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What Thought is Not Prepared to Think
Just picked up a second-hand copy of Daniel Pinchbeck’s Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. (Pinchbeck also has an interactive forum on his website for anyone interested.) In any event, I’ll probably be quoting lots of things from this book, as I’ve heard a great deal about it, and it matches a lot of my own interests at the moment. To get the ball rolling, here’s a quote from philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard which Pinchbeck includes in his introduction:
Being prepared to receive what thought is not prepared to think is what deserves the name of thinking.
I really like that…
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August 25th, 2005 at 12:31 am
But if one accepts Lyotard’s idea, then it must mean that that particular concept is one that thought IS prepared to think. Which means Lyotard’s idea wouldn’t deserve the name thinking, which is the thing that is being praised. From another angle, if open-mindedness is what is being promoted here, then doesn’t that ultimately collapse into just another kind of close-mindedness? Could anyone talk you out of being open-minded? If the answer is no, then that must mean you are closed-minded about your open-mindedness. I just wonder if thinking isn’t something that, ultimately, doesn’t need to be refined so much as it needs to be transcended, if true insight, the kind that surprises you and shakes you to the core, is actually going to occur. If you allow the thinking mind to slap its own preferred label on your new insights, whatever their nature ultimately is, you might be left with a distorted view about what is really going on, and some of the transformative potential might be lost.
August 25th, 2005 at 12:51 am
Hehe. It’s just a quote. You’re the one who’s getting all bent out of shape about it!
August 25th, 2005 at 2:11 am
it seems like an error in judgement to write a thoughtful reply on why we shouldn’t think.
The implications are so obvious to me. This is a frightening quote.
August 25th, 2005 at 10:48 am
Yeah, it was an error in judgement. It’s just that the quote related to some things I’ve been looking at lately, so I got a little excited and went off on a tangent. Sorry about that. I guess the lesson is, don’t post on internet message boards when its late and you’re tired and just about to go to bed.