Why don't we just spend more time just to think?

[BjarkeT]

something I have been thinking about is why don't we spend more time just nothing but to think?

The brain is the most complex thing we yet have discovered in the universe so why not use it more?

We could spend the time contemplating about the problems we are dealing with and try comming up with solutions for example or what we want out of life but we mostly just go through our day doing what we need to do without actually setting the time to just think.

Whens the last time where you set time of just for thinking? I imagine doing so might help create more awareness. 

Just curious what are you guys thoughts about this?

[r0ckyreed]

I agree. But not just mind wandering thinking but single-focused contemplation about a particular topic such as what is fear? What are my greatest fears? What is meaning or love or wisdom etc.

Just meditating alone won’t be deep enough to answer these questions. Self-deception, fears, traumas, etc. still pervades the mind of not explored.
 

I wrote a post earlier, Satisfaction Contemplation, about this as well as pointers. 

[Thought Art]

Go do it. Bout to set a pomodoro right now actually. Then I am reading, planning, small stretch then bed ahah

[Carl-Richard]

The problem is that most people who are willing to think only do so compulsively about the things that interest them and their survival needs. To really claim the power of your mind, you must become aware of how these survival pressures are driving all of your thoughts, fears, attachments and beliefs, and that requires going beyond the mind. Now, who is gonna do that? Very few. Then, when you actually pursue that path, you'll sooner or later realize the limitations of thought and start relying on quiet, intuitive action instead, and then you might even lose all of the forms of internal monologue as well. So that's a tricky situation and a half. Then you also have the mistake of thinking yourself into inaction or even madness, but that's an entire topic on its own.

Edited August 12, 2021 by Carl-Richard

[GrandeOrso]

50 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

The problem is that most people who are willing to think only do so compulsively about the things that interest them and their survival needs. To really claim the power of your mind, you must become aware of how these survival pressures are driving all of your thoughts, fears, attachments and beliefs, and that requires going beyond the mind. Now, who is gonna do that? Very few. Then, when you actually pursue that path, you'll sooner or later realize the limitations of thought and start relying on quiet, intuitive action instead, and then you might even lose all of the forms of internal monologue as well. So that's a tricky situation and a half. Then you also have the mistake of thinking yourself into inaction or even madness, but that's an entire topic on its own.

Thinking yourself into inacfion.... Exactly Whats happening to me. Can you elaborate?

[Carl-Richard]

15 minutes ago, GrandeOrso said:

Thinking yourself into inacfion.... Exactly Whats happening to me. Can you elaborate?

Not much to say other than being aware of justifications and excuses for taking the easy way out and avoiding growth. Useful concepts from psychology that you can try to identify within yourself and work around would be attribution style (internalizing vs. externalizing behavior), self-handicapping etc. That would be a more general example. Something more specific could be an example from my own life: I used to just think excessively as an escape from reality. Instead of listening to my conscience and performing the correct actions in the world, I would simply fantasize about things I was interested in. Drugs was a factor in that as well. The way out for me was shifting my interests into something healthier, and that happened to be meditation, and that eventually lead to the end of much overthinking on my part.