Unthought

George G Clark, 13 February 2008

 Logic suggests that there can be no thought without a thinker. But experience suggests otherwise. When I sit quietly, even if only for a few moments, it is blindingly obvious that 'I' am not in control of what goes on in 'my' mind. Thoughts and feelings arrive as if from nowhere, hang around for a while, and then disappear again. They do not feel like 'my' thoughts:  they seem to have a life of their own. So what is their source? What energy drives them?

The thoughts and feelings will have their causes and conditions which are rooted in my nature (instincts) and nurture (enculturation). So there is most likely a logic behind the appearance of a particular thought or feeling at a particular time: but the logic is buried in unconscious parts of the mind where an ongoing, dynamic churn seems to be the common state.

So it is cute that 'I' should be able to act as 'witness' to the thoughts and feelings that are churned out by 'my' mind. This means that 'I' can be less captured by the thoughts and feelings than I might otherwise be. This means that I am less of a programmed robot than I might otherwise be. This means that I can be more free than I might otherwise be.

So the witness is the cool observer of the thoughts rather than the hot thinker of them. So, if 'I' as witness am not the thinker of the thoughts then is there a conscious thinker at all? Logic suggests one thing experience another. 'I' presently 'witness' a favouring of experience! 

 

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 "In (mindfulness) practice, attention is developed such that thoughts, feelings, images, sensations and even consciousness itself can be observed as an endless fluctuation characterising the human mind and body process. A series of insights into the temporary, unstable and impersonal nature of the personality are said to occur as the path of insight is traversed, culminating in the experience of enlightenment." (p28)

"… mindfulness is not a means of forgetting the ego; it is a method of using the ego to observe its own manifestations. (p52)

Mark Epstein (2007) "psychotherapy without the self: a Buddhist perspective" ISBN 9780300123418