THE THOUGHT CYCLE by (me!) sandra, tvgp
under the influence of a) my son studying the water cycle for homework b) very early into douglas hostadter's i am a strange loop /and how fun to read someone who thinks about thoughtsall of this inspiring a re-post of a talk -a presentation of sorts, i gave at towne center books some time ago.
i can't even remember why or under what circumstances - i only know, i've come to believe that there is a thought cycle very similar to our water cycle
just as water never leaves, just changes form
so do our thoughts -never leave; just change form.
passing thoughts -like vapor thoughts -gather & form clouds; rain back down...
other thoughts manifest into tangible things -which exist, and then change form again, ,etc.
vapor, liquid, solid.... same. & what causes the change? temperature; same.
****
so i found plastic rain maker toy at golden apple, i think it was. that was my prop.
this was my talk:
brainstorm
"Listen - humor me by closing your eyes and listening – or not -
[flip toy so it makes sound of falling rain]
When I close my eyes and listen. In my imagination this is the sound of a million different thoughts falling from the sky. Each and every drop a thought.
Thoughts like water in a constant cycle. Land. Atmosphere. Ocean. Condensation. Precipitation. Evaporation. Yes! That’s it. Evaporation.
VAPOR THOUGHTS! Thoughts in a constant cycle no different from water. –and how do you change the state of water from a liquid, to a solid or a gas? You change the temperature. Change the temperature in the room. From warm and cozy friendly thoughts to better it keep it cool thoughts. Watch me heat things up thoughts. Private thoughts. Steamy thoughts. I’d die if you knew what I was thinking thoughts. Random thoughts. Heavenly thoughts. Under the influence of Mozart thoughts. And as time goes by, there are those clever, hide and go seek, senior moment thoughts. And mean and nasty, vengeful, thoughts coming to a slow, full boil.
- boiling water by the way, evaporates more quickly. I had to stop and share that thought.
Then there’s the man with the sexy smile. The sight of him makes me so nervous. He looks at me and if I can speak at all, it comes out in a stutter. He makes my heart race and my brain slow down. Seeing him always makes me lose my train of thought. Where was I anyway?
Oh yes. Thoughts like water.
In liquid state: I see free flowing conversation. Words pouring out from our lips, reaching ears and touching hearts. Beautiful music. Interesting stories read aloud. And I hear his voice.
Thoughts in solid form: every single thing you see. The clothes you’re wearing, the chair you sit in, the shoes you stand in, the car you drove to get here. –every single thing you see, touch, taste, smell, was first a thought.
It’s all so romantic. I see a library and the museum of modern art.
And in my imagination, it is our passing thoughts, that just like water, evaporate into vapor thoughts - but unlike water, impurities are not left behind. No thing filters the thoughts leaving our minds and entering the atmosphere.
Millions and millions of unedited, uncensored, raw and wonderful vapor thoughts travel every second into the atmosphere and gather together to form IDEA CLOUDS.
Good ideas, bad ideas, brilliant ideas rise above us, invisible to the naked eye, they travel by wind, pick up new ideas along the way. They talk amongst themselves, listen, share, debate, argue, have sex, reproduce until new understandings are born and bring rain.
Sometimes in the form of a light sprinkle. Sometimes a heavy storm.
Open minded people, I think, live in rain forests.
I have a picture in my head of some people I know but don’t like much. When new ideas come along, they run indoors and start complaining. But when I picture the people I love, my family and friends, open minded, sensitive, and compassionate people, artists and poets, singers and actors and writers. I have visions of them singing in this rain. Leaning their heads back, sticking out their tongues and drinking it up. And I see them gather to splash in the big, muddy puddles left behind.
Just as plants absorb water from the soil -we absorb ideas into our minds, our souls. Our roots; key nutrients for sustaining life. Wars born from a collection of destructive, unchallenged thoughts. Violence from a collection of angry thoughts. Cancers and fatal diseases from exposure to too many hopeless thoughts.
But brilliant ideas - these manifest into civil rights movements, paradigm shifts, cures and solutions, a blend of philosophical and tangibles that contribute to our evolution.
Passing and unused thoughts recycle back into the atmosphere. Old ideas mix with new ideas creating novel ideas and then it rains again.
When I open my eyes, I see an 8” plastic toy. Inside this clear plastic cylinder, a collection of tiny, colorful plastic beads pulled by gravity through an arrangement of triangular slots in 8 thin, colorful plastic disks. When you turn it upside down, the toy makes music. A sound similar to falling rain.
Or if you are stressed out, short tempered or in a bad mood. It just makes noise.
Either way, this little plastic toy is the result of a clever thought.
And often. One clever thought leads directly to another.
posted by SHE @ 10:30 AM
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