David Bohm, a distinguished physicist and philosopher, offers profound insights into thought, reality, and human nature. His quotes inspire reflection and challenge us to perceive the world differently.
Here are some of his most memorable quotes that spark contemplation and inspire change.
22 David Bohm Quotes on Thought and Perception, Reality and the Universe, Fragmentation and Wholeness
On Thought and Perception
“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.” – David Bohm
“The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained.” – David Bohm
“There is a difficulty with only one person changing. People call that person a great saint or a great mystic or a great leader, and they say, ‘Well, he’s different from me – I could never do it.’ What’s wrong with most people is that they have this block – they feel they could never make a difference, and therefore, they never face the possibility, because it is too disturbing, too frightening.” – David Bohm
On Reality and the Universe
“In some sense man is a microcosm of the universe: therefore what man is, is a clue to the universe. We are enfolded in the universe.” – David Bohm
“The universe consists of frozen light.” – David Bohm
“Space is not empty. It is full, a plenum as opposed to a vacuum, and is the ground for the existence of everything, including ourselves. The universe is not separate from this cosmic sea of energy.” – David Bohm
“The various particles have to be taken literally as projections of a higher-dimensional reality which cannot be accounted for in terms of any force of interaction between them.” – David Bohm
“There is the immense sea of energy … a multidimensional implicate order, … the entire universe of matter as we generally observe it is to be treated as a comparatively small pattern of excitation.” – David Bohm
On Fragmentation and Wholeness
“The notion of a separate organism is clearly an abstraction, as is also its boundary. Underlying all this is unbroken wholeness even though our civilization has developed in such a way as to strongly emphasize the separation into parts.” – David Bohm
“The holomovement which is ‘life implicit’ is the ground both of ‘life explicit’ and of ‘inanimate matter’, and this ground is what is primary, self-existent and universal. Thus we do not fragment life and inanimate matter, nor do we try to reduce the former completely to nothing but an outcome of the latter.” – David Bohm
“It is especially important to consider this question today, for fragmentation is now very widespread, not only throughout society, but also in each individual; and this is leading to a kind of general confusion of the mind, which creates an endless series of problems and interferes with our clarity of perception so seriously as to prevent us from being able to solve most of them.” – David Bohm
On Dialogue and Communication
“Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and without distortion and self-deception. Would this not constitute a real revolution in culture?” – David Bohm
“Real dialogue is where two or more people become willing to suspend their certainty in each other’s presence.” – David Bohm
“Your questions contain hidden assumptions; that’s the point. Therefore, when you question the question itself, you may be questioning a deeper assumption. But that’s done non-verbally.” – David Bohm
On Science and Theory
“In my opinion progress in science is usually made by dropping assumptions.” – David Bohm
“In relativity, movement is continuous, causally determinate and well defined; while in quantum mechanics it is discontinuous, not causally determinate and not well defined.” – David Bohm
“The prevailing trend in modern physics is thus much against any sort of view giving primacy to … undivided wholeness of flowing movement.” – David Bohm
“The word ‘theory’ derives from the Greek ‘theoria’, which has the same root as ‘theatre’, in a word meaning ‘to view’ or ‘to make a spectacle’. Thus, it might be said that a theory is primarily a form of insight, i.e. a way of looking at the world, and not a form of knowledge of how the world is.” – David Bohm
On Time and Eternity
“Ultimately, all moments are really one, therefore now is an eternity.” – David Bohm
On Illusion and Reality
“In the long run it is far more dangerous to adhere to illusion than to face what the actual fact is.” – David Bohm
“The ambiguous is the reality and the unambiguous is merely a special case of it, where we finally manage to pin down some very special aspect.” – David Bohm
On Human Nature and Society
“Being guided by a fragmentary self-world view, man then acts in such a way as to try to break himself and the world up, so that all seems to correspond to his way of thinking. Man thus obtains an apparent proof of the correctness of his fragmentary self-world view though, of course, he overlooks the fact that it is he himself, acting according to his mode of thought, who has brought about the fragmentation that now seems to have an autonomous existence, independent of his will and of his desire.” – David Bohm
“All effort to bring order into disorder is disorder.” – David Bohm
Reflections of the Top 5 David Bohm Quotes
1. “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.” – David Bohm
Bohm highlights the superficial nature of much of our thinking, urging us to dig deeper than our ingrained biases.
2. “The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained.” – David Bohm
This quote emphasizes the value of innovative thinking over mere accumulation of facts, encouraging a shift in perspective.
3. “In some sense man is a microcosm of the universe: therefore what man is, is a clue to the universe. We are enfolded in the universe.” – David Bohm
Bohm suggests that understanding ourselves can unlock greater truths about the universe, stressing the interconnectedness of all things.
4. “Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and without distortion and self-deception. Would this not constitute a real revolution in culture?” – David Bohm
Here, Bohm proposes a transformative approach to communication that could fundamentally change societal interactions.
5. “Ultimately, all moments are really one, therefore now is an eternity.” – David Bohm
This profound statement underscores the timeless nature of the present moment, urging us to find eternity in the now.
Related Figures
- Albert Einstein
- Niels Bohr
- Jiddu Krishnamurti
- Carl Jung
- Erwin Schrödinger
- Alan Watts
- Werner Heisenberg
- Rupert Sheldrake
- Henri Bergson
- Fritjof Capra
Conclusion
David Bohm’s quotes offer a window into his remarkable mind, inviting us to explore profound truths about thought, reality, and our interconnected existence. Reflecting on these quotes can inspire new ways of thinking and being, fostering personal and collective transformation.
