Some go to sleep in an organization and never wake up, and those who do wake up put them selves to sleep again by joining another. This acquisitive movement is called expansion of thought, progress.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that many people remain stagnant in their thinking within organized systems, while true progress requires waking up to new ideas and perspectives.
Jiddu Krishnamurti's quote reflects on the nature of thought and consciousness within organized institutions. He implies that many individuals are conditioned to accept the norms of these organizations without questioning them, akin to 'sleeping.' Those who do awaken to new ideas may quickly find themselves complacent once again by conforming to a different set of beliefs, rather than genuinely expanding their understanding. Krishnamurti critiques this cycle of thought, advocating for a deeper, more personal and unbounded exploration of knowledge and existence, which he refers to as 'progress.'
In practice
During a seminar on personal development, one could use this quote to provoke discussion about critical thinking.
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.
I doubt that religion can survive deep understanding. The shallows are its natural habitat. Cranks and fundamentalists are too often victimised as scapegoats for religion in general. It is only quite recently that Christianity reinvented itself in non-fundamentalist guise, and Islam has yet to do so.
Above all things physical, it is more important to be beautiful on the inside - to have a big hear and an open mind and a spectacular spleen.
Not much longer shall we have time for reading lessons of the past. An inexorable present calls us to the defense of a great future.
There's nothing like impending death to rouse you from existential boredom.
Prejudices are useless. Call Los Angeles any dirty name you like - Six Suburbs in Search of a City, Paradise with a Lobotomy, anything - but the fact remains that you are already living in it before you get there
And if the City falls and one survives _x000D_ he shall carry the City within on the roads of exile _x000D_ he shall be the City
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