Self-Knowledge

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 14/05/2008 8:51:51 AM Pacific Daylight Time, wwoehr writes:

"Right thinking comes with self-knowledge. Without selfknowledgethere is no right thinking. Without knowing yourself,what you think and what you feel cannot be true. The root of allunderstanding lies in understanding yourself. If you can find outwhat are the causes of your thought-feeling, and from thatdiscovery know how to think-feel, then there is the beginning ofunderstanding. Without knowing yourself, the accumulation ofideas, the acceptance of beliefs and theories have no basis. Withoutknowing yourself you will ever be caught in uncertainty,depending on moods, on circumstances. Without knowing yourselffully you cannot think rightly. Surely this is obvious. If I do notknow what my motives, my intentions, my background, my privatethoughts feelings are how can I agree or disagree with another?How can I estimate or establish my relationship with another? Howcan I discover anything of life if I do not know myself? And toknow myself is an enormous task requiring constant observation,meditative awareness.(...)If you do not understand yourself you will notunderstand anything else; you may have great ideals, beliefs andformulations but they will have no reality. They will be delusions.So you must know yourself to understand the present and throughthe present the past. From the known present the hidden layers ofthe past are discovered and this discovery is liberating and creative.To understand ourselves requires objective, kindly,dispassionate study of ourselves, ourselves being the organism as awhole: our body, our feelings, our thoughts. They are not separate,they are interrelated. It is only when we understand the organism asa whole that we can go beyond and discover still further, greater,vaster things. But with out this primary understanding, withoutlaying right foundation for right thinking, we cannot proceed togreater heights.(...)The discovery that lies in self-knowledge is arduous, for thebeginning and the end is in us. To seek happiness, love, hope,outside of us leads to illusion, to sorrow; to find happiness, peace,joy within, requires self-knowledge. We are slaves to theimmediate pressures and demands of the world and we are drawnaway by all that and dissipate our energies in all that and so wehave little time to study ourselves. To be deeply cognizant of ourmotives, of our desires to achieve, to become, demands constant,inward awareness."Jiddu Krishnamurti, The mirror of Relationship, Collected works 1944

 

 

****Yes, sometimes referred to as ego work, becoming conscious or waking up within the dream. I often assume, obviously erroneously, that folks who are interested in nondual teachings are somewhat conscious and have done that work, and are ready to "proceed to greater heights" and explore what this 'self' really is, about which one has been acquiring knowledge.Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food.

[Guest guest]

" Right thinking comes with self-knowledge. Without selfknowledge

there is no right thinking. Without knowing yourself,

what you think and what you feel cannot be true. The root of all

understanding lies in understanding yourself. If you can find out

what are the causes of your thought-feeling, and from that

discovery know how to think-feel, then there is the beginning of

understanding. Without knowing yourself, the accumulation of

ideas, the acceptance of beliefs and theories have no basis. Without

knowing yourself you will ever be caught in uncertainty,

depending on moods, on circumstances. Without knowing yourself

fully you cannot think rightly. Surely this is obvious. If I do not

know what my motives, my intentions, my background, my private

thoughts feelings are how can I agree or disagree with another?

How can I estimate or establish my relationship with another? How

can I discover anything of life if I do not know myself? And to

know myself is an enormous task requiring constant observation,

meditative awareness.

 

(...)

 

If you do not understand yourself you will not

understand anything else; you may have great ideals, beliefs and

formulations but they will have no reality. They will be delusions.

So you must know yourself to understand the present and through

the present the past. From the known present the hidden layers of

the past are discovered and this discovery is liberating and creative.

To understand ourselves requires objective, kindly,

dispassionate study of ourselves, ourselves being the organism as a

whole: our body, our feelings, our thoughts. They are not separate,

they are interrelated. It is only when we understand the organism as

a whole that we can go beyond and discover still further, greater,

vaster things. But with out this primary understanding, without

laying right foundation for right thinking, we cannot proceed to

greater heights.

 

 

(...)

 

 

The discovery that lies in self-knowledge is arduous, for the

beginning and the end is in us. To seek happiness, love, hope,

outside of us leads to illusion, to sorrow; to find happiness, peace,

joy within, requires self-knowledge. We are slaves to the

immediate pressures and demands of the world and we are drawn

away by all that and dissipate our energies in all that and so we

have little time to study ourselves. To be deeply cognizant of our

motives, of our desires to achieve, to become, demands constant,

inward awareness. "

 

Jiddu Krishnamurti, The mirror of Relationship, Collected works 1944