You Can Never Escape Yourself, So You Might As Well Be In Good Company

"Whever you go, there you are"

The history behind this quote is quite convoluted and humorous, but beyond its absurd astuteness, is a meaning that transcends us all.

You may have noticed a voice inside your head, it seems to give commentary on everything you do and what’s going on around you. One can observe it stating things like “I don’t like how that dress looks on her” or “He must hate me, he hasn’t messaged me back, it’s been a 2 weeks, he must have found someone else! What am I going to do?” This voice can be incredibly negative or overly optimistic. I have personally observed this voice for almost an hour while at a party, unaware that it had taken my attention like an entrancing TV show. If you let it, it will talk your ear off about the outside world. Sometimes it will even bring you down; when we hear this voice it says “You are a loser” and yet we interpret it as “I am a loser.” It is as if this voice is us in some way. So is it?

This voice in your head is not you. This voice is a byproduct of evolution. As humans we have the unique ability to think ahead and ruminate on both past and future. This is called chronesthesia and it can be your best friend, or your own punitive prison. That voice we talked about, it is chronesthesia in action. “What should I wear tomorrow? Last time I wore that shirt and those pants and someone made fun of me.” You can see how this kind of thing can be useful in war stratagems, while working on a project, or planning an event, but terrible for relationships and personal problems. It can be quite negative, although it can be positive- sometimes overly so. There is another part to this level of consciousness, and that is autonoesis, which is you, the being observing that voice in your head. This proves that you may not be that voice in your head, but merely the entity experiencing it.

The first time I stumbled upon this information, I was shocked, yet it made so much sense in juxtapostion to how events played out in my head. I knew about this voice in my head but I thought it was me, telling me what to do. It is a freeing thing when you realize that you are not your emotions, nor your thoughts. You are just the being that gets to experience and observe them. Back to this idea that you take yourself wherever you go, if you never learn to not listen to this voice at all times, you will essentially be stalked by a very unsavory person. The one person you can never get away from is yourself. Go ahead, try getting a restraining order on yourself!

People often tell me how they love traveling and feel free and happy whilst doing so. I think that is wonderful, however they follow it up with how it quells their depression, they are only happy when away from home etc. This sounds like a pretty bad place to be in. If the inside of you is in total turmoil and the only ease is escaping into the outside- how can you ever be truly happy? The goal should be that no matter what happens outside- events, people’s actions, that you are not mentally disturbed, but always in a place of equanimity. Depression and unhappiness are a spiritual problem that cannot be fixed by outside forces. This is why becoming your own safe haven and your own friend is the stepping stone to true and lasting happiness.

If you were the ruler of a kingdom experiencing tumultuous times, you would find it illogical to escape this kingdom and hope it straightens itself naturally without the place becoming a rioting mess of destruction and pyres, so why would you try to escape yourself expecting the same thing? When you experience personal problems it means you must tend to and examine what is causing this dissonance, not hope it goes away on its own, as it never does. We are all our own rulers of our own corporeal kingdom, and a good leader faces the problems of the nation they lead head-on.