Thinking

Introduction

In his instructions on how to sit in Zen meditation or zazen , titled Fukanzazengi, the 13th century Buddhist monk, Eihei Dogen, stated “Think of not-thinking. How do you think of not-thinking? Nonthinking.  This in itself is the essential art of zazen. ”  How ironic that thought is like a wall, but also functions as the hinges of a gate.   

In this piece I want to talk about characteristics of thought, from a number of angles and then wrap up by going back to Dogen’s instructions on how to meditate and what they might be pointing to.

Humans as sentient beings are a product of evolution and a highly advanced one at that.  First there was matter, form and shape, and then feeling, as primitive organisms bumped into each other.  As the tree of life grew, sentient beings evolved to perceive the external world, via whatever sense organs they had, and in that process created or modeled perceptions of “out there,” and eventually “in here.”  The very real seeming sense of “in here” or “I” required symbolic mental fabrication in the form of thought, that worked well with the external world model, perpetuating  a lifespan long narrative, a dichotomy, of in here and out there.   Thinking is a mark of highly evolved sentient beings, ergo humans.

One of the trademarks of humans is that we are thinkers.  It’s not that thought is inherently bad, but “excessive” thought can cause a lot of pain for ourselves and others.  Thinking keeps us alive, safe and able to make a living, as well as being a tool for creative, technical and scientific expression — not to mention a catalyst for spiritual endeavors.  When things don’t go our way though, thinking has a tendency to spin out of control and paired with negative emotions can overwhelm us and lead to destructive actions against ourselves and others.  This cycle can repeat itself and can be ingrained in our behavior, taking us and others down a long bumpy road.

The Messiness of Thinking

Our thinking can be  messy.  Here is a nice and funny piece by a Zen practitioner describing what happens on the “inside” during a silent retreat: Buddhism and the Messiness of Everyday Thinking.  If you meditate, does this sound familiar?

The challenges faced in meditation are many, such as sleepiness and physical pain, but restlessness, the  chattering brain, sometimes called the monkey mind is certainly a common complaint.   

I used to think that the phrase “I think, therefore I am” was profound, but truly the “I” in thought  is illusive.  Can you pin down the essence of your being? Are you your past self? Are you your future self? At best you are your present self, but that is always changing. As things continually change, the inevitable deduction (for me, at this point in time and space) is that there is a continuum of experience.  Call it mind-body if you will.  We are participants in a flux of experience which is an intimate mystery. 

OK, let’s look at a more objective perhaps non-spiritual aspect of thought.  We know at the biological level that thought involves electrical and chemical energy (see for example Brain Electricity and the Mind.)  within the brain. But of course, that concept of thought is kind of meaningless to most of us unless we are a neurologist.  It’s also a bit creepy imagining that all we are is simply generated from a dark gooey cranium.  This is not to ditz brain science, which in itself is advancing quickly.   The Wikipedia piece on Outline of Thought provides valuable viewpoints on thought and it’s greater realm, the human mind.  The article leads by stating that  “Thought (also called thinking) is the mental process in which beings form psychological associations and models of the world. Thinking is manipulating information, as when we form concepts, engage in problem solving, reason and make decisions. Thought, the act of thinking, produces more thoughts.“

We’ve talked about brain and mind and thought.  Here is a web quote I like: “Brain and mind are not the same. Your mind is part of the invisible, transcendent world of thought, feeling, attitude, belief and imagination. … The brain is the physical organ most associated with mind and consciousness, but the mind is not confined to the brain.  (See websource )

Yup, thinking produces more thought and it is part of an invisible transcendent world. It’s an open system, as our thinking is influenced not only by our sense facilities but by our memory and from the feedback loop of our created model of the world and quite frankly — by all cumulative thoughts and actions that there ever were, period.

The brain’s electrical signals are equivalent to our mental constructs, a voice to action or a voice for creation.  These ideas (or collective thoughts) can become books, music, a technical report or a blog and really can “morph” into almost anything — like a war or the Nobel peace prize.    In turn your thought and  action can (and will) influence someone else’s thought and action.  It’s all related.  So thought has characteristics of always being in flux, being more “matrix like,” and ever changing — from electro chemical signals, to pixels on a a screen (created by someone’s thought) to fate of societies and species.  Thought is characterized by impermanence (does not stay the same) and lack of a separate unique nature (Buddhist concept of emptiness or Sunyata.)

Having a science and hydrology background I’ve always been fascinated how thought and the various turns, ups and downs, of our lives are analogous in behavior to basic physics equations, for instance the continuity equation.  In the case of fluid dynamics, and in layman’s terms, the equation says that the rate at which mass enters a system is equal to the rate at which mass leaves the system plus the accumulation of mass within the system. Substitute thought for fluid.

Thought and Time and Maybe Happiness

Many sages  have emphasized  minimizing obsession with material goods as a means to happiness (different than health and security), being curious about who we are, exhibiting compassion and morality via-à-vis  all sentient beings and the world, and developing spiritual insight  by living as much as possible in the present moment — which can offer one ease and equilibrium.   

 A common paradigm in our materialistic society for a “happy life” is to strive to make sure that the good and satisfactory in one’s life outweighs the bad and unsatisfactory.  This striving for happiness  has a pattern of projecting future actions and “if-happiness -not-achieved” spinning back in time to either wallow in misery or plan the next happiness quest.  Of course, the way the human survival biological machine works is that we learn from our past mistakes and plan for our future survival by predicting survival scenarios.  But that does not explain the incredibly stressed world of Christmas shopping, holiday traffic jams or a trip to Costco for that matter.

We are all time travelers.  Past thoughts are a “library collection”  of who we think we are, but they can include many “dark books” full of regret, anger and frustration.  As for the future, if we take the world too seriously, anxiety (fear, hatred, insecurity) can literally kill us.  Sense stimulus is one of the primary catalysts that triggers thoughts .  A car, a stranger, a smell, a noise, a food dish, or wind in your face are all apt to generate thought that either moves one into the past or the future.  Note that the actual stimulus is in the present, period.  Whatever the stimulus is, and it does include interaction with other sentient beings as well (which is even more complicated) the thought(s) that ensue are supported by your past experience as collective memory, and one’s world view — that is the model of the world you created with all that  input. This is why interacting with others can quickly go sideways when world views differ, when world views are distorted (for most of us they are) when we simply don’t listen because we are time traveling, and seemingly separate from others.   The antidote is to be present, open and accepting of others, something that meditation and spiritual training can help with.  When you are present, the past and future thinking will recede.  In the present there is simply more room to investigate, be open and interact.

Thought , Visualization, Dreams and  Thought and Emotion

Another aspect of thought is having a corresponding mental picture.  Some people think a lot more visually than others.  The same can be said about emotional response and mental visualizations  (e.g. “seeing red”.)  Further, in our sleep state we visualize; and dreams themselves may be viewed as a jumble of thoughts.  It’s all part of a continuum and dreams are as much a part of reality as anything else, and very important for mental and spiritual health (See article in Aeon.com on losing touch with our dreams.) Just as presence or mindfulness can bring stillness, so too can calming visualizations, which are another tool in the spiritual tool box for the mystic.  We seek nature for calming scenes, but they are also available inside you.  I encourage you to explore these aspects both while awake and asleep. 

Thought and stimulus elicit and perpetuate emotion.  Emotion is mostly a total body response, but very rarely is it completely bereft of thought.  I like to think of it as “thought” in the body.  Referring back to the previous discussion regarding the brain and the mind, it is helpful to view our “selves” as being both mind and body, or mind-body.   Think of colliding billiard balls.  There is a transfer of energy.  The same is true of an emotion which is triggered by stimulus or thought and then has a chance to be passed along as a response (mind to body to perhaps another body. )  Note that emotions can morph and change, like thought.  For example, regret can turn into  anger, hate or a more complex depressed state.  Lusting or craving often changes over time and can even turn into its opposite.  When it comes to reacting or not to an emotional feeling, the secret lies in creating a gap between emotion and response.  Creating that gap requires spiritual training, or maybe therapy. The choice is ultimately ours how we transfer that energy further.  From self deprecation to an angry word, to a blow, or by being kind, to ourselves and others.  Of course, sometimes bad things happen that are totally out of our control but then we can face them in the now, rather than amplifying them by time traveling.  Sometimes I meditate in the dead of night when awoken from sleep.  Initially and often I am flooded by many past thoughts and emotions, my karmic baggage.  This mystic is still in the throes of suffering, and sometimes one just has to have compassion for oneself.  Thich Nhat Hahn suggests holding those thoughts and emotions like you would kindly hold a crying child.  

Kindness and Equanimity 

A kind nature can be best developed when the storm of emotions and thoughts is seen through a lens of equanimity.  Call  it balance, peace, non-attachment (but not indifference), letting go or accepting all things and conditions.  This positive state, along with compassion, loving-kindness and sympathetic joy are kind of like a bridge or companion to non-thinking or beyond thinking.  Think about or visualize some being or place or entity that you love and that brings you joy (I focus on my French Bulldogs!)  Spend five minutes on that, and see what body feelings arise.  Unless you are the Grinch (and we all sometimes feel that way) the most likely place you will feel a response is from the chest area or heart — a warmish expansiveness.   Project some of that onto others!  The positive states can be developed by mental exercises such as just provided (for equanimity see the link) and given enough time will appear through meditation.

Mind and Non-Thinking

Huang Po was a 9th century A.D Chinese Zen Monk who is well known to have repeatedly said that one cannot think oneself to enlightenment  nor “attain it” (grasp it)  in any way.  He taught that “Mind”  is a non-dual concept, beyond all thought, phenomena or black and white. He pointed out that we are all just that one Mind and that Mind cannot seek its own Mind (no head on top of a head. ) I highly regard his teachings, as translated by John Blofeld, entitled The Zen Teachings of Huang Po, On the Transmission of Mind.  For those interested you can fine it: here.

Beyond Thinking

A key point of Dogen’s zazen instructions are to be a quiet non-judgmental and non-controlling observer of all that goes on inside and outside.  As Bob Dylan sang, ‘”I ain’t afraid of confusion ,no matter how thick.”  The coming and going of thoughts  can be likened to clouds floating by in the sky.  While “think of non-thinking”  is a good translation it is also a bit puzzling and requires curiosity.  The other translations given in the first paragraph link are “beyond–thinking” and a more descriptive one: “When thought arises, be aware of it. When you are aware of it, it will disappear. Put aside everything outside continuously, and make yourself into one piece. “

I have meditated enough in my life to experience non-thinking states.  These can offer expansiveness,  joy and peace.  While very much on the path, this mystic is convinced through initial baby steps and at times being in the company of very accomplished meditators that meditation offers a gateway to the Beyond .  But don’t be too dreamy, since Dogen also said that while we might be told that the entire universe is  a dream, “[that] dream itself is the distinctive clarity of a hundred grasses.”    Or Be in the world but not of the world…  There are some very powerful trance-like states that seasoned meditators can enter almost at will.  It is real.  The point is not to attach to those states, nor add anything on to them with thought, but to go beyond those states, curious and open, to arrive at the source of those states.  And when you are not meditating you can share insights and the effects of those positive states with your loved ones and the world.   Look for clear skies. Watch the clouds — they are part of the landscape; they come and go. Happy New Year!