Observe How Habits Are Formed ( 31 may 2006)

Without freedom from the past there is no freedom at all, because the mind is nevernew, fresh, innocent. It is only the fresh, innocent mind that is free. Freedom hasnothing to do with age, it has nothing to do with experience; and it seems to methat the very essence of freedom lies in understanding the whole mechanism of habit,both conscious and unconscious. It is not a question of ending habit, but of seeingtotally the structure of habit. You have to observe how habits are formed and how,by denying or resisting one habit, another habit is created. What matters is to betotally conscious of habit; for then, as you will see for yourself there is nolonger the formation of habit. To resist habit, to fight it, to deny it, only givescontinuity to habit. When you fight a particular habit you give life to that habit,and then the very fighting of it becomes a further habit. But if you are simplyaware of the whole structure of habit without resistance, then you will find th ere is freedom from habit, and in that freedom a new thing takes place.It is only the dull, sleepy mind that creates and clings to habit. A mind that isattentive from moment to moment—attentive to what it is saying, attentive to themovement of its hands, of its thoughts, of its feelings—will discover that theformation of further habits has come to an end. This is very important tounderstand, because as long as the mind is breaking down one habit, and in that veryprocess creating another, it can obviously never be free; and it is only the freemind that can perceive something beyond itself.

The Book of Life - May 31