I AM, THEREFORE, I THINK

By John Maerz BA LMT

     Your response would be, “Whoa! What did you say! Isn’t that backwards? Didn’t Rene Descartes say I think therefore I am?” The answer to that is yes. Rene Descartes did say the opposite. But, if you would, please humor me a bit and conduct a little experiment with yourself. Reach into your refrigerator, or take from your table, an apple or some food that has a distinctive aroma. Close your eyes and allow your senses to fill up. The first impressions are ones of taste, aroma and texture. However, within a split second, something happens. The mind interrupts and brings forth memories of Grandma when she used to bake them or maybe you have memories of the apples that you brought with your lunch in grade school. Whatever thoughts come forth from the mind, they bring qualities of classification and judgment about the preceding experience. Suddenly, we’ve been catapulted into the past and are searching for remembered symbols of the experience. With this information the mind then identifies, boxes and packages the experience like an old photograph. Based on the apple’s assessment the mind will then decide when and where we will acquire or avoid the next apple. What’s curious is that in the instant that the mind takes over the lead and judges the experience we are no longer having the experience.

     It seems to me that experiencing happens in the moment when we are not “separate” from the experience but part of it. Thinking happens after the moment; after we have separated ourselves from it. The mind’s existence seems to be completely dependent on its ability to separate from what’s being experienced. Our awareness appears to be more inclusive than our mind. After all, we have a mind and have thoughts. The question is “who” or “what” was having the experience before the mind butted in? Rene, do you have an answer?