You have to be quite careful here not to be
distracted from the fundamental issue, which is maintaining a consciousness independent of the consciousness of the 'thinker'.
The questions "Where do thoughts come from?" and "Have they always existed?" are questions of a 'thinker' that is trying to
seduce you back into the realm of thought. So, there is no real benefit in pursuing such questions.
What is much more important is that thought itself is time, as has been observed by Krishnamurti.
And what is the purpose or function of time?
To preserve the spatiality of the consciousness of the "self" which originates in the 'movement' of self-reflection.
In other words, the "serpent" of
Genesis and the "dragon" of the
Revelation of John symbolize the duality created by the 'movement' of self-reflection; the "beast of the sea" is the spatiality of the "self"; and the "beast of the earth" is the efforts of thought and the 'thinker' to maintain the temporal continuity of the spatiality of the "self".
And all of this is the very origin and manifestation of conflict and violence.
Michael Cecil (4Q529)
http://after-the-false-peace.blogspot.com/
http://jewishchristianlit.com/Resour...ts/4Q529!.html