Are we the authors of our thoughts?

Rene Descartes wrote: “I am, I exist, that is certain.  But how often?  Just when I think; for it might possibly be the case if I ceased entirely to think, that I should likewise cease altogether to exist.  I do not now admit anything which is not necessarily true:  to speak accurately I am not more than a thing which thinks, that is to say a mind or a soul, or an understanding, or a reason, which are terms whose significance was formerly unknown to me. I am, however, a real thing and really exist; but what thing? I have answered:  a thing which thinks.”  Descartes: Meditations on First  Philosophy  (1641)  Trans. Eliz. Haldane

Descartes evidently had not had the experience of cessation of thought, for if he had, he would have found, with many others, that he would have been more sure of his existence than ever before – that is what seems to happen, by all accounts.

Thoughts arise, and I perceive them; but it cannot be said with certainty that I am doing the thinking.  That was an unfortunate observation on Descartes’ part, as it has affected us all since.  He was so close, yet missed the mark.  I certainly have many thoughts which I cannot claim any authorship of.  All I can be certain of is that I am aware of at least some of these thoughts.  Even in the absence of thoughts, which does occasionally occur, I am still aware and certain of my existence.

There may be thoughts arising which we are not aware of, or barely aware of: this happens to me quite often.  I suddenly begin to hear a thought which has apparently been going on in my mind for some time – particularly musical phrases.  I can wake in the morning with the same piece of music in my mind which was playing there before I went to sleep. For all I know it may have been there in my mind all night but I wasn’t aware of it while asleep.  Sometimes this persistence of musical thought seems like a nuisance.  From time to time verbalizations will make themselves internally heard, usually meaningless and irrelevant to the task in hand.  I am not the author of these thoughts, merely the perceiver.

It stands to reason that if a thought can be noticed, that thought is not the noticer.

That’s enough for the time being.  I want to continue later with discussion of thoughts driven by an intention – is that intention really mine?