“Now, what does it mean to be free?
Is freedom a matter of doing what happens to suit you, going where you like, thinking what you will?
This you do anyhow.
Merely to have independence, does that mean freedom?
Many people in the world are independent, but very few are free.
Freedom implies great intelligence, does it not?
To be free is to be intelligent, but intelligence does not come into being by just wishing to be free;
it comes into being only when you begin to understand your whole environment,
the social,
religious,
parental and traditional influences that are continually closing in on you.
But to understand the various influences-
the influence of your parents,
of your government,
of society,
of the culture to which you belong,
of your beliefs,
your gods and superstitions,
of the tradition to which you conform unthinkingly -
to understand all these and become free from them requires deep insight;
but you generally give in to them because inwardly you are frightened.
You are afraid of not having a good position in life;
you are afraid of what your priest will say;
you are afraid of not following tradition, of not doing the right thing.
But freedom is really a state of mind in which there is no fear or compulsion, no urge to be secure.”
—J. Krishnamurti
Is freedom a matter of doing what happens to suit you, going where you like, thinking what you will?
This you do anyhow.
Merely to have independence, does that mean freedom?
Many people in the world are independent, but very few are free.
Freedom implies great intelligence, does it not?
To be free is to be intelligent, but intelligence does not come into being by just wishing to be free;
it comes into being only when you begin to understand your whole environment,
the social,
religious,
parental and traditional influences that are continually closing in on you.
But to understand the various influences-
the influence of your parents,
of your government,
of society,
of the culture to which you belong,
of your beliefs,
your gods and superstitions,
of the tradition to which you conform unthinkingly -
to understand all these and become free from them requires deep insight;
but you generally give in to them because inwardly you are frightened.
You are afraid of not having a good position in life;
you are afraid of what your priest will say;
you are afraid of not following tradition, of not doing the right thing.
But freedom is really a state of mind in which there is no fear or compulsion, no urge to be secure.”
—J. Krishnamurti
“Everything takes care of itself in due time.
You have nothing to fear and you have nothing to fight.
You have to learn to have faith in the powers that be.
Those powers are within yourself. You are they.
They are not external to you.
As most of you know by now, the only thing that's external to you is your mind.
Your mind has created your world, the world that you believe in.
The things that you see in this world, the things that you feel, your frustrations, your happiness, your joys, your miseries, whatever you think is real for you, you have created yourself.
Otherwise where would it come from?
The world just is.
It isn't good or bad.
It just is.
It is you who make it good or bad.
It is you who have opinions of how things should be, how they should look.
The world itself has no opinions. It just appears as it is.
But you give it life. It is you who see all these dastardly things going on.
It is you who see these things going on in your life, somebody trying to hurt you, someone's trying to take something from you, as if you can lose something.
What is rightfully yours will always be yours.
What is not rightfully yours, no matter how you try to hold on to it, it will leave you somehow.”
-Robert Adams
You have nothing to fear and you have nothing to fight.
You have to learn to have faith in the powers that be.
Those powers are within yourself. You are they.
They are not external to you.
As most of you know by now, the only thing that's external to you is your mind.
Your mind has created your world, the world that you believe in.
The things that you see in this world, the things that you feel, your frustrations, your happiness, your joys, your miseries, whatever you think is real for you, you have created yourself.
Otherwise where would it come from?
The world just is.
It isn't good or bad.
It just is.
It is you who make it good or bad.
It is you who have opinions of how things should be, how they should look.
The world itself has no opinions. It just appears as it is.
But you give it life. It is you who see all these dastardly things going on.
It is you who see these things going on in your life, somebody trying to hurt you, someone's trying to take something from you, as if you can lose something.
What is rightfully yours will always be yours.
What is not rightfully yours, no matter how you try to hold on to it, it will leave you somehow.”
-Robert Adams