Thought Awareness Survey
An exploration and introduction to thinking about thinking
tl;dr The forms that take shape in our minds are not as simple as they may seem. Many people experience their thoughts differently than you do, and as a result, are experiencing a very different experience of consciousness. Read below and then take this survey to learn more about how you think and why it matters.
“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.” - Christopher Hitchens
“We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking.” - Santosh Kalwar
If you have no idea what this article means by “thought-forms” (visual/audio) or “internal monologues”, watch this video and this video first and then come back here.
Introduction
If you are like most of us, you probably haven’t spent much time mulling on your thoughts and inner experiences. You may assume that almost everyone thinks in generally similar ways as you do and has more or less the same experience happening in their minds day-to-day.
I want to start with two statements. Read them both, and pay special attention to what thoughts or feelings appear in your mind while reading each:
A small but notable percentage of people cannot see anything at all in their mind’s eye. No matter how hard they try, they cannot see pictures or visuals of any type within their “inner mind” (Known as Aphantasia). On the other hand, many people can conjure real visual pictures and images on demand in their mind’s eye on a spectrum from fuzzy up to extraordinarily vivid and detailed images.
A small but notable percentage of people cannot hear anything at all in their mind’s ear, also known as a lack of inner speech. No matter how hard they try, they cannot hear a conjured voice in their head or their own voice in their head, and they do not experience thoughts in the form of “silent” verbal experiences in their mind. Some of them cannot even hear songs in their heads, and others can. On the other hand, many people can conjure a multitude of sounds in their head on demand, even multiple voices such as character voices from a book or a full song, including full instrumentals. (Youtube interview here)
Do either of these statements surprise you? Does either of these statements describe you? Believe it or not, there are even people out there that have both no inner speech and no mind’s eye combined. Perhaps one of those people might be you. In either case, continue reading to learn more about these phenomena and to take a survey so we can all better understand the nature of mind and thought. The implications and importance of this may surprise you.
The Shapes and Forms of Our Thoughts
Thoughts, feelings, and sensations arise in our minds all the time. For some people, there is a constant stream of thoughts in the mind, while for others, it’s much quieter internally. For some, they are captivated by vivid daydreams and spectacular visuals in their mind, and for others a stream of chatter. And yet for others, there are no images and no verbal chatter. By those descriptions, their minds are “silent.” But that doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking and feeling.
Cognitive experts have identified five distinct forms of mental experiences:
Inner Speaking / Internal Monologue - This is hearing an “inner voice”, maybe your own voice or a neutral voice. Perhaps the voice of a character you conjure up while reading.
Inner Seeing / Visualizing and Imagery - This is seeing in the “inner eye”, perhaps conjuring up visuals, pictures, landscapes, people, or anything in between visually represented in your mind. Perhaps the entire scene of a book while reading, or a whole scenario while daydreaming.
Inner Feeling / Emotion - This is the feelings we all experience internally, in one form or another. The feeling of pain, anxiety, fear, disgust, happiness, hope, love, wanting. These feelings arise in the mind perhaps triggered by a memory, or sometimes seemingly outside of our control.
Sensory Awareness / Noticing something about the world that forms into a thought. This is when something in the outside world external to you triggers you to “notice” something. You notice a shirt, or a tree, or a particular texture.
Unsymbolized thinking / “Knowing” This one is perhaps the most mysterious and indescribable. In this type of thinking, there are no words or imagery— this is the conscious experience of “knowing” something but without any words, taste, or images. You may recall a memory, or food, or a friend, or a funny joke. You can remember things, but there are no associated imagery/visuals, and there’s no words or inner voices. There is simply a flood of knowledge in no particular form, but that can then be described by writing it down or explained to someone else out loud.
These five forms of mental experience are the most common ways in which people experience things in their minds. You may experience only a few of these, or perhaps you know all of them well. Either way, this leads us to our next question.
Why should I care anyways?
You might be thinking to yourself now (perhaps in your inner monologue, or through a distinct feeling), why should I care about this anyway?
The reason is simple. It is because the forms of thinking that your mind experiences radically transforms your experience of being alive, your hobbies, your interests, and affects pretty much every single aspect of your life. For example, consider a few everyday things that are directly affected by your forms of thinking:
Artistry - Are you a talented painter, photographer, illustrator, or sculptor? Song-writer? Author? What do you like to create? Think about how what you are talented at might be directly connected to the ways in which you think or even contrary to them.
Daydreaming - How often do you daydream or have you often wondered what other people mean by daydreaming? Some people have never daydreamed in their entire lives. Others daydream daily being pulled into vivid worlds and scenarios of their own creation while awake.
Reading Fiction - Are you someone that loves fiction? When you read fiction or stories, are you conjuring up a detailed experience of what’s happening in your mind? Can you paint an imagined landscape with all the characters? Or perhaps even hear the action or the characters talking, complete with distinct voices for each character? Or do you read fiction and simply see blackness and hear nothing while you read? Are you a fast or slow reader? Are you reading the words out loud in your mind?
Song stuck in your head - When a song is “stuck in your head”, are you hearing your own voice singing it? Can you hear the singer vocalizing the song? Can you hear in your head the entire song including multiple voices, and instruments? Or do you hear nothing at all?
Looking in the mirror - When you look yourself in the mirror in the morning, are you being flooded with a constant stream of visible chatter? or images? or both? Or do you experience a quiet mind mostly with feelings/sensations?
Endless thinking - In a typical day, do you experience long periods of quiet in the mind? Or is your mind constantly streaming thoughts to your conscious awareness, either positive, negative, or neutral?
Falling asleep - Do you find it easy to fall asleep at night? Or is your mind usually busy with verbal thoughts or imagery? Are you someone with insomnia, or do you fall asleep as soon as you hit the pillow after a long day?
All of these are just a small snapshot of the many ways your brain’s forms of thoughts have a profound impact on your life. Merely the realization that people have wildly different experiences of reality can perhaps give you a sense of why every person is so unique and why different people have entirely disparate talents and interests.
How can I learn more?
By now, you can hopefully begin to see that we’ve just scratched the surface of exploring this topic.
As the next step in discovery, please consider taking this survey to explore the nature of your own mind. Once enough people have completed the survey, I will create a series of posts here sharing and exploring the results.
And if you’d like to be kept up to date with future posts and musings, consider signing up here to be notified below