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To Think Without Words · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We tend to associate the process we call thinking with the linear
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  sequence of words that organize our understanding in our mind.
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  We thus associate thinking with language and indicate that our
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  thinking is limited by the language.
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  A language that is rich in words and nuances will yield more
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  advanced and complex thinking than a language that is simpler
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  and more directly expressive of our outer experience in the
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  world. According to this understanding,
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  if we reflect upon it, however, we can actually separate
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  thinking from language, and in doing so, we remove the
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  limitation of language from the process of thinking.
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  The case of Nikola Tesla is illuminating.
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  In his autobiography, he describes some of the training
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  he received as a child, which included guessing the thoughts
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  of others and the use of visualization techniques.
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  He later described how he developed various of his
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  inventions not through linear thought, but through seeing them
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  in his mind's eye. Albert Einstein also indicated
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  that he thought using visualizations and images, not
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  words, to understand the universe.
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  Some of the greatest thinkers indicated that the use of
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  language for thought was essentially a secondary process
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  for them. An interesting experiment was
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  carried out by a young child for a school project.
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  She designed a method to test for the existence of the power
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  of telepathy. She paired individuals with a
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  barrier between them. They had various shapes and
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  colors that one party, the sender was to focus on in his
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  mind and the other party, the receiver was to identify without
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  any speech intervening. Various pairs achieved results
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  over 70 per cent accuracy, far beyond the potential of random
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  chance. Although this was obviously a
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  simple experiment and not a double-blind study, it did
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  provide a measure of confidence that thought in the form of an
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  imaged shape and colour could be communicated silently from one
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  person to the other with no physical or verbal cues.
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  The power of visualization itself acts without language.
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  People who speak different languages are unable to easily
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  communicate abstract ideas that depend on language, but can
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  quite easily understand visualized images in the mind of
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  the other person. Thought is clearly not limited
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  to verbal structure or language, but to a comprehensive process
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  of understanding that may or may not be tied to sequential inner
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  dialogue of words. When we enter the presence of an
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  individual who has developed the power of thought without the use
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  of words, we can experience what many call an atmosphere which is
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  conducive to liberating the mind from the formal structures that
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  language imposes upon our thinking.
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  There can come from this a new way of seeing and understanding,
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  the mother observes. Quote.
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  So if you want to exercise the least effect on the mental
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  substance, the first thing is to learn how to think clearly.
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  And not a verbal thought which depends on words, but a thought
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  which can dispense with words, which can be understood in
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  itself without words, which corresponds to a fact, the fact
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  of a state of consciousness or a fact of knowledge.
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  Just try to think without words. You will see where you stand.
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  Have you never tried it? Well, then try.
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  You have an absolutely clear and precise understanding of what
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  you want to communicate to others.
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  It vibrates in a special way. It has the power to give a form
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  to the mental substance. And then afterwards, as a
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  concession to human habits, you organize a certain number of
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  words around it to try there much lower down, to give a
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  verbal form to the vibration of consciousness.
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  But the verbal form is entirely secondary.
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  It is a kind of covering, a rather crude one, for the power
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  of thought. End Quote.
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  Reference Srioro Bindu and the Mother Powers within, Chapter 2.
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  Power of Thought, pages 21 to 22.