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I've seen this "inner voice" thing on the internet a couple of times and I'm yet to find a source that convinces me there's a real difference between people in

I've seen this "inner voice" thing on the internet a couple of times and I'm yet to find a source that convinces me there's a real difference between people in this respect. I can definitely relate more to the way you described your mind than to the usual "inner voice". But I suspect it's the same for all people, they just subconsciously abstract it in another way. I suspect a similar confusion happens when people talk about aphantasia. But I haven't really put in the work to discover how serious the research around these things is.

electriclizard 4y ago
I can do both. Getting rid of the inner voice took a lot of therapy and meditation and I still struggle; I had it for most of my life. The "inner voice" is absolutely a real voice, as real as my own; and it's not necessarily the only voice. The voices are not auditory hallucinations—they are very distinctly discernible from sounds I'd hear with my ears. I have learned how to think without this voice and I prefer doing so immensely, as the voice is akin to vapid calculation, while thinking without it is a sensational experience with feelings and is a much more enjoyable experience, extending beyond the location of where I hear the inner voice and goes as far experiencing sensation throughout my entire body; this sensation can be as vivid as physical touch. In fact the voice is slower than sensational thinking. It occurs after the sensational thinking and the sensational thinking rarely can occur at the same time as the voice; they very easily become mutually exclusive and the inner voice tends to be the one that dominates. I hope to reverse this relationship with continued work. Thinking without an inner voice is a much more enjoyable life for me.
alpple 4y ago
I do agree that just because people describe their experience as different, that is not a convincing argument that it is very different. Sometimes people don't understand what other people are describing or assume too much. In my opinion, I think if we were to live inside someone else's mind for a day, depending on who that other person is, we may not recognize the world as the same world. I believe people are more different than many people know. Some people may be similar inside, but some people may be extremely different inside. Like you, I would also like to know more about this.

electriclizard 4y ago

I can do both. Getting rid of the inner voice took a lot of therapy and meditation and I still struggle; I had it for most of my life. The "inner voice" is absolutely a real voice, as real as my own; and it's not necessarily the only voice. The voices are not auditory hallucinations—they are very distinctly discernible from sounds I'd hear with my ears. I have learned how to think without this voice and I prefer doing so immensely, as the voice is akin to vapid calculation, while thinking without it is a sensational experience with feelings and is a much more enjoyable experience, extending beyond the location of where I hear the inner voice and goes as far experiencing sensation throughout my entire body; this sensation can be as vivid as physical touch. In fact the voice is slower than sensational thinking. It occurs after the sensational thinking and the sensational thinking rarely can occur at the same time as the voice; they very easily become mutually exclusive and the inner voice tends to be the one that dominates. I hope to reverse this relationship with continued work. Thinking without an inner voice is a much more enjoyable life for me.

alpple 4y ago

I do agree that just because people describe their experience as different, that is not a convincing argument that it is very different. Sometimes people don't understand what other people are describing or assume too much. In my opinion, I think if we were to live inside someone else's mind for a day, depending on who that other person is, we may not recognize the world as the same world. I believe people are more different than many people know. Some people may be similar inside, but some people may be extremely different inside. Like you, I would also like to know more about this.