Inner critic
Inner critic
What is the inner critic? I believe none of us are unfamiliar with it, and we have all listened to it. The reason we call it the voice of knowledge is because we believe it holds all the answers we require, and we should heed its advice. All we have to do is listen to it, and everything will be fine.
The challenge is that our voice is typically influenced and formed by the negative messages we've been exposed to, particularly during our childhood. Our egos are linked to the belief that they must lead us and our actions in pursuit of personal benefits. Some beliefs suggest we should eradicate our egos, yet the ego is essential for shaping our persona. In order to engage with the world, we must possess a defined form and persona. The inner critic tends to divert us from personal or spiritual growth by relying on previous teachings and experiences. It may appear to protect us from further harm, but its true intention is to keep us stuck in familiar patterns and prevent any change.
One commonly used term in the complementary realm is 'resistance.' Resistance can show itself in many ways, even as physical discomfort like dizziness and feeling sick, or it may be a strong feeling of 'No, I will not do this'. We can decide to step away from a situation that had the potential for significant personal development.
How can you distinguish between resistance and indicators that this isn't right for you? Many people ponder that question. Only you hold the answer to that. Still, it could be helpful to have some guidelines to follow. Resistance is often rooted in fear, but the true indication to step back is a sense of inner clarity. With practice, it becomes easier to discern the difference between the two feelings.
Why on earth should we listen to that voice, the inner critic? Don Miguel Ruiz authored a book titled 'The Voice of Knowledge.' In the book, he tells the story of Adam and Eve, who ate the apple the snake offered them in paradise. The snake's role is to tell stories, but every word he utters is false. Observing from the Tree of Knowledge, the snake regards all knowledge as false narratives we construct. Our belief is that the stories we tell ourselves represent the truth. We perceive it as knowledge.
According to Ruiz, when we are born, we are skeptical of these stories, but as we learn to speak, the world feeds us stories about ourselves that we eventually start believing. Then they become true. We internalize this truth, and it becomes the narrative we share with others. This is the voice of knowledge. This voice belongs in our heads, our thoughts. This is the voice we build our life on, and building our life on a lot of lies that hurt us. We are making a picture of perfection, a story about what we should be and do, and searches for a false picture. The picture is a lie, but we invest our faith in that lie. And then we build a structure of lies to substantiate them.
Faith is a powerful force. If we invest our faith in a lie, this lie becomes truth for us. If we believe that we are not good enough, that will happen–we won't be good enough. If we believe that we are going to fail, we fail, because this is the power of our faith.
While I won't claim it's exactly what Ruiz intended, there is some truth to this interpretation. We listen to this inner voice who all the time tells us we are not good enough or that we should do things differently or makes us hit ourselves in our heads when we do or say something we didn't really know was true or right. Do you recognize yourself in this? Do you know you do this or is it an automatic response? Notice if you can identify when your inner critic pops its head forward. That is when you can choose not to listen to it.