Where do thoughts come from?

All right, I could try to explain what I mean by my question, but my definition may not make sense, so the best way to demonstrate what I'm getting at is by doing a very simple experiment. It's very easy:

I want anyone reading this to close your eyes for just six seconds and think of an apple. All you have to do is remember what the apple looked like.

After you open your eyes, scroll down.
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Now, you thought of an apple, right? What color was it? Green? Red? A little of both? Now, was there a reason that your apple was a certain color? Did you tell your mind, let's make a red apple, or did a red apple just pop up? And if that happened, why didn't your mind make it green?

Did the apple have a stem? How about a leaf? Did you tell your mind to give it them? Where was your apple? On a tree, or a table, or a hand? Did you say, before you pictured that apple, I'm going to make a red apple with a stem, but no leaf, and put it on a table?

Chances are, absolutely not. Here lies my question. The apple just appeared, right? Before people talk, they think of what to say (so long as they're not politicians). But what comes before people think? Thoughts cannot come out of nothing, can they? But before you think something to yourself, before you think of a response, there is silence in your mind. How do coherent thoughts come out of no where? Why was your apple not green (or red)?

i wish i knew i would buy one and give this thread some consideration.

ps please excuse any spelling errors as i typed with my eyes shut for the first 6 seconds.

and i didnt think apple when i opened them i thought doughnut .. as in what kind of doughnut asks a question like that.

so its on topic i indeed had a thought.


hope you will forgive my impudence in having abit of fun with you.



[edit on 10-10-2009 by manxman2]

My apple was green with a stem and no leaves. It was green because i like green apples more than the red ones. However at one point it did turn red for a second and then back to green.

It was alone it a white plane.

Yeah I’m going to hang around this thread. I have always wonder what others think of were thoughts come from. We know memory is in the brain. But have thoughts ever been measured /found in the brain? S&F

reply to post by The Legacy

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alone in a white plain? I've never heard of that one; normally it's a close up view of an apple in a bowl, or lying on the ground. neat.

yes, just pure white, nothing else.

At night when i go to sleep I try to imagine a white/black plane void of any objects. This keeps any thoughts from popping up as i have an active mind which would otherwise not let me sleep.

I thought of an apple. I thought about it because I thought a bunch of things before that lead me to this thread that said I should think of an apple.

The first image looks like what's usually kept around the house, green and red, whatever that is. It had a stem, no leaves. It sat upon an invisible black surface in a black void. It smelled like the fall outdoors.

But soon, I was think of many things by association: Apple Computer, Isaac Newton, Gravity, Micochips, Trees, etc.

Now, I'm thinking of the Brady Bunch (pork chops and apple sauce), pigs, swine flue, The Stand, Steven King, live in sin, come on in, Storm of the Century, 2012, even numbers, what time is it? 7:43, lots of sevens, TMBG, that thread where I posted a video of that, what is the next thing? OMG. Neurons, memory, dopamine levels, schizophrenia, I have mild gas after eating Grape Nuts, nuts, applesauce, apple, set your piggies free.

[edit on 10/10/2009 by EnlightenUp]

Stop making thoughts to see where thoughts come from (like imagination of an apple), cant be done.

Stop thinking or talking about where thoughts come from, as this is just more thoughts.

Soup cannot know the chef who made it.

RELAX

NOW

LOVE

Sit everyday, meditate, just by watching the thoughts, being aware of them, dont push them away, dont pull in more, just be aware.

Over time the gaps between thoughts are noticed.

Then later the muck and hidden quiet thoughts in what you thought lol were the gaps will be seen.

Do the same as before.

One day real space and silence is found.

It gets bigger the space and time between thoughts and jumping about of the mind.

Then also one day the arising of and dissolution of the thoughts becomes more clear.

Eventually where and what creates the thoughts is known, which cant be put into words anyhow, it needs to be experienced.

Enjoy

Elf.

i keep thinking apple for six seconds .. and all i see when i open my eyes is some kind of monty python sketch with issac newton taking one to the ear whilst walking under a tree..

its a red apple with a couple of cutsie little leaves.






ive done it again ive taken the pi$$ totally uncalled for aswell.



however due to re-reading your initial post i have to wonder why my first thought instinctively was to take the pi$$.

i will ponder it awhile .. dont wait up.


edited in after posting to say i now see i wasnt the only one issac came to mind with.

[edit on 10-10-2009 by manxman2]

reply to post by ineverknew

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Well you are not your brain. So they don't come from there.

Your conciousness, or your soul is what I would attribute those things to. But you are asking a very vague queestion that no human has the answer to.

Not a living human anyway.

~Keeper

Actually i would like to add that other thing i thought of other than what i described above

at one point i also saw the apple in a "matrix"

just a grid with intersecting lines in 3D with the apple in there, but hey i also watched a bit of matrix reloaded yesterday



[edit on 10-10-2009 by The Legacy]

NO! I don't like this restaurant. Silence is a golden delicious.

Real space and silence are apple seeds.

Tip over the roller coaster.

If everything is part of the Original Thought, I'd say our thoughts are all one big consciousness having this experience, for the purpose of the experience. But if we are individuated parts of the whole, then our thoughts must be mingled in with everyone else's, how can we tell which ones are our own?

So our test here must be -- how will we react to the thoughts that are presented to us?

reply to post by ineverknew

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I like your question.
Questions and Answers help us propogate inifinity.

Its all Symmetry

chaos/order

equations/answers

mind and spiritual/physical exisitence

Your mind is not your brain nor ego.
It is part of a infinite set of chaotic equations.
Your thoughts are results (order through answers) and manifestated from these into the physical existence as the thoughts you have.

Memory is part of the brain, and chemical, you need to separate them out. You also need to sepaprate mind thought from ego thought.
One is a result of chaotic equations.Mind
The other is a result of ordered equations. Ego
What are results? Answers. And where do answers come from? Equations or questions.
Make sense...lol!
Sorry

Your asking kinda the big bang question. What am I?
All chaotic and ordered actiivity is a result of not knowing self, and you /we are here to help answer realisation of self.

Is it possible that the apple is the One?

reply to post by The Legacy

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Yup, mine was red but natural red, not super market waxed red lol, and it was just on its own, no table or bowl or tree just white with an apple in the middle..a stem but no leaf. As for the question, its always been an interest of mine as well, and there seem to be sooo many theories on the topic! All i can come up with is that thought is produced by an 'unknown' but concious part of the brain (as well as the subconcious mind) if that makes any sense.. a part that feeds the concious mind in a way... the apple for instance would most likely be the result of being raised in a world where a certain shape and colour is used for an apple, but personal preference would have to play into it as well, so it cant all be conditioning or social engineering, right? ..then again theres also the theory that our thoughts arent ever our own but are sort of 'beamed' into our minds via government technology or alien lifeforms.. for whatever multitude of reasons.. Over all its a facinating topic, one that can certainly make the mind not shut up for a very long time lol Would love to hear others ideas on this so i will keep checking back

Thoughts. Where do they come from? I have given that a lot of thought.

Thoughts are an endless supply of knowledge that our mind transfers to us via

the brain. As we go to sleep at night DMT is released which allows us access to

the thought multiverse. Thoughts come from the place as the big bang came

from, either by intelligent design or random happenings. With every thought

comes endless choices. So by that we are guided by our thoughts, hence

comes responsibility for our own actions. As geneticists unravel DNA they will

discover the code which will unlock the door to the thought multiverse.

reply to post by ineverknew

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In my case, no. It evolved over about half a second from "just a shape" to added color, then a stem, and then a third dimension was added.



Please be more clear in this question. I'm not sure what you're asking. All of eternity comes before a thought. I don't think thought is cause and effect. If it were, would it be thought?



They do not come out of nowhere. They are observed in the mind by the observer.



For the same reason that my apple was not a 400-ton megabeast chewing on a building. My brain has associated "apple" with a certain set of ideas. 400-ton megabeasts are not part of the direct assocation with "apple." However, "small crunchy red fruit" is. And yes, red apples and green apples are both associated with "apple." But in my case, because of previous explosure and associations, red apples are more strongly associated with "apple" than green apples are. Just like Eris tossing an apple into a party so Aphrodite, Athena and Hera can fight over it is also associated with "apple" but not as strongly as "small crunchy fruit."



No. Verbal thought is very low-grade as thoughts go. If you quiet your mind sufficiently, you may find that you're able to observe thoughts far more "substantial" than "I'm going to think about an apple now." Case in point: your thoughts of the apple, without the words about how you'll think about the apple.

Thoughts come from experiences imprinted on the brain.

I_R

reply to post by ineverknew

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My apple appeard red with a bit a of a shade of greenish yellow a stem and a leaf. But it was black all around.