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> “Hah maybe I don’t have an inner critic” I thought. thats your inner voice!

by chippy 5y ago

josephg 5y ago
Not quite ... there's (ironically) a language gap here. Those words are what I get when I lend my capacity for words to my thoughts, like I'm doing now. But thats a translation. The thoughts don't seem to start in language. Maybe another way to describe it is - I understand my thoughts before I know the right words to use to describe my thoughts out loud. In conversation I sometimes find I'll start explaining something; only to notice that the words aren't the right translation for the concept in my head. "Sorry, thats not quite right - its more like ... this". The other day I had a feeling which was a mix between boredom and anger. Like, a sort of judgemental boredom. I don't think english has a word for that feeling; but neither "boredom" nor "anger" would be a sufficient translation of what I felt. Its like that. Or another example - I was practicing drawing yesterday. I drew a character's nose, but my line looked wrong and I had to rub it out and redraw it. I don't have any words for the shape my wonky line made. I couldn't tell you in words how it made the face look, or how it needed to be fixed. I could try, but any words I use would be an awkward approximation. I know exactly what was wrong with the shape. But words to describe it would be a sketch compared to my mind's photograph. (Except its not like a photograph either! Aah its happening now too.) Lots of thoughts work the same way. At least for me. Is it really not the same for everyone?
- nivanson 5y ago
  I think it is the same for most people. Consider a child that is experiencing these ”thoughts” but do not have language for them. Anchoring your thoughts in words is a useful tool in order to prepare yourself to communicate them, possibly to yourself. How much you use that tool is what I believe is the variable here.

> “Hah maybe I don’t have an inner critic” I thought. thats your inner voice!

by chippy 5y ago

> “Hah maybe I don’t have an inner critic” I thought. thats your inner voice!

Not quite ... there's (ironically) a language gap here. Those words are what I get when I lend my capacity for words to my thoughts, like I'm doing now. But thats a translation. The thoughts don't seem to start in language. Maybe another way to describe it is - I understand my thoughts before I know the right words to use to describe my thoughts out loud. In conversation I sometimes find I'll start explaining something; only to notice that the words aren't the right translation for the concept in my head. "Sorry, thats not quite right - its more like ... this". The other day I had a feeling which was a mix between boredom and anger. Like, a sort of judgemental boredom. I don't think english has a word for that feeling; but neither "boredom" nor "anger" would be a sufficient translation of what I felt. Its like that. Or another example - I was practicing drawing yesterday. I drew a character's nose, but my line looked wrong and I had to rub it out and redraw it. I don't have any words for the shape my wonky line made. I couldn't tell you in words how it made the face look, or how it needed to be fixed. I could try, but any words I use would be an awkward approximation. I know exactly what was wrong with the shape. But words to describe it would be a sketch compared to my mind's photograph. (Except its not like a photograph either! Aah its happening now too.) Lots of thoughts work the same way. At least for me. Is it really not the same for everyone?

nivanson 5y ago
I think it is the same for most people. Consider a child that is experiencing these ”thoughts” but do not have language for them. Anchoring your thoughts in words is a useful tool in order to prepare yourself to communicate them, possibly to yourself. How much you use that tool is what I believe is the variable here.