My teachers always said, “Think before you speak.” Other authority figures would warn, “Think before you act.” I have come to understand these words of wisdom differently. The truth is that if you have a brain, you think. Thinking is the function of your brain and neurology. That is true unless thinking is different from taking in data and evaluating it to determine your response to a given situation. We are taking in information all of the time and we evaluate that information with varying degrees of accuracy and depth. However, in our process of becoming more “conscious” of our thinking behavior, we have broken the process of acquiring and evaluating data into unique sections. These categories are based upon the advances in science and our continued advancement in understanding the mechanisms of the human body.
Wikipedia is a boom for any individual who wants knowledge about almost any issue to enhance his or her personal reflections about their perceptions. Having taken Anatomy and Physiology I and II years ago as further training for maintaining my professional teachers’ certification, I have some strong familiarity with human anatomy but these courses were taken years ago. I did an internet search using key terms I remembered and hit upon the familiar Wikipedia to refresh my recollection with some basic facts.
Sidebar: The Neurology of the Human Body: A Cursory Presentation
The nervous system is divided into two basic systems:
1. the central nervous system (CNS), and
2. the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The PNS has the autonomic nervous system
(ANS) which has two or three systems.
2.1. the sympathetic nervous system [flight or fight]
2.2. the parasympathetic nervous system [feed and breed]
2.3. the enteric nervous system [Not all texts include this one.]
The hypothalamus (sitting just above the brainstem) and the pituitary gland connects the nervous system to the endocrine system (glands and hormones). This is the connectivity where the neurology interfaces with the biochemistry of the body.
Perhaps we have lost the sense of the whole process of thinking as one reality and not a disjointed collection of wheels, cogs, and other parts humming along like a hard metal machine performing independent tasks.
My dog, a border collie named Ginger, thinks. You can see her doing it. She sits on the foot of my bed, looks out of the window watching the woods bordering my property. She sees something or hears something that I do not perceive. Her ears change positions. They appear to take a position that I consider a demonstration of her assuming an alerted state. She will then bark and spring to the window sill which is the perfect height for her head to fit just above the window sill. Not losing any focus, she barks a bit more. I go to the front door. She is right behind me. As soon as I instantly open the door, she bolts down the three steps and races to the chain-link fence on the far side of the front yard. She never loses the spot of her original focus point. The original object of her attention may have moved. She begins to look around and peruse the far fence line. My dog, Ginger, takes in information, evaluates and acts. Ginger thinks.
We humans understand the difference between “conscious thinking” and “unconscious neurological activity” or “unconscious thinking.” With my very general definition of thinking as “taking in data and evaluating it to determine one’s response to a given situation,” I consider unconscious neurological activity to be unconscious thinking because it is still taking in and evaluating data culminating in a response albeit done without consciously choosing to do so. It is all thinking whether done consciously or unconsciously. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is not separate from the human nervous system. The ANS, while not being a part of the CNS, is part of the PNS and therefore a significant part of the nervous system as a whole. Specific to our reflection is both the sympathetic nervous system [flight or fight] and the parasympathetic nervous system [feed and breed]. It is the feed and breed aspect of the nervous system that is the current highlight at this moment.
The drives to feed and breed are critical to hominid survival and as such are incredibly strong, demanding the individual’s unrelenting attention to them. Feeding onsets almost instantly upon birth while breeding is delayed until the onset of puberty. Nonetheless, both are intrinsically, intimately and irrevocably interwoven into the makeup of the biology of all hominids. Nonlinear elements pertinent to chaos theory may give rise to nuances regarding feeding and breeding but the overall population of hominids has been and still is driven by the forces of feeding and breeding essential to the survival of the individuals and the species. Colloquially speaking, this is the nature of the reality of hominids.
That said, let us turn our attention back to Ginger. In her natural, unaltered state, Ginger would go into heat from time to time and would become highly attractive to male dogs looking to impregnate her. This is the way of Nature. However, humans have learned much about Nature and too many unwanted cats and dogs can be avoided by castrating or spaying our pets. Essentially this process removes vital parts of the animal’s anatomy required for breeding thus preventing that individual from being able to breed. Ginger has been neutered and therefore does not go through the cycles necessary for breeding to occur. Her biology has been altered. The altering of biology in this fashion was not the state of affairs way back in the days when our ancient ancestor hominids walked among all of the other animals before hominids had language or fire or lived in villages etc. Hominids lived in their natural state strongly motivated by the drives of feeding and breeding without external interventions such as castrating or spaying. Our first step is here when hominids roamed the Earth in their natural unaltered state driven by the forces of feeding and breeding.
Ginger does not think about when to mate. Mating for Ginger occurs when her breeding cycle is triggered by her breeding feedback loop and as opportunity presents itself. Any male dog in her area will become aware that she is in heat and the breeding feedback loop for those dogs will be triggered by Ginger and mating is most likely to occur. This is Nature’s way. Breeding is not a matter of contemplation or planning. It is a matter of biochemical and neurological activity that is associated with the ANS nervous system responsible for feeding and breeding feedback loops. This is more of the unconscious thinking than the conscious thinking occurring in the brain of the CNS. Breeding at this point in the history of ancient hominids is more like reflex action. If you inadvertently place your hand on a very hot surface like a wood stove you almost instantly jerk your hand away. You do not “think” about it. You just do it. It is a reflex action that enables the fastest removal of your hand from a severely damaging situation. Even though you “do not think about it,” I propose that you do “think” about it because your body took in information — dangerously hot surface on my hand — and resolved to remove your hand as soon as possible. Reflexes are unconscious thinking because unconscious thinking in the ANS allows for quick, decisive action to critically protect in the fastest way possible. So, feeding and breeding as well as fight or flight mechanisms are informed evaluations or unconscious thinking that reside in the ANS system because these needs are tantamount to the survival of individuals and the species in general.