Liars and What They Want

Here's an analogy for how many spirits manipulate us. Recall the "discovery" of the Americas by the Europeans? Remember how the first white men to arrive were viewed as gods by some Native Americans? Yet these "gods" were actually seeking gold and other monetary profits. The power of gold to corrupt human nature was something the native people did not understand enough.

The conquering Europeans had superior technology and knew things the native people had no clue about. Many settlers and their descendents felt no scruples about getting help from the native people, making treaties, and then breaking those treaties as soon as gold was found in the natives' land. As for the Native Americans, they did not understand what the Europeans wanted, and were frustrated each time the paper treaties were broken. But greed and technical superiority ruled the day.

This is not to say the Native Americans were completely innocent victims, or to say that Europeans were all bad guys. However, these aspects remain relevant to a discussion of how bad spirits take advantage of humans:

After all, if we humans can do things like this, what's to stop a spirit? Let the buyer beware!