The new freedom from opposites

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We should not use the word individual at all, nor the words mine and yours because they have no meaning, fundamentally. I am the result of my father and my mother and the environmental influence of the country and society. If I put myself in opposition, there is no understanding; the combination of opposites does not produce understanding. But if I become aware and observe the ways of duality, then I will begin to feel the new freedom from opposites. The world is divided into the opposites, the white and the dark, the good and the bad, mine and yours, and so on. In duality there is no understanding, each antithesis contains its own opposite. Our difficulty lies in thinking of these problems anew, to think of the world and yourself from a different point of view altogether, observing silently, without identifying and comparing. The ideas which you think are the result of what others have thought in combination with the present. Real uniqueness lies in the discovery of what is true and being in that discovery. This uniqueness, joy, and liberation which comes from this discovery is not to be found in the pride of possessions, of name, physical attributes, and tendencies. True freedom comes through self-knowledge which brings about right thinking; through self-knowledge there is the discovery of the true, which alone puts an end to our ignorance and sorrow.

Through self-awareness and self-knowledge peace is found, and in that serenity there is immortality.

J. Krishnamurti/Ojai 1944,Talk 1

Vincent Carriuolo

Interests: breathing, music, literature, golf, art, snowshoeing, writing, kayaking, meditation, skiing, walking/hiking, theatre (preferably drama), comedy clubs, concerts, art museums, poetry readings, working out and elephant polo at tiger tops, nepal (just seeing if you're still reading). some favorite films: the bicycle thief, dr. strangelove, 81/2, the diving bell and the butterfly, babette's feast, being there, city lights, everything is illuminated and life is beautiful. favorite reads: 100 years of solitude; the short stories of raymond carver; the divine comedy; the power of now; j. krishnamurti's the book of life; the short stories of eudora welty and ethan canin; the poetry of t.s. eliot; matsuo basho and robert frost; the odyssey; the secret language of symbols; a path with heart; zen flesh, zen bones; gift from the sea; siddhartha and anything by: j. krishnamurti; eckhart tolle; jack kornfield; anthony demello s.j.; thich nhat hahn; thomas merton; shunryu suzuki, : meister eckhart; emmett fox and ram dass. play blues harmonica. like color: cobalt blue. like flower: paper white narcissus. last read: one hundred years of solitude (again), quotes: just this. --anon. we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. --anais inn, a friend of bill w.