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"...action as we know it is really reaction, it is a ceaseless becoming, which is the denial,
the avoidance of what is...
The idea of becoming arises only when there is a sense of insecurity, and that sense of insecurity comes when one is aware of the inward void. If you are aware of that process of thought and feeling, you will see that there is a constant battle going on, an effort to change, to modify, to alter what is. This is the effort to become, and becoming is a direct avoidance of what is. Through self-knowledge, through constant awareness, you will find that strife, battle, the conflict of becoming, leads to pain, to sorrow and ignorance. It is only if you are aware of inward insufficiency and live with it without escape, accepting it wholly, that you will discover an extraordinary tranquility, a tranquility which is not put together, made up, but a tranquility which comes with understanding of what is. Only in that state of tranquility is there creative being." The First and Last Freedom, p.70 |
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"...when the mind seeks a timeless spiritual state which will go into action in order to destroy
the self, is that not another form of experience which is strengthening the 'me'?...The self has
projected that thing which you feel and believe will come and destroy the self.
...Thus our action from the beginning to the end is the same action, only we think it is evolving, growing, becoming more and more beautiful; but, if you observe inwardly, it is the same action going on, the same 'me' functioning at different levels with different labels, different names. When you see the whole process, the cunning, extraordinary inventions, the intelligence of the self, how it covers itself up through identification, through virtue, through experience, through belief, through knowledge; when you see that the mind is moving in a circle, in a cage of its own making, what happens? When you are aware of it, fully cognizant of it, then are you not extraordinarily quiet - not through compulsion, not through any reward, not through any fear?" The First and Last Freedom, p.81 |
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"Our action - what we want to do or be - is based on idea, is it not? That is all we know; we have
ideas, ideals, promises, various formulas as to what we are and what we are not. The basis of our
action is reward in the future or fear of punishment."
The First and Last Freedom, p.243 |
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"Between action and idea, there is a gulf, a division, there is a time process. That is so, is it
not? In other words, I am not charitable, I am not loving, there is no forgiveness in my heart but
I feel I must be charitable. So there is a gap, between what I am and what I should be; we are all
the time trying to bridge the gap. That is our activity, is it not?
Now what would happen if the idea did not exist? At one stroke, you would have removed the gap, would you not?" The First and Last Freedom, p.243 |
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"Action which transforms us as human beings, which brings regeneration, redemption, transformation -
call it what you will - such action is not based on idea. It is action irrespective of the sequence
of reward or punishment. Such action is timeless, because mind, which is the time process, the
calculating process, the dividing, the isolating process, does not enter into it."
The First and Last Freedom, p.244 |
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"Idea may bring about a certain series of actions, but that is mere
activity; and activity is wholly different from action. It is in
this activity that one is caught; and when for some reason or other
activity stops, then one feels lost and life becomes meaningless,
empty. We are aware of this emptiness, consciously or unconsciously,
and so idea and activity become all-important. We fill this
emptiness with belief, and activity becomes an intoxicating
necessity. For the sake of this activity, we will renounce; we will
adjust ourselves to any inconvenience, to any illusion."
Commentaries on Living, First Series, p.56 |
