Book | Series 4: The System of Thought

Description

The course teaches you about the how thought operates as a single system that comprises intellect, emotion, perception and knowledge. You consider yourself to be the thinker. We disucss what you are and how the experience of the thinker is created.

INTRODUCTION

In this series we discuss the activities of the intellect and emotions. We state the intellect and emotions to be an expression of thought. The intellectual thoughts we have influence our emotional state, and our emotional state influences the intellectual thoughts we have. The discussion enables us to understand the intellect and emotions to be an interoperable system. Following on from that discussion, we make reference to the body. We demonstrate that the intellectual thoughts we have, and the emotions we feel, effect the state of the body. We also discuss the inverse to be true: the state of the body effects the intellectual thoughts we have, and the emotions we feel. We conclude that the individual is a system of thought that comprises the interoperation of the intellect, emotions and the body.

We state that thought expresses itself intellectually, emotionally and through changes to the state of the body. Behind those expressions lie an assumption: the reason for the expression. To explain the concept of assumptions we use the example of anger. We state that behind the angry thoughts, and the emotion of anger, lies the assumption of why we should be angry. The anger is sustained by the assumption, and loses its vitality when the assumption is invalidated, i.e., when there is no reason to be angry anymore, the anger evaporates.

We discuss thinking to be the processing of information that results in the creation of assumptions. We identify the thoughts we have to be an expression of the knowledge we possess. The stream of thoughts we perceive give us the experience of thinking. Thinking is experienced as a movement, so we make reference to thinking being the movement of knowledge.

We explore perception in detail stating it to be the activity that records sensation into memory (as knowledge). We state the field of sensation to be an indivisible whole, but make a distinction based on the origin of sensation. We categorise sensations into physical sensations and psychological sensations. Psychological sensations provide information on what is happening with knowledge through the perception of thoughts and feelings, and physical sensations provide information on what is happening with the body in the physical environment through the perception of bodily sensations, the sensations of vision, sound, and so on.

We state the ability of the mind to observe its own thoughts creates the notion of a thinker. We explore the experience of the thinker in detail.

We state the ability of the mind to observe itself creates the notion of an observer. We explore the experience of the observer in detail.

Finally, we end with an overview of everything we have discussed in this series.