Wisdom Quotes
[With some
comments by Rolf Sattler in brackets]
Philosophy,
Life, Language Structure and Logic
S. Kierkegaard,
Albert Einstein, Alfred Korzybski, A.N. Whitehead, Ted
Falconar
1
two
crucial negative
premises as
established firmly by all
human
experience: (1) Words are
not the things [or
events] we are speaking about; and (2) There
is
no such thing as an
object in absolute isolation (Korzybski, A. 1958. Science and
Sanity. The International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing
Company, p. 60/1).
[see also Healing
Thinking through Non-Identity (Korzybski)
and
Quotes by
Holistic Scientists]
2
A map
is
not the territory it
represents, but, if correct, it has a similar
structure to the territory,
which accounts for its usefulness (Korzybski, A. 1958.
Science and Sanity. The International Non-Aristotelian
Library Publishing Company, p. 58).
The search for structure involves similarity of linguistics
and empirical structures (ibid., p.544)
[Different maps may complement each other. For example,
geological maps, demographic maps, economic maps, etc show
different but complementary aspects of the same territory.
Manifest reality as a whole can be represented by Ken
Wilber’s AQAL map, which is hierarchical (holarchical), and
other complementary maps such as holism in terms of undivided
wholeness, Yin-Yang, continuum and network maps (see
Ken Wilber, Holarchy, and
Beyond;
Perspectivism and Complementarity: AQAL,
the Big Tube, and the Dynamic
Mandala; and
Wilber’s AQAL Map and
Beyond)]
3
we read
unconsciously into the world the structure of the language we
use (Korzybski, A. 1958. Science and Sanity. The
International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company, p.
60).
[For example, a process language based on verbs provides a
more dynamic perception of the world than the common
noun-verb structure. Korzybski’s extensional devices also
change our perception as well as our psycho-logical reactions
and actions in the world. The following examples illustrate
the use of the extensional devices: Instead of saying
John is
wise, one would
say John
1-universe October 1, 2009 appears wise
etc. John 1 refers
to the individual John in a specific situation, connected to
the universe, at a specific date; etc can be abbreviated as
., Instead of saying Love is
fragile, one would
say ‘Love’
appears fragile., Love is placed in
quotation marks to indicate its highly abstract nature.
Hyphens are used to remind us of the complexities of
interrelatedness such as the
organism-as-a-whole-in-the-environment. Korzybski pointed
out how the use of the extensional devices can be healing.,
and thus can lead to greater sanity., See also
E-Prime, a language
structure that avoids the verb to
be. Thus,
instead of saying You are
beautiful, one would
say You look
beautiful (to me), which
implies a relation between you and me.]
4
The order in
which perception should take place is stunted in [the common]
Aristotelian Thinking, leading to some mental illness. The
natural order is to see, pause, feel, sense, intuit,
visualize – only later should the mind verbalise. An
Aristotelian thinker sees an object and immediately
verbalises by noticing some similarity with something else or
recognising it [thus putting it into a catgory] (Falconar, T.
2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.7).
[Note: Quotes from Falconar refer to Korzybski’s ideas]
5
Those questions
which in the older days were supposed to be ‘philosophical’,
‘metaphysical’…become, in the new way, simply a problem of
the structure of language we use (Korzybski, A. 1958. Science
and Sanity. The International Non-Aristotelian Library
Publishing Company, p. 468).
6
There is always
more that can be said about anything (Wikipedia page on
“Structural
Differential”)
[But if we think that what is said captures everything of
that domain, we delude ourselves because we restrict and
impoverish our perception of and action in the world]
7
human experience
gets filtered and mediated by contingent features of human
sensory organs, the human nervous system, and human
linguistic constructions (Wikipedia page on
“General Semantics")
8
Words are
probably one of the deepest and most unconscious filters we
have (Falconar, T. 2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.VI).
[see also Language
Transcending Logic]
9
most of us human
beings think that we are the masters of words; the truth is
they master us, we are enslaved by words (Ibid., p.3).
10
To use words to
sense reality is like going with a lamp to search for
darkness (Ibid., p.3).
11
In my youth I
thought Truth can be known. Now I think otherwise;
now I think,
Truth is unknowable and will always be unknowable
(Albert Einstein,
quoted by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. 1978. The Way of
Tao. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, p. 100).
[see also Quotes from
Holistic Scientists # 1]
12
nothing is what
we say it is: everything is unique and unknowable in its
subtlest levels (Falconar, T. 2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.4).
13
Once you label
me, you negate me (Kierkegaard).
14
Words give
mankind the important ability to pass ideas on from one
generation to another and one person to another, but they are
limited for they are not near to reality (Falconar, T.
2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.6 ). Reality is far from words and it is very
different from what a naïve person thinks it is (ibid., p. 7)
15
Words are not the
things they represent. The words we use about an object never
cover the whole object. Whatever we say it is - IT IS NOT!
(Falconar, T. 2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.6 ). An object has many characteristics on
different levels such as the macroscopic, microscopic and
sub-microscopic. Most of these characteristics are unknown to
us and so they are not included in the word we give it, the
object’s name (ibid., p. 7). Whatever you might
say
the
object “is”. well it is
not (Korzybski, A.
1958. Science and Sanity. The International Non-Aristotelian
Library Publishing Company, p. 35).
[For example, strictly speaking, it is false to say
This is an
apple because this
object, at which we are pointing, is much more than just an
apple, that is, the characteristics by which we define an
apple. Hence, this object is an apple, etc. Furthermore, it
is not an isolated object, but connected with the universe.
Hence we might say This is an
apple, etc-universe (see quote #1)]
16
Every
identification is bound to be in some degree a misevaluation
(Korzybski , A. 1958. Science and Sanity. The International
Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company, p. XXXIV).
[Korzybski is especially critical of the identification of
the word with the thing it refers to and the map with the
territory. He devised the Structural Differential to remind
us of the non-identity of these levels. Words and maps cannot
represent all of what they refer to. Hence non-allness is a
key concept in Korzybski’s thinking. Assuming that a word or
statement represents all that it refers to is a delusion that
may create all sorts of problems and psycho-logical reactions
such as fear, anxiety, anger, etc. For example, saying
I
am bad may make me feel
discouraged, depressed, sad, etc. Saying I am
good may lead to other
delusions because I am not just good: I am good, etc. (see
comment to quote # 3].
17
The little word
‘all’ of the syllogism’s “all such and such are” has done
more harm to thinking than any other word in language
(Falconar, T. 2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.7).
18
The moment we
eliminate identification we become conscious of abstracting,
and permanently and instinctively remember that the object
is not
the
event, that the label is not
the
object, and that a statement about a statement is
not
the
first statement… Only structural investigation (science) can
decide which appears as the structurally more similar form of
representation on the verbal levels for what is going on at
the un-speakable , objective levels (Korzybski , A. 1958.
Science and Sanity. The International Non-Aristotelian
Library Publishing Company, p. 420).
19
forgetting
characteristics left out [in the abstraction], he is always
‘right’. For him his statement is not only
the
only statement
possible, but he actually attributes some cosmic objective
evaluation to it (Ibid., p. 418/9).
[This quote characterizes to a great extent the human
condition in science, philosophy, doctrinal religion,
politics, everyday life, etc, where most people insist that
they are right and the others are wrong. This happens because
of a lack of awareness of abstraction, which leads to a naïve
identification of the unconscious abstraction contained in
words and statements with the infinitely richer reality from
which the words and statements have been abstracted.
Korzybski’s Structural Differential reminds us of how much
has been left out in the abstraction. Since from the same
territory many different abstractions are possible, conflicts
arise between these abstractions if they are thought to be
identical with the territory from which they have been
abstracted by omitting different aspects. Each abstraction
can represent only one aspect of the territory from which it
has been abstracted]
20
Whatever we may
say will not be the objective level, which remains
fundamentally un-speakable…The objective level is not
words…neither can it be understood as ‘non-expressible by
words’ or ’not to be described by words’, because the terms
‘expressible’ or ‘described’ already presuppose words and
symbols (Korzybski, A. 1958. Science and Sanity. The
International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company, p.
34).
[see also Quotes from
Holistic Scientists # 1,2, 16-22,
and Mystic Quotes]
21
In fact ‘Just
Being’ [in silence] without verbal thought is your
demonstrating who and what you really are (Falconar, T.
2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.88).
[see also Mystic Quotes and
Healing
Thinking and Being]
22
nothing is like
anything else (Falconar, T. 2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.2). In other words, nothing is identical to
anything else (ibid., p. 6). So all objects and events are
unique, but verbalising thinkers in looking at reality
categorise and identify what they see; to do this they
exaggerate similarities and ignore differences and in this
manner, instead of looking for uniqueness, they force objects
into the categories of their minds (ibid., p. 10).
23
a
system which
posits the general sharpness of ‘either-or’,
and
so
objectifies ‘kind’, is unduly
limited; it must be revised and made more flexible in terms
of ‘degree’ (Korzybski, A. 1958. Science and Sanity. The
International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company, p.
XXI).
[Much more inclusive complements to ‘either-or’ are
‘Yin-Yang’, ‘both-and’ as well as fuzzy logic (see
Healing
Thinking and Being and Chapter 2
of Wilber's AQAL Map and
Beyond)]
24
From the
beginnings of mankind, languages have taught us to separate
things such as mind and body, time and space, outside and
inside, which is a very simplistic view (Falconar, T.
2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, p.10). Everything must be treated as a whole…we
are joined to all things at subtle levels. This is a holistic
view of the universe (ibid., p. 6).
25
We humans,
through old habits…have a tendency to make static, definite,
and, in a way, absolutistic one-valued statements. But when
we fight absolutism, we quite often establish, instead, some
other dogma equally silly and harmful. For instance, an
active atheist is psycho-logically as unsound as a rabid
theist (Korzybski, A. 1958. Science and Sanity. The
International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company, p.
140).
26
Nearly all
arguments are caused by people confusing different levels of
abstraction or by supposing two objects to be the same when
they are different (Falconar, T. 2000. Creative
Intelligence and Self-Liberation. Korzybski, Non-Aristotelian
Thinking and Eastern Realization. Crown House
Publishing, pp.6-7).
Arguments are nearly always about verbal confusion, not
reality (ibid., p. 13).
27
Seek simplicity
and distrust it (A. N. Whitehead. The Concept
of Nature. Cambridge).
27a
There is no such
thing as one and only one correct perspective...You see the
world as you are. Others see the world as they are, too
(Chopra, D. 2009. The Ultimate
Happiness Prescription. New York:
Harmony Books, p. 75).
[see also Complementarity
of Different Maps and Mandalas]
27b
Conflicts arise
as a result of not understanding that there are as many
points of view as there are people (Ibid., p. 76).
27c
Know that the
outer world reflects you inner reality (Ibid., p. 107).
Religion and Spirituality
J. Krishnamurti,
Adyashanti, Rajneesh, Ken Wilber, Jan Kersschot, Chuck Hillig
28
We are not God’s
creation. God is our creation (J. Krishnamurti).
[We created the word ‘God’ that may refer to many different
aspects of reality. What we say (s)he is, (s)he is not (see
quotes 9-16)]
29
There are four
major stages or phases of spiritual unfolding: belief, faith,
direct experience, and permanent adaptation: you can belief
in Spirit, you can have faith in Spirit, you can directly
experience Spirit, you can become Spirit (Ken Wilber.
2000.
One Taste.
Boston: Shambhala, p. 290)
30
When you really
laugh, suddenly mind disappears. And the whole Zen
methodology is how to get into no-mind – laughter is one of
the beautiful doors to get into it (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
1984. The
Book. Series II.
Rajneeshpuram, OR: Rajneesh Foundation International, p.111).
[see also Laughter
Quotes]
31
When you are
whole, you are healthy. When you are fragmented, divided,
split, you are unhealthy… When you are really whole, you are
holy, you are pure, innocent (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
1984. The
Book. Series I.
Rajneeshpuram, OR: Rajneesh Foundation International, p.626).
[see also Health Quotes]
32
Return to that
which is not definable [the unnamable] (Adyashanti.
2006. Emptiness
Dancing. Boulder, CO:
Sounds True, p. 41).
[see also Beyond
Thinking, Writing, and Speaking - the
Unnamable]
33
The cosmic joke,
of course, is that the ego is caught on a self-generated
treadmill because it already ‘is’ what it is looking for
(Chuck Hillig in Kersschot, J. 2004. This Is It.
Dialogues on the Nature of Oneness. London: Watkins
Publ., p. 164).
34
Awakening
reflects the knowing that there are no borders, that
everything is-as-it-is, and that no amount of seeking or
understanding can ever change that. It is not about changing
the quality of the images on the screen, it is more about
recognizing the Light in these images – no matter what kind
of images are appearing on the screen (Kersschot, J.
2004. This Is It.
Dialogues on the Nature of Oneness. London: Watkins
Publ., pp. 48-49).
35
When I rest as
the timeless Witness, the Great Search is undone…
Precisely because the ultimate reality is not anything seen
but rather the Seer [Witness], it doesn’t matter in the least
what is seen in any moment. Whether you see peace or turmoil…
happiness or sadness, matters not at all: it is not those
states but the Seer of those states that is
already
Free.
Changing states is thus beside the point; acknowledging the
ever-present Seer is the point (Ken Wilber. 2001. The Eye of
Spirit. Boston: Shambhala, p. 300).
Love and Relationships
Eckart Tolle,
Georg Feuerstein, Thich Nhat Hanh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
(Osho)
36
In an instant,
loving tenderness can turn into a savage attack or dreadful
grief…Was it love in the first place, or just an addictive
grasping and clinging? (Eckhart Tolle. 1999.
The Power of
Now. Novato, CA: New
World Library, p. 149).
37
It seems that
most “love relationships” become love/hate relationships
before long… The relationship then oscillates…between the
polarities of “love” and hate, and it gives you as much
pleasure as it gives you pain… I am speaking here of what are
commonly called romantic relationships – not of true love,
which has no opposite because it arises from beyond the mind.
Love as a continuous state is as yet very rare – as rare as
conscious human beings. Brief and elusive glimpses of love,
however, are possible whenever there is a gap in the stream
of mind (Eckhart Tolle. 1999. The Power of
Now. Novato, CA: New
World Library, p. 148).
37a
romance... is
self-centered and self-indulgent. Even as the romantic lover
worships his beloved, he only worships himself (Georg
Feuerstein. 2006. A Little Book
for Lovers. Boulder, CO:
Sounds True, p. 51)
37b
romantic love...
is of the ego and hence can never reach across space and time
to delight in the other's true being.
Only in genuine love, which is free from all idealization,
are the ego's distortions of truth overcome (Ibid. p. 54).
38
To love means to
listen [to oneself and others] (Thich Nhat Hanh).
38a
All [?]
relationships are damaged by a confrontation between right
and wrong...To give up the need to be right doesn't mean that
you don't have a point of view. But you can give up your need
to defend your point of view (Chopra, D. 2009.
The Ultimate
Happiness Prescription. New York:
Harmony Books, p. 73).
38b
When you give in
to your need to be right, you are turning your back on love,
communion, and ultimately unity. Unity is the realization
that at the deepest level everyone shares the same
consciousness, which is the source of all love and joy
(Chopra, D. 2009. The Ultimate
Happiness Prescription. New York:
Harmony Books, p. 77).
39
Love is the most
healing force in the world. Nothing goes deeper than love: it
heals not only the body, not only the mind, but also the
soul. If one can love, then all one’s wounds disappear. Then
one becomes whole – and to be whole is to be holy (Bhagwan
Shree Rajneesh. 1984. The
Book. Series I.
Rajneeshpuram, OR: Rajneesh Foundation International, p.624).
[see also Health Quotes]
Happiness
Dalai Lama,
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), Ken Wilber, Chuck Hillig
40
the very motion
of life is towards happiness (H.H. The Dalai Lama and H. C.
Cutler.1998. The Art of
Happiness. New York:
Riverhead Books, p. 13).
[However, if happiness is dependent on conditions, it cannot
last because conditions change. True happiness is independent
of conditions]
41
Our contentment
depends only on our willingness to hold the content of our
life within a context that is absolutely limitless (Chuck
Hillig. 2007. Seeds for the
Soul. Boulder CO:
Sentient Publications, p. 188).
42
Unhappiness is
only the ego-mind insisting that this should
not
be
so.
True happiness of the heart, however, always lies in not
‘minding’ anything (Chuck Hillig. 2007. Seeds for the
Soul. Boulder CO:
Sentient Publications, p. 189).
[In other words, true happiness requires acceptance or, as
Byron Katie put it, Loving What
Is]
42a
The end of
suffering is the fruit of unconditional acceptance, rather
than of chasing pleasure and avoiding pain (Ardagh, A.
2007. Awakening
into Oneness. Boulder, CO:
Sounds True, p. 162).
43
The [thinking]
mind is the root cause of unhappiness and whenever you are
happy you are mindless. Watch a moment of tremendous
happiness. Suddenly there are no thoughts. You are simply
happy (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. 1984. The
Book. Series 1.
Rajneeshpuram, OR: Rajneesh Foundation International, p.611).
44
total freedom…-
complete liberation from the ignorance that grasps onto the
self-existence of things - is the only true, lasting state of
happiness (Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
2005. Essence of
the Heart Sutra. Boston: Wisdom
Publications, p. 97).
45
Abide as
Emptiness, embrace all Form. The liberation [true happiness]
is in the Emptiness, never in the Form, but Emptiness
embraces all forms as mirror all its objects (Ken Wilber.
2007. A Brief
History of Everything. Boston:
Shambhala, p.240)
46
And so, when I
rest as the Witness, all things arise in me, so much so that
I am all things. There is no subject and object because I do
not see the clouds, I am the clouds (Ken Wilber. 2001. The
Eye of Spirit. Boston: Shambhala, p. 300).
[For more quotes from Ken Wilber see Quotations from the Work of Ken
Wilber]
[To avoid being caught in wise words and statemens, please
return to the quotes from Korzybski at the beginning of this
list]