“Freedom is not a reaction; freedom is not choice. It is man’s pretense that because he has choice he is free. Freedom is pure observation without direction, without fear of punishment and reward. Freedom is without motive; freedom is not at the end of the evolution of man but lies in the first step of his existence. In observation one begins to discover the lack of freedom. Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity.”
— J. Krishnamurti, 1980
In 1929, he said “Truth is a pathless land”. Much as we might speak of the truths of this path or that path, this state or that, these are relative truths and fall away when the journey progresses. Unchanging truth is found at the end of all paths.
Davidya
The more I read J Krishnamurti, the more I get what he means by no path, (no tradition, no belonging, no attachment to any lineage, -no matter how inspiring they are). It may seem dry and harsh to many, but we are so attracted to flowery explanations that it’s difficult to see the purity and uniqueness of what JK conveys. Standing alone is not easy, but any outside authority, even spiritual, may corrupt and veil what we are fundamentally. Thanks for your beautiful blog.
Hi Marine
Thanks. The way I see it, there is value in having a map for the journey. We should not confuse the map with the road but still it’s good to know where we are. (laughs) And then when we get there, the map can be discarded.
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And yes, any attachment – to linage, to map, to concepts, to teacher can be a barrier to freedom.
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And yes, each person has their own experience of the journey that may not be shared by others. I’ve looked at the underlying process to map the fundamentals, then described the variations I’ve seen in how various people experience it in practice.
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I’ll note that Jiddu was brilliant but from others feedback did not move past Self Realization. I suspect his rejection of precedent may have been a blind spot.
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However we hold truth, we have to let even that go as the journey progresses.