The Voice
A Story about a Thinker


Something’s been bothering me lately, I think.
Yes, I think and that is why I’m calling on you.
I’d like some help in thinking this through, the question—who am I and what are you?
But before we begin allow me to introduce myself: I am The Voice, as in, The Voice in your mind.
(I’m a close talker, don’t you think?)


~*~


I once supposed I was you.
My voice comes from within your mind and that seems like a good first clue.
No matter.
I must be The Voice.
And mostly, you play along, seeming so sure I am pulled into being by you.
But I’m not convinced this is true.


~*~


Now I do talk. And talk. And talk. And some call that thinking.
But…
Thoughts can’t think.
Thoughts don’t think.
And thoughts most certainly don’t do.
Isn't that true?


~*~


So how do I do what it is that I do?
I’m sure in line first, that much is true…
“I think I’ll take a walk.”
“I wish it would stop raining.”
Or my trickiest voice yet…
“What must people think of you?”
Wait, am I not a ‘people’ too?
No, I am this “I” I keep referring to, the first in line followed by commands sometimes you do.
Am I the Thinker? No, I can’t be that because ‘Thinker’ is a thought too! (And that goes for ‘you’. Just thoughts in a sky of blue.)


~*~


I’m getting lost in poetry here. What are we to do?
I’ll sort some more out…
I speak--you think. Or is it the other way around?
I’ve never heard my own voice unless I’m talking at you, which if you’re paying attention, you’ll find I always do.
After all, who on Earth am I talking to if I’m not talking to you?
Yet, if I’m speaking, thinking over what’s true.
Who does that make me?
And what does that make you?
Because everyone knows a “me” and “you” necessarily equals two.
And if we are one thing then can I just be you?


~*~
But…
If I am you, why talk like there are two?
You’re here before I show up and well after I’m gone.
I suppose that’s a good clue.


~*~


A puzzle I’ve found is when I speak you seldom answer.
So I talk to myself, in a presence that feels true.
I make outstanding comments, observations to this presence, what else is a thought to do?
You never answer, so I answer for you.
In smart sounding voice sounding just like you.


~*~


Do you like magic?
I do.
I like it when some-thing appears out of no-thing, and that seems to be what I do:
I pull myself out of a hat when you’re quiet.
And like any story tale rabbit, pull out one and soon there’s two.
Here’s a mystery: This creating history for you!


~*~


Just the facts now: so far we've got it down to two: “I”, The Voice/thought, and you.
Some say thoughts are just words drifting within the mind like clouds that never look up to the sky.
Nonsense, I say, and so say you too.
Right?
We are all of what’s here!
Wait, who am I talking to? Who is The Voice always talking to?
I’ll guess I’m left alone to ponder that through you.


~*~


Maybe it’s not so hard after all:
What’s real is what’s true and only truth is what’s real.
Otherwise there is a truth and that is the True Deal.
One here is real.
Just One.
Not Two.
If I, a mere thought go away, I’m afraid The Real is You.
And that leaves One here.
Just One.
Not Two.
And the only question worth seeing is…
Who (or what) then
Are
You?
(It’s a question of seeing where you locate your being and that which perceives as a 'you'!)


For you...


Soul