Satanic Spin

This article is a companion to the series on the Chemical Scale.

In other articles I have talked about how someone who is intelligent and normally self-disciplined can do something contrary to their value system. In a biological sense, we are describing how energy in the brain moves from the prefrontal cortex (where morals, values, and judgement skills are) to the midbrain or "animal brain" where only basic instincts matter. We describe that process with the Chemical Scale.  The Satanic Spin describes how Satan is able to move us from one level down to the next one.  We've used the analogy before of one of those coin donation funnels that you see in malls and museums. How deep the coin is inside the funnel is the Chemical Scale. The process of the coin rolling around the funnel is the Satanic Spin.

The Satanic Spin has several events that are repeated over and over until something stops it, usually you doing whatever it takes to win the battle. The first event in the Spin is called the "Flash."

The Flash is a brief thought or image that Satan quickly throws through your mind trying to initiate a biochemical shift. It normally isn't something big or even very contrary to your value system. He knows that when you are at Level 0 that any blunt temptation he offered you would be ignored. He has to be subtle. The Flash will probably start in a grey area, something that doesn't feel quite right but doesn't really seem wrong. Later the Flashes will become bolder and more obviously contrary to your values, but Satan needs to build some momentum first. Use our coin donation analogy, he is just trying to get the coin from your fingers to the ramp right now. The first Flashes are all about getting the coin into the funnel so he has some real influence.

Another analogy may be helpful. A thirteen-year-old boy is walking down the street when he notices an open can of paint sitting on your front porch. He thinks it would be great fun to run up and kick the paint can sending the paint all over your porch, lawn, and side of the house. But he notices the front door is open and doesn't want to be caught. So he reaches into his back pocket where he, like many thirteen-year-old boys, keeps his slingshot. He begins shooting pebbles at the can of paint. Some miss and some hit. The ones that do hit aren't big enough to knock over the whole can, but they do make a little paint splash out onto the porch and house. The more times he hits the can, the more paint splashes out. Eventually your porch, lawn, and house will look as if the boy had kicked the can over even though he never got anywhere near your doorstep.

In this analogy Satan is the boy. The house is your mind. The pebbles flying from the slingshot are the Flashes. There is enough going on inside the house that if the boy is careful, no one may notice the rocks he is shooting at your paint can. This is how Satan approaches messing with your head. He works subtly so that you don't see his hand until after the fact, if you see it at all. He'd much rather have you believe that the spilt paint was somehow your fault.

When Satan sends a Flash that hits your "paint can" he successfully causes a little biochemical spill inside your brain. There are many biochemicals in your body, and which one spills depends on the kind of Flash Satan throws at you. It may be an image, thought, memory, or snippet of conversation that provokes certain responses in you. The biochemical will cause certain physical reactions in your body (ex: elevated heart rate, tenseness in shoulders, warm feeling in cheeks, shortness of breath, jitters, etc.) and will lead to the inklings of an emotion.

These inklings or partial emotions are the subtle shift in your feelings that, over time, will take you from a place where you are feeling edified and in control to a place where you are out of control and you no longer care about the consequences of your actions and lead you to do things against your value system.

These emotions lead to the "Filing Cabinet" of your memories where you think of times where you have felt similar things.  The human brain is fascinating because it can’t tell the difference between memories, fantasies, and reality.  It’s as if the brain is a Lego set with a limited number of bricks.  It will build a model, take a picture of the model, file the picture in its Filing Cabinet, then take the model apart to process something else.  When you remember something your brain pulls the picture out of the Filing Cabinet and rebuilds the model, sometimes making adjustments based on your current emotional, psychological, physical, social, or geographical context.  In other words, when you pull a memory from your Filing Cabinet that is similar to the partial emotions you are feeling your brain processes it as if it is your current reality.  That becomes a Flash that leads to gradually more and more intense chemicals, feelings, and memories.  Can you see how it is a repeating cycle, a whirlpool that gradually leads you further down and closer to acting against your value system?

This may become less abstract and easier to understand with an example.  A little personal context will make this example easier to follow.  As a teenager and young adult I participated very actively with the Boy Scouts of America.  I worked at a Scout Camp for eight summers.  Along the way I met some volunteers who amazed me as well as some Professional Scouters who really disappointed me.  One of these people who really disappointed me was a boss one year that I worked with at Scout Camp.  Throughout our professional relationship I felt manipulated, micromanaged, and things ended in a poor way.  Satan will often use memories of this relationship to pull me into a Spin.

Perhaps I am going about my day, minding my own business, when I suddenly get a Flash.  Perhaps Satan creates it, or maybe just takes advantage of it.  It may be something I see or maybe I overhear someone say the word “scouting” or something similar.  Because of my negative experiences associated with the Flash, my chemicals start to spill, I begin to feel the inklings of negative emotions, and I remember the previous employer who I feel those emotions towards.  I start to think about specific things he did that I didn’t like, conversations we had, or things I wish I had said to him.  Each of these memories has their own twirl around the Spin with their own chemicals and feelings that lead to more memories.  My feelings of resentment and similar emotions continue to grow and I get pulled further down the Chemical Scale.  If I don’t recognize what is happening and stop the process by redirecting my thoughts and feelings to something better, then I get more and more sucked in.

Once you understand the Satanic Spin, it is important to know how to combat it.  It is also important to know that you can’t prevent the Spin from ever occurring.  Sometimes Satan will start the Spin with a provoking Flash.  Other times he will be taking advantage of the crummy stuff that just happens.  Inevitably, the Satanic Spin will start for each of us; the key is to be able to disrupt and stop it early on.  For many people they won’t recognize that they are spinning down this vicious spiral until they have made several loops and the emotions begin to become intense.  With practice you can begin to recognize those feelings at earlier and more subtle stages.  Then, again with practice and discernment, you can begin to recognize what the chemical spill feels like.  Once you can catch the battle there, it is a lot easier to win.

Biochemicals can be felt, but not in the same way as most moods or emotions.  They can be physical sensations such as rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, tenseness in the shoulders, or other similar things.  These kinds of experiences can be associated with either positive or negative events, so it will take practice to learn which ones are warning signs for the beginning of the Spin.  Other experiences that are chemical are things like just feeling a little off, feeling a little less motivated, not wanting to do the things that you know will benefit you.  With practice you will begin to recognize your own chemical experiences.

Your battles are much like the coin rolling around the donation funnel that we have talked about before.  As the coin rolls around the funnel, you experience brief images or thoughts that provoke chemical responses in your body.  Those chemicals lead to the inklings of emotions that remind you of past experiences or fantasies where you felt similar things.  Those memories provoke stronger chemicals, then stronger emotions, leading to more potent memories.  As the coin rolls around and around the funnel, it also moves deeper.  Unless something is done to snatch the coin back, to interrupt its momentum, it will continue down the funnel until it falls out of view and the battle is lost.

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching