1. How do you "think"? Does it take thoughts to think? Or can you think without thoughts?henry quirk wrote:But me? Just a guy who thinks…
2. Can you know your thoughts before you think them? If not, then how do you know which thought to think?
“Thinking” is not logically possible! -- We can only ‘experience’ thoughts, not ‘think’ (create/construct/select) thoughts.
Careful, this is where Descartes slipped up, and made his first error.Ginkgo wrote:If it is a thought then it must have a thinker attached regardless of where you say it comes from.
If I experience an itch on my arm, can I honestly claim to be the 'causer' of this itch, …or am I really just the ‘experiencer’ of it?
If I experience a thought in my head, can I honestly claim to be the 'causer' (thinker) of this thought, …or am I really just the ‘experiencer’ of it?
? This statement seems a bit misleading/confusing to me --Dontaskme wrote:There is no thinker and thought, they are the same no/thing...
A “thinker/thinking” is not logically possible and therefore is no-thing. But since experiencing itself exists, and “thoughts” are experiences, then “thoughts” exist as an experience, and are therefore NOT no-thing. Clear as mud, right?
Bingo. Correct, -- Thinking (or choosing) our own thoughts is not logically possible!Dontaskme wrote: …if we were the thinker of our own thoughts, we would be able to choose our own thoughts.
Again, be careful, as you are jumping to a false conclusion. Our natural tendencies (via many years of indoctrination) misleads us into accepting that which is logically impossible (i.e. “choosing”).Ginkgo wrote:We do choose our thoughts. Right now I am choosing to go and have a cup of coffee.
Look more closely. Because you ‘experienced’ the thought (and actions) to get up and get coffee does not mean you ‘selected/chose’ that very thought or action. Experiencing a thought/action does NOT mean choosing a thought/action. Experiencing is not the same as choosing.
Experiencing is experiencing. It is passive, one-way, mono-istic; it is an effect; it is the happening UPON or TO us. Remember, we are just experiential beings (aka “experiencers”); that experience moment-by-moment. There is never an opportunity to step outside, or escape, our experiential realm so as to affect our effects.