whose voice is it anyway?
To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself. ~Albert Einstein As a psychotherapist, I meet many people oppressed by a voice in their heads, an internalized parental voice or the voice of social norms particular to their culture. Freud called this Superego , the highest stratum of the psyche sandwiching the ego between impulse and self-restraint. Some think the Superego is the home of our conscience, our inner voice or moral compass, but the Superego is merely attuned to doing things "right" according to what others think, an external authority we have unconsciously assimilated, not for others’ sake but for the sake of our own survival. Obedience to authority is how we learn to stay alive in our family and culture. The word "obey" originally meant to hear. But we can hear others without necessarily doing their bidding, and we can listen to ourselves without harming others. Take, for examp...