We Can't Stop Thinking!

[s1eep]

It it true that it is very difficult if not impossible to stop thinking with your voice once you know a language. If I was going to think anyway, is my idea ever original? I'm going to think again, but it could be a good idea-- but because it's product of me thinking, and the words I know enslave me to thinking in my voice, is this idea really mine, or am I compelled to put in effort because of the words and their control over my mind (i.e. we can't stop thinking)?

[Dekan]

I know what you mean! This subject has probably been discussed lots of times over the ages, and in SFN forums.

I don't feel inclined to research what conclusions were arrived at, and will just give my own impressions, which are that when "thinking" about something - such as how to solve a problem, we can experience three consecutive stages:

 

Firstly - a kind of instantaneous revelatory "insight" into the solution - the famous "ah-hah" feeling.

Secondly - sometimes a mental image, or series of images, flashing ultra-rapidly through the "mind's eye";

Thirdly, a slower justificatory process of reasoning, which is carried out using language, ie by words. Like: "So if I put this component here, and that component there, then the electrical circuit will work!"

 

Of these three stages (if they exist), only the last one seems to involve language. And the language usually only serves, as I suggested above, to justify conclusions which have already been reached by the mind without using language.

 

Of course, this simplistic idea doesn't apply to all problems. Especially those of a mathematical nature. For example, when embarking on solving a Sudoku or Hanjie, I find that very careful verbal reasoning is required. That will be obvious to all fans of these puzzles. Any "flashes of intuition" are likely to lead to false entries - and to the frustrated rubbing out of the grid, to start again!

 

However, for problems which aren't dependent solely on maths, language probably doesn't control our minds. But it may possibly influence our minds, by the presence or absence of certain words. For example, in the English language we have a finely graduated set of words describing increasing temperature -

 

cold - tepid - lukewarm - warm - hot - boiling

 

Can that series be adequately translated into the French language. If not, does it mean that French minds can't understand the difference between "tepid" and "lukewarm"? Or "warm" and "hot"?

Edited March 17, 2014 by Dekan

[John Cuthber]

Whoever invented the word "tepid" knew what the idea was in order to need to invent a word for it.

It is therefore obviously absurd to suggest that the lack of a word for something means you can't imagine that thing.

Someone invented the television before there was a word for it.

 

And, if you are not aware of visual thinking, you are missing out on a lot of thought.

 

Can you do those "which of these shapes can be rotated to give the shape below" type puzzles?

 

Do you do those in French or English?

[davidivad]

 

It it true that it is very difficult if not impossible to stop thinking with your voice once you know a language. If I was going to think anyway, is my idea ever original? I'm going to think again, but it could be a good idea-- but because it's product of me thinking, and the words I know enslave me to thinking in my voice, is this idea really mine, or am I compelled to put in effort because of the words and their control over my mind (i.e. we can't stop thinking)?

 

pick a random word in the above quote and experience the feel of the word. it helps to relax first.

to do this, focus your eyes on an imaginary point on your forehead for about thirty seconds in a manner that your eyes are rolled back into your head. after the thirty seconds, blink your eyes a couple of times and close them visuallizing your word as if it was printed on a card. once you are successful at this, imagine how the word makes you feel looking at it in your head.

doing this requires practice scince the excercise induces a light REM state.

[s1eep]

What are we extracting from when we use the word (it is not there, it is sound)? The universe?

Edited March 18, 2014 by s1eep

[Roamer]

 

We Can't Stop Thinking!

No worriez, we're not too good at it

 

Joking aside, think about what you're thinking about, and whether it actually relates and effects you on any positive/negative way.

[PeterJ]

You seem to have hit on the idea that to see the world as it is, free of linguistic and conceptual baggage, requires bypassing the discursive intellect. It's an idea that goes back to the dawn of recorded human history. Maybe you should try objectless meditation, to get a feel for what lies under the linguistic and conceptual clutter.

Edited May 16, 2014 by PeterJ

[Greg H.]

I have no trouble getting my brain to stop thinking, at least consciously. I do it every night about 10 pm local time, and resume when my alarm clock yells at me circa 6 am the following morning.

 

My wife, on the other hand, has the problem you seem to be describing. She cannot get her brain to "turn off". I'm not sure why.

[hoola]

we can stop thinking at least on a superficial level for a short period of time, just as we can stop breathing briefly. The brain needs to think, even when disengaged with a conscious task, as a biolgical requirement, just as we need to breath. The analogy continues with the brain needing to not "overthink"which leads to negative consequences such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the breathing with "hyperventilation". "Turn off your mind and surrender to the void" was a lennon lyric I can relate to...as an investigation with the emotional and spiritual minds of the void, once the intellect is briefly ignored by the awareness...