Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet
Thoughts and Glimpses (1916-17)
Neuromancer (1984)
Context: He came in steep, fueled by self-loathing. When the Kuang program met the first of the defenders, scattering the leaves of light, he felt the shark thing lose a degree of substantiality, the fabric of information loosening. And then — old alchemy of the brain and its vast pharmacy — his hate flowed into his hands. In the instant before he drove Kuang's sting through the base of the first tower, he attained a level of proficiency exceeding anything he'd known or imagined. Beyond ego, beyond personality, beyond awareness, he moved, Kuang moving with him, evading his attackers with an ancient dance, Hideo's dance, grace of the mind-body interface granted him, in that second, by the clarity and singleness of his wish to die.
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet
Thoughts and Glimpses (1916-17)
Maurice Sendak (1928–2012) American illustrator and writer of children's books
NOW interview (2004)
Context: Art has always been my salvation. And my gods are Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Mozart. I believe in them with all my heart. And when Mozart is playing in my room, I am in conjunction with something I can't explain — I don't need to. I know that if there's a purpose for life, it was for me to hear Mozart. Or if I walk in the woods and I see an animal, the purpose of my life was to see that animal. I can recollect it, I can notice it. I'm here to take note of. And that is beyond my ego, beyond anything that belongs to me, an observer, an observer.
“It was beyond embarrassing or humiliating or even mortifying. It was ego-slaying!”
Wendelin Van Draanen (1965) American writer
Source: Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things
“To be aware of limitations is already to be beyond them.”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German philosopher
As quoted in Inwardness and Existence (1989) by Walter A. Davis, p. 18
“He has personality problems beyond the dreams of analysts.”
Douglas Adams book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Source: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist
Draft for a Statement of Human Obligation (1943)
Context: If anyone possesses this faculty, then his attention is in reality directed beyond the world, whether he is aware of it or not.
The link which attaches the human being to the reality outside the world is, like the reality itself, beyond the reach of human faculties. The respect that it makes us feel as soon as it is recognized cannot be shown to us by evidence or testimony.
Sheldon Pollock (1948) American linguist
(Pollock 1993:117), quoted in Elst, Koenraad (2018). Still no trace of an Aryan invasion: A collection on Indo-European origins.
“When happiness moves beyond the mind, that is happiness”
Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition
Miscellaneous
Context: Q: How are peace and happiness related? Is peace the only real happiness? A: When happiness moves beyond the mind, that is happiness. (March 26, 2016)
Ramakrishna (1836–1886) Indian mystic and religious preacher
Source: Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (1960), p. 840