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About this quote

What does it mean?
Consciousness is a continuous flow that blends together, not separate pieces.
In plain terms
Our mind is a single, unbroken stream.
What can you take from it?
Recognize the unity of experience.

Where it applies

  • meditation
  • creative work

Putting it to work

  • focus on present moment
  • avoid fragmenting thoughts

Questions to consider

  • How does this view affect your sense of self?
  • Can you notice moments when consciousness feels fragmented?

Another view

It may oversimplify the complexity of mental states.

More from William James

  1. As we take, in fact, a general view of the wonderful stream of our consciousness, what strikes us first is this different pace of its parts. Like a bird's life…

    Permalink to quote #21
  2. The last peculiarity of consciousness to which attention is to be drawn in this first rough description of its stream is that it is always interested more in o…

    Permalink to quote #23
  3. Consciousness, then, does not appear to itself chopped up in bits...A 'river' or a 'stream' are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talki…

    Permalink to quote #20

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