To stand alone is to be uncorrupted, innocent, free of all tradition, of dogma, of opinion, of what another says, and so on. Such a mind does not seek because there is nothing to seek; being free, such a mind is completely still without a want, without movement. But this state is not to be achieved; it isn’t a thing that you buy through discipline; it doesn’t come into being by giving up sex, or practicing a certain yoga. It comes into being only when there is understanding of the ways of the self, the ‘me’, which shows itself through the conscious mind in everyday activity, and also in the unconscious. What matters is to understand for oneself, not through the direction of others, the total content of consciousness, which is conditioned, which is the result of society, of religion, of various impacts, impressions, memories—to understand all that conditioning and be free of it. But there is no ‘how’ to be free. If you ask how to be free, you are not listening.
– J. Krishnamurti, Second Talk in the Oak Grove, 1955
This posting was first seen on the Krishnamurti Retreat House in Ojai website, which can be found here.
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