Home / Authors / Joseph P. Kauffman

Joseph P. Kauffman Quotes

Author

Browse famous quotes by Joseph P. Kauffman.

Filter quotes by topic

All Awareness Consciousness Awakening Mind Zen Spirituality Bliss Existence Fear Happiness Life Love Oneness Peace Spirit Truth Universe Acceptance Appreciation Awe

Famous Joseph P. Kauffman Quotes

“We are so fascinated by the complexity and beauty of the various forms in nature, that we have been led away from the formless dimension of Consciousness that lies at our very center. When you look at a person, you see many differences in their unique form, and often we compare, contrast, and judge one another because of the forms that we inhabit. But if you look beyond the various qualities and characteristics of form, and look another person in the eyes, you see a Being, and it is this Being that lies beneath the surface of form that connects us all. That is why the eyes are often referred to as the gateway to the soul, because they allow us to see and feel the presence of another Being, and realize our oneness.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“When we see one another as different aspects of ourselves—as ourselves experiencing a different situation and circumstance—we develop a love, a connection, and a unity that allows us to see beyond the various forms, as well as the various ways that someone may act out when they have forgotten their connection and their formless nature. If you look at another in this light, you will see a Being that is just like you, looking back at you”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“We have become disconnected from our true selves, and naturally, this has produced a deep sense of lack in our lives, causing us to endlessly search for happiness in objects, experiences, and people to fill the emptiness and make us feel whole again. We crave pleasure, material riches, and stimulating experiences—anything that will distract us from this inherent lack of connection. But no matter how hard we try to escape it, eventually the sensation returns. And that is because we are looking for the answer to our freedom in all the wrong places. We are looking for freedom in the world, when the answer to ending our suffering lies within us. Until we heal the root cause of our suffering, and awaken to our true nature, our inherent confusion will continue to manifest itself in the world around us.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“Until we heal the root cause of our suffering, and awaken to our true nature, our inherent confusion will continue to manifest itself in the world around us.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“We only suffer when we falsely identify with the objects that arise in our awareness, rather than with the awareness itself—when we identify with our thoughts, with our emotions, our personal history, and the many stories we tell ourselves. When you reconnect to your source—the essence of your being, the pure and impartial witness—you become free from all of the troubles of the material world; free from the world of form. You no longer feel the desire to cling to forms or depend on them for your happiness. Instead, you are free to enjoy form, free to let form be, and free to allow all forms to come and go as they please. All forms are impermanent and changing, but your consciousness, being formless, is eternal, and exists regardless of the forms that it gives life to.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“When we look at a tree, we do not see the tree for what it really is. We see how it appears to us on the surface, and we dismiss it as being just another form in the Universe. We fail to realize that the tree is connected to the Universe on every level; that all of nature is expressing itself through that single form. There can be no tree without the earth that it grows from, the sun that gives it energy, the water that nourishes its growth, and the millions of fungi and bacteria fertilizing its soil. Looking deeply into anything in nature, we realize that it is connected to the whole. We see that nature is one seamless web, and the notion that things have an existence of their own is merely an illusion.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“You do not have an existence independent of your environment, but rather you are your environment, and your environment is you.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“Buddhist philosophy points out that the true nature of all forms is essentially formless. Forms do not have an existence of their own, but rather they arise together, and are mutually dependent on one another. Everything in the world of form is constantly changing, constantly dying, and constantly being reborn—which is why Buddhists say that there is no-self; no form that has an existence in and of itself.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“According to Zen Buddhists, all things have their existence in The Void. The Void is that which is no-thing, but contains all things within it, or as some Christian mystics state, “God is Nothing; He is Utterly Other; He is the VOID.”

“Every being experiences themselves as the center of their experience. Consciousness is what lies at our very core, and connects us all to each other. We may appear to be separate and individual because of the various forms our Consciousness inhabits, but below the surface the substance of our being is one and the same.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“We are only able to disrespect, mistreat, and harm one another when we forget that the other person is us; when we only see the objects of form, and not the subjective Consciousness that lies within. Lust, greed, violence, selfishness—all arise from perceiving others in terms of their individual differences, seeing them only as bodies, and what we can get from them as bodies, rather than acknowledging the Being that lies within the body.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“This witnessing consciousness, this formless dimension of yourself, is the awareness in which your experience happens, yet it remains untouched by this experience at all times. It is similar to the background of white on which you are reading these words. This white background allows any and every word to exist within it, yet it is not confined to any of these words. Similarly, your awareness allows any and every form to exist within it, but it is not bound to any of these forms.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“The consciousness inhabiting your body is exactly the same as the consciousness inhabiting my body. We are one. The delusion that we are separate beings comes from identifying with the world of form—with our names, our bodies, our roles, our beliefs, our thoughts, and all of the mental constructs that we have created; but even these are more connected to the universe than we realize.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“It is because we feel that we are separate from nature that we also feel it is okay to manipulate it, pollute it, and cause it harm. We project our inner turmoil onto the planet, causing outer turmoil. Nearly all of the disasters of our time—war, famine, oppression, social injustice, environmental pollution, extinction—arise from this delusional belief that we have an existence independent of the world we live in. All of this misery, all of this destruction, all of this pain and suffering, is caused by our failure to realize that there is no separation and that really we are all one.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“No label can define the immensity of your True nature. You are the awareness that precedes every label, the awareness that is perceiving these words and turning them into thoughts, the awareness that creates the world with every act of observation.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“You cannot be aware of yourself, for you are awareness itself. How can a witness witness itself? That is like trying to see your own eyes without a reflection, or cut a knife with the tip of its own blade—it is impossible. The subject can only observe the object; it cannot make an object out of itself. But by the very act of observing, you indirectly know yourself as the observer, as the subject. No witnessing of the witness is needed to prove its existence.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“The modern scientist attempts to step outside of himself in order to observe himself, an attempt that is always doomed to failure. You cannot make an object out of your subjective experience, but you know that consciousness exists, simply because you exist.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“Your true being, as Consciousness, is ever at peace, ever at rest, eternally existing in the dimension of here and now. It is the formless and eternal quality within you that expresses itself through the world of form.”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

“If your consciousness is without form, without quality, and without characteristics of any kind, would that not imply that the consciousness in every other being is also formless? And if they are all without form, how can you distinguish their consciousness from your own? What forms would you use to compare them? Isn’t the observing you exactly the same as the observing them?”

Source: The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom

About the Author

Known for: Author
Quotes: 75

Books & Sources

The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual FreedomRelated source material

Awake to What Is: Discovering Peace in the Present MomentRelated source material

Stillness: A Guide to Finding Your Inner PeaceRelated source material