Embrace Those Demons

Listen, Walter:

Don’t fight the demons in your head; that will always be a losing proposition.  You must realize the demons are there. The demons were invited in at an impressionable age and will always live in your head. You should acknowledge the demons and realize that they will not go away; they will reside in your head as long as you have consciousness. Embrace those demons; they are part of you, and then release them every time they appear and they will eventually dissipate of their own accord. They may stop manifesting themselves as often as they do now, or they may not, but railing against them and haranguing yourself for having them with you will amount to nothing but a self imposed misery. They will always be there, or at the peripheries, and you must deal with that.

“Few days following the death of the rats
Men pass away like falling walls!…

The coming of the devil of plague
Suddenly makes the lamp dim,

Then it is blown out,
Leaving man, ghost and corpse in the dark room.”

— Shi Tao-nan / Tien Yu Chi