Descartes wrote "je pense, donc je suis" that means "I think, so I am"... It is right in a way : only humans can think...
That said, we do not need to think to stay alive, else we would be the only animals on earth... we only need to breathe.
I am not saying we should never think, just that we actually do NOT need our mind most of the time.
One good exemple is when you listen to music... you do not need to think, you just need to listen to it with your spirit (or soul, or heart if you prefer). The less you think, the more you actually listen to music and enjoy it... this is why you can appreciate music better with weed, or some drugs like LSD... but you actually do not need them, all you need is think less and listen.
It goes the same way with everything else in life : the less you think, the more you live the present moment and enjoy it.

Bob Marley said : "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds"

Remember :
You are more than your mind : you are the spirit listening (or soul, or heart...) to it and your other 5 senses.


"Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
"Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
From Le petit prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

What do you think ?

Oh, really? I did not know that.


http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/08/aha-elephants-can-use-insight-to.html
http://www.animalbehavioronline.com/problemsolving.html
http://www.livescience.com/6150-pigeons-beat-humans-solving-monty-hall-problem.html
http://news.discovery.com/animals/stingray-tool-use.html
http://www.npr.org/2008/05/28/90516132/the-chimp-that-learned-sign-language
http://www.koko.org/world/signlanguage.html

I mean only humans have a mind that is producing thoughts, emotions, dreams... well maybe other animals have some kind of mind, I have not done studies myself to check this, but you know what I mean.
Other animals are not conscious they will die for exemple.

Your senses could merely be a fabrication of your mind. Thus, other animals might not even exist. What Descartes means here, is that he acknowledges his existence because he is aware that he is thinking. You might just be an electrical current in the nether imagining this life and conversation.

This post was edited by MiTiXz on Oct 8 2012 06:59pm

That is not true at all!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate_cognition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion_in_animals
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/dreaming.html "Animals have complex dreams, MIT researcher proves"

You're wrong on that account too.

Just look at natural animal behavior and the adaptions therein to stay alive.

The "I think therefore I am" was taken out of context and means something completely different if I remember correct.

But, I think all people should have ordered thinking as a goal. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, which happens if you don't go out of your way to use it.

Of course there are situations when excessive thought is bad, but learning which is which by trial and error usually sorts it out.



Only humans have logic to the point of understanding difficult concepts like benefit by initial sacrifice. We're still orders of magnitude apart.

which makes about as much sense as saying i troll therefore i am.

after living some miserable amount of time in the USA I realized I needed to pursue those things which felt good... I demonized my intellect and turned to hedonism and alternative culture..

it was not my brain which was too big but my stomach which was too small

eat, think and be happy

This post was edited by boognis on Oct 9 2012 01:44am

We know we will die because we are told so. It has nothing to do with consciousness.

On topic: "I think so I exist" does not imply that one can only exist if one thinks. P -> Q does not mean !P -> !Q.