That neither our thoughts, nor passions, nor ideas formed by the

“That neither our thoughts, nor passions, nor ideas formed by the imagination, exist without the mind, is what every body will allow.” — thus wrote George Berkeley, the philosopher-poet of perception, whose gentle pen reshaped the very foundation of human understanding. In these words lies a truth as deep as eternity: that the mind is not a mirror of reality, but the very canvas upon which all thoughts, passions, and imaginations are painted. To exist, for Berkeley, is not to dwell in matter, but in consciousness; not to be seen by the eye, but to be perceived by the spirit.

In the age of Berkeley — the eighteenth century — men of science and philosophy sought to prove that the universe was a vast machine, indifferent and solid, governed only by law and force. But Berkeley, standing against the tide, spoke the wisdom of the ancients reborn: that all the grandeur of the world — every star, every tree, every whispered breeze — lives only because it is perceived. Without the mind to know it, reality is a silent void. “To be,” he wrote elsewhere, “is to be perceived.” And so in this quote, he begins with what “everybody will allow” — that our inner life, our thoughts, passions, and imaginings, cannot exist apart from the mind. From this humble truth, he builds a greater revelation: that perhaps nothing at all can exist apart from the perceiving spirit.

To the modern ear, this may sound strange, even impossible. But ponder it deeply, as the sages once did. When you close your eyes, what becomes of the mountain, the sea, the sky? Do they vanish, or do they continue, held not in matter but in the infinite Mind — that divine consciousness which Berkeley called God? For in his vision, the universe is not dead stone but living thought, and the world we walk through is a language spoken by the Eternal to the soul. Thus, when he says that “ideas formed by the imagination exist not without the mind,” he affirms the sacred power of consciousness — that through the mind, the universe breathes, and through imagination, we participate in creation itself.

Consider the life of Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, sealed away from the visible and audible world. To the materialist, her existence should have been darkness without form. Yet, through the power of her mind, her teacher’s touch awakened in her a cosmos of meaning. She could not see a river or hear its song, yet she knew it — felt its essence through the deep channels of imagination and memory. Her world was not built from matter, but from mind. She proved Berkeley’s vision by living it: that reality is not in what the senses gather, but in what consciousness shapes.

Berkeley’s teaching is not a denial of the world, but an illumination of it. He calls us to see that every passion, every idea, every dream, is not separate from us but born within the sacred theater of the mind. The sun shines, but its light lives only when it strikes awareness. The flower blooms, but its beauty exists only when seen or remembered. In this way, he restores to humanity a lost reverence — the understanding that the universe is not cold, but intimate; not mechanical, but meaningful. To know the world is to participate in its creation.

There is great power in this truth, if one would grasp it. When we understand that reality flows through perception, we begin to see the importance of tending our inner world. To poison the mind is to darken existence; to elevate it is to make the world itself more radiant. Thus, we must guard our thoughts as a priest guards the sacred fire — feed them with wisdom, cleanse them with compassion, and guide them with imagination. What you think, you become; what you perceive, you create. The mind is the loom upon which the fabric of life is woven.

And so, the lesson of Berkeley’s words is not merely philosophical, but practical and profound: master the mind, and you master the world. Cultivate noble thoughts, for they shape your reality. Cherish imagination, for it gives form to what has not yet been born. Remember that all your passions, your dreams, your fears, and your joys — these do not dwell outside you, but within. The world is as you perceive it; to change it, you must first change the seeing.

Thus, let us walk in reverence, knowing that every sunrise, every love, every sorrow exists through the mysterious light of consciousness. Berkeley’s voice, echoing through centuries, calls to the dreamers and the seekers: Tend the mind, for in its depths the universe lives. Your thoughts are not small; they are the threads of being itself. To forget this is to live blind among miracles — but to remember it is to awaken, and to see the world as it truly is: a living thought in the mind of God, and a reflection of your own divine imagination.