Thought Culture —The Network of Influencers and Abusers

Thought culture is not philosophy, it doesn’t try to answer unanswerable questions. It’s just the arena where we entertain the explosion of information coming at us.

In this arena we can seat information in certain sections to have some organization. You may see pop culture headline with gender identity and artificial intelligence, but they are performing in the arena of thought culture. That’s where we witness and make sense.

The field is not very well-defined nor discussed online. When the term has been used, it is usually about personal thought culture. Like culturing or governing your individual thoughts. But I see it having more significance in the exploding interconnected thoughts we are all sharing. It won’t be long before we all have access to the same neural-network cloud in the time it takes to think a thought.

It will be important to have a more robust vocabulary about thoughts in general: their context, value, logic, novelty, equity, purpose, etc.

Yogi Swami Sivananda (d. 1963), from south India, published a popular book the year he died entitled Thought Power, in which he describes practices for a healthy thought culture.

“The power of thought is very great. Every thought of yours has a literal value to you in every possible way. The strength of your body, the strength of your mind, your success in life and the pleasures you give to others by your company — all depend on the nature and quality of your thoughts. You must know thought-culture, and develop thought power.”

You see how he emphasizes the thoughts of the individual. But he goes on to speak about the thought community. At the time though, he was referring to yogic telepathy. Which is neither here nor there (pun). I’m more interested in his foreshadowing of social media and our current confusion around fake news and conspiracies.

He says: ”One who entertains evil thoughts causes great harm unto their self and to the world at large. They pollute the thought-world. Their evil thoughts enter the minds of others who live at a long distance, because thought moves with a tremendous lightning speed.”

He concludes that, “Very few people know this art or science. Even the so-called educated people are unaware of this fundamental education. All have random thinking. All sorts of loose thoughts of diverse kinds come and go in the mental factory. There is neither order nor harmony.… There is no clarification of ideas. One cannot think on a subject even for two minutes in an orderly and systematic manner. We have no understanding of the laws of thought and the laws of the mental plane.”

An earlier use of the term thought culture was by William Walker Atkinson, an American, who published Thought-Culture or Practical Mental Training in 1910. Again, his emphasis was on an individual’s culturing and training of their own thoughts and willpower.

But I present these authors because they help to distinguish thought culture from philosophy and psychology. I wanted to distinguish thought culture from the hard fact finding sciences. It is a space where sciences may be utilized alongside subjective experience. So to make the individual, and communities, more conscious of the impacts of holding and amplifying their ideas.

Atkinson wrote, “Not only does the mind need development, but it also needs intelligent cultivation. For it may be developed by improper objects of thought just as well as by the proper ones. A rich field will grow tares and weeds as well as good grain or fruit. Thought-culture should not be confined to the development of a strong and active mind, but should be also extended to the cultivation of a wise and intelligent mind.”

He concludes that, “Thought consists in the perception, examination and comparison of things, and the consequent building up of new combinations, arrangements, and syntheses. Therefore, the perceptive faculties are most necessary to Thought, and their culture is most necessary in the general work of Thought-Culture.”

His emphasis of wisdom alongside smarts is the sort of democracy we’re seeking in the arena of thought culture. When he says thought consists in the perception of things, we should think of that perception as the comparison of ideas. And the perceptive faculties are things like logic, compassion, empathy, sciences, experience, passion and love.

Thought culture is just the abstract environment where we use those faculties. It basically encompasses the vocabulary and practices we use to control our thoughts and project them to others.

Currently, it’s a very important concept, as the methods of thought influence are exponentially becoming more addictive and subtle. We need to understand how, when, and why we’re being influenced. And we need to have the authority and words to be able to communicate that abuse. A healthy thought culture would unveil the connections between influencer and abuser.

In this publication I’ll try to include some thought culture around current events. If you are at all interested in joining the conversation please comment or submit your thoughts to publish here as well!