You can only hear clearly when you sit quietly, when you give your attention. Nor can you have order if you are not free to watch, if you are not free to listen, if you are not free to be considerate. This problem of freedom and order is one of the most difficult and urgent problems in life. It is a very complex problem. It needs to be thought over much more than mathematics, geography, or history.
Interpretation
True understanding comes from quiet reflection and attentive listening, which are essential for achieving freedom and order in life.
In this quote, Jiddu Krishnamurti emphasizes the importance of quietness and attentiveness in order to hear the truths of life. He argues that freedom and the ability to observe one's surroundings are crucial to establishing order within oneself and in society, suggesting that these elements are often overlooked in traditional education and discourse, yet are vital for deeper contemplation and understanding.
In practice
During a workshop about mindfulness, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of quiet reflection.
The following of authority is the denial of intelligence. [It] may help us temporarily to cover up our difficulties and problems; but to avoid a problem is only to intensify it, and in the process, self-knowledge and freedom are abandoned.
In seeking comfort, we generally find a quiet corner in life where there is a minimum of conflict, and then we are afraid to step out of that seclusion.
If you listen through the screen of your desires, then you obviously listen to your own voice; you are listening to your own desires.
If you have this extraordinary thing going in your life, then it is everything; then you become the teacher, the disciple, the neighbour, the beauty of the cloud - you are all that, and that is love.
Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life - perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it.
All of us have been trained by education and environment to seek personal gain and security and to fight for ourselves. Though we cover it over with pleasant phrases, we have been educated for various professions within a system which is based on exploitation and acquisitive fear.
What do you think, would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?
There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.
One of the greatest dangers is secular religion - state worship.
Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
Let gratitude for the past inspire us with trust for the future.
When I sleep every night, what am I called or not called? And when I wake, who am I if I was not I while I slept?
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