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The universe is of the nature of a thought or sensation in a universal Mind... To put the conclusion crudely - the stuff of the world is mind-stuff. As is often the way with crude statements, I shall have to explain that by 'mind' I do not exactly mean mind and by 'stuff' I do not at all mean stuff. Still that is about as near as we can get to the idea in a simple phrase. The mind-stuff of the world is something more general than our individual conscious minds; but we may think of its nature as not altogether foreign to feelings in our consciousness... Having granted this, the mental activity of the part of world constituting ourselves occasions no great surprise; it is known to us by direct self-knowledge, and we do not explain it away as something other than we know it to be - or rather, it knows itself to be.

Arthur Stanley Eddington#19

PhysicsPhilosophyMindRealityConsciousnessMetaphysicsIdealismUniverse

About this quote

What does it mean?
The fundamental substance of reality is mental or experiential in nature, akin to a universal consciousness rather than inert matter.
In plain terms
Reality is made of mind-like stuff, not just physical objects.
What can you take from it?
Consider consciousness as a fundamental feature of the universe.

Where it applies

  • philosophical debate
  • physics interpretation
  • meditation

Putting it to work

  • reflect on consciousness
  • study philosophy of mind

Questions to consider

  • Is reality fundamentally mental?
  • How does mind relate to matter?

Another view

This view conflicts with materialist science which treats matter as primary.

More from Arthur Stanley Eddington

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  3. Never mind what two tons refers to. What is it? How has it entered in so definite a way into our exprerience? Two tons is the reading of the pointer when the e…

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