Why do we all think? Why is it that we can't sit even one moment without thinking? We can hold our breath but we can't hold our thoughts. No matter how hard we try not to think, we are still thinking about not thinking. Is it impossible to remove thoughts from your mind? Are our thoughts a function of our mind or our mind a function of our thoughts? Do we all think in the same way or blind and deaf people have a different way of thinking than us? Do animals think? Clearly they respond to stimuli and are shown to have a good amount of intellect but can they think about several abstract topics like we do? And is their way of thinking different than us? I am sure they do.
Even different humans think in a way very different from others. I have read about geniuses in particular fields and they seem to think in a way completely different than average people. Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematical genius, probably the most naturally gifted mathematical genius ever, used to see symbols in his head in the form of a language. He used to think in the language of mathematics, as strange as it may sound. Ludvig Van Beethoven was almost totally deaf when he composed his most amazing works. What does this say about our senses? Are our senses actually dulling us and preventing us from creating masterpieces? Rather than helping us achieve perfection, are they the training wheels, which, after a certain period of time must be neglected and replaced with pure thought in order to reach the pinnacle of human evolution?It certainly seems to be true in the case of Einstein, because he reached his most important and irrefutable conclusions without the aid of any physical experiments while sitting in his office using pure thought. The beauty of his theory was that it was achieved by exercising the mind and nothing else.
Of course using our senses to go through our daily life and to reach that level of mental conditioning is essential. But we must always remember there comes a time when we have to let go and use only our intellect and thoughts as a means to solve our most difficult problems. If not for anything else, this is certainly worth an experimental trial, in order to see if we can reach those genius recesses of mind by suspending the use of our senses for some time daily and try to let pure thoughts flow through our mind, while surreptitiously keeping track of them. The emphasis should not be to reach a conclusion after thinking, the journey itself is the destination, the process itself the conclusion.
Even different humans think in a way very different from others. I have read about geniuses in particular fields and they seem to think in a way completely different than average people. Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematical genius, probably the most naturally gifted mathematical genius ever, used to see symbols in his head in the form of a language. He used to think in the language of mathematics, as strange as it may sound. Ludvig Van Beethoven was almost totally deaf when he composed his most amazing works. What does this say about our senses? Are our senses actually dulling us and preventing us from creating masterpieces? Rather than helping us achieve perfection, are they the training wheels, which, after a certain period of time must be neglected and replaced with pure thought in order to reach the pinnacle of human evolution?It certainly seems to be true in the case of Einstein, because he reached his most important and irrefutable conclusions without the aid of any physical experiments while sitting in his office using pure thought. The beauty of his theory was that it was achieved by exercising the mind and nothing else.
Of course using our senses to go through our daily life and to reach that level of mental conditioning is essential. But we must always remember there comes a time when we have to let go and use only our intellect and thoughts as a means to solve our most difficult problems. If not for anything else, this is certainly worth an experimental trial, in order to see if we can reach those genius recesses of mind by suspending the use of our senses for some time daily and try to let pure thoughts flow through our mind, while surreptitiously keeping track of them. The emphasis should not be to reach a conclusion after thinking, the journey itself is the destination, the process itself the conclusion.
