What Are the “Spirits”?

The Dream of Saint Joseph (c. 1773-74) by Anton Raphael Mengs

WHAT ARE THE “SPIRITS”?

Spirits indicate the various spiritual agents which, by their suggestions and movements, may influence the moral value of our acts.

...They are reduced to four, including, in a certain way, the human soul itself, because in consequence of the original Fall, its lower faculties are at variance with its superior powers. Concupiscence, that is to say, disturbances of the imagination and errors of sensibility, thwart or pervert the operations of the intellect and will, by deterring the one from the true and the other from the good (Genesis 8:21; James 1:14). In opposition to our vitiated nature, or so to speak, to the flesh which drags us into sin, the Spirit of God acts within us by grace, a supernatural help given to our intellect and will to lead us back to good and to the observance of the moral law (Romans 7:22-25). Besides these two spirits, the human and the Divine, in the actual order of Providence, two others must be observed. The Creator willed that there should be communication between angels and men, and as the angels are of two kinds, good and bad, the latter try to win us over to their rebellion and the former endeavour to make us their companions in obedience. Hence four spirits lay siege to our liberty: the angelic and the Divine seeking its good, and the human (in the sense heretofore mentioned) and the diabolical its misery. In ordinary language they may, for brevity’s sake, be called simply the good and the evil spirit.

Catholic Encyclopedia on DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05028b.htm 

 

—Paul Debuchy, “Discernment of Spirits,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909)

 

The four spirits are concupiscence, the spirit of God, and good and evil angels. 

CAN THE EVIL SPIRITS DUPLICATE THE ACTION OF THE GOOD SPIRITS

ON THE HUMAN SOUL?

To prove that a revelation is Divine (at least in its general outlines), the method of exclusion is sometimes employed. It consists in proving that neither the demon nor the ecstatic’s own ideas have interfered (at least on important points) with God’s action, and that no one has retouched the revelation after its occurrence.

...Our information concerning a revelation considered in itself or concerning the circumstances that accompanied it might be secured as follows:

...6. What sentiments of peace, or, on the other hand, of disturbance, are experienced during or after the revelations? Here is the rule as formulated by St. Catherine of Siena and St. Ignatius: “With persons of good will [it is only of such that we are here treating] the action of the good spirit [God or His Angels] is characterized by the production of peace, joy, security, courage; except perhaps at the first moment.” Note the restriction. The Bible often mentions this disturbance at the first moment of the revelation; the Blessed Virgin experienced it when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her. The action of the demon produces quite the contrary effect: “With persons of good will he produces, except perhaps at the first moment, disturbance, sorrow, discouragement, perturbation, gloom.” In a word the action of Satan encounters a mysterious resistance of the soul.

Catholic Encyclopedia on PRIVATE REVELATION:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13005a.htm 

 

—Augustin Poulain, “Private Revelations,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912)

The above criterion is notable because it addresses a question that has occupied me for years: Is it possible for the evil spirits (by the term “spirits,” we exclude concupiscence) to exactly duplicate the action of the good spirits?

It is only criterion No. 6 that directly answers this question: No, the evil spirits cannot duplicate the action of the good spirits in its CONCOMITANT EFFECTS. In everything else, I assume, yes.

We know that the spirits have the power to directly affect the senses and the intellect but that it is only God who has the power to directly influence the will, e.g. by infusing the gift of fortitude.

Evil spirits can affect the senses and the intellect, and because the soul is joined to the body, this influence as a rule has concomitant effects on the emotions. An exception, for example, would include out-of-body experiences.

The action of evil spirits produces different concomitant effects on the emotions from that of the good spirits. A plain illustration of this principle is that persons who are fundamentally oriented toward God and struggling to live virtuous lives experience spiritual disturbance and distress during the course of demonic temptations.

In sum: the attributes of the action of the evil spirits are not identical to those of the good spirits in the particular aspect of concomitant effects.

THE SUPERNATURAL QUALITY OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRITS

By the term “spirits,” we exclude concupiscence.

This particular passage is informative:

“There are three kinds of speech: exterior, which is received by the ear, and interior, which is subdivided into imaginative and intellectual. The last is a communication of thoughts without words.

“There are three similar kinds of visions.”

Catholic Encyclopedia on CONTEMPLATION:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04324b.htm 

 

—Augustin Poulain, “Contemplation,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908)

We can say the same of the experience of the other senses, e.g. smell, taste, touch. For example:

“So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, ‘Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.’ I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.” (Revelation 9:10)

We begin with the assumption that supernatural or contemplative experiences vary in their strength.

Now sometimes the supernatural character of the experience is ambiguous. For example, human souls can be felt faintly so that we cannot be sure if it is our imagination at work. At other times, they can be felt strongly; some say they are seen visibly.

When the experience is strong, the supernatural character of the experience is unambiguous. We can tell it is so by way of contradistinction with our past natural experiences.

It is apparent, for example, that the above experience of Saint John the visionary in the Book of Revelation is not natural. It is supernatural.

The attributes of supernatural experiences, particularly when they are unambiguous and strong, are distinguished from those of the natural experiences of the senses, the imagination, and the intellect working in its condition of union with the body. We may speak of a “supernatural quality.”