Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Our little voice inside

One evening, some 35 years ago, I asked my landlady with whom her other renter was talking. I had not noticed any visitors to her house. She told me that her other renter was often talking to himself – out loud. Never again have I heard anyone like him, having entire conversations with himself. It’s one of these everlasting memories.

We all talk to ourselves, usually in silence and within the sanctuary of our mind. Despite being alone most of the time, I rarely talk to myself out loud. Given the introduction of voice service gadgets like Amazon‘s Alexa / Echo, Apple’s SiriGoogle Home, Microsoft Cortana, it might also be better to remain silent (eg, CNBCWP).

Guardian: “This is the phenomenon that psychologists call “inner speech”, and they’ve been trying to study it pretty much since the dawn of psychology as a scientific discipline. In the 1930s, the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky argued that inner speech developed through the internalisation of “external”, out-loud speech.” My co-renter might indeed confirm this view.

In my 19 April 2017 blog, I already mentioned my “inner voice”: “I’ve always trusted my “inner voice”, whatever you call it: awareness, beliefs, conscience, consciousness, mind, subconscious, or just thoughts.” This topic kept resonating since.

So far I recognise 3 types of “inner voices”: (i) my conscious thoughts, (ii) my subconscious and inner trusted advisor, and sometimes also (iii) outer and ill-advising intruders. The 3rd intrusion must be common as it’s used in movies, like Constantine (IMDb) and Harry Potter.

Some years ago, I experienced a special 3rd kind of intrusion. It felt like a cyber hack or perhaps like voodoo. I nearly panicked. The #2 inner voice recommended using Harry Potter’s Patronus charm. I went to my most serene memory and was able to shield off the intrusion. A few days later, it came back but I was prepared by then. It has never returned since.

This blog, once again, reminds me of Zoroastrianism which recognizes 2 fundamental forces in life, a good and bad one, and both defined by deeds, words and thoughts. It also reminds me of the Sumerian distinction between the earthly body and the divine soul.

From a time and from a location perspective, Zoroastrianism (Iran/Persia, 2000 BC) is in between Sumerian religion (Mesopotamia, 4000 BC) and the 3 Abrahamic religions: modern Judaism (515 BC), Christianity (50 AD), and Islam (600 AD). My “inner voice” thinks, feels and believes that all 5 are connected. I’m still looking for a connection between the first two.

I’m still puzzling to integrate their concepts: Body, Mind & Soul, go(o)d vs (d)evil, and also deeds, words & thoughts. With hindsight, I do believe that my out-of-balance Body, Mind & Soul allowed these bad thoughts to enter like Voices In My Head.

Voices Inside My Head (1980) by The Police – artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2

Voices inside my head

Echoes of things that you said

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