There is no method of self-knowledge. Seeking a method invariably implies the desire to attain some result — and that is what we all want. We follow authority — if not that of a person, then of a system, of an ideology — because we want a result that will be satisfactory, which will give us security. We really do not want to understand ourselves, our impulses and reactions, the whole process of our thinking, the conscious as well as the unconscious; we would rather pursue a system that assures us of a result. But the pursuit of a system is invariably the outcome of our desire for security, for certainty, and the result is obviously not the understand of oneself., When we follow a method, we must have authorities — the teacher, the guru, the savior, the Master — who will guarantee us what we desire, and surely that is not the way of self-knowledge. Authority prevents the understanding of oneself, does it not? 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. There can be creativeness only through self-knowledge. Jiddu Krishnamurti
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More Quotes By Jiddu Krishnamurti
  1. It is truth that liberates, not your effort to be free.
  2. You can only be afraid of what you think you know.
  3. We carry about us the burden of what thousands of people have said and the memories of all our misfortunes. To abandon all that is to be alone, and the mind that is alone is not only innocent but young -- not in time or...
  4. Thought is so cunning, so clever, that it distorts everything for its own convenience.
  5. Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Wherever he goes, you also go. He will not be alone.
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