The Excogitative Period

This is the only place I found to put this so I hope it fits.

I should have posted this as a question because I am curious of everyone’s perspective on when the best time to basically ponder was.

There are times or instances in our life where we find ourselves in a heightened state of cognition, where we definitely feel more susceptible to information, developing newly ideas and feeling ourselves aware, awake, and very contemplative. For myself, whenever I get irregular sleep or throw off my normal sleep pattern to the point where I am less tired at night, I will find moments when there is something on my mind and I can’t fall asleep. I’m sure just about everyone has these moments, but in these moments I lose track of what was originally on my mind and begin to get side tracked into peculiar concentrations.

Sometimes I will think of the most radical abstract theories and speculations only to forget most of it in the morning; that is if I didn’t write them down. Or I’ll think of funny jokes that I find myself laughing out loud to myself, but again, it is very late at night/early in the morning, and I brush it off, not writing it down, only to regret it when I wake up. Other times are when I’m in the shower. If I don’t have a rushed schedule, for some one reason or another the oddest ideas come to my head in the shower. I’ll spend over an hour in there, wrinkled and wise to my own fulfillment.

I’ve asked this to a lot of friends and most say that is just before they fall asleep or just after they wake up, which makes sense, seeing that there are specific states of consciousness that happen during both those periods, so I ask, When does it happen to you?

If there aren't times, then feel free to post what you do to find this period.

See also Association of Ideas

edit: the wiki entry

[edit on 12-11-2008 by juveous]

I too have these moments soaking in a warm tub and also when mowing the yard. The sound of the lawnmower blocking out other sounds puts me in a cocoon of introspection.
However more and more increasingly I have these moments right here on ATS while reading one interesting thread after another, most recently while reading a thread titled "Window of Opportunity".

reply to post by MsSmartypants


I'm still looking for some more science on this, I'm not sure if there is a more specific term to describe it other than maybe "thinking a lot" but it fascinates me that there are specific times that it re-occurs, specific to each individual.

reply to post by juveous


I have felt this way my entire life. Adderall helps. And I am not joking. I need the stuff.

I really don't think there is any good science pertaining to this, at least in my interpretation anyway. From an epistemological perspective this can quickly lead into the paranormal, beyond what most consider normal but not necessarily fantasy.

I can remember occasionally single words would be in my thoughts for whatever reason and I would have to look them up as I didn't know their meaning. This seemed quite curious until the word quintessence was floating around in my mind, again for reasons unknown and I had to look it up. This particular word lead me down a very interesting path as the definition was more like an explanation of the previous events.

Quintessence in the Vedic Sanskrit is Akasha or cosmic thought, it has also been defined as ether, Luminiferous Aether or the medium in space that propagates energy which modern science claims does not exist. This thing that is said not to exist goes by many different names from people all over the world dating beyond antiquity, regardless of what modern science has to say there is much to learn down this path.

I think it's during a light meditative state that we can become susceptible to what I would describe as objective thoughts. There are a myriad of ways to meditate and not all are good. I favor a moving meditation, similar to Thai Chi, where slow subtle movements keep you aware of your thoughts yet allow you to separate from them. In this way it's possible to remove negative thoughts and free up your mind for more important stuff. I find that I do this while I'm driving, what little focus is needed to drive is just enough distraction to get into a comfortable and relaxed state of mind. This not only makes my commute pleasant it is also a great time to ponder those wild theories and difficult questions. There is far more to be said about this then I have the time for here, I'll link some free online ebooks that have influenced me and explain moving meditation.

How Your Mind Can Keep You Well. "Through the meditation exercise, we influence simply by not being influenced-discern by not judging-love by not resenting. We cause response simply by not responding-obtain by not coveting-and own by not seeking to possess. We stand as evidence of what is correct by our ability to hold sway over our emotions. Others, feeling our calm observations of them as they really are, are caused to feel exposed."

How to Conquer Negative Emotions."Resentment is an emotion of judgment that strengthens your ego in it's rejection of the truth so that you don't have to see that you are wrong."


[edit on 11/16/2008 by Devino]