Who Is Asking?

Metaphorical Narrative

Picture this: a smoky courtroom suddenly appears in your mind. The gavel slams. A faceless judge leans forward, booming, “I forbid you.” The walls echo with verdicts you never asked for.

But then you squint. The chair is empty. The robe is hollow. The voice is just smoke shaped into words. You walk up, pull the curtain, and find nothing but a dusty loudspeaker repeating its old script.

You laugh. Out loud. Because there is no judge. No jury. No authority. Just a recording that only had power when you believed it.

Core Insight

The ego trap works by faking authority. It says “I don’t give you permission”—but the trick is that nobody real is speaking. No one actually has the right to forbid you. The brain hears a “command” and instinctively reacts, forgetting to ask the obvious: who is asking?

Once you ask that question, the whole spell shatters. Executive function takes the mic. You see the ego for what it is: a tape recorder running on fumes, trying to sound like law.

Saturday Experiment

• Next time you hear the forbidding voice (“You can’t do that,” “You’re not allowed”), stop.
• Ask, “Who is asking?” Say it out loud if you can.
• Notice the silence that follows. There is no judge. No council. Just you.
• Act anyway. Even a small step. Send the message, take the space, or break the script.

Each move you make is a verdict of freedom.

Sunday Reflection

• When they hear the voice of “forbid,” do they imagine a face, a judge, a parent, a teacher? Who does it look like?
• When they ask “Who is asking?” what happens to the image? Does it shrink, vanish, or laughable dissolve?
• How might they live if no invisible tribunal existed at all?
• In what corner of their life do they still obey the smoky judge, and what would it mean to walk out of that courtroom today?