Do new thoughts exist? – Part 2

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The Past – All thought is old!

“We recognise only something that we have already known and therefore when we say we have had a new experience it is not new at all” : Jiddu Krishnamurti

In part 1, we started the inquiry into the origin of  thought and examined why Learned “Labels” play an important role in influencing our perception of reality.

Lets look at how we believe that our past defines who we are by examining;

The Past Event

“Game of Thought”, presents  the self perpetuation of thought, the inevitable question that arises from every answer. As we are currently inquiring into the origin of our thoughts based on past events, we need to include experiences recorded by our senses. Events that have an emotional impact on us play a major role in confirming the illusions created by our thoughts. The recollection of past events in the form of memories is the recollection of the experience from the perspective of all of the senses, and is accompanied by powerful emotions. It is not surprising that we would become addicted to recalling memories, as this can produce very intense sensations.

As most people are in a constant search to “feel good”, attempting to relive past pleasurable experiences is the perilous path that most take. Perilous, as the relationship between emotions (feelings’) and thought is usually far more obvious in the negative form than the positive. The stomachache, headache, nausea, vertigo (among others) relating to anxiety is an experience most have encountered. Even the good feelings generated by positive memories can produce the bad feelings associated with the desire to reproduce the event.  One should never underestimate the capacity of desire to produce a perpetual state of stress and suffering. Recalling memories is what starts the pendulum swinging from past to future with no pause for the present.

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We should also review distorted memories within this category as they have the same impact on our feelings and emotions. Distorted memories are produced when the feelings and emotions are recalled from an imaginary event or a perspective that distorts the actual event.  An example of this would be for instance, a recent case of a young woman who raised thousands of dollars to support her through the treatment of cancer even though she did not have cancer.  So the motivation for this act we could say was the money, but money is usually the idea of happiness. However, this woman needed to act the role day after day for a number of months in pursuit of this happiness. Her daily performance of a terminally ill person only becomes believable when she actually feels the pain. This was her distorted memory that was able to recall the imaginary pain of a terminal illness and make it real from her perspective.

Sexual fantasy is also the result of imaginary events.  All the same symptoms are experienced with sexual fantasy (if not more intense) as with any recalled memory. Although sexual fantasy can be the recall of  past events, imaginary events or a combination of both,  it is in effect, a construction of non-factual thoughts accompanied by the recall of previously experienced physical sensations. However, this type of thought differs in the sense that when one engages in sexual fantasy, one is recalling the experiences and reliving them as a new experience in the present.

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So it does not require a great deal to observe that memories (real or distorted) are “old” thoughts, the challenge is can one observe how this addiction to memories projects us not only into the past, but also into the future? The simple act of wishing or wanting to reproduce the pleasurable feelings will inevitably lead to a sense of failure and negative self judgement.

Thoughts conflict with our intuitive feelings, leading to self criticism and fear. The only place that we can feel “good” is in the experiences of the present and not in the illusion of thoughts. Accepting that we must feel bad as a requirement to recognize the good is essential!

Not only are all thoughts OLD, but they distract us from the present which is the only place life exists.

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Do new thoughts exist? – Part 1

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All thought is old!

“Every experience has already been experienced or you wouldn’t recognise it. You recognise an experience as being good, bad, holy and so on according to your conditioning, and therefore the recognition of an experience must inevitably be old” : Jiddu Krishnamurti

If we take some time and inquire into the origin of any thought we have, we inevitably arrive at the conclusion that the origin was either;

• The repetition of learned “labels” – “It’s hot!”, “I’m hungry!”, I like/dislike that!, etc.

or

• The subject relates to a past event – “I would love to go fishing!”, “I wonder were she/he is now?”, “I need to change my job!”.

Learned Labels

As part of our upbringing, the use of language is the first priority of parents. A baby’s first words are highly anticipated, with numerous hours invested in the teaching. Of course, words are viewed as the primary foundation of communication and are deemed to be critical to the social interaction required to succeed in life. However, the use of words to identify our feelings, our experiences, our thoughts also creates the concept of a separate individual self. The individual self is the one who needs to succeed, who needs to communicate to other individuals. When we inquire into the words we use, we tend to overlook some simple questions. Are the words we use not based on the thought of others?

No uniquely (DNA) programmed  individual has the capacity to experience the perception of reality of another. Each perception of reality is based on a unique combination of experiences by the individual. Although we may believe the illusion of sharing common experiences, even shared experiences are filtered through each persons perception. In effect, we do not share experiences, within our thoughts we  project our own definition of the experience onto those participating and empathize with their interpretations of the experience.

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Imagine yourself at a music concert with friends, the show comprises of a number of musicians on stage: Do you really believe that each person is looking at the same musician, same part of the stage, of the crowd, of the people around them, all at precisely the same time?. If not, then the recorded experience of each person will be different. The opinions formed by each person will be formed by comparison to previous experiences. Each person will formulate their own favorite piece of music, effects of the show, prefered musician etc. So although most would consider this event as a shared experience, all experiences are filtered through the perception of the individual.

When you describe the sky as “blue”, is there a way to confirm that the “blue” you see is identical to the “blue” of another? or are you using the label “blue” learned as a child in the hope that the other person had the same lesson? have you ever tried to describe an object that you have never seen before without using a reference to labels already learned?, is this possible? Did you ever consider that the statement “the sky is blue” automatically implies an infinite number of possibilities of the colors it is not?  In this case, would you really want to gamble on blue being the right answer when the odds are 1 in infinite? (reading “Game of Thought”  may help to determine right or wrong before answering ;-))

When we apply this to all that we believe to be reality and the world around us, then we must accept that our definition of reality is nothing more than a subjective interpretation of experiences. By believing the illusion of our thoughts, we create a subjective reality which is constantly in conflict with our intuitive self. The intuitive self observes reality as it happens without the filter of thoughts. Our self identity driven by our urges and desires, compels us to empathize with the perspective of those around us in order to create and maintain the illusion of a shared reality.

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With this inquiry, we must conclude that any thought that is based on learned labels is merely a fragmented construction of the thoughts of others and based on their perception and their unique experiences. Thought based on learned labels is in effect, the recycling of the thought of others. Our intellectual mind ego will of cause convince us that once learned, these labels become our own in the form of intelligence. For most, this intelligence is a critical requirement in their daily struggle to establish themselves as an “authority”, or as the intellectual mind would refer to as “succeed”.

Unless we create new words to describe a new experience and accept that this cannot be communicated to others, then we should accept that the use of learned labels is old thought. The intellectual mind at this point is probably stating, but how can one succeed?  Once the acceptance that one does not succeed, that this is a construction of the mind that defines the measure of how others perceive us, then one can focus on who is the observer within us who is not the construction of our old thoughts?

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The Judgement of Self

by ~Corpus Callosum:deviantart

The Judgement of Self

“This above all, to thine ownself be true” :William Shakespeare

The majority of minds have bad thoughts, really BAD thoughts, thoughts of violence, thoughts of inflicting pain, thoughts of selfishness, thoughts of being inadequate, thoughts of being a failure, thoughts of sexual perversion. Thoughts that we can not admit to others, thoughts that contradict our conditioned moral values. Although these thoughts are not persistent in most minds, the refusal to accept and admit these thoughts is the source of all suffering within everyone.

The constant conflict between our intuitive feelings and our moral values causes fear, fear of discovery of these thoughts. The mind believes that “we are our thoughts”. The internal conflict and self judgement leads to pain, pain in the form of anxiety and physical pain.

When we can accept that there is no separation of mind and body,we can appreciate the impact of the feelings of pain in the body on our thoughts and visa versa. The only theoretical separation of body and mind is that of scientific theories (“The Authority”) on how the human organism works. All feelings and thought are connected, when we “feel” good within our body, our thoughts are “good”. It’s interesting how our thoughts take the credit for these feelings, but blames the body when we feel bad!

Once we recognize the feeling of anxiety as our internal conflicts resulting in our worst thoughts, we are in a position to review the illogical belief that we “are our thoughts”.

The minds avoidance of accepting the fact “I do not know” is an answer, generates thoughts of inadequacy, fear of ignorance, fear of judgement by others and an infinite numbers of other fears. This compels the mind to point away from itself as the root cause and the “Game of Thought” takes hold, projecting into the past in the form of “I should have studied more, read more books, be more intelligent!”. Projecting into the future in the form of “I will look bad if they know”, ” I will be a failure!”. For many, these conflicts accumulate to the point that “the authority” would tell us, “you are depressed”.

Having followed the model of The Science of Psychology, it is easy to observe that the disconnection of the body and mind approach of Psychology and Psychiatry is a testament to how thought is not real! Providing medications that have no proven effect beyond the placebo effect and inflict physical pain is at least questionable to the motivating thoughts behind this approach. The fact that the so called placebo effect has been observed and is recognized, is testament to the “Power of Thought”.

The realization that we are not our thoughts provides a release from a life of fear and a level of peace beyond the capacity of thought.

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