PUBLISHER’S NOTE: It is one of LINK Newspaper Founder and former editor  Promod Puri’s most thought-out (excuse the pun), well researched and complex columns. Well thinking and thought are the basis of all human existence and advancement as we need this function in us to survive and continue to build on the mythic notion of a heavenly Oasis on earth. So it only through ideas which are the basic form of thought that humans for years have been trying to create here what only the religions promise in the aftermath. For me thought is way to get there – definitely spiritually (We can imagine an ethereal-heavenly peaceful world where mankind has found the kind of intellectual nirvana that Plato talked about in his philosophical writings) and even perhaps physical one where technology has created highly modern world where humans have moved beyond the pettiness of jealousy, rage, violence and the brain-thought pattern is one of caring and sharing and love and where both sexes are equal and race-colour-creed is non-existent – the kind of world some futuristic films imagine. Thought is the only ship that can deliver man to a better world – maybe not the one I mentioned above but something that is better than the one we have now. I hope my musings provide some consolation for Mr. Puri’s very deep and enlightening Thoughts on Thought!

***R. Paul Dhillon – Founder of DESIBUZZbc / DESIBUZZCanada

By Promod Puri

Simple Thought: Infuse purity and ethics in thoughts, base karmas on those thoughts, and enjoy the fruits of those karmas.

 Mahatma Gandhi says: thoughts become words, words become behavior, behavior becomes habits, habits become values, and values lead to destiny.

In the creation of words, behavior, habits, values, and destiny, the conception begins with thought. It all dawns from this perception.

Since destiny is the consequence of thought, the latter itself is consequence of our feelings, attitudes, knowledge, and experiences. All these factors instigate our cogitative faculties in creating thinking.

Thinking is a mental activity of brain. And thought is a product of thinking. Creation of one’s own thought, import of thought, and its acceptance or its rejection are all considered as thought. In other words, the act involved in these considerations is a thought by itself.

Thought has multiple executions like establishing a reason, imagination, understanding, judgment, remembering, opinion, belief or just being conscious of time and place, etc.

According to the biology of thought, its processing and transmission happen and develop in the nerve cells of brain. These cells are called neurons. With a population of close to 100 billion, neurons while communicating with each other, receive, and deliver information. Neurons function along with trillions of synapses. The latter are connectors transmitting signals among neurons.

Thought in its physical formation resides in the chemistry of neuron cells. Neurons are “electrically excitable”, meaning their activity is driven by some energy.

While we can accept the purpose and operation of neurons and synapses, the biology of thought, however, does not relate itself to two basic questions: what triggers the birth of a thought, and how it acquires its nature or character.

Seeking answer(s) to these two fundamental issues is consequential because, as we know thru Gandhi’s acknowledged quote that it is thought which impacts the destiny of an individual, family, community, nation, our world and perhaps the universe.

As far as genesis of thought is concerned there are three hypotheses:  

   – Thinking is a subconscious brain activity,

   – Some unexplained biological process creates thinking,

   – It is the conversion of energy particles into an object called thinking which shapes itself into thought.

As we ascertain, once thinking takes place by whatever hypothetical process, it becomes thought. Thinking is an activity which keeps on producing thoughts to generate execution, as well as begetting more thinking. And the process is activated by itself.

Neurons and synapses, being just the tools and carriers, collect thought for its retention, processing, and transmission to stimulate activity. Commands in the form of words are established, and rest of the operation follows.

How Does Thought Acquire Its Distinctive Trait?Thought generates action. Good thought generates good action, bad thought generates bad action. This elementary and simple statement leads us to explore how thought acquires its distinctive trait.

A supplementary question also arises. Can we regulate or manage thought? We need good and positive thoughts for our happiness and peace, which can ultimately promise peace and happiness in the world.

In this pursuit, we accept the fact that several environmental factors quite significantly influence the nature or behavior of thought. The established and consented values in a civic society, its rituals, customs, and traditions are some of the environments which cause for the sentiment of thought. Genetic factor also play in drafting its blueprint. Moreover, thought generates and induces more thoughts.

Thoughts guide and maneuver our karmas. In return, karmas influence our thoughts, and the cycle continues.

Besides, environmental, genetic and karma factors which influence its creation and nature, our own inherent and acquired disciplines can influence the cultivation and development of thought.

These disciplines, including those driven by our individual moods and temperaments, are influenced by fundamental values of morality, nobility, and divinity.

We are told, to be honest, humble, and sincere, be considerate, and helpful to others, be merciful, forget and forgive, love fellow beings and care for the environments, including animals, plants, and the nature. And everything else which is pious, pure, and morally firm.

We accept the truism and goodness of these universal principles. But do they provide adept stimulant to our cogitative biology in creating and shaping our thoughts?

In theoretical and idealized state these righteous directives can steer our thoughts towards achieving the desired temperament we want for ourselves which impact the society as well. But the environment we live in, including the economic and health factors, render the divinity of the noble messages as nonviable religious or scriptural preaching.

The devotee and the divinity are separated by pragmatics we face and accept in the real world. And the casualty is thought. It is molded and normalized to the adjustment of our circumstantial priorities.

A Resolution Worth A Thought

In our civilized and progressive world, the call of humanity seeks re-evaluating each of our religions, rituals, customs, traditions, social and political institutions, including Left and Right isms, which impart values and behaviors impacting our environments.

This resolution is part of the evolution and management of civil society we live in. Evolution of civilization is natural as well as essential for rational and intelligent creation of environments which influence our thoughts.

In this age of enlightenment, backed by technology and nurtured by explosion of intelligent knowledge, we can independently seek the purity of thought and its management. In this quest, ripples generated are likely to create the waves which will impact the environment we live in.

In creating those environments, the infusion of ethics in thought is an earnest endeavor before we step on to the Gandhi’s destiny ladder.

And in that destiny, while revisiting and upgrading our religious, social, and political environments, lies peace and prosperity for the humanity.

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