Some quotes from the book I'm reading lately (would like to record this here for reference):

Human beings are creatures that are capable of viewing the body as an "other." This is an astonishing part of our makeup. It may even be the main thing that distinguishes us from the animals (some of whom use language, toolmaking, and other faculties that we tend to regard as uniquely human). This capacity gives us tremendous advantages. It makes us far better able to suppress our immediate impulses than most (if not all) other creatures, and it in large part explains our ability to carry o...

Some quotes from the book I'm reading lately (would like to record this here for reference):

Human beings are creatures that are capable of viewing the body as an "other." This is an astonishing part of our makeup. It may even be the main thing that distinguishes us from the animals (some of whom use language, toolmaking, and other faculties that we tend to regard as uniquely human). This capacity gives us tremendous advantages. It makes us far better able to suppress our immediate impulses than most (if not all) other creatures, and it in large part explains our ability to carry out the complex tasks and achievements on which we as a species pride ourselves. Feeling itself to be separate from the body, the mind can direct it more efficiently.

On the other hand, this ability also creates some problems. Despite its remarkable abilities, the body has very definite limits. It's frequently unwilling or unable to carry out the projects the mind concocts for it -- or it may want to do something of which the mind disapproves. The mind then experiences the body as a recalcitrant slave, setting the stage for the inner conflict that also characterizes the human species. The mind feels imprisoned in a sullen and hostile lump of flesh.

More excerpt continues below

Consciousness exist in all things:

Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu sage who brought the tradition of Advaita Vedanta to the West at the end of the nineteenth century, put it this way in an 1896 lecture:

He (the Atman, or Self), the One, who vibrates more quickly than the mind, who attains more speed than the mind can ever attain, whom even the gods reach not, nor thought grasp -- He moving, everything moves. In Him all exists. He is moving; He is also immovable. He is near and He is far. He is inside everything. He is outside everything -- inter penetrating everything. Whoever sees in every being that same Atman, he never goes far from that Atman. When a man sees all life and the whole...

Consciousness exist in all things:

Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu sage who brought the tradition of Advaita Vedanta to the West at the end of the nineteenth century, put it this way in an 1896 lecture:

He (the Atman, or Self), the One, who vibrates more quickly than the mind, who attains more speed than the mind can ever attain, whom even the gods reach not, nor thought grasp -- He moving, everything moves. In Him all exists. He is moving; He is also immovable. He is near and He is far. He is inside everything. He is outside everything -- inter penetrating everything. Whoever sees in every being that same Atman, he never goes far from that Atman. When a man sees all life and the whole universe in this Atman, ...there is no more delusion for him. Where is any more misery for him who sees the Oneness in the universe?

Christ in the Gospel of Thomas alludes to a similar truth: It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the All. From Me did the All come forth, and unto me did the All extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find Me there" (Thomas, 77)