Can we choose our thoughts?

[sgtkate]

There's a philosophical idea that every single action or thought we do is part of a giant flowchart if you like. There are trillions of paths pre-mapped out and all that happens is that as we make choices, from when we blink right through to if we have kids etc, we just go down a new path of that massive flowchart.

 

Can you control your thoughts? Yes to a certain degree. You can learn to turn your negative overthinking into something else normally by training an instinctive response, for example if you start going into a negative thought process you force yourself to make your body go floppy part by part, you focus on breathing and counting breaths. There's plenty of research done around neuro linguistic programming:

http://www.nlpacademy.co.uk/what_is_nlp/

 

There is another idea that our brains have so much control over our body that they can effectively do anything within the bounds of physics. They can stop bleeding by diverting blood flow if we could "think" it, they could destroy cancer, cure AIDs on themselves and so on. I don't believe it, but it's an interesting theory.

https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/what-is-epigenetics/

[Cyclone]

That theory you described isn't epigenetics...

[Lockjaw]

You proved mine.

The readers decided to follow my instruction, or not, exercising their free will!

 

Are you really suggesting that some people decided not to think of a red square?

 

Really?

[Waldo]

Just because some external input can influence our thoughts, does not prove we have no agency.

 

---------- Post added 17-05-2017 at 10:08 ----------

 

Also, if everything is predetermined (I'm sure it isn't), isnt it cruel putting people in prison for crimes they had no control over commiting or not.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Waldo

[silentP]

Just because some external input can influence our thoughts, does not prove we have no agency.

 

---------- Post added 17-05-2017 at 10:08 ----------

 

Also, if everything is predetermined (I'm sure it isn't), isnt it cruel putting people in prison for crimes they had no control over commiting or not.

 

Ah! But if we have no control over putting them there we can't be accused of cruelty..

[sgtkate]

Just because some external input can influence our thoughts, does not prove we have no agency.

 

---------- Post added 17-05-2017 at 10:08 ----------

 

Also, if everything is predetermined (I'm sure it isn't), isnt it cruel putting people in prison for crimes they had no control over commiting or not.

 

Why does the Pope drive in an armoured car? If everything is God's will then he'll die when he dies. Also, surely he wants to get to heaven ASAP as it's rumoured to be pretty amazing. He can't commit suicide of course but I don't understand why he doesn't give everyone as many chances as possible to take him out through accident or intent? Perhaps because he likes the power because on earth he controls millions whereas in heaven he'd just be a normal guy? Or perhaps, he knows it's all a load of rubbish?

[Waldo]

...not to mention that everything is god's will!

 

I think yeah, people can genuinely buy in to the facade, though on some really deeper level, they intuitively know it's kidology. Reminds me of high level scientologists when they get told about Xenu; they're already too invested (time, energy, money etc) in their BS religion to pull out. Be interesting to be a fly on the wall inside of thier heads! Hmm, poor feckers are clearly being abused.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Waldo

[DnAuK]

I had to do an interesting course on Unconscious Bias as part of management training. What it basically says is that you have inbuilt instincts back from when we were mere animals that come into your head before you are consciously aware of them (See a lion - run like hell, that kind of thing).

 

The theory goes that you are always going to have some thoughts, based upon nature and nurture, that you can't control. Such as the car salesman who turfs out the guy in tracksuit and backwards baseball cap looming over a Ferrari, before realising he was a millionaire music artist and not a thief. That kind of things.

 

The only thing you can do is give yourself a pause for the conscious thoughts to catch up and then make a conscious decision whether to act on your unconscious instinct. If that makes sense.

 

I also once heard a seminar which said that some people are far more capable of this. That the only difference between you and a millionaire business man is that he has the ability to think directly from A - This idea will make me millions, to B - I am now a millionaire. Whereas most of us would divert down C - what would I do if I was a millionaire? D - The Seychelles sounds nice. E - I haven't booked my holidays yet this year. And F - I wonder if that caravan in Skeg is available again...

 

Tho Donald Trump seems to have been successful without this apparent ability. So maybe it is all bogus.

[petemcewan]

Yes you can control them.

 

NLP has the swish technique for controlling negative thoughts.

 

I tend to agree with you. I'm re-reading NLP And Health by Ian . MacDermott and Joesph .

O'Connor

 

There's a line of research in the medical profession looking into pysconeuroimmunology.

 

But I suspect this thread will go the same way as previous threads that have addressed aspects of mind/brain pysconeuroscience. The "hard determinists" will square up to

the advocates of free will. So it goes.

Edited May 17, 2017 by petemcewan

[Cyclone]

This thread isn't about free will or determinism though is it.