Exorcism?

[The Grand Nudger]

It’s more subtle than that.
 
Yes I happen to agree with most of the things you people say. I was talking about the reality as “energy” about what we call the Devil. So when the author (who was a psychiatrist) says that “he looked Satan in the eyes” during one of the two exorcism events that he witnessed, I kind of understand his point because he explains it in a detailed manner in the book as a whole.

You clearly don't.  Scott Peck was a psychiatrist but he was also a christian nut who believed in a literal devil..not an air quote devil.  
 

In a nutshell: We all have our demons to fight in this world. Right? So when we talk about our personal demons the one fact is that these are not here not to negatively influence you. It’s there to destroy you and take a few other people with you if it can. Think of (rather grown up people issues) like addictions, bad habits, other spiritual problems and life issues that tend to stick around until you are able to resolve them and get to the next stage of your spiritual development.

Scott Peck believed that a foreign intelligence, the devil of christian mythology, literally possessed people.  
 

   So “personal Evil” is that kind of phenomenon. You can’t measure it. You can do scientific experiments on it but if you happen to be a life coach or a psychotherapist you tend to be aware of these “forces” and work with them every day of your professional life.
 
    I didn’t say anything new to anyone until this point.
 
    But the author here indicates that something happened in the two exorcism rituals that he had witnessed first-hand. And that those two guys would have probably died without these ceremonies (and he is saying this as a psychiatrist). So I was a little shocked and wanted to open the debate here

The air quotes again, lol.  We don't need to air quote this stuff because we don't need to use it as a euphemism for something else.  Personal evil is just that.  It's not a force or an energy or a foreign spirit.  Peck shows how completely he jumped the shark in his superstitious christianism by positing that a magical ritual with no actual effects was necessary to anyone's survival. A debate about the efficacy of magic over medicine is pointless. You're impressed because a nut couches his belief in faith healing in his professional credentials but having professional credentials has never been a barrier to believing silly shit. Particularly that silly shit which was already a part of your culture before your first day at school. You are impressed by it not because of those professional credentials but because it validates the mythology that you yourself cling to - if you squint just right and ignore the fact that Peck having made a strong christian commitment -in his own words- would tell you that you're a nut and a devil worshipper yourself.

We have debates about evil and morality in general from time to time on the boards but at no point in a discussion about possession or exorcism or boogeymen are we talking about moral failures or their various causes.