--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What many people don't see is that there…" description: "\"What many people don't see is that there are abundant examples of phenomenal opacity: It is one of the most interesting features of the human conscious..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff0/thomas-metzinger-13958_conscious_what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there_1850992.jpg" --- # What many people don't see is that there are abundant… ![“What many people don't see is that there are abundant examples of phenomenal opacity: It is one of the most interesting features of the human conscious model of reality that, first, it can contain elements that are not experienced as mind-independent, as unequivocally real, as immediately given…” quote by Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff0/thomas-metzinger-13958_conscious_what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there_1850992.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff0/thomas-metzinger-13958_conscious_what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there_1850992.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff0/thomas-metzinger-13958_conscious_what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there_1850992.jpg) > “What many people don't see is that there are abundant examples of phenomenal opacity: It is one of the most interesting features of the human conscious model of reality that, first, it can contain elements that are not experienced as mind-independent, as unequivocally real, as immediately given, and second, that there is a "gradient of realness" in which one and the same content can be experienced transparently or in an opaque fashion.” [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human consciousness treats reality as partly opaque, allowing some aspects to feel less real or unclear, creating a gradient of perceived realness. **In simple terms:** Our mind sees reality with varying clarity. Key Takeaway Recognize and question what feels opaque. Themes consciousness perception reality philosophy Mood reflective analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - psychotherapy - education - media analysis - personal reflection Key Concepts Phenomenology gradient of realness subjective experience Questions to Reflect On - How do you identify opaque aspects in your perception? - Can increasing clarity change your decisions? A Different Perspective Opacity can hinder objective understanding. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) [Elements](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elements/) [Example](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/example/) [Examples Phenomenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/examples-phenomenal-2428091/) [Fashion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fashion/) [Features](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/features/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) [Human Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-conscious-309034/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Independent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/independent/) [Interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interesting/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Models](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/models/) [Most interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/most-interesting/) [Opacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opacity-530598/) [Opacity Interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opacity-interesting-2428089/) [Opaque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opaque/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Phenomenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/phenomenal/) [Phenomenal Opacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/phenomenal-opacity-2428090/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Realness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realness/) ## Related quotes > [Yoga philosophy teaches that real man is not his body, but that the immortal I, of which each human being is conscious to some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vishnudevananda-saraswati/yoga-philosophy-teaches-that-real-man-is-not-his-body-but-that-the/) [Vishnudevananda Saraswati](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vishnudevananda-saraswati/) > [The full-grown modern human being ... is conscious of touching the highest pinnacle of fulfillment... when he is consumed in the service of an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-briffault/the-full-grown-modern-human-being-is-conscious-of-touching-the/) [Robert Briffault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-briffault/) > [“...the opacity of a numeration system takes an important toll on language acquisition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislas-dehaene/the-opacity-of-a-numeration-system-takes-an-important-toll-on/) [Stanislas Dehaene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislas-dehaene/) > [Interfaces called transparent allow us to interact/do what we're supposed to do without being aware of how the effects are obtained. 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You want to be universal and appeal to everyone. You want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-hart/i-don-t-have-to-change-anything-i-think-that-s-the-secret-to-comedy/) [Kevin Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-hart/) > [Janet Mock's honest and sometimes searing journey is a rare and important look into la vida liminal, one that she manages to negotiate remarkably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raquel-cepeda/janet-mock-s-honest-and-sometimes-searing-journey-is-a-rare-and/) [Raquel Cepeda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raquel-cepeda/) > [“When you don’t trust life and so you start testing it and looking for signs, then you’re not really testing life (because the truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oli-anderson/when-you-don-t-trust-life-and-so-you-start-testing-it-and-looking-for/) [Oli Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oli-anderson/) > [If you get into a fight and somebody punches you, you get two feelings. One: That really hurts. Two: That relief in the realness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-darnielle/if-you-get-into-a-fight-and-somebody-punches-you-you-get-two-feelings/) [John Darnielle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-darnielle/) > [If reality shows are so popular, that means their viewers are screaming for more realness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/omari-hardwick/if-reality-shows-are-so-popular-that-means-their-viewers-are/) [Omari Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/omari-hardwick/) > [“To engage in dialogue is to serve others via whatever is real inside you; to engage in debate is to ultimately serve the illusions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oli-anderson/to-engage-in-dialogue-is-to-serve-others-via-whatever-is-real-inside/) [Oli Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oli-anderson/) ## More by Thomas Metzinger > [For a human being, to possess a consciously experienced first-person perspective means to have acquired a very specific functional profile and distinctive level of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/for-a-human-being-to-possess-a-consciously-experienced-first-person/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [At 19, I basically held the position that if you were intellectually honest and really wanted to get in touch with political reality then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/at-19-i-basically-held-the-position-that-if-you-were-intellectually/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [I think that there is an ongoing conspiracy in the philosophical community, an organized form of self-deception, as in a cult, to simply all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/i-think-that-there-is-an-ongoing-conspiracy-in-the-philosophical/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [You cannot be a rational subject without veto-control on the level of mental action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/you-cannot-be-a-rational-subject-without-veto-control-on-the-level-of/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [Someone who cannot stop his outer flow of words will soon be unable to communicate with other human beings at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/someone-who-cannot-stop-his-outer-flow-of-words-will-soon-be-unable/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [I believe that if we would carefully apply the distinction between transparency and opacity to the different layers of the human self-model, looking at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/i-believe-that-if-we-would-carefully-apply-the-distinction-between/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [As far as inner action is concerned, we are only rarely truly self-determined persons, for the major part of our conscious mental activity rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/as-far-as-inner-action-is-concerned-we-are-only-rarely-truly-self/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [Subjectivity means to catch yourself in the act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/subjectivity-means-to-catch-yourself-in-the-act/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [Subjectivity is an ability, the capacity to use a new inner mode of presenting the fact that you currently know something to yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/subjectivity-is-an-ability-the-capacity-to-use-a-new-inner-mode-of/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [One of the interesting characteristics of the Ego Tunnel is that it creates (as Finnish philosopher Antti Revonsuo called it) a robust "out-of-the brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/one-of-the-interesting-characteristics-of-the-ego-tunnel-is-that-it/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [As a first-order approximation, I would say that phenomenality is "availability for introspective attention": Consciousness is a property of all those mental contents to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/as-a-first-order-approximation-i-would-say-that-phenomenality-is/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [I could never understand how someone would embark on their life without having first confronted and clarified the truly fundamental questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/i-could-never-understand-how-someone-would-embark-on-their-life/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [A lot of evidence shows that most of our cognitive processing is unconscious - 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Then this self-model became conscious, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/first-we-developed-the-self-model-because-we-had-to-integrate-our/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [Only as long as we believe in our own identity over time does it make sense for us to make future plans, avoid risks,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/only-as-long-as-we-believe-in-our-own-identity-over-time-does-it-make/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) [Explore all 47 Thomas Metzinger quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) ## 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." 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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": "What many people don't see is that there are abundant examples of phenomenal opacity: It is one of the most interesting features of the human conscious model of reality that, first, it can contain elements that are not experienced as mind-independent, as unequivocally real, as immediately given, and second, that there is a \"gradient of realness\" in which one and the same content can be experienced transparently or in an opaque fashion.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Metzinger" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there-are-abundant-examples-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Conscious" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there-are-abundant-examples-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff0/thomas-metzinger-13958_conscious_what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there_1850992.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff0/thomas-metzinger-13958_conscious_what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there_1850992.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff0/thomas-metzinger-13958_conscious_what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there_1850992.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What many people don't see is that there are abundant examples of phenomenal opacity: It is one of the most…” — Thomas Metzinger", "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": "Thomas Metzinger", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "What many people don't see is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there-are-abundant-examples-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/what-many-people-don-t-see-is-that-there-are-abundant-examples-of/#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 } } ] } ```