"There is no method for
self-knowledge. Seeking a method invariably implies the desire to attain some
result and that is what we all want. We follow authority - if not that of a
person, then of a system, of an ideology - because we want a result that will be
satisfactory, which will give us security. We really do not want to understand
ourselves, our impulses and reactions, the whole process of our thinking, the
conscious as well as the unconscious; we would rather pursue a system that
assures us of a result. But the pursuit of a system is invariably the outcome
of our desire for security, for certainty, and the result is obviously not the
understanding of oneself. When we follow a method, we must have authorities -
the teacher, the guru, the savior, the Master - who will guarantee us what we
desire; and surely that is not the way to self-knowledge.Authority prevents the
understanding of oneself, does it not? Under the shelter of an authority, a
guide, you may have temporarily a sense of security, a sense of well-being, but
that is not the understanding of the total process of oneself. Authority in its
very nature prevents the full awareness of oneself and therefore ultimately
destroys freedom; in freedom alone can there be creativeness. There can be
creativeness only through self-knowledge."
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, The Book of Life ~
