Freedom

FREEDOM

There is no such thing as freedom at the present time, we don't know what it means. We would like to be free but, if you notice, everybody - the teacher, the parent, the lawyer, the policeman, the soldier, the politician, the business man - is doing something in his own little corner to prevent that freedom. To be free is not merely to do what you like, or to break away from outward circumstances which bind you, but to understand the whole problem of dependence. Do you know what dependence is? You depend on your parent, don't you? You depend on your teachers, you depend on the cook, on the postman, on the man who brings you milk, and so on. That kind of dependence one can understand fairly easily. But there is a far deeper kind of dependence which one must understand before one can be free: the dependence on another for one's happiness. do you know what it means to depend on somebody for your happiness? It is not the mere physical dependence on another which is so binding, but the inward, psychological dependence from which you derive so-called happiness; for when you depend on somebody in that way, you become a slave. If, as you grow older, you depend emotionally on your parents, on your wife or husband, on a guru, or on some idea, there is already the beginning of bondage. We don't understand this - although most of us, especially when we are young, want to be free.

To be free we have to revolt against all inward dependence, and we cannot revolt if we don't understand why we are dependent. Until we understand and really break away from all inward dependence we can never be free, for only in that understanding can there be freedom. But freedom is not a mere reaction. Do you know what a reaction is? If I say something that hurts you, if I call you an ugly name and you get angry with me, that is a reaction - a reaction born of dependence; and independence is a further reaction. But freedom is not a reaction, and until we understand reaction and go beyond it, we are never free.

-- Jiddu Krishnamurthy

Why do we identify?

Why Do We Identify

Why do we identify ourself with another, with a group, with a country?

Why do we call ourselves a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or why do we belong to one of the innumerable sects?

Religiously and politically one identifies oneself with this or with that group through tradition or habit, through impulse, prejudice, imitation and laziness.

This identification puts an end to all creative understanding, and then one becomes a mere tool in the hands of the party boss, the priest or the favoured leader.

Identification is essentially a thought process by which the mind safeguards and expands itself;

and in becoming something it must resist and defend, it must own and discard.

In this process of becoming, the mind or the self grows tougher and more capable;

but this is not love.

Identification destroys freedom, and only in freedom can there be the highest form of sensitivity.
To experiment, need there be identification?

Does not the very act of identification put an end to inquiry, to discovery?

The happiness that truth brings cannot be if there is no experimentation in self-discovery. Identification puts an end to discovery; it is another form of laziness.

Identification is vicarious experience, and hence utterly false.
To experience, all identification must cease.

To experiment, there must be no fear. Fear prevents experience.

It is fear that makes for identification - identification with another, with a group, with an ideology, and so on. Fear must resist, suppress; and in a state of self-defence, how can there be venturing on the uncharted sea?

Truth or happiness cannot come without undertaking the journey into the ways of the self.

We cannot travel far if we are anchored.

Identification is a refuge. A refuge needs protection, and that which is protected is soon destroyed. Identification brings destruction upon itself, and hence the constant conflict between various identifications.
The more we struggle for or against identification, the greater is the resistance to understanding.

If one is aware of the whole process of identification, outward as well as inner, if one sees that its outward expression projected by the inner demand, then there is a possibility of discovery and happiness.

He who has identified himself can never know freedom, in which alone all truth comes into being.
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

Why do people work till death?

Why do most  of us Want to work  till we Die ?

(even after retirement or even after age of Retirement)

• Ø       For Money?
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• Ø  For fear of Boredom from  doing  Nothing?

• Ø  Are We frightened to be alone with Ourselves?
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• Ø  Or for that matter ,what is the fundamental , lasting ‘Interest’ for anyone to         Work or pursue , what one is doing?

Many people work because of economical considerations, because , if they won’t work, they can’t survive, due to lack proper savings or due to poverty, etc., It is a necessity to work for those people.

But, I see , many people , having no economical compulsions to work, going on and on working even after retirement age or retiring from their jobs , till their death or due to ripe old age, where it is not possible to go any farther, due to some old age problems.

Why?

One may say, it is their choice, who am I or anyone , to question someone choices. Right.

But, The way , I understand , or my view about it , is ……..

It is understandable, if one is pursuing  an  ‘art’ or some other ‘passion’  till his or her death. The earning, here, is the byproduct of the passion of the Individual . Its altogether different from purely working for ‘Money’ . But, here, also, one can find people , who are in it, purely for earning purpose, and demand huge amounts for performances etc.,

Most of us are interested in our jobs, our Family, our House,  And , after that, More prestige, More Power, More Money, More Assets, More domination over others and so on. And , if that sounds, ‘Selfish’, and then , one  starts following some  ideological  concept or some charity work. All these activities basically satisfies , ones ‘Ego’. ‘Ego’ is the complete identification with forms, - physical forms, thought forms, emotional forms. This creates an ‘Illusory sense of identity’ of oneself .. Mostly, we  create our ‘Self-Worth’ through this Illusory sense of Identity of oneself with physical forms – Assets, Bank Balance, Power or Position in the society, etc., And , most fear the loss of this “Illusory sense of Identity” of oneself , if one ceases or stops ‘working’.

In my view, the above reason – ‘Illusory sense of Identity” of oneself ,is the main reason for people , who continue to work , even after Retirement age or even after retirement.

One more Question , I think, one should ask oneself is -- what is the fundamental , ‘lasting Interest’ for anyone to Work or pursue ,  & what one is doing?

What is the fundamental reason for my working , even after retiring --

• Ø    Am I bored , because of no work or engagement to look for , because of      Identifying myself with the work , I was doing and feel like a Fish out of water,     without that identity.
• Ø      Or any other reason, one should identify.

Each one of us has an image of what we think we are or what we should be, and that image, that picture, entirely prevents us from seeing ourselves as we actually are.

When you remove all the ‘labels’ attached to you, namely, your name, profession, lineage, place, roles in the society etc., what is that remains in “You” . A big ‘NOTHING’. ‘Shunya’. Shunya means ‘void’ or ‘emptiness’ or “Nothingness” in Sanskrit. It is the true nature of all phenomena, devoid of all individual Self or Substance. This Space of Stillness is deeply replenishing to life. When we allow ourself to rest for some time in this Stillness, we can get back in touch with the essential quality of pure being, just as we are –  “NOTHINGNESS” .  And nobody wants and fears to travel into Nothingess or emptiness or void . Hence we keep ourselves busy or engage ourselves with something or the other, to avoid entering to the true nature of the being- SELF.