Your “higher self” and your “dark side” (a pop culture bastardization of what Jung called the “shadow self”) are just atheistic, ego-centric alternatives to God and Satan. A central problem is that they both hinge on the exaltation of your ego and self, which inherently lack objectivity. Thus, Good becomes subjective to your preference. Then, when your “higher self” achieves its self-defined Good, pride is the inevitable outcome. And when your “dark side” inevitably prevails, it’s inseparable from you.

In faith communities, we may not always use such trendy language, but the same idea is often prevalent. Many rely on internal feelings to determine Good and Evil. “A check in my spirit” and “I don’t have peace about it” may be indicative of Good or Evil, but such feelings in isolation should not rule the day or be the basis for morality. Many times, what’s Good isn’t easy or what we want. Likewise, an aversion to something doesn’t make it Evil.

From a Biblical perspective, reliance on one’s own ethics, thoughts, and preferences is a faulty foundation for morality. As we all know, and even Jung explained, people are complex and often contradictory creatures. We often don’t know what we want, need, or truly value. We sabotage our own self-interests. Our opinions change. And, perhaps worst of all, we are largely ignorant. Even if we could identify the most informed person alive, he or she would have only a myopic view of the totality of universal experience. Whether individually or through some sort of collective amassing, reliance on self as the arbiter of Good and Evil is ridiculous at best.

So what’s the alternative?

In contrast to the “higher self”/“dark side” moral guide, the Bible teaches that Good is external and objectively defined by God and produced only through God. God alone is Good. Restated: You and I are not Good.

Because God isn’t dependent on humanity, Good stands on its own, apart from the condition of humanity. Human Goodness cannot be self-generated, but it can be adopted by accepting the reality of God’s Goodness. The only Good we can experience is not to our credit but wholly attributed to God. By practicing degrees of Good, which is simply the acts stemming from an acknowledgement of what is truly Good, we are not producing Good — we’re merely resisting it less. Acknowledging the reality of God’s Good isn’t an intrinsic credit to one’s self — it’s simply a rightful, neutral position.

Likewise, we don’t produce Satan. Satan (which literally translates to “the enemy”) is that which opposes the inherent Goodness of God. The product of Satan’s opposition to God’s Good is called Evil. Like Good, Evil’s existence isn’t tied to individual humanity. Evil is externally defined.

For instance, since Good includes the virtue of forgiveness, Satanic Evil is the enemy that produces unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is Evil but not autogenic. It’s simply the opposite of Good. Thus, our acts of Evil are not an inherent part of us. They can be separated from us without denying or diminishing our true selves.

Just as we are neither God nor Good, we also are not Satan nor Evil. We are humans, with endless opportunities to participate in God’s Good. If we choose not to, we’re participating in Satan’s Evil. At our best, we can only align ourselves with Good for the neutral exaltation of God. Vice versa for Evil: At our worst, we can only align ourselves with Evil in a futile attempt to oppose the supremacy of God. The Biblical truth is that humanity has been created in neutral goodness but is susceptible to both Good and Evil. Often, our free will results in both. This vulnerability is why a war is being waged both for and against us.

Relying on your own feelings to guide your morality is essentially the act of supplanting God with self. And any such failure to acknowledge and yield to the supremacy of God is Satanic. The results of which are Evil. So while it may be self-indulgently gratifying to think that your “higher self” or “dark side” can properly guide you, that form of hubris is fraught with problems. Your limited knowledge, finite intelligence, shifting emotions, conflicting desires, and time-bound perspective make you — and everyone else — highly susceptible to making the wrong decisions. The stakes are life or death, not something to take lightly on an ego trip.

— John