Wakefulness

"Despondency becomes not the dignity of our cause, nor the character of those who are its supporters. Let us awaken then, and evince a different spirit, — a spirit that shall inspire the people with confidence in themselves and in us, — a spirit that will encourage them to persevere in this glorious struggle, until their rights and liberties shall be established on a rock."

"Wakefulness (yaqza) — may God encompass you in this matter with thoughts and ideas — is not to the exclusion of dreaming if the soul of the vigilant is awake and unblemished by evil and impurity. Dreaming, however, is more extraordinary, and man is more avid for it, for it is like a legacy one inherits, while wakefulness is like something gained by toil. And ardour for a vision is commensurate with this."

"When the One who has realized God says, “I am God. You are God, and we are all one,” and also awakens this feeling of Oneness in his illusion-bound selves, then the question of the lowly and the great, the poor and the rich, the humble and the modest, the good and the bad, simply vanishes. It is his false awareness of duality that misleads man into making illusory distinctions and filing them into separate categories."

"Awaken from your ignorance and try at least to understand that, in the uncompromisingly Indivisible Oneness, not only is the Avatar God, but also the ant and the sparrow, just as one and all of you are nothing but God. The only apparent difference is in the states of consciousness. The Avatar knows that that which is a sparrow is not a sparrow, whereas the sparrow does not realize this and, being ignorant of its ignorance, identifies itself as a sparrow."

"Being the Avatar, I have come to awaken mankind, and would like the entire world to come to me. Real saints are dearest and nearest to my heart. Perfect Ones and lovers of God adorn the world, and will ever do so."

"I have come not to teach but to awaken. Understand therefore that I lay down no precepts."

"We live in a nightmare of falsehoods, and there are few who are sufficiently awake and aware to see things as they are. Our first duty is to clear away illusions and recover a sense of reality."

"The Union will awaken. It always has. We always will."

"They slide through the portal of wakefulness only to dash away, playing a game of hide and seek; they leave an image, a feeling, a shadowy memory peeping through everyday consciousness."

"Wakefulness Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps. As if he were already dead, But the Master is awake. And he lives forever. He that watches with a clear mind. How happy he is For he sees that wakefulness is life. How happy he is! That goes in the path of the awakened with great perseverance For he sees that wakefulness is life. He meditates, seeking Freedom and happiness. So be awake, reflect, watch. Work with care and attention. Live in the way and the light will grow in you. By watching and working The Master makes for himself an island Which the flood cannot overwhelm The fool is careless But the Master guards his watching. It is his most precious treasure He never gives in to desire He meditates. And in the strength of his resolve He discovers true happiness. He overcomes desire- And from the tower of his wisdom He looks down with dispassion Upon the sorrowing crowd. from the mountain top He looks down at those Who live close to the ground. Mindful among the mindless Awake while others dream. Swift as the race horse He outstrips the field. How wonderful it is to watch. How foolish to sleep. The simpleton who guards his mind And fears the waywardness of his thoughts Burns through every bond With the fire of his vigilance. The simpleton who guards his mind And fears his own confusion Cannot fall. He had found his way to peace."

"Everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith."

"If a king is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic. If he is reckless, they will not only be reckless likewise, but also eat into his works. Besides, a reckless king will easily fall into the hands of his enemies. Hence the king shall ever be wakeful."

"All what they see in meditation, in dreams or in wakefulness, all proves to me that all what we see inside is nothing but subtle matter or illusion."

"We need not war to awaken human energy. There is at least equal scope for courage and magnanimity in blessing, as in destroying mankind."

"It was religion, which, by teaching men their near relation to God, awakened in them the consciousness of their importance as individuals. It was the struggle for religious rights, which opened their eyes to all their rights. It was resistance to religious usurpation, which led men to withstand political oppression. It was religious discussion, which roused the minds of all classes to free and vigorous thought."

"Doctor: Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones, because I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your Government with a single word."

"There are only two choices: A police state in which all dissent is suppressed or rigidly controlled; or a society where law is responsive to human needs. If society is to be responsive to human needs, a vast restructuring of our laws is essential. Realization of this need means adults must awaken to the urgency of the young people’s unrest—in other words there must be created an adult unrest against the inequities and injustices in the present system."

"William O. Douglas, in Points of Rebellion (1970), p. 92"

"The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance."

"Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people's expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would."

"Jesse: Man, some straight like you, giant stick up his ass, all of a sudden at age, what, 60, he's just gonna break bad?"

"The whole system of symbolism impressed on the art and the life of the Middle Ages must awaken the admiration of poets in all times. In reality, what colossal unity there is in Christian art, especially in its architecture! These Gothic cathedrals, how harmoniously they accord with the worship of which they are the temples, and how the idea of the Church reveals itself in them! Everything about them strives upwards, everything transubstantiates itself; the stone buds forth into branches and foliage, and becomes a tree ; the fruit of the vine and the ears of corn become blood and flesh; the man becomes God; God becomes a pure spirit."

"We want our sound to go into the soul of the audience, and see if it can awaken some little thing in their minds... 'Cause there are so many sleeping people."

"All men must see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you’ve always known."

"Our awakening is touched with dismay; we must come to terms with this world or it will terminate us. When we speak of defending the environment, we are speaking of defending our own lives."

"By the time we awaken faintly to the awareness that we have been socially conditioned, we find ourselves so indoctrinated that it's difficult, if not impossible, to break the old patterns. ... Survival pressures demanding that we evolve, grow, and change, however, continue to proliferate. We don't want to change, but the floodgates open abruptly and we are overwhelmed. Crisis!"

"I am the choice of their awakening. My samhadi is their samhadi. Their experiences are mine! Their knowledge distilled is my inheritance. Those billions are my one."

"Children live on one side of despair, the awakened on the other side. p.83"

"If I were to awaken after having slept for a thousand years, my first question would be: Has the Riemann hypothesis been proven?"

"When we dead awaken. … We see that we have never lived."

"History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake."

"Seraphim, The lost hosts awaken"

"When you meet the true Guru, He will awaken your heart; He will tell you the secret of love and detachment, and then you will know indeed that He transcends this universe."

"Sleep is a curious condition to be in, yet it is so common and so natural that it is seldom thought of any more than a state of wakefulness. While one is asleep he is of no more use, can do no more good than he could if he were dead;...The difference, however, between sleep and death is very great."

"In the life of the individual when love awakens it is older than everything else, because when it exists it seems as if it has existed for a long time; it presupposes itself back into the distant past until all searching ends in the inexplicable origin. Whereas all beginnings are ordinarily said to be difficult, this does not hold true of love’s beginning. Its happy awakening is unacquainted with work, and there is no advance preparation. Even if love can give birth to pain, it is not brought forth in pain; lightly, jubilantly, it bursts forth in its enigmatic coming into existence. What a wonderful beginning."

"What the age needs is not a genius — it has had geniuses enough, but a martyr, who in order to teach men to obey would himself be obedient unto death. What the age needs is awakening. And therefore someday, not only my writings but my whole life, all the intriguing mystery of the machine will be studied and studied. I never forget how God helps me and it is therefore my last wish that everything may be to his honour."

"We can, of course, be deceived in many ways. We can be deceived by believing what is untrue, but we certainly are also deceived by not believing what is true. We can be deceived by appearances, but we certainly are also deceived by the sagacious appearance, by the flattering conceit that considers itself absolutely secure against being deceived. Which deception is more dangerous? Whose recovery is more doubtful, that of the one who does not see, or that of the person who sees and yet does not see? What is more difficult—to awaken someone who is sleeping or to awaken someone who, awake, is dreaming that he is awake?"

"Father in heaven, when the thought of thee awakens in our soul, let it not waken as an agitated bird which flutters confusedly about, but as a child waking from sleep with a celestial smile."

"Some investigators contend that EEG patterns denoting wakefulness indicate when consciousness is first possible. Wakefulness is a state of arousal mediated by the brainstem and thalamus in communication with the cortex. In preterm neonates, the earliest EEG pattern representing wakefulness appears around 30 weeks’ PCA. However, wakefulness alone is insufficient to establish consciousness, as unconscious patients in a persistent vegetative state may also have wakeful EEGs."

"Political leaders are never leaders. For leaders we have to look to the Awakeners! Lao Tse, Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Milarepa, Gurdjiev, Krishnamurti."

"There are some men whom a staggering emotional shock, so far from making them mental invalids for life, seems, on the other hand, to awaken, to galvanize, to arouse into an almost incredible activity of soul."

"Set you intention to awaken from dreams. As you fall asleep for the night, assert to yourself that you will awaken after dreams during the night. Remind yourself that want to recall your dreams clearly and do the MILD Exercise Awaken from a dream and recall it. When you awaken from a dream in the night, first recall it in as much detail as you can, and then write out enough of it to describe the basic events and scenes of the dream. Increase your wakefulness. Get out of bed, go to the bathroom, wash your face with cool water. Carefully test reality to make sure you are actually awake. Do some stretches to increase your circulation and alertness. Get back in bed, and read your dream report, noting any important recurring dream images you find in it."

"Life is a waste of wearisome hours, Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns, And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers, Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns."

"During that first minute of wakefulness, you have the best chance of bringing your dreams into your normal consciousness. Sometimes you can hold onto a flash memory a little longer if you don’t move around."

"Existence is a mystery, and one should accept it as a mystery and not pretend to have any explanation. No, explanation is not needed – only exclamation, a wondering heart, awakened, surprised, feeling the mystery of life each moment. Then, and only then, you know what truth is. And truth liberates."

""If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;" and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty."

"There are hours for rest, and hours for wakefulness; nights for sobriety and nights for drunkenness—if only so that possession of the former allows us to discern the latter when we have it; for sad as it is, no human body can be happily drunk all the time."

"[By 1939] Simone Weil had developed a social and political awareness which it took the war and the German occupation to awaken in many French intellectuals and beyond which many of them, including Sartre, have never progressed."

"In many ways, America is on the receiving end of a pendulum that has been swung with great force, and for a long time, outward into the world. The impact is a wake-up call on every level."

"It has been proposed that arguments around fetal pain can be resolved by the fact that the fetus never enters a state of wakefulness in utero. This evidence is derived largely from observations of fetal lambs. Rigatto et al., for example, directly observed an unanaesthetised sheep fetus, in utero, through a Plexiglas window, for 5000 hours without observing signs of wakefulness such as eyes opening or coordinated movement of the head. Several factors explain this lack of wakefulness, including the environment of the womb, which is warm, buoyant and cushioned, and the presence of a chemical environment (most notably adenosine) that preserves a continuous sleep-like unconsciousness or sedation and suppresses higher cortical activation in the presence of intrusive external stimulation. Mellor et al. also propose that the fetus is unconscious based on the presence of sleep-like EEG patterns observed in the lamb fetus, which enter a more quiescent state together with lack of movement, during hypoxic stress, although it should be emphasised that this is quite different from the kind of noxious stress generated by surgery discussed here. Mellor et al. report that the general pattern of EEG during gestation is equivalent to a sleep-like state analogous to non-rapid eye movement and rapid eye movement sleep."