3 Kinds of Thinking

Things are not always as they seem. For example, it might seem obvious that the earth is still and that the sun, moon, planets and stars orbit around it. For thousands of years this is what everyone believed, until Copernicus demonstrated that all the observations astronomers were making were better explained by seeing that the earth and planets orbited around the sun.  It’s good to be sceptical, to doubt and question things. It was only by questioning the old Ptolemaic model that...

Let us now consider the nature of thinking.  A Self can be doing something, or having something done to it. In logical terms it can be a subject or an object.  All thinking presupposes the existence of a subject, a being with some kind of awareness and mental activity who is doing the thinking. The subject exists in a world with other things that are not them.  The subject may never be certain of the ultimate nature of this world - it may not be as it appears to be - but there is something...

There are two main kinds of objective thinking. The first does not, in theory at least, need a world: the second operates in a world. The first is a priori thinking – it is reasoning from first principles: the second is empirical thinking, involving measuring and testing hypotheses. Studying Mathematics is a wonderful way to develop a priori thinking. From very simple first principles, such as the concept of number, are built up complicated problems (the concept of number gives rise to the...

O my Luve's like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June Robbie Burns My life does not only consist of facts and logic. I listen to music, watch films and plays, appreciate beauty, read novels and poetry. I have a heart as well as a head, I engage with my surrounding culture. We feel things. Our feelings are intimately connected with our thoughts. I do not think it is possible to say conclusively which one causes the other. Certainly, thoughts can arouse emotions. If I hear sad news I feel...

If you interview a successful person, there will come a point in which they will identify a key moment in their lives that changed everything. It could be the decision to start a business; to try again after bankruptcy, a serious illness or injury; a move to a new place; a resolution to transform a difficult set of circumstances, or a commitment to a process of self education or a training program.  What all these moments have in common is that they are actions. Thinking about something,...

Is the Cartesian paradigm still fit for purpose, or should it be replaced by one starting with action? How can and should we decide?  Put another way, which comes first, action or thinking? It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg. Perhaps we normally think first, then act, but sometimes we act ‘instinctively’ and then think about the reasons afterwards! Moving from one paradigm to another is not a smooth process, it is more of a jump. I do not think I can prove that action comes before...