Taming the beast 2

Taming the beast 2

First some housekeeping (1): “Is the voice in your head the devil?”

No. The voice in your head is open to influences from God-connected sources and from dysfunctional sources. Left untrained, unrestricted and unobserved the God-connected influences tend to be heavily outweighed by dysfunctional influences. The things of this temporal world dominate the socialization of the voice in your head.

Mark 4: 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

So while the voice in your head is not the devil, the devil wields considerably influence over it. That then produces the challenge of trying to identify which source the voice is pulling from when it speaks. “Is this of God or of the devil?”
“When should I listen to the voice and which messages should I reject?”

Housekeeping 2: Is the core YOU the Christian persona? No. We enter with a built-in connectedness to God but without any identification with anything – no material possessions, no belief systems, and no attachments of any kind.

Christianity guides us as to how to strip away the cares and deceitfulness of this temporal world that inevitably become attached to the core YOU. It enables us through the power of Christ in us to become fully aware of the presence of the impostor SELF and to be able to readily identify it. It awakens your consciousness as to the difference between the CORE YOU and the false SELF with which it is so easy to identify and become attached.

Even as you seek to find out who you are and what is your purpose Christianity provides clarity as to who YOU are not and thereby takes you closer to the core YOU. It defines your purpose as that of coming to a state of BEING where connectedness with God is fully restored.

Now to new ground in our continuing journey:

The voice in our head has the ability to speak so loudly that what it is saying spills over to others and affects them as well. That is why a bubbly, ‘ray of sunshine’ spirit can lift the mood of others and an angry, mean-spirited feeling can transcend the individual who generated it.

The voice in your head then can be contagious and can influence the state of mind and actions of an entire group – maybe even a nation. Almost like the flu the ‘vibes’ from inside your head is spread quickly and unnoticed to others. They then exhibit similar symptoms without understanding how and when they got infected.

Families that live together are vulnerable to contagious diseases. Similarly, closely knit groups face the risk of having the mood of the entire group shaped by the ‘vibes’ that are put out by the voice in the head of one or more individuals.

A key test of personal and group maturity is the capacity to so train, chain and watch the individual and collective voice in the head such that it produces appropriate messages despite the presence of swirling negative ‘vibes’.

Our goal as individuals must be to produce a voice in our head that is so well trained and domesticated that it produces messages of hope, optimism and overcoming in an environment of mega-gloom, perceived impending disaster, and collective depression bordering on hopelessness.

We must strive to so chain and watch the voice in our head that it sends out still, calming, peace-making messages in an environment that is in uproar and filled with aggression and anger.

As a group, we need to be fully awake to the risk of being taken on a collective roller coaster ride. We have to find from somewhere within us a stabilising force that holds tight to the core. Anchors that are not moved by the prevailing winds of the many false SELFs that would have us collectively move in one direction or the other. The group has to develop the capacity to maintain its balance and keep its focus even as it provides solidarity and support and celebrates successes.

A failure to do that places the group at risk. We must be ever mindful of the fact that the voice in your head is not YOU. The Core YOU that has connectedness with God is NOT the impostor SELF with which we identify more often than not. The collective group SELF is also a composite of false SELFs.

The danger is that untrained, unchained and unobserved the voice in our head (individual and collective) is reflected in Gen 6: 5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The group then must have the capacity to recognize the havoc that uncontrolled voices in our heads can wreak on the collective body.

1 Pet 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The devil is too clever to run around in the hot sun seeking prey. Instead, he simply provides training for the voice in our heads and sends messages through it that brings us to him. Individually and collectively we have to seek to disconnect the devil-inspired transmissions or at least to screen out its messages.

The ease with which collective dysfunctional behaviour is achieved is testimony to the power of those dysfunctional transmissions in our collective heads. Mob violence can be sparked in an instant. People have been led to commit mass suicide. Families, work groups and congregations have been rent asunder by messages that were not screened. We have to be vigilant. We cannot afford to let us guard slip for a moment.

Remember that it is when we are out-of-step with our normal state that we are most susceptible to identifying with the false image of our SELF. When you are distracted by tiredness, stress, significant challenges, change of status, excitement, bereavement, success you may not pay as much attention to the fact that the voice in your head is not core YOU. You might even get caught up in treating it as if it were YOU and identifying with it.

Somewhere from inside or outside must come a heightened sense of awareness that recognizes the impostor and its actions and call it out. If you are to maintain and improve on your connectedness with God you have to somehow gain access to the core YOU and stop the noise in your head that is being made by your impostor SELF.

As a group, the same applies. By prayer and supplication and reliance on non-selective application of the Scriptures we have to expose the impostor and call the collective body to increased vigilance.

The group must find from somewhere a voice that maintains balance. A voice that protects it from being tossed to and fro by changing moods. The problem is that that voice is likely to be out of step with some strongly held views within the group. The voice might be cast in the role of being lacking in understanding, of being insensitive, maybe of even being uncaring. Yet the group needs a resolute, anchoring voice that keeps the collective body on track.

One of the clever ways in which the voice in your head deceives some people is by substituting the Group SELF for the individual SELF. This is a master-stroke. It allows the individual to feel very good about themselves and to earn the respect and commendation of others even while doing dastardly things.

For example, feelings of honour and pride can be taken from being the first person or being among the group of farmers who beat a crop or livestock thief into unconsciousness. This is being done in the name of the group. A similar philosophy permeates gangs.

A more noble application manifests itself in the willingness of men to risk their lives in battle for the benefit of their nation.

In the final analysis, SELF is even more developed and strengthened when it wraps itself in the group. It has the added benefit of having noble intent. It says: “See I have denied myself. What I am doing here is for others. Don’t look at me …this is not about me…that is bigger than me. ” This outlook and transfer of individual SELF to group SELF takes place from the national level right on down through the family level.

The danger is not readily recognized. It is usually only identified with mob behaviour. The real challenge is that the Group SELF is still about the individual SELF. The individual SELF gets its validation from the group. It gets strength from the legitimacy of the group.

However, the individual SELF is still in place and it warms to the scope for growth that is possible under the banner of the group. It readily identifies with this group-legitimized image of SELF. The group has the potential to lull you into loosing awareness of the fact that there is an impostor SELF that is not YOU. Unwatched the voice in your head gets more and more power. Attachment to groups – from family up through nation – tends to feed the impostor SELF.

If the collective voices in the heads of the group members are not adequately trained, chained and watched, they tend to send inappropriate messages. Members tend to get caught up with ideas, words and actions that are temporal and of this world. They get distracted and loosen their connectedness with God. But they are blinded to that reality because the group can so often evoke an almost missionary zeal. “I will give my all to this group – even my life.” All of this in the context of achieving self-denial and being caring and protective of others.

As we follow this thought we want to unveil an even slicker trick of the voice in our head. A scenario will make the point more effectively.

I am part of a Young People’s Group planning discussion. I want to encourage the group to go on a Buscapella. I make my case but in the final analysis it is decided that the group will have a Bible walk session. I come to the session and I show as much enthusiasm for the Bible walk as those who promoted it.

My “good spirit” is noted and I am held up as an example of the kind of spirit that we ought to display. Unobserved by my core, voice in my head sees this as an opportunity to strengthen SELF. It prompts me to make extraordinary displays of self-sacrifice. My willingness to deny self is widely discussed and recognized.

With each event SELF grows stronger. I increasingly identify with this martyr-SELF and get attached to that image of my SELF. In that state, I strive even harder to make sacrifices. I am so distracted by the voice in my head that I fail to realize why I am now making these sacrifices. I am now being driven by the respect and adulation of others.

The tragedy is that because of the reverence with which I am treated and the pious feelings that are prompted by that I find it really hard to even imagine that my connectedness with God is being loosened. The voices of others and the voice in my head combine to send me the message that I am close to sainthood. “You are a wonderful example of Christian living.”

Those thoughts and words take on a life of their own and before long the impostor SELF takes complete charge. Pride comes to the fore and the inevitable fall is not too far behind.

The fall might be manifest at the annual awards ceremony for the group and I note that I am not among the awardees. Voice in my head goes ballistic at this unjust treatment. Foul play and jealousy must be the cause of this unacceptable behaviour on their part. Unwatched, SELF has grown so powerful that it is hard to control and the voice in my head induces me to say and do things that finally show the true character of the impostor that has taken me over. Then comes the cycle of dishonour and shame and the pain that accompanies them.

1 Cor 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Getting us to do right things for the wrong reasons is one of the devil’s cleverest ways of loosening our connectedness with God. The more SELF abounds the less room there is for God. Inducing us to build up SELF in apparent acts of righteous behaviour is hard to detect and difficult to avoid.

James 1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

Reflect on the words does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart. Is that not in essence failing to train, chain and watch the voice in your head to the point that you have been deceived into accepting the false SELF as YOU?

Luke 16: 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

We must test the spirits continually. Try to dig deep too find the motive for our actions. If they bring satisfaction, what is the nature of the pleasure or benefit that we derive?

Again, we can try to find out who gets the credit for the actions. If the credit abounds to SELF and we identify with that and get attached to it then we know that we are going down a dangerous path.

We may justifiably ask if it is humanly possible to live in this world and to shut down our false SELF. The voice in our head seems to have so much power and so many tricks how can we be expected to deal with it?

Matt 19: 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The taming of the voice in your head is only possible when you are in Christ.

The process for putting on Christ includes the following:

We must hear the good news of Jesus, His atoning sacrifice for our sins and His resurrection. Rom 10:14. You must also believe the good news. Heb 11: 6
Faith is not enough. We are called to act on our belief and to make a decision to no longer let sin reign in our lives but to seek to live in obedience to God. This is the very important act of repentance. Luke 13: 2 You then have to confess Jesus as Lord of your life. This is a public declaration of your belief that Jesus is the Son of the Living God: Rom 10: 8-10 Another major step is that you must be baptized for the removal of our sins. Gal 3:27

At that point you have put on Christ and you are in Christ. Now you are empowered to experience the renewal of your mind and live a transformed life. Now the taming of the voice in your head can take place in earnest.

Through the power of Christ in us, we allow the voice in our head no latitude. The answer to dealing with the voice in your head starts with continually recognizing that it is not YOU. An impostor can only have sway if it is not recognized. Once you recognize it and call it out then the game is over. The undercover cop that infiltrates a gang is only effective if he is not recognized for who he is. Once we spot the false SELF and expose it, it loses its power.

So in order to effectively manage SELF we have to be continually vigilant. We have to screen every single thought, word or deed that we are prompted to embrace. When we do that we end up processing events differently. We see things from a totally different perspective. The blinkers of SELF are removed. Things that might have offended you are now deflected. Things that would normally have distracted you are now pushed aside. Successes that once would have disrupted your pattern are now taken in stride. Disappointments no longer have the capacity to cripple you.

The renewing of the mind is in fact largely about screening out messages that are produced by the dysfunctional promptings of the voice in your head. Once you consistently reject those messages and recognize that further training of the voice is required then you grow spiritually. That is the path to spiritual maturity.

If there was an end state to spiritual maturity it would manifest itself in the capacity to readily identify the difference between the voice in your head and the core YOU. You would intercept inappropriate messages and screen them quickly out of your thoughts, word and deed.

You would consequently reduce the clutter of thoughts and calls to DO that places us on a treadmill in this life. You would instead be centred on BEING closely connected with God. You would have avoided getting caught in the trap of endless acquisition of material wealth and status in the quest for security which is a never ending spiral.

You would also understand the price that is paid when you become attached to things that must pass away. You recognize that such attachment is the source of suffering and discomfort.

You would have mastered the ability to accept what is. You do not resist and question the fact that it is. “Why me?” is not on your lips. Instead, you accept what is and strive to maximize the opportunities that the new development now offers.

You would not be caught up in seeking to differentiate yourself from others. “I am not like THAT!” is not uppermost in your mind. Instead you strive to find common ground with others. With that spirit, loving your neighbour is not as difficult as it appears. Achieving that is aided by the fact that you always look beyond your impostor SELF and through the impostor SELF of others. You somehow manage to relate to others on the level of the core YOUs.