“Truth is a Pathless Land”: Insights from Jiddu Krishnamurti

We don’t often listen to each other. What we hear is filtered through our perspectives (Krishnamurti 12). Rather than understanding from a place of inner quiet, our minds are full of words and images.

We are not passively alert, open to the present. Our minds are used to processing information through our assumptions and biases and past knowledge (Krishnamurti 13).

We are so bent on reaching a particular state, on making endless comparisons to what came before, that we cannot attend to what is (Krishnamurti 15).

The more that we pay attention, the quieter it becomes. Even if the room is noisy, our inner silence cannot be broken (Krishnamurti 15).

When we think about what we know, we aren’t truly listening. Our ideas prevent us from hearing more.

Learning can only happen when we are actively aware. The knowledge we have accumulated blocks us from understanding (Krishnamurti 22).

Our conditioned minds are afraid of surrendering everything we know. So, we seek out security (or escape) in gurus, religions, political parties, sex, drugs, and so on (Krishnamurti 24).

We want to be right. We want to be in control. Our minds cling to beliefs that strengthen our identities. We reinforce what we are…