[Neurons] 2019 Neurons #4 THINKING HUMAN BEINGS

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2019 Neurons #4

January 21, 2019

 

THINKING HUMAN BEINGS

 

Most people do not "think."  Most of the time you are not thinking!  Does
that strike you as shocking?  Or does it not shock you because you simply do
not believe them?  Of course, it all depends on what I mean by the word
"think," doesn't it?  So, here we go.

 

Question: If you are entertaining thoughts in your mind that you have
thought of before, is that "thinking?"  Or is that just rehearsing what you
already know?  If you think something for the tenth time or the hundredth,
are you thinking or just recalling?  If thinking is the mental effort
involved in coming to understand and know something, then regurgitating
former thoughts would not actually be thinking.  So merely have a thought in
your mind does not necessarily mean that you are thinking.  Thinking
involves more and different.

 

If we start with this definition of thinking, then thinking is not what you
think it is.  It is not merely having a "thought" in your head.  Consider
the experience of reading.  Typically when I read, most of the "thoughts"
that I entertain in my mind are not my thoughts, but someone else's.  In
fact, that's generally why I'm reading, I'm wanting to know or understand
what someone else has thought and written about something.  So I'm not
actually thinking, I am receiving.  I am typically in a passive state of
mind, one of receiving thoughts and letting ideas run through my brain.
There's very little mental effort.

 

Now true enough, from time to time the words that I'm reading stimulate me
to actually think- that is, to think of things I had never thought of
before.  In that moment I am thinking- I'm entertaining new ideas, ideas I
have not thought of before.  Now my brain is working as it is representing,
comprehending, organizing, considering, and "working over" those ideas.  In
the end, I may or may not accept and agree with the ideas- yet regardless of
that I have engaged in mental effort.  I have thought.

 

Using this definition to define real thinking- then the mental effort of
thinking is considering, understanding, presenting and working on something
that I don't know.   If I already know something, then I'm just barely
"thinking."  I'm remembering, recalling, going over something already known.
This means that real thinking begins at the border of what you don't know.
Ah, so "thinking" starts when you do not know something.  Now you have to
think.

 

This actually identifies seven categories of using your mind or brain that
are aspects of mindlessness- of unthinking.  While the following are all
forms of "thinking" in the most general terms, they are also forms of
pseudo-thinking.  A "thought" is being processed, but the person is not
using his or her full potential of thinking.

      Reactionary - Toxic- Automatic - Aristotelian - Superficial - Agenda -
Certainty

 

Several of these forms of thinking operate unconsciously- in (1) reactionary
thinking, you usually react without your mind being in gear!  So also in
many forms of (2) toxic thinking (limited beliefs, superstitions, childish
thinking patterns, cognitive distortions).  And obviously with (3) automatic
thinking, whatever you previously thought and learned has dropped out of
conscious awareness and is now operating outside-of-awareness.  (4)
Aristotelian thinking speaks to how we polarize things, create false
dichotomizes and then live in an either-or world.  (5) Superficial thinking
is lazy thinking that is shallow, naive, and escapist.  It is usually
borrowed thinking in that the actual ideas that you are thinking come from
other people- they are the political or religious bullet points that you've
heard and that you now repeat in pretty much a mindless way.  

 

(6) Agenda thinking seems like real thinking, but it is not.  Instead of
entertaining an idea you might disagree with, you filter it out due to your
ego-investment in a particular ideology, belief, understanding, political
party, etc.  Your thinking is highly motivated to see things in a certain
way and confirmation bias enables you to keep supporting it.  (7)
Categorical thinking shows up as certainty wherein you "know" something "for
sure."   And that's the way it is.  Period.  No question.  Case closed.
This seems like thinking, yet it is really the opposite of thinking- in the
state of certainty the mind is closed.  The defenses are up.

 

Real thinking begin when you start considering something that is new to you,
unknown to you, something that you are confused about, or what you do not
know.  Now isn't that interesting?  Thinking begins when you work an idea
over in your mind- and this usually means an idea that you have not thought
of before.  Thinking begins when you do not understand something.  Once you
understand- you stop thinking.  (Well, most pepole do, I hope you are an
exception to this generalization.)  And what are you experiencing when you
do not understand something?  You are confused, perplexed, doubting,
questioning, etc.

 

Now you know why I wrote, thinking is not what you think it is.  And why
most of us do not do a lot of actual thinking.  And that brings up another
fascinating factor about human beings- most people are highly motivated to
bring an end of thinking as soon as possible.  Why?  We do not like feeling
confused, perplexed, in doubt, struggling with questions in our minds!

 

Who does?  The answer is thinkers.  Scientists, explorers, researchers, and
children.  Ah children!  Is that why they are also such passionate learners?
Is that why they never seem to be an end to their questions?  That is until
we send them to school and the school knocks it out of them as they learn to
"shut up, be still, don't move, and don't ask so many questions!" 

 

Then they grow up un-curious, bored and depressed, unable to ask probing
questions, poor learners, turned off to reading, un-creative, stuck, fearful
of making mistakes, hate being confused, run away from perplexity and
complexity, etc.  No wonder they need a Neuro-Semantic cognitive make-over.

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net


    cid:261CED33-4408-4124-862B-B9A4B37A367A

    

 

Dr. L. Michael Hall writes a post on "Neurons" each Monday.  For a free
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