When we engage with a philosophical inquiry, What is that which wants to know? Is it not the mind? Who asks the question? Who is asking this question? Is there an expectation for an answer when this question is asked? What would satisfy this question?
The mind who is thinking creates the I who thinks. I think.
This I who says “I think” wants to be a real entity. A real thing. But the I who says “I think”, “I want to know”, “I wonder”, “I want”, is the result of thought. “I am Mexican”, “I am Peruvian”, “I am Argentinian”, “I am American”, “I am White”, “I am Black”, “I am male, female”. This I who speaks, this I who asks questions, the I who wants to know, is that I not the result of thought? Is that I not the one that keeps talking and asking?
The mind is aware of itself. And the mind continues to negotiate its existence. It wants validation from others. It wants confirmation of its own existence. It creates anything to feel that it exists. It creates depression. It creates confusion. It creates anger. Just to prove that it exists. But it is the product of thought. And this mind which creates thought, which creates ego, wants to argue. It wants to prove itself. It wants to be heard. It wants to be validated. It wants to ask questions. It wants to understand the answers. But is this ego, this I, not the result of thought? Does it exist beyond thought? Does it exist without thoughts?
There is somehing deeper than thought, that some call the ‘silent self.’ This certainly has at least, an effect on the flow of thought through the mind and may be the generator of thought. But the flow of thought through the mind can take on its own life, sotospeak. And I think when the two act separately, a schizophrenia develops that is so painful, the mind lulls itself to sleep and the person becomes zombie-like. But when the two can act in accord with each other, genius evolves out of this, and the person lives a wholesome and productive life.
This is striking take on the process of cognition. It emphasizes the need for self knowledge and harmonization of the different centers of the individual—instead of just making the inner work be simply about the inner self. We need to be rooted in the inner self, yes, but also work with the ego to make a harmonious whole.