Contradicting Voices

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman

Before making choices we often consider all kinds of perspectives, not only the opinions of others, but inside our own minds. While Whitman’s celebrated inclusiveness is expansive and open-armed, when we’re called to make a significant choice, how do we work with our multitude of inner voices? Which voice rings true from our deepest and highest knowing?
Is it the loudest most persistent voice because it’s power is obvious? Or is the “still, small voice,” pointed to by spiritual traditions, the one advocating the most authentic choice? Do we listen to the voice that sounds mature and authoritative? Or do we honor the enthusiastic voice of youthful innocence that incites our sense of adventure to try new things? As we age, does one voice begin to trump the other?
While the psychological sophistication that many of us have honed over years of personal growth work has offered us many boons, making choices simply is not usually one of them. Discovering what’s authentic at any given moment amidst the cacophony of our multitudes may be more complex and muddled.
Conventional wisdom in business leans on sophisticated analytical models to work through the complexity. These models step directly into the jungle to untangle it. Those of us with facile minds might find this more rational and linear approach helpful.
The spiritually inclined would quickly shy away from those methods. Instead, this group might favor an enlightened system of thinking or form of devotion to overlay on the particular circumstances they’re facing.
While each of these approaches and the various options in between offer benefits, our souls might have none of either, which returns us to Walt Whitman’s bold claim, “Very well then I contradict myself.”
But is that all we’re left with? Or are there other approaches that might carry us above, beneath and beyond our contradictions. In future blogs, I will address the three possibilities of stepping above, digging beneath and moving beyond our multitudes.