Week 2026-35: On Perception

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"[...] so external sensation is the image of this perception of the soul, which is in its essence truer and is a contemplation of forms alone without being affected. From these forms, from which the soul alone receives its lordship over the living being, come reasonings, and opinions and noetic acts; and this is precisely where ‘we’ are." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

"Oh! Son of Sari! Forms of object as perceived by our mind is no different from emptiness, (and) emptiness is no different from form. Forms perceived are virtual. Virtuality is the reality of forms perceived. Such are the processing of the stimulus of perception, the mental image of the object perceived, the mental activities of analysing this object of perception and the forming of mental conception of this object." ("Heart Sutra", cca. 7th c.) [Akishi’s translation]

"What we call the Treasury of Luminosity is the source of all Buddhas, the true nature of all beings, the Total Body of all things, the treasury of the Radiance of subtle perceptions and complete Awakening. The three bodies of the Buddhas, the four wisdoms, and the practice of each particle containing the infinite particles of Totality are all found here." (Koun Ejo, "Kōmyōzō zanmai" ["The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity"], cca 13th century)

"All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions." (Leonardo da Vinci, [notebooks] 1480-1519)

"To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior. With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void." (Miyamoto Musashi, "Go Rin No Sho" ["The Book of Five Rings"], 1645)

"Once we give serious consideration to the hypothesis of the unconscious, it follows that our view of the world can be but a provisional one; for if we effect so radical an alteration in the subject of perception and cognition as this dual focus implies, the result must be a world view very different from any known before." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"This is the awe-inspiring universe of magic: There are no atoms, only waves and motions all around. Here, you discard all belief in barriers to understanding. You put aside understanding itself. This universe cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be detected in any way by fixed perceptions. It is the ultimate void where no preordained screens occur upon which forms may be projected. You have only one awareness here - the screen of the magi: Imagination! Here, you learn what it is to be human. You are a creator of order, of beautiful shapes and systems, an organizer of chaos." (Frank Herbert, “Heretics of Dune”, 1984)

"The third point of reference is freedom of perception; it is intent; it is spirit; the somersault of thought into the miraculous; the act of reaching beyond our boundaries and touching the inconceivable." (Carlos Castaneda, "Power of Silence", 1987) 

"Any single person's viewpoint will have blind spots caused by their habitual ways of perceiving the world, their perceptual filters [...] How can we shift our perceptions to get outside our own limited world view?" (Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour, "Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People", 1990)

"A problem is a difference between things as desired and things as perceived. […] Seen in this way, the problem could be solved either by changing desires or changing perceptions." (Donald C Gause & Gerald M Weinberg, "Are Your Lights On?", 2011)

"To strengthen the connection between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind is to gain access to a map and compass to help you move towards your dream. To gain access to the subconscious mind is to gain the ability to see and create the future, the ability to shift the present, and the ability to alter your own perceptions of the past." (Kevin Michel, "Moving Through Parallel Worlds to Achieve Your Dreams", 2013)

Week 2026-34: On Perception (Unsourced)

"Even if you have not awakened, if you realize that your perceptions and activities are all like dreams and you view them with detachment, not giving rise to grasping and rejecting discrimination, then this is virtually tantamount to awakening from the dream." (Muso Soseki)

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern." (William Blake)

"If sensation is considered to be perception through one's senses, then intuition can be considered perception through the unconscious." (Ninpö saying)

"In every act of perception we create the world," (Deepak Chopra)

"Let the spirit out - Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will." (Bruce Lee)

"Looking deeply into the wrong perceptions, ideas, and notions that are at the base of our suffering is the most important practice in Buddhist meditation." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

"Real meditation is spontaneous. It is pure welcoming, because there is no choosing of whatever appears in the field of consciousness. There is no selection. There is only choiceless allowing, be it of external perceptions, feelings, bodily sensations, thoughts, or their absence. Everything is equally allowed to come into existence, not as a practice, but because the mind has understood its own limitations. That is all the truth-seeker needs to do. No further spiritual practice needs to be undertaken." (Francis Lucille)

"The transformation of consciousness undertaken in Taoism and Zen is more like the correction of faulty perception or the curing of a disease. It is not an acquisitive process of learning more and more facts or greater and greater skills, but rather than unlearning of wrong habits and opinions. As Lao-tzu said, ‘The scholar gains every day, but the Taoist loses every day.'" (Alan Watts)

"The nature of the Absolute is neither perceptible nor imperceptible; and with phenomena it is just the same. But to one who has discovered his real nature, how can there be anywhere or anything separate from it? [...] Therefore it is said: 'The perception of a phenomenon IS the perception of the Universal Nature, since phenomena and Mind are one and the same.'" (Huangbo Xiyun)

"To be aware of a single shortcoming within oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in somebody else. Rather than speaking badly about people and in ways that will produce friction and unrest in their lives, we should practice a purer perception of them, and when we speak of others, speak of their good qualities." (Dalai Lama)"

"We can control our lives by controlling our perceptions." (Bruce H. Lipton)

Week 2026-33: On Soul

"Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul." (Pythagoras of Samos, cca. 6th century BC)

"The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul." (Bhagavad Gita, cca 5th century BC)

"The soul that moves in the world of senses and yet keeps the senses in harmony ... finds rest in quietness." (Bhagavad Gita, cca 5th century BC)

“In the same way as regards the soul, when that kind of thing in us which mirrors the images of thought and intellect is undisturbed, we see them and know them in a way parallel to sense-perception, along with the prior knowledge that it is intellect and thought that are active. But when this is broken because the harmony of the body is upset, thought and intellect operate without an image, and then intellectual activity takes place without a mind-picture.” (Plotinus, “Enneads”, cca. 270 AD)

"[...] so external sensation is the image of this perception of the soul, which is in its essence truer and is a contemplation of forms alone without being affected. From these forms, from which the soul alone receives its lordship over the living being, come reasonings, and opinions and noetic acts; and this is precisely where ‘we’ are." (Plotinus, "Enneads", cca. 270 AD)

"Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web." (Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations". cca. 121–180 AD)

"When knowledge reaches the specific natures and what is accidental to them, inquiry stops and is not followed by the fleeting knowledge of individuals to which our souls are not at all inclined." (Avicenna Latinus [Ibn Sina], "The Physics of The Healing", cca. 1014)

"Prayer is that which enables the soul to realize its divinity. Through prayer human beings worship absolute truth, and seek an eternal reward. Prayer is the foundation-stone of religion; and religion is the means by which the soul is purified of all that pollutes it. Prayer is the worship of the first cause of all things, the supreme ruler of all the world, the source of all strength. Prayer is the adoration of the one whose being is necessary." (Avicenna Latinus [Ibn Sina], "Kitab al-Najat", cca. 1021–1027)

"All men strive and hope for nothing other than eternal life in their human nature. For this they instituted purgations of souls and sacred rites, in order to be better adapted in their nature to that eternal life." (Nicholas of Cusa [Nicolaus Cusanus], "De Pace Fidei" ["The Peace of Faith"], 1453)

"Within itself the soul sees all things more truly than as they exist in different things outside itself. And the more it goes out unto other things in order to know them, the more it enters into itself in order to know itself." (Nicholas of Cusa [Nicolaus Cusanus], "On Equality", 1459)

"Education is the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them [...]" (John Ruskin, "The Stones of Venice", 1853)

"The soul does not give itself up to despair until it has exhausted all illusions." (Victor Hugo, "Les Misérables", 1862)

"The strangest of the soul's experiences is this, that it finds, when it ceases to care for the image and threat of troubles, then the troubles themselves are nowhere to be found in one's neighbourhood. It is then that we hear from behind those unreal clouds God laughing at us." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Aphorisms", 1913)

"Transform effort into an easy and sovereign overflowing of the soul-strength; let all thyself be conscious force. This is thy goal." (Sri Aurobindo, "Thoughts and Glimpses", 1916-17)

"The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it." (Eric Hoffer, "The Passionate State of Mind", 1955)

"Language, in its origin and essence, is simply a system of signs or symbols that denote real occurrences or their echo in the human soul." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche", 1960)

"You'll be able to gain insight and reach a conclusion only by applying the powers of mind, intellect, soul, heart, spirit, and imagination. This is what 'looking at something spiritually' really means." (Rudolf Steiner, "Bees", 1982)

"Nothing from outside can stop a man from enjoying lasting peace and permanent joy in life, for it is the essential nature of his own soul." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)

"Everything on earth is being continuously transformed, because the earth is alive. and it has a soul. We are part of that soul, so we rarely recognize that it is working for us." (Paulo Coelho, "The Alchemist", 1988)

"So trust the process of your life unfolding, and know with certainty, through the peaks and valleys of your journey, that your soul rests safe and secure in the arms of God." (Dan Millman, "The Laws of Spirit: Simple, Powerful Truths for Making Life Work", 1995)

"Excessive caution destroys the soul and the heart, because living is an act of courage, and an act of courage is always an act of love." (Paulo Coelho, "Manuscript Found in Accra", 2012)

really live [...] .These are the only hours that absorb the soul and fill it with beauty. This is real life, and all else is illusion, or mere endurance." (Richard Jefferies)

"The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone." (Goethe)

"To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness." (Confucius)

"Zen purposes to discipline the mind itself, to make it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. This getting into the real nature of one's own mind or soul is the fundamental object of Zen Buddhism. Zen, therefore, is more than meditation and Dhyana in its ordinary sense. The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence." (Daisetsu T Suzuki)

Week 2026-32: On Projection

"When you think of God, your God is the projection of your own thought, the result of social influences. You can think only of the known; you cannot think of the unknown, you cannot concentrate on truth." (Jiddu Krishnamurti, "First Talk in Rajahmundry" 1949)

"By means of microscopic observation and astronomical projection the lotus flower can become the foundation for an entire theory of the universe and an agent whereby we may perceive the Truth." (Yukio Mishima, "The Priest of Shiga Temple and His Love" in Death in Midsummer, and Other Stories", 1966)

"All the manifested world of things and beings are projected by imagination upon the substratum which is the Eternal All-pervading Vishnu, whose nature is Existence-Intelligence; just as the different ornaments are all made out of the same gold." (Adi Shankara, "Atma Bodha", 1987)

"Everything is a projection of our mind! We can decide how we want to be. It is all in the mind. With the help of our mind, we have stopped the flow of bliss from within. That is the truth." (Nithyananda) 

"The world is a projection of your mind. Good mind, good world. Bad mind, bad world. No mind, no world." (Swami Parthasarathy)

"There are two aspects of mind; the appearances and its essence. Most people are lost in the appearances and projections without ever knowing the true nature of their experiences. Meditation is recognizing and bringing the mind home to its essence of clarity and peace." (Sogyal Rinpoche)

"What is called mind is a wondrous power existing in Self. It projects all thoughts. If we set aside all thoughts and see, there will be no such thing as mind remaining separate; therefore, thought itself is the form of the mind. Other than thoughts, there is no such thing as the mind." (Ramana Maharshi, "Nan Yar = Who am I?")