7 lessons from Jiddhu Krishnamurti
Jiddhu Krishnamurti was an Indian philosopher and spiritual figure.
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Lessons from Krishnamurti
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A life well lived is an act of meditation. Meditation is not a fragmentation of life; it is not a withdrawal into a monastery or into a room, sitting quietly for ten minutes or an hour, trying to concentrate, to learn to meditate, and yet for the rest being a hideous, ugly human being.
Know thyself. In the understanding of ourselves, obviously, lie the beginnings of meditation.
The division in our world stems from within ourselves. There are whole separate worlds, the ideological divisions of the Hindu, the Muslim, the Christians and the communist, which have brought about such incalculable harm, such hatred and antagonism. All ideologies are idiotic, whether religious or political, for it is conceptual thinking, the conceptual word, which has so unfortunately divided man
If you want freedom, you can have it. Freedom is not an idea; a philosophy written about freedom is not freedom. Either one is free or one is not. One is in a prison, however decorative that prison is; a prisoner is free only when he is no longer in prison. Freedom is not a state of the mind that is caught in thought.
You must embark on the journey of freedom. One sees that one has to make the journey of understanding by oneself; one sees that there is no “authority.” Every form of “authority” has failed. Man set up these authorities as a guide, as a means of bringing freedom, peace, and because they have failed they have lost their meaning and hence there is a general revolt against the authorities, spiritual, moral and ethical.
Become aware of your internal dialogue for it is the cause of many of your miseries. You are faced with this fact that you are fear—not an observer who is afraid of fear. You are the observer and the observed; the analyzer and the thing analyzed.
Don’t hide from your ugliness, confront it. If that awareness is “choosing”, then you are blocking it. But if that awareness is without choice, everything is exposed, the most hidden and secret demands, fears and compulsions.
Two essays I enjoyed reading recently:
Where Buddhism and Christianity differ is how they imagine the end of human life, though here there are even more commonalities than might appear at the outset. Whereas Buddhism imagines that human life is dissolved in its separateness from the broader flow of ceaseless change, such that “I” am dissolved into the other elements of the world around me (a part of me will be a flower, another part of me a tree, and so forth), Christianity professes that human life will be dissolved in its separateness from God, so that “I” will be dissolved into the universal consciousness, the universal “I,” of Christ.
Postmdern Perennialist
When the mogul John Rockefeller, who was at one point the richest man in history, was questioned by a reporter about how much money would be enough, Rockefeller cleverly (and hauntingly) replied, “just a little bit more.”14 To me, that doesn’t sound like a testament to the perks of riches; it sounds like an addict who’s let their addiction rule them.
Griffin Gooch
This notion of not chasing after wealth is a turn-off for some people. And these are often people obsessed with money, social status, wealth, and fame. But the truth is these are all transient things—illusions. As a society, we are addicted to money, status, and fame because we think these will satisfy our longing for peace. Or that somehow acquiring these things will help uncover our true identity.
Lao Tzu knew this well:
Filling to fullness is not as good as stopping at the right moment. Oversharpening a blade causes its edge to be lost. Line your home with treasures and you won’t be able to defend it. Amass possessions, establish positions, display your pride: soon enough disaster drives you to your knees. This is the way of heaven: do your work, then quietly step back.
Till next week,
Peace!
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