We never see a tree except through the image that we have of it, the concept of that tree; but the concept, the knowledge, the experience, is entirely different from the actual tree. Look at a tree and you will find how extraordinarily difficult it is to see it completely, so that no image, no screen, comes between the seeing and the actual fact. By completely I mean with the totality of your mind and heart, not a fragment of it.
Interpretation
Our perceptions of reality often distort the true nature of what we observe.
This quote by Jiddu Krishnamurti emphasizes the gap between our mental concepts and the actual reality of objects, in this case, a tree. He argues that our understanding and experiences shape our view, making it challenging to perceive things in their entirety; true perception requires a complete engagement of both mind and heart, free from biases and preconceptions.
In practice
This quote can be shared in a discussion about perceptions in a philosophy class.
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.
If you try to use your head to think about things, people don't want to have anything to do with you
No philosopher understands his predecessors until he has re-thought their thought in his own contemporary terms.
We need God, not in order to understand the why, but in order to feel and sustain the ultimate wherefore, to give a meaning to the universe.
It is curious how instinctively one protects the image of oneself from idolatry or any other handling that could make it ridiculous, or too unlike the original to be believed any longer.
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances.
The cure for crime is not the electric chair, but the high chair.
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