John C. Lilly Quotes & Sayings

I am not my opinion of myself, I am not anything I can describe to me. I am only a part of a large system that cannot describe itself fully; therefore, I relax and I am in the point source of consciousness, of delight, of mobility, in the inner spaces. My tasks do not include describing me nor having an opinion about the system in which I live, biological or social or dyadic. I hereby drop that "responsibility".

I am much more than I can conceive or judge me to be. Any negative or positive opinions I have of me are false fronts, headlines, limited and unnecessary programmes written on a thin paper blowing about and floating around in the vastness of inner spaces. — John C. Lilly

As the LSD began to take effect, I suddenly said in a very loud voice, while pounding on top of a file, "Every psychiatrist, every psychoanalyst should be forced to take LSD in order to know what is over here." — John C. Lilly

Floating in the tank after a busy day's work brings a great relief. Suddenly all of the stimulation of holding one upright against gravity disappears. One realizes that a good deal of the fatigue accumulated during the day is caused by keeping one's body upright in a gravitational field. From a neurophysiological standpoint, one has immediately freed up very large masses of neurons from the necessity of constant computations (as to the direction of gravity, the programming by visual and acoustic inputs, by temperature changes, etcetera). For example, one's cerebellum is now freed for uses other than balancing the body. In summary, then, — John C. Lilly

You don't have to suffer continual chaos in order to grow. — John C. Lilly

Cosmic Love is absolutely Ruthless and Highly Indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not. — John C. Lilly

My philosophy: Don't get caught with a fixed philosophy, a set
of safe beliefs, a particular way of life.

Experiment! With live, with love.

Run an exploration of the real and the true degrees of freedom
of life, of love, of the human condition, inside self and in one's
style of life.

Move! Into new spaces beyond one's present concepts of possible/probable/certain real spaces.

Far vaster than I now know are the innermost/outermost realities.

Far more interesting than I now feel are the deeps of the space, the beyond within, the infinite without.

Love and loving are basic.

Hostility is redundant.

Fear is non-sense.

"Death" is a myth.

I am I. — John C. Lilly

The experienced, wise, energetic, intelligent individual functioning in a loose coalition with others in a wide network is far more effective than he is in a tightly organized group. — John C. Lilly

In the centre of the cyclone one is off the wheel of Karma, of life, rising to join the Creators of the Universe, the Creators of us. Here we find that we have created Them who are Us. — John C. Lilly

The fear that the universe is not what you assume it to be is very basic, especially when you know damn well it isn't what you assume it to be. — John C. Lilly

In the province of the mind, there are no limits. — John C. Lilly

I believe in our culture we need certain socially accepted places where we don't answer the telephone, we don't have to answer questions or agree with anyone on anything — John C. Lilly

As I say at the beginning of my workshops, 'Everything I say here is a lie
bullshit, in other words
because anything that you put in words is not experience, is not the experiment. It's a representation
a misrepresentation. — John C. Lilly

Presumably there are energies, to which each human is sensitive, that we cannot yet detect by means of our instruments. Built into our brains and our bodies are very sensitive tuneable receivers for energies that we do not yet know about in our science but that each one of us can detect under the proper circumstances and the proper state of mind. We can tune our nervous systems and bodies to receive these energies. We can also tune our brains and bodies to transmit these energies. — John C. Lilly

I have explored and have voluntarily entered into domains forbidden by a large fraction of those in our culture who are not curious, are not explorative and are not mentally equipped to enter these domains. — John C. Lilly

All laws are simulations of reality. — John C. Lilly

For when it starts feeling like a prison in there - and it usually does for most people - you are confronted with the fact that the bars are of your own making. — John C. Lilly

I feel that I am merely an agent, giving you some keys that have been given to me to pass on to you. These keys are to unlock doors out of your present prison. Doors opening onto new vistas. Doors beyond where you are now. — John C. Lilly

All human beings, all persons who reach adulthood in the world today are programmed biocomputers. No one of us can escape our own nature as programmable entities. Literally, each of us may be our programs, nothing more, nothing less. — John C. Lilly