“Never let a friendly fox into your hen-house. One day he’s going to get hungry.”
—Sidney Sheldon
 

t some point in people’s spiritual practice, it will occur to them to “show compassion for the voices too.”

As sweet as this sentiment may seem, it’s a really bad idea.

You see, the devil is the devil and will always be the devil. It’s like a shark’s whole mission is to eat you as long as you’re in the pool with it. So let’s not be naïve about the nature of the voices. They are energy sucking vampires that will use anything and everything in their power to convert your energy to suffering so they can drain you of it. Period!

How do they do that? They distract your attention out of the present and onto something illusory: The past, the future, what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s good, what’s bad, what you need, what you don’t need – anything to start you down the path into discursive thought. In unconsciousness is where they thrive. And getting you lost in your head is a wonderful opportunity for them.

Even if it’s a “good” thought, they will happily engage you in pursuing it with undefined expectations so that later they can convert it into a train wreck. That’s why I don’t encourage indulging any train of thought, even positive ones because it will eventually run away and fly off the rails!

“Here, have this candy so I can later smack you for listening to me and then blame you for doing it.”

When I teach the practice I learned at the Zen monastery, I show people life beyond the voices in your head. I reveal the alternative, which is life with the compassionate Inner Mentor instead.

It’s like when you clear the trash from the land, pull up the weeds, and dig up some garden beds, next, you add fertilizer, beneficial plants and insects, as well as love and attention. You remove what is harmful and add what is helpful.

The same is true with the company you keep in your mind. Embrace the parts of you who have been suffering under the voices’ tyranny instead of embracing the voices. Show compassion to those who desperately need it. Not something that will bite your hand if you try to feed it.