Active self knowledge for experience

Active Self-Knowledge

Without self-knowledge, experience breeds illusion; with self-knowledge, experience, which is the response to challenge, does not leave a cumulative residue as memory. Self-knowledge is the discovery from moment to moment of the ways of the self, its intentions and pursuit, its thoughts and appetites. There can never be "your experience" and "my experience"; the very term "my experience" indicates ignorance and the acceptance of illusion.

J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Authority , Leader Follower

Authority Corrupts Both Leader and Follower

Self-awareness is arduous, and since most of us prefer an easy, illusory way, we bring into being the authority that gives shape and pattern to our life. This authority may be the collective, the State; or it may be the personal, the Master, the savior, the guru. Authority of any kind is blinding, it breeds thoughtlessness; and as most of us find that to be thoughtful is to have pain, we give ourselves over to authority. Authority engenders power, and power always becomes centralized and therefore utterly corrupting; it corrupts not only the wielder of power, but also him who follows it. The authority of knowledge and experience is perverting, whether it be vested in the Master, his representative or the priest. It is your own life, this seemingly endless conflict, that is significant, and not the pattern or the leader. The authority of the Master and the priest takes you away from the central issue, which is the conflict within yourself.

J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

on the idea of happiness and what it's not

It's not what you know, or believe you know, that brings meaning and happiness. It's how you touch and relate to yourself, others, and the world that matters. Do you hide behind concepts and beliefs and philosophies, however grand they may seem? Or do you live genuinely in the thick of life, however messy and confusing that might feel? Whatever your answer, it's always revealing, and freeing, to be present to yourself--just as you are.