What do I know about the Devil? (1) I have had direct experience of a force that I perceive as evil, as having unity and purpose, and as coming from beyond myself. (2) This experience is quite common among sane people in many cultures, so it cannot be dismissed as madness. (3) The experience may appear to come from beyond myself because it arises from my unconscious, rather than because it objectively is beyond myself. (4) But the beyondness is part of the perception itself, and it is quite common in the perception of others, so that it must be taken seriously. (5) If the experience does come from beyond me, what precisely is the experience of? How describe the entity that occasions such an experience? Each person interprets the experience in terms of his own personal and cultural predilections, so that considerable variety exists in the content of reported perceptions. (6) My personal and cultural predilections should be adjusted and corrected in terms of what I have learned from the methodology I have chosen. (7) The methodology I have chosen shows a definable development of historical tradition, which asserts, at a minimum, the existence of a principle of evil. Naturally it can be objected that many people in many cultures do not share this view. I am here merely presenting my own grounds, as a human being, for my beliefs. Of course I am not certain that the Devil exists, much less what he is if he does exist. All reservations considered, however, I do believe in the existence of a personification and principle of evil, call it what you will.
(Jeffrey Burton Russell, The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity [Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1977], 259-60)
Note from KBJ: I have never had the experience of which Russell speaks in (1). Have you?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 