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Please don’t be alarmed, but I must confess. There is no way to avoid confronting the truth. I am possessed by a demon, and although those with whom I have some contact have never, or have rarely brought it up, there can be no doubt, no coverup. I look normal, but the demon guides me, powerfully and irresistibly. 

Despite the demon’s control, my public life goes on. You probably haven’t noticed anything new because there is nothing new, same old demon , same old me—and same old you. Not the old-fashioned demon that makes you foam at the mouth, wave your arms and jump around.  Not that kind. Not the kind that pays attention to an exorcist or a medium. Not the kind that Jesus dealt with. But this demon has been around for a long time. You have the same demon. Everybody does.  The demon’s name is ME.  Inside each one of us that universal demon constantly cries out: “look at me, pay attention to me, admire me, agree with me.”

It is not possible to know when the demon first appeared in human history.  One story has it showing up in the Garden with Adam and Eve. Those  who reject that Biblical view will ascribe our selfish way, our demon,  to primitive beginnings, to the first instances of conflict between unimaginable ancestors of the human race. As those primitive creatures evolved into modern humans, they would have begun to notice differences.  When those differences conflicted, each individual without necessarily being aware of what was happening, would naturally   prefer his own ways to others, and as time and circumstances changed, those differences would conflict more strongly and be more noticeable.

As the brain became a mind, as the primate was on its way to becoming a human, as the it became a ME, the demon grew stronger. My demon felt superior to  your demon even though they were the same. All demons felt superior to all other demons. And that is where we are today.