Sympathy for the Devil

Another interpretation from my book, The Pouring, or How the Universal Mind Reached Out to a Generation

Sympathy for the Devil

By: The Rolling Stones

Album: Beggar’s Banquet

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, 1968

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rollingstones/sympathyforthedevil.html

Sympathy for the Devil is number 106 on the Rolling Stones Magazine list of top 500 rock songs. It was released on the Beggar’s Banquet album. [As a reminder, the reason why no lyrics are actually quoted is because the song’s publisher refused to give permission under the Fair Use Doctrine.]

Sympathy for the Devil confronts us with our dark side, which is Lucifer, the Devil. The repeated question of the Devil asking what their name is, and the constant repetition asking Who?, are not some silly guessing game in which the listener is supposed to realize that the singer is Satan, as Mainstream listeners might assume. Rather, these questions are pointed jabs to the listener to force them to realize that it is they who are the Devil. Satan is that part of us who is fascinated with the play of the world and with the karmic intricacies of our human history, even when they result in pain and suffering. We are culpable, not only at the level of our collective participation (by which we tacitly give permission for negativity to happen, or we fail to stop it), but because, by giving our attention to it, we give it energy.

We view this pain and suffering as being experienced by others but, by getting caught up in the Cosmic Game of the material world, it is we ourselves who are the sufferers. This, of course, is in addition to the fact that, because All are One, and the ego is just an illusion, we are literally the sufferers we observe. Thus, we are Satan caught in a trap of Their own making and that is why we deserve some sympathy.

The confusing thing really is “what’s my game?” For it is simple, when we ignore our dark side, to cast Satan in the role of perpetrator of evil, enemy of God and tempter of souls. That is an easy game to understand. But when we realize the perversity of the Mind’s motivations in creating this Satan, then we must be supremely puzzled, for it makes no sense—but it exists and we are front-row spectators as well as the actors on stage.

Our confusion is, of course, compounded when we realize the role that Duality plays in all of this. Police are themselves criminals and sinners are actually saints not because of any pretense or deception. It is because we all have this dual nature and it is because of the relativity of good and evil (it depends on what level you’re at). Furthermore, when this Duality and relativity are played out in time and space, we are the opposites whom we confront. We just keep exchanging places.

But there is a helpful message here, too, from the Spirit. It is that we must respect our dark side. We should give it sympathy and treat it with courtesy and all due politeness. If we do not, our own subconscious inner demon will be the one to wreak havoc with our soul when we are plunged into the confusion of trying to understand this game.

If you enjoyed this post, there is much more in the book - some 875 songs. The Pouring is available as an e-book from Smashwords.com and from Amazon in print. The e-book has links to the song lyrics online. The print edition obviously doesn’t so you have to search on the internet for them - quite easy to do.

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