One of my favorite things to contemplate is a statement by one of my heroes, Albert Einstein, who said that something isn’t there and so we see it, but rather, we see it and so it is there.  This got me to thinking.  I realized that he was really saying that as we think it, it appears.

So we create our world in our minds.  This goes for the physical world as well as our imaginative world.  And on second thought, this goes for each of us as well.

I’ve always found this to be a pretty mind-boggling concept, but not really when one considers the world of our dreams.  When in that mental state, the world around us seems as real as the world around us in our waking state.  Then there’s the awakened state that most spiritual leaders often speak of – that which we are working to attain in this life on Planet Earth.  Three states of thinking: Dreams, Waking and Awakened.

“How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?” – Plato

This ancient thinker struggled with the same thoughts as we do this very moment.  It seems like we spend most of our time in this earthly experience floundering about in the second state.

“We are what we think.  All that we are arises with our thoughts.  With our thoughts, we make the world.” – Buddha

I’ve been looking for Jesus’ specific thoughts on thinking and coming up somewhat empty until I considered his demonstrations (some call them miracles, but I prefer ‘demonstrations’ – demonstrations of the truth of being).  He walked on water.  How did he do this?  He thought he could and so he did.  He raised the dead.  He understood the truth of death – that there is no death, and so changed the perceptions (thinking) of those around him.  Lazarus rose.  Jesus appeared after the crucifixion.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale

“The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” — Albert Einstein

The demonstrations of Jesus were whoppers, way-showers to us in the waking state.  However, the higher thoughts of some of our greatest thinkers also show the way to living happier daily lives as well.

“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.  When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” — Buddha

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” — The Bible from the Book of Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7

“The more man meditates upon good thoughts; the better will be his world and the world at large.” – Confucius

Many people place success at the top of life’s ladder.  For my money it’s happiness, though I’ll have to admit lately in my latter years of this visit I am more considering the word “awakening” as the top rung on the ladder.

But happiness, for me, has always been huge.  Living in the roller-coaster world of the entertainment business can be a rough ride for even the most successful, so I’ve learned not to make success the epitome.  I’m certainly happier having made this decision in life.

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.” – Marcus Aurelius

I wrote a song once called, “I Think; Therefore, I Am”.  Looking back on it, I find it to be rather sophomoric.  I think that I wrote it when I was too young.  I needed 20 years of seasoning before I tackled that one.

But thinking back on it, I came across this:

“’I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am’ — a philosophical Latin statement used by René Descartes, which became a fundamental element of Western philosophy. The simple meaning of the phrase is that if someone wonders whether or not he exists, that is, in and of itself, proof that he does exist (because, at the very least, there is an “I” who does the thinking).  It forms the bedrock for all knowledge, because, while all things can be questioned as to whether they are from the realm of reality or from some figment of imagination (a dream, influence of a demon, etc.), the very act of doubting one’s own existence serves as proof of the reality of one’s own existence.”  – From Wikipedia

Whether or not one chooses to debate the above, Mr. Wikipedia is right when he says, “It forms the bedrock for all knowledge…” This bedrock is thinking.  Thinking is the basis for all things.  Without thinking, there is nothing.  Take away thinking and matter does not exist.  Creativity does not exist.  Man does not exist.

“We are formed and molded by our thoughts.” — Buddha

Perhaps thinking is the action of God.  (A concept sure to be considered in a later blog post.)  If we are made in God’s image and likeness then we are a product of God’s thinking.  We are the results of his thoughts – or said in another less anthropomorphic way, we are a product of Thought. 

“Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force — that thoughts rule the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson