Self-awareness
is arduous, and since most of us prefer an easy, illusory way, we
bring into being the authority that gives shape and pattern to our
life. This authority may be the collective, the State; or it may be
the personal, the Master, the savior, the guru. Authority of any kind
is blinding, it breeds thoughtlessness; and as most of us find that
to be thoughtful is to have pain, we give ourselves over to
authority. Authority engenders power, and power always becomes
centralized and therefore utterly corrupting; it corrupts not only
the wielder of power, but also him who follows it. The authority of
knowledge and experience is perverting, whether it be vested in the
Master, his representative or the priest. It is your own life, this
seemingly endless conflict, that is significant, and not the pattern
or the leader. The authority of the Master and the priest takes you
away from the central issue, which is the conflict within yourself.
-
J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life
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