Franz Kafka Quotes on Perception
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There is nothing besides a spiritual world; what we call the world of the senses is the Evil in the spiritual world, and what we call Evil is only the necessity of a moment in our eternal evolution. One can disintegrate the world by means of very strong light. For weak eyes the world becomes solid, for still weaker eyes it seems to develop fists, for eyes weaker still it becomes shamefaced and smashes anyone who dares to gaze upon it.
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Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognize itself; anyone who wants to recognize it has to be a lie.
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The whole visible world is perhaps nothing more than than the rationalization of a man who wants to find peace for a moment. An attempt to falsify the actuality of knowledge, to regard knowledge as a goal still to be reached.
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Evil is a radiation of the human consciousness in certain transitional positions. It is not actually the sensual world that is a mere appearance; what is so is the evil of it, which, admittedly, is what constitutes the sensual world in our eyes.
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A belief is like a guillotine, just as heavy, just as light.
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The right understanding of any matter and a misunderstanding of the same matter do not wholly exclude each other.
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Anyone who believes cannot experience miracles. By day one does not see any stars. Anyone who does miracles says: I cannot let go of the earth.
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(21 November 1917) Variant translation: Anyone who believes cannot experience miracles. By day one cannot see any stars.
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The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked.
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Who has the gift to recognize beauty, will not live long