What makes each individual person think the things they do?
Do our thoughts arise from the specific things that we love? I think that they do. I don't think you can think anything that doesn't somehow confirm something that you have a love for.
For example, I could be thinking these things that I am writing because I love sounding intelligent. I could also be thinking them because I love deep, exploratory ideas. However, I am fairly certain that I am not thinking them because they are reasonable or rational things to be thinking. My thoughts don't arise because they are reasonable or rational.
Reason and rationality are filters that are applied after thoughts arise, at least in my opinion.
It seems also to me that reasonable and rational are flexible terms. They can easily be twisted depending on different scenarios and circumstances.
I think the only way to determine if the things we are thinking are of any substance at all is to determine what it is that we love that is making them rise up. It seems if we try to apply the filter afterward of reasonable or rational, that we might easily be able to convince ourselves that any clever sounding thought is worth something.
The value of a thought arises from the intent that brought it forth, at least in my opinion.
