Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation homepage > Notebooks of Paul Brunton

---

What is its consciousness like? If we use our ordinary faculties only, we may ponder this problem for a lifetime without discerning its solution for it is evident that we enter a realm where the very questioner himself must disappear as soon as he crosses the frontier. The personal "I" must be like a mere wave in such an ocean, a finite centre in incomprehensible infinitude. It would be impossible to realize what mind-in-itself is so long as we narrow down the focus of attention to the personal "I"-thought. For it would be like a wave vainly trying to collect and cram the whole ocean within itself, while refusing to expand its attention beyond its own finite form.

-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 3 : The Overself's Presence > # 220