Divine, or random thoughts?
I have always been fascinated by the idea of random thoughts. By random, I mean thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere. Have you ever gotten thoughts that were not associated with what you were previously thinking about? How is this possible? I am not an expert in psychology or neuroscience, so I am left with a very limited understanding of this subject.
The scientific term for thought, or the process thereof, is cognition.1 The understanding of cognition is very limited. The 'mind-body problem' is one example of our ignorance on the subject.2 The brain is an amazing complex machine, which has more connections than all of the man-made computers COMBINED.3 So, I won't even begin to try and understand the physical processes of what is going on during random thoughts.
So, I can really only use my first-person experience on this subject. My thoughts, are usually only generated by relation. Meaning, childhood memories usually arise, when somebody is talking about my childhood. Just like a file cabinet, once it is opened, tons of different memories come with it. That seems pretty understandable to me. However, what I can't explain is the random thoughts that come to me once in awhile. I can be thinking about what I am going to to do today, and then get a thought to call someone specific, and ask if they are alright. Sometimes, it is someone who I haven't really even thought of in a long time. Where did this, completely unrelated thought, come from? Are neurons circulating random information around my head, once in awhile dropping something into consciousness? Do we unconsciously have a another thought process? Was this put there by God?
To quote myself a thousand times a day, "I have no idea."
God bless,
Ryan
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1 Definition of cognition
2 Wikipedia article on 'mind-body problem'
3 Ghana news article
The scientific term for thought, or the process thereof, is cognition.1 The understanding of cognition is very limited. The 'mind-body problem' is one example of our ignorance on the subject.2 The brain is an amazing complex machine, which has more connections than all of the man-made computers COMBINED.3 So, I won't even begin to try and understand the physical processes of what is going on during random thoughts.
So, I can really only use my first-person experience on this subject. My thoughts, are usually only generated by relation. Meaning, childhood memories usually arise, when somebody is talking about my childhood. Just like a file cabinet, once it is opened, tons of different memories come with it. That seems pretty understandable to me. However, what I can't explain is the random thoughts that come to me once in awhile. I can be thinking about what I am going to to do today, and then get a thought to call someone specific, and ask if they are alright. Sometimes, it is someone who I haven't really even thought of in a long time. Where did this, completely unrelated thought, come from? Are neurons circulating random information around my head, once in awhile dropping something into consciousness? Do we unconsciously have a another thought process? Was this put there by God?
To quote myself a thousand times a day, "I have no idea."
God bless,
Ryan
__________________________________________________________________
1 Definition of cognition
2 Wikipedia article on 'mind-body problem'
3 Ghana news article
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