Quotes About Consciousness

Beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.

The world did not have me in mind; it had no mind. It was a coincidental collection of things and people, of items, an I myself was one such item...the things in the world did not necessarily cause my overwhelming feelings; the feelings were inside me, beneath my skin, behind my ribs, withing my skull. They were even, to some extent, under my control.

We still & always want waking.

Am I living?'...I forgot myself, and sank into dim and watery oblivion.

It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating us from our creator--our very self-consciousness--is also the one thing that divides us from our fellow creatures. It was a bitter birthday present from evolution.

Were the earth smooth, our brains would be smooth as well; we would wake, blink, walk two steps to get the whole picture, and lapse into a dreamless sleep.

The sense impressions of one-celled animals are not edited for the brain: 'This is philosophically interesting in a rather mournful way, since it means that only the simplest animals perceive the universe as it is (21).

beauty and grace [in nature] are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.

The interior life is often stupid.

1. Only a total unself-consciousness will permit me to live with myself" (202).

If a meteor falls in the forest and no one realizes it, does it end the war?

Some mornings when I wake up, it takes a long time to remember who I am. Like, it takes a while for everything that's happened in last month to download into my brain. It's nice, not knowing. Even if it's just for five minutes.

I knew immediately something was terribly wrong, but you can know that and not allow the thought in your head, at the front of your head. It dances around at the back, where it can't be controlled. But the front of the head is where the pain begins.

We all operate on different levels of awareness. Half the time I don't know what I'm doing.

But I can hardly remember what it felt like. It's like everything that happens to you. It doesn't feel real.

We're not really conscious of what we're doing most of the time.

How do you 'clear' your thoughts? You have only other thoughts with which to do the job; 'thoughts', therefore, are both blockage and broom. I suppose what we mean is that we should stop reasoning and try to 'feel' - which presumes that what we 'feel' is more valuable than anything we think ...

When you throw trash on the ground, you apparently don't see yourself as truly belonging to the world that you're walking around in.

No one knows more about the way you think than you do.

Everything happens for a reason, doesn't it? Even if you don't consciously agree with that statement, your brain sure does.

My friend didn't understand what it means to be in the world, to be present and aware.

Life is but a dream, within a dream.

Is this a vision? Is this a dream? Do I sleep?

I splash my head with ice-cold water and turn to face the mirror. When my image appears I instinctively look away. Is there a truth on the other side that we do not want to see?