Freedom from the Known by J. Krishnamurti
This is the first of a series of posts on my sources of inspiration.
J. Krishnamurti is a favorite author and philosopher. Why? Because Krishnamurti, rarely if ever, tells us how to live our lives; he asks us to ask ourselves for the answers to our own questions because we all know the Truth internally.
Krishnamurti suggests that the borders of countries and religions create fear in mankind, and that we do ourselves a disservice when we try to live up to others’ beliefs. We give up who we are to be what the government or religion dictates we must be in order to be “good” people.
J. Krishnamurti
His questions I like most are those that he asks us to ask of ourselves: “Who am I?” Am I the sum of all the people directing my life about; my parents, my cousins, my sister, my brother, my government or my religion or the sum of the group? Are my reactions and thoughts in life truly my own? Or are they reflections of all those whom I have unknowingly allowed to influence my life and my being?
So the question becomes, “How do I step back into myself and be ‘my’ self, not that which influences me? There is one way I know how to do this and that is silence and meditation. By filtering the noise in life I become with myself and the Universe and find my center. I commune with life on life’s terms not on the terms of the noise that I may allow to drive me.
The Greatness of Krishnamurti is that he is his own guru and the guru of no one else. It was his clear mission to acknowledge the greatness within each and every one of us by following our own “heart and soul” and not those of some others. This is true greatness when one finds and follows one’s own true pathway. To find the gift of peace and wisdom from within and then be able to carry that in silence in whatever way we must as we travel through our lives. It is true freedom, a freedom that Krishnamurti has titled a book after: Freedom from the Known
A few quotes from Krishnamurti that may inspire:
“In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.”
“Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the understanding of a problem.”
“What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.”
“I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.”
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
“Religion is the frozen thought of man out of which they build temples.”
“The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.”
“Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay.”
“When we talk about understanding, surely it takes place only when the mind listens completely – the mind being your heart, your nerves, your ears- when you give your whole attention to it.”
“You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life.”
“All ideologies are idiotic, whether religious or political, for it is conceptual thinking, the conceptual word, which has so unfortunately divided man.”
-Jiddu Krishnamurti
Links
Read Freedom From the Known online
Buy the Book
Visionary and designer Peter Koslowski, G.G., A.G., F.G.A is the Founder and CEO of the Peter Stone Company, the world's leading producer of sterling silver spiritual and Celtic jewelry. 
