Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD. Published on www.acadun.com The Netherlands 20th May 2013
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What does man think?
To think is to mean something. So, it is obvious that the answer to the question ‘what does man think’ is: man thinks words that convey meaning. But man cannot think a meaning alone, no matter how hard he tries. Even to answer the question ‘what does man think?’ words would be required. Hence, man thinks words that convey a meaning and not a meaning by itself.
Therefore, until words evolved that conveyed a meaning, man would not have been able to think. Intellect mysteriously has imparted a meaning to a word from its opposite. It is the opposite word that donates a meaning to a word although the opposite has no meaning by itself. For example, good has meaning because of bad and vice versa. Hence, thinking is a mysterious ability that has evolved within man.
But what could thinking be? Present-day man understands that thinking is a process to reason something. He also understands that words would be required to reason. So, it is easy for present-day man to understand that, in order to think, reason or apply logic, words are the basic necessity.
It is not rocket science to understand that, in any language, a letter is just sound and a word is a process of letters. This can only mean that sound has evolved as a letter; that a process of letters makes a word and that thinking is a process of words.
It is obvious that sound, which has evolved as a letter or a word, is an innate property of life. Various sounds are present in nature and in man as well, for he is part of nature and not separate from it. Every language is a class of sound within man that has evolved as words with meanings.
How did primitive man think? Primitive man lived by the instinct of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. The instinctive lifestyle of the primitive man has evolved in the present-day man as the ability by words to think, see, hear, smell, taste and touch, although the individual does nothing to bring about sight, sound, smell, taste or touch.
Primitive man, during evolution, first came to know and later recognised and identified the world. After man was familiar with identification of the world around him, thinking evolved within man. Even to this day, a baby begins to think only after it comes to know and is able to identify the world around it.
Primitive man adapted to the world naturally by instinct and, in much the same way, the present- day man adapts naturally to the world by thinking. Man is unable to control the sounds that are in nature, as they evolve spontaneously, unpredictably and uncontrollably. Similarly, man cannot control the sounds within his body, as they evolve spontaneously, unpredictably and uncontrollably during circulation, digestion and respiration, including the sounds that mysteriously appear as thinking in the mind.
If man wishes to control the thinking process, he should first be able to control sound. This would be possible if man were able to control evolution, which is impossible. So, thinking happens to man, whatever that may be, and he does not make thinking happen to him.
Man thinks he can think for himself and for the other, but he cannot think for the other or for himself, as thinking happens to the other just as it does to him. Thinking may be similar, but not identical. As a metaphor, fruits of a particular kind on different trees may be similar, but not identical in quantity or quality.
So what does man think? Life has evolved man to think whatever sounds are within his mind, which mysteriously appear spontaneously, unpredictably and uncontrollably as words with meanings.
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