“Man is the only living being who has a developed self-awareness and death-awareness.”
Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900–1975) geneticist and evolutionary biologist
Mourning and Funerals—For Whom (1977)
The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951)
Context: There is no formula for generating the authentic warmth of love. It cannot be copied. You cannot talk yourself into it or rouse it by straining at the emotions or by dedicating yourself solemnly to the service of mankind. Everyone has love, but it can only come out when he is convinced of the impossibility and the frustration of trying to love himself. This conviction will not come through condemnations, through hating oneself, through calling self love bad names in the universe. It comes only in the awareness that one has no self to love.
“Man is the only living being who has a developed self-awareness and death-awareness.”
Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900–1975) geneticist and evolutionary biologist
Mourning and Funerals—For Whom (1977)
“One loves truly only once in a lifetime, Julian, even if one isn’t aware of it.”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind
Source: The Shadow of the Wind
Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist
“Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System” (2011)
Isaac Asimov book Second Foundation
Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Second Foundation (1953), Chapter 8 "Seldon's Plan"
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) German philosopher
Source: Introduction to Fichte's Science of Knowledge (1797/1798), p. 17-18.
Chick Corea (1941) American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist, and composer
"Answer #3" at his official website. http://www.chickcorea.com/from_chick.html <br class="br">Context: I believe that any "awareness" of life is "spiritual" since awareness can only be a quality of the spirit not of the material world or of matter and machines. Only a spiritual being has awareness. But if you mean "spiritual" in the sense of a kind of "celebration of Life", then yes, I write music to celebrate life. I think most artists do, no matter how they themselves describe it. It's the joy of creating. It's a way of life.
