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That Little Voice in Your Head Is Not You
It exists outside of your body and the good news is….it lives forever
Our consciousness
For the sake of this article and thought experiment, I’m defining our consciousness as that little voice in our heads that talks to us: guides our thoughts, narrates our experiences, and gives us the illusion of having free will.
There is no scientific explanation for why we talk to ourselves, particularly in the second person. Telling ourselves, “You shouldn’t eat that cake you’re gaining weight,” seems as nonsensical as it gets, yet that’s precisely the way we talk to ourselves — like we’re our own little baby that needs looking after, coaching, and reassurance. We sometimes even talk to ourselves in slang, “Come on Man, you can do this, you’ve worked so hard,” Who the heck are we talking to, a different version of ourselves?
What is going on inside our heads? Who is that person providing this running commentary on our lives…in real-time?
And if it’s just a byproduct of our brain function. A coping mechanism, a biological antidepressant of sorts, why won’t it leave us alone? Do we really need to carry a sometimes annoying, obnoxious version of ourselves in our head all the time, constantly interjecting verbal commentary on stuff it has no business sticking its nose into?
