Thinking is the highest human faculty and the power and quality of our thinking is primarily what distinguishes us from the other animals. Human civilisation is the product of two activities, thinking and doing, with the quality of the doing heavily dependent on the quality of the thinking.
However, the everyday world generally accords a much higher value to doing than to thinking. The phrase "it's only academic" is commonly misused to classify a point as being of no practical value. Perhaps this explains an innate feeling of insecurity in institutes of higher learning, whose primary work is thinking. Fortunately, we live in a State that, more than most, respects the work of the thinker.
Thinking is a natural and very pleasurable activity. Aristotle opens his Metaphysics with the grand generalisation: "All men, by their very nature, feel the urge to know." He goes on to say that we seek explanations in the first place for their own sake and not for any practical value they might have - philosophy arises from simple wonder.
By thinking I mean organised purposeful thought and not idle daydreams. Thinking may be natural and pleasurable, but it also requires effort - it is in fact "hard work". A useful analogy is with physical exercise. Our bodies love physical exercise and are designed to thrive on it and to fall into poor shape without exercise. Nevertheless, most people must surmount an initial barrier of lethargy before starting a strenuous physical activity. It is only when you get into the exercise, and most particularly when you finish it, that you reap the pleasurable rewards.
So it is with thinking. Unfortunately, with thinking as with physical exercise, many people rarely overcome the initial barrier of lethargy.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is the favourite philosopher of the French. Descartes was preoccupied with the question " What can we know for sure?" He concluded that the only thing he could know for sure was - "I know that I think", which he turned around into his famous dictum: "I think, therefore I am."
Thinking is a serious business, but this is not sufficiently appreciated by very many people, as illustrated by a little story about Descartes. He started life as a soldier and wrote a book on fencing. However, he soon discovered that all he wanted to do was to think. This was a highly unusual, and as he discovered, a highly unpopular choice.
Some friends called on him at 11 a.m. and found him in bed. "What are you doing?" they asked. "Thinking," he replied. His friends were furious. To avoid interruptions, Descartes moved to Holland but the interruptions continued, forcing him to move house 24 times.
When we are awake we think continuously. Psychologists tell us we have 60,000 thoughts per day. This sounds very impressive until you learn that 95 per cent of the thoughts you have today are the same as the thoughts you had yesterday. Most of us spend our time in a fog of aimless or conditioned thoughts. In order to think productively and to have a productive life, you must be able to focus your thinking on the subject of your choice whenever you want and for as long as you wish.
This is more easily said than done. Most people find it hard to concentrate on one topic because competing thoughts keep interrupting. One useful way to train the mind to do one's bidding is to practice Transcendental Meditation (TM). Usually this involves two 20-minute exercises each day during which you allow your mind to empty of all thoughts. The technique is simple but you should learn it from a teacher of TM.
Several other benefits result from TM and I am a fan of the technique. All great scientists have the capacity to focus their minds intensely on the subject of study. Isaac Newton (1642-1727), whose many discoveries in physics and mathematics laid the groundwork for modern science and technology, was asked in later life how he, a single person, had been able to make such an enormous contribution. "By thinking of nothing else," he replied.
Newton could concentrate so intensely as to become oblivious to the rest of the world. An assistant described an example of Newton's behaviour. He entered Newton's bedroom one morning to find the great man seated on the side of the bed, stooped over, doing up his shoe.
Five hours later the assistant entered the room again. Newton was still in the identical pose he had observed that morning. Apparently a productive line of reasoning about a scientific problem had struck him as he put on his shoe and he stuck single-mindedly with the idea, pursuing it to its conclusion, oblivious to the rest of the world.
There is a saying that "you are what you eat" which points to the rather obvious fact that your physical body is made from the food that you ingest. A much more interesting and useful proposition is "you are what you think". Henry Ford had a saying: "If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you're right."
How you think about yourself, about your abilities, your plans for the future, etc. largely determines your behaviour in the world. If you consistently think in a positive and uplifting manner, this is how you will behave in the world. If you think in a negative and pessimistic manner, this is how you will perform.
You can discipline yourself with practice (so I am told!) to think only about what you want to think about. You can only entertain one thought at a time so a negative, harmful thought can be replaced by a positive, helpful thought. You can transform your life with the power of thought.
Think about it.
William Reville is a senior lecturer in biochemistry and director of microscopy at UCC.