Thinking

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Thinking (Old High German: thenken (8th century)[1] or dankjan, denkjan; Germanic: *þank-ja-", from Indo-European: *teng- "to perceive, to feel, to sense, to have the appearance of, to think"; from this also derived thank, especially in the sense of devotion, remembrance etc., which makes clear the grateful disposition originally associated with thinking; Latin: cogito "I think", 1st person sing. of cogitare "to think, to ponder, to be [good or evil] minded") or thinking faculty (Greek: διανοητικόν dianoetikon or διανοητική ψυχή dianoêtike psyché, from Greek: διάνοια dianoia "pondering, understanding, reasoning"; Latin: anima rationalis) is one of the three fundamental soul forces of man. Through thinking, we experience or form concepts and ideas and, with the help of memory, also imaginative conceptions, in which the inner lawfulness of that which initially confronts us without understanding in the isolated perceptions is supposed to reveal itself. Without thinking, perception would remain an incoherent, diffuse aggregate of objects of sensation.

Usually, only the final result of the thinking activity in the form of fully formed thoughts becomes conscious, since the attention is directed entirely towards the object of thinking, but not towards it itself. The conscious observation of thinking, on the other hand, represents an exceptional state, which, however, every thinking person can deliberately bring about with a little practice. He then observes his own spiritual activity - and thus stands at the beginning of spiritual perception in general, through which he experiences himself as a spiritual being. This is at the same time a safe starting point for all further spiritual perception.

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

References

  1. ↑ Template:DWDS
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