#35 Wednesday Words: Illeism – a helpful tool

Hi there, readers. Welcome back to Wednesday Words. On April 14, 2023, the BBC News website published an article about something I’d NEVER heard of: Illeism—a tool used in ancient times that today can help us think more wisely, as the article’s author, David Robson, points out.

For the link to the article, keep reading. In this post, I offer only a few tidbits.

What’s Illeism?

Robson, a writer who specializes in psychology, tells us in his article:

Illeism is the practice of talking about oneself in the third person, rather than the first person. The rhetorical device is often used by politicians to try to give their words an air of objectivity. In his account of the Gallic War, for example, the emperor Julius Caesar wrote, “Caesar avenged the public” rather than “I avenged the public.” The small linguistic switch seems intended to make a statement feel a little more like an historical fact, recorded by an impartial observer.

What’s illeism good for?

Inner peace is one benefit for me. Confession: I often talk to myself in the third person but not out loud unless I’m alone. What I’ve noticed is this: my emotions tend to be less intense, even distance themselves from me like a kite in the wind. I feel as though I am looking at them pass me by, or that they belong to someone else. That feeling also comes over me when I meditate (which isn’t often) and “watch” my thoughts parade through my mind one after another. Illeism isn’t magic, but it’s a tool I use to reclaim inner calm, which is something I highly value.

Besides talking to myself this way, I’ve also practiced illeism on paper, writing in my journal about Charlene and how she feels about particular issues, problems, or anything on her mind that she desires to clarify. She says she feels calmer after doing this and that sometimes new ideas occur to her for making decisions she’s been wrestling with. (Journaling has a way of doing that, no matter whether you’re writing in first person or third person). Besides that, she says it’s just a fun exercise to try, so she recommends it for anyone willing to experiment. Why not?

About illeism, Robson writes:

If we are trying to make a difficult decision, speaking about ourselves in the third person can help neutralise the emotions that could lead our thinking astray, allowing us to find a wiser solution to our problem.