FIGHTING YOUR INNER DEMONS.

PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND WHAT MAKES YOU WIN OR LOSE.

Before I begin, a disclaimer. This article will use teachings from other religions, but only those philosophical bits. Not spiritual. The spiritual aspect of this article will only be based on Biblical teachings. Let us begin. Fighting your inner demons

WHAT ARE THESE INNER DEMONS?

We all have them. And in Roman Catholicism, they are labeled as the 7 deadly sins. Envy, Lust, Sloth, and Pride are but four of the hardest to detect outwardly. Wrath, Gluttony, and Greed are projected outwards and to some extent, are the easiest to get rid off since society might help you get out of them forcefully or amicably. This is because society knows that if it does not come to your help in these three, the members of society will suffer most the longer these vices remain.

However, for the former five, chances are high that you might have to deal with them on your own.

And they all come at the worst of times when one is at their weakest.

Take for example lust. This vice comes to those that have been raised without love in their formative years the most. Could have been paternal or maternal but the sense of lack of childhood bonding or the confusion of love through trauma from childhood sexual assault will often result in all kinds of persuasive depravities in thought when one is going through severe stress.

The same is observed in Envy, it always lurks within especially when you have low self-esteem due to the incapabilities that you know you possess. On good days, it would be a fleeting “feeling”, one that you allow to come and go. On bad days, and in a world as fake as this, I am sure that they are many, it will seeth from deep within even to a point of resenting someone who is just receiving the fruits of his/her labor. Because you know you cannot deliver the goods, you hate others who can without reason. The hatred will be stemming from, Envy.

Sloth and Pride need no analysis or introduction. We know exactly what it looks like and how it manifests.

WHERE DID THEY [INNER DEMONS] COME FROM?

From an article that I did on ” the original sin debunked”,

ORIGINAL SIN DEBUNKED. – Curious Answer

I discussed what the root of the original sin was.

In a nutshell, it goes like this. We are born in a world where we have to survive. This internal need to survive creates self-interest, powered by inner pride, we feel entitled to do what it takes to stay alive since we feel we are worth something. Having these two gives momentum to whichever sin we feel we need to commit at any one time for the sake of our survival or in today’s case, desire.

Therefore, it would not be wrong to conclude all sins come from self-interest. This also concludes that all demons within us stem from the same thing. Self-Interest.

But it is not that simple.

Most sins come as a result of a want or need.

Demons within us stem as a result of escape or habit.

This article is about the latter.

ESCAPE OR BOREDOM?

It is human nature to want to escape from reality when we are faced with two things. Boredom or Harsh realities of life.

Boredom is for those who are comfortable enough not to need anything from anyone. They have the basics of life covered, great self-esteem, and to some extent the few comforts of life that they want. Such was observed in a few biblical examples. David the king when he desired another man’s wife and orchestrated a scenario where he had to kill the man so he could possess the woman. [2nd Samuel 11:2-4-One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”]

[2nd Samuel 11:17] And the men, departing from the city, made war against Joab. And some of the people among the servants of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died. David ordered Joab to place Uriah where the fighting was most fierce, and then abandon him, pulling back all the other men, so that he would surely die.]

Of course, with God being a God of justice, He wouldn’t just let this slide so He took the life of his child with this woman and brought shame to David by creating scenarios where David’s wives would have relations with other men publicly. Moreover, it blocked more of God’s blessings from coming to him for some time.

[2nd Samuel 12:7- … ‘I appointed you king of Israel and saved you from Saul. 8 I gave you his kingdom and his wives. And I made you king of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you even more. 9 So why did you ignore the Lord’s command? Why did you do what he says is wrong? You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and took his wife to be your wife! 10 Now there will always be people in your family who will die by a sword because you did not respect me; you took the wife of Uriah the Hittite for yourself!’

11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am bringing trouble to you from your own family. While you watch, I will take your wives from you and give them to someone very close to you. He will have sexual relations with your wives, and everyone will know it. 12 You had sexual relations with Bathsheba in secret, but I will do this so all the people of Israel can see it.’”]

This was also observed in Solomon, another King whose love for women led to him committing spiritual prostitution, resulting in his worshipping of other idols and his abandoning of God. This resulted in the punishment of his house where God brought two resistors that would disband Israel and strip it away from the house of Solomon. This sin of lust was what caused the breaking down of unified Israel into two kingdoms, Israel and Judea. Moreover, Judah was given to the hands of his servant, although it was a punishment that affected Solomon’s generation and not himself. He was lucky that God was keeping His word that he made to David, Solomon’s father, otherwise, the punishment could have affected him and not his descendants.

[1st Kings 11:1- King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”].

There are many examples in the Bible where people reverted to sin/ bad habits in a bid to escape reality. As was the case observed in Noah, who after watching with his own eyes the complete annihilation of the world and being the new father of the world after Adam, with the responsibility of creating a new world from his population, felt heavily burdened by that responsibility. You can only imagine what was going on in his head sober. Wine was the only drug he could access and from his vineyard, he got himself crazy drunk. His younger son had seen him naked and went ahead and told his brothers who came and covered him up, leaving Ham with a descendant curse, where they would always remain servants to his brother’s descendants. Hence the beginning of Canaanite (African) slavery millennia later.

[Genesis 9: 20-26- And Noah began to be a husbandman and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken and uncovered within the tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward, and they saw not their fathers nakedness And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.]

As far as a habit is concerned, physiologically speaking, a habit will always be formed when one repeatedly does a particular action that releases dopamine [ a feel-good hormone in the brain that is experienced in orgasms, the use of drugs, or in the achievement of a project or goal. The brain will wire itself in such a way that it will always want that release of dopamine over and over again a phenomenon is known as neural plasticity. Even without initial desire, the dopamine flush in the brain will create a “phantom” (non-existent) desire which will always show up every time you experience stress or boredom or both.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF INNER DEMONS BECOMING MANIFEST?

In the above examples, we have noted the examples of Lust and Wrath bringing about repercussions that are literal threats to the lives of self (and others) as well as punishments of unborn descendants.

David’s lust for Bethsheba cost him blessings unknown to him, a child, and shame on his house by God allowing his wives to be defiled by other men.

Solomon’s lust cost him God’s abandonment, the ripping of the House of Israel from his descendants, and wars that affected his descendants and their children because of this divide.

Noah’s wrath caused Ham’s descendants to suffer servitude from debt or forced slavery for continuous decades under the descendants of his brothers Shem and Japheth.

Conclusion: Any time you submit to your inner demons, a harsh punishment awaits. Either in this life or the next.

HOW DO YOU COUNTER YOUR INNER DEMONS?

I would suggest three ways of doing this.

-Analysis of self, habits, or habitual responses to particular stresses. This will create the basis of psychological-emotional control.

-Building your soul/spirit so you can gain the will to break off from these responses.

-Behavioral modification.

A.) Analysis of Self, habits, and habitual responses to particular stresses.

i) Analysis of Self.

It is good to understand your general personality traits. Your general strengths and weaknesses. Your goodness and your vices. Understanding this will help create a general map of the battlefield that is your mind.

ii.) Analysis of Habits.

Are you a creature of habit or spontaneity?

Spontaneity in itself is a habit, especially when it always shows up every time you are trying to run away from something.

If you are a creature of habit, chances are, certain emotions will evoke certain habits out of you. This can be noted in individuals that can be in an environment that encourages alcoholic drinking, like a bar, but will only drink when they feel sad or bored. Others however will develop an addiction to alcohol. A habit of habitual drinking to operate even when they don’t feel any emotional need to do so. In such cases, it is the fear of operating sober in a world so chaotic that generally drives this habit. The fear of experiencing life sober or the fear of experiencing withdrawal symptoms is quite a powerful motivator to habitual actions.

If you are a spontaneous individual, chances are high that your inner demons are motivated by escapism. In most of these cases, it is boredom that creates this need to act.

iii. Analysis of the emotions triggering the actions.

As a creature of habit (which is most people), there are bad habits that always try to pop up, especially when stressed. For most men, it is lust, gluttony (food drugs, and alcohol), sloth (laziness and inability to work), and pride (superiority that results in words and actions of insulting, condescending, and patronizing others).

When one is comfortable and bored, gluttony lust and envy (especially for comparative and competitive individuals) are common pop-ups.

Anxiety can easily help manifest gluttony, wrath, and greed (need to accumulate for fear of tomorrow).

Shame can easily manifest wrath (for the naturally outspoken) or lust (for the naturally timid).

PSYCHOLOGICAL EMOTIONAL CONTROL.

From the above, it can be noted that all of these sins/inner demons manifest from certain strong emotions. The psychological remedy, therefore, lies in the control of these underlying emotions. Namely,

-Boredom (when things are good).

-Stress and Anxiety (when things are bad).

-Fear (when the unexpected occurs)

-Training oneself to stay busy when you start experiencing boredom is the most practical way of dealing with your inner demons by not allowing them to linger in your mind for too long whenever they show up.

-Training oneself to mitigate the effects of stress, fear, and anxiety by practicing third-person vision. This is where you see yourself from a third-person perspective as you experience the emotions that stress brings. How do you do this?

-By distinguishing yourself from the emotions. Your individuality is what experiences life. Your emotions are just part of the experience. Not the entire thing. Once you separate yourself from the emotions you feel, you will be practicing, third-person vision.

-By acknowledging the feeling of stress. Do not fight it. Accept it. Feel it. As a general rule, the feeling will only stay for a few minutes, 30 maxima. So instead of acting on it immediately, you experience it and allow yourself to dwell in the emotion until it passes. If it is too strong that you cannot wait it out, it is best to direct that emotion into physical activity or the arts. Working out, for example, is one of the best ways for most of the most powerful stressors that could evoke lust or wrath within someone.

– Thinking calmly about the proper response after the emotion has passed.

B.) Building your soul/spirit so you can gain the will to break off from these responses.

-Maybe you do not even have the will to control your emotions psychologically. That is where building your spirit comes in.

-Anything in spirituality requires sacrifice. It is the only trade-off to this life. If you want to be close to God, you need to avoid sin. If you want to receive God’s blessings, you have to give Him a conduit through which He will bless you through. This conduit will require effort, time, and resources to build. A sacrifice of time, energy, and resources. Therefore, to beat your inner demons, you need to sacrifice as well. This sacrifice is known as FASTING.

[Isaiah 58:6-6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?]

[Matthew 6:17-18:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.]

– [Luke 4:2: Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.]

Fasting has several physical, psychological and spiritual benefits. For purposes of the subject of this article, I will focus on the latter two. Psychologically, fasting makes one think more clearly and sharply. Spiritually, it boosts one will and makes one more immovable in the presence of internal and external influence. Believing in Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit that He will definitely give to you when you ask will give you the Spiritual vision that will help you see things from a spiritual perspective. This will make it a whole lot easier in changing the habit once the stage of Behavioural modification comes.

C.)Behavioural modification.

You have the will.

You have psychological awareness.

Now to act.

You will need to make discipline an intentional habit.

Do only positive things even when you do not feel like it, avoid that which you know you should not do.

Placing pre-determined non-negotiable boundaries with respect to the trigger emotions that result in the manifestation of the inner demons should be manifest. For example, I have put it in my mind that I will not entertain the thought to hurt someone when I am angry. The thought will obviously pop up every time I experience anger, but I will think of something else immediately in less than 2 seconds so that the thought does not linger and it does not make influence my actions by promising some unforeseen release in my body.

You need to arrest the problem from the point of the trigger emotion. Once you can control that part of the emotion, you can redirect the reaction to something more positive., Say, instead of lashing out at someone, do a hundred pushups. Two hundred if someone has made you exceptionally furious. Three hundred when caused by family…but you get the point.