Thinking is Doing?
- arcanumofkryptos1
- 24 hours ago
- 7 min read
Part III of the Extended Mind Series.
Why have visionaries sought the heights of mountains?
Deep meditators sat in caves?
Poets mused by flowing waterways?
Mystics wandered through forests?
Alignment.
Seek perspective atop a mountain,
the depths of the mind in the depths of darkness,
fluidity of expression in the company of flowing water,
harmony with nature in a flourishing ecosystem.
Contemplation and Context
Patterns of thought are connected to the state in which they arise - your disposition, headspace, emotional conditions, intentions and desires all set the scene. Beyond the conditions of the immediate organism, the conditions of the surrounding environment also must be acknowledged as influencing thought, often in subtle ways. You cannot separate an intellectual problem from the environment in which it is contemplated. Results of quantum physics experiments recurringly highlight this dynamic - no perception of apprehension can ultimately be separated from the perceptual apparatus in any context.
Furthermore, the way we recall and access memories is influenced by our current state. Many scientific studies have demonstrated this - if we are in a state of despair, it is easier to draw upon memories resonant with this theme and emotional charge. If you feel catharsis, it is easier to recall and reflect upon other times you have similarly. Even the tone of the stories you subconsciously weave across memories is influenced by your current state of awareness.
This all speaks loudly to the significant of our state of awareness, for it not only shapes our immediate experience, it influences how memories are recalled - shaping the very stories we live by.
Contemplation necessarily involves action, whether or not you perceive yourself to be engaged in or responsible for the actions. By acknowledging 'thinking' as inextricably linked to contextual conditions, you can then consciously engage these conditions, work with them adjust them, remove or introduce elements in the interest effective contemplation.
Acknowledging that mind extends beyond the body, we can get creative with our environment to shift the way we are thinking. If we find ourselves dwelling on a problem without progressing towards any sort of resolution, it might be useful to acknowledge that 'you are not cognising a solution in the current environment' - and look to change the environment. When deciding what about your environment to change, it is important to think of a combination of personal and environmental elements. Now if you have creative flair, you might further seek out environments that are relevant to the nature of the problem being contemplated, or resonant with the thinking style you wish to engage. For instance, if I was stuck trying to write a flowing video script for a video about meditating in a forest, I may want to get out from my small dark study and head out into a grove in the forest. If I wanted my writing to flow more naturally, I might further seek out a place to swim, or find a water body to sit by, to create a 'thinking environment' conducive to a relaxed and flowing style of expression.
The subtle art of creatively shifting one's environment in order to feel and think in different styles can open up an entirely new and creative approach to life. Many shamanic and occult practices revolve draw upon this art.
The Gods are Watching! - Thought and Consequence
As explored in Part I of this series, in modern times we can default to a model of 'mind' that frames thinking as occurring purely in the head, with thoughts hidden away from the world. We can think our thoughts are private and somehow don't count towards reality - or are benign unless acted upon. Even when people don't consciously agree with this model, they can act in a manner that reinforces it. We can feel that 'if something is not witnessed by others, it somehow lacks reality' - we can feel like we have 'gotten away with it' or 'it doesn't count' if no one is watching, no one knows, or no one is affected. This can validate a pattern of presenting one face for the world, and wearing another in private in a manner that lacks integrity. The fact that animals, especially dogs, can sense the character and intentions of a person from a distance, is evidence that the mind and disposition of a person has tangible effects upon an environment, even when no over action is undertaken.
Throughout human history, most cultures have placed significance on the content of one's thoughts, encasing this in various mythological stories emphasising that thoughts and speech have magical effects upon the world and are far from exempt from the judgement of the gods. Without needing to believe in any particular god, we can extract from this a key resounding lesson - not only are our actions 'seen' by the world, so too are our thoughts and speech...
In Hinduism and Buddhism, the notion of karma reflects the relationship between cause and effect, action and consequence. Awareness of thoughts creating or influencing karma is emphasised in Buddhist practice, highlighting how one must consider thoughts as actions in order to become aware and responsible for one's effects upon the world. Though we might feel that thoughts can be involuntary or subconscious, it does not exempt them from having consequence. Just because we don't have to consciously breathe does not mean that our breathing is an action without consequence.
Even monadic religions like Christianity have long expressed the theme that God is privy to the content of one's thoughts, and judges thee accordingly. Instead of thinking about this as a story of punishment for poor morals, like God getting grumpy at when you fantasise about the nude from of your attractive neighbour, we can think about this teaching as a solemn acknowledgment that even one's thoughts interface with the world, and we cannot escape their internal or external consequences.
Old concepts of HONOUR and being GOD-FEARING can seem silly and outdated in our time, but what these represented was integration between ones social and personal persona, and holding oneself to a code of style of conduct that remained consistent and relevant across different domains of experience. These concepts acknowledged that even if one was not in company, one's conduct still affected oneself and the world, and so careful self-regulation was a fundamental existential duty at all times.
Alignment
In yogic mysticism and a range of occult disciplines, an advanced practitioner is encouraged to enter a phase in. which they are to view all experience, all phenomena, as a direct conversation between God and oneself. This phase of practice creates an environment in which any thought or action is felt to fall within the context of a greater conversation with existence itself. No action sits outside this conversation, no thought sits outside this conversation,
This mystical lens facilitates the orienting of all facets of the organism towards a deeper, more integrated dialogue or meta-story. From the perspective of this story, both thoughts and actions are language. A spiritual discipline for cultivating alignment of body mind and spirit commonly accompanies such a phase of mystical practice. This might be yoga, meditation, qigong or tai chi, martial arts, musical instruments and so on.
You might ask, what is the point in doing this? What does this actually mean moment to moment?
One of Carl Jung's great gifts to the world was his work on what he called 'individuation', which he described as essentially one's life work - becoming wholly oneself over time. This process necessarily involves exploration, acceptance, and integration of the dynamics of life itself. To facilitate the unfolding of this process, a person must necessarily engage with the events of their life as if they are all meaningful and are presenting exactly what one needs to grow at any point in time. Like life is a puzzle, and each situation presences exactly what one is missing what is required to be learnt on the journey to becoming whole. The goal of the piecing together of this puzzle is less of a final set of conditions or any sort of ultimate realisation, it is more akin to being wholly oneself moment to moment - in harmony with the nature of life.
One does not necessarily need to believe that any sort of god is constantly shaping situations as teaching experiences for this process to unfold, one can voluntarily adopt this lens - that a deeper conversation underpins the flow of life's events. I've found this kind of personal discipline profoundly important for being able to integrate difficult experiences in life, helping to more easily cultivate a kind of willingness to undergo trials or deploy patience for extended periods - I'm able to put such experiences in the context of a broader 'character progression' and see even painful experiences as meaningful. Over time, I see that I have become more interested in the unfolding of this conversation than the achievement of any particular set of conditions.
Epilogue
To put any of these concepts into play, we don't need to perform grand gestures or live the life of a hermit... we can start with adjusting our language. The essence of this entry is that we cannot separate a thought, action, feeling, problem, or insight from the conditions in which it is experienced or created.
If you would like to honour this insight in your own life, try practicing employing more scientifically structured sentences when you are thinking through things within yourself. By being more specific, and overtly acknowledging context, variables, and uncertainty when you structure thoughts, your framing of the problems in your life will inevitably shift.
Here are a couples of examples... Notice how the more scientific re-framing of the original statement tells us a whole lot more about the nature of each situations, and how best to proceed...
Rather than:
"I'm feeling uninspired and flat today."
Try:
"I'm feeling uninspired and flat in my current context of laying dehydrated on the floor, hidden away from sunlight."
Rather than:
"Bruce is a rude man."
Try:
"I find Bruce rude whenever I approach him at work to ask questions about his personal life".
