Thought has two distinct operating modes:
one it uses to deal with matters in the physical world, then switches to an entirely different mode when it entertains subjects which have no physical substance.
Man has never paid specific attention to this, but it is observably so,
and its effects profound  --  which puzzles him due to his ignoring the root fact.
Based on genetics, some people’s thoughts run mostly in one of the two modes, (scientists and philosophers being rough representatives of the two extremes),
but every ordinary person’s thinking has the ability to instantly and constantly shift from one mode to the other as conditions call for.
 

The two different modes operate on two totally different bases,
and perceive what to be real from two completely distinct perspectives.
Thought’s first mode, employed in dealing with matters in the physical world,
only considers that things which can be seen, or physically measured exist,
while thought’s second mode has no such requirements;
when in this mode, whatever thought says exists --  exists,
(disputes between paradigmatic theologians and physicists are predictable and irreconcilable).
 

Each mode serves a specific purpose in the life of man;
thought’s first mode: to assist his survival;
its second: to make survival more interesting;
both are needed if a person is to live a life fully worthy of the title --  man.
It is a fool’s sport to argue over comparisons of the two,
or to propose one as superior to the other,
or to believe that they are not both appropriate to man,
(lungs are not kidneys, and one cousin can fix your car,
and another cousin tell you about sailing and make you dream of travel).
 

The brain automatically puts its thought production into the mode proper for
the immediate circumstances, and the immediate circumstances of most of the people reading these words does not entail a direct struggling to survive;
if you are suddenly hungry, the only first mode thought required to meet this
survival need is a momentary review in your mind of what is in your refrigerator,
one room away;
except in the rare, finite episodes of immediate physical danger,
(warfare, personal assault, natural catastrophes),
most people’s thoughts lounge mostly over the line in the second mode,
poring over images of past occurrences which no longer physically exist,
and playing with pictures of potential future ones, also lacking any actual substance.
In this mode thought can & will stir up grand suppositions, speculations & conspiracies;
dreaming up supernatural gods and demons;
conjuring up a whole array of cosmic: “What if’s.”
 

From thought’s first mode comes all technology and science,
and from its second, everything else:
all art, all culture, all customs, all myths, all religions, all beliefs --
all of everything required to create human civilization --
which is the fully realized life of the ordinary man.
 

As simple, and perhaps as obvious as your present thought may say is the above, such a determination is purely illusory;
no man’s ordinary thinking, (including yours), is in any operational fashion aware of these two separate modes and their consequence in humanity’s total conception of reality;
if the supra is specifically noted to an interested listener, he may nod his agreement, and apparent understanding of what has been described, (it certainly is not abstruse),
but thought has the ability to seeming agree wholeheartedly with
any given statement at any given instant and a second later, forget about it totally
(this being another of thought’s overlooked talents, deserving of its own story some day).

But simple observation of your own thought shows it has no continuing recognition of
it constantly and instantly shifting back & forth from two separate modes
which could not be more distinct, and whose individual perception of life,
and what is real could not be more differently based.
 

Even though the two modes of thought obviously work in conjunction,
the very essence of how they individually see and think about life
can be usefully examined by those with ThatCertainHunger to magnificent profit.
Observe what goes on in your brain of which you can be aware,
and it will be clear that thought operates in two entirely distinct modes
wherein at one instant, thought is affixed on something physical in the world outside of your body, and an instant later, thought is taken up entirely by something that exists no where except in its own world inside of your and other humans’ brains;
it is not good or bad, proper or faulty --  it is the way human consciousness is,
but as is always the case with the few on TheHunt:
realizing how things are in the routine realm
is the step to realizing how everything is.
(Hint: they’re both the same.)