Silence is the unbearable repartee.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
We have to distinguish between a man as he is in essence, and as he is in ego or personality. In essence, every person is perfect, fearless, and in a loving unity with the entire cosmos; there is no conflict within the person between head, heart, and stomach or between the person and others. Then something happens: the ego begins to develop, karma accumulates, there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity; man falls from essence into personality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the distinction between our true selves and our ego-driven personalities.
Oscar Ichazo's quote explores the concept that at our core, every individual exists in a state of perfection and unity with the cosmos. However, as the ego develops over time—due to accumulated experiences and karma—we can become disconnected from our true essence and instead identify with a subjective personality that often leads to internal and external conflicts.
Themes
EssenceEgoPersonalityPerfectionUnityCosmos
In practice
Example use cases
In a self-improvement seminar discussing the importance of self-awareness.
Similar quotes
Whereas I think: I’m lying here in a haystack... The tiny space I occupy is so infinitesimal in comparison with the rest of space, which I don’t occupy and which has no relation to me. And the period of time in which I’m fated to live is so insignificant beside the eternity in which I haven’t existed and won’t exist... And yet in this atom, this mathematical point, blood is circulating, a brain is working, desiring something... What chaos! What a farce!
Ivan TurgenevRead
There is no illness of the body except for the mind
SocratesRead
They wonder much to hear that gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much esteemed, that even men for whom it was made, and by whom it has its value, should yet be thought of less value than it is.
Thomas MoreRead
'Stupidity' defines the mental state wherein we acknowledge that we've never been smarter as individuals and yet somehow we've never felt stupider. We now collectively inhabit a state of stupidity.
Douglas CouplandRead
The freer that women become, the freer men will be. Because when you enslave someone, you are enslaved.
Louise Berliawsky NevelsonRead