the-ephemeral-ethereal

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Reality is not at all what we usually perceive. We see, hear and conceive the world inside out and back to front.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 6: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the fugitive #marcel proust #proust #reality #perceive #perception #perceptive #perspective #seeing #hearing #sensing #conceive #the world #inside out #back to front

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Our selves are composed of our successive states, superimposed. But this superimposition is not immutable like the stratification of a mountain. A tremor is liable at any moment to throw older layers back up to the surface.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 6: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the fugitive #marcel proust #proust #the self #selfhood #successive #superimpose #superimposed #superimposition #mutable #stratified #mountains #mountains of the mind #mental mountains #tremor #memories #rising to the surface #rise to the surface #memory #remember #remembering

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Nothing exists for us but what we feel, and we project this into the past, as into the future, without allowing ourselves to be restrained by the fictitious barrier of death.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 6: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the fugitive #marcel proust #proust #nothing exists #nihilism #nihilist #feelings #self projection #into the past #into the future #restraint #restrained #fictitious #barrier of death #death #barriers #borders #boundaries

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

We can miss only what we remember.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 6: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the fugitive #marcel proust #proust #missing #longing #pining #memory #memories #remember #remembering

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

For we exist only through what we possess, and we possess only what is actually present, since so many of our memories, moods and ideas leave us and travel to faraway places, where we lose sight of them! Then we can no longer enter them into the accounting system whose sum is our whole being. But they find secret ways of returning within us.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 6: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the fugitive #marcel proust #proust #we exist #possession #presence #memories #moods #ideas #faraway places #lose sight #sum of our whole being #whole being #sum of being #holism #secret ways #returning #secrets of memory

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Your fate can tread you down to dust!

Aphrodite to Helen, from Line 485 of Book 3 in The Iliad by Homer

#aphrodite #helen of troy #the iliad #iliad #homer #fate #destiny #tread lightly #tread carefully #down to dust #to dust #terrible beauty

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Today we can no longer look for saviors. Every man must look to himself. As some great sage once said: 'Don't look for miracles, you are the miracle.'

from Mother, China, and The World Beyond by Henry Miller

#mother china and the world beyond #mother #china #the world beyond #henry miller #read more miller #saviors #everyman #everyone #everybody #look to yourself #help yourself #greatness #sage #don't look for miracles #miracles #you are the miracle #miracle

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Suffering, as the aftermath of an unwelcome moral shock, aspires to change form: we hope to dispel it by making plans, by seeking information; we want it to pass through its countless metamorphoses, for this requires less courage than keeping the suffering raw; we lie with our suffering as in a bed too narrow, too hard, and too cold. So I stood up again.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 6: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the fugitive #marcel proust #proust #suffering #aftermath #unwelcome #moral shock #shock #dispel #making plans #seeking information #passing through #courage #suffering raw #raw suffering #stand up #stand up again #get up #rise #rise up #get up again #rise up again

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Now I suddenly saw Habit in a completely new perspective. Until now I had considered it above all as a negative force suppressing the originality and even our awareness of our perceptions; now I saw it as a fearsome goddess, so attached to us, with her inscrutable face so grafted on to our hearts that if she detaches herself and turns away from us, this deity, whose presence we were barely able to discern, inflicts upon us the most terrible suffering, and then she is as cruel as death.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 6: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the fugitive #marcel proust #proust #habit #habits #habitual #habitude #perspective #originality #perceptions #attached #detached #discernment #suffering #cruel

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Throughout our lives our identity is constantly fractured and shifting; our different selves rise to the surface and fall away, surge forward only to be repressed, or come into conflict with each other in the ebb and flow of psychological and emotional experience.

from the Introduction by Peter Collier to In Search of Lost Time, Book 6: The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

#introduction #peter collier #in search of lost time #the fugitive #marcel proust #proust #throughout life #identity #fractured #shifting #different selves #rise to the surface #fall away #surge forward #repressed #ebb and flow #psychological #emotional #experience

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

How difficult it is to present a stable image, whether of a character or of societies and passions. For character changes just as much as these, and if we wish to fix it in its more immutable aspects, we find that it presents a series of different faces (suggesting that it cannot keep still, but is ever-moving) to the baffled camera.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 5: The Prisoner by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the prisoner #marcel proust #proust #stable #stability #character #societies #passions #immutable #can't keep still #ever-moving #baffled #baffling

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Observation is of little use. Only from one's own pleasure can one derive both knowledge and pain.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 5: The Prisoner by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the prisoner #marcel proust #proust #observation #empiricism #rationalism #little use #pleasure #derive #derivation #knowledge #pain

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Love is space and time made apprehensible to the heart.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 5: The Prisoner by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the prisoner #marcel proust #proust #love is #space and time #spacetime #apprehensible #to the heart #the heart #heart

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

There must be something inaccessible in what we love, something to pursue; we love only what we do not possess.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 5: The Prisoner by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the prisoner #marcel proust #proust #inaccessible #what we love #who we love #something to pursue #pursue #pursuit #we want only what we can't have #possess #possession

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

One realizes oneself only one piece at a time.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 5: The Prisoner by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the prisoner #marcel proust #proust #realize #realization #the self #oneself #know thyself #know yourself #realize oneself #realize yourself #one piece at a time #piecemeal #selfhood

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

So evident is it that all loves and all things move rapidly towards farewells. We want to weep the tears that the ending will bring, long before it happens.

from In Search of Lost Time, Book 5: The Prisoner by Marcel Proust

#in search of lost time #the prisoner #marcel proust #proust #evident #all loves #all things #farewells #weep the tears #endings #anticipation #anxiety #weeping #tears

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Who is the man who triumphs? The one who believes. Let the 'intelligent' ones doubt, criticize, categorize and define. The man of heart believes. And the world belongs to him who believes most. Nothing is too silly, too trivial, too far-fetched or too stupendous for man to believe. Learning crushes the spirit; belief opens one up, delivers one.

from The Waters Reglitterized by Henry Miller

#the waters reglitterized #henry miller #triumph #belief #believe #have heart #believe more #believe the most #open up #deliver