Thought without words
Offline Lately, I've been toying around with the idea of trying to switch away from thinking in words. I'm certainly not going to go through with it, since it'd likely make communicating more difficult, and the habit is deeply ingrained into me. I also don't care enough about it to do the vast amount of work it would take.
The reason for it is this. When we think in whatever our native language is, we, or at least I, tend to think about the same speed I would think. On top of that, we need to constantly access whatever section(s) of the brain deal with language. I've heard that that process is more time consuming. If you could train yourself to think in pure concepts, I think that you'd be able to think much more efficiently and effectively. I guess that it would be like trying to mimic autistics savants. I've read interviews where savants tried to explain their thought process. It has something to do with colors and textures replacing things like number. Apparently the brain can handle those more effectively.
What are your thought on this? Would it be possible? Would it be beneficial?
I apologize if I said anything blatantly wrong above. My knowlege of neurology and psycology is very limited, and based on various articles. I do have access to a brain, however, and like to try to analyze it as much as I can
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Extensive, professional research into transcendental meditation has given reliable evidence to support that it is one of the most effective ways to opening your mind and attaining a level of consciousness that is beyond the everyday awakened state. A lot of philosophers and artists dabbled in this. One that comes to mind is Salvador Dalí in which he, to summarize his words, pushed himself to the brink of insanity to reach a "waking state" in which his symbolic relationships to the world around him would disassociate and allow him to create wildly original and meaningful pieces of art.
Really look into meditation, I mean beyond the spiritual "buddhist monk" or hindu stuff. I've never tried it myself, but from what I've read on it, it can truly bring you to a greater peace and understanding of the world around you. It's all about releasing words and thoughts and just letting yourself open as you naturally do.
Very interesting stuff. But again, avoid the spiritualistic stuff, it really doesn't alter anything.
You think in words because they are the most efficient way to package concepts. Now, I will predict that many will disagree with me. So, I will apprehend their dissent in advance.
If you have a thought that you don't have a word for, it does not mean that the thought cannot be encapsulated in words. It means that your governance over your native tongue is so poor that you have not come across it yet.
Now, if you want to talk about altered states and drugs, I will accept that. Dali is a prime example. In one of these "hightened" states, he covered himself with his own feces to express his love for a woman. I suppose nothing says "I super love you" like covering yourself in your own shit. The point, however, is that Dali was a drugged out hedonist, and I would avoid trying to reach the state he was in unless I wanted to be covered in crap.
I would advise all involved to work on learning the fundamentals of logic and the decision sciences.
"Tis better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven." -Lucifer
There is indeed a way to have thoughts without words on a constant basis. Unfortunately, it involves having a very rare neurological disorder.
See this for details:
http://www.rationalresponders.com/vitalism_immaterialism_and_christian_dualism_have_long_since_been_debunked_response
"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.
-Me
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