September, 2024, MCC Chicago prison
What The Voice of Knowledge Taught Me
(changing the story in my head)
I read The Voice of Knowledge by Don Miguel Ruiz during a time when I was really starting to dig into the deeper lies I’ve believed about myself—lies that had shaped how I saw God, other people, and especially myself. Sitting in prison can do that!
If you’ve ever walked around carrying shame, regret, or just that low hum of “I’m not enough”—this book will speak straight to that. It did for me.
The main idea is simple, but deep: most of the pain we carry comes from the stories (lies) we tell ourselves—and those stories were taught to us. As kids, we believed lies—about our worth, our identity, our place in the world. We picked them up from parents, teachers, religion, trauma, culture, failure. And then we repeated those lies to ourselves for years, until they felt like truth.
Ruiz calls this inner critic “the voice of knowledge.” And it’s not real knowledge. It’s often the voice of fear, of judgment, of ego, of past hurt pretending to protect us. But it actually keeps us from being who God created us to be.
What blew me away was how clearly this connected to my faith. Ruiz doesn’t write from a Christian perspective, but all I could hear while reading was Jesus saying,
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
That’s what this book started to do for me: set me free.
Free from the lie that my past (failure) defines me.
Free from the lie that I’m unworthy of love.
Free from the lie that I have to perform or prove something to be accepted.
Free from the constant noise in my head that says I’m not doing enough, not good enough, not redeemable.
Instead, I started to lean into the truth that God already knows me—and still loves me. That I don’t have to agree with every voice in my head. That I get to choose what story I believe. That wisdom is listening to truth over fear. That healing means replacing those old stories with something deeper, something holy.
And the crazy part? That kind of self-love, rooted in truth, doesn’t make me softer or weaker. It makes me stronger. It makes me more honest. More grounded. More open to real connection—with God, with people, and with myself.
I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to be what others needed or expected. Trying to control how I was seen. Trying to outrun guilt or overcompensate for my pain. But this book helped me start the shift toward authenticity. It gave me permission to just be me. The flawed, forgiven, still-growing man who is learning to live with wisdom and love instead of fear and pretending.
And that’s a process. Some days I still fall back into old patterns. But I catch it faster now. I listen more carefully to what voice is speaking inside me. And I ask: is this truth—or is this shame? Is this love—or fear? Is this God—or something else?
The Voice of Knowledge helped me stop agreeing with lies and start agreeing with God’s truth.
That I’m loved. That I’m not my past. That I’m not my failures and mistakes. That I can change my story—by living from a new one.
And that feels like a miracle in motion.
