That Voice in Your Head — Who Is It Talking To?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahvI9XgGqe0

Video Summary

There is a voice in your head that never stops. It narrates, judges, plans, remembers, worries, and fills every available moment of silence. It tells you what to do, what you failed to do, what might happen, what you should feel about it. It talks about the past and the future but never about right now — because if you actually came into the present moment, it would have to stop. Most people have spent their entire lives identified with this voice, assuming it is them. But here's the question that cracks it open: if you are the one speaking, and you are also the one listening — which one are you?

There can only be one of you. And yet there are clearly two things happening — a voice that speaks and something that hears it. The voice narrates. The listener never says a word. The voice judges. The listener never gets involved. The voice panics, plans, and protests. The listener simply witnesses, steady, unhurried, always there. In deep sleep the voice shuts down entirely — but something remains, still present, aware of the rest and the silence. That something is what the Upanishads point to in the story of two birds: one busy, building, flying, stressed; the other sitting at the top of the tree, calm, uninvolved, watching without a trace of effort.

The bird at the top is what you actually are. The busy one below is the voice — the commentator, the ego, decades of conditioning compressed into a constant monologue. The practice here is not to silence the voice. It's simply to observe it. And the more you observe it without identifying with it, the greater the gap grows between what you are and what the voice is. It's still speaking — but slowly, unmistakably, it stops feeling like you. You are the silence behind it. That silence was never absent. If this points to something you've glimpsed but can't stabilise — a Clarity Call is where we look at it directly together.

Full Transcript

Let's talk about the constant commenting — the commentary that's going on in the mind. It doesn't seem to stop. That voice in the head that keeps telling you what is going on, what you need to do, what you have done, what you need to be aware of, how to tackle life, how to negotiate life, how to chase success, how to seek pleasure and avoid pain. That voice that's in the head. Let's talk about that today.

There is a monologue. There is a commentary going on in the head constantly. What does it do? It brings up past moments, past experiences. It imagines future moments. It never talks about what's happening right now — because it would have to stop if you came into the present moment. But we want to have a look at what this voice is, what it does, where it has come from, and why it seems to be bothering us. Because when we want it to stop, it doesn't stop. It never seems to get tired. It's like a constant narration of a story going on.

For the next few moments, let's listen to this voice. Close your eyes and follow along with me. We're going to do some visual imagination and see what this voice is going to do.

Your eyes are closed. Imagine you are in your living room — on your favourite chair, your favourite corner, your favourite couch. You're seated there. In front of you is your television, your computer screen, or something you usually use to relax, to entertain yourself, to fill the void when there's nobody else around.

You're seated on your favourite chair. You've had a long day. Now — do not consciously think of anything. Just visualise yourself seated on the sofa, on the chair, and just observe in silence.

If you just witness, if you just observe — you'll find the voice comes up and tells you what to do. If you're really in this imagination, you can picture yourself thinking: I could pick up a book. Let me put the telly on. Oh, it's news time. I wonder what's happening in the world. Oh, my favourite show. I'll put on the TV. Let's put on the TV.

And if you're not in the imagination, you might have your voice saying: "What is going on? Why am I even doing this? Where is this leading? You're wasting your time. You've done this a million times. What's new? You may feel good, but nothing good comes out of it. Should I even listen to this guy? Who is this guy?"

Either way — there is a voice that's talking. The voice can go on and on and on. Quite a task to get it to stop. But right now, we don't want it to stop. We're just going to observe it.

Here's a question.

Who is the voice in the head talking to?

You'll find there's a voice that's speaking continuously — narrating, commenting, judging, continuously. And yet you are also hearing it. You can hear the voice. You hear the comments. You hear the narration. You hear the judgment.

For most of our lives, when we are identified with our thoughts, we are identified with this voice as well. So let's be a little more practical here.

If I am speaking and I am also hearing — which one am I? The one that speaks — the one that's constantly talking, narrating, telling me what to do — or am I the one that's listening to all that's being said?

Now — take a look at the one that's listening to this voice.

The one that's listening doesn't say anything. The one that's listening doesn't suggest anything. The one that's listening doesn't get involved in any way. The one that's listening simply listens — witnessing, never getting involved. The one that's listening is always there. This one that doesn't do anything. Just witnesses. Just listens.

We call it awareness, consciousness, nothingness, emptiness, silence, spaciousness.

This one listens to everything going on in your mind — to the voice in the mind.

This voice in the mind — the ego — shuts down when you go to sleep. In deep sleep, the ego becomes inactive. But this one that's listening is still there. And then the mind wakes up in the morning and says: "I am awake. I had a good sleep." The one listening knows — I had a good sleep. The ego had a good sleep. I was there throughout. This awareness, this consciousness — it never goes away anywhere. It's always there.

Now the question is — is this awareness what you actually are, or is the voice in the head what you actually are?

Right from childhood, from decades of conditioning, we have understood: I am thinking. I know. I understand. I forget. I remember — identified with the voice. So if the voice says go there, we are going there. I am going there. Automatically the identity is with that voice. I am thinking. I am going. I am doing. I am this and that, here and there, then and when.

But is that really true? If it were true — there would be two of you in here.

Have you ever felt like there are two in here? When you say I — I is singular. I cannot be two. That would be me and you. So is there an I and a you in the head? Is there a you that is speaking and an I that is listening? Are there two of you — in the mind, in the body, in the person?

No. We always know that I is singular. There can't be two.

Here's a story from the Upanishads. The story of two birds.

A bird sits at the top of the highest branch of a tree and looks down inside the tree. And inside the tree there is another similar bird — very busy building its nest, looking after its eggs, flying around, going out of the tree, coming back with food, coming back with stalks and grass to build the nest. It seems very busy. It experiences going and coming, ups and downs. And occasionally it looks up to the bird at the top — and it sees that bird calm, not bothered at all, not involved at all, not doing anything at all. Just sitting and observing.

And the bird inside, the one at the bottom, gets back to work. It looks up, sees — all right, still there, I have a lot of things to do — and it's back to being busy.

Now — that bird at the top is awareness. That's consciousness. That's what you are in reality. The bird that's constantly doing things — that's the voice in the head. Never stops. Occasionally might look at awareness and say, "Yes — but I better get back to work." Still not losing its identity. Still identified with what it's doing. I better get back to work. I need to do this and that. I have things to do. That identification remains.

In this state of awareness, as you practise this — you'll find the more you observe the voice, the greater the gap starts to increase between what you are and what the voice is.

It is unconditioning of identity. Decades — 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years of saying I, I, I — is being slowly unconditioned. I watch it. I don't identify with it. And slowly that gap increases until — it is still talking, but it's not me anymore.

If you had your eyes closed, you can slowly open them.

That voice that just popped up again now — is not you. Let it speak. Let it say what it wants to say. Do not identify with it.

You are the silence behind it that is always there.

Remain as that — because that thou art!