Quotes from Jiddu Krishnamurti's book 'Freedom from the Known' and an inspired poem

J Krishnamurti Quotes

• One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.

• To live is to be vulnerable, open to everything, including the unknown

• Do you know that even when you look at a tree and say, `That is an oak tree', or `that is a banyan tree', the naming of the tree, which is botanical knowledge, has so conditioned your mind that the word comes between you and actually seeing the tree? To come in contact with the tree you have to put your hand on it and the word will not help you to touch it.

• Thought is so cunning, so clever, that it distorts everything for its own convenience

• The individual is the little conditioned, miserable, frustrated entity, satisfied with his little gods and his little traditions, whereas a human being is concerned with the total welfare, the total misery and total confusion of the world.

Inspired Poem

We walk in mist, a cloudy view,

Some things we guess, a little true.

Tentative knowing, a fragile hold,

Around us, stories yet untold.

The unbound unknown, a boundless sea,

Where mysteries dance, eternally.

We puff our chests, "We understand!"

Then shrink in awe, at the unseen land.

To bend our knee, and softly say,

"My knowing's small, just for today."

This meekness blooms, a wisdom deep,

A secret treasure we gently keep.

To feel so small, beneath the stars,

Erases pride, and breaks down bars.

Awakening stirs, a quiet grace,

To know our place in time and space.

Beyond the liking, beyond the fear,

Where known and unknown disappear.

A single source, begins to gleam,

A conscious flow, a waking dream.