Metathought

The reflection reminded me of some kind of liquid -- oil perhaps; something thick and angry.

The reflection reminded me of some kind of liquid -- oil perhaps; something thick and angry. But focusing on the window itself was not the object of the exercise, nor was it about noting the reflection; I was missing the point. The object was the metathought: the thinking about the thinking - to note the observation as it occurred, and observe the observation. To remove my self and ponder the remains.

I do this a lot; have done it for quite some time. It is sometimes mingled with the confusion and block. I often think there are things profound to be learned by it, and wonder what those things are; then, of course, wonder at the wonder.

Posted in Thoughts on Tuesday, 29 April, 2003 (digg this)

Comments

Logan Smith wrote:

I have often engaged in the same type of thinking, periodically pondering if genius is the transcendence of this state of mind. I have always been an observer and I am curious if that is all I will ever be.

It is as if through a sense of "wonder" I see an action, object or idea and I begin to realize its context and orientation only to fall just short of recognizing the influence or universal meaning. Not that it matters much, but I always feel I am blessed with enough brain power to recognize ideas, objects or "metathought" but not enough to find the insight into things that bind objects and ideas together. The connections elude me even though the resulting actions do not.

With reading it can be found that this indescribable sense of something greater has historically plagued humanity. Rene Descartes discusses this point and like many of us reaches an impasse in which he can only pull out the God card (the unmoved mover) to leap into a possible explanation.

I also have a sense of something greater but I have my convictions about an omnipotent, omniscient God. It’s this missing piece, link, focusing lens that must be suppressed in our daily lives lest it drive us to madness.

Posted on May 7, 2003 3:40 PM