I stood Among them, but not of them: in a shroud Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.
- Lord Byron
A friend of mine brought me a revelation after reading my first blog. He told me that a blog ain't about writing skills, but about ideas and thoughts. While I don't agree with him completely, I dedicate this blog to the idea of ideas and the thought of thoughts.
They say that a man is what a man thinks, for what he thinks, he often does, and what he often does, is what makes of him. For women, well I dont think simply substituting "woman" in place of "man" in the above sentence will serve the purpose, for a woman is a whole different world in herself. All I can say for sure is that gravity and relativity do not work in their world the same way it does in our mens world. Anyways thats a whole together a different topic and maybe someday else, I will take a pick on that.
U remember early man? Yeah, he was the one whose picture you saw in your science books. Yes, I know he looked hairy, but comeon, there weren't any shaving kits in that time. What was the first thing the early man would have thought? Was it "damn, where did god left his matchstick? Its so cold in here that my ass has got frozen" or "baaraa...bum...bararara...bum bum bum". Frankly, I can't imagine. But early man was real lucky for he didnt had to think of how to pay the doodhwaalaas and dhobis at the end of the month or decide between choosing between watching a football game and WWF. Believe me, those things can be tough and life altering.
Much before someone got inquisitive about human origins and looked at a giant salamander and uttered the historic words "Oh you look like my cousin Bugglebery", there were people busy searching for origin of thought. The reason why I began with early man was, because the origin of thought began with origin of our evolution. The first thing that would have happened is that he became aware. Aware of himself and his surroundings. I dont know when would it have happened or how it happened? And perhaps these questions are not important. But that was the begining of his age. An age which ushered a whole new meaning to the word "existence" and which brought among other things my favorite cadbury's eclairs. First you got to know what are you looking for to look for something first. That came from awareness. It probably happened that he got aware that there were predators watching him and his girlfriend and he "knew" that he had to do something. Then came the next big thing-"inquisitiveness". To even this day, any new achievement is rooted in these two qualities.
But how do we think?How do we get all these thoughts?Is there some well inside us where we occassionaly take a dip and come out with "thoughts"?And what are these "thoughts"?I can't see them, but I can feel them, so are these thoughts my feelings?How do I know that what I think is my thought and not sent inside my mind by that freaky looking lady who claims herself to be a psychic?Which thoughts are "rational" and which are "irrational"?Are all rational thoughts good?What is good?Who gets to make the decision of what is good?Is there something called evil?Is something bad?
I am not the first one to raise these questions and neither am I the first one to think of their solutions. Everyday in some part of the world, each second, many of us are involved in a turmoil to answer these questions. These questions are the reason, why we have a religion or why need one. And because we all "think" differently thats why there are so many religions inspite of the popular saying "God is One".
I don't profess to be a thinker, but having marshmallows in for dinner table has had some effect. And as a non psychology student, I will try my best to present my understanding over this issue. Ofcourse, at the end of this some or all questions will remain unanswered or I may leave you more confused. But perhaps someone may be able to locate order in disorder and come up with something different. Another strong possibility is that what I say, you'll just agree sayin "so?I already know about that". But thats the thing right. You are supposed to know about this. And for your sake, I hope you will or have already said that already. This is something which we all share, we all are aware of or have been aware at some or the other part of the life. This is not like a physics experiment which few geeks can understand and make the rest of us look like children of lesser god. But if you haven't, relax, take a diet coke and chill, someday u'll reach this stage.I have thought upon these questions often in my life but ultimately had to stop when all the dispirin got finished.
There were times, just like when I am writing this, when I thought I had some answers up my sleeves. But then when I look at what I have realised, I find that there is only one complete truth. Nothing is Absolute. There are no absolute answers. And it is at this point, where I start slipping into the realms of abstract and my sentences run the chance of becoming inarticulate, that it becomes absolutely necessary for me to become dettached with my consciousness if I want an answer to these questions in real terms.
One can go and explaining that a thought is a by-product of all the chemical reactions taking place inside our mind. I would like to believe that. But I am sure, everybody has a feeling that there is more to it. And there lies half the answer. "Feelings". If touch, smell, see, taste are our windows to the outer world, then these "feelings" are the gates to our inside. There is no denying them. They are there for real. Feeling, consciousness and awareness, they are pretty much the same terms, with a very thin line differentiating them. There is no greater sense than feeling for even our outer doors of perception are a way to make us feel about our surroundings.And the rest half of the answer lies in our surroundings. From the day we are born and till the day we die and people at our funeral come to say nice things about us even when the only interaction we had them was when we standing in the same queue to pay the water bills, we pass through a myriad of circumstances. And each of the moment that we pass, has an impact on us.These two things are pretty much what make our thinking. And from the thinking comes the "thought". You might consider a thought as a product of our serious consideration over a matter or in other words what we "think" over a matter. And this is what sets us apart from those who are dead, for they dont have the luxury to think or realise. The way we behave in our present goes down as history tomorrow and decides what kind of future we have chosen for ourselves. There are infinite possibilities on how to behave at a particular moment. Yet in most of the times, we have a clear idea of what we ought to do or more importantly what ought we not to do. And this clarity of taking a decision comes with the way we think and how we have molded ourselves so that only a particular kind of thoughts come at a decisive moment. But hasn't it happened with all of us, so many times in our lives, that we think of something, after the decision has been taken. Another solution, another possibility, which just didn't cross our mind when we were taking a vital decision. And then we wonder at ourselves, where did that come from now and why it didn't strike me before?... And thats because our mind has been conditioned to search for a solution in a particular way... and that is why thinking out of box is really a cumbersome process...
The mind of a scientist requires that things be answered in a realistic way, something which can be understood by our 5 senses. And thats where he usually goes wrong, for he leaves behind the driver of all these-the mind and the consciousness. And thats where the philosophers take an edge over the scientists, for they acknowledge that there is a fair chance that such questions of mind may be left unanswered forever. A scientist won't even acknowledge the presence of consciousness, for regardless how many times u dissect bodies, there is nothing in there such as "consciousness". He refuses to have faith in such subjects.
Another important thing about thought and thinking is that most of us know about things, but we seldom understand things or realise them. Knowing isn't everything, but realisation is. The french call it "pensez et appliquez" or "think and apply". And the world has scene the effectiveness of their thought in the popularity of french kisses and french rolls.
I wonder how many of us have felt some or the other time, as if they were "trapped in the body". That something is holding back. That sky is no different from me and I can reach it, but something is holding me back. That there is nothing such as a complete silence, for the universe is buzzing forever and calling us and telling us that its alive and kicking and nothing is monotonous even on the smallest time scales. I wonder how many of us have felt the same thing when I was at the sea shore, with gentle waves coming and receding away from my feet, and feel as if there wasnt any difference between me and it. Is it realisation?I hope so. Is it a mere thought?I don't know and I don't care, for in the end, it all boils to what Morpheus said "Free your mind".
I end up leaving some unanswered questions and a thought from another great thinker
“Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Have a great time thinking!
