Where do thoughts come from?

Originally posted by Maddogkull
Then what am I.

You, in the most ultimate and final sense, literally, are nothing.

It's hard to explain but think of it this way. What is the difference between "nothing" and "everything"? There actually IS no difference; it is totally semantics. They both refer to a state in which everything is "monotone," one "substance" from which there is no other. Think about it. Both "everything" and "nothing" refer to this same state. In science, this is literally the "unified field" that gives rise to all else.

Were is the evidence I am not my brain??

For other parts of the body it is more obvious to demonstrate, for example to say you are not your foot, or you are not your arm, because you can cut those parts of your body completely off and "you" do not go with them. Large chunks of your brain can also be cut out, and "you" don't leave your body with those chunks, either, and you can actually still live and perform basic functions.

"You" are as much your heart as your brain. Actually, since you can cut chunks of your brain out and live, but can't take any part of your heart out and survive, wouldn't you be more heart than brain?

So who/what am I?? Is there any evience I am seperate from my body?? Just curious lol.

Yes, there is plenty of evidence and then some. But it is inside you, just where one would expect it, and it is impossible to "explain" to someone the most basic essence of their being. If you just stick with the program and continue introspecting yourself you will find more and more evidence. MischeviousElf recommended mind-quieting exercises on the first page of this thread. Try that first. If you can manage to stop/control your thoughts, and control what your brain does, then you will be in a position to more clearly see how "you" are not really your brain but a separate influence upon it.

Wow, that was a good post. Star for you haha. But seriously do you believe in a soul? Like you said if nothing and everything is the same thing, wouldn't that mean there wouldn't be a soul?? Or, creator of the universe. Maybe this thought process is our soul?? How can there be evidence that my thoughts are outside my body?? There hasen't been. Surely they would of found some kind of energy coming out of your body or something around those lines. But they havent yet. This is what gets me.

[edit on 11-10-2009 by Maddogkull]

I read somewhere recently about how there is a vast cosmic consciousness/awareness and that we are all connected to it. The way I understood it is that the all our thoughts and images come from there. It was described as being akin to the Akashic records or The All. As I was reading, I pictured our minds as organic computers linking to a vast information pool. If that theory were true, then we'd all be merely vessels connected to one giant Source. That could also be how our thoughts and emotions create our realities. Those who are aware, meditate, and train themselves to control their thoughts can supposedly create heaven on earth. Some call the source God. I know the concept is out there and sort of Matrixy, but it's interesting to think about. I'll try to find where I read that.

Originally posted by Maddogkull
But seriously do you believe in a soul? Like you said if nothing and everything is the same thing, wouldn't that mean there wouldn't be a soul??

The "nothing"/"everything" would be the "cosmic consciousness/awareness" that the poster above me referred to, that we are all connected to.

There are many levels that remove us from this experience, of everything as being only 1 thing. First, we experience ourselves as a body. Which is an illusion, as we are not really our bodies, but the 1 thing experiencing itself as a body, and going through various biological mechanisms/etc. in order to do this.

I liken the various levels of "soul" to a tree. Awareness/consciousness arises from the 1 thing, which is equivalent to the trunk of a tree. First the tree splits into very large branches, which are like "oversouls," or over-arching energies. Then these split into smaller branches, which then split into even small branches, eventually creating the profile of the whole tree. These energies split more and more, until you reach individual instances of experience, like leaves. Individual people, individual circumstances, whatever the case may be. The nitty-gritty mechanics of how "souls" work is something I wouldn't know in any more detail than that, whether it's encoded into DNA, the whole thing with reincarnation, except that when "you" die, only your body and your ego die but consciousness itself was never born and can never die.

How can there be evidence that my thoughts are outside my body??

That's a complex question that can have many different answers, but for one thing, I can tell roughly what most people are thinking/feeling just by watching them, because their body language gives them away. Only someone who is totally outwardly expressionless is impossible to read in such a way, but even then some people may be able to read more subtle signs that I'm not capable of. And I'm talking about facial muscles tensing and relaxing, breathing patterns, eye movement, the way someone dresses, the way they talk, what they talk about, pretty much any and all "context clues" at my disposal.

Information is a form of energy, you know. A very "high" order of energy no less, that occupies no particular physical location, thus is non-local and multi-dimensional.

Also our cells emit photons that appear to come from our DNA, in the nucleus of each cell, but you can do a Google search on that if you want because that's all I know about that.

[edit on 11-10-2009 by bsbray11]

My apple was red, with a stem, on a table outdoors. The table was brown, and there were trees behind the table and apple. Also, it was sunny outside. This thought lasted literally 0.1 seconds, a brief flash or glimpse.
It truly makes you wonder where thoughts come from, as it took almost no time for this entire complex image to form. I believe thought and more specifically the mind is both inside and outside the body, and before all matter there was mind/conciousness. Therefore "the mind" has always been, and that thought was here waiting for me to think of it...


lol I think therefore I AM.

My imagination is color blind.......does that happen to anyone else????????? All I could think of was a greyish black apple. Everything I imagine is in black and white? This happen to anyone else?

reply to post by ineverknew


Simple answer to your question is this...Thoughts come from your very own "data base". That data base is located in your brain and your diversity of thought is largely limited by your experiences with the subject at hand, such as apples. If you are very young you would probably envision a little colorful glass jar with a mushy substance called applesauce and bearing a name such as Beechnut or Gerber’s, when thinking of apples.

The best way to think about human thinking is to envision a computer and how it works: Central processor, input, output and external devices in the computer world all can have a human counterpart. The tricky part of human thinking is "intuition". If you want, a much better question would be, Where does intuition come from?

..............................

[edit on 11-10-2009 by romanmel]

Who is to say our thoughts are our own? outside sources influences our thinking or thoughts...just a thought

Mischief Elf nailed it

If you like to play with thoughts, if you can drop the fear, you can answer that question and many more. Thoughts are information, information is non-physical,you are consciousness,consciousness is fundamental and also non-physical.

When you meditate you can become unaware of physicality(altered state) with practice(hour a day) you should over time(9 months -2 years) begin to experience the larger reality.

I wish everyone would

What a GREAT thread!!!!!

Wow!!!!....Me and some friends were just contemplating this the other day.
Where does thought originate?
We have come up with some conclusions...but ..those are just thoughts as well..

My apple was green with stem and a leaf on a white plane.....what does that mean?....absolutely nothing! It doesn't mean I have suppressed feelings from childhood, or that I am an introvert or a rapist...it means absolutely nothing.

If one can imagine for a moment (a thought), the visualization of the "big bang" theory of the universe, you can get a grasp of where thought might originate. We are on the leading edge of thought every second that we are alive on this plane of existence. You are where you are right now this second thinking. You cannot be in thought yesterday or tomorrow, but you CAN think about yesterday or tomorrow.

Thought comes from source...some call it god, allah, universal intelligence, etc....but it originates from a source other than your own mind.

When one can stop the "monkey mind" (that which we call the "personal" mind), the true thoughts come in. You can do this by asking yourself, "What's my next thought going to be"? Your personal mind shuts up for about 3 seconds and then starts up again.

When you can get the monkey mind to quiet down for a few hours, you have arrived. That is when you are capable of looking not at the words that are written on a piece of paper, but the spaces in between the words. It then becomes almost like looking at music on a piece of paper. Some can hear the music and some can't.

That what makes every single one of us on this planet related.

So, can someone tell me why we continue to let humans be in positions of power, to the point that they feel the need to go and kill others?

Great thread "ineverknew"....If more people would spend their time contemplating your question, they would have less time to cause discontent in the world....

peace to all....

At first I saw a red apple then it turned green then red again. It was so close to my face, then I started counting and could only see numbers. When I got to six I knew I didn't think about the apple like i was suppose to, as soon as i thought that a blank apple with the number 6 flashed just before I opened my eyes.

....er if you break me you fix me!!!

Why choose an apple? Talk about a loaded metaphor. You got Adam and Eve, Newton, The Golden Apples of Paris, etc.

What if our thoughts came from a collective human mind, that's connects all us individual cells. This Collective Consciousness (see Jung) is the pool from which we draw our individual thoughts and dreams. We are co-creators within this realm with our own species, then expanding out to plants, animals, bacteria, earth, the sun, yada yada.

This creates harmony, though most of the time, we don't see it as such.

Much like the coordination of our bodily functions, no one knows how it all fits together, but somehow a blood cell knows where to go? Is this blood cell conscious? Does it realize it's a part of a much bigger organism?

What if we are the thoughts of another being? As above, so below?....

Enjoy not-knowing...

Originally posted by Jsmallz
Who is to say our thoughts are our own? outside sources influences our thinking or thoughts...

That is also true. I know that from experience. But the source question remains the same (where are those "alien" thoughts originating from?).

just a thought

Yeah, but whose is it?

Sometimes you look into the abyss, and sometimes the abyss looks back.

A crazy ol' Yuma Warrior-Seer says "There is a part of us that knows all things, but that part of us doesn't speak, so most of us ignore it."




[edit on 11-10-2009 by wylee]

[edit on 11-10-2009 by wylee]

If you think that thoughts come from an outside source you should ask someone who has never seen an apple nor ever heard or read about one to imagine an apple.

Of course most people have an apple template already in their brain so pick something most people have never seen.

How about a monk fish? Close your eyes and imagine it then google an image and be honest - did you get it right?

How would you cook a monk fish? Ponder that and then google up a recipe.

If thought comes from an outside source why aren't people more creative? Why do art and music evolve over time rather than jump to a final best form?

reply to post by ineverknew


I think my honest answer is that I don't know where thoughts "come from". Although every indication tells us that a good place to start searching is inside the head.

It is possible that the activities that lead up to a conscious thought are not conscious activities, but that they could be detected with equipment like an MRI machine.

There are brain experiments where a person has electrodes on their scalp, and then are asked to stop a CD player.

In the experiment, the machine connected to the electrodes is also connected to the CD player, and it "learns" the brain pattern that occurs moments before stopping the CD player. This machine is capable of stopping the CD player upon detecting this pattern again.

Then, after a few practice runs, the person is asked again to stop the cd player "whenever they feel like it".

To the amazement of the test subject, the CD player stops before they "thought" they were going to stop it.

Clearly, the implication is that some brain activity resulted in the CD player stopping, but this brain activity was processed by a machine connected to the scalp electrodes much faster than the brain was able to consciously process the thought and act upon it.

-rrr

[edit on 11-10-2009 by rickyrrr]

Great point about art... But isn't it we who judge it to be the best and final form.

I'm sure some people thought the Backstreet Boys are the greatest artists of all time. I happen to be not one of the people.

But I was really into the Doors for a while, now Morrison sounds like crazy, drugged-out, egotistical lush. Things evolve including out idea of beauty.

Some people receive thoughts, and some create thoughts.

I think it's all in how you tune your antenna.

Deeper thought, shallow thinking.

Thought this was an interesting read.


[edit on 11-10-2009 by exposethosesecrets]

Has anyone heard of Lynn McTaggart and tText.

She talks about the conscious connection between the present and the infinite field of possibilities located at the quantuum level.

Thoughts arise from the mind. Everything you see hear and feel is an appearance to mind. Nothing exists from its own side. There is no intrinsic value or quality in anything. You appear things based on imprinting, these objects (apples) arise from your mind. When you have a dream and see an apple in it, you may be apple to bite into it. Upon waking, was that a real apple..... This appearance world exists in the same way. This life is a dream appearance and functions in the same way. Everything appears to mind based on you.... there is no inherently existent apple, or self. Just appearance to mind... THoughts arise in this way, from the mind that observes them. Until we deeply go in and break our patterns and imprints of this subtle hold on our mind, we will never be free of suffering or of realizing the true nature of reality or emptiness.

Homework: Study the emptiness of phenomena in some easy to read Buddhadharma text. Enjoy the exploration.