How do you think?

[Hawkmoon]

When I do yoga, I finish with a couple of minutes of "block out all thought" meditation, and it's always incredibly hard for me to get to that point. I often have to just settle on one simple thought.

That's the point of the mantra in TM.

[sumpnz]

Kind a Smeagol/Gollum banter for me.

[WLJ]

Absolutely.  The antithesis is also correct.


Which antithesis, "I think, therefore I am not," or "I don't think, therefore I am"?

I thunk therefore I were

[grampster]

As a friend of mine who happens to be a Shrink once told me; "It's ok if you have several different voices in your head, as long as you don't start giving them different names."

When I do things that involve body parts and tools, there is actually nothing going on in my mind...That's probably why there is also pain and blood involved.

When I'm reading the narrative is being verbalized in my head.  According to my wife, if the house was burning down while I was reading, I wouldn't notice.

I also have had tinnitus for many years.  That does override just about everything else, except when I read.

[lee n. field]

A worthy read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight_(Watts_novel)

The exploration of consciousness is the central thematic element of Blindsight.[7][8][9] The title of the novel refers to the condition blindsight, in which vision is non-functional in the conscious brain but remains useful to non-conscious action.[10] Other conditions, such as Cotard delusion and Anton–Babinski syndrome, are used to illustrate differences from the usual assumptions about conscious experience.[10] The novel raises questions about the essential character of consciousness. Is the interior experience of consciousness necessary, or is externally observed behavior the sole determining characteristic of conscious experience?[7][8][10] Is an interior emotional experience necessary for empathy, or is empathic behavior sufficient to possess empathy?[10][11] Relevant to these questions is a plot element near the climax of the story, in which the vampire captain is revealed to have been controlled by the ship's artificial intelligence for the entirety of the novel.[10][12]

Philosopher John Searle's Chinese room thought experiment is used as a metaphor to illustrate the tension between the notions of consciousness as an interior experience of understanding, as contrasted with consciousness as the emergent result of merely functional non-introspective components.[7][10][12] Blindsight contributes to this debate by implying that some aspects of consciousness are empirically detectable.[8] Specifically, the novel supposes that consciousness is necessary for both aesthetic appreciation[8][9][11] and for effective communication.[8] However, the possibility is raised that consciousness is, for humanity, an evolutionary dead end.[7][10][11][12] That is, consciousness may have been naturally selected as a solution for the challenges of a specific place in space and time, but will become a limitation as conditions change or competing intelligences are encountered.[8]

The alien creatures encountered by the crew of the Theseus themselves lack consciousness.[7][8][11][13] The necessity of consciousness for effective communication is illustrated by a passage from the novel in which the linguist realizes that the alien creatures can't be, in fact, conscious because of their lack of semantic understanding:

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[bedlamite]

What the hell?? Your trying to tell me those voices are not real. Their my friends man. Come on. It’s not just me up there.

Damnit. I’m don’t wanna shut up.

I’m sorry can’t talk out loud right now.

When the voices are quiet, you need to be careful, they're planning something.

[WLJ]

4 out of 5 voices in my head are telling me to plead the 5th on this question.  The 1 is currently in a time out corner

[Ben]

That's the point of the mantra in TM.

Yeah, but I'm wondering if people without thought bubbles have to do that. :)

[TommyGunn]

When the voices are quiet, you need to be careful, they're planning something.

  Well, either that...or Thomas Magnum is dead ....

[fifth_column]

Absolutely.  The antithesis is also correct.


Which antithesis, "I think, therefore I am not," or "I don't think, therefore I am"?

I don't think therefore I don't exist.

[Regolith]

[griz]

I don't think at all.  According to a former candidate for high office, I'm a deplorable subhuman who only seeks to minimize pain, enhance pleasure, and increase DNA.

Did the candidate relate to you because you were like him or did he consider himself to be a thinker?

[ConstitutionCowboy]

I have that internal monologue, with background music, and hot chicks dancing throughout my brain. I have ADD as a result of all the distractions. My only saving grace is writing because, when my thoughts drift, I can look back at what I've written and get back on track. A good intelligent conversation will keep my thoughts on track - well, maybe on topic! 

I have a problem with people who's internal monologue is directly linked to their mouth.

Woody

[K Frame]

I don't inner monolog...

I inner soliloquy...