Best 12844 quotes in «self quotes» category

We suddenly arrived in this very lost and strange city. Somewhere in the middle of the mountains. We didn't know where we are. We were just heading back to the sea. When we walked trough the forgotten city in silence, something inside us changed. We lost a bit of ourselves too and gained space for something new.

We suffer from a hallucination, from a false and distorted sensation of our own existence as living organisms. Most of us have the sensation that "I myself" is a separate center of feeling and action, living inside and bounded by the physical body—a center which "confronts" an "external" world of people and things, making contact through the senses with a universe both alien and strange. Everyday figures of speech reflect this illusion. "I came into this world." "You must face reality." "The conquest of nature." This feeling of being lonely and very temporary visitors in the universe is in flat contradiction to everything known about man (and all other living organisms) in the sciences. We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean "waves," the universe "peoples." Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. This fact is rarely, if ever, experienced by most individuals. Even those who know it to be true in theory do not sense or feel it, but continue to be aware of themselves as isolated "egos" inside bags of skin.

We' [The Gnani Purush] do not fracture your ego, ‘we’ fracture your wrong belief.

We strive toward the middle, and we run from ourselves.

We' (the Gnani Purush) are neither indifferent (nispruha) nor are 'we' with inclination (saspruha) We are saspruha-nispruha. 'We' have indifference towards your worldly matters and 'we' have interest in matters regarding of your Soul (Atma).

We throw away real people searching for the "perfect" person the same way that we throw ourselves away searching for our "perfect" self.

We were created for something higher than ourself.

We wonder at vistas outside .. Yet we pass by ourselves.

We will not wake up ten years from now and find we have passively taken on the character of God.

What Althusser does… is to rethink the concept of ideology in terms of Lacan’s ‘imaginary’. For the relation of an individual subject to society as a whole in Althusser’s theory is rather like the relation of the small child to his or her mirror-image in Lacan’s. In both cases, the human subject is supplied with a satisfyingly unified image of selfhood by identifying with an object which reflects this image back to it in a closed, narcissistic circle. In both cases, too, this image involves a misrecognition, since it idealizes the subject’s real situation. The child is not actually as integrated as its image in the mirror suggests; I am not actually the coherent, autonomous, self generating subject I know myself to be in the ideological sphere, but the ‘decentred’ function of several social determinants. Duly enthralled by the image of myself I receive, I subject myself to it; and it is through this ‘subjection’ that I become a subject.

What an idiot I'd been. What a spoilt brat. What a bloody fool.

What can be referred to as true internal penance? It is when the heart is actually burning within and One peacefully remains as the Knower-Seer of that.

What does ‘experience of the soul’ mean? It is a state of constant eternal bliss.

What does 'community service' mean? It destroys 'my' (sense of attachment for specific things, especially oneself) for the most part. If 'my' were to be destroyed completely, then One (the awakened Self, potey) is indeed the absolute Self (parmatma)! Then for Him, bliss will definitely prevail, will it not!

Whatever is being done, without realization of the Self is nothing but a loss indeed!

Whatever one does without the right belief (samkit - Self-realization) will lead to karmic bondage. Even when he gives to charity or shows kindness; it is all karma bondage.

Whatever one’s belief arises, he will find tools corresponding to his beliefs. With the belief of the ‘Self’, there is only one ‘tool’ to acquire the Knowledge of the Self, that tool is the ‘Gnani Purush’ (the enlightened one). Contemplation of the Gnani Purush (the enlightened one) is the very tool with which the Soul will continue to manifest.

Whatever ‘wrong’ the world is doing; it is all dependent on prarabdha (effect of past life causes) and whatever ‘good’ it is doing; that too is dependent upon prarabdha (effect of past life causes).

Whatever is done for the Self (Soul), it is Yours, and the rest is for others (other than the self).

Whatever you is, Onion," he said, "be it full.

What fear do you have? You, yourself are the absolute Self! If absolute-Self becomes fearful, then the whole universe will have fear! ‘We’ are on the other side of the prakruti [relative self’s world].

What gets scary is when your self-worth is tied up in what strangers think of you.

What frightened me most was, I could no longer believe in my own life as a story. Everyone needs a story, a part to play in order to avoid the realization that life is without significance. How else do any of us survive? It’s what makes life bearable, even interesting. When it becomes neither, people say you’ve lost the plot. Or just lost it.

What God says about you is what matters, than what others may think of you.

What good is it to seek our happiness in the opinion of others if we cannot find it in ourselves?

What happens when two introverts collide? Do they dissolve completely in each other’s patience and silence, or do they break their glass shells and become new people?

What I am is what the LORD GOD has made of me.

What I am saying is, ‘Know the science’. Know what is Soul (The True Self) and Non-Soul (Everything other than the Soul). Upon knowing this, all desires will vanish.

What is considered as a vow (vrat)? For this Dada [Gnani Purush], the five mahavrats (great vows of truth, non-possessiveness, non-violence, non-stealing, and celibacy as expounded by Lord Mahavir) prevail at all times! He lives in wordly life yet He prevails in the mahavrats, what must that be like? One in whom pudgal pariniti (the belief that 'I am doing' in what are the results of the non-Self) does not arise at all! Where there is mahavrat, there is no pudgal pariniti. And where there is anuvrat (observance of minor religious vows), there to a certain extent, pudgal pariniti is present and to certain extent, it has also decreased!

What is considered as Purusharth (real spiritual effort to progress as the Self)? It is when there is a sense of independence (swatantrapanu), there is Self-dependency (Swa-dhin), there is no dependency on external factors (paradhin). Whereas here, work is only done when other circumstances come together. That which happens subject to scientific circumstantial evidences is prarabdh (an effect of past life karma).

What is kshayak samkit? There is no awareness as the non-Self (parparinati) whatsoever, only the awareness as the Self (Swa-parinati) constantly prevails!

What is life to Spirit, is death to the ego.

What is suspicion? It is a tool to ruin one’s own Soul.

What is it we are questing for? It is the fulfillment of that which is potential in each of us. Questing for it is not an ego trip; it is an adventure to bring into fulfillment your gift to the world, which is yourself. There is nothing you can do that's more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way you will find, live, become a realization of your own personal myth.

What is the difference between aradhana (worship) and bhajana (to be one with)? Aradhana (worship) means the attention will go over and over again there, and bhajana (oneness) means continuous engrossment. One is to do aradhana (worship) and bhajana (oneness) for only one’s own Self; everything else will carry on naturally.

What is the sign of the person residing in his own Self as Pure Soul? Vitaragta [a state of freedom from all worldly attachments]!

What is this 'I'? If you analyse it closely you will, I think, find that it is just a little bit more than a collection of single data (experiences and memories), namely the canvas upon which they are collected. And you will, on close introspection, find that what you really mean by 'I' is that ground-stuff upon which they are collected. You may come to a distant country, lose sight of all your friends, may all but forget them; you acquire new friends, you share life with them as intensely as you ever did with your old ones. Less and less important will become the fact that, while living your new life, you still recollect the old one. 'The youth that was I', you may come to speak of him in the third person, indeed the protagonist of the novel you are reading is probably nearer to your heart, certainly more intensely alive and better known to you. Yet there has been no intermediate break, no death. And even if a skilled hypnotist succeeded in blotting out entirely all your earlier reminiscences, you would not find that he had killed you. In no case is there a loss of personal existence to deplore. Nor will there ever be.

What is the inherent nature of the relative self (pratisthit atma) like? It mimics what it sees, it does not have to be taught anything. Therefore, association should be with a truly (enlightened) person, a spiritually elevated person. And if there is association with bad people, then evil thoughts will arise.

What is to be renounced? The adverse internal state of being that results in hurting oneself (artadhyan) and the adverse internal state of being that hurts oneself and others (raudradhyan). If these two have not been renounced, then nothing at all has been renounced.

What I think I am saying is that phenomenal consciousness - the raw feel of experience - is invisible to conventional scientific scrutiny and will forever remain so. It is, by definition, subjective - where as science, by definition, adopts an objective stance. You can't be in two places at once. You either experience consciousness "from the inside" ([...]) or you view it "from the outside" ([...]). Science can study the neural activity, the bodily states, the environmental conditions, and the outward behaviours - including verbal behaviours that stand for different states of awareness ([...]), but the quality - the feel - of our experiences remains forever private and therefore out of bounds of scientific analysis. I can't see a way round this. Privateness is a fundamental constituent of consciousness.

What is saiyam? It is a state in which One remains unaffected by the effects of both, upsarga (externally induced suffering) and parishaha (internally induced affliction). And if one were to get affected, then One would simply continue to Know the effect but would not suffer (vedey) the effect. And even if he were to suffer the effect, He would still simply Know it; that is known as saiyam.

What really defines me? Is it my past: regrets, failure, and mistakes? Is it my future: dreams, goals, and everything that I have been pushing aside for another time? Maybe I am defined by who I am, right now, not by my actions from before or my actions yet to come but by my mind and everything that is going on inside it. My mind is what defines me, the way it was created my past, the way it will be will create my future. My thoughts, my intents, my values define who I am and create my entire life: actions, failures, successes.

What is saiyam parinaam? It is when the Self (Atma) does not become one in with the non-Self (pudgal); It continues to prevail separately. If the Self is allowed to become one [with the non-Self], then that becomes a violent intent (himsak bhaav).

What is the goal of a human being? An Indian person can truly achieve a state of the Absolute Supreme Self [Parmatma, the Lord]. To achieve one’s own Absolute Supreme Self state is the ultimate goal!

What is the essence of the world? Normality. Above normal is poison, and below normal is poison. Come to normality. Normality in the non-Self complex (pudgal), whereas the Self (Atma) is indeed the Self!

What is the nature of the Self (Soul)? To ‘see’ the dharma (function) of everything, to see ‘who is performing what function, and how that function is being performed.’ To ‘see’ it, is called the function of the Self (Soul).

What is the motive for this ‘fugitive’ way of saying “I”? It is motivated by Dasein’s falling; for as falling, it *flees* in the face of itself into the “they.” When the “I” talks in the ‘natural’ manner, this is performed by the they-self. What expresses itself in the ‘I’ is that Self which, proximally and for the most part, I am *not* authentically. When one is absorbed in the everyday multiplicity and the rapid succession [*Sich-jagen] of that with which one is concerned, the Self of the self-forgetful “I am concerned” shows itself as something simple which is constantly selfsame but indefinite and empty. Yet one *is* that with which one concerns oneself. In the ‘natural’ ontical way in which the “I” talks, the phenomenal content of the Dasein which one has in view in the "I" gets overlooked; but this gives *no justification for our joining in this overlooking of it*, or for forcing upon the problematic of the Self an inappropriate ‘categorial’ horizon when we Interpret the “I” ontologically. Of course by thus refusing to follow the everyday way in which the “I” talks, our ontological Interpretation of the ‘I’ has by no means *solved* the problem; but it has indeed *prescribed the direction* for any further inquiries. In the “I,” we have in view that entity which one is in ‘being-in-the-world’. Being-already-in-a-world, however, as Being-alongside-the-ready-to-hand-within-the-world, means equiprimordially that one is ahead of oneself. With the ‘I’, what we have in view is that entity for which the *issue* is the Being of the entity that it is. With the ‘I’, care expresses itself, though proximally and for the most part in the ‘fugitive’ way in which the “I” talks when it concerns itself with something. The they-self keeps on saying “I” most loudly and most frequently because at bottom it *is not authentically* itself, and evades its authentic potentiality-for-Being. If the ontological constitution of the Self is not to be traced back either to an “I”-substance or to a ‘subject’, but if, on the contrary, the everyday fugitive way in which we keep on saying “I” must be understood in terms of our *authentic* potentiality-for-Being, then the proposition that the Self is the basis of care and constantly present-at-hand, is one that still does not follow. Selfhood is to be discerned existentially only in one’s authentic potentiality-for-Being-one’s-Self—that is to say, in the authenticity of Dasein’s Being *as care*. In terms of care the *constancy of the Self*, as the supposed persistence of the *subjectum*, gets clarified. But the phenomenon of this authentic potentiality-for-Being also opens our eyes for the *constancy of the Self*, in the double sense of steadiness and steadfastness, is the *authentic* counter-possibility to the non-Self-constancy which is characteristic of irresolute falling. Existentially, “*Self-constancy*” signifies nothing other than anticipatory resoluteness. The ontological structure of such resoluteness reveals the existentiality of the Self’s Selfhood." ―from_Being and Time_. Translated by John Macquarrie & Edward Robinson, pp. 368-369

What it is,” she sighed, “to have to choose between self and security.

What state ‘we’ (the Gnani Purush and the manifest Lord within him) must have seen? ‘We’ have seen the ownership of the universe. When we see the owner of the universe that what is his ‘business’ that business when it becomes your business, then you will attain that state.

What we talk about less often, because it is harder to explain, is the way a perfume can give breath and body to the phantom selves that waft about us as we go through our days -- not just the showgirl, the femme fatale, and the ingenue, but all the memories and dreams of the taller, meaner, sharper, sweeter, softer people we have been or long to be.