sanctuary after being cast out from heaven for consorting with the demoness so long ago in the game’s history. Ever since, Inarius has been desperate to return to his home in the High Heavens. He believes this prophecy foretells his inevitable victory over Lilith, redeeming him in the eyes of heaven. From there, the board is set. The humans of sanctuary invariably fall under the sway of one of the two makers of the world. In the opening moments of the game, the player character, known as the Wanderer, stumbles upon a sleepy village nestled under the peaks of a mountain during a harsh winter storm. The Wanderer receives a warm welcome from the villagers and is given shelter from the blizzard, but things darken quickly. The Wanderer is soon poisoned by the villagers, who have recently fallen under Lilith’s sway, and is forced to imbibe the demon’s blood in preparation for a ritual sacrifice. Following a gruesome dance of violence, the Wanderer is able to make their escape. From there, the fleeing player ascends the snowy mountain and comes across a cranky wise man, the last of the Horadrim, an old warrior
learned in the ways of heaven and hell. Revelations come to light, and the quest to save Sanctuary begins.
It’s worth asking yourself if there is any symbolic meaning behind ascending a mountain. What kind of view and perspective does one have from being up so high? Is there significance
to finding a lonely man at the top who remembers what has been forgotten? Can you think of any other tales where revelations are received atop a pinnacle? If so, why there? What are the implications of then descending the mountain and returning to the world?
A key detail to consider in this initial summary is the imbibing of the blood of Lilith, and it’s a story element that will continue to be relevant throughout the plot. When the player character has been forced to drink the blood, it creates a connection to Lilith and allows the Wanderer to receive visions of her. The Wanderer engages with these visions by connecting with the blood petals that Lilith leaves behind wherever she goes. And blood has a deeply symbolic meaning.
The meaning of blood
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. - 1 John 1:7
Blood is an incredibly rich seed filled to the brim with meaning and should not be overlooked in the symbolism of Diablo IV. In Judeo-Christian cosmology, blood was seen as not only the “life of the flesh”, but also a symbol for cleansing. Blood plays a foundational role in the story of Christ, and it is a significant part of the process of the Eucharist, the sacrament of Holy Communion. In the Old Testament, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), high priests would enter the Holy of Holies, the most sacred place of the Tabernacle. Here the blood of a sacrificed animal was spattered on the Mercy Seat, the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. It was seen as a ritual of cleansing, washing away the sins of the Israelites, renewing the people and cleaning the slate. It is important to note that water, blood, oil, liquid, was seen as a representation of the spiritual, in contrast to structured matter in the ancient world. It’s translucent, rains down from above, is formless, and takes the shape of what it embodies. It can also represent time; specifically, a turbulent change, a time of exile and chaos, when heaven and earth are not in proper union. What these two concepts have in common is the idea of renewal. You can begin to see the threads of this idea through the narrative of the Flood. Later, in the Christian story, Christ's blood is shed and imbibed for the cleansing of the entire world. From His wound on Cavalry pours both water and blood: spirit, life, death, cleansing, and renewal.
The cup of blessing that which we bless: is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? - 1 Corinthians 10:16
When the Wanderer is forced to drink Lilith’s blood, they enter into communion with her, as seen by the unique relationship and visions the Wanderer receives. When the blood of Lilith touches the Wanderer’s lips, their old life is also washed away and a new one begins. For what it is worth, I am not drawing a comparison between Christ and Lilith, but attempting to show how the writers of Diablo, consciously or unconsciously, were revealing a key component to the symbolism of blood.
The Wander can interface with Lilith through this communion of blood by engaging with the blood petals she leaves in her wake (this may relate to the miracle of the roses, where roses appear after Godly or saintly works have transpired, or in relation to Christian iconography
where the rose represents the Virgin Mary and eternity). It is simultaneously a memory and reminder of the blood of Lilith that courses through the Wanderer’s veins, and is the physical manifestation of this connection between the two. Lilith’s influence on the Wanderer is of a transcendent and transpersonal nature. Lilith can commune with many of her servants at once, she does not need to physically be in Sanctuary to hold power in the world. Communion is enough, as it is with all the angels and demons in the world of Diablo.
Communing with angels and demons
No weapon can overcome the weakness of an undisciplined mind. They can only serve as an extension of the self.- Tzo Kri, Diablo II
Communion with angels and demons is later witnessed in Diablo as the Wanderer faces off against hordes of humans who fight ferociously for their ‘Mother’ Lilith; and as the Wanderer aids, in a tenuous alliance, the honour-bound and zealous forces of the ‘Father’ Inarius. Blood sacrifices, ritual killings, purgings, acts of atonement, rampant murder and maurading of brother against brother unfolds as each person surrenders themselves to the powerful agents of creation. Humanity has become the choice weapon of the higher powers.
The Lord of Hatred, Mephisto’s, influence is explicitly shown as a transpersonal influence. At a certain point in Diablo IV’s campaign, the protagonists enter into the hell of Hatred, Mephisto’s domain, and immediately they are subject to the ill effects of the Prime Evil. They turn on one another, snap, and become enraged. Friends say wicked things to friends. They lose sight of their own purpose, their own goals and aims. They are replaced by the goals and aims of another. The more they participate in the antagonization, the worse their chances become of escaping hell. A transpersonal agency has them in its bitter grip.
In contrast to Mephisto’s influence on the Wanderer’s company, the angel Inarius and his devout followers have also braved the pits of hell and are unified under the angel's light, ever marching on in spite of the horrors that surround them. To commune with Inarius, the people of Sanctuary are tasked to first forego their sins and selfishness before approaching the angel. In one quest in the game, titled The Rite of Passage, the player is told to write their sin on a piece of cedar and burn it in order to gain an audience with Inarius. Cedar relates to the wood of the cedar tree and biblically it is represented as one of the most beautiful trees, a symbol of God’s strength and protection, and is used to build the temple in Jerusalem.
If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. - John 15:6
Despite the eye-rolling and inescapable postmodern storytelling trope of deconstructionism -Inarius being a fallen angel filled with pride, hubris, and selfishness on what is evidently a comment on Christian dogmatism, and no real force of good being displayed in Diablo IV; an aspect of too many modern stories -, insight can still be gained by examining the effect Inarius has on his people. Inarius inspires hope within his ‘church’, and a resolute sense of brotherhood is instilled amongst his cadre. They will overcome or die trying. The followers of the angel do not fight for selfish ends, but rather for the love of their community and the preservation of order in Sanctuary, juxtaposed against the promise of individual power and a recreation of the world in a different image that Lilith offers her followers. Both sides, in some real sense, become the body for their respective celestial being. They are a multiplicity of individual people sharing in a unifying ethic, aligning themselves with the specific aims of an ethos to serve either the demon or angel. These relationships are transactional, as the more one serves Lilith or Inarius, the more their power or faith grows; the more their capacity and
potential expands, the better they are at serving the head of their hierarchy. This can be seen with the devastatingly powerful character of Elias, who is Lilith’s chief underling and constant adversary to the Wanderer; and in the extreme act of atonement that the character Vigo undergoes resulting in a noble sacrifice through a display of sheer will and faith. This juxtaposition, and how each side communes with their respective “god”, lends itself to the symbolism found within the feminine and masculine natures.
The masculine and feminine
Male and female is one opposition. Another opposition is the human and God. - Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
I do not wish to idle on this point long, as I believe this alone is a topic filled with rich and meaningful symbolism that far transcends the narrative of Diablo IV and would require an entire body of text for itself. Nevertheless, there are key components in the dichotomy of the masculine and feminine found within Diablo IV that lends itself to the idea of transpersonal agency and its effect on the world.
Psychologist Carl Jung posited that both men and women have a masculine (animus) and feminine (anima) nature within themselves. In males and females, masculinity and femininity are dominant in their respective sex (though not exclusively the case) and the proper individuation of a person requires the nurturing of both aspects. In biblical cosmology, God creates mankind and then divides the unity into two, man and woman. Masculinity is more commonly associated with order, control, and assertiveness, whereas femininity is related to chaos (potential), creativity, and empathy. In the biblical account of creation, this plays out very early on in Genesis. Adam is tasked with the naming of the animals, asserting control and ordering their identities, and Eve has the capacity to speak with the animals, to listen, and present new ideas and iterations, as seen with the serpent (in Hebrew, the literal translation of woman is often viewed as “a helper against him”. A positive challenger against rigidity). Both are dependent on one another for the proper manifestation of reality. Another way to understand this is by viewing masculinity as the seed (principles) that comes down into femininity (potential). This is why the mythological earth is often described as Mother Earth or Mother Nature, and one reason as to why we call God the Father. Where they meet, meaningful creation happens.
In the creation myth of Diablo, Inarius and Lilith both wished to escape the Eternal Conflict. In the transcendent realm of Pandemonium, the two stole the ‘Worldstone’, a powerful artifact used to create worlds. They united together and used this power to form Sanctuary, and later gave birth to the ‘Nephalem’, beings mediating between the natures of angel and demon. I am not suggesting that angels and demons and masculinity and femininity are direct analogues, but I do believe there is a relationship. Inarius grew wary of the progenitors of humanity when he saw that this new creation had the potential to grow in power and free themselves from strict control. Lilith, learning of her husband’s growing trepidation, slew all the renegade angels and demons who abided in Sanctuary in fear that they would attempt to snuff out the flame of her children’s spirit. Inarius wished for his children to be in strict submission to the larger forces of creation, whereas Lilith wished them to be utterly free, almost wild. It’s fair to say Inarius had lofty inflexible ideals that humanity would be subservient to (only seeds), and Lilith wanted them to be wantonly unmitigated in their capacities (only potential). Humanity would be forever caught between these higher natures that birthed them.
This is just a cursory outline of some of the symbolic manifestations of transpersonal agencies found within the world of Diablo. However, the question remains, can we use this lens to glean seeds of truth in our own world?
The Ancient Greek Pantheon
That is the gods’ work, spinning threads of death through the lives of mortal men, and all to make a song for those to come. - Homer, The Odyssey
If we turn our gaze from the fictional to the histories of our own people, we can begin to see that the idea of transpersonal agents is a very old one. The ancient Greeks, and later the Romans, understood this idea of manifestation and transpersonal agency quite well and it is personified in their pantheon of gods. Indeed, the Greeks did such an excellent job of representing this idea through their myths that a large swath of people today remain deeply connected to this ancient mythology. In case someone is not overly familiar with at least the Olympians, I will briefly explain the twelve and some of their respective aspects.
The twelve Olympians:
• Zeus - King of the gods; god of the sky, thunder, and justice.
• Hera - Queen of the gods; goddess of family, women, and marriage. • Poseidon - God of the sea, seafaring, horses, and earthquakes.
• Apollo - God of healing, poetry, music, arts, and prophecy.
• Ares - God of war, violence, and wrath.
• Hermes - God of travel, trade, wealth and luck.
• Hephaestus - God of fire, metallurgy, and the forge.
• Athena - Goddess of wisdom, warfare, and craftsmanship.
• Aphrodite - Goddess of beauty, love, and pleasure.
• Demeter - Goddess of agriculture and fertility.
• Hestia - Goddess of the hearth and home.
• Artemis - Goddess of the hunt, wilderness, and animals,
Two honourable and worthwhile mentions are Hades and Dionysus. Hades does not reside on Mount Olympus but is the god of the underworld and its realms, and Dionysus is the god of wine, festivals, and the theatre. Not totally unlike the Christian understanding of principalities and powers, each god is associated with and presides over various domains of human life.
Whether it was the Persian Wars, the Greco-Punic Wars, or the Peloponnesian Wars, the ancient Greeks would invoke the spirit of Ares or Athena for victory through strength of arms and strategy. In the Illiad, Ares himself is personified as a real combatant on the field. Is it just embellished storytelling presenting this god among men fighting in the actual skirmish? Not necessarily. If, before the battle, some Trojan or Greek warrior sacrificed an animal before the god, sent the smoke (a symbol of the ethereal element) up, and then consumed the cooked sacrificial flesh below, both god and man would have entered into communion with one another by sharing a meal. By partaking in the flesh, the warrior has quite literally consumed the power of the sacrifice; his body integrates the nutrition of the meat into its own self. He has been reenergized, refreshed, renewed and emboldened by the food shared with Ares. Perhaps he now has the courage, bloodlust, and surety needed for a godlike display of martial power. Of course, this is a symbolic representation of what is happening, but just because it is symbolic does not mean it is not happening. The warrior has the confidence, the drive, and the will of Ares coursing through his veins. For the battle ahead, his body is Ares’ body; and with that perspective, it is no wonder Ares’ onslaught is witnessed on the field. The god of war is
here, and the god of war has the specific aims, patterns of behaviour, and goals of warfare itself. Another way of thinking about this is through the army. If one soldier falls, is the army routed or destroyed? If not, where then, specifically, is the army? You can see a phalanx as one unit, but how can it be a single unit when it is comprised of so many different parts -especially when these parts are living idiosyncratic individuals? Nevertheless, these individuals move fluidly as one body, with one aim, one rallying cry, one pattern set: that of Ares, or Athens, or Greece herself. When the commander, king, or hero is slain, the infantry may then indeed disband, but what is the king if not the embodied host, the symbol, of the unified aim or spirit?
When a poet calls upon his muse or Apollo and receives a new idea for a song, a poem, or a play, he is invoking an exterior abstract reality to plant a seed within his mind for inspiration. The etymology of idea comes from the Greek word for form or pattern, which itself derives its meaning from the root word to see. When a man participates in the festivities of Dionysus and gets drunk on wine, he quite literally loses control during the celebration. Well, that’s a funny turn of phrase - who is losing control of what? And what then takes control? The Greeks had their answer and the modern world has its own; but perhaps when you become enraged and say something hurtful to someone you care about that you wouldn’t have said otherwise, it is worth asking yourself just whose goals you are running headlong towards, for it might be Ares’.
You can apply this pattern to any of the ancient Greek, Roman, or Egyptian gods, but for now, we will turn our attention to the modern world to see if these influences are still in effect.
A demon’s influence
Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven. - John Milton, Paradise Lost
Let’s return to the smoker and the posited transpersonal agent of addiction. You can’t physically point to addiction or hold it in your hand and say “There it is!” like you can a demon in Diablo. But, you can bear witness to the embodied patterns or rituals that come from it. When fighting an addiction, you cannot physically engage and do battle with the nagging voice in your head. All you can do is rob it of its influence by breaking your patterned behaviour. To stop circumambulating; to stop worshipping and refocus your attention on some other aim. However, as everyone with experience with addiction knows, it is not so simple. The addict is essentially owned. They’ve given themselves over to something that will not let go of its own accord. Most of us have known a smoker who has promised us and themselves that they will quit tomorrow, next week, or next month, and when next you see this person, there they are, cigarette in hand as if they never said anything against the idea. It’s an uncomfortable fact of life, but we are not in total control of our own selves. Set rules and restrictions on yourself and this will become immediately obvious.
A smoker may not wish to light up at the present moment, perhaps they are with their child at the playground, but they just can’t help themselves. An alcoholic can know that driving under the influence is objectively a terrible decision, but the agent of addiction is attempting to manifest itself in the body, what does it care about moral scruples? A workaholic may want more than anything to support their child at a championship game; but, sorry, another email just came through and it needs the attention, participation, and body, and it needs it right now; damn your familial relations. And if, God forbid, addiction ruins or ends a life, no problem, there are eight billion more people it can manifest itself in.
You can view the transpersonal agent of addiction as a principality, a power, a demon. I try to use more secular terms to engage with an idea that is in opposition to modern
sensibilities, like pattern, ethos, and ethic instead of spirit, but let me be clear, the latter word choice is not arbitrary. Addiction is viewed as a negative, hence its attribution with the demonic. It is negative because it involves the act of giving control to, and excessively embodying, something that is lower than the highest aim (I stress excess regarding addiction as a glass of wine and a work email can and should be participated in in a healthy and meaningful manner). It influences you by pointing your attention inwards and downwards, not guiding it upwards and outwards. We can replace addiction with any other vice and apply the same idea. The lustful man may treat his base needs as supreme, he has pointed his attention inwards and aimed below the higher virtue of romantic love. By doing so, he has dragged himself and his neighbour down to the level of meat used to gratify. The greedy man points his attention inwards at accumulation for its own sake, aiming below the higher mark of charity. He has dragged himself down to the realm of suspicion and gluttony, a dragon under the mountain hoarding his untouched treasure. The envious man has his attention focused on his lack rather than goodwill for the other, and his view of his fellow man is one of resentment and bitterness. Cowardice, not courage. Hate, not love. Not having an aim, high or low, leads to slothfulness, a wasting away of gifts and potential; another form of excess self-obsession. Pride is often considered to be the cardinal sin, which all other sins descend from. And what is pride if not rampant self-obsession? The prideful are always aiming inward.
Here is something to consider: the English verb ‘to sin’ is rooted in the ancient Greek word hamartia, related to archery: ‘to miss the mark’.
Essentially, addiction and all the other iniquities are not bound by outward love, but rather an inverted and perverted eros. This may sound dire, but it is not so, for people have the capacity for change. We have sovereignty; we have free will, the ability to choose where we aim. When we aim at greed, it may manifest in a way that suits our idiosyncracies, but immediately our goals and rituals of participation are overridden. We fall under the effect of a power that is not inherent to ourselves. And this power does not have our best interest in mind, only our servitude. Remember Mephisto and his poisonous influence of hate. So, if we can aim higher, what might that look like? Would those influences be demonic?
An angel’s guidance
And the ray was the Guardian Angel of the mote; not a thing interposed between God and the creature, but God’s very attention itself, personalized. - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
If addiction, lust, avarice, and pride can be categorized as negative, especially in excess, perhaps there are equal and opposite aims that are positive, particularly when integrated methodically. Perhaps we can embody a spirit that brings us out of ourselves and up towards an aim. Not the sleeping dragon under the mountain, but the wisened and watchful man atop it.
It is worthwhile to consider what it might mean to participate in a pattern or spirit of heavenly love. We can use the example of a loving father or mother, the family, to explore this ethos, the opposite category to the selfish father and mother found in Diablo IV. A father and a mother are the microcosm of the pattern set at the beginning of Genesis. There is the union of the masculine and feminine; the structure joins with the potential, and identity meets variability. This is expressed through the children of the union. A loving father and mother give themselves spiritually and physically to their offspring. As mentioned, being bound in love is moving outward and upward. The parents sacrifice their time, affluence, and much of their own idiosyncracies and offer it up to the spirit of a good family. Rearing the children is an
expression of outward love; providing a spirit for the children to emulate far into their own lives is an expression of upward love moving toward the “meta-pattern” of love. A proper family has shared ethics, values, and disciplines that participate in a larger ethos for the benefit of the whole. There are rituals that reinforce the ethos and help to embody it within the family members. Dinner is a great example of this. There are very specific characteristics of a family meal. You would not sit with your back to everyone, you would not eat off the floor, and you likely would not be eating dinner alone at different times. We have lost the ability to view our lives in this particular manner, but it is still the cornerstone of our interactions. It is easy to break the ritual of dinner, but when it is participated in properly (eating the same meal together, at the same time, in the same place, and conversing) then the spirit of the family is pleased by this act of what is essentially worship. The loving mother and father provide the opportunity for the spirit of the family to come alive and give further life to the children. If you were to see a family eating dinner together, could you point at one member specifically and say that right there entirely is where the family is housed? Could you say it is sitting right in that one specific chair? If a member of the family is absent or has passed on, are they no longer a member of the family? What determines what family is if it is not a transcendent spirit that is participated in and embodied? The loving mother and father have learned to integrate the various multiplicity of their lives in the right order that allows for their family to be bound in this specific category of love; in this instance, ‘family’.
Moderation not excess, balancing unity and idiosyncrasy, sharing a bottle of wine instead of being an isolated despondent drunk, working for opportunity not for the praise of men, listening and then engaging, negotiating between husband and wife, this is proper integration. That does not mean arguments are not to be found within a loving family. But can the ‘help meets against each other’ use their discord to better serve the unifying spirit? This is the principal difference between proper participation and wanton self-destruction. It is the story of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, though that is a subject worth exploring on its own. Few things, if anything, are inherently evil or good on the material earth, but rather how we engage with the multitude of powers above us, how we bring them down into ourselves, will determine their effect in the world. Under the highest aim and unity of love, everything has its place; every idiosyncrasy and appetite, when engaged within the confines of proper participation, can be expressed. Anything lower than that breeds excess, hybridity, confusion, and the flood and robs you of the ability to hit the mark. That is the difference between the angel and the demon.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up....He has made everything beautiful in its time. - Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
We can use the example of the spirit of a good family and apply it to any other space or virtue. A good home will elevate your spirit, and a bad home will lower it. A good career brings you out of yourself and a poor career crushes you down. The spirit of friendship brings you into the world and the spirit of enmity makes you recede. In Diablo, this is expressed through the heroes of humanity, in Christian cosmology, in our own history, this truth is expressed through the life of Christ. He who walks with prostitutes and tax collectors, who has enemies but prays for them, He who lays down His life for the elect and the reprobate alike, who bears His cross of suffering for the paradise of all beneath Him is this meta-pattern of love, the highest aim, proper meaning, the Divine Logos. In the hierarchy of proper being, the bottom serves the top, and the top serves the bottom and brings it up into itself. So aim high and transcend the transpersonal.
But what of our own spirits? Do we have patterns inherent to ourselves?
The egregore and the soul
The free spirit again draws near to life - slowly, to be sure, almost reluctantly, almost mistrustfully. Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human
I will now briefly try to unite Diablo, ancient Greece, biblical cosmology and modern man into one final proposition regarding transpersonal agency. The ancient Greeks held the idea of the egregore, a spirit that arises from the spirits of the individuals of a collective group. It arises not from outside of themselves, but rather from within. It is formed by a half-baked telos held by the people but often lacks the ability to exceed the group. It can be viewed as a fractal pattern of a higher transpersonal agent. An example of this would be a mob in the street. The mob is unified, and something has riled them up. The mob is still one body, but the influence over them is less defined and more chaotic. They exchange leaders on a whim, and the end goal is always in flux. Nevertheless, the mob still has a larger agency. It is as though the spirits of the individuals are wildly reaching out for the telos of a transpersonal agency but cannot grasp or agree on which pattern to pull down. This could be a more demonic view of the egregore, due to its aimless and chaotic nature. The more positive interpretation would be that of a ship, or even a sports team; the telos is defined and is often embodied by the captain of the ship or team, and the crew members or teammates move within the body in service to the higher goal of their aspirations. The ship needs the telos of its crew to navigate its way to port, for without it, it is adrift. The sports team needs its teammates to win the game and get the trophy. In the instance of the sports team, this spirit does at least expand to the fans. They wear the jerseys of their heroes, there are relics to be won, they sing and chant together and, by their own words, have pregame rituals to try and ensure victory for their team. They even share in the celebration of victory or deeply mourn the defeat as if they themselves participated in the game. Now, this does not necessarily mean there are no higher and more hyperactive agents than an egregore at play here, but perhaps you can begin to see how the transpersonal can be broken down fractally.
This leads us to the individual soul. My goal in this writing has not been to suggest that we are automatons exclusively under the control of higher influences. For the egregores’ telos is formed directly by the will of the individuals in the collective. Scaling up, the transpersonal agency may exist in some form beyond the human -Ares will always be ready for war, and Aphrodite’s beauty will always be present- but it is still dependent on being embodied. Once more, fractally, our own individual and idiosyncratic souls can exercise their influence. If we return to the example of the family, the unique spirits of the mother and father are embodied in the children. How often do you hear parents say “I see myself in my children”, or how someone can remember the parents through the child? This goes beyond genetic looks. The soul has had an influence far outside its own body. We can even take this another step lower. It may seem trivial but consider Diablo IV. The main character is an avatar of the player. Diablo IV is a multiplayer game and each person’s avatar can interact with each other. Are they interacting with just the pixels or with this specific expression of another player? You can take this with any multiplayer game that allows for interaction. The idiosyncrasies of the player will always seep through beyond their body. Blizzard Entertainment has created a large statue of Lilith to place on their campus, and on this statue will be inscribed the names of the first 1,000 characters to reach level 100 without dying in Diablo IV’s Hardcore mode. Note: they are engraving the usernames, not the players’ “real” names, to be immortalized. Perhaps there is not much difference. Consider a text message: if you send a message to a close contact, there is a version of yourself exceeding space and time that can still be interacted with. Your contact may wait several hours or days to respond, but your ‘voice’ is still there and at any moment can be engaged with. This communication is happening, but the expression is beyond the
body. When you read a book whose author has passed on, be it an autobiography or even a work of fiction, their influence, idiosyncracies, and being is still potent past their expired corporeal form. The same goes for those throughout history. We know the tactics of Alexander the Great, we’ve emulated them throughout modern warfare; without his story, this influence would not be able to be embodied.
I am hyperaware of how potentially unpalatable every thought here expressed is to the world of strict materialism. Whether you agree or disagree, my ultimate argument is this: the world is not strictly material.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - Hamlet
Refutation
I know that many will refute what I have laid out, or simply think I have soared too far into intangible abstraction. Perhaps they’re right. One criticism in particular that I have heard often is this: are we not merely dominated by the chemicals in our brains? Addiction is oftentimes associated with chemical dependency. Love is strictly the release of a concoction of oxytocin, dopamine, and other chemicals. These are just byproducts of material and biological evolution. Is this not sufficient proof that there is indeed no transcendent reality or transpersonal agency, pattern, or spirit that can influence our lives through the simple means of attention? Before I finish, I would like to address this criticism. I will do so by utilizing the annoying, yet sometimes necessary, tactic of answering a question with further questions. Let the reader come to their own conclusions by synthesizing the experiences of their own life.
I do not deny the reality of the chemical reactions in our brains. But I am left wondering: what are they reacting to? Mere arbitrary stimulus? Do they not play a role in a broader participation in a hierarchy of being? Even in the process of evolution, natural selection, is there not a unifying transcendent ethos? Even if that ethos is survival? What is the inherent value of survival? Or is that, too, arbitrary? It can’t be arbitrary; there’s an implicit meaning, a telos, a logos, within every single thing, process, and pattern mankind has yet built or identified. In the bonds we make with our fellow man, we often refer to our deep connections. What makes a connection “deep”? We can reduce our existence in this world to these chemical reactions, but why stop there? Why not reduce further down to the explicit compositions of these chemicals? To their molecules, their atoms, their electrons, their quarks, all the way down to the quantum field of sheer potential? “We’re just quarks”. We can scale these things down and all the way back up to a specific chemical reaction. Can we go higher? If so, how high? Is your firsthand experience of love really “chemical reaction”? Is that how you participate in the world? With your wife, your children, your friends? Do you gaze around yourself piercing the veil only to engage with grey clumps of atoms? I would wager not.
We can utilize this same reductionist philosophy in life itself. There are replicating proteins, single-celled organisms, then multi-celled organisms, bacteria, plants and vegetation, insects, rodents, cattle, cats and dogs, primates, and humans. Is it not fair to say that there is a scaling of intelligences (or consciousnesses) here as vast as the oceans? We can scale it all the way down to the building blocks of life and back up from the fish to the dolphin to man. Why are we so certain it stops with us? Does the ant perceive the owl? Perhaps its effect in the world, but not much beyond. If you’ve bought the premise in this writing of transpersonal agency, you may see what I am hinting at. If you do not, then the failure lies with me. All I ask is that the reader ruminates on the idea, one way or the other. And as the great Carl Jung once said:
People don’t have ideas. Ideas have people.
Aim true
I will bring this argument to its conclusion, for I’ve already spread its branches out more than one write-up inspired by some video game can contain. In essence, there are transpersonal agencies exercising their influence over us at all times. Just as the High Heavens and the Burning Hells wage their war in Sanctuary, so too do the unseen, though not unfelt, powers of our own world vie for our attention and servitude. Whether you’re biblically inspired or not, some things are certain: we are aware of Good and Evil, and we have free will. Aim it wisely and aim it true.
Thank you for reading,
Sam