squipy asked: What does that quote by Francis Picabia mean? "The devil follows me day and night..."
Ok this has to be long, sorry. However, I will give a short answer at the bottom if you want to skip over this. And for the record, many of the things I have to say could be largely expanded into full blow discussions.
In my honest opinion, the quote comes from a spiritual source. It is to believe that the devil is just as real as any other feeling, emotion or thing on this earth.
Coming from a Christian background, this really comes from knowing (in the Christian faith) that although God created the earth and mankind, he reigns over heaven above, and has given the devil reign of this earth..until his second coming which is talked about in Revelations. (This is a whole different topic).
It is said many times and proved (by various sources) that the devil is a driving force behind evil. (ie: sayings such as, “The devil is a politician.” or movies about Good vs. Evil, Heaven and Hell, ect.) And it is proven that no matter how much one tries to be good or faithful and righteous in the Lord, that one falls to sin on a daily basis. Thus the saying, “I’m only human,” and the existence/belief in God’s love, repentance and His will to forgive.
But why do we fall to sin? Because we are not 100% holy; we are flesh and of this earth. We have the capacity to be good and to be evil at all times, no matter what are beliefs are or what we have faith in. We are susceptible, to holy and evil forces, if we allow.
And so, as I said above, since the devil has reign over this earth, he can use people..such as those who deny Christ, who are “luke warm”, who are agnostic and even devout Christians..as pawns in his game. He might lead someone down a path of success or destruction to lead and influence other people down paths of death, destruction and confusion—just as others believe that God has chosen a path for them. And as with God or the devil, you have your own free will to choose what you want to do, day in and day out.
Therefore, if I am of Christian or “holy faith”, I am not choosing to follow the ways of evil, but a life of being “Christ-Like” (which is the definition of Christianity) in hopes of leading others to Christ — so why would that make the devil happy? It doesn’t, because he doesn’t play that way, that’s not his M.O. and he wouldn’t exist if it was. He wants to use people as pawns in his game to defeat good. Why? Because anything that is good and Holy is from God; and if we can recall in the Bible, Satan was originally an angel cast down into hell for trying to be God and for deciding not to be one of His followers. He wanted to be the big guy in the sky, all on his own. In a REALLY generic way, he’s angry at God and wants nothing to do with him. He will go to any length to make people turn from him. He’s like the original and most epic version of Regina George in Mean Girls, haha. And that’s, as we know, a very lonely place to be in at the end of the day.
So in the quote, “The devil follows me DAY and NIGHT…” it is, “BECAUSE he is AFRAID to be alone,” and he is persistent in trying to take me away from the light. Just like in the movie Poltergeist, where the evil spirits in the TV take hold of that little girl and force her to stay away from the light where she would be back in the arms of her parents’ love and protection. The devil has -nothing- without people to do his dirty work. He’s like a champion chess player with no pieces on his board. If everyone followed Christ, and denied evil.. well, I guess you would call that heaven, wouldn’t you?
It is very true that misery loves company.
