What The Hell Is A Thought?

[jhmarrio]

So... what exactly is a thought?

Right when I think I have an idea of what a thought is (ah, the irony in this sentence  ), I feel that actually I don't. So how to observe thoughts when I don't really know what I'm supposed to be observing? And from where Im observing it from. this is the struggle...

From what I gather, a thought is:

- "the voice" i.e. the monkey chatter of the mind;

- images in the mind;

- concepts, beliefs (really just a mix of images, sounds, other sensory info but projected in the mind)

 

So where's the division between what is "in my mind" as thought and what my mind is rendering in my sensory field of awareness (i.e sight, taste, touch, smell)?

I don't know.. and I don't even know what Im not knowing

(okay, that last line was thrown in just to lighten the mood  )... but really

What the hell is a thought anyways?

[Natasha]

@jhmarrio A thought is an energy form with an illusory content. Leo has a good vid called The Illusory Nature of Thought, check it out.

 

Edited October 8, 2017 by Natasha
spelling

[Nexeternity]

A thought is basically a distinction.  As in something that is distinct from everything else that its not.  The thing is since there are no real boundaries between things, and there are not even things technically heh, the distinction is illusory.  

Reality gets fragmented through thought in order for the human to navigate it and survive.

And so what isnt a thought would be observation, or the nature of the thing itself... that self aware infinite nothingness people are always talking about 

Its a deep topic and hard to explain 

Read the Book of Not Knowing by Peter Ralston, it will help alot.   He basically tells you the answers to these questions but also helps you contemplate them yourself so you can get the deep existential insight firsthand. 

[ajasatya]

@jhmarrio you cannot comprehend what thoughts are with more thoughts. the intellect cannot go further than this intrinsic limitation of logic/language.

if you truly want to "comprehend" it, you'll have to find another way. and it CERTAINLY will require a huge leap of courage.

Edited October 9, 2017 by ajasatya

[BjarkeT]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_neural_network

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_neuron_model

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science

might be relevant

Edited October 8, 2017 by BjarkeT

[Highest]

A thought is a thought (normally "the voice"), there is nothing illusory about it. Without thoughts we wouldn't be human and there would be no way to navigate one's life. But to use thoughts instead of being used by them, that's another thing altogether.

[Joseph Maynor]

Anything that is not a direct perception of reality in the present moment is an illusory distinction, relation, or augmentation of reality.  Even thoughts are perceived, but what their symbolic nature is aping is false.

For example, you may see lots of shapes and colors in your awareness.  But only the mind individuates and labels shapes and colors from the whole.  E.g., you may see a two dimensional photo — but only the mind says that’s so and so in the photo.  So, thoughts are real as perceptibles, but what the symbols are relating to or pointing to is false.  

The imagery you are perceiving in a daydream is true imagery, but those images are not reality, they are aping reality.  What the images are being interpreted as being is false.  Like the photograph example above.

So, you can think of it like this — thoughts are a false distinction, relation, connection that the mind augments perceivable reality with.  The symbols exist, but what the mind takes them to symbolize is false.  

The mind likes to surrender to symbols rather than reality because it keeps the illusion of ego alive.  It distracts you from being: which is threatening to the ego.  The ego wants you to live in the mind not in being.  In that way the mind can be a handmaiden for the ego.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Brimstone]

Good question @jhmarrio

Your thoughts arise within you so enquire within yourself, it is the best way to know what thought is.

Ask things like;

what is thought?

where do thoughts arise?

why do thoughts occur?

what is not thought?

The answers are within you, just ask and enquire and who knows you might surprise yourself. 

[Erlend]

In a sense, they are sounds. Just like you can hear sounds with your ears you can "hear" thoughts with your awareness. 

[Heart of Space]

It's a narrative pertaining to reality that is purely known.

 

[jhmarrio]

Thanks a lot everybody! I appreciate all of the feedback

@Brimstone definitely going to try some of these during my self-inquiry.

@Joseph Maynor @NexeternityGreat stuff. I wonder... as soon as I place a label on something, is this a red flag for thought? For example if I hear a train and perceive that sound as a train (and maybe accompany that sound with the image of a train) vs "flattening the illusion" of that sound for the bare frequencies my ear is capturing. 

@Natasha  I have watched that one.. but it was a while ago. Worth a revisit given my questions these days. Thanks for recommending