My Disturbing Understanding

 A Paradigm Shift? My disturbing understanding.

“One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.” (J. Krishnamurti)

We constantly desire certainty, which gives us security and comfort. Thought cannot rest until it knows, and knows for sure. This restlessness can only produce its own varied conclusions.

And yet the reality, the only constant, in this universe is neverending change, leaving us hanging without knowing, without answers, without certainty. Therefore there is no security, no comfort in what we already know. Because what we know is only what we THINK we know. But thought is limited and can only produce conclusions, concepts, delusions, illusions, stories in the mind. 

How then shall we live?

How do we stop clinging to all that we think we know???

I keep reminding myself that if I already know... I can no longer learn.

Life is quite disturbing at its core, no matter how I look at it. 

BUT THIS is the truth that sets us free.

Freedom from the known

"Now, freedom from all that, is freedom from the known; it is the state of a mind which says, "I do not know", and which is not looking for an answer. Such a mind is completely not seeking not expecting; and it is only in this state that you can say, "I understand". It is the only state in which the mind is free, and from that state you can look at the things that are known - but not the other way round. From the known you cannot possibly see the unknown; but when once you have understood the state of a mind that is free - which is the mind that says, "I don't know" and remains unknowing, and is therefore innocent - , from that state you can function, you can be a citizen, you can be married, or what you will. Then what you do has relevance, significance in life. But we remain in the field of the known, with all its conflicts, striving, disputes, agonies, and from that field we try to find that which is unknown; therefore we are not really seeking freedom. What we want is the continuation, the extension of the same old thing: the known." - 

J. Krishnamurti The Collected Works Vol. XIV Saanen 3rd Public Talk 11th July 1963

Disturbing the comfortable:

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound us and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for  . . . we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the ax for the frozen sea inside us.” (Franz Kafka)

Knowing what reality is, is like running in circles

"Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we think. What we think depends on what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality." 

(David Bohm, physicist and thought leader in areas of communication, language, dialogue, thought, perceptions, and assumptions)