“I think, therefore I am.” – Thought Energy

So there I was, sitting on the toilet, thinking, “The possibility exists that I’m nothing more than a thought energy. I exist within my own mind as a set of stories/beliefs I tell myself to give myself a sense of identity and make sense of the world around me. That’s all thought energy.

If someone thinks about me for some reason, I now exist as ‘thought energy’ inside their mind (so “I” move around a bit).

Even if I’m face-to-face with someone, they are now thinking, ‘Oh. Here’s Larry, in front of me.’

If I look in the mirror, I have “thoughts.” Things like, “Damn, Larry. Look at you. You are one delicious-looking slice of man-candy.” You know, stuff like that, but just more thought energy.

My physical bodily sensations, my sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are all culminating inside my own mind and occurring as thought energy in my brain.

In my search for “self” (the “me-ness” of me), I am discovering that who ‘I am’ is merely thought energy existing in one of our minds at any one given time, and we create that identity we think about within the stories we develop about them/myself.

I think that’s why we hang onto our ‘stories’ for so long. Our internal sense of identity is wrapped up in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.

The possibility exists…”

My responsibility for thoughts

As I have it, I am not my thoughts.

Thoughts are just data that my brain emits when it is computing information which “I” then choose to focus on and decide if the thoughts are accurate of not.

“I’m the little decision maker inside the meat puppet, listening to my thoughts and deciding if the thoughts are true or false.”

My brain thinks all on its own accord. I will always have thoughts running around in my mind as long as I am alive.

As far as my responsibility goes, I am not responsible for the first thought that enters my mind.

That is just my brain doing what it does, thinking. My thoughts can be influenced by anything or anyone I interact or engage with. I cannot control any of that, therefore, I am not responsible for the intitial thoughts that my brain emits.

Im not even really responsible for my second thought.

My second thought is typically just my brain responding to me asking it, “Uh, hey brain, back up a second, what was that again? Repeat that please.”

My responsibility for my internal thoughts begins at my third thought, the thoughts persuant to that thought and my decision to give those thoughts more energy by continueing to focus on them afterwards.

That’s my take on it, anyway.

Painful Results

I heard this in a conversation, didn’t want to forget it, so I decided to write it down somewhere so I wouldn’t forget it.

This looks like a good place…

What I heard was:

Improper Mental Engagement leads to an Afflicted Mental State.
An Afflicted Mental State leads to Non-Virtuous Intentional Action.
Non-Virtuous Intentional Actions lead to Painful Results.

Humans, we create our own suffering.