If you search “Original Thought” on Medium or Google, you’ll find an overwhelming number of depressing titles:
“The Death of Original Thought.”
“The Original Thought Famine.”
“Is It Possible to Have an Original Thought Anymore?”
Famine? Death? I disagree wholeheartedly.
What is Original Thought?
To take a quote from a wonderful piece written by Medium author, Gaurav, The Philosophy of Original Thinking:
“Original Thinking is the term that I would like to define as the interpretation which originates from the bareness of a single thought. With bareness, I mean the interpretation of thought that is not guided by media, philosophers and different social and religious ideologies. The bareness is raw thought. The idea originating from a void brain.”
This is about as good a definition as you’re going to get since Original Thought arises from a fresh space that has no history and no claim on time or need for space. To define something is to say it has come before, and that is an oxymoron to Original Thought.
The only difference I would make to Gaurav’s definition is that Original Thought doesn’t originate from a void brain but from outside, or better, beyond, the brain. But, perhaps, that is exactly what he means.
Original Thought is that flow state guided by instinct that happens when you are gardening, surfing, cooking, writing, composing, singing, dancing, painting, meditating, etc. It is channeling.
Original Thought isn’t something you “think”—it’s something you receive.
It doesn’t come from the brain, from memory, or from the careful arrangement of past knowledge. It bypasses all of that. It arises—unfiltered, instinctual, untouched by logic or preconception.
Original Thought isn’t deduction. It isn’t rearranging what’s already known. It’s the moment something entirely new enters—fully formed, undeniable, electric.
It moves through you, not from you. And the less you try to think, the more it arrives. Original Thought is alive—it’s not something to chase or control, just something to let in.
Original Thought is just as much a part of you as your eyes and heart. But here’s the thing - like your heart - you have no control over its functions. But it is always there. And while it may seem like it is behind the scenes, it is far more present and responsible for every moment of your reality than you will ever know.
Down The Rabbit Hole
If you read my blog, you know you will often find me climbing out of yet another rabbit hole I’ve been exploring. In fact, that is what 90% of my articles or essays will be about.
If you’re looking for something convincing or incontrovertible, then you’ve come to the wrong blog. My pieces are me exploring, expressing, and expanding. And you’re always welcome to come along.
But I digress…
The reason I say Original Thought is responsible for every moment of your reality than you will ever know is because of that magic and elusive space called The Now.
As I said in my article, “The Past Never Happened, The Future Won’t Notice” - this now moment is fresh and new. There is no history of this now. This very now moment is your portal to step outside of time.
But you must be willing to leave all your belongings, stories, and expectations behind. So, to be more accurate, this now moment is YOU, fresh and new. And you interact with an infinite number of these in every moment - because all you are is Now. You instinctively know this because you name every moment you exist “now”. It’s never later, it’s always “right now”.
Can We Access Original Thought?
If Original Thought doesn’t come from the brain, how do we access it? Well—can you access your heart? You don’t wake up in the morning and “try” to make your heart beat. You don’t sit there demanding proof that it’s working. Your heart is.
Original Thought is no different. If you try to reach for it, you’ve already brought expectation and effort into the equation, which means you are now thinking—not receiving. It’s not about surrender, because what exactly would we be surrendering? If every now moment is synonymous with Original Thought, then the very idea of “letting it in” is an illusion. It was never out.
Original Thought isn’t something we have to grasp for, any more than we have to remind our lungs to breathe. It is as natural as being. It moves through you, not from you, and when you stop trying to control it, it flows effortlessly.
Can we open the door wider? Why not? If we are new in every moment, then doesn’t that mean anything is possible? Our only limitations reside in our expectations. We are so convinced that what has been will continue to be that we mistake past patterns for inevitability. But what if we are missing something obvious? What if the very nature of Original Thought means it never stops? That it is always here, waiting, untouched by the weight of memory.
Does Society Suppress Original Thought?
Some believe that society suppresses Original Thought, conditioning us to recycle the same ideas and limiting our ability to access anything truly new. But does society suppress our hearts?
Yes, we can do things that damage the heart—poor diet, stress, lack of movement—but at the end of the day, the heart still beats. It persists. Perhaps Original Thought does the same.
What if the noise, the so-called distractions, and even the excess of repeated ideas are not suppressing Original Thought at all, but instead a byproduct of our ability to create time and space so convincingly? We are so good at constructing the illusion of continuity that we believe we are trapped in it.
If every now moment is fresh and new, then the belief that we are merely recycling old thoughts is itself an illusion.
Original Thought and the Illusion of Separation
What if all past thoughts (memories) are simply manifestations created to support this now-moment’s experience? We think of past thoughts as something stored, something behind us, something that exists independently of the now. But what if that isn’t true?
What if memories are not archives but fresh projections happening in real-time, right now, solely to give structure to this present experience?
If that’s the case, then even the idea of trying to “access” Original Thought is misguided because it implies separation. And there is no separation.
Original Thought is not something outside of you. It is not a resource to tap into, nor something elusive that must be earned. It is synonymous with You. Not the “you” bound by identity, history, or expectation, but the you that has never not existed.
If you want to know where Original Thought comes from, don’t look outward. Look in the mirror. There it is.
So, see - there truly isn’t, and never can be, a scarcity of Original Thought. In all actuality, there is an over-abundance of it, and we call it existence.
💋Kristen
P.S. If you are interested in exploring this Now space more - my short book “3, 2, 1 , No More Pain” is a case-study (many, actually) of what happens when we briefly flirt with visiting this wondrous aspect of ourselves outside of time and space.
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