inner voice, n.All

An Inner voice (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠taken either for undiluted nonsense or for the voice of God; it occurs to no one that something valuable might lie in between.

The Inner voice (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠best handled like a dialogue between two people with equal rights: write it down, answer it from the ego, and bear the long conflict that follows.

The Inner voice (n.) needs ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠no insanity to be heard; the hybris lies in saying "It is only my own thoughts!" about thoughts you had never consciously thought.

An Inner voice (n.) makes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a personality of whoever consciously assents to it and sweeps away whoever succumbs to it — the genuine personality voluntarily sacrifices himself and lives individually what would ruin the group lived unconsciously.

An Inner voice (n.) usually ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠whispers something negative, even evil — the community's evil in an individual form — tempting us to succumb; only by succumbing in part, without being swallowed, can we find the evil was a bringer of healing: it is a Lucifer in the strictest sense.

The Inner voice (n.) must ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be heard attentively but critically, since the divine influx flows in right and left streams of opposites; identifying one's mind with it risks a Messianic sense of mission and tyranny over others.