I didn’t think this “not using inner voice” thing applied to me, but the way I read the article maybe it does. If the inner voice is truly a voice using grammatical spoken language it sounds crazy limiting.
As someone with an inner voice, I can’t even imagine how I’d think about abstract concepts without words. Like, how does “I love freedom” or “I wish all people could be free” happen without words?
None of this is in words when I’m thinking about it. I’m putting words here to describe the concepts , thoughts and feelings, of each step but none of it is words when I’m thinking it.
Freedom
limitless choice
peace and comfort
patriotism (to the extreme, ironic terms freedom being used as a method of control)
anti-freedom = slavery or being controlled
personal experience with making free choices
historical learning about situations where they didn’t have freedom
personal luck in being born in a (mostly) free country
imagining being born and living in a place without freedom
fictional examples of lack of freedom, like sci-fi dystopia
empathy about those that don’t have the same things I do
sense of justice about equality
memory of muscles used to make my mouth and larynx say the word “freedom” FREEEEEE — DUUMMM
All of the above only takes a second or two of actual elapsed time.
Words that come out:
“I love freedom. I wish all people could be free”.