--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Do you have any control over being…" description: "\"Do you have any control over being conscious? Do you know how you will?\" — Alan Watts" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f8/alan-watts-587_conscious_do-you-have-any-control-over-being-consc_1371829.jpg" --- # Do you have any control over being conscious? Do you know… ![“Do you have any control over being conscious? Do you know how you will?” quote by Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f8/alan-watts-587_conscious_do-you-have-any-control-over-being-consc_1371829.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f8/alan-watts-587_conscious_do-you-have-any-control-over-being-consc_1371829.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f8/alan-watts-587_conscious_do-you-have-any-control-over-being-consc_1371829.jpg) > “Do you have any control over being conscious? Do you know how you will?” [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Consciousness involves both control and mystery, questioning its limits. **In simple terms:** We wonder about controlling and understanding consciousness. Key Takeaway Explore the boundaries of awareness. Themes consciousness control philosophy mind Mood inquisitive calm Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - meditation - psychology - spiritual practice Key Concepts cognitive science existential inquiry Questions to Reflect On - What does consciousness mean to you? - How can you practice awareness in daily life? A Different Perspective May be abstract for practical application. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) [Conscious Know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious-know-709419/) [Control](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/control/) [Control Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/control-conscious-1692677/) [Do you know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/do-you-know/) [Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know/) [Know how](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-how/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) ## Related quotes > [Apathy is so hard not to feel in this world that I see it and the devil walking hand in hand ruining our world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-germano/apathy-is-so-hard-not-to-feel-in-this-world-that-i-see-it-and-the/) [Lisa Germano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-germano/) > [Clothes are never a frivolity: they always mean something, and that something is to a large extent outside the control of our conscious minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-laver/clothes-are-never-a-frivolity-they-always-mean-something-and-that/) [James Laver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-laver/) > [Advertising, music, atmospheres, subliminal messages and films can have an impact on our emotional life, and we cannot control it because we are not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tariq-ramadan/advertising-music-atmospheres-subliminal-messages-and-films-can-have/) [Tariq Ramadan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tariq-ramadan/) > [The majority of people are not awake; it is only here and there that we find one even partially awake. Practically all of us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-trine/the-majority-of-people-are-not-awake-it-is-only-here-and-there-that/) [Ralph Waldo Trine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-trine/) > [I'm conscious to know and understand what's going on with the game and what comes from the game and what's life after football.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-stills/i-m-conscious-to-know-and-understand-what-s-going-on-with-the-game/) [Kenny Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-stills/) > [“I know that I'm a human being and that I'm a man and that I am conscious and here...other than that I know nothing.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-storrs/i-know-that-i-m-a-human-being-and-that-i-m-a-man-and-that-i-am/) [Tim Storrs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-storrs/) > [The subconscious is ahead of the conscious, and we never know what really drives us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-h-schuller/the-subconscious-is-ahead-of-the-conscious-and-we-never-know-what/) [Robert H. Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-h-schuller/) > [“Why does consciousness fortify you?—because the more conscious you become, the more you know you cannot die, there is no death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/osho/why-does-consciousness-fortify-you-because-the-more-conscious-you/) [Osho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/osho/) > [When two, or more men, know of one and the same fact, they are said to be CONSCIOUS of it one to another; which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/when-two-or-more-men-know-of-one-and-the-same-fact-they-are-said-to/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [I'm conscious to know who I am as a young man and what I want to be off the field and how I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-stills/i-m-conscious-to-know-who-i-am-as-a-young-man-and-what-i-want-to-be/) [Kenny Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-stills/) > [I think that we are starting to get much more conscious about, you know, the importance of the spiritual path, and we are fulfilling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/i-think-that-we-are-starting-to-get-much-more-conscious-about-you/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [What do you call that nice, shiny white metal they use to make sidings and airplanes out of? Aluminum, right? Aluminum, pronounced 'uh-LOO-mih-num', right?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/what-do-you-call-that-nice-shiny-white-metal-they-use-to-make-sidings/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [Tiger Woods is a billionaire. Do you know how much ass you can get with a billion dollars? I know guys with $20 and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donnell-rawlings/tiger-woods-is-a-billionaire-do-you-know-how-much-ass-you-can-get/) [Donnell Rawlings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donnell-rawlings/) > [Do you know how many times a week people ask me why I'm yelling?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-burr/do-you-know-how-many-times-a-week-people-ask-me-why-i-m-yelling/) [Bill Burr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-burr/) > [I mean come on. Do you know how easy it is to be famous these days? Do you have any idea? The web has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corey-taylor/i-mean-come-on-do-you-know-how-easy-it-is-to-be-famous-these-days-do/) [Corey Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corey-taylor/) ## More by Alan Watts > [“The self-conscious feedback mechanism of the cortex allows us the hallucination that we are two souls in one body -a rational soul and an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-self-conscious-feedback-mechanism-of-the-cortex-allows-us-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The more we try to catch hold of the present moment the more elusive it becomes. It is like trying to clutch water in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-more-we-try-to-catch-hold-of-the-present-moment-the-more-elusive/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The Universe is the game of the self, which plays hide and seek forever and ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-universe-is-the-game-of-the-self-which-plays-hide-and-seek/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present. I shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/if-my-happiness-at-this-moment-consists-largely-in-reviewing-happy/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [...mysticism and empiricism go together in opposition to scholasticism...they base themselves on the non-linear world of experience rather than the linear world of letters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/mysticism-and-empiricism-go-together-in-opposition-to-scholasticism/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The hallucination of being a separate ego will not stand up to biological tests.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-hallucination-of-being-a-separate-ego-will-not-stand-up-to/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/although-profoundly-inconsequential-the-zen-experience-has/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Everything is perpetually becoming new.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/everything-is-perpetually-becoming-new/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The psychotherapist ... tries to help the individual to be himself and to go it alone without giving unnecessary offense to his community, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-psychotherapist-tries-to-help-the-individual-to-be-himself-and-to/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [“As you make more and more powerful microscopic instruments, the universe has to get smaller and smaller in order to escape the investigation. Just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/as-you-make-more-and-more-powerful-microscopic-instruments-the/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [We are at the moment looking at space as something to be entered by the tremendous thrust of a rocket because that is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/we-are-at-the-moment-looking-at-space-as-something-to-be-entered-by/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [A philosopher is a sort of intellectual yokel who gawks at things that sensible people take for granted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/a-philosopher-is-a-sort-of-intellectual-yokel-who-gawks-at-things/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The best way to convince someone is by making him realize that what you speak came from his own mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-best-way-to-convince-someone-is-by-making-him-realize-that-what/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/the-myths-underlying-our-culture-and-underlying-our-common-sense-have/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [To feel that life is meaningless unless “I” can be permanent is like having fallen desperately in love with an inch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/to-feel-that-life-is-meaningless-unless-i-can-be-permanent-is-like/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) [Explore all 460 Alan Watts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) ## More Conscious quotes > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [Woman, in short, has an unconscious life, man a conscious life, and the genius the most conscious life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/woman-in-short-has-an-unconscious-life-man-a-conscious-life-and-the/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-murphy/whatever-your-conscious-mind-assumes-and-believes-to-be-true-your/) [Joseph Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-murphy/) > [To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-be-a-negro-in-this-country-and-to-be-relatively-conscious-is-to-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Just as everybody has the vote including women, I think children should, because as a child is conscious of itself then it has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/just-as-everybody-has-the-vote-including-women-i-think-children/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [If you are not conscious of all of the different parts of yourself, the part of yourself that is the strongest will win out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-zukav/if-you-are-not-conscious-of-all-of-the-different-parts-of-yourself/) [Gary Zukav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-zukav/) > [One of the noblest words in our language is "grace," defined as "unearned blessing." We live by grace far more than by anything else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-elton-trueblood/one-of-the-noblest-words-in-our-language-is-grace-defined-as-unearned/) [D. Elton Trueblood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-elton-trueblood/) > [Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/repugnant-is-a-creature-who-would-squander-the-ability-to-lift-an-eye/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [The goal of the Creator is for each entity to make a conscious choice to again seek Oneness, out of our own free will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wilcock/the-goal-of-the-creator-is-for-each-entity-to-make-a-conscious-choice/) [David Wilcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wilcock/) > [I know one thing: that you can do a lot of things but if you don't educate people into conscious anarchism it gets frittered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-bookchin/i-know-one-thing-that-you-can-do-a-lot-of-things-but-if-you-don-t/) [Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-bookchin/) > [All black people who are even minimally conscious, black people who have ever experienced Europe's technological power crusading in the vanguard of a civilizing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-nkosi/all-black-people-who-are-even-minimally-conscious-black-people-who/) [Lewis Nkosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-nkosi/) > [ A mind conscious of right laughs at the falsehoods of rumour. \[Lat., Conscia mens recti famae mendacia risit.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/a-mind-conscious-of-right-laughs-at-the-falsehoods-of-rumour-lat/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [I don't think my paintings are self-conscious but you feel the consciousness of them. Without them being self-conscious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-schnabel/i-don-t-think-my-paintings-are-self-conscious-but-you-feel-the/) [Julian Schnabel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-schnabel/) [Browse all 3,716 Conscious quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Do you have any control over being conscious? 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