Life, Matter, the Universe, part 7: What is a thought?
Submitted by Anonyme (non vérifié)
he direct consequence on the field of matter's understanding of what was explained in the article on Mao Zedong's cosmology in the GPCR – the universe as an onion may be a sort of surprise. Indeed, Mao Zedong's better general understanding of matter's movement gave birth to the related principle of “thought”.
It is totally clear that the principle of “Mao Zedong's thought” uphold during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GRCP) is directly connected to this, and it is also a very important key to understand life.
Let us see why.
The question of thought is one of the most important one in dialectical materialism. It is for example a typical mechanist error to conceive the world in opposing matter and ideas – because doing this would mean recognizing the existence of “ideas”. Something more than matter would then exist, and it would be no materialism any more.
Lenin explains in “Materialism and empirio-criticism”:
“If you hold that it is given, a philosophical concept is needed for this objective reality, and this concept has been worked out long, long ago. This concept is matter. Matter is a philosophical category denoting the objective reality which is given to mall by his sensations, and which is copied, photographed and reflected by our sensations, while existing independently of them.”
This is very clear. But there is an aspect much difficult: if matter is what exists outside our conscience, then what is our conscience? What are our thoughts?
This is difficult. If we consider thoughts as matter, then it is obviously wrong and idealistic, because thoughts are not “real”; our senses can not feel thoughts, thoughts can not connect directly to matter, except in idealistic Sci-Fi movies and comics, with superpowers like telekinesis, etc..
Thoughts are apparently not matter and need to be realized in matter, for example with a kiss as expression of love.
But if we don't consider it as matter, then it would mean that all reality is not matter, and this is idealistic.
We can see this difficulty in this definition of Lenin in “Materialism and empirio-criticism”:
“For the sole “property” of matter with whose recognition philosophical materialism is bound up is the property of being an objective reality, of existing outside our mind.”
On the practical field, Lenin is right, but how define thought? So, even if we accept Lenin's definition when he spoke about the “concept of matter”, the question stays: who or what decided to form that concept?
So, we had to wait Mao Zedong to understand it in a correct way, and this helps us in understanding what is life.
The reason for that is Mao Zedong's cosmology. The cosmology of Mao and the Mao Zedong thought put forward in the GRCP are a same moment (it is to note that the concept of Mao Zedong thought existed already before, but Mao had also already a conception of his cosmology, and this part needs still to be written).
The concept is easy to understand: thoughts are the reflect of the matter. But said like that, it is only a true materialism that expresses itself here. What is missing is the movement of the thoughts. Here, dialectical materialism explain that thoughts reflect the global movement of matter itself.
Mao's thought, like all thoughts in fact, reflects the movement of matter. As matter moves to a leap, the minds reflect this motion. And if is true that all minds reflect this, it is remarkable that, synthesized in its higher form, it forms a “thought” in a body that indicates the path to follow, as it is the path of matter.
Thoughts are not merely the reflect of an individual, personal reality; as the reality is a whole, the reflect depends also of the direction of the whole.
Here is what Engels says about the connection of any matter with the global movement of matter, in the Anti-Dühring:
“Motion is the mode of existence of matter. Never anywhere has there been matter without motion, nor can there be. Motion in cosmic space, mechanical motion of smaller masses on the various celestial bodies, the vibration of molecules as heat or as electrical or magnetic currents, chemical disintegration and combination, organic life — at each given moment each individual atom of matter in the world is in one or other of these forms of motion, or in several forms at once. All rest, all equilibrium, is only relative, only has meaning in relation to one or other definite form of motion.
On the earth, for example, a body may be in mechanical equilibrium, may be mechanically at rest; but this in no way prevents it from participating in the motion of the earth and in that of the whole solar system, just as little as it prevents its most minute physical particles from carrying out the vibrations determined by its temperature, or its atoms from passing through a chemical process.
Matter without motion is just as inconceivable as motion without matter. Motion is therefore as uncreatable and indestructible as matter itself.”
This makes clear here why we speak about Biosphere : any matter on earth, even a stone, exist related in the global movement of matter as planet Earth.
And as thoughts reflects the movement, they are affected the same way. Mao Zedong's cosmology explains so how thoughts reflect the global cosmic move to communism.
Mao Zedong Thought, for example, was the expression of the movement matter in China. Nevertheless, we had to wait Gonzalo in Peru for this thesis to be expressed openly. Gonzalo thought was presented by the Communist Party of Peru as Marxism Leninism Maoism in the conditions of Peru.
Is this correct? Certainly, this is perfectly scientific.
It is true that this was often misunderstood in two ways:
- it was considered as a local political practical way to make a local revolution (like, for example, in Nepal was put forward the “Prachanda Path” - but a “path” is not a “thought”). This is just not conform to dialectical materialism.
- it was misinterpreted in a subjectivist way: the thought was not understood as a reflect which is correct and so permit to follow the movement of matter, but as an understanding that permit to change everything in any way. This is hegelianism.
But it does not change anything to the correctness of Gonzalo's definition of thought, that concerns not only his thought, or the leader's thought, but all thought, at different levels of synthesis of reality. Like the PCP said in the document “On Gonzalo's thought”:
“Revolutions give rise to a thought that guides them, which is the result of the application of the universal truth of the ideology of the international proletariat to the concrete conditions of each revolution; a guiding thought indispensable to reach victory and to conquer political power and, moreover, to continue the revolution and to maintain the course always towards the only, great goal: Communism.”
So, what are thoughts? Thought is a sense. Thoughts are, like senses, matter connected to matter.
In The system of Epicurus, published in 1750 by the author of Machine Man, Julien Offray de La Mettrie, we can read the following:
“Once the elements of matter, by dint of moving about and mixing together, had managed to create eyes, it was as impossible not to see as it is impossible to see oneself in a natural or artificial mirror.
The eye happened to be the mirror of objects which in turn act as a mirror for it.
Nature no more thought of making the eye to see, than she thought of making water to act as a mirror for the simple shepherdess. Water happened to be appropriate for sending back images; the shepherdess saw her pretty little face with pleasure. This is how the author of Machine Man thinks.”
So, thought is a very high development of matter interconnected; the mind is the place where the movement of matter is reflected, through gray matter. Spinoza and La Mettrie were right, as materialists, to conceive the human body as a natural machine.
There a no freedom of thought or whatsoever; they are only expressions of matter in different situations. If the foundations of the movement of matter were known by the humans, they would all agree on what is correct and not – this is the sense of communist society.
Thought consists in molecular and chemical motions in the brain, motions that are matter and that are the consequence of the movement of matter outside the body – the exterior movement is perceived.
In this movement of perception, gray matter develops itself – it comes to synthetic understanding of the dialectical movement of matter. Then, it becomes openly an expression of matter in movement.
On which scale? First, on Earth, that must be considered as a Biosphere where living matter must live in a happy way, without any killing of any living matter, in respect for the movement of matter.
Then, in the milky way, by space colonization as a consequence of the logic conclusion which is: life must be spread.