You only learn when you give your whole being to something. When you give your whole being to mathematics,you learn; but when you are in a state of contradiction, when you do not want to learn but are forced to learn, then it becomes merely a process of accumulation. To learn is like reading a novel with innumerable characters; it requires your full attention, not contradictory attention.
Interpretation
True learning comes from complete engagement and attention, not from external pressure or contradiction.
In this quote, Jiddu Krishnamurti emphasizes that genuine learning occurs only when one is fully committed to the subject at hand, in this case, mathematics. He points out that learning is not merely the accumulation of facts but requires undivided attention and an open mindset, akin to immersing oneself in a complex novel. When coerced into learning, the mind remains divided and the process becomes shallow and ineffective.
In practice
In a motivational speech about educational engagement, I might say, 'As Krishnamurti wisely stated, true learning only happens when we give our whole being to the subject.'
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.
My father used to say the people of Swat and the teachers would continue to educate our children until the last room, the last teacher and the last student was alive. My parents never once suggested I should withdraw from school, ever. Though we loved school, we hadn't realized how important education was until the Taliban tried to stop us.
On the whole, books are indeed less finite than ourselves. Even the worst among them outlast their authors - mainly because they occupy a smaller amount of physical space than those who penned them. Often they sit on the shelves absorbing dust long after the writer himself has turned into a handful of dust.
Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.
A child from the age of 2 or 3 absorbs what is in the environment and what generates hatred for anyone perceived to be different.
People need to know more than what a piece of information means. They also need to know how the information matters.
Access to quality education has enabled me to reach far beyond the Bangladeshi village I grew up in.
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