>* You don't think your thoughts before you think them. They just arise out of the darkness of our subconscious minds and pop into our consciousness. We didn't consciously make them, or control them -- they just showed up. It seems that whatever we call consciousness, it is more of a leach that takes credit for what the subconscious animal does. *
Neuroscience actually confirms this :-) Brain scans show that conscious thoughts are reflections of subconscious processes doing all the work, AND that the rational mind is very good at creating post-hoc rationalizations for explaining "reasons" of why you arrived to the decisions you took. Most of what we call "reasoning" is about creating narratives to save our self-esteem.
Neuroscience actually confirms this :-) Brain scans show that conscious thoughts are reflections of subconscious processes doing all the work, AND that the rational mind is very good at creating post-hoc rationalizations for explaining "reasons" of why you arrived to the decisions you took. Most of what we call "reasoning" is about creating narratives to save our self-esteem.