A better understanding of the brain is certain to lead man to a richer comprehension both of himself, of his fellow man, and of society, and in fact of the whole world with its problems.
John EcclesRead
I can explain my body and my brain, but there's something more. I can't explain my own existence - what makes me a unique human being.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the complexity of human identity beyond physical and cognitive explanations.
John Eccles highlights the profound mystery of human existence that transcends biological and mental attributes. While we can articulate the mechanics of our bodies and minds, the essence of what makes each individual unique remains elusive and deeply philosophical, prompting deeper reflection on our identity and consciousness.
In practice
This quote can be used in a philosophy discussion about the nature of self.
Ambition makes the same mistake concerning power that avarice makes concerning wealth. She begins by accumulating power as a means to happiness, and she finishes by continuing to accumulate it as an end.
But, all this while, I was giving myself very unnecessary alarm. Providence had mediated better things for me than I could possibly imagine for myself.
Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.
Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.
You're only infallible about your own nervous system. You know what's going on in your own nervous system, whatever realities you're creating out of the infinite flux of being. You don't know anything about anybody else's reality unless they tell you about it. You gotta listen very sympathetically in order to understand them. So it's a limited infallibility.
Grief and disappointment are like hate: they make men ugly with self-pity and bitterness. And how selfish they make us too.
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