Quotes About Consciousness

Anatomically the emotional system can act independently of the neocortex," LeDoux told me. "Some emotional reactions and emotional memories can be formed without any conscious, cognitive participation at all.

No podemos controlar lo que vamos a sentir, pero sí decidir qué hacemos a continuación.

Quando os músicos de jazz foram comparados com os músicos clássicos quanto a funções cerebrais, mostraram mais indicadores neuronais de consciência de si mesmos. Conforme disse um músico de jazz, «no jazz, é preciso sintonizarmo-nos quanto ao que o nosso corpo está a sentir, para sabermos quando avançar para um solo».

Os riscos inteligentes baseiam-se numa alargada e voraz recolha de dados confrontados com um sentido intuitivo; as decisões estúpidas são construídas de uma base demasiado restrita de dados. A reação franca daqueles em quem confiamos e respeitamos cria uma fonte de consciência própria que nos protege de dados de informação enviesados, ou de pontos de partida questionáveis.

Capturar uma mente divagante em ação é ardiloso; quase sempre, quando estamos perdidos em pensamentos, não conseguimos perceber que a nossa mente começou a vaguear no momento em que isso aconteceu. Notar que a nossa mente divagou assinala uma mudança na atividade cerebral; quanto maior for esta metaconsciência, mais fraca se torna a divagação da mente.

It's one thing for forgive yourself a mistake. But if you knew it was a mistake at the time, how do you forgive yourself then?

Odd as it may seem, I am my remembering self, and the experiencing self, who does my living, is like a stranger to me.

we can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.

Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it.

I'm like a man who's been half-asleep all his life, trying to find out what he was like before he woke up.

Slowly, as waves recede, my expanding spirit shrinks back into earthly dimensions -- not voluntarily, because I would prefer to lose myself, but I am pulled from below, back to myself, into myself, so that for just one moment I am on the couch again, fitting the fingers of my awareness into the glove of my flesh. And I know I can move this finger or wink that eye -- if I want to. But I don't want to move. I will not move!

I am in love with what I am doing, because the answer to this problem is right here in my mind, and soon - very soon - it will burst into consciousness.

Life and work are the most wonderful things a man can have. I am in love with what I am doing, because the answer to this problem is right here in my mind, and soon—very soon—it will burst into consciousness.

It is impossible to tell what proportion is memory and what exists here and now--so that a strange compound is formed of memory and reality; past and present; response to stimuli stored in my brain centers, an response to stimuli in this room. It's as if all the things I've learned have fused into a crystal universe spinning before me so that I can see all the facets of it reflected in gorgeous bursts of light...

It is impossible to tell what proportion is memory and what exists here and now--so that a strange compound is formed of memory and reality; past and present; response to stimuli stored in my brain centers, an response to stimuli in this room. It's as if all the things I've learned have fused into a crystal universe spinning before me so that I can see al the facets of it reflected in gorgeous bursts of light...

There was no way to stop the sands of knowledge from slipping through the hourglass of my mind.

Sou como um homem que passou a vida inteira semiadormecido, tentando descobrir como ele era antes de acordar

A sensação era de viver a morte - ou pior, de nunca ter estado realmente vivo e consciente. Almas murchavam desde o início e estavam condenadas a encarar o tempo e o espaço do cotidiano.

you will discover that true presence brings you pleasure incommensurate with events. The most banal thing—a cup of tea, a few steps, opening a door, a glance at the sky—can be enough to make you happy during the time you are present and well after.

to be nothing is to enter into totality

Consciousness, says Asanga, is "hindered by the view of the 'I': from there comes its agitated and powerless tension. This can be remedied by stabilizing consciousness in the inner world, which amounts to re-establishing consciousness in consciousness

This inner gaze is devoid of all tension or strain: how could it belong to an intellect strained with effort?

When myriad experiences leave no trace, how great! To practice like this is liberation.

Someone who desires to be fully alive has to do nothing but observe without inner commentary the automatic mechanisms that stop him from tasting the tremoring vibration of life. This observation alone is the key to our liberation. It requires naked and silent awareness, detached from all objectives.