Iain-m-banks Quote by Iain M. Banks
““I can understand that people want to feel special and important and so on, but that self-obsession seems a bit pathetic somehow. Not being able to accept that you're just this collection of cells, intelligent to whatever degree, capable of feeling emotion to whatever degree, for a limited amount of time and so on, on this tiny little rock orbiting this not particularly important sun in one of just 400m galaxies, and whatever other levels of reality there might be via something like brane-theory [of multiple dimensions] … really, it's not about you. It's what religion does with this drive for acknowledgement of self-importance that really gets up my nose. 'Yeah, yeah, your individual consciousness is so important to the universe that it must be preserved at all costs' – oh, please. Do try to get a grip of something other than your self-obsession. How Californian. The idea that at all costs, no matter what, it always has to be all about you. Well, I think not.””
About This Quote
The quote critiques human egocentrism and the tendency to view consciousness as cosmically significant, urging humility and a broader perspective beyond self-importance.
In simple terms: Humility over self‑importance
Key Takeaway
Self‑obsession blinds us to larger realities
Themes
humility
ego
cosmic perspective
philosophy
religion
Mood
skeptical
reflective
critical
Type
philosophical
critical
satirical
When to use this quote
- personal introspection
- public discourse
- religious doctrine
- scientific education
Key Concepts
self‑importance
anthropic bias
existential scale
Practical Applications
- philosophical writing
- mental‑health counseling
Questions to Reflect On
- How does recognizing our smallness affect our actions?
- What practices cultivate humility?
![“[I]t was really only in the generation or two before hers that the idea had started to traverse the spectrum of likelihood in the popular imagination, beginning at unthinkable, progressing to absurd, then going from possible but unlikely to probable and likely, before eventually arriving – round…” quote by Iain M. Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e3b/iain-m-banks-3729_ideas_i-t-was-really-only-in-the-generation-or_47398.jpg)
