What are thoughts?

[jajdude]

This is not a trivial question, nor do I ask it lightly. Thoughts are the things that kill, and inspire. They are a burden. They pounce on us constantly. They won't shut up. So, they make us, they do. We do not make them, but they make us.

Ideas?

[osho]

This is not a trivial question, nor do I ask it lightly. Thoughts are the things that kill, and inspire. They are a burden. They pounce on us constantly. They won't shut up. So, they make us, they do. We do not make them, but they make us.

Ideas?

What you said here are thoughts, your peculiarities, your assumptions, your memories and your understanding of truths and your reactions to your environment. This is a little about it and I am sure you cannot find the true explanation even if you engage in years of discussion and perusal. Yet you will see the sparkle of it if not the substance itself

[Paulclem]

One of the initail aims of meditation is to gain an understanding of the mind and how thoughts work.

It is interesting that when the mind is calm you can watch the arising and passing of thoughts as if by themselves. Our usual western view is that we actively think the thoughts we have, as if our mind is some kind of thought generator that we power up to produce these things.

Only a very little practice will demonstrate that this is not the case. I'm not talking about when you are focusing upon a work or study task and your mind is directed toward some problem or process. When that stops the mind carries on producing thoughts. One of the questions that I ask myself when I see these thoughts arising is if I'm looking at my thoughts arising, then where are they coming from?

Of course it's not a new idea. A similar view was taken by religious people in the past that blamed those disturbing thoughts that we all have on demons or the devil tempting them.

It is an interseting question.

[cafolini]

This is not a trivial question, nor do I ask it lightly. Thoughts are the things that kill, and inspire. They are a burden. They pounce on us constantly. They won't shut up. So, they make us, they do. We do not make them, but they make us.

Ideas?

Absolutely. Individualism or free will is one of the greatest delusions. People are made from the outside in relation to the inside and vicecersa. Some we make and some we take, but none we make or take in vaccuo. What we make and what we take is circumstantial.

[Kyriakos]

This is not a trivial question, nor do I ask it lightly. Thoughts are the things that kill, and inspire. They are a burden. They pounce on us constantly. They won't shut up. So, they make us, they do. We do not make them, but they make us.

Ideas?

If i were you i would drop this question...
When i was 18, in the first year of my philosophy studies, i tried to examine Exactly this question. The result was not good, since i tried to analyze the very state of being able to analyze, while being both observer and phenomenon.
My diary is around 7500 pages long, and i have a lot of notes there about this issue. My advice, again, is to stay away from this Scylla, like Odysseus did :)

[jajdude]

I'm afraid the question cannot be so easily dropped, for it involves everything. It's a bit philosophic I guess, but not really. It doesn't much confuse me anymore. Thought creates us. Is that hard to understand? It is important as it is behind all the crap (and good stuff) in the world.

The old idea which still persists is that we create thoughts, which sounds silly to me, as there is no we or nationality or anything without the thought in the first place.

Nope, thoughts are there first, running the show. Hope that doesn't surprise anybody, but it is how it is.

[jajdude]

I suppose an extra question might be, where do thoughts come from? But this is not that hard to answer. Is it? They come from the various influences of life. From the people whose thoughts made them. It's not difficult. It sounds difficult perhaps because we have been told or trained to imagine we are the thinkers. It simply isn't so. We have gathered what we have now, and this is just a matter of words, the "I" and the "you" who are the result of thoughts, oh yeah, and the sex of our parents.

Should thought or thoughts mean the same thing? Not sure.

[author1500less]

Some interesting thoughts according to American History:

A supreme justice was said "women shouldn't be protected the right to work while pregnant because people will ridicule and laugh at them."

Another supreme justice said "if your from a poor neighborhood the government shouldn't find ways to get more money for your schools and repairs. Deal with what your people can pay in taxes."

Both supreme justices were later found to be arguing unfavorable positions by Congress and Social Political movements.

Thoughts are the ideas that regulate society.

Would you be captivated by the thought of a man that was given a message direct from a supreme being to tell you how to lead your life? Many civilizations have and remnants of that still exist today. The cliche is the message is more important than the messenger.

[cafolini]

I suppose an extra question might be, where do thoughts come from? But this is not that hard to answer. Is it? They come from the various influences of life. From the people whose thoughts made them. It's not difficult. It sounds difficult perhaps because we have been told or trained to imagine we are the thinkers. It simply isn't so. We have gathered what we have now, and this is just a matter of words, the "I" and the "you" who are the result of thoughts, oh yeah, and the sex of our parents.

Should thought or thoughts mean the same thing? Not sure.

Good additions to the subject. Descartes forced the issue. It might more rightly occur as I am, therefore I think.

[Varenne Rodin]

I wouldn't be captivated by that, author. Voices inside someone else's head have never provided evidence of higher beings. Maybe we are the higher beings.

More primitive apes form thoughts differently than we do. Some of them have been taught language (signing). Our thoughts are an extension of our earlier instincts. At some point it became useful to adapt to the point of creating language. We evolved greater communication skills. Now we have so many words and pictures in our heads. Our brains had to change. They developed more neural pathways, more neurons. Things became more complex. With complex brain networks come complex thoughts and interactions. We're growing as a species. I don't know what we're growing into, but I think it's important to keep the flow of information going. There were things we weren't aware of, in early life and in early history. Now we know a lot more, but we're still incomplete. I think it of the utmost importance to continue to ask questions.

I don't know what I am or what reality is, I only know my perceptions. Some things seem paradoxical. I understand where Kyriakos is coming from. Still, I can't turn away from the quest to open Pandora's box.

[Paulclem]

I suppose an extra question might be, where do thoughts come from? But this is not that hard to answer. Is it? They come from the various influences of life. From the people whose thoughts made them. It's not difficult. It sounds difficult perhaps because we have been told or trained to imagine we are the thinkers. It simply isn't so. We have gathered what we have now, and this is just a matter of words, the "I" and the "you" who are the result of thoughts, oh yeah, and the sex of our parents.

Should thought or thoughts mean the same thing? Not sure.

Do they just come from there? What is the procedure for developing disturbing or inspiratioal thoughts?

Although you might be able to argue that evil or disturbing thoughts come from the influences around - though in my opinion this is just supposition and really we don't know that this is the only influence - the same can't be said of inspirational thoughts, which by virtue of their inspired nature, do not come, in their final form, from external influences. They may be couter to experience and what we have been formerly told. (Edited for clarification).

[Alexander III]

non-materialistic farts perchance ?

[Paulclem]

non-materialistic farts perchance ?

Certainly some people's thinking stinks.

In terms of functions of mind, they may be automatic.

[osho]

Thoughts go censoriously; that means your impulses, drives, sexual urges and whims go sieved, and rationalized and what remains readied for communication is your thoughts and the books you read and the ideas you put forth are your thoughts and they speak little of who you are, the major chunk of who you are go morphed, layered and barricaded.

Thoughts are your arrogance and your unnatural, external self and that does not mirror who you are

[Paulclem]

Thoughts go censoriously; that means your impulses, drives, sexual urges and whims go sieved, and rationalized and what remains readied for communication is your thoughts and the books you read and the ideas you put forth are your thoughts and they speak little of who you are, the major chunk of who you are go morphed, layered and barricaded.

Thoughts are your arrogance and your unnatural, external self and that does not mirror who you are

Often they do, except in moments of anger where they are expressed uncensored and can cause a lot of hurt to others.

I wouldn't agree that this is on the whole a conscious process, but a social conditioning that tempers our language in certain company, but not in others where we are more relaxed.

What forms these thoughts though, because this is not a conscious process until we focus on a task or are actively thinking things out?

[osho]

Often they do, except in moments of anger where they are expressed uncensored and can cause a lot of hurt to others.

I wouldn't agree that this is on the whole a conscious process, but a social conditioning that tempers our language in certain company, but not in others where we are more relaxed.

What forms these thoughts though, because this is not a conscious process until we focus on a task or are actively thinking things out?

Thoughts originate from memories. Memories are processed and in the very process some of our memories, feelings, urges – sexual, perversions get censored and of course at times we do behave impulsively and we tend to become rebellious and at times very violent and once we use plenty of thought and keep our emotive things in control we will behave rationally

[Paulclem]

Thoughts originate from memories. Memories are processed and in the very process some of our memories, feelings, urges – sexual, perversions get censored and of course at times we do behave impulsively and we tend to become rebellious and at times very violent and once we use plenty of thought and keep our emotive things in control we will behave rationally

Memories no doubt play a part in some instances but they can hardly account for the thoughts we have in new, fresh situations or in the endless permutations of situations we encounter. Perhaps memories form the basis of our attitudes which affect our thinking.

I think that social behaviour is absorbed and adopted by our thinking, but this is flexible as we behave differently towards different people and situations.

I feel that thoughts - those that arise when we are not activey thinking are chaotic, but often their origin is unclear. Trains of thought can be traced back, but inspiration? This can't come from memory if it is original to us.