What It Isn't

The best place to start is to clear away all the wrong ideas and theories people will come up with. If what you are thinking of is not on this list, then read on.


Inner Monologue
Most people have an inner voice in their head when they are reading or puzzling things out. Not all people do, and some who do rarely experience it. I have trouble imagining a life experience without verbal thought, but this is not what I am talking about. Inner monologue is simply a way of organizing thought using words. For some situations this works well, like when coming up with a list of steps or considering what to write or say. Sometimes people do it when they are stumped and trying to decide how to proceed. But it is NOT a conversation, and the inner monologue is always thought of as "me". No one names their inner thought-stream, because it is regarded as self.

Inner Critic
Sometimes one's Inner Critic grabs the mind-microphone and issues a verbal declaration. But this is not an ongoing conversation or stream, and we regard it as some aspect of our unconscious mind. This is not what I mean.

Delusion
People with mental illness experience voices telling them things or telling them what to do. They might reject the voice or go right along with it. They might name it or think it is an outside being, from another realm. This is not what I am talking about. The Accompanying Voice never tells me what to do, and I don't think it is from another realm or is an actual being.

Observer
Some people develop through meditation the sense of an Observer. This is the part of oneself that is never caught up in what is going on. It never does anything, and doesn't have a goal. An Observer is a purely passive experience. It does not talk. My accompanying voice is not like this because it has a point of reference on experiences, and it speaks up. I don't have to switch it on or be aware of it to hear from it.

Past Life memory
I have several of what I used to think of as past life persons. (I no longer have an opinion one way or the other as to whether this is a real thing or not.) These memories all have names and characteristics. They have a story. They react to things and sometimes get emotional, for reasons that are not part of my history. They also have strengths: things I have not learned, which they can do. The Accompanying Voice never has a reaction or emotion. It does not have a story, tendencies or a name.

Personality Facet
I created four personality facets as part of a project. They are like characters in a story. Very much like past life personalities, except that I know I created them. They do various things, have tendencies, names. They have strengths like the past lives, and they work together. They converse with what I think of as "me". It is all very harmonious, but the Accompanying Voice is not at all like any of this. I did not make it up. It has been there for as long as I can recall. The voice does not even have a characteristic sound, it is more like thoughts appearing in my mind, not like an auditory experience.

Superego
The Accompanying Voice has no stake in the game of life, it does not try to protect me or determine what I do. In fact, it almost seems to care nothing for my safety. It does not butt in and offer suggestions. It will only tell me something if I ask, and when I get overwhelmed it might well be silent and forgotten. I don't always remember to check in with it. So, this is not really a candidate for Superego, which has a protective function and tries to keep people out of trouble, especially social disapproval. Similarly, the voice has no drives or wants, so it has nothing to do with the Id. And it does not think of itself as anything in particular, and certainly not as "me" so it is not related to Ego. What the heck actually IS it then?

An Oracle
I do not know the future, and the Accompanying Voice, whether it does or not, never tells me. At best it says reassuring things that turn out to be true. I don't keep a scorecard on whether anything it has said or hinted at turned out to be false, but I don't think so. What it says is never definite enough to base a decision on. It just accompanies me, it does not drive the bus, or even let me know if it has a map.

Psychic Being
As best I can tell, the voice does not think of itself as anything. It is not self-reflective, except when it comes to me finding out about it. Once I did find out what it is, but my mind halted in shock and awe for about a minute (It said "I told you it would be hard to deal with.") and when my mind started up again, I could not hold on to what I had learned. My mind won't go there again, so I can't tell you what I saw. But it is not a separate being of any sort.

Angel
How would I know? My Accompanying Voice has no "personality" at all. Do Angels? They supposedly have names, right? But I have the sense that my voice is identical for everyone who has one... if anyone else does have one.