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Coherence Quotes

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Coherence Quotes

“Love brings coherence when a person has a strong heart, a quality of unconditional love, and when the person themselves becomes a source of love rather than looking for objects of love. That‘s also evidence of having attained a deep coherence. Yet another way to talk about this, is that there‘s a channel between your heart and the Infinite. The Infinite is itself the power of unity and coherence. It has the power to come into your heart and so transform your heart. When your heart has been touched by even a little bit of this spiritual energy, the heart is transformed. When the heart is transformed, your very self is transformed. (p. 15)”

LoveHeartSufismSufi WisdomSpiritual TransformationCoherenceTreshold SocietySufi PathKabir Helminski
Book:In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
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“Suddenly an unexpected series of sounds began to be heard in this place up against the starry sky. They were the notes of Oak´s flute. It came from the direction of a small dark object under the hedge - a shephard´s hut - now presenting an outline to which an unintiated person might have been puzzled to attach either meaning or use. ... Being a man not without a frequent consciousness that there was some charm in this life he led, he stood still after looking at the sky as a useful instrument, and regarded it in an appreciative spirit, as a work of art superlatively beautiful. For a moment he seemed impressed with the speaking loneliness of the scene, or rather with the complete abstraction from all its compass of the sights and sounds of man. ... Oak´s motions, though they had a quiet energy, were slow, and their deliberateness accorded well with his occupation. Fitness being the basis of beauty, nobody could have denied tha his steady swings and turns in and about the flock had elements of grace. His special power, morally, physically, and mentally, was static. ... Oak was an intensely human man: indee, his humanity tore in pieces any politic intentions of his which bordered on strategy, and carried him on as by gravitation. A shadow in his life had always been that his flock should end in mutton - that a day could find a shepherd an arrant traitor to his gentle sheep.”

NatureFreedomIndependenceGabrielCoherenceShepherdGabriel Oak
Book:Far From the Madding Crowd
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“One of the recent arguments from design, that based on the so-called fine-tuning life of some fundamental physical constants, founders on the following objections: an extremely small prior probability merited by the God of theism in light – if that is the right word – of the Problem of Evil; the fact that it is not unreasonable to place a substantial probability on the hypothesis that a future theory will fix those values; and the sheer incoherence of computations of the ‘chances’ of fine-tuning were there no fine-tuner.”

ReasonPhilosophyValuesAtheismTheoryProbabilityHypothesisCoherenceProblem Of EvilAtheist ArgumentsFine Tuning DebunkedArgument From Design DebunkedGod Of Theism
Book:Objecting to God
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“...reality is a system, completely ordered and fully intelligible, with which thought in its advance is more and more identifying itself. We may look at the growth of knowledge … as an attempt by our mind to return to union with things as they are in their ordered wholeness…. and if we take this view, our notion of truth is marked out for us. Truth is the approximation of thought to reality … Its measure is the distance thought has travelled … toward that intelligible system … The degree of truth of a particular proposition is to be judged in the first instance by its coherence with experience as a whole, ultimately by its coherence with that further whole, all comprehensive and fully articulated, in which thought can come to rest.”

PhilosophyRealityTruthScienceGrowthKnowledgeExperienceThoughtUnionCoherenceIntelligible
Book:Nature of Thought
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“People being incoherent might get on our nerves sometimes. We like coherence in actions and thoughts since we value clarity and structure in our lives. But at times, we are alarmed because we cannot help being incoherent when we want to challenge established norms and explore unconventional paths that lead to unexpected connections or new insights. Allowing ourselves some incoherence might open the door to new perspectives and surprising outcomes. ("Drunken sailor”)”

ClarityCoherenceIncoherenceNew PerspectivesNew InsightsEstablished NormsSurprising OutcomesUnconventional Paths
Author:Erik Pevernagie
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“Most of us do not like not being able to see what others see or make sense of something new. We do not like it when things do not come together and fit nicely for us. That is why most popular movies have Hollywood endings. The public prefers a tidy finale. And we especially do not like it when things are contradictory, because then it is much harder to reconcile them (this is particularly true for Westerners). This sense of confusion triggers in a us a feeling of noxious anxiety. It generates tension. So we feel compelled to reduce it, solve it, complete it, reconcile it, make it make sense. And when we do solve these puzzles, there's relief. It feels good. We REALLY like it when things come together. What I am describing is a very basic human psychological process, captured by the second Gestalt principle. It is what we call the 'press for coherence.' It has been called many different things in psychology: consonance, need for closure, congruity, harmony, need for meaning, the consistency principle. At its core it is the drive to reduce the tension, disorientation, and dissonance that come from complexity, incoherence, and contradiction. In the 1930s, Bluma Zeigarnik, a student of Lewin's in Berlin, designed a famous study to test the impact of this idea of tension and coherence. Lewin had noticed that waiters in his local cafe seemed to have better recollections of unpaid orders than of those already settled. A lab study was run to examine this phenomenon, and it showed that people tend to remember uncompleted tasks, like half-finished math or word problems, better than completed tasks. This is because the unfinished task triggers a feeling of tension, which gets associated with the task and keeps it lingering in our minds. The completed problems are, well, complete, so we forget them and move on. They later called this the 'Zeigarnik effect,' and it has influenced the study of many things, from advertising campaigns to coping with the suicide of loved ones to dysphoric rumination of past conflicts.”

CoherenceUnfinished BusinessCognitive DissonanceRuminationOversimplificationZeigarnikIntractable ConflictWhy Writers Write
Book:The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts
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“It is critical to recognize that we live in an increasingly complex world - biologically, socially, politically, technologically, you name it - that holds many inherent contradictions. In the middle of this complex world are we humans, who have a natural tendency to seek coherence in what we see, feel, think, and do. When we experience conflict, this tendency intensifies. Conflict is essentially a contradiction, an incompatibility, oppositely directed forces, and a difference that triggers tension. When we encounter conflict, within the field of forces that constitute it, the natural human tendency is to reduce that tension by seeking coherence through simplification. Research shows that this tendency toward simplification becomes even more intensified when we are under stress, threat, time constraints, fatigue, and various other conditions all absolutely typical of conflict. So what is the big idea? It is NOT that coherence is bad and complexity is good. Coherence seeking is simply a necessary and functional process that helps us interpret and respond to our world efficiently and (hopefully) effectively. And complexity in extremes is a nightmare - think of Mogadishu, Somalia, in the 1990s or the financial crisis of 2009 or Times Square during rush hour on a Friday afternoon. On the other hand, too much coherence can be just as pathological: for example, the collapse of the nuances and contradictions inherent in any conflict situation into simple 'us versus them' terms, or a deep commitment to a rigid understanding of conflicts based on past sentiments and obsolete information. Either extreme - overwhelming complexity or oversimplified coherence - is problematic. But in difficult, long-term conflicts, the tide pulls fiercely toward simplification of complex realities. This is what we must content with.”

ComplexityCoherenceCognitive DissonanceOversimplificationUs Vs ThemIntractable ConflictSocial Conflicts
Book:The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts
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“Coherence comes from a deep center, which is the heart. Ultimately it‘s the heart of the human being connected to Infinite Spirit. When the self is connected to the heart, and the heart is connected to God, you have coherence. It‘s really that simple. The practice we call „the remembrance of God“ is the channel to that coherence. (p. 14)”

SufismSufi WisdomCoherenceTreshold SocietySufi PathKabir HelminskiRemembrance Of God
Book:In the House of Remembering: The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching
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“My point is that we are by now so thoroughly adjusted to the "Now . . . this" world of news—a world of fragments, where events stand alone, stripped of any connection to the past, or to the future, or to other events—that all assumptions of coherence have vanished. And so, perforce, has contradiction. In the context of no context, so to speak, it simply disappears. And in its absence, what possible interest could there be in a list of what the President says now and what he said then? It is merely a rehash of old news, and there is nothing interesting or entertaining in that.”

PoliticsMediaNewsStoryCoherenceContextElectronic Media
Book:Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
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“Human beings are driven toward consistency and coherence in their perception, thinking, feeling, behavior, and social relationships. This is natural and functional. Conflict intensifies this drive, which can become dysfunctional during prolonged conflicts. However, developing more complex patterns of thinking, feeling, acting, and social organizing can mitigate this, resulting in more constructive responses to conflict.”

ConflictComplexityTribalismCoherenceOversimplificationUs Vs ThemIntractable ConflictSocial Conflicts
Book:The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts
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“When art seems to be empty of meaning, as no doubt some of the abstract painting of our own day actually does seem, what the painting says, indeed what the artist is shrieking at the top of his voice, is that life has become empty of all rational content and coherence, and that, in times like these, is far from a meaningless statement.”

DoeArtSeemsArtistVoiceDoubtPaintingEmptyStatementsRationalAbstractNo DoubtMeaninglessCoherenceAbstract PaintingTimes Like These
Book:Art and Technics
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“If there is to be responsible party government, the party label must be something more than a mere device for securing office. Unless those who are elected under the same party designation are willing to assume sufficient responsibility and exhibit sufficient loyalty and coherence, so that they can cooperate with each other in the support of the broad general principles, of the party platform, the election is merely a mockery, no decision is made at the polls, and there is no representation of the popular will.”

IfsMadeGovernmentDecisionPartyResponsibilityPrinciplesSupportWillingOfficeResponsibleElectionAssumingMereLoyaltyLabelsSufficientDevicesBroadsPlatformsRepresentationPollsExhibitsMockeryBeing ResponsibleCoherenceDesignation
Author:Calvin Coolidge
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“It began with one act of madness, and it ended with another. John Brown heard history's clock strike in the night and tried to hurry dawn along with gunfire; now John Wilkes Booth heard the clock strike, and he tried with gunfire to restore the darkness. Each man stood outside the human community, directed by voices the sane do not hear, and each kept history from going logically... The line from Harper's Ferry to Ford's Theater is a red thread binding the immense disorder of the Civil War into an irrational sort of coherence.”

MenHumansWarNightVoiceCommunityLinesHistoryDarknessHeardRedMadnessTheaterStrikesClockDawnCivil WarBrownDisorderSaneImmenseThreadIrrationalAmerican Civil WarBindingCoherenceHarperFerryRed ThreadJohn BrownJohn Wilkes Booth
Author:Bruce Catton
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“This splendid book discusses how, in the last two hundred fifty years, large numbers of people have achieved levels of well-being that were previously available only to a few individuals, and how this achievement has given rise to equally unprecedented inequalities. Unique in its focus and scope, exceptional knowledge and coherence, and careful argumentation, The Great Escape is highly illuminating and a delight to read.”

PeopleYearsWellsTwoBookLastsIndividualGivenLevelsNumbersFocusAchievementUniqueHundredCarefulDelightAvailableInequalityWell BeingFiftyExceptionalScopeSplendidUnprecedentedLarge NumbersIlluminatingCoherenceArgumentationGreat Escape
Author:Thomas Pogge
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“Detachment, lack of sentimentality, originality, a lot of things that sound rather empty. I know what they mean. Let's say, "visual impact" may not mean much to anybody. I could point it out though. I mean it's a quality that something has or does not have. Coherence. Well, some things are weak, some things are strong.”

KnowsWellsMayMeanDoeStrongSoundQualityPhotographyEmptyWeakImpactPhotographerVisualsOriginalityDetachmentSentimentalityCoherence
Author:Walker Evans
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“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”

WorldObjectsCircumstancesStonesEternityFamiliarCompositionAssuranceContradictoryInexplicableCoherence
Book:The Philosophical Works of David Hume ... Containing Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Essays on the Immortality of the Soul, Suicide ... &c. A New Edition
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“Artists, whatever their medium, make selections from the abounding materials of life, and organize these selections into works that are under the control of the artist.... In relation to the inclusiveness and literally endless intricacy of life, art is arbitrary, symbolic and abstracted. That is its value and the source of its own kind of order and coherence.”

LifeKindArtArtistValuesOrderMaterialsSourceArt IsRelationEndlessMediumsOrganizeSelectionArbitrarySymbolicCoherenceIntricacyInclusiveness
Author:Jane Jacobs
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“In such systems, there is unquestioning respect for authority. Faith trumps evidence. But if indeed this is broadly the explanation for how co-operative behaviour has evolved and been maintained in human societies, it could be very bad news. Because although such authoritarian systems seem to be good at preserving social coherence and an orderly society, they are, by the same token, not good at adapting to change.”

IfsHumansSeemsSocialTrumpAuthorityNewsEvidenceBe GoodExplanationBehaviourBad NewsHuman SocietyOrderlyTokensAdaptingCoherenceAdapting To Change
Author:Robert May, Baron May of Oxford
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“All right, so there he is, our representative to the world, Mr. Western Civilization, in codpiece and pantyhose up there on the boards, firing away at the rapt groundlings with his blank verses, not less of a word-slinger and spellbinder than the Bard himself and therefore not to be considered too curiously on such matters as relevance, coherence, consistency, propriety, sanity, common decency.”

WorldMatterCommonCivilizationWesternBoardsSanityRepresentativesVersesBlankConsistencyDecencyRelevanceWestern CivilizationProprietyFiringCoherenceBardsCommon DecencyPantyhose
Author:Marvin Mudrick
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