> Why can we only think about one thing at a time?
Maybe this is just a perception thing. Sure, you can only really keep up one stream of thought, visualization or inner dialogue (whatever you want to call it) at a time, but perhaps that's because we learn all our lives that direct communication is a one-channel, linear thing--speaking and listening focused on one topic at a time. Our brain does plenty of thinking in the background that leads to "a-ha!" moments even when the direct focus of our thoughts isn't on that topic. What if the mind could maintain multiple threads of thoughts at once, but our language coerces our thought patterns into being linear and non-concurrent?
Maybe this is just a perception thing. Sure, you can only really keep up one stream of thought, visualization or inner dialogue (whatever you want to call it) at a time, but perhaps that's because we learn all our lives that direct communication is a one-channel, linear thing--speaking and listening focused on one topic at a time. Our brain does plenty of thinking in the background that leads to "a-ha!" moments even when the direct focus of our thoughts isn't on that topic. What if the mind could maintain multiple threads of thoughts at once, but our language coerces our thought patterns into being linear and non-concurrent?