I’ve heard the phrase “Better the devil you know” many times before. It’s one of those sayings people throw around when they’re justifying staying in a bad job, a toxic relationship, or a broken system. I used to take it at face value, thinking it meant:
“Don’t take risks. Stick with what you know, even if it’s bad.”
But today it finally clicked — and it hit me differently.
Not just mentally. Deeply.
It made sense because it was literally true.
Only, not in the way they intended.
When you are a god, your opposite is the devil.
And that devil… is you.
Not a red man with horns.
Not some preacher’s bedtime threat.
But the voice in your own head.
The one who says you’re not enough.
The one who whispers that you’re Black, you’re broken, and you better pray to someone who doesn’t look like you.
That’s the devil you know.
And that’s the devil you must get to know.
Shadow Work Is Devil Work
All this talk about “knowing yourself”?
It’s not all light and incense.
It’s not just the beautiful African philosophy of Botho, or mindfulness, or gratitude posts.
It’s war.
It’s integration.
It’s confrontation with your own shadow — your own devil.
And if you never meet that devil, someone else will wear his face.
And they will rule you.
That’s what abusers, narcissists, and racists do.
They are devils — but they also feed on the fact that you don’t know your own.
So they say, “Stick with the devil you know”, hoping you’ll fear them more than you’ll trust yourself.
But life is always better with the devil you know —
The one in the mirror.
Because that devil…
That voice…
That dark instinct…
is yours to understand.
Yours to master.
Yours to transform.
Know Thyself — Know Both
“Know thyself.”
Sounds noble.
But you cannot truly know yourself if you only accept the holy parts.
The kind parts.
The godly parts.
You are both God and Devil.
Sun and Shadow.
Creator and Destroyer.
When you integrate your devil, you stop projecting it onto your wife, your kids, your colleagues, your community.
You stop needing to worship someone else’s god because you begin to live as your own.
You stop being manipulated by fear.
And start living in alignment.
The Revolution Is Personal
For too long, we’ve been trained to fear ourselves.
To outsource god.
To externalize evil.
To obey devils in high positions because we were never taught to trust the fire inside us.
But now?
We reclaim our power.
We reclaim our darkness.
We reclaim our right to wrestle with the voices in our heads — and walk away with insight.
Because life isn’t about running from the devil.
It’s about sitting with him.
Talking to him.
And saying, “I see you. I know you. You will not run my life from the shadows anymore.”
And that, my friends, is why life is always better with the devil you know.
