Physics of Ideas - Laws of Motion

Hello! Welcome to the first post in this mini-series that explores the realm of our minds in the context of scientific laws. It's a bit different than my prior posts and I hope you enjoy! This first one delves in to the laws of motion.

Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion explain the relationship between a physical object and the forces acting upon it. My variations explain the relationship between an idea and the frequency of it. First, I'll write out Newton's three laws:

1. An object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force

2. The acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the amount of force applied

3. Whenever one object (object A) exerts force on another object (object B), the second object (object B) exerts an equal and opposite on the first (object A)

Now, here are my variations:

1. An idea not being thought with will remain not being thought and an idea that is actively thought will remain actively thought at the same frequency unless acted on by an experience that disrupts the frequency

2. The influence of an idea depends on the weight of emotion attached to that idea and the frequency in which it is thought

3. When one idea (idea A), positive or negative, is thought to contradict (change the frequency of) another idea (idea B), the other idea (idea B) exerts an equal and opposite reaction to the one idea (idea A)

First, I'll explain what I mean by frequency of thought. Frequency defined is the rate of occurrence, and in physics, is the number of periods or regularly occurring events of any given kind in a unit of time. Most often it is used with regard to waves and the number of waves that pass a fixed point in a unit of time. Frequency of thought is how often an idea comes to mind throughout a unit of time. It is how often you find yourself thinking the same idea in the same hour, same day, same week, etc. To keep it simple, our unit of time will be a day.

Second, the way I am viewing ideas is a conceptualization of a thought or many thoughts that is not necessarily separate from being a thought. We have many meaningless thoughts but an idea is a thought with meaning behind it.

Lastly, what are positive and negative ideas? For our purposes, I shall define them as positive, an idea that encourages you, or negative, an idea that discourages you.

To explain the first law, an idea not being thought will remain not being thought and an idea that is actively thought will remain actively thought at the same frequency unless acted on by an experience that disrupts the frequency, let's consider what it means to not have an idea be thought and what it means to actively think of an idea. When an idea is not thought, our minds don't consider any possibilities related to that idea. The frequency of thought for this idea is zero. It is typically an idea that we have settled on believing as truth. This idea never comes to mind unless provoked by an experience. As soon as the thought comes to mind, it is no longer silent in our heads but instead increases in frequency and is opened to be considered.

An idea like this for me is everyone deserves love. It is a core value I hold and something I take as truth. I don't find myself thinking that thought frequently unless I experience something that awakens the thought in me. There was a time I got into a fight with a friend. I was in the depths of processing unrelated emotions and needed some space to sort through it. We had just spent the weekend together and when I brought it up the following week, they took my desire for space personally. They began to get very hurtful and cruel towards me, attacking my character and insecurities. They weren't being very loving or friendly. In that moment the idea everyone deserves love crossed my mind. It came to me in question as how can you love someone who treats you like an enemy they despise? This experience created an instance where the idea was now thought, disrupting the frequency by means of increasing it from zero, and giving rise to the potential for the idea to continue being thought. I concluded still that everyone deserves love, despite how they treat you, because existence itself deserves love purely on the basis that it exists. The way you show that love is what needs to be adjusted through means of distance or approach. I still hold love for that person because of their existence and humanity even though we grew apart.

Now let's look at an idea being actively thought. This can be a restless idea driven by anxiety or it can be an exciting idea you can't break yourself away from. This idea can be positive or negative but its activeness is defined by the frequency in which it is thought. The idea will continue coming to mind at the same frequency unless we experience something that sidelines the thought, decreasing its frequency, or questions the thought, changing its frequency one way or another. Questioning of the thought could increase or decrease its frequency because it might "disprove" the idea to where it is no longer thought as actively, or it could bring forth more renditions of the idea causing it to be thought more often, and either can be seen as a disruption of the initial frequency.

An example could be you're continuously thinking about the potential of being laid off and believe you will be. For days, the thoughts of what could come to fruition have plagued you and you can't get it off your mind. You're constantly looking for evidence when at work and the worries continue once you're home. Then one day, you're on a hike and see a deer. You pause a moment and admire the deer. All of your attention shifts and is now focused on the deer. Maybe even new thoughts surface surrounding the tranquility of nature. In that moment, an experience has sidelined the worrying idea of being laid off at work. It may not be a permanent change in the frequency, but the experience has disrupted the initial frequency of thought because the idea is no longer being actively thought in the moment of admiration towards the deer. An example of questioning could be given the same thought, you insert the question, "what's my evidence for believing I could be laid off?" This question examines the line of thinking that leads to the formation of the idea you will be laid off. Depending on what conclusions are drawn regarding the evidence, this could increase or decrease the frequency of thinking you will be laid off, but either way, it has disrupted the initial frequency of worrying you will be laid off and created a pause to analyze the idea. In either case, the importance is in the disruption of initial frequency.

Our ideas have influence over our behavior and how we interact with the world. The influence these ideas have on us can be determined by the emotional weight of an idea and the frequency in which it is thought. The emotional weight of an idea comes from the attached narrative that elicits a bodily response. It is how emotionally charged an idea is and whether the idea makes us feel something beyond acknowledgment. I use this as the mass of an idea because the emotional attachment causes the idea to carry gravity to it. The frequency in which it is thought is how often the idea comes to mind. I use this as the force applied on an idea because the greater frequency in which an idea is thought, the greater propensity it has to be believed. Together, the emotional weight of an idea and its frequency in thought create the influence of said idea. Influence is used as acceleration because change in velocity can be viewed similarly to change in the capacity of effect.

An example is the idea of desiring an animal companion. I grew up in a household with pets and they made me feel unconditionally loved. It was the greatest feeling to know every day despite my moods or what was happening in life, I could go home and sit with my cats and dogs and just feel loved in their presence. When I moved out for college, one of the things I missed the most was my time spent with the animals. The lacking of that unconditional love in my home space made me feel hollow. I often thought, probably weekly to daily, what it would be like to have a cat of my own to fill up some of that space. It helped that my roommate at the time adopted a kitten within a month of me moving in, but Charlie was not my cat and I longed for that connection between an animal and their chosen human friend. Then, an old friend rescued a group of kittens from the side of the road. There was only one female kitten in the litter of three and my friend said they wanted me to have her. I had to consider my ability to care and provide for a kitten but ultimately, the desire to have an animal companion of my own made the decision to say yes. That was the moment Margot joined my life. The influence of the idea of desiring an animal companion was great for me because the emotional weight attached to the idea, the fact I associated having an animal companion with unconditional love and felt it lacking without one, and the frequency of thought, that I often thought, weekly or daily, about getting an animal, created a great level of influence for me to finally get an animal when the opportunity arose.

Another example is if you struggle with self-esteem. You may view yourself as unworthy and this causes you pain. Pain is a sticky emotion that is heavy as it wrestles with the loss of love. Since you are a self-aware being, most interactions you have cause you to think of how you're unworthy. This combination may create influence on your actions that cause you to avoid connection with others. The level of avoidance depends on how strong the influence is based on the gravity of the pain and the frequency in which you think you're unworthy.

When one idea (idea A), positive or negative, is thought to contradict (change the frequency of) another idea (idea B), the other idea (idea B) exerts an equal and opposite reaction to the one idea (idea A). The contradiction can be seen as changing the frequency of because you are trying to break up how often that idea is being thought. If you have a negative thought (B) and then try to combat it with a positive thought (A), then the negative thought (B) will equally contradict the positive thought (A). This is why you can't think yourself out of negative thought loops because the contradicting positive thought will always be countered with equal opposition. The equal and opposite reactions of the thoughts will only create inner turmoil. An example could be you find yourself down on yourself and thinking you're an unlikeable person. You decide to try to think of an example of when you felt your presence was enjoyed and valued by a friend to counter this thought and change your mindset. The next thought that comes to mind however is an example of a time you had the opportunity to show up for a friend but failed to do so. The counter thought of when you felt your presence was enjoyed and valued (A) to the initial idea of being unlikeable (B) elicits an equal and opposite response of the initial idea (B) through bringing to mind a time you felt you failed to show up for a friend, which only further emphasizes the initial idea. You could go rounds of this way of thinking and never fully counter the initial idea because of its influence. The solution is to focus on lessening the emotional weight of the idea through acceptance, therefore decreasing its influence.

This thought experiment and theory I have of applying laws of physics to the thinking of ideas in our minds is meant to awaken within you a different way of approaching how you interact with your own ideas. Whether positive or negative, the ideas we have influence who we are and it is important to remember there are ways of navigating their ever changing tides.

Much love <3

Jen