The Private Voice

Talk, of any sort, can serve both ordinary men and those with an Aim that is not quite ordinary.  This could be summed up thus:  “If I talk about it, I don’t have to think about it.”

First, consider some examples of this phenomenon, per the general population.  Consider how this explains why people so want to talk about their problems.  In speaking aloud to others about them, they keep themselves from the worse torment of having to privately listen alone, to the voice in their own head endlessly detailing their problems.

With no specific knowledge or planning involved, men simply have learned from experience that if they talk to another person about unpleasant things that are “on their mind,” their mind is, during the time of their talking, relieved.  As long as they speak aloud they are rendered deaf to the private voice in their head.

In line with this aspect of my model would be a fresh view of people who walk along the streets, talking to themselves, and who are considered to be crazy.  But engaging in such behavior may be what is keeping them from going crazy…it could be that if they weren’t turning their inner voice into overt speech, the voice would truly be driving them insane.

From another perspective, other facets of this model appear.  Men like to give advice, because it offers a generally acceptable excuse to talk for a reason that seems honest and admirable.  Also explains why preaching is popular; you talk and the excuse is that your words are about the supreme being.  Who can object to talk being so employed?!

J.