Daimon is an Ancient Greek word (δαίμων) referencing a divine essence within each individual—a consciousness that we are cut off from and experience only in extraordinary circumstances or as a result of specific efforts. In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Socrates famously referenced his Daimonion—his ‘divine something’ that frequently warned him against mistakes but never told him what to do.​

 

However, the concept was certainly not limited to the Greeks. It also corresponds roughly to the word ‘genius,’ which itself derives from the pre-Islamic Arabic word ‘Jinn,’ or Genie, which is the entity attached to a specific individual and able to grant wishes. Before this, the earlier Persian Zoroastrian Magi spoke of the Fravashi – the higher soul of every individual, from whom we are cut off as we enter the phenomenal world. Through the practice of ‘good thoughts, good words, and good deeds,’ we may form a link with and possibly even reconnect with in this life or in the next.

 

The idea has survived in modern monotheism in the form of angels and especially the idea of the Guardian Angel; one’s a higher sense of consciousness and conscience that helps us to do the right thing.​ In the practice of Sanatan Dharma it is called Kundalini, and the method of activating it is called Urdhava Reta, which is virtually identical to what the ancient Chinese Taoists called the Backward Flowing Method or the Microcosmic Orbit. It involves a harmonious blending of attention, sensation, and breath within the body, which, if done consistently over time, leads to the activation of a new inner force of intelligence, a Second Awakening.