A Thought

I have wondered recently on the nature of a thought.

It's something that exists for an indeterminate period of time, has no real end and no real beginning, but also no duration for it's existence. Very curious... If I have a thought today, I don't really know for sure if this thought stems from another thought I may have had in the past (or if it is influenced by ideas, thoughts and words that others have spoken or written in the past). The only thing I can say about thoughts is that they come from my brain... but even that is suspect.

Is a brain all that is required to have a thought? If that is the case, then thoughts must exist within the brain, but how can a thought be localized? Are thoughts "found" in the frontal cortex? The temporal lobe? If one was to systemically remove portions of another's brain, would they eventually lose the ability to think? When would that happen? Would it be based on a percentage of brain matter existing, or would it depend on specific structures? Would it vary from person to person, or would it be the same for all humans?

I don't know how to answer any of these questions, but the one thing I do know is that a thought seems to be beyond the physical structure responsible for it's generation. I believe that our thoughts are an interface with the metaphysical. The fact that our mind is able to comprehend the abstract, the esoteric (to some extent), and the metaphysical points to it's metaphysical nature. Many say that the brain/mind dichotomy is a fallacy, that the mind exists simply because the brain does. I don't think this is the case. Maybe consciousness does simply require a certain amount of "processor power" to manifest itself, but I still feel that the ability to think, the internal monologues we are able to pursue, the gift of comprehension we have, is not one that is tied purely to the physical realm.

How to go about proving, or disproving this? I do not know. I do not know if it is even possible to use scientific principles on something that may extend beyond the realms of science today, but I do know that the ability to look for the answer is a part of both the question, and the ultimate answer.