Dear Sir,
I have long thought of an inner voice, something that is inherent to all of us, just to have people look at me as if I am crazy.. My question is this: is this voice innate? Is this second voice or inner voice tempered or changed by our life and it’s past experiences, or is it something that is part of our consciousness from the moment of our birth, and it says what it says to us regardless of our experiences? Can we change what it says, or is it there from God regardless of what we live through. Is it simply our conscious? And how do you know that you are listening to this voice and it is being true to you, and doesn’t have a selfish agenda fueled by its own selfish motives?
Dear Gary,
to be able to hear our inner voice is in itself a journey. This inward quest for our true self may seem alien at first but – as a north star – it guides us, as long as we have faith.
I don’t think it is consciousness that guides us to our inner self – it is actually something that is outside of ourselves that murmur to our soul.
To be able to distinguish the true voice from our desires is also a path : in the beginning there will be many mistakes, false leads. But with time and forgiveness, we start hearing this voice more clearly and we develop our own silenced “alphabet”.
Love
Paulo
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
une energie qui vous aide a grandir et vous dirige au dela- vers le bon chemin- avec une telle force que vous ne pouvez l’ignorer.
Dear Nancy, Spiritual growth and enlightenment do not necessarily go together with … degrees and .. titles! On the contrary, they usually hinder … inner growth because of … lack of humility and too much …analysis!
LOVE,
Thelma
We hear our own voice all the time, this is something totally different, like a wave that takes you to a different place you ‘ve never been before.
Nancy, I have never excelled at school.Over the years I realised that I was not as stupid as what I thought and by summing up all my experiences I had achieved a few things that I am quite proud of.Every day I learn something new and I am very curious about many subjects.
I come to this blog trying to be a “good student”. I have made a lot of “booboos” along the way, it is part of the learning process. I am grateful for all the knowledge that is being displayed on this site by Paulo and the willingness of all the people to share it.
Keep a good sense of humour, it will help you when you are feeling down. Ha Ha Ha
Laugh “Nancy with the laughing face”- say Hi to Dad as well -
Hugs and enjoy your day.
in the last few years, i have learned a lot about myself much more than in my 1st 57 years of my life,,, and i learned to listen to my self and to be open to the universe with the power of G-d,,,
let me tell u…. its un believble how much could i learn with my own intuition….. and many things i can see in side myself,,, b4 i was blind,,,, now when i observe, and feel and listen and open myself,,,, I saved my own life!!!! (not only the fisical) but the whole world is open up ,,, and i deal with events much more wise and,,,as we say b4 with love faith and hope,,,, we can get as far as we want!!!!
Interesting question and thank you for answering it Mr.Coelho. This inner voice or inner self is something I have wondered about. In the past I would give my opinion or view just by feeling and thought. A person would look impressed and start asking me what did I study, where have I travelled in the world. The sad thing is I have not done much in my life. I did not go to university(I went to college) and I have not travelled around the world. Knowing how little I have experienced the person usually look disappointed. I don’t give my opinion to often since those experiences because I feel like a fake, a liar. But I am learning that it is okay to share some of my opinions. I like to sometimes on this blog.
http://sido66.blogspot.com/2009/01/dieu-est-lenergie-de-lamour-cache-en.html
I’ve always liked the idéa about an inner voice, about “listening to ones heart”. But I never know where or what it is..how it sounds? Or how it feels? Is it something that you HEAR inside of your head, like when you’re thinking, or like when someone else stands in the same room and ‘s talking to you? Or is it some kind of feeling about “the right thing to do” in a certain situation? – that you in fact doesn’t hear, but only feel, or “know”? A value about something that one got, a value about what’s right and what’s wrong? A value that many people ignores and keep pushing down ‘cus it gives ‘em a bad conscience about many things they have dune and all the times they’ve ignored their own values, a value that’s in the end only a value, something that one think is the right or the wrong thing to do? …Or is it a voice, beyond ones personality, beyond ones subjectivity, that in fact talks to the inner thoughts and mind, with a “hearable” voice? I feel lost, not knowing what to search for… Tips?
That “small still voice” that Elijah heard.
It is true, at least in my experience, that it is difficult, at first, to transcend the ego’s pull (that “selfish agenda fueled by its own selfish motives”). I read Tarot cards, and the greatest challenge I have ever faced in this art is that of reading for myself, in answer to my own life’s questions. When I read for others, there is this crystal clarity – this sense of knowing, solidly and without question, that the message is straight and true as an arrow. When I do a reading for myself, however, it is often like trying to look through a fog or a cloud of smoke. I see the object of my gaze over there – the answers to the questions – but only in intermittent glimpses, only partially, and sometimes hardly at all. On occasions, the reading becomes so convoluted, the answers so obscured by the desires and demands of my own ego-consciousness, that I can discern no clear path at all. The answers I seek simply are not there, or at least are not visible to my eyes.
I have only recently become better at this, to a degree. I have found that in constantly reminding myself to “let go” of the outcome and “let God” have his will be done, that I am somewhat more able to discern the path that I should take in any given situation. I think it used to be that I had a thing in mind that I wanted, a specific outcome to the situation that I was hoping to obtain or bring about, and I would ask my questions in line with this. In other words, my questions were motivated by my own will (my own desires) as to what the outcome should be. Recently, I’ve discovered another way. I don’t think about outcome anymore (I don’t think about where the path is leading – some ultimate goal); I think more in terms of small steps. I try to concentrate my focus on these. When I ask a question I ask only for God’s guidance in leading my foot to take that next step, to plant my foot in the right place. It’s a little like mountain climbing in that way. When you’re scaling the side of a cliff, you don’t – you can’t – allow your mind to be distracted by the whole of the endeavor. You don’t look to the summit and think, I want to get there, I want to arrive at precisely that point I see up there. No, you don’t look up there at all. If you do, you are likely to become disoriented and perhaps even fall. Instead, you just look a few inches above your head, you search only for that next crevice or outcrop large enough to grasp and solid enough to hold your weight. It is like this in searching for that small still voice within. You have to quite the ego, which is yelling to have it’s way, and simply ask instead for guidance from God in taking that next step that will lead you on the path that HE WANTS YOU TO TAKE. Sometime, often times, as we are only human, we cannot see the summit from where we stand. It is outside the realm of our view. We have simply to concentrate on the here and now, that next crevice or outcrop, and do the very best we can to utilize the resources given us – not the resources we wish we had or think we deserve, but the resources given us to complete this present leg of the larger journey.
This makes me think of a scene from a movie that my daughter has, one that I just love, “Evan Almighty.” At one point in the film, when God has presents himself to Evan and asks him to build an ark, Evan starts to protest, saying that he is too busy and that the job God has assigned him interrupts all of his own plans for what he intended to accomplish at this place and time. God (played by Morgan Freeman) listens to Evan, then, after a long pause, bursts into thunderous laughter: “Your plans! Your plans?!” he says, laughing so hard that he has to hold his stomach.
Well, I think that’s the way God responds to us, to all of us, when we begin to become too desirous of and set on a certain specified outcome. This does not mean that we do not each have a “personal destiny” to fulfill, nor does it imply that we cannot be aware of what that is. It merely means that we have to keep our ego in check and keep reminding ourselves, or at least I do, that I am not the one in charge here – God is. Often times the paths that God leads us on are not the most direct routes toward a certain goal, and so, we resist. And often the goal is not the one we thought we were destined for in the beginning. So, we think, “Wait, this is not the direction I want to go!” That is precisely when we have to quiet the mind, put a cork in it if we have to, and simply sit and listen for that small still voice from within.
As to whether this “voice” is from within or from without – whether it comes from the consciousness of the individual, or from some higher, external power, there is a line from a Nick Cave song that I think addresses this question most directly:
There is a kingdom
There is a king
And he lives without
And he lives within
The starry heavens above me
The moral law within
So the world appears
So the world appears
Love to all!
Savita
The Daimon.Like in the “Journal of a Magus”?
“Il est en moi un ami qui me console a chaque fois que les maux m’accablent et que les malheurs m’affligent. Celui qui n’eprouve pas
d’amitie envers lui-meme est un ennemi public et celui qui ne trouve pas de confident en lui-meme mourra de desespoir.” K. Gibran
Many times I have wondered about these inner voices.Is it the voice of my inner self, is it the voice of my present personality-consciousness, it is the voice of ….my parents, my teachers, my ethics, the collective voice with the ‘must and don’t'?
Sometimes I have thought that it is also … Devil’s voice tempting me to follow a ..path so that DESTINY will be fulfilled and the … circle to continue, instead of ….breaking the ..chains and head for the LIGHT.
I pray and since I remember myself I decided to say ‘Your will be done’, because I think our will is based on …desires that keep us prisoners in the three dimensional World.
LOVE,
Thelma
Yes,I think Mr Coelho is right.
But beware as well as there are several kind of voices.
There are some who are like the north star,yes and there are some who are here to lead us on the wrong path,just because they don’t want you to shine.It’s tough to see clearly in all that,you must trust your intuitions,it’s tough to find the truth,you have to be patient but you can succeed.