Thought and Mind

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Our brain is an awesome machine. We pay lip service to how important it is, but do we really appreciate that the way it is now, is a product of 1 million, 3 billion, or 13.4 billion years of evolution (the varying timeframes a factor of perspective – the human brain, life on earth, or time as we know it.)? Finely tuned mechanisms that enable the organism to move and function at speeds faster that the average response time to a stimulus, gives us the ability to extrapolate data, project it into the future, and literally think ahead.

It makes one question the notion of sentience, of whether we are truly aware. In point of fact, we cannot even conceive infinity, or the nature of infinity. Gaps in our knowledge, so easily exploited by pseudo-sciences such as creationism or intelligent design, stem from the brain’s inability to process a form of thought that supersedes probability, and cause-effect linear timelines. To deal with a concept like infinity, our thoughts currently seek refuge in ‘why’ and other trite nonsense. Scientists grapple manfully with the structure of the universe, shredding it into so-called ‘multiverses’, twisting it into toroids, or folding it in on itself. All the while we seem to be missing the answers. Our brains might not yet be able to deal with these concepts with the existing thought processes. Our rationalisms and basic thought structures seem to adopt the predominantly western thought processes.

Dogma, blind adherence to faith, and a misplaced sense of privilege have led to a dilution of Hinduism (I shall forgo the term ‘eastern mysticism’ here as it is too vague and altogether inaccurate). But here, and in elements of the Sermon on the Mount, one can see a point of view that is Human-centric, recognizing in our make-up a limitation, and paradoxically, the essence of Human genius. In my world-view, I see the specific Gods as detail, substance to flesh out ideas which reverberate with the cosmos. I think Spirit, or Atman, a term that plays on a perceived intelligence behind thoughts. And I say these reading only translations of the original texts.

But in all that, we must be aware that above all, our brains are machines, and thoughts, spawned from the brain are not signs of intelligence

Looking within

As for me, I grew up in an atmosphere that allowed me to question dogma in all forms. A transition from an absolute belief in God, and the sanctity of religion to the all-encompassing warmth of spirituality marked the initial phase of youth’s quest for immortality. The final shift to atheism was not out of choice; I believe it sprang out of a greater and wider understanding. Never having succumbed to any kind of conditioning, my mind was receptive to a variety of ideas, encompassing various aspects of science and spirituality. This led to a phase of emptiness, for without being aware, the conditioning of society around me had instilled a concrete pillar of faith within my psyche, now crumbled to dust with the awesome might of reason. Haphazard ideas born of delving into nihilistic texts only served to increase the void I now felt within. Overcoming the initial despair of the ideas of being and non-being was possible once again by bringing in rational thought into the process.

I love my thoughts. They are the vehicle that lets me span galaxies in seconds; I can touch infinity, always recoiling in awe and something akin to dread at what I glimpse, I can also believe in spirits of the Earth existing in parallel realities to ours; all this while maintaining a firm atheistic outlook, without finding any conflict in my mind. There’s so much beauty in life, that seeking solace in an afterlife or searching for a repository for our thoughts (I haven’t found the ‘thinker’, so as an imperfect spiritualist, I shall continue with the use of ‘thoughts’ rather than ‘soul’) seems a terrible waste of time. While the limits of our perception most definitely affect our perception of reality, it gives us enough to appreciate beauty in all forms – a smile, the rain, birdsong, and as humans are a subjective lot, in my case some contemporary music as well. We’re equipped beautifully to live, to reason and most importantly, to love.

Songs of creation

Wistfulness, beauty and love, cool rainy summer afternoons,

Tears, fulfillment, a mind at rest, liquid thoughts of awareness

Bubbling to the surface with the music, the notes play

Around my mind, comforting warmth swirling in aural tones

Painting a landscape of sound that meshes seamlessly

With Images of mist and rain swathing a verdant mountainside,

And with the scents of the hills borne on a cool and crisp wind.

My mind creates the place, a rift which I step into,

By pulling at the curtain of thought and conditioning.

The essence of reality brought into question.

Souls light

Billions of minds, aware of the spark of awareness conscious of the veils,

She hasn’t heard the silver tones of seeing everything, yet

With her eyes to the stars, the wind raising her hair in enchanted trails,

She yearns for the magic long denied to her, shackled in chains of sorrow,

Hearing the call of heaven on the wind, through the skies, on to the morrow.

The purple haze deepening to a more somber black, the vault above blurs.

And like beacons on the shore for lost mariners of souls infinity, the stars

Frame the feathery wisps of midnight black that move as if the air

Were ocean currents softly encompassing the strands of hair.

Eyes of shining keenness capturing the beauty of eternity above

Reflecting the quest within, a search for the soul, a search for love

The dark of eternity captured within a mind unaware, yet equally vast.

The chorus of voices reach her ears, flooding her awareness past

Any point of return, she clings on to her faith and finds

The rock of her life, her beliefs, no longer binds

Her to herself, set free to reach beyond the end of the universe,

Or the depths of her soul, both unfathomable, for hers

Is a mind unique, an ocean contending to deal with rigid lands.

Speaking to pebbles with diluted waves, moulding the sands.

To love is to hate

Right was Wilde when he wrote that we destroy the ones we love. To love someone, you betray your innermost dreams to them. Among close friends this knowledge of inner aspirations exists as well. This blithe trust is sacred; for it can easily be manipulated to destroy a person.

When their deepest faults or indeed, a perception of their faults are rendered back to them, just so lightly seasoned with facts unwittingly provided, the bond of trust can be torn apart. With this destruction of trust, coldness is fostered, stemming from the hurt of betrayal.

A reticent person, after slowly opening up to someone with a like mind, is hurt the most by such wanton misplacement of trust. Why then do we end up hurting the ones we love? Is it a fear of rejection, or a fear of the future, the unknown? One will never know.

Water

If there’s ever been proof of a higher cosmic consciousness, it’s the fact that water exists. Creator, sustainer, cleanser, and destroyer. Water molecules have even been detected in the atmospheres of some of the cooler stars. The hypothetical Oort cloud is home to billions of icy comets, some of which have been credited with seeding our planet with water in the early stages of its evolution.

Sublime in almost all its perceivable forms, it transcends all when it takes the form of rain. And rainfall is so beautiful.