Interestingly enough, not all feelings result from the body's reaction to external stimuli. Sometimes changes are purely simulated in the brain maps.
Antonio DamasioRead
...I sense that stepping into the light is also a powerful metaphor for consciousness, for the birth of the knowing mind, for the simple and yet momentous coming of the sense of self into the world of the mental.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Stepping into the light symbolizes gaining awareness and understanding of oneself and consciousness.
In this quote, Antonio Damasio suggests that 'stepping into the light' serves as a powerful metaphor for the process of achieving consciousness and self-awareness. It highlights the significance of becoming aware of one's own existence and thoughts, and how this awareness marks a crucial transition into understanding our mental faculties and sense of self.
Themes
ConsciousnessSelf-AwarenessLightMetaphorMental
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion on the importance of self-reflection and personal growth.
More from Antonio Damasio
All quotes →The autobiographical self has prompted extended memory, reasoning, imagination, creativity and language. And out of that came the instruments of culture - religions, justice, trade, the arts, science, technology.
Antonio DamasioRead
Consciousness permits us to develop the instruments of culture - morality and justice, religion, art, economics and politics, science and technology. Those instruments allow us some measure of freedom in the confrontation with nature.
Antonio DamasioRead
When you deal with something like compassion for physical pain, which we know is very, very old in evolution - we can find evidence for it in nonhuman species - the brain processes it at a faster speed. Compassion for mental pain took many seconds longer.
Antonio DamasioRead
We do not merely perceive objects and hold thoughts in our minds: all our perceptions and thought processes are felt. All have a distinctive component that announces an unequivocal link between images and the existence of life in our organism.
Antonio DamasioRead
I cannot listen to Beethoven or Mahler or Chopin or Bach when I write because those composers require you stop what you are doing and listen.
Antonio DamasioRead
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