Quotes About Consciousness

Cartesian theatre (Dan Dennett's term)

Remember, the brain is in a dark quiet box with no knowledge of anything other than the time-flowing patterns on its input fibers.

For me, the sense of awareness—the sense of presence, the feeling that I am an acting agent in the world—is the core of what it means to be conscious. It is easily explained by the activity of neurons, and I see no mystery in it.

Truly random thoughts don't exist.

through the sensory nerves. The nerves only send spikes. And since we do not perceive spikes, everything we do perceive must be fabricated in the brain. Even the most basic feelings of light, sound, and touch are creations of the brain; they only exist in its model of the world.

Chinese Room

understanding cannot be measured by external behavior

As inspired by Alan Turing, intelligence equals behavior.

Discovering a useful reference frame is the most difficult part of learning, even though most of the time we are not consciously aware of it.

Was insanity really easier to accept than unconsciousness?

It was such an unexpected and genuine smile that if I only had a soul I'm sure I would have felt quite guilty.

Salvia divinorum

You eat slower. Healthier. Chopsticks're good for you.

relaxation is not the ultimate goal. Awareness is. Try not to judge your practice by how relaxed or "good" you feel. Try not to judge it at all. Just try to be present and to recognize and accept what is here.

Mindfulness may be understood as friendly, nonjudging, present-moment awareness.

The mind self-edits. The mind airbrushes. It's a different thing to be inside a body than outside. From outside, you can look, inspect, compare. From inside there is no comparison.

The only way we know it's true is that we both dreamed it. That's what reality is. It's a dream everyone has together.

But maybe they understood more about life than I did. From an early age they knew what little value the world placed in books, and so didn't waste their time with them. Whereas I, even now, persist in believing that these black marks on white paper bear the greatest significance, that if I keep writing, I might be able to catch the rainbow of consciousness in a jar.

Whereas I, even now, persist in believing that these black marks on white paper bear the greatest significance, that if I keep writing I might be able to catch the rainbow of consciousness in a jar.

Fin da piccole sapevano quanto poco valore il mondo attribuisse ai libri, e non perdevano tempo a leggerli. Mentre io, anche adesso, continuo a credere che quei puntini neri su fondo bianco abbiano il più alto dei significati, che se insisto a scrivere potrò cogliere l'arcobaleno della coscienza e rinchiuderlo in un barattolo.

free will is making a comeback. Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind.

Los sueños son para los que duermen, a nosotros nos toca vivir.

Desde temprana edad eran conscientes del escaso valor que el mundo daba a los libros, de manera que no perdían el tiempo con ellos. Mientras que yo, incluso ahora, persisto en creer que esos signos negros trazados en papel blanco son de la mayor importancia, y que si continúo escribiendo lograré atrapar el arco iris de la conciencia y guardarlo en un tarro.

Stomach-sleepers like me were in retreat from reality, given to dark perception and the meditative arts. This