--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we could look through the skull into…" description: "\"If we could look through the skull into the brain of a consciously thinking person, and if the place of optimal excitability were luminous, then we sho..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/ivan-pavlov-15965_borders_if-we-could-look-through-the-skull-into_1790828.png" --- # If we could look through the skull into the brain of a… ![“If we could look through the skull into the brain of a consciously thinking person, and if the place of optimal excitability were luminous, then we should see playing over the cerebral surface, a bright spot with fantastic, waving borders constantly fluctuating in size and form, surrounded by a…” quote by Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/ivan-pavlov-15965_borders_if-we-could-look-through-the-skull-into_1790828.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/ivan-pavlov-15965_borders_if-we-could-look-through-the-skull-into_1790828.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/930/ivan-pavlov-15965_borders_if-we-could-look-through-the-skull-into_1790828.png) > “If we could look through the skull into the brain of a consciously thinking person, and if the place of optimal excitability were luminous, then we should see playing over the cerebral surface, a bright spot with fantastic, waving borders constantly fluctuating in size and form, surrounded by a darkness more or less deep, covering the rest of the hemisphere.” [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Optimal brain excitability appears as a luminous, fluctuating spot surrounded by darkness, symbolizing focused consciousness amid mental chaos. **In simple terms:** Focused thought shines amid mental darkness. Key Takeaway Seek clarity to enhance mental focus. Themes consciousness brain activity focus mental clarity Mood inquisitive analytical Type scientific philosophical When to use this quote - studying - meditation - creative work - stress management Key Concepts neuroscience philosophy of mind Questions to Reflect On - How can we cultivate mental focus? - What does darkness represent in cognition? A Different Perspective The metaphor may oversimplify neural complexity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Borders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borders/) [Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Fantastic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fantastic/) [Hemisphere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hemisphere/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [“The key is to do something else until your brain is consciously free of any thought of the problem.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-oakley/the-key-is-to-do-something-else-until-your-brain-is-consciously-free/) [Barbara Oakley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-oakley/) > [One of the ultimate challenges of biology is to understand how the brain becomes consciously aware of perception, experience and emotion. But it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-kandel/one-of-the-ultimate-challenges-of-biology-is-to-understand-how-the/) [Eric Kandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-kandel/) > [Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/reading-is-a-means-of-thinking-with-another-person-s-mind-it-forces/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Erudite and entertaining, Max Anderson is the perfect tour guide to the world of art. The Quality Instinct is both educational and enlightening from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-silva/erudite-and-entertaining-max-anderson-is-the-perfect-tour-guide-to/) [Daniel Silva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-silva/) > [I hate it when I can't stop thinking about that one person, and deep down inside, I know they probably haven't thought about me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-hate-it-when-i-can-t-stop-thinking-about-that-one-person-and-deep/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It's Crazy The Way You See Someone For 2 Minutes And Yet It Was The Best Of Your Day. But ... It's Crazier When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/it-s-crazy-the-way-you-see-someone-for-2-minutes-and-yet-it-was-the/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [The thinking person's case for Romney, murmured by many of his backers, amounts to this: Vote for Mitt, you know he doesn't believe a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/the-thinking-person-s-case-for-romney-murmured-by-many-of-his-backers/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [If you're a thinking person, the liver is interesting, but nothing is more intriguing than the brain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vilayanur-s-ramachandran/if-you-re-a-thinking-person-the-liver-is-interesting-but-nothing-is/) [Vilayanur S. Ramachandran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vilayanur-s-ramachandran/) > [“If you held to principle so passionately, so inflexibly, indifferent in the particulars of circumstance - the full range of what human beings, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonia-sotomayor/if-you-held-to-principle-so-passionately-so-inflexibly-indifferent-in/) [Sonia Sotomayor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonia-sotomayor/) > [Some people spend their entire lives thinking about one particular famous person. They pick one person who's famous, and they dwell on him or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-warhol/some-people-spend-their-entire-lives-thinking-about-one-particular/) [Andy Warhol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-warhol/) > [Nobody ever thought of me as dumb. They always knew me as cerebral, a thinking person. Educated and so on. But I was always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zeenat-aman/nobody-ever-thought-of-me-as-dumb-they-always-knew-me-as-cerebral-a/) [Zeenat Aman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zeenat-aman/) > [“I realized that as a thinking person his advantage lay precisely in his lack of formal education. Nobody told him what to think, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hessler/i-realized-that-as-a-thinking-person-his-advantage-lay-precisely-in/) [Peter Hessler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hessler/) > [Love is always thinking about the person you care for](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-always-thinking-about-the-person-you-care-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One would hope, as well that intimacy would leave more of a mark, that more of it would remain. But it doesn’t. You just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanif-kureishi/one-would-hope-as-well-that-intimacy-would-leave-more-of-a-mark-that/) [Hanif Kureishi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanif-kureishi/) > [The greatest happiness for the thinking person is to have explored the explorable and to venerate in equanimity that which cannotbe explored.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-greatest-happiness-for-the-thinking-person-is-to-have-explored/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) ## More by Ivan Pavlov > [Our experiments not only proved the existence of a nervous apparatus in the above-mentioned glands, but also disclosed some facts clearly showing the participation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/our-experiments-not-only-proved-the-existence-of-a-nervous-apparatus/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [Only by observing this condition would the results of our work be regarded as fully conclusive and as having elucidated the normal course of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/only-by-observing-this-condition-would-the-results-of-our-work-be/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [The digestive canal represents a tube passing through the entire organism and communicating with the external world, i.e. as it were the external surface…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/the-digestive-canal-represents-a-tube-passing-through-the-entire/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [It is not accidental that all phenomena of human life are dominated by the search for daily bread - the oldest link connecting all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/it-is-not-accidental-that-all-phenomena-of-human-life-are-dominated/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [I am convinced that an important stage of human thought will have been reached when the physiological and the psychological, the objective and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/i-am-convinced-that-an-important-stage-of-human-thought-will-have/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [Appetite, craving for food, is a constant and powerful stimulator of the gastric glands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/appetite-craving-for-food-is-a-constant-and-powerful-stimulator-of/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [In the case of the stomach, however, the nerves of the glandular cells were always severed when constructing an artificially isolated pouch and this,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/in-the-case-of-the-stomach-however-the-nerves-of-the-glandular-cells/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [Physiology has, at last, gained control over the nerves which stimulate the gastric glands and the pancreas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/physiology-has-at-last-gained-control-over-the-nerves-which-stimulate/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [As we have seen, bread, and especially dry bread, evokes secretion of considerably larger quantities of saliva than meat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/as-we-have-seen-bread-and-especially-dry-bread-evokes-secretion-of/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [Edible substances evoke the secretion of thick, concentrated saliva. Why? The answer, obviously, is that this enables the mass of food to pass smoothly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/edible-substances-evoke-the-secretion-of-thick-concentrated-saliva/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [Learn the ABC of science before you try to ascend to its summit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/learn-the-abc-of-science-before-you-try-to-ascend-to-its-summit/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [Don't become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/don-t-become-a-mere-recorder-of-facts-but-try-to-penetrate-the/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [Mankind will possess incalculable advantages and extraordinary control over human behavior when the scientific investigator will be able to subject his fellow men to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/mankind-will-possess-incalculable-advantages-and-extraordinary/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [Possibilities are like the wings of birds; they allow man to soar and to climb to the heavens. And facts are like the atmosphere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/possibilities-are-like-the-wings-of-birds-they-allow-man-to-soar-and/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) > [It is clear to all that the animal organism is a highly complex system consisting of an almost infinite series of parts connected both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-pavlov/it-is-clear-to-all-that-the-animal-organism-is-a-highly-complex/) [Ivan Pavlov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) [Explore all 41 Ivan Pavlov quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-pavlov/) ## More Borders quotes > [We have to get control of our borders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-coffman/we-have-to-get-control-of-our-borders/) [Mike Coffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-coffman/) > [The U.S.-Mexican border es un herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/the-u-s-mexican-border-es-un-herida-abierta-where-the-third-world/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [Preemptive war is what Israel did in '67 with Arab armies on its borders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ivins/preemptive-war-is-what-israel-did-in-67-with-arab-armies-on-its/) [Molly Ivins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ivins/) > [When I went to law school, which after all was back in the dark ages, we never looked beyond our borders for precedents. As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-day-o-connor/when-i-went-to-law-school-which-after-all-was-back-in-the-dark-ages/) [Sandra Day O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-day-o-connor/) > [Schengen cannot survive without the most dramatic reform, and the external borders of Europe must be rapidly strengthened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-soames/schengen-cannot-survive-without-the-most-dramatic-reform-and-the/) [Nicholas Soames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-soames/) > [The troops were occasionally occupied in pursuing scattered bands going north or south, and on three occasions the large camp of Sitting Bull ventured…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-a-miles/the-troops-were-occasionally-occupied-in-pursuing-scattered-bands/) [Nelson A. Miles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-a-miles/) > [The characters in my novels are my own unrealized possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them all and equally horrified by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-characters-in-my-novels-are-my-own-unrealized-possibilities-that/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [When we talk about contemporary art and contemporary artists, we usually imagine artists who are alive. But I feel very uncomfortable about placing a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasumasa-morimura/when-we-talk-about-contemporary-art-and-contemporary-artists-we/) [Yasumasa Morimura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasumasa-morimura/) > [Photography... unites the obvious and the unconscious at the level of the limimal - the border between what we see and what we suspect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-lorca-dicorcia/photography-unites-the-obvious-and-the-unconscious-at-the-level-of/) [Philip-Lorca diCorcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-lorca-dicorcia/) > [When you have the Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee and the political director of the Romney campaign, and their two companies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-caddell/when-you-have-the-chief-of-staff-of-the-republican-national-committee/) [Patrick Caddell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-caddell/) > [Fifty thousand people in Mexico have been murdered. Puerto Penasco, 60 miles south of our border, just had five people and a police officer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-brewer/fifty-thousand-people-in-mexico-have-been-murdered-puerto-penasco-60/) [Jan Brewer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-brewer/) > [The unpleasant truth is that some borders are untenable and preserving them causes conflict, not peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mearsheimer/the-unpleasant-truth-is-that-some-borders-are-untenable-and/) [John Mearsheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mearsheimer/) > [Interesting things happen along borders - transitions - not in the middle where everything is the same.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-stephenson/interesting-things-happen-along-borders-transitions-not-in-the-middle/) [Neal Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-stephenson/) > [At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/at-no-other-time-than-autumn-does-the-earth-let-itself-be-inhaled-in/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [House Republicans want to pass a strong border security, illegal immigration bill. 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