Satan's effect on physical brain

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If it is possible for Satan to “tempt” us, he must be able to physically affect our brain by planting thoughts and ideas. Otherwise how would this temptation manifest? If Satan has the power to affect our physical brains (seems clear he can if you believe in possession and exorcism), then I wonder what agency and responsibility we have in sinning when our physical brain is affected. Science has shown that stimulating the brain in certain regions can bring about predictable responses. So if Satan has the same ability to physically affect our brains I would think this has a great affect on our free will and culpability. Thoughts?
 
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Modern studies on discernment don’t place things in these terms. Before counting the 3rd enemy of the soul you’d have to exhaust 1st and 2nd enemies, namely flesh and world.

So, before attempting to mix neurology with demonology you should exhaust psychology, cultural background, sociological context, moral formation, decision making ability, passive consent and active cooperation, subjectivity, will, and so on…

Oh, and discernment presupposes a will to guide your life according to Christ…
 
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KevinK said:
If it is possible for Satan to “tempt” us, he must be able to physically affect our brain by planting thoughts and ideas. Otherwise how would this temptation manifest? If Satan has the power to affect our physical brains (seems clear he can if you believe in possession and exorcism), then I wonder what agency and responsibility we have in sinning when our physical brain is affected. Science has shown that stimulating the brain in certain regions can bring about predictable responses. So if Satan has the same ability to physically affect our brains I would think this has a great affect on our free will and culpability. Thoughts?
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You put tempt in quotes, what does that mean, not a temptation really? A temptation is just that. All actual sin is though an act of will, that is, it is voluntary.
 
Maybe we are guilty because we allow him to enter us because of certain gains we want from him faster than we can get these gains from God. God created us above Satan so he cannot carry all our guilt since we were made to be above him. Who is more responsible? The one in God’s image or a fallen servant of God? Who knows what our soul does when we end being influenced so strongly by an angel who not only has fallen from God’s grace but even when he was in the hierarchy of Heaven he was a Cherub (not the highest of the Orders of Angels).
 
I put it in quotes because I’m thinking about the mechanism of temptation. Are our brains physically affected. Saying “a temptation is just that” has no content in terms of my question. And modern science has proven that not all acts of the will are voluntary.
 
Temptation is dangling the carrot in front of our eyes.

Satan is not God, Satan cannot get “into our brains”. We love to give Satan credit for things that are simple natural things.

We have a fallen nature and that nature makes us susceptible to temptation. This is why we work to build our will, to align our will with that of Christ, as Scripture tells us “Resist the devil and he will flee from you”.

I’d suggest staying away from “famous internet exorcists” and studying the nature of angels and demons. Kreeft has done excellent work.
 
That’s all fine considering all those other factors you mention, but doesn’t address my question of whether Satan can physically affect our brains.
 
Vico said:
A temptation is just that. All actual sin is though an act of will, that is, it is voluntary.
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Not wanting to discord on this beautiful definition, I have from experience been forced into situations where inaction was hardly an option and reaction an unwilling necessity. There is such a things as being “forced to err”. Extraordinary duress of circumstances plays a role. Not willing to sin, simply seeking to avoid sin was a demanding battle of incessant decision making - sometimes beyond my personal limits.
 
Your brain is a physical organ.

Possession is a rare, very serious spiritual condition where a person is in a state of grave sin and they have given license to Satan. It is not simply “the devil jumping inside your body”.

Temptation and possession are very different things. Christ was tempted by Satan. Satan could not have been inside Christ’s physical brain.
 
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The evil spirit is known to be permitted by God some limited power to occasionally act on the physical world - your question, however, is misleading in attributing a cause and effect that would be but an extreme case of rarity, an exception.

Also, on “acting on the brain”, causality would first force to consider unhealthy living habits and vices of all kinds, as causes to effects - in turn with temptation contributing to causes, not discounting “freedom of will” as defined, very well, by @Vico.
 
A priest said that demons can have access to our memories. Or at least some. If that’s true, I’m not quite sure how… Perhaps he meant not our memories in our brains per se, but an evil being somewhere was “present” and “aware” when we did XYZ…
 
Peter Kreeft, Angels & Demons:

87What can demons do?
  1. As objects of thought, they can inspire fear.
  2. They can pervert God’s revelations or deceive us with false revelations. Even the devil can appear “as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14).
  3. They can tempt us through our imagination or feeling.
  4. Occasionally they can even move matter supernaturally. This is even rarer than angelic supernatural intervention, but it happens.
  5. But demons can possess us only if we choose to invite them in.
https://www.amazon.com/Angels-Demon...3450&sr=8-1&keywords=kreeft+angels+and+demons

It is also available on FORMED

Another good book, again not by the super popular exciting excorcists, but, a level treatment of possession is “The Rite” by Baglio

https://www.amazon.com/Rite-Making-...=UTF8&qid=1515423558&sr=1-1&keywords=the+rite
 
Imagine hearing a thought.

That’d be about it, most of the time. It’s like if I said, “Hey you wanna go rob a bank?” and then you thought about it, then with your own will chose to go along with it.

In a possession, the possessed is usually not in control of their actions, however, and in this cause it is the demon doing the action.
 
satan and evil spirits do have intellect and Free Will, he only tempt us to sin ,it’s our decision to yield to sin or not,in case of partial possession the person seemed normal and trap others to sin.but completely possessed person who reject God and uses his free will, to persist in mortal sins will be like an instrument, satan controls them fully and at his bidding.

Read The Temptation of Jesus Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,…
 
I do think we overestimate our moral culpability for things quite a lot, often leading us to much anxiety and scrupulosity (aka Catholic guilt). That said, temptation is just temptation. We do believe in free will but free will is dependant on us managing our emotions and remaining in a mindful state rather than reacting to things.

St. Ignatus of Loyola has a great method for discerning thoughts that are spiritual desolations from those that are spiritual consolations. Introduction to Discernment of Spirits - IgnatianSpirituality.com
 
adgloriam said:
he evil spirit is known to be permitted by God some limited power to occasionally act on the physical world -
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That is the point! If Satan cannot act on the physical world, which are brains are part of, how then does he tempt us?
 
Do you think the brain is somehow a perfectly functioning organ that is not susceptible to heat, too little water, too many pollutants and foreign chemicals in our diet, random firing of synapses, stress, weakness, too little sleep etc etc.

Why cannot these things do exactly the same as “the devil”.

In which case freedom is in many ways limited beyond our ability to control or be responsible for. That doesnt mean we have no freedom at all does it?

And when we take drugs, get drunk and kick the kids…we are responsible for getting drunk and knowing we will do these things are we not?
 
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In your reason, your emotion, your thoughts, your feelings, your perceptions, your imagination, your desires.

You only have to know Sin. Look for Sin, look for temptation.

Above all, look for grace. Wherever grace is to be found, the evil spirit is there to try and rob you of your grace.

What devotions do you practice?
 
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Moral and cognitive entropy. Concupiscence. The devil is complete lack of good. Partial lack of good (ourselves) is attracted toward completeness like a moth to a flame. Whether sin is planted by the devil, or our own work, the price remains the same. We are taught, trained, raised up to identify it, reject it and struggle against it.
 
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