Praise to thought

"The appearance of thought is certainly the most important event in the history of the universe since its emergence from nothingness.

It is with these beautiful words of Jean d'Ormesson that I will attack this subject, which I believe will have much to offer.

The subject of thought is so profound that I will list several scholarly words discovered while studying this subject, giving credit to each of the authors.

I have too much respect for them and will not appropriate their words.
An old Hebrew saying goes: 'He who speaks a thing in the name of its author, will bring redemption to the world.

The first question that would come to mind is: what is thought?
The dictionary will tell us that it is the faculty of thinking, that it is an operation of the intelligence, an idea, a judgment, a reflection that are produced by the faculty of thinking.
We often have deep thoughts, we are sometimes completely lost in our thoughts.

 

We all have our own way of thinking. We study the thoughts of philosophers. We try to understand the new trends in the political thought of a country for example. But to have a free thought is to have a critical mind. You almost have to go and read Marc Aurele's 'Thoughts'.

I don't know what d'Ormesson will think of this word of Averroes:
''To think is to live; it is to take pleasure without constraint, which draws its strength only from itself; it is to lead for a short time the same existence as God who thinks the universe to make it exist.''

 

Now both had this deep belief of a God who brought the universe out of nothingness, who gave it a meaning without the common man grasping its significance. Both of them think that thought has something of lightning which brings the man closer to the divine.

Who else than Albert Einstein could teach us to better understand and appreciate thought. He said : « When I examine myself and my methods of thinking, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has been more significant to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge. »

Thinking is weighing and balancing, evaluating reasons, reasoning values and finally undermining all certainties and the authorities that support them.
Thinking is a constant threat to belief, and free spirits are seen by the gullible crowd as strong or even clever.

I liked this word from Voltaire's Candide, because I believe I am following it to the letter: "It is beautiful to write what one thinks; it is the privilege of man."
And I confess to making it quite a privilege for myself. Indeed, I write if not always then often what I think. I reread myself and discover a malicious pleasure, said Averroes, a certain gift of fantasy said Einstein.

Nature has endowed us all with certain attributes. The attribute of the swan is to be white, that of the eagle is to fly and I believe that that of the man is to think. I do not remember precisely, but I had to take this example from Hermes.

A long time ago, I read Jiddu Krishnamurti's "The Awakening of the Intelligence" and took away several lessons for a better life. For a long time, he influenced my decisions and my approach to life. He said many beautiful things. Among others, "We live by thought, we do things by thought, we plan our life by thought, our action is motivated by thought. And thought is worshipped all over the world as the most extraordinarily important thing, which is part of the intellect.
And here is one of his beautiful words: "Thought is the reaction of memory accumulated as knowledge.

And what about action?
This is what John Locke said: 'I have always thought that the actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.
And later, dreams become reality when actions follow thought.

How can we not succumb to such wisdom?
How can we not respect such intelligent and common sense words?

Professor Edwin Radlowski, head of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (1960), the man who built the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, gave a very simple answer to the question: how can a person improve his ability to think?
Study a page of the Guenara, that is, a commentary on the Jewish oral law, every day. It fills a hole, doesn't it?
It's been a while since I've studied it, and maybe I should start again.

Can we imagine a world without thought?
How did it come to us?
Has it always been there?
Did the dinausors have it?

I must give credit to Jean d'Ormesson when he says: 'Thought thinks the world. It thinks God. It thinks itself. It also thinks everyday life, taxes, scarlet fever, money, career, stupidity, vanity, jealousy. She is the queen of the long story told by time under the eyes of a God replaced by men.

At least two people have associated thought with life. Cicero invites us to believe that "Strong thoughts expressed in a powerful way help to improve life.
While Lucy Malory goes further to warn us that "A thought is a vital and intellectual energy of life, and it can be either a curse or a blessing, depending on its quality.
This same Malory said something simple and intelligent: 'The more intelligent a person is, the simpler the language he uses to express his thoughts'.

Speaking the above of Cicero transported me to Blaise Pascal for whom; 'eloquence is the painting of thoughts'.

As for the heart, the palm will go to Seneca, because for him ''the good thoughts that emanate from the heart of men are as necessary as good examples.
When Auguste Rodin was asked how he could mix his art with thought, he replied: "Art is the most important mission of all. Art is the most subtle mission of man, for it is an exercise of thought that seeks to understand the world and make it comprehensible.

I will end with a sympathetic and even comical remark by none other than Fernand Raynaud: 'When I see what I see and hear what I hear, I am quite happy to think what I think'