The third level is “thought of thought”. In contrast to the above, this is when he is thinking to himself, without any intention of bringing out his thoughts into speech.
For example, this is when one is thinking the lyrics of a song to himself, in his head. This is a higher level of thought than if he were to hear someone else singing the song. However, he is not really thinking into the meaning of the words on this level of thought. He merely is thinking the words of the song, as if they are playing in his head. This level is the lowest level of “thought of thought” and is considered to be “speech of thought of thought”. (In “thought of thought” there also are the three levels, thought, speech and action. This level would be “speech of thought of thought”.)
The next level higher is actual thought in which he is thinking into the actual meaning. The words and combinations of the letters follow automatically, as is clearly observable that when one is thinking into the meaning of something, the combinations of letters of thought will automatically follow according to the ideas he is thinking.
For example, if he is thinking about business, the combinations and formulations of the letters of his thought (Leah) will be according to what he is thinking (Machshevet Sechel). If he is thinking about business matters, the combinations of letters will not be “baseball”. When he is thinking into the meaning of something, this is called “true thought of thought”. This is the power of the intellect to think any thing he wishes, just as the power of speech, is the power to speak anything he wishes.
As mentioned before, this level of thought (Machshevet Sechel) is the vessel for analytical contemplative thought (Machshava Iyunit). This type of thought is dependant on the power of Da’at, which is the power of attention and concentration to connect to a subject matter. It is for this reason that it says that toddlers do not have thought, because they have a weak attention span. As explained earlier, Da’at (Attention) is the vessel for comprehensive and analytical thought. Therefore, to the degree of Da’at that one possesses, will be his capacity for the analytical thought of Binah. (Nonetheless, the depth of the thought can only be according to the depth of the subject being comprehended, as mentioned earlier.)
