Inner demons

As happens with me all too often when I see a clever saying like this, I laugh and then ponder the essential ambiguity.

This could be taken -- and I think probably is generally intended to be taken -- as meaning that I have "gone over to the dark side," that I stopped fighting my demons [never forget, we are talking about my demons, a part of me] by surrendering to their agenda. Which may be true from time to time, let's be honest.

But the battle may end because I have found a way, as a good Jungian analyst would have me do, to have the demons work with me. I may find a way to redirect the energy of the demons to do good. Instead of letting them throw things into the fire, I may have discovered that they may be moving things into the light.

It reminds me of an old Calvin and Hobbes t-shirt Damien used to wear, based on this strip:

 

Click on image to enlarge

The obvious meaning is that God [however you understand that term -- divine being, universal spirit, fate, nature] is out to punish Calvin in some way. But it could be understood in the opposite sense -- that God [again, however you choose to understand that] is out to get Calvin in order to love, cherish, delight and enliven him.

So much of my own inner life, the struggle with those inner demons [or inner angels, because like Jacob, I wrestle with angels, too] reflects how I understand what it going on: is it a battle against me or a battle for me?

And don't get me started on what "for me" means. I might never stop rambling.