Jiddhu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986)

The mind is being influenced all the time to think along a certain line. It used to be that only the organized religions were after your mind, but now governments have largely taken over that job. They want to shape and control your mind. On the surface the mind can resist their control. Superficially, you have some say in the matter, but below the surface, in the deep unconscious, there is the whole weight of time, of tradition, urging you in a particular direction. The conscious mind may to some extent control and guide itself, but in the unconscious, your ambitions, your unsolved problems, your compulsions, superstitions, fears, are waiting, throbbing, urging. This whole field of the mind is the result of time; it is the result of conflicts and adjustments, of a whole series of acceptances, without full comprehension.

Therefore, we live in a state of contradiction; our life is a process of endless struggle. We are unhappy, and we want to be happy. Being violent, we practice the ideal of nonviolence. So, there is a conflict going on - the mind is a battlefield. We want to be secure, knowing inwardly, deeply, that there is no such thing as security at all. The truth is that we do not want to face the fact that there is no security; therefore, we are always pursuing security, with the resultant fear of not being secure.