'the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.' (Revelation 12:12)
'Instincts on rampage balk at investigation. The minute we make a serious attempt to probe them, we are liable to suffer severe reactions.' (Step Four, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions)
'my grandfather’s good natured contempt of some church folk and their doings; his insistence that the spheres really had their music; but his denial of the preacher’s right to tell him how he must listen ... With ministers, and the world’s religions, I parted right there. When they talked of a God personal to me, who was love, superhuman strength and direction, I became irritated and my mind snapped shut against such a theory.' (Page 10, Alcoholics Anonymous)
'Instincts on rampage balk at investigation. The minute we make a serious attempt to probe them, we are liable to suffer severe reactions.' (Step Four, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions)
The ego has a built-in defence mechanism: if I act in its favour, it leaves me alone. If I act to its detriment, it rightly perceives the danger and generates resistance to the action in the form of anger (in all its forms), fear (in all its forms), and any manner of argument and rationalisation.