in cartoons, it's a little angel in us who beats up the devil and gets us to do the right thing.
in a religious context, it's frequently the god who is everywhere and also resides in all of us, so when we pray and ask him things, the god speaks to us via our inner voice. (unfortunately, it is difficult to judge authenticity - mental patients and criminals often refer to their inner voice for their actions)
in the latest brain research, our apparently individual mind are in fact a "society of minds", where we have a number of personalities each fighting over each other to decide. so the selfish mind and the generous mind are only two of the plethora of inner voices. there's no guarantee the nice one wins out.
via experience, i know the mind settles during meditation, and a clearer path seems to emerge. but how can i be sure? the mental patients are all very sure.
