Some of us engaged in struggles for social justice have been incredibly naive about what has been happening in our own psyches. Our very identities are often defined by our resistance to evil. It’s our way of feeling good about ourselves: if we are against evil, we must be good. The impatience of some activists with prayer, meditation, and inner healing may itself betray an inkling of what they might find if they looked within. For the struggle against evil can make us evil, and no amount of good intentions automatically prevents its happening. The whole armor of God that Ephesians 6: 10– 20 counsels us to put on is crafted specifically to protect us against that contagion of evil within our own souls, and its metals are all forged in prayer.

Walter Wink. The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium