Applied Daimonology. Principles and essays, a Kindle ebook that contains various texts on the origin and evolution of the Daimon and Daimonology. The book also contains many motivational and inspirational aphorisms, as well as the aphoristic foundations of the daimonological methodology.
There is no better practice than a good theory.
Kurt Lewin
“Ethos anthropoi Daimon” (character is destiny), said Heraclitus. Our life is linked to our behavior, our thoughts, our ideas, our culture, our knowledge, and many other variables …
Carl William Brown
Each life is formed by its unique image, an image that is the essence of that life and calls it to a destiny. As the force of fate, this image acts as a personal Daimon, an accompanying guide who remembers your calling.
James Hillman
Wherever I go, I find that a poet has already been there before me.
Sigmund Freud
A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.
Jean de La Fontaine
Each life has a creative mind originated by its genius, a unique Daimon!
Carl William Brown
Genius is the ability to independently arrive at and understand concepts that would normally have to be taught by another person.
Immanuel Kant
First of all let’s get rid of some banal, but permissible, misunderstandings: this book is not about strange demons, magical practices, or even the devil and his adventures, or saints and other spiritual deities, but as the title itself says, it refers to something much more pragmatic, although certainly metaphorical, literary, philosophical and experimental.
Expressing myself in another way, I could say that just as applied science is the use of the scientific method and the knowledge obtained through the conclusions of the method to achieve practical goals, also applied Daimonology is essentially a teaching methodology that is based on a wide range of disciplines and procedures, often even in contrast with basic science, which focuses on the advancement of scientific theories and laws that explain and predict events in the natural world.
We can also add that inside the book you will not find any divinatory activity, as Apuleius used to do, who relied on the intermediary role of the “Daimones” according to his Platonic views, as attested in On the God of Socrates. Apuleius described two types of divinatory rituals in which a child was used as a medium. The following terminology was introduced to describe these types of practices as “active” or “passive” child divination.
The first referred to divinatory rituals in which the demonic soul of the medium left the body and then retold what had been contemplated while dwelling in the extracorporeal realm; the second described rituals in which the medium was temporarily possessed by a divine demonic being, who pronounced the oracle. Apuleius in fact conceived of knowledge and divination as two interdependent systems and shed further light on these divinatory practices, showing the circulation of comparable ideas among Platonists, theurgists and practitioners of magic.
The main purpose of this book is cultural, philosophical, psychological, inspirational and motivational. In practice, Daimonology is based on the concept of Daimon, or the genius that is in each of us, because as living creatures we are by nature intrinsically creative and artistic, in different ways and degrees, but precisely because we are in the world we certainly have abilities that must be cultivated.
Therefore we can say in summary that the founding core of this entire book lies in the following principle: an individual must search for, identify and follow his genius, his passion, his profession, his ideals; once he has found his own inclination, metaphorically speaking his own Daimon, he must develop and improve his skills and knowledge through a lifelong and as interdisciplinary as possible education, trying to do what he does in the best possible way; finally he must apply the right measure, which is according to Aristotle, an excellent virtue, throughout his journey, trying to avoid any excess, and maintaining a sense of limit and moderation throughout his life.
This text therefore contains all the articles that I have written over the years of my cultural and teaching activity, with the addition of other works by the main philosophers who originally dealt with these topics, and here I refer in particular to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Heraclitus and Epicurus.
Therefore we have articles that explain the meaning of the term Daimon, or various philosophical reflections and aphorisms, continuing we then find the history, strategy, and mission of the Daimon Club, an association founded by me in 1997, and precisely following this activity of mine of research, dissemination and promotion of the name itself as a true “brand” through the creation of the International Daimon Directory, we arrive at the founding nucleus of this Applied Daimonology that I have developed, that is, the one hundred synthetic and sometimes enigmatic principles, expressed in aphoristic form, which contain the guidelines for pursuing the care of one’s own and, why not, other people’s genius, or Daimon, or genius if you prefer.
To conclude the book we will also have a collection of inspirational and motivational aphorisms that can help in the intent and lastly, as usual in the books of this series, you will find my literary testament with the legacies of the Daimon club, to reiterate as usual the importance of reading, commitment, the diffusion of knowledge and the importance of the aphorism as a literary, scientific and philosophical genre.
To anticipate the discussion a little, let us say that by adapting some features of Empedocleian Daimonology, Plato formulated a more rigorous theory of Daimonification through virtue. He Daimonified the soldiers of his ideal republic for their courage and he Daimonified the rulers (“guardians”) for their wisdom. In his Cratylus, Plato guaranteed the Daimonification of all people who were noble and wise. Plato’s Timaeus introduced the definitive democratic principle of Daimonification by identifying its guardian Daimon with the higher consciousness (or nous) of humanity.
To delve a little deeper into the subject in this preface, we must also say that the matter is not simple, and life is not either. In fact, there is no term, other than Daimon, in the religious and philosophical language of the Greeks that is more complex, whose interpretation depends more on a particular environment, period or system. The Daimon could in fact refer to a guiding spirit, to an intermediate divinity, or demon, who lived within individuals, or to the reason that guides our actions and shapes our behavior, or as a source of guidance and wisdom within our mind, in any case it was an entity to be nourished, questioned, and cultivated in order to live a life as virtuous as possible and therefore also peaceful, possibly autonomous, perhaps a little happy which therefore tends towards euDaimonia, or happiness as a purpose of life and ethical foundation.
EuDaimonia undoubtedly requires high doses of courage. However, if we do not dare to listen to our inner voice, that same Daimon, restless and impatient to act, will end up punishing us. As Carl Jung reminds us, if we are not capable of listening to the needs of our Daimon, our soul becomes ill. Going against our desires and motivations leads to unhappiness. The etymology of this term, from the Greek euDaimonìa “happiness, well-being”, composed of eu “good” and Daimon “genius, demon” is not simple happiness. It is happiness understood as the purpose of life, and as the foundation of ethics. In other words, it is a happiness that is given a precise role in directing one’s conduct, a basis and beacon, without remaining a contingent condition that emerges and disappears like good weather.
It is a concept that has crossed ancient philosophy from the pre-Socratics to Aristotle, and in this path, in which the difference with the pursuit of pleasure and the connection with virtue are marked, its changing nature is evident: it is good to place happiness as the purpose of life and moral fulcrum, but the small detail of what happiness is remains to be understood. In fact, it is one of the most difficult definitions to give, given the vagueness and subjectivity of its consideration: dig and dig, everyone has their own, and abstraction ends up making us lose the contours of what it means. Defining it as serenity and fulfillment is incredibly reductive: in the room of the tongue, it remains the most beautiful chimera.
Precisely for this reason, eudaemonia reveals itself to be an interesting resource: it does not focus so much on the elusive content of happiness, but on its position and its orientation. It leaves in a rich, convergent silence what it means and gives it to us as a practical value. It is in the realization of a shared eudaemonia that Faust, in the end, redeems himself; embracing eudemonia can lift us up after the tragic event; and the living eudemonia of the distant place we visited during the journey makes us return home with a bigger heart and clearer ideas. After all, the most incisive and eloquent wonder that lies in this word is its etymology: eudemonia is being possessed by the good demon.
But that’s the problem. As Jean de La Fontaine said, “A person often meets his destiny on the road he has taken to avoid it.” It’s essentially about not coming into the world at the wrong time, in the wrong place, surrounded by the wrong number of malicious people. This is actually a thought-provoking reflection on fate and the unpredictable nature of life. It suggests that in our efforts to avoid certain outcomes or situations, we may inadvertently head toward them, or find ourselves immersed in an unfavorable environment, to use a rather light-hearted phrase.
This idea resonates with the concept of inevitability, or how fate often works in mysterious, dramatic, tragic, and often even ironic or sarcastic ways. For example, someone who is afraid of failure may avoid taking risks, only to find that this caution limits their growth and leads to missed opportunities. Likewise, avoiding emotional vulnerability in relationships to protect yourself from heartbreak may lead to loneliness, the very outcome you were hoping to escape. While we can plan and act with intention, life often unfolds in ways that are beyond our comprehension.
This does not mean that efforts to shape our paths are futile, but rather that we must accept a certain degree of unpredictability. Sometimes the best approach is to embrace the challenges, trusting that the journey itself can teach us something, and in any case, understanding our motivations can help us navigate life with greater authenticity and awareness, allowing us to face our “destiny” with open hearts instead of avoiding it.
To conclude this preface, which is also intended to be a small introduction to the book, I can say that through this text on applied Daimonology, I intend to propose both a study on the topic from a historical and philosophical point of view, and a new interpretation of the term through a series of synthetic principles, in practice one hundred aphorisms, which aim to improve human thought and behavior in a global way.
Daimonology therefore becomes a real didactic, eclectic and methodological discipline that combines various fields of human knowledge, from philosophy to pedagogy, with the aim of developing creativity and individual intelligence, as well as social and collective intelligence. It should be clearly reiterated that one of the fundamental principles of Daimonology is that it does not represent a religion, but rather a methodological and pedagogical guide that values the creative art and innate genius of the individual.
That is why Daimonology recognizes the importance of a complete training that includes both education and experience, and considers chaos and universal anarchy as natural elements of human existence, from which one can draw inspiration and wisdom. Finally, we must also add that another crucial aspect of Daimonology is the critical and skeptical approach towards the structures of power and authority, as well as the denunciation of human stupidity as a perennial and universal phenomenon. The discipline encourages the use of reason combined with passion, promoting a balance between emotions and rationality in order to be able to move, thanks to ingenious and independent guides, without creating too much damage, within the complex dynamics of our mysterious, and not always idyllic, reality.
To find out more you can read the whole book:
Applied Daimonology. Aphorisms, principles and essays. Kindle ebook available on Amazon. It also includes all the realities in the world that are linked, in one way or another, to the creativity and brand of the Daimon.
For those wishing to learn more about the topic, I also suggest the following articles:
Principi sintetici di Daimonologia
