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The First and Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti

The First and Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti

by Parker · 441 things on Twos

The truth was never preached by the Buddha, seeing that you have to realize it within yourself
To understand the misery and confusion that exist within ourselves, and so in the world, we must first find clarity within ourselves, and that clarity comes about through right thinking. This clarity is not to be organized, for it cannot be exchanged with another. Organized group thought is merely repetitive. Clarity is not the result of verbal assertion, of intense self-awareness and right thinking. Right thinking is not the outcome of or mere cultivation of the intellect, not is it conformity to pattern, however worthy and noble. Right thinking comes with self-knowledge. Without understanding yourself, you have no basis for thought; without self-knowledge, what you think is not true
There is hope in men, not in society, not in systems, organized religious systems, but in you and me
What you are repeating is not the truth It is a lie; for truth cannot be repeated
It is through self-knowledge, not through belief in somebody else’s symbols, that a man comes to the external reality, in which his being is grounded
Belief inevitably separates. If you have a belief, or when you seek security in your particular belief, you become separated from those who seek security in some other form of belief. All organized beliefs are based on separation, though they may preach brotherhood
The man who has successfully solved the problem of his relations with the two worlds of data and symbols, is a man who has no beliefs. With regard to the problems of practical life, he entertains a series of working hypotheses, which serve his purposes, but are taken no more seriously than any other kind of tool or instrument
“Men of good will should not have formulas; for formulas lead, inevitably, only to blind thinking
Our system of upbringing is based upon what to think, not how to think
If you respond to a challenge according to the old conditioning, your response will not enable you to understand the new challenge
What one has to do, in order to meet the new challenge, is to strip oneself completely, denude oneself entirely of the background and meet the challenge anew
It is only through creative understanding of ourselves that there can be a creative world, a happy world, a world in which ideas do not exist
A world in which ideas do not exist would be a happy world, because it would be a world without the powerful conditioning forces which compel men to undertake inappropriate action, a world without the hallowed dogmas in terms of which the world crimes are justified, the greatest follies elaborately rationalized
The very idea of leading somebody is anti-social and anti-spiritual
I am not acting as your guru, because, first of all, I am not giving you any gratification. I am not telling you what you should do from moment to moment, or from day to day, but I am just pointing out something to you; you can take it or leave it, depending on you, not on me
In order to find the solution, the mind must open itself to reality, must confront the given ness of the outer and inner worlds without preconceptions or restrictions
If you are aware without domination or justification, you will see that, by merely looking at that thought, no other thought intrudes. It is only when you condemn, compare, approximate, that other thoughts enter in
If you love, you may do what you will. But if you start by doing what you will, or by doing what you don’t will in obedience to some traditional system or notions, ideals and prohibitions, you will never love
Through choiceless awareness, as it penetrates the successive layers of the ego and its associated sub-conscious, will come live and understanding, but of another order than that with which we are ordinarily familiar
Knowledge is an affair of symbols and is, all too often, a hinderance to wisdom, to the uncovering of the self from moment to moment
Love is neither personal nor impersonal. Love is love, not to be defined or described by the mind as exclusive or inclusive. Love is it’s own eternity; it is the real, the supreme, the immeasurable
To be able really to listen, one should abandon or put aside all prejudices, pre-formulations and daily activities
You are listening when your real attention is given to something
Unfortunately most of us listen through a screen of resistance. Therefore, we listen really to our own noise, to our own sound, not to what is being said
To know that one is in a certain condition, in a certain state, is already a process of liberation; but a man who is not aware of his condition, of his struggle, tries to be something other than he is, which brings about habit
It need an extraordinarily astute mind, and extraordinarily pliable heart, to be aware of and to follow what is; because what is is constantly moving, constantly undergoing a transformation, and if the mind is tethered to belief, to knowledge, it ceases to pursue, it ceases ti follow the swift movement of what is
Follow the thought which is active in you
Giving more and more significance to the values of the senses brings about confusion; and, being in confusion, we try to escape from it through various forms, whether religious, economic or social, or through ambition, through power, through the search for reality
A system cannot transform man; man always transforms the system, which history shows
Understanding is now, not tomorrow. Tomorrow is for the lazy mind, the sluggish mind, the mind that is not interested. When you are interested in something, you do it instantaneously, there is immediate understanding, immediate transformation
If you do not change now, you will never change, because the change that takes place tomorrow is merely a modification, it is not transformation. Transformation can only take place immediately; the revolution is now, not tomorrow. When that happens, you are completely without a problem, for then the self is not worried about itself; then you are beyond the wave of destruction
Most of us are seeking some kind of happiness, some kind of peace; in a world that is ridden with turmoil, wars, contention, strife, we want a refuge where there can be some peace
Happiness is derivative; it is a byproduct of something else. So, before we give our minds and hearts to something which demands a great deal of earnestness, attention, thought, care, we must find out, what is it that we are seeking; whether it is happiness, or gratification
We want permanent pleasure, permanent gratification—which we call truth, God or what you will
So long as I am ignorant of myself, so long as I am unaware of the total process of myself, i have no basis for thought, for affection, for action
What we are, the world is
Before we set out on a journey to find reality, to find God, before we can act, before we can have any relationship with another, which is society, it is essential that we begin to understand ourselves first
Without knowing yourself, without knowing your own way of thinking and why you think certain things, without knowing the background of your conditioning and why you have certain beliefs about art and religion, about your country and your neighbor and about yourself, how can you think truly about anything?
The difficulty is that we are so impatient; we want to get on, we want to reach an end, and so we have neither the time nor the occasion to give ourselves the opportunity to study, to observe
Self-knowledge has no end—you don’t come to an achievement, you don’t come to a conclusion
If one is able to understand oneself, and thereby bring about that creative happiness, that experiencing of something that is not if the mind, then perhaps there can be a transformation in the immediate relationship about us and so in the world in which we live
A mind that wishes to understand a problem must not only understand the problem completely, wholly, but must be able to follow it swiftly, because the problem is never static
Any crisis is always new; therefore, to understand it, a mind must always be fresh, clear, swift in its pursuit
What you are, what you think, and what you feel, what you do in your everyday existence, is projected outwardly, and that constitutes the world
Because of the relationship between yourself and myself, between myself and another in society—society is the product of our relationship—and if our relationship is confused, egocentric, narrow, limited, national, we project that and bring chaos into the world
What you are, the world is
If you and I were only concerned with livelihood we should find the right means of earning it, a means not based on envy. Envy is one of the most destructive factors in relationship because envy indicates the desire for power, for position, and it ultimately leads to politics
If we were both equal in thought, in feeling, there would be no respect, there would be no ill-will, because we would be two individuals meeting, not as disciple and teacher, nor as the husband dominating the wife, nor as the wife dominating the husband
When there is ill-will there is a desire to dominate which arouses jealousy, anger, passion, all of which in our relationship creates constant conflict from which we try to escape, and this produces further chaos, further misery
Stupidity is the giving of wrong values to those things which the mind creates, or to those things which the hands produce
Most of our thoughts spring from the self protective instinct
Belief divides people. It doesn’t unite people
Revolution in society must begin with the inner, psychological transformation of the individual
One of the fundamental causes of the disintegration of society is imitation, and one of the disintegrating factors is the leader, whose very essence is imitation
Since our whole mental, psychological make-up is based on authority, there must be freedom from authority, to be creative
The world is not something separate from you and me; the world, society, is the relationship that we establish or seek to establish between each other
However small may be the world we live in, if we can transform ourselves, bring about a radically different point of view in our daily existence, then perhaps we shall affect the world at large, the extended relationship with others
You cannot live in isolation
Real revolution is not according to any particular pattern, either of the left or of the right, but it is a revolution of values
Self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom, and therefore the beginning of transformation or regeneration
Discontent, instead of setting us aflame, causing us to question life, the whole process of existence, is canalized, and thereby we become mediocre, losing that drive, that intensity to find out the whole significance of existence
One must know oneself as one is, not as one wishes to be which is merely an ideal and therefore fictitious, unreal
To know oneself as one is required an extraordinary alertness of mind, because what is is constantly undergoing transformation, change, and to follow it swiftly the mind must not be tethered to any particular dogma or belief, to any particular pattern of action
Beliefs and ideals only give you a color, preventing true perception
To pursue an ideal away from what is is an escape; it prevents you from discovering snd acting directly upon what you are
Virtue is freedom
Reality can be found only in understanding what is; and to understand what is, there must be freedom, freedom from the fear of what is
If we begin to condemn what is, if we begin to blame or resist it, then we shall not understand its movement
If I want to understand somebody, I cannot condemn him: I must observe, study him. I must love the very thing I M studying
If we merely accumulate knowledge of the self, that very knowledge prevents further understanding, because accumulated knowledge and experience becomes the center through which thought focuses and has its being
Under the shelter of an authority, a guide, you may have temporarily a sense of security, a sense of well-being, but that is not the understanding of the total process of oneself
Authority in its very nature prevents the full awareness of oneself and therefore ultimately destroys freedom; in freedom alone can there be creativeness
Because we want to be inwardly secure, we are constantly seeking methods and means for this security, and thereby we create authority, the worship of another, which destroys comprehension, that spontaneous tranquility of mind in which alone there can be a state of creativeness
That state of creativeness comes only when the self, which is the process of recognition and accumulation, ceases to be; because, after all, consciousness as the ‘me’ is the centre of recognition, and recognition is merely the process of the accumulation of experience
If we can understand ourselves as we are from moment to moment without the process of accumulation, then we shall see how there comes a tranquility that is not a product of the mind, a tranquility that is neither imagined nor cultivated; and only in that state of tranquility can there be creativeness
We live by action and without action there is no life, there is no experience, there is no thinking
Thought is action; and merely to pursue action at one particular level of consciousness, which is the outer, merely to be caught up in outward action without understanding the whole process of action itself, will inevitably lead us to frustration, to misery
Consciousness is experiencing, naming, and recording
Consciousness is action; and without challenge, response, without experiencing, naming, or terming, without recording, which is memory, there is no action
Action creates the actor. The actor comes into being when action has a result, an end in view
Action towards a result is will. The desire to achieve an end brings about will, which is the actor
In the moment of experiencing, you are not aware of yourself as the experienced apart from the experience; you are in a state of experiencing
We are in this state repeatedly, in the state of experiencing; but we always come out of it and give it a term, naming and recording it, and thereby giving continuity to becoming
Ideas breed further ideas, and when there is merely the breeding of ideas there is antagonism, and society becomes top-heavy with the intellectual process of ideation. Our social structure is very intellectual; we are cultivating the intellect at the expense of every other factor of our being and therefore we are suffocated with ideas
It is extraordinarily important for us to understand that if an idea shapes action, then action can never bring about the solution to our miseries because, before it can be put into action, we have to first discover how the idea comes into being
The idea is the result of the thought process, the thought process is the response of memory, and memory is always conditioned
An action based on experience is limiting, and therefore a hindrance
There is action independent of experience when the mind is not controlling action. That is the only state in which there is understanding: when the mind, based on experience, is not guiding action: when thought, based on experience, is not shaping action
Ideas cease only when there is love. Love is not memory. Love is not experience. Love is not the thinking about the person that one loves, for then it is merely thought. You cannot think of love
Idea is always old, casting its shadow on the present and we are ever trying to build a bridge between action and idea. When there is love—which is not me ration, which is not ideation, which is not memory, which is not the outcome of an experience, of a practiced discipline—then that very love is action
It doesn’t matter whose ideas they are, whether from the left or from the extreme right. So long as we cling to ideas, we are in a state in which there can be no experiencing at all
Ideas are not truth; and truth is something that must be experienced directly, from moment to moment
Believes do create conflict, confusion, and antagonism yet we are unwilling to give them up
A cup is useful only when it is empty; and a mind that is filled with beliefs, with dogmas, with assertions, with quotations, is really an in creative mind; it is merely a repetitive mind
A belief, religious or political, obviously hinders the understanding of ourselves. It acts as a screen through which we are looking at ourselves
If we have no beliefs with which the mind has identified itself, then the mind, without identification, is capable of looking at itself as it is—and then, surely, there is the beginning of the understanding of oneself
The more thoughtful, the more awake, the more alert are perhaps the less believing. That is because belief binds, belief isolates; and we see that is so throughout the world
A man who wants peace and who wants to create a new world, a happy world, surely cannot isolate himself through any form of belief
A man of peace, a man who would really understand the whole process of human existence, cannot be bound by a belief
My problem is not that I should believe this or that but that I should free myself from the desire to be secure
Can you as an individual be free from this urge, this craving to be secure, which expresses itself in the desire to believe in something? If we are not free of all that, we are a source of contention; we are not peacemaking; we have no love in our hearts
Can the mind free itself from belief— not find a substitute for it but be entirely free from it?
When you analyze and look at “I know” more intelligently and carefully, you will find that the very assumption “I know” is another wall separating you and me. Behind that wall you take refuge, seeking comfort, security. Therefore the more knowledge a mind is burdened with, the less capable it is of understanding
Ambition is one of the qualities that destroy relationships, that put man against man
If we would live at peace with each other, surely ambition must completely come to an end—not only political, economic, social ambition, but also the more subtle and pernicious ambition, the spiritual ambition—to be something
Unfortunately, every time you see something new you bring in all the information known to you already, all your knowledge, all your past memories, and obviously you become incapable of looking, incapable of receiving anything that is new, that is not of the old
We are not capable of facing that inward insecurity, that inward sense of being alone. We want something to lean on, whether it is the State, whether it is the caste, whether it is nationalism, whether it is a Master or a Saviour or anything else
When we see the falseness of all of this, the mind then is capable—it may be temporarily for a second—of seeing the truth of it; even though when it is too much for it, it goes back
Mind, as we know it, has belief behind it, has desire, the urge to be secure, knowledge, and accumulation of strength. If, with all its power and superiority, one cannot think for oneself, there can be no peace in the world
A mind that would be in a state in which the new can take place—whether it be the truth, whether it be God, or what you will—must surely cease to acquire, to gather; it must put aside all knowledge. A mind burdened with knowledge cannot possible understand, surely, that which is real, which is not measurable
Joy does not come through suppression, through control or indulgence. You may indulge but there is bitterness at the end
Happiness does not come through effort, nor joy through control and suppression; and still all our life is a series of suppression’s, a series of controls, a series of regretful indulgences
Does not effort mean a struggle to change what is into what is not, or into what it should be or should become?
We are constantly struggling to avoid facing what is, or we are trying to get away from it or to transform or modify what is. A man who is truly content is the man who understands what is, gives the right significance to what is. That is true contentment; it is not concerned with having few or many possessions but with the understanding of the whole significance of what is; and that can only come when you recognize what is, when you are aware of it, not when you are trying to modify it or change it
You may build with great care a marvelous society, using the infinite knowledge science has given us. But so long as the psychological strife and struggle and battle are not understood and the psychological overtones and currents are not overcome, the structure of society, however marvelously build, is bound to crash, as has happened over and over again
Distraction, which is effort, must exist so long as psychologically I wish to transform what is into something it is not
You create when there is no effort, when you are completely open, when on all levels you are in complete communication, completely integrated
Is creativeness a sense of total self-forgetfulness, that sense when there is no turmoil, when one is wholly unaware of the movement of thought, when there is only a complete, full, rich being?
As our lives are mostly a series of battles, conflicts, and struggles, we cannot imagine a life, a state of being, in which strife has fully created
I am this, and I want to become that; I am not that, and I must become that. In becoming “that,” there is strife, there is battle, conflict, struggle. In this struggle we are concerned inevitably with fulfillment through the gaining of an end; we seek self fulfillment in an object, in a person, in an idea, and that demands constant battle, struggle, the effort to become, to fulfill.
The desire to fulfill, to become something, arises when there is awareness of being nothing. Because I am nothing, because I am insufficient, empty, inwardly poor, I struggle to becoming something; outwardly or inwardly I struggle to fulfill myself in a person, in a thing, in an idea. To fill that void is the whole process of our existence. Being aware that we are empty, inwardly poor, we struggle either to collect things outwardly, or cultivate inward riches
Effort exists only so long as we are trying to avoid that inward loneliness, emptiness, but when we look at it, observe it, when we accept what is without avoidance, we will find there comes a state of being in which all strife ceases. That state of being is creativeness and it is not the result of strife
When there is understanding of what is, which is emptiness, inward insufficiency, when one lives with that insufficiency and understands it fully, there comes creative reality, creative intelligence, which alone bring happiness
It is only if you are aware of inward insufficiency and live with it without escape, accepting it wholly, that you will discover an extraordinary tranquility, which is not put together, made up, but a tranquility which comes with understanding of what is
This contradiction, this opposition in us, must be understood because it creates conflict; and in conflict, in struggle, we cannot create individually
There is contradiction, so there must be struggle; and struggle is destruction, waste. In that state we can produce nothing but antagonism, strife, more bitterness and sorrow. If we can understand this fully and hence be free of contradiction, then there can be inward peace, which will bring understanding of each other
I think I have a permanent desire, I posit in myself a permanent desire and another desire arises which contradicts it; this contradiction brings about conflict, which is waste
Why not look at life not as one permanent desire but as a series of fleeting desires always in opposition to each other?
If I regard life not as a permanent desire but as a series of temporary desires which are constantly changing, then there is no contradiction
There is no fixed point in desire; but the mind establishes a fixed point because it treats everything as a means to arrive, to gain; and there must be contradiction, conflict, as long as one is arriving
You want to arrive, you want to succeed, you want to find an ultimate God or truth which will be your permanent satisfaction
You are not seeking truth, you are not seeking God. You are seeking lasting gratification, and that gratification you clothe with an idea, a respectable-sounding word such as God, truth; but actually we are all seeking gratification, and we place that gratification, that satisfaction, at the highest point, calling it God, and the lowest point is drink
So long as the mind is seeking gratification, there is not much difference between God and drink
Socially,drink may be bad; but the inward desire for gratification, for gain, is even more harmful, is it not?
So long as we think in terms of time, in terms of achievement, in terms of position, there must be contradiction. After all, the mind is the product of time. Thought is based on yesterday, on the past; and so long as thought is functioning within the field of time, thinking is terms of the future, of becoming, gaining, achieving, there must be contradiction, because then we are incapable of facing exactly what is
Only in realizing, in understanding, in being choicelessly aware of what is, is there a possibility of freedom from that disintegrating factor which is contradiction
Thought itself has become a contradiction because we have not understood the total process of ourselves; and that understanding is possible only when we are fully aware of our thought, not as an observer operating upon this thought, but integrally and without choice—which is extremely arduous. Then only is there the dissolution of that contradiction which is so detrimental, so painful
So long as we are trying to achieve a psychological result, so long as we want inward security, there must be a contradiction in our life
On the contrary, contradiction gives us an impetus to live; the very element of friction makes us feel that we are alive. The effort, the struggle of contradiction, gives us a sense of vitality
Quietness of mind is essential to understand the whole significance of life
Thought can never be tranquil; thought, which is the product of time, can never find that which is timeless, can never know that which is beyond time
So long as thought, which is the product of the past, tries to eliminate contradiction and all the problems that it creates, it is merely pursuing a result, trying to achieve an end, and such thinking only creates more contradiction and hence conflict, misery and confusion in us and, therefore, about us
To be free of contradiction, one must be aware of the present, without choice
Self-knowledge is the beginning of understanding; without self-knowledge, contradiction and conflict will continue. To know the whole process, the totality of oneself, does not require any expert, any authority. The pursuit of authority only breeds fear. No expert, no specialist, can show us how to understand the process of the self. One has to study it for oneself. You and I can help each other by talking about it, but none can unfold it for us, no specialist, no teacher, can explore it for us
So long as there is a pattern of thought, contradiction will continue; to put an end to the pattern, and so to contradiction, there must be self-knowledge
This understanding of the self is not a a process reserved for the few. The self is to be understood in our everyday speech, in the way we think and feel, in the way we look at another. If we can be aware of every thought, of every feeling, from moment to moment, then we shall see that in relationship the ways of the self are understood. Then only is there a possibility of that tranquility of mind in which alone the ultimate reality can come into being
The self is dividing; the self is self-enclosing: it’s activities, however Nobel, are separative and isolating. We also know those extraordinary moments when the self is not there, in which there is no sense of endeavor, of effort, and which happens when there is love
Creation is when the self is not there, because creation is not intellectual, is not of the mind, is not self-projected, is something beyond all experiencing
Any movement of the mind, positive or negative, is an experience which actually strengthens the ‘me’
When the mind seeks a timeless spiritual state which will go into action in order to destroy the self, is that not another form of experience which is strengthening the ‘me’? When you believe, is that not what is actually taking place?
When the mind seeks a timeless spiritual state which will go into action in order to destroy the self, is that not another form of experience which is strengthening the ‘me’? When you believe, is that not what is actually taking place?
When you recognize that every movement of the mind is merely a form of strengthening the self, when you observe it, see it, when you are completely aware of it in action, when you come to that point—not ideologically, verbally, not through projected experiencing, but then you are actually in that state—then you will see that the mind, being utterly still, has no power of creating. Whatever the mind creates us in a circle, within the field of the self. When the mind is non-creating there is creation, which is not a recognizable process
Reality, truth, is not to be recognized. For truth to come, belief, knowledge, experiencing, the pursuit of virtue—all this must go. The virtuous person who is conscious of pursuing virtue can never find reality. He may be a very decent person; but that is entirely different from being a man of truth, a man who understands
A virtuous man is a righteous man, and a righteous man can never understand what is truth because virtue to him is the covering of the self, the strengthening of the self, because he is pursuing virtue. When he says “I must be without greed”, the state of non-greed which he experiences only strengthens the self. That is why it is important to be poor, not only in the things of the world but also in belief and in knowledge
A man with worldly riches or a man rich in knowledge snd belief will never know anything but darkness, and will he the centre of all mischief and misery
Love is not of the self. Self cannot recognize love. When you know love, self is not. When there is love, self is not
Fear is always related to the known, not to the unknown
Knowledge is having ideas, having opinions about things, having a sense of continuity as in relation to the known, and no more
Ideas are memories, the result of experience, which is response to challenge
I am afraid of the known, which means I am afraid of losing people, things, or ideas, I am afraid of discovering what I am, afraid of being at a loss, afraid of the pain which might come into being when I have lost or have not gained or have no more pleasure
Physical pain is a nervous response, but psychological pain arises when I hold on to things that give me satisfaction, for then I am afraid of anyone or anything that may take them away from me
Sorrow is the very process of accumulating to ward off psychological pain
Fear exists so long as there is accumulation of the known, which creates the fear of losing
Wherever there is a desire for self-protection, there is fear
Fear exists in the process of accumulation and belief in something is part of the accumulative process
In the very process of believing, there is doubt
Outwardly I accumulate things, and bring war; inwardly I accumulate beliefs, and bring pain
Fear comes into being when I desire to be in a particular pattern. To live without fear means to live without a particular pattern
When I demand a particular way of living that in itself is a source of fear
The frame is causing fear and the fear is strengthening the frame
Identification is process of self-forgetfulness
So long as I am conscious of the ‘me’ I know there is pain, there is struggle, there is constant fear. But if I can identify myself with something greater, with something worth while, with beauty, with life, with truth, with belief, with knowledge, at least temporarily, there is an escape from the ‘me’, is there not?
The man who pursues virtue is escaping from the self and he has a narrow mind. That is not a virtuous mind, for virtue is something which cannot be pursued
Fear is the non-acceptance of what is
Don’t yo know when the body is perfectly healthy there is a certain joy, well-being; and don’t you know when the mind is completely free, without any block, when the centre of recognition as the ‘me’ is not there, you experience a certain joy?
It requires a great deal of intelligence to be simple and not merely conform to a particular pattern, however worthy outwardly
It is comparatively easy to have few things and to be satisfied with few things; to be content with little and perhaps to share that little with others
Simplicity which is fundamental, real, can only come into being inwardly; and from that there is an outward expression
A sensitive mind, a sensitive heart, is essential, for then it is capable of quick perception, quick reception
Most of us like to be held—by people, by possessions, by ideas. We like to be prisoners. Inwardly we are prisoners, though outwardly we seem to be very simple. Inwardly we are prisoners to our desires, to our wants, to our ideals, to innumerable motivations. Simplicity cannot be found unless one is free inwardly. Therefore it must begin inwardly, not outwardly
When there is freedom from beliefs, there is simplicity. But that simplicity requires intelligence, and to be intelligent one must be aware of one’s own impediments. To be aware, one must be constantly on the watch, not established in any particular groove, in any particular pattern of thought or action. After all, what one is inwardly does affect the outer
Society, or any form of action, is the projection of ourselves, and without transforming inwardly mere legislation has very little significance outwardly; it may bring about certain reforms, certain adjustments, but what one is inwardly always overcomes the outer
A mind that is not sensitive, not alert, not aware, is incapable of any receptivity, any creative action
Conformity as a means of making ourselves simple really makes the mind and heart dull, insensitive
Compulsion of any kind can never lead to simplicity. On the contrary, the more you suppress, the more you substitute, the more you sublimate, the less there is simplicity, but the more you understand the process of sublimation, suppression, substitution, the greater the possibility of being simple
Our problems—social, environmental, political, religious—are so complex that we can solve them only by being simple, not by becoming extraordinarily erudite and clever
A simple person sees much more directly, has a more direct experience, than the complex person
Our minds are so crowded with an infinite knowledge of facts, of what others have said, that we have become incapable of being simple and having direct experience ourselves
Simplicity comes only through self-knowledge, through understanding ourselves; the ways of our thinking and feeling; the movement of our thoughts; our responses; how we conform, through fear, to public opinion, to what others say, what the Buddha, the Christ, the great saints have said—all of which indicates our nature to conform, to be safe, to be secure. When one is seeking security, one is obviously in a state of fear and therefore there is no simplicity
Without being simple, one cannot be sensitive—to the trees, to the birds, to the mountains, to the wind, to all the things which are going on about us in the world; if one is not simple one cannot be sensitive to the inward intimation of things
To be simple in the whole, total process of our consciousness is extremely arduous; because there must be no inward reservation, there must be an eagerness to find out, to inquire into the process of our being; which means to be awake to every intimation, to every hint; to be aware of our fears, of our hopes, and to investigate and to be free of them more and more and more. Only then, when the mind and the heart are really simple, not encrusted, are we able to solve the many problems that confront us
One must have the capacity to investigate all these things anew; because it is only through direct experience that our problems are solved, and to have direct experience there must be simplicity, which means there must be sensitivity
A mind is made dull by the past, by the future. Only a mind that is capable of adjusting itself to the present, continually, from moment to moment, can meet the powerful influences and pressures constantly put upon us by our environment
The one who is inwardly simple, who is not becoming anything is capable of extraordinary receptivity, because there is no barrier, there is no fear, there is no going towards something; therefore it is capable of receiving grace, God, truth, or what you will
It is only when a mind is really sensitive, alert, aware of all its own happenings, responses, thoughts, when it is no longer becoming, is no longer shaping itself to be something—only then is it capable of receiving that which is truth. It is only then that there can be happiness, for happiness is not an end—it is the result of reality
When the mind and the heart have become simple and therefore sensitive—not through any form of compulsion, direction, or imposition—then we shall see that our problems can be tackled very simply. However complex our problems, we shall be able to approach them freshly and see them differently. That is what is wanted at the present time: people who are capable of meeting this outward confusion, turmoil, antagonism anew, creatively, simply
We cannot approach a problem anew if we are thinking in terms of certain patterns of thought, religious, political or otherwise
Humility that is gained ceases to be humility. A mind that makes itself humble is no longer a humble mind. It is only when one has humility, not a cultivated humility, that one is able to meet the things of life that are so pressing, because then one is not important, one doesn't look through one's own pressures and sense of importance; one looks at the problem for itself and then one is able to solve it
When you are aware, you see the whole process of your thinking and action; but it can happen only when there is no condemnation
When I condemn something, I do not understand it, and it is one way of avoiding any kind of understanding