--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The universe of his own feelings keeps…" description: "\"“The universe of his own feelings keeps crowding everyone else's out. It is a constant struggle to see other people as people, rather than as denizens ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b43/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_the-universe-of-his-own-feelings-keeps-c_2367157.jpg" --- # The universe of his own feelings keeps crowding everyone… ![“The universe of his own feelings keeps crowding everyone else's out. It is a constant struggle to see other people as people, rather than as denizens of a dimension one level below the one in which he's doomed to wander, imperially alone. That someone close to him might right now be awake in a…” quote by Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b43/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_the-universe-of-his-own-feelings-keeps-c_2367157.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b43/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_the-universe-of-his-own-feelings-keeps-c_2367157.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b43/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_the-universe-of-his-own-feelings-keeps-c_2367157.jpg) > ““The universe of his own feelings keeps crowding everyone else's out. It is a constant struggle to see other people as people, rather than as denizens of a dimension one level below the one in which he's doomed to wander, imperially alone. That someone close to him might right now be awake in a different part of the city, feeling a pain every bit as real as his own . . . he can think it, but cannot seem to remember it. And is 'remember' even the right word for something for which you have zero empirical evidence? Postulate, maybe. Imagine. He sweeps the lens back toward the window, where the cat hasn't stirred. Her tail twitches. An idea threatens to form, but doesn't.”” [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He describes an ego‑centric mind that eclipses others, questioning memory, empathy, and isolation. **In simple terms:** Self‑absorption blinds us to others' reality. Key Takeaway Cultivate empathy and mindful awareness. Themes ego isolation empathy memory Mood thoughtful introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - relationships - creative writing - mental health - social interaction Key Concepts psychology philosophy subjectivity Questions to Reflect On - How can you practice true listening? - What habits reduce self‑absorption? A Different Perspective Empathy requires effort, not just feeling. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [City-on-fire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/city-on-fire/) [Constant struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constant-struggle/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Garth-risk-hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garth-risk-hallberg/) [Interpersonal-relationships](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interpersonal-relationships/) [Navel gazing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/navel-gazing/) [Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember/) [Remember Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember-remember/) [Right now](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-now/) [Self absorbed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-absorbed/) [Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think/) [Think Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-remember/) [Universe Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe-feelings-462016/) ## Related quotes > [“Despite which, Charlie seems doomed to stumble around in the dark, clutching pieces of a puzzle he still can't see.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/despite-which-charlie-seems-doomed-to-stumble-around-in-the-dark/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“No one, in the end, made it out of this life alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/no-one-in-the-end-made-it-out-of-this-life-alive/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“For a moment, he thought he sensed, beneath the visible world, some blind infrastructure connecting the two of them, or the three of them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/for-a-moment-he-thought-he-sensed-beneath-the-visible-world-some/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Daddy just repeated the word, internship . As an alibi, it was a thing of beauty: its overtones of responsibility, of upward aspiration, were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/daddy-just-repeated-the-word-internship-as-an-alibi-it-was-a-thing-of/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Darkness just loosens the mask. Sharpens the mind's eye. Makes the color of a remembered pencil, or a tick of waxy red on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/darkness-just-loosens-the-mask-sharpens-the-mind-s-eye-makes-the/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Now, though, there was a second part, an artifact of his recent illness, as if his melancholy had, in a universe adjacent to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/now-though-there-was-a-second-part-an-artifact-of-his-recent-illness/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“And so she remained, like everything that mattered to me then, secret—to be pursued in the woods by moonlight, when I was supposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/and-so-she-remained-like-everything-that-mattered-to-me-then-secret/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Truly unconditional love was suffocating, in that it took so little notice of who you actually were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/truly-unconditional-love-was-suffocating-in-that-it-took-so-little/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“He lights a cigarette off a candle. These death-tubes, these little crutches or fuses: useful for getting through all sorts of things you don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-lights-a-cigarette-off-a-candle-these-death-tubes-these-little/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“But no, what interested him, psychologically speaking, was the sense of continuity itself, the mind's insistence that this was the same Regan he'd known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/but-no-what-interested-him-psychologically-speaking-was-the-sense-of/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Between the whiskers scraggling down his neck and the now-crooked glasses, he could have been the Black Allen Ginsberg.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/between-the-whiskers-scraggling-down-his-neck-and-the-now-crooked/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Because if every moment of a life is present in every other, so is every old self you've ever tried to outrun. And then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/because-if-every-moment-of-a-life-is-present-in-every-other-so-is/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Detonations crash in from nearby like walls she's a void at the center of.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/detonations-crash-in-from-nearby-like-walls-she-s-a-void-at-the/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Though what could anyone really say these days with one hundred percent certainty?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/though-what-could-anyone-really-say-these-days-with-one-hundred/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“He's moving with such purpose that William is scared he might just speed right off the rooftop, like the roadrunner from the cartoons. Or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-s-moving-with-such-purpose-that-william-is-scared-he-might-just/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) ## More by Garth Risk Hallberg > [“Despite which, Charlie seems doomed to stumble around in the dark, clutching pieces of a puzzle he still can't see.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/despite-which-charlie-seems-doomed-to-stumble-around-in-the-dark/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“He’d wanted it to be about losing, about the things we’re born into loving and then lose.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-d-wanted-it-to-be-about-losing-about-the-things-we-re-born-into/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Though what could anyone really say these days with one hundred percent certainty?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/though-what-could-anyone-really-say-these-days-with-one-hundred/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Detonations crash in from nearby like walls she's a void at the center of.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/detonations-crash-in-from-nearby-like-walls-she-s-a-void-at-the/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Because if every moment of a life is present in every other, so is every old self you've ever tried to outrun. And then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/because-if-every-moment-of-a-life-is-present-in-every-other-so-is/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Between the whiskers scraggling down his neck and the now-crooked glasses, he could have been the Black Allen Ginsberg.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/between-the-whiskers-scraggling-down-his-neck-and-the-now-crooked/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“But no, what interested him, psychologically speaking, was the sense of continuity itself, the mind's insistence that this was the same Regan he'd known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/but-no-what-interested-him-psychologically-speaking-was-the-sense-of/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“He lights a cigarette off a candle. These death-tubes, these little crutches or fuses: useful for getting through all sorts of things you don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-lights-a-cigarette-off-a-candle-these-death-tubes-these-little/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Truly unconditional love was suffocating, in that it took so little notice of who you actually were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/truly-unconditional-love-was-suffocating-in-that-it-took-so-little/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“And so she remained, like everything that mattered to me then, secret—to be pursued in the woods by moonlight, when I was supposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/and-so-she-remained-like-everything-that-mattered-to-me-then-secret/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Now, though, there was a second part, an artifact of his recent illness, as if his melancholy had, in a universe adjacent to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/now-though-there-was-a-second-part-an-artifact-of-his-recent-illness/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Darkness just loosens the mask. Sharpens the mind's eye. Makes the color of a remembered pencil, or a tick of waxy red on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/darkness-just-loosens-the-mask-sharpens-the-mind-s-eye-makes-the/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Daddy just repeated the word, internship . As an alibi, it was a thing of beauty: its overtones of responsibility, of upward aspiration, were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/daddy-just-repeated-the-word-internship-as-an-alibi-it-was-a-thing-of/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“For a moment, he thought he sensed, beneath the visible world, some blind infrastructure connecting the two of them, or the three of them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/for-a-moment-he-thought-he-sensed-beneath-the-visible-world-some/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“No one, in the end, made it out of this life alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/no-one-in-the-end-made-it-out-of-this-life-alive/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) [Explore all 90 Garth Risk Hallberg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) ## More City-on-fire quotes > [“Despite which, Charlie seems doomed to stumble around in the dark, clutching pieces of a puzzle he still can't see.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/despite-which-charlie-seems-doomed-to-stumble-around-in-the-dark/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Though what could anyone really say these days with one hundred percent certainty?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/though-what-could-anyone-really-say-these-days-with-one-hundred/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Detonations crash in from nearby like walls she's a void at the center of.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/detonations-crash-in-from-nearby-like-walls-she-s-a-void-at-the/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Because if every moment of a life is present in every other, so is every old self you've ever tried to outrun. And then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/because-if-every-moment-of-a-life-is-present-in-every-other-so-is/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Between the whiskers scraggling down his neck and the now-crooked glasses, he could have been the Black Allen Ginsberg.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/between-the-whiskers-scraggling-down-his-neck-and-the-now-crooked/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“But no, what interested him, psychologically speaking, was the sense of continuity itself, the mind's insistence that this was the same Regan he'd known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/but-no-what-interested-him-psychologically-speaking-was-the-sense-of/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“He lights a cigarette off a candle. These death-tubes, these little crutches or fuses: useful for getting through all sorts of things you don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-lights-a-cigarette-off-a-candle-these-death-tubes-these-little/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Truly unconditional love was suffocating, in that it took so little notice of who you actually were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/truly-unconditional-love-was-suffocating-in-that-it-took-so-little/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“And so she remained, like everything that mattered to me then, secret—to be pursued in the woods by moonlight, when I was supposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/and-so-she-remained-like-everything-that-mattered-to-me-then-secret/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Now, though, there was a second part, an artifact of his recent illness, as if his melancholy had, in a universe adjacent to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/now-though-there-was-a-second-part-an-artifact-of-his-recent-illness/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Darkness just loosens the mask. Sharpens the mind's eye. Makes the color of a remembered pencil, or a tick of waxy red on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/darkness-just-loosens-the-mask-sharpens-the-mind-s-eye-makes-the/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“Daddy just repeated the word, internship . As an alibi, it was a thing of beauty: its overtones of responsibility, of upward aspiration, were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/daddy-just-repeated-the-word-internship-as-an-alibi-it-was-a-thing-of/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“For a moment, he thought he sensed, beneath the visible world, some blind infrastructure connecting the two of them, or the three of them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/for-a-moment-he-thought-he-sensed-beneath-the-visible-world-some/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“No one, in the end, made it out of this life alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/no-one-in-the-end-made-it-out-of-this-life-alive/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [“He's moving with such purpose that William is scared he might just speed right off the rooftop, like the roadrunner from the cartoons. Or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-s-moving-with-such-purpose-that-william-is-scared-he-might-just/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) [Browse all 86 City-on-fire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/city-on-fire/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The universe of his own feelings keeps crowding everyone else's out. It is a constant struggle to see other people as people, rather than as denizens of a dimension one level below the one in which he's doomed to wander, imperially alone. That someone close to him might right now be awake in a different part of the city, feeling a pain every bit as real as his own . . . he can think it, but cannot seem to remember it. And is 'remember' even the right word for something for which you have zero empirical evidence? Postulate, maybe. Imagine. He sweeps the lens back toward the window, where the cat hasn't stirred. 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