➡ The text discusses the concept of trapping devils, likening it to spiritual landmines. It explores the idea that interacting with these trapped devils, whether in art, memes, or folklore, is a choice that can lead to negative consequences. The author suggests that the real danger lies not in the trapped devil itself, but in the person’s decision to engage with it, which can unknowingly violate spiritual laws and result in punishment.

Can you not only beat the devil, but catch the devil? Yes. The Bible is very clear in this that the great beast is sealed up. The devil is sealed up in the bottomless pit for a sentence. But what about on the earth? What about our little devils and our little demons? Also, yes. Recently, I have seen, thankfully, it’s one of my favorite pieces, you know, it’s a little devil caught in glass, caught in a crystal. And it has become a little tiny meme, but it makes me very happy. And I think it calls up very interesting questions, which is, what do you do when you catch a devil? You know, this piece of art, which I do think it is likely a piece of art, but it could be a real devil, if it is a real devil, and someone were to, you know, break that piece, that little devil would be freed.

This, of course, has been in memes for quite a while, this idea of devils entrapped in computer chips, and that they were, you know, put into that and found ways to influence people through them. But it’s a classic motif. Solomon famously seals up many of the devils with his sealing ring. And this motif carries on, I think, probably best in the Arabian nights, where the jinn, which are the devils, are all, you know, caught in these bottles. And this is where you get the genie lamp. This is where you get all of these kind of jinn laying around the world, waiting to be found.

And to me, it is kind of like a spiritual land mine, you know, after the war. People don’t go and pick up every land mine that is left. And so often, you know, a person or a child will be walking and step on a land mine and get blown to pieces. And this is what trapped devils are like. They are like landmines, spiritual landmines. You find the bottle, you open it, and suddenly there’s a demonic presence in your life. Often in the Arabian Nights, they will kill you just for freeing them. They will kill you in exchange.

I believe I’ve talked about a fairy tale of the same motif, one of my very favorites that Jung writes about, the spirit and the bottle. It’s a great motif. It’s a beautiful motif, these spiritual landmines. But I think it also calls into question intention and will. When you pick something up, you are becoming responsible for it. You know, it’s like an excuse that people use when they’re they’re caught with drugs like, oh, I just I was just I just picked something up off the ground. Or if they’re stealing, oh, I was just you know, I just picked it up.

I was just looking. Is there innocence when one is interacting with devils? To be in the situation where one is interacting with the devil, are we not already on a devilish path? To be in the path of the spiritual landmine, have you not already chosen that path? Is the devil not fated to be freed by you? And I think that this is the problem with the fear of computer chips as housing demons. The real devilish impulse is yours. It is your interaction with this thing that gives it power. You know, the trapped devil is certainly not influencing externally.

You choose to pick it up, you choose to open it. And I think that this is one of the really great fears of humanity. In fairy tales, and I think probably best in Blair Witch Project for modern stuff is this fear that you can violate an unknown arcane law and be punished absolutely for it. You know, ignorance is not an excuse, simply because you didn’t know what you were doing doesn’t mean you didn’t violate a law. I talked about this in the what is the internet video? Where is the internet? And so these spiritual landmines, you know, these devilish things, oh, and it’s just like the excuse that people use with I’ve been watching these predator poachers.

It’s a lot like the excuse that you’ll hear from these offenders. They’re like, oh, I was just clicking around and it came up. It just popped up. And I don’t think it works. I don’t think it works. I think that these spiritual landmines are desired by the people who step on them. The meme that’s been promulgated is like Donald Trump holding the crystal. And he’s like, should we let him out, folks? Boo. I don’t think we will. But many people would. Many people would break the crystal free the devil. This is a great episode of the Twilight Zone.

You know, there’s this howling prisoner, and this guy takes pity and lets him out and it’s the devil. It is the devil. There’s my favorite episode of the storyteller. The soldier and death, you know, it’s not exactly a devil, but he does trap devils before he traps death. And, you know, it costs him in the end. It costs him in the end. Trapping a devil is dangerous work. Freeing one is even worse. When you trap a devil, you are also then like leaving a loaded gun for a toddler to pick up. That is what happens when you trap a devil.

So those are my thoughts for the day. We’re doing a daily video. We’re doing daily videos. I’ll have some more interesting stuff, but I feel like you enjoyed some of my last few, so I just wanted to kind of spitball on spiritual land mines and devils trapped in crystals. If you enjoy this, check out my writing on rickrubinstetragrammaton.com on my substack at goddisc.substack.com. And as always, remember, memes matter. [tr:trw].