I like to think about stuff. I mean, I’m not saying I am particularly good at it, but I like to do it now and then anyway. Today, I was thinking, and that got me thinking… it got me thinking about thinking.
I think it is awesome that the ancient Greeks came up with the idea of philosophy. Just think about that. These philosophers actually made a living by sitting around and thinking about stuff. Some of them seemed to be pretty good at it, judging by what they wrote down, but even that is subject to some disagreement. It depends mostly, I suppose, upon whether or not you agree with any one particular statement they made. And honestly, sometimes it seems to come down to just how clever a statement sounds, and not how much sense it makes or even if it is right or wrong.
So, just out of curiosity, how much time do you spend thinking on an average day? I don’t mean thinking about work, or stuff you have to do. I mean just plain, good-old-fashioned thinking.
The more I think about thinking, the more I think that maybe I don’t think about thinking often enough.
Thinking is more of a complex issue than I realized when I blindly set off to write about it. I should have thought this through. I mean, we spend all day thinking about something. Sometimes we do it so much that we need to take a break. That is why TV was invented. And beer. And maybe sleep.
But how much of what we think about is what we want to think about? How much of it is important or enlightening?
What the heck is thinking?
I am a writer… well, I’m also a musician, song writer, poet, wood carver, painter, and a bunch of other stuff. Writing fiction, especially science fiction, requires quite a bit of thought. I have to think up characters and situations that aren’t like any that I ever heard of or read about. If you think that is easy, go ahead and try it… no, it’s okay, we will wait, come up with a description of an alien that is in no way based on anything you are already aware of. Not as easy as it seems, is it?
Creativity and thinking are inextricably intertwined, but they aren’t quite the same thing… at least I don’t think they are. Obviously this is going to be one of those situations where I start writing and assume that I am going to come to some kind of dramatic conclusion, some kind of breakthrough or incredible bit of brilliance, but where I instead just sort of dance around the words and discover absolutely nothing new of even useful.
But here is the thing… of course there is a thing, I always have a thing… As I said earlier, I might not be good at thinking, but I do have one thing going for me. I have a brain that doesn’t work like most of the other brains on this planet. So, while my thinking might not be particularly good, it is unusual. It lets me look at things from perspectives that other brains don’t. It lets me think about things in ways that other brains wouldn’t bother to. And really, isn’t that what philosophy is? The idea that we can look at everyday situations and make something new out of them, take common words and combine them in new ways, take common thoughts and turn them into something deeper?
I leave you with one final thought on thought… which is funny if you think about it… It is possible to lock yourself in a dark room, with no external input whatsoever, and, using just your brain, come up with absolutely new ideas just by bouncing the old ideas around inside your cranium. If, to this incredible ability we all have, you add the new ideas that are constantly bombarding you as you go about your day, there is magic in our skulls. And we are only using ten percent of our brains, or so they tell us. I guess all I am saying is that we should all remember to think. Maybe we can stop just letting it happen and make it happen. Maybe we can all train our brains and become even better at thinking than we already are. Maybe that other 90 percent is just waiting for us to start using it. And who knows where the next idea that changes all our lives might come from?
Just think about that.
Pouring My Art Out 
I think all the time, there’s no intelligence filter on it though so it’s usually utter nonsense.
That’s the way I do it.
I thought you were quoting Punch and Judy then, that was his saying.
Do you know of it? Punch and Judy is children’s seaside entertainment from a bygone era, a couple of grotesque puppets acting out scenes of domestic violence. I wonder why it isn’t popular anymore.
Wikipeadia summises it pretty well, kinda explains how we all grew up with a strange sense of humour.
As performed currently in the UK a typical show will start with the arrival of Mr. Punch followed by the introduction of Judy. They may well kiss and dance before Judy requests Mr. Punch to look after the baby. Punch will fail to carry this task out appropriately. It is rare for Punch to hit his baby these days, but he may well sit on it in a failed attempt to “babysit”, or drop it, or even let it go through a sausage machine. In any event Judy will return, will be outraged, will fetch a stick and the knockabout will commence. A policeman will arrive in response to the mayhem and will himself be felled by Punch’s slapstick. All this is carried out at breakneck farcical speed with much involvement from a gleefully shouting audience. From here on anything goes. Joey the Clown might appear and suggest that “It’s dinner time.” This will lead to the production of a string of sausages, which Mr. Punch must look after, although the audience will know this really signals the arrival of a crocodile whom Mr. Punch might not see until the audience shouts out and lets him know. Punch’s subsequent comic struggle with the crocodile might then leave him in need of a Doctor who will arrive and attempt to treat Punch by walloping him with a stick until Punch turns the tables on him. Punch may next pause to count his “victims” by laying puppets on the stage only for Joey the Clown to move them about behind his back in order to frustrate him. A ghost might then appear and give Mr. Punch a fright before it too is chased off with a slapstick. In less squeamish times a hangman would arrive to punish Mr. Punch, only to himself be tricked into sticking his head in the noose. “Do you do the hanging?” is a question often asked of performers. Some will include it where circumstances warrant (such as for an adult audience) but most do not. Some will choose to include it whatever the circumstances and will face down any critics. Finally the show will often end with the Devil arriving for Mr. Punch (and possibly to threaten his audience as well). Punch — in his final gleefully triumphant moment — will win his fight with the Devil and bring the show to a rousing conclusion and earn a round of applause.
I did know about them… but not as much as I know now.
I like the bit where they sometimes feed the baby into a sausage machine. 🙂
I love the way we used to scare kids shitless with these tales. Fairy stories also full of horror, especially the German ones like Struwwelpeter.
Kids are mollycoddled now, when they should be scared out of their wits!
We should get to work on that… make them read my blog.
They could start on your monkey book and lead them into a false sense of security.
It’s kinda of doing your bit for the future of the human race, if kids are growing up on Justin Bieber and such we are not going to have an interesting generation. We’ll make you Education Minister.
I would be good at that job.
Exactly. We just changed Minister’s for that in the UK, but come the next election we’ll put you up for it
I will not let you down
You won’t be the first politician to promise that 😀
I will be the first one to actually mean it.
🙂
…ooo000ooo…
Yep, we are special and I include you Art. Ekhart Tolle once said that when you watch youself thinking – it is the one watching that is “you”, not the one thinking. Does that mean if I watch you think Art, that I am you? Hmmm. That would be scary. I’ll have to watch myself thinking for a while.
I don’t like people watching me while I think…
Good thinking. This gives me food for thought. And I like food and I like thought so I think this is good. Thinking can be exhausting and I do it way too often. I always want to figure out the whys and hows. I think out loud too. My daughter is taking a philosophy class this first semester, it will be interesting to hear what thoughts she has about it. Ok, I think I gotta go. 🙂
You think, therefore you are.
Hm. I’m sure if you were an inmate in segregation you would have plenty of time to think. Those people are so lucky.
Been there… done that…
Actually, that part about only using 10% of our brains is a myth, and we’re actually using most or all of it.
Maybe it’s just certain people who only use 10% of theirs.
what are you saying exactly?
I have to think about that.
Use all 100%…
That last bit about sitting in a dark room bouncing ideas about is basically a form of meditation as far as i’m concerned…as is the act of thinking to think. And yes, that’s good for you!
I thought about adding a bit about meditation, but I forgot.
Reblogged this on Survivor and commented:
Great…..all I’m thinking about is anger today…..gotta get rid of the anger and take some of your thoughts here.
Who’d have thunk it?
Not me, that’s for sure.
I think this was a very think-provacative post. Think you very much.
Love thinks…