We burned with love for ourselves, all of us, starters of the fire we suffered- our love was the affliction for which only our love was the cure.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
What do babies dream of? She must be dreaming of the before-life, just as I dream of the afterlife.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote explores the concept of dreams and the continuity of existence beyond life.
In this quote, Jonathan Safran Foer reflects on the idea of dreams as a window to experiences and realms beyond our current lives. He juxtaposes the dreams of babies, who may be connected to a state before birth, with his own musings about the afterlife, suggesting a shared interest in what exists before and after our physical existence, and inviting contemplation on the cycles of life and consciousness.
Themes
DreamsLifeAfterlifeExistencePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the meaning of life during a philosophy class.
More from Jonathan Safran Foer
All quotes βMemory was supposed to fill the time, but it made time a hole to be filled. Each second was two hundred yards, to be walked, crawled. You couldn't see the next hour, it was so far in the distance. Tomorrow was over the horizon, and would take an entire day to reach.
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What is being awake if not interpreting our dreams, or dreaming if not interpreting our wake?
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Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn't motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the most serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn't enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say not now, then when?
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
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