The interesting thing for me - as a philosopher - is to find and develop a new way of thinking that is able to go beyond itself and tap into the universal pool of information, in a volitional act. We know that a higher form of consciousness or intuition can accomplish this. But can thought accomplish this too? Is it possible to think and talk about any subject as if I knew everything? Isn't that blasphemy in the eyes of religion?
It's a natural and logical conclusion from my philosophy that every human being is capable of tapping into the totality of reality, or what I call Hyponoesis. We are not separated from Reality. We are connected and interrelated with everything else in the universe. In the light of these assumptions, doesn't it make sense to claim that our mind and in particular thinking is potentially capable of accessing any information in the universe?
I call this non-conceptual thinking that allows access to any information in the universe Transrational Thinking or Paranoesis. This higher form of thinking exists latently in us because it shines through from time to time in the greatest thinkers of humanity. There is also some more physical evidence of its existence in the latest results of psychic research that demonstrates the existence of a faculty in our mind that is capable of accessing information that is not locally stored (in memory) or acquired by any traditional means (learning, experience, etc.). This faculty is commonly referred to as telepathy, remote viewing, clairvoyance, etc.
Transrational Thinking and Intuition
The concept of Paranoesis (Transrational Thinking), as I developed it, ought not to be confused with intuition as generally understood (hunch, premonition, "gut" feeling, etc.). This is what could be called "emotional" intuition. The one I'm interested in is known in philosophy as "intellectual intuition" (see Spinoza, Schelling, Hegel, and others). It is a way of thinking (not feeling), on a higher level and usually leads to insights, understanding, and a more comprehensive, holistic knowledge.
I'm actually taking the concept of intellectual intuition a step further by claiming that Paranoesis is able to access any information in the universe without the need to acquire knowledge through traditional means, such as learning or reading. However, Paranoesis is not a tool of our mind that we naturally possess in full-fledged form. It is latent and needs to be developed.
Most of us have experienced what we popularly call "intuition" in one way or another before. It is this "inner voice" which tells us what to do or gives us the right answer to our questions or just pops up in our mind (hunches). We usually ignore that intuition or don't care too much about it. There are ways to develop it. It is not this emotive intuition that I refer to when I am talking about Transrational Thinking.
Intuition is somehow capable of tapping into a vast repository of knowledge. Although Transrational Thinking shares this ability with intuition, it is very different from it by nature. Intuition is a passive agency of our mind. People usually don't have direct or active access to their subconscious mind, that's why I suggest intuition to be passive. That's however the point I'm trying to make in my philosophy of mind: since we can't actively access information through the agency of intuition, I came to the conclusion that there must be a way to do this actively, through another agency - Transrational Thinking (Paranoesis). The thinking process is an active, though limited process, but with the help of the unlimited transrational capacity, I claim that we would be able to actively access any information that is usually available to intuition, and much more.
Transrational Thinking is not something that just happens spontaneously without volition or control, such as intuition, hunches, remote viewing, telepathy, etc. These acts often happen unconsciously or only after laborious efforts in concentration or meditation. Transrational thinking, however, taps Hyponoesis (reality) directly without any effort, just as if I access some knowledge or information resident in my memory (something I learned, e.g. a mathematical algorithm). A Transrational thinker thinks by using the infinite "memory" of Hyponoesis. All conceivable knowledge is available to her instantly. This "omniscience" may smack of blasphemy, but it is a logical corollary from my philosophy of Mind.
Transrational Thinking and Mystical Experience
There are basically two ways to get to an understanding of the ultimate nature of reality: a) through meditative techniques or mystical experience (this is the way of experience) or b) through Transrational Thinking (this is the way of thought).
Psychics and mystics tap reality only when in a certain state of consciousness, such as trance or meditation, and even then they cannot control what kind of information they access. Their rational thinking power cannot control the access to reality. It happens to them, it's a passive experience. They open up to reality.
Although Eastern philosophies and mysticism in general assert that access to the ultimate reality or consciousness is only possible by ceasing to think, I claim that it is conceivable and possible to access the totality of reality through an active form of thinking (Paranoesis). When accessing this reality through alternate states of consciousness, such as in meditation or mystic experiences, what is revealed of this reality is not so much a more comprehensive understanding and knowledge (information), but, according to mystics' reports, an experiential dimension, such as an overwhelming feeling of oneness, or a feeling of eternal bliss, etc.
Transrational Thinking is not a state of mind or consciousness as compared to an altered state of consciousness in meditation or mystical experience. It is not something you experience, that is, reality or the way you see reality does not change. You don't necessarily get a feeling of rapture or blissfulness. Since it is not an experience that affects the emotional and psychical framework of a human being, to find a method to develop it is based solely on the faculty of pure thinking. Now pure thinking, especially since Kant, means that the object of thinking is thinking itself and not any objects derived form or dependent on experience (so-called empirical objects). Pure thinking is the first step towards the development of Transrational Thinking.
The great German philosopher Schelling wrote extensively about what was called "intellectual intuition" and what Plato called "noesis". The concept of a mode of thought that can access knowledge through direct insights is not new. It definitely goes beyond our ordinary, rational-analytical way of thinking.
Transrational Thinking
Transrational Thinking is a combination of the rational-analytical power of thinking most of us have and the intuitive-creative side of our mind that is not analytical but rather synthetic in character. Instead of keeping those two powers of our mind apart, I try to find a method of developing a new holistic faculty that comprises both parts: Transrational Thinking. The arbitrariness of intuition is eliminated in Transrational Thinking by extending the scope of rational thinking beyond its conceptual limitations.
Instead of opening up to the influx of information from reality, Transrational Thinking directly taps into reality (Hyponoesis). Transrational Thinking can access the totality of information in Hyponoesis directly without the need to acquire knowledge or information first. It is the combination of philosophical thinking with the ability of our mind to access information that is non-local, that is, information that has not been acquired through standard traditional processes, such as learning and experience.
Transrational Thinking is actually a logical conclusion from my philosophy of Mind. In a nutshell: if we - as Individual Minds are manifestations of Hyponoesis (pure potentiality), then we are ultimately one with this reality and therefore we are naturally connected (or rather "one") with reality. The problem is that we as individual minds are aware of our individuality and oblivious of our unity with Hyponoesis. In order to regain the original unity we have to transcend our individuality. That's basically the method of developing Transrational Thinking. It's a thinking that surpasses the limitations of our individual rational-analytical mind, and reconnects us again in a non-experiential, purely noetic fashion with the one underlying reality (Hyponoesis).
What makes Transrational Thinking so different is that it accesses reality through the mind, through thinking, and not through experience or by expanding or altering our consciousness. It's not so much a different state of experience than a different state of thinking. It transcends rational and logical thinking of course. It's more holistic, and, in contrast with intuition, it can be completely controlled. That means, whenever I want to access any information in the universe, I can do this immediately through this higher thinking process. No need for getting into a special state of consciousness, no need for meditation techniques. It's as simple as thinking of it. If I don't know something, such as, what Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is, Paranoesis will give me the answer as if I had known it all the time. This may sound, in the ears of religious people, like blasphemy, because it basically claims that I can know everything. The logic behind it is simple: since Hyponoesis is the totality of reality, it contains all information. Whatever is written in a book or is in another person's mind, is part of this reality. Now, if that's true, then tapping into this reality through thinking doesn't sound absurd at all.
What I'm trying to find and develop is not another experiential method of meditation or mystical consciousness, but a purely noetic method of understanding reality, acquiring knowledge without having to learn or read, and accessing any information of the universe in a fully conscious, volitional way. You can think of it in a way as ordinary thinking. We are directly aware of what we know (unless we forget what we learned) and can use that information to any extent. So, for example, without ever having learned anything about quantum physics, I would be able, by using Transrational Thinking, to talk about it and understand it as if I had studied quantum physics all my life.
Paranoesis transcends the realm of pure conceptual and analytical thinking in an attempt to grasp the totality or the whole instead. When thinking analytically, our mind divides and separates what is ultimately one. This kind of thought is also very limited: it represents a small fragment or point of view. The big picture is out of ken. The idea behind Transrational Thinking is to transcend this limitation of thought and embrace a more holistic view of things and reality. Again, not on an experiential but on a purely noetic level.
Successful experiments in telepathy and remote viewing show that there is a faculty of our mind that allows access to non local knowledge, that is, knowledge which is not directly stored in the brain's memory, but resides outside somewhere (as in the minds of other people). I think that Hyponoesis or the fundamental underlying reality is the place where all information resides, and because we are part of reality (as Individual Minds), we should be able to hook up to reality or reunite the Individual Mind (Exonoesis) with Hyponoesis. That's what Transrational Thinking is all about.
Whereas mystics experience the ultimate reality, the philosopher who thinks transrationally or paranoetically, thinks and comprehends the ultimate reality. It's the basic difference between experience and thinking, between being what you experience and knowing what you think/understand: two paths that lead to the same goal, but disclose a uniquely different aspect of the same unitary reality.
The trick lies in going beyond the acquired and learned patterns. The really great philosophers always transcended the limited analytical way of thinking and applied, naturally, a form of transrational thought. Leibniz, Spinoza, Hegel, Schelling, just to name a few, are great examples of what I mean by Transrational Thinking.
Transrational Thinking is not analytical but holistic and integral and that's why I think it is able to extend and reach into the whole of reality (Hyponoesis). It is not experience, but a process of knowing, of accessing information anywhere within reality, a process of understanding and intellectual insight into the big picture of reality or any field of knowledge.
A perfectly developed Transrational Thinking would be able to access the entire body of humanity's knowledge, current, past, and future. However, this notion usually incurs objections and resentment from religious-minded people because they think it borders on blasphemy and megalomania (God-complex) to say that I'm all-knowing. However, I think it is a logical conclusion from the following two premises:
- there is a unitary reality that is one and undifferentiated and
- everything is an aspect or manifestation of this one reality and is indivisibly connected with it. Ultimately (not as individuals) we are one with this reality.
Therefore we can tap into this reality and think as this reality and access any information within it. Most people don't like this idea and I found that even people who consider themselves spiritual and open-minded wouldn't go that far. They assume a Divinity or God as a completely different entity transcendent to them as mortal individuals. I agree to the point that as individuals we are limited in our actions and to most part in the way we think (analytical/rational thinking). But as most philosophers realized, thinking as such is infinite and can reach out way beyond our individual and limited framework of thought. That's when we transcend individuality (a process I call de-individuation) and extend our mind to merge more and more with Hyponoesis or the totality of reality (not in an experiential but noetic sense).
That's why I say in my theory of Transrational Thinking that the first step is to transcend rational thinking and start thinking from a higher level. The next higher level is a more holistic way of thinking. Instead of seeing things as isolated entities that interact with each other and instead of seeing only the parts, holistic thinking attempts to envision things as interrelated and interconnected, as being part of a whole, i.e. not as separated from each other but as aspects of one and the same underlying reality. The first step to Transrational Thinking is the realization that there is ultimately one unitary reality and that we all are this reality (not just parts of it). Each existing entity expresses or manifests this reality in its own distinctive way, giving us the idea of a plurality of distinct phenomena. Based on this idea, we can understand now that information or knowledge is not something that we have to acquire in some way (by reading, learning, etc.), but is an intrinsic part of our mind, because our mind is just the actualization of Hyponoesis (or an aspect of reality if you will) that contains all information and all knowledge. It has always been there, at our fingertips, we just didn't know or didn't have the capacity to tap into it - at least not voluntarily.