Question
Do you understand why this incessant chatter causes me so much distress as I try to understand the voice in my head that constantly talks to me, as though I had separated from it? No one I know understands what I mean. I am so aware of this inner voice and have no control over it. I think it is an enemy because it keeps making me anxious. I am aware of this monkey mind but do not understand it, and no one else understands it either. I feel like a spectator listening to this negative inner voice while at the same time trying to understand it. Can you help me? Thank you.
Sharon Davies
Master Kosen’s answer
Our parents taught us to describe our world with words. It is very practical, but it solidifies things and makes reality much more rigid; it certainly reassures us. So we picked up the bad habit of constantly taking inventory of the reality around us, naming every thing and every event. We must relearn how to perceive things as we did before we knew how to speak. What silence, what vastness, what freedom! To learn this, we must use willpower and unlearn thinking, break up and drive away the thoughts that appear. Do this before falling asleep until the thoughts and images appearing in your brain become incoherent. That is the signal that the subconscious is expressing itself. Let it go freely, then plunge into dreaming and sleep well.
Kosen