What type of mind do you have?

[jgk3]

My girlfriend has multiple thoughts in her head, kind of like several tv screens stacked up on eachother playing different channels simultaneously. When I first heard this, I was astonished! I've never heard of such things, and thought she was strange, until... Well tonight I told some of my co-workers about her thought pattern, and they answered: "Well, isn't that how everyone is?"

All of a sudden, I felt like the strange one! I only think one thought at a time, and their response to this was, "Wow, that must be boring." Some funny descriptions followed: "When I'm having sex, I'm thinking of having sex with 8 different people at once, but I'd never tell my girlfriend!" and "My head is too small for my brain, if my brain had all the space it needed, I'd have a head like this:" (he made a big circle with his arms around his head, a big larger than a beach ball). The same guy apparently has a lot of migraines... go figure :P

I asked more people at work and only found one other person so far who is unable to have more than a single thought playing in their heads at a time. I also found out tonight that my mom is also like the majority of my co-workers, which is totally crazy to me.

So now I am finally convinced that our forms of consciousness may be very different. I personally also have music playing in my head constantly, as does my brother, but not my mom.

So enlighten me, does your mind think one thought at a time? Or multiple ones, or no thoughts (which lucky for you entitles you to being called a Zen master). And do you have music going in your head constantly? Any other interesting features you've noticed about your mind?

[Haykakan]

Re: What type of mind do you have?

Women generally have a bunch of things running through their heads at any given time while men not so much.

[jgk3]

Re: What type of mind do you have?

That's what I thought, until I started asking men. The majority of whom I've asked so far seem to have multiple thoughts at a time.

[Haykakan]

Re: What type of mind do you have?

Not as much as women.

[Siggie]

Re: What type of mind do you have?

Jeff, this is limited by everyone's ability to articulate their perception of their own consciousness. I suspect the experience might be more similar than the descriptions of the experience are, if that makes sense?
When you say thoughts running through your head, what exactly do you mean?

[Eddo211]

Re: What type of mind do you have?

My mind runs like a checklist....conditioned from years of flying.

[jgk3]

Re: What type of mind do you have?

Jeff, this is limited by everyone's ability to articulate their perception of their own consciousness. I suspect the experience might be more similar than the descriptions of the experience are, if that makes sense?
When you say thoughts running through your head, what exactly do you mean?

Yeah makes sense. Basically the distinction I'm making is between having one thought in my head that I'm conscious of. I cannot be conscious of multiple thoughts at the same time, i.e. how warm I am, the voice in my head that I use to articulate thoughts, hunger, how pretty something is, etc... I know some people who are completely conscious of these things, all at the same time, as though there are different tvs playing each thing and their mind's eye is somehow able to see all of them at once. This was baffling to me, but it explains why I have a certain difficulty when talking to multiple people in the same room, as I can only focus on one person at a time, or one central conversational theme at a time (such as a shared sense of humor by all parties).

My girlfriend is able to have multiple very intricate thoughts in her head, happening at the same time, for instance, planning some strategy + observing the detail of someone's clothing + carrying on a conversation with me + what food she's craving, etc... This is something I am incapable of. I can only consciously tune into one of these themes at a time, the rest I figure would be in queue in my unconsciousness, awaiting to be accessed.

My mind runs like a checklist....conditioned from years of flying.

That's pretty interesting to hear, first time I've heard this also.

I find the more I inquire of how people think, and then read their accounts of what it feels like, the better I can understand where they're coming from. It's almost like... You've never met a traditional chinese person before and don't understand why they dress or eat the way they do and can't really wrap your mind around it, until they invite you for dinner at their house and suddenly, even though it's completely different from your home, you get the context of where this is all coming from, it somehow clicks and starts to make sense.

[Anonymouse]

Re: What type of mind do you have?

My mind operates one frame and thought at a time. If you consider time as a duration of consciousness, my mind must proceed in a linear fashion in thoughts and rhythms - descending or ascending (depending on your perspective) like a Rolodex.

[jgk3]

Re: What type of mind do you have?

did you also presume that this is standard for everyone?