Daily Quotes, Friday June 12, 2009

Good morning. I think it's supposed to get nicer over the weekend!

Just reflecting for a moment on today's quote: In K's dualistic view of the universe, just as freedom has no foundation, so no foundation means you have nothing to lose! That doesn't lead to irresponsibility but to an extraordinary affection for everything. This is what takes us deeply into life; without a foundation there is nothing to defend, nothing to be afraid of losing, no past of having acquired and no future when there is still ownershop. And so there is no fear.

And just as there is no fear so there is no hope, which is just another kind of fear. See the line I highlighted in the second paragraph below, which gets right to why this is important. Hope is the future; how often are you caught in hope?

There is no end to learning; therefore, there is no despair.

The mind that would really understand what is true, the real - the extraordinary state of mind that comprehends that thing called truth - must have, psychologically, no fear of any kind....A mind which would really understand, take a journey into the most extraordinary thing called reality and go deeply into it - where there is no measure, no time, no illusion, no imagination - must be completely free from fear. And, therefore, such a mind is always living, neither in the past nor in the future...

A mind that is aware of all the things that are connected with fear is not concerned with the past but, as the past arises, it deals with it, not as a steppingstone to the future. Therefore, such a mind is living in the active present and, therefore, comprehends every movement of thought, feeling, fear, as it arises. There is a great deal to learn: there is no end to learning; therefore, there is no despair, no anxiety. This you must have completely in your blood so that you are never caught in the things that have been done or that will be done in the future, so that you are never held in time as thought. It is only the mind that has emptied itself of all this fear that is empty. Then, in that emptiness, it can understand that which is supreme and nameless.

Collected Works, Vol. XIV - 94