Thinking
One should distinguish between the babbling and the concentrated, questioning, cognitive thinking. The former takes place almost constantly in our heads. The trigger is an old behavioral pattern, general attention – similar to a pecking bird that takes in its surroundings so that it can react quickly in the event of danger. In this way, midpoints in the human brain can be stimulated, which lead to increased attention and influence the psyche through the midpoint-mechanic.
The unintentional thinking has the consequence that topics are stimulated and possibly activate midpoint that distract one from the current activity.
Mindfulness exercises and meditation can help against the impact of the constant chattering of thoughts.
In general, this continuous polling is useful; but it can also be too much.
Thinking is an interplay about a goal (a question or an issue): between the general attention, or consciousness (increased perception of the information) and the mind in the brain.
Thinking always means: an impulse that triggers concentration on a topic, an aim, and what then occurs to the questions asked by the brain – its huge organic networks.
Because everything that human has inherited and experienced is found within himself – in whatever form.
It intensifies the consciousness (the sensors). This strengthens the mind to collect information on this.
This activates neural networks (midpoints), prompting the mind to look here for experiences or similarities on the subject.
Results that come particularly close to the aim become conscious through increased attention and steer the mind in this direction.
This process of thinking: midpoints > consciousness > midpoints goes on until you have a coherent feeling, you can't get any further or it is replaced by another topic.
The brain compares and offers alternatives.
It makes suggestions, anticipates them and anticipates results - the consciousness lives them and returns the information to the brain.
This is the process of thinking.
And by the way: Concentrated thinking is always conscious.
Why can hardly a person see that his brain (which of course also includes the SELF with its aimls and will) controls it?
Answer: Because the feeling tells him something else; namely, that he determines everything with his will.
Feelings are control mechanisms that can have a great deal of power and persuasion over people.
His feeling tells him that he controls himself, with his consciousness - because that is the experience of the feelings and is not questioned.
Rational explanations such as: everything is decided by the brain or there is no "free" will usually have almost no influence. Because this would limit the pleasant feeling of freedom.
However, if one or the other asks himself whether this feeling is correct, that he has the free will to decide with his SELF or his consciousness, then the brain will still say "yes". Because there are often quick and not well thought-out answers. It is simply too difficult for him to switch on the frontal lobe more intensively and thereby try to confirm or refute this feeling.
In addition, there may be the fear that one actually has no free will, and that the view of making decisions exclusively with one's (metaphysical) consciousness is nothing more than imagination.
So, if you want to get to the bottom of thinking, the brain, especially the frontal lobe, has to deal with it in detail.
This is done very well through self-observation.
• So once again the process in detail: You want to know something (for example a solution to a problem, how you can realize an idea, why something happened, etc.)
• This creates an aim each time.
• This activates the brain searching through the neural networks (the midpoints) for what might match. It makes suggestions or makes decisions. So change the question with appropriate information.
• If that is not enough, this process continues.
One becomes more or less aware of what has been found. E.g. through an intuition, through pictures, schemes, designs, feelings.
As a result, information - from outside and inside - is taken in by the enhanced senses, which the consciousness then reflects back to the brain, which can then create a modified answer - these solutions may accept or reject and then, if necessary, search further. Until, as a rule, you get the feeling that what you wanted to know has been adequately answered.
A note on consciousness: anyone who believes that human decides all this with his consciousness would have to explain where the information that consciousness needs to make decisions comes from. And he won't bother to say they come from the brain. As a result, consciousness must also have access to the brain and find out what is right for the decision. This would be a task that would take a lot of time every time because the amount of information in the brain is huge. Consciousness would have to have the entire brain under control. So everything you have learned, what you have inherited, what has changed in the meantime, etc. And a consciousness of this kind would then have to select according to the decision, put it together and create a solution.
This kind of consciousness is nowhere to be found, let alone proven.
Summary of steps:
► A question appears.
► Where does it come from?
► Out of the brain! – And here from an aim that is to be achieved (to answer the question). Impulses from the outside world also pass through the brain first.
► Whenever a question arises, the brain first gives an answer – never consciousness.
► Even if the SELF gives the answer, it comes from the brain – because the SELF with its aims is in the brain.
► If something is important, you become aware of it.
► The consciousness absorbs information for the brain with enhanced senses.
► Then further questions may arise.
► This goes back and forth until the brain has made the decision that the aim has more or less been achieved. This is usually also realized in the end.
► As a result, people believe that they themselves have made this decision with their consciousness.
Finally, a remark on Descartes' sentence: "I think, therefore I am."
I would like to add: "I am because I think."