January 17, 2019"What is Thinking for?"
It's a good question, and one that doesn't get enough consideration because everyone's too busy thinking to stop and ask why the hell are we thinking all the time.
We are endowed with these marvelous brains that excel at everything from oboe-making to calculus to needle point to wind surfing, plus we invented the wheel and slang and meat loaf and pencils and free advice. And with these marvelous brains, we have objectively ascertained that because of these brains we are the crown of creation, the pinnacle of evolution, and the most special snowflakes in the history of weather.
And as wonderful as this Thinking function may be, it would also benefit from some critical thought.
For example, consider that thinking is like breathing: we breathe automatically all day, all night, whether we’re sleeping or running or arguing or eating or laughing inappropriately or playing poker. Breathing is one of the autonomic functions, along with the heartbeat and digestion (among others) that are always ON. This is a pretty handy arrangement, so we don’t have to think about how to metabolize corn dogs, candy corn, corn chips, and corn while counting out loud to maintain a regular heartbeat. It all just happens, so we are free to indulge in this lofty Thinking function.
But shouldn’t Thinking be added to the list of autonomic functions? Think about it. As soon as you blink awake from slumber, you’re thinking, and you keep at it all day long every day until you die.
Whew! That’s a big goddamn heap of thinking! And we’re so busy doing it — Thinking — that we don’t stop to ask what the hell is it for?
We can start by dividing Thinking into two unequal piles: [1.] Useful and Fun Thinking; and [2.] Circular, Annoying, Myopic, Useless Thinking.
Let’s applaud Useful and Fun Thinking. We hereby thank Thinking for over a thousand really handy products, such as trains, dimmer switches, foreign languages, storm windows, the US Constitution, demolition derbies, éclairs, wool socks, and scissors. And scotch tape. And molasses. And cartoons. Plus some really great other non-product stuff like poetry, music, grammar, slapstick, soap operas, maps, weather forecasting, air traffic control, mail, and placebos.
We can all agree that even though Useful and Fun Thinking constitutes the small pile, it has nevertheless wrought an impressive array of really cool stuff plus non-stuff. And if everyone always constantly thought up fun and useful stuff all the time, we wouldn’t even be asking the question.
But we are asking “What is Thinking for?” because Useful and Fun Thinking is what most people rarely get to, and the vast amount of thinking falls into the other vastly larger pile: Circular, Annoying, Useless, Myopic Thinking.
So how is it that we as a species are blessed with this marvelous, miraculous function that is rarely marvelous or miraculous and mostly sputters along, misfiring, making rude noises, and leaving people grumpy and spent at the end of the day just so they can fall asleep and get up and think the same useless circular crap all over again tomorrow until they die.
If we walked as well as we Think, we’d spend our days bashing into concrete barriers, getting decapitated by freight trains, and generally using our heads as battering rams.
So, what’s going on? Let’s look at this wacky profligate slinging of brain power as an ego issue. And don’t worry — this is not an anti-ego screed! Let’s be clear here: we all need an ego. The ego is an essential interface with the world. You have to have one. Ego, that is. You have to have an ego to get yourself cleaned up, dressed, recognized, employed and to barrel onward through the day. The ego is your slice of the prism of universal light, and — ideally — through this slice the world brings light to you, and you bring light to the world.
Well, again, this light-enriching-the-light is the ideal dynamic. As with any model, the ideal is only approached. The ideal is a goal to which we (most of us, anyway) aspire.
However, the arrangement quickly becomes weird, because it is precisely the essential legitimacy of this sense of self, this individuation, that imbues this sense of self — this ego — with justification, power, and importance.
Let’s go over this one more time with some attendant considerations:
· We need an ego in order to interface with life and function well.
· The ego, or sense of self, is inherently valuable in that it confers perspective, a platform from which to engage and learn.
· The medium through which the ego functions is Thinking. Without Thinking, you have no ego; no separate sense of self.
· Our individual prismatic platform is necessarily eccentric. Herein lies its value as well as its shortcomings.
· As important as this ego-thing is, it is also an amorphous blob that will consume as much thought-space as it is allowed.
· This ego-thing is a work in progress, and it is not the whole of what we are; it exists only in the realm of Thinking; and it can be creatively, constructively interrupted by stopping all thought!
Stopping all thought?
This brings us back to the autonomic functions, a group of functions which includes Thinking.
Breathing, unlike digestion and heart beat and others, is one autonomic function over which we can exercise immediate, conscious control. We can hold our breath to annoy our parents or go swimming. We can alter the depth and rate of breathing when meditating or concentrating.
And Thinking is the other autonomic function over which we can exercise some control.
Thinking is a lot more fun and lot more productive when unbound from ego. And this little nugget hunkers down at the core of the human conundrum:
· You need an ego.
· The ego is a platform from which you may engage in the world.
· The medium through which the ego engages is Thinking.
· Your best, most fun, freshest, and most energized Thinking blossoms when the ego is not involved.
Therefore, stop Thinking in order to Think Well and More Funly.
One way to stop Thinking is to play tennis. Playing tennis should be one of the Next Ten Commandments. Because tennis is faster than thought, so if you’re thinking your way through the game, you’re going to hate yourself, which is the opposite of playing tennis. And playing tennis is an actual thing you can do to stop Thinking. It is also a metaphor for a virtually infinite array of way cool human activities that are faster than thought, so to do any of them you bypass the cumbersome, droning, circular ego Thinking — without which, weirdly, none of this would be possible.
That’s why the gods want us to play tennis (after all, this is the last in the series, Think Tank Tennis), paddle white water, explain the cosmos, cure cancer, and run like the wind. And simply, periodically throughout the day, stop all thought. It’s like a breath of fresh air.
Use your ego platform. It’s your diving board, not your hut. Jump already.
Jonathan Marcus’ memoir, Everything is Happening at Once, is now available on Amazon.
Click here for free download of Everything is Happening at Once, Chapters 1 & 2.
