Quotes About Perception

After all, the past determines who we are, as well as how we perceive and behave in the present. And our future goals determine which actions we take in the present.

Your sense of who you are determines what you perceive as your needs and what matters to you in life -- and whatever matters to you will have the power to upset and disturb you. You can use this as a criterion to find out how deeply you know yourself. What matters to you is not necessarily what you say or believe, but what your actions and reactions reveal as important and serious to you. So you may want to ask yourself the question: What are the things that upset and disturb me?

Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally.

Ego implies complete unawareness of the dimension of space

Most people do not use their minds as much as their minds use them.

Spiritual awakening is awakening from the dream of thought.

Nobody can act beyond their level of consciousness.

Perceiving presence is what true awakening is all about.

Being must be 'felt' it can not be 'thought.

The ego is always on guard against any kind of perceived diminishment. Automatic ego-repair mechanisms come into effect to restore the mental form of "me." When someone blames or criticizes me, that to the ego is a diminishment of self, and it will immediately attempt to repair its diminished sense of self through self-justification, defense, or blaming.

The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about

The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future — which, of course, can only be experienced as the Now.

The voice comments, speculates, judges, compares, complains, likes, dislikes, and so on. The voice isn't necessarily relevant to the situation you find yourself in at the time; it may be reviving the recent or distant past or rehearsing or imagining possible future situations

You have it already. You just can't feel it because your mind is making too much noise.

You can become aware of awareness as the background to all your sense perceptions, all your thinking. Becoming aware of awareness is the arising of inner stillness.

The reason why you don't put your hand in the fire is not because of fear, it's because you know you'll get burned. You don't need fear to avoid unnecessary danger.

More consciousness means a lessening of the illusion of materiality.

Remember, your perception of the world is a reflection of your state of consciousness.

Every human being emanates an energy field that corresponds to his or her inner state, ... Some people are most clearly aware of it when they first meet someone, even before any words are exchanged. A little later, however, words take over the relationship and with words come the roles that most people play. Attention then moves to the realm of mind, and the ability to sense the other person's energy field becomes greatly diminished.

The ego] cannot tell the difference between an event and its reaction to that event. Every ego is a matter of selective perception and distorted interpretation. Only through awareness—not through thinking—can you differentiate between fact and opinion. Only through awareness are you able to see: There is the situation and here is the anger I feel about it, and then realize there are other ways of approaching the situation, other ways of seeing it and dealing with it.

Sometimes the "fault" that you perceive in another isn't even there. It is a total misinterpretation, a projection by a mind conditioned to see enemies and to make itself right or superior. At other times, the fault may be there, but by focusing on it, sometimes to the exclusion of everything else, you amplify it. And what you react to in another, you strengthen in yourself.

Now consider this: If there were nothing but silence, it wouldn't exist for you; you wouldn't know what it is. Only when sound appears does silence come into being.

In other words, the content of the ego may change; the mind structure that keeps it alive does not.

Ego takes everything personally. Emotion arises, defensiveness, perhaps even aggression.