11/11/2025
❤️❤️❤️
"Many philosophers and scientists alike have claimed that consciousness has a cinematographic nature. When we project a film, it appears to be something continuous and long-lasting. But we know that the film consists of separate pictures that last only a fraction of a second. Consciousness is like that; it's only a flash, lasting just one millisecond. And because moments of consciousness succeed each other continuously, we have the impression that consciousness is something long-lasting. In fact. the permanent nature of consciousness is just an illusion.
It's like a flame on the tip of a candle. You think that the flame is the same flame as a moment before, but that's not true. There's a succession of many flames, one after another, that give the impression of a fixed identity. The flame of this moment gives rise to the flame of the next moment. And the flame of the next moment gives rise to the flame of the following moment.
In Buddhism, there is another beautiful illustration of this. At night, someone holds a torch and draws a circle in the air with it in the dark. If they are doing the movement quickly and you are standing at a distance, you have the impression that there is a circle of fire. But, in fact, there is only a succession of points of flame. The circle of fire is only an optical illusion. Permanence is an illusion, and the basic mistake is to believe that we have a consciousness, or a soul, that is always the same. Everything is impermanent.
Mentally and physically, you are of a cinematographic nature; you are reborn in every instant. You are renewed in every instant to become a new person, a new being. And if you know how to do it, your renewal is beautiful. With karma, you can assure a better, more beautiful continuation. If you know how to handle your thinking, your speech, and your actions, you will become more beautiful. The fact is that you don't need to wait until you die in order to see what happens to you. Look in the present moment and see that birth and death are going on in you at every moment, both in your body and in your consciousness."
-Thich Nhat Hanh (Reincarnation)
