To understand our inner dialogue, we first need to understand how the mind works. Our minds are filled with pre‑programming from our past. Some of that programming is positive, and some of it is negative.
When the negative programming starts to play, people often want to label it as the devil or a demon. When the positive programming starts to play, people want to label it as God or an angel.
But the truth is that neither is the case. What we are experiencing are mental programs—thought structures, patterns, and ideas—triggered by events in our lives.
If we fail at something or make a mistake, the negative programming begins to play. Sometimes this programming comes from a parent or another authority figure who told us we were bad, evil, or worthless. And so that script replays.
Sometimes we’re looking for guidance, and positive programming begins to surface. Words from the Bible or the wisdom of someone we admire may come to mind.
But we must understand that this is not God or the devil speaking. It is simply the unconscious bringing into awareness what has been programmed into it. These programs come from many different places and many different sources.
Rather than automatically accepting or rejecting these inner voices, we should compare them to the dictates of reason. This is what cognitive behavioral therapy teaches: do the beliefs we are hearing actually line up with reality? If they don’t, we need to reject them.
The only revelation of God is nature, and the only guidance God gives is to love one another—to treat everyone with the same dignity and respect we want for ourselves. And everyone means everyone. No exceptions.
Dr. Jay Forrest is a spiritually independent philosopher and contemplative writer exploring rational spirituality, meditative practice, and wisdom traditions beyond organized religion, including Deism, Buddhism, Stoicism, and Daoism.