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Mark Bisone's avatar

As usual, there is much to agree and contend with here, John. But first, this:

"...people who had no truck with such conspiracy theories and superstitions, who would have laughed them away mere years or even months before, but now speak openly of the divine and the Satanic."

Guilty as charged. Though I suspect much of this had to do with being raised by multiple generations of atheistic men and trad-Cath women, the arc of both my personal and professional life has led me to that same raging confluence, where I find I must unearth an older language to properly express what I am seeing.

A younger version of me, learning programmatic languages on the fly, would see that as a failure of imagination, if not ethics or sanity. But I have seen those dark, deep woods, having wandered through them myself. To name a thing properly is an act of deliberative respect. One does not, for instance name Cerberus "Rover". Likewise the demons that continually express themselves in human mind and flesh should be properly named and catalogued. The taxonomy should be neither too elaborate or too prosaic. I'm not claiming the Hellenists and/or Semites got it exactly right, but they hit much closer to the mark than any of our postmodern wordsmiths did (or do).

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HUMDEEDEE's avatar

(chuckling fondly) I have a pretty damned good vocabulary but today's piece required looking up the meaning of at least 3 words: thaumaturges; istophobia; sanpaku. I like new words. I also find this convergence of which you speak delightfully imaginative in the best possible way. The words demon and demonic seem to be popping up quite regularly in my communications and thoughts, especially during the past 2 plus years.

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