--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No thought can encapsulate the vastness…" description: "\"No thought can encapsulate the vastness of the totality. Reality is a unified whole, but thought cuts it up into fragments. Every thought implies a per..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d8/eckhart-tolle-81_cutting_no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness_1901540.jpg" --- # No thought can encapsulate the vastness of the totality… ![“No thought can encapsulate the vastness of the totality. Reality is a unified whole, but thought cuts it up into fragments. Every thought implies a perspective, and every perspective, by its very nature, implies limitation, which ultimately means that it is not true, at least not absolutely. Only…” quote by Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d8/eckhart-tolle-81_cutting_no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness_1901540.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d8/eckhart-tolle-81_cutting_no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness_1901540.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d8/eckhart-tolle-81_cutting_no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness_1901540.jpg) > “No thought can encapsulate the vastness of the totality. Reality is a unified whole, but thought cuts it up into fragments. Every thought implies a perspective, and every perspective, by its very nature, implies limitation, which ultimately means that it is not true, at least not absolutely. Only the whole is true, but the whole cannot be spoken or thought.” [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Thought fragments reality; only the undivided whole is fully true, but it cannot be fully expressed. **In simple terms:** Thought limits reality; the whole is beyond words. Key Takeaway Accept limits of language; seek holistic awareness. Themes philosophy mindfulness truth Mood contemplative reflective Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - Meditation - philosophical discussion - spiritual practice - academic lecture Key Concepts Nondualism liminality holism Questions to Reflect On - How can you experience wholeness without words? - What does it mean to accept incompleteness? A Different Perspective The whole may be unknowable, making certainty elusive. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Limitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/limitation/) [Perspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perspective/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Vastness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vastness/) ## Related quotes > [Reality is a unified whole, but thought cuts it up into fragments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/reality-is-a-unified-whole-but-thought-cuts-it-up-into-fragments/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Physics grapples with the largest questions the universe presents. 'Where did the totality of reality come from?' 'Did time have a beginning?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-greene/physics-grapples-with-the-largest-questions-the-universe-presents/) [Brian Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-greene/) > [All of the physical universes put together, stretching out endlessly, are only a fraction of the totality of reality. In other words, all of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/all-of-the-physical-universes-put-together-stretching-out-endlessly/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“There is no ism "up there". Yours or mine. Also, there is no messiah, neither yours nor mine, up There. Neither is any human-like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fakeer-ishavardas/there-is-no-ism-up-there-yours-or-mine-also-there-is-no-messiah/) [Fakeer Ishavardas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fakeer-ishavardas/) > [“This is the source of the trouble. Persons tend to think and feel exclusively in one mode or the other and in doing so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/this-is-the-source-of-the-trouble-persons-tend-to-think-and-feel/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [I want to support the view that the foundation of reality itself is a unified, indeterminate maze of possibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danah-zohar/i-want-to-support-the-view-that-the-foundation-of-reality-itself-is-a/) Danah Zohar > [“If we are enveloped in images, we are also enveloped in forms, in spirit, which is nature, and in nature, which is spirit. Daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-neumann/if-we-are-enveloped-in-images-we-are-also-enveloped-in-forms-in/) [Erich Neumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-neumann/) > [The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse... By misuse, I mean that people who have never glimpsed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/the-word-god-has-become-empty-of-meaning-through-thousands-of-years/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Underneath the world of sense perceptions and the world of mind activity, there is the vastness of being. There's a vast spaciousness. There's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/underneath-the-world-of-sense-perceptions-and-the-world-of-mind/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [That stillness and vastness that enables the Universe to be, is not just out there in space...it is also within you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/that-stillness-and-vastness-that-enables-the-universe-to-be-is-not/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Jesus said, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.' I think if he lived nowadays, instead of 'kingdom,' he would have said, 'dimension.' And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/jesus-said-the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-within-you-i-think-if-he-lived/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Thinking is no more than a tiny aspect of the totality of consciousness, the totality of who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/thinking-is-no-more-than-a-tiny-aspect-of-the-totality-of/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [The Now is as it is because it cannot be otherwise. What Buddhists have always known, physicists now confirm: there are no isolated things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/the-now-is-as-it-is-because-it-cannot-be-otherwise-what-buddhists/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [I sometimes ask people, 'Can you be aware of your own presence? Not the thoughts that you're having, not the emotions that you're having,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/i-sometimes-ask-people-can-you-be-aware-of-your-own-presence-not-the/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [We could say that the totality, life wants the sapling to become a tree, but the sapling doesn't see itself as separate from life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/we-could-say-that-the-totality-life-wants-the-sapling-to-become-a/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) ## More by Eckhart Tolle > [“The voice in the head that never stops speaking becomes a civilization that is obsessed with form and therefore knows nothing of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/the-voice-in-the-head-that-never-stops-speaking-becomes-a/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Thinking, or more precisely identification with thinking, gives rise to and maintains the ego, which, in our Western society in particular, is out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/thinking-or-more-precisely-identification-with-thinking-gives-rise-to/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [“A powerful spiritual practice is consciously to allow the diminishment of ego when it happens without attempting to restore it. I recommend that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/a-powerful-spiritual-practice-is-consciously-to-allow-the/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [To become aware of the subtlety of nature you need to be alert. The moment you become alert you become still... thinking subsides. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/to-become-aware-of-the-subtlety-of-nature-you-need-to-be-alert-the/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [When you are not honoring the present moment by allowing it to be, you are creating drama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/when-you-are-not-honoring-the-present-moment-by-allowing-it-to-be-you/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [On a deeper level you are already complete. When you realize that, there is a joyous energy behind what you do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/on-a-deeper-level-you-are-already-complete-when-you-realize-that/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/life-will-give-you-whatever-experience-is-most-helpful-for-the/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [You may not yet be able to bring your unconscious mind activity into awareness as thoughts, but it will always be reflected in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/you-may-not-yet-be-able-to-bring-your-unconscious-mind-activity-into/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [“War is a mind-set, and all action that comes out of such a mind-set will either strengthen the enemy, the perceived evil, or, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/war-is-a-mind-set-and-all-action-that-comes-out-of-such-a-mind-set/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Whenever you step out of the noise of thinking, that is meditation, and a different state of consciousness arises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/whenever-you-step-out-of-the-noise-of-thinking-that-is-meditation-and/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Get the inside right, and the outside will take care of itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/get-the-inside-right-and-the-outside-will-take-care-of-itself/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [It is very hard to tell when I started to be a spiritual teacher. There was a time when occasionally somebody would come and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/it-is-very-hard-to-tell-when-i-started-to-be-a-spiritual-teacher/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Most people spend their entire life imprisoned within the confines of their own thoughts. They never go beyond a narrow, mind-made, personalized sense of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/most-people-spend-their-entire-life-imprisoned-within-the-confines-of/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Let the end of the world be inside you, then you don't need to fear the end of the world out there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/let-the-end-of-the-world-be-inside-you-then-you-don-t-need-to-fear/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [“Jeste li zabrinuti? Razmišljate li često: »Što bi bilo da sam...?« To znači da ste se poistovjetili s umom, koji se projicira u neku…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/jeste-li-zabrinuti-razmi-ljate-li-esto-to-bi-bilo-da-sam-to-zna-i-da/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) [Explore all 1,493 Eckhart Tolle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) ## More Cutting quotes > [“I locked the door and turned on the water to fill the tub. I made it so hot that I had to get in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-crandall/i-locked-the-door-and-turned-on-the-water-to-fill-the-tub-i-made-it/) [Susan Crandall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-crandall/) > [If my campaign is not in the debate, we will not be talking about how we really fix this problem of endless and expanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-stein/if-my-campaign-is-not-in-the-debate-we-will-not-be-talking-about-how/) [Jill Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-stein/) > [Since I worked with Danny Boyle before on Slumdog Millionaire, we have great success and everything. So, when I first got the script and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-r-rahman/since-i-worked-with-danny-boyle-before-on-slumdog-millionaire-we-have/) [A. R. Rahman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-r-rahman/) > [A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-man-has-a-right-to-use-a-saw-an-axe-a-plane-separately-may-he-not/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I didn't understand Southland Tales script at all! Is there a single word to describe it? Cacophony? It's celebrity meets pornography meets politics -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-grant/i-didn-t-understand-southland-tales-script-at-all-is-there-a-single/) [Beth Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-grant/) > [Confidence comes from cutting yourself some slack.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-daly/confidence-comes-from-cutting-yourself-some-slack/) [Tess Daly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-daly/) > [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [There ain't no such thing as black Muslims. That's how they tried to cut off all my brothers in the rest of the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-ali/there-ain-t-no-such-thing-as-black-muslims-that-s-how-they-tried-to/) [Muhammad Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-ali/) > [ We have no clear ideas of the agency of \[demonic\] spirits, nor is it necessary. The Scripture says little to satisfy our curiosity; but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/we-have-no-clear-ideas-of-the-agency-of-demonic-spirits-nor-is-it/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [The child who ran weeping to you with a cut finger is now brought home, smiling gamely, with a broken collarbone and incredible contusions-…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pam-brown/the-child-who-ran-weeping-to-you-with-a-cut-finger-is-now-brought/) [Pam Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pam-brown/) > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/somewhere-somebody-must-have-some-sense-men-must-see-that-force/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [“I hate the way you talk to me And the way you cut your hair I hate the way you drive my car I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/i-hate-the-way-you-talk-to-me-and-the-way-you-cut-your-hair-i-hate/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [God holds each of us by a string. When we sin, we cut the string. But God ties it up again, making a knot.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meister-eckhart/god-holds-each-of-us-by-a-string-when-we-sin-we-cut-the-string-but/) [Meister Eckhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meister-eckhart/) > [What's the difference between obsolete and cutting edge? Obsolete works.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-negroponte/what-s-the-difference-between-obsolete-and-cutting-edge-obsolete-works/) [Nicholas Negroponte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-negroponte/) > [Geometry, which should only obey Physics, when united with it sometimes commands it. If it happens that the question which we wish to examine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-le-rond-d-alembert/geometry-which-should-only-obey-physics-when-united-with-it-sometimes/) [Jean le Rond d'Alembert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-le-rond-d-alembert/) Browse all 6,010 Cutting quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "No thought can encapsulate the vastness of the totality. Reality is a unified whole, but thought cuts it up into fragments. Every thought implies a perspective, and every perspective, by its very nature, implies limitation, which ultimately means that it is not true, at least not absolutely. Only the whole is true, but the whole cannot be spoken or thought.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eckhart Tolle" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness-of-the-totality-reality-is-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Cutting" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness-of-the-totality-reality-is-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d8/eckhart-tolle-81_cutting_no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness_1901540.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d8/eckhart-tolle-81_cutting_no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness_1901540.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d8/eckhart-tolle-81_cutting_no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness_1901540.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“No thought can encapsulate the vastness of the totality. Reality is a unified whole, but thought cuts it up…” — Eckhart Tolle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "No thought can encapsulate the vastness...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness-of-the-totality-reality-is-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/no-thought-can-encapsulate-the-vastness-of-the-totality-reality-is-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```