Thought

It is too much to talk about thoughts and their nature, but let it be said that a thought is seperate from another thought, so that a mind can have a series of seperate thoughts. It also seems that one is able to experience new thoughts. One has thoughts they have never thought before, and these thoughts can be related to recent events. So then I'm sure it's safe to assume that one is able to create new thoughts.
I will talk about being conscious of thoughts.  I don't mean anything too wild here, but simply being aware of a thought. I mean the same thing as thinking a thought, entertaining a thought, having a thought. All these phrases point to the same experience, that of what I will refer to as being conscious of a thought. Finally, I have come to realize this opinion has already been thought of, and has since been labelled epiphenomenalism. Therefore it is my intent to offer the reader not an original theory, but rather an original method of proving said theory.


My claim:
Each thought is not constructed consciously but is rather, as it were, seen by the consciousness, after being constructed non-consciously. So then our thoughts are created non-consciously, without the influence of consciousness.


Explanation:
What I mean is that if one reflects on their mind's processes, they will see that they are concious of a thought itself, but not its creation. In other words, we do not experience why there would be a thought rather than not one, we just experience the thought.

One might counter:
But what about the thoughts one thinks consciously?  I can consciously decide to think of an elephant, and so then I do it.



I would reply:
The desire to consciously think of an elephant, rather than a tiger, rather than an eggplant, rather than not think at all.  This desire, was it created consciously?  If so, was that desire to desire created consciously?  And so on...



One might further counter:
A thought originally may be formed non-consciously, but a second after its birth it begins being changed and shaped by conscious mental activities.  To be conscious of a thought is to affect the thought, and so while not responsible for the original conception, we consciously develop and change the thought for as long as we are aware of it.



I would reply:
Again, why choose to be conscious of the thought rather than go on to the next one?  Why choose to develop a thought one way over the other?  If every effect has a cause, then every mental action is caused by something. Thoughts can cause the creation of new thoughts, but to subscribe to this theory is to admit that originally a non-thought must have created a thought.
"Thoughts' and 'inclinations' and even 'desires' are distinct in many ways, but not in this one:  They all must originate from somewhere other than themselves, for every conscious thought being caused by another, we must admit we are not sure what caused the first one.


Therefore:
Thoughts, at one point, must have originated unaffected by consciousness.  The act of creating a thought seems intuitively different than the act of being conscious of a thought, and so, I feel it safe to say a thought must be created before one is conscious of it.  Should anyone need proof, I suggest they recall anytime in their life they were struck by a thought suddenly, for instance when one remembers, out-of-the-blue, that they forgot to roll their car window up. It is most aligned with experience to claim that every thought stems from the non-conscious.




Consequences:
One simply has ideas, they are not responsible for them. For this reason I say 'Until the schizophrenic is blamed for having delusions, it is inconsistent to praise the genius for their insights, and the artist for their creation'. Of course, this doesn't feel right, and it doesn't seem reasonable to actually take this consequence to heart.  However, it still makes sense, at least to me. And if it doesn't make sense to you, I invite you to reflect on why that is, and if at the very base of your judgement a thought appeared, seemingly from thin air, into your mind. I think anyone who can reflect with accuracy on their own mind will be inclined to agree with me, that all thoughts come originally from a sudden inspiration, come from the non-conscious

An excerpt from 'POE + PASSION'

This evening we will discard our assumptions, we will challenge our premises and we will examine our souls. We as a group, fashionably nicknamed zoomers, have indeed zoomed through life. Many of us although well-intentioned have zoomed through too quickly and too earnestly. You are here tonight to address the dismay, distress, disillusionment and despair that you feel about a life you’ve come to realize just doesn’t add up.

And we so need our lives to add up don’t we? We want to feel a resonance and satisfaction with what life returns to us from the boundless personal energies we expend. If we haven’t done so already, tonight we will dig deep and tap into that unique, elemental, defining point within ourselves from which we will begin again. As we proceed, keep in your minds a little phrase from an old song called “Closing Time”, - “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” Bear in mind also that complex problems cannot be solved but any complex problem can be rendered simple – think “E=MC2.”

I have emerged from my own complex mire by following two simple caveats that I ask this evening, for you to adopt as your own.

My first caveat is - Only YOU can affect a change. You must find your own answers within and in order to do this you need to create an atmosphere conducive to self-dialogue. You need to sloooooooooow down, be quiet - listen to yourself. Take yourself out for a test drive and run yourself through your paces - see exactly what your rigging can handle. By this I don’t mean sign up for the iron man, I mean build on your natural abilities as they have emerged in whatever otherwise mismatched profession or occupation you are now seeking to change. Have you excelled at planning your office parties but flop consistently at reconciling the month-end statement? Then think of yourself as a successful event planner NOT as an accounting failure and NEVER look at yourself through someone else’s eyes. Stand on your own and define your own world. You need to revel boldly in your vibrant, colourful aloneness rather than fade away to beige with the rest of the crowd.

Boldly declare yourself like Edgar Alan Poe in his poem, “Alone”


"From childhood's hour I have not been As others were — I have not seen

As others saw — I could not bring My passions from a common spring —

From the same source I have not taken My sorrow — I could not awaken

My heart to joy at the same tone — And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone —


What a bold assertion!

What a completely unapologetic affirmation of this poet’s unique singularity!

With what familiar resonance these sentiments are echoed in my mind and in my heart!

Poe embraced his singularity to fulfil his destiny and secure a position of posterity in literary history. By no means a role-model for every facet of life; Poe’s one caveat that we should all take to heart is to acknowledge and nurture our own uniqueness and be true to ourselves as we explore each heading on our course through life. I believe that unless we do this our outcome is worse than death – it is never to have lived in the first place.

Many, many people never fulfil their own destinies. They end up living lives that never feel right and never fit right. An ill-fitting shoe may blister your “sole” but an ill-fitting life will blister your “soul! It is a very uncomfortable way to live - but for this transgression against self, I am the first to issue a “me culpa”....

written by Judith Garel

To read this entry in its entirety, please visit
http://juds2u.blogspot.com/2009_09_20_archive.html 

The Logic of Whispers

A whisper of wind set free the walnut

into a 30 foot drop.

Landing onto hard ground, set free the nut

from the shell.



A whispered word, imprisoned,

thoughts into the mind.

To free the thoughts would require

smashing the skull.



Therefore, logic dictates,

to be free, you break something,

or you plant a seed with a whisper.