To Think Without Words

We tend to associate the process we call ‘thinking’ with the linear sequence of words that organize our understanding in our mind. We thus associate thinking with language and indicate that our thinking is limited by the language. A language that is rich in words and nuances will yield more advanced and complex thinking than a language that is simpler and more directly expressive of our outer experience in the world, according to this understanding.

If we reflect upon it, however, we can actually separate thinking from language and, in doing so, we remove the limitation of language from the process of thinking. The case of Nikola Tesla is illuminating. In his autobiography, he described some of the training he received as a child, which included ‘guessing the thoughts of others’ and the use of visualisation techniques. He later described how he developed various of his inventions, not through linear thought, but through ‘seeing’ them in his mind’s eye. Albert Einstein also indicated that he thought using visualisation and images, not words, to understand the universe. Some of the greatest ‘thinkers’ indicated that the use of language for thought was essentially a secondary process for them.

An interesting experiment was carried out by a young child for a school project. She designed a method to test for the existence of the power of telepathy. She paired individuals with a barrier between them. They had various shapes and colors that one party, the ‘sender’ was to focus on in his mind, and the other party, the ‘receiver’ was to identify without any speech intervening. Various pairs achieved results over 70% accuracy, far beyond the potential of random chance. Although this was obviously a simple experiment and not a “double blind” study, it did provide a measure of confidence that ‘thought’ in the form of an imaged shape and color could be communicated silently from one person to the other, with no physical or verbal cues.

The power of visualisation itself acts without language. People who speak different languages are unable to easily communicate abstract ideas that depend on language, but can quite easily understand visualised images in the mind of the other person.

Thought is clearly not limited to verbal structure or language, but to a comprehensive process of understanding that may, or may not, be tied to sequential inner dialogue of words.

When we enter the presence of an individual who has developed the power of thought, without the use of words, we can experience what many call an ‘atmosphere’ which is conducive to liberating the mind from the formal structures that language impose upon our thinking. There can come from this a new way of seeing and understanding.

The Mother observes: “So, if you want to exercise the least effect on the mental substance, the first thing is to learn how to think clearly, and not a verbal thought which depends on words but a thought which can dispense with words, which can be understood in itself without words, which corresponds to a fact, the fact of a state of consciousness or a fact of knowledge. Just try to think without words, you will see where you stand. … Have you never tried it? Well then, try.”

“You have an absolutely clear and precise understanding of what you want to communicate to others — it vibrates in a special way, it has the power to give a form to the mental substance; and then, afterwards, as a concession to human habits you organise a certain number of words around it to try — there, much lower down — to give a verbal form to the vibration of consciousness. But the verbal form is entirely secondary. it is a kind of covering, a rather crude one, for the power of thought.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter II Power of Thought, pp. 21-22

The Process Behind Communicating Thoughts from One Person to Another

We utilize speech to communicate with other people. Speech however is a translation into vibrational patterns a specific thought content developed with a particular pattern of electrical impulses. When it is effective, the hearer receives the vibrational energy of the speech he has heard, and converts that speech into corresponding electrical impulses in the brain, triggering understanding of the content of the speech.

So if we break this down to the elements involved here, first the speaker needs to formulate a thought, idea, concept, image in his mind. There are people who cannot speak, but who nevertheless can formulate clear ideas and thought formations. Modern researchers have begun to pick up those brain impulses and they can then convert them into synthesised speech to communicate the thought. That validates the underlying vibrational pattern that is intended to be communicated through the speaking process. The second part is the conversion of these impulses into speech, whether through use of the vocal capabilities of the individual, or as noted above, through synthesized speech created from the electrical impulses of the brain. The more clear and focused the thought-content, the more clearly the speech-process can communicate that thought. In mechanical terms, this is increasing the ratio of signal, in the form of the clear thought being communicated, to noise, in the form of any vague or not clearly defined elements that are being transmitted. The higher the signal to noise ratio, the more precisely, clearly and directly the speech is able to translate and communicate the essence of the thought-form to the hearer. To the extent the speaker is unclear in his own understanding, he will necessarily have more “noise” in his communication than signal, leading to non-understanding and confusion for the listener.

The third element, then, is the receptivity and ability to convert the speech back into electrical vibrational patterns in his brain, thereby capturing the thought-form and imagery that the sender is communicating. The receiver must be able to attend to the communication or he will either miss the sense or garble it. One element of this is to understand the specific language being used to transmit the content. For instance, a physicist may communicate information about quantum mechanics to a lay person. If it is done using the jargon and special language of physics, there will be far less communication than if the language translating the thoughts is modulated to the language and background of the hearer. However, it must be noted that understanding of a particular language is not absolutely necessary in all cases, particularly if the speaker has a very clear signal and can create images that are powerfully formed in his mind. In that instance, the receiving party may not understand the specific words, but may get the sense and understanding of what is being communicated.

The Mother writes: “… the ideal condition — which has already been partially realised by some people — is to transmit the essential idea and even something that is higher than the idea: the state — the state of consciousness, of knowledge, of perception — directly through the vibration. When you think, the mental substance vibrates in a certain way in accordance with the form your consciousness gives to your thought, and it is this vibration which should be perceived by the other mind if it is well attuned.”

“Indeed, words serve only to draw the attention of the other consciousness or the other centre of consciousness, so that it may be attentive to the vibration and receive it; but if it is not attentive and doesn’t have the capacity to receive in comparative silence, you may pour out miles of words without making yourself understood in the least. And there comes a time when the brain, which is very active in emanating certain vibrations, can only receive vibrations which are clear and precise, otherwise it is a kind of vague mixture of something confused, imprecise, which gives the impression of a cloudy, woolly mass and doesn’t evoke any idea. So one speaks, the sound is clearly heard, but it conveys nothing — it is not a question of sound, it is a matter of precision in the vibrations.”

“If you can emanate your thought in a very precise way, if it is something living and conscious emanating from your consciousness and going to meet the other consciousness, if, so to speak, you know what you want to say, then it arrives with the same precision, it awakens the corresponding vibration and with the corresponding vibration comes the corresponding thought or idea or state of consciousness, and you understand each other; but if what is emanated is woolly, imprecise, if you do not know very well what you want to say, if you yourself are trying to understand what you want to say, and if, on the other hand, the attention of the hearer is not alert enough or he is busy and active somewhere else, well then, you may talk to each other for hours, you will not understand each other at all!”

“And in fact this is what happens most often. When you are able to see in the consciousness of others the result of what you have tried to communicate, it always gives you the feeling of… you know what distorting mirrors are? Have you never seen distorting mirrors? Mirrors which make you look taller or fatter, which enlarge one part and reduce another, you are faced with a grotesque caricature of yourself — well, this is exactly what happens: in the other person’s consciousness you have an altogether grotesque caricature of what you have said. And people imagine that they have understood each other because they have heard the sound of words, but they haven’t communicated.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter II Power of Thought, pp. 20-21