Shorts | What are You Without the Voice in Your Head?

What are you without the voice talking inside your head? In this episode of Living the Tao Shorts (2-30), Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod and Morgan explore one of the most basic—and surprisingly difficult—questions we can ask: What is the self? Is the self the internal narrator commenting on your life? Your memories? Your experiences? And if that familiar voice falls silent, have you actually lost anything at all? From there, the conversation moves into mortality, Daoist immortality, and the human desire for permanence. Why do we assume that something must last forever in order to have value? Why would creatures who have never experienced permanence make permanence the measure of importance? Along the way, there are ancient immortals, geological spans of time, and even the realization that after a few hundred years of serious spiritual cultivation, immortals apparently spend quite a bit of time going to parties. But beneath the humor is a distinctly Daoist question: perhaps the truth of who you are is not an idea called the “self,” but the experience of actually living. And perhaps the long spiritual journey ends somewhere unexpected—with becoming what you already are. 🌐 Explore more Taoist teachings: https://www.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com 🎧 Listen to more Living the Tao Shorts & full episodes: https://podcast.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com -From Beginner to Expert, examine our collection of free videos and articles on qi gong: https://www.watermountainvirtual.com/qi-gong-collection/ Premium Episodes, Full Catalog (4x the content), AMA, and episode commentary: https://living-the-tao.supercast.com